Week 3: Somewhat tiring week

It's already been 3 weeks so time really flies! I'm *already* going home in a 2 months time. I didn't know that time would fly that fast. I'm kind of dreading leaving Tokyo when I sort of have gotten used to life here. At times it does get a bit boring and lonely since I don't speak Japanese and I don't know many people either, but overall I really love this city. *if any Tokyo people are reading this, hit me up! ;)* 

This week I haven't been too many places. After work I'm usually really tired and I just want to relax, but my host family urges me to go places which is really nice. Since I don't know squat about Tokyo it's nice of my host family to point of the special places.

When I babysit Maya, it's usually not too difficult, but it can be very tiring.

I guess that I now understand why parents are tired all the time. Babies are hard work I tell you! Babies in general are very needy after attention all the time so when I'm with Maya I try to focus on her all the time and yes, that tires me out, hehe. I'm used to kids, but in small doses. She's so sweet, but sometimes she has mood-swings and she's so unpredictable. Luckily she takes some naps throughout the day and that gives me some time for myself :) but I usually take naps with her LOL. Also times I enjoy are when I eat lunch and she's with her mother and I can just relax and eat my lunch. 

The pictures shows my usual lunch for about 600-900yen and it's bought at a Japanese place and only Japanese people buy from there. It's very Japanese which is why foreigners don't buy the lunch boxes from there? It's called *something*-don which means something on top of rice. The *something-part* could be anything from chicken, pork etc. I enjoy my lunch time the most even if I have to hurry eating it XD

After that we head back home and stop by an station called Naga-meguro.

I want to go there sometime. I heard it's a very good area even if it's not known for anything specific. Near here there is a road where it's lined up with cherry trees! Around this station is usually when Maya gets a bit impatient with me. Baby girl Maya is usually the hardest when I'm on the train which is twice a day and makes up 1 hour in total. 

She's at her "worst" when after her afternoon nap and we have to take the trains to Roppongi.

When it comes to babies, I can be very sweet, but when they are naughty I can be strict as well (not in a overly-mean way, but just stern!! I love babies, hehe). The thing about being strict on trains is a tricky things. In Japan inside the trains, people are usually dead silent! They don't speak and for the matter of fact, they take out their phones immediately after entering. Sometimes Maya cries and winces in the train and I can't help but feel a bit helpless because sometimes you just can't comfort her and you can't tell her not to cry because people are staring at you in this silent train. 2 minutes of a crying baby in what used to be silent train feels like a noisy train and the next stop feels like forever. You can't escape since you're in a train and sometimes comforting the baby just doesn't work! It's a psychological thing the mom of my host family says. You feel pressure from these silent people on the train and people are just watching how you're going to handle this situation with the baby! Luckily I haven't had so many crying-fits of Maya in trains, but recently when she went home with the mother she cried so much that the mom had to carry her from her pram while exiting the train and then walking the pram with the baby in her arms home from a totally different station than usual. Babies sure are hard to satisfy sometimes: leave them for 2 seconds and they will begin to cry LOL. Poor baby, a whole 2 seconds being alone.

Besides work, I have been going to Shibuya a lot. There were many people as usual and I'm not over-exaggerating!
Also I found a 300yen store which was awesome!

That's a lot people right?!!! I can't even see the ground! People are just walking everywhere and in every direction when the lights turn green. It's quite fun to watch because they look like ants.

When I go Shibuya, I usually take the express trains and those are known to be quite crowded. Sometimes I can't help but laugh at the situation. It's funny to think that yesterday I was not holding on to anything, but I was still able to stand up because they were so many people in there so I could just lean my body on others and that held my body up. It's funny that you're literally pressed up against everybody in the train. I've never tried that before in Denmark, London, Paris! Another funny thing I see is couples on trains. I see a lot of couples in express trains and the thing girls and guys do is HILARIOUS! Girls will be like holding on to their boyfriend and like *accidentally* tripping and then holding on to their BF's clothes. Then they're like 'oh I'm so sorry, hope you don't mind' and the guys like 'baby hold on tight. This train is sure moving a lot' (me exaggerating, but basically something like that). Guys does the macho thing and girls are being all weak. I swear I crack up every time I see a situation like that. A girl even did this cough thing and I was acting so weak like she was going to faint right next to me. She then leaned in to her BF's chest and was like *cough cough*. HAHAHAHA. I'm sorry, I think it's hilarious. Just imagine the situation with the macho guys and weak girls pretending to do this 'act'. Maybe it's just me who sees something funny in everything here. It's just too cliched to be true. It's something I read in manga so I never expected to see grown people do this! Haha, sorry about that little train-rant and moving on to something else which is more useful. 

