lioness in japan

Guess what’s inside the paper bag….

(more…)

In a bid to counteract the lethargy that comes with extremely hot weather, I am blogging about fun summer activities like the music festival, Summer Sonic, I went to last Sunday. Although the aircon in the office has been lowered to decent levels, the afternoon sun shines directly on my desk — this means I feel like I’m being baked alive.

(more…)

Summertime in Tokyo is playful and festive — it’s like a bug that bites you no matter how run down you may feel from the brutal heat and humidity.

Last Thursday, the kangaroo and I were invited to a friend’s apartment that overlooked the Jingu baseball stadium where the Gaien fireworks were held.

It’s rare that we head out on a weekday night because of work but I was glad we made the effort. It felt like a Friday.

(more…)

The conbini (convenient store) is a ubiquitous concept on every street corner in Tokyo. They have a bit of everything and you can find any “emergency” product here.

From cup noodles to paper undies, the conbini makes life much easier. You can even find Fancl beauty products, nail polish, staplers, gas cans, paper clips, light bulbs, ice packs…. Goodness, whatever you could dream up of getting at 3am in the morning, go to the cobini and they would sort you out.

(more…)

I found it amusing our pristine party-ready apartment looked so different after our decadent housewarming.

(more…)

The kangaroo ordered two picnic table sets on Monday night from Amazon Japan (which I highly recommend for cheap English books and household solutions) and they arrived last night.

To get ready for our housewarming this Saturday, he put on his carpenter hat and hammered everything together.

(more…)

One thing that took me awhile to get into was the dangly phone accessory that always hangs from every Japanese person’s keitai (mobile phone). In Singapore, it had an adolescent image that includes our subculture of ah lians (Singapore’s version of the Shibuya gyaru or “gal”). In Japan, even men have at least one attached to their phones — usually designer brand name tags or anime characters or something comical and quirky.

(more…)

Introducing my latest workout buddy…Billy Blanks! It’s so cheesy, I know, but a lot of women swear by this kick-boxing aerobic and ab routine. Even more embarrassing is that this was THE exercise DVD of the year in 2007 — I sure took a long time to check this out. I used to chuckle over the fact that this ex-military dude could get so many sedentary Japanese women off their butt to do killer stomach crunches in their living rooms.

(more…)

So my bestie came to visit all the way from New York and I think I was more excited than her to go clubbing. I love having a quieter, more orderly lifestyle now, as compared to my crazy hectic days in Singapore (which I may blog about one day), but sometimes I do crave breaking my good-girl habits.

(more…)

There has been a quiet tussle over the air-conditioning in the office and I am working from home until I come up with a firm strategy and feel less annoyed. I love the apartment but there is a fussy crying baby whom I cannot tolerate either.

I think it is one cultural difference that I cannot accommodate — much like Japanese curry, which is something I cannot stomach.

(more…)