落ち込んでしまうような事も
生きていれば当然のようにあるさって

柔らかな陽射しの中で Cry
いつだって教えてくれる

風の中
微笑んでる

ひまわりが咲く季節になったなら
会いにゆこう 会いにゆこう ah ah

優しくなれる

あの海は今でも窓から見えますか?
みんな　みんな　元気ですか? ah ah

…いつまでも泣いてちゃいけないね

やすらぎの次にはまた試練だって
そんな風に考えたら苦しくなるもんね

想い出は穏やかなまま Cry
残して置きたいのよ

波の音
聴こえてくる

砂浜を 裸足で駆け回っていた
嬉しくて 嬉しくて ah ah

歌を口ずさんだ

ふるさとの 空を見上げたりしてますか?
忘れてた 忘れてた ah ah

…いつまでも泣いてちゃいけないね

すべてを欲しがってばかりじゃ
先へはちょっと la la la la

進めないって わかってるんだ
あたしにだって

あの頃に見えた未来は
もっと輝いていたから ah ah

ひまわりが 咲く季節になったなら
会いにゆこう 会いにゆこう ah ah

優しくなれる

あの海は 今でも窓から見えますか?
みんな みんな 元気ですか? ah ah

…いつまでも泣いてちゃいけないね

ah ah いつも ありがとう

la la la la la la la
oh my Sea

oh-chan gets no solo in Everything

and sho looks bad with short hair. he looks older. he is really starting to look like a newscaster

had a full day of training today. lecturer was extremely dynamic and enthusiastic so i didn't have to try too hard to stay awake. i think the first week is pretty exciting cos we are doing something different everyday. next week it's going to be business as usual.

random pics

with fellow intern rachel.



completely irrelevant but this was the second most recent pic in my phone. fealteria along waseda-dori. ahh. japan makes awesome cakes.

no phone. internet is slow.

i caught yatterman on the plane. very lame but i think sakurai looked so cute in his costume..i think that was why doronjo, no. 2 and shoko all fell for him.

and the food JAL serves hasn't improved at all.

sg actually feels cooler than japan. it's nice being back in my room..

going home on wed. i don't think i've ever brought this much stuff back home.
a list of what i think make pretty good souvenirs

1) limited edition pocky and fran


2) fruits. my family loves them. my mum totally chided me when i got peaches from takano the last time. but after eating them she only eats japanese peaches now..




3) stuff from royce.
they have quite a wide range of stuff which isn't available outside japan.

pineapple choc


basically, go for limited edition stuff.

4) hiyoko
because i think they look so cute


5) wagashi
i usually buy quite a bit for myself if i'm going to be away for some time. unfortunately they do not last for long.


mochi <3 <3



6) shiroikoibito


7) gadgets.
like puchi-puchi even though it's not exactly new


gun o'clock alarm clock


8) weird things
i found this at kiddyland


9) mochicream
i would totally bring this if i could.but it melts really quickly. i've seen shops in singapore selling them but it doesn't taste anything like the real thing.



10) kanten
i think i'll try bringing these back this time



what i refrain from buying
1) rice crackers (because i realise people cannot tell the difference between a 500yen/piece rice cracker and a 100 yen pack)

2) youkan (this is actually quite expensive when you buy from the good shops like toraya but nobody i know seems to appreciate them)

had crepes at omotesando, so i popped into kiddyland for a while..

the latest line of yoshiki merchandise - the YOSHIKITTY


as much as i love the man, i think this is really lame. also, having the band logo on ピカソ plastic bags is really...cheap...



finally got myself a puchi-puchi. it's actually noisier than i thought. the click click click everytime u squeeze it is quite loud. and it makes a sound every 100 times u press it. but it's good for stress-relief..

attempts to correct my sleeping cycle have failed terribly. i have currently moved one continent from european time to US time. sigh

finally went down to roppongi hills to catch angels and demons. i thought it was really good, huge huge improvement from da vinci code, although i'd have preferred if they had stuck completely to the book. what was with the parachute???

i recall reading somewhere they weren't allowed to film in the sistine chapel so they had to reconstruct it and parts of the vatican. but i thought it all came out pretty realistic in the film. isn't it like usually really dark in the sistine chapel? i can only remember the throngs of tourists, camera flashes (because it was so dark), and the guards desperately trying to shush people. the frescoes looked way better on the pamphlets than they did irl.

had dinner at konaya, followed by ice cream, which is somewhat my 定番 when i go to roppongi hills. i haven't eaten at konaya in ages. it was every bit as good as i remembered.

sent out my app for a stint at a consulting firm yesterday. they were surprisingly fast in making their decision, which worries me. what can they possibly know about me from my answers to a couple of questions? (actually i'm also trying to recall what i wrote that might have influenced their decision..maybe they were impressed with my effort to fill out the envelope properly??) i'm supposed to go down to finalise details and sign some papers next week..talk about fast.

