Unique Valentine’s Chocolate Japan.

I know, it has been five days since ‘the’ day but let me share with you these unique sweets I’ve seen last Valentine’s day. I enjoyed just looking at them and I want to eat them all so I’m dying to share the feeling with you haha, gommenne.

Don’t just promise to give your special one the universe, give it!

Did you enjoy? Which one is your fave? I love the universe themed one, if Imma give it to my special one I’m gonna write “My love for you is like the universe. It always grows, but it never ends”. Naks.

Bonus:

Here’s a picture from Costco Hamamatsu, I love how they arranged the apples into heart shape last heart day. (Photo not mine but from a friend, a teacher from a JET program).

 

Bored Sensei.

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30DWC Day 26: Giving Pocket Tissue Ads In Japan.

February 10, 2018

Today we’re supposed to have our open house at school, it’s a strategy to get more students. It’s like a free class but in a more fun way and we give souvenirs to kids and today’s theme was Winter Sports but unfortunately no one booked the said event. Maybe because we’re lack of advertisement. So, since no one booked the event, we have nothing to do at school, no regular classes and only two classes on Sunday.

After the meeting, our manager asked us if we wanted to give out tissue ads, she’s not obliging us though but wouldn’t you feel awkward doing nothing at school? And beside we’ve already done it before plus I already have experience giving out flyers in the Philippines (I used to work as a real estate agent) so we said yes.

I actually feel excited whenever we go out of school during working hours and observe people (isn’t that weird?) but I was worrying about J, she doesn’t like giving out tissues. We both have a hundred of tissues to give out and went infront of the station to give them out. I finished my task within 30 minutes and when I looked at J she seems really awkward giving out tissues so I helped her. I finished fast again, what I do is look into their eyes and smile while saying “sumimasen, ABC School desu, thank you”(that’s not my real company name) and I’d talk a bit if they stop and read the info inside the tissue.

It wasn’t really hard but I do admit that I also find it really hard when I tried it for the first time, I went to a group of people doing the same job and observed them, their spills, movements and everything and copied them. I also wasn’t able to finish my first hundred flyers, but I was happy when I went back to school thinking I did a good job but when I found out that our manager finished her task within 20 minutes, I was disappointed haha. Going back, I took a rest a bit while waiting for J to finish her second bag and reminded her we only had fifteen minutes left ( we were given an hour to five out 100 flyers), I decided to help her again while we’re on our way to school.

When we reached the school, our manager asked us things like “How was it”, “Where did you go”, “How did you give out the tissue”, etc. J explained that I helped her and our manager asked me to give J tips on how to do it. We had ur break and finished decorating the lobby and waited for the time.

Wondering why Japanese give out tissue with advertisements? Why not just a simple flyer or card? Pocket tissue advertisements is an effective form of advertising in Japan and it has been existing for over 40 years now. If you’ve been to Japan especially Tokyo, you must have experienced accepting free tissue with papers inside, I was in Tokyo when I first experienced it and really find it weird lol, but I was thankful because tissue is really helpful (especially during winter or summer) and very useful.

What does this experience taught me? To be on someone else’s shoes. I wasn’t accepting tissues nor flyers before after I had a terrible experience about it. It happened in Eastwood City (PH) while I was on my way to work which happened to be just three minutes walk away from our condo unit when a girl handed me a flyer and as I happily accepted it but she followed me and asked me if I have a car or credit card, and I told her I have none then her smile faded and said “Ah ganun po ba, bawiin ko na lang po yan” and I was really shocked and I felt like na-judge ako dun ng bongga. Anyways, going back lol, after experiencing it (tissue job) here in Japan I realized that this kind of job wasn’t that easy; being ignored by people, some people even run away like you have some kind of disease, the strong wind, the deadly kiss of winter and harmful hug of summer, and I always feel sad whenever people ignore me or when people run away from me. So now whenever people give me ads, I always smile before accepting, even if I won’t be needing the paper, tissue or fan they’re giving. 🙂

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Fun facts about pocket tissue advertisements

— The first appearance of pocket tissue advertising was in 1969. This form of advertising is almost exclusively seen in Japan.

— The majority of pocket tissue advertising is for loans and consumer credit.

