Why going down the stairs last Sunday was again making me squirm with the pain coming from my quads

Nekko peak from somewhere near Mt. Azumaya's summit, originally uploaded by jemione.

They always hit the quads the hardest! Anyway, it was because I climbed Mt. Azumaya (Azumayasan) and Mt. Nekko (Nekkotake) last Saturday with Souma-san and friends. The mountains were located at the border of Gunma and Nagano prefectures, around three hours away by super fast (average 130kph) Toyota rental car from Tokyo. The climb was hard work, of course, taking us around six hours climbing and going down the two neighboring peaks, but it was very rewarding because of the spectacular scenery. Mt. Azumaya had a trail which was mostly open and grassy, so even from the base, looking at its big yellowish-green triangle shaped form sitting against a perfectly blue sky, the view was quite stunning already. And there were so many flowers! For Mt. Azumaya especially, it felt like climbing a huge garden.

Mt. Nekko was a little more difficult to climb because some parts were almost impassable with heavy mud, but the way down was different, so it was OK. Downwards was also very pretty. The vibrant greenery made the trail really interesting, adorning the path with different shades of green, and dotting the way with lots of orange, thanks to the flowers!

The peaks were mostly rock. And that's good because they offered unencumbered 360 degree views of the surrounding mountains and the clear sky. A famous active volcano, Mt. Aza-something, can be seen from Mt. Nekko's top.

After the climb, we had dinner at a Chinese resto and then after that was the unavoidable onsen trip. But I'm beginning to love the onsen now, so i stuck around. The place was a bit crowded, and I may have even seen a person I knew from church (weird!), but it was a huge facility, so it was fine. Aside from the hot baths, there were also different kinds of spas, the normal super hot one with the glowing rocks in the middle of the room type, and the mist spa. What was really cool was San-san was kind enough to show me around them, as I haven't tried any of them before. I went home refreshed. The pains will hit the quads the next day but I can't complain because this was one super enjoyable Saturday.

P.S. more pics to follow!

adventure in my new kitchen

the tofu added in, originally uploaded by jemione.

last saturday, i cooked tokyo-style adobo. i called it tokyo-style because all the ingredients were from here. i followed a recipe given to me by a filipino friend who loves to cook, kuya ian. i rarely cook and have never made adobo before, but decided to give it a try as some friends were staying over for dinner at my house. i think it turned out OK. But i want to try it again, adding my own tweaks next time. for now, here's version 1.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo chicken lollipop (or desired chicken or pork part)
1 cup regular kikoman soy sauce (or other soy sauce if not avlbl)
1 cup mizukan vinegar (or other vinegar if not avlbl)
1 cup mirin (japanese sweet cooking wine; or replace with water with 2 Tablespoons sugar if not available)
1 large clove of garlic (skinned, not chopped)
1 tablespoon chopped basil
1 tablespoon whole pepper corns
5-7 pieces Laurel leaves.
5-7 small dried chili (optional)
1 block of Tofu (about 1/4 Kilo) (optional)

Directions:
Pour everything in a pan. Simmer for 1 hour. Remove chicken pieces from stew and fry. Pour back the stew on the chicken just before serving. Add garnish if desired. Serve with rice, salad, or vegetable dish.

Serves 5-6 people.

pictures here :)

how much of the philippines i have been to

not much!

My Lakbayan grade is C!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

finally got to do my laundry last night

actually, it wasn't like there was a big mountain of clothes waiting to be washed already, but i'm a bit relieved my laundry pile got flattened last night. i just don't want any clothes piling up on me. so yeah, i'm glad i finally had some free time to do my laundry, because these past few nights (and days) were just one activity after the next.

started last friday. my office had a welcome party for our new employees. it was actually just dinner, but was filled with enough drinks and food we got to go home a little past the last train's schedule already, which was around 12:30.


me with friends from church

then on saturday, i had to get up early to attend a church mate's wedding. it was a very nice wedding. it wasn't fancy and with only the couple's closest family and friends present, was really simple, but was a beautiful wedding nonetheless. All of the music, except the exit march because the musician was suddenly nowhere to be found, were played and sang live. At the reception, which was at the church hall downstairs, there wasn't any waiters so i helped a little with the drinks preparation. the food preparation was also through the efforts of some church friends. but the food was wonderful. there weren't many dishes to choose from, but everything served was great. there were the most intricate hors d'oeuvres and an actual sushi bar, where you can pick your sushi topping and the sushi man will scoop a fistful of rice and whip up your sushi for you.


