It's been 3 months since the last time I attended the pottery class. My hand-built cereal bowl transformed into a chic Shirohagi (straw-ash) glazed bowl. It shrunk a lot. I think I should learn how to use the potters wheel. I don't want to create more rubbish. No more distorted bowls. Yesterday, I only practiced using the potters wheel. My small sake cups look like poison fungus in the forest, but I couldn't even play with clay on the potters wheel last time, so I believed that I made a big progress. Next time it's for real!

We are back! Since Friday, we couldn't see our site. We thought it was a server problem but we realised that it was something else! The domain name registration had expired. Phew!! We are not closing the site, so please visit us same as before!

Yesterday, I went to see our friend who is in hospital in Ochanomizu. He seemed so much better than the last time, I and my girl friends were relieved and decided to fill our stomach a little bit in a restaurant. There were not many choices in Ochanomizu and we chose an ordinary italian-ish restaurant. When we were inside, I was a little bit surprised to see the interior which was tacky bar style, reminded me of 80's soap dramas and all waiters were wearing in black. Even though, there were lots of customers. Ochanomizu is an amazing place!

I just received a packet. I bought a plate with lots of holes from an Internet Auction. I can wash and serve strawberries with this plate, well I don't buy strawberries often though... I remember this kind of plate was on Japanese TV program for a few seconds about 10 years ago. Since then, I haven't came across plates like this, even in London or Frankfurt. The other day, I suddenly thought about this plate and searched for it. I found one which is made by French company called Degoin (never heard of it) and I bought it. It was very low priced but also super poor quality. The glazing is not even! Maybe French people are not picky? or is this from €1 shop?! Oh well, I still like it.

Last year, I got a DYMO tapewriter for my birthday from my husband. I love this orangy red colour. It's nice that I can type the Japanese alphabets Hiragana and Katakana, not only the Roman alphabet. I sometimes feel like labelling a lots, and almost all bottles of spices are DYMOed now. When we had our friends from oversea, I typed their names in Katakana and they put it on their mobiles. It made me happy!

I've noticed since last week, but I tried not to think about it. But now I can't lie to myself anymore: my eyes are itchy!! It's been very warm and windy these days and pollen is having a party in the air. For the next few months, I won't be able to hang our futon outside in the sun to keep it fresh. I never take medicine unless I feel really sick, that's why I have an entire collection of hayfever medicine. The reason I have 2 boxes each of the British medicine is the two-for-one or the three-for-two deals. We don't have these deals in Japan. It's simply 30% off or 50% off. I shouldn't be delighted with the offers in England, because I might have to throw the second pack away in the end. But I used to 'Buy One Häagen-Dazs and Get One Free' at Tesco supermarket.

My husband came back from snowboarding. He brought omiyage (souvenir) for me, it was just a container of his lunch box!! I expected something completely different, something edible! But I found the name of Mashiko-yaki pottery on the back. Hmmm, actually it looks quite nice (!). A glaze colour is very nice and the feeling of the touch is kind of warm. The big letters of YOKOGAWA STATION on the side makes this proper souvenir product.

My husband is snowboarding this weekend again. I decided to have a dinner/drink with my female friends. All foods were tasty and good with beer! I loved a grilled tuna and leak on a skewer. My friends keep their own bottle of imo-jochu (traditional Japanese distilled spirit made of sweet potato) called Seikou Udoku (means 'work in the field in fine weather, stay at home reading when it is wet', in other words, 'a relaxed life style without bothering by anything') at the bar and I tried a glass. I usually don't drink Shochu but this was very smooth and easy to drink. We wanted just one drink in the second bar but... stayed until 4am, as usual. The last topic was that we are finally old enough to appreciate our traditional Japanese culture such as Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) or Japanese Martial Arts. I feel like learning Ikebana at sogetsu school.