Unlike advertisement flyers, which are immediately thrown away, pocket tissue advertisements are usually kept until all tissues are used up. Since consumers keep pocket tissue advertisements for a long time, studies have shown that they have a deep psychological impact on the brain, influencing shoppers to choose the familiar brand or company advertised on the packages.

— Some businesses choose to attach free drink or discount coupons to the tissues as well.

— For companies who use pocket tissue advertising, using tissues of higher quality is said to create a better company image.

Why do companies use this type of advertising?

— Inexpensive – Pocket tissue advertising is relatively inexpensive. Companies only have to pay for the costs associated with purchasing tissues and pay one person to stand in a busy area and pass them out.

— Efficient – It is an efficient way to advertise to a target market. A beauty salon might only choose to hand out pocket tissue advertisements to women, realtors to families who have children, etc.

— Effective – Recent data suggests that pocket tissue advertising is 100 times more effective than advertising in the newspaper.

If pocket tissue advertising is so effective, why is this form of advertising decreasing?

— Decreased advertising budget – Due to the economic recession, corporations and small businesses have less money for sales promotions.

— Fewer opportunities to use tissues – Many companies are creating products that replace the use of tissues, such as makeup removal cloths and soft cloths for eyeglasses. This reduces the utility of tissues and has prompted companies to think of other more useful products to place advertisements on.

Are tissues outdated?

In recent years, companies are choosing to hand out advertisements printed on products other than tissues. Plastic uchiwa fans in the summer, hot pads in the winter, ballpoint pens, bags, and other practical goods that are more useful to consumers and can be used longer than tissues are starting to be handed out on the street.

What do you think about this form of advertising? Do you get annoyed by people constantly thrusting tissues with gaudy advertisements in your hands or do you appreciate the freebies?

Source: Matome Naver/Japan Today

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Bored Sensei.

30DWC Day 25: What A Friday!

It’s Friday! Yay!

But have I told you that I really hate Fridays? Why? Because it’s basically the first day of my week, we close the school every Thursday and I feel like it’s our weekend because we have to go at school on Saturdays and Sundays (9:00 – 6:00). Not only that, we also have to work until 9:00 o’clock on Friday and wake up early the next morning. UGH.

And I am not a morning person.

Anyways, today when we came to school, there were people doing some IT works and it kinda stressed me out.

Everyday routine

Me and Jerene: Ohayo Gozaimasu! (in our high pitch tone)

Manager and counselor: Ohayou Gozaimasu! (kawaii voices)

Then begin the meeting after 15 minutes.

Today:

Me and Jerene: Oha- (ehhhh)

Counselor: -_-

Manager: (*busy on the telephone) Odenwa arigatou gozaimasu ……

Man 1: #@$%^&*^^*&&%^$%%#%$# (getting something infront of me)

Man 2: *&^%$$^#%@%$^%$%^#%^ (busy vacumming the floor)

Jerene: *silently walked out the office

Me: *turn left turn right sit down stand up repeat 3x

Manager: (*another phone call) moshi moshi…….

Counselor: (*silently walked out the room)

me:   T_T

Jerene: (*suddenly came back) sigaw na kaya ako ng magsitigil kayo!!!!

Manager: sumimasen #$%^&*&^%$#@@#$%%^^&

I decided to just get something and pretended busy in classroom 2 with Jerene and we just came out the room when manager called us for meeting, the workers went out for lunch. We were really overwhelmed because we’re not used to seeing a lot of people inside the office (aside from students) especially men because we’re all girls. And these are the times I wish I could speak and understand Japanese.

They were wearing uniforms like the photo below but the color was gray and they were wearing mask.

Photo credit: International Business Times

Before we start working we usually have a meeting for the day’s schedule and classes, we only have two today and we divided the class last Wednesday but one of the students cancelled and it was my student. So apparently, I have nothing to do today. How did I spend it?

1. I finished doing my student’s assessment, we’ll be having parent day on the last week of this month and we have to hand them their final assessment.
2. I calculated the students overall scores from November and take note, I did it manually because hell I was killing time. And as I told you I am a math genius I ended starting over again because my computation was a total mess. I told you I’m such a genius. I was busy talking to myself “teka pano nangyaring 58, 59, 53 ito eh hanggang 50 lang to” when my manager looked at me with what-are-you-talking-about-are-you-doing-some-black-magic-or-something kind of stare, I laughed and told her my problem. She lend me her calculator. I wanted to die.
3. We cleaned the lobby and redecorated it from winter theme to spring. And as our manager requested a ferret, a ferret?! we followed her idea. She really love our school’s commercial and the photo below is a screenshot of it.
4. Most of the time like this.
5. Did a bit of preparation for tomorrow’s winter event.
6. Chat, chat, chat.
7. I ate the carbonara I cooked yesterday.

