We went to my cousin’s house and stayed there for one day. It has been a long time since I stayed at thier house. They live in Saitama, and it takes three hours to get there from my home. It was like a short trip.

 family picture

 with Lucky the dog 

They cooked a lot of foods and it was very tasty. We also drank a lot! There were six ladies and two men, so it was mostly chatting time My another cousin and aunt joined this time, so it was very good time!

Next day, they took us to a market place called “Saiboku”. Since New year is coming soon, everyone is buying the foods and new year’s foods. It was quite crowdy But we liked this place because in Tokyo area, they don’t have places like that. It was interesting and fun at the same time.

 Many people are buying New year’s foods

 tea shop. This area has own tea called ” Sayama cha”

   @ veges shop

 Happy New Year!

   Pigs!

Then, we went back home to pick our stuff up! During this rest, my cousins showed us how they play the guitar and piano. It was nice!

 

Finally, it was time to say goodbye It was very short visit but I had a very good time!

My grandmother was showing her old pictures to us. When my grandfather was alive, they traveled a lot in Japan. I thought it might be interesting to Andreas. So, I asked to her to show the pictures. Yes, it was quite interesting. We found the pictures which were from their wedding, hahaha It was so funny to see it! After that, she served green tea to Andreas. It was his first time to taste very strong green tea. Then, she tested him to do calligraphy. Well, he was quite good with this. Here is a Video!

  

  My grandmother’s collection
He used with coffee filter. It was interesting to me.

It was abour 4 hours with my grandmother, so we just stayed at home this day.

As usual, Andreas tasted with new Beers. Here is new Beer products from this winter.

This year, my sister and Andreas were playing Nintendo DS on Christmas.

That was not romantic at all

 

After he finished with his game, we went to Harajyuku. Harajyuku is also fun to see the fashion. Usually, people from Harajyuku wear very unique, but this year I did not see unique fashion so much.

There is a toy shop called Kiddy Land. This shop has tons of toys and character goods! We can’t stop buying stuff, so we even skipped some floors, hehehe.

  Kiddy Land at Harajyuku

Then, we bought some Christmas cakes for my family. Those were so cute! Also, we found sparkling Sake! That sounds interesting right? Actually, the taste was quite softer than normal Sake. The alcohol was lower than the normal sake. For me, it was good because of the lower alcohol, hihihi.

   cake collections?!

  Sparkling Sake!

This day, we went to Tokyo tower with my family. It was supposed to be a beautiful night view from the top. This day was quite crowdy, because everyone think the same, hihihi 

Instead of using the elevetor to go up, we used the steps. OMG. There were 600 steps to the place we would see the view. It took us to go up around for 15 minutes. It was quite tough, and my legs were hurting.  I could not believe that my parents made it, too!

  still with a lot of energy

It was worth coming there. It has been for a long time since I saw a night view in Tokyo. For Andreas, it was the first time to see it. He was saying it was interesting. Yes, it was fun to see it!

  night view

  with my mother

I was almost dying with these steps. My dad wanted to go to a restaurant and have some beer. We decided to go to Shibuya, because it is close to my home He knows a good beer shop, so we went to that restraunt. The beer was so tasty Kanpa~~i! This day was also fun night! But next day, my legs and hip was so hurting from taking steps.

 
Kanpai!

At the metro station, there was an advertisment of K1 fight. He tried to fight with them,hehehe.

Masato is my mother’s favorite fighter.

 Antan kick!!!!He was about to beat him

We had still jetlag so just walked around my nighbor town, Shibuya.

  some building

This city is a trend town for young people. If you want to see the trend from young people, it is good place to go! Also, we love this town, because it is so fun  First, our mission was to get a hair cut. Since it is so expensive to get hair cut in Finland, we waited for 6 months. hehehe. Andreas was complaining about his hair style, so I took him to the shop. It costs only 1000yen (around 7 euros) to get a haircut. It is good price and skill, so I like this shop! Some people think Tokyo is  very expensive, but the local people know the cheap shops for everything, hihihi. After that, we went to Anime shops. Since I like Keroro, I bought the kids book with Keroro cards.

 keroro

 Andreas with Hotpepper!

Also, I bought some clothes at 109 This 109 is fashion building, and always it is crowdy. It is fun to see the fashion here.  Since I came from Finland, I was a bit excited with so many young people.

