Happy happy...

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!

I hope everyone is having a great great holidays and

May your 2007 be a wonderful year as ever!!!

with muchas love,
Mayu♡

umm..., yummy yummy!

This turns to........











This!!!

Japanese style Omelet
it was soooo good:)




@restaurant "L'ami" in Kobe

Here comes this season again, Luminarie

Kobe Luminarie ( http://www.kobe-luminarie.jp/ ) just started~!
This is the big Christmas event in Kobe where lots and lots of people come to visit. even there is a tour for this from around Japan.

This illumination started in 1995, after the Big Hanshin Earthquake, to encourage and to give hope to the victims after the disaster. Since then, it's held every year for the memorial of the earthquake and fund raising but it's most likely for lovers and couples to you know, be "love-love".

Each year it has a differnet design, different theme. This year's theme is "L'Incanto Del Cielo" which means incantation or the enchantment of the sky. Designed by an Italian living in Kobe.

I really love this illumination. So beautiful, so breath-taking. With the gospel music and billions of lights in gorgeous designs, it is soooo romantic. You will forget the freezing air, the crowd (you can't imagine how many people there are), and bad things happened to you that day.

I see this every every year, and I'm glad that I could see this year again.

When I see this, makes me think that winter is here, Christmas is here and it's almost end of the year. 20 days left to go guys!

またまたルミナリエの季節がやってきました！
本当に綺麗！！！何回見ても飽きない。ルミナリエはアメリカにいた時以外、毎年見てるけど、
これを見るたびに冬の到来、クリスマス、そして1年の終わりをしみじみと感じる。

来年は誰と見るんだろう。。。？

How to be a good speaker/ communicator

1. Think of the listener's situation. Their age, sex, personality, status and most importantly, what they want to know.

2. Think of the purpose of the communication.
ex. social communication: greetings and conversation
inform communication: explanation and report
persuade communication: persuation and advice

3. Take everything possitive. don't respond negative.

4. 60% of the impression towards oneself comes from the speaking attitude and facial expression. How you stand, eye contacts, hand, feet, clothes, and ones habit.

5. Before you do a speach, stop, look at the whole audience, take a breath and speak clearly.

6. Getting nervous is a good thing. It means you are highly motivated to speak. Use that nervousness as a chance.

7. Good speaker/communicator is a good listener.

8. Prepare enough for the speech.

9. Observe the listener well.

10. 3 basics principles:plain, simple, and be effective.

11. Tell the outline first, be specific by telling examples, use the words that the audience can understand, see the reaction.

12. Speak in order: overall and parts, comparison, priority, cause and effect, time order.

13. How to report smoothly:
Result first, don't forget the mid report, speedy, memos, 5W2H, fact first then opinion.

14. Ending/conclusion: summerise, your will, or problem solving.

15. Use the conjunction.

16. Never deny the others. Agree or sympathize first then explain or give advise.
" Yes,.... but..."

17. Be humorous and creative.

18. For complaints say "thank you (for your imformation)" first. Sympathize and answer clearly.

19. People learn from mistakes. If it didn't go well, think possitive and be better next time.

20. "Why" "How" is important. Always question yourself and practice to think and speak.

These are from a book I read today in the hot bath tub. I know these are very basic things but I wrote it just to tell myself once again what I need to remember. Recently I've been having trouble explaining and reporting things at work. I have things that I want to explain but I don't know what's the most effective ways to tell them my opinion. Speaking logically is difficult...

北京/Beijing/Peking

First time in China continent!(I've lived in Taiwan so...)
I've always wanted to see the country that is becoming one of the main country in the world, I was so excited.

-Things I did in Beijing.

Day 1. Arrived in the afternoon, went to the hotel, and headed to the city center to make china dress! custom made china dress♡



Day 2. The Great Wall, the old castle, shopping, ate the famous Taiwanese dumplings.

Day 3. Hair cut, shopping, road bicycle around the lake, walking around the city, my friend's friends took us to eat Peking Duck at one of the most famous restaurant in Bejing.


