Tag Archives: stories

rainy days and love

Posted on by

The hunt for the perfect chocolate-colored, high-heeled boots had gone on for so long that today, hubby and I separated ways after dropping by the church so that I can go to any mall I want to, as long as I want to. This has gone on for a month and I somehow feel guilty to hubby already when I get out from shop after shop without a paper bag at hand; I can almost hear his sigh of frustration when I get out the shop and still empty-handed although he would assure me he is ok and aren’t really frustrated. But of course, I really couldn’t allow myself to buy boots which cost more than $400 and yet I’m only halfhearted with it or that it will cause my feet some torture (my feet are really quite…..special, to avoid being derogatory to oneself).

Thankfully, it was a productive afternoon. Albeit by the time I was finished it was already 5 o’clock and it was already dark as I got out the station. There was a soft drizzle but I didn’t have an umbrella with me. Worried with my whereabouts, Hubs called me up where I was and offered to pick me up in the station.

He had colds yesterday and I have a big paper bag with me which I can use as a shield from the soft drizzle but still he offered to pick me up. And even when I was a bit guilty, I still felt warm inside when he came to the station, hair disheveled obviously from sleep, carrying our big pink umbrella.

Times like this, you just love rainy days.

As we walked, I was suddenly reminded of my university/college days. I remember nights when it was raining like cats and dogs and one of us was stuck in the university gate or the corner from our dormitory without an umbrella. Even when it was a torrential rain, a friend from our dormitory would think about the one who got stuck, and without hesitation would pick up her friend. Even when it meant getting wet with rain. I did my share, I also picked up a friend. But it was because somebody else did it before me.

I guess selfless acts like that would probably be remembered for as long as you live, even when you haven’t already seen such friends for a long time.

world map

Posted on by

Atsushi was attending their department’s party hence I was left to my own devices for the night. Alone at home, I was searching frantically for the world map book that Atsushi has. Not able to find it, I waited for Atsushi.

No sooner than 2 minutes after he got back, I asked him for the world map.

M: Atsushi, do you know where the world map book is?

A: It’s here

He then hurried to the bedroom, with me following closely behind him, and retrieved the book.

A: Why were you looking for it?

M: I’m looking for a place where we can go tomorrow to get some exercise and possibly invite our officemates to.

A: The world map book? tomorrow? Which country do you want to go?

There was actually a detailed map of Japan in it with some tourist sites. But yeah, he does make some sense. No wonder he was very surprised. Why the world map indeed. 😀

great customer service, anyone?

Posted on by

I think anybody would readily agree with me that nothing beats Japan’s excellent customer service. Want proof? Here’s one:

From the southern-west part of Japan, Okasan went on a business trip to Yamanashi prefecture. Thoughtful as she is, aside from her Inden-ya present to me, she bought us shiro (white) wine. Yamanashi sits in a basin and because of its location, the prefecture has been famous for its sweet grapes. And ergo, the winery.

After her Yamanashi trip, she then went to Tokyo as she also got invited to a special film showing. Cinema staff then took care of her wine bottle. But alas, after the movie, everyone found out that for some reason, her bottle of wine got broken.

Can you imagine what a cinema staff would do had it happened in your country?

Anyways, what the cinema staff did was they got the address of the recipients of wine (us!) and they promised to deliver the wine to us. That was Monday.

Friday, I received the package. Of course i’m happy, there’s another delivery! Another gift/mail to open! Yey! 🙂

It was a box specially designed for bottle deliveries.

The wine was inside one of the smaller boxes whilst a letter was on the other small box. As Hubby put it, the letter contained their deepest apologies as well as explanation of the contents of the package.

So here’s the wine, safely wrapped with big-bubbled bubble wrap.

And yes, cinema people replaced the broken wine with a wine they bought straight from Yamanashi. Not replaced with just any wine that can be bought in a neighboring mall in Tokyo.

Oh, they didn’t stop from there. Because it was a special film showing, some brochures about the movie were being handed out. Okasan’s copy got wet as well. So cinema staff promised to send a new one along with the wine.

But they didn’t just send a new brochure. They sent one that had a sign by the lead actor Daiichi Yasuo.

Simply amazing customer service. Can anybody else top this?

Inspires me really. To go the extra mile.

Oh by way, The movie is entitled “Love Tomato” or “Koisuro Tomato” in Japanese. It was filmed in the Philippines and has a Filipino title of “Kumain Ka Na Ba?” (Have you eaten yet?).