This week I was in one new area: I went to Shimokitazawa and went to Jiyūgaoka again (which I will do an entire separate post on) .

If you have been to many areas of big areas like Ginza, Roppongi, Shibuya you'll notice right away how different those areas are compared to Shimokitazawa and Jiyūgaoka. These two areas are very similar in some ways. They are both relatively small areas with lots of small and narrow streets with loads of boutiques. Shimokitazawa was a very different and cool area. It's sort of a hippy place. That was actually my first thought when I exited the station. The people, the clothing stores and just generally the whole vibe of the area were just very different. It's kind of a funky urban underground kind of place. It's hard to explain now without any pictures, but for those going to Tokyo, you should check this place out. Jiyūgaoka is similar to Shimokitazawa, but it's more upscale and I guess fancier and looks more clean whereas Shimokitazawa is more rough. Both areas are so cosy and they are also the most wanted areas Japanese people want to live in.

I always try to go to some places after I am off work, but sometimes I get really tired. Working and then go exploring the city is tiring. I enjoy my alone time a lot, but there's nothing greater than feeling at home when you arrive at your own station.



I just love going back to something familiar opposed to going to somewhere completely new on your own. When I go exploring on my own, I can't help but feel a bit confused. What direction should I go? What exactly do I want to see. I just randomly go into boutiques and sometimes I find good stuff. Other times I realize I just walked into an old ladies shop which is why people stare at me!

Today I ate dinner at a French place and this is my second time eating there. The chef is a close friend of the family and I swear the food is great there. The chef's name is Yoshio Matsumoto and his place is called Vent Du Midi.

The food that was made is not on the menu, it's just something the chef feels like making, but it's always a multiple course meal.

Puffs with cheese, smoked salmon on pancake and anchovies & tomatoes on banquet.

A flatfish, shrimps, broccoli and daikon 

celery soup

Homemade baguettes with butter & virgin olive oil 

beef, broccoli, poached egg in red wine sauce  

Homemade vanilla ice cream on top of apricot tart with raspberry sauce on the sides

Finishing with herb tea

Yoshimoto-san and me. *I'm looking sort of drunk here, but it's just because it's so warm!*

I was very full after this dinner! He's an amazing chef. This is like a proper fancy dinner where you can talk and there is a wait between every meal and it's just the right time. It's handy to have amazing chefs as close friends. I was pretty beat after this so we went home and straight to bed. Tomorrow I am going to the Ueno Zoo and some other things in the weekend. Hopefully it will be eventful hehe.

Here's face of Friday and also outfit of that day ;-) I'm looking more tired these days and I guess more natural, haha. I am temporarily laying of the shimmer blushes because the baby gets shimmer on her face when I kiss her so I switched to a matte blush instead. Clothes is from Forever21 lol. 

See ya next time! I have a couple of more posts in queue!
Bye! xo

Japan from a foreigner's POV #1

After being in Japan for a while you begin to see quirky and fun little thing. Also you realize things that isn't really normal here! I guess it depends on the country because sometimes I do things which I find completely normal and then it's weird in Japan. Everyday I see things that confuses and fascinates me. This is me, a foreigner (gaijin) writing about random stuff that fascinates me throughout my days.

I will just speak about anything that pops into my mind. So I will just start with anything. I will do 4 things about Japan ^_^

#1 First of all, in every corner of every store there is most likely going to be a vending machine which will accept coins AND notes.

You can get hot/cold tea or coffee and other drinks as well. Besides this vending machine there will most likely also stand a trash bin. So people usually just chug their drink right there because no one seems to be drinking and walking at the same time. Maybe it's considered as a bad style or maybe the just don't want to hang on to the bottle when they are finished. I am sure about one thing though and that is... in Japan, trash bins on the streets are a rare sight! Where are all the trash bins? It's no where to be seen in main streets and so. As a foreigner I get frustrated and confused to the lack of trash bins, but it's because the trash bins are in convenience stores, big department stores, next to vending machines and also big buildings with shops. The best way if you want to throw something out, is to carry a bag yourself so you can throw trash out when you see these trash bins. In Japan you divide the trash in combustible and non-combustible so from what I've heard is that people sucked at putting things in the right bin when the trash bins were on the streets which is why they removed the bins. Japan care a lot about the environment!

