If you are a guy in Japan....Valentine's Day might be disappointing!

In Japan, Valentine's Day is a bit different. The tradition here is that girls/women give chocolate to guys (girls get a present from those guys in March on "white day" -they get white gifts like white chocolate, marshmallow covered chocolate etc). Also, there is "giri choco" which basically means "obligation chocolate". Women give chocolate to their bosses or some other important men in their lives-this is expected and has a long tradition in Japan.

But what is a new trend in Japan is "tomo choco" meaning "friendship chocolate" and according to a recent survey 74 percent of women plan to give a Valentine's gift to a female friend but only 32 percent intended to buy something for a boyfriend. In another survey a chocolate maker surveyed 500 women and 92% said they had received tomo choco from a friend last year. And of these women, only 11.2 percent said they plan to give chocolates to a someone they love.

So....there is a good chance many men will be "chocolateless" on Valentine's here in Japan.

Ya just gotta love her...

I know this has nothing to do with living in Japan but I felt like sharing. Actually...I guess in a way it has to do with living in Japan in that I miss out on some things.....like TV and the commercials.

Sunday was the Superbowl and while I have no interest in the Superbowl I do like watching commercials (and when we were in Canada in the summer my honey loved watching the TV commercials as they are sooooo different from Japanese commercials). I absolutely love this commercial and who wouldn't since Betty White is in it?! I have loved her since the "golden girls" and there is something about her that reminds me of my grandmother! I hope you enjoy the commercial and I hope when I'm 88 I look this good and can be this young!

New Year's Resolutions, Updates And Our Anniversary!

I can't believe it is already February!! Where did January go? Anyone still working on their New Year's resolutions? So far we are! One of ours was to walk 5-6 times a week when I get home from work and we are still doing it! It is pretty cold (I think I have to give up my Canadian passport as I'm sure many Canadians would laugh at me!) but it just feels so good to walk! We walk around 10:30 pm (sometimes earlier and sometimes later) for 25-40 mins right now. I am planning to increase that so that by sometime in March we are walking closer to 1 hour per night. I can't believe I am saying this but I miss it if we don't walk. We chat a lot about our business, our dreams and sometimes we stop for a minute and look at the stars (we walk in kind of the countryside so we can see lots of stars!).

A few of our other resolutions are about our businesses and our finances. These take more time but we have started making some changes. It is amazing to me how every year we learn so much and I am learning how to follow my gut on things. I'm still watching the Suze Orman pod casts, reading books about money, business etc. I'm trying to find as many interesting and suitable pod casts, blogs etc. I want to learn as much as possible so that I can make the right choices. Last year, one of the most important things we focused on was advertising and it has paid off. This year I guess is it about "focused growth". The thing is ....Japan has so many things we could sell but after 2.5 years in business we are feeling like we are finally figuring out what we want to sell...and what actually sells-what people want to buy and what products or product areas are growing. It feels good to reign it in a bit and focus on certain things and listening to our customers etc. Anyway, enough about resolutions....though I'm curious if anyone else is still doing theirs!


In other news....I just found out that one of my pics of Niagara Falls (from our trip to Canada last summer) was included in the online Schmap guide of Niagara falls. You can check out the picture here -it is the picture in the upper right corner and it has my name, Sofia Takami, under it http://www.schmap.com/niagarafalls/sights_lewiston/#p=254735&i=254735_319.jpg I just thought that was pretty cool. My hubby submitted the photo and they picked it!

Saturday is our 1 year wedding anniversary! I can't believe one year is already gone! We are planning to go into the city to our favorite yakiniku restaurant http://www.tsunaya.co.jp/nurubon/hakata/index.html If you click on the buttons under the "menu" you will see more pictures of delicious food!!

And on Sunday his parents are taking us out for Chinese for lunch http://www.8000.co.jp/rest/koga/index.html I love Chinese so I'm very happy about this too!!

