As I was writing this entry, it surprised me how many Instagram posts I had for August 2019. This post is definitely photo heavy, so I hope you’re ready. Then again, I guess I should have expected it. After all, August is when we get a week off from work/school because of Japan’s Obon holidays, so it makes sense that I had more adventures this month. Especially since I didn’t get to enjoy my one week summer break the year before (2018) because I was stressing out about preparing and studying for my PhD entrance exams. I remember I spent almost that entire week holed up in my dorm room just reading and watching lectures online while I enviously scrolled through my friends’ summer adventure posts on social media. I also remember promising myself that I would definitely enjoy myself the next summer and make the most of the short break.
My first post for the month was actually a late post from July. It was some pizza, donuts and fries from Pizza Hut and Mister Donuts. Ray and I got some take-out one Saturday night and ate them while watching Grimm on Netflix to unwind from a stressful week. (I was obsessed with that show back then. I was sad to learn that it’s not on Netflix anymore.)
One thing that Japan’s summers are known for are the fireworks festivals. The previous year, Ray took me to Kobe to watch one, and I enjoyed it so much that I told him I wanted to go again. This time we invited some friends to come with us.
花火. Fireworks are definitely the symbol of summer in Japan. Ray managed to get this great shot during the event.
I saw a lot of people wearing a yukata the previous year. It looked like fun so I decided to dress up this year.
I told Anna that I was planning to wear a yukata, so she decided to dress up too. Ate Pinky didn’t have time to prepare her yukata, because she only decided to come with us about an hour before we left for Kobe.
We met up with our other friends while we were there. Here’s us with Princess Yehlen (who also came with her family to watch the event). It’s good that we had friends who were there too, because they were able to save us a spot. The previous year Ray and I arrived really early so we were able to secure a good spot. This year we made it about an hour before the start of the show, so it was already super crowded. Thankfully Ate Ricca and Kuya Nick were already there and saved a space for us. We dropped off our bags with them and went to buy some food. By the time we were done, the crowd was so intense that we barely made it back to the rest of the group 😵 The fireworks started while we were fighting the crowd and looking for a way to get back to our picnic mats, but thankfully we didn’t miss much.
Here’s another great shot that Ray took
I really liked these ones. I’m not sure if they’re supposed to be planets, or flowers, or something else. But they looked really interesting.
Another summer adventure we had that year was our visit to the Fukui Dinosaur Museum with Ate Elaine and her family
Ray and I woke up at 2am and headed to Ate Elaine’s house. We left the car at their house since we decided to just ride with them. It was a 4 hour trip to get there, so it’s good Ray didn’t have to drive.
There were lots of interesting things to see inside the museum and it was a good way to escape the summer heat. (Unfortunately a lot of people had the same idea so it was really crowded inside.)
I didn’t realize there were so many dinosaur fossils in Japan.
After the museum, we headed to the beach to cool off. (Yehlen’s crying because she got some sand in her eyes, poor baby.)
I had another out-of-town trip planned with friends after this so I really wanted a good vlogging camera. I used to use my Canon Vixia but unfortunately it broke the previous year. I had been using my GoPro, which is great, but I wanted something that had a screen in front so I could see if I was framing myself properly when I talk to the camera. Eventually I decided to invest in the DJI Osmo Action – an action cam DJI released to rival the GoPro Hero 7. I liked it because it has dual screen capabilities. . Plus it has great stabilization (same one DJI uses in their drones). I still really miss my Vixia but since Canon discontinued it I had to look for alternatives.
After I decided that I wanted this camera, Ray and I went to several electronics shop to look for it, but it was hard to find one which carried it. Many shops had it on display but they didn’t have any available stock. Finally we were able to find it at Bic Camera. I’m happy I decided to get this camera because it’s been three years since I bought it and I still use this camera for vlogging to this day. They actually already released the the Osmo Action 2 and 3, but so far I’m happy with the one I have and see no reason to upgrade.
One of the places we visited during our Obon trip was the Toyota Automobile Museum. We had a lot of fun seeing all the different car models through the years.
I liked the cars with the gullwing doors
And I thought that this huge pink car was awesome!
There were so many different sports cars from all over the world. It was fun trying to imagine myself driving one of these.
Since Ray is always driving me around everywhere, I decided to repay the favor.
But he got freaked out when he realized how easily I can be distracted
And how I like to use my phone while I drive. (Just kidding! I would never use my phone while driving, unless the car is fully stopped.) Back when these photos were taken, the idea of driving Ray around Japan was only a dream, but as I mentioned in my Life Update entry, I actually got my real Japanese driver’s license this year so I’ve been able to drive for him for real.
After the Toyota museum, we headed to Shimizu where we would be spending the night. It was still early so we explored the nearby S-Pulse Dream Plaza. Ray took this photo of me there. I love that the background is almost perfectly symmetrical. I only wish there were flowers on the right pillars too.
It was very windy that day
The next day we went to the Mishima Skywalk. But since it was raining, we decided to explore the nearby Sky Garden first since it was indoors, and hoped that the rain would stop soon.
The garden had some props that visitors could use for their photos, like this flower crown.
Some cute eggs (?) we found there
Unfortunately the rain never fully stopped so we decided not to go on the Sky Walk. It was too foggy and we wouldn’t have been able to see anything anyway. We decided to just take a photo with this model of the Sky Walk before leaving.
The next day the weather did a complete 180. It was extremely sunny. We went to Fuji Q, a huge amusement park that had a great view of Mount Fuji.
We only went on one ride since we were more interested in taking photos. We took a lot while we were in the park, but for some reason I only posted this one. This was our favorite Fuji Q photo spot 😂
Back in Kyoto, Ray took me to a fabric store where I found this adorable one with tiny rabbits printed on it. (You can’t really tell they’re rabbits though, unless you look closely.) It was really cheap too since it was in the pile of scrap fabrics. I figured I could use it to make some overalls.
I made lots of mistakes while sewing, and it involved a lot of trial and error, but I learned a lot. (Please excuse my dirty mirror in the photo.)
But I’m very proud of the outcome because this was only the second dress I made from scratch 😀 What do you think?
I really like it, but I told myself that my next goal was to make something with a zipper. So far I’ve been sticking to using buttons and elastics because sewing zippers sound scary.
Over all I had an amazing summer break, which you can probably tell from these photos. I took lots of vlog footage too, using my new camera, but unfortunately I never got around to editing it. Hopefully once I catch up on blogging, I can start editing some old vlog footage too. I can’t promise when that will happen, but don’t be surprised if it takes me another 3 years, lol.
I really had fun writing this entry since I had forgotten how many adventures I had that summer. I’m glad I was able to have this chance to take a break from my experiments and enjoy myself, especially after all the stress I went through the previous months.
If you’re interested in watching my IG stories from that month, here’s the video compilation:
What I have shown you is reality ... 