Working Holiday

I am thinking very seriously about taking next semester off, and using it to take a working holiday in Tokyo. I really want to apply for a working holiday visa, and then take the initiative to just do it, but I'm scared.
I can't even get a job in my home town, how am I supposed to apply for jobs in Tokyo?
I need a fresh start, and I think this would be great for me, but how practical is it?
What happens if I just use up my life savings doing this, and never end up finding work?

If you've ever taken a working holiday somewhere, especially in Japan, I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Lame Update

Sorry I haven't posted anything for almost a month, if anyone cares (lol). And that most of my posts since I got back from Japan have been mostly fluff.
I'm looking to travel back to Japan as soon as I can, so we're aiming for next April. I want to show some of my friends around Tokyo and meet some of my other Japanese friends as well.

I started school this week, so that was kind of lame too, and I'm also not really working in the off fall/winter months. My goal this year is to do more school activities and make more of an effort to meet all the Japanese exchange students this year. Tomorrow I'm going to school early to kind of help promote our Japan Club for a bit before class. Maybe I'll post some pictures of us after :)

For now, here are some more recent photos of my nail art~

Yamashita Tomohisa's New Single!!

Oh my god. When I saw it, I died.
http://www.yinyuetai.com/video/469827

Yamashita's new single for ERO has the hottest video yet. So 大人っぽい <3_<3
I loved Love Chase, but this is amazing on a whole new level for him. Not as upbeat and dance-y as Love Chase, but like I said, very otona.

LOL I isolated the part where he says, "Bye bye." and made it my message tone xD Sooh hot.

Yaki Gyoza

Today, I feel like I want to make gyoza...I really miss being able to go to a cheap ramen shop in Japan and get some of my favourite foods all in one place. The crispiest fried gyoza is definitely up there on the favourites list. Here, in Canada, almost no restaurants actually serve half-decent gyoza, and it's usually pretty sogged-out and just nasty. If I don't feel to tired after work today, I'll attempt to make the best gyoza I can, since I found wrappers in my freezer this morning!
I needed a recipe, and found this video HAHA
http://www.boreme.com/posting.php?id=23551


On another note, here's a picture of some sushi nails I did :P I screwed up the maki though haha

New Nail Designs!

Wooo! Made some super cool new nail designs! I recently tried out the acrylic paint one-stroke style nail art because my boss is urging me to learn it, but the paints I got to do them just aren't that great. I need to make a trip to Michael's to get some better paints!

Also, below is a new drip design I tried...These are natural nails with a pink gel polish, and and green/white drip design, also made with gel polish and a paint brush! Funky, no?

I Love Cheap Cosmetics!!

I absolutely love to get deals on things, especially if it's something like cosmetics that I want to try a lot of. I recently discovered Eyes Lips Face Cosmetics (ELF), and I'm in heaven! They offer a ton of varieties of, for the most part, quality products, and something for every person. Check out their website, www.eyeslipsface.com, and you'll see that they are in fact SO AFFORDABLE, my god. Also, they often have really awesome sales! Right now they have a deal on where if you add at least $25 worth of items to your cart, you can buy 1 get 1 free on all items! And if you miss it, don't feel bad because they always come up with something else...

Convenience Store-Style Onigiri

When I go to Japan, I always eat onigiri from the convenience stores, but I'm really picky so there are only a few varieties that I'll actually eat. Most stores have the same types, but some have a few that might only be available in that store. My all-time favourite onigiri is wafuu tuna mayo, Japanese-style tuna mayo. The rice itself is flavoured with dashi soup stock, and the inside is like the filling you'd have in a tuna sandwich, only with a sweetish soy sauce flavor added. The best one I've had so far, comes from 7-11s all over Japan. Also, unlike on a regular onigiri, the seaweed is already stuck onto the rice, so it's not crispy, but the flavor of it blends very well with the rice and is majidelicious.

Here's a recipe for it I found on cookpad.com!
http://cookpad.com/recipe/1001317

It is all in Japanese, but if anyone is interested in making it, I can post a translation for you :)

TO THE LIMIT PV Out Now!

Yesterday, KAT-TUN's new PV for TO THE LIMIT came out! And I'm actually impressed it's not just dancing pretty boys this time, but something different and more interesting! Let me just say, Ueda Tatsuya shaving his head was the best thing for him. It was like he's been completely reinvented from the super girly boy he used to be, and now he's a real ikemen. The wind tunnel hair and earring killed me, 'cause now he's a straight-up knock-out. Wow.

Watch it here @TokyoHive!

