#MOCHI APPRECIATION POST BEFORE HE DIES

[dorianwolfforest]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

MOCHI THE BELOVED IS OOOOLD </3

[irismfrost]

August 12 - Kyoto Guided Tour and Fushimi Inari Shrine

Today I booked a guided tour for 10:30am. This means I had an early day because it takes an hour to get to Kyoto from Osaka, not including the time to buy a ticket or for me to get ready and eat breakfast (I am so glad I pre-bought hotel breakfast). By the end of my journey, I figured out how to use the self serve electronic ticket machine. In my tour, there was a family from New York and their son actually had the same name as my dad and brother, and is the first person I've ever met with his same name. There was also a mother-son duo from Zürich, Switzerland. And our tour guide was Kareem who is from Quebec and has been living in Japan for 5 years. His wife is Japanese and they have a one year old daughter that they're bringing to Canada in November for the first time. It was nice to make friends with everyone and honestly to just have human interaction in a language I know. We started in the bamboo forest and went to the nearby Shinto shrine. Then we went to the former home and garden of a famous Japanese movie star, Denjirō Ōkōchi, called Ōkōchi Sansō. This was his second home and he died one year after building it. It has themes of zen Buddhism, a popular sect of Buddhism here. Here, we stopped for a little break; there was a rest area with tea and some cold drinks. I hadn't tried Calpis yet (they had it in Taiwan) because the name threw my off but they had some here and it was actually delicious. We left the bamboo forest and walked to a zen Buddhist garden called Sogenchi Teien. It was a beautiful Japanese zen garden and is a classic example of a zen garden. These places intentionally make the steps a little rockier to make you walk slower and appreciate the nature around you, which I thought was a cool design technique. Before we broke for lunch, we tried some foods: we had this rice patty thing (which was basically what the outside of mochi is) and I bought some and will need to eat it right when I fly back to Florida because it expires on 8/20. We also tried this sesame chili spice topping (with rice) and I bought some of that too. We broke for lunch and our guide helped me find some vegetarian food and he joined me because by the time I ordered food we only had like 30 mins left for lunch and I told him about Taiwan. It's on his bucket list. We also took a brief stop by this Kimono park thing which had a bunch of poles with the Kimono fabric. Our last stop was a mountain with monkeys. It does not compare to monkey mountain in Taiwan, definitely more commercialized and a fraction of the hike, but it was pretty cool. You get to feed the monkeys through the wire cage and their hands feel like human hands which is a little unsettling but makes sense. There was also this cute little baby monkey and later I saw his mom carrying him around and back to the safety of the mountains away from the people. And that was the end of our tour.

Our guide and some of the other people in our group suggested I should visit Fushimi Inari Shrine - so I did. This is a very famous Shinto shrine and is known for its thousands of torii gates that lead to Mount Inari. The gates are basically sponsors and are an avenue for Kami (the god-like spirits) to enter through (that's why you are supposed to walk on the sides- to give spirits room to walk through the middle). Inari is the Shinto goddess of rice (perceived gender has changed over time, but in ancient times Inari is depicted as female). Today, Inari's domain is more than rice; over time rice was generalized to agriculture which is now just business. You pray to Inari for success in business. I prayed at a few different shrines along the way and I prayed at the top of Mount Inari. I will say taking pictures at religious monuments makes me a little uncomfortable and feels a little wrong. It supposed to be a sacred site and there you are making sure you take a picture of yourself to post - just seems a little disrespectful to the faith I guess is what I'm saying. And honestly, I took some pictures of my experience too and they will probably end up on Instagram so I'm being hypocritical. But I will say, some of these people are taking pictures of themselves with professional cameras in the middle of crowds holding everyone up, some are leaning on the torii, some people wait in the middle of the path for other people to pass them to get a picture. It just feels like the reason they're there is for a picture and not to immerse themselves in a culture. As you got closer to the top, there were less people because there are many opportunities to cut the loop short- it is a long and mountainous loop. And by the time I got back down, all of the tourist shops were closed so I didn't get any trinkets or charms.

