It’s Valentine’s Day Again~ ^^

I still remember my boyfriend’s words one year ago after having a wonderful Valentine’s Day date together. He said, “I’m looking forward to next year’s Valentine’s Day with you.” We had been together for about 9 months at that point, so to hear him say those words meant a lot to me. Of course I was happy to hear him say this because we had a good time together, but more so I was happy because his words meant that he expected to be with me still after another year passing.While we waited to get into the restaurant, hand in hand, I mentioned this memory to him which brought a smile to his face.

Our Valentine’s Day date consisted of a few parts. First, dinner. We went to Kushiya Monogatari, a restaurant chain that has all-you-can-eat kushikatsu (my favorite Japanese food). You fry it at the table yourself. It’s really fun and interactive. It’s kind of a special place to us because it was the first place we went to on a date as a couple. We hadn’t been there since our first date! Recently a big shopping mall opened by my home (read about it here), so we went to the branch in there this time. It was really convenient because we could walk, we didn’t have to spend money on transportation, and there’s also a movie theater inside…which brings me to the next part of our date. We saw a movie!

Kushiya Monogatari.

However, we had time to kill between dinner and the movie, so we went to the arcade. We played the taiko game together. It was actually his first time, so that was entertaining lol! The most exciting part, though, was when he won me a big cat stuffed animal from a crane machine! It was like a scene out of a movie! I was jumping up and down, squealing with excitement! It wasn’t just any cat stuffed animal, it was a Neko Atsume stuffed animal! Neko Atsume is a game for your smart phone similar to like Pokemon in that try to collect all the cats. I’ve been obsessed with it lately which made the prize so much more exciting.

Soooo excited!!!

Misty!!

For the movie, we saw The Martian (the Japanese title is actually The Odyssey) with Matt Damon. It was a movie we both wanted to see. It ended up being really great! We really got into it together, and it was totally perfect!

Movie date.

Lastly, before making our way home together, we stopped by the local bar where we first met to have a couple drinks. We relaxed over beer and cocktails (him beer, me cocktails) and chatted with the bartender and our friend who is a regular there as well. It was very chill.

When we got home, I gave him the chocolate I made. Girls giving boys chocolate on Valentine’s Day is a Japanese tradition. We mix American and Japanese tradition by going on a Valentine’s Day date (American tradition), but instead of him getting me something or exchanging gifts, I give him homemade chocolate (Japanese tradition). In return, he’s supposed to give me chocolate on March 14^th, White Day. Last year he forgot because he was so busy working overtime every day, but this year I’m expecting my White Day chocolate!!! Lol! Not sure if I should be a catty woman and not say anything to see if he remembers on his own or if I should just tell him I want something for White Day. What do you think? My boyfriend is super kind and loving towards me, but he’s a typical guy in that he forgets that kind of stuff lol. Maybe I should tell him, so I’m not setting myself up for disappointment!

The chocolate I made :3

So yes, another perfect Valentine’s Day together! If you are interested in reading my post about our first Valentine’s Day together, click here. For all my readers in a relationship, I hope you had a romantic time on Valentine’s Day as well. And for all my single readers, stay fancy!

The Fun Doesn’t End – Happy Birthday, My Dear

I love the cold months in Japan. I love fall leaves, I love winter illuminations, and I love how all the fun, romantic events align. First, my birthday is December 5^th. Then, it’s Christmas and New Year’s. On January 11^th, is my boyfriend’s birthday, and about one month later is Valentine’s Day. I guess I’m kind of thankful that our anniversary isn’t until May otherwise we wouldn’t have anything to celebrate together in the middle of the year lol.

In this post, I want to tell you about how I celebrated Shinya’s birthday with him (maybe it will give you some ideas), but before I do that, I’d like to touch briefly (or not so briefly) on my mini New Year’s party with him.

