Fall Photos

Good Day Everyone,

Being British I would of course say autumn, rather than fall, but autumn photos doesn't sound quite as good ;o) I mentioned in last Wednesday's blog post that I'll be doing some posts that are more photography and less text heavy so that I can give my arthritic fingers a rest. Here's the first one, sharing a few of my favourite fall photos from Japan. Enjoy :o)

So many people stop and admire these beautiful trees, but in this moment, she has them almost all to herself

I found these two lying on the ground, just like this, so contrasting yet so complimentary to one another

Looking up at Yokohama Marine Tower

A lone pigeon looking for food amongst the leaves

Early each morning these lovely men come to sweep up the fallen leaves, ready for the day ahead

An artist in action capturing a part of autumn/fall 

I love the reflection of the trees from across the road in the windows of this hotel

Yokohama Landmark Tower surrounded by the beautiful colours of autumn/fall

The green and red in this photo remind me of Christmas

I'm not the only one who loves to capture the colours of autumn/fall

I hope you enjoyed these photos of fall in Japan as much as I enjoyed taking them :o)

Love Sheen xxx

Autumn Accessories

Good Day Everyone,

It is so wonderful to be experiencing seasons once again. Not only that, but it is also great to be able to wear something other than a summer wardrobe after almost four years. Most of my winter clothes are stored at home in England but I did have a few pieces with me that I've been enjoying recently in Japan. Plus, as I'm currently back home (it was a last minute thing), I may pick up a few of my winter clothes to take back to Japan, in preparation for the wintery months ahead.

Today I want to share with you a few of my favourite autumn accessories. Even though it is December, the weather where we are in Japan is still very much autumnal rather than wintery. Originally, I had planned to photograph the accessories I wanted to share with you, even though personally, I like to see accessories modeled on people. That way I can get some inspiration on how I might incorporate something similar into an outfit. But I'm no model and not particularly comfortable in front of the camera... perhaps it's because I'm not from, what my hubby calls, the 'selfie' generation i.e. I'm old ;o) But after some coaxing from my hubby and bearing in mind that it's mainly my friends around the world that read my blog rather than strangers (I think), I decided to be brave and give it a go... so here goes :o)

I'm loving my burgundy sunglasses. Now sunglasses are not particularly autumnal per se but the colour definitely is. I find black sunglasses a bit too harsh given my dark features and loved my tortoise shell ones as a good alternative. However, I lost those on a shopping trip whilst trying on hats and scarves...don't you just hate it when that happens?! I spent two days shopping for a new pair but I struggle with glasses! Having a relatively large face (and an even larger nose... I can't help it, it's a family trait lol), means that most styles do not suit me with the exception of these larger ones. These balance out my face ;o) So when I couldn't find tortoise shell in this style, I opted for burgundy and I absolutely love the colour.

 

I am really enjoying being able to wear scarves again. I picked this red and green one up from Singapore last year. I fell in love with the colours and pattern and knew that one day, when I moved to cooler climates, I would get a lot of wear out of it. Plus it goes so well with these maroony-red trousers, and the fact that it was the last one in the store was clearly a sign that I should get it ;o)

This very long, bright red scarf was a gift all the way from New Zealand, and this is the first year that I've actually started to get some decent wear out of it. I love that it's a bright shade of red, which may not be all that autumnal, but it's great on those days when its a really sunny bright blue sky but very cold. It is sooo warm and soft to the touch that I can't help but feel all cosy and snuggly in it :o)

For many years, I've never had the confidence to wear hats but a lot of people wear hats in Japan, and recently I've joined in. I only have a collection of three at the moment, but they come in sooo handy when I'm having a bad hair day, (which tends to be quite often as my ghds don't work in Japan due to voltage differences), that I know I'll be buying more in the future. Plus they are good for keeping my head warm in the cold!

What autumn/fall accessories have you been enjoying over the last couple of months?
Love Sheen xxx

P.S. A special thanks goes to my hubby who took these photos for me x

Konnichiwa! Greetings From Japan

Good Day Everyone,

My oh my, it has been a while hasn't it?! Typing this does feel a little strange, I'll admit. I am very sorry for the long absence. Life can be pretty unpredictable and our lives have changed a lot recently, plus I've not been in the best of health. Even though I've been absent from my blog, I do tend to be active on Instagram and Facebook on almost a daily basis so that's the place to find me when I'm not on here :o)

Bay Bridge (Yokohama) in the distant

If you follow me on Instagram and/or the Glistening Sheen Facebook page then you will know this already but if not, here goes.... We've left Singapore and we moved to Japan! O.M.G! Never in a million years did I imagine that I would end up living in Japan. In fact, when my hubby and I visited earlier this year, we had no idea that in just a few months we'd end up moving here. It all happened rather quickly. The move itself has been driven by my husband's job and to be honest we've no idea how long we will be here for.

Love British summers

As you may know, I've been very sick this summer and was diagnosed as being dangerously anaemic. After a couple of stays in hospital, some surgery and a blood transfusion later, I finally started to get better. Towards the end of July, as my haemoglobin levels started to rise, the doctors gave me the all clear to travel and that's when all the wheels were put into motion for our move. End of July we went back to England to visit our families and friends before our move to Japan.

