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*It’s only my hand drawing without any draft or planning (LOL) but I drew it thanking you all!

Year 2009 is getting over…
How was this year to you? Did you have special days or experiences or achievements or anything this year? As for me, altogether I’d say this year was very good!

-good things-
-I could finally travel abroad for the first time in 4 or 5 years. I went to Australia, Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy.
-I was able to have 2 Onsen (hot spring) trips: one was to West Japan, including Kyoto and Osaka, the other one was with Pi-chan.
-I worked harder on this blog, and it seems that the visiters, subscribers, and comments have increased a lot, compared to this time last year.
-I could get connected with many people from blogging, and I actually made friends with some of them. I met them in person! There was even someone who I worked with! This is so great, as it’s one of the purposes of keeping this blog.
-I started to trade stocks and made good profit out of them for a beginner. (beginner’s luck?!)
-I challenged DECOTTI and decoden for the first time but they went good.
-Thanks to Pi-chan, I found exuberant motherhood inside myself, which was least expected in my life so far and widen my way of thinking.

-bad things-
-I have become too busy to see friends often.
-I got fat because I have to work on computer too long hours and no time to exercise.
-For the same reason above, I sometimes suffer from back ache, dry eye, and stiff shoulder.
-I had less job offers for writing (in Japanese).

This year I had more good things than bad things, which I believe is because sometime ago, it was vice versa.
Then what I want to achieve next year?

-I need to work out to get fit and lose accursed fat! I’ve made an appointment for a beginner Belly Dance class that is open for trial on 8th Jan. 2010.
-I learned how it’s like to trade stocks this year, which was less risky compared with Forex because there’s no notion of leverage. Now I’m starting to study Forex and I will practice trading on Forex next year to gain profit safely.
-I work on blog as much as I have done this year, to make it more useful, informative, helpful, enjoyable and interesting to my blog readers. Hopefully I want to make a free material for you to enjoy. But I wonder what topic will make many of my blog readers happy.
-I want to enjoy cooking more. Now it has become a chore that I cannot stop and keep doing day after day. I want to change my mind.

To make these possible, I know I have to give up some things. That’s how things are.
I will have less time seeing my friends, which I have to accept.
I will have to struggle and suffer from practicing trading Forex.
I will have no time to study foreign language, even though I’m quite interested in that.
I will have small time of reading books, and almost no time to watch TV and movie. (same as this year)
I will be busy again…
But it’s OK, I have a big goal, and to achieve it I can accept this.

I wish you all the best for 2010, and I’ll see you again in next year! As mentioned in my last post, end of the year to early January is a long period of holiday for Japanese people who can finally rest from work. It’s only Golden Week in May and this time of the year that we can rest without hesitation against our colleagues or boss of the company that one works for. That’s why many of us travel this time paying 3 times more money than off-peak season.

I will be away from blogging for a while, maybe until around 3rd of January.

Thank you for reading my blog, and exchanging comments or messages with me from time to time.
I really enjoy communication with people from various places around the world. I will just do my best to keep this blog a better place for you and make it useful or informative and also entertaining. If you have any opinions, suggestions, messages, or anything, please feel free to contact me or leave me comments.

How would you like to spend next year? Do you have any big plan or goal?
Best wishes for your new year 2010!!

I remember it was 1st of November when every shop started playing Christmas songs to urge Christmas shopping or only to create joyful atmosphere. That lasted until 25th of December, and what happens from the very next morning in Japan? Everyone starts to prepare for New Year Day and super market is such a good example that changes its decoration or foods so much: from Western foods, sparkling wine, and desserts to special foods that are to make Japanese new year cuisine, called “Osechi ryori“. This website lists Osechi recipe: how to fix each of Osechi food in Japanese. Even if you can’t read it, you can guess how hard it’d be to make so many different things at a time. (Actually today many of them are pre-fixed and sold at super market, though…) As for myself, I don’t like “Osechi ryori” very much since my chidhood. However, unlike old days, most of stores open except for 1st of January in Tokyo, which practically means there’s no need to pre-fix Osechi ryori for the whole family to keep eating it until 3rd of January. What do I mean? As mentioned in my old post, in Japan New Year is much more meaningful than Christmas, and so most of companies let their employees have about 1-week of holiday from end of December to at least to 3rd of January. Housewives usually prepare Osechi ryori by New Year eve (Dec. 31) so they can rest 3 days of new year without cooking much. But that’s an old story and not true any more today, because super markets open from 2nd of January, so as some restaurants, which is unlike old days when almost all stores closed around 5th or 6th of January…

Having said that, it’s our tradition to eat Osechi ryori. Nowadays as we have less kids, and there are many ways to outsource Osechi instead of cooking it by ourselves, there are many people who reserve Osechi somewhere, at online shop for example. As for myself, I never cooked Osechi by myself nor ordered it somewhere else. I just visit my husband’s parents and eat it there. :p Osechi looks very beautiful and each food has a meaning such as longevity, prosperity, victory, luck or happiness…thus we still like to eat it even though the situation has totally changed today.

