Garlic Butter Shrimp Recipe

Hisashiburi! (Long time no see!)

Aside from the most awaited time of the year in Japan, which is the season of sakura or the cherry blossom, April is also a busy month because it’s the start of the business year. We started another school year and had some workshops too because they changed our book  this year.  Also, we already have a new counselor! yay! She’s a newly grad and working in our company is her first job. This is really great because I feel bad every single time I couldn’t help with anything at school like doing paperworks or simply answering the telephone because I can’t speak or read Japanese yet. But we’re all glad that a new counselor is finally coming! However, since she’s new, our school is temporary close on Tuesdays and Thursday because we’re out of people at school.

I hate the new schedule because I can’t request for a two consecutive days off, which really sucks, but hopefully after next month our schedule will go back to normal.

Anywasy, today I cooked garlic butter shrimp because it’s the easiest recipe I know lol, and I don’t need to prepare a lot of ingredients when cooking this.

---

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
• 1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• Juice of 1 lemon, or more, to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add shrimp, salt and pepper, to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until pink, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
2. Add garlic to the skillet, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in chicken stock and lemon juice. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in remaining 6 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until melted and smooth.
3. Stir in shrimp and gently toss to combine.
4. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley leaves, if desired.

Recipe from Damn Delicious.

---

1. I started by peeling and deveining the shrimp, and preparing garlic and butter I’ll use.

2. I cooked the shrimp a bit with two tablespoon of butter and put some salt and ground pepper. Set aside.

3. I added the garlic with the same pan.

4. Added the chicken broth and butter, I only added five tablespoon because I don’t have enough shrimp, I bought them for 859.68 JPY.

5. Needless to say, I added the shrimp and waited for it to cook.

And voila!

I don’t have parsley with me at the moment so I only added some spices because I literally add them on everything. I honestly love the taste, even without the lemon juice. I do the same thing with crab. It’s easy to make, easy recipes but shrimp is damn expensive.

Have you tried cooking the same recipe? Or you have a better one?

 

Advertisement

Grocery Day: Tuesday Sale.

March 13, 2018 (Tuesday)

In my previous post, here, I mentioned that the grocery shop near my house has a weekly sale every Tuesday, so today I went earlier because I woke up early and I craved for Kaldereta I decided to go out on my pajama and grabbed some stuff. Here are some of the items I’ve got. I didn’t get lots of stuff since I just bought some grocery last Saturday along with my rice supply.

small banana 5 to 6 pcs.  – 88 JPY (95.04 with tax)

big DOLE banana 4 pcs.  – 198 JPY (213.84 with tax)

1 bag of tomato     –  198 JPY (213.84 with tax)

Yakisoba (2)  –  70 JPY (I forgot the exact price because I lost my receipt but I remember I got this on sale as well, the original price of this kind of yakisoba is 120 JY)

1 jar or olives – around 350 JPY (not on sale)

milk tea  –  70 JPY (original price around 120JPY)

butter cookies and choco chips – 88 JPY each = 176 JPY (190.08 with tax)

donuts – 128 JPY

Every Tuesday you can get almost all of the vegetables for 88 JPY, but you have to go early because there’s a lot of people and the supplies won’t last long. I got all the vegetables, except for the eggplant (198 JPY), for 88 JPY instead of their normal price 198 JPY.

I also remember that I still have this gc which I can use to pay for my purchase, but it was too late because I already paid. If you’re going to live Japan, you have to get point cards on every store that you usually go to because you can get points and you can use it to buy something from the store.

However, I dunno if I’ll be happy every time I’m getting this piece of paper, it’s really good because I can get free stuff BUT it only reminds me that I already had spent this amount on FOOD alone. The point system here is you can get 1 point for every 100 JPY that you spent on the store, so every time I reached 500 points it only means I already spent 50,000 JPY on grocery alone. And to think that I didn’t buy my rice supply twice. This is already my fourth gc, 4×500=2,000 JPY (200,000 JPY for 14 months). This amount doesn’t include my daily necessities e.g shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, etc. because I usually buy at Matsumoto Kiyoshi (pharmacy), because it’s way cheaper, it also does not include the food I always get from convenience store, make up, household items (100 Yen shop or Amazon), my online shopping and the money I spent eating out (atleast once a week).

