Sunday, June 30, 2013

CD debut.

(top) Master CD and lyric sheets with notes from the sound engineer
(bottom left) Entrance to the recording studio
(bottom right) View of Funabashi from the studio building
I love singing and karaoke. This is one of the first things people learn about me. I sing everywhere and anywhere. Even to the point where I go to karaoke on my own for hours on end!

During a conference I attended earlier this year, one of the speakers said to thank you and goodbye to all the people who have supported me throughout these years in a meaningful way. Thoughtful and significant.

A number of people I've met here have told me they would totally go for my CD if I ever made one. Figuring that it would make the perfect thank you gift, I decided to make it happen!

Recording booth...just seeing this photo makes me want to go again!
That said, I had no idea how to go about doing so. After doing all sorts of research on the Internets, I knew I wanted to try recording in an actual studio...and eventually came across the establishment I wound up choosing, RBC's! Not only was it reasonable despite including sound adjustments and direction, but it was super close. The studio is just about a 20 minute ride by train, and located pretty much right next JR Tsudanuma Station. Perfect.

It's a small, homemade studio tucked into what seems like an apartment building (but all the other rooms on the same floor also seem to be occupied by various businesses). It was fantastic though - and I am really happy with the end product!

The spectacular sound engineer, Tamaki-san, hard at work!
I had no idea what I was going into when I walk through the door, but Tamaki-san, the guy who runs the place, was incredibly helpful and great about walking me through the process. I recorded 3 songs over 5 hours (you can rent out the studio on an hourly basis).

If you're recording vocals like I did, you bring in the instrumentals for your songs, as well as copies of your lyrics. Tamaki-san will even provide a little advice on singing/expression - I was just a breath off in my timing for one of my songs, so he pointed that out to me and we fixed it. :)

Anyway, we record one song at a time - usually singing 2-3 "full cuts." Then Tamaki-san will put together the best parts of the cuts, and we can record individual parts if necessary.

After all the songs are complete, there's a little adjustment here and there...and voila! We actually got done earlier than the 5 hour mark, so we spent awhile chatting about random stuff - like how Tamaki-san is from Okinawa (in addition to his sound engineer job, he also does Okinawan music performances here and there!).

He's very professional and thorough, but Tamaki-san is also incredibly easy to work with so that you can relax and create your music just as you imagined it.

And just as he told me - "レコーディングは癖になる,"  or "Recording's addicting"! I think he's right. I wish I'd known about his place sooner - but perhaps the next time I come to Japan, I'll drop by for fun (and maybe record another song while I'm at it?!).

RBC's Funabashi studio official site: http://homepage3.nifty.com/rbc/

Monday, June 24, 2013

Popcorn blowout.

Spring Voyage 2013 decorations! (Loving the ribbon Minnie and necktie Mickey shrubs!)
Our mother-daughter adventure at the Tokyo Disney Resort continued into the next day, when we tackled the Tokyo Disney Sea theme park!

Early park admission (my mother forgot to change the date/time settings on her camera...but insists on the time stamp)
Like I mentioned in my previous post, guests of the Tokyo Disney Sea Hotel Miracosta get 20 minute early admission into the park! I don't think rides aren't in operation just yet, but this gives guests a head start on both admission and/or FastPass lines. We went straight to the Toy Story Mania FastPass line, since it's so popular that on weekends, apparently the wait can go up to 5 hours o_O

It's like a zombie invasion o_O
Sure enough, with along with the 9:00am opening of the park came a massive wave of running people trying to get to the most popular attractions as quickly as possible! It was actually kind of terrifying to see that many people coming at you at once. But luckily we were already safely tucked in line. Even with the early start - and on a weekday for that matter! Our FastPasses weren't for until almost 12noon.

Japan is super hardcore about its Disney...

Subtle but adorable spring-themed decorations!
Thankfully, other than the early morning insanity and typhoon-like winds, my mother and I enjoyed a pretty laid back trip to Disney Sea! And I think that's the very beauty of this unique park (since it's the only Disney theme park of its kind) - it has a much calmer, mature feel to it than say - Disney Land (which I think is more for when you're looking to ride as many attractions as possible!).