When we got married I was looking for nice lacquered soup bowls. And after a long research I finally found a bowl which I kind of liked it. I went to the shop to see the actual bowl but they didn't have stock! I couldn't wait any longer and I ordered 6 bowls online without seeing them. The bowls I received looked nice, good shape. But it stank! The new lacquered tableware usually have peculiar smell but it wasn't like that. It smelled like soap or something. Anyway, I tried traditional ways of get rid of lacquered smell, soaking the bowls in the weak vinegered water for a while (don't do this for expensive lacquered ware!) or leaving them in a rice storage box. But it still smells bad when I pour something hot. I mean soup. Sadly my husband refused to use it! I also don't like about their stupid dark wood grain on all bowls. I guess it's too late to return them for a refund now. I enjoy internet shopping but it doesn't go well sometimes. Very disappointed.

I read an annoying news. A 42 years old thief who stole money from many houses all over Japan for 20 years, built himself a new house in Ibaragi prefecture 6 years ago. He saved ¥50,000,000 (£245,339) and bought a land for ¥ 20,000,000 and ¥ 30,000,000 for the house which is a 3 floors plus a basement. He has arrested last month for stealing a car. I wonder what happens to the house. Is it still his house?

It was about 15 years ago, when I used a salty toothpaste for the first time. It was just weird and a blue and white stripy toothpaste was much cooler to me as a teenager. And now, I LOVE a salty toothpaste. I've been wanting to try Margaret Josefin' sweety salt flavour for a year. My husband came across his old time toothpaste aronal by GABA at Tokyu Hands. It was very shocking price though! This blue package is for morning and the orange one called elmex is for night brushing. This is a classic toothpaste. Not so special for me! The toothpaste in the middle of a photo makes lots of tiny bubbles in mouth. It makes me feel like throwing up. My husband doesn't believe me though.

I went to Tokyo Tower Amusement Hall for rooms, the fashion trade show. I was meant to help my friend who is a buyer (and also fashion designer) but actually I was just having fun. I haven't seen him for a long time and it was very nice to chat with him. I was taken back to the old time.

I rent Waking Life from a shop. I remember everyone was talking about the visual but the story when this film came out. So I didn't expect that it has an interesting story. But! It was very philosophical and full of contents. I was too busy to follow the dialogues and I fell a sleep! oops! I was so tired!! While the main character sleeps in a story, I was sleeping and talked in my sleep! I watched it again, and I think the music and the animation fit to the story very well. Very intersting film.

The local supermarket near our flat sometimes offers 500g of plain yogurt for ¥100 (50p). It is very good price. It makes me feel that I should buy one, and I always do. I sometimes forget to eat it and realize that "best before" date has almost expired! Yesterday was the same situation again and I tried to make a kind of quark (recently a Japanese company sells quark, but it is a little bit different from the original one) or is it called yogurt cheese? This morning I was happy to see it but it was very sour! I tried with Lyle's golden syrup (pure cane sugar syrup). It would be nice with biscuits, and also mixing with potato salad.

We had a dinner at Italian restaurant near our flat last night. It's not on a perfect location but it seems quite a popular place. Only 2 young lady cooks are working there, it must be hard work for them when it gets crowdy, even it is a small restaurant. We don't go there all the time but it's nice that the owner says 'thank you, as always'. After having a nice dinner, we walked to claska for the Valentine's event. Came home after 3am.

I baked German red wine cake (rotweinkuchen) for Valentine's Day. I used a Bundt Pan called Bavarian which is made by Nordicware an American company (Bavaria, Nordic and America... interesting naming). I always wanted to get it since I saw it online, and I got it last year because I found it on an internet auction. I chose a normal recipe but it wasn't enough to fill a mould. It is huge! American size!

Yesterday, I visited a photographer's studio/flat. The Rainbow Bridge was just in front of the balcony. I could see the Fuji TV building too. It was the kind of flat which you might see in a TV drama!

I don't know why I've been keeping this rubbish. This is a badge of Hato Bus (bus tours of Tokyo). I remember that me and my friend took my husband (boyfriend at that time) to a bus tour when he was visiting Japan for the first time. We chose the Cityrama Tokyo afternoon route. We had an English speaking guide but I think we were too busy to chat and didn't listen to her much. And also I wanted to stay in Asakusa longer. A happy memory. But feeling nostalgic about little rubbish is not very good for tidying rooms...

