Little Kitty Things

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but for the past year, I've come to grow an interest in all things Hello Kitty. Quite unlike the true fans, I don't need everything Kitti-fied. Occasionally when I chanced upon any shop that sells anything with Hello Kitty on it, I tend loiter there a little longer. Hehe.

On the 5th floor of Haneda airport lies a cute Tokyo Pop Town and the shops on the floor all sell novelty items, focusing on Japan's favorite cartoon and anime characters.

Guests with kids can spend time at shop that sells car models, where there is a car racing simulator circuit for the kids to challenge others! How thoughtful and such luxury!

The Hello Kitty shop is down the corner, facing R Burger. Kitty fans rejoice!

Within the Hello Kitty shop also lies the coin-pressing machine. Sis and I each chose a design. :)

You know how girls will sometimes buy anything as long as their favorite character is printed on it? Well, we did.

We even bought random stuff like Hello Kitty oil blotter and water bottle, just for the pretty sake of it. Haha. 

On top of that I also bought a box of cookies because I like the packaging so much.

Opening the box revealing the packet of HK cookies!

Each cookie comes in the shape of different character - there is HK, her friends and even her grandparents. Too cute!

I was munching on my cookie when I realised that the box can be folded!

It can be compressed and then kept inside your bag, saving space.

Seriously, that's brilliant product design. Ideal lunch box for school children.  Compact & handy.

I've also acquired some HK things from the US! Hahaha. I cannot answer the boyfriend when he asked me,

Since when you start liking Hello Kitty one?

Don't know when, don't know why!

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Shiraoi Ainu Village

Sakura in late Spring

Our family decided to go to Japan a month after the earthquake and tsunami. If anything, by visiting Japan helps boost their economy, a lot.

Sis and I at a convenience store, picking up fash mags.

So the first stop was an aboriginal habitat in Hokkaido. Situated next to the forest of kotan is Porotokotan, which means the village beside the big lake (Lake Poroto).

Ainu Village

We were introduced to their houses, such that in most cases, all the huts in the olden days are built in the exact same manner, where both the exterior and interior (called Qi-sei) design are identical. In fact, even the positioning of the furniture is the same too. Everything is placed in one direction.

Part of the Ainu's lifestyle include barter trading. Villagers trade bear skin in exchange for salmon.

Real salmon hung above our heads as we listen to the stories.

These salmon were caught in fall and dried in Summer. The hut do smell like fish. But not that kind of fishy. Hur.

Our very cute and lively host

The wood shavings are used as decorations to chase away the evil spirits.

Hi dad.

The Ainu museum showcases some of the past tools.

Before exploring the vicinity, we watched the traditional Ainu folk dance that feature songs and dances that evoke the natural splendor of the North, such as iyomante rimse (a ceremonial dance for sending bears' spirits back to heaven), saroruncikap rimse (a crane dance), and an Ainu musical instrument mukkari (mouth harp).



 Saroruncikap rimse - the crane dance

Picture with the Ainu

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The ANA Flight Experience

After my first flight experience with ANA, I have increasing doubts of why SIA remain top year after year as the best air carrier. I don’t think the other flights lose out in terms of food quality, entertainment and definitely not in customer service.

If any, ANA probably "own" SIA for its customer service. 

Previously when I fly by SIA, it’s quite difficult to get even a glass of water in the middle of the night to quench your thirst. Flights overnight have an odd dehydrating effect on me. On the contrary, the ANA flight attendants were seen carrying a variety of drinks, strolling up and down the aisle regularly, checking if the passengers needed another drink. And all these were done AFTER lights out.

There's a little down side to fly with ANA too. You know how it’s annoying when you finally manage to fall asleep on a very uncomfortable seat, only to be woken up less than an hour later by the sudden intrusion of lights and attendants peering right at you? I got that. :( They were serving me my breakfast because I didn’t put up my “Do Not Disturb” sign, so technically it’s my fault. Lol.

And I thought the Japanese are healthy people! Hahaha

My supper was served at 11+, then 3 hours later I was abruptly woken up for breakfast! At 2.30 in the morning!

Nevertheless, I didn’t regret waking up because the breakfast was SO good. :D Plus, the in-flight entertainment system is awesome. When we’re flying with SIA, we have to switch channels using the remote and if you missed any parts of a particular show, too bad, you got to wait for it to finish before catching the replay.

Edit: I was told by a school mate that my info is not updated. When he flew by SIA last year, the entertainment system had video-on-demand and could watch anything they wanted, whenever they wanted. There was also a very large library of shows and games too.

ANA, on the other hand, works on a video-on-demand system. We control mostly using our fingers (touch screen) and could pause, fast forward, and choose the language we want. All the programmes are very well-organized, making it easy even for my papa who isn't very English-literate.

Cushy earphones!

Well I spent the rest of the night flipping and turning because the ANA flight didn’t have reclining seats. Instead, the seat will slide out about an inch or two, and that’s about it. No leg rest or anything. D:

By the time we actually started touring, I wanted to sleep so badly. And that’s after yet another domestic flight flying into Hokkaido. Sleep-deprived. 

-

The return flight was much better with reclining seats. Fell asleep almost throughout the entire flight. Had breakfast at 5am (JP time, 4am SG time) and dozed off while eating. Yeah, I dozed off while chewing pancakes, and also when eating my apple slice. :P 

Tee hee.

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