a quick pose on the dance floor

then saturday night was dancing night, my first time to go clubbing in hip roppongi. my friends and i went to a hip-hop place, so i guess that's why there were many blacks. the place got packed by around 2AM, and even around 5AM when we finally called it quits, there were still a handful of people on the dance floor. dancing was lots of fun. my feet were sore for two days after that but i guess it comes with being on the dance floor for almost five hours straight.

then sunday, i just went to bed as soon as i got home. but actually i got home around 9PM already, because the whole day i was at church. in the afternoon, i attended the singles fellowship for the first time. met lots of new people. during the rest of the day, i tried to catch some sleep, but mostly failed. so i was dead tired when i got home.

then monday. the house was kinda busy with a guest. i guess i just forgot to do my laundry.

then tuesday, the house was very busy because we had peejay's farewell party.

so finally wednesday, everything was back to normal.

red hot chili peppered

Last night's RHCP concert in Tokyo Dome was my first (and hopefully, not last) concert here in Japan. I love RHCP, so i absolutely enjoyed it! I never thought I could hear Higher Ground live with so much energy. It was my first time in Tokyo dome, and it was surprisingly huge inside (probably at least 4 Araneta Coliseums could fit in there). And it was packed, so you could only imagine the energy with everyone jumping to Can't Stop and Around the World among other songs. There were some pleasant surprises too, when Chad Smith played jazz and Flea accompanied on the trumpet; and when Flea joined in at the drum set to soup up a drum solo during Hump de Bump. The video screens and the lights were also fantastic. Rockin' night!

ghibli goodness set in my hometown

That's the anime 耳をすませば (Mimi wo sumaseba/Whisper of the Heart). I loved it! It's a sweet love story. Great artwork too, with very detailed renderings of buildings and streets. The setting was also quite interesting for me, because it was set in Tama City, and that's where I live now. The town part of the city shown in the film was in Seiseki-Sakuragaoka, and that's my town! Although there were of course a lot of differences already, because the movie is more than ten years old, it was cool to be able to identify some of the places and say that they actually looked very familiar. I can even relate to the difficulty one character was having with biking up the hills around here. And I could totally identify with the ever-present Keio train in the movie, which actually hasn't changed much.

On to the next ghibli!

the pictures from the latest weekend that I had to blog about...

Yesterday, I uploaded the shots that I took from the mountain climbing trip. I'm still fixing the pictures from the jazz event. Earlier today, Ish-chan sent me a link with the pictures from JR's birthday dinner.

I'm thinking of buying a new lens for my D50. Because I'm only using a 50 mm, sometimes it's really frustrating to not be able to get the wide shot or the close-up shot that I want. So, I'm considering getting the 18-200 VR Nikkor. It's gonna leave a big dent in my wallet, though. That's why I'm still kinda hesitant. But I'm very tempted. Like last weekend, there were so many times I wished I had a more flexible lens!

a holiday by the riverside

around a month ago, i spent a holiday to picnic with some of the filipinos from church. we spent the whole day eating, cooking, chatting, taking pictures and playing games beside the tama river. thanks to this activity, i was able to get to know more the friendly folks from church. it was tons of fun. check out the pictures!
link 1
link 2

spirited away in my apartment

Two nights ago I got to watch Spirited Away, another amazing film from Studio Ghibli. I loved it! Watching it transported me again to another world with really interesting characters and the most stunning landscapes. Like in Howl's Moving Castle, the artwork was beautiful. Later I learned that this won an oscar for best animated film and is the highest grossing film in Japan. It just tells how fantastic this movie is. I'm glad i got to watch it! Thanks Tinats and Tinats' coworker for sharing all the Ghibli goodness!

one of those weekends i just had to write about

Yay, another blog post! I really missed blogging. Now, this time, what made me write was my busy but fun weekend. Here we go.

So my weekend activities started last Friday. My coworkers and I celebrated JR's birthday by having dinner at Gyu-kaku, a yakiniku (cook your own korean barbeque) restaurant. According to Kiyota-san, Gyu-kaku is not a real yakiniku restaurant because the meat is different (cheaper?). But the looks of the food and the place were kinda the same as the real yakiniku resto, so I dunno. Anyway, the food was OK--tasty if given the right sauces--so I didn't mind it being cheaper. And speaking of cheap, it was really cheap, relatively. We thought we'd be paying at least 3k yen each but in the end, the nine of us shelled out only a little more than 2k, all for ten people (following the japanese tradition of treating the birthday celebrant).