#2 Another fun thing is their toilets!

I might be wrong, but Japan has very advanced toilets. A flush button is not enough here, they need to have all sorts of functions. The toilet seats are usually heated as well so you won't be startled if you sit on a toilet. Very nice touch I must say hehe. Remember to put the toilet lid down otherwise it will use more electricity heating the toilet seat.
Also now that we're talking about toilets' functions. You know most things in Japan happens electronically: you don't need to flush in the old fashioned way where you have to like push some down on the toilet itself. Here in Japan, there are usually buttons on the sides of the wall where you can choose to flush, wash your bum, wash your female parts or if you just want to hear a flushing sound. They have the 'STOP', 'BIDET', 'SPRAY', FLUSHING SOUND' and 'POWERFUL DEODORIZE'. And yes, that's right. They have a button for flushing sound haha. I tried asking around and they are all like: I have no idea. Why would you want to make a flushing noise, but not flush? It's odd, but lots of things are odd here. I do have a theory to this though and I talked about it with the family and it seems to be a good theory. You know people are very embarrassed about making too noise when they are peeing or pooping in public restroom so I figure that this might be a sound to mask those other sounds you might make when you're on the toilet. It's not only flushing sounds, but sometimes also sounds of water running and even automatic flushing sensors. If my theory is right, then Japan is very considerate.

#3 Japan care a lot about safety:

This is seen in a nursery room in Roppongi Hills.
Since I am a baby sitter I usually always look out for he nursery rooms and baby rooms and such. In Denmark we do have those, but it's no where near as good and fancy as these. We have the bottle heater, microwave, play ground, lounge sort of tables, separate nursery rooms and all that. Maybe it's just me and my locations, but I find most places very baby friendly. Maybe not pram friendly because streets and trains are a bit small, but definitely baby friendly.. Back to safety in Japan; there are always little buttons everywhere and also phone numbers in case anything you see anything suspicious. Also in trains, you'll see buttons which will alarm and stop trains in case anyone happens to fall into the lanes and such.

Moving on to the last!
#4 Before I forget this: in Japan, you have to get used to taking of your shoes. When you see this in the entrance, it means to take off your shoes when you enter:

In every Japanese home, they are probably all wearing slippers. When you walk into another person's house and you walk into a room where the floor is elevated and you need to step up, it mostly likely means: SHOES OFF! And on with the slippers. This was not hard to get used to as who wears shoes inside the house, but he slippers thing is something that you have to get used to. In temples you need to take them off too I think and also in baby play rooms you need to take them off as well. The reasons for wearing slippers could be cold tiles so slippers make it more comfortable and warm. Another reason is that earthquakes in Japan are not uncommon and if earthquakes do happen, glass/mirrors might break so it's a good idea to wear slippers so you can walk/run out of the house if necessary! I learned this from the family the other day :)

That's it for today, I think I will keep doing these short thoughts kind of posts if no one minds ^_^

Bye!!! xo

p.s: I have been wearing clothes a bit old woman style lately. I wore this yesterday! I love F21 <3 Looking a bit serious and messy. I had my hair in a bun that day ^_^



Every girl here has the same style! Brown jacket with a cutesy lacy white dress underneath. Knee socks and the milky tea colored hair. It's pretty, but literally every girl here wears the same clothes. The style is very preppish and cute, but it sort of loses the wow-effect when every girl is wearing the same. When I go around Tokyo, I would see groups of girls with the same brown jacket with big black buttons. I wonder who made this trend popular? I want to follow it, but everyone does it. No fun!

 Okay that's it! bye!!!

Shibuya, Ginza, Harajuku and Omotesando

This weekend I was in a lot of different areas in Tokyo. Saturday I started of with breakfast with the family and then in the afternoon I went shopping in Shibuya.