Onions from my parent's garden

Love picking blueberries from my parent's garden

As usual, it was a whirlwind of a trip but it was wonderful to be back home when there was actually some sun. I loved spending time with my mum in my parent's garden as they're big advocates of growing their own food, and had planted some fruit trees since I was last there. Sadly the cherries were all gone and the apples weren't ripe enough, but I did get to pick fresh blueberries, green beans, onions and herbs from the garden. My hubby and I also had a great time catching up with friends over afternoon tea (our favourite meal of the day), as well as indulging in some good old fashioned British fish 'n' chips ;o)

Afternoon Tea at Tea 42 in Manchester

Piano garden in Manchester city centre

I'd started to sell our Singapore furniture before we went home and upon our return we spent a good few weeks packing up our belongings and lives. We moved out of our apartment a couple of weeks before we left Singapore, and then stayed at a friend's place whilst they were back in England, before moving into a hotel for our last few nights. We left Singapore with mixed feelings. Singapore is a great country and an easy stepping stone into Asia. It has been our home for 3.5 years and we've made some good friends there so we left with a bit of a heavy heart. However, at the same time we were super excited about Japan. After sweating constantly for over three years (I'm referring to myself only as my hubby copes with heat and humidity freakishly well, better than most Singaporeans!), I was looking forward to experiencing seasons again, and being able to wear makeup without it melting off my face ;o)

We arrived in Japan early September and stayed in a serviced apartment for the first few weeks whilst we looked for our own place. Within our first month, we experienced an earthquake and two typhoons! There's actually been more than one earthquake but I've only physically felt one and it was noticeable. It was around lunchtime, when all of a sudden it felt like the sofa I was sat on was swaying. I looked up and saw that the balcony doors were starting to rattle and the whole room was swaying side to side. Even though it felt like it lasted a really long time, in reality it was only about 10 seconds. Things didn't fall of shelves/tables, the tea on the coffee table didn't spill and neither my hubby nor I ran to get under a desk or something equivalent. We just stared at each other with a, "Is this really happening?" kind of expression on our faces. Luckily the typhoons were not full on, we just caught the fringes of them but the rain and wind was so severe that we couldn't go outside. Umbrellas offer no protection against the rain whatsoever, so we were stuck indoors for two days!

Shinjuku (Tokyo) at night

We are living in Yokohama, which is Japan's second largest city after Tokyo. Its just south of Tokyo, 30mins on the train. When we first moved here we did contemplate living in Tokyo and my hubby commuting into Yokohama for work, but we quickly realised that that was not going to work. The trains here are really expensive (as is everything) plus they're very crowded too and with colder weather just round the corner, we knew it wasn't going to be practical. Whilst there is a significant expat community in Tokyo, the expat community is much smaller in Yokohama. Now, in Singapore I wasn't too bothered about living near an expat community because everyone speaks English (in fact it's one of the four national languages), but Japan is not like that. Whilst the Japanese are incredibly friendly and polite, English is not commonly spoken so day to day life can be somewhat challenging with the language barrier. I've learnt a fair few basic words and phrases so far and with a bit of hand gesturing I can get by ;o), but it is nice to have met a couple of fellow expats where conversing is just that bit easier. Plus its always nice to share any learnings or tips from each others experiences.

Landmark tower, the tallest building in Yokohama

We were lucky enough to arrive towards the end of summer and have had some beautiful weather. Now we are in the middle of autumn and the weather is still reasonably warm most days but the nights are starting to get cold. I'm really excited about spending our first Christmas since 2010, in the cold. Even though the Christmas decorations were incredibly amazing in Singapore, it just never felt Christmas-sy in the heat. I'm also looking forward to staying put for a while. The last few months of our lives have been so hectic that I just do not want to pack another suitcase for at least six months! I calculated that over the last few months I've actually gone to bed in at least seven different places, from hospital beds, to my parent's house to a friend's place and hotels and serviced apartments. Now, I just want to stay at home.

Loving our new home in the land of the rising sun

On the health front, my arthritis has been flaring up and even my psoriasis has started to get active again over the past few months. I feel like my body and mind are craving routine, just the normality of everyday life. Packing up lives and moving countries is not easy, and when you suffer from chronic illness, all that stress and change can really take a toll.

I still have sooo much more that I want to share with you from our first few months but I fear that this blog post is going to become ridiculously long! So I will break it down over the next few weeks, from the twinkly train station music, to interesting shopping trips and not to mention all the colourful things I've seen :o)

I still intend on completing my Japan Journals blog posts as I have Kyoto and Tokyo to write about. However, I'm going to start mixing things up a bit on here. My arthritis has spread to my right wrist and most of my fingers so typing is proving to be extremely challenging (and very painful). Plus I'll be the first to admit that I am not a concise writer by any means. Consequently, I am going to have intermittent posts that are more photos and less words. They say a picture paints a thousand words and so I'll just let my photos do the talking (aka writing).

I hope life has treated all of you Gorgeous Glisteners well over the past few months. Hopefully, we can now pick up where we left off and I look forward to interacting with you all, once again :o)

Have a great weekend all!

