New Years in Japan

Today is the 31st of December and tomorrow is one of the biggest holidays in Japan; New Years. Many people in Japan celebrate New Years the same way we celebrate Christmas in the West. Most Japanese people return home and visit families and enjoy nice big meals.


On New Years Eve most people eat Soba (Toshikoshi Soba) end of the year soba. I will make soba tonight as well and maybe some dessert and wine to enjoy.

Finally Christmas has passed and I have entered my holiday

Hello,

I am finally over with work for the year. I can not concentrate on myself and try to cook delicious foods everyday for the holiday.

Yesterday, while going through youtube I found out one of my favourite youtubers actually has a cooking page. So, I decided to watch one of his videos and I found one video quite interesting in particular.

He made an apple pie using frozen pre-made pie crust that is sold at the grocery store in Japan. I had some apples left over so I decided to try out his recipe excluding the maple syrup and they came out great.


Here is a pic of my pies I baked. They came out really good and they were super easy to make. The total time was less then 45 minutes.

Shinookubo (Tokyo`s Korea Town)

As many of you might already know, I currently moved to Shinjuku and my house is quite close to Shinookubo. Shinookubo is the Korean area in Tokyo. I have been going there over the last 7 years but only recently has Shinookubo been popular among Japanese. When I first went to Shinookubo, I almost never saw any Japanese people most of the customers were Koreans. However, currently due to the Korean boom the streets are always packed with Japanese folks. So much, that I try my best to avoid Oookubo Street both on weekdays and weekends.

However, I have recently been addicted to Korean food. I have been there to eat twice in the last week.

If you ever have the chance to come to Tokyo, please stop by Shinokubo and enjoy the great food the many restaurants have to offer.

Here some pics of me from 10 years ago when I attended Japanese school. In those days, Shinookubo was not as popular as it is today. 

Japanese debit cards

When I first came to Japan there was no such thing as debit cards. There was only cash and credit cards and credit cards are almost impossible for foreigners to get in Japan. However, over the last few years internet shopping has become quite popular in Japan, thanks to Amazon and Rakuten. Thus, many banks are starting to get on the debit card wagon. The first company to introduce the debit card system was ebank now known as Rakuten bank. I have a debit card with them for a couple of years but I decided to cancel because I found the 210 yen  deposit and withdraw fee to be extremely expensive and a waste of money.

Now I have a debit card with Resona Bank. They are currently offering two types of debit cards. One is the JAL milage card (yes, you can earn miles by using your own money) the second is just a basic one. The JAL milage card does cost 1000 yen a year to have but it is worth it if you enjoy traveling.

I often use my card to make online purchases in Japan.

However, like most countries you have to be careful where you use your cards in Japan. Last week, I got a phone call from my bank informing me that my debit card info had been stolen and the bank had stopped my card. After researching further I found out that someone had tried to charge a total of 1,000,000 on my account. Luckily, I am poor and I don't have that kind of money in my account.


Anyhow, if you want a debit card in Japan there are options each have their pros and cons. If you are interested in getting a card refer to the links below. (japanese only)


http://www.rakuten-bank.co.jp/card/debit/

http://www.resona-gr.co.jp/resonabank/kojin/service/hiraku/visa_debit/index.html

Asia Trip part 2 (+playlist)

India trip in a video

I have posted the first part of my trip around Asia on youtube. The first half includes all of the video footage from India.

Feel free to watch!!!

Finally moved

Sorry for the late update.
I am finally done moving to my small apartment located in the center of Tokyo. As you probably saw in my previous post, I have decided to move to central Tokyo.



Although it was last minute and a huge pain in my butt. I have finally finished moving *)


I will make sure to update my blog more regularly over the next couple of weeks.

I`m moving to Shinjuku......

I know I have been talking mostly about my trip on this blog but I have some good news. Next week I will be moving to Shinjuku located in central Tokyo. My  new apartment is 30 percent smaller than my current place but I know I will enjoy being more centrally located.

I have posted pics of my place.