This was a HIKE. I was basically doing stairmaster for an hour and a half. I was very dehydrated and even ate my emergency snack and laid down for a second. I had some protein (20g) chocolate milk from the convenience store before and after my visit to the temple and was very hungry so I picked up this bento box at the train station so that I wouldn't have to leave the hotel after I got there. It was so nasty. They didn't have anything vegetarian so I settled for fish and I didn't even eat it. The egg loaf saved me on the protein side. And I had the probiotic drink for dessert. yum. Those probiotic drinks are very popular on this side of the world.

When I flipped on the TV in the hotel today, I found myself on a news channel that was in English, but was for China. Consumers are spending more on services than goods. Consumption is also growing in China overall. Consumption is also less quantity and more quality oriented. I think these are trends that the rest of the world will see as well (at least for large first world countries like the US). When the weather turned on, I noticed that Taiwan was considered a part of China and it just hit me how even though Taiwan is so independent and has so much of its own identity, it still has a conflicting political stance. When I was there, I was in Taiwan, not the Republic of China (imo, for legal reasons).

more pictures in next post

[sohin-ace]

Holly - Mother’s embrace

This is cross-posted from Wattpad and available on AO3.

Enjoy~

Not a Milf hunter you guys I swear! This was inspired by a memory I made with my own precious mother. Non rom.

It was very early in the morning and you and Holly went to the city because she needed to take care of some administrative documents.

The place was usually so crowded you had to go as early as 6 A.M to be there before the opening and save yourselves many hours of waiting in line. It barely was the beginning of spring and the early mornings were still ice cold at this time of the year. Dawn was barely breaking when you arrived at the place.

"Thank you for accompagnying me Y/N-chan, this is very sweet of you~" Holly gratefully said to you as you were waiting in line alongside her outside the still closed building.

"Of course Holly, it's my pleasure." you replied with a smile that she reciprocated.

Even if you had to wake up very early and travel far into the city on an icy day, you didn't mind at all because you were with Holly.

Holly Joestar Kujo was like a mother to you. Your own mother died when you were only 4 years old and at the time, your father was already a neighbor of the Kujo family.

And so Holly decided to babysit you from time to time when your father was too busy with work. From then on, Holly basically raised you as her own daughter.

Of course, you were very close to your father, and he didn't want to burden Holly everyday with the task of taking care of you, but she still was the only mother figure you had in your life and the woman was more than happy to spend some time with the sweet little girl next door, and she loved to see you grow alongside her child.

Every occasion you had to spend time with her and her son, you took. Sometimes you felt like Jotaro was annoyed with your presence, but seeing his kind gestures and protective manners towards you, you knew that he in fact quite liked you. His unusual sweetness betraying him always made you and Holly laugh and you both took great pleasure teasing him.

This morning of endless waiting started to feel very long and tiring to you and you sunk into your coat, huffing and puffing because of the unforgiving cold.

"Are you cold Y/N-chan?" Holly turned to you in slight worry.

You reassured her and told her you were fine with an obvious shaky voice, but she noticed your extremely flushed hands and took them in her own much warmer ones. She then held them tightly and put them inside her coat pockets which were just toasty.

"Here! Isn't it better like this?" She flashed a beautiful dimpled smile at you and you blushed at the sweet gesture.

"Th-thank you..." You looked down, your gaze softening as you felt all fuzzy inside.

You started to feel your hands warm up as Holly's thumbs rubbed soothing circles on your hands. You yawned and laid your head on her shoulder tiredly and she chuckled at how cute you were.

You both stayed like this until the building opened and the line advanced, the crowd relieved from finally escaping the cold.

Many hours passed and you were finally coming back in town. Holly asked if you wanted to stay and have some hot tea.

You of course couldn't deny the offer, as you wanted to greet Jotaro as well. Upon coming home you were welcomed by the tall edgy male who questioned where you two went with an almost scolding tone.

