TOKYO Around You Photo Contest

IF JAPAN AND PHOTOGRAPHY are two of the things you love, then this might be your chance to be recognized as a winning photographer with a chance to visit or revisit Tokyo as the grand prize winner. Join the TOKYO Around You Photo Contest and get a chance to win two roundtrip tickets to Tokyo. The mechanics are very easy and simple. Just submit your favorite photo of Tokyo during your previous visit/s in the place.

But what if you have never been to Tokyo, will you still be able to join the contest? You still can! Just submit any photo that reminds us of Tokyo or at least anything taken in your place that connects or shows your relationship to Japan’s metropolis.

How to join? Here’s the three simple steps: First, go to Facebook and hit the LIKE button on the page “Tokyo Fan Club.” The name appears in their profile photo with a smiley face on it. Second, select your best photo for your entry and submit it to their page. Third, you may vote for your own photo (of course) then share your entry with your friends to accumulate more votes on your photo entry.

Who are eligible to join the contest? If you call yourself a decent human being, with an age over 13 years old and live outside Japan, give yourself three checks. Furthermore, you must be willing to be famous on Facebook. Well don’t expect “Brangelina break-up” famous ‘cause what I meant to say is, you will be documented or you will document yourself by taking photos – oh yeah, selfie – receiving the prize and while traveling to Tokyo using the prize air tickets, and post these on your Facebook account, tagging the award-giving organization’s Facebook page. Make sure these are appropriate photos or these will be deleted by the sponsors. Lastly, you must give Tokyo Fan Club the rights to use any or all photos taken related to the contest and awards received, and/or comments made for promotional use.   

So if you think you got what it takes to be an awesome photographer wandering about the busy streets of Shibuya, Shinjuku and Akihabara, etc. submit your entry now. Submission ends October 11^th and you will also have the chance to invite your family and friends to like your photo entry until the last day of submission. Winners will be announced on the 20^th of the same month. What are you waiting for? Go to Tokyo Fan Club’s page now.

Disclaimer: I neither connected to Tokyo Fan Club nor do I receive any marketing fees for sharing this good news. I’m just in the writing mood and feeling hardworking to blog these days, and not to mention, I am NOT eligible to join this contest for I am physically located in Japan now. Anyway, good luck!   

Huge Potential for Pinoy Teachers to Find Teaching Jobs in Japan

Summer English conversation class with a Filipino English Teacher

IF YOU ARE A FILIPINO English teacher looking for work, then the opportunity you are waiting for might just be in the Land of the Rising Sun. 

Citing a new law requiring Grade 5 and 6 Japanese students to learn English, Philippine Ambassador to Japan Manuel Lopez said there is a huge potential for Filipino teachers to find jobs in Japan. 

Aside from teaching positions, Filipinos can also take advantage of other job openings particularly in the fields of nursing, care-giving, electronics, engineering, information technology and construction.

Filipino workers, however, must learn both oral and written Nihonggo, the Japanese language as part of the stringent labor requirements in Japan.

Lopez said the Philippine government can appeal to Japan to reassess and give some consideration when it comes to their licensure examinations.

Many EIKAIWA or English conversation schools are already accepting Filipino English teachers. Hence, Jin Kitagawa, Go English School Manager said he only hired Filipino English teachers because aside from their good English communication skills, their energetic and cheerful way of teaching the subject inspires Japanese students to like and learn the language. He also said that Filipinos are hardworking, creative and accommodating.

“They have the heart to teach the language to non-English speaking students,” Kitagawa added.

Unique Gifts for Valentines

I love Valentine surprises! Who doesn’t, when opening your eyes to unusual and meaningful presents from a lover sure is sweet and spine-tingling?

Though, at 22, being single and uncommitted myself makes me feel insignificant about giving gifts to a lover on Valentines Day, but my natural creativity and generosity has inspired me to play with my imagination and come up with unique and meaningful gifts to help lovers decide on what would be the best gifts to give love ones on Valentines Day.

As a self-help proprietor and designer on gift items and give-aways, here are few gift items I have come up with that would surely leave footprints in your lovers’ hearts, not just because of your creativity and the charming thought of giving them something but the sentiments of love and passion you wrapped those presents with.

