If you're looking for good background music, I highly recommend Ichiko Aoba. My friend Matt introduced me to her music yesterday morning when we were chatting. When I listened to her voice, I thought

All of a sudden, my garden has become very lively. A lot of plants have started producing buds or blooming flowers. Every day I'm so thrilled to check how much they've changed since the day before.

Last year, I attended an art show of Leo Lionni and wrote about it here. One of his picture books has been in a Japanese textbook for the second grade. If you're a Japanese learner, it might be

A couple of days ago, my husband started talking about a Border Collie he had seen online. The dog was about five months old and has been sale at a pet shop in Nara, but it's still there. Nobody

Every year, I make marmalade using hassaku (a type of Japanese citrus fruit) and I was really looking forward to making it this year as well. I always buy fresh, organic hassaku from my neighborhood.

If you aren't good at doing something, that's what you have to work on. To understand your weaknesses, it's important to know about yourself well. I've known my weaknesses very well, and I've been

Spring is my favorite season because I was born in the season, but it's not the only reason. I love all plants become lively too. In my garden, lots of plants started producing buds. Discovering them

Hinamatsuri, or the Doll’s Festival, is a traditional Japanese event held on March 3rd every year to pray for the health, happiness, and growth of young girls. When my daughter was little, I used to

This entry is a sequel to my previous post. After visiting the temple, my parents, my husband and I had lunch at a crab restaurant. The crab restaurant is one of my father's favorite places, so I

A couple of days ago, my dog and I explored our neighborhood to try to find tiny signs of spring. We found some, and I took some photos as evidences, so I'd like to share with you here. At first, we

I have a pair of antique Japanese dolls that used to belong to my grandma on my mom's side. When she married my grandpa, she brought them with her as a part of her bridal trousseau. Ever since I

I've always thought I'd love to sell my hand-painted pieces, but I didn't take any action for years. I have to admit that I'm lazy and I didn't have enough confidence to sell them. However, for the

Since I bought special apple-pots for baking at a Poland pottery shop in Nara, I've been enjoying making baking apples. My favorite way to have them is with vanilla ice cream. Making it is very easy.

The recent weather has been like a roller coaster, which is like warm one day and cold the next. Even so, all six of my strawberry plants survived the winter, and it made me very surprised. I thought

Last week, my husband and I invited my parents to visit Kyuan-ji in Ikeda City, Osaka. I looked up some good spots for plum blossoms, and this temple was one of the online recommendations. Kyuan-ji

Today I attended my friend's porcelain painting exhibit. She has held her own exhibits every three years at Righa Royal Hotel in Osaka, and she's one of my closest painting friends in the porcelain

Last Saturday, my husband and I visited Nara. We had two purpose to go there: one was to buy strawberries, and the other was to enjoy yakuzen cuisine (medicinal dish). Strawberries growing in Nara

When a friend and I had lunch at a fu (wheat gluten) restaurant, we also visited its bento box (lunch box) museum. Bento boxes were born during the Heian period (794 to 1185), and during the

When I painted a bird on porcelain title, I got inspiration. I wanted to paint something from nature that looked like mix of both Japanese and Western styles. I decided to paint some clovers and

Go to Google, type "punch the monkey" in the search box, and click it. What happens? I learned that information from my friend in Texas. He shared it with me. When you click the hart on the very