This year was a first in that I couldn’t actually celebrate New Year’s properly; with friends, drinking, countdown, etc. This was because my flight back to Japan was at like 6 in the morning on New Year’s Day. That meant I had to get to the airport around 3 am. I wasn’t about to go to the airport drunk or hung-over to ride a plane feeling like sh*t for 14+ hours. Also, since my house is about an hour and a half away from the airport, to make it easier on my parents and I (otherwise we’d be getting up at like midnight to go), we always stay at a hotel nearby. We had a nice dinner together, but we all went to bed early on New Year’s Eve, so really, I had no celebration.

Therefore, Shinya thought it would be nice to have a little celebration, just the two of us, once I got back. He even prepared a nice bottle of champagne for us like he did on Christmas. I asked him what I should make for food, and he explained that the way Japanese celebrate New Year’s, is to make food in advance or buy stuff, so they don’t have to do any work on New Year’s Day. It’s like wrong to spend time cooking in the kitchen on a day where you should be relaxing with loved ones. He suggested we buy some premade food from the supermarket, so we ended up buying sushi, tsukemono (Japanese pickles), and chili shrimp along with some other alcoholic drinks for while we were eating. The champagne was for after dinner to be enjoyed with smoked cheese and raw ham (I ate the cheese, he ate the ham).

We had a fun just chatting while enjoying the dinner and drinks. We became full after, so we took a little nap on the couch before moving on to the champagne round haha! We are so alike in that way. Once we woke up, we decided it was champagne time, but we wanted to do something while drinking, so I set up my hookah for the first time in a while and got out a deck of cards. I taught him how to play Gin Rummy.

While smoking, eating, drinking, and playing cards, we were having so much fun that time seemed to stand still. I have no idea how long we had been playing before we decided it was time to run o the convenience store for more snacks. It was a drunken decision, and despite having eaten a lot, we both were hungry again. The champagne he bought was a huge bottle, and after we finished it, we moved on to straight rum (I had Captain Morgan and also some nice Jamaican rum my friend had bought me there). Literally hours passed, I believe, of playing cards, drinking, and laughing… Eventually we decided it was time to go to bed, but that’s where things get fuzzy haha! It was such a cheap party at home, but it was one of the most fun times I’ve had with him.

Now on to his birthday celebration.

I had been planning the details for a couple months. I decided where I wanted to take him to eat, where I wanted to drink after, and what present I was gona buy him. I wanted to do something a little special because basically I did the exact same style birthday for him the year before. I also did cake for him at home last year, but I decided that this year, since we are on a champagne kick, along with cake, I would prepare a bottle of champagne as well and go all out with decorating my apartment.

The day of his celebration (actually the day before his birthday), I got up early and went to buy cake. I got two nice gourmet slices, one fruit and one chocolate, instead of a whole cake because I knew we’d be full from eating and drinking. I put the champagne in the fridge and proceeded to decorate my apartment by hanging balloons for the ceiling and putting together streamer things to hang around the room. After that, I got all done up and met him at the train station. He had no idea where we were going.

I surprised him by taking him to a very nice Italian restaurant that specializes in homemade pastas and brick-oven pizzas. I had been there once for a work party, so I knew it was good. For an appetizer, he got raw ham and I got a cheese plate, just like on New Year’s haha! We also got bruschetta to share. He started off with an Italian bottled beer and I with a glass of chardonnay.

For the pizza round, I switched to an Italian red and he to draft. The pizza was to die for. I let him choose which one he wanted, and he chose one with anchovies which was very delicious. For the last round (after taking a 15 minute break), we ordered an arrabbiata penne pasta. Our last drinks were another draft for him and a limoncello cocktail. We were stuffed…obviously.

Cheese plate.

Raw ham.

Bruschetta. 

Yay beer face!

Pizza,

Pasta.

After dinner, I took him to a nearby bar I had researched. Neither of us had been to it, but I thought it looked cool and fancy online. That it was. It was a whiskey specialty bar. Neither of us drink whiskey, but you could order other drinks, and I didn’t want that to stop us from experiencing a cool place. I would describe the inside of the bar as kingly. The place is called Bar Alive, by the way. The master gave us free cheesecake because I said it was Shinya’s birthday. We both hate cheese cake lol, but I ate it politely anyway and thanked him. Because it was a very pricey place, I wanted to stay there for only one drink, which we did.

