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!!

We finally chose our New Year's Food

As I mentioned in the other blog post, New Year's celebrations are big here and eating "osechi" or traditional Japanese New Year's food is a big part of it. I can't cook it and we are having his parents over so we decided to order it. There are so many places offering osechi but we picked this one. It is 3 layers and happily....40% off. Normally this would be about $200. We were going to get a bigger one but since I won't eat much of this (I love Japanese food but osechi is different), I will make some/buy some non Japanese food for all of us.

We will also have Nihonshu (sake) to toast the New Year, beer for his dad, sparkling wine for the rest of us and sweets as his mom loves sweets.

New Year's eve.....traditionally people eat soba so I'm guessing at the supermarket soba will be everywhere! The other day when we went down the instant noodle aisle all the instant soba noodles were sold out! I will buy some soba for my honey on the 31st. Then, we will watch some crazy Japanese TV including the big K-1 fights. Here is a link to the fights for that night http://www.k-1.co.jp/en/event/2009/1231_dynamite/index.html Some of the tickets go for $10,000 and they are all sold out!

I'm off to do some accounting so I can hand everything over to my accountant soon!

Merry Christmas!! And....lots of pictures!

Merry Christmas!!

I'm sitting here drinking sparkling grapefruit wine (very yummy!), listening to the audio book "A Christmas Carol" on my ipod while my honey is taking a nap. It may be Christmas but we went to the post office, bank and many stores today....so it doesn't really feel like it here. But we did eat Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch and here that is considered Christmas food!!

So I am now on winter holidays and am thankful for that. It has been busy with orders, 2 school Christmas parties and deciding what to have for New Year's lunch (my in-laws are coming over so it has to be good and traditional). I thought I would share the pictures I have taken over the last little while. There are pics from the 2 parties at my school and pictures I took while shopping. I think they are interesting.....but warning...there are many of them!

These first 6 pictures are from a class Christmas party. These kids are too young to join the other party and the moms always come and help.

The next set of pictures are from the party we had on Saturday the 19th. We always do a craft and this time we made parfait cell phone straps using whip clay and fruit slices and sparkly things. They had a blast!

The next set are from the supermarket. We went yesterday and wow!! The people and the chicken!!! Honestly, I have never seen so many fried, sauteed, glazed chickens. Apparently, Christmas dinner is eaten on the 24th because when we went today ...no more chicken!!

Here are the decorations and Christmas goods at the supermarket including expensive Christmas cakes!!

This cake is about $40!!

Of course, Japanese are also preparing for New Year's day which is what is really celebrated here. So, you can already buy food for that special day...some are very cute!!






Mickey mouse mochi!! (mochi are chewy rice cakes)

Nihonshu (sake) with gold shavings!

I'm off to open some Christmas presents now that my honey is awake!! Merry Christmas!!

Kerosene makes me sneeze!

I can't believe 2 weeks have gone by since I last blogged! I or rather, we, have been super busy with orders and stuff! My rings have been flying off the shelf (for me at least!) so I've been trying to keep up and poof.....2 weeks passed! We are getting excited about going away and of course our camera has suddenly been acting up....we thought it died the other day but it might have some life in it yet. We now know that sooner rather than later we will be shopping for a new camera. It is a good season to shop as there are tons of sales so hopefully we can find something we like.

So.....the title of this blog post was something I thought up the other day....as I was sneezing....because of kerosene. Let me explain. In many parts of Japan (including where I live), there is no central heat (though it is cold enough to snow!) so there are a variety of ways to keep a house or rather 1 room at a time, warm and the most popular/cheapest is kerosene heaters. When I first came to Japan my boss told me not to get one as many people die each year because of them. That was good enough for me-I have never used one. I have had many conversations with my students about this as many use them and swear they are safe. They might be safe but man....they smell. The minute my students step into my room I can tell which family uses them as the smell just seems to be attached to them, their clothes etc. Well...the other day I had a private student and the minute he walked in all I did was sneeze for 5 minutes. He asked me if I was ok and I said yes but asked him if he used kerosene at home and the answer was yes. He was fascinated by the fact that I sneezed because of it and that I could smell it. I told him that never in Canada had I been around it so the smell for me is very distinct. Perhaps I am alone in this thinking/sensitivity? Perhaps I am just weird!

Speaking of weird!!!! How about this-oden in a can!!!! UGH! Ok...oden is a very delicious food popular in winter and is pretty easy to make so I think this "convenience" food is just taking it a bit far! I don't know...it just does not look good to me!