5 reasons why this blog is called J82Productions

1. J - That is the initial letter of my name, Jeffrey

2. The number "82" is part of my family number, it started out from my dad, which he slowly converted much of his "property" with the number "82" attached. It actually does have a meaning in these numbers. In Cantonese, it resemblance the pronunciation "fa ei", which laterally means "has became rich".

3. J82 - It was a fusion of me and my family number, but there is another meaning though. I shown this blog to some of my Korean friends and to their astonishment, they thought I knew Korean language. The reason behind was that the number "82" in Korean language is "pa ri". If you put the "J" in the front, it becomes "J-pa-ri", an odd and out of tune version of my real name Jeffrey. (Note that it is quite an difficult task for Korean to pronounce my name, and I have changed my name in Japan to "J-pa-ri" so that at least some one call me, I would recognize that person is me.)

4. P - this letter belongs to the initial of my surname. Would not like to disclose it, but most of my friends knew.

5. Productions - This word is used to accommodate the initial alphabet of my surname and to be more productive on me, friends and family. (Perhaps some other areas as well)

Latest news on Japan's A (H1N1) influenza

Japan has announced that they will relax the guidelines for the swine influenza as though it has reached to almost 300 cases. The recent swine influenza has caused a magnificent stress on the country's economy and also unnecessary restrain to the public as well.

Photo source: Sankei News

Meanwhile, Osaka prefecture governor, Toru Hashimoto has announced today that he will suggest a 9 billion yen supplement budget in the next Osaka prefecture meeting. Among the budget, 7.6 billion yen would be used for the treatment of chronic diseases and pregnant women, as well as medical improvement subsidies to prevent further spreading of the currently swine influenza (H1N1).

1.4 billion yen would be granted to general medical organizations, (max of 150 thousand yen for each organization) to aid with the purchase medical supplements to prevent swine influenza(H1N1) infection, including the Relenza treatment costs.

The government had been spending around 2.1 billion yen for personal protective gear as well.

>>>Click here for Japan's latest swine influenza updates<<<

Tokyo City View .. Car Exhibition

One of my favorite hobby, cars !!! I mean most of the guys out there like cars, especially these..

Tokyo City View

On our way to the Tokyo City View, there is a huge spider standing in our way... Really HUGE.



In the elevator, the viewing floor is on the 52th floor.







If you have seen the guy who have took the photo for us, you will be surprised at the speed he was meddling with the function buttons, too quick even for us to see. I know I looked awful in this photo, can't really smile :) Then we tried to adjust the camera's functions by ourselves. Took quite sometime to achieved the perfect settings.

Lunch at Barbara

Finally met my friend at the station, the worst thing to do in Japan is to meet at train stations as there are too much exits and if you went to the wrong exit, that it. You either ends up in another place or you can just get lost in the streets.





We had our lunch at Barbara and I ordered a crepe ..



with a cold corn soup. It tasted good though.

Trip to Yokohama

Currently preparing my stuff to return back to Singapore. Hooray !!! Since I have some time right now, I will do a short write up to my trip to Yokohama.

I was supposed to meet one of my business friend in Gunma, so I decided to push my trip forward and visit my friend in Yokohama since I have been there many times, but mostly for work. I stay in sakuragicho hotel for a night before meeting her the next day.



There were nothing to do in the night and I bought my dinner at KFC (which is totally different of what we are having in Singapore), and return to my hotel. Took some shots at the Ferris wheel and the amusement land as well.

Gion, the Geisha district

Gion (祇園) is one of Kyoto's most famous Geisha (芸者) district and it is considered one of the popular attractions.





We also visited the Gion corner (祇園コナー), but there wasn't any Geisha around. Though there is a show in the evening, my friend could not make it in time for the show as she has to leave Kyoto in the evening.



Hair accessories which Geisha used



The different hair style



kinds of accessories

H1N1 Influenza getting its toll in Japan

I have decided to keep an outline for the H1N1 Influenza happening within Japan. The speed that the virus is spreading is exceptionally fast and masks are almost out of stock from the stores. As more and more people are moving around Japan to avoid infected areas, moving over to Osaka meaning that if there is a breakout, the virus will eventually spreads at a even higher rate.