It stars the beautiful Alice Dixon. She’s 43, can you imagine??

 

Here’s one scene of the movie. Sorry it’s blurred. Photo taken from the brochure print.

Okasan gave us a copy of the movie. The print may be weeping (yes, blame it on the wine) but it is workable, probably. Weekend is for movies so Hubby and I definitely have this movie in our lineup. Over a bottle of wine, most probably.

 

packages, packages!

Posted on by

I just love opening gifts, packages, mails. There’s just something novel about the moment you received one and the moment you open one. Ahhh! And one boon with staying at the house is I can receive the packages myself. I hope the delivery guys doesn’t think I have such a weird smile as I sign the receipt forms. 😀

Received Ate Weng’s package from Singapore a couple hours ago. Yey!! Looking forward to when Hubby gets home this evening so we can open it together. 😀 Thank you for the wedding gift Ate Weng!

Argh, too bad I wasn’t able to take a picture of the package I received from Apple, a w@wie sis who sent me her copies of her Japanese lessons. So nice and thoughtful :). One of the reasons why I really am very thankful I joined the group. 🙂

——–

10 hours after. I really love how our family and friends who gave us gifts really did grant our wish. They gave us cash gifts. Helped a lot indeed in lessening our baggage when we flew back to Yokohama. No plates and pots and whatnots to carry back home. Plus it helped with our charitable cause. But I loved even more how some went out of their way to keep to our theme as well. Will blog about them later. But for now, Thank you Ate Weng, for keeping to our colors! 😀 Happiness.

took this picture using my phone cam so colors didn't come off as it really is. The colors ate weng chose were perfect for our motif

 

laundry string photos

Posted on by

I was instantly charmed when I saw this idea on a bridal website. When Erika suggested it, I was really into the idea already. But Hubby is shy in sharing pictures and I have to consider him.

Thankfully though, more than a month before the wedding, Hubby was already very much convinced with this idea. Was very thankful as well that his family, Otosan and Okasan, was very generous in sharing their pictures. The time when we scoured their family albums was actually one memorable time for me. Because even Obachan and Ojichan were taking out old photos that they were keeping in their drawers and shared them with everyone in the dining room. I particularly love that moment when together, Obachan and Ojichan were pouring over the old family album, laughing and pointing out something on the picture. Sweet.

We displayed a hundred pictures from our childhood up to our latest prenup. There were even pictures of the weddings of my parents’ and Hubby’s parents.

But having this string display earned us more than having something to display during reception. 

We also earned memories as we “unearthed” old memories. Lovely.

I requested Hubby to buy the wooden pins at the last minute. Good thing that his flight to Manila for our wedding was in the evening so he had a few hours to drop by the 100yen-store in Kannai to buy these wooden pins. And yes, he had his guitar and big luggage with him when he went in looking for these pins. Thank you Hubby! 🙂

Raw photos courtesy of Dino Lara.

3 idiots

Posted on by

Hubby and I were the early comers in Ric’s farewell party at Ryan’s pad last night. To wait for the others, Ryan made us watch the Indian movie “3 Idiots”. Once we got started, we almost didn’t notice people coming in anymore, hooked as we are with the movie. Halfway through the movie though, we had to stop as we already need to have our dinner.

It turned out that we just stopped right at the right moment. Hubby and I resumed watching it at home this evening. But less than 2 minutes into the movie and my eyes were already brimming with tears.

While watching it, I told hubby, “how I hate this movie”. Hate in such a way that you’d hate a movie that had made you cry in buckets, laugh your heart out loud and made you reflective what with numberous insights one can get from the movie. Ergo, translation for the “hate” is that I LOVE this movie to pieces.

The shoot location is SOOoo beautiful as well! Certainly a candidate for our honeymoon options. wink wink.

The whole day though, the song “Ahll izzz welll!!” was our LSS. Either hubby or me would shout “Ahll izzz welll!!” and then the other would immitate the sound of a whistle. haha. Quite a team, yes.

The movie made me hope though that there’d also be a Filipino movie soon that is as masterfully crafted, if not better. Well, sans the singing and dancing, if possible.

I wanted to embed the trailer here in our blog but the official trailers with the subtitles are not for embedding. Do watch the trailer here though.

Ja, “Pursue excellence, and success will follow you”.