Remember, I'm more active on twitter as for now. :D

I update my tweets/instagram almost everyday! Will start blogging again once the "new" JPInsider is completed! ;) teehee

Lovin' San Diego! Super Japanese friendly! Why? Japanese Businesses! People are super open and welcoming! So many activities here at day and night! Exploring opportunities! My homesick symptoms have not been showing here in San Diego. In Boston, I cry every week.

So for those of you who haven't been checking out my tweets and instagrams....Here's a preview!!!

HELLO EVERYBODY! I'm still alive!

For those of you who don't follow my Twitter account....
I have moved to SUNNY BEAUTIFUL SAN DIEGO!!!!!!!!!

I'll be here as a co-op (kinda like an intern) for 6 months at this amazing company which I may or may not reveal later.

I love my job. I love this place. Been in San Diego for 3 weeks, and I just can't complain about ANYTHING. The only thing that's missing is my partner...My boyfriend who started this blog with me, who is still in DARK COLD BOSTON.

Wanna know what I love about San Diego so far?

- SO MUCH JAPANESE FOOD.
- SO MANY ASIAN CUISINES.
- SO MANY JAPANESE SUPER MARKETS.
- THE PEOPLE ARE SO NICE, CONSIDERATE, and are HAPPY. (The people I've met, at least. In comparison to people I've seen/met/interacted with in Boston by the way)
- THE WEATHER/TEMPERATURE/THE SUN
- THE BEACH
- CARS ARE CONVENIENT HERE! (I love driving as well)

The boyfriend is actually visiting San Diego TOMORROW! ...Exciting news, yes.
So being 21, where should we go on a date? Where should we eat dinner? What do young professionals/simply students do here?

If you have any suggestions, please let me know!!



Pic of my new apartment >>>>

I used to work in the colour contact industry back when I was in HS. Back then, it was only me, my coworkers, and some other girls on the street wearing "Beauty contact lenses". Basically, contact lenses that define the coloured bit of your eye. When the coloured part of your eye looks bigger you...
1) look younger (children have a bigger coloured bit of the eye compared to adults, making them look 'cuter')
2) your face looks slimmer (other attributes of your face seem smaller)
3) you tend to look better in photographs since your eyes are more defined
...benefits benefits benefits!

....These benefits are appealing and amazing to me, but now those contact manufacturers are going a little overboard. They make 2mm diameter contact lenses. Yup, you see some girls who look like ALIENS cause their iris is so big.

Example 1.

So when purchasing "define" contacts, make sure you try them on first to see if they fit you, and make sure you don't buy one which defines the coloured bit of your eye too much!

If you want to give it a try, but don't want something so intense like the picture above, I strongly recommend Acuvue's Define Series. It's a safe bet! :) You can purchase them here: Contact Lens Exchange (For US/Japan/Korean/Chinese buyers)

If you are a step ahead and are looking for Japanese colour/design/extreme/define contacts which look like the picture above go here! This company delivers to the US for only $15(USD) charge, great service as well. When I ordered, the contacts came in only 2 DAYS....They also sent me 2 packs of contact solution for free :) : 007 Contact Lenses

Personally, I do not like the contacts that Japan manufactures since they do not look "natural". Being Japanese with boring brown eyes, I've always wanted beautiful green or blue eyes. When wearing colour contacts, I want them to look as natural as it could be! I want people to ask me "Huh? Are they your real eyes?" , not "Oh, wow your lenses look cool". Through experience, I've found that the Freshlook colour contacts (especially the colour blended series) are the most natural looking, beautiful colour contacts that I have ever purchased. I love them! Go here to go to their website: http://www.freshlookcontacts.com/

I strongly recommend Green and Hazel for people with dark brown eyes like me! :) Hope it helps for those of you looking for lenses! Ask me any questions!       

Long time no see everybody! I hope you all are still out there...

Being a college student is tough...I want fun, relaxation, good grades, great job, and more exploration/discovery at the same time!...But I'm back!

...Here to entertain you all about Japan/Boston again.

Good news though! I will be exploring SAN DIEGO (Let's just say all of California), from January (for 6 months).

JPInsider will provide info/experiences/discoveries in JAPAN/BOSTON...and SAN DIEGO! Any questions? Any recommendations for a girl who has never been to the west coast? Please let me know! I will explore for you!

As many of you may know, Steve Jobs has passed away. I have been using Apple's products from who knows when. I remember his colourful but bulky desktop PC's in 4th grade...I remember the gray box with the rainbow apple logo....

This news was terrifying to me. Just shocking.

家族多くの人たちはもうご存知かもしれませんが...アップル社のスティーブジョッブズは今日１０月５日、亡くなりました。
私は小さい頃から彼の会社の商品を使っています。カラフルなデカいPCのデザインの時から。グレーの箱（そしてレインボーのアップルマークロゴ）のPCの時から。

I searched on Japanese websites, and read some of their articles (e.g. MSN), and was very disappointed in the content of the article. Two sentences noting the fact that he has passed away, and a few more paragraphs noting his 'products'. Steve Jobs has left us more than just his 'products'.

