Life of a japaneses girl who became overnight a shop owner

animal fortune-telling(dobutu uranai)

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:43:00 +0900

Hello Friends!

I am sorry that I couldn't write this English blog for long time after coming back from my domestic trip!
It was really nice and I have lots of pictures that you will be interested in, however, I am quite lazy to up.......anyway in few days, I will introduce my experiences and nice pictures.......so please forgive me.

Instead of it, I will give you a very trustworthy and interesting fortune-teller called " dobutu uranai" in Japanese. dobutu = animal uranai= fortune-telling

We Japanese really like these things.
You might doubt this but I promise that this works....this tells exactly your character.
Just put on your birthday ....that is all.....

Try it now ↓

dobutsu uranai

Me? Of course I did and I don't have any excuse about it .....but I hope it will be wrong only final phrase......
My animal is Gold Pegasus ( well not an animal though.... --;)
This is me ....haha 100% agree to this result...... ↓
You are Gold Pegasus, who is extremely cheerful and seems like a very open person. You can show consideration to others, and have a good sense of humor. You are also a person who doesn't want to loose.However, you can be very temperamental, and can suddenly become optimistic, and next minute you are very pessimistic.You look for fancy atmosphere in daily life, but you know that is only to cover up for your own dissatisfaction and discontent. You possess unworldly bilateral character.You have very unique personality, and people who like you and those who don't are clearly divided.You tend to be audacious, but you must be careful when you use it. Because Gold Pegasus people tend to be divided into those who exhibit great talent and those who can go stray from the right path.Unlike your confident attitude, you are rather too nervous, sensitive and can easily change or give up your objectives. Your natural instinct is fabulous, and you have a passionate personality. You tend to lead life with lots of emotional ups and downs.You dislike being restricted, and prefer to enjoy freedom, and this will not change even after you get married. Therefore there is a chance of you getting divorced.

Enjoy!!

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The late summer vacationes!!

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Wed, 5 Sep 2007 12:27:00 +0900

My friend invited me for shikoku trip!!
There are some reason but it doesn't matter!!
I have not had summer vacation yet and have not traveled for a while except Chinese business trip, so I am excited!!
The schedule is from 7Th of September until 10Th of September.....

I fly from Tokyo Haneda airport.
We don't directly fly to shikoku, we arrive at Osaka and then we take a trip bus and then a ferry!!
Wow.......there are fourprefectures and for 4 days we will go around three prefectures and last day, we go to Hiroshima and fly there to Tokyo.

I have to arrive in Haneda airport until 7:10
It takes more than one hour half, so ooops, what time should I leave home? (--;)
In the truth, Tokyo Narita international airport is much closer to my house, it is much easier for me to go abroad!!

oh- my god!! Typhoon is coming to Japan....I wish it would be gone somewhere!!

Anyway I am so excited and am looking forward to showing lots of picture here.....

Now I am thinking which carry bag I will use.....
As I am working in bag's field for long time, I have many carry bags.(suitcase)
I have almost 10 suitcases and my mother claim me that my things occupy most space!!
oh- it must be added more later hahahah

ok! have to prepare now!!

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Our homepage is translated in English!!

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:35:00 +0900

Here is our website (Artist-Japan-Fashion) translated in English.....google
Hummm........how much can you understand?
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fartist-japan-fashion.com%2F&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8

I think that it is very difficult to be translated from Japanese to English.
Maybe it is easier from English to Japanese because Japanese has various way to say for one word. For example " I "........in Japanese, watashi, washi, boku, ore, wagahai watakushi, uti etc.....
All mean " I" but they have different nyuance.

That is why Japanese is not translated well by Automatic Translation Machine.

Anyway let me know how much you can understand and how strange it is.....
I am curious about it!!
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Tokyo is a good place to eat!!

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 15:13:00 +0900

Yesterday I went to AKASAKA(center of Tokyo) for lunch with my friend.
It was a french restaurant named " Le Physalis ".
It is a small restaurant, however it is very pretty, comfortable, good foods, and reasonable price for the content. (Dinner curse's price has recently increased. 4700 yen and 6000 yen)
There are three lunch curses, and we chose 2100 yen curse.(about US$16.80)
Full curse's price is 3500yen(about US$28), however, it might be too big for lady.

Let's see pictures!

First appetizer (otoshi) you can't chose.

This is a mousse of avocado and tomato jelly over it.
It was very soft and light.....tomato jelly's acidity was a point of this dishes.

Second appetizer is choose by you from three dishes.
We choose corn soup and shrimp & potato salad with green source.

Soup was wonderful......tasted corn's natural sweetness and it was whipped.That is why the feeling when you ate was softer!

The shrimp& potato salad is also good. Simple taste but the shrimp was very fresh.
Third is a main dishes, which is also you can chose.
I chose" The tomato stew of cow muscles" with gnocchi(ニョッキ？）

This was very soft and tasty.....however, we have almost been full........

