Hatsumode初詣 Tokyo 2012

Hey Y'all

Before i continue on the Snowboarding vacation post, i wanted to do this first.

Usually done on January 1st, Hatsumode 初詣 is the first visit to a shrine of the new year. Though most folks do it on the first week, the first few days can be quite the terrible experience especially with the more famous shrines.

I went Hatsumode a few days back with my sista Hitomi~ She's back from San Francisco and its a great year for both her husband and her. she's PREGNANT! she already at the 5month mark but i can still remember the day i found out. nothing beats news of pregnancy

We went to one of Japan's most prominent Shrines in Tokyo, Meiji Jingu (Located in Harajuku)





古神札納所
This is where you leave your old charms/amulets and get a new one for the new year, if not you'll be packing up loads of charms from previous years.






Barrels of "Sake" for celebrating the new year




Highly baffled by this but they seem to have wine and quite the display as well





Before entering the main temple, one must first purify and cleanse themselves.
There will be a cleansing basin at every shrine, one must purify and rid of the impurities and cleanse the body/spirit with the water.



Entering the main temple through the south gate




Meself and Hitomi~
behind us is the place where you offer your offerings to the gods and pray for health, happiness, love etc. i didnt do it because i'm catholic but it was awesome seeing everyone else.



Omikuji
(fortune telling by choosing a random strip of paper with predictions written on it)



Familiar scene from various animes
"Ema" with wishes written on them and placed in the shrine grounds.



Omamori (Charm/amulet)
one can buy various omamori for different purposes. Health,wealth, love, safety, studies etc



check this out.
these are all HAND written by elementary students. how pretty is the handwriting.
i can never do something like that.




After we walked all the way out of the entire temple grounds, we went across the road to Takeshita dori and got ourselves crepes.
I've got some major sweet tooth and crepes are one of my guilty pleasures, even in dead of winter.




We walked passed the newly (well not that new but) open AKB48 STORE in Harajuku.
it overtook the Lotteria that was the "landmark" meeting point which i kinda missed.



we went over to shin okubo for dinner afterwards which was awesome!
i cant express how much i love korean food, spicy and oh-so-good.

Well i'll be back with the part 2 of the niigata snowboarding vacation in a day or 2.
i have tons of assignment to catch up on thanks to a whole weekend of DOING absolutely nothing at all.

Love
Ferlyn Yoshimi

After Mid terms

Hey Y'all

Before i post my Halloween stuff i wanna first do my after mid-term post!
I know~ i was suppose to update alot earlier but i had my mid-terms~

Which i did great by the way! yay me!
i'm such a nerd when it comes to studying, i love studying >_<

In school with Marina~
i finish class at 3pm on fridays and we're just sitting around for hours waiting for everyone else to finish class.




it was almost 8 when we got to the Izakaya in Shinjuku
there was a bunch of us almost 15 of us and we had to seperate into 2 tables which is always a bore. im not a fan of table separation, everyone goes off into small groups that way.




Yuki and Kan started pole dancing after a few drinks
i have a video, but due to viewer discretion and for your own good i'm not gonna post it up ^_^



We left to play billiard after that.
i have played billiard once in my entire life. i was so pathetic....
plus i'm left handed and i've got the shortest hands EVER.



and the Yuki + Kan drunk fest continues



I absolutely love the UFO catcher machines in Japan,
they've got all kindsa stuff

YUI~~




I really wanted the bedsheet!!!




I'll post up the halloween stuff in a few days!
PROMISE!!

HAVE A GREAT GREAT WEEKEND everyone

Love
Ferlyn Yoshimi

Friday night

Hey Y'all

Oh with regards to the Ramen post, the shop name is called IchiRan. its in Ikebukuro. about 4mins away from the east exit.

ok, so friday nights are the best right! after a long week at school, the best way to rid of the stress is none other than the miracle water: ALCOHOL.

being in college is fun and all but the company is the best gift so far.
i love me schoolmates.

We were at this Mexican bar in Takadanobaba which Mirei-cyan frequents.
Check this out



and the Halloween menu's already out



I had my regular old Mojitos and Gin Tonics~ but the guys went on to order the halloween specials



Check this guy out: Gabriel Iglesias.
he's featured in RayWilliamJohnson's videos a lot lately.

But if you dont know, he's a pretty established Comedian.
I love his work! he makes the best Sound effects.

