2015 church celebratory lunch gathering

In Japan, almost everyone returns home for the new year's holiday. Together with those whose home town is Tsukuba, or who didn't return home this year, we celebrated the dawning of the new year with home cooking and Osechi. Also a reminder to those back home, it is winter in Japan during new year's :) 

 The above photo is Osechi. There are many different varieties of osechi. This one is apparently French-inspired. In any case, it was delicious.

The pot in the top half of the picture is wild boar stew. I believe this stuff can't be found in stores. A relative of someone from church over in the Kansai region sent over some game that they caught. Pretty cool. And very tasty too.

The pot on the bottom half  is Zoni. It was very tasty too.

You can see deer meat being cooked in this photo. Deer meat also can't be bought. This particular deer was hunted, again by someone's relative from the Kansai region. Deer tasted very unique. It was very full-bodied and aromatic, even without using any sauce. Very different from pork, which is bland without any seasoning.

NISA open January 2014

The world's oldest population by age is taking drastic measures under the leadership of Prime Minister Abe to stimulate the economy, which is sinking under the weight of a national debt twice the size of its already massive GDP. This time, the initiative is called NISA (Nippon Individual Savings Account). The selling point of this strategy, which is basically an investment account, is that all income gained from money invested into this account, up to 1 million yen per year, will be tax exempt for a five year period, every year, for five consecutive years beginning 2014.

This strategy directly seek to tap into liquidising the closely guarded savings of one of the world's best savers. According to the Japan times,

Japanese households held ¥1.645 quadrillion in financial assets as of the end of 2013, according to data from the Bank of Japan. Fifty-three percent of that, or ¥874 trillion, was in cash and bank deposits, while 9.4 percent was in stocks and 4.8 percent in investment trusts.

The aim is to encourage a large number of people to put forward a little bit of cash back into the economy.

Although all revenue gained from the stocks themselves are tax free, the price paid in getting your share of the stocks pie is not. You still have to pay the brokerage fees. This is where the investment companies and banks spring to action.

All the finance companies are competing for customers. They need to offer an incentive to prospective new account holders to open an account with them. The best offer I've come across so far, is to have the entire sum of brokerage fee, refunded back to you. This is where it caught my attention.

I was on the slow end in terms of jumping on the bandwagon, but before the year ended, I managed to get on board (yes even non-Japanese residing in Japan qualify). I opened an account with Aeon Bank, owned by Aeon group. Aeon returns the entire sum of brokerage fees paid, in the form of points that can be used as cash at any of their stores, which I frequent anyway.

From a consumer's point of view, I reckon NISA is a great initiative. From the government's point of view, the more stagnant money is liquidated, the better for Japan as a whole. So I thought I'd spread the word.

One disclaimer. Returns are not guaranteed. This is an investment, after all, and all investments carry risks, so do so being prepared to lose it all. However, very few things in life come with no uncertainties, and to me, this is a great way to increase my capital with controlled risk.

Trip to Australia Day 8: Wedding

Congratulations, Darren and Anne :)

Today was the big day. I was on my best behaviour as groomsman. From the start to the end, we the bridal party accompanied the VIPs of the day.

To some people, the customary thing is for the bride and groom to not see each other on the day of the wedding, until the wedding itself. However, in Asian cultures, apparently it's customary to have a tea ceremony and invite all your relatives. I didn't know about the latter until today. It seems my friend Darren didn't know much about it either, being an ABC (Australian born Chinese). But he figured out what he needed to do quick enough.

The tea ceremony involved many greetings, much exchanging of red packets, and delicious lunch catered by Miss Chu. 

After lunch, it was down to business. The photo shoots. Run by Linda Truong.

(The only) One I took myself.

mmmbeeautiful.

In the evening, was the ceremony itself. My highlight was the bridal party procession. Unfortunately, no video, at least from me. But I can say it was fun :) Before the exchanging of vows, we had a sermon preached by our pastor at ALLC. What surprised me, and probably most people in the crowd, was the passage chosen by the couple to be wed. It was Hosea 1.

A surprising passage to be heard spoken on at a wedding ceremony, but one that got my respect. It reminded us of the stark contrast between God's steadfast faithfulness to us, and our repeated betrayal of him. Within that is a reminder of how imperfect we are, and the image of sin that stains the wedding white and happiness. Weddings make people happy. But we know that married life will not always be. It was a refreshing call to reality, that two sinners are getting married, and that will inevitably lead to problems surfacing down the track. At the same time, we are reminded that behind these two sinners is a steadfast and faithful God who will not fail them. And on the darkest of days to come, with God in the picture, they can trust that God will carry them through to the end. Amen :)

Happy new wedded life :)

Trip to Australia Day 9: Flying back

I made my way back to the airport in the morning. After an action packed 8 days back, it's finally time to go back to Japan.

Breakfast on the plane.

Lunch on the plane.

Dinner on the plane.

I just wanted to say, after my experience with Korean Air on the way to Australia and back, I thoroughly loved flying with them. The planes ran on time, air hostesses were really friendly, the food was great, and on the flight to and from Sydney and Incheon, there was a built-in screen where you could watch more recent movies or listen to music (or play games, if that's your thing). Here's a little secret, they also give you free cups of instant Korean noodles if you get hungry between meal times.

