Star Wars earphones

I found these cute star wars earphones at PLAZA stores during our xmas gift hunting. ^__^ They came in 3 designs: darth vader with red ear plugs, storm troopers with black ear plugs, and R2D2 with blue ear plugs, with no microphone.

It was 8.30PM already that time and we were in Odori. You might think that it's not late at all, but the shops here are usually closed at around 8.30 or 9PM. I needed to buy more things in Tanukikoji and Sapporo Station, while Javier wanted to buy these earphones in PLAZA which has branches in both Odori and Sapporo Station. Too bad the PLAZA store in Odori were closed already, so I rushed to Sapporo Station  like crazy, hoping that the shops were still open, while Javier went to Tanukikoji to buy my stuffs.

Luckily the shops were open a bit longer for xmas... until exactly 9PM, i mean =P hehe, but then I had to finish my business in 2 stores in like 15 minutes!! I rushed to the star wars section, took some pictures and texted him so Javier could make proper decision since he hadn't seen these stuffs himself. I was rushing so I wrote super short messages to give explanation on the details, and one of them was, "Ear plug diff colors. R2 blue darth red storm black." and he replied me, "... There is no storm trooper in black! The black one is darth vader." .... O_____o ... and because of that I had to send him another text message again!!! PUNCH! Wasn't my message clear enough???? ^_^

Earlier we thought the R2D2 might be the cutest option. However, after realizing that the R2D2 version doesn't have the full shape of R2D2 (half body only) plus the blue lines were not so neat, we decided to buy the storm trooper version. I always think storm trooper looks so cute. ^^

JTB Monitor Tour course C : Konbu (kelp) Factory in Rausu, Hokkaido

Konbu farm under the Sea of Okhostk
(picture taken from Okhostk Ryuhyo Museum)

This is another post about one of the spots I visited during the JTB Monitor Tour course C to Shiretoko and Abashiri areas, Hokkaido.

If you are interested to read about the other spots, 

please check this link:

Kiyosato Shochu (japanese sake) Brewery, Hokkaido

Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum, Abashiri, Hokkaido

JTB, well-known Japanese travel agency and one of the largest travel agencies in the world, conducted 7 kinds of 2-3 days guided tour packages to various places around Hokkaido for foreigners, and they are like almost free. Foreigners who wanted to participate had to apply and choose for a course depending on where and when they wanted to go. There were a lot of people applied, of course, and I was quite lucky to get a place ! ^^

The website of JTB Hokkaido is here (sorry, it seems everything is in Japanese).

I was really looking forward into going to Shiretoko and Abashiri areas because I think I have been in most of Hokkaido's famous spots, except Shiretoko, Abashiri, and Wakkanai. Therefore, we chose one of the furthest courses, Shiretoko and Abashiri. Shiretoko national park is a UNESCO world heritage, and Abashiri area is famous for its drift ice and old prison. I always want to go there but the timing was always not right.

Anyway, this time we visited Konbu Factory in Rausu town.
It was a good experience going to this konbu farm. I didn't have any idea about konbu and how the real konbu might look like. Earlier I also thought konbu is the same with seaweed but it seems it is not. I remember during my spring trip to Hakodate I was offered to try dry konbu in Hakodate Fish Market but I thought it was dry seaweed. I was surprised that it really tastes like sea water and like so impossible to bite, hehe. 

Tons of konbu waiting to be sorted and packed

First of all, what is konbu?

Konbu, or kelp, is one of the sea vegetables widely consumed in Japan. It is one of the main basic dashi (basic japanese broth) ingredients that rich in iodine, a mineral that is very essential for growth and development. In addition, konbu is also rich of vitamins and dietary fiber. In Japan konbu is considered as a symbol for good luck from long time ago.


They said that one whole piece of konbu may worth 10000 yen (around USD 120 or 91 euros) in touristic places! So expensive huh ?! o.O When we left, they gave us some konbu as souvenirs. It still remains in my souvenir boxes because I still haven't had time to check on what to do with it and how to do it properly.

packed konbu ready for delivery

konbu waiting to be packed

It was surprising to see how big and long one piece of konbu is. If you see the picture of Javier holding the konbu below, you will believe that the average of konbu is longer than my height!
______ ______ !