KAT-TUN's New Single PV

As reported by www.tokyohive.com, KAT-TUN will be releasing a new single, "TO THE LIMIT" on June 27! Excited!
They've also released a teaser for the single's new video, which can be watched here, on Tokyo Hive's website.

I've watched it, and it looks amazing, and obviously different from KAT-TUN's usual boy-band style music videos, as this one actually seems to have a story line, with lots of action scenes! Everyone's looking beautiful as usual, but wow, Ueda's looking better than ever. I was sad when he had to shave his head for the drama he was in recently, but he was cute with super short hair, and the way it has grown back is cute too. If you get a chance, follow that link and watch Runaway. I haven't finished it yet, but it's been really good.

Other dramas I've been kind of following lately are Ataru and Cleopatrana Onnatachi, both I've really liked so far. Check them out on www.dramacrazy.net if you're interested, as they are both new, and I believe currently-airing dramas!

Which J-dramas, if any are your favourites, and what have you been watching lately? Let me know in the comments :D

Cold Udon Recipe (NaitoKo's Way)

The warm weather shall soon be upon us!! Well, it is for some people, but the world knows how Canada is...Less than warm at times, and also slow to get on the summer bandwagon. Anyways, summer weather calls for summer foods, and one of my favourites is cold udon/soba. In a restaurant or nicer setting, such a dish would be served on a bamboo at called a zaru, but if you want to make it at home, who needs it?

Here's my recipe for cold summer udon!

You will need:
Japanese soy sauce, about 3 tbs
Mirin, also about 3tbs
Dashi (Konbu or Katsuo flavours), about 1 1/2 cup
A package of udon, frozen or dry
Green onions, chopped to your liking

Add caption

Wasabi/shredded nori/goma/poached egg etc, Also to your liking


Start by making your dipping sauce/soup. Boil about 1 1/2 cup of water and add the mix for your konbu/katsuo dashi soup stock, or if you have already made soup stock boil that.

When your soup starts boiling, add your tablespoons of mirin and soy sauce. If you feel like you'd like a stronger, saltier soup, add another tbs of soy sauce. Taste your soup, and remove from heat so it cools while your noodles cook.

Cook your udon according to package directions, then rinse with cold water until chilled. Also, add a few ice cubes to your soup stock to chill it.

Udon cooking

Soy sauce and mirin

Chop up and prepare your garnishes as your like.












Lastly, serve up your chilled noodles and soup, topped up with your favourite toppings in your favourite bowl! Most people serve their soup as a dipping sauce and actually dip their soba or udon in it, but you of course don't have to. It's your meal after all, ne?

Photos from Tokyo, May 2012

I know I've blogged about my trip to Tokyo early this month when I was there and posted some pictures, but I've now uploaded all of them into a public album on photobucket if anyone would like to see them, haha. If you have any questions about them, feel free to ask :)

www.photobucket.com\cnaitotokyo2012

On another note, I love Japanese TV. It's hilarious, and they air a lot of things that just wouldn't fly anywhere else. A friend sent me a link last night to an episode of Arashi no Shukudai-kun (download it here http://dvampyrlestat.livejournal.com/46838.html), which is of course a variety show hosted by Japanese boy-band, Arashi, which I was never a huge fan of, for no reason in particular, but I don't mind seeing them on TV. Anyways, the reason she sent me the link was because she remembered their special guest that episode was Daigo Naito of BREAKERZ. In short, he's a rock star, who happens to share my last name, and whose grandpa was once the prime minister of Japan. Also, he's smokin' hot. So, if I just go ahead and marry him, we don't have to deal with the name changie thing. LOL. Anyways, the show is just some funny Japanese nonsense hosted by Arashi and Daigo, and it`s making me want to watch some more recent shows that Arashi has, so I'll check out www.dramacrazy.net because I think I saw some links to one lately.

Speaking of Arashi, I just started watching Masaki Aiba's new drama, Mikeneko Holmes no Suiri. Aiba plays a young detective with the police who unfortunately is afraid of blood and talking to women. He also takes home a stray calico who turns into Matsuko Deluxe and helps him solve his crimes. If you don't know who Matsuko Deluxe is, check out gakifiles.blogspot.ca, and watch some of Downtown's batsu games, more specifically the most recent Airport one. It's hilarious, especially if you're doS like me LOL.

Learn Japanese!

http://jisho.org/ is a lifesaver for me. I'm so bad at reading and writing Japanese! I obviously didn't and haven't been studying enough at all when I was in school! Mostly, I just have to look up kanji :/
I don't really want to take Japanese at university anymore, because it takes up such a huge time slot, and it's hard to work around having to fit in a language lab section as well. Plus it could be at a whole different campus, and I just don't have the motivation or energy I did when I was a kid! Haha...

