FMW

Mr Feng Meng Wei came for a visit with his lovely gf...

He don't know use the word stupid on me how many million times...

"Stupid Karen..Stupid Karen...." The whole night through.

But good for him I am magnaminous. I must have asked for it to have him as my buddy.... sigh...

I was mesmerized...

By a absolutely breath-taking park I went to on Saturday.

My original plan was to go and take a look at some shops my colleagues mentioned to me. Recently I am quite into small shops that sell unique stuff。Like things for the house, small decorations like frames ... simply what the Japanese classified as 雑貨。There used to be this street in Nagoya where I really liked. Filled with stalls of food, 2nd hand books, clothes, CD and shops like this. I don't really like going to chain shops selling these stuff as they are everywhere. I prefer something hand-made, unique in its own taste. Doesn't matter even if it is 2nd hand or looks a little old.

Anyway, decided to set my foot onto one station after the original planned instead for some reasons...

The place 三鷹市 is out of Tokyo's 23 wards. And indeed it looks and feels away though it is just less than 20 mins away from Shinjuku.

As I stepped out of the station, I chanced upon the sign pointing to Ghibili Studios Museum. Didn't know ghibili is there! ( *Ghibili studios is the one that produced world famous Japanese animations like Totoro, Grave of the firefiles, Spirited away etc..)

So decided to walk to Ghibili's as the sign says 1250m.

As I walk along the residential areas... Feeling the cool breeze on my face, I only had one thing is my mind. 癒された。。。It was as if the breeze is slowly melting every ounce of tireness I feel within me. And I realised, physical tireness goes away with ample rest. It is mental strain that doesn't go away till after a long time. Only 3 months into work and I can feel the mental stress building up in me... But that work that afternoon did wonders.

3 months in Tokyo... I have almost forgotten how the it feels to have the sun streaming on my face with lush greenery as the surroundings.

The park was amazing big to have for such a squeezy tiny busy Tokyo.

It was an very interesting place tho. With just that arty farty atmosphere floating around. I feel instantly regretted that my camera was not with me.

There was people walking their dogs, playing soccer, eating bentos, boating rowing in the lake.. so far so normal uh... People drawing, people reading, people sleeping... still so far so normal..

People cutting hair for others in the park! That was surely v interesting =)

There were baskers, people selling hand-made crafts in make-shift stores..

If you want to compare it to the central park or hyde park, you might be instantly disappointed. But I don't think that was its purpose.. Yet, it felt almost like eternity the last time I had the chance to go take a walk at any parks. And of course, the ice-cream cone I had in my hand enhance the whole experience tremendously.

What is my camera when I need it???

Anyway , I walked so much that day that I got muscle-ache. Or should I rephrase it as a signal of the extremely lack of exercise here?

Shin's visit

Haven't had the chance to do any updates for along time mainly becus of the fact that internet connection is still not up in the house... This is yet another super infuriating matter which deserves a post's attention. But then shan't post something so negative as yet as the first post I do in a month.

Let me recall what happened in the month....

The most fun thing was that my ex-room-mate Shin came over from Okazaki to Tokyo for a visit! She is one person I can talk to for hours and hours without feeling tired or sianz. I don't think it is because we have a lot in common to start with but we kind rubbed our interests onto each other as we stayed together. The many things she will not have tried or done if not for me, or the things I will not have gotten hooked onto because of her. Between us we know it the best. I felt pretty bad though in the past when we used to chat till about 3am in the morning and she has to work the next day.... haha

Other then that, of course our characters and living styles complement and are similar in the perfect areas. Equally messy but not dirty, similar sleeping patterns etc...

Anyway, the point of her coming was not for me but to attend her dearest Tackey and Tsubasa's concert( namely Tsubasa). She joined the fan club someday back and got tickets to 3 of their concerts in Yokohama which is an hr away from where I currently stay. Of course when she hears this, she will vehemently deny she was solely in Tokyo for the concert. Yah, she was here to shop as well.. check our her shopping?!!

It was great to see her, talk to her ( tho we talk a lot on the phone and msn everyday during work) Nothing beats seeing her in person.

Looking forward seeing her again cus we are going to Arashi's summer con in July!

The most recent concert. I am wearing their 2006 Christmas Concert T-shirt and she is wear their tour concert.

Arashi concert

No one is probably interested in this but I must talk about it!!

Arashi concert was faaaabuuuuulllloussss!! U get my point??

It is the first time in history they held their concert at Tokyo dome. Dome for your info, is super big and very few groups like Smap or kinki kids who have tonnes of fans will hold it there. If I am not wrong, it can hold about 50,000 crowd? So... unless you are sure your concert is a sell-out, the groups usually hold it at smaller halls (halls that hold about 10,000 crowd)

But still... It marked history for Arashi as they saw Tokyo Dome filled with people coming from all over Japan... (not just people from surrounding prefectures)

I guess the boys(boys but they are all around my age) themselves were very excited too. Can fill the high tension in the air... (opps I dun mean nervousness... I meant excitment) This is the first time I attended a 3 full-hour concert ( usually 2+ with all the encore) and 3 encores and lots o tears shed..

But just a side note... It was really fun to see them on TV, hear them talk and just being themselves. I could almost feel them it was like listening to just some guy on the street talking.
But then in a concert, there is when the reality sets in. After all, you are just one of the 50,000 crowd. well well...

But I was glad to see Ohno kun agaiN! Big and life size!