Farewell 01 : Nippon Tei

Thanks Mye, Puan Sri and Adam for a great farewell dinner!! It was not that authentic (with mayonnaise / thousand island), but the food is nice Soft shell crab temaki. A must have. We were disappointed to found out that they ran out of salmon that evening. em.. potato salad? shy tempura unagi on Japanese tofu chicken teriyaki and tofu rice, salad & i dont know spicy fried rice - it came with the set some kind of fish crispy salmon skin salad soft shell crab sushi

What I've already missed about Japan : Vending machines

It is e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e!! I didnt buy anything from the vending machine in Japan, I just enjoy the view of it all over the place. It is called jidoohanbaiki in Japan. According to the Japan Vending Machine Manufacturers Association, there are 5.51 million machines in Japan, taking a total of nearly 7 trillion yen (around $ 58 billion) a year.

At first, I found selling office wear (and decent underwear) at Seven Eleven (7-11) was impressive enough, but after a short walk around Tokyo, I found a lot of vending machines that sell things which we havent seen in Malaysia's vending machine. Enjoy!

When I said A LOT. I really mean, A LOT.

Some interesting facts about jidoohanbaiki (googled) :

There are machines that sell items that minors are prohibited from buying such as cigarettes and alcohol. But how to prevent that from happening? Count on the Japanese to solve that problem. A Japanese company called Fujitaka has introduced a “Child Check System” for cigarette vending machines that uses facial recognition. It then compares the face with 100,000 faces in the vending machines database after taking a digital photograph of the consumer.

What I already missed about Japan : High tech toilet

YES, that famous Japan high-tech toilet / washlet! I came across a few during my stay in Tokyo – in my hotel room, in Ministry of Environment Japan’s office and in the Sakura Lounge @ Narita Airport.

The toilet has a heated seat (OMG so comfortable especially in the freaking cold morning/night), automatic lid, water jets with adjustable pressure and perfume. There are computerised control panels on your right and at the back of the seat. Thoughtful design.

First-time foreign visitors to Japan are often baffled by the complexity of these Japanese high-tech toilets, which feature Japanese language instructions as well as small pictograms. But don’t worry, most of them have English instruction nowadays.

The first time I walked in the hotel room.. "Smart toilet, is that you?"

"Oh, yes you are. Nice to meet you"

These are some interesting facts about the high-tech toilet (googled) :

Pioneering Toto designed its first models by asking hundreds of its employees to test a toilet and mark, using a string stretched across the bowl and a piece of paper, their preferred location for the water jet target area (they’ve done a very good job!).

For the problem of nozzle angle and water temperature, there was a particular development team dedicated to these tests.

Standard functions include heated seats, water jets with pressure and temperature controls, hot-air bottom dryers and ambient background music.

In most recent toilet models, the lid automatically lifts when a user enters the restroom. As soon as the user leaves the room, both the seat and lid automatically glide back into horizontal position.

A new smart model promises to also save electricity on seat heating by effectively "learning" its users' daily habits. It takes this type of toilet one week to learn when the people living in the house are using it -- in the morning, at noon or in the evening. So the temperature of the seat is raised only at that time of day (this kind of toilet is SO smart!!)

Japan-HK : People @ Ginza Tenkuni

I took a lot of food photographs in Japan because I know I will not going to have a chance to eat the same authentic food at the same posh restaurant, ever again. I know it was bit inappropriate (considering the crowd that I was in) and maybe to some it was a bit unrespectful. But, to my surprise, I managed to convert a few people to be FOOD PHOTOGRAPHERS in Japan. so cute.

Japan-HK : Ambiance @ Ginza Tenkuni

I was speechless as I walked into Ginza Tenkuni Restaurant. It was so Japanese *duh*. Just like what I watched in the TV since I was a little girl (Oshin, Moero Attack, to name a few).

I love the feeling of sitting on a tatami mat, the fact that we have to take off our shoes once we entered the restaurant (our counterpart in Japan had made it very clear for everybody to wear a decent socks because we were expected to take off our shoes regularly in Japan) and looking at all ladies wearing a kimono. love love love!

They tagged our shoes. In less than one minute, no shoes in sight. Very efficient. I did some searching on my way to the ladies' and I found the cabinet where they neatly arranged our shoes. Ko takde kerja lain kan Garlicandbutter???