- Personalized Cassette tape recorded with your voice

 With a background of the sweet melody of your theme songs, let your voice reverberate in your lover’s ears.

Go away with the usual writing of letters; instead, tickle their heart with your great compassionate words and thoughts as you express your love by reading the poems and letters you’ve written for them and recording them into a cassette tape. This would surely melt your lover’s heart.

To make the recording friendly to their ears, let your voice compliment with the background music to make it sound more professional and realistic, as if it was released in the market just for them; and of course, do not forget to hand-design the paper cover for the cassette tape’s case. It would be best to paste a portrait picture of you both with a handwritten dedication in front of the tape’s paper cover to make it very special.

- Bonsai Plant

Let your lover feel your “living” commitment. Present her with a beautiful bonsai plant that they can display in their desk, be it in their office or in their room.

Like the bonsai plants that bloom through ages with utmost pampering, let your relationship shine forever by constantly pampering it with commitment and dedication towards the person. Like the bonsai plants, relationships are something that you need to take care of very well to make it lasts longer. The efforts will surely pay off because the older the bonsai plant gets, the more it becomes stronger, the more its beauty will shine and the more expensive it becomes. Let your relationship live and grow like a bonsai plant.

- Love Birds in a cage

 Isn’t it sweet to represent your love relationship with a pair of adorable and colorful love birds? Animal lovers say this kind of birds can’t live long without their partner.

So, just as you want to show your sweetheart that life is incomplete without them, give them something that would remind them of such feeling. They would wake up every morning with the chirping sounds of the love birds. It would constantly remind them of you, thus, it would make them feel better and secure to wake up in a brand new morning and thinking that someone cares and loves them so much.

- Home-made Fortune Cookies

Cooking for someone special is still the best act of love that you can to give them, because along with the burning fire and the pan, is an effort that expressed a deep sense of commitment and love for the person.

To make this gift more special, write short phrases expressing your love to them in a piece of clean paper and wrap each cookie in a colorful, creative Japanese paper with the phrases of love you’ve written on a piece of paper.

You can even create your own shapes of cookies to make it even more creative. Heart-shaped fortune cookies, anyone?

- Small chocolates in a glass bottle

Let your love ones feel your sweetness by giving them chocolates you personally repacked especially for them.

Scribble “I love you” using different languages in tiny pieces of clean colored paper. Repack many chocolates and insert the tiny papers with the “I love you’s” in foreign languages inside each chocolate.

In this way, it’s like telling your lover “I love you” every time she opens a chocolate. The thought would then make it sweeter than the chocolate itself.

- Sentimental Scrapbook

Sometimes it feels ironic yet good to know that reminiscing the sad memories you made together make you laugh, while thinking about your happy memories make you cry arousing a feeling of missing the person so much. Documenting these memories would then make a very good gift to your lover.

A collection of you and your lover’s pictures, the restaurant receipts you kept where you had lunch-out or dinner together, the letters and candies you gave each other, as well as other things that remind you of each other, would make such good scrapbook materials for your love ones.

Hand-decorate the scrapbook artistically with colorful articles and decorations would make it look attractive and very creative. Create and design each page with love and passion that your lover could feel every time they open the scrapbook; and every time they do, it would turn back all your beautiful memories together.

- Key chain engraved with a portrait picture of you and your honey

A personalized key chain with a picture of your faces printed or engraved on the heart-shape (or any other shape of your choice) surface would make a significant symbol of your bond. Otherwise, to make it simple, just a key chain with your names engraved on it, or better yet, with a personally printed  names for an even more personalized touch.

- Red panty or brief with a print at the back that says, “(your name) property”

Draw a big smile on your lover’s face and watch out for that “Oh my God!” or “Whoa!” expressions they make when they open the gift by presenting them with red pretty and seductive lingerie with your name printed at the back.

Aside from making them remember you every time they face the mirror wearing the lingerie with a print at the back that expressed your possessiveness such as “Mary’s property” or “Michael’s property” or whatever names you’d like printed in it, this would also make you feel confident that your lover is all yours.

- Framed Collage Digital Photo

Choose the best portrait picture of you and your lover. Collect hundreds of pictures of you both to create a huge poster. You may ask an expert to gather these pictures together to create and form one big digital picture or poster. You would then get a big portrait picture of you and your lover.