When I was trying to clear my room, I found my old mobile phones and my husband's. Nokia, my first mobile still looks good to me, I love the wide and flat body. The second one was MOTOROLA which I used in London. Its interface was very bad. I learnt that how important the interface design is! I shouldn't choose only from a brad name and the looks. And I'm using Sony Ericsson nearly 2 years now. Cool colour isn't it? The interface has a tiny problem but still very good. 4 stars. Unfortunately, Nokia' mobile phone isn't very popular for Japanese who cares about the size a lot. But I kind of like their phones. Also you can get the actual size of mobile chocolate at the moment!

We went to Nataraj in Aoyama to have dinner with our friends. They don't use any meat and fish, vegetables and beans are the main ingredients and natural yeast for Nan bread. Everything was so GOOD! I decided to share ice cream called Kulfi with my husband, because it didn't sounds that interesting to me. But it was soo GOOD! It tastes like condensed milk or Chai (spiced tea), very thick and rich texture but also very firm and hard to stick a spoon. Well, if you don't know what I'm talking about, have a try. I would definitely go back there again.

I know Chocomint flavour from ice cream or candy but I found biscuits with this flavour the other day. ANNA'S CHOCOLATE MINT THIN from Sweden. As you know from the name, it is very thin, only 3mm thickness. But it has a strong combination of Chocolate and Mints taste, even I put only one in my mouth. Also it was a real bargain! ¥350 (£1.79) for 2boxes. I got Orange flavour too. It is available in a wide variety of flavours, such as Ginger, Blueberry, Lemon and Cappuccino etc. It seems like you can buy them in London too.

While my husband is snowboarding, I went to Yurakucho where a big sale was held by one of my favourite fashion company. I've just learnt how to throw things away but I ended up buying lots of clothes! Also I don't know why I chose only brown-ish clothes today, looks like I bought them for grandparents! I went to The Conran Shop in Marunouchi building. I became melancholic a little bit. Good old London! After that I bought little snack at DEAN & DELUCA. I'm not a shop-a-holic, but I went home before I spend too much money!

We had too many old dry cell batteries at home. Some electric shops collect old batteries but I always forget to take with me. I searched the Internet and found out that there is a collection box next to the library. I could throw them away finally!

I went to buy bullet train tickets for this weekend. My husband and his mates are going to snowboarding. I thought the ticket shop would open by 10am but it was from 11am. I had a chance to have a relaxed time with coffee in a cafe. I think the pattern on tickets are always nicely designed. A bullet train ticket has kind of sharp and cool design, and our local train ticket is soft and old style.

I went to a public library which is only 3mins walk from our flat. Sometimes I feel like reading printed materials, not only internet! At the newspaper and magazine room was so packed, and the average of users' age was easily over 50! Some men were constantly coughing. This is not a hospital! I was going to read novel but all 5 books I borrowed are about food and house keeping...

Today is Setsubun. When I was a kid, we threw peanuts with shell in a classroom on Setsubun. We meant to eat the same number of beans as our age. Kids get disappointed by this custom, but it's hard to eat/count beans for my age. I was surprised to know that Oni-ishi town in Gunma prefecture welcomes all Oni (evil demons) which are escaped from all over Japan. They shout 'Happiness in! Devils in!' Very lenient!

Yesterday I went to see WE ARE FAMILY by Patricia Piccinini at Hara museum with my friend. A girl playing with stem cells, young cloned boys playing with GBA... it was amazing and also scary. We went to Franklin Avenue in Gotanda where we always wanted to go. We both had a cheeseburger. Yum.

When I arrived at Shibuya station this afternoon, many people with camera were hanging out. Today was the day that Toyoko line changed the train destination from Sakuragi-cho to Moto-machi/Chuka-gai. (Japanese only) People were taking photographs of a new destination sign on a train. I took the photo in the evening, so not many people were there.