( HK/Macau update )

my sleeping cycle is still warped. managed to adjust when i was in hk cos i was so exhausted but now that i'm back, it's back to sleeping after the sun rises.

started detoxing as well. i had so much junk in hong kong (awesome stuff though unhealthy).

doing my ES for a consulting firm. i think i'm crazy. i'm really trying to fill up my holidays completely.

a lot of prep to do before i fly home next week.

it was insanely hot in hk and macau.

greeted by the torrential rainfall upon landing in tokyo. 最悪でした。 but the temperature's a nice 18 deg. going to unpack and catch up on stuff.

doing research for hk trip next week. brings back memories of days in europe although research for hk mainly consists of checking up which shops have the best egg tarts and roast pigeons. going to macau as well, i think i was influenced by how nice it looked in kkotbodanamja..

can't believe this was just 3 months ago..look at all that snow.





cruising on the norwegian sea..

i definitely want to go skiing in europe this winter..

completely random but did you know the moomins are actually trolls??

i always thought they were albino hippopotamuses ..

there are a lot of weird people friending me on lj. people who have those stupid get-rich-quick scheme ads...gah.



got this from 愛川 near the station yesterday. yum.

the dutch ambassador to japan, the silver-haired man on the left was just the epitome of a seasoned diplomat. he kept the conversation flowing throughout the entire dinner. extremely cordial atmosphere, with doses of humour here and there..zero pauses, no awkwardness. he managed to maintain eye contact with every single person at the dining table and managed to successfully engage everyone in conversation. most amazingly, he managed to finish his food despite talking throughout dinner.

for some reason, i was chosen as the first start the conversation going. got thrown the democracy in south east asia question, which i managed to deflect. i think after being overseas for a while, you kind of have rehearsed responses to such cliched topics. other topics ranged from sino-japanese relations to islam to the european union to gender equality. food was pretty good, i think. didn't pay much attention to what i was putting into my mouth..




ZOMG THEY REALLY KILLED SCOFIELD OFF IN PRISON BREAK!!!!
why does everybody else get a happy ending when he doesn't? this is so unfair. excuse me while i emo.

my study area. my prison for the next few days.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8039383.stm
i think the pope should stop making all these visits.

it stopped raining today.やっと洗濯できた
8am. i'm going to bed.

bumped into sean while waiting for yanling. he was gushing about his newborn who has blue-gray eyes. anyway i saw the pictures and she is real cute and looks almost completely caucasian..

also visited our new building..which is nice, except for the fact that we have to share it with commerce. unfortunately the irritating and incompetent I-san at the office has not been fired. i have no idea why they didn't use the crisis to weed such people out.

( 久しぶりの学食 )

dreary weather. stayed in to mug.

the only highlight was that the asian stock market was bullish today

i turn 21 this weekend.
no major differences really. japan recognised me as an adult when i turned 20.

i wrote about japanese efficiency in my last entry. DHL doesn't do deliveries during golden week. u can still get hold of a customer service officer through the phone though.

after europe i'm thankful enough the supermart is open during public holidays.

meeting yanling this week for lunch. gosh it has been so long. lehui u should join us in tokyo instead of going to middlebury..hahaha

my journey back couldn't have been more tiring. i admit i was a little too relaxed about timing because vantaa airport is usually pretty empty and i can waltz through the whole check-in, security in less than half an hour. so anyway, i left early on 2nd may, after the whole may day celebrations, there were very few people out on the streets early the next morning. was waiting for my taxi to come BUT IT NEVER DID. so i had to run out to the main street with all my luggage. stopped a random finn on the street and he offered to call a taxi for me which came in less than 10 mins. the driver could tell i was really in a hurry. after i told him i had to drop my keys off first, he broke the rules and drove all the way up the kerb so i could rush back to the cab after returning the keys to the mailbox. got to the airport in 20 mins, and i tipped him extremely generously because i was so grateful.

i have to say though i am really not that fond of finland, the finns are extremely nice people. they are really quiet and shy people but if u ever ask for help they are more than willing to do so.

got to check-in (thank goodness for online check-in, i saved some time) and my luggage was like way overweight, so i had to make another trip to the air france ticket office to pay. excess baggage rates are always exorbitant. i so regret not accumulating mileage from before. considering all the long-haul flights i've taken, i'd probably qualify for a silver card or something..

