Strong coffee & flavored tea

Since I don't eat meat, I have limited choice when it comes to food. And Vegetarian is still unfamiliar in Japan. Thus, I tend to have lots of sweets, carbos and french fries especially when I eat out. I was considering it was a sacrifice to stand in belief and always thought vegetarian was a fattening diet. But I was wrong. I had been too neglected and ignored about nutrition and the fact that foods create my body! I just read a beauty and health book which written by Erica Angyal who is a nutritionist and consultant to the Japanese miss universe winners. She recommends having brown foods, nuts and dried fruits and avoid oxidizable products such as white soft sugar, ice cream, snacks and margarine etc. I can't avoid sugar which already contained in ice cream, cookies, baked cake, etc etc. But I can reduce them by having alternatives. So I made a beauty set to bring out with me, which includes high cocoa chocolate, nuts and dried fruit and supplements. Lovely, isn't i...

What is the difference between shrines and temples? Put simply, shrines represent the gods and temples represent Buddha. How to pray at Shrine First, bow deeply twice. Next, put your hands together and clap twice. With your hands together, thank the god of the shrine and make wish. Lastly, bow deeply again. It's more polite to bow at the gate. Also it's important to say your name and address in front of Gods so that they could recognize you. Please remind that the center of the approach is for the god, you'd better to walk besides. (However this is no a rule, and many Japanese people don't know this.) Noodle with a lot of seaweeds @ Sugita Nakameguro Tokyo

Lunch @ Ebisu Honganji(temple) Bon dancing A Cat on a tree A Cat on a roof

It creates conversation

'San' means mountain in Japanese. Like Fuji-san is Mt. Fuji, Yuga-san is Mt. Yuga. Sometimes it's pronounced 'Yama' or 'Zan' with the same use however they are rare for high mountains. Yugasan is located in Southern part of Okayama. It's 'Shinbutsu Konko' mountain which means 'fusion of Kami(Shinto) and buddhas'. Shinto is older than Buddhism here and it took root in ancient Japanese people and its culture. Interesting things is that Shrines are built under the path of the sun. Shrine gate made of Bizen Yaki (Pottery) Since spirituality has been popular among young Japanese women today, naturally they take interests in visiting Temples or Shrines. They are a little different from other visitor who are mostly old generations, They look for the sense of sacred area in Shrines. I like this consciousness very much. Octopus as a sea god

My Toshiba dainabook was finally broken. The keyboard is not working which started the day I brought it work on the rainy day. It was a good PC though, I gave up fixing it from the beginning instead I went shopping at Bic Camera which is one of big electric shop in Japan and bought MAC PC there for the first time. I b uy PC even if I don't have money. Some of my friends don't own their computers. They all say that they can't afford for it and are OK with using just cellphone or company PC. But they spend money on things that I don't. It is interesting how people make priorities on consuming. Also I changed my cellphone to i phone at the same day. I had used my old cell phone since 2002, which is much longer than other people. Normally Japanese people like to change their phone a lot. I was impressed by GPS function on i phone at the shop. How convenient it is! The old phone was really classic. I never used IR or QR functions. Anyway, it was difficult to use MAC for th...