Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Kansai International Airport (KIX), Japan : Our Journey Started

First time going abroad for Footy. Japan!!! Yup, Japan. Because there was a “Free Seat” promo from Air Asia 1 year before departure, we were very tempted to buy two tickets. At first, we thought that maybe we would spent about 7-8 days travelling in Japan. But guess what? We took 11 days travelling time. We bought tickets from Jakarta (CGK) to Osaka (KIX) on March 19th, 2015 first because we had planned to come back to Indonesia from Haneda Airport, Tokyo. So we bought those seperately (we can’t buy CGK-KIX/HND-CGK on 1 transaction only). At the end of our ticket hunting, we finally chose tickets from Haneda (HND) to Jakarta (CGK) on March 30th, 2015 because the prices on March 27-29, 2015 were unfortunately higher.


As the ticket itinerary showed, we would depart from 3rd terminal of Soekarno Hatta Airport, Jakarta to Kansai International Airport , Osaka on March 19, 2015 20.15PM and then transit in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA2) for about one hour and a half. Remember to come to airport two hours before the departure time, especially, if you don’t do web check in first in air asia website and still have a baggage with you. Also, bring along your passport and ticket. We have already done web check-in (you could do it 14 days before your departure time) and didn’t have any baggage so we just went to immigration and airline’s document checking counter directly. Show them your passport and e-boarding pass , if they ask. And here we are in the boarding room before 19.45PM.

Unluckily, Air Asia informed us there was a delay on flight from Jakarta To Kuala Lumpur for about one hour. No choices, we waited in the boarding room that were more crowded from time to time. After about one hour, the plane was ready to fly.

On the plane, everything was great. The stewards and stewardess were kind, seats were comfortable eventhough this was a low cost carrier and the journey were quite smooth. No extreme manuvere, no weather problem eventhough we flew at night. The problem started after we landed in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA2). Kuala Lumpur is GMT+8, one hour faster than Jakarta (GMT+7). Normally the transit time was 90 minutes as the schedule should be before the delayed time. We had a little chat with a woman that sat next to Footy. Her friends then joined us too. We got pretty suprised to know that they would stay in Japan until April 01, 2015. Thirteen days in Japan, 3 women, backpacking style. Wow!!! But we suddenly reliazed that flight for Kuala Lumpur to Osaka wasn’t delayed. So as we counted, the transit time was just about 30 minutes and the flight would depart on March 20, 2015 at 01.00AM. We fastened our walk and left them behind after saying goodbye. The airport was big and luxury, cafes and restaurants were all around the boarding room. Instead of heading to the boarding room, we went to toilet in hurry because people had already queuing in front of the boarding room and the announcement board wrote “Final call 12:40PM”. When we were about to fly, we saw the woman that used to sit beside Footy entered the cabin but we didn’t see the others.


Flight KUL – KIX is operated by Air Asia Benhard X(D7) and uses Air Bus type that has a big capacity. This time, Footy sat in front of me and it wasn’t matter for us. Nothing could be seen because it’s all dark out there. If you do web check-in like we did, your seat will be picked automatically by system. You have to pay more to pick desired seat location. Inside the plane, there were a couple of Japanese sat next to Foody. The woman could speak English fluently and no lack in intonation. She sat in an aisle seat and his husband was in middle. I sat near the window.  My skill of speaking Japanese was just average so I thought it’s better for me not to try to talk to them and try to have a good sleep because we’ll have a long walk after we arrived in Osaka.

Eating time!!!! Meals that we ordered, roasted chicken with cranberry sauce (you can purchased meal before or on board, it was quite efficient rather if you must buy some Malaysian Ringgits just to buy meal) was served in a very big portion at 03.00AM.
The Japanese couple were still awake and ordered a cup of tea. Feeling embrasssed, I was about to talk “I will eat” to them but I felt it would be kind of strange so I just kept my mouth shut. When it was about 05.00AM, a stewardess asked once again whether there was passenggers that has ordered meals and not yet been served. Arghhh!!!! If we knew that it could be served at 05.00AM, we surely get it at this time. (Write in a note. Next time, you’ll know it. Hahahaha.......)

