Iyashi kyara: soothing characters

I haven't posted anything Japan-centered recently so i thought i'd post something i came upon today.. taken from Trends In Japan

Iyashi kyara are characters that are not just cute but give people who see them a sense of relief and warmth. People today lead busy lives and are drawn to objects that reduce stress and help them maintain a healthy state of mind. Iyashi kyara, one such product, have been a hit among schoolgirls, schoolboys, young women, and young men because of their cute designs.

A variety of iyashi kyara have made their appearance, and animals figure big in the designs. The characters are used on stationery, turned into stuffed animals, and found in picture books, video games, and other goods.Tarepanda! "lazy" panda who lies on his tummy all day and gets around by rolling coz he's so lazy!

San-X Co., which came out with the hit character Tarepanda, has reportedly rung up sales of ¥60 billion ($500 million at ¥120 to the dollar) in goods with its Rilakkuma ("relax bear") character launched in 2003. Another noteworthy design is Kapibarasan, which was inspired by the capybara, a giant rodent indigenous to South America.

Rilakkuma, isn't he just kawaii?!

Iyashi kyara are easygoing. Rilakkuma is a bear that takes up residence with Kaoru, a young company employee, while Kapibarasan likes hot springs. All iyashi kyara have a story behind them, something that sets them apart from other characters.

My igloo & academic anxiety!

I'm sitting here wearing my cute fluffy socks & a cardigan. Its freezing cold in my igloo AKA my bedroom but i refuse to turn off the air conditioner. I love the feeling of cold air :) don't you all? To complete the picture, im sitting here sipping a steaming cup of hot chocolate - i mean, a freezing cold glass of slushy pocari sweat! lovely =)

Looking back at my last post, its depressing & i would like to delete it but the thing is, i have my ups & downs. and the point of this blog its to record my real daily life-struggles & all- so i think depressing posts should be part of it so they're there to stay-for now at least.

Theres this blog i check out regularly of this Canadian guy whose married to a Japanese woman, the blog is actually solely about his two little daughters. I love reading the blog & looking at all the pictures and i was just thinking how much fun it would be to grow up in Japan with all the festivals & stuff. If i could live anywhere i wanted i'd definitely choose Japan. When i try to explain why, i just fall short of a good answer, so although i can't explain it, i love the way everyday life is in Japan, and i really do hope i get to at least visit Japan some day.

So i've been worrying about my internship. While i think its going to be fun, im quite nervous about it! i still have a couple of months to get ready mentally so i hope all this anxiety im feelin right now will go away.. Oh, and my capstone project, what the hell am i going to do about that?! It seems everyone knows what they'll be doing and i feel like im missing something, maybe i should know what im going to do too, but i don't.. plenty of time to think about it, i guess..

another boring post about me-when this blog was actually supposed to be about Japan & the Japanese language.. who cares anyway, its not like anyone actually reads what i write, is it?

Well, thats it for now.. cheers everyone! beddy byes =)

feelings & goosebumps

There are so many things running through my head right now that I can’t even put them into anything comprehendible.

Right now I’m feeling:

-nostalgic

-sentimental

-wistful

-yearning for more

-Longing

-melancholy

-down in the dumps

-regretful

-pensive

-not so sure of the future

(I’m also feeling sick since I’m just recovering from a terrible cold+cough+mysterious dizziness)

I came across this song which is actually a cover of one of the Beatles’ songs called across the universe. For some reason, without even listening to the words, it makes me sad & brings tears to my eyes. Somehow, it touches something inside & gives me goosebumps..

PS my mum burnt her foot on Saturday and I had to take her to the ER (talk about role reversal!). Shes still in pain but it can’t be helped. She’ll live.. thanks for those who asked about her.

Can't think straight!

I was wondering about thinking, a bit philosophical i know, what it is and all that..Actually i was watching TV and there was this girl that had her back to the camera and i just wanted to see her face, i don't know why, it just annoyed me that every time the camera showed everyone else's face except her.. what does this have to do with thinking? ok i'll get right down to it.. So anyways, i kept thinking "turn around i want to see your face" and then i thought, "why can i hear myself thinking, do i always talk when i think?" so i tried, really hard, to THINK that i want her to turn so i can see her face but i couldn't do it without talking, IN MY HEAD. I tried stopping myself and it only made me change the sentence a bit but i was still formulating a sentence, so i tried in another language, but i still kept formulating sentences in my head.. so in the end i gave up, as i realized how absurd this whole thing was! but now i keep thinking(oops, that word again), i keep thinking why is thinking called thinking when its actually more of a conversation with ones' self?! Its sounds ridiculous, i know, so i'll just shut up now.. i hope i didn't confuse anyone..

