A 10 yen penalty

Nico: When me and MJ started to date, we used half Japanese and half English. But as MJ's Japanese got better, we weren't using English much. Then, my English started getting worse. And MJ's Japanese got fluent. 

In the first place, I don't use English well in spite of studying hard for a long time. Hm, lots of Japanese write English better than speaking though. Even though lots of Japanese don't use English basically. Well, maybe you already noticed what I want to say. Yes, after I write these blogs, MJ checks my English and corrects as little as possible. 

When we started to live together in Japan, we decided to use Japanese and English every other day. Besides, we decided to pay 10 yen as a penalty for using English on a Japanese day or Japanese on a English day per sentence. Because when we had long distances between Australia and Japan, after MJ went back home finishing her study as an exchange student, we did same thing on skype everyday. But it didn't work. We couldn't continue it. There are lots of people who say `if you get foreign girlfriend/boyfriend, you'll become to be able to use her/his language'. I don't believe it. Because, human beings choose easy way over hard one.

Anyway, we started it again with penalty. 

At first, we did it well. Though we got lots of 10 yen coins in a piggy bank.

But again ! We realized that we couldn't continue it. MJ's Japanese got more fluent. She is working in Japan. So if we started to talk in English, it changed to Japanese without us noticing. We didn't realize we forgot to pay 10 yen for penalty.

I was worried about my English when MJ's mum and one of her mum's friends came to our apartment while their holidays from Australia. I couldn't talk much with them in English. I'm really glad they were so kind. They talked to me slowly, easily and had patience with my terrible English.

  

We started it again before meeting MJ's friends while on our Christmas holiday in Tokyo (they also stayed in Tokyo for their holiday). I know you already guessed it. I couldn't talk with them in English and I couldn't understand what MJ and they were talking about. So they changed to speak in Japanese later. Thank you!

Yesterday, me and MJ met MJ's friend, who she has known each other since they were children, and her fiance. I asked MJ to tell them my English is not so good. What kind friends MJ has! 

Now I am using only English. Me and MJ decided to talk in English only. In May, the other MJ's friends will come to Japan. I want to get my English better before then.

Besides, we sent contract to agent for helping to apply my immigration visa to Australia just before. I want to talk MJ's mum, family and friends in English fluently same as talking in Japanese. 

By the way, do you know people change their personality with what language they use? But maybe that's only for people who are truly fluent.     

        

Q.L.D.s - from Coral Bay to Miyako

Nico : You know I'm Japanese. I have a small wish about alcohol. I wish I could drink more alcohol than I can. Lots of Japanese can't drink much, and their body gets red when they drink alcohol at once. I wonder if I could drink lots and wouldn't turn my face red, I could have more fun. If only my face doesn't turn red, I wouldn't be embarrassed on the train going home. Because if I drink only 2glasses of wine, I look like a woman who has drunk a great deal of alcohol. 

MJ: I love the beach, I love sunsets, I love quiet drinks at sunset and I love Italian food. In Miyakojima, there is a small bar, just overlooking Painagama Beach that let's you enjoy everything I love.

It is a small bar called 'Bar Alchemist', above the Italian restaurant 'A Dish'. Before Nico and I first went to Miyakojima 'A Dish' for dinner, and then a drink above at 'Bar Alchemist was recommended to us, so that is what we did. A beautiful Italian dinner and wine, and then up the stairs outside to the bar.

We sat on the balcony outside, lit with just a few small candles and looked out over the beach. Just beautiful.

But then we saw some other customers having food brought up to them from the restaurant! 'A Dish' and 'Bar Alchemist' are separate, but have an agreement where bar-goers can order food from the menu.

So this time when Nico and I were going to Miyakojima we decided we would skip the restaurant part and just have a few drinks and a meal sitting outside at Alchemist.

 And it was beautiful!

A few Cuba Libres, a lovely sunset over the ocean (I miss that so much!), and the best Gorgonzola risotto I've ever eaten is an absolutely amazing evening.

Me and MJ went to Utopia in Miyako Island

Nico : I had one thing I was disappointed when we went to MIyako island in winter. Because I love lots of fruits of Miyako island in summer. 

Last summer, me and MJ bought lots of yummy Mangoes and island bananas.

We often went to farmers market and bought big yummy mangoes under 1,000 yen.

After snorkelling, we ate them whole beside beautiful beach in summer.

This are island bananas. They are small as your fingers and taste really fresh and refreshing.

taken from http://www.utopia-farm.net/annai.htm

In winter, we could buy mandarins and custard apple. There are passion fruits at farmers market too. But I wanted to have yummy apple mango like in summer. So we went to this shop. The name is `Utopia Farm'.

 

 Wow !!! We could have soft served ice cream same as in summer !!! 

This is passion fruits mixed in one. In winter, I felt they put in more fruits than in summer.