Set of 4 windows in the middle is where our room was!
The wind really was taking a toll on us, so instead we went hunting for our hotel room. Sure enough, we found it on the Venetian side - pretty sweet!

Duffy/Shellie Mae photo op!
I'd only been to Disney Sea once before, but I don't think I realized that these spots existed! They're all over the park. Perfect for those hardcore Disney fans - the ones carrying the multiple Duffy teddy bears. I can only say that Tokyo Disney's marketing strategies are absolutely fantastic...and they've gotten me quite well too.

Not one, not two - but three different types of popcorn!
Today's post title comes from this collage - instead of eating a proper meal, my mother and I got too excited about the different varieties of flavored popcorn available! Many of the flavors are only available at either Disney Sea or Disney Land...so we took advantage and got all of the sweet, Disney Sea-only popcorn flavors: (from top right, clockwise)
1) Strawberry...as well as the Spring Voyage 2013 limited edition popcorn box, which comes with a mini box for your Duffy teddy bear!
2) Milk tea, which sounds gross but is surprisingly amazing
3) Apple cinnamon, which I was crushed to find out replaced the cranberry-flavored popcorn...but was quite good as well!

Hotel Miracosta entrance directly in/out of the park.
Halfway through, we took a break to refresh and also check out of the hotel - check-out is generously late, at 12noon! Also as I mentioned in my previous post, the bell service will hold your luggage even after you've checked out - as late as 10:00pm (which is park closing). Not to mention, if you drove like I did, the parking you've already paid for lasts until 12 midnight.

I must say though, it doesn't seem like you actually have to be staying at the hotel to go in and out of this entrance! I suppose it's because non-guests can still dine at the in-hotel restaurants/lounges. We didn't, but like much of the hotel, these places have fantastic views of Disney Sea.

Thank you for a wonderful day!!
We wound up cutting our day short because we were too battered from the relentless winds - apparently the one thing to watch out for trips to Disney Sea - but we were incredibly satisfied nonetheless!

Please stay in tune for the final installment of my mother's visit to lovely Chiba~.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Just one night. (@Tokyo Disney Sea Hotel Miracosta!)

So at the end of May, my mother came to visit. As a part of our late Mother's Day celebration, I arranged for a stay at the wondrous Tokyo DisneySea Hotel Miracosta!

Our room keys. Each guest gets their own - to keep! Also, straight lines are hard to draw on a trackpad...
My family has gone to the Disney Resorts in Florida and California a handful of times when I was growing up. We've stayed at a handful of the Disney hotels, and when I was studying abroad in Tokyo, my parents and I even spent a few nights at the Tokyo Disney Ambassador Hotel. I was pretty confident I knew what it was like staying at a Disney hotel.

But the Hotel Miracosta rocked my socks off.

When I talked about how much I liked Disney, people here would almost automatically respond that I needed to spend a night here. But all I really knew was that the Hotel Miracosta is so popular that it's nearly impossible to book...supposedly you need to book over a year in advance - well, if you're trying to book directly. I hadn't planned that far in advance, but I barely managed to find an opening through a travel agency. Aside from the suites, Miracosta's rates (and availability!) depends strongly on which view you are booking - but I'll get into that a bit later in this post.

I was pretty skeptical with all the hype, but despite the lofty price tag, it was totally worth it. I'd so do it again.

Hotel lobby!
Land of dreams for sure! Cast members in the entrance area will enthusiastically approach you to see if you need help with your luggage. If you come around check-in time, the lobby will be overflowing with people waiting - not too long at all! - to be shown to their room by a cast member. The Miracosta has all the best parts of Japanese and Disney service combined.

Studiously checking out the hotel info channel.
Maybe because I only really stay at business hotels in Japan, but the sheer size of the room really impressed me. I guess it is the size of a standard hotel room back home though - I guess I mostly only stay at business hotels here in Japan, where the rooms are about the size of a closet ;D

Being silly in the powder room.
View from our room!
I touched upon this at the beginning of the post, but room availability and rates depend strongly on which side of the hotel you're trying to book. For standard rooms, there are three views are available (in the order of price/difficulty to book): the Porto Pallazzo side, the Venetian side, and the Toscana side. We were on the Venetian side, which offered a partial (but still gorgeous!) view into Disney Sea. Porto Pallazzo is by far the most popular side because it offers a full view into the park...someday I will stay in one of those rooms!!

