Lioness in Japan

Honestly, I had never heard of Dutch military-inspired designer label, G-Star, until one of my gal pals got an invite to a recent sample sale at Bell Commons. I was intimidated by their website and looked like they had expensive, uber-cool togs so I just assumed that even at sale price, I wouldn’t be able to afford anything.

But my friend assured me that you could buy jeans for as little as JPY2,000 (SGD26) but the original price is JPY20,000 (SGD260). In a heartbeat, I changed my mind.

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When I first got to Tokyo, I slurped on ramen indiscriminately. I would have it for breakfast, lunch, or supper. High in calories and low in nutritional value, ramen is a popular one-person dish that is deliciously addictive with its savoury broth and slippery noodles — a taste of heaven but your waistline will go to hell.

Then I became more discerning, like most foreigners who hang around for a while longer, and found there are hugely varying degrees in terms of types and quality.

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Nugget potato (minced chicken nuggets and potato wedges) with hot sauce.

Sometimes it’s easy to just focus on the bad and the weird in Japan. For instance, there was a guy who for no reason cut up his female neighbour into pieces and flushed them down the loo, or the guy who screamed at me in the Tokyo Met pool, or quirks like the popularity of maid cafes.

Japan is the fifth safest nation in the world and it has one of the nicest and most honest people on the planet.

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Inspired by my recent freelance stint, this blog entry focuses on advice to new journalists who wonder how to do their best in a round table interview. This also touches on issues to do with being a stringer for various magazines, but even if you are writing for just one publication, I think you would find these points relevant.

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On rare occasions, I will do freelance writing gigs for the Singapore media. Last year, I interviewed Maroon 5 for two magazines. It was set up by Universal Music and these guys have always been on the ball when it comes to promoting their artistes. I’m glad that I managed to keep in touch with the staff there. The money is frankly not much but it’s something fun to do and I’d like to keep some connections open with work-related peeps back home.

Last weekend saw the MTV Japan Music Awards so a few of their artistes were in town. I was supposed to interview Nelly and Mariah Carey. The kangaroo was quite excited for me, too, “Wow, Mariah Carey?!”

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There is one product that always gets my Singaporean friends and family really interested — Meiji Amino Collagen (5,000mg). – Click here to go to Beauty Box!

Watch my videos on how to make delicious low-fat collagen drinks.

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Just when I am running out of culinary ideas, my sensei saves the day. During our lesson today, we were learning new vocabulary related to hobbies (hikingu, joggingu, snowboardo…) and we came to ryori, which is cooking. We were also doing frequency words, so she was surprised to find out that I cook everyday.

We had a fun discussion on what types of dishes I can make, where I shop, how often I shop, and my schedule that manages to fit in working and cooking up a storm.

Even more pleasing to her was I made an effort to cook a few Japanese dishes (oyako don, asari miso soup, zaru soba, yaki udon) sometimes. She recommended a delicious and easy-to-make Japanese favourite: chicken thigh in mirin (sweet rice wine) and soy sauce.

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I previously blogged about my pug, Taffy, where I wrote about how old she’s getting.

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My brains feel a little like jelly and I am not fully recovered — still coughing away but am happy to be back. I’m slowly catching up with work and feel buoyed by increasing numbers, in terms of traffic and advertising revenue.

Enough about that, I would like to blog about a pretty special day spent with my mother and sisters in our day trip to Johor Bahru. My father played golf on Vesak Day, so he couldn’t join us.

It’s one of those new traditions in my family whenever I come back to visit — we would shop till we drop in City Square shopping mall, just north of the causeway.

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The picture above is an anti-nausea medicine that comes in powder sachets. It is recommended for those suffering from colds, fever, sore throats and vomiting. I am amazed that there is such a multi-purpose medicine — almost a cure-all.

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