Javier holding 20000 yen worth of konbu ^^

According to this very informative article about konbu, a total of 120,000 tons of konbu is produced every year within the country and 95% of that amount is gathered along the coastal lines of Hokkaido. There are 14 genus and 45 different species of Konbu in Japan, but the popular kinds sent to Kansai are Ma-konbu, Rishiri-konbu and Raus-konbu. Ma-konbu is gathered in southern Hokkaido along the cities of Hakodate to Muroran and rishiri-konbu in nothern Hokkaido along the coastal line of the Okhotsk Sea from Rishiri-Rebun Island to Abashiri, while raus-konbu is gathered in eastern Hokkaido along the Shiretoko Peninsula.

During our stay in this amazing Shiretoko Daiichi Hotel on the second day, I had the chance to try ume-konbu (japanese plum-konbu) tea since there were some tea bags provided in the room.

ume-konbu tea

Hm... I would say that it is not my favourite, hehe. It might be because I'm not used to tea with salty taste. It tasted a bit like soup to me.. hehe. However, it seems konbu tea is very popular in Japan. Being rich in trace minerals, konbu tea can also be used to add taste for cooking. 

New Pepsi White from Japan

Another reason to get excited!!! ^______^ 

I'm sure you can guess why just by looking at the post title. hehe ^^

First of all, the weather was not so bad this morning. It was snowing a lot, but luckily the wind was not strong, so it wasn't that cold... wait. I mean, compared to when it's windy. =P

The thing we can always be sure of is that the scenery is sooooo extremely pretty! I will never get bored of the scenery although from time to time I wish the winter will end soon haha =P, because having the city covered by snow around 5 months is just too long especially if we talk about the slippery road and having your face freezing everytime you are outside.

Some pictures taken that day:

Feel like shaking the trees and making all the snow drops!

Hokkaido University main road. Pretty all year round :)

Always call this sight 'ice cream' ^___^

All white and cold, but pretty, so it's fine. :) The best moment is just after heavy snowfall. The fresh snow is so fluffy and powdery! That's why Hokkaido is famous as the powder heaven. This article from totaltravel Yahoo!7 mentioned that the snow flakes just keep on falling on Hokkaido, and Niseko, Japan's premiere ski resort is "one of the most snowed-on resorts on earth."

And what else can be better to light up the market in this snowy season?

Japan's New Pepsi White, of course! ^^

Pepsi White has 雪みかん flavor (the direct translation is "snow orange") written on the label. This cola with refreshing mandarin orange flavor and snow-colored liquid was officially launced in December 11, 2012. I spotted it on December 12, 2012, which means I'm quite early I guess? ^^

According to the official website of SUNTORY, Japan's pepsi distributor, six designs of snowmen are used for the label design. The package itself was meant to express the joy of winter. I was not sure how many designs they have earlier, so I checked them one-by-one at the store, hehe ^^ I bought 7 in the end (...), because I bought 6 with 6 different designs for souvenirs, and 1 for me to try. :)

I found the smell of orange is more obvious than the taste, though. I still think the pepsi salty watermelon is the best and the most unique. I bought really a lot during summer. not for me to drink, of course, because I'm not a fan of carbonated drinks for drinking purpose, hehe. I will have to give them away soon as the expiry date is getting closer. Too bad they are not in the market anymore...

Pepsi White and Pepsi Salty Watermelon from Japan

If you are also interested to see other limited edition drinks,

don't forget to check my posts about:

1. Japan's Pepsi Franky Cola which is another latest special edition Pepsi based on famous Japanese shounen manga series, One Piece (ワンピース)

2. Japan's summer edition Pepsi Black Lemon with all-black Pepsi logo, a bit of lemon flavor and 50% less sugar content
3. Japan's summer edition Pepsi Salty Watermelon, my favourite among all ^__^, released last year to celebrate the enjoyment of summer.