After a long day of flying, I finally arrived back at Haneda Airport at 11pm. I realised that the last train that would get me back to my place on time was already gone. So I decided to spend the night at the airport, and set off for Tsukuba (and class first period at 8:40...) tomorrow morning.

Trip to Australia Day 7: Catchups old friends and a wedding rehearsal

The day began at the Grounds of Alexandria. This is the place where the wedding is to be held, but this morning, the reason for coming was brunch with a good high school mate of mine, and his girlfriend, whom I met for the first time. Good chat, good food, good first impressions.

Complimentary danishes. On our way out we were stopped by the danishes stall and the guy told us if we sang a Christmas carol, we'd get a free danish. So the three of us sang Hark the Herald Angels Sing. A couple of bystanders even videoed us singing. It was good to sing to the public about the real reason why we celebrate Christmas.

I had a bit of a kick back waiting for the afternoon, when the other people involved in the wedding tomorrow arrived at the Grounds. We had a quick rehearsal, going through what the ceremony would be like tomorrow. The groomsmen and bridesmaids properly met each other for the first time. It went well.

For dinner, I was the guest of another good mate from church. This one isn't getting married (yet). However, he did introduce me to his girlfriend. We went to a chic Italian restaurant called Vapiano. You order the pasta at the counter, and they make it in front of you. It was a nice experience. Sorry, so keen to eat that I forgot to take photos of the pasta itself :/

Photo taken with my friend, with permission, in front of where you order the pasta and watch the chefs cook it.

Trip to Australia Day 6: High school Bible study group

Having had such a fast paced program back in Australia, I took it easier during the daytime today.

From the afternoon, I met up with the guys I used to study the Bible with back at James Ruse. It was good to catch up once again, and to hear where everyone was at these days, and to see everyone staying strong in the faith.

For dessert we enjoyed a nice selection of gelato from the specials range at Messina. I had a great time.

Trip to Australia Day 5: church, shirts shopping, carols

The day after the retreat, and the bonding games, everyone was out cold. But, I really wanted to visit the Australian sister church in the same alliance as my current church in Japan, while I was back. 

There was just one issue. We were in the middle of the country, and I didn't have a car. Who would have come to the rescue other than the man himself, my friend soon to be wed. He offered to drive me back, even though he had no obligation to, and though he was as tired as the rest of us from the day before. So much gratitude.

Unfortunately at the church as well I was too involved in the moment, and didn't think of taking photos. By nature I'm not really a photo kinda guy. But I try.

I couldn't stay back long at church, because we had unfinished business leading up to the wedding - purchasing matching white shirts for the groomsmen. Once again, none other than the groom to be himself came all the way to pick me up so we could look for a shirt together. There I met his fiance, and a mutual friend of mine, for the first time in maybe two years?

When I mentioned I hadn't had lunch, they offered to take me to the best burgers in town: Grill'd.

My first impressions were pretty good. The place had a sort of modern and stylish yet fairly laid back feel to it. I ordered the Summer Sunset Beef burger. Having heard this place being so highly spoken of, I had high expectations for my burger. Here's what it looked like.

So I gave thanks for the food, and dug in. And my first mouthful... was cold and ordinary. Quite disappointed really. I mean it wasn't a BAD burger, but just not the best burger I imagined I'd eat.

When I told my friend that, what did he do? He called the nearest waiter, told him the burger was cold, and took it back to the counter. And the shop, they brought me another burger, freshly made. That certainly went beyond my expectations.

My second experience was much better. I definitely have confidence in placing it up there as the best burger I've eaten. The bun was freshly baked and crisp, the lettuce was crisp, the meat was juicy (and warm), and the sauce oozed out just the slightest when I bit into it. It's not the biggest burger I've ordered, and it didn't have every single one of my favourite ingredients in it, but for quality, I rate it 9.5 out of 10. I give my friend the same rating. Anne, you couldn't have asked for a better husband.

So after that memorable meal, we met up with the others and went shirt shopping, and found a great shirt. What's even greater, is that the guy serving us is the friend of my friend's fiance. He gave us his members 40% discount ^^

On the way out, we were met by this Christmas tree. But it's no ordinary big Christmas tree.

This Christmas tree, and the decorations around it, are entirely made of LEGO.

On our way back I indulged in a $1 frozen coke at Maccas. This is something I've never seen in Japan Maccas before.

An interesting find at a sushi train restaurant in Hornsby. It's a dessert that looks like a mandarin,  with attention to detail right down to the tiny depressions on the surface, and actually tastes like a mandarin too. In all the sushi trains I've been to in Japan, haven't seen one of these before.

At night, I was able to meet all my old church friends from ALLC at the carols service. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had become a join event run by three churches in the area. I had always hoped to see the churches uniting in their efforts for outreach. Speaking with the main pastor involved, it turns out the carols on the oval has been happening for the past seven years, and this has been the second year ALLC has joined in.

The big space in the bottom of the photo, was reserved for the fireworks. I was quite impressed. In a country where there is a total fire ban, they pulled off quite a spectacular display. And I came from a country where there are more fireworks each year than there are people in Australia. (It probably isn't an overstatement, if you consider the single units of fireworks that are used in total over the summer). They had the rural fire service on site as stand by.