This is a picture of the famous Shibuya Crossing. In Tokyo areas, most of them has a big Crossing where people will usually meet up or something. In Shibuya the crossing is located right outside the station. Near the crossing you will see loads of people either hanging out/waiting by a sculpture of a dog called chūken Hachikō (忠犬ハチ公 "faithful dog Hachikō") which is why the exit is called Hachiko Exit. The story of the dog is quite moving:

In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo, took in Hachikō, a golden brown Akita, as a pet. During his owner's life, Hachikō greeted him at the end of each day at the nearby Shibuya Station. The pair continued their daily routine until May 1925, when Professor Ueno did not return. The professor had suffered from a cerebral hemorrhage and died, never returning to the train station where Hachikō was waiting. Every day for the next nine years the dog waited at Shibuya station. - source: en.wikipedia.org

The crossing is quite scary when you cross it your first time because on the other side you see so many people and at your side you see lots of people too. It's kind of like a war zone and you wonder how you'll ever get pass the hoard of people! On the picture that's actually a few people! On that day it was drizzling so umbrellas were everywhere! Quite annoying that people take out their big umbrellas for some drops of rainbow, but it might just be because I'm a Dane so I didn't care much about some few drops on my face.. It's just hard to shop when people are like everywhere with their umbrellas :) In Shibuya I like to buy things  from FOREVER21 which I adore! I love this shop so much. We don't have that in Denmark and I like their clothes! The best thing about F21 in Japan is that they have 6 floors ^_^ Clothes in Shibuya 109 is very pretty as well and more popular, but it's just too expensive. I don't want to use 5.000-10.000yen on a shirt. The problem with Japan is that clothes here aren't really that cheap. Makeup is so-so, not the cheapest, but it's good so that makes up for the price. So I avoided Shibuya109 this weekend and I just went in and out of all sorts of places. Places I like so far are LOFT and F21 because they seem somewhat easy to understand.

In Shibuya I was in a hurry because I had to meet up with the family in Ginza. I took the Ginza line from Shibuya which is the orange one with a big 'G'. From Shibuya it's pretty easy to get to all the stations in Tokyo since it's the last stop so even if you feel kind of at lost, I'm pretty sure you can just ask around and someone will direct you to the right train.

Here's a picture of Ginza:

Ginza is a more highclass posh kind of area. We have the GUCCI, LV, BVLGARI and those kinds of shops. There seem to be many rich people here and old pretty ladies as well. This area is very relaxed compared to Shibuya and the streets are very wide which makes it very pram friendly. In my picture you'll see where actually walking on the streets because at a specific time on the day they close the street for cars. I think it's around 5-6 in weekends, but I'm not too sure. This place is a haven for (expensive) shopping, but if you want to save yourself some money then I suggest to just window-shopping ;-)

We ate dinner in a low-key Vietnamese place in Ginza and it was really good. I might go there later and snap some photos.
I didn't expect anything of such a low-key place so no pictures were taken :(

On Sunday, we went to Harajuku and Omotesando area. It's an area close to Shibuya.
At first we went to see the Meiji Shrine. I was so excited because I hear that they always have weddings ceremonies and I wanted to see a real Japanese SHINTO wedding.

As usual: they are strict about smoking here. Easy to buy cigarettes though. Cheap too.

Barrels of Japanese wine called Sake and alcohol gifts from other countries.

This was interesting! In this water place, people purify themselves before the enter the shrine. You take some water with the ladle and wash your hand one at the time and then you take some running water and put it in your mouth and spit it out (outside the pond!).

The thing I was looking most forward to was happening right when I entered the shrine! A WEDDING!

The couple is the one under the umbrella. They are wearing a traditional kimono. 

After that ceremony I saw another couple. It was a beautiful wedding, but it's odd that there are so many strangers (like me) snapping pictures and such.
Shrines are popular place to get married.

Further into the Shrine we have a praying place. You're not allowed to take pictures from the inside, so here's one from outside:

When you go up to the main shrine, there are specific instructions which are written in Japanese.

• You put money in the offertory box (50yen, 100yen etc.)
• Bow twice, clap twice and then you pray/make a wish
• You bow once again and you leave

Japanese people don't seem to be that religious, but superstitious. They pray for luck and health, but they don't pray for a specific god or anything like that.