Hopefully I will remember to take some pics and post them later!

A Japanese commercial promoting the show "Glee"

The show "Glee" is about to start airing in Japan...sometime in February I believe. Anyway, I don't know anything really about the show and I'm guessing that most Japanese are in the same boat. So...to promote it Fox came out with a very interesting commercial. I just don't know if it will make people actually watch the show! Btw-for those of you who don't know, the sumo wrestler in the commercial is Akebono. He was a Yokozuna which means he was a grand champion. So it is kind of interesting that he is in this type of commercial.

Japan's New Finance Minister Wants His Staff To Have More Sex

Yup...you read that right! Apparently the new minister feels that if his staff makes love...productivity will improve and will somehow help the debt crisis! But this is a country where 34 percent of Japanese respondents to a survey said they have sex once a week!

He wants people to go home at 6pm-just like they do in the West. At least there will be chance of sex happening. This is a country after all where husbands often come home at midnight and wake up at 5 so there is very little chance of sex happening when exhausted!

You might want to read the article http://www.businessinsider.com/japans-finance-minister-pushes-for-more-sex-to-shrink-the-debt-2010-1

Keeping Warm Japanese Style

Lately it has been cold here and last week it snowed. Now, as I Canadian I know that the cold in Fukuoka is nothing like we get back home but for those who don't know there is no central heat in most homes in Japan. That means when you go to the bathroom or go to take a bath you might as well be outside and that is a kind of cold I never experienced in Canada in my house.

So, I thought I would show some pictures of what people here use to keep warm.

For sleeping, people wear an unbelievable amount of clothes to bed. I mean I'm talking about pajamas and then a kind of padded/quilted bed coat socks and more. And here some other things people use to keep warm while sleeping.


While sitting in the living room and for eating the "kotatsu" (electric table) is popular. Personally I hate these as I see them as dust traps (Japan is incredibly dusty-you could dust your house everyday and still find lots of dust!) and your lower half will be warm/hot but the rest of you will be cold-at least that has been my experience. The kotatsu has a heater beneath the table and the hard table top comes off...you put a special blanket on it and then replace the table top on top of the blanket and you sit covered up by the blanket which traps the heat so it can get pretty toasty in there. Even people who like them says they make you lazy because it is so toasty under it and the room is usually very cold so you never want to leave it!



Also, cold feet are problem here so here are some pictures of feet warmers.

Wherever you are, I hope you are warm!!

It's late but Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

I had a very relaxing time off though I did have a bit of a cold. Hubby's family came over on the 1st and we ate the "osechi" we bought plus I made some food. We ate, drank and chatted. It was fun but they brought up the topic of kids. We don't want them...don't get me wrong...I love kids but I don't want my own. They are worried about who will take care of us when we are older. Well...my mom (who doesn't actually need to be taken care of!) has 3 kids but 2 of us live in foreign countries and the one who actually lives in Canada is still a 5 hour plane ride away. So... you never know if your kids will even be around! Sadly, I think the topic will come up again.

I don't know about you but 2010 feels different from 2009. I mean different in a positive way. I am so excited about this year. We have some business goals we are working towards and I have many personal ones as well. Of course, some goals are around money both business and personal. I have downloaded all the Suze Orman podcasts (man I love podcasts) and I joined the http://www.dailyworth.com/ blog which is great and while all the info doesn't apply to a Canadian living in Japan, there is still lots of great stuff. Anyway, it all just feels so good and so right! Hopefully I will feel the same way as the year progresses.

I went back to work on Wednesday and I have to say I just wasn't ready for it....after working only 3 days I am pooped!! But my last student had some pretty cool nails that I thought I would show you. She is 20 so on Sunday all over Japan there are "coming-of-age" ceremonies and the girls usually get all decked out. Her mom rented her a beautiful kimono and paid for eye lash extensions and the nails. The nails alone cost $150 but they are beautiful!

Anyway, I wish everyone the best for this year!!