And that’s how I spent my day at work, I went back home and took a quick shower and ate my favorite chips from 7/11.

How did you spend your Friday?

Bored Sensei.

30DWC Day 24: It’s Another Ordinary Thursday!

Hisahiburi!!

(Long time no see!)

I know. It’s has been three days since the last time I posted a blog and I admit I’ve been too lazy for the past few days, and today I did nothing but spend my holiday just watching random stuff on youtube (tell me I’m not the only one).

I woke up around three in the afternoon and first thing that came to my mind “goodness, what happened to Kayla now?”, I immediately turn my laptop on and checked Kayla (a story game a blogger I’ve been following here on wp started on facebook group page, chessekase) and her story. It’s currently undergoing so I can’t tell about it yet, but I am very excited and thrilled by just thinking what will happen to the story next.

Anyways, I also cooked carbonara for brunch, I usually put ham on it but today as I still have lots of chicken and they’re about to expire this week I cooked chicken instead. It’s my first time to cook chicken carbonara but I really liked it, I made enough until dinner and breakfast for tomorrow (that’s how lazy I am). I am still thinking if I’m gonna cook bento for tom’s lunch and dinner while cleaning my room.

I put all the unopened gifts I received recently in a box together with my moody kit box just to organize a bit, then I realized I have too much junk food, meh. I looked into my closet and I felt tired just looking at it, I just organized them last week but as I bought random stuff again (ugh) I haven’t taken off their paperbags and my closet looks really messy.

This is my moody kit box, this is where I put all my chips I bought in the Philippines and sweets my friends gave me as souvenir. They know how I love pocky because I always bring some when we go out.

These are gifts from students, manager, friends and boyfriend.

The mess.

So what kept me busy?

Monday

It was final test at school, I wasn’t the one who made the test papers though because they’re centralize all over Japan, but what stressed me out this day was that I wasn’t able to tell the students that we’re gonna have a final test today. I was worried and I didn’t wanna see crying babies in my class again. I know it’s my fault, so what I did before I let them take the exam we reviewed and played some games because they all get too excited whenever we’re having some games, and that would save them from crying while taking the test (my students cry when they find something difficult especially presentation and exams). Everything went well, no one cried and everyone got a perfect score, plus they were so happy when I told them we don’t have homework and no classes next week. YAY!

I ate so late but I felt happy after the classes.

Tuesday

It was off from work, it was sudden because we have a winter event happening on Saturday so we have to be present on Friday to do some preparation. I woke up the usual time, ate something I bought from the grocery store, watched related videos and documentaries about The True Cost and I didn’t notice I was crying while watching them. UGH. My conscience was killing me so I decided to stop watching it and planned how to stop myself from buying fast fashion. I was thinking of starting by reorganizing my closet.

But as planned yesterday, I went to the mall to buy some stuff. I first went to May One, it’s a mall above the station and I’ve seen a lot of chocolates because Valentines Day is approaching and there were lots of girls around prolly buying for their loved ones. I bought some necessities (really?), I was walking when I saw H&M and what I normally do before is enter and check what’s on sale, but today I imagined the people in the documentaries I have watched earlier, that stopped me from entering the store. I went to another mall infront of my school instead, I bought a piece of shirt for boyfriend that was on sale before I headed home. It was really cold, d**n.

I drank Strong Zero as I forced myself to sleep because I wanna go early tomorrow to Shizuoka, there’s a huge sale happening so I wanna check it out.

Wednesday

I woke up late as I slept late last night, actually I woke up early because I set too many alarms but failed to get up. Kill me. I went the usual time but still managed to arrive in Shizuoka a bit earlier so I still got the chance to visit the mall I was eyeing for, but as I still have this heavy feeling in my heart, everytime I look at the prices of the items in the store I couldn’t help thinking how these clothes or bags or shoes were made. I walked out the mall without buying anything even if they have cute bags for just 190 JPY or 89 PHP.  I went to the shuttle bus station and slept all the way to the hotel.