"I asked Y/N-chan to come with me since you didn't want to! Now come give mama a good morning kiss! Mwah mwah mwah~"

Holly reached up to wrap her arms around her son's neck and peppered him in kisses. Jotaro looked pissed as hell but still let her kiss his cheek and you couldn't help but smile at the usual commotion.

There were some times where Holly and you would share some special moments together, just like this one.

As you were walking around town one day, you saw a little shop that sold hand-made jewels accessories and trinkets. Through the glass, you saw a beautiful pair of earrings with dangling cherry blossom charms and immediately thought of Holly.

"Oohh that's so pretty!!" You gasped in awe to yourself. "She would love them! And it's almost Hanami season too! Perfect timing!"

You went inside the shop and, without any second thought, you bought the earrings for her. Eager to give them to her, you ran your way towards her house.

After less than half an hour, you finally arrived at the Kujo household and entered freely, as you were used to it. You removed your shoes at the entrance and searched for Holly who was in the living room.

"Oh! Y/N-chan I didn't hear you enter! Welcome home! Are you looking for Jotaro~?" She brightly smiled at you and got up from her seated position at the coffee table.

"Ah sorry to intrude, but actually I came for you!" You kept the little box hidden behind your back. "I have a surprise!"

"Oh really? Aww you didn't have to~ What is it?"

You both didn't notice the buff teenager coming and standing outside the living room where you two stood, watching the scene secretely from afar.

You handed her the velvet box and her eyes lit up. She gracefully took it and proceeded to open the box before gasping loudly at the treasure inside.

"Here! I immediately thought of you when I saw them. The pink color would fit your hair and eyes perfectly I think! And I know how much you love japanese Sakuras, soo...." You trailed off nervously while fidgeting with your clothes, expecting her reaction.

Her expression softened, endeared by your gesture. "Thank you so much Y/N-chan! You know me so well, I'm touched. These are so beautiful! You really didn't have to do this." She looked fondly into your eyes, before smiling brightly at you. "You are always so sweet, come here darling."

She opened her arms to you and you went to hug her, leaning your head on her chest and she wrapped her arms tenderly around your form, rubbing your back soothingly. Her flowery scent and soft warmth put you at ease but at the same time, broke your heart.

It felt so nice... The embrace of a mother...

You didn't feel ready to let go and you didn't want to either. You fought back the tears that were coming to your eyes as best as you could as your throat tightened. Your breath hitched a bit and you hoped she didn't notice.

You buried your face deeper between her neck and shoulder and tightened your helpless grip on her. She understood immediately. You could never hide anything from a caring mother, even if she wasn't yours. She brought her hand up to stroke your hair soothingly.

"It's okay Y/N, you can let it out. I'm here." She spoke quietly in your ear with pure love in her voice and you couldn't hold it anymore.

Just like that you broke into tears and sobbed softly in her arms and she was there, to protect you from your own demons. It was all you needed, and it was amazing how she knew all your feelings without even speaking.

"There, there..." She shushed, lulling you in her gentle hold and you both stayed like this until you eventually calmed down.

Jotaro left the scene silently.

One day you were coming back from school with Jotaro. After overcoming the hardships of stalking fangirls you finally got to your neighborhood. Safely.

"Pheeww I don't know how you manage this everyday Jojo" You said between pants, wrapping your arm around his own for support.

"If you can't run, don't come home with me" He bluntly grunted as you held him like he was a life-sized walking cane.

"Wha- so mean! You would die of loneliness without me~" You told him teasingly while pushing him around and saw a tiny smile form on his face. You laughed as he roughly patted your head in response.

"Oh my~ you both are acting so cuuute~" You both heard Holly squeal from a few feet away, where Jotaro's house was.

He let out a "tch" while you happily greeted the blonde and ran to her to get your kiss. Sometimes she wondered who was the actual biological child and who was the neighbor.

