MIA: Preparing for the New Year

こんにちは〜！

2016 is almost coming to an end and I haven't posted on my blog for such a long time. I've been busy with work and even while on my break to spend time with friends. It's been crazy with so many parties that went on, but it was so much fun. I've also been doing some cleaning. When the year is almost at its end, people in Japan do a deep cleaning -- whether it be at home, school or at work. I'm also planning out some stuff and have some changes for myself that I want to do for the new year. And now that it has finally cooled down a bit before the new year, I had some time to put up something.

In today's post, I want to talk about some things that happened this year. It's not so long. I want to reflect back on everything before I can say goodbye. I mean I can't simply forget everything (it's not something to forget), but I want to say this to take the heavy load I have carried this entire year, off my chest. There is going to be some personal information I'll be posting and sorry if I may be a little straight forward to those who may be reading. I will not provide every detail.

2016 is by far the worst year ever for me. In January, I did a lot of thinking because 2015 I had gone through a lot of stress that I couldn't figure out where it was coming from until much later. I cut tides from the one guy I thought I was able to trust with my life. It's sad because at the same time, somewhere along the way, I felt it also wasn't going to work out. That wasn't exactly the biggest problem, but it was the people who got involved and it got pretty ugly. Because of this, people dear to me also got involved and they were all at a very high risk, including my family in Okinawa. People would constantly tell me that I'm worth it and whatever happens, they know that I'll be there to put things back together. They depended on me and they always believe in me. Among that problem, another one had risen. 

My dad was murdered in February and it was by far the shocking news I've ever received in my life. It's still so hard to believe and so hard to accept. At the time I knew about the news, I was in Japan trying to fix everything so it didn't really hit me until I landed back to America. My friends from America contacted me as soon as they heard of what happened on the news. I had an emotional mixture of sadness, hate and guilt. Due to a problem I had with my dad, I hadn't spoken to him for 2 years. However; this year I thought it through and decided to forgive and talk to him again. That's when I sent an e-mail in January saying "Happy New Year!" and had opened up to him a little more. Before I knew it, he was gone. And now I can't see or hear from him ever again. There was so much I wanted to talk to him about. And the more I think about him each day, the more sadness it brings with all the thoughts going through my head. He's never going to see the life I wanted to show him in Japan. He's never going to see my (possible) future children. He's left mom alone in the states, and her own kids aren't even there. I have to move on with my life knowing that I don't have a dad anymore. Just so many thoughts and unnecessary thoughts kept running through my head and it wouldn't stop. And the more I thought of that negativity, the more it saddened me and the more it affected the people around me. I had to think more positive, I had to find a way. Until one day, I realized that my brother and I still hold a part of my dad within us. We are his only living part of him left and when our family or family friends see us, they see our dad in us. It's still so hard on everyone and it will forever be hard, but knowing that we still live on for our dad, makes everyone live on little by little at ease. If there was one thing that I learned from my dad's death, was that he brought the entire family closer together. It made us all realize how precious each and every life is and how we must cherish every second of it.

The last thing my dad had told me was that he was so proud of me and I plan to keep making him proud. I can't stop now and I refuse to give up too easily on the opportunities that have been popping up from left to right.

It's not something I want to remember or to relive, but I also have to remember that there was a lot of good that came out of that hellhole I was going through. I feel I can honestly say I'm a very positive and strong person (a trait I might have gotten from my mom). I have never been depressed in my life. My mom once told me that she doesn't know how to be depressed, and I feel I can say the same. Of course it's because we didn't have to do everything alone.

I honestly have no idea what 2017 is going to bring me or what's coming. But whatever it is, good or bad, I know I won't have to face it alone. I'm sure there will be a lot of struggles and I might feel like everything is closing in on me again, whether I feel angry or sad; I'll fight through it somehow.

See you all in 2017!  

またね ヾ(^_^) 

(the first and last picture are both taken place in Okinawa, same ocean)

Trends in Japan #1

Hey guys! So I decided to make a new section on my blog about trends in Japan. I thought it'd be interesting to share to those who want to know about the trends here in Japan and how they may be different from other countries. The trends constantly change every year and even within the year, but there are some trends that haven't changed for years. However, there are trends that I may not like, there are a lot I do like. Japan is also well-known for its fashion. When people think fashion in Japan, they think of Harajuku. I thought of Harajuku too since there are many different fashion senses there. But! It's been said that Kobe is better known for its fashion than any other place in Japan. I don't know if that's true, but Kobe does have a very good fashion sense. Anyone you see here dresses very nice. I must say that though Kobe people dress very fashionable, I don't exactly dress like them. I like being an individual, doing my own style, so I just take a little bit from the Japan fashion trend and mix it with my own. I don't plan to just do this once a year. I want to try and do this section as many times as I can within a year if a new trend does pop up. I'm not going to put every single trend up. I don't think I can keep up with all the many trends they have going on in Japan! Just as much as I can. I'll be getting help with one of my friends who is studying to be a fashion designer.