4. Some new Fanta flavors!

5. Coke Zero 007 Skyfall Special Edition

My latest findings related to Japanese food or snacks

How can I not be excited because of small little things if I'm surrounded by tons of kawaii, unique, or special edition food or food-related stuffs ?! ^_________^

This time I'm going to talk about my latest findings related to food. Honestly, I have been growing more interest in snacks since I came to Japan. Last time I used to think that these stuffs should be avoided because they will make me fat ! XD ... well, not to mention that they tend to have high content of MSG, oil, salt, and stuffs like that. 

Anyway, surprisingly snacking in Japan doesn't make me fat.. o.O (except on winter maybe.. hehe) I'm not the right person to make comments about the food nutrition etc. I think I don't gain weight so fast because of snacks here because I also do more unintentional exercise regularly everyday by walking and cycling a lot. It really makes the difference I guess. So everyone, let's try to exercise regularly, or at least walk more, for healthier body and better shape !

Let's check what I found :

1. Wasabeef, potato chips with mainly wasabi flavor

wasabeef (ワさビーフ), my favourite wasabi potato chips !

It wasn't the first time for me to see the green one, actually. In fact, I LOVE it so much !!!

I used to eat a lot of it last year until finally I decided to stop snacking too much potato chips, hehe. Besides, after Javier came back to Japan, I should choose potato chips with flavors we both like. Well fyi, Javier is not a big fan of wasabi (yet =P). He puts a bit of wasabi into his sauce while eating sushi, though. Not bad.. not bad.. :)

The green one is potato chips with wasabi and beef flavors. It is the original flavor, i suppose, since the name of the chips is wasa-beef hehe. My wasabi-lover friends are so crazy about this chips too ! Maybe I should bring it back home for x'mas so that my brother can try.

The red one is potato chips with ume (japanese plum) and wasabi flavors.. o.O I can't imagine the taste! I saw it for the first time last week in Odori but I didn't have time to buy it because I was rushing. I have to try the new flavor soon !!

  
2. Pocky strawberry with heart-shaped sticks

pocky strawberry with heart-shaped sticks

I laughed a lot the first time I saw this one! I mean, arghhh... pocky is so cute already, and now this one has... heart-shaped sticks !?!? OMG! the shape of the sticks are so important huh ?!?! it will be covered by the strawberry chocolate layer anyway.. why bother to make the heart shape ?! OMG! but yaa it's so funny hihi I love the cute detail ! ^____^ 

  

3. Chocoball from Morinaga

Choco ball in peanuts and strawberry flavors

If there is a mark inside the lid, we can win the bird!

This choco ball is so addictive! OK, honestly this is not my kind of snack because I usually will call extremely cute snacks 'children snacks' ^____^.

However...!!!, I bought it exactly because of the same reason!

That day I was walking around the shop at Engineering school and I saw this on sale. Well, normally I still won't buy it because, well, I just dunno why I don't buy snacks with cute packaging except if they are special edition or very unique. Of course my heart melted a bit when I saw the cute bird, but.. still.. no la.

But then... when I knew that we have the chance to win the bird, as shown in the second picture on the right (oh yeah of course it's impossible!!!, but i still fell for it even knowing that it's impossible) I bought it! ... and not only once! I bought it at least 5-6 times ___ ___ !

By the way, as shown in the first picture on the left, there is one ball inside the strawberry choco ball box which has special print. hehe.. They really have a lot of ideas on how to make simple things cuter and more fun. On the other hand, it's quite funny to see that the boxes come in various designs, including xmas edition and winter edition ^^ It gives some feeling of celebrating the season.

I stopped buying it, finally ^^, but yah... I still wish I could win the bird... =P

  
4. Japanese games with similarities to UNO stacko

No. 4 is not about food but food-related items. I was shopping with my friend, hunting for x'mas gifts for his family, and we found these games !




The pieces come in the shape of different kinds of foods! haha isn't it amusing? I like the look of the dango (rice balls on sticks) games but I can't imagine how to play it. Btw it's not exactly like UNO stacko, it seems. I haven't really checked because we had to check more things that day, but if I'm not mistaken, we might just need to build upwards without the need to withdraw any pieces. I will check again when I go there. Maybe this weekend.