The tatami mat.You need to wear this in the ladies'. Klok klok klok klok. An extremely polite lady. They need to kneel like this and ask for permission everytime they enter the room. It is not a job for an old lady. BUT, she is OLD. And I think she came in and out from our room more than 20 times. Our translator hanging her jacket.

Japan-HK : Food @ Ginza Tenkuni

This is my first experience dining at the authentic Japanese restaurant. Authentic ambiance dan authentic food (halal). I didnt know how to use chopstick. At all. I have to tell you that.

These are my food that day :

First one, I think it is a fish roe. It kinda popped in your mouth.

Second, a tofu ball (?) with clear algae soup.

Third, sashimi with a very nice presentation. The dark purplish leaves/flowers at the bottom are meant to be added to your soy sauce - together with the wasabi, if u like wasabi. The purple flower up there....well, I dont think they eat that.

Fourth, I dont know. It is kinda soup-y but it is thick. Like tofu. The yellow one - I think it is sea urchin (landak laut). Wooden spoon adds pleasure to the meal.

Fifth, variety of sushi, japanese dessert, octopus and I dont know what is the name of that siput in the middle. With the bamboo stick sticking out from it.

Sixth, tempura. The chef fried it on the spot during our fifth meal. Prawns, bird eye chilli and lotus-thing (flower? i dont know - they have a lot of that thing here).

Seventh, rice with bamboo shoots, miso soup and three friends in the small plate at the top of the photo.

The three friends closeup - Cucumber, I dont know and I dont know.

I manage to eat everything with a chopstick. Struggling, but succeed. Do tell me the name of the food in case you know. thanks!

More Japanese food...

Last Saturday, I had a dinner with my colleagues and my two new tomodachi (friends) from Japan Embassy - Iritani-san and Ogawa-san. Two person that helped us a lot for our recent trip to Japan.The buffet at Kimpachi Restaurant, Equatorial Bangi is marvellous. I forgot to bring my training chopstick, but I manage to eat SLOWLY and as neat as the Japanese. lol. These are my food that night :

Thick salmon sashimi. yum! I patiently waited for Iritani-san to eat his maki because I didnt know where to start and how to hold it (correctly) with the chopstick. Usually I ate it with my hand.

Then i took a few tempuras, fried oysters, grilled salmon dan spring onion wrapped in beef.

I patiently waited for a Sukiyaki afterward at the made-to-order counter. I ordered one with egg, beef and mushroom. No vege.

Lastly, ice cream and plum dipped in chocolate. And not to mentioned, a lot of OCHA (japanese green tea). I think I drank about 8 glasses of hot Ocha the whole night.

I am not counting.

This is my last week at my current office. I'll be transfered to somewhere else. The office that I really wanted to join since I seriously involved in international trade, back in 2006. I supposed to be happy but surprisingly I am not. Maybe not YET.

Japan-HK : Aftermath

After a loooonnnngggg tiring trip, I usually will spend 1 or 2 hours at KLIA to relax and tune my head (here) before heading home. I didnt want to go home and get all cranky with my kids (PLUS laundry, reports, two boxes full of everything)....

This was the aftermath for Japan-Hong Kong trip with Datuk Seri, Datuk, Dato'-Dato' sekalian. Letih ok... I really wanted to lie down somewhere but my husband was kind enough to order some food. (psst Esther, look at the first photo, you'll know how the perspex casing cracked. lol).

I have a lot of things to share about the trip. I didnt know where to start. Should I start on Day 01? Or should I start with the last day - so you can get the right sequence of event, since this is a BLOG. The latest entry will go on the top. ergh... i dont know. i'll just post anything when i feels like it.

Look! Visitor from Central District!!

Central District? It's in Hong Kong. In case you didnt recognise the flag ;p (It was ME too).

I got visitor from Tokyo! haha

i found it funny since i never had any visitor from Tokyo. (for those who didnt GET THE JOKE, it WAS ME)

I am traveling *again*

I am going somewhere.... I really hope somebody else could replace me for this trip.

Siapa mahu kahwin dengan saya ni?

*Sticky post for 48 hours*

I am helping my buddy to find his soul mate. He wanted to get married. So, cute [and single] ladies out there, what are you waiting for???? Check this good-looking-architect out!

He is nice, cool and artistic. His name is YUSRI (fb : Yusri Uwth Kldn). Good luck! *grin*

Actually I didnt want to put this because it might affect your judgement, but, what the heck. This is Yusri in his brand new car.