Life with Lin-chan

ALT in Japan

2012-02-16T00:17:00.000-08:00

Something I found on Facebook and thought pretty funny! :)

Chinese Cafe 8 Restaurant

2012-02-15T18:15:00.000-08:00

The other month a friend introduced me to a new Chinese restaurant that he loves, it's cheap and delicious! They have a huge menu to choose from all ranging from 100yen to Peking Duck at various prices. The restaurant is called Chinese Cafe 8, many shops located around Tokyo.

A Baskin Robbins B'alentine

2012-02-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

It's not just the chocolate companies that get into Valentines, Baskin Robbins aka 31 offers a Valentines menu.

ラブインベリー (Love in Berry)

ラズベリーとブルーベリーが恋をして、To love raspberry and blueberry とびきりスウィートなアイスクリームに。To be so sweet of ice cream.
ラズベリーソース入りの真っ赤なハートチョコと、In raspberry there are red hearts ちょっぴり酸っぱいラズベリーリボンは恋のスパイス!? Wouldn't you love the spice of just a bit of a sour raspberry ribbon?!
かわいい見た目と甘酸っぱい美味しさに思わず胸キュン♥ To see it's cuteness and taste the sour deliciousness and fill yourself with the spontaneous feeling.

キューピッドハート (Cupid Heart)

ストロベリーとチョコレートのアイスクリームに、Mixed in strawberry and chocolate ice cream キューピッドの矢&ハート型チョコとチョコチップ。 Cupids hearts and chocolate chips.

あなたの♥を射止めちゃうはず！Unconquerable love for you.

You can always chose different styles for sundaes. We chose the rabbit. You can also choose bear or panda.

Valentines in Japan

2012-02-15T17:22:00.000-08:00

Valentines just passed, everywhere you went you can see the walls, signs, advertisements for Valentines. You can read more in my past post about the Typical Japanese Valentines.

This year I made Hershey's Caramel Truffles to give to my friends. They are easy to make, and delicious to eat, you should give them a try!

Display of chocolates

Some chocolates I received from a student of mine. Godiva is a famous chocolate brand, one that Japanese people love.

Spring Blooms in Starbucks

2012-02-15T16:43:00.000-08:00

Just as soon as Valentines ends, the next merchandising items hit the shelves. At Starbucks the have new cups and mugs for spring on their shelves, and even a new drink! The Orange Brulee! I tried the hot latte, and other being very sweet for a morning cup of coffee, I enjoyed it. I do like the new cups they have, the pink one is my favorite.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 40 - Onigiri

2012-02-10T18:02:00.000-08:00

I love onigiri! (Rice balls)

Silver Elephant Live Photography

2012-02-09T01:59:00.000-08:00

Last month I went to my friends concert at Silver Elephant in Kichijo, they are called "Laurel". I managed to get some shots during their performance! What do you think?!

Snowboarding in Echigo Yuzawa, Niigata

2012-02-09T01:44:00.000-08:00

The other week I went for my first time this year snowboarding. Last year I only managed to get out one time, so it has been a while since I been gliding down the mountain snowbanks. This was my 4th time snowboarding I believe, and I'm still getting my snow feet. There was two of us and we decided to drive up to Niigata at night, and stay over night and get a fresh start in the morning. We got to stay in one of my friends, companies apartment which was located right beside the ski lifts. You could look out the window and see the lifts, just exit from the 1st floor and on your way you go to snowboard. How easy is that? The apartment was amazing! Huge! It's rare to see for me in Japan, it had two large bedrooms, a huge living room, kitchen, shower, washroom...I would imagine it cost a fortune to buy. As we drove up, we were stopped by security just as we entered Niigata Prefecture to check for winter tires. When the weather is bad, they stop everyone to check, and if you have no winter tires, they send you back, or you will have to buy some, or buy chains for your tires. The weather was bad as we drove more into the mountains of Niigata, white snow everywhere. But we arrived safely at the apartment. We went up to the apartment and turned the heat on and curled up under the kotatsu.