Bar Alive.

Cheesecake. ^^;

We were feeling so stuffed that instead of going to the next bar I had planned that was only about 10 minutes away, we decided to head back to our town and drink there to give our bellies more time to settle down. We wanted to go to a bar called ANG that we both like but rarely get to go to, but it was completely full. Instead, we went to a different bar down the road that Shinya had been to a couple times but I had never been to. It’s called Soul Kitchen. Shinya has actually invited me there a few times and told me it was really nice and tasty (it’s a food bar, so they serve drinks and a variety of nice food), but we never ended up going. To my surprise, it was much better than I thought! The atmosphere was really cozy and romantic. They had an extensive drink menu. We ordered and had deep conversation together. At midnight, when it turned his actual birthday, I made sure to tell him happy birthday and give him a big hug. I get really excited about stuff like that. I was bouncing in my chair saying “It’s your birthday! It’s your birthday!”

Happy Birthday!

Later our acquaintances walked in and treated us to pizza without warning lol. We were still pretty full and had already had pizza once during the night, but it was very small sized pizza and over two drinks each, we finished it slowly. This bar is actually one train station away from where we live, so it is a pretty far walk, but luckily, when it was time to go home, our acquaintances offered to drive us which was very nice of them (it was pretty cold outside). The wife hadn’t been drinking, so she was fine to drive.

Once we got home and stepped into the entrance, I led Shinya to my bedroom and told him to wait patiently there. I had the doors to the kitchen and living room shut so he could see any of the decorations. I turned on mood lighting, got music playing, brought out the cake and champagne, and arranged it on the table. When I told him to come in to the living room, the first thing he looked at was me at the table with the cake and champagne. I told him to look up, and that’s when he noticed all the balloons and streamer above him. He let out a gasp and was amazed. I don’t think anyone has ever taken the time to do something like that for him, so he hugged me and thanked me with tears in his eyes. …YES! I DID A GOOD JOB!

Decorations.

Decorations.

Decorations.

We sat down at the table; I popped the bottle and poured the bubbly lol. Then I lit the candles on the cakes and sang him happy birthday. After blowing out the candles, we toasted for like the 5^th time that night haha and enjoyed our drinks. I was so full I could only take a few bites of cake and have 1 ½ glasses of champagne. Shinya took the liberty of finishing my cake and drinking all the champagne. I was so impressed haha! He was like, “It’s my birthday champagne, I’m gona drink it all,” before he proceeded to down his last glass in two gulps haha! I was sober by now, but I think he was drunk.

Champagne time!

So cute. :)

Before we finished the champagne, however, I gave him his birthday present. Before giving it to him, he told me that he had already received enough from me with the dinner, drinks, decorations, cake, and champagne. But what’s a birthday without opening a present?! So he opened it up to find a nice, new, leather wallet made from Italian deerskin. I had bought it at Sac’s Bar, which is a nice purse and wallet store. I thought the wallet was so pretty and would suit him well. His old wallet was a $20 falling apart piece of poo that he had been using for years haha! I was so happy I could get him a new one.

So that’s how we spent his birthday. From the next day on, he kept telling me how perfect it was. I had a blast as well. Happy Birthday, my dear!

Surprise Trip Home!

My Christmas was rather exciting this year. Most of you know I had been dealing with a pretty bad bout of homesickness. Well, my father did something for me that shocked me and helped me so much… he bought me a plane ticket home for Christmas! Something no one has ever done for me before. Not only was it for my benefit, but for the benefit of my family as well. My mother and sister had been messaging me about how much they missed me. On Thanksgiving Day, my dad asked how I’d feel about coming home for Christmas and keeping it a secret from everyone. Luckily, I had absolutely zero plans or things to do during my winter break (except celebrate with Shinya, which I ended up doing a few days before (see my previous post)). I was extremely excited by this idea and couldn’t help but jump up and down when he told me he bought me a ticket.