If you can see the receipt above, here’s the explanation:

1,967 (Total)

157 (tax)

2,124 (Total with tax)

10,000 (my money)

7,880 (change)

325 (remaining points)

19 (points received for today’s bill 1,967)

344 (total number of points)

P.S If you happen to live in Japan, do you mind telling me if you find these things cheaper (because I’m really cheap and a hoarder of items on sale) or you find them way too much?

 

Update:

 

Philippine’s Kaldereta Recipe.

March 13, 2018

Hey everyone! I am really happy today because it’s my day off from work. Yay! And since I woke up early today (early from my usual holiday sched), I decided to cook a Filipino dish which I was craving for months now, Kaldereta. I went to a grocery store near my house and bought the ingredients I needed, and did some ‘necessities’ shopping a bit too.

Kaldereta is a dish from the Philippines (brought by the Spaniards during their ‘stay’) and its name derives from Spanish word caldera meaning cauldron. It’s a meat stew from tomato paste (but it differ in every provinces, some uses atsuete), liver past and some vegetables like carrots, potatoes, bell pepper and olives.

So here’s a recipe I got from my favorite website when I’m in the mood for some decent cooking, Panlasang Pinoy.

---

Pork Kaldereta Recipe

Author: Vanjo Merano

Recipe type: Pork

Cuisine: Filipino

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  60 mins

Total time:  1 hour 5 mins

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. Pork, cubed
• 1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
• ¾ cup green olives
• 1 medium red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 medium green bell pepper, sliced
• 2 medium baking potatoes, cut into large cubes
• 2 medium carrots, sliced diagonally
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 32 oz. beef broth
• ½ cup liver spread
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a cooking pot.
2. Once the oil is hot, saute the garlic and onion.
3. Add the pork. Stir and cook for for 5 minutes or until the color turns light to medium brown.
4. Pour-in the tomato sauce and beef broth. Let boil. Cover and simmer for 60 minutes.
5. Add the liver spread. Stir and cook for 3 minutes.
6. Put-in the carrots and potatoes. Cover and cook for 8 to 10 minutes.
7. Add the olives and bell peppers. Cook covered for 8 minutes.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Turn-off the heat. Transfer to a serving plate.
10. Serve. Share and enjoy!

Serving size: 5

---

But, a big BUT, when I cook, I usually add twist on it and not follow the ingredients lol. So here’s how I ‘followed’ the recipe.

I prepared the meat, oil and onion first while heating the pan. I cut the meat (which I didn’t even know what kind of meat was, pork or beef, but it do taste like beef so) according to MY bitesize and cut everything according to my preference.

I saute the garlic first then add the onion, wait a bit and added the meat.

I finally added the meat and waited for it to turn brown. I added to cups of water, nah, I used my wine glass to measure hehe.

While I was waiting for the meat to boil and get tender, I prepared the carrots and potatoes to save time. I usually do this because I hate waiting. I did a it of online surfing and dancing too.

When the meat was tender, I poured a pack of this Mama Sita’s Caldereta spicy sauce mix I brought from the Ph, so I no longer needed to put tomato paste and liver paste. It also has instruction and recipe at the back to keep you guided.

This is how it looked like after putting the mix, I added the vegetables and simmered.

I also sent pictures on my group chats because I was too proud of myself cooking something I have never imagined before, in fact it was my first Kaldereta, and one of them thought it was a Japanese curry! But nah, I was too happy to be upset, I sent another picture to my boyfriend and he asked me if I was cooking Menudo!

I told myself “stay positive!”.

I put olives and bell peppers too. I kinda regret I put too much olives though, I should’ve put a little.

Wait, wait, wait., dance, dance, dance and voila!!! Here’s my Kaldereta!

I didn’t add salt nor pepper because it taste perfect already, for me. But no kidding aside, it’s really good and I’ll probably share some at school.

When did the last time you cook for yourself?

When did the last time you cooked something and shared because you’re too proud of it?

 

Yumeno Tsuribashi “Dream” Suspension Bridge.

Part 1

March 04, 2018

As we planned to celebrate Jun’s birthday in advance, the guys chose a place to go to and they said we’re going to a dream bridge, they did sent a photo of it but I didn’t expect it to be this magical. Traveling alone is already exciting, I was expecting that it’s only near Hamamatsu since we left at 12 noon, but ’twas already two hours of unending driving and we haven’t reached our destination yet. The road reminds me of Baguio, and the place according to Iza reminds her of her hometown in Germany.

