Dance like no one's watching

Photos from Shibuya & Shinjuku… more eating & shopping!

I’ve forgotten the name of this restaurant but they specialised in omu rice. The food was good! Loved the salad starter too!

Various types of omu rice & baked rice.

Yummy…

The famous 4-way crossing at Shibuya

My first meal coupon meal!

Tokyo is really pretty during Christmas (Shinjuku area).

All the shops are lighted up.

Mosaic Street, Shinjuku

Delicious tonkatsu!

I loved this yuzu salad dressing!!!

Ok… my next post will be the last on Japan…

Meiji Shrine & Harajuku… the Japanese love to dress up… whether it’s the traditional way… or in an outlandish manner!

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Entrance to Meiji Shrine

Lots of kids in traditional garb.

Love the detail on their gowns!

Ok.. so some kids were cuter than others…

Obasans in kimonos

Saw a ceremonial dance.

Traditional Shinto wedding

Harajuku

Cosplay in action

It’s crowded on Sundays…

More cosplay in action

Dinner at Watami

Grilling our own stingray!

*Slurp*

I think I’m going for Japanese dinner tonight…*drools*

The great thing about Tokyo is that there are so many facets to it.  There’s the vibrant city life with all the lights & shopping, and laidback neighbourhoods like Daikayama where there’s this really delicious waffles place, and Canal Cafe, the most scenic cafe I’ve been to ever!

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Daikanyama’s such a pretty neighbourhood!

Saw this really cute stone house on our way to this waffle place.

The waffles were DELICIOUS!

Soooooooooooo good…

They had savoury waffles too!  (Yes, the 5 of us ate THAT many waffles.  Hehe).

Entrance to Canal Cafe.  This place looks straight out of a story book!

Funny sign near the counter where customers place orders.

Such a peaceful cafe.

Really love the deck.

So tranquil even fearsome predators lay back, relax & enjoy an iced coffee.

Hehe.

Sightseeing in Tokyo…

Just a note: the captions belong to the pictures above them.

Tokyo street @ sunset.

Imperial Palace, Tokyo

Traditional Japanese women

Ginza area, Tokyo

A local buying breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market.

Corn on the cob, anyone?

Really crowded at Tsukiji Fish Mkt in the morning!

Yummy breakfast!

Sedap!!

Asakusa, Tokyo

Love the trinkets on sale!

The temple at Asakusa

More pics taken from the temple grounds.

Tokyo Tower

More pics coming up in Part 4!!

Continuation of my favourite pics from Japan.  Sigh.. seeing the photos make me want to go Japan again!

(Captions are below the photos)

Hakodate & Hakone

Goryokaku Star Forte at Hakodate.

I really love the autumn leaves!

Check out the generous serving of ikura!!

Hakodate city at sunset.

I just thought this was really smart – a baby seat to free up mothers’ hands while they do their biz.

Yummy Japanese curry rice from this shop at Shinagawa JR Station.

Food stall along the streets of Tokyo.

Train to Hakone

Hakone’s really beautiful!

Taken at the onsen where we stayed.

Stingray being grilled!

Cable car to the top of Mt Hakone!

That’s Mt Fuji in the background.

Temple gates

Temple (forgot the name)

The obasan getting ready our dinner at the onsen!

Mt Fuji at sunset

That’s it for Part 2!

This post has been long in the making.  I know I’ve said a few times that I will eventually post my Japan photos… but never got down to it.  Problem is that I took loads and loads of photos and after uploading them to FB, it just became too much effort to post the photos here.

That said, on this hot Sun afternoon, I’ve decided to just pick my favourite photos & share them here.  I originally wanted to diarise my trip my doing a day by day post of what I did in Japan… but like I said… it’s just TOO MUCH EFFORT!

And for those expecting the last instalment of my HK (Mar 2011) trip photos.. sorry lah.  Change my mind.  Hahahahaha.

(Captions are below the photos)

Sapporo & Furano

Pokemon plane!

Another cutesy plane!

First taste of ramen in Japan.  My favourite combination – scallops, butter, corn & char siew!!

Even the construction work signs are so cute.

Sapporo Clock Tower

Pretty leaves & berries.

Tiny houses at the Shiroi Koibito chocolate factory.

Pretty wedding cakes!

More pretty cakes!

Patience enjoying the view at the cafe at the chocolate factory.  (Well, she was enjoying the view before taking the pic).

Yummy chocolate!!

Love the reflection.

Choo!  Choo!

Love the colours of this pic.

Char siew being flame grilled (Sapporo Ramen Alley).

The end product – the best char siew I’ve ever had in a ramen!

Squid ink cheese from Sapporo Cheese Factory.

I’ve always liked this sort of long paths framed with trees.

Lavender scooters at the Furano Lavender Farm

Lavenders at the green house at the farm.More photos coming up in Part 2!!

I’ve been mulling over this for a while and i now conclude that tough as it may, we should remain impartial at all times. It’s often difficult to be objective when it comes to family. But if we keeping making concessions for their weaknesses, we’re causing them more harm in the long run.

I often hear stories about how people drop their Nokia phones in water and how the phone miraculously survives.

Last weekend, my boss was watching his son play/ wade in a swimming pool at Sentosa. He had instructed his son to stay on the steps of the pool cos his son was too short to wander into the pool, plus the boy doesn’t know how to swim.

Unfortunately, the boy got curious after a while and decided to thread beyond the last step. Sure enough, he lost his footing and his head went under water. My boss immediately ran to the pool to yank his son out. In his haste, his wallet and handphone went into the pool as well!

My boss saw the screen of his Nokia 6700 fizzle and die. He went to the washroom, took apart the phone and used the hand dryer to blow dry the phone. After he got home that night, he continued to dry the phone using a hairdryer. Amazingly, the phone was revived. My boss then turned to his wife who uses an iphone and said, “Don’t think your iphone would’ve survived.” Heh.

My boss is now a firm believer of Nokia products, though I wouldn’t suggest anyone dunking their phones ever!

Some thoughts that have crossed my mind the last 2 weeks:

One should be passionate about one’s work.

It’s no point being a post box.

Discharge your duties responsibility.

Have integrity.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

The interview on Monday went smoothly and the candidate was more or less satisfactory.  My boss left it to me to decide if I wanted to take him or not.  Spent a good part of yesterday thinking about it.  Finally, I decided that the answer was no.  The problem wasn’t with the candidate but with his pay expectations.  Although my boss was willing to consider what he asked for, I felt it wouldn’t be fair to our current staff.  Reason being that even if Meeneon stayed on in the company for 3 years, I highly doubt he would get the amount of $ this candidate was asking for.  If I thus hired this candidate, I would be penalising Meeneon for his loyalty (assuming he stays 3 years) & rewarding this candidate for job hopping (this would be his 3rd job in 3 years).

I thought long & hard & eventually decided that as a matter of principle, I would rather deal with the higher workload, then to go against something I believe in, i.e., loyalty should be rewarded.  I told my boss about my thoughts today and thankfully (and coincidentally), the same thought was on his mind – that management has not been rewarding people who have stayed on with the company.

I haven’t decided where I might want to move on to next.  But I can safely say that if things do not improve come next increment, I will definitely leave the company.