 Mango's one too.

Me and MJ were really happy having yummy soft served real tropical fruits ice cream same as summer. Because it was so close to New Year's, and winter, we thought the shop wouldn't even be open!It is real utopia.

So-ki soba noodles and farmers market in Miyako Island

MJ: Although Nico and I don't really like Miyako traditional foods, we LOOOOOOVE Miyako soba. It is so simple, but so ridiculously tasty. And generally, incredibly cheap as well.

Our favourite is probably 'so-ki soba'. It is stewed pork ribs (with the carilage still attached) over soba noodles, and a beautiful gentle flavoured broth. The noodles aren't the normal brown/grey soba noodles most people know about- they are white and quite thick, but nowhere close to udon sized.

While we were in Miyakojima, Nico and I were searching for the best so-ki soba we could find. We went to a little tiny shop called Koja Honten. It was Tucked behind several streets, and all the staff were middle aged women.

After Nico and I had sat done and ordered, one of the staff came over and asked where we were from. When I said Australia, she was really excited 'I guess you must speak English!! Will you listen to my English for me?' and she started to speak at top speed in English at me. After talking for a few minutes we found out that she was about to turn 80, and spends each Saturday at English Conversation School practicing English. Her reason? Occasionally she gets tourists in her restaurant and she wants to be able to speak to them about their orders. Although　Miyako accented, her English was really good. And all to speak to tourists wanting to order noodles. She was absolutely amazing!

And the so-ki soba was unbelievably good!

Nico:　I love to go shopping  to local supermarket wherever I go traveling. So we went to some local supermarkets in Miyako Island too. I love farmers markets especially.

Taken from http://travel.jp.msn.com/domestic_guide/B47011907.html

I especially love `Atarasu-ichiba'. This is one of the farmer's markets in Miyako island. They are open from 9:00am to 7:00pm. At the end of 2011, they opened until noon.  

In Miyako island, you can buy lots of tropical fruits there. They are cheap and fresh. If you don't know when the fruits are ripe for eating, the clerks tell it kindly to you. 

In summer, me and MJ bought lots of cheap and yummy apple mangoes there. And this winter, we bought lots of mandarins and a custard apple. Of course, there are not only fruits, but also some local produces. I looove guava leaf tea. It helps to lose weight, and is really tasty.

Of course, there are also normal supermarkets convenience stores in Miyako island. But around normal price and just usual foods found anywhere in Japan.  

And.... I want to introduce another restaurant in Miyako island.

It is in the youth hostel we stayed at a first time in Miyako. The name is Koshibaru-shokudou'. It's not open for very long each day, but the dishes are so yummy.

                                                               

This is so-ki soba too. The meat is different from Koja-honten's one. Soup is different too. I love this one the best. It's only 550yen.

This one is MJ's favorite. It's called dragon soba. It is Miyako soba but instead of so-ki meat, lots of spicy vegetables.

In Miyako island, you can eat lots of yummy foods whatever the season.

Saa-taa-andagii is made by sugarcane

Nico : This time I want to introduce traditional sweets of Miyako island. Having traditional sweets while I stay in the island makes me feel composed. 

Speaking of Okinawa(Okinawa is one of the prefectures in Japan. Miyako island is one of the islands of Okinawa islands.) , tinsukou is the most famous of Okinawa traditional sweets. Tinsukou are cookies like short bread. They are made from  flour, sugar and lard. In Miyako island, yuki-sio flavored one is special. 

 Yuki means snow and sio means salt in Japanese. Yuki-sio is like powder snow salt. It contains lots of minerals from seawater.

In a history, Miyako island is made from coral that rose above the ocean. It is made up close to seawater as same as possible. So if you put it into water and stir, you can make seawater of Miyako island.

Yuki-sio tinsukou is sweet and salty. 

Saa-taa-andagii is one of the most famous Okinawa traditional sweets too. In Miyako island, it is called satapanbin. It is donuts made with sugar from sugarcane. 

Yummyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Peanuts kokutou is fried peanuts coated with sugar of sugarcane. Kokutou means black sugar and it made from sugarcane. You might not stop eating until it's all gone!

This one is peanuts brittle made with sugar of sugarcane. It's unbelievably yummy.

This small donuts is similar to satapanbin with sesame. It is more sweet than satapanbin. It is called Nada-sousou. Nada-sousou means `tears streamed down' in Okinawa Japanese. 

Kokutou ame is sugarcane candy. It tastes really good with black coffee.

They are all usually handmade. Besides, they are cheap and yummy. Me and MJ went to a souvenir shop in Miyako island lots of times while we stayed there. If you go to Miyako island, you can buy them at Kamehama omiyage-ten. The owner of this souvenir shop is an elderly couple who are real Miyako island people. They are sweet and wonderful.    