5. Curry plate in the shape of japanese squat toilet 

No. 5 is also about food-related items. I found this on the same day I saw no. 4. I guess the title and the picture below are self-explanatory XD :

Curry plate in the shape of japanese squat toilet XD

I REALLYYYYY LOVE THIS ONE !! ^________^

My friend was looking for 'special or unique x'mas gifts that represent japanese culture or is quite japanese' for his family and relatives from Brazil, and we found this !!! Don't you think this is so fit with his criteria?! Moreover, the plate is for (japanese) curry! It's so japanese, unique and hilarious! It was not expensive, as well.. around 1260 yen if i'm not mistaken. I myself was thinking of buying it as souvenir but then my friend thought it's so gross, so maybe it's better not to make it souvenir in case it will create wrong impression. ____ ____ !

That's all for now. You can expect me to see more posts like this in the future because unique things are just a lotttttttt here! ^______^

Cape Kamui of Shakotan Peninsula, and Nikka Whisky Distillery, Hokkaido, Japan

Following the previous post about Shimamui Beach, we joined HUISA (Hokkaido University International Student Association) summer trip to Shimamui beach, Cape Kamui (kamui misaki), and Nikka Whisky Yoichi Distillery. It wasn't my first time being there actually. However, I didn't mind going again coz I went with different people, and the Hokkaido's summer scenery is so precious. :)

Cape Kamui or Kamui misaki

Shakotan Peninsula is located in Shiribeshi area on the west coast of Hokkaido island, Japan. This place is not directly accessible by train, though. You may reach this place by car or bus. Cape Kamui is a great summer destination for tourists due to the beautiful mix of endless blue sea and the cape, fully covered in green, heading towards it.

When you reach the parking lot, you will see a building contains of souvenir shop and food stall, and also a small hut selling Hokkaido soft cream, including the special-edition soft cream from this area: the Shakotan Blue. There are some tables and benches provided, so you may have your lunch there. You can bring your own bento (lunch box) and eat it there, as well. There are a lot of places in Japan that allow you to do this. :)

After recharging our energy, we continued the journey to Cape Kamui. From the parking lot, a maze of trails leads the sightseers to a number of viewpoints overlooking the Sea of Japan. Please keep in mind, especially for seniors or people who rarely walk, that you will need to walk quite a lot in this place. However, although the track is longer, but it was less tiring than climbing the stairs from Shimamui Beach. =P 

It was quite a long walk to reach the end. I didn't manage to reach the end the first time I went there because I was busy enjoying the scenery (there were some benches and viewpoints on the way) and taking pictures with friends. Suddenly it was time to leave, haha. This time, I was so determined to walk until the end, but ... we couldn't do it because the path was blocked due to some maintenance work... o.O So unlucky! =(

Javier and Zoey enjoying the Shakotan Blue soft creams

A must thing to do! Having the special edition Hokkaido soft cream of this place: Shakotan Blue! ^^ Compared to other special-edition Hokkaido soft creams, e.g. Furano's lavender soft cream and Yubari melon soft cream, this "Shakotan Blue" has no special flavor, actually. It tasted like vanilla, but the bright blue color made it special. :)

After visiting Cape Kamui, we passed by Nikka Whisky Distillery in Yoichi on the way back to Sapporo. Here we joined the factory guided tour and whisky tasting. The whisky tasting place is a big hall located at the second floor of the main building. Yes, the place is full of whisky smell! ^_^ If you are not into alcoholic drinks, they provide water for free, or you may also buy drinks or soft cream at their dessert corner.

The factory tour was held following specific schedule every day. It was guided by a trained staff from the factory. Her uniform, her hat especially, was so cute! ^^ She brought us around the distillery complex and explained a lot of things including the history, the whisky making process, etc.

Shimamui Beach is another destination with amazing scenery that people usually visit together with these spots. Check my post about it HERE. :)

Japan earthquake yesterday and snowy day today

It's so colddd today !! It's snowing so heavily in Sapporo since morning. Luckily the wind doesn't seem strong.. well, at least it wasn't strong when I went out for a while during lunch time.

