27th Mar 2011 - Penang for Japan Disaster Relief Charity

Earth quake and tsunami hit Japan just 6 days shortly after I depart from Japan from biz trip at 11th Mar 2011.

Devastation everywhere, damage by earthquake perhaps was minimal as Japanese are generally prepared for it. Tsunami basically wiped out the entire prefecture of Sendai not to mention causes trouble at the nuclear power plant.

Helped poured in from all around the world shortly, donations, rescue work, evacuation you name it.

Penang has this charity event which are held today to raise fund for the cause as well and it's a 1 day event. Seeing how my mum likes Japanese stuff, I brought her there.

There were lots of people at the event probably cos it's a one day event only and today was Sunday itself.

Not too may Japanese items for sale though there were some, generally everyone turned up for the event and the whole place was just full of life.

Casual kimono try outs for RM10 for photo session, too bad mum didn't want to try. If I were here, I'd give it a shot :)

Reading the letter from the organizer, touching.. just realized that the event was 100% donation event, self funded by kind volunteers, kudos!

Today's afternoon skies were particularly bright and blue, can't help myself but shot and stitched up a panorama for my collection :)

To the people of Japan, my condolence to you, your family and your people. Do not be afraid as the world is watching and help is coming from every corner. You will recover though not easy, and you will stand even stronger than before, there are hopes, do not give up, we will pray for you. I have seen parts of your country and the place and people are amazingly wonderful, I will return one day in the future to other parts of the country... :) thanks for the hospitality!

See you, land of the rising sun!

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4th March 2011 - Good bye Tokyo, for now :)

Would like to document another entry into my memories for future references.. :)

Finally, it all comes down to this... end of the grueling 3rd weeks on site... in the heart of the den as I would put it. Man, sitting around and surrounded by your business users certainly put more strain on you more than I can imagine ;)

But thanks to my outstanding team mates, you guys helped me pass through these weeks smoother than ever before. Big thank you to you all! Bravo! let's keep it up, almost at the end already..

I fell sick yesterday with fever so I only went out to grab some bread and headed back hotel, didn't even take my dinner and went straight to bed to hibernate...

Today, when the clock struck 5, I was ready to leave the office. Bid everyone good bye and thanked them for having me. So wonderful to meet them in person as well :)

The immediate thing that popped into my mind was that I want to have authentic Japanese food for the last time until the next time I fly over again.

Went to Kawasaki JR station, I remembered there was a Krispy Kreme Donut store there, went to check it out (other time was closed already since I left the office quite late). Today finally got the chance and ordered 2 donuts (choco something and hazel nut something)

quite sweet as well, almost as much as Big Apple donut... still okay, inside there's no cream filling though. I liked those... and with my favorite drink I found in Japan.. CC Lemon hehehee.. Lemonade soda... nice ;)

Next, to pamper myself, I took the "green car" section of the train again.. hehehe.. for those that don't know what I'm talking about, the trains have little segment that are specially catered for person who seek a little more comfort - hence the Green car.

As you guessed it, it's larger, spacious, have own seats that can recline and basically almost crowd free at night. :)

I didn't pay anything extra though. Checked with my JP colleague here he said that if conductor comes, you may pay, else just take it as free... :)

There's upper and lower deck, I took lower deck last time, this time I took upper deck. Nice and quiet... somehow the journey back to Shinagawa around 6 mins feels shorter. Particularly cos I was reluctant to finish the last ride for now.. :)

I was searching around in Shinagawa area for sushi restaurant... and guess what? It's freaking hard to locate a sushi restaurant in Japan itself.. well, so far in Shinagawa at least.. :p

I walked around the area, mostly are serving claypots, BBQ, pubs, ramen.... there's 1 sushi restaurant eventually but full house.. x_x

Almost about to give up but I saw the sigh of sushi on a building, it was 2nd floor, curiously I gave it a shot... it was a very small and cramped space. But i was given a small corner near the chef's counter. Reluctantly I sat down, beside 2 guys who smoked.. (I hate smokers's smell) but knowing I would blame myself for not having 1 last authentic Japan sushi... I caved in... hehe

Found a guy who can speak a little bit of English, I ordered my usual stuff... pointed a few sushi... and off he go...

nice deco...don't think that's real though..

nice cup of hot green tea... yummm, i actually drank 4 cups in the course of the dinner.. :)

even their tooth picks are nicely decorated, ours are just plain ol stick which breaks easily.. this one looked like can poke and skewer something...

what's this? someone told me it's ginger... mua don't like ginger, i gave it a shot, bite a small piece.. mmm.. me don't like...


Wasabi, by default all of the sushi restaurant didn't give wasabi until you requested... strange.. Japanese doesn't take wasabi by default?


ahh.... sushi.... ok, the one with little fish eggs? i don't normally take those, but did so in Japan... :)


Miso soup, another must have before I fly back... strangely, their Miso soup be it clamp, crab, or fish... they throw the whole thing in for you. I ordered crab, with no fork or spoon or gadget to pry open (although it was cut into some other pieces) but still not enough, gotta use hand.. no no. i just drank the soup :)

one of the nicest cup I've seen here... for..

Okay, 1 last must have... Cawamushi!... see the leaves sprinkled on top? yeah.. me don't like either... smells funny, taste even funnier.. took those out. They seemed to put this frequently... =__=!


okay, last but not least, I went to The Strings hotel's lobby and use their free wifi again. Updated my apps before I fly back tomorrow. It's very very very hard to locate Free Wifi in Japan. I'm sooo surprised...

Okay, thing's packed... all set.. ready to come back now... Japan, thanks for having me... and looking forward to come back next round with my parents.. :) Sakura time! (season starts around end of Mar -> April annually)

One more thing i'll miss... the cold/cool weather.... time to come back n sweat... hahhaa...