Soy Sauce Flavored Kit Kat And Other News

Yes...you read that right!! Japan has some very unusual kit kat flavors....orange, matcha (green tea), red wine, salty, soy sauce, kiwi, apple etc. There are also local only flavors like flavors only found in Tokyo (this soy sauce one came from Tokyo) or Osaka etc. Thought you would find it interesting!

Other news-It has been a while since I posted and lots has been happening. We are now officially moved into the office downstairs (but we still list items upstairs and keep them down in the office). We still need to buy some more furniture but all our packing is down there and my honey couldn't be happier!! Our house had literally been over run with pink bags filled with products. I am happy too because now my assistant can come and go and I don't have to get up early to let her in now that all the packing is done downstairs and she has her own key. I can sleep!! I work on the business until about 4 am so getting up at 8:30 was killing me! Now I will be my normal sunny self.

My husband and I made a big decision. About a month and a half ago he was laid off due to restructuring at his company. I didn't panic because of this business but he was in a terrible state. For about 3 weeks he looked for work and had many interviews but nothing was right-1 job would have possible moved him to Tokyo, 1 paid less than I was paying my assistant etc! Since he had a lot of time on his hands he decided to try listing items. Well....he has turned into a listing machine! I felt such a huge sense of relief that it wasn't all up to me anymore. While I was at work....he was listing. While I was doing the paperwork etc.....he was listing. All our bags of products we had piled up disappeared. I LOVED this. After a couple of weeks, we talked and acknowledged that if he got a job he wouldn't be able to work on the business (Japanese work hours are insane), and he wouldn't have time off to travel etc so we decided that he wouldn't get a job but rather work on the business. He did have to get over the "being a real man=having a job in a big famous company to support his wife" crap that was drilled into his head but I think he is much happier. And I am LOVING it. I work at my job 4 days a week (I have a teacher replacing me on Fridays) and I love knowing that he is at home working on the business when I can't. We now go walking at night when I get home-we couldn't do that before because of his job. The only thing is that we are always together which most of the time is fabulous but I do love my space so once we get internet connection in the office I might just kick him out of the house for a few hours once in a while.
Oh and if you see some strange/funny/kawaii English-blame him!! ^__^

Japanese TV

If you have ever seen Japanese TV this, sadly, will not be shocking to you but if you have never seen Japanese TV I have one word to sum up a lot of the shows....weird!!

I just watched a show where the objective was to try to understand what us foreigners are saying when we say a Japanese word like "honda" or "hitachi" etc. So...imagine...the host is a cute young woman wearing big fuzzy rabbit ears (please don't ask why...after 10 years I still can't answer that one)....she also has some kind of toy gun that she uses to point and "shoot" at the person she wants to speak. So....the first part of the show, some voice says a word like "honda", "hitachi" etc the way an American would say it and they have to guess at what the word is. When everyone has finished writing the host yells "answer open" and all their answers show up....no one got it right. The second part of the show.....they are shown a sentence that they have to say in English....ex...."Coffee please." or "Let's eat strawberry cake." Some of the guys look at the camera like they are Marlon Brando (actually one guy called the other " Robert De Niro") in a movie and ready for his close up. Then after they all mess up a "doctor" (meaning teacher) comes on (wearing rabbit ears of course) and teaches them how to say it properly. A whole hour of this sure makes for interesting conversation between my honey and I.

How's that for late night TV? (it's 1 am here)

Mos Burger Pics And Updates

Someone asked me to show them a picture of a mos burger "natsumi" style....this means lettuce instead of a bun burger so here are the pics. They are really delicious but soooooo messy!!!

So....my honey has decided to get more involved with the business!! I'm very happy but was nervous at first because he is now listing products and his English is not perfect (not that mine is anymore!!!). So, after he lists an item I try to check it and correct the mistakes. I have to admit that sometimes I want to leave the mistakes because they are seriously kawaii!!!! It is such a relief to have this help. My assistant takes care of the orders but I have been surrounded by bags of products waiting to be listed and as I'm only 1 person, with a job and I do almost everything else (emailing, accounting etc) I can only do so much. It has felt so great to know that while I'm at work, he is at home listing products....I can't tell you what a great feeling of relief I have because of this. Yeah Futoshi (my honey's name)!! Arigato gozaimasu!!! Aishiteru yo!! (I love you!)

Shopping At Canal City

Canal city is a big, beautiful shopping mall in Hakata, Fukuoka city. They have a ton of shops-famous international brands and Japanese brands, lots of restaurants, movie theaters etc.

My honey and I went to watch a movie-Jumper (really good) and eat delicious Indian food! Ok....I have no idea what it costs in Canada or the States (or any other country) to watch a movie but here is it 1800 yen or about $18 USD per person!!! Plus the cost of getting there and back-$12.60 per person by train! If you have ever thought that Japan is expensive...you are right!! Anyway, I just thought I would show you some pics of this beautiful mall.

In the 2nd picture you can see they have a water show just starting-it kind of matches the music played and in the 3rd picture you can see the water better. At Christmas this place is lit up so beautifully!

I reached my first goal-5000 sales!

Well, it happened...and early too! I hit 5000 sales yesterday (in about 7 months)! I was hoping for it to happen in May but it happened yesterday! I was watching it like a hawk...4994....4996...4998 and then it happened!

I want to thank every one of my customers for making this possible!!

I LOVE etsy!!!

Now...on to my next goal!

It's Snowing!!

It's snowing! This is the view from my front door! This mountain is called "joyama" and it is so pretty covered in snow! It is pretty rare to have snow in March. It has been raining/snowing here for 4 days and I'm so glad it has been mostly rain since people around here panic when snow falls.It is kind of amusing since I'm Canadian and used to snow. Anyway, just thought I would share the picture!

Starbucks Cell Phone Strap

I LOVE starbucks. When I first came to Japan there weren't any in Fukuoka and I really don't like Japanese coffee places because first, I hate Japanese coffee and second, I always feel like I should drink and go. So I was thrilled when starbucks opened years ago.

Anyway, recently my assistant showed me her cool "keitai" strap (cell phone strap) and she said she would look for one for me later that day when she went into town. Well, they were sold out...in fact all of the starbucks in the area were sold out. So, I phoned my friend in Tokyo and asked her to pick me up one and she had to go to 5 starbucks before she could find one! I tell ya, Japanese love their cell phone straps!!!

So, I have a question for all of you since I get this question all the time....do Americans (Canadians, Europeans....all non-Japanese people) love cell phone straps like Japanese do? I don't know the answer since I have lived here for so long but I tell you sometime you can't see the phone for all the straps hanging off it!! Would love some answers....thanks!