It’s not only Osechi that we should think about. As you have exchaned Christmas cards, we exchange new year’s cards called “Nengajo”. Before email was available, I spent quite a lot of time making my original cards every year. But lately I have noticed, I don’t have to exchange them with close friends because I see them very often. They say there’s no need to follow old tradition and keep formal between us. Those who send me new year’s cards are the ones I don’t see often. In other words, it’s not too much to say that they are sort of friends who are connected with only 1 card in 365 days. As is often the case, the card is made from a photo of their KIDS only, not themselves, saying “My girl has turned 3 years old, she now can do this and that, she is blar, blar, blar…” and NO INFORMATION about themselves! To me, this just looks like they are reporting me on the details of their kids every year. Well…good to hear that, but I’d be much more interested in what THEY are doing, not what THEIR KIDS are doing…This really makes me feel uncomfortable and I do wonder if they have ever thought of the feelings of the people who cannot have kids even if they want to. Hence I stopped writing new year’s cards a couple of years ago, and only reply to those who sent me cards. I’d like to suggest that we should meet and chat instead of exchanging cards only one time a year and continue that superficial relationship. (I’m not talking about Christmas cards that I exchange with people outside Japan. They are close friends but I cannot see them often because of distance.)

Osechi or new year’s cards, whatever it is around new year is not really my taste. I at least visit my husband’s parents for new year’s greeting, first shrine visit to pray for wellness in the new year, and reply to those who send me their kids photo cards, I mean Nengajo. :p I’m a lazy Japanese who is not faithful to its tradition and culture, and is more likely to be crezy for New Year Sale from the 2nd of January!! (LOL)

*Disclaimer: The photo is quoted from this page of KIRIN beer.

Gaijin Gyaru
29/AUG/2009 on air

Gyaru fashion is getting popular among foreigners?
A banker from Switzerland visits Japan every year. She likes Japanese Gyaru model such as Tsubasa Masuwaka and Kumikki. There were a student from Denmark and Sweden, models from the U.S and Brazil, high school couple from Mexico, 2 Russian women, and even a 15-year-old middle school girl from France. It was 484 foreigners that Tokyo Kawaii TV counted at the entrance of Shibuya 109 by the time it closed 9 pm. This number means a foreigner per 80 seconds.

It’s been 10 years from the birth of “Gyaru” in Japan. Nowadays “Gyaru” is getting popular in foreign countries, too? In Barcelona Spain, there is a Gyaru circle (a group of Gyaru) of Spanish college girls. They formed it 2 years ago. Some of them visited Tokyo this summer to shop Gyaru items and clothes in Shibuya.

“Everything’s cute!”
“I feel like spending all the money I have here!”
They are very much excited at several stores (such as COCOLULU, DELYLE and JSG) in Shibuya 109, which must be the most familiar department stores they knew from Japanese Gyaru magazines they read in Spain.
They stay 2 weeks in Tokyo, a weekly rental condominium for 3000 yen per person. They cannot spend much money for foods, because they want to spend money for shopping! Their meals are either from convenience store or fast food.

Over 100 items are on the beds that are what they purchased in Japan. “There’s no shoes like this much kawaii in Spain!” They bought Yukata only because they wanted to dress it to the Hanabi (fireworks) night. Good for them, they were picked by good-looking Japanese men there.

The members of Gyaru group meet up once a week to dance ParaPara. They also like to visit the store “AKIBA” in Barcelona where Japanese anime goods, decoden stickers, Gothloli outfit, and a bit awkward Purikura machine are available.

The Spanish Gyaru girls are willing to pay 3 times more money to buy Japanese Gyaru fashion magazine in Spain. They like a Gyaru model Aina Tanaka.

Salon del Manga is a Japanese culture event in Barcelona that has been held since 1995. There were as many as 60,000 people visiting this event in 2008. This event has turned young Spanish people more interested in Japanese culture. Teens and young 20s Spanish boys and girls hold ParaPara contest every month at a youth center. “Music and dance are totally different from ours!” “I can even make friends with people who I dance with for the first time.” They are excited about ParaPara dance today, which used to be very popular among Shibuya girls 10 years ago.

There is even a foreign Gyaruo (men’s version of Gyaru) in Shibuya these days. Alex from Russia never fails to go to a hair salon that is popular among hosts for Mori hairstyle whenever he goes to Shibuya. He is an international student to a Japanese private university but he looks as if he were a model or host (“host” here means something different from host in English, as explained here. “I didn’t know this kind of fashion until I came to Japan. I think it’s cool!” He has a girl friend for 6 months who is also a Gyaru.

At an office of egg magazine Spanish Gyaru girls can finally meet their dream model Aina Tanaka in person. Moreover they learned how to do Gyaru makeup from egg models. “Because we are afraid of mottled face in the future, we do not burn the face. Only for the body to get tanned, we go to a tanning salon. For the face, use the same colored foundation.” “Gyaru need tanned skin color!” “Use a brush to paint your face with liquid foundation. In this way, your face will be smooth like a surface of pottery.” “It costs much money to be a Gyaru. We have to dye hair, decorate nails, get tanned at a tanning salon throughout the year, buy makeup and dresses, etc. I spend 50,000 yen per month for my hair and nails.” Aina shared her tips of how to be a more Gyaru-looking Gyaru. It has passed half an hour when base make was done. Spanish Gyaru girls were so happy because they could meet Aina, they spent 180,000 yen in average per person for shopping in Japan, and were called “Gaijin Gyaru” (Gaijin means foreigner) in Japan.

Kirin’s opinion:
I’m too old for Gyaru fashion (LOL), but it’s certainly fun if one has a specific fashion genre that she loves. I sometimes feel like buying some Gyaru items to mix with my ordinal clothes but I’m too embarrassed to enter Gyaru fashion store with completely non-Gyaru looking who apparently has no connection with Gyaru fashion. I maybe a bit shy… :p

It was scary though for me to ask someone with such long nails to put makeup on my face. I personally don’t like such long ones. They can be dangerous rather kawaii…(*_*) Have you seen Gyaru in your country? What did you think of their fashion, makeup, and etc.?