For example is the votive tablets:

Near the main shrine, you see votive tablets which you can be bought for 500yen. You write your special personal prayers and gratitude on the votive tablets and you hope for it to come true. These votive tablets are hung around a tree and is offered at the MIKESAI, the morning ceremony, each day.

Many young Japanese people come here before and after graduating and it's not only Japanese people who write on these :)
I saw tablets written in many languages.

In the shrine you also see these:

This is a place where you throw away your charm(?) from last year.

After that we went to this French café called ANNIVERSAIRE and I had strawberry shortcake! This was on the Omotesando by the way.

Omotesando is very similar to Ginza as it's also a very posh area. So I won't be shopping there. Harajuku on the other hand is very young style. I talked to some Japanese people and they say: in Harajuku there are a lot of young people and it's extremely crowded by young people and then when they get older like high school age and senior high school they move on to Shibuya. Maybe eventually they will move on to Ginza?

I was very tired this weekend because my ankle hurt really bad! but now I'm all better :)
Here's what I was wearing by the way! Everything is from F21. Over-sized purple shirt with a black lacy-ish short skirt.

I hope you guys found this interesting <3
xo

My usual day in Tokyo

Let me talk a bit about my usual day in Japan. For those who don't know, I work as an aupair which is basically a nanny, but I just happen to live with the family in a country different from my own which is Japan.

If no one minds, I will start all over because I find it difficult to blog about something a few weeks ago and then just jump into something new.

So on the 11th March I took the plane to Japan. I started in Denmark and switched flights to Frankfurt and the Beijing and THEN Tokyo Narita Airport. I remember I was extremely tired because I did not sleep much. Much of the time, I was too tired to bother to look out, but I looked out once when we flew over Russia to get to Beijing and what a beautiful sight. 

I regret not taking many pictures of the insides of Narita airport because they have pictures where they welcome to Japan. It's a bit cliched some of them where you have the cherry blossoms and Mount Fuji, but pretty nonetheless. The airport is very clean as expected and people were very polite as well.

For those who are like me; working or just traveling to Japan. You need to know that when you arrive to Japan you need to fill in two different forms. One form is explaining the purpose of your trip, where you will be staying etc. etc. and then the other one is a tax report. It's not a biggie, but you have to fill those in otherwise they won't let you through. They will also search your bag for any illegal items so they ask you to open your luggage. so yeah they will see your stuff in the luggage fyi. After that you're free to go wherever you are supposed to be.

I met the father of the host family and then we took the train which was 4 hours long. If you're going to Japan and wondering why the train to Tokyo takes a long time, then I will tell you. NARITA airport is ridiculously places faraway from everything and yes it's normal and yes people wonder why it's placed where it's placed. They have created another closer airport if you don't like NARITA. 

So yeah, with the train he showed me the way to their family's house: 

It's in a area called Setaya-ku which is a very calm and nice place. 

It's not like big malls and such here, but lots of restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets and such. It's not a big shopping place, but very nice and cosy place which I like. I'm not really into fast and busy all the time.

I can see a little of the city from my room because I have veranda. You mostly see like other buildings. There is no fancy buildings or houses here, but very cluttered high houses next to each other.

It is weird when you try to adjust to a new country, but what happened to me was that I just needed a bit of time to get used to everything and how everybody is. Now I'm just normal, but in the beginning I was sort of nervous because I wasn't sure what is normal over here. Now that I'm a little more used to life here and I got a schedule made out, everything is a little easier. Especially the trains which Japanese people use a lot!

My schedule is somewhat simple, but fairly unpredictable at times.
I wake up at 6.30 and I watch out for this cute, but devilish baby girl:

I start of by changing her diapers (#1) and then she plays and I get her to sleep at around 8AM. When she wakes up I change her diapers again (#2) and then I prepare her food and make her play. When it's 11AM or earlier, I change her clothes and diapers (#3) and we head out to a different area which is called Roppongi where I have an errand. I suit her up and hopefully she sleeps on her way over there. At 12AM I eat lunch which I buy in Roppongi Hills which is where my errand is located.