Here's the first item. A few weeks ago, I purchased this long-sleeved, thin sweater (sorry if it looks a bit wrinkled, I just got it washed and didn't get to ironing yet lol). The fabric is very light and the texture almost feels silky soft. You'd think because it's thin, that it wouldn't protect you from the cold. Though it's thin, it also fits perfectly to your curves, which latches itself to your skin and sort of provides a heat whenever the cold breeze tries to pass through the fabric. The design on the front is super cute, and I think Japanese fashion designers doesn't want to make the front of a sweater plain, so they put a little something to it. A little something, but something that makes the outfit pop. With this sort of design it's also considered sexy to show off more of the collarbone, rather than cleavage. I purchased this at "INGNI".

You may see me often wear these two coats. The white one looks quite formal, but a lot of Japanese girls are wearing these kinds of coats. It may seem that it appears wide, but it's long and the length comes to your knees. I like rolling the sleeves a little to show the pattern inside, also since it won't make it seem like the sleeves are covering the hands. If the sleeves covers the hands, it looks as if the coat looks big on you. There are buttons on the coat, but many girls don't close it, but rather leave it open to show their outfit and how it looks with the coat. I suggest not wearing these kinds of coats with jeans or any long pants, but with a skirt or leggings. Because of the length, with pants, it'll only make you look shorter, when you want to appear taller. But if that's ever the case, I suggest wearing heels! As for the blue coat, I think is also good with skirt and leggings. It comes with a hoodie. There are no buttons or any way of closing the front, but the inside is super warm! This is also another item that a lot of girls in Japan wear. Though it's quite heavy, it's also long and the same length as the white coat and compliments the outfit you're wearing. It's weird how a certain coat can really bring out what you're wearing inside. I purchase the white coat at "As Know As Pinky" and the blue coat at "CECIL McBEE".

I don't wear hats that often, but when I do, I always wear baseball caps. There's always something comfortable about a baseball cap. They are still trending in Japan, but fedora hats are booming. I see a lot of girls walking around with these kinds of hats. They're not really my style, but a friend bought me this hat (don't remember where), and I've only worn it about 2 times. It's hard to match with the outfits I have. I don't think it necessarily suits me, but I'd like to wear more of these hats in the near future. Who knew wearing a simple fedora makes you look classy, no matter what it is you wear. It also compliments your face and makeup.

Now let's move onto accessories that are also trending in Japan. Here's something...fluffy! Japan loves things that are fuwa fuwa (fluffly). I'm not sure when this started, but I've only noticed recently that a lot of girls are wearing these fluffy ball chains on their handbags. I jumped on the bandwagon and bought myself a white one, and two friends a pink and black one. They are so cute! Don't worry, not real fur. However, they are expensive, in my opinion. Around ¥1,200 ($12). When I saw it on other peoples' handbags, I noticed how it brought out even the most simplest and cheapest handbags into something you can buy at a high price. These things are popular. You can find them at almost every clothing store in Japan.

Since this year started, I've been loving sunglasses that look like prescription eye glasses. Of course, regular sunglasses too. The sunglasses on the left are classic. I never thought I'd be wearing something like these, but it gives a blast from the past kind of feel and look. As for the sunglasses on the right, they give a cute and nerdy look. It's nice to wear them with subtle makeup, since the sunglasses itself is what brings out a lot. I wear prescription eye glasses, but prescription eye glasses are expensive and I can't buy glasses with a variety of frames, so I'm glad they sell these sunglasses to make it look like you're wearing eye glasses (though it's sometimes bothersome to be wearing contacts). These also come around ¥1,200 each. I purchased these from "UNIQLO" and "OPA".

I forgot where I got these rings and earrings from, but they were all from downtown Kobe. The rings are super thin (there were times where I almost lost them), but thin rings apparently makes your fingers look longer and elegant. These were perfectly my size, and lately I haven't been wearing nail polish, so wearing them does enough for my hands haha. Moving onto earrings! Japan has so many different shapes and sizes of earrings, but one of their popular ones are the long earrings where you put through your ears until it reaches the middle part of the earring. I've been wearing the silver ones almost everyday. It doesn't hurt obviously, but I always thought long earrings were a bit dangerous in case I jam them into something. The good thing about these earrings is that you don't necessarily need stoppers and if some kid were to pull at your earrings, it won't hurt, rather it'll just pull all the way through.

