Kelly Azuma

Today I hit the shops. I had to get Otoosan a father’s day present – I am very late! – I’m hoping he won’t mind. It’s also his birthday on the 29th June, so I have to get something for his birthday too.

I managed to get him a knick-knacky thing. It’s a ceramic tea ball that holds leaves and has a little holder that it fits into. Basically you put a serving of tea into the ball, put it to brew in your cup of hot water, and when finished put it into the holder. I also got him some nice premium leaf tea – Orange Pekoe, Chai, and Australian Breakfast. It’s pretty expensive at $3.95 per 25 grams. But I figure it is his special present so it would be nice for him to try something good!

Ceramic Tea Pod

I also bought some “Japanese Evening Mist” tea leaves (for Yasu), but this one was $7.95 per 25 grams, so doubly expensive. It is very nice though. Yasu liked it so much he requested another cup straight after the first one. He never does that! :)

I bought myself a nice candle I had my eye on too. The best part it was marked down to $5 from $15. Once you use the candle inside, you can put a new candle in the holder. I really just like the holder, but the bonus was it comes with a nice vanilla scented candle inside.

Hmmm…what else. Oh, I got some nice choccies for some friends in Japan. I also got a big jar of decaf coffee. I’m the kind of person who can’t drink coffee after 4pm otherwise I can’t sleep at night. I’m hoping by drinking decaf I can have it later and still get to sleep. The only problem is that here decaf doesn’t come in small bottles, only large ones.

I also bought some softener for Yasu’s sister. I got an email about 2 months ago asking me what kind of softener we have here, and would I be able to send some over. Apparently, she was using some softener called “Downy” but it became popular so she doesn’t want to use it anymore. Then she started driving an hour each way to get to her nearest Don Quixote to buy imported softener from America just because it was different from what everyone else was using. So anyway, I bought a bottle of Huggie, here’s hoping she likes it. I don’t really understand what the big deal is. If I buy something and I like it, I keep using it, whether it is popular or not. Maybe it’s a Japanese thing???

Huggie softener – Jasmine & Tigerlily,
Dove – Green Tea & Cucumber Shampoo

I also picked up some travel brochures for Japan. The Ghibli museum caught my eye but it looks like you have to book well in advance to get a ticket. So no popping in on the spur of the moment.

Oh yeah and I bought a Teppanyaki bar, so I’m waiting for that to get delivered, hopefully early next week! Then we can have Korean bbq style meals at home. I can’t wait!

I’m going to visit my mum tomorrow. It’s about an hours drive each way to her house but because I take public transport and there is no direct route it takes me about 2.5 hours each way (2 trains and a bus)! And it’s meant to be thunderstorms tomorrow. But, I really want to see her because we haven’t seen each other for a few weeks. So I’m not letting the stupid weather stop me.

Hope you all have a marvelous day!! Night :)

I know in the blogging world I am a bit of an outcast. I don’t fit into the foreign wife category because even though my husband is Japanese, I don’t live in Japan, so I feel my views are somewhat discounted by other wives of Japanese men.

I feel as if sometimes I do upset people by my views. I’m hard-headed and opinionated. I stand up for my rights, and what I think is my right, but I also see things traditionally when it comes to Japanese culture and relationships to a certain extent.

I have no problem disagreeing with others if I genuinely disagree. A comment box is there for a reason. Some people only want comments that agree with them and remove others that don’t. I don’t agree with it. That said, I respect their right to manage their blog as they see fit.

My blog doesn’t really fit into any particular subject. It’s just a blog about an inter-cultural marriage and our daily life. Hardly interesting to others living a much busier and more interesting life on the other side of the world.

I’m not sad, nor am I asking for sympathy, or praise. I’m just commenting on what I see to be a fact.

There are a few regulars who do come past, read, and comment. I love my regulars, they are my soul food. I’m far from having a big fan club though, unlike some popular entities in gaijin wife blogland.

I have upped the amount of posts I write since last year. I can’t really say why, only that I have had the urge to write more about nothing in particular, than write less about something in particular.

I found this somewhat offensive. The term “gaijin” or “outside person” is somewhat derogatory, they could have used “australia jin” to refer to me.

What gets me is that, once you go out of your native country, YOU become the foreigner! The Japanese people i have spoken to seem not to realise this!

So how do Japanese people feel about being referred to as a “gaijin” themselves? According to our friends, it’s not a word they would use to describe themselves. How about “Jap” then? As alot of people in Aus seem to call them that, unbeknownst to them.

I don’t know about you but it’s just one of those things that really ticks me off. All these double standards. It makes it seem like Japanese people think they are higher than other races because they never refer to themselves as “gaijin”.

What are your thoughts?