Check his video on "Drive Thru Voice"



Have a good weekend yall

LOVE
FerlynYoshimi

Ramen

I love Ramen in Japan, especially when its cold~

Check out the cute store with customers getting their own individual booth.
every booth had a water dispenser which you can get water from.

you have to fill up a form with the spiciness, texture of noodles and stuff like that and pass that on to the staff. how cute~




I live in the Ikebukuro area which has tons of good ramen store around.

おいしそう～～～～～yummmmmmmmmmm



Love Y'all

FerlynYoshimi

Season changing

Hey Y'all

Autumn has finally decided to grace Tokyo with her cool breeze~
It has gotten a lot cooler this past week. and it sure came as a surprise.

after the Typhoon passed Tokyo on Wednesday, temperatures dropped by a good 10degrees since.
oh did i mention classes were cancelled wednesday afternoon due to the typhoon, train lines were shut down and plenty of commuters were stranded into the night.
thank god i went home early and cooped myself in with a hot cuppa cocoa.


anyway here are updates of whats been happening the past few weeks.
School started and i loveee school. the teachers are great and the students are really nice.
its nice to hang out with kids my age, well most of them are younger than me so more often than not i feel like the big sister to em kids.

Last week, Marina turned 22 and a couple of us went to the bar lounge American in Shibuya for her birthday dinner.



the girl in the middle in white is the glorious Marina~



Takashi, Effie and Myself

Takashi~ with the mic. poor Takashi is always the object of teasing despite the fact he's 22 and the oldest of us all. for some lord knows reason, he decided to wear a suit to the dinner. got us ALL confused but thats Takashi for you~ ^_^ we love you Sode~!



dont ask. i dont know either....


After dinner, some of us headed on to the 2nd location. we went to a izakaya in Shibuya.



me and Shogo~ little boy's 19~ i've made so many lil brothers here hahaha.
Shogo got smashed that night.

the few of us went on to muse that night and everyone besides yours truly got absolutely smashed. i had my fair shares of crazy night and i'm on a path of sobriety. yeah... lol

anywhoooooooo

Cheetah girls was trending on twitter yesterday and i re-watched all 3 movies
i remember wanting to be Chanel soooo badly haha

anyway, enjoy one of my favorite songs that came from the cheetah girls




Stay warm
Love
Ferlyn Yoshimi

LaQua Spa

Hey Y'all

I had one of the best day out in this bitter winter last week with Hitomi~
We went to LaQua Spa over at LaQua Tokyo Dome City




LaQua is over at Korakuen which is where Tokyo Dome is and its about 5mins away from Ikebukuro station.
It has its own Amusement park with a roller coaster that loops around the whole establishment



Crepe!!
I am a crepe addict! dont matter if its in the sweltering heat or dead in the winter, i'll have my crepe any time or season!




LaQua Spa
one of the most well known SPA place in Tokyo that has both indoor and outdoor hot bath/onsens as well as a healing baden which boasts a plenty of different rooms that offers healing treatments.




Upon arrival, you'll be given your locker key first, which is "automated" how awesome is that.





After changing into our "hot bath" outfit which was provided by the spa (which i felt was completely pointless, since we're gonna take it off anyway)

we headed into the onsen and had to strip down into our "Birthday suit aka Naked" and join the other naked ladies in the baths. hehehehe

(the outdoor onsen was TO DIE FOR! it was heaven on earth with the cold wind on your face and the rest of your body soaked in hot water)




After resting in the onsen for over 45mins~
we went over to the lounge to rest a little and watch a little tv

there were a bundle of Lounge areas to choose from, and we chose this airplane looking like lounge area
(seriously, if only "Coach aka economy class" seats on the plane were as comfortable as this)




After resting and cooling ourselves down,
we geared up for the "healing baden" which is another section of the spa.




we had to change to another set of "outfit" for this section, the top was made for sweat resistance . didnt understand why at first but i got why it was after getting out hahaha



Sauna "Hot stone" room where you lay down in your individual corner and sweat it out.
its really good for your skin and overall health and works as a good detox as well.

when we got outta there, i thank the spa for the "sweat resistant shirt" i was sweating like a monkey!!




one of the "coolest" room in the healing baden was the "cool" room. which was a room that was set under 5 degree Celsius and its good for your body in some way which i cant remember .

Reason i said it was the "coolest" and it was "cool" (forgive the pun!) was it had a built in aquarium with these guys in it

you can chill in the cool weather of the room while admiring these lovely creatures float about.




Went out to the resting area of the healing baden after to chill out for a bit



went for another round of onsen before showering up and heading out to dinner!

BIG BIG recommendation to LaQua Spa if you ever want a onsen/spa experience without leaving Tokyo!


Stay safe and warm

Love
FerlynYoshimi