Chokers are a huge trend in Japan right now, especially when they came out with a new style that you can see almost every girl be wearing. I love chokers! I used to own a lot of chokers, but I had to throw them away because they all broke. I bought these two at "LOWRYS FARM" a few months ago. I don't wear them all the time, but I love having them. The choker on the bottom was very popular in the 90s, and I'm so happy they came back with them. As for the choker with the gold hoop, it's nice to wear with an open collarbone top; however, it sometimes tickles my neck because of the rough material and it's not something I could wear throughout the entire day.

A very popular makeup trend in Japan that a lot of girls are doing, is the Igari makeup. This makeup's point are the cheeks. It's not so much as the cheeks, but more of the areas right beneath the eyes. This look is to show an innocent, doll-like look. In my opinion, I don't think it's a makeup that can suit just anyone. In someways it does look cute, but in another way it looks like you're drunk or you just got a sunburn lol. It's not that they put a subtle amount, they apply it more than you actually should with blush. Again, it's not exactly something I would do, but also I think there are a certain amount of people who could actually pull it off.

Last on this blog's trend is PPAP! Almost everyone in the world knows about it. Once I first heard it, I had no idea it would get this popular. The singer/dancer is named Pikotaro. No one will ever understand the meaning, but apparently it's a catchy song and Japan is obviously crazy over it. It's happening everywhere you walk in Japan. Just recently, I went karaoke with some students and we found the song and played it many times. Also at the game centers they have an apple pen and pineapple pen UFO catcher...of course, we had to try it out and got both lol. If you still haven't seen the original video, click here.

That's all I have for this blog post. As you may already know, I would have said Pokemon Go, but it's popular anywhere! I honestly quit playing the game about a month ago and already half of the population in Japan has given up. In my opinion, I didn't find it fun anymore. It was always the same thing and it also prevented me from doing things that I wanted to do. Also! It's dangerous. Already a few times on the news there have been accidents and recently a elementary school student had been hit by a truck (as the driver was playing the game) and didn't survive, sadly.

Hope this helped a little bit as my first trend post. I hope to come up with more in the next month or so. Bye bye for now~

Village Vanguard, Game Center & Farewell Orchestra Club...

Hello! I want to talk about one of my favorite stores, and that store is called Village Vanguard.

When I first came to Kobe, I had no idea why everyone kept saying, "Hitomi, you wanna go to Viravan (ヴィレヴァン)?" I had no idea what that was, until I actually went there. Viravan is short for Village Vanguard. Japanese tend to make words shorter by combining them for some reason. For example: McDonald's - Makudo (マクド), Starbucks - Staabaa (スターバー) and Party People - Paripi (パリピ). It's amazing how people can even understand it, but I think that's the slang now. Anyways! I don't know when this store existed, but when I first walked into it I was just amazed. I loved it at first sight! Why? They have a lot of things I love all into one store. If I were to compare it to a store in the states, I think it sort of reminded me of Spencer's. A store I always went to when I went to the mall back in the states. There are a lot of weird things in it as well, so before, I always forgot what the name of the store was called. I always told my friends, "Kyou wa sono henna omise ni ikou." (Let's go to that weird store today).

This store is popular in Japan. I think it first started off in Tokyo and then it got big, that it spread all over Japan. However, every Village Vanguard is different. What I mean by different is their products and even the size of their store. I only know of 2 other places here in Kobe, and one of them has nothing I buy from, compared to the other one which was this location and they have so much more stuff. 

I don't really have anything else to say about the place, but here are photos to show a glimpse of what the store is like.

I also get my Suicide Squad merchandise here too~

I recommend this place if you plan to visit. It's really popular among not only Japanese people, but foreigners too, since there are products from other foreign countries as well mixed with Japanese modern culture.

I also want to share with you the little game center they have right next to the store and it's called Molly Fantasy. Every time I come to Village Vanguard, I always have to stop by this game center. My friends and I spend 2~3 hours there. We've been getting too addicted to UFO catchers lately~

Can you believe this place is located at a train station? It's pretty big considering where I'm living and there are so many stores! The main reason why I came to this place on this day, was to see Yui's last performance. As some of you may remember (or not), on my blog post Akashi Park, where I wrote down a little bit about Yui and her orchestra club. Well, just last week on a Saturday, it was her last performance and it was a very touching farewell. They performed here in this building on the 1st floor for everyone to see. I met Yui at the beginning of this year and at first I never went to go see her perform, but after summer vacation, I started to go. Not to only just see Yui, but my students as well. They worked so hard for 3 years without even getting a break! Now that they'll be graduating in their 3rd year of junior high school, they'll be moving onto high school soon. Not all of them will be continuing the orchestra club as they to go to high school. I still don't know what Yui plans to do, but whatever club she decides to go into next, I'll still support her and the others 100%. All I can say is that I'm so proud of them and I'm glad they have more time on their hands now to hang out with their friends and family before graduation. 

お疲れ様でした！！！