You can also create such magic yourself with the aid of technology. Retouch the picture with the help of Photoshop to make it into a big digital collage photo. This would make a good gift on Valentines Day because it’s personalized and simply created with great efforts.

(This article was also published in Philippine Wide Magazine for February 2008)

How to Act on a First Date: 5 Tips to Have a Fantastic Date For Men!

MEN ARE SO EAGER to make a good impression on their first dates. At this point, nervousness would overtake them, pushing their instinct of over-doing something just to impress their dates, but sadly, it turned out to be discouraging for the women.

Men, being nervous on their first date, evokes and portrays an awkward feeling between him and his date, thus, if he acts uncomfortably, the woman would feel uncomfortable as well.

So men are curious for pieces of advice on the do’s and don’ts of first dates, considering that it’s the most important because it influence the women’s decision whether or not she’ll go out with him for another date.

1. Do not treat the woman as a potential future wife

The biggest mistake a guy makes on a first date is to assume that every girl who wants to date him is a potential wife. Instead, simply be cool and enjoy each other’s company. Crack jokes on her screwing-up chances with you and make her feel she’s a nice friend, if not tell her about it. Assume that she possessed traits that may be annoying to you, point it out in a humorous manner.

2. Do not buy her affections too soon

Presenting the woman with so much gifts on a first date silently implies that the man is seeking her approval. It indirectly shows that the man is buying her attention because she may not like him for what he is. It is advisable to do these things to show appreciation, especially when you’re already on an official relationship.

3. Do not act like a best friend

If you do, you’ll spoil the mystery. The girl will feel comfortable with you right away. Just act cool, sit back and slow down, crack jokes on anything that might be of interest to you both and constantly comment about your friendly relationship with each other.

4. Encourage an interesting conversation

Know how to create an interesting, energetic, humorous and spicy conversation because it encourages romantic attraction between the man and the woman. Women are easily discouraged and bored by predictable and routinary conversations. Be creative.

5. Compliment sensibly and sincerely

Avoid superficial compliments like, “Wow! You’re very gorgeous!” This insults intelligent women and make them think you’re only after the physical features. It degrades your standards because it evokes a shallow person’s personality.

If you want to compliment her, be genuine, sincere and reasonable. You can say, I like your skirt, it emphasized your long and nice legs and compliments the color of your top.

These tips will most likely to result a successful first date. By doing so, it will push for a very enthusiastic and memorable experience and create a pleasant romantic attraction between you and your date, hence, encourage another night-out. So, do the “do’s” and avoid the “don’t’s” of first dates.

The Return of the Come Back!

After a year, eight months and eleven days, I have finally come to my senses to  reopen my blog. Ugh! That's about seven seasons that went by. Indeed, so many things have happened that I didn't know where and how to begin narrating. If I may start at a certain aspect in my life, each one leads to a rabbit warren of circumstances, experiences and situations. And along the journey of twist and turns leading to the finale and conclusion would surely bring confusion and uncertainty. 

Nevertheless, it's great to begin by saying, everything has been alright! I have experienced two years of a happy and satisfying marriage and two months of enjoying motherhood.  I have momentarily bade goodbye to my teaching jobs, hard as it may seem a decision to make yet the exchange is priceless. Indeed, what a bliss motherhood has brought to my life despite its difficulties, hardships and challenges. I had to give up things I considered important before, yet having a baby brought real joy to me. The feeling of being needed is overwhelming. What more could I ask for?  We may lose some, yet we gain more than we lost. 

And despite life's roller coaster of a ride, I have managed to stay rooted on my feet, firmly on the ground, two steps backward and three steps forward, always with great zeal in my heart to move on despite an ounce of hesitation and a quarter of anxiety. While I remained sane and sensible amidst all that has been, the Creator should not go unnoticed for He alone is my main source of energy and strength. 

Everything is indeed a kaleidoscope of images. And when all else seems hard to bear, I just need something to vent out some hidden and suppressed emotions. Where else is the best place to express them but in writing such as blogging? Ahhh... this is a haven of comfort. Hence, here now is the return of the come back and once again, I welcome you to my page, the Kaleidoscope of Images.