My meal everyday (Foods)

Okasan Ryori (Cooking)

This is the first sushi meal i ever had in Japan.

We have onigiri, Unagi, Salmon, Tamago, Prawn & Tofu..

This is the Japan Curry, different from Malaysia..

Soup, Sushi and Salad...Yummy...

This is my second Sushi meal,

a bit different from previous but is the same delicious...

Tsurashi Sushi : The name of the rice

Some raw fish meat, taste good with the "Soyu"

Takoyaki : made from cheese, cabbage, sausage & flour...

Onigiri with "Ume" inside. Taste better.

Simple Miso Soup

These is the Osaka famous food.

Kyozhi : Chinese Wantan (Look similisr, taste a bit different)

1 gohan (Rice), 2 side dishes & 1 soup...

There are onion and sardin meat on the top of the gohan.

My Japan university

Japan Kansai Gaidai University

My student exchange university is Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata City, Osaka, Japan. I enrolled in the Asian Studies Program for one year, consisting of 2 semesters. Basically my uni is an international uni which consists of more than 700 international students every semester from all around the world. The buildings and facilities in my uni include 3 stories library, 2 building of classroom, 1 memorial hall, 1 administration building, 1 Gym, 3 cafeteria and student club building and etc.....

There are 3 cafes, 1 Mc D, I beattles Coffee House so we always switch around to have different food. The place we hang around often is the CIE Buildings (Centre of International Education) where all the foreign students gather and attend class there.

The courses that I am taking for this semester are:
1. International Business (Business in Asian Pacific Region)

2. Marketing (International Advertising)

3. Cross Cultural Psychology
4. Speaking Japanese Level 2

5. Writing Japanese Level 2

Also, I am compulsory to take Japanese Language. Previously I have 1 semester Japanese learning in my home uni therefore I got into Japanese level 2 out of all 7 level. Although it is level 2 but u should never underestimate it as there are so many test and assignment to do weekly.

However, I still can survive in this level 2 till now. I have planed my study and I guess I will be able to complete till Japanese level 3 upon completion of my study in Japan.

The view around my uni is very nice; we have a fountain and some parks over there. Last week even snowing in the compound of the uni, there was a great experience I ever had. Now is the winter so all the sakura or u called it cherry blossom still in sleeping condition but they will soon rise and show u their beauty.

Here are my friends who come with me from Malaysia.

Here are friends that i know during the course registration.

My host family and my Homestay

These are the pictures of my house for my Home stay Program. My house is a three story house. Sound like a big house but the fact is the house is pretty small compared to Malaysia houses. The 1st floor of the house has a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. 2nd floor is my Okasan room which is a huge room with a big balcony for drying the clothes. Lastly, 3rd floor is my room and my big sister’s room.

Here is the look of the house from outside
This is the potrait of the politic leader

This is the portrait of the politic leader in the Japan Liberal Democratic Party (DLP). The Japanese people usually will put the portrait of the leader the like and they support in front of the house. Such condition is seldom seen in Malaysia.

Here is the corridor after you enter my house. The kitchen is on the left and the living room is on the right. In Japanese culture, after you coming back to the house, it is appropriate for you to say “Tadaima” to your family meaning that you have safely reach home. While when you want to go out, usually you will say “Itekimasu”. Then your family will reply you with “Iterashai”.

After I take off my shoe, usually I will wear on another in house shoe.

The floor can be very cold during winter, so that shoe is necessary to keep you warm.

Here is the staircase that leads to my room. You can find that the staircase is so small and narrow. It matched the size of the house.

Finally, here is the 3rd floor where me and my sister stay.

Ok, here is my room. The pictures shows my study table.

And this is my bed. I am having a normal single bed instead of a Japanese Tatami bed. This bed is warmer and softer compared to a Tatami bed. However, during winter it is very cold so I often use more than one comforter to keep myself warm.

My Japan room size is 6 Tatami bed size. It is like half of the size of my room in Malaysia but the view here is even better because I am in the highest floor. Through the window, I can see the mountain on my left and a temple on my right. During the spring, the temple is full with cherry blossom that make the view even better.

The furniture in my room include bed with warm comforter, study table with chair, heater, two cupboards and a carpet. Although it is small in size, it is sufficient.

I don’t have a air conditioner in my room however I do have a heater.
So this is the machine t hat helps me through the freezing winter in Japan.
Kind of small but it can be very useful during the cold time.

Here are the others shoes and socks that I wear in the house.

This is the bigger view of my room. Also, the window over there is the place that I can see awesome view of the mountain and sky.

Here is the house’s kitchen. Kitchen is the place where I spend most of my time in the other than my room. This is because the living room is use for teaching calligraphy purposes so the kitchen is the place where I gather with the host family to have meal together and have chatting with each others.

There is a refrigerator, toaster, microwave and an electric cooking spot in the kitchen. The dining table is also set up in the kitchen so it made the kitchen seem a little bit small.

Here are the cupboards that my Okasan keep all her precious set of dishes collection. It is something like the tea time cup and plate set with tiny teaspoon and small fork. She has plenty of different collections. It is used only to serve the guests that visit our house. Usually it will just be kept in the cupboard till when the guests visit us during some occasion.

Here is the bathroom. During winter, the atmosphere and the floor is freezing cold so a hot bath can really make you feel comfortable. In Japan, the water fee is very expensive and Japanese people do not take bath so often like Malaysian people. So I only take bath once in a day at the morning before I go to school. There is also a bath tab in the bathroom but I never use it because usually I just take a 15 minute shower.

There are two restrooms in my house. This is one of it while another one is better because it has the control buttons that has multiple functions. Some of my friends even make presentation about Japanese restroom in the class. So can you figure out how advanced the country is? even with their restroom…!!!

Tour to Expo Park

Expo Park

Today I hang out with the local Japanese student to one of the famous park in Japan (Expo Park). There are 7 Japanese and 7 foreign students together for this trip.

In front of the Expo Park, there is an amusement park. There are lot of people in Expo Park but no one in the amusement park; it made me curious so I asked to my Japanese friend. To my surprise and horror, the park had been closed down because there is a tourist who chopped off his head when playing roller coaster several weeks ago. That really freaks me out...
It is great that we are not going to that park, hahaha....

First, we went take the view of the "ume" flowers that grow beautifully during winter, also we visited a few interesting places like the tea house, lake sides before we go for our BBQ lunch.

The BBQ lunch is very amazing. We have meat, chicken nugget, cheese sausage, potato, veggie likes cabbage, onion, corn; snack like kitkat, potato chips and etc. The best is we also have the Japanese spicy and sweet sources which make the food more delicious. Even after lunch we still have the instant popcorn that was my first time to see it and cook it as dessert.

BBQ in Japan is nice coz the environment is very cold

and the foods is hot enough to keep u warm.

Last but not least, after the lunch, we went for the food spa. It is free as it covered by the entrance fees. We have to gently wash our leg first before we entered the pool. Then we stay in the 40 degree water for almost 15 min to relax ourselves and let our feet take a good rest.

We end that day trip around with a baseball match.

All of us do enjoy our selves.......