Jotaro went straight to his room to relax and you came to Holly who was currently in the kitchen.

"Holly!" You called out and she turned to look at you. "You know, these days Jotaro has been coming to school more often without skipping, so I thought... We could make him some mochi to reward him! And also he defended me from mean bullies at school." You suggested sheepishly to the woman who's eyes lit up as she clasped her hands together in excitement.

"Oohh Y/N-chan that's such a wonderful idea! Have you ever made mochis before?" You shook your head in response and she grabbed both your hands in hers.

"Then I'll have to teach you! I'll warn you, it's not easy at first, but trust me you'll do just fine! Just be very attentive, alright?"

You both spend the afternoon making the very appreciated desert. Holly was a great teacher and cook.

Since you were young, she showed you basically everything you needed to know as a woman, everything your single dad couldn't, and she slowly taught you all her favorite recipes, including american, italian and japanese dishes.

"You know, It's good that you want to so this for my son, you seem to know his tastes well." Holly told you as she was making the red bean paste.

"Oh, it's nothing really, I'm very grateful to him, he seems cold and rough on the outside, but he is actually very kind-hearted."

"Yes!! Exactly! That's what I always say! I know my son, he's just a tsundere!"

You both laughed at her little comment and choice of words. After a little moment of comfortable silence she continued with a soft, almost dreamy expression on her face.

"You know... Y/N-chan... I would want someone like you to become Jotaro's wife one day."

You almost choked on your own spit and your face exploded in a steaming shade of red.

"W-w-what??! Wha- what are you say-...ing!!!" you couldn't even form a normal sentence as your voice cracked. Holly was so, so blunt sometimes, now you knew where Jotaro took that bluntness from.

"Hahaha, don't worry, we'll talk more about this when the time comes~"

She giggled to herself, dismissing the conversation as to not fluster you too much. That was a subject for another time. But as if on cue, Jotaro came into the room.

"What the hell are you two doing?" The tall male towered over you from behind and you gasped, turning around and desperately tried to cover the work in progress on the counter behind you.

"Waaah!! Jojo don't look! It's a surprise! Get out, GET OUT!" You screamed in panic as he rose an unfazed brow at you.

You then tried to push him out of the room with your shoulders since you had corn starch all over your hands, which had close to no effect on him since homeboy Jotaro was 10 times stronger and heavier than you.

But he still slowly went out, pretending that your desperate weak pushing was enough to make him budge the slightest.

"Yare yare daze, stop that, you'll break a bone." He mocked from the corridor and Holly heard you scream incoherent threats to him which made her giggle.

For her, this was her perfect vision of a family. She didn't want to rush you into anything, but in her eyes, you were the perfect girl, and you would be perfect for her son, and she would love to have you around, not as the close neighbor, but as her daughter-in-law. Her own family, officially and legally.

She continued cooking with a hopeful look on her face. She loved you very much, just like the daughter she never had.

One day she hoped her wish would come true.

Did y'all know Jonathan was actually the first one to scream "ORAAA" When fighting Dio?

I thought that was interesting lol have a good one my beautiful Stand users. 

[jinsoninfirestaekook]

Top 10 Biases

Tagged by @the-princejinyoung! Tbh Shanna, I saw your post and read it, thinking, “wow I’m glad I don’t have to do that because I would literally DIE.” And then I checked by notifications... So, I’ve been having an intense internal conflict since then. Anyway, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE TAG, SHANNA! Without any further ado, here’s my list (mind you, I literally get REKT quite frequently so this list is as of right now.): 

1. Jeon Jungkook. You have no idea how HARD IT WAS TO COME TO THIS CONCLUSION. I was am literally torn in half. I’m still in denial, but both my roommate and best friend told me that he’s my number 1. I literally feel like I’ve betrayed Jinyoung, don’t talk to me. But he’s literally the golden maknae who reks me. I h8 him so much. (as you can tell by my tags in posts)

2. Kim Taehyung. I originally thought he was my bias in BTS and Jungkook was  a golden bias wrecker... but apparently I was in denial. He’s just a REALLY good bias wrecker. (Search: “The Duality of Taehyung”)

3. The writer, producer, and genius: Min Yoongi. This old, deep soul. Somehow he’s risen up my bias list so fast and SO HIGH. Agust D hit me hard and once you know his humbling backstory, how can you not bias him? 