OK so now i officially have a cough, i've tried zillions of meds but its showing no sign of disappearing anytime soon.. i hate coughs, they're annoying!

I've reverted back to my much hated Japanese For Busy People book as i now believe that formal Japanese might be better to learn as it will be more useful to me than informal if i need to use Japanese.. So far so good, I'm reviewing the lessons i already studied so i can put them behind me and start on new lessons..Oh and on that note I've just been talking to my Japanese sensei (& friend) まり, shes going to have a baby soon & I'm looking forward to going out and buying cute little baby clothes & stuff ^^I guess i need to sleep, i have to go pick up my mum & dad from the airport tomorrow ^^ can't believe they've been away for 20 days, such a long time! looking forward to receiving my presents..lol..

tara!

Thinking with an accent, coughs, and getting hurt

What a weird title for a post! i know, but i wanted to summarize it all. But before i begin let me get something out of the way, I MISS MY PARENTS! can't wait for them to come back, 18 days without them so far.. it hasn't been as bad as i thought it would, but it hasn't been easy either..

What does the union jack have to do with anything? Well, read on..

Anyways, you know how when you think of something you can hear your voice in your head? Or maybe not! maybe its just me, who knows, i might just be a weirdo who hears voices, lol. So basically, my voice-the one in my head, not the actual one- has changed! LOL. For some reason that voice now has a very common British accent! My mum would go bananas if she heard me talk like that, "so common" my posh mum would say ;) love you mum. But yeah for some reason, actually probably because I've been watching a lot of British vids on Youtube lately instead of the usual Americans, my thinking-voice now has a very common British accent!

On to my second topic, coughs. Not ordinary ones, oh no! I'm talking about mysterious coughs. So my mum had a cough for about 3-4 months, my sis also has had one for 2-3 months now, and today I STARTED COUGHING! Oh god no! please don't let me get an annoying hacking cough for so long. I'm hoping it will disappear as mysteriously as it appeared, lets hope for the best.

The getting hurt part is nothing about feelings, its about my index finger! I have no idea what the hell happened when i got out of the car this afternoon but somehow i managed to cut my finger and bleed all over the car keys :( it hurts. Itai!

Sure im being a drama queen, but isn't every girl entitled to her moments of royalty ;)

Thats all for now, its about time i went to bed.. i've been up since... forever!

Of friends, koalas, and 3-year-olds' stories!

So I havn't posted anything for a week now, and I have a reason. During the past week, five friends of mine have taken the address of my blog. And whereas before I knew no one was reading and could write anything I wanted, I now know someone IS reading and I don’t feel as free. So I have to choose my topic carefully now, and check what I say twice ;)

Anyways, so uni, uni, uni.. I have this really nice Australian professor for an education course I’m taking he gave us all little koalas on the first day.LOL. heres a pic of my “ I heart Australia” koala. Isn’t he cute?

I’m also taking the easiest maths course ever! Its so easy and sooo much fun! ( & by the way, I hate MS WORD because it keeps changing all my English spelling into WRONG American spelling, or keeps underlining it like its wrong when its not, like maths, it says it should be MATH minus the S but that’s the American way, I don’t want to use the American way..urghhh)

Anyways, what else? Oh yeah my mum sent me the Japanese kids book I asked her for from Thailand. She knew I wont be able to wait till she comes so she sent them with my bro. One is like for 3 year olds, its in hiragana only which is good. The others are Disney stories and they’re in hiragana, katakana, and kanji so I’ll move onto those later..

Oh yeah, im addicted to Pocari Sweat! I know the first time I drank it I didn’t like it all that much but now im addicted, whenever im at the supermarket I just have to buy at least 5! I also started drinking lots of tea-drinks, now I know what I was missing!

I’m now driving my dad’s car since my bro’s back & he wants his car.. I don’t know what im going to do when my dad comes back, I don’t think I can go back to mum driving me everywhere!