初めて中国大陸に渡った！旅行は結構行ってるけど、中国大陸は初めて。今や世界の中心でもある中国にすごく行ってみたかったからうれしかった。

-北京でしたこと。

1日目　午後着。ホテルに荷物置いて、速攻チャイナドレスを作りに行った！オーダーメイドの赤いチャイナドレス♡

2日目　万里の長城、故宮（入れなかったけど）、買い物、台湾の有名な小龍包を食べた。

3日目　美容院、買い物、池の周りを自転車みたいなやつに乗って一周、街歩き、北京で有名な店で北京ダック。

I'll post some of my favorite pictures that I took in Bejing. Enjoy!

China Discoverys

I was in Beijing for only 3 days but made me think about many many things during this trip.
北京にたった3日間しかいなかったけど、いろんな事を観て、感じた旅でした。

Things that I found out, surprising, shocking etc:
驚いたこと、発見したこと、感じたこと：

1. Overwhelming number of staff in restaurants, shops, everywhere.

Some places there were 10 staffs for 2 customers, I saw lots and lots of restaurants with no customers and staffs doing nothing, just sitting and chatting. How can you run a business like this??

　

　客数に対してあまりにも多い店員。初めて入ったお店ではうちら2人に対して10人くらい店員さんがいてすごく居心地が悪かったよ。レストランでも客がいなくて店員が暇そうにぺちゃくちゃしゃべってる光景たくさんみたし、こんなんで商売大丈夫！？って本気で思った。

2. Waiters and waitresses are mostly 16, 17 yld. just after highschool.

They live in a dorm with few staffs together, working all day. The girl in the pic is 16, very charming girl!

そしてそのほとんどが１６か17歳。写真の子に話を聞いてみたところ、彼女は16で田舎から出てきて寮に住み込みで働いているそう。しかもその寮は数名一緒に住み、給料も相当低い。この子中国人にしてはめずらしく気の利く子で写真撮ろうっていったら恥ずかしがっててかわいかった☆

3. There are no middle class, no average salary. People are either Rich or Poor.

中国には中流階級がいない。だから平均所得というものもない。金持ちか貧乏か。知ってはいたが、現実を目にするととても考えさせられた。私には何ができるのだろう。

4. Women love red, pink, yellow clothes.

女は派手な色が大好き。特に赤やピンク、黄色など。

5. Not friendly, not nice.

This, my friend told me that the more you go south, the more people gets friendly.

Is this because of the temperture? My chinese friend said that you gotta be strong and aggressive to survive in 13 billion population.

やっぱりあまり親切ではなかった。国民性もあって、それは普通なのかもしれないが、日本ではありえないだろう。中国は南に行けば行くほど人が親切になるらしい。気温のせい？でも中国人の友達が言ってたけど、こんなにも人が多い国で自己主張しなかったらやっていけないといっていたなぁ。

6. Kids are so cute! everyone was wearing colorful clothes. but one more thing I've noticed is that I've seen far more boys than girls. Strange. Does this have something to do with one child policy?

　子供が本当にかわいい！みんなカラフルな服着てた。あと、もう一つ気づいたことは子供がほとんど男の子だったこと。たくさん子供見たけど、女の子はごく僅かだったと思う。一人っ子政策と関係があるのだろうか。

7. Kids wear underwear and pants with a hole in it.
It's for their parents convenience so that they can let their kids "do their business" quickly and anywhere they want. But aren't you cold in winter with your butt open? Poor babies... (I wanted to take pics but didn't have a chance...)

子供たちがみんな穴のあいたパンツとズボンを履いていたの！これにはマジびっくりした。いつでもどこでもすぐにトイレにいけるかららしい・・・。でも冬は寒いよぉ。かわいそう。。

8. Many "beautiful woman with ugly guy" couple.

きれいは彼女にかっこよくない彼氏カップルがたくさんいた！！っていうかかっこいい男の人がいない・・・。

9. Starbucks power controlling the world.

There were Starbucks even in the entrance of The Great Wall. Can you believe this?? Also, Starbucks coffee price is the same all around the world. Which means a cup of Starbucks coffee is very expensive for normal chinese people. But still Starbucks has customers. The fact is they are mostly tourist and foreigners from industrialized country.

スタバの浸透力には改めて驚いた。世界中にあることは分かっていたが、まさか万里の長城にまであるなんて。。しかも中国に行っても日本と同じ値段。中国人にとっては高級なはずなのに一体誰が買うのだろう・・と思っていたら、客はほとんど欧米や日本の観光客だった。っていってる自分も何回か行ったし。つい、行きたくなるし、スタバに入ると落ち着く。これが彼らの狙いである。スタバのマーケティングは本当にすごい。恐るべし、Starbucks.