My friend ordered "The saute of a duck"
We shared them and I might like this duck more than cow.....This source was so good and the duck meat was soft ....I think because of a just right baking degree. Good cooked.

Final dessert, I chose Gateau chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream and chocolate source.

My friend chose fig cake with almond cream....

Both were delicious!! You can chose a cup of coffee or tea with a dessert.

This A curse was only 2100 yen.(about US$16.8)Don't you think it is very cheap?
Of course you can eat homemade bread as much as you like.

This bread is also very tasty!!

Hummm.....I think Japan is a competitive country, that is why restaurant price is competitive too....This is good for us, though.....owners must be sweating.....

Anyway I think foreigners think Tokyo is a expensive country, but I think Tokyo is very good because there are lots of place to eat and you can eat every kind of food with reasonable price. ( Of course, there are very expensive restaurants too but am talking in general and it is compared with Europe.

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Le Physalis
2-9-3 AKASAKA, MINATO-KU, TOKYO,
2F
TEL: 03-5561-0805
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You should reserve before visiting!!

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Japan is a safe country but and also a very dangerous country.....

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 01:56:00 +0900

Maybe you still remember a month ago a big earthquake happened in NIGATA( North Japan)
It has not been recovered yet( buildings, transportation and houses), however, it is a country side so still damage was less than Earthquake in KOBE.

By the way, recent days lots of earthquake happen in my area........
They are not such big like earthquake in Nigata or KOBE, are magnitude 3 or 4 ....but ten more earthquakes are happening a day.
We are afraid of coming a big one in KANTO area( tokyo) and if it happens, a damage will be worse than those two earthquakes.

It is said that a big one won't come but who knows?
Japan is a earthquake's country and we never run away from it. So what we can do is preparing....
We are said to prepare a bottle of water and foods at least for 2 or 3 days because in 3 days, water and food will be provided.
We have a training how to act, where to run when it happens at school.......
But in real, it is impossible to behave as you trained.

Because move like this ↓click this movie and feel it
Earthquake in kobe

So you think Japan is the safest country, however it is not true......maybe the most dangerous country.........

☆　momo

The most populer song in Japan

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:50:00 +0900

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Today I present the most popular song now in Japan.

The name was "oshirikajirimushi"
OSHIRI= BUTTOCKS KAJIRI=BITE MUSHI=BUG

The story is that a bug bites buttocks and makes people closer....
He bites, bites, bites.....one day, he bit someone's butt in the city, and it was bitter ...then his mouth became sore and he was sick......

This song has been presented at a kid's TV program, but suddenly, it has been very popular and now you can't even find the CD at a store.....
It's easy to see why it is such a popular song....lol coz it's very cute....

I heard this song a month ago and I fell in love when I listened it with my nephew...
My nephew 7 years and old sings it... very cute......

OK now, let's listen the music!!!
Enjoy it!! click here ↓

oshirikajirimushi by youtube

a mid night visitor.....he scared me

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 02:06:00 +0900

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It is midnight here ......I took a shower and came back to my room.
My room's air conditioner was working and my room should have been really cool and comfortable.....but......I sweated (cold sweat) when I came back to my room.
Because something was on an air- conditioner......so you know it was not a human being....(--;)
　　　　　　　　　　　It was.......↓

It was a baby newt......I can't believe that it was at my room...
Well, he didn't move and looked at me and so did I .....
Hummm......even the newt couldn't endure the hot temperature......
He made me crazy first but I noticed it was better than a cockroach......so I let him stay there (^^)v coz it is just a baby.....
Anyway he gave me a topic of today's blog!!

If you were, what you would do??????

☆　momo

Japanese foods are healthy and tasty!!

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 01:20:00 +0900

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Hello Buddy!
How was your weekend????
As for me, I was just surfing on the net and checking what I needed to take care of some business.
Actually I am writing three blogs. One is for Japanese friends in Japanese, and the others are for foreign friends in English.......all are different a little bit.
But writing blog uses your time lot, doesn't it?

Last Friday, even though it was a very, very hot day, I went out with my friends for dinner.
We chose a Japanese restaurant.
It's a type of restaurant called " izakaya" in Japan (not the name of the restaurant itself, but rather, the type of restaurant)......Izakaya have various price levels, but usually not very expensive like a real Japanese restaurant.
You can eat for a reasonable price, that is why people visit it very often after work....
there are very cheap izakaya for young people and also some are for adults. A difference is price, ambience and type of foods..............this time, we went to a izakaya for adults, so the ambience was so nice, and the foods were healthy and tasty....

First, tofu....but not normal tofu, it is called "egg tofu" --- egg mixed with soy milk.....really healthy and tasty one. Looks nice , doesn't it?

