Illustration : Minako Aino

Remember that I illustrated Hotaru Tomoe several months back? Being back in Japan gave me such an exciting rush to do more fan-arts. I never thought that the Sailormoon fever is still there after all these years! Should consider Cardcaptor Sakura and Oh! My Goddess for Wacom-tablet drawing practice as well. In the process of illustrating the whole team member, here is Minako Aino or Sailor Venus...

Little Things 208 : New Pair of Glasses

I've been using a dark thick-rim glasses since I was in Uniten, back 5-6 years ago. I remember taking complains from my classmates and family about how the glasses make me look like those people in the 60s. And because I always believe that I was born old, I didn't really mind. Ha! I've been searching for a new glasses for months. The one I was wearing almost reached 3 years old since I bought...

Tokiyo Trip 9 : Shinjuku

Day 3 : Shinjuku It was our first exploration day and we didn't know what to expect. We had a lot to learn in such a short time like how the train lines work, how to read their map and how to find places. So we started with Shinjuku. We used the Tokyo Handy Guide to navigate. Our main destination was Daiso that we Googled the night before - to buy some things that we needed like : rain poncho,...

Tokiyo Trip 8 : The Food

Did we mentioned the groceries we bought before going ? We bought along : 3-in-1 Milo packets Ready-made fried rice's packets Tinned tuna Chocolate bar Cikedis Sambal ikan bilis Maggi The apartment we rented was ready with a small kitchen and a place to cook so my early plan was to do simple cooking for some nights and breakfast. Most morning started with a glass of hot Milo and bread slices...

Book : The Writer who Died

We went to the Nu Sentral's MPH while waiting for our movie to start. We were early, just finished work. Like always, we were walking by all the book section when I saw The Girl in the Spider's Web hard copy lined up in a special section. It is a continuation from the Stieg Larsson's famous trilogy; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo! : If you read his books and already made a research about...

Work Related : Hello Kitty Cafe 3

The soft launching for the cafe is this Saturday! It's in Sunway Pyramid :D  Finally, after 10 months work it is ready to be opened and see the world. T^T I was in Japan during its trial openings, so I'm not quite sure what to expect from the restaurant yet. My colleague shared some behind-the scene images : Credit : HK Design Team * Us in the design team (around 4 designers)...

Tokiyo Trip 7 : Itinerary + Places

We didn't visit Tokyo by any help from travel agency, we simply book our flight tickets and accommodation, and followed the plan that we created every night before our day. Various maps were taken from the stations and booth for our guidance, but my favorites were : Tokyo Handy Map & Tokyo Handy Guide by Yes! Tokyo Tokyo Guide by Hello Sandwich You can definitely use mobile...

Tokiyo Trip 6 : Bicycle

Other than the whole apartment for both of us, I was excited over the bicycle rides! The last time I rode a bicycle was when I was 17, I got the bicycle for my straight-As result in UPSR. I remember riding it to school and on weekends to meet up with my friends. Even though far after my friends started to use motorbike to go to places, I was still sticking proudly to my bike. I left the...

Tokiyo Trip 5 : Airbnb Studio Apartment in Asaka

This was our first Airbnb experience. We started searching for a place to stay in Tokyo since 7 months ago after I bought the tickets. I created a Tokiyo Wish List through Airbnb; where I saved all the places that I would like to stay or enjoy looking at *because their houses are all so small, clean and minimal!  About 2 months before going to Tokyo, we booked our place. By that time,...

Tokiyo Trip 4 : Trains & Subway

We didn't know which one to choose, if you did some research on the public transportation in Japan before you would understand why. They are just too many choices for me to choose from ! Although I studied free maps from what we got from Matta Fair, it was still quite hard to decide. * 1) Tokyo Metro - Unlimited So right after we arrived at Haneda Airport, there was a counter for foreigner...

Tokiyo Trip 3 : Sleeping at the Airport

Sleeping at Haneda Airport : We reached Haneda Airport right before midnight. I forgot why I originally chose to pick the afternoon boarding time, but having the thought of sleeping at the airport excites me. AF agreed on that so by the time we arrived, we were ready. * We explored all the floors at Haneda Airport, there were many dim-lit places with chairs and benches for people to...

Tokiyo Trip 2 : Natural Disaster

I'm still processing all the things that happened for the last 8 days while we were in Tokyo & Saitama. We just got back early this morning and after cleaning up our backpacks, I'm sitting at my table trying to write some drafts of those little experiences while they are still fresh in mind :D * Love-hate relationship with mother-nature : Japan is in a transition from summer to autumn,...

Escapism : Tokiyo Trip

7 months of waiting, Airbnb far outside of the city, confusing train lines and hunting for Mr. Murakami.   If there are still stories for me to tell, I'll be back to write some more.   Behave, readers. We are off to Japan. For a distraction, read some of my past posts on escapism stories here. ...

Travel Tips : Backpack + What I Bring to Japan for 7 days Trip

* The best birthday present I received from my brother was a proper backpack and 40 Euro *for a cancelled Euro Trip. Before the backpack, I used to use a typical formal school bag and totebags for my  little travel for years before really use a proper backpack for travel. For that, I am still very-very-very thankful for the gift.  There are many types of bag that you can use,...

Travel Tips : Long Flights

I hate long flights.  It took around 10 hours flights to take me from Malaysia to Istanbul, or Fukuoka, or Jeddah. Sometimes it went well, sometimes it didn't. There were many bad experiences than a good one. Sleepless travel, annoying neighbour, sudden anxiety attack, or uncomfortable small seats. Although I'm hardly cranky, long flights always-always-always make me uncomfortable and annoyed. I...

Travel Tips : Ziploc Bag

* * One of the most useful thing you should bring during your travel is a zip-seal bag, or famously known as Ziploc *it's a brand, but I got used to calling it as "ziploc bag". It is a plastic bag with a zipper like entry that is used for storing things or foods. I usually hate bulky packaging because it will take too much space in the bag-pack. So what I do is take out everything from...

Little Things 207 : A Run + Another Headache

After several months of resting from constant running, I registered for another running event - my fifth 10km run. Little did I know, any activity with improper training may lead to several bad effects. As I ran and jog and ran and walked until the finished line, I saw AF ran slightly farther than me in the front. I knew my stamina was at the lowest state, because I used to ran more or less better...

Little Things 206 : Random Thought on Education

As I was sitting at KL Sentral's chair waiting for my client to arrive, a young girl approached me after I mistakenly made an eye-contact with her. I was finishing my draft and just taking several seconds rest from all the typing. I didn't feel like having to answer to any survey or apply any loans or insurance - it was my silent alone time, so I was a bit annoyed. Slowly I showed her a sign of...

Doodle : Bookaholic 2

This is the continuation from this illustration on a girl reading a book, not quite sure how to avoid auto-compression on the downloaded image but these are what I manage to upload here : * * I just finished reading Steppenwolf the day before yesterday while waiting for AF to get his passport ready. It wasn't as great as Siddartha, a bit confusing at times...