Hajime and Jun picked us up at started travelling, I didn’t enjoy the road trip as I easily get sick when traveling and I am sitting at the back seat, I prefer the front seat plus the road made me dizzy.

The place looks calm and it was totally different from the cities we’ve visited here in Japan, there’s something in the houses and restaurants that made me feel nostalgic and a bit sad, it was quiet and empty. The place gave me so much emotion, as to why I edited my pictures into black and white to express how I felt that time. If I came there alone, I have this feeling that I would cry and just stop walking.

The entrance gate to the bridge seems like it would close anytime and will not let you escape and just keep you there forever. Nah, I’m just being paranoid. This is one of the reasons why I’m too scared to travel alone and travel late, I don’t want that rush feeling and thoughts of being stuck in one place (don’t get me wrong I have experienced it once here in a place I don’t even know and I couldn’t do anything at that time but to wait for the stations to start working the next day, terrible).

Even their toilets are creepy, I didn’t dare to enter.

Before your reach the bridge, you’ll have to pass this long tunnel and it was really dark. An old man cleaning the tunnel even talked to us while holding his broom made of bamboo sticks, he kept on talking but I couldn’t understand a word. The guys didn’t explain what he said so we kept walking.

As I mentioned that the place seems empty, I was surprised when we reached the bridge because there were lot of people, mostly couples and family with a small kid. There were lots of couples in the area because the bridge is known for granting a couple’s wish if they cross the bridge together. I should have known these things before coming, but I don’t have my special one here so *sigh.

We also had to fall in line and waited for our turn because the bridge can only take 10 people at the same time, and I am really amazed how Japanese respect everything, the rules, to people, the environment and everything around them. They walk quietly, you can’t see any litters, no loud chatting and everyone waits patiently (all the time).

This isn’t the suspension bridge of dream, it was the second bridge you would see on the other side of the mountain, on your way the other suspension bridge but it would take 300 steps for you to get there. We stopped in the middle because it was getting dark already and I find the place a little bit creepy, we sat down a table to breath before turning back and a young couple passed us, I highly respect the girl because she’s wearing high heels (though I am wearing one but it’s a closed shoes and hers was really high) and she didn’t seem tired. Going back the first bridge we saw a couple sitting on a blanket and having tea and bread, they have big bags and they looked ready for an overnight hiking.

It was getting dark already when we left, we took some photos and enjoyed recording some videos on our way to the car. We also saw a hammock restaurant, if I wasn’t tired, I would love to try it.

I felt like we were travelling in a never ending road, I felt like I fell asleep for a long time already and we’re sill travelling. I was begging and ranting how hangry (hungry and angry) I was when I woke up but we couldn’t find a place to eat.

It was around 8:00 o’clock when we found an Indian restaurant, I was hesistant to say yes at first because I haven’t tried eating in such restaurant, I do love curry and stuff but I wasn’t sure about the others but I ended up loving all the food.

So I’m planning to write another blog about this place but it’ll be more of a guide how to get there and things you can because this post is just simply how I viewed things that day. It was actually a great experience, and I was really happy to be with the people I consider my special friends, these people will always be in my heart, it’s just sad that Iza will be leaving for Germany in three weeks time now but I am glad that I have been a part of his memories here in Japan and she as well to mine.

I am attaching a video clip from youtube here so you have a colorful idea about the place, don’t fall in love because it is more magical in person.

Here are some information:

Name:	Yume no Tsuribashi (Dream Suspension Bridge)
Address:	Senzu, Kawanehon-machi,  Haibaragun Kawanehoncho, Shizuoka 428-0411 Japan		View in Google Maps
Access:	Take the bus going to “Sumatakyo onsen” from Senzu station on Oigawa railway (40 min) Get off at “Sumata-kyo onsen” stop and walk to the valley (30 min)
Time required (excluding the travel time)	120 minutes
Admission fee:	Free
Official website:	http://www.okuooi.gr.jp/		http://www.okuooi.gr.jp/wordpress/category/t-view/

Japanese Sweets: Puccho Soda.