My oral Japanese is okay. Not as good as it could be, I admit, and sometimes it's just easier to pretend I don't speak Japanese at all. I'm thinking about doing cultural exchange to Japan with school, or some teach ESL there if I can. I'm really in need of the nice fresh start. 子供のときから、「いい日本人の男性と結婚することがいいなあ」と思ったんだよ。(笑）

Back to the Everyday

*sigh* I went back to work last week, though not the whole week. It's been boring, really, nothing much important happening.

On Wednesday morning I believe I was rudely awakened by my phone as my boss called me, and as soon as I answered it was like, "COURTNAY, YOU WORK NAO?". Sheesh. But at least I didn't have to go bearing gifts and beg for my job back for the summer. And I only have to work weekends which is where the real money is at. Did I mention I work as a nail technician? Well, I do, part-time and on call. We don't get hourly pay, just commission, so there have been lots of days I sat there for an 8-10 hour day and made like $20. It's kind of ridiculous, so it's a good thing I don't have to pay like a million bills every month. Then there are days like last Sunday, which was Mother's Day. We were booked solid from 9:30AM til the end of the day. I just laughed when people walked in thinking there'd be space for them. I heard from a lot of clients that their regular salons were closed on Sunday, and I guess it was because, from what I've heard, they don't celebrate Mother's Day in Vietnam, so salon owners were unaware of the business opportunity. Not my boss though. Nope. He would never in ever pass up a chance like this, to stand over us and crack the whip as his cash rolled in.
Honestly, when I work, he is a major source of stress. He's ALWAYS on my back about being too slow. The problem is not me being too slow, it's his overbooking appointments and never refusing anyone's business. Yes, the clients get lined up quickly sometimes, but it is my responsibility to do a good job and spend an adequate amount of times on my clients. A nail salon is not an assembly line where people should be shoved in and shoved out. He's said that new clients cannot wait even one minute over time, because then they'd leave and he'd lose business, and that if it's busy, current clients will understand if you're fast. That is simply not true, and contradicts everything he wants.
I DID manage to get my speed up eventually and then guess what? He shat on me because he thought I was going too fast. Any attempts to explain to him what I was/am doing go nowhere, because he cuts me off and overrides me. No respect at all. He's also said some very unprofessional things to me in the process, most specifically about the long work hours he's had to endure since becoming a new immigrant and that I could never work that much because I'm Canadian-born and that I "would just die".
I have, however, heard from his wife that I'm not the only one he does this to, and that he just does it to everyone else in Vietnamese, in front of the customers and all the employees. I think he has little-man-syndrome and just likes to have control over all the women that work in the salon.

That being said, working at the salon is the only job I have, and a flexible one at that, with the potential to make lots of tips from all the lovely regular clients that we get; all the ones that make this job worth while. Also, sometimes I get to do leopard print nails on people's toes, and that's legit.

Jetlaggy-lag

I am still jetlagged so badly! Nothing interesting has been happening, so no posts, really. I've just been awake all night and asleep during the day...Well actually, one kind of exciting thing happened today. I had been planning to send some noodles to The Ramen Rater because I was sure I could find something he's never tried before while I was in Japan, so I put a package together and had my dad send it when he went shopping in the states yesterday, and low and behold, he received them today!
http://ramenrater.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/a-donation-from-japan/

I have really been meaning to participate in his Show Your Noodles segment each week, but my noodles have been so ugly lately lol. Delicious, just ugly. If you get a chance, visit his blog and send him your instant noodle creation pictures!

I Guess That's All, Folks

Well, today's our last night in Tokyo, so sad. I have to say, we've had some good times. From rain at Tokyo Disney Sea, to the unbearable crowds in Shibuya, it was all exciting.

By the way, I found my watch. For some reason it was INSIDE the duvet cover, what the heck.

Last night we all met up with a friend of ours who lives in Yokohama! It was a blast, and we started the night off with karaoke at a place nearby. For 3 hours LOL, could have even done more.

After that, our friend Hisako had to charge her phone, so we made an unplanned trip to the local Bic Camera, where she bought a charger with a battery pack, that could immediately charge her phone, then she could take it home and recharge it in case she needed it again! So cool!

Now, Bic Camera is a huge electronics department store. It's like...London Drugs on crack maybe. But they also sell booze, apparently. Cindy and I went upstairs, and were convinced to sample a wine, haha. Then another wine. Then another wine. And by the end we probably had a glass each, holy. Of course we had to buy a bottle. I can't believe we got suckered into buying a bottle of sparkling wine in Bic Camera of all places.

After Bic, we made our way to Beersaurus, a bar I had been eyeing since I was like 16. Now 21, I'm actually allowed to go in lol! It's actually a pretty fancy pants place.

