My heart, it races

Take me to the ball game

Time to play catch up! A few months ago for Explore Japan class, our teacher took us to see a baseball game. WOOOO. No really WOOOO. I grew up in Australia and Hong Kong, which means baseball isn't really a popular sport, cricket was. To me baseball, is really American or Japanese.

Baseball is a surprising long game, the game which we watched was at least 3-4 hours long, however since we were having so much fun, and getting really into the game helps make time fly. We watched Seibu Lions (Saitama) vs Hanshin Tigers (Osaka). The Seibu Lion's dome isn't too far from the Hitotsubashi dorms (around 30mins) so definitely take the chance to see a match if you can! (Baseball season tends to be around late March-late October)

The real reason I was so hyped up to watch baseball is because I really love this manga/ anime called Ookiku Furikabutte (Big Windup) and thats where I learned all the rules so this was one way for my anime obsession to come to life.

My teacher is a serious (and when I say serious, I mean CRAZYY) Hanshin Tigers fan, so obviously he got us tickets in the Hanshin Tiger fan area, and we got seriously nice tickets, close to field and great view. (Once a baseball flew towards us!!! Man we could have gotten a rogue ball!)

Outside the Seibu dome there were food stalls filled with yummy yummy food like takoyaki and kebab! So some people like the hungry people they are, filled up before going into the stadium. I favor comfort first, so I waited till we sat down. (NB our teacher is wearing a Hanshin Tigers Happi coat- GO TIGERS)

Just walking into the stadium (since we had class, we were a bit late, I think maybe 3rd inning)

Awesome Tiger Fans! They are so passionate and welcoming!!!

Henri and I decided to dive into the Hanshin fan style, by buying our own Tiger ears!!

7th Inning Stretch, Balloon tradition, to pump up the team, the fans blow up and let go of these epic suspicious looking balloons. (So glad I'm not on clean up duty!)

After the Tigers won! Apparently it had been a long time since the Tigers had won against the Lions, so my teacher was like totally crazy and the fans were so crazyyy! The fans are so passionate, I mean they make so much noise, they sing, they cheer, they laugh, they groan with the team.

That's a wrap!

Labels: Baseball, Explore Japan, Hanshin Tigers, Japan, Seibu Lions

❤ "Take me to the ball game" was Posted On: Thursday, 22 November 2012 @12:19 | 0 lovely comments ✿

Bundles of silk

Colourful silks dyed in exotic colours. Gold and silver glimmering threads woven. In May, for one of my classes I got to try on a Kimono. Kimonos are definitely one of Japan's most recognisable pieces of clothing. Probably you'd see it and think geisha.

Nowadays the Kimono is worn by the younger generation when participating in their Coming of Age ceremonies, hosting a tea ceremony or attending a wedding. Geisha and their apprentices, Maiko and some of the older generation (yes, both men and women) still wear them on a daily basis. Owning your own Kimono is quite rare because of the sheer cost that comes with purchasing one. They can range from $5000-20,000.

Kimonos have many layers and one of the more famous ones were worn in the Heian Period which could have up to 12 layers (Juni-hitoe). These were reserved for the court-ladies and Empresses. The one I got to wear was a furisode Kimono which is reserved for unmarried women to wear. It is usually more colourful and used to advertise the single status of the wearer.

Usually you have to have someone to help dress you, because of the complicity of matching the layers and colours. The idea is a 'column' is pretty and ideal. The kimono is meant to be sleek and uniform. In bid to do this, you usually get packed with folded towels to create this flat surface. For someone like me, who is top heavy but still has a waist, it is the MOST HORRIBLE thing! I just look round. urgh

Since I don't have many pictures of me being dressed here is some piccies of my friends and I playing human dolls~

As you can see our hair has been set with range of different accessories from bows to flowers to beads.

Then we went to join the boys... who were dressed in Hakama.

Hakama is the used to be a male only clothing but in recent times it worn by both men and women. For women its usually during the university graduation ceremony in which it is commonly worn. Hakama has 7 deep pleats in the 'pants' to represent the 7 virtues of the bushido (武士道）which are essential to the samurai way. Apparently it is an advantage when you have a beer belly, because it shows that you are wealthy and powerful... if not you can always have a helping hand from those lovely folded towels. Like the kimono its quite rare for people to wear, I have a friend who hasn't even worn it once!

Time for some group photos~

Thats all folks~

P.S: Thanks to the lovely ladies who helped dress me >.<

Labels: Explore Japan, Japan, Kimono

❤ "Bundles of silk" was Posted On: Sunday, 1 July 2012 @10:46 | 0 lovely comments ✿

Friends. No alcohol. Mexico. Shrine. Beer

(Warning IMAGE HEAVY!) So I've been living up the fun life here in Japan for just over a month now... I can't believe that its really been so long. I don't want it to ever end! I am very much enjoying the friendships I've made with people that are on exchange here at Hitotsubashi. It's much a cultural diverse campus, with people from France, China, Finland, Germany, Korea and many more!!!

There was recently a welcome party for exchange students held by my university (never mind its about a month after we've started) and after that the after party was at this Mexican themed bar near the uni. It was such great fun and it gave me the chance to wear my new Forever 21 dress (I am so in love with F21). The food was awesome even though I had to wear this...


The cute little sign means I can't have alcohol cause I'm underage!


Some of the fabulous girlies I've met!

The fantastic people I live with/ hang with! (Benjamin, Jenny, Jin, Henri, Patrick and Chris)


My new favourite dress! From F21! ♥Asymmetrical + cut out ♥

Then last week Thurs (26th) for my Explore Japan class we toured around the town we live in, Kunitachi and the Suntory Beer Factory. We visited the Yaho Tenman-gu (谷保天満宮) located around a 5 min drive away from the main university campus. Most of the believers go to the shrine to wish for better luck in studies and protection. Many of the wishes included; "Getting into my first choice university", "getting onto the track team""~~getting a boyfriend"~~. (I'm only joking). The special part of the shrine was that you actually had to go down the stairs to get to the shrine. Usually in Japan, you have to climb stairs to get the shrines/ temples because the the closer you are to the sky, the closer you are to the celestial beings as obviously the Gods are in a much more elevated position than us, human folk. The story goes that they built the shrine before the main area was actually developed so at the time the Yaho Tenman-gu was actually more elevated that the main road, but due to modern development in the area, the main road became higher than the shrine!

The two guard dogs of the shrine

After this we made our way to the fantastic Suntory Beer Factory in Musashino. (West Tokyo) Our teacher organised this tour, where we could take a peek of how they produce their famous Suntory Premium Malt beer. Using malt and hops from Czech and around that area, combined with natural mineral water from a underground water aquifer it creates their famous beer!