On my blog post, click here, I have mentioned that every Wednesday I teach outside school and that I have to travel by bullet train for 30 minutes and 40 minutes by bus which I really find stressful, because I don’t like traveling. So every time I go there, I always make sure I have candies or something to chew while traveling, I usually buy mentos or any chewing gum, but last Wednesday I grabbed this Puccho Soda and I thought it was a chewing gum. I was surprised because it tastes really good and it slowly melts in my mouth. It tastes soda, of course, and you can really feel that fizz effect you get when you drink soda. I love the fizzling sensation every time I bite and it also has this small gummies inside that added flavor to it.

I asked my Japanese friends and they said it’s really popular here and they all love it.

If you’re familiar with Starbust, it looks a lot like this. The only thing I hate about it is that it is so good that I can finish the whole pack in one sitting, I love binge eating puccho! I highly recommend that you try this when you visit Japan.

Puccho (ぷっちょ Puccho) is a chewy Japanese confectionery made and sold by UHA Mikakutō Co. Ltd. (味覚糖株式会社UHA Mikakutō Kabushiki Gaisha, UHA – Unique Human Adventure). There are two types of Pucchos: stick type (Puru Puccho, Shuwa Puccho, and Suppa Puccho) and puccho gumi. Both types come in many different flavors. There are also ten flavors that are unique to certain regions in Japan, which is common among Japanese candy.

There are many flavors of puccho, including: cola, grape, orange, lemon, yoghurt, blue cream soda, blueberry, cherry, peach, mango, melon soda, and pineapple.

The gummi puccho squares are a unique consistency similar to a combination of gummy bears and taffy. They often contain gummy “balls” of flavor that are more chewy than the rest of the square. In addition to these balls, there are also “fizz” balls that mimic the carbonation of their soda derivatives.

Ingredients

Millet jelly, sugar, soy bean oil, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, milk protein, xylitol, cellulose, gum arabic, sodium bicarbonate, flavor, calcium

-Wikipedia

Bored Sensei.

TOHO Cinema Hamamatsu

Do you love watching in a movie theater or a cinema (or whatever you call it in your country)?

Yeah I do.

But I’ve been living in Japan for 15 months now and I have never been to any of their cinemas, not even once because aside from there were no great movies to watch, I find it quite expensive for one movie. My boyfriend and I usually watch movies at least once a month in the Ph because it’s way cheaper than Japan. However, last Saturday, Iza and the guys wanted to watch Black Panther and me being a cheapo asked my friends who watched it already to make sure that the movie is gonna be worth it. This isn’t going to be a review but I’ll rate the movie later *wink.

After convincing myself to try, I finally decided to give it a try it but before that I did some research. HAHA. The only cinema available near my place is TOHO CINEMA, it is located just infront of my workplace, usually TOHO cinemas are located within a shopping mall and in my city it’s located in ZAZA City, on the 3rd floor.

So here are the prices just incase you want to experience watching movie in Japan.

For the regular price:

---

• General

  ¥ 1,800

  ---

• University/College Student

  ¥ 1,500

  (Bring your student ID card)

  ---

• High school student

  ¥ 1,000

  ---

• Middle / elementary school student (Jr. High, Elementary)

  ¥ 1,000

  ---

• Infant (3 years old ~)/Child (3 & up)

  ¥ 1,000

They also offer discount service, just like what we did last Saturday, we bought the late show and it only cost us 1,300 JPY each, we saved 500 JPY.

---

• TOHO CINEMAS DAY (every 14th of the month)

  ¥ 1,100

  ---

• Cine MILEAGE Day (Tuesdays)

  ¥ 1,400

  (If you’re a member, you’ll only have to pay 1,400 JPY on Tuesdays)

  ---

• First Day (e.g March 01)

  ¥ 1,100

  (On the 1st of every month, the movie is only 1,100 yen.)

  ---

• Women’s Day or Ladies’ Service Day  (Wednesdays)

  ¥ 1,100

  (You can treat your sister or mother and only pay 1,100 JPY each).

  ---

• AU Monday (Mondays)

  General · Undergraduate ¥ 1,100

  High school student or less ¥ 900(for AU smartpass, AU smartpass premium and videopass members only)

  ---

• Late Show (showings after 20: 00)

  ¥ 1,300

  (Admission fee after 8 p.m. is 1,300 yen.)