Roppongi Hills is right above the station and it's this huge fat building:

It's known for it's shops and restaurants, but it is also a working place for many Japanese and foreigners. So you will see a lot of business men as well as tourists from all over the world. In the building itself it has a lot of classy restaurants, but you can go to like café like Starbucks (which is super popular in Japan) in the LOWER-LOBBY which is the 1st floor or another coffee sandwich place on the UPPER-LOBBY which is the 2nd floor. There are lots of other restaurants this place because it's right beside the station. Lots of restaurants you can try! Or you can go to McDonald's if you're into that. I usually eat at this lunch place which is not a chain store at 5th floor which does tasty lunch boxes. Sometimes I grab a sandwich at Starbucks depending on my mood. Today I had something my host family had bought:

FYI lunch sets in Japan are fairly huge! so you will become full. This bento is a special one and is the small size.

Also if you think that Roppongi Hills is hard to differentiate from all the other countless buildings then think again. This building is so easily recognized as this building has a huge (and disgusting) spider, MAMAN, sculpture in front of the building.

You can NOT miss this thing. If someone is saying that they are meeting you in Roppongi Hills, it's most likely by the spider. If you notice, this is not the only interesting thing about Roppongi Hills. Near here is a lot of other stuff, but it's also here where you get a very good view of other things. In the background you can see two other very prominent sculptures which is a ROSE in the middle of a beautiful decorated garden. In front of that you can also see Roppongi Garden:

 You can also see TOKYO TOWER.

I sometimes just walk around Roppongi Hills by lunch time, but when it's around 1:30PM I head home again. I change her diaper (#4) and then I make her eat again. I let her play and then I make her take her nap. When she wakes up, I change her diaper (#5) and we head out again to Roppongi at around 4:20PM and we go home at 5:30PM. I'm usually off by 5PM to 6PM. Depending on the day and situation.

It's hard work, but I think it's worth it. 

My host family is nice and I'm growing a lot as an independent person.

After I'm finished with work, I can do whatever I want as long as I can wake up in the morning.

I've been to a lot of places lately, but since I've been talking about Roppongi, I might as well continue.

In Roppongi, you will see a lot of foreigners and tourists. When it's day everything is very casual, but when it's night everything changes. People go out and you see that the night life is a very important aspect of Roppongi. People from different clubs will hand you fliers and even try to lure you into their club. It's very normal there, but I didn't really go to those places though. Just recently I had the chance to take pictures of Roppongi so here's some night pictures of Roppongi as well as night view of Roppongi from Tokyo Tower.

I went up to the Tower with some girls I befriended over there.

The tickets are rather expensive. It's about 1.200yen for 150m view and an additional 600yen for the 250m view. It's amazing view though so I don't regret it. If you're going, I might suggest that you guys SKIP the 250m view because it didn't make that much a difference, but then again. 600yen is nothing.

150m view:

In Tokyo where everything is lit up, you can't see the stars. So I guess it's sort of like light pollution since the lights are preventing us from seeing the stars' shine. Also if you wondering about the countless of red lights, it's a light to prevent planes to crash into them. It's only on high buildings.

I bought a ticket to see the 250m as well and it was also very pretty.

You can see a lot more from there. It's quite amazing and scary though. 

Outside the Tokyo Tower there is a SMOKING AREA which is very common here. Japan is VERY strict about smoking. If anything done wrong, you can get a FINE/TICKET! Smokers can't just smoke wherever they want to smoke. They have to smoke at a specific area which is a hassle for them, but good for us. They aren't allowed to smoke and walk at the same time either. Two reasons for that is that it's dangerous for the people around the smokers, but also kids can inhale the smoke because when you walk with a cigarette the height of the grabbed cigarette is close to the height of a child. It's a hassle for smokers, but hey. At least the smokes are cheap as dirt. Smoke away! Japanese people follow these really well.

I haven't been around Roppongi too much, but I have plenty of time to explore as I am there like everyday!

One of the places I ate at in Roppongi was Jasmine Tea which was a really nice Thai restaurant and also a Chinese one placed near the Roppongi Hills. It specializes in dumplings. These were my first food pictures actually :)

The last picture is the dumpling I was talking about. You take the dumpling, place it on the spoon, prick a hole in it, drink the soup that floods around and the take some ginger and dip the dumpling into the soya sauce while eating a bit of ginger. They have instructions on the table, but I was too lazy to take a picture!

I am signing off now. I am too tired and it's too late now! See you.

Will be updating more about DO's and DON'Ts and such.