anyway, before i actually got on the plane i was already exhausted. in the past i've had closer shaves..like trying to change planes within an hour (this would be like mission impossible in italy). this time it was terribly physically draining because i'd been running around like crazy since dawn clearing my room and all.

anw air france was fantastic as usual. plane was much nicer than fellow klm. i really have a great impression of european airlines. never had any negative experiences with proper airlines. the japanese airlines are pretty good, but i really cannot say the same about other asian airlines. like our national carrier..:S

it's kinda like the service factor vs the plane facilities. our national carrier has nice seats, good in-flight entertainment, but it scores pretty badly in the human factor area. whereas for airlines like finnair, they clearly are not as well-equipped, and the food on long-haul flights is pretty bad. but the crew are just so genuinely nice and accommodating i would choose them over our overrated national carrier any day.

anw air france serves really good food, and u get haagen dazs ice cream in between..there were quite a few french japanese couples on the flight. it really is true that japanese women are marrying western men at an alarming rate.

i remember how my japanese friend once told me japanese people usually refrain from ordering water on flights, because the foreign cabin attendants never understand what they're trying to say. so he usually goes for orange juice. i thought he was joking..i mean, how hard is it to say "water"? until today..the girl next to me repeated ウォーター four times to the french cabin attendant who looked completely nonplussed..he probably thought it was some novel japanese thing. he turned to me and asked if i could translate her order =.= i think they should just dump ウォーター and go for "evian" or "vittel".

anw narita was really really empty. i wonder if it's because of the flu. even the baggage delivery service was giving discounts..

got back, had a fantastic sushi lunch, complete with tea and 柏餅。 santoku has a new version of my favourite mochi an pan. it's now green tea flavoured. can i just say 幸せ？？？zonked out for a couple of hours...when i got up my luggage was here. ah japanese efficiency I MISSED YOU!!!


ok down to european commission v hellenic republic commentary. BAH

and i'm flying this sat. changing at charles de gaulle. which is usually completely disorganised and swarming with people. i'm pretty sure by saturday there will be reported cases in france since it's just across the channel and considering the high volume of people which take the london-paris route everyday..

this is like sars all over again. i'm considering flying to tokyo direct to save myself trouble.

this epidemic couldn't have chosen a worse time to strike. just when we're mired in the worst recession in decades.
and utterly bad news for school. since loads of people are starting to make their way back from the states to japan.

the yen is back up due to barrage of bad news. so tempting. but i'm holding back. because even at the bottom, it seems things can get a lot worse ne?

ah. get me on a plane back to japan already!

http://bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aIgYoV82eEX0

Night owls have an easier time staying awake and concentrating than early birds, a study found.

Belgian researchers tracked small groups of people who would naturally rise at about 5 a.m., and their nocturnal counterparts, who would get up between 11 a.m. and noon. After being awake for 1.5 hours, there was no difference between the two groups in brain function or performance, according to the study, which will be published tomorrow in the journal Science.

Nine hours later, the early birds showed less activity in brain areas linked to attention, felt more tired and tended to perform more slowly on a set task. The late risers, feeling less pressure to snooze, may have a harder time dozing off when they should, said Philippe Peigneux of the University of Liege in Belgium, who supervised the research.

doing credit calculations. i wish the school would give proper guidelines on how they usually convert credits. it isn't a problem for me to graduate early as planned but if they're generous with their conversion i can do less in my last 2 semesters..and perhaps spend some time job-hunting.

summer's gonna be pretty cool. well i've got 3 papers lined up in japan which i need to clear. possibility of an interpreting job in may. foreign investment bank internship fixed from june to aug. other random working opportunities. and then i'll find a way to spend part of the money earned before the summer hols end..

i mentioned a few entries back how i totally missed out on the rise of the GBP. i made neat profits on its tragic fall today. hah.

went out shopping for stuff to bring back. i got myself marimekko cups! it's a pretty big finnish brand..they do clothes, bags, household stuff and i've bought like tons of stuff from marimkekko as gifts for people but i haven't got anything for myself yet.

the latest line for tableware




pretty pretty

trying to lug back punschrulle and other finnish snacks as well.

ok back to econs..

got our essays handed back today. the lecturer who was educated in the uk voiced a couple of observations about the essays. apparently quite a number of them didn't have conclusions, which he found extremely strange, because issues would be discussed and then the essay would just end abruptly. and he also made a point about how quite a few people didn't have proper referencing with footnotes and whatnot which he felt would be very much frowned upon in the anglo-saxon world. at this point, a french student said, "but in france, we don't have to write conclusions! it is very strange you know. because you just repeat what you said earlier so we don't see the point. and we never ever do footnotes. that's the way we were taught."




random, but u gotta hand it to hillary clinton..http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8004069.stm