日本のニュースウェブサイトを見ると、もちろんスティーブジョッブズ死去のニュースが載っています。だが、書いてあるのは、彼が亡くなったことについて数行、そして後はすべて彼の作った商品のことのみ。本当に残念...まぁ、日本は今朝だし,　時差が関係してるのかもしれません。

彼は彼の商品を私たちに送っただけではないと思います。
彼は世界を変えました。
世界の見方を変えたともいえると思います。
デザイン、
音楽、
パソコン、
パッド、
宣伝、
電話、
お店の見かけ。

彼は当時の人間のモノの見方は変えたのです。そして変え続けたのです。
彼は私たちを驚かせました。何度も。
彼はビジネスのあり方、パソコンのあり方、ほぼすてのあり方に新しいビジョンの存在を私たちに教えてくれたのです。


みんなが思ってるような、想像できるようなデザインのパソコンじゃなくてもいいんだと。
真っ白なスペースにただ文字があるだけでも立派な宣伝になるのだと。
シンプルが売れる、そして素敵だと。


５６歳での死去とは本当に残念です。
もっともっと彼のアイディア、そして意見を聞きたかった。
もっともっと彼に世界を変えてもらいたかった。

でも今は、ゆっくり休んでください。

Japanese cherry blossoms are transient.

Once they bloom, the flowers only last for up to a week, or a week an a half. So make sure you are on alert if you are in Japan during April and May, because there will be amazing cherry blossoms blooming everywhere. There are roads full of cherry blossoms..It's like going into a tunnel of just cherry blossoms. How romantic is that?

As cherry blossoms only bloom for a short period of time, the Japanese tradition is to celebrate the blooming by having picnics and parties under the trees - "Hanami" (花見) : To watch flowers.

People who are organizing these parties go to get a spot under the best trees very early in the morning as there is high competition! If you go observe these parties, you will see happy Japanese business men who are usually serious, joyful families, and teens just having a great time. All age groups will be at parks for just one reason; to celebrate!

So thinking about such great memories I have from sakura (桜; cherry blossoms), I painted...

Please keep in mind that this is the 3rd painting that I have drawn since 7th grade. So forgive me for the roughness.

The quote written on the right: 明日ありと思う心の仇桜(ashita ari to omou kokoro no ada-zakura). It is a Japanese saying meaning people and people's hearts tend to rely on the fact that there is a tomorrow, but people should not think that way as you never know what could happen. Cherry blossoms like I said only last for a very short period of time. It is also very very fragile. Strong winds and rain could easily blow the blossoms away after blossoming for just a day. So we should always remember not to take for granted the time we are given. There is not always a tomorrow. :) 

I decided to start water color painting Starting today! I want to be able to open a book and see how I was feeling in 10 years, 20 years...I want to leave something for myself and other people to see.

So I drew sunflowers and the Japanese character, "chikara."

力　(chikara) is : Force, power, energy.

Why?

Because...

"Sunflowers have shown to be selective in absorbing metal, they were able to absorb heavy metals while leaving others － such as iron －behind. This increased their ability to quickly absorb the radionuclides. And, once they have absorbed the radionuclides,the sunflowers are then stabilized, ashed or vitrified and the resulting radioactive waste is stored in a disposal facility."

Sunflowers may give hope and power to the radiation problems Japan is facing.

Boston = College town = College students = Late night munchies = PIZZA!

I decided to compare pizza prices and sizes here in Boston and in Japan...

JAPAN
The maximum size Domino's pizza offers in Japan is the XL size pizza which is 48cm (18 inches).
The regular pepperoni pizza (aka "The American Special" on their website) only offers an L size (36cm/14inches), and is...2,520 JPY (32 USD)!!!!

BOSTON
I also went to Domino's pizza website for delivery in Boston...A pepperoni pizza of 14 inches is only 13 USD + tip (994 JPY + tip)!


Wow.


Other than that in Japan, there were L size pizzas (14 inches) that cost up to 4000 JPY (52 USD!!!!!!).  But keep in mind that there are really.... various kinds of pizza..Some pizzas that you have probably never SEEN in your life!

Check it out for yourself -> Domino's Pizza Japan's MENU

As I kid I don't remember eating much pizza at all...I guess it was something luxurious! :D I would not pay that much to feed my kids when I can get much cheaper and better food outside in restaurants. :P

Being a girl, from Yokohama, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of shopping.
Since I am taking a "Retailing" course for my Marketing elective this semester, I decided to go to some stores that were recommended in terms of price and selection (According to my professor and some students in that class).

Here is a highlight of what I saw. Of course I will not be mentioning the names of the stores. I don't want to be sued or anything.

Now...do these shops, want customers to purchase their products? Do they even CARE about us, customers?

For example, figure 1, the very top picture of a bunch of rubbish on the store floor. 2 employees were watching me as I took the picture of the rubbish. They just gossiped in each others ears, and walked off. Of course they didn't care about cleaning the mess up, it seemed like it was none of their business.

I'm sure the number one thing that the employees are thinking about when looking at this mess is.."The customers made that mess, not US, so we shouldn't have to clean it." C'MON. GIVE ME A BREAK. Your products look like RUBBISH to me. GARBAGE.

In Japan, customer experience is a HUGE deal. Being brought up in such culture, seeing all these horrible disgusting scenes of simply businesses/employees not caring about their store and customers was a huge shock to me. Don't they want to do well? Especially in this terrible economy?

Tell me...Who would even want to touch those bras hanging around like they have already been USED?
 Same goes with those heels.

In Japan, or at least in Yokohama/Tokyo, these things are IMPOSSIBLE. At least I have never seen such thing in my life of 21 years. I can say that with 100% confidence.

Even for high class shops and malls. Employees are SO RUDE and JUDGMENTAL in Boston, terrible customer experience.

So where are the shops/restaurants with a great customer experience in Boston or anywhere in the US? Tell me please. I'm losing hope. :( I sometimes wish I could be a customer experience consultant for all the shops in Boston. Honestly.