That’s all for now, to all my friends, thanks for reading.. bear (or is it bare) with me, I will post something interesting soon. Love you all!

Take care! Jya ne!

On a much happier note..

OHAYO MINNA! Genki??

What a difference a day makes! i'm back to my normal self, no depression here ^^
I realize i havn't put anything new on here that is not about my life, so i'll blog again later about something new but for now here are the updates over here:

• my sis missed uni registration date and now can't enroll for this semester
• we've had my other sister's twin friends sleeping over for the past 3 days, its been fun. tanoshikatta! ^^
• I had my best friend over yesterday, we were having noodles and i was eating with chopsticks so she made me teach her how to eat with them, which wasn't a success, im sorry to say.
• I went to the supermarket yesterday coz we needed stuff for the house and when i got to the sweets section i couldn't remember what everyone likes. It was funny actually first i picked something up and then i was like, oh no i remember they don't like this anymore, so i picked something else up and then i remember one picky sis doesn't like them, i almost gave up then but thank you HERSHEY"S COOKIES & CREAM! You saved me! Then i thought, now i know how mum feels when we tell her we like something and then change the next week ^^ poor thing. love you mum!
• I changed my schedule so that i have 2 days a week off! thats really awesome, but the other 3 days i have a long day.
• Today we have my mum's friends & her little kids coming over but they're cars not working so i have to go into town and get them, i think i'll take my littlest sis with me along for the 30 minute ride.
• I'm addicted to this Japanese song which is so not like the kind of music i like but i like it & i keep listening to it over and over again, i have it memorized even though i don't know half of the lyrics.

Anyways, got to go. take care everyone.
cheers

What a blue day

I miss my mum & dad.. yesterday my mum told me that they might stay in Thailand for at least 3 weeks, possibly 4. I'm not so sure i can hold up till then.

Yesterday i found out that my brother skipped school, today my sweet younger sisters were fighting like mad dogs for no apparent reason, and i just don't want to be responsible for everything they do, its a burden im not ready to carry but i have to whether i like it or not.

Uni is good so far except my other sis my not be able to register this semester because she didn't come into town earlier, and i know it will break my mum's heart if she doesn't register this semester because that means she probably won't register next semester either.

I've been watching House M.D. whenever i have a free hour, and i think Dr House is getting to me, coz im getting a bit depressed, esp. his choice of music makes me want to cry. I hate breaking down.

On a happier note, i went and picked up my youngest sister early from school yesterday because she always complains about the bus. I know, im just such a nice older sis! just kidding, im not going Dr. House on you people.

I feel like im spending half my day in the car driving, so i made some music CDs (of course Japanese) and downloaded some Japanese learning podcast to listen to in the car. I like driving my brother's car, its a shame hes coming back in a few days..

tah-rah!

Starting uni, drinking tea..

The first day of classes was ok i guess. Our Finance professor gave us our books & an assignment. bummer! Then i had to go with mum for the monthly shopping which turned out to be more like 2-month grocery shopping since shes not sure how long they're staying in Thailand. Oh and my bro came back from London last night, i have yet to see him but i hear hes going to Thailand too for a week. YAY!! home alone, we can party! NOT!! That means i'm going to be responsible for everything and if anything happens i'm in charge. We'll see how that goes, i hope no emergencies happen!

Oh yeah, so i decided to buy some tea-drink thingy at the supermarket today. Why? No idea, i just figured if everyone in Japan drinks them instead of soda most of the time then they must be good. and whilst i didn't pick a Japanese product, i was pleasantly surprised! I got peach flavoured green tea drink and it totally kicked ass. I loved it! Next time i'm buying loads.. and i have to look for other flavours.. i had no idea what i was missing!! Glad i got it. Oh yeah and i did get some Pocari Sweat, im giving it another try to see if i like it a bit better now that i know what its like..
So tomorrow i have to:

• take my dad's car and go to uni.
• go pay the telephone,internet, and cable TV bills.
• pay the newspaper guy for the month.
• go collect something for mum.
• pay the electricity bill.
• and decide on what we're having for lunch.

Well, im off to listen to my japanese podcast lessons. TC everyone. Jya ne!

EDIT: i found out the secret to drinking Pocari Sweat, drink it ice cold! Soo much better, cool & refreshing ;)