Visiting a temple with my Kimono club ♥ Neko in a Furisode Kimono

Hi there (^-^)v ~♪

On the 1st of January 2014 I visited the buddhist
Eko-Ji Temple in Düsseldorf with the Kimono club of my 

university in which I am. We had a really great time ♥
I hope all of you had a great start into this year !
My friend Bea who's currently living in Japan let me wear
her Furisode Kimono ! I love how it looks *-*
Our leader Becci helped everyone with the complicated
Obi tie-techniques. Thank's for always being so helpful and caring ! :3
It felt really nice to go out wearing Kimono again in such a big group.
These are some of our Kimono club members :

[ In the background of the photo you can see the temple ]

~♥~
If you want to wear a Kimono too you can get dressed
 and borrow a Kimono-Set for 1 Day here :
Kimono Rental : Hanabiraya
The service is only available in Düsseldorf and the area around it.
~♥~

I was really glad Becci let me wear one of their white stoles

for Kimono *-* I've always been wanting to wear one.
You also wear this on
♥ Seijin no Hi 成人の日 ♥
It's a Japanese holiday called coming of age day on which
you realize and celebrate that you have become an adult.
It is held anually on the second monday of January.
So my time finally comes next monday ! I'm really excited ♪
This day has been something really special to me since I learned
about it when I was 14. I think the outfits are really enchanting
and very appropriate for such an important event in your live.
Heer are some pictures from Seijin no Hi in Japan :

Oh gosh the pink Kimono on the very left is the prettiest ever !
I want to get a similar one soon ♥

The back of my outfit :

With Wiebke ~♥

A snapshot I took of Valeria *-*
I also did her hair ♪ I think she looked really elegant.

Our leader Becci ~ her Obi was just stunning ♥

~♥~

Us walking inside the Japanese garden in front of the temple :

~♥~

At the temple you could put some money in this box and then pray.

Inside :

After our visit at the temple we all cooked together with Becci at her home.
She translated some Japanese recipes for us ♥
I'm always happy to learn some new things to cook from her ! *-*
Her food always is so delicious. We had different kinds of Onigiri,
self-made Miso soup and some side dishes.

I cooked the sweet potatoes :

Neko's music:

A song by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu fitting to Seijin no hi:
can you hear her sing: "Hatachi 二十歳" ?
It means "being 20 years old" ♥ like I am.

English Lyrics :
Hatachi(=20 years old), hatachi, hatachi, hatachi!
I, hatachi, frisodation of hatachi!
Hatachi, hatachi, only hatachi?
You see, I'm hatachi, hurisodation of hatachi!

Hello,
on such an aniversary
I can say "thank you" from my heart
Though I'm always shy,
this is the important day, just onece in my life

The bitter part of chocolate...
Is it adult? Is is child?
I wanna dream forever, so 
get into this rhythm 

Thank you,
to meet you everyone,
I have had many kinds of adventure
This year, and even next year comes,
I won't forget this excitement!

I light the candle light
for you, who always love a love like
the sweet and sour part
in a short cake 

Is it happy to be an adult?
Is it sad to be an adult?
What to do?
What can I do?
Can I do only now?

Thank's for reading !
See you next time (^-^)v ~♥ nyan

My Kimono club, Japanese cooking & candy ♥

Hi there (^-^)v

the last few weeks I've done an aweful lot.

I had to do very much for university but I also

spend lots of time with the Kimono Club in which I am ♥
We meet once every week and practise how to dress in
Kimono. It is not  just dressing up, the whole action

has to have a certain beauty and there are lots of rules

how to move and how to dress as the way you dress in
Kimono has a lot of meaning and you can send

lots of messages with the way you dress.

This whole art of dressing in Kimono [着物] is called

Kitsuke 着付け ♥

During my studies it really became a huge passion of mine

and I want to get a lot better in it and collect a lot more

Kimono during my life. At the moment I own 2 Kimono

and 1 Yukata. One Kimono is light pink and real silk

and the other one is white with a black pattern on it.

I will take some photos with them soon.

It's finally summer here in Düsseldorf and totally hot !

It's great and I'm doing a lot with the 着物 club

and my Senpai Bea ♥

This is a snapshot I took when we we're eating in the Japanese
restaurant Naniwa in Düsseldorf. 

At the moment I practise my Japanese with her and she

helps me a lot with my grammar etc. as she is about to

finish her Japanese studies. I really love talking to her and

I'm learning so many new things about Japan and life 

since I study. It is really extreme and impressive how

much you learn about life and people when you go to

University. You really start getting a far bigger horizon

and become a lot more versatile. This is such an important

experience in life in my eyes. I really have to say that so far
this is the time in my life about which I'm the most 

happy and pleased about. I'm excited about what still is

about to happen in the future *-*

And I just had to edit her photo a little like this, she's so cute

I thought she just has to get some Neko Mimi (ﾉﾟ▽ﾟ)ﾉ☆彡

Matcha latte ♥

 A snapshot in the Kimono club °ﾟ°｡｡ヾ( ~▽~)ﾂ

with a "Happy" (Fairy Tail) fan. 