I only had 4 students today, I was overwhelmed by the crowd in the hotel, there were three buses full of tourists and that explains why I only have four students today. Ohh and I saw Mt. Fuji again, how’s that? I went back to the station and I was so happy because I didn’t sleep the whole forty minute ride because I was busy looking at Mt. Fuji, I didn’t know that I could still see it all the way to the station, maybe because I was always sleeping all the time plus today the sun sets too late so it wasn’t that dark. I bought sandwiches and chocolates and ate them inside the shinkansen on my way back to school. I finished doing paperworks and had my one hour break , I only ate pizzaman and a pudding I really love and waited for another hour before my work finished. I slept late again because I watched random videos again on youtube, it’s no longer healthy I know.

And that summarizes my four ordinary days here in Japan. I know they weren’t that busy but I have so much things in my mind, so much happening at school I couldn’t stop thinking. I can’t talk about them yet but hopefully things will be okay in the end, this is going to be another exciting yet thrilling year for me. Hopefully.

Bored Sensei.

 

30DWC Day 22: Uniqlo Fitting Room.

February 06, 2018

I love shopping window shopping lang pala kasi wala nga pala akong pera, and being a normal girl, before buying something I love checking whether the clothes would fit me well, to see if it will look good on me or only in the mannequins or just simply wanna try them on. He he. And I do think that fitting rooms are playing a big role in persuading the costumers to buy a piece of clothing, like for instance, I went shopping with an officemate in Aeon mall and we found a lot of good stuff and tried them on but we were really disappointed because the lightning of the fitting room was really bad, it was hanging above us and we couldn’t even see the clothes properly, we also looked bad in the mirror. I ended up returning all the items and my friend just bought one piece of romper. There were also stores that would give you the illusion of being slim and tall in the mirror, you will look good when you try the clothes and will feel different when you try them at home. Sometimes I would ask myself “Did I just get fatter? I just tried them yesterday” haha.

Okay, so let’s move on with this story I’m gonna tell you. As I mentioned in my post I went out and bought a shirt for boyfriend and as didn’t have any idea about the sizes, I sent me a message and pictures of the clothes to him, but this young man here wanted me to try them on, like really?! (I usually borrow his shirts in the Ph haha). And I really hate fitting in Uniqlo’s (in my city) fitting room, why?

1. I have to remove my shoes (but most of the stores in Japan does the same).
2. I find it too small.
3. They don’t have racks to put your clothes on.
4. I HAVE TO WEAR A FACE COVER. They’ll give you face cover before you use the rooms, and you have to follow the instructions.

So I already tried the shirt on and sent him a message. And HE LAUGHED at me.

And that’s why I hated it.

Those were my stuff on the floor. They don’t have clothes rack.

I went out the fitting room after I finished and threw away the cover I used, paid for the shirt and went out the store while Auld Lang Syne was playing in the mall, it is to remind the shoppers that it is closing time already.

I still couldn’t get over how my boyfriend laughed at me while doing him a favor, he wasn’t aware of it because last time he went there the staff didn’t gave him face cover, I was thinking maybe because they didn’t have large face cover at that time. HAHAHAHAHA. Just kidding.

If you happen to have experienced fitting in Uniqlo in Japan, did you experience the same? Or is it only in my city? In my country (Philippines) it is a normal fitting room. How about in your country?

Bored Sensei.

 

30DWC Day 16: Kampai!

Kampai!

It’s the end of the month It’s the first day of February! Gosh! Time passes so quickly! I can’t believe a month had passed for this year already and to celebrate that, let’s put our glasses up and cheers!

There are too many reasons to celebrate today; its the end of the first month this year, it’s the first day of another month basically, it’s Iza’s birthday, I survived six days of working ALONE at school and finally I can take my day off tomorrow and Friday! It’s another long week for me, it’s half of my 30 day writing challenge and I didn’t skip any, and last but not the least a hundred of people is now following me here on WordPress! Hurray!!!

These may seem shallow to celebrate for but they aren’t for me. I am too happy and I will continue being happy for simple things in life.

If you’re reading this right now, thank you. If you’re one of those wonderful people whose following my boring-exciting-so-so-kind-of everyday life, thank you very much for taking time to listen. Domo Arigatou Gozaimasu!! Maraming maraming salamat!!

To more wonderful days to come! Kampai!

