CANADA DAY SALE!!

Canada Day is coming (July 1st) and I'm missing it again!! I miss the celebrations ...and the fireworks...hanging with the family etc! So I decided to have our first ever sale...a Canada Day Sale. Here is the exact words from my shops...don't mind the all caps announcement...I didn't want anyone to miss it on our stores' front page!

TO CELEBRATE CANADA DAY (JULY 1ST) ALL ORDERS OVER $25 GET 10% OFF THE ENTIRE ORDER (INCLUDING THE SHIPPING). JUST ORDER AND PAY AS USUAL AND WE WILL REFUND YOU THE 10%!! WE WILL COMBINE ORDERS FROM ANY OF OUR STORES. THIS OFFER IS VALID ONLY ON JULY 1 2009 (AS LONG AS THE DATE ON THE ETSY RECEIPT SAYS JULY 1ST) AND CAN'T BE COMBINED WITH ANY OF OUR SHIPPING DISCOUNTS NORMALLY OFFERED.


OFFER VALID IN THE FOLLOWING STORES:

http://www.fromjapanwithlove.etsy.com/

http://www.decosweets.etsy.com/

http://www.fabricfromjapan.etsy.com/

http://www.vintagefromjapan.etsy.com/

http://www.souzoucreations.etsy.com/

http://www.from-japan-with-love.etsy.com/

www.bonanzle.com/fromjapanwithlove

Now Offering Advertising!

I have been busy! We opened another etsy store-FabricFromJapan.etsy.com We don't have much up yet but it is all set and I will be adding new things daily. I just felt that our main store was too big so now we have 5 etsy stores, 1 yahoo store and 1 bonanzle booth!

We decided to open a bonanzle booth (they don't say "store") because we wanted something where we could sell anything but we didn't want to join ebay (love shopping there but didn't want to sell there). Everyone is always talking about not putting all your eggs in one basket and while there are many sites out there they either didn't accept supplies(or our other goods like bentos etc), didn't have the traffic or just didn't feel right but with bonanzle it is another way to get our name out there and be able to sell everything. Time will tell how it goes.

I also revamped both my blogs and I'm quite happy with the results! I am now also accepting advertising-people's etsy minis (2x2) for $3.5 a month. I am so excited to be able to help out other etsy sellers! I found out about the ad directory while searching the etsy forums about advertising. I didn't quite understand project wonderful (a form of advertising) and I had read stories about how it didn't work for people. And then I found this thread on the forums while researching about project wonderful http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6184253 I followed the link to Tara's blog (she created the ad directory) and it just made sense to me! Tara is super sweet...she helped me figure out how to change my blogs to 3 columns and she will add me to the directory so others can find me and I am advertising on her blog. Win win situation all around!

I'm offering the advertising on both blogs. On this blog I can tell you that I get about 800 visits a week with over 1100 page views per week and it is growing. If you would like to advertise, after you pay, just email me your etsy 2x2 mini code via any of my etsy store's or through the email in my profile here on my blog. If you have any questions, please ask! And please check out Tara's blog for more info.

Swine flu has hit close to home and other news

Well, the weekend is here and I'm happy! I went out today and took this picture of the mountain we live near....beautiful!


We are supposed to be in the middle of "tsuyu" or rainy season but so far it has not rained much. This is bad since the rice needs the rain. As you can see from the pictures I took yesterday from work, the rice fields have been flooded and rice is being planted. Soon beautiful green rice will be everywhere! (It looks like a work at a jail with the wire in the glass windows...but I don't!)

You can tell that it is getting hot out when you see ladies using umbrellas to keep the sun off them...no it isn't so much a concern about skin cancer but tanning....they HATE tanned skin here. I always hear my students' mothers talk about how "kuro" or dark their skin is due to the sun and then they touch my skin and say "iina!!" (means they are jealous) and then I have to tell them that only in Japan is my very white skin not embarrassing to me. I remember my dad telling me my legs looked like the underside of a dead fish....needless to say I spent a lot of money on tanning beds at one time in my life.

Well, swine flu has hit Fukuoka (the state I live in) and actually pretty close to where I live. Sadly, an exchange student from Australia brought it with her to an all girls school in the big city near me so the school has been closed and all students must stay home (one of my students was absent at my school because she goes to that school) so that is why today, when I went to the mall, I saw hand sanitizer on a table between the inner and outer doors to the mall. Also, the McDonald's' staff were all wearing face masks....they didn't look happy about it either but since this is the land of face masks, it wasn't that surprising.

This next picture I meant to put in my last blog entry but forgot. This is corn tea. Every time we go to our favorite yakiniku restaurant, they give us this stuff at the end and (to me) it is pretty awful. I am assuming they roast corn and then make a tea out of it. Which reminds me of another tea I hate in Japan which is "mugicha" or "wheat tea" . Wheat tea is a summer drink and frankly reminds me of an ashtray. Anybody ever had it and liked it? Thankfully there are other teas I love to drink!!

Hisashiburi! Long time no blog!

It has been a while since I blogged-I've been busy! I finally get to go pick up my spousal visa so I'm so relieved that it will be over with! I've also been booking appointments back in Canada...eye doctor, dentist, lawyers to make a will...etc etc. We will be busy in Canada...perhaps not as relaxing as I would like it to be. So...I don't have too much to say except it is getting hot here!!! UGH..."tsuyu" or rainy season has started so it has been getting humid. Needless to say, the air conditioner will be my best friend for the next 4-4.5 months. At least for 2 weeks I will have better weather in Canada!
Since not much is new, I thought I would share some pictures.


The first 3 pictures are taken at a local mall....kids were trying to catch fish with paper nets.




Here are some bottles of sake that are decorated and ready for summer!

In Japan, many people stand and read (not open and glance at it...I mean READ) magazines at the bookstore and at 7-11 stores, so they have to wrap them to stop people from reading them. They might leave 1 open so people can check it out.

Here are some pics of my favorite little guy (he is my student's little brother)





Their mom (the kids in the pics above) made these beads from round PET bottles (for colas etc). Her whole neighbourhood is making them to use for decorating something for a children's festival.




She told me how to make them....hope I got this right. She takes the round PET bottles and cuts off the smooth parts (which is at the top and maybe the bottom-wherever it is smooth). Then she cuts along the seams so she gets 2 pieces. Then she cuts them into 1cm wide x 2 cm long strips. She paints the inside of the little strip (so the side that would have touched the cola). Then she prepares a toaster oven (not a regular toaster) to get real hot. Then she puts the strips on the little toaster pan with the painted side up. When the oven is super hot she puts them in for 10 SECONDS and they curl up. She pulls them out and lets them cool and voila...beads! I might be the only one who thinks they are cool but man...they were pretty cool to see and my boss loves giving her his round bottles...less for him to recycle!