We awoke to fresh powder snow everywhere! What a beautiful sight! What a better way to start the snowboarding year, and it would hurt a lot less if I fell in powder. :) We went to get breakfast, but turned out it was closed, oh well, an earlier start for snowboarding. The day was spent gliding down the hills, I fell a few times, but nothing too bad. Of course I felt the pain for a couple days after, but that's typical. During the afternoon the snow started to fall, and by late afternoon we could hardly see in front of us, so we decided to finish up and go to the onsen (hot spring) to warm up. Nothing better to do after a hard day than to sit in a hot onsen and relax away all the sore muscles.

The drive back was a blur and I fell asleep, to awake at my home before climbing the stairs up to my apartment and crashing for the night.

A typical rest stop off the highway.

Lots of souvenirs you can buy! Japanese people LOVE souvenirs.

Purple Potatoe Ice cream!

Drive up during the night.

The onsen

Good morning!!

Dinner time

Mocha Latter Ice Cream

Friend chose Chocolate

Crab flavored chips

Pear flavored Kitkat

The entrance to the apartment

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 39 - Cup Noodle

2012-02-08T17:38:00.000-08:00

A lady at a supermarket picking out some cup noodles.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 38 - Model College

2012-02-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

モード学園コクーンタワー

The tall building in the back is Mode Gakuen. The building is home to three educational institutions: Tokyo Mode Gakuen (fashion vocational school), HAL Tokyo (special technology and design college), and Shuto Ikō (medical college).

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 37 - Morning Shinjuku

2012-02-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 36 - Street Way

2012-02-05T17:28:00.000-08:00

After the earthquake, the sales of bikes has risen, you can see even more people on bikes now a days.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 35 - Gala

2012-02-04T02:10:00.000-08:00

Picture taken at the Gala snow lift. Great day for snowboarding or skiing!

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 34 - Gala Station

2012-02-03T02:07:00.000-08:00

Gala Yuzawa Station in Niigata, popular place for snowboard. You can get on the lift from the station and rent all your gear too.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 33 - Water Streets

2012-02-02T02:03:00.000-08:00

When I went up to Niigata, I saw that they have sprinklers built into the streets to help melt the snow. How neat is that.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 32 - Sanity the Sanitizer

2012-02-01T01:49:00.000-08:00

Say hello to Sanity the Sanitier...I do love finding these type of items in Japan.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 31 - Snow tunnel

2012-01-31T21:12:00.000-08:00

Leading into the apartment you walk through a snow tunnel.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 30 - Yuzawa Mountain

2012-01-30T21:08:00.000-08:00

At the top of a mountain in Yuzawa.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 29 - Public Bath

2012-01-29T21:05:00.000-08:00

Our apartment we stayed at had a onsen inside the building. This is a picture of a typical like onsen. To the right you have the showers, you shower off first, you grab a stool and sit down and shower, then you can enter the public baths.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 27 - Dog Statue

2012-01-29T01:17:00.000-08:00

A small dog statue and some flowers at a shrine.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 28 - Nigata

2012-01-28T21:05:00.000-08:00

A trip up to Nigata provided us with lots of snow!

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 26 - Shinjuku Park

2012-01-26T01:10:00.000-08:00

A view of Shinjuku park from the Metropolitan building.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 25 - Kichijoji

2012-01-25T01:03:00.000-08:00

I love Kichijoji, I don't know why, but I love the feeling, Kichijoji and Shimokitazawa are my favorite places in Tokyo...there are tiny shops everywhere, and small streets you can venture down and find tons of new shops everywhere you go. A great place to waste a couple hours wandering down the small alley streets.

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 24 - More Tokyo Snow

2012-01-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

Yet another night of snow in Tokyo. By mid-afternoon most was gone, but some still remains...

Rin-chan Shot of the Day 23 - Shinjuku Lights

2012-01-23T06:57:00.000-08:00

I find a theme with me using photos from Shinjuku...I will get more from other places soon!

The illuminations in Shinjuku.