 —->  Before and After

Again, our flight got delayed and we had to wait for a long time We ended up waiting at the airport for five hours… Lately, many Finnair flights do cancel and get delayed. I think there are so many flights and they can’t handle with! I hope they can improve the service and so on. Anyway, they gave us a free ticket and we had a big hamburger. After such a big hamburger, Andreas said that ” I don’t want to see and eat the hamburger for a while”. Yeah, it was quite big

 Vantaa airport, Christmas version

 A big burger

The flight was okay. Their entertainment and foods are always same. Nothing is tasty except free Japanese Beer, hihihi.

After 9.5 hours, we arrived in Osaka. This was my first time to arrive in Kansai airport. A big Christmas three was waiting for us! Everywhere was in Christmas moods It was pretty.

 Osaka kansai airport

In Osaka, there is a famous food called “Takoyaki”. This is my favorite food from there. I really wanted to taste it, so I found the shop and tasted it! OMG, I was missing Takoyaki so much I was very happy and I even ate the whole Takayaki by myself, instead of sharing it with Andreas.

  

This kind is called “Negimayo”. This is with a lot of chives and mayo. Very tasty!

Then, we took Shinkansen to go to Tokyo. Shinkansen is much better than night bus. I sometimes used a night bus from Osaka to Tokyo when I worked in Osaka. It is so cheap, but so uncomfortable. If you take the Shinkansen, it only takes three hours and half. But if you take a night bus, it takes around 9 hours, hihihi. I did not take Shinkansen for a while,  so I felt so comfortable with the Shinkansen this trip!

 Andreas’ obento and beer

 He was happy with comfortable seats

  Inside and outside of Shinkansen

 From the station

Finally, we arrived at my home! This trip was worst than the previous Hawaii trip It took us to get our real destination more than 24 hours in total. My mother prepared a nice dinner for us My family was waitig for the dinner. At that time, we had a dinner together and some beers

    All of them were our favorites!

Oops, he was too happy, so he ate a chocolate even he has allergie with them, Oh no!

 Oops

Finally, my school is over! Now I still packing,hehehe. I am so excited about going back and enjoy my holidays.

 This year, we will be more active to go out. For example, I am planning to go to Club asia for Christmas event, Tokyo DisneyLand,and so on. OMG, I am so excited about this trip now!!!

I will try to keep my diaru up,hehehe. Let’s see this is true.

Our third anniversary was on December 14th! BUT, we were studying at that day…So we still have to celebrate, I guess in Japan. Most of my exams are finishing, yay. My holiday is almost here♪

Anyway, here in Finland, since Christmas is this week, I see many people buying gifts. Also, people look happy Did everyone already get the gifts for the family, friends, and that special person?? Well, I bought them for my friends, cousins, and family….but not for Andreas, Oops. Maybe the first thing I have to do in Japan may be looking for his present, hehehe.

All right, “Happy holiday” to everyone. Hope all of you enjoy your holiday, Christmas, and New Year!!!!

My regards from Finland!!!

Hitomi in Helsinki, December 2007

I have been busy lately, because this semester is almost over! Exams, projects, etc.

But I am enjoying my study time with yummy Apple pie I hope I don’t gain my weight with this, hihihi.

 Yummmmmy! Can’t stop eating this pie, oops.

Oh, by the way, next week is our third aniversary celebration! OMG, it has been already 3 years since we got marrige ceremony in Japan!

 Well, thank you for supporting us from everywhere, everyone! 
Especially, my families from Mexico and Japan. We are so far away from both countries…Sometimes, we can’t imagine why we are here, anyway. Our life has been stable with happy and joyful. We are always smiling! Thank you again

 Cheers for our celebration!

Okay, today is the Finnish Independece day, so it is national holiday. No class and everything is closed.

What we did it on this day….

Watching Youtube for 9 hours

….and

Wasabi fights 

Since Andreas invited his friend, Captain, we must try to do “Wasabi fights” with his friend That was so funny! Also, Andreas tries to fight with Wasabi in Japan every year, hihihi.

Next day, I had a bit handover…and had to finish my project work, hehehe. But, his friend was so strong with alcohol. He drank more than half of bottle whiskey and no hangover for him…sugoi

 before the Wasabi fights. Look how much there is…

Both of guys survived…next is the Mexican Javanero(pro:Habanero). Since his friend liked it, Andreas gave him Senor Javanero,hihihi.

 hope he enjoys the Mexican spicy.

 I didn’t put on makeup, so I was hiding,hehehe.