Japan Crate Review

Wud up, this month has flown by, but at least there's a long weekend this week to look forward to. I decided to treat myself and sign up for Japan Crate. I had heard of the service awhile ago, but hadn't found the time to sign up for it. Since June is my birth month I figured it would be a nice birthday present for myself.

Japan Crate is a monthly subscritption box filled with candy. They have different sizes, so I decided to go all out and sign up for their Premium box which has 2 pounds of candy and comes with a drink.

The goodness 

You get a nice card with information on all the candy. I also got a cute little Totoro figure!

What's actually interesting is that my mom bought a crate for my niece too. She called me one day sounding tried as heck and asked me where would buy my Japanese snacks from before I moved to NYC. My niece apparently really wanted to try some. I asked my mom how she got into them, my mom was like, "I don't know. How did you find that s***." The shade was real that day lol So I told her about Japan Crate and she ordered the June one for our little lady.

Everything was straight up good! There wasn't anything I didn't like. I also like how you get DIY kits. This was my first time making one; Boba and I decided to make them together. Both were delicious and really fun to make. I love that Japan Crate also has videos for how to make the DIYs in case you want something for reference.

It has really hard to pick my favorite snacks since there wasn't a single thing I disliked. I finally settled on two: one savory and one sweet.

These snacks are peach gummy heaven! They're called Happy Nikukyu which translates to Happy Paw.  I literally searched online for a few days to find out where I could get these. J List has them back in stock, so I plan to buy some from their soon.

But these snow pea chips tho. I need to try to find these babies and Dainobu or Sunrise Mart because ya girl has a mighty need.

I decided to stay subscribed, so I'll let you know if I receive anything super interesting in July's crate. As a huge fan of Japanese snacks, I really love this subscription box because it helps you discover more snacks. Thanks for reading!

Visiting FAO Schwarz ❤︎ | Photo Heavy

Hope everyone is staying cool in this humidity. This may be the year that I break down and by an air conditioner -_- I found out in May that FAO Schwarz would be closing it's Fifth Ave location and relocating. Even though I have lived in the city for awhile I had never been. I asked Boba if he wanted to go there on a date since it had been a long time since he'd been there.

I thought it would be a good idea for us to stop by Dainobu to grab some snacks for the day. On the way we passed by Midtown Comics and decided to stop in. I saw the Jem and the Holograms comics and could not resist since I heard rave reviews for it. And since they were having a Memorial Day sale I should grab a few things. I also have an account with them. The lady at the counter recommended we check my account first just in case it was more of a discount than the sale. I ended up getting all three volumes for $3 due to my account^^ I have no idea why it was so low but I ain't complainin! 

We continued on our way to Dainobu. We loaded up like crazy with onigiri, takoyaki, and sweets like daifuku. It was my first time taking Boba, and I think he really liked the store. They also have fav drink, Mango Skal, in a large size #bless

Boba suggested we walk over to FAO. I forgot how annoying it can be to walk on 5th Ave. I'm typically not in that area because most of the shops are ridiculously expensive and it's always crowded. It wasn't too bad because we weren't in a hurry.

By the time we reached the store,  we both had worked up an appetite with the heat and all our walking. We sat in mini park right outside FAO and devoured our food. I snapped a few pictures of the iconic toy soldier before went in.

The Magical Art of Translation Lecture at Japan Society

Last month, Japan Society had an amazing lecture discussing translation, Murakami, and some of Japan's up and coming novelists. The panel also shared their thoughts on what it's like to be a writer and a translator. I had some time before the lecture because I left work a little early. I headed to Vivi bubble tea and Dainobu to grab a snack before the event.

I also saw that the Sebastian Masuda's Hello Kitty time capsule was there for his TIME AFTER TIME art project. It was so cute! I meet up with Tiffany shortly after snapping this pic of her majesty, Hello Kitty.

I was super excited to learn that Jay Rubin would be there. He has translated a lot of Murakami's work. They discussed how writing in a foreign language is a valuable tool to free yourself from tradition.

For a lot of the speakers on the panel, translation is a huge piece that plays into their own fiction and their writing process which is something I can relate to. I dabbled in translation in college when I decided to do a conference project producing my own translation of a few scenes of the manga Death Note and comparing it to the official English translation. I found a lot of disparities in language and tone. In my opinion, the official English translation did not carry enough nuance to highlight how creepy/scary of Light and Ryuk's interactions.

It was also refreshing to learn about newer writers in Japan since I'm a huge fan of Japanese literature. There was a writer on the panel named, Aoko Matsuda, and I am really excited to check out her work. I really loved hearing her speak about her thoughts on being a translator and a writer. There was another amazing speaker, Motoyuki Shibata, who is one of Japan's most well known translator and founder of Monkey Business. Also, Monkey Business is a great way to learn about new work from Japan.

Japan Society always has such amazing events and I consider myself lucky to be able to have access to such a wonderful institution. I really enjoy reading works by POC and LGBTQ+ writers and people with different gender identities, and the lecture gave me more writers to check out. I recently picked up the first book in a YA series by a WOC named Marie Lu which I will review after I finish it. Thanks for reading!

Sakura Amidst Chaos: Prologue Review

Hello lovely bunnies! I'm here with my review of Voltage's latest release Sakura Amidst Chaos. This prologue was available prior to yesterday's release through Sweet Cafe. I decided to wait until the official release to give it a go. Hope you enjoy!

June 2nd, 2015

The prologue starts with you as a thirteen year old that has been separated from her mother during an attack. You are saved by a red-eyed samurai and reunited with your mother. The story picks up where you awaken from a dream reminiscing about being saved by red-eyed man. You and your mother live with your mean aunt and cousin and are forced to do hard labor everyday. On your way to start your day's chores, you hear the women in your village talking about the handsome samurai fighting against each other. You by chance happen to meet all five that same fated day. A few days later you receive a letter from them...

The Guys of Sakura Amidst Chaos

• Oda Nobunaga: Bold and strong
• Uesugi Kenshin: Beautiful and kind
• Tokugawa Ieyasu: Smart and sincere
• Sanada Yukimura: Cold, but fair
• Date Masamune: Cool and reserved