Then various home cooking foods......

And sashimi.....typical menu!!

Lettuce salad with sesame sauce.....this is really easy and tasty....of course healthy, so I will tell you how to make this dressing.

you cut lettuce and wash it. Cut by hand, never by knife for lettuce (tear it with your hands).
If you have it, add cucumber, too.
Add some pepper and salt, white sesame, and at last, pour sesame oil over salad and toss. If salt and pepper are not sufficient to taste, add some more.
Don't put too much at first, add little by little.
That is all, you can eat lots of vegetables healthily.

Japanese special fried chicken with special soy source
This was really good....This was the best of all foods! Well, just my opinion, though....

And dessert....Japanese sweet. " shiratamadango"

The white "pucks" are made of rice powder, and they are served with beans in a sweet sauce. The sauce has sugar in it, which makes it sweet.

I really wonder if you like this because I know only one Italian friend who likes this type of sweet. Others,hated it.......especially Spanish people. They eat beans as food, not as a desert sweet....maybe that is why....

Usually in Izakaya, people drink beer, shochu and sake, but as I don't drink alcohol, I just had a glass of tea!! How sad !!
My friends drank lots of beer and they looked really happy.....
They said no more happiness than drinking cold beer on the hottest day!!
I really envied them when I saw it...... How do I feel if I can drink beer....
Hummm.....how to learn it?

Now you must feel that you are in Japan!! : ))

☆ momo

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Japanese house's tour (momo's house)

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Wed, 8 Aug 2007 21:47:00 +0900

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Hello buddy

Here it is going on hot days.......always 33-35 degrees celsius (about 91.4 to 95 fahrenheit)....
Usually it will be like this until September.....hope it becomes cooler as soon as possible.

Now I am working at my home.
I live with my parents and the house is a one-family home with two stories.
It is quite difficult to have a house in Tokyo, however I live in Chiba (next to Tokyo), and here, we can still live in a house with garden.

As you know, I have just started my own business....so I can't rent an office or warehouse, so I put all products in our Japanese room.
Generally an individual house has some rooms and one of them is Japanese style.
As the Japanese room's symbol, tatami is used there......except a japanese room, I think inside of house is not so different from western's one.

So today, I will show you a real japanese house......Let's go to momo's house tour!!!

Here is a Japanese house .....unfortunally it is full with cartons (my products)

Can you see tatami?
In summer, it is comfortable to take a nap on tatami....it is natural and removes humidity...... Some old-fashioned people put the tatami on a futon, rather than a bed-- however, most of us sleep a tatami that is on top of a bed.
All decorations are Japanese style.

Instead of a curtain, we use syoji in a Japanese room (white paper window). Did you notice that I didn't say "rice paper window?" This is because rice paper is actually a food that is made in either Thailand or Vietnam! THIS paper--the paper in the window--is not edible! Therefore, we never call it "rice paper" in Japan... we call it "white paper."

Anyway now I am making the room useless, I feel a bit guilty, though....

I think you have already known, we Japanese take off shoes when we enter a house.
So a door (entrance) is a special place. There is a step difference, so it is clear that you have to take off shoes.....well I love this culture to take off shoes coz it is more clean, isn't it? Originally, we would take our shoes off so as to keep the floor clean. Before beds, we used to sleep on the floor! We wouldn't want to sleep in a dirty bed. So, we take our shoes off. Now that we have beds, this is just a custom.

We take off shoes and wear slippers in a house.

Finally, bathroom.....not so big a difference... here, we have an open shower. In the winter time, we like a bath and use bathtub (on left, covered in photo).

Our house's bath maybe a bit bigger than an average.....but the system is same.
You can see a bathtub on the left.....
In summer, I don't use a bathtub, do only shower because too hot......however, in winter, Japanese bath style is really good.....you can relax in it.
You wash outside and then relax in hot water in the tub.
Normally we don't change bathtub's water each time. All family use the same water.
Forigners must think it is dirty but we have place to wash first.......(can you see?) and just make you warm in a tub. And after, you take shower before finishing.....
In our case, a bath has a cleaning system and keeps the water warm 24 hours a day.
So clean all time...... :))
Anyway, whenever I am in other countries, I miss a Japanese bath.....Trust me, it is really good and make you feel good!!

How about today's tour?
I am afraid that you think we are still wearing kimono when we sleep :p

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A complicated feeling always on 6th of August

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Mon, 6 Aug 2007 20:44:00 +0900

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Today is 6th of August.

It is called " The day of an atomic bomb."

62 years ago, the atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima ......