Based on the flight schedule, this plane would arrive at Kansai International Airport on March 20, 2015 08.25AM. I thought that “ Maybe it’s just a kind of waste if I go to Japan but not trying to improve and have a talk with a Japanese. Maybe it’s my fortune that Japanese couple sat beside me. Besides, they could speak English too” so I convinced myself to start a conversation. They were quite surprised to know that I could speak Japanese after about 4 hours sat beside me. They were tourists from Osaka that travelled to Malaysia for holiday and leisure. The old man was about 60 years old and still, Japanese looked healthy. He even explained to me where Hokkaido, Osaka, Tokyo and others were located.

Before the plane landed, we were told to fill a form for custom. If you are going to Japan with family members, then you need to fill one form only. But if you are going with friends, you all have to do each of yours.

Footy even managed to get a beautiful sunrise before we officially arrived. After the plane landed safely, I said goodbye to them, I thought that it was the end of our meeting. But no, they showed us the way to take a bus to the terminal, led our way to immigration section for foreigner. Then they went to the right side which immigration counter for Japanese was located.






電車 の事を分からなければ,駅員 聞いてください
(If you don’t understand about train’s stuff, please ask the station officer), he said.

We didn’t have any baggage so we went to custom checking directly while they were still waiting for their baggages in the baggage belt. Custom officer told us to take out stuffs from our backpacks as their normal checking procedure. Afraid of someting that might happened to us, the old man approached us and asked.

問題 ありますか。(Is there any problem?)
ありません, 生。(No, Sir)

After that, he went back to join his wife, waiting for their baggages. We waved our hands from far away, saying thank you and goodbye once again. Really friendly Japanese couple. The custom officer finished checking out backpacks and we finally said thanks. We thought that we would wait for them but custom officer told us to wait outside. After a long flight (CGK – KUL = 90 minutes, KUL-KIX = 8 hours 25 minutes), we took a break by sitting on a bench outside. For about 10 minutes then we went inside again. Hope that we could get a picture with them but they were not there anymore.

ありがとうございます,伯父さんと叔母さん。あなた達来年もまた会いたいです。
(Thank you, uncle, aunt. Hope we could meet you again next year)



We eat, we walk, we talk
FoodyFooty2
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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Fujiko F. Fujio Museum : Bring Our Childhood Back


Who doesn’t know Doraemon? This cute blue cat robot is so popular worldwide and has become a modern Japanese culture icon. Long series Doraemon manga was created by Fujiko Fujio 藤子不二雄 (a pen name of Fujimoto Hiroshi 藤本 and Mooto Abiko 安孫子 素雄). Fujimoto Hiroshi, born in December 1933, found a same interested manga drawing partner named Mooto Abiko when Abiko was transferred to his elementary school. They made a publishing debut, Tenshi no Tama-chan in Mainichi Shokugasei Shimbun in 1951 and used Fujiko Fujio as a pen name since 1954.


The first Doraemon manga was published by Mainichi Shokugasei Shimbun in December 1996. The story started when Doraemon was sent from 22nd century by Sewashi Nobi to fix his great-great grandfather’s life, Nobita Nobi (のび太野比), who had a lot of financial problems. Nobita was described as a boy that always got a poor grade due to his laziness and bullying that he received at school. This situation impacted on Nobita’s future and so Sewashi Nobi’s. Because Sewashi Nobi could only afford a rejected imperfect robot, there was no other choice better than sending Doraemon.



Their collaboration had earned Obake no Qtaro, Pa-Man, Doraemon and others, but it sadly ended in 1987. Mooto Abiko then turned to black humour genre manga and uses Fujiko Fujio A. as his pen name. Fujimoto Hiroshi kept concentrating in drawing for children genre and used Fujiko F. Fujio.


Children were the reason why Fujiko F. Fujio kept drawing for them. He dedicated his life to children genre manga until his death in 1996 due to liver cancer.
とても 楽しく ドラえもんをかきました
皆さんにも楽しく読んで
いただけたら嬉しいと思います
                                       -      Fujiko F. Fujio




Fujiko F. Fujio Museum was built in September 2011, based on Masako Fujimoto’s desire. Fujimoto Hiroshi’s wife said that she would like to return a favor to children who had supported her husband’s manga. This museum is located at 2-8-1 Nagao, Tama-ku, Kawasaki City, Japan. It was built there because Fujimoto Hiroshi had stayed in that city since 1959 and created some popular mangas there.