Right after dinner was karaoke. Not everybody joined though. Only the ones who were really into it participated. But it was also good that way because the ones that remained were the ones who were really willing to belt it out until the end, which was around 4 in the morning. So it was a very enjoyable karaoke. We tried the medley mode, and discovered that we know our carpenters (but not very much bon jovi!)

Then Sunday came and it was time for my second mountain climbing trip in Japan. Peejay and I joined Souma-san and his friends and together we climbed Mt. Arafune (Arafuneyama) in Genma prefecture. It was my first time to go outside Kanto to do non-business stuff. Jump off point to peak was around three hours long. Going down taking a different path took one hour. The climb was not very difficult, but of course was still tiring. The trail reminded me of Mt. Ugu, because of the pine trees and the cool air. The view was spectacular. Near the peak was a viewing deck, which was on top of a huge huge wall of stone. This was where we took our "view from the mountain" pictures, and of course, our jump shots.

After going down Arafuneyama, we headed to a farm which was famous for their cows and dairy products. It was a short but pretty enjoyable detour, as we got to eat their famous yummy soft cream (a.k.a ice cream) and take in the views of beautiful green pastures, colorful park-like sitting areas, and a road lined with pretty pink flowers. There was even a brook with goats grazing nearby. I enjoyed the view while standing on a wooden bridge which led to a deck going to the ice cream parlor. It was a lovely place and gave a very relaxing atmosphere.

But the real relaxation was to come after, because our next stop was the public onsen (hot springs). It was my first time so initially I was very hesitant to try it, getting naked with everyone in there! But my companions (except PJ) seemed fine with it. It seemed like such a normal post-climbing activity to Souma-san and friends. Also, I thought, there's no reason for me to be embarrassed because my female companions can still be considered strangers anyway. The idea of a hot bath wasn't such a bad one either. And so in the end, I convinced myself to go. And wow! I didn't regret it. It was very relaxing and refreshing. It was definitely weird at first--I was almost laughing at myself with embarrassment. But after seeing how normal everyone was acting--chatting and walking around in their birthday suits, I soon got over it, and I was able to enjoy the hot water, and the company of Meg-san and Ari-san, who have become less than strangers already.

After onsen and enduring heavy traffic in the super highway on the way back to the train station, PJ and I rushed over to Yokohama to watch some friends perform jazz music--my first time to go to a jazz club. We were late though. We missed the first set but good thing there was another set, and we were able to catch that one. It was a night of really good jazz and blues. It was also a sort of gathering of the band members from church, as a lot of the musicians and singers were there, partly to show support for Kozue's trumpet debut and partly to celebrate Sumiko's birthday. But another star of the night was Ozcar, Kozue's friend the sexy sax player. He was fantastic. Actually, everyone performing was great. But the sax just brought something else to the sound of the band. And he was cute. Wonderful night!

So I went home super tired, catching the second to the last train of the day. Then, I poured my remaining energy to the mostly uphill biking that I had to do from the station to my house. And then, the super fun weekend was over.

P.S. more pictures to follow. ^_^

found a friend!

Stumbled upon my college buddy Finley while filming the costumed people in Harajuku around two months ago. What a nice surprise! Last time I saw Fin was maybe around three years ago so it was really cool to meet him here! :-)

now i know how to put back the chains on a bike

This morning i was very late for work because my bike got dechained. I tried standing up while pedalling on an uphill road and just as the road was about to level off the pedals lost power. It was my first time to be dechained so i didn't really know what to do, but after a few minutes of tinkering with the chains i was back on my wheels again. I'm just glad i was wearing gloves (can't go biking these cold winter days without them!) so my hands stayed clean!

a 9 PM jog

Jogged for around 50 minutes last night. I took the path beside tama river and headed westward, crossing the highway and the train track, and finally turned around when I reached another highway. My main motivation was so that I could eat the polvoron that my mom made. They were really good! I may have eaten a bit too much actually. Therefore jogging was a really good decision.

what rain?