By the way, there was a big earthquake in Japan yesterday. The news is all over the world by now, I guess coz I received a lot of messages asking about the condition here. Don't worry ! Everything is fine here, just a bit shaky :) Thank you for asking, guys ! According to the report of Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the magnitude was 7.3. Tsunami warning was launched, but it was cancelled 2 hours after observations.

If you ask me how the feeling during an earthquake is, well, since Hokkaido is a relatively safer place in Japan against earthquake, I have never experienced the real destructive earthquake movement around me, thanks God. However, I have experienced many shaky moments during my stay in Japan, and the most common sensation was that I felt like standing on top of thin flexible paper, and suddenly the floor didn't seem sturdy anymore. It's quite scary to feel the floor shaking flexibly actually, but in fact we should feel safer because that's part of anti-seismic building design technology.

In regards to the earthquake happened yesterday, I myself was in UNIQLO store at Tanukikoji checking for some stuffs for winter. When it happened, I heard the racks were shaking against each other and I could hear the sound of plastic bumping against each other with constant rhythm coming from those heat tech items wrapped in plastic. I started to look around to check if it was just my imaginations, and among some people around me who seemed not to notice anything (yet), I saw this girl who also did the same thing as I did haha ! We looked at each other for few seconds before we realized that it's real, then took our phones, and began texting. hehe. It's important to be sensitive for this kind of things, c'mon !!

Actually after the Great Japan Earthquake in 2011, I find myself to be more aware towards earthquake movements. I tend to be able to detect even the slight ones. In some cases, other people didn't even feel it. Well, i take it as a blessing... it's definitely a useful survival skill ! don't you agree with me ? ^^

I just hope the earthquake that happened yesterday wasn't the beginning of another series of big earthquakes like what happened before. I really hope that there will be no disaster happen in the near future. It is even harder to deal with it during this cold weather (and snowy, in some areas).

Btw it was the first time for me to go out wearing wool coat during heavy snow ! I had to use umbrella to prevent the snow from sticking all over my coat and winter hat, coz they are not waterproof, of course. I usually prefer to wear down jacket during winter (and autumn or early spring, as well) because they are generally waterproof (well, not really waterproof like ski suit, but it works for snow and light rain) and able to block wind better. Wool coats tend to have no hood although I have seen few having it. However, it's quite warm and gave different feeling, though. Not fluffy and big... and the most important is ... I felt slimmer. =P haha!

Today I ended up staying at home alone doing laundry, changing bed sheet, eating, browsing internet, and... playing with bebi donut, my super cute winter white sapphire hamster ^_^

Here are some pics of her  =P :

more food ?

my food bowl, my heaven ^^ 

Will post another special entry for her next time !

White snowy days in Sapporo

pure white winter scenery in sapporo

pure white winter scenery in sapporo

The post is a bit late actually coz the snow has been falling for weeks here.

In case you are not familiar with the city, Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido and Japan's fifth largest city. It is also Japan's one of the youngest major cities, and we can see that the city layout is neatly following a grid system, making it very easy for us to understand the map.

Hokkaido is the northest biggest island of Japan. Sapporo itself, is blessed with around 6 months snowy days per year and relatively cool temperature even during summer. However, this year the snow came a big late, though. It starts to snow like crazy from time to time, but there were still times when it stopped snowing and the temperature rised a bit, causing the ice uncovered by fresh snow, becoming slippery, and then melting a bit, making the road extremely wet and dirty.

Anyway, although i hate cold weather, i enjoy playing with snow from time to time. ^^ Some of the pictures were taken on the day of the first snow this year, and some on the day of the first (snow) stormy day here. The city was immediately covered by ard 40-50cm of snow in just few hours !

building castle wall =P

See the full gallery on Posterous

Coke Zero 007 Skyfall Special Edition

coke zero 007 skyfall

Found the new special edition coke zero : 007 Skyfall edition ! I saw it in seven-eleven one week before the premiere day of movie. I was tempted to buy it just to get the can for collection, but in the end i didn't do so, coz i still have a lotttt of other special edition drinks from last time! i'm not a big fan of carbonated drinks but i always love to try the new flavors. well, but just a bit, haha (that's the problem!) In the case that the drink itself has no special flavor, i still love to collect them.

