Friday, May 23, 2014

NTT East Free Wi-Fi Japan and NAVITIME

So today I wanted to share some information about how to get free Wi-Fi in Japan. I have never been to Japan but I have watched videos from YouTube and read blogs from people who have visited Japan and it seems that accessing to free Wi-Fi in Japan is extremely difficult! Quite surprising, right? Considering how Japan is the world's most advanced country in terms of technology. You can only easily get access to free Wi-Fi from the hotel you're staying at, Starbucks, some train stations and some cafes but it is almost impossible to get access to Wi-Fi when you're on the street and it can be very frustrating for a tourist who is traveling and lost with directions. So to compensate for this lack of need of accessing wireless network for tourists, NTT East have come up and launched this new service available only to tourists where you can obtain a free Wi-Fi card that allows you to have over 40,000 access points available domestically all connected via fiber optic cable, fast and stable access is always possible. Now doesn't that sound awesome? I don't know why it took Japan soooooo long to come up with this but I am sure glad they did. Now this will make my travel trip to Tokyo in October go much more smoothly! =)




You can obtain this free Wi-Fi card at the information center counter at any airport in Japan. All you have to do is just show them your passport and you don't have to fill out any annoying application and there's no fee charge or anything, it is absolutely free! You will get on the card a Wi-Fi ID and a password that you can use to connect to Wi-Fi on your phone. However, there is a limit on how many days you can use this free Wi-Fi for and it is only valid for 14 days. The NTT East network covers almost half of Japan including Tokyo, Hakone, Hokkaido, Tohoku and many other regions of Japan. 



If you would like to read and know more you can visit this page here and here

Another thing that is worth mentioning is that aside from the amazing free Wi-Fi card you can get, there is also a free app that you can download called "NAVITIME" available through the app store. I have already downloaded this app. I hope it is as good as it claims to be. It is highly recommended that you download this travel app and use it with your free Wi-Fi card to make your travel in Japan much more convenient. 

Here are what some of the features that you can use with this app. 






I especially like the feature of the alternate route search as it tells you if the train has stopped running that day and you can find an alternative route to get to your destination. Also the GPS route map and voice navigation is great for people like me who live off of google map to locate how to get to my destination with detailed information. 

I'm not sure how great this app is as most of the features don't work for me at the moment because I'm not in Japan right now. But I'll probably do a full review on the app later when I return from my trip.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Shopping: Crop Tops Trend!

So following my last shopping post where I blogged about the trend of "crop tops" and how it's getting extremely popular in Japan. I bought some from H&M last week (or was it the week before? I forgot when, lol) I bought 2 on sale for $3 only. OMG WHAT A DEAL!!! =D




I also picked up a rose pattern print white skirt that goes well with the white flowers lace crop top that I got.



And lastly I bought this peach pink lace dress. I actually have been looking for something like this and got so excited when I found one at H&M. It also comes in an all white version too. This dress would be great to wear to a wedding or party. I'm actually going to a wedding next year in the summer so this would be perfect to wear. =)

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Japanese Restaurant: Ajisen Ramen

You know spring is here when you see that flowers are starting to bloom! =)

On Tuesday I had a short shift and got off work early. I had to go to the bank in Chinatown to do some business. Transfer money and ask about how to order traveler's cheque to bring with me to Japan for my trip and service fee charge on using my VISA overseas and etc. It was about lunch time when I got off work and I was feeling really hungry. While I was on the streetcar on Spadina, I saw that they have opened a new Japanese restaurant called Ajisen Ramen. I have known about this restaurant before from seeing advertisement on TV but I have never eaten food there. So I decided to drop by to try it out! 





Aijisen ramen is based in Kyushu, Japan. It is known for its white broth, made from the slow-cooking of tender pork ribs with an emphasis on simple, hygienic, convenient, tasty and healthy noodles. I have ordered a ramen served with grilled chicken that day. What I like about this restaurant is they actually serve "rice noodles" for ramen as oppose to the normal yellow egg noodles. I actually don't really like eating egg noodles all that much, I prefer rice noodles more. The atmosphere of the restaurant was really nice and relaxing. Very simple and cozy, nothing too fancy. The waitress and waiter who served me were all Japanese and was also really friendly. I also liked how they played Japanese music at the restaurant as well and they were playing one of my favourite songs by Otsuka Ai "Renai Sashin" when I was eating at the restaurant. I found the size of their ramen to be just right. Not too big and not too small but just right and enough to get you full. Often times when I am eating ramen, I feel like I am so stuffed with food that my stomach is about to explode. I actually finished the whole bowl along with my chicken and still had room for green tea ice cream as dessert! 




Then on my way home that day, I saw the most beautiful Magnolia flower tree in my neighbourhood. It was SOOO PRETTY that I just had to stop and take a picture of it! ♥_



Then when I was heading back home, I saw that the tulips that my mom had planted in front of our house have also started to bloom! 

Friday, May 9, 2014

Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Polaroid Camera

So while I was flipping through flyers last week with my mom because my washing machine had broken down and we needed to buy one immediately to replace it. I came across the staples flyers and saw that the Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 polaroid camera that I have been wanting to get for a REALLY long time was on sale for $79.99 only! The camera is originally $99.99 so about over $100 plus tax if I were to buy it in regular price. Good thing was staples was having FREE shipping too so I saved about $23 in total! =D I was originally planning to maybe wait and buy this camera in Japan because I can probably buy it for a much cheaper price in one of those discount stores for cameras in Akihabara but I decided to get the camera here instead as I might not have enough luggage space to carry it back to Canada, lol. XD I can't wait to test it out and take photos with it! Gonna bring this out with me to High Park next weekend and take some cherry blossoms photos with it.






