My Favorite Muji @Tenjin ― 2024/02/28
Muji has three stores in the Tenjin area; at Daimyo (standalone) and in Daimaru and AEON (in-store).
Each store is quite spacious, with the in-store Mujis taking up an entire floor, which was unthinkable in the 1980s.
Of the three stores, my favorite is the (probably) newest one in Tenjin AEON, which looks the most down-to-earth to me.
The customers may not be the typical Muji type...
Like other larger Mujis, this one offers a cup of coffee for 100 yen, and in this store the instructions are more user-friendly.
I often forget to place a cup BEFORE pressing a button and let my coffee go missing. But with this notice, I can't lose my coffee.
The coffee space also has a more relaxed atmosphere. When I had my coffee, there were no Instagrammers, no live-streaming tourists trying on the clothing on the shelf without buying them. Instead, there were a few people sleeping face down on the table. I felt strangely relaxed in this space.
Moreover, this shop is not crowded.
Despite being just one floor up from the mega UNIQLO, which is always, without exception, packed with foreign language speakers, this place offers a perfect calm (at least in the morning). As the fitting room and spaces were unoccupied, I could try this and that freely (and ended up buying a few things).
Fish Tuesday ― 2024/02/27
I don't know why, but recently the fish section in local retail stores has started to focus on fish on Tuesdays.
My local AEON is selling fresh fish a lot more at relatively accessible prices on Tuesdays. Last week I bought four fat sardines from Toyama for 98 yen each and a locally caught (what we call) Arakabu for 498 yen, both of which were exceptionally fresh and nice compared to my recent purchases.
Meanwhile, at Iwataya you can get 2 packs of department store quality (I don't mean sashimi quality, though) small cuts for 1,080 yen every Tuesday. But the variety tends to be quite limited to marlin tuna, red sea bream, Japanese Spanish mackerel (complicated...what we call Sawara)and Norwegian salmon. I usually end up with the salmon and mackerel.
Daimaru also do a special fish sale on Mondays and Tuesdays where whole fish are sold at a 20% discount. However, as there is no list price when it comes to fresh fish, I am a bit suspicious of the prices, to be honest. But the quality and variety of the fish is, in my opinion, the best of these three. Only if the queues at the checkouts were not punishingly long and the shop assistants a little more attentive!
Signs of Spring ― 2024/02/12
Spring is actually approaching. I have found some evidence while I was taking a walk this morning.
Blooming daffodils.
And the hazy air. This image was not the result of camera shake, nor was it a mirage.
I don't know why; no yellow sand or PM2.5 or falling pollen were forecasted, but this morning the sky was yellowish and smoggy. Buildings in the distance looked blurry.
just in case:
Too Lucky to Be True ― 2024/02/11
Let me show you how lucky I have been in these two months! If you are the jealous type, you might want to skip this post altogether. If I were you, I definitely would.
Since the beginning of 2024, I have been unexpectedly fortunate with prizes and awards.
First, I won a 2000-yen Amazon gift card in a small translation competition.
And then, without my knowledge, I won a 10000-yen shopping voucher in a lottery organized by a local drugstore.
The lottery was quite exclusive: only those who received a New Year's card from the store AND brought it into the store AND bought something within a certain period. So the odds were much higher than any other lottery anyone could enter.
As a glass-half-empty kind of person, I began to worry that I had used up this year's luck in these pleasantly surprising events. And what about this year's tax return?
On Sale! ― 2024/02/04
The Hilton Seahawk Resort is a hotel that has seen its fair share of ups and downs, just like Japanese economy.
The story began in 1995 when this hotel opened under then retail giant Daiei. At the time, I heard a rumor that despite the upscale appearance, the in-room fridges were filled with Saving (the retailer's low-cost private label) products.
After Daiei's business failed, management of the hotel passed to JAL in 2005. However, JAL filed for bankruptcy in 2010. The airline could no longer take care of the hotel.
Since 2010, the hotel has been owned by a Singaporean fund and managed under the name Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk. Coincidentally, Japan was losing its proud economic status and becoming a cheap country.
And now in 2024, according to some news reports, the hotel is to be put up for sale. I wonder who would own this too-big-to-fail hotel?. Vietnamese? Taiwanese? or Burmese?
This hotel is one of the legacies of Japan's bubble era. Its ridiculously inefficient use of space and complicated structure are not be seen in any modern building. It embodies the last glory of our bubble days, when everyone believed our economy would only grow.
In a practical sense, if I were a tourist visiting Fukuoka, I wouldn't consider this hotel as a candidate for my accommodation, unless I planned to enjoy staying in this particular hotel itself, or I needed to isolate myself for whatever reason. It is too far from the main train stations and the airport. Although the hotel offers a shuttle service, it is only to the nearest underground station, not to Tenjin or Hakata stations. To make matters worse for this rather antiquated hotel, the Japanese chain Prince Hotels has announced that it will be opening a brand new hotel in the Momochi-hama area, just a few blocks away. As you know, the newer the better and more popular when it comes to hotels of this type.
Kohaku Utagassen 2023 ― 2024/01/04
Image retrieved from グランドオープニング | 第74回NHK紅白歌合戦
- Sorry in advance for not being politically correct (excuse has been made), but this time the show seemed to put too much emphasis on so-called "diversity", different ages, genders and sexual orientations, nationalities, races and physical characteristics (eh, disabilities, in short), but not political and religious identities. The performers were so varied the show ended up looking like a kind of chaos. I don't think I'm narrow-minded enough not to listen to people just because they are different. In fact, I tend to assume that anyone who can comprehend my great Japanese English, or my inconsistent Japanese is my friend, even if they don't think so. Anyway, while watching, I felt that heterosexual Japanese men with a wife and two children (a conventional archetype of Japanese), were excluded or simply treated as "wrong".
- Also, what we call "Chu-Ni Byo (14-year-old disease)", which used to be an underground culture, seemed to be accepted, or even saluted in the Kohaku. Girls and boys who might have been left out of the classroom in the past yelping merrily on stage should be something to celebrate. To be honest, it was a bit hard to watch. The more animated they were, the more pathetic and sadder they looked to my eyes.
- Was there ever a time in the history of Kohaku when there were only elderlies on stage like this? When I came across this view, I thought that I had mistakenly tuned in to another station broadcasting "Toshiwasure Nihon no Uta (Year-End Japanese song festival)" where you can see singers who were active during the Showa era. I prefer this if I go for oldies.
A breakthrough!
Meanwhile... ― 2024/01/03
In Fukuoka, no damage has been reported so far. Nothing seems to have been washed away by the tsunami despite the tsunami advisory that lasted until 2am on 2 January.
Some people even enjoyed New Year fishing yesterday.
I thought about what I could do right now and decided on a few things to do:
1. Put off online and other shopping that involve long distance delivery until the logistics are back to normal;
2. Prepare to donate to the Japanese Red Cross for when it starts collecting donations; and
3. Stay fit and be extra careful with fire so that I don't have to rely on emergency services. These services may have sent their staff to the affected area and may not have enough personnel left at their stations.
Snapshot of Winter 2023 ― 2023/12/24
Can you see a snow-sprinkled mountain in the distance? This is a view in the coldest period.
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