4. Park Jimin. Mochi, amazing dancer that’s classically trained in modern dance, born in Busan first, VISUAL AF, amazing high notes that even I, a female, cannot reach. Need I say more?

5. Park Jinyoung. HE’S NOT JUNIOR ANYMORE, OK? Sassy savage, mother of 6, has tea to spill but is classier than that. Will judge you without hesitation. Choreographs dances for Got7, actor Park is rising. Have I mentioned his peach? STAN JINYOUNG. I’M SO SORRY IDK HOW YOU GOT TO 5.

6. Kim Seokjin. (I limited myself to 3 members of Bangtan, but my roommate and best friend kept guilt tripping me so I upped it to 5.) OFTEN UNDER APPRECIATED IN BTS. GIVE HIM MORE LINES. TRUE VISUAL. HAS NEVER HAD A BAD ERA, I SWEAR. DAD JOKE CENTRAL. 

7. DEAN. aka my favorite solo artist. Voice like velvet. Was a producer before his solo career. Has written songs for BIEBER, EXO, etc. 

8. Jackson Wang. Wang Puppy!! Literally an angel. My first ever bias. Cares about everyone and everything. Including luggage. I love Jinson.

9. Im Jaebum. If he doesn’t rek you, you’re lying to yourself. A fierce leader who puts up a front, but loves his cats more than anything else in the world. SOFT AS HELL. 

10. Choi Minho. My other OG bias besides Jackson. Dibidibiwhoisdis? SM NEEDS TO STOP NEGLECTING SHINEE.

Sorry this was so long! I decided I should semi-solidify my bias list. It took far too long. If you read this far, I seriously love you so much. Thank you for reading this far LOL. If you read this far and we don’t talk/haven’t talked in a while, we should! Haha

Tagging: @1bitter, @ohsuga, @why-cody, @igot7-bangtan, @shineewritten, @justwhatevermark. Hopefully it won’t torture you as it did for me! As always, do if you want!

[pacific-bound-blog]

Monday, May 22~

Today was, I think, our last very long day in Japan. We woke up early again so that we could start our travels to Tsukiji (つきじ) to learn about the fish market! I had seen a special on the market on a Food Network show once, so I knew what to expect, but it was going to be a new experience. However, I knew that today was going to be rough as soon as I got out of bed because I was exhausted.

When we got to つきじ, we met up with our three tour guides and headed into the educational center in the market. An older man gave us a lovely and informative session on information regarding the market, but, not gonna lie, I was so tired that I dozed off during his presentation. I felt so bad because I was genuinely interested in what he was telling us, but I just physically couldn’t stay awake. I did, however, catch the hand signals that are used during the fast-paced auctions that take place at the market! They were very similar to American Sign Language signs for numbers, which I thought was interesting. Obviously, the signs weren’t taken explicitly from ASL, but it was still fascinating to see that there were hand signals that translated almost identically between English and Japanese.

We then broke into our groups and headed into the market. I did not realize that the market was as large as it was. There were warehouses everywhere, and some of them were specifically designated for waste products. The market was probably the dirtiest places I had seen in Japan because of this. However, the areas in which fish was being sold was kept immaculately cleanly, and the owners were quick to throw out/put away any fish that had a spoiled smell. The vendors, I found, ride on these weird Zamboni-looking machines to haul fish and supplies back and forth. Our group almost got hit by them at least 3 times. They did not give a diddly darn about running pedestrians over! There were a lot of different fish and snacks at these vendors’ booths, and I got to try bonino flakes, potato chips with fish inside, and mochi (もち) with strawberries (いちご) inside (which I bought!). There were also samples of whale meat, but I didn’t try any since the whaling industry is intensely harmful to the ecosystem. 