After I bought the camera online, I was looking on eBay for a case for the camera. Gotta protect my baby from getting scratches and any of type of damage! =P I found this really nice pink leather case that also comes with a close-up lens with a self shoot mirror. OMG HOW INGENIUS!!! This is the PERFECT gadget for every camwhore girl out there! LOL. Japan, you seriously make the BEST things ever when it comes to finding ways to look good in self-portraits. I was actually just thinking how am I going to take good self-portraits of myself with this camera without knowing how I will look it in since you know there isn't a front screen or anything for me to check myself out to make sure I look good in my photo and that I am getting the angle right and not taking a photo with only half of my body/face in the photo. Well, fear no more for messing up on bad angles and wasting films to take crappy out of focus and ugly self-portrait photos of yourself. With the mirror lens attached at the front of the camera you can see yourself easily and take the PERFECT self-portrait shot ever! With films being so expensive for this camera, I do NOT want to have to take like 5 photos to get a perfect shot of myself when taking self-portraits...that's going to cost me a lot of money! T___T






Can't wait for my case and lens to come! I bought one that is shipping from Hong Kong so it'd probably take about 2-3 weeks to come in the mail. Love how you can buy everything from eBay! =) 

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Shopping: New All Pink Items From Forever 21

Did some shopping at Forever 21 on Friday and I am SO GLAD I went there on Friday. Found so many cute tops for a good price as I bought 6 items and my total was only $80 (including tax) Heck, usually I buy like 2-3 things from Forever 21 and it already comes up to be $80 plus tax, lol. I find that I am always shopping at Forever 21 at the right time and day because I always find amazingly good pieces whenever I do go there and I only maybe go there like 1-2 times every every 2-3 months because all the Forever 21 stores are pretty far from me. I can't wait for the new one that is opening at Dufferin Mall soon which is only a 10 minute walk from my house. OMG I am going to go there like EVERY WEEK even if I don't plan on buying anything there, lol. And actually they were having a buy one get 2nd item free on Friday when I went for items that are on sale. BUT their sale items were all mostly winter clothes and I am like soooooo long done with shopping with winter clothes I need some new spring/summer clothes. Plus I need to avoid buying all winter clothes as much as possible because I'm planning to buy all that when I go to Japan in October! So on Friday I actually bought everything in regular price and they were all pretty cheap items ranging from $6 to $22 only. =D


Items I bought starting from top left to right. Sunglasses, pink lace crop top, pink lace skirt, pink lace bralette, polkadot white bralette with bow, light pink skinny jegging pants. Yes, I bought almost ALL PINK items! XD



I got these two cute bralette tops with spaghetti straps. These tops are actually extremely popular in Japan. I see them a lot in Japanese fashion magazines. They are actually to be worn just alone paired with a high waist skirt. It looks like they are rather very sexy and revealing like you'd be exposing your stomach and all but it's actually not so much. Because if you wear them with a high waist skirt then it pretty much covers up your stomach and whole entire body with not much skin showing. However, I would personally wear a light jacket (like leather jacket or denim jacket or even a thin cardigan) over the top when I do wear them with a high waist skirt because I am rather a conservative person where I don't like to expose my back or my chest so openly for people to see like you know pervy people, lol. I know a lot of girls wear these kind of crop short bralette tops with a high waist skirt alone with no jacket/cardigan over but I am not brave enough to do so. Or more like I don't have the confidence to do so...it's just not within my comfort zone to dress so sexy like that, lol(*/∇\*) You can actually also wear them with high waist jeans too or low rise short shorts if you are comfortable with exposing so much skin and daring enough to do so! =P 

Here's some example of how you can pair these crop/bralette tops from one of my favourite instagram fashion bloggers (hilisaa) that I follow. Yes, we have the same name, haha. Love her fashion style, she's got amazing style! Would totally wear all these outfits in a heart beat.  I find that her taste and style in fashion is so similar to my own too! There are also different kind and style of crop tops you can buy too. Long sleeve ones, vest, t-shirts, quarter sleeves, etc. I know that they sell TONS of these crop style clothes and outfits in Japan so I am waiting patiently to buy all of them when I am there in October! =D















I DO NOT own any of the pictures above. Please follow hilisaa on instagram if you would like to see more outfits on how to style crop tops! =)



Just a cute lace pink skirt I got. It's actually more of a pastel peach/creamy pink colour in person. The filter I used in the picture just made it more pink. XD



Also got this super pretty and cute pink long sleeve lace crop top that coincidentally happen to match and make a good outfit with the pink lace skirt I got. The pink lace top was also the last one left at the store too. I'm just really lucky to have found it. Actually I'm always pretty lucky whenever I shop at Forever 21 in finding last pieces, haha. I have good eyes perhaps or just really really good luck! ^____~



OMG I was SOOO HAPPY to find these pink jegging pants and they were only $18!!! I have been wanting to get light pink jegging pants for the LONGEST time but they always sold out my size whenever I find them at the store. T_T So when I found that they have my size I immediately grabbed them right away before someone else takes them! XD They also sell them in white which I also wanted to get one but they didn't have my size in white. =( I'm planning to go back again next week and hopefully they will restock the white in my size. =)



Cute sunglasses I got for fun to wear in the summer time. 
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...