If you are also interested to see other limited edition drinks,

don't forget to check my posts about:

1. Japan's latest winter edition Pepsi White launched on December 11, 2012

2. Japan's summer edition Pepsi Black Lemon with all-black Pepsi logo, a bit of lemon flavor and 50% less sugar content

3. Japan's Pepsi Franky Cola which is another latest special edition Pepsi based on famous Japanese shounen manga series, One Piece (ワンピース)
4. Japan's summer edition Pepsi Salty Watermelon, my favourite among all ^__^, released last year to celebrate the enjoyment of summer.

5. Some new Fanta flavors!

Pepsi Franky Cola (based on One Piece manga series)

Pepsi Franky Cola based on One Piece manga series

What’s new this time ?!? PEPSI FRANKY COLA !!! ^___^

Pepsi Franky Cola based on One Piece manga series

I passed by 7-11 yesterday to pay some bills, and I found this new version of pepsi ! Being quite different with other special edition Pepsi, Pepsi Franky Cola comes in glass bottle instead of plastic. Quite nice to collect for One Piece manga lovers, huh ? ^^

 I’m not a big fan of carbonated drinks, but I always love to check on new unique and limited edition stuffs, especially drinks ! ^^ I bought them too sometimes, although it really took a lot of time for me to finish them. I bought a lot of pepsi salty watermelon to bring back home for xmas, though. I love the unique candy-like taste. 

So, what is Franky cola ? well… cola is like fuel for Franky. 

In case you don’t know, Franky (フランキー) is one of the characters of famous Japanese shounen manga series, One Piece (ワンピース). The manga has been adapted into original video animation (OVA) and anime series, as well. 

Franky is a cyborg from Water 7, and the shipwright for the Straw Hat Pirates. He was actually an antagonist character before he became the eighth member of the Straw Hatpirates. He is a powerful man with extremely big arms especially compared to the small size of his biceps. His fashion style is … unique, hehe. Blue hair, Hawaiian shirt, speedo,big gold chain necklace... 

Because of the modifications he did upon himself, Franky becomes a human with artificial parts, giving him vast amount of strength. Franky keeps bottles of cola in his stomach fridge, and the colas are mostly needed as fuel for some attacks. His most powerful attack uses up the most cola.

If you are also interested to see other limited edition drinks,
don't forget to check my posts about:

1. Japan's latest winter edition Pepsi White launched on December 11, 2012

2. Japan's summer edition Pepsi Black Lemon with all-black Pepsi logo, a bit of lemon flavor and 50% less sugar content
3. Japan's summer edition Pepsi Salty Watermelon, my favourite among all ^__^, released last year to celebrate the enjoyment of summer

4. Some new Fanta flavors!

5. Coke Zero 007 Skyfall Special Edition

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters Champions Parade in Sapporo, Japan ( Nov 24, 2012 )

So many people gathered in Odori last saturday !!!

... and... things were falling down from the sky ! what was happening there ?! riot ?? snowfall ??  paper fall ?? (heh... O.o) ^______^

The day before, my japanese architect friend and senior, Jimmy invited me to watch Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters Champions Parade in Odori on Saturday from his office. I got to know him and his beautiful wife from another friend who introduced us before she left Japan. After that, we started to do a lot of design competitions together for fun and experience. He is a very nice person and also very young at heart. Older people in Japan usually give some kind of strict and serious atmosphere around them, but Jimmy is open to new ideas and culture.

He loves to sketch, and for sure, his sketches and watercolor paintings are amazing !!! He inspired me to learn how to paint with watercolor. I'm always amazed every time I think on how we managed to work together with my limited Japanese. __ __ !

Ok, i'm not supposed to talk about him here !! ^_^ the main thing now is ....

