I'm a web editor from Singapore living in Tokyo. I'm building websites for a living as a writer on the go. I worked in print media for six years until I moved countries and used the Internet as a way to have a viable, mobile career. The Internet is a fascinating space and I never thought I would ever morph into a web chick - but here I am.
...The ups and downs of expat life, trailing partner issues, food, travel, and Japanese culture. It's a way to keep in touch with friends back home and all over the world, plus it's a corner for me to showcase my work. But really, I'm just a restless spirit looking for great adventures and fabulous food.
I just put up a new poll on my blog shop, Beauty Box, and I thought a double plug on LIJ would do no harm. Instead of second guessing what the real demand is like, a friend who is savvy in marketing strategies suggested I cast my net out and ask my customers directly:
Thanks for taking the time to participate in my little survey!
Just a small announcement to say my blog was asked to join Gen-Y career blog network Brazen Careerist. I was very surprised and honoured to be invited to be part of this community.
A year ago, I stumbled upon Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist blog and have been following her posts since. I find her advice and personal stories inspiring and she’s always offering alternative perspectives on any given issue. Through her blog, I came across Employee Evolution, which has a huge range of insightful Gen-Y career-related articles written by Ryan Healy and Ryan Paugh (who is one of the co-founders of Brazen Careerist). I guess when I flew solo, I needed some guidance and these are a couple of the many blogs I follow to help me carve my own path on the Internet.
This is a question I get asked a lot when I talk about my blogs. Most people find it very curious that the topics that I write are so diverse. “Class action lawsuits?” they wonder — it’s incredulous that a chit of a girl from Singapore would know anything about this American phenomenon.
Even more challenging to tackle would be, “You’ve never been divorced, so how could you write about divorce advice?”
It’s a topic that has been burning in my mind for a while and I may shoot myself in the foot for threading on such a contentious subject. But hear me out on what I have to say.
It’s true, I’ve never had any legal training nor have I been through a divorce, and further, I’m not a nutritionist by training, so how could I have the audacity to write about dietary supplements and their benefits?
It’s been a long time coming — a tribute to my favourite sushi bar in all of Japan. It’s a really big claim but it seriously has the freshest sushi I’ve encountered at such reasonable rates (about 4,500JPY for a large meal and alcohol).
I think it rivals the tiny restaurant I liked at Tsukiji market (not the one with the queues!). There are probably better sushi joints but I suspect they would be out of my price range (reality check: a pair of tuna belly sushi can cost 4,000JPY at fancy schmancy sushi restaurants). But, Umai Sushikan in Akasaka hits the spot for me anyway — the fish is always melt in your mouth and chilled to the right temperature.
This happens to be the kangaroo’s mum’s fave joint for raw fish, too. She raved about it the first time she tried it which was last November. It was without a doubt that we had to visit Umai Sushikan (means delicious sushi restaurant) again on the first night of her second visit to Tokyo.
I think I come from a very Asian family and we don’t talk a lot. Long rambling phone calls are awkward so emails and photos have become our medium of communication. My elder sister got a new Sony camera, so she has been snapping photos like crazy and sent really good ones to me recently.
I’ve been meaning to post these pictures up because Taffy, my beloved pug, has grown back all her fur. Before, she was a mangy pooch with a hairless chest and her donut-shaped tail was straggly and thin.
I’ve only been let go once before and it was at my first job at a fashion/interior design magazine. The boutique publishing house (it had only one magazine) collapsed after its second issue, after which the German owner did a runner on all the bills he had to pay. Although I wasn’t paid for my last month there, I found a job a week after my last day at work.
A lot of the bad feelings I harboured happened mostly in the lead up to the official announcement that it was all over. Projects and articles were stalled because of financial problems, which of course angered industry associates and rumours burned our ears. This made marching along extremely difficult and we spent a lot of our time smoking and brooding in the dingy staircase outside the office.
It’s been a while since I did a full-on restaurant review so here is my take on one of the gaijin pillars of Tokyo — Gonpachi.
It’s a Japanese-style izakaya that believes good food starts with fresh produce. Very simple ingredients are used and what you appreciate is the juiciness of the meat and the depth of flavour in the vegetables.
One of my gal pals had a couple of friends in town from Shanghai so she pooled together a small group of us to eat, drink, and be merry on a Friday night.
I’ve reached the half-way mark of my month-long detox, or rather a month of not drinking alcohol.
Have I been tempted? Well, only once but the kangaroo swept up my flute of champagne in a show of support.
Actually, I’m enjoying being sober on the weekends. I thought it would be hard sitting in bars with a cranberry juice in hand but it wasn’t at all. In fact, I was lucid and had great conversation as always. I think I naturally enjoy hanging out with people and just talking, which is a refreshing revelation.
I’ve got so many reasons why I made such a momentous move in my lifestyle:
Here is a photo spread of the wedding in Bali for Fleur and Steve whom I would count as friends after several holidays in Sydney.
Fleur walking in with her entourage.
Although it has only been less than two weeks since I returned from Bali, my Balinese getaway feels like it happened an eternity ago. I put up all my pictures on Facebook and wondered how I am going to blog about this amazing experience, so I’m going to list all the fun things I did in Bali, which I highly recommend to anyone planning a trip there.
#1: Late lunch at Ku De Ta
If you start at two-ish for lunch, you just need to lounge around for an hour or two more for the six o-clock sunset that is just spectacular.
