Kodama Shokudo ~Ramen shop loved by many~

Kodama Shokudou is a very old Ramen shop located in Nasuhiobara city in Tochigi prefecture which is about 60 years old.

It was first opened in Nasu city closer to the hot springs but they moved to the location that is currently stands.



The Ramen was loved by the local people and also people from other prefectures come to eat here but unfortunately in 1998 it suddenly had to close.



However, after the 17 years of silence, it reopened in July 2015! Many people was excited that they could eat the Ramen from Kodama Shokudo again.


At Kodama Shokudo, it has a very simple menu: only Ramen and Yakisoba!               

How simple is that? But they make really delicious Ramen and Yakisoba.

I remember as a child being brought here by my grandparents. Especially the Yakisoba is my favorite and I still can remember how it tastes...

I am getting hungry!! :P


I will recommend to visit here :)
The website is http://kodamasyokudou.com/
and the Fcaebook page is https://www.facebook.com/kodamasyokudou/?fref=ts

This is post is not sponsored at all but I just wanted to share a Ramen place that I will truly recommend :)

See you soon!
Ellen.

Remaking new things! ~Record Clock~

There is not many opportunities where I just come up with like "BAM" and start making it on the spot. Which is sad when I think about that. I guess it is because we all have commitments and tasks to do. I remind myself  "I should go and just start and do things" but there are so many distractions...

Anyway, enough with the excuses! 

My father asked me to separate classical music vinyls from a big pile of old vinyls. While I was separating them, I was thinking, what a pity to throw away them. Suddenly, there was an idea that came to my mind!

"I might be able to make a cool clock!" 

I remembered there was clock which was old and my grandmother had enough clocks in her house and that one still moved! 

What I first did was to separate the mechanics of the clock (clock hands and the mortar behind) for me to be able to re attach to the record. 

Then I checked if the hole in the middle of the vinyl was big enough. It was a little small for the mechanics so I widened with a drill and a cutter knife. 

Then carefully reassemble all the parts. 

At the end, I super glued the old plastic clock rim on the back and drill a hole to hang on the wall, it was done! 

It looks like this!

I am proud of making this with things that was about to thrown away. It might been cool if it was made with a Beatles record but I am happy with this :) Also If it was a Beatles record, I would be scared to drop the value of it!

See you! 

Ellen :) 

UNICO -Best Burger Shop in Town-

UNICO is a jewely and hamburger shop which I discovered about 5 months ago. 

I knew this place existed but I did not know how this place does GOOD burgers. 

In Japan, it is very difficult to find places that does burgers which are as tasty as overseas ones. 

The first time I visited was not to come and eat but to come to listen to music. They sometimes have live music/ gigs here and I happen to come and see one of them. 

At the gig, I saw people eating burgers and they looked soo good! I already had a meal before so I tried the chips and they were delicious!!! So, I knew I had to come back on a diffrent day to try it! 

So this is what I got! This is the cheepest burger and it costs about 1000yen+($10). Then by adding some extra few100yen you can add potato chips and a drink. 

I have been here when I am craving for a GOOD burger. 

Writing this is making me hungry!!!

See you! 

Ellen :)

Hirosaki Lantern Snow festival

Last February, I visited Aomori Prefecture with Becca.
I have only been to Aomori in the summer so it was really different being there in the winter time.

The Hirosaki Lantern Snow festival is one of the big five snow festivals on the Tohoku region.
The other festivals are in Hachinohe(Aomori), Iwate(iwate), Yokote(Akita), and Oga(Akita). Out of the five festivals I have been to Yokote and Oga and now HIrosaki.

On the side of the lanterns are pictures which are made from Japanese Traditional paper called "washi". The pictures are hand drawn and the paper is hand made.

Aomori Prefecture is famous of festivals called "Nebuta" or "Neputa". both of them are really alike but have very different origins: one is a festival about going to war and the other was coming back.

At night, every thing was lit up and beautiful. There was a projector light performance and there were many people looking at it and enjoying it.

I very enjoyed and had a good time in the snow!

I actually for the first time Vlogged some of the festival. If you would like to see me being nervous filming myself in public or/and want to see a little bit of the festival click here to have a look :)

I hope you will enjoy it!

See you!
Ellen ;)

Reunited with my camera!

I LOVE taking photos and I love cameras.
Especially my DSLR Pentax camera!

I was traveling around Europe last year after my Study Abroad in the UK.  At that time, I was in Sweden. I just changed the settings from photos and I heard a strange click. I thought it was nothing and looked though the view finder to take a photo. The shutter clicks and then I go to see how the photo looks like. But there was nothing. I mean it was a BLACK SCREEN. I could not believe what was going on. I was in panic, I changed every settings in the camera. Somewhere in my mind I knew some thing went wrong and I had to get it fixed by a professional. For the time being I used my iPad and my friends did took photos for me. This made me realized how much my camera and photography meant to me. 

For the time being i have been using a small Canon which I got in Belgium but I am so glad that I have my DSLR back :) 

Now, I can have fun taking more photos and capture special moments!

Have you had a moment you realized something was really important to you?
Let me know :)

See you!
Ellen

Between Worlds

Have you ever been in between something?

I have(am) been between at least two worlds for my entire life: Japan and Australia.
This is not only theses countries but also language and culture, identity… and many more!  

My name is Ellen. I am a Hafu (someone who is half Japanese) who have lived in Japan for a long time. 

I love many things like, music, art, theater, photography, traveling, cooking, backing and more!

I am a curious person, I ask many questions to understand things and I love looking things up.

I will be looking at Japan from a point of view of an insider and a outsider. I do not mean any harm towards anyone and what I will start and write here is my opinion about things in my life.In this blog I would like to share some of my experiences from my life.
I hope you will like it and enjoy it!

See you :)
Ellen