HOKKAIDO NIPPON-HAM FIGHTERS CHAMPIONS PARADE ! ^^

The view of Odori Park during the parade from　道銀ビル

The parade, with a bit of snow on the background and tons of flying papers around, was AMAZINGLY PRETTY !!!! I was wondering how to clean the papers after, as there were really tons of papers and they were blown by the wind all over the place ! well, I will talk about it later.

The team won the Pacific League this year, and the parade was part of the celebration. Honestly, I don't know anything about baseball teams, hehe ^_^!, but I know that Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters is a famous team here. I tried to check a bit online and I'm going to share the basic info with you here.

According to Wikipedia,  the Pacific League (パシフィック・リーグ) is one of the two professional baseball leagues in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around Japan.

The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (北海道日本ハムファイターズ) are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Sapporo, Hokkaido. The team name comes from its parent organization, Nippon Ham, which is a major Japanese food processing company. Through a long history from 1946 with the name 'Senators', the team name had changed several times until it became Nippon-Ham Fighters in 1974, and then Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2004 until now.

Some flying papers we caught and my nails in Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters colors :)

The team's home field is Sapporo Dome, a stadium with retractable surface, designed by japanese architect Hiroshi Hara. Retractable surface here means that the stadium surface is able to switch between two entirely different surfaces; artificial turf field for baseball games, and grass pitch that slides into and out of the stadium as needed, for football games.

As I mentioned before, I don't know about baseball and the team itself, so I'm also not familiar with the players. However, it still made me so excited to be able to see these amazing players in the city with my own eyes ! ^^

The best from the parade beside the team players were ... the confetti and flying papers !! ^_^ (I don't think confetti and flying papers are the same, hehe) They were really a lottttttt, and blown all over the place by the wind, decorating the blue sky of Sapporo. It was so nice that the flying papers also came out from 道銀ビル, the building where we were at. It was nice to know that a lot of papers were cut from old advertisements, pamphlets, and used papers instead of new papers. Environmental awareness must always be kept in mind while having fun. :)

Colorful flying papers from both new and recycled papers pamphlets, etc

This was how they did it !

Flying papers cut from used papers, pamphlets, etc

I always love colorful stuffs ! I believe that each color can create its own atmosphere depending on the situation and condition. That's the reason why although my favorite color is green and I have a lot of things in green, I don't stop using and enjoying other colors. It's so fun to mix-n-match them. I don't believe that by sticking to that certain 'my color' shows that we have character, or even style. No relation at all. To my amazement, there are people who get angry when others are using what they call 'their color'. I really don't know what to say. *amused* Why should we stop expressing ourselves and being creative ?

Just use whatever color we feel the best at the moment.  If you want to buy something and it happens that the one in other color looks nicer in your eyes than the one in your favorite color, do you need to insist to buy the one in your favorite color ? Those people are not flexible at all. Also, I think some of you can understand what I mean by 'choosing color may depend on our mood' too.

Back to those pretty confetti and flying papers. They really gave me excitement ! Who won't enjoy them as much as I do ? ^^ mmm... maybe the agencies who are responsible for cleaning the city ? 

The thing is ...

        

The citizens surprisingly helped the staffs to clean up after the parade!!!! O.o ... Isn't it amazing?!? I couldn't understand what was happening here, really. Is it about education? Is it about self-awareness?? Of course not everyone did that. Some of them were just passing by. Some were collecting papers for memorabilia... Some were taking pictures... but there were so many of them really helping to do cleaning! (We did all of them !!! ... yup2, we helped to clean a bit too !!! ^___^ ... *and be proud. what a gaijin/foreigner...*) We also saw parents and children helping the cleaners together. Japan and its society never stop to surprise us! 

Everything has good and bad, and my knowledge about Japan and Japanese people are not enough to make pro and con judgements. However, whatever it is, I think what they did was admirable. They really have different level of self-awareness, and different definition in mind of... maybe 'responsibility' is the word? 

By the way, winter is really here! Get ready for the fluffy powder snow everywhere for at least the next 4 months !! ^________^

Hello from Sapporo !!!