Thanks to this guy :)

Usually I save money for months before taking a trip home so I can buy things and go out to eat and whatnot. This time, because it was so short notice, I hardly brought any spending money home, but it was ok for two reasons. First, I had just been home in May and didn’t really need to buy much. Second, in order to get the cheapest ticket, my dad bought me one where I would fly back to Japan on New Year’s Day. This meant it would be the shortest trip I’ve ever taken home, about 9 days. Therefore, I didn’t really have much time to go shopping or out with friends anyway. It worked out perfect with money.

Not having money to spend actually kind of made my trip home more relaxed… and one more thing. Since I turned 26, I no longer have health insurance in America. It’s kind of bittersweet. The sweet part is that usually when I go home, I have to go to like 3 or more doctor’s appointments, but this time, since I couldn’t, I just spent my time relaxing and visiting people. It was definitely my most chill trip home which is exactly what I needed.

Honestly, I didn’t do anything that interesting while I was home. People were in and out of my house to see me, and I went to their houses, too. A lot of my friends have moved out of my hometown, and since I was on a short schedule, I didn’t make time to go visit them like I usually do. Ya, it sucks that I couldn’t see all of my friends, but in a way, it also helped me to feel more relaxed, less things to do and all.

I spent time cuddling with all my pets. I enjoyed spending time with my parents, sister, her boyfriend, and friends at home. I got to play Cards Against Humanity, Exploding Kittens, Warioware Smooth Moves, Cooking Mama, MarioKart, and Rockband. I got to enjoy snow and cold weather. I tried curling for the first time which was interesting (fell on my ass)…And of course, who could forget…THE FOOD!!! Dear sweet Taco Bell and deep dish pizza. I basically felt disgusting the whole time I was home from eating so much…but it was worth it.

Mouser.

Mouser in ball form.

Mia!

Evie enjoying the snow.

I enjoyed the snow too while I was home.

Tried curling.

YASSSSS!

Wish I could've eaten Taco Bell like
5 more times while I was home.

Oh, I’m forgetting the most interesting part, the surprise! Unfortunately, my mom found out  about the surprise 3 hours before I got home because my dad’s iPhone is synced with his iPad, and when my mom heard the iPad at home dinging from the messages my dad was sending about picking me up from the airport, she read them and figured it out. She was in super shock, but unfortunately, I didn’t get to see it. Apparently she called our neighbor crying, unable to speak and finally got out the words, “He’s bringing my baby home!!!”

Despite her knowing, her reaction was still pretty hilarious when she saw me. My dad blindfolded my mom and sister and had them sit on the couch while he brought me in. He said, “Merry Christmas Jenny (my mother). Merry Christmas Brittney (my sister). Merry Christmas Stephanie,” to which my mother ripped off her blindfold and started jumping and screaming “I knew it! I knew it!” I think she even peed a little HAHAHA! My sister was just in shock, mouth open with tears streaming down her face. She eventually yelled, “What the hell?!” and hugged me.

My sister and I.

I got to repeat the process of surprising people the whole first half of the time I was home. My grandpa’s reaction was so cute. He just stood silently and dumbfounded like why are you here until I got up and hugged him and he managed to say “Gee willigers.” I could see he was fighting back tears a little. My friend, Kaitlyn’s, reaction was great, too. She just looked like someone slapped her in the face when she saw me, and then she screamed, “Oh my God!!!” and we hugged a lot. Hehe! For one of my grandmas, I answered the phone when she called my mom and asked her if she knew who she was speaking to. She said, “Stephanie??” When I said yes, she said, “I’ll call you right back!” Apparently she wanted to check to see if I’d really pick up the phone again. When I answered the phone again, she demanded, “WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?!” I said, “In my home in America,” to which she replied, “You’ve got to be kidding me?!” It  was so funny! My other family members mostly just yelled and jumped up and down. It was so much fun surprising everyone.

Mother and friend.

Friends <3

Unlike the last time, this trip home really made me feel refreshed. Not sure how that works exactly. In May, I was so depressed about going back to Japan. I felt extremely homesick and depressed after that trip home. This time I felt good and ready to carry on my life here. I still feel good. I guess going home again was exactly what I needed, and I’m so grateful my dad did that for me. It will definitely be one of my most memorable Christmases! 