10. Police were standing and chatting, looked like they were not doing their work.

警察が何人かでただ突っ立って、道端でしゃべっている光景を何度も見た。仕事してる？

11. I saw lots of meaningless labor work; like just taking the tickes at the entrance of the station, a guy who pull down the railroad cross manually when train comes, 3 or 4 guards in one place, too many waiters and waitress. This shows how much low the labor cost is.

さっきも書いたけど、意味のない労働力がたくさんあると思う。不必要に多い店員もその一つだし、益でただ切符を受け取るだけの人、何人かでかたまって突っ立ってる警備員、電車が来る度に踏切を手動で降ろす人など。それだけ人が多いいし、労働力も安いのだろう。

12. Is Beijing Olympic 2008 really possible???

　　2008年北京オリンピック、本当に大丈夫？今の街の状態を見ていると心配になってしまう。

13. My friend was surprised that people were in a line to buy the ticket.
Few month ago, chinese peopld didn't know how to line up to do things. They were pushing each other to get what they want.

　

　友達は、中国人が切符を買うために並んでいたのをみて驚いていた。数ヶ月前まではみんな押し合っていたとうい。「並ぶ」ということを知らなかったらしい。

14. The weather in Bejing is always dull, no blue sky.

北京の空はいつも曇りでどんよりしている。

15. People don't care about the stop lights, cars. You cross when you want to.

人々は信号なんか全く気にせず渡る。車がきてるのに無理やり渡ろうとする。信号の意味があまりないのでは・・？

16. A stop lights for bicycles!

　自転車専用の信号！！

Today's work

Today I attended a seminar from my company about consumption taxes and stamp tax. Not really interesting topic but one thing I enjoyed was this view from the building! It was right in front of "Osaka Castle" ! Plus, the leaves were starting to get red so that made the scenery more beautiful. I think I've never been there before... that's a shame. I should go sometime.
When I was falling asleep during the speech, I just looked outside and enjoyed the view:)


Sorry that it's not a good quality. I took it with my cell camera so if I zoom it, it becomes like this. My cell is a bit old now. Needs to be changed soon.








And after the seminar, since I was with my senpai (I think this is only in Japanese language, no direct translation in English- which means elder people in a certain group or community. ex. high school, University, company etc.), we went for a dinner. A nice dinner:)


This is one of the place I've wanted to go.
It's called "Le Bistrot de Paris" パリのビストロ（＠大阪西天満）
French cuisine and wine restaurant. We had wine and salad, we also ate wild boar (猪)! I assumed it would taste like pork (since it is a kind of a pig) but it was more like a lamb. I liked it but senpai said it tasted wild (?) and a little heavy. Inside was just like a restaurant in Paris, which reminded me of the days I visited Paris last year.

Bon Appetit!

Amazing !!!!

I found this amazing blog when I was surfing Internet the other day. I was soooo impressed by her artwork that I want to share with you guys. I'll attach the link but also one of my favorite artwork of her. Fabulous, gorgeous, amazing!!!

久しぶりにこれっ、すごくいい！！といったものを発見してうれしかった☆

Yuki's Design
http://kissui.net/blog/designs/

Halloween Party☆

Happy Halloween guys!!!

ハッピー　ハロウィン☆

from devil Mayu & Eri

Luna Parpados 3rd Year Anniversary Party~!

