A Little Taste of Europe in Japan

I was going through some of my old folders the other day and found these photos of the Kawaguchi-Ko Music Forest. It was one of the most fascinating places Garandee's best friend brought us the last time we were in Japan.


The moment you enter, it almost feels like you've left Japan and gone into one of those fantasy novels set during the Renaissance. It's no wonder why like magic, all three of us started talking funny all of a sudden..

Garando: "Care for some tea, mi lady?"

Garandee: "Oh I'd be delighted, Sir Garando. But we'd like to see the museum first."

Garandee's friend: "It's bloody beautiful, isn't it?"



The place is at one of the mountain resorts near Mt. Fuji, and that explains why the clouds were hanging so low like my old underwear...


Garandee is a magnet for swans. Either they're just curious or they're guard swans in attack mode.


I can almost imagine Frodo and Sam happily frolicking around... holding hands, looking gleefully at each other and... never mind.

But the main reason we went there was for the huge collection of antique automated music boxes. You know those wind-up music boxes that played either Christmas tunes or tunes from Disney's Fantasia? Imagine a museum filled with these music boxes only they were a hundred times bigger! Big enough that their main attraction was an entire orchestra!



This is an orchestra of dolls playing instruments. It's one humongous music box surrounding the entire hall, it felt like we were looking at the true origin of Dolby Surround Sound!

This orchestra originated from Belgium in the 1800's and was unfortunately abandoned until a Japanese collector decided to purchase and restore it before bringing it back home to Japan. I heard all the music boxes in the museum were owned by that same collector, and to think I saw over a hundred!

I wish I had more photos, but taking pictures wasn't allowed in some parts of the museum... At least I was able to sneak in some videos. Here's a one minute video of their most kawaii (pretty) music boxes!




Garandee mode:
I want that English accent!
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Communication Breakdown #1 - Kayumi Lotion!

Garandee is lucky communication is never a problem here in the Philippines. Almost everything is in ENGLISH! It's actually the main reason why we now bump into South Koreans in every corner. ANNYONG HASEYO!!

I wish I could say the same whenever I visit Japan though...

When I went to Kobe on business trip, Garandee asked me to buy an anti-itch lotion to bring back to Manila. So I went over to the pharmacy, and when I was about to ask the lady pharmacist... I totally forgot the brand name!

I remember Garandee wrote it down on a torn McDonald's receipt and put it in my wallet. But she put it between the bills and not in the more secure pockets at the front. It was destined to get lost!

*gulp* I am so in trouble...

Close to panic, I can only remember one Japanese word that was most relevant to what I was trying to purchase... kayumi = itch

Garando: "uhhhh... annnnoooo..... kayumi bye-bye kudasai?"

Pharmacist: "huh?"

Garando: (let me try again...) "ehem, kayumi bye-bye kudasai??"

That did it! The pharmacist walked to the back, looks like she was off to get the lotion.

But when she came back, she now had a colleague with her... to help decipher what the hell I was talking about. I watched them talk to each other:
Pharmacist 1: "bla bla bla bla bla bla bla kayumi bye-bye?"
Phramacist 2: "eeeehh???"

Still no luck, they called in the heavy artillery: a 70 year-old bald man in a white lab coat, who can be either a mad scientist or the store owner himself.

Store owner: "I'm sorry, what is problem please?"

Problem?? I had to think fast before they finally decide to call the police...

IT'S TIME FOR CHARADES!!
1) I pulled up my sleeves and scratched the hell out of my left arm and said "kayumi!!"
2) I acted like I was putting some kind of lotion on it....
3) I put the invisible lotion in my pocket, used my right hand to wave goodbye to my left arm and said, "bye-bye!!"

Pharmacist 1: " ... "
Pharmacist 2: " ... "
Store owner: " ... " (insert cricket sound here)

another 3 seconds pass...

All three of them went "Ah!!" and burst out laughing. The store owner ducked under the counter and pulled out one, glimmering bottle of anti-itch. "650 Yen please..."

Mission accomplished!



edit: Garandee told me that there's actually an itch lotion brand called "Kayumi Bye-bye". Cool.

Garando mode:
...going to office on a Monday

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My Blog Title

Balut & Natto is probably the best way I can describe Garando & Garandee. We both come from completely different (and sometimes clashing) cultures!

This blog captures the interesting adventures coming from a "Filipino - Japanese" partnership (or a "Japanese - Filipino" partnership if Garandee had anything to say about it).


Garando mode:
Lo batt. 2AM still catching up on work... Read More......