A Merry Little Christmas

Since I spent Christmas in America this year (interesting blog post to follow), Shinya and I decided to have our celebration together the weekend before, on December 19^th. Our party together this year was similar to last year in that I cooked at home and we ordered cake and exchanged presents, but this year was a little more “level up” in my opinion.

I made sure to have my house spotless and well decorated for Christmas with lights, presents under the tree, and a pine scented candle. I also made a Christmas playlist on iTunes to play while we enjoyed dinner and opening gifts. I picked up the pre-ordered Christmas cake and went grocery shopping in the afternoon. Afterwards, I showered and got all cute (painted my nails and everything lol). I started cooking and setting the table an hour before Shinya was supposed to come.

On the menu was salad, garlic toast with slow-cooked garlic cloves that became so soft you could spread them like butter on the bread, clams in a wine/butter/lemon sauce (I felt kind of bad because the clams were live when I cooked them), and spaghetti in a vodka sauce with shrimp, scallops, spinach, and mushrooms. The food turned out pretty dang delicious if I do say so myself lol.

Shinya came over at about 7:45, and I had dinner on the table by 8. We toasted with wine and beer, and wished each other a merry Christmas. After dinner, it was time to exchange presents. I was so excited lol! I was bouncing up and down shouting, “PRESENTS! PRESENTS!” Haha! Shinya got me a really cute and fashionable makeup bag with a Mickey Mouse pattern on it because he knows I like Disney. The pattern is really cool. I got him sweater, scarf, and hookah pen set. I don’t know if I was more excited to give or receive!

After relaxing and letting our bellies settle a little, we got out the cake and champagne. Shinya searched for and bought us a really nice (and rather large) bottle for our party together. After toasting again and blowing out our Christmas candles, we put in the Christmas move Shinya rented for us. He rented “The Santa Clause” with Tim Allen at my request. It was his first time to see it, and I hadn’t seen it in years, so it was really fun. Shinya ate his whole half of the cake while watching haha, and we took turns pouring each other the champagne until it was all gone. Needless to say, after the movie finished, we passed out on the couch together, sleepy from the champagne. I woke up a little after, tidied up, and woke Shinya up so we could brush our teeth and get into bed. It was a cozy, fun little Christmas together.

Poppin' champagne.

A Winter Date～Kobe’s Luminarie

Recently I had an especially nice winter date with my boyfriend that I’d like to share. As I have written before, winter illuminations are a big thing in Japan and make for a really romantic date with a loved one or a fun time with a friend or family member. One of the most famous illuminations in Kansai is Kobe’s Luminarie. For three years now, I’ve wanted to go, but compared with other illuminations, it’s time frame is very short. It’s only two weeks long, and ends before Christmas. Every year, I missed it by accident. FINALLY, I got to go. I made a point to check the dates far in advance and clear my schedule.

Let me say, I’m so glad I did! Luminarie was gorgeous!! Apparently it can get very crowded and lines can take a long time, but we went on a Friday evening fairly early (around 6:30) on the last weekend, so it wasn’t so bad. I’ve found that illuminations themselves are quite short, and if you go expecting to walk under canopies of lights for an hour, you’ll be disappointed, but if you go expecting to enjoy the lights for about 30 minutes, you’ll be happy.

On the guided route to Luminarie.

Luminarie was very impressive, more so than Osaka’s Renaissance. When Shinya saw the display, he said that it was the first time in while that he felt moved. His comment brought a smile to my face. I felt the same way. We started off by grabbing some warm drinks at a nearby café to bring with us on our walk. I bought cocoa to get me in the winter spirit. Walking hand in hand with our drinks under the lights really did feel magical. For that moment, I was in bliss.

Luminarie.

Luminarie.

Luminarie.

Luminarie.