After our adventures, we ended up going to lunch at a mall cafe near wherever we were. We ate some quick rice and udon bowls and headed out to look at shopping areas. I bought some gifts for people, so it was a very productive time! We then met up with our whole group at the Tsukiji Honganji Temple. I really enjoyed this temple, even though it wasn’t technically a place that we were scheduled to visit. Rather, it was more of a meeting point that we made into an excursion.

The temple itself was designed to look akin to Buddhist temples in India, and I noticed that its architecture was rounder and its artwork was lighter than that of Buddhist temples in the Japanese style. I found it to be incredibly beautiful. It was a wonderful resting place for us after a long morning of walking around, and I found it interesting that we sought refuge from our travels in the religious space since refuge is an overarching theme of most religious sects. This made me appreciate the space in a more spiritual sense. We also walked in during the middle of a prayer service, so we got to witness people expressing their religion while we also were a part of it. All around, visiting the temple was a very wholesome and engaging experience, and I felt very fortunate to have experienced that.

After we wrapped up our time in the temple, we went to the Ginza shopping district. This area is full of really expensive, high end shops, and I went on a hunt to find some reasonably priced flow-y pants. Luckily, I found them at GU, a department store like H&M, and they weren’t too expensive, so I bought two pairs! I’m very excited to wear them. I think I’m gonna save one of the pairs for the flight home because they are so comfy. Kyrah and Yingting came shopping with me, and though Yingting didn’t find anything she wanted, Kyrah found a cool dressy shirt and a super cute lace cardigan to go over it! We had a successful shopping experience.

We headed out to the Kabuki theater after shopping. We bought some cheap dinner at a 7-11 in the 駅 under the theater since we were anticipating everything in the theater to be crazy expensive (which it was omg but I still bought snacks later). I was very excited to watch the Kabuki since I never had experienced it before. I was told that it was somewhat like a Japanese version of a Shakespearian play, and I definitely understood where that comparison could be made. The first act I found to be somewhat dull, but it was supposed to be a tragedy, so there wasn’t a ton of action in it, anyway. The most exciting thing that happened was that there was some weird love triangle between the good guys and the bad guys and a prostitute and her apprentice and I was confused???? And also everyone died in the end, but they died off-screen, so they didn’t even get cool deaths. Idk it was an interesting way to open the show.

The second act was significantly more interesting. It told the story of a young prince and his wet-nurse’s attempts to save his life and protect the throne. In a quick synopsis, there were evil-doers within the kingdom trying to kill the prince, and he was sent a basket of poisoned cookies. The wet-nurse had trained him and her own son to not eat anything that she hadn’t made for this exact reason. Her son ended up eating one of the cookies, and as he was dying, he was attacked by one of the evil-doers and tortured to death. However, he effectively saved the prince. The wet-nurse killed her son’s murderer, and protected the prince, and a scroll with the names of all the traitors ended up in the hands of a kindly old man, who took it to court and, after a lengthy battle and near-deadly physical battle, proved who was at fault in the kingdom and saved the lineage of the prince. I fell asleep for a little bit during the court case (again, I was literally so exhausted that I thought I would throw up), but the rest of it was wonderful! I really enjoyed the second act.

I also enjoyed the third act, which was a series of dance pieces. One of my favorites was a piece involving two men who became embodiments of good and bad and explained the two forces’ origin stories and how they still affect us today. The other one I enjoyed had to do with lions and their strength. Two of the artists dressed as lions and whipped their hair around and it was lit!! This act was my favorite.

Tonight, I think I’m going to take it easy and get caught up on some homework. With the deadlines for a lot of things coming up, I’m starting to get a little stressed!!!!! Also, I need to soon post up all the pictures from the trip on here. I’ll divvy them out by day/location so they all make sense. That’ll be an adventure.