Early spring Flowers blooming

Sakura@ Habu Park 27 Mar 2019

Having lunch @ home in Fukuoka

IKEA Fukuoka part 1, Japan

Double standard or compassionate?

Japan has always been harsh when it comes to dealing with foreigners who overstayed. It is a norm to throw overstayers in jail and deport them. However, a recent case shows that Japan is becoming more flexible in its treatment of overstayers on compassionate ground.
Recently, a foreigner was arrested for overstaying. He is a gay and was sick. He is living with his Japanese partner. This is a serious crime for the overstayer and the one who shelters him. However, the LGBT community  in Japan petitioned the immigration authority to let the overstayer free. After much consideration, the overstayer was not charged nor deported. Instead, he was given a visa to live in Japan with his partner. Just for info, Japan does not recognised same sex marriage. 

Japan visa renewed successfully

Hurrah, I've news that my Japan visa is now renewed for 3 years. The immigration department is so compassionate and magnanimous to extend my visa even though I am an old man without a job. They granted the renewal without even interviewing me. Thank you Mr Abe (PM of Japan) for your kind act!

Red colored pillar box

In some part of Japan, the postal service still uses this 100 years old type of pillar postal box. I stumbled across one as I was having my usual walks. 

Early Spring in Japan

Beef tendon for our meal

Beef tendon contains lots of collagen (a form of protein) that will work wonders with your skin, hair, nails and joint health. Besides that, you’ll get a lot of protein that’s essential for muscle building, fat loss and proper function of the whole body.

If you research a bit deeper, you’ll find that organ meats are the most nutritious meats on the face of the planet. Foods like liver, heart etc. will absolutely help with improving your overall health. The trick is the preparation technique, and if so, you should check out how to cook every organ meat you take.

Nice and warm but windy

The top temperature for today is 21c with lots of sunshine. It is windy too but due to the hot sun, it is bearable. Last night, we had a windstorm, so strong as though it could have blown off our roof. It is reminiscent of the typhoon season which had long passed.
Forecast for tomorrow is windy and chilly with temperature ranging from 7c to 12c. It will be the same for the weekend, chilly and windy with some sunny intervals.

Ebi (prawn) tempura for dinner

Goodies sold in the Japanese supermarkets

Today's weather is sunny with a nice top temperature of 16c. We went grocery shopping and replenished our fridge. The above items are just some of the things we bought. The mixed fruit jelly is cheap and refreshing. The butter cake is one of the best I've eaten and boy it's real cheap. The pure tomato juice ($1.60) is a must even for the cold weather as it has lots of vitamin C besides other goodness.

Car damaged

My neighbor had his car smashed up by another car when he was shopping at a mall. He was shocked at the sight of the damage when he returned from his shopping. It must have been caused by another car which was driven into his either on purpose or otherwise. The driver of the car was nowhere to be found.
While my neighbor was examining the damage, a stranger approached him and told him he had witnessed the incident. The stranger gave the description of the driver and the car plate numbers to my neighbor. A police report was lodged. The case is under investigation. My neighbor presented a small gift and thanked the witness for his kind deeds.

Cheaper petrol in Japan than Singapore

The above is the receipt for the petrol we bought from Enejet petrol station. We filled up the tank with 30.7 litres of petrol (regular) and the cost is 4,177 Yen which is the equivalent of S$51.56 ($1 = 81 Yen and divide 4177 by 81 will give you $51.56). Therefore, a litre of petrol in Japan is $1.68. The regular petrol at a pump in SG is $2.19 per litre and the difference is 51 cents. For me a it's a savings of $15. The petrol in Japan is cheaper than in SG due to the lower tax here. If petrol is cheap then most of the necessities of life are less expensive. 

Renewal of Japanese visa

Recently, I went to the immigration office to apply for the renewal of my visa for another 1 to 3 years. Hopefully, I will be granted a 3 year or longer visa to live in Japan. It is quite cumbersome filling and applying for the visa renewal.
At the immigration office, I met a Malaysian man applying for a visa for him and his family to live in Japan. I suspect he wanted to study in Japan. I also met a young Indonesian couple with a baby. I spoke with the Indonesian couple and they told me they are on a study visa. The Japanese government is very strict in issuing visa for foreigners to live, work or study here.

Hooray spring is coming

We are approaching the cool nice spring weather. The sun is shining and birds are chirping. Today's top temperature is 13c and it is still bit cold for me. I would like it to be around 18c. I still have that nasty cold but it is getting better. Perhaps tomorrow we may go shopping. The weather forecast  for whole of the week is sunny with a little rain. I am waiting eagerly for the sakura to bloom.

Medicines in big packets

I am still coughing badly 2 days after consulting a doctor. The packet above contains my medicines. I have 4 of the above with 4 different types of medicines. The packets are quite big unlike the smaller ones in SG.
The chilly and rainy weather does not help my flu like symptoms. Using the heater in the house makes the air drier and is not good for the throat (also have sore throat). I did not have any flu for the last decade because I had been taking the apple cider vinegar  However, I've stopped taking the apple cider for almost a year because of allergy. My body will itch each time I consumed the cider or any vinegar for that matter.

Consulted a doctor in Japan

I had a bad cough and yesterday I went to consult a doctor. If I did not have medical insurance, I would have to pay about S$100 for consultation and medication. Fortunately, I have medical insurance and only paid $20. The premium for the insurance is about $150 per annum. It is cheap because of my "unemployed" status and age.Thank you Mr Abe for being so generous and magnanimous to an old retired foreigner like myself.

Friday's dinner in Japan

Got the piece of beef steak from the supermarket. Cut it into small pieces and cooked it for dinner. I also like the natto from Japan as the ones in Singapore are usually frozen and do not taste as good. The potato salad is home made. We got the potatoes from our garden.
The beef is inexpensive (507 Yen or S$6.50) because it is imported from Australia. The Japanese beef is expensive and for the same size would have cost about $26 or 2,000 Yen. Of course, the Japanese wagyu beef is tastier than the Aussie or American beef.
The rice is from Japan and it is more starchy than the Thai rice we used to eat in SG.

During my walks the I took pictures of ......

As I walked along, I noticed the oranges are grown in the wild or perhaps belong to the occupants of a house nearby, a barren Sakura tree and a small rice field. I was told by early April, the tree would have beautiful Sakura flowers. I am waiting eagerly to photograph the Sakura flowers a month from now.

Grocery shopping in Japan

We did some grocery shopping. I bought another blood pressure gauge. I left the old gauge in SG. The new one is $30 ($50) cheaper than the old gauge ($79). I need it to monitor my BP.
There were other groceries besides the ones shown above. The freshly baked loaf of bread is worth waiting for ($3). The bakers bake this type of bread 3 times a day and so one has to be there at the right time or else they will be sold out.
The big prawns are so cheap and fresh (recommended for sashimi too) and 9 pieces cost a mere $8 (90cts each). In SG, a similar size one would have cost $2 each.
The fresh pork ($4) will be fried with ginger for our lunch today.

Honda Prelude

I came across this Honda Prelude workshop in Japan. This workshop service other cars besides the Prelude but it seems like the latter dominate the place.
If one can recall the Prelude was one of the most famous and popular sport cars in Singapore back in the 80s and 90s.

Raining & cold outside

Since it is raining, we decided to eat at home. We made our own pizza and also ate salad and have miso soup. Temperature is around 10c throughout the day....quite cold to me!

                        Some of the potatoes grown by us 

Tempura prawns & beef dinner

It's been a while since we cooked tempura. We also had the beef from a supermarket and cooked it for dinner. The salad (broccoli and lettuce) are from our little garden. It was a good and nutritious meal.