10th May 2009

First cases of H1N1 flu were tested positive on 3 people who have flown from North American to Narita, Japan earlier this month. 49 fellow passengers on board has been quarantined as well. The four has recovered since.

17th May 2009

8 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu found in Kobe areas. 3 students from prefectural government-run Kobe High School and 5 other students from Hyogo High School were confirmed infected with the new type of influenza virus H1N1. A 17-year-old of Kobe High School was confirmed to have infected with Type A influenza in a gene test. Tests by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases also shows that two 16-year-old, a male and female of the same high school has been tested positive as well. Kobe municipal government made an decision on last Saturday to close 99 municipal schools, including kindergartens, primary schools, middle schools and high school in eastern Kobe until this Friday.

17th May 2009,1343hrs (GMT +09:00)

Nine more high school students has been tested positive, bringing the numbers to 17. Most of those infected has not travel abroad recently. Meanwhile 7 more people are suspected to be infected with H1N1 flu in Hyogo prefecture, including a teacher, a University student and five high school students.

17th May 2009,1741hrs (GMT +09:00)

20 more people has been tested positive for H1N1 flu. Bringing a total to 32 cases. The group consisted of 18 high school students from Osaka and Hyogo prefecture, where 8 of them were already ill. A college student in 20s and a teacher in his 40s was also tested positive for the H1N1 flu.

18th May 2009 0153 hrs (GMT +09:00 )

Number rises to 93. 53 cases in Kobe has been confirmed while 36 cases in Osaka has been reported. Authorities has asked more than 1,000 schools and kindergartens to stay shut on Monday.

18th May 2009,1108hrs (GMT +09:00)

Number reaches 121 after 25 new case were announced. The new batch of H1N1 virus was confirmed in Kobe. Also an employee in Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has also been infected. She works in the Sannomiya branch in kobe. 70 other non-managerial employees at the same branch was told to stay at home.

18th May 2009,1751hrs (GMT +09:00)

H1N1 cases soared to 129. More than 2,000 schools and kindergartens has been shut off after Japan authories warned that real number of infections from the H1N1 virus could already be in hundreds.

18th May 2009, 2006hrs (GMT +09:00)

H1N1 flu cases has risen to 163 cases. No cases was reported for Tokyo.More than 2,000 schools and kindergartens has been asked to shut down to slow down the spreading of the H1N1 virus.

20th May 2009, 1129hrs (GMT +09:00)

The number of Influenza H1N1 infections in Japan rose to 196 on Wednesday, most of them school students, as the outbreak spread to a third western prefecture, officials and media said.

The latest confirmed case of the H1N1 virus was a man aged in his 20s in the Shiga prefecture, who had last weekend visited the city of Kobe where the outbreak started.

20th May 2009, 1223hrs (GMT +09:00)

The number of Influenza H1N1 infections in Japan rose to 228 as outbreaks spread through to a third western prefecture.

22nd May 2009, 0621hrs (GMT +09:00)

One male in in Saitama (埼玉県) has been diagnosed to be contacted with the new swine influenza (H1N1). He had traveled to Osaka and Kyoto from 17th to 19th May, the period of time which swine influenza (H1N1) has been first discovered in Japan.

22nd May 2009, 0920hrs (GMT +09:00)

One Japanese has been quarantined in a India's hospital after being suspected to have contacted the swine influenza, as reported by Japan embassy in India on the 21st of may. The flight has departed from Japan's Narita airport and landed on India's New Delhi on the 20th of May.

1st time using email blogging

the weather is nice today and i decided to test out the blogger feature.

I did not expect it to be that easy and fun.. One of the good feature provided by blogger, the only bad thing is that emailing through mobile phone in Singapore cost a bomb....

Seriously, I have neglected this blog totally, because I was wandering in my own world the past few months, or last 2 years... Right now I am going to recall all I have done in Osaka, and do some write up asap ...

