Getting My Driver's License!

That's right. I passed the written test this morning that I got my driver's license today!! In the past few days, I spent my days helping my parents at the restaurnt as well as catching up on some sleep, so I did not study for the test until last nite until 9pm. LOL But the last minute study and power memorization skill of myself seemed helpful afterall :) So after getting my license at 2pm, I came home and showed off my parents with my golden license and thanked them for all the help that they gave for me to get this freedom to explore my life much more :) So I hereby also want to express my appreciation to my family. Thank you VERY MUCH!!! But you all need to be aware that this means my gang life on the road has just officially began and I am on my scooters with my crew to come get ya keeping 30 km/hr like a dork :) Well, in reality, I am more of like driving a petite honda car with the first year driver mark at both front and back of the vehicle. LOL ANYWAY..

During my work out, I wondered what it would be like to live my life in my way. What makes me feel like me?... This same answer came into my mind: I want to live my life passionately, just like how I get all these crazy energy go thru inside of me when a great music moves me in a way I do and dance. But how can I apply my passion for life in my career??!! This has been a question stuck in my mind now that the departure day back to Canada is getting closer day by day. A part of me want to use my creativity to express my vision thru art (such as cooking or making accessories). A part of me want to get involved with those passionate souls manifesting whatever the message that they may have. But another of me just want to modestly contribute myself for those in great needs without thinking too much of my own life philosophy. However I want to live my life, I want to keep much fulfilling moments in my life full of good energy, smiles, laughters and love for everything that is given to me and around me :) Thank you for all and much more :)

Having Tatsu visting us at Fuji Part 2

On the next day, my dad took Tatsu for a car ride on his SR. Then we had a breakfast and chilled a bit before leaving for Tatsu's bus back to Tokyo. But in the last minute, my mom suggested he try wearing a kimono. Tatsu's skin tone and the color of kimono matched very well that he looked brilliant. My grandma even made a comment seeing him , "ah, ii otoko da!! (what a hottie he is)" LOL So here is a photo of him and myself:

Then we had a good family friend visiting us to inform us of great news (expecting a forth child)!! So that was cool. All of a sudden a couple customers dropped in and it was a time to catch the highway bus, so my dad took us to the bus stop. I waited until the bus arrival, and said good bye to Tatsu, wishing him for a safe and great journey to the southeast. It was very cool having him around. Very unique experience having a bilingual and bi-cultural non-Japanese around. Having no need to explain everything but engage in a conversation mindlessly always bring me a sense of comfort and unity. Maybe that's why I appreciate non-Japanese friends who have a great interest in my Japanese culture (and/or other cultures other than their own) as well as Japanese friends who have a great awareness towards outside of Japan. I hope to unite with many other youth/lively souls in our planent, earth though :)

P.S. I made a few more earrings after finishin my driving school, so if you were interested, pleaset take a look :) thanks!

Having Tatsu visting us at Fuji

My friend, Tatsu decided to make a visit to the Fuji visiting my family and myself before hitting on the road to the east. That's right. He will be departing Japan in a couple of weeks for his journey to the south east asia after 7 years of great work experience here in Japan. How exciting does it sound? I am quite envious that he is capable of doing this, as I have a great interest in doing a volunteer work somewhere in east asia. But I guess there is timing and opportunity for everything that happens in life, you know? Although I think I won't be hitting on the road myself sometime soon, I have a faith that it will turn into a reality within mein near future. :)

Anyway, my mom drove me to the highway bus stop, and the bus just arrived, so we were able to meet up with him right away. He looked great with his funky curry hair-do, and looked fresh with his white shirt anda dark brownish jeans. My mom's tensionall of a sudden hit the cloud in the sky, and got super energetic. LOL It's cool to see her all happy to have a guest like this though. We came back to my house,and I showed him around. Then my dad took

us to the kitaguchi hongu fuji sengen jinja, an ancient shrine and the starting point for the
Mt. Fuji pilgrimage. We walked thru an entrance path lined with mossy stone lanterns and reached to the jinja area. Here is a few of photos that I took there:

This is the entrance of the fuji kitaguchi hondo (northern path to the top of mt. fuji).
Tatsu made a quick trip all the way to the top with a cane and all only in his mind. LOL

Thenmy dad took us to the lake yamanakako, which is one of five great lakes at the foot of mt. fuji. Around this time, the weather got a little chilly that we did not get to see the face of mt. fuji. But my dad took us to a hotel at the top of a mountain to see if we could take a quick view of the lake and fuji. Although wecould not see the fuji due to foggy weather, it was still nice to have a smell and sound of peaceful nature there. We came back to my house, and chilled in the living room wathing a partial of my favorite, "Napoleon Dynamite" LOL Tatsu was going to leave for Tokyo at 8pm, so my parents kindly parepared our supper and we ate in one of the guest rooms of the restaurant. We had a draftbeer for kanpai.

During the meal, Tatsu was convinced to stay a nite over thanks to the ongoing dishes made by my folks (LOL), so we later joined my parents in the living to continue our meal in much relaxing manner.

There, we had more alcohol to drink and more food to eat. My dad showed his treasure boxes to Tatsu and both parents joyfully shared a conversation with him. The highlight of the nite was
when my mom brought a shamisen (traditional Japanese three-string instrument, which
maybe remembered as one of the instruments played by the geisha). All of them tried playing it and had a fun time. Nite did not appear to end as my mom brought a bottle of desert wine and pieces of cake at around 11pm. LOL But after a binge of good food, alcohol and loads of laughters, we decided to have a rest of the nite. My mom at this point was quite drunk that
she would engage in a conversation/telling a story to Tatsu with no special reason (her tendency whenever she gets super drunk). LOL So it was a little hard to take her away from the room where Tatsu was resting. LOL But we successfully all went to bed by around 1:30am.

3 years anniversary of my grandma's death

3 years ago today, my grandma on my mom's side passed away suddenly. Thankfully, I was here for a job assignment in Tokyo that I was able to attend the funeral (none of my other sisters were able to do so). The memory of this beautiful face of her and loads of Casa Blanca lilies placed carefully around her face on her coffin and how I told her how much I loved her and kissed her on her cheek came back to me as I attended her Buddhist sermon at the temple. Very strangely, this same energy that I felt at her funeral 3 years ago surrounded me when the monk started reciting a sutra. I felt very emotional and was about to cry. I felt as if my grandma was somewhere around us. I prayed for her peaceful after-life and promised her to live a fulfilling life myself. After the sermon, the monk commented on our frequent visits to the temple to see the grandma's ashes and told us how impressed he was. He proceeded and told us that although making a frequent visit to the temple help the deceased one to attain the buddhahood (buddhist belief), living a fulfilling life when not visiting the temple is much ideal, so he encouraged us to treat our life preciously and try our best to fulfill it. After that, we all came back to my parent's restaurant where we were to have a lunch together cherishing the memories of my grandma. I, of course, helped my parents for preparing the meals until we deliver all the dishes, then sit with the guests and enjoyed the meal. It was great get together we had, and hope that all of us continue to live much fulfilling lives.