先週、“Luna Parpados”という苦楽園(兵庫県西宮市）のスペインバールの3周年記念Partyに行ってきた！知り合いが招待してくれて、初めていったんだけど、超よかった☆本場スペインのようにカウンターにビッシリTapasが並んでおり、この日はワインも飲み放題で、おいしかった♪店内そんなに広くないのに、人がいっぱいで、このお店の人気っぷりが伝わってきました。 スペインバールはやっぱいぃ！気軽に食べれるし、おいしいし、（やっぱイベリコハムとワインでしょう）気軽に人と話せるし。最近あんまり人との出会いがなかったけど、この日はいろんな人がいて、楽しかった♪外国のバーで好きなのは、いろんな人と気軽に話せるところ。みんなfriendlyだし、すぐに知り合いになれる。私は特に人との出会いを大切にするので、こういう雰囲気は大好き☆ 6時半くらいから店に入って、帰ったのが1時半くらい・・・。ずっとワイン飲んでました。おかげで次のは月曜で仕事だったのですが、二日酔い。。朝起きて、やばいのは感じていたのだが、とりあえず支度して出勤。案の定、電車で酔って、途中下車。30分くらい駅のホームで休憩し、よしっと思って再び電車に乗ったのだがやはりダメで、大阪駅寸前で二度目の下車。通常より1時間以上時間がかかってようやく会社に着きました。あぁ～飲みすぎた。仕事がある前の日に調子のって飲んではいけませんね。でも本当に楽しかったから、たまには良いでしょう♪ 会社も遅れたし、ペナルティあるのかと思いきや、上司がやさしく目をつぶってくれました。さすが！持つべきものは良い上司ですね。（もちろん二日酔いで電車に酔ったというのは内緒です）

My friend invited me to this restaurant's 3rd Anniversary Party last week. It was my first visit here, and I really loved it! Good food, many people, nice atmosphere etc... It had many tapas like the real Spanish Bar, and this day was free wine so I drank a lot. I mean A LOT. I went in around 6:30 pm and I went home around 1:30 am. I was drinking wine all day. I really like foreign type of bar cause everyone is friendly and you get to meet people a lot. I havent't gone out recently so I really enjoyed it. There were many interesting people from different fields. As you can imangine, I was hung over the next day..... and i had work. I didn't feel good but i got ready the next morning off to work. Then, I got so sick that I was gonna through up in the train, I got off and took a rest on the platform for about half an hour till I feel better. After a while, I went on a train again to go to work but again, I got sick.... I mean, hung over...:( so I got out the second time, rest for a while and went to work finally. Oh man, I felt so bad the whole day. You shouldn't get drunk the day before work. Since I was late for work, I thought i would get penaly or something but my boss said I don't have to worry about anything. I just had to correct the time sheet, pretend like I was never late. What you need is a good boss, right? (of course it's a secret that I was sick because of hung over.)

Restaurant: "Luna Parpados"

5 Star☆

I met up my friends from high school yesterday. We all live close but haven't met for a long long time. probably about an year. It's so nice to see friends from old school days. Talking about how much fun we had together and laughing at the crazy things we did, make you return to your youth. Remembering the pure heart we used to have. (I still have though! i hope...)

We are 5 member group and surprisingly, we are totally different in every way. Personallity, how we dress, looks, interests, work etc. Everything's different. Walking down the street, some people might wonder why we are together. Probably the only common thing is the fact that we went to the same high school, same class.

We're like a 5 star☆ We are all facing different directions but somehow stay connected. Funny but that's how we are. Usually, somone brings up the topic, "hey, we haven't seen each other recently. let's meet up!"(this time it was me) and we schedule for the next meeting. One is living in Chicago, so it was only 4 of us. We miss you, Aki! We'll definately meet when you come back:)

Picture taken at "diner's eve" in Osaka.

日本で一番古いワインバー The oldest wine bar in Japan

My good friend who used to study in Paris and loves wine and cheese took me to Japan's oldest wine bar which was in Ginza, Tokyo. Ginza is one of the most expensive places in Japan. The bar was downstairs and had very nice atmosphere. Antique-ish red sofa and lamps, bar counter, and petit old japanese man. We had a nice bottle of wine (I forgot to take picture) with ham and cheese. I love wine and cheese but don't know much about it. On the other hand, my friend loves wine and cheese and do know about them so she chose everything. Good choise, girl! It reminded of our days in Paris, that was so much fun.
it has been a long time since we met last time so we had many many things to catch up. You know, *girls talk* is endless.

Drinking nice wine or eating nice dinner is of course good, but the most important thing is, who you drink&eat with. Who you're with makes a lot difference. If you are eating with someone you don't like, then the food doesn't taste good either even if it was the best food.
"Good food with good people" That's one of the happiest time, right?

Picture taken at "Wine Bar GINZA"

Free Hug Campaign Video

check this out! this really made me happy:)
Lots and lots of hugs to you all!!!!!

Free Hug Campaign
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1203357539

Random pics part Ⅱ

Guess where these are!