Out front the hotel! (Also, yes my sweatshirt is insane and that's why I love it!)
Guests of Tokyo Disney Resort get to enjoy all sorts of perks during their stay, like an unlimited pass for the Tokyo Disney Resort monorail during the duration of your stay, and early entry into the Tokyo Disney Land or Sea (available on the day of your check out as well)! Even cooler is that (1) if you purchase anything from the shops within the resort, they can deliver it directly to your hotel bell service - fantastic considering how much omiyage people buy here in Japan! and (2) even if you're only staying one night, like I did, you can check out and they'll hold your luggage until late that evening (10pm, I think?)!

Wandering the Tokyo Disney Resort.
After settling into our room, my mother and I decided to take advantage of our monorail pass to go wandering around the resort. We took a lovely ride to the JR Maihama Station area, which is connected directly to the Ikspiari shopping mall and Tokyo Disney Ambassador Hotel!

Random shots as we wandered the Tokyo Disney Resort (counterclockwise, from the top left):
(1) Awesome giant map painting of Tokyo Disney Sea, located right by the Hotel Miracosta entrance to the park
(2) Ceiling mural at the newly renovated Ambassador Hotel - where my parents and I stayed 6 years ago!
(3) Giant cookie art (Happy 30th Anniversary, TDR!) the bakery inside the Ambassador Hotel.
(4) Mickey grabby things inside the monorail car!
(5) My mom being boss inside the Ambassador Hotel lobby
(6) One of my new favorite cafes - the epic nana's green tea, located on the ground floor of Ikspiari!

Retracing our steps from 7 years ago!
Next post...mother-daughter date at Tokyo Disney Sea!

Monday, June 17, 2013

Home sweet home.

I just returned from a lovely weekend in my beloved, wonderful Kamogawa. Basically, I was there to help out my old employer welcome a music delegation from Kamogawa's sister city, Manitowoc, WI, USA! Not only do I love work like this, but it was also great to see so many Kamogawa friends. I am feeling a bit weary physically, but mentally/emotionally recharged!

Anyway, a quick peek into my weekend through photos:

The cute frog/heart thing was engraved into all the clothes hangers! Looks like it's the inn's logo.
I've reviewed the fantastic Hidamari Inn before, so I won't delve too far into it, but I just wanna say that they finished adding an additional building, so now they've gone from just 4 rooms to 12! Still nice and cozy, but now a bit easier to book. (Although all the rooms were filled over this weekend! :D)

Rehearsal at Kamogawa Civic Hall.
The music delegation is 35 members from Manitowoc's Lakeshore Wind Ensemble! During their one week stay in Kamogawa, they performed at Nanso Bunka Hall in Tateyama and Kamogawa Civic Hall over the weekend, and they'll be playing at Tokyo Disney Land on Tuesday (wish I could go)!
Watching their performances made me remember how nice live music is.

Food hunting, and my haul!
(starting from top right, clockwise):

(1) Awajiya, a cozy little Japanese restaurant right near Maebara beach in Kamogawa. It's run by a husband and wife. The wife, who usually handles taking orders and bringing the food, can seem a little...cold? At times, but I think it actually makes you like her for some reason.

(2) Maebara Beach. Gorgeous even during the rainy season!

(3) Kamogawa Energy. It was originally a fictional item from Lagrange no Rinne, an anime that takes place in Kamogawa. They made it real, and apparently it's surprisingly good?! These guys are currently chilling in the fridge, but I'll let you know how it goes.

(4) Su-namero! SO GOOD. I walked all the way down to Awajiya during my lunch break because I've been craving namero for aaaaaaages. I've previously posted about what namero (and su-namero!) is here.

(5) Summer veggies. I make a point to pick up locally grown produce whenever I'm back in town! Today I scored zucchini (80 yen...and it even included recipes!) and cucumbers (88 yen for 4). The supermarket I went to only sells produce from local farmers who bring in the veggies themselves every 1-3 days! The labels are marked with the name of the farmers too. It is oddly reassuring to have those names on there! Anyway, I'll be sauteing the zucchini, and the cucumbers are already pickling.

