Headphones DIY

Recently I have noticed the fake leather part of my headphones started to come apart.

I bought these maybe 3 years ago and I still like them! 

They are good noise canceling DJ headphones from Audio technica.

I enjoy my music and at the time,  these were on special and was about 2000yen (about AU$20,US$20) off the original price. 

I could not continue using it without fixing it. I came up with the idea of covering it with some kind of ribbon. But I thought using normal ribbon might be boring and I was nit keen to use any thing to glue it to the head phones. 

In the end I used black and red leather twine. 

I rapped around black leather twine around the headphones firmly from the right side to the left. I tucked the ends that they will not come undone. 

When all of it was covered, I randomly rapped the read leather twine on the top of the black leather.

And, this is how it turned out!!!

I am really happy how it turned out. I like it even more that it feels more personalised. :)

I now want to do more DIY and crafting :) 

See you soon! 

Ellen 

Public Transport Australia vs Japan and tips for countryside sight-seeing

Public transport are very different in each countries.

Japanese public transport is always, every day on time even in the countryside. They they some times where they are late, but not that often. If you are in Tokyo there can have the occasional accidents and weather interference can cause a delay but they are pretty good at scheduling the timetables and being on time.

On the other hand in Australia, I have experienced many times where the buses did not arrive at the bus stop for 30 minuets and even longer. It can be good at times because it means that you can just pop into the shops and get a snack and you will still have time to catch the bus. However when you have to arrive at a certain place at a certain time, it can mess your plans drastically. 

Australia has there good points with public transport too! I think they are good in terms of covering a wide range of areas in terms of buses and having quite frequent services. As in Japan, when you go to the countryside it is really difficult to get public transport because some areas they just do not offer them or they are at really odd times and limited services.

There was a time when I did not have a licence and a car and had to go for a job interview. I looked up the time tables for the buses and they were not helpful for the time I had to be there. In the end I had to walked to the station which took 30 minuets, and hop on the train to the next station, then had to get a taxi to the company which took about another 30 minuets. 

Of course when it comes to tourist areas in the countryside of Japan there are more likely to have good public transport. But when you live in places in the countryside, it is best to have a bicycle or a car for mobility. If you want to see more than just the tourist areas, which I really recommend it can be a good idea to bring a international driving licence and hire a car to explore with a group of people to split the cost.


Also when you are traveling from one place to other it is best to have other options in mind too.
When I was living in Akita (Northern part of Japan) at my university, my friend from the US was going back for Christmas holidays. He want to the air port to catch his plane but When he arrived, the airline was announcing that they were not going to fly due to the heavy snow. He had to catch another plane that night from Narita International Airport and he was in panic. Lucky he understood a little bit of Japanese so he was able to change his plan and catch a train down to Tokyo. In the end He did made it in time for his plane.

 Once I got my driving licence and I was able to borrow a car,  it became much more easier.
I still use public transport when I am in the city and I often plan ahead and always double check my transport options for delays and weather interfering.

I hope article has been useful!

See you soon!
Ellen

Beach Culture

Recently my friends and I made a plan to go to the beach.
I was excited and nervous at the same time. In the process of preparing to go to the beach, I found myself asking around what do people normally do when they go to the beach.


Going to the beach has been a big deal for me. I grew up in a prefecture that is well known to NOT have any coast in Japan. The times I have been to the beach was when I was young and on a family holiday or with friends when I was at university.

The beach was something that I always imagined before I went to sleep to calm myself down. I secretly like the beach as much as my bedroom floor was yellow and my ceiling was blue like the sky.  I love the sea breeze which makes you feel that you are free from all of the bad things and I love seeing the sun setting or it rising in the horizon. It felt romantic even for a 16 year old girl. The beach was somewhere special for me.

For my friends here in Australia, I think it is not be that special to go to the beach that it is for me. It is something that is just normal and casual, a thing that people do daily. "Let's go to the beach" is almost equivalent to saying "let's go the cinemas" or even "let's go out for a coffee". They have that geological accessibility to be able to have it in their normal day to day life.  

I think it is just the difference of growing up closer or far way from the beach.
I did not have that culture to casually say "Are you free this weekend? Let's go to the beach!" but if I lived near the beach even in Japan, I might have not felt or recognized the beach culture that I have came a cross. This might be considered to be a culture shock but I think it is not a international culture shock but more of a geological culture shock.

Going to the beach can still be something special. I just need to make it a special thing that I do often :)

I hope I am making sense.

See you soon!
Ellen

Beautiful old Camera shop on Leeds

I was living in Leeds UK studying for a year between 2013 and 2014.

One day I went to explore the city and I went to the Corn Exchange.
Now the building is used for vintage fairs and events there but most of the time there are small shops there.



Of course, there were some vintage shops but the shop that caught my attention was a camera shop. I really like cameras. I might not have all of the the knowledge about camera's memorized in my head but I experiment with the shutter speed and the aperture. I like experimenting.