We just had a few drinks and some fancy pants food, and after Hisako had to leave for the night. It was nice seeing her again, after I met her about 2 or 3 years ago.

Today, we decided to go to Harajuku one last time, even though it was hot and sunny, and really really crowded. I filled my boots at the idol shops. I'm going to really miss Tokyo, and I hope I can come again in 2 years. 

Where the hell is my watch!?

Last night, in preparation of my friend Cindy coming to spend the rest of the week with me in Tokyo from Osaka, I started tidying things up and doing whatever I could to make sure I woke up in time to meet her in the lobby. One of those things was take my watch off and put it on the floor next to the bed (It's a bunk, so super low) right next to the remote. Then I showered and took a bath, in the Japanese-style bath so I was sitting down, and relaxing in the hot water as one does in such a bath, when it felt like someone put their hand on my head. It gave me the creeps, needless to say. I'm not really a believer in such things, (anything really), but when you feel like you're being touched, it's super fucking weird. It's after 3:30am right now, because I've woken up due to my anxiety about waking up on time without a reliable alarm, only to try and feel around for my watch beside me, except it's no where to be found. I thought I might have pushed it under the bed looking for the remote, but I can clearly see all the way to the wall under the bunk and it's empty. I don't have pockets in my pajamas and the watch isn't in the bed with me. It's a small room, there are only so many places it could be and I've checked them all! What the hell, where is my god damned watch!? Tripping balls.

Tokyo Disney Sea

 First off, I have to say, I hate Disneyland. The first time I ever went, was when I was nine, to the one in California. I hated it then too, so it's not even a matter of being too old now. I don't do rides very well because I get motion sickness, so what's left is the crappy rides, the long walk, often the heat and really expensive food. Also some bad shows. But this is mom's first time in Tokyo, and she loves Disneyland, so we opted to go to Tokyo Disney Sea, which their sea themed Disney park. That meant lots of Little Mermaid stuff, ships and boat rides and what not. It was okay, as this was my second time going, but it rained really hard for a while, so we had to buy some ridiculous ponchos. Yay.

First Day of Golden Week

It was a bad idea to try and go to Harajuku on the first day of Golden Week. It was the most crowded I have ever seen it, ever! I could barely even fit into any of the stores because they were brimming with people, and lots of kids with their parents as well. I DID manage to force myself into the idol shops though *troll face*

My God. We made it.

Mom and I arrived in Tokyo yesterday! It's just such a crazy "vacation", coming to Japan. Our flight was great though, even though it was delayed for an hour or so. I've never flown Air Canada before, always JAL, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Well, the plane was practically empty! There were so many seats available, mom was able to sleep on all three seats behind me, and watch TV wherever she wanted haha.
Speaking of which, the selection of things to watch was actually really awesome on this flight. I had brought my laptop and the entire stretch of Saikou no Jinsei no Owarikata, so I could just watch Yamapi for 10 hours, but I only managed to watch one episode. I don't know, but I just feel like it didn't suck me in. That says a lot for it being a show with Yamapi in it. Well, death is depressing for some I guess.

 One of my meals on Air Canada. Pretty basic Japanese style meal. I give it 3/5

 Sweet yummy coffee!

 Traffic :/

 Room key for mine and Cindy's little bunk room :3

It is actually so hot here right now! Well, for the Japanese, I guess it's not hot. To Canadians who live with the polar bears and igloos (according to the rest of the world), this is summer! I feel stupid for bringing even one sweater :/. Last night, we were to tired to eat anything real, so we just have some convenience store snacks.  Calpis with 3% alcohol. Legit. For those of you who don't know what Calpis is, it is in fact, not piss, but greatness. There's just no way to describe it if you've never had it. Like a sports drink kind of maybe? Or a light yogurt drink? I don't know. Anyway, Calpis Sour, 4/5 only because the alcohol contect is soooo tiny. Hahaha.

In all, our trip was A BIT hellish, since we kind of walked the wrong way, mom was tired, and some old man and obasan had to give us directions. See, when I'm with mom, tons of people jump to help us! When I'm with dad, no one helps us lol. Well, I guess it's natural for that to happen to me half of the time *laughs*.

The Beginning

New to blogging! It's kind of exciting!
I'm Naito Ko, and I intend for this blog to just be about all the things that I like, and to hopefully

be able to do reviews on those things! Expect updates with lots of pictures of food, recipes and beauty products :)

At the end of this month, I'll be going to Tokyo for a week, and I hope for that to be the official start of my blog, as I will be tasting and buying lots of cool things!

Thanks for reading :3