Many more adventures to come - stay tuned!

Monday, June 10, 2013

A rest stop for foodies.

I like to drive. A lot. So even though driving is technically unnecessary for me now that I live in the city, I still do it anyway because I love the freedom it offers. Particularly, the freedom to go to my beloved Kamogawa in southern Chiba whenever I want (times for public transportation to the countryside can make travel to these areas kinda inconvenient).

For almost a whole year, most of Ichihara SA (Service Area), one of my favorite places to stop at on the way back to Chiba, was blocked off for renovation.

Happy posters covered the walls erected around the construction areas.
But then, finally the time for me to visit the spanking new service area came!!! I wish I had before pictures - it wasn't...bad before, but it did feel kinda old before.

And so...a photo tour of the reborn Ichihara Service Area!

All nice, new, and pretty now!
I love the colors they chose - so soothing...and the logo is simple but adorable!
Stroll in, and you'll find yourself in a spacious wonderland of vending machines, packaged souvenir goodies, and further in - a food court of yummies for the hungry traveler!

(not so pictured to the left) row of vending machines, (right) convenience store slash souvenir shop,
(straight ahead) more fun!


I haven't had the chance to eat here yet, but it looks like they've got a couple chain restaurants in here (Lotteria and Wired Cafe), but also a place that has food made from locally produced veggies and the like!

What I did get...freshly baked goodness.

In the front is a mini pizza covered in Chiba-grown vegetables, left is a cheese danish, and the back was some mass of bready deliciousness.

If only rest stops back in the U.S. were as nice as this!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Enjoying the small things in life.

Quick update today - not just to (hopefully) get back into the swing of consistent updates, but also an official announcement that as of yesterday, June 8, I only 2 months until I leave Japan.

It has been an incredible, epic 5 years on the JET Programme, but it's time for me to head back stateside! I've got dreams and goals I am gonna make happen, and I think I'd be in better position to do so in the U.S. I'm not feeling particularly sad about my upcoming departure, because I feel quite satisfied with how much I've been able to accomplish - both professionally and individually - and also because I'm pretty sure I'll be back soon, for some reason or another!

But my departure does mean putting closure on this chapter of my life - so before that, I am trying to get as much of my bucket list done as possible, but also simply enjoy spending time with the many fantastic people I've met! So hopefully I can manage to record as much of that as possible in between all the running around :)

So today, I'd like to share just a few shots of fun with friends. I chose this post's title because I think it's all the little moments and random conversations that have really made my time here incredible:

One of my most favorite couples EVER.
Bottom left is the barbecue space at Inage Seaside Park (稲毛海浜公園), located just about 15-20 minutes from where I live! The wondrous lady pictured at the bottom right is a dear friend of mine - we worked together for a bit over a year, but I think she will be a close friend for the rest of my life. She and her husband invited me and a friend to join them for a summer-kickoff barbecue. Supposedly it was their first time holding a barbecue, but I wouldn't have known if they didn't tell me - they were totally prepared, with all the tools, meats, veggies, appetizers, snacks...even dessert! All while my friend's fantastic hubby grilled the barbecue foods for us (she is so lucky! haha).

And everything was incredibly delicious, as usual :) I've gone over to their place for dinner a few times too, and whole courses of various masterpieces like the pear-shaped croquettes (top left) are served. I always feel so spoiled with them!

おしゃれ aka cool chopstick rests!
Also, one time I went over to their place, I received these fancy chopstick rests they had made out of wine bottle corks (both of them absolutely love wine - they had a huge bag filled with corks from all the wine bottles they'd finished)!

Chicago deep dish pizza at good ol' Costco in Makuhari, Chiba City.
Last but not least, a quick snap from a trip to Costco with a fellow expat friend! I'm not from Chicago area, and I have never understood deep dish pizza. But my friend was unbelievably excited when he found these - well, I supposed I'd feel the same if I found Maryland crab cakes out here. In just a couple of months though, I can enjoy all the home goodies I want (although not necessarily crab cakes) - so I need to stuff my face with lots of yummy Japanese food while I still can!