This was our dinner at our relatives' place. It was a simple meal, all from a supermarket nearby. The sashimi was fresh,chilled and delicious. In fact, all the dishes were delighful. Even the best Japanese restaurants in SG do not serve such fresh sashimi. The item on your top right hand corner are ox tongues. They are yummy and inexpensive. We will be having more of the authentic washoku before our return to SG. Btw today's top temperature was 7c and may go down to 5c tonight.
Oyasumi nasai 😥

This buffet lunch is delightful. Eat all you can except for the main course. At $12.50 per diner, it is worth the money spent. Lunch is from 11am till 3pm daily.

This ramen set in one of my favourites. I love
this soyu ramen and it is not easily available
in Fukuoka. It is more popularly sold in Tokyo.

Had the above for lunch. It was pasta, bread and salad buffet all for Yen 1,000 which is about S$12.15. Ate too much until had to skip dinner.

Today`s weather in Southern Japan is glorious. It was 19C with the sun shinning throughout the whole afternoon and dipped to 14C in the evening.
We ate in with my in-laws doing the cooking. The beef steaks from the supermarket was tender and juicy. The sashimi was fresh and cost half the price in SG. The veggies were also fresh and green.
Overall, the cost of living here is low as compared to SG. The people are courteous and helpful except for those I have blogged earlier.
During the last few days, I have walked at an average distance of 3 km daily. I enjoy my morning coffee (100 Yen or S$1.25 a cup) at Mini-Stop or 7 Eleven convenient stores. I avoid Lawson as they do not provide seats and free wifi.
Life in Southern Japan is good. The standard of living is much higher and everywhere you go, the places are clean and green. Public toilets are kept in pristine condition.
According to the weather forecast, tomorrow is going to be a wet day with the average temperature hovering around 14C during the day.
Good night and God bless :)

Mannerism of the students in Japan

We boarded a train which was packed with students of about 16 to 17 years average age. None of them offered me or the old folks a seat. In fact, one placed a book on the vacant seat as if to reserve for it someone. I was rather surprised at such an attitude especially coming from the students in Japan. My initial impression was that the students were civic minded and courteous but this incident has changed my mind about them.  I hope this was just an isolated case.
The Singapore train commuters are better mannered (perhaps due to the social media that spread with photos and videos about them before). I was often offered a seat from students and adults alike when the trains were full. Keep it  up Singaporeans!

Foods in Japan.
Undeniably, the food sold in the restaurants and supermarkets are excellent. They are delicious and full of varieties. The sea food like fishes, oysters etc are fresh and tasty. The fruits are also sweet and juicy. Persimmons are in season and so are the oranges. Each persimmon fruit cost about S$1. In Singapore a persimmon imported from China cost about $2 and it is no match in taste and quality.
It is a pity I can`t post the photos of the fruits I am talking about due to the slow Internet connection.

Japan is a lovely place to tour but I notice a few things that
irks me. First, most of the sales people, be it in the restaurants,
taxis etc are smokers. They stink like farts and made me sick when
coming into contact with them. Second, they are inflexible and does
not have the ability to exercise discretion. Let me elaborate...
we were travelling in a bus and of course we know that talking on
the phone is discouraged. However, on reflex action my wife answered
a phone call when it suddenly  rang, in a soft low voice. Yet some
of the passengers turned around and gave my wife a nasty look.
It could have been an emergency call but I doubt they care.
There are more stories to relate but will do it when I have better
internet connection.

I am vacationing in Japan and is unable to blog. Above are photos of some of the food we had yesterday. I find it difficult using my phone to post photos or blog. Please bear with me. Thank you.

Price comparison between chicken

Top picture is the half chicken from JB which is S$8 while the second picture is the half chicken from Singapore which cost S$13. Taste-wise both are about the same standard. The price difference is a lot. Singapore's cost $5 more than our counterpart in JB.

Bar cho mee and Chicken rice @ AMK Blk 51

I was around the Ang Mo Kio area running some errands for the family and had the bar cho mee ($3.50) and chicken rice set ($3.50) at block 51 (next to AMK Hub). I didn't finish eating the noodles because it wasn't up to my expectation. I kept some space for my stomach and tried the Hainanese chicken rice which was good. In fact, the peanut soup was so good and plentiful I think it is worth around $2.

A day trip to Johor Bahru (JB)

My friends and I visited JB yesterday morning. We met at Kranji MRT Station and caught bus 170x to the causeway for immigration clearances. I have not been there for a long time and was glad to see some improvement in the development of shopping malls, roads, immigration building etc.
The crowd was huge and the queue for entry into JB at the Malaysian side was very slow. It took 1 hour for us to clear immigration. Unlike the Malaysian side, Singapore immigration clearance was faster (5 minutes). Singapore uses the automated system while Malaysia still uses the old system.
We spent the whole day in JB shopping,eating and drinking beer at the Berjaya Hotel. Things were much cheaper than in Singapore. The rate of exchange was MYR 3.07 to S$1.
I bought a pair of shoes which cost S$20. In Singapore, it would have cost $40. Each one of us spent about S$23 for the whole day which also included the taxi fare.
Returning to Singapore at about 7:30 pm was hassle free.

Too many blind men

Those were the good old days when I used to play and participate in the games just like the boys and girls did in the video. Of course, it was a long time ago, 60 over years ago when I was a kid. Watching this video albeit made in Malaysia is nostalgic.

My ex school teacher is about to arrive Toronto (2nd home) soon. He is going back to this cold place in Canada. Soon, he will have to start shoveling snow in his front and back yard. For an 85 year old man, I must say he is fit and strong. He will back in Singapore for the Chinese Lunar New Year which is less than 3 months from now. We should be having a Lunar New Year gathering with him and his wife. 

Sunday meals, all hawker food

It was bachor mee for breakfast and all the above for dinner. The roasted meat ($7) was from blk 628 AMK hawker food center and so was the fried Hokkien mee ($4) and bubor cha cha ($2.50). The Hokkien mee may not look appetizing but it was really good. The bubor cha cha was fantastic. We were there about 4:30 pm and there was a long Q at the roasted meat stall. It was a worthwhile 20 minute wait.

A plateful of home cooked spaghetti and a glass of freshly made honey lime juice for lunch. In fact, I had the kaya toast set from Toast Box this morning for my breakfast.