Because the museum’s entrance tickets couldn’t be bought in Indonesia, we purchased them by using Loopi Machine in Lawson convenience store in Osaka (March 21st, 2015) for the schedule on March 28th, 2015, 16.00PM. The admission hours are 4 times daily, 10.00AM, 12.00PM, 14.00PM and 16.00PM. You can pick the schedule that fits you best, but only if it’s available. You probably want to buy it early, like one month before the date you want, since they run out very fast. Loppi Machine only provides Japanese language. If you face any difficulties, don’t be afraid to ask for help. The Lawson’s staffs are very friendly and will be glad to help you. After we finished the purchasing, the billing came out and was ready to be exchanged with tickets by giving them to Lawson staffs.


To get to Fujiko F. Fujio Museum, we took a Odakyu-line train towards Shinjuku at Machida station and got off at Noborito Station. Then we took a cute Doraemon bus to get there (210 yen). No parking lot so make sure you use public transportation. You must arrive within 30 minutes before the chosen admission time because you will have to queue before entering the museum.






Once we entered the museum, we were asked which language we preferred and were given brochures, theater tickets, entrance tickets and audio guides. At first, we felt a bit strange why they limit the amount of visitors. Apparently, audio guide is one of the answer. There weren’t many of them and also to avoid that the museum would become too crowded, so the visitors could wander around freely and enjoy the exhibition room with explanation from the audio guide. They provided Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean. Remember that taking videos and photographs only permitted in some areas.











At least, we could finally say that we had a lot of fun and a really great time there, like what Masako Fujimoto said. This museum is originally planned to cheer and bring out the spirit of everybody that loved his husband’s manga.

You may check here to get more information.
Opening hours:
Museum                                              : 09.30AM – 18.00PM
Museum cafe                                      : 10.00AM - 17.00PM
F Theater                                           : 10.00AM - 17.40PM
Museum Gifts Shop                            : 10.00AM - 18.00PM
Last shuttle bus to Noborito Station : 10.00AM - 18.40PM
Admission time                                   : 10.00 AM, 12.00PM, 14.00PM, 16.00PM
(no more shuttle bus service from Noborito Station after this schedule)
Admission fee                 : Adults and college students                 : 1.000 yen
                                         High school and junior school students: 700 yen
                                         Children (over 4 years old)                  : 500 yen
                                         Children (3 years old and under)         : free
Closing days                    : Every Tuesday
                                         New Year’s Holiday (30 Dec – 03 Jan)



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Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Ueshima for UCC Coffee Company


In 1868, the port of Kobe was opened. Since then, western culture grew fast and took root in Japan. In 1933, Tadao Ueshima, who has founded a wholesale business that provided jam, butter and other western food products, was amazed when he tasted his first cup of coffee. ‘Was there anything else as delicious and deep as this?’

Because there were a lot of influences of western culture in Kobe and locals loved the lastest and greatest, he optimized that he could sell coffee well. He set his own coffee business well. The concept of new and modern beverage could attract locals as a place to gather with friends.

Unfortunately, in the start of World War II, coffee was banned to be imported so that was a very tough year for him. In 1950, the crane of import was finally reopened and Tadao Ueshima was ready to go on to devote his life to coffee.

Tadao Ueshima made a world breakthrough by producing the world’s first canned coffee in 1969. This idea came in 1968 when he was drinking a bottled coffee milk at a train station platform. Suddenly, the train blew the whistle as a sign of boarding so he rushed to the shop to return the bottle back without finishing it and got on the train. He thought that was a waste and tried to start a project to develop canned coffee beverage.The project wasn’t easy. Tadao Ueshima tried to find the formula by reading books day and night and conducting the experiments. Artificial sweetness was a common at the time but Tadao committed to create product from coffee, sugar and milk only.


In April 1969, the first canned coffee beverage was created but this new invention was still too new and locals weren’t quite accustomed with this. Expo’70 in Osaka was a way that led him to a successful selling. Visitors, that come to this expo, fell in love with this new canned drink. Sales went really well and became a turning point to new way of drinking coffee.

For his contributions in coffee industry, in 1988 a monument was built in his hometown, Nara by International Coffee Organization. The monument refers to Tadao as ‘the father of coffee in Japan.