  ---

• Senior Discount (60 & up)

  ¥ 1,100

  ---

• PWD Discount

  ¥ 1,000

  (One accompanying adult can also get a discount same as the PWD).

  ---

• Senior Couple Discount (One person over 50 years old)

  Two people \ 2,200

  (If you’re a senior couple over 50 year old, you can get ticket for only 2,200 JPY for two).

You can visit their website here.

You can purchase tickets in advance online, they have English translation, or just get it at the ticket booth.

 

Ticket booth. You can choose your seat and there’s an English translation.

You just have to attach this to your armchair so no worries of spilling your food.

If you’re a couple or you have a companion and you don’t mind sharing a popcorn, it’s better to get the combo one, and split the price. For a single popcorn with one drink, it’s 670 JPY while the combo one is 1,030 with two drinks and a large bucket of popcorn, you can choose two flavors, I love the caramel.

Things I noticed:

1. Japanese watch and enjoy movie silently, during the entire time we’re watching the movie, we didn’t hear laughters or even gasps during the peak or even during the funniest part of the movie. Iza and I were laughing silently and pinching each other because everyone was really quite. I am not used to this.

2. Just like in restaurants or coffee shop, you have to clean your place and carry your trash and throw them in their proper place.

3. You have to be courteous and refrain from talking even if you’re already going out the cinema.

4. I love how they serve our popcorn, everything is so convenient.

5. You can’t see people chatting and laughing out loud even outside the cinema. Everyone walks out silently.

We finished watching around 11:20 and I can say that the experience was great. I enjoyed the movie and the popcorn too! If I’m gonna rate Black Panther, I’ll give it 7 out of 10. It was interesting and it did touched some important topics, it has some fun parts too and I love the outfits, the cinematography and the acting.

Have you watched Black Panther?

How do you find it?

Bored Sensei.

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.

30DWC Day 28: Village Vanguard Japan.

When I first visited Village Vanguard in Aeon Mall, I never thought it’s a bookstore. Why? Because I saw weird stuff, food and a lot of kawaii things inside, who would’ve thought it’s a bookstore? But when I searched what really is Village Vanguard, I found out that it’s a vintage bookstore, hideout for geeks, nerds, and other otaku. 

---

Village Vanguard is a break from the constant nightlife that tends to surrounds each branch; away from all the flashing neon lights, pachinko machines and AKB48 songs, the so-called “exciting bookstore” offers an escape into a retro, random universe. Pop culture abounds, including The Simpsons, Star Wars, Akira, Chibi Maruko, and that one old Japanese anime you can’t remember the name of but know was all the rage back in the 70s.

Teetering columns of candy-colored comics and toothy bobbleheads form a maze of sorts; be careful, though, because a single twist can lead you to an even more bizarre corner. At the store I visited, a right turn from life-sized Beatles’ inflatable dolls led to a “vintage” corner full of creaky fountain pens and fake British East India Company charters, which connected to a series of rainbow afros and maid costumes. Then there was that corner dedicated to the Gothic, stacked with skulls and handcuffs ….

---

Let me tour you around, then you tell me it’s a bookstore.

These are chocolates, not a fish.

A plapen case, nope not playpen. Do not google playpen.

Yakult gummy?! They also have a BIG one, like really big.

And a lot of cat stuff. *sigh

Toothpaste, to make it simple. BUT they have 30 flavors to choose from like kiwi, banana, mocha, etc.

and curry, yep. CURRY. Ukh.

Finally, I found the book station!

You can by Happy bags during New Year, I guess these are leftovers, basically the items inside are secret and you will only find out when you buy the item.

These are pens, don’t get fooled.

They also sell posters, at first I thought they sell it like that, I mean the frames included but nope they aren’t.

Those pictures only show a bit of what’s inside Village Vanguard, we spent over an hour just looking at at random stuff. The store is really amazing and just looking at them is really enjoyable. If you’re a collector, you can find stuff here you can add to your collection, if you like weird things you’re in the right place and if ou just simply like kawaii things, well, you can find them here. If you visit Japan and looking for omeyage, this is also a good place, the items are not that cheap but some are, so I recommend dropping by. Hehe. This isn’t a sponsored post. Just hoping. Lol.

Btw they have a website, just incase you’re curious 😀

Bored Sensei.

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. 🙂

---

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

---

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.