Love Sheen xxx

P.S. As I completed writing this I ended up having to fly back home to England for a few weeks... So much for staying put?! Life never really goes as planned ;o)

Japan Journals: Kobe

Good Day Everyone,

The day after we arrived in Japan we went to spend the day in Kobe with some Japanese friends. This day in Kobe was one of my favourite days of the trip. The sun was shining, there was no complex and frustrating train system to master (as the night before in Osaka... You can read about our time in Osaka here), no language challenges and despite cramming a lot of sights into one day, it was a very relaxed day.

Kobe is just a short train ride from Osaka and is accessible by both the bullet train and regular trains from Osaka. It is Japan’s sixth largest city and is very much a cosmopolitan port city, much of which has been rebuilt after the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake. 

In the morning my hubby and I went our separate ways as we were doing different things. I visited my first Japanese shrine, the Minatogawa shrine which is on the site of the battle of Minatogawa and in it, is the enshrined spirit of a military commander. The shrine was in beautiful grounds and before we went up to the main building we had to wash our hands taking water using bamboo ladels. At the shrine there was a ceremony taking place and my Japanese friends explained that it was a bit like a christening which was really interesting to watch. 

From the shrine, we went to the Kobe Port Tower where we got the most amazing views of Kobe. The Port Tower is a 108 meter high lattice tower with a 360° observation deck. With its red steel framework it is an iconic building and a definite must for any tourist for great views over the bay and beyond. 

 

From the top of the tower, you really get to appreciate the architectural design of the Maritime museum next door with its rooftop structure resembling a sailing ship. The museum focuses on the history of Japanese shipping and Kobe harbour.

 

We stopped off for a pancake lunch at one of the most popular pancake places at the Mosaic mall where queuing began before the place even opened, and reconvened with the boys. Then we made our way to the sight that I was most excited about visiting, The Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens and Ropeway.

 

The Herb Gardens are Japan’s largest herb gardens with around 75,000 herbs and hundreds of different types of flowers including cherry blossoms. If you’re ever in Kobe then a visit to The Herb Gardens is a definite must. You can easily spend the best part of a day gently strolling around the 14 gardens as there is so much to see. 

We took the cable car (Ropeway) up to the top of the mountain, taking in panoramic views of Kobe and beyond along the way. I even managed to snap a shot of the Nunobiki No Taki waterfall as we rode the cable car to the top station. 

Once at the top, we visited the Fragrance Museum where there was an interesting display of old perfume bottles, including a few which house some very famous scents. 

The Herbal Market shop is a great place to purchase gifts and we bought a solid lavender perfume for my mum, as well as picking up some lavender honey for ourselves which was totally delicious :o) 

After wandering around the rose garden, we decided to walk down the mountain towards the cable car mid-station. The winding walk down the mountain took us past the herb museum garden, the kitchen garden, the lavender garden, and it was only when we reached the waterfall patio that we realised that there was no path across to the big glass houses. As it was such a hot sunny day, most of us couldn’t face the steep walk back up the mountain, back to where the path forks leading to the glass houses so sadly I didn’t get to go inside… maybe next time! 

We carried on down the mountain stopping off for some lavender ice cream and lavender flavoured soda water… a much needed refreshment before getting on the cable car back to the bottom of the mountain. We could easily have spent twice as long at the Herb Garden than we did, and I would have loved to have stayed until it got nightfall and seen Kobe all lit up.

 

We ended our day at a tofu restaurant by Sannomiya train station where we were served tofu in more ways than you could imagine, with more courses than we could ever manage to eat, but it was a great experience. 

A couple of days later we came back to Kobe to meet some different Japanese friends. On that particular day we went to the Sawanotsuru Sake museum. Kobe’s Nada district is Japan’s best sake (rice wine) producing region with it’s high quality rice, suitable water and favourable weather conditions. Being close to Kobe and Osaka enabled the distribution of the sake in the olden days. This particular sake museum we visited was built in the 1970s but was destroyed in the 1995 earthquake and subsequently rebuilt in 1999. Inside the museum we learnt about the traditional brewing methods and saw the different types of tools and apparatus used in the production of this specialty wine.

After the sake museum our friends took us to see the Akashi Kaikyo bridge (my hubby is an engineering geek ;o)), the world’s longest suspension bridge at 4km long. Akashi Bridge connects Kobe on the mainland of Honshu to Awaji Island and crosses the busy Akashi Strait. The bridge was completed three years after the 1995 Kobe earthquake and is designed to withstand earthquakes measuring a magnitude of up to 8.5. There are tours which take you up onto the bridge but these are in Japanese and as it was raining we gave the tour a miss, and just marvelled at the bridge’s beauty from afar. Near the bridge on the Kobe side is a huge outlet shopping mall where we stopped off for lunch before making our way back to Osaka.

Akashi Kaikyo Bridge

I hope you enjoyed this little insight into our time in Kobe. Coming up in the next Japan Journals will be our time in Kyoto. Have you ever been to Kobe? What was the highlight of your trip?

Love Sheen xxx