Japanese cooking ♥ I've also started cooking a lot more healthy again

and I learned a lot more Japanese recipes from my
Senpai Becci. She really is awesome with cooking and has been

to Japan already for a long time. I'm totally looking forward to learn 

more Japanese dishes from her *-*

When we go to conventions or go on trips with our 着物 club

she uses to make awesome Bento and brings great meals

with her. I took some pictures when we were visiting her and

her boyfriend to spend a great day and learn some new
Japanese dishes from her.
Curry Rice ♥ My new favourite meal :

~♥~

♥ Cooking Curry Rice ♥

 Just take :

• potatoes

• carrotes

• beans

• shimeji mushrooms

Cut everyting into small pieces and roast this in a pan.

After ca. 15 minutes (I always do this by feeling)

add 250 ml water (or maybe more if needed) and

2 cubes of curry rice spice. Let everything cook until the

water is vaporized and the texture of the sauce is kinda sticky.
Like this :

 also some silk tofu with sauce ♥

 Tamagoyaki ♥ (eggs)

And this is how it looks like when I cook Curry rice

at the moment I like to eat it a lot ♥

I also added bamboo sprouts and green onion.
おいしいですね！

At our Kimono club meetings we also eat some Japanese food

and sweets when we are finished dressing up and practising new

ways to bing the Obi. There are plenty of different ribbons and

ways of binding the different types of Obi.

~♪~
I own 2 Hanhaba Obi (used for Yukata for example)
and a Nagoya Obi. I can bind these two with

different techniques. I've also worn Fukuru Obi as my

Senpai own lots of them but I can't bind that kind of Obi yet.

~♪~
You see there is really a lot you have to learn when  you

want to wear a Kimono ! 

My 2 Senpai also have been to Japan and learned there
from professional Kimono Sensei.

One Sensei has visited us and I also met her.

I wrote about Sawa Sensei in this former entry.

Kimono dresser is a profession in Japan, maybe one day

I could do this too but it is extremely complicated.
One of  my Senpai wants to do this, I hope this will

come true in the future ^-^

~♪~

There are also some easy "cheats" you can use if you don't have

Kimono dressing skills. In lots of Gyaru and Japanese fashion

online stores they sell Yukata with fake Obi and a ribbon

that is already bound and you can just stick it behind the

fake Obi on your back. This is good if you don't

want to practise or just do a cosplay.

But I personally would never ever wear such a thing because

it is just not traditional and it does not send the whole

message and meaning a real Kimono outfit with lots of thought 

to it does. Lots of Japanese girls wear these fake Obi from

time to time as well as it is not taken for granted that

a japanese girl is able to dress in Kimono.

Very often young girls can not do it anymore and

when they have their Seijin-shiki (成人式) Coming of age day

they hire porfessional Kimono dressers.

~♪~

A few weeks ago our club made Dango 団子 together : 

My boyfriend and I use to sing this cute song together a lot ^^

Dango Daikazoku 

Dango 団子

We also like to go shopping in the japanese and asian supermarkets in Düsseldorf a lot. I can really recommend the Ho's.

One day when I was shopping with my Senpai Bea ♥ she
got me this cute melon ice *o* 

Suika ♥  西瓜
(the ice above is korean though)

And one of my latest favourite japanese sweets :
Hora dekita

~♥~

Some strawberry pudding we ate at one of our club meetings :

I think it looks very cute ^^

And a snapshot of one of my regular meals,

well when I am really hungry I just have to eat a lot

but I want to keep it as healthy as possible.

The white thing is onion, I like it too much =D

My cutest trove in the japanese supermarkets here is this :
It's Febreze :D

But it costed 13,50 € ! Insane and stupid, so here I'd

rather by the German version...but I must admit I was very

close to bying it because it is just so pretty. When I'm

in Japan I guess I will love grocery shopping :D

I really love white miso soup in the mornings ~♪

My Senpai Bea also was so super kind and

gave me this 2 japanese books that are for children

so I can practise my reading skills. They are so super

cute ! I just love them. The first book she got me

really suits me :D It is called :

Watashi otetsudai neko ♥ I - the helping cat

The 2nd book Takaramono tonda :

~♪~

In watashi otetsudai neko are also Kanji :

~♪~

Takaramono tonda, all in Hiragana :

~♥~

Recently my boyfriend and I also started collecting these

cute little plushies ♥ They are called Ty ballz :

We both the the giraffe is the most awesome :D

You can get them very cheap on amazon.

And I got the CD and plushie of one of my favourite tales

when I was a child. The very hungry caterpillar ♥

Some pink sushi spice I got a few days ago, I still have to try out.

I'm very eager to find out how it will look like ^^

Ramune , at one of our Kimono club meetings :

~ ♥~

Some Sakuranbo Candy ♥

~♥~

~♥~

 blue : Soda ♥

pink : peach

yellow : lemon

green : apple

the ball : cherry

Some snapshots I took at our University when the

Japanese students had a little party :

~♥~

I hope you found all the Information interestig, I really like

sharing things I get to know about Japanese culture and daily life.

If you want to know something just ask me and I will tell you or try my

best to do some reasearch at University if I find the time ^-^

Neko's music :

• Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - Fashion monster

( if you can't see it download proxtube)

Thank's for reading ! See you

next time (^-^)v ♪ nyan