'My mission is to pass on the magic of coffee to as many people as possible’
-Tadao Ueshima, founder of UCC Coffee Company-



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UCC, Good Coffee Smile =)

Based on Footy's request who loves drinking coffee, we decided to come to UCC Coffee Company (UCCコー​​ヒー 博物館) in Chuo-ku, Kobe. UCC Group was founded by Tadao Ueshima, that is known as ‘a father of coffee in Japan’. His products of coffee have become hands of sharing the amazing coffee taste as his mission is. We came from Osaka after spent two nights there. We took train to Kobe and got off at Sannomiya Station. After that, we got on Port Liner, and finally arrived at Minamikoen Station. The museum is near enough from Minamikoen Station, just by walking a bit. When you find a bridge and super big IKEA store, you’ll know that you are so close with this cool stuff.

The design of UCC Coffee Museum is definitely unique and this uniqueness makes it easy to be recognized. Watch out! No parking lot here. So if you went here by car, try to find nearest paid parking. After we paid the admission fee (adult = 300 yen/person), we got brochure, Q & A quiz card number and tasting coffee voucher. This museum provides Wi-Fi, so you could have an audio exhibition guide by browsing on www.ucc.jp/museum/sp/en/103.html.

First of all, get the escalator to reach the exhibition room 1. There are 6 exhibition rooms in this museum that will explain to us all details about its each subject. You can see all rooms by descending a gentle slope until you reach the ground floor.

Exhibition room 1: Origin
You’ll get a magnificent history of coffee when it was first discovered in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, the citizen used coffee for Kariomon coffee ceremony . ‘Kari’ means ‘coffee’ and ‘Omon’ means ‘being together’. Then coffee was spreaded to Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, Europe and all around world nowadays. Coffee became popular in Japan since Meiji Period (as a yearning for western culture) and now Japan has become the world’s fourth largest coffee consumer. Museum provides a digital library if you would like to know more.
Exhibition room 2: Cultivation
You could see a complete explaination of coffee cultivation. It started from seed to coffee cherry, from harvesting and development to green beans. They provided large model of coffee cherry to make customer understand well.
Exhibition room 3: Classification
UCC Coffee Museum showed us the high standard of classification that refers to world’s largest coffee producer, Brazil. Brazillian classifiers (known as classificadors) used the excellent senses of taste and smell to evaluate green coffee beans. These professionals had a strict grading system and focus in the size of the beans, number of defects, aroma and flavor.    
Exhibition room 4: Roasting
Roasting is a very substantial process of producing coffee’s aroma, color and flavor. Blending and grinding process will be explained, beside roasting. We could also find many model of machines, such as roasting, blending and grinding machines.
Exhibition room 5: Extraction
In this room, you will be taught how to make 20 types of delicious coffee drinks. 
Exhibition room 6: Culture
 
Coffee, surely, makes a lot of impacts and reaches world’s culture. This room will show you how coffee has lighten up life of ages through music, novel, stamps etc. Luckily, We found this Indonesia’s stamp. Indonesia is the third biggest coffee producing country.

After we finished exploring all those and back to first floor, finally tasting time!!!
Tasting corner has a theme for every month. For March 2015, they served two little cups of Guatemala coffee with ribbons on. Blue one and pink one. Blue ribbon means coffee that is planted on lower area while pink is on higher area. According to Footy, blue cup tasted a bit plain and sour. Pink cup tasted bitter, similar like espresso.   


 Coffee Quiz Q&A Corner is a must-try area. Answer 5 questions and you’ll get Coffee Doctor Certificate with your photo on it. The questions are serious one, testing your knowledge after visiting exhibition rooms but it's truly fun. Even if you don't answer all questions right, you still can get certificate, post card and also questionnaire. They provide the quiz in both Japanese and English.
For souvenirs and to enjoy various types of coffee beans which the plantations are managed by UCC, they also provide shop and cafe in ground floor.


Check this list first before you get there:
Opening hours                 : 10AM to 5PM (last entry at 4.30PM)
Opening hours (for cafe): 10AM to 6PM (last order at 5.30PM)
Holiday                           : Mondays (following day in case Monday is holiday)
                                         The beginning and the end of the year
Admission fee                : Adults (high school students and above): 300 yen
                                        Groups (min. 20 people)                          : 240 yen
                                        Seniors (min. 65 years old)                     : 150 yen
                                        Middle School Students and under         : free
                                        Disabled people(may be accompanied      : 150 yen
                                        by 1 care provider)     
*senior and disabled people must show proper documents

Tadao Ueshima did cool mission, staffs are friendly, design is unique, audio exhibition guide technology is superb, coffee is delicious. Have a great fun here. Thanks!


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