 

Bored Sensei.

P.s naghanap Lang talaga ako ng reason to walwal lol.

30DWC Day 12: My First Japanese Lesson.

Konbanwa! (Good evening!)

I am really happy today, I was planning to study Japanese seriously for months now and I haven’t started anything yet until now. I started practicing writing katakana last year because they always require me to write my name in katakana, I was able to do it but just the letters of my name and the basic a, i, u, e, o. Yes, that’s the arrangement of their vowels, most of the times it confuses me and I still have to check google just to make sure the English one, but anyways they’re just the same a,ei,o,u or a,i,u,e,o. 

After class, I bought a book in a book store near my school then my nihonggo sensei picked me up infront of my school and we went to the nearest family restaurant near my house. We ate dinner first and started the lesson.

The first four pages of the book consists of basic Japanese greetings and expressions, we just had a short review on it because I already know most of them. The sensei would read the English translation and I would tell him the Japanese word for it. Here are some of them, I usually use them at work.

When I go out for lunch I would say “konbini, itte mairimasu” (I’m going to the convenience store/konbini), but remember that this expression is very polite. And they would response “hai, itterashai!” (yes, good luck!). And when I come back, I will use the expressions below.

You can use ittekimasu for a casual conversation.

And the commonly used expression of them all. Sumimasen.

We then practiced a normal conversation using sentences. I thought it was easy, but I find it difficult. Maybe I need to study more vocabulary words or the basic sentence constructions.

“Firipin kara kimashita”.

“Mary-san, shumi wa nan desu ka?”

“eiga desu (movie), youga (English) o mimasu”  – read the o  as wo.

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So that’s all I can share for now, hopefully my passion for studying this language will lasts until I get my N1 JLPT License. HA HA HA. Maybe I’m dreaming, but I wanna claim it already. It would be a very long way but I can do it. Ganbatte!

And I’m hoping that my sensei won’t give up on me. Hoho.

Oyasuminasai!

Bored Sensei.

30DWC Day 7: A Usual Monday.

Otsukaresamadeshuta!

That’s a phrase you should learn when planning to work in Japan, I use that everyday. It has different meaning depending on the situation. We usually use that after someone did something to show appreciation “you worked hard” or after work which means “thank you for your hard work”, you can also use the expression when you meet someone (a colleague or someone working in the same building) in the lobby, restroom or in the lobby.

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Today wasn’t a very busy day, it used to be, but I only had 2 junior lessons today. Last year, we used to have 8 lessons on Mondays, 2 private lessons, 2 semi-private lessons and 4 junior lessons. But after the changes happening to our school (which I can’t discuss since it’s very confidential) we only had 4 lessons today, which we divided into 2 so we had 2 lessons each.

My weekday schedule starts from 12:00 n.n to 9:00 o’clock in the evening and my weekend schedule starts from 9:00 in the morning to 6:00 o’clock in the afternoon. I usually eat heavy breakfast on Mondays since we finishes the last lesson at 7:00 which is different form my Tuesdays lunch schedule (4:30 p.m), so if I didn’t eat heavy breakfast, you would hear a lot of growling during lessons.

My first lesson started at  4:00 (starts of junior lessons) I usually stay in the lobby 20 minutes before 4:00 because one of the three students usually come early, let’s call him H. He’s an 8 year old kid, he loves gymnastics, he looks like the kid from Ju-on The grudge, he’s cute and has a really small set of eyes. He always comes to school alone, he travels by bus. He used to be a very silent kid who doesn’t speak inside the classroom, his former teacher was really surprised when she heard him spoke one time, but now he’s becoming talkative and active inside the class.

The second student is another 8 year old kid, he’s that type of rich kid a school always have, he always comes to school with either his mom or dad. His parents look like one of those couple you usually see in Korean drama, they’re both good-looking and well dressed. Let’s call him D, he’s a handsome kid, very neat, he looks snob but he’s very active inside the class. His parents are very supportive of him, when we have event at school, you would see his parents cheering and recording him all the time.

And the third kid is K, he’s a smart-wise kid. He usually comes to school with his mom, younger brother and sister (also one of my students). He’s naughty and an active student. He’s also very competitive and loud. He’s a bit darker compare to a typical Japanese kid.