My feeling is quite complicated because I read various comments about this issue from other countries. The comments are blaming what Japan did.......so the dropping of the atomic bomb was justice....
and something more....
After reading those comment, I just want to say one thing because there are some misunderstanding.......
Today, the day of an atomic bomb, we are not trying to place blame--say who is wrong, who is the victim.....
We want to say that we should never repeat same mistake.......doesn't matter which country....
I just wish it never happened, and that the world just became a peaceful world as soon as possible.......still many people are struggling .....most of them are innocent.
Those people can't understand what happens....why they have to suffer .......why they always have to run away .....
Today is not a day to fight, is a day that peace is pledged not to be faded.....

By the way, today I got one order and shipped it.
It was a long wallet that I recommend........
It looks very nice......I believe you can take it to a casual party or just going out for lunch or so on.

* A braid (strap) is removable!!

A model is momo 161cm tall

I love this bronze leather and hemp canvas combination.

Our concept is "adult & charming"
Using bronze leather, real swarovski, gold embroidery make this wallet playful, yet elegant....
To the contrary, a print of Nobuko* Takagi's exotic artwork on the front is playful and makes this wallet charming.
Inside, there is a gold angel printed on a green silky cloth...... the cloth is shiny, and it glistens.....it looks gorgeous & pretty.
The angel is Nobuko*Takagi's emblem, so our all products have it somewhere and in various ways...

*This item is momo's favorite, of course, momo is using it everyday !!

We have two types of wallet. One is long, the other is small......Both are quite cool!!
momo is producing what she (I) want(s).

The main point is that it should not be only nice looking (which is nice for finding guys--hahah), but also useful, easy to use and convenient.

We always try to meet people's high expectations!!

☆ momo

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OPENING A NEW BUSINESS IS CHANGING MIND.

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Sun, 5 Aug 2007 15:00:00 +0900

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Hello friends,

Recently Tokyo is really hot and humid.

For example, yesterday it was 34 degrees and today is 35 degrees (93.2 and 95 fahrenheit).
The worst thing is the humidity......maybe better than HK & China but it must be about 80% or more humidity here, too.......and also, it's typhoon season.....

But soon, we will be in obon festival and many people will be on vacations.

Then people go back to to their home town or travel abroad.....so this season is the most expensive season for airline tickets........of course, I shift my vacation to September or October, so it becomes much cheaper........ However, this year, I have not decided yet where I will go.

I hope my business is too busy to allow me to go anywhere then .....lol

By the way, I will tell you about the opening day of my business.

I had already announced the opening day of our website on my Japanese Blog

So, on the first of August, many friends send me e-card, comments and e-mail to say "congratulations!"

I was quite surprised at these echoes.......and I have felt that I should be more serious about my new business.

That is this is not hobby or for fun, I am selling things and have lots of responsibility......

At the opening day, one package arrived.

I wondered who had sent it to me........

It was from my high school friend.

The card says "momo, congratulations on the opening of your new business! "

wow......It seems a bit exaggerated to be called "business" but I had more interest in content lol.

I am a quite gluttonous. :) so soon I opened the package and it was a box of Macaroons!!

I love Macaroons........well, nowadays, Macaroons are made in Japan. I should not say now.....It has been years since Japanese people have started talking about Macaroons.

But it they are still very popular........

I ate various shop's Macaroons, however, these were quite tasty ones.....

I think a Macaroon is kinda art......the form and colors.....so I have had an idea of a new design after seeing the Macaroons :)) In near future, a Macaroon bag might be produced by momo!

Anyway as I got many friends' aid, I should realize my dream.

Please keep on cheering and supporting me, and I will do my best!!

Have a good day!!

☆momo

SELF-INTRODUCTION

noreply@blogger.com (momo) — Sat, 4 Aug 2007 19:46:00 +0900

Nice to meet you!!

Today is a first day that I contribute to my blog here. So please let me introduce myself!

My name is momo, a Japanese. female....

I live near Tokyo, in a town called Chiba.

I have just designed my own brand of fashion goods, which are bags, purses, etc.

My brand's selling point is a collaboration with a famous Japanese illustrator, "Nobuko＊Takagi"

I have seen her work in more than 100 illustrators.........and I fell in love with her artwork :))

And my web shop has just started on August 1.

Please visit here and let me know your opinion!!

http://www.artist-japan-fashion.com/

This website is written in Japanese, however, I will explain about it little by little.

I am there as a model :)) coz no money to use a real model haha

This blog is not only presenting my brand, but also about Japan or my life as a shop owner....

I wish I could also provide things that you are interested in about Japan!!

By the way, I have already written my blog in Japanese.......since March

It is written in Japanese, however there are various pictures about various things, so you might be interested in.........especially if you visit a category like "momo's job" or "momo in HK&CHNA", you can see about China & HK, Chinese foods, Chinese factories, etc.

http://artistjp.exblog.jp/

I will pick up some titles from this blog and explain them.......if you have some interesting categories, please let me know!!

Keep in touch!

Have a nice weekend

☆momo

momo= peach in English