 

This shop mostly second hand cameras and some were film cameras. They had a variety of accessories for cameras. I had to go in and have a look at everything!
I was really interested in the lenses that they had. I mostly have been using the 18-55mm lens that I bought with the body of my Pentax K-5. I have borrowed my mother's lenses and I really wanted to own my own.

In the end I bought these two lenses: Pentax Zoom 75-150mm and Pentax 50mm.
Both of them are manual focus and they cost 40 pounds for both of them which I was really happy with!

Since I got them I have been having fun with them and I have taken interesting photographs with them :)


This was a story about a shop for an old camera shop in Leeds.

See you soon!
Ellen

The 4 seasons in Japan.

As it is well known, Japan has very distinctive seasons.

I really like and enjoy the changing of the seasons for several reasons.
One is that you are always looking forward to something all around the year and there is always something to look for!
Of course I there are things that I do not like about each of seasons but that is how things come 

For instance, Spring is Cherry blossom season and I really enjoy taking photos of them and doing Hanami (viewing Cherry blossoms and have a picnic under the trees). But I am not that keen on the rainy time of spring. 

In summer I look forward to the fireworks festival and Kanto festival(Lantern festival in Akita city) at University. But I disliked the high humidity. It depends on where you are but it was like walking in a sauna when you walked out side. 

In fall or autumn I enjoyed the process of all of the leaves changing and falling down on the ground. It is sad but it has its beauty in the colours and the beauty of enjoying that moment you are living in. But it was that strange season where you do not know that you need to take a extra clothing with you or not. 

In winter it was being able to eat hot food and also the enjoying your surroundings becoming this winter wonderland like opening the door and entering Narnia. But it gets really cold and you had to think ahead to make sure you have extra time if you need to walk in the snow.

*All of these photos were taken in Akita Prefecture

Over all, all seasons have there ups and downs but I think every thing has, don't they?
Seasons are really important in Japan. In literature, art work, Kimono and for tableware: in almost everything!

I hope this is a little of an introduction to what Japan is like in each seasons :)

See you soon!
Ellen

Struggling with pre-sleeping thoughts

Can you go to sleep easily? 

My answer is mostly no. 

There are those nights where, somewhere in your brain or heart starts to think/feel things that you do not normally think in the day. However, just as you hit your pillow and ready for your good nigh sleep, you simply just can not go to sleep. Yes, I am exactly like that right now. And most nights are like this. 

I get into bed ready to fall asleep for the next day which is always busy with things I have to do. But my body just does the opposite and wakes its self up and think about things like...

'I wonder why people exist' 

'Do we all have a meaning to live in this world?'

'I hope it is not hot tomorrow.' etc...

These are just some examples but when I want to calm down and have a good night sleep my brain goes "nope! I am just going to start thinking about things". i guess that is why I am writing this post. 

I wonder what are things that I could do before I go to sleep in order to make me go to seep. If there any suggestions I would happy to try! 

I hope my readers are able have good night sleep! 

I will do my best to fall asleep. zzZ

See you later! 

Ellen 

Muisc and my own Ukulele

Music has been in my life from when I was little. I was fascinated at how music was played and was always amazed at how people can play musical instruments. 

As being a young girl, I thought playing the piano was easy and just had to "press the keys" in order to make music. 

I was wrong.
I still liked playing the piano but I really disliked and I got board easily from playing the same tune over and over again and eventually stopped going to lessons.
I still continued music by singing in the school choir club until I entered Junior high school.

I still loved music and still had the curiosity to learn. In one part of the Music lessons we had in junior high school we had to learn how to play the guitar and I was really excited.
There were multiple guitars in the house when I grew up because my father played it when he was young and on very occasions he would get it out and play it.
The lessons were fun and we had to play "Stand by me" by Ben E. King. But one thing I struggled the most was holding onto the strings and play chords, and changing between chords. Yes, it is comes with practice but I have quite petite hands and when I hold most of the guitars I struggle.

Time went by and I still wanted to be able to play the guitar or the base or anything that I can join in to enjoy music. I often want to the Jazz salon and met many local musicians in my home town when I was back from university.  In my last year of university I borrowed a guitar called Taylor Mini from my father. it was small enough for my hand to go around it and I loved it!
I practiced and practiced and I was able to play some notes but still I wound difficult.

After playing on the guitar for a while I saw a Ukulele in my fathers room and started strumming and I found it was much more easier than the guitar! Since then I borrowed several Ukuleles from him(he has enough instruments to pen a shop!) and practiced.

After I moved, I wanted my own one. my own one that I like the sound of and fits my hands nicely. I thought back and forth and I found this ukulele which I can call my own Ukulele!
I am going to practice as much as I can to get better! :)

I hope you liked this short story :)

See you soon!
Ellen