After checking their homework, I usually ask them to pick a card or depends on what I planned for the day for their sitting arrangement. Then I start the lesson by asking them simple questions like “What did you eat for breakfast”, “What time did you sleep last night” etc. We then proceed with their movie homework, every unit, they are assigned to watch a movie then every lesson, they would answer comprehension question from the movie (it’s a short animation movie they can access on junior website). Today’s lesson is Project Presentation (usually on the fourth week of the unit) and I asked them to draw their pets or their favorite animals. D usually finishes the task first, he drew an elephant, H usually takes his time, he’s very perfectionist and has good penmanship, he drew a gorilla.  And usually K is the last one to finish, he starts late, he thinks deeply of everything first like he drew this, what would he write next, he drew a hamster.

After they drew their favorite animals, I asked them to make a paragraph by completing the sentences on their book. Then the last part of the lesson was the presentation, they presented their work infront of the class. I always ask them to do the presentation twice, first with guidance (from me) and the last one without guidance. I really love this class because they are very active and participative. They also have good comprehension skill.

My second and last class started at 6:00 o’clock. There are 2 students in the class. The first one is D, if I’m not mistaken he’s 14 years old, he’s H’s brother, they have the same personalities and attitude. And the next one is K, he’s a typical teenager you know, he hates studying, but he always come to school early. He rarely does his homework, but he’s smart, he has good comprehension. If only he could study his lessons and do his homework.

We studied health today and we made a Health Checklist. We didn’t have time left for presentation and we exceeded 15 minutes.

I was starving after this class and had my dinner with Jerene (a fellow Filipina teacher). I ate sausages leftover from breakfast and yakisoba I bought from 7/11. I finishes all paperworks and prepared a bit for tomorrow’s class. We chatted about random things while waiting for time out lol. It was really cold outside while walking home.

It wasn’t really a busy day, I only taught for 2 hours out of my 8 hour working time. I waited 4 hours before my first class pretending to be busy and working on lessons. I even had chance to have power nap in the toilet (for 10 minutes). We cleaned the school a bit, which is an everyday routine and most of the time chatting. I am now confirmed bored sensei. 😀

So that’s how I spent my Monday. It seems that everyone was busy today. Were you? Was it really busy? Or we’re just thinking that it was busy? How did you spend you Monday then?

Bored Sensei.

That’s me waiting for my first lesson, nowadays it’s normal to wear a mask to avoid getting sick. I am not wearing mask when teaching tho. And yes, I had my haircut short ☺️

Grocery Day: Meat Prices in Japan!

Every day off, I schedule at least an hour or two of my time to buy some groceries I could eat for the next few days. I am not that kind of person who would make a grocery list nor plan my meal for the whole week, I ain’t got time for that. I just get what I see and feel of eating for the week. And last night, I was craving for sinigang. And as ran out of meat, I decided to buy some and to give you an idea of the normal prices of meat here in Japan, here are some images of the meat I usually buy in the grocery store.

There are things that I feel (or every foreigner) that are overpriced in Japan such as taxi fare, rice, fruits, movie tickets, meat and PIZZA!

I am not complaining tho because I know the quality is all worth it. Let’s take a look 🙂

Pork strips, great when you’re craving for nabe or shabu shabu. Average price: 200 JPN and up.

Gizzard, chicken legs and chicken breast. Average price 150 JPN and up.

If you see the red sticker, it means the item is 50% off, so instead of paying 575.54 JPN, you’ll only be paying 287.77 JPN.

Be careful with the prices, 533  + 8% tax (42.64) = 575.64 JPN

Pork chop average price: 300 JPN

Pork chop average price: 300 JPN up. Why? Because of trade barriers.

And here’s the reason why I can’t cook sinigang, the kind of meat I need is very expensive.

Don’t worry because they always have sale, usually an hour before the store closing time, they put stickers on the items and you are done for the day 🙂

This beef original price was 1544.40 down to 500 JPN. You saved 1000 JPN.

These are ready to cook meat. My favorite one is the chicken wings curry, they didn’t sell it today, but this pork with white sesame is also good. The original price was 1058.40 down to 500 JPN, it’s just strange because the item above has 50% off sticker but the item below doesn’t have one. So if I’m going to buy this, I would choose the first one, I will save almost 700 JPN (please don’t judge my mathematical ability lol).