Soraneko-juujisha is the best bakery in the world

Nico : Sora means sky, neko means cat in Japanese. Me and MJ love the bakery in Miyako Island. This bakery is a specialty store of `pain au levain'.  You can eat real yummy breads while relaxing and looking at the beautiful ocean, wherever you are on Miyako Island. This is maybe the only type of this bakery on the island at the moment! But I suppose you only need one, when it only takes 20 minutes to get anywhere on the island if you have a car.

a sign board of the bakery `Sora neko juujisha'

Last summer when we went to the island, we went to the bakery for the first time. It was also our first time to go to the island. So we prepared lots for having yummy foods at there because we don't like true Miyako traditional food except Miyako soba noodles. We liked it so much we went there twice!

The entrance sign for the bakery

The owner came from another prefecture and she started this bakery around 5years ago. When we went to the bakery this winter holiday, she talked to us ` Long time no see'.  She remembered us. We were really glad she remembered us.  

Taken from http://www.ritou.com/spot/view-miyako-m93.html

The bakery takes days off  every Wednesday and Thursday. And it is open Friday to Tuesday 11:00am to 6:00pm. If you go there, take care of the times. But the final week of 2011, she opened the bakery. Besides, there is island time in Miyako.     

 

taken from http://miyakojima.net/matikado/gourmet/soraneko-jujisha.html

 

If you missed the bakery, you can buy her breads at supermarket ` Max Value Miyako Minami Store'.  If you are lucky, you can buy her bread. We also bought her breads for breakfast.

One of our favorites is having her breads near the beach `Painagama'. You can see beautiful ocean and feel nice sea breeze. We'll go to the bakery every time when we go to Miyako island, absolutely!   

A Miyako New Year

MJ: In Perth, New Year's Eve means party time. It is important to most people, and the idea of not being awake at midnight is unthinkable to most people. I remember being a little kid at the yearly camping trips to Busselton and Ledge Point and being so upset that Mum and Dad thought I was too young to be awake for the New Year. The first time I stayed awake I was so proud of myself!!

In Japan, New Year is generally for family, and although young people do have parties, it isn't the guaranteed party town like Australia.

On Miyako Island (Miyako-jima) it is an even smaller event -  Miyako is much closer to Taiwan than Japan, and the indigenous culture of Miyako has more similarities to Chinese culture and so the Miyako people do both, but celebrate on the same day as Chinese New Year as well.

Nico and I opted for a quiet New Year planning to be in Miyako - we weren't even sure if restaurants would be open during that time, but were pleasantly surprised to see that life continued as normal.

Our New Year celebrations started at Kuusu - an Asian bar restaurant that serves the best nasi goreng, and chicken dish ever! They even provided as 'service' a bowl of soba noodles that are always eaten on New Year's Eve.

Soba noodles for New Year's (toshi koshi soba)

 At about 11pm, the owners of the guesthouse we were staying at took us to the Miyako Temple (Buddhist). In Japan after the opening of the New Year, temple bells are rung 108 times to eliminate the 108 human desires. Nico and I, after lining up with all the locals, were nuber 2 of the public groups to be able to ring the bell!

 After receiving the weirdest coke I've ever had (warmed up, with lemon and ginger in it) we walked literally across the road to the Miyako Shrine (Shinto) to make our offering there. It amazes me that most Japanese people are able to go through life following rituals and traditions of two religions. I like it a lot.




The next morning we were greeted by a version of the traditional New Year's meal for breakfast - Nico and I both struggled to eat some of the foods, but we managed with our strong coffee and the promise of one last snorkel before we caught our plane home.





We FINALLY managed to snorkel at our favourite snorkel beach - Yoshino. Due to strong winds it had been to wavy to swim before our last day but we got  there. The only problem was we spent the next few hours picnicking at Painagama Beach so we had somewhere to dry our wetsuits before we caught the plane home!

Drying wetsuits

Chura-umi means beautiful ocean in Miyako island Japanese

Nico : I have to communicate in writing now. I have a trouble with my throat. Even though I had cold, I snorkeled in Miyako island. Then when I breathed in cold air, my voice became hoarse. But I couldn't stop snorkeling. The beaches were too beautiful to stop.

Me and MJ went to Miyako island from Dec 28th 2011 to Jan 1st 2012. Miyako island is one of the islands of Okinawa Japan. It is small and unbelievably beautiful island.

   

It is winter in Japan. Hyogo prefecture (where we live) is around 7 degrees these days. But in Miyako island, it is around 20 degrees in winter. So we snorkeled with wet suits there.

There are lots of beautiful corals and fish!!! You can see them only 2 meters from beach.

It was like being in aquarium. We watched a big fish about 50 centimeters near the beach! It's amazing!!!

We snorkeled after check-out and dried our wet suits until the flight for going back home.

Yes.

There are no shower and rooms for changing clothes while in winter.