Boyfriend Adventures

Guys, it happened! After two years of singledom I have finally found him and he’s perfect! And, unlike my exes, when we exercise and eat healthy together, he actually likes it!

Little Hands

Hiromi asked me to help out with an English camp. We picked blueberries (some of which were from NZ!), played games, sang songs and made sandwiches (with “hard” bread which the kids were unfamiliar with hehe). I absolutely adore children! Here are the pictures.

 

What You Are Doing Today Is Important

…because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.

Top to bottom: couscous salad similar to this, or this and date balls followed by pictures from my morning walks in the village.

Japanese Cookbooks Be Like…

A morning spent in the school library….

These adorable creatures are made from hot-cake mix and tofu.

hashtagonlyinjapan hashtagcuteoverload hashtagicanteven hashtagkillmenow hashtagshocute!

Inside Out: A Movie Review

If you’ve been following my movie reviews, you may have noticed that I like it when films mean stuff; touch an emotion in my heart, relate to my daily-life…etc. That said, of course, I enjoy entertainment as well. Inside Out has both.

Inside Out is Pixar’s newest animation. Pixar, animation, for kids right? Sort of. You see, this movie is all about the mind. In particular, Riley’s, an 11 year old girl who has just moved with her parents to San Francisco from Minnesota. Though Riley is not the main focus of the film. The main focus is her mind, an entirely other world (aren’t all our minds?) where Riley’s anthropomorphized (given human qualities) emotions, Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust control her life. Reminding me of this wonderful quote by ‘Abdu’l-Baha:”The reality of man is his thought.”

I don’t know about you but I really think Pixar hit the nail on the head (excuse the pun) with this one. So often, maybe more than I ought to, I find my mind full (not to be confused with mindful) and my emotions driving my life. It is as if something up there is in conflict with itself or something else or missing, or lost. Which is exactly what happens to Riley. Her driving emotion, Joy goes missing from Headquarters causing her perception and reasoning to distort.

Though in the end (trying not to spoil it too much for you), both the film’s characters and the viewer (adult and child) receive a psychology lesson to cherish for life. Which is, the world ain’t so black and white: there is no joy without sadness and vice versa. In Carl Jung’s words, “the word ‘happiness’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.”

Thank you for making such a heartwarming, thought-provoking and witty flick, Pixar.

100/5