Now all there is left to do is pack and sort through five years of my life.

Agra Fort and Delhi International Airport

The next morning after enjoying breakfast we were picked up by our driver and our guide and we proceeded to go to Agra Fort. However, unlucky for us there was heavy rain on this day and most of Agra was flooding. Yet, our guide was determined to show us Agra Fort.

Once we reached Agra Fort I was shocked to see how many people actually were out viewing the site. There were loads of people, most of them Indian viewing the site.





Agra fort is beautiful and has a rich history. However, I was not able to enjoy the experience due to the rain.

On our way out of Agra Fort a tree collapsed only a couple of meters from us... According to our guide it was because of termites.

After view Agra Fort we were on our way back to Delhi to board our flight to Shanghai Pudong Airport. For those who have not traveled to India or plan on to. I would recommend you print out your plane ticket before going. Radley had trouble getting into the airport because he forgot to print his eticket before coming to India. 

However, Radley not getting into the airpot was not the biggest problem we faced at the airport. The biggest problem we faced was logistics  of the airport. The airport had a rule that a traveler cannot check in or go into the check in area until 5 hours until departure. However, since our flight left at 3 in the morning we wanted to check in as soon as possible and enjoy the airport. However, this was not the case. Once we were dropped off by our driver we were told we could not check nor enter the airport because we were too early. But we could wait in the waiting room until then. So, we proceeded to go to the waiting room. Once there we were denied entry because Radley did not print his e ticket and they had a hard time reading mine because the date was printed 08/10/2013 instead of 10/08/2013. So the guard told me I was too early and I could not enter the airport. After much talking and arguing with the guard he let me in. 

After entering the waiting room we decided we need to use the restroom and to our understanding the restroom was outside of the waiting area. Thus, we would have to leave and go to the restroom. Before we left we informed the guard that we were going to the restroom and we would be back. He nodded at us and gave us permission. When we came back from the restroom, he gave us a double check and intimated us in front of the other guard. Moreover, he asked us a million questions but when a blond white women came up he let her in without checking her id or eticket. 

After waiting in the room for about four hours, they us check into our airline. We checked in with no problems and we thought immigration and security without any major problems but being tired and exhausted after a long day, I decided to spend the rest of the evening in the first class lounge. 

I think Delhi International Airport is a beautiful airport but they need to learn how to train their employees better and have a better system on how to treat travellers. 

P.S. You have to go through a couple of guard before you board the plane as well... 

Agra and the Taj Mahal

The next morning Radley and I left Rishikesh early in the morning to catch our train back to Delhi. At the train station there were a lot of homeless people and they were sleeping in the train station. Moreover, there were many wild animals on the platform. Quite an experience.

Once we reached Delhi we were picked up by our driver whom took us straight to Agra to view the Taj Mahal.



Agra is about a three hour drive away from Delhi. We reached Agra at around 5pm. Once we reached Agra the first thing we did was head out to view the Taj Mahal.



The Taj Mahal was beautiful. Before we got to the main attraction we had a look at the grounds .

One thing I found interesting about the Taj Mahal was how everything is symmetrical. The gates are symmetrical and so are the buildings.

After viewing the Taj Mahal; I can tell why it is one of the seven wonders of the world. Words and pictures cannot express the beauty of the Taj Mahal. It is a site that one needs to experience in real life.

After viewing the Taj Mahal we went to a nice restaurant called the Taj Mahal and enjoyed a great dinner. 

Then we were off to our hotel to enjoy a good nights rest. 

Wandering around Rishikesh

After viewing the Beatles Ashram Radley and I had a few extra days to walk around Rishikesh.

While walking around the city we found this really interesting restaurant that has a mascot outside the building. 

I found the people in Rishikesh easy going and helpful. 

I also enjoyed looking at all of the wildlife in the area. 

One morning we woke up to find a group of monkeys trying to break into our hotel room. 

  If you ever find yourself in Rishikesh, I highly recommend the restaurant Little Buddha 

The city has a lot of offer and I really enjoyed my three days there in the town of yoga.