As for fish prices, it always depends on the kind of meat you’ll be getting. I usually buy salmon since it’s cheaper than galunggong, I came late so there were no more salmon left for me. If you would notice 2 sticker in the item, it means 20% off, if it’s 3 it means 30% off. We just learned that recently after asking someone from the store.

Tips:

1. Look for discounts and compare prices per net weight
2. There’s always a big discount an hour before the store closes
3. Some stores have LINE and you can receive updates on the sales item for the week
4. Grocery stores has general sales days for fresh food (my favorite grocery store is on Tuesdays, they sell everything for 88 JPN!)
5. You should also know the day your grocery store closes every month (mine is every last Wednesday of the month.
6. Check the expiration date of the item and if it near the date, ask for a big discount
7. Always add 8% of the price on your calculation or just have extra cash with you at all time 😀

 

Bored Sensei.

 

Update:

 

Japan Sukiya’s Hot Pot

SAMUI! MECHA MECHA SAMUI!

It’s my second winter now in Japan and I’m still not getting used to the cold weather. Everyday I wake up I always complain “samui, samui, samui, mecha mecha samui!!!!”.

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samui – cold,

mecha(slang/same meaning as totemo) – very or extremely

I AM COLD. (Watashi wa samui desu.)

I AM VERY COLD. (Watashi wa totemo samui desu.) or (Watashi wa meccha samui desu.)

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It’s too ironic because during my entire life in the Ph, I used to complain how hot the weather is, I used to wish to have snow o winter in my country, I always stay in places that has ac and now I’m experiencing it, I still complain lol.

Forgive me.

But here are some of the reasons why I am not liking it, First, it’s very hard to get up in the morning and prepare for work, Secondly, I lessen my shower time to 3 days a week (that’s a major secret!),  Thirdly, I hate doing household chores such as washing the dishes and cooking! and Lastly, I have to eat faster than usual because my food gets cold faster, and being a Filipina, I love eating oily food such as adobo and nilaga which is not good.

So during this season, I tend to go out a lot or just buy bento boxes either at our local supermarket or konbini (convenience store). I also  usually go to my favorite Japanese restaurant – Sukiya, the largest chain of gyudon (beef bowl) restaurant in Japan. What I like about this restaurant is that they always have something new in their menu, and last month (December) I had a chance to try their Sukiya’s Hot Pot, but unfortunately when I came back this month they no longer have the said dish. But at least I got to try it!

When you happen to be in Japan and you wanna try Sukiya’s seasonal menu, you could easily see it because they put a special menu for it, they print it on the table and they also have big posters of it everywhere in the restaurant.

 

Or you could try their regulars, beef bowls, or basically rice bowl with food on top 😀 They have varieties of toppings to choose from, my favorite is their beef with three kinds of cheese toppings, you also get to choose the bowl sizes, prices starts at 210-720 JPN.

 

You ca also choose different sets of side dishes you can add to your order, from 70-180 JPN.

Upon entering, they’ll give you tea and tell you to just push the button and let me know
before I get the wrong idea and go, You’re gonna miss the freak that I control, so push the button – WAITTTT what? (That’s a song girl!).

Since it’s a fastfood restaurant, you won’t wait that long to get your order, perfect for me who only has an hour break from work.

What I also loved about this hot pot is that they served it with a flame burning the pot, I didn’t worry about it getting cold. Thumbs up! Don’t worry about the open flame – it’s fool-proof, hindi ka masasaktan char!

It has beef, noodles, a variety of vegetables, a side of rice, and a raw egg to stir in whenever you like. It’s actually a single order good for one person but the serving was good for 2 (for me). Pwedeng pwede sa mag-isang puso ngayong taglamig, at hindi ka rin mangangamba na manlamig sya sayong piling.

Wag kalimutang haluin at tikman bago manlamig, ahy hindi na nga pala manlalamig to.

You will also have an empty bowl just incase the soup gets too hot for you. Minsan maglaan din ng space, minsan okay lang na manlamig. Teka, para kanino ba to? lol

I will give this 9 out of 10, it’s not the usual soup I usually have (which are salty or tasty) it was sweet and savory.  It’s not also that expensive and the price is totally worth it.

You could check their website I linked below.

Link: Official Sukiya website

Store Hours: Open 24 hours

Location: You can see them everywhere in Japan

Take out: Yes (just say o-mochi kaeri)

 

Bored Sensei