What a day! It rained all throughout but it was all fun as Hisumi-chan showed me around Shinjuku, including a food trip and a live music event at her school, the 29-floor Kogakuin University; plus some shopping for (my) winter gear and (her) job hunting outfit. After parting ways, I was back in Shibuya. While looking for the Yamaha mega store, I stumbled upon Shibashi, another musical instrument (mega) store, and soon after, found myself trying out (and then dreaming about having) one of their Pearl electronic drumsets. I missed making noise, hehe. Back on the rain soaked pavement, I then headed for nearby Tokyu Hands, and out of curiosity, did some window-shopping. I found weighing scales! And not so expensive ones too. I'll be buying one soon.

(Some pics here.)

Yokohama (part 2)

The other part of sea paradise was the (non-sea creature related) rides, the coolest one for me being the one called Blue Fall. It's a tower which takes you 350 feet up strapped on a seat, lets you enjoy the breathtaking view of Yokohama for a few seconds, and then drops you to free-fall screaming down to the ground. It was awesome!


There was also a big roller coaster. Its size doesn't break any record but it was the biggest roller coaster that I've seen, so I didn't pass up the chance to experience it. It was a pretty cool roller coaster actually, because more than half of it stands above the sea.


A pleasant experience my friends and I nearly missed was the dolphin fantasy. It was located in a small building in the middle of the park, but it looked like an ordinary store, we didn't think it was anything special. But good thing we were curious enough and so we got to experience walking under yet another big aquarium, but this time with the company of dolphins. Inside, the building was a tunnel-like structure, and gliding over our heads were colorful fishes and the dolphins. Then at the end of the tunnel was another aquarium, this one housing a lovely white whale.


Because we tried to finish all our sea paradise activities before lunch, when we had our lunch, it was was past 1pm already. We happily ate inside the park. Mark and Meema shared a pizza while I had a Popeye salad so called because the greens were spinach leaves. Loved it!

(Next in this series: Osanbashi pier, Chinatown, and more. To be continued...)

Yokohama (part 1)

My first saturday here was spent sight-seeing yokohama, a city already outside of tokyo and around 2 hours away from where i live, which is fuchu city.

First stop was the Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, one of japan's largest aquariums. Inside the aquarium complex was a huge tank, more than two floors high and housing at least three huge manta rays (see previous post) among the many other colorful fishes.



Going up to the 2nd floor is through the escalator which cuts through the aquarium. Folks have a closer view of the creatures because the escalator is underwater! On the right above are Mark and Meema, the subjects of my many other photos from that day (not all have been uploaded, though, so just continue to check my flickr for updates.. sorry ^-^;;).






These were just some of the creatures featured in sea paradise. Compared to the animals in tokyo sea life which i visited a few months ago, the animals here were bigger, especially the sharks and the turtles! Also there were more giant crabs here.



Plus, there was a really entertaining marine animal show! It was my first time to see a show of this kind. It was filled with awesome stunts and funny tricks from dolphins, sea lions, walruses and a beautiful white whale.

(to be continued...)

back in japan!

Wow! Can't believe it's been one week and two days already since I got back here in Tokyo. Been really busy with work on the weekdays. And my first weekend here was spent on sightseeing the beautiful port city of Yokohama (more about this later) and getting lost in posh Daikanyama (later also) while looking for Tokyo Baptist Church. I've tons of pictures to process (each one to convert from RAW to JPEG). In the meantime, I'm sharing this pic of a huge ray (it's at least 6 feet wide) from the Yokohama Sea Paradise.

giant ray, originally uploaded by jemione.

Exultate Justi

last night i had an unusual LSS. can't get the all-latin song exultate justi out of my head. it was one of the concert pieces which our choir sang last sunday. among the repertoire's nine songs, it was the one piece that i studied the most, being a song with very unfamiliar words and tricky timing. and i can even say i was able to memorize it by heart. now apparently my head wouldn't just let it go.

here are some pics from the night of the concert.

blackout and boggle

blackout and boggle, originally uploaded by jemione.

What I did the evening the super storm Milenyo hit us--played boggle with my siblings and my mom till we ran out of candles.

trying to go traditional

This weekend I studied Steve Smith's Drumset Technique DVD--well, that is, the very first part of the video, which dealt with hand techniques. I tried my hand (literally) at his traditional grip. However, found out soon enough how difficult it was! I practiced for more than an hour but I don't know if I improved at all. In the first place, I wasn't even sure if I was doing it right. I may need a real life teacher for this one.