Coffee cattleya, coffee made from sacred water

Outside of the shop, they hanged a frame saying the following...





\seriously, perhaps of the mental effect of the frame which I saw earlier at the doorstep, the coffee does taste exceptionally cooling... The sacred effect ? The shop also had a nice atmosphere, like old english pub.

Way back to the train station

We decided to walk our way back to Kyoto station and we saw this temple which are decorated with bright orange beams.. (I forgot the name, will update again) and saw this American singing along with the ducks and birds. Sentimental eh !? Perhaps we are not sawing much of this in Singapore anymore. Anyway, there was this old man feeding the ducks and pigeons at the side, which is prohibited in Singapore as well ... Should include that in my new blog as well.



As we walk deeper in the temple, I found this ! I know this is a vintage car, but I am not sure what maker it is. This car is certainly still works, looking at the number plate it has. Anyone any clue ?

Lunch at Kyoto

My Yuba lunch set

In Kyoto, the famous food are Tofu (豆腐), Yuba (ゆば) and Unagi (鰻). As my friend was visiting Kyoto for the first time, I thought it would be good to bring her for those, but we only managed to eat Yuba and Unagi as the Tofu are quite pricey, around 1,500 yen (S$ 22.50).

Some might wonder why Kyoto is famous for Tofu and Yuba. One of the reasons is because Kyoto is place for Buddhism devotees where there are thousands of temples within the city, while another reason is because Tofu and Yuba requires lots of water during the making process and quality of the water affects the taste of the end product. Kyoto's water is famous for its purity and thus helps to make the Tofu and Yuba tastier.

My friend's friend came over to Osaka

From 2009-05-09 Huizhi to Kyoto

*Yawns*, slept at 3 a.m yesterday and gotten to wake up 8 am in the morning so that we could go to Kyoto as my friend had to leave for Yokohama at 7 pm..... We took the train from Honmachi station to Nishi Umeda station (西梅田駅) and decided to have a light breakfast. Initially, we thought of eating Mos Burger, but the menus does not seems to be appealing and we went around searching for other shop until we sawed this one man cafe, or perhaps one woman ?

From 2009-05-09 Huizhi to Kyoto

From 2009-05-09 Huizhi to Kyoto

Special part of this shop is that seats are lined along the walls and it has a narrow walk path. Another thing was all the jobs, including receiving orders, making of the breakfast, washing was done by only one lady staff.

From 2009-05-09 Huizhi to Kyoto

My breakfast set: Raisin Bread Toast, one hard boiled egg and a cup of coffee.

From 2009-05-09 Huizhi to Kyoto

I don't think we can find this kind of cafe in Singapore... It is really one man show or one woman show..

Walking to Kiyomizudera

From 2009-05-09 Huizhi to Kyoto

What a nice breakfast, now we are going to take the train to Kyoto, about 45 minutes ride.

From 2009-05-09 Huizhi to Kyoto

About Kyoto Tower

It is the tallest structure in Kyoto, with it observation deck at 100m (328 ft) and its spire at 131m (430 ft). This tower is directly opposite of Kyoto Station and you can see it after you exit from the station. The tower stands atop of a 9 storey building, which houses Kyoto Tower Hotel and some department stores.

Gotten take a bus to reach our destination - Kiyomizudera Station (清水寺駅). Still feeling tired due to lack of sleep, need a smoke... This is the Kyoto Tower (京都タワー), but thought of visiting later since we are coming back to the station again.

From 2009-05-09 Huizhi to Kyoto

Took a bus to our destination, Kiyomizudera. There are riding cards selling on the vending machines, which enables you to take unlimited rides on that day for 500 yen (ard S$7.50).After reaching the bus stop, we still have to walk about 25-30 minutes before reaching the temple. This is when we spotted the following ladies - Geisha (芸者). This are just "imitations". There are shops in which provides make-up services as well as clothing for photo taking sessions. Heard that make up alone would take up to 2 hours.

From 2009-05-09 Huizhi to Kyoto