After taking our fill of pictures and enjoying the lights, we hit up Chinatown nearby. I had walked through it once before, but it was my first time to actually make it a point to eat there. It far exceeded my expectations in terms of fun. The streets are lined with red lanterns, food stands, and Chinese people calling out to you to buy their goods. For a second, I felt like I was back in Hong Kong or Taiwan. Shinya and I made the mistake of going in to a restaurant at first. Compared with the food stands, the restaurants are really expensive. We were kind of shocked. So, we ordered a drink each and just got some shrimp shumai before we left. We would have felt bad for leaving without ordering anything.

Kobe Chinatown.

Shrimp shumai.

Once we got back on to the streets, the fun began. We went to several random food stands and ordered anything that looked good. Most places had some makeshift tables to eat at, so we basically ordered something, sat and ate for 5 minutes, went to a different place, ordered something and sat again, and repeat. We got all sorts of little things like mini bowls of fried rice and ramen, fried spring rolls, drinks, dumplings, and so on. We ate until we were full, and the best part was that it was very cheap!! Maybe we spent about $15 each and enjoyed so many different things.

Ramen, beer, and bubble tea.

If you get a chance, check out Luminarie. It’s beautiful and free and a great way to enjoy Japanese winter.

Strange Fall

This year has been really warm… It’s good for my gas and electric bills (I’ve only had to turn on my heat like once so far this year), but I love fall, winter and cold weather, and it seems like this year, it’s just not going to come. As I’m writing this, it’s December 17^th, and it’s 59˚F (15˚C). Sigh…

So what is this post about? Well basically, it’s about fall leaf viewing. Every year in Japan, people (including myself) really look forward to the changing leaves. Same as with the cherry blossoms, there are many events centered around it, and people travel to specific places like Kyoto or anywhere that has particularly beautiful fall foliage to see the extravagant colors. There is always a forecast for the changing leaves, so people plan their excursions around this forecast. Compared to my hometown, Chicago, leaves change much later in Japan, usually around mid to late November. After checking the forecast, I made plans to go see the fall leaves with my boyfriend, something I was really looking forward to…

Well, like I said, this year the weather has been whacky, and the forecast ended up being wrong. On Nov. 22^nd, my boyfriend and I headed to Mino, Osaka, a famous place for fall colors. If you look back a bit, I have a post about a previous trip to Mino when the leaves were absolutely breathtaking! I’ll look for the link: http://stephanieinjapan.blogspot.jp/2013/11/kouyou.html

Unfortunately, the leaves were hardly changed. At first I was pretty disappointed, but it was Shinya’s first time to go there, so he was impressed anyway, and there is more to see and do besides just see leaves. It’s a decently long hike in beautiful nature, and there’s a gorgeous waterfall at the end. People go on this hike during all seasons. Mino has lots of specialties like fried maple leaves, Mino beer, and yuzu products. We enjoyed eating lots of different little yum yums on the way. It may not have been to perfect fall leaf experience, but I still had a nice time. We even went to my favorite nabe place for dinner after which was nice.

Yuzu croquettes.

We found some leaves!

and some more!

Taiyaki.

Picture of the day.

Mino Falls.

Mmm...nabe!

Round two: Since the leaves weren’t changed that weekend, I thought for sure by the next week they would be. I already had a plan to go to Kyoto with some of my English club members, so I thought that it would be a perfect second chance to see the beautiful leaves, since Uji, Kyoto is also know for pretty fall foliage. Whelp, again, I wasn’t so lucky. The dang leaves this year just won’t change!! 

Like I said, it’s the 17^th of December now, and the leaves are just finally beginning to change, about a month late. However, it’s pretty sporadic because some leaves did change early and some didn’t.

Again, despite not being able to see the leaves, I still had a fabulous time in Uji. I ate delicious vegetarian food, saw temples and a museum, enjoyed the scenery, and of course had my fill of Uji green tea products. It’s such a nice area and was fun to go with people this time around. Click this link to see my previous trip to Uji: http://stephanieinjapan.blogspot.jp/2015/10/uji-kyoto.html So I guess what I’m getting at is that even when you expect something, you can still enjoy yourself with a change of perspective when things don’t go to plan.

Pretty scenery.

Vegetarian yum yums!\

Matcha soba.

Byodo-in reflection on the pond.

Found some changing leaves!

English club.

The best ice cream in the world!