Just got back from dinner and walking around the area, where there's a nice little sakura park with little lit lanterns (pardon the alliteration) lining the river. It's hard to capture on camera though. Lightly photoshop-ed:



Tonight's dinner - chirashi sushi (?) - assorted fish on sushi rice. yum.


Bought another 100yen item: A pack of 5 bananas (haven't had much fruit since coming here). Not my fave but they'll do for now.

My saucepan of questionable quality (it being only 105yen - $1.40). Cheap things can't be of much good, can they? Especially when they should be costing at least five times as much. Hmm.

Ueno Park

Cries of "寒い" and "寒いね" ("it's cold isn't it?) from the students here are not unjustified. It's more chilly than it should be at this time of the year. Despite 16 degrees being seemingly similar to the temperature at LT8, I don't even want to step out of my room unnecessarily or to bring in the clothes. It'll get warmer soon, I know...

Today's temperature at Asakadai (high/low): 16°C/6°C

Items bought from 100 yen shops in the past 3 days: 16 (hangers, cloths, a pan, stationery, etc etc)

Average amount spent on transport a day: 700yen (S$9)

More if you go far - the ride to Ikebukuro alone is 300yen ($4.20)! 高いでしょう？


flowers at the shiyakusho (municipal hall?)


yesterday's breakfast - tofu hamburg , cabbage salad, Yakult yoghurt drink


population count at the shiyakusho


the picnic crowd at Ueno Park


きれいだね？


street selling food


sakuras all around the temple - breathtaking.


one for the record!


junior employees(?) laying the sheets for their company's hanami (just my guess)


"it's like heaven" =)

There's something so intimately beautiful about the whole cherry blossom season, with people coming all over just to appreciate nature and marvel at it. Especially with temples and historic monuments in the background. Do come to see for yourselves if you all have the chance!

Dorm update

Edit: The picture links were broken, just fixed them. And the natto here somehow tastes better.

Settling down at my dorm - apologies for the lack of updates: it's such nice weather to sleep in early (albeit a little too cold).

I'm 20 minutes away by densha from Ikebukuro (which is one helluva crowded station - at any time everybody seems to be rushing through it).
There's a fridge (that I won't be using yet at least since it's probably as cold outside), table lamp, a table, chest of drawers and a open shelf.



gaijin update at my dorm:

Korea (5 students)
Hong Kong (3)
China (2)
Singapore (3)
Netherlands (2)
Indonesia (2)
Finland (1)

There are still many more who have yet to check-in, so there'd be more. So far the Koreans speak really good Japanese (as though it's their second language).

Comfort washoku (Japanese-style) breakfast on Wednesday morning:

There was natto too (at the bottom right), delicious with rice! (it's an acquired taste though...)

Sakura at the playground right next to our dorm:



That's all for now, more pics soon!

At my dorm!

Just checked into my dorm, which faces the pretty busy densha line, so it's not exactly quiet here. The room's really spacious and clean and it's practically in front of the station, so everything's good so far =)

Within 5 minutes walk: Two 7-11s, a Lawson, Family Mart, Mos Burger, MacDonalds', KFC, Yoshinoya, Lotteria (Japanese Mac), Mr Donut, Beard Papa, a hypermart ("Olympic"), and several little soba/udon eateries. There's also Tsumaya (?) and Book Off for books and DVDs.