Jumi on tour: H&M flagship store, The Hague

When there's an event and rain, there's Jumi! This time Jumi went to the opening of the H&M flagship store, The Hague. OK, what's so special about it? The new H&M opened in a beautiful historical building of Maison de Bonneterie. And it's big! So Jumi had to take a peek inside.

The new store would open at 10 am, so Jumi arrived at 9:30. Hmm, Jumi too early? No! There was already a loooooong queue of women waiting outside with their umbrellas. What the... Hmm, strangely enough I already saw some female customers walking inside the store.. Uh, I don't get that, because the store would open at 10. Hmpfff strange and stupid! Probably some hungry women were already waiting outside at 7 am, and the security thought 'ah, well let's open the doors for them, before they (b)eat us'. Hmpf.

After waiting for a little 20 minutes Jumi entered the store. So many people, so many things! The store has as far as I could see, because people were pushing Jumi away (stupid hungry people! Get a pizza or something...) 4 floors. But then I saw why people were acting like they're hungry prehistorical creatures. They all wanted something from the brand Balmain! There was a special Balmain area, so many people went to that area. It's like the store gave away free masterpieces of pizzas or something.

So what's new and different about this store? Well, it has a large shoes collection. Jumi saw some gorgeous high heels, so she had to try it. Too bad that the shoes didn't fit.

The store also has a 'home' department where you can get a lot of cute stuff for your bathroom, living room and bedroom. Jumi was tired trying those heels. So she rested for a while. Good service of H&M, putting a bed for tired Jumi.

For this special opening, there were nailstylists. Waited for 10 minutes, but it took so long, so bye bye nailstylist. There also was a DJ. Luckily the music wasn't extremely loud, so no tissues in the ears. By the way, the ceiling of the building remained the same, that's good!

After a little hour Jumi left the store. She bought a new shirt, which you can find at any H&M btw. The cashier gave her a new Elle magazine as a little extra.

So is it worth it to go to the flagship store? Uhm, if you're curious about what you can find at the 'home' department. But you can also find this department in Amsterdam. I think it's nice for those who want to know how this old historical building transformed into a modern clothing store. I mean you can find many (yes many, probably you'll find sweaters in more colours in this store) other things at the three other H&M's in The Hague. OK, the shoes collection is big, but I guess you can find these shoes online too. One thing I didn't see are the clothing in sale, maybe that's logical, because it's a special flagship store. Because the building is big, the store has more space. So if you're a person who prefers to go shopping with a lot of private space, than this is the H&M place.

Time to eat!.... or not? Nope, outside the store a promoting lady gave a coupon to get a free sample for a hairspray from the brand Balmain. Jumi only had to go to another department store (Bijenkorf) to receive it. So Jumi went to the Bijenkorf and received 'Texturizing Salt Spray' of 50 ml. Does it smell salty? No it's smells like a hair salon.

Jumi is hungry. Now it's time to eat!

Special cafe only for stuffed animals

Good news for little Jumi's, teddybears and other little friends. Tomorrow the very first cafe will open exclusively for them: the Yawarakan’s Cafe in Japan. And with exclusively I mean that humans aren't allowed to enter, this is a cafe only for your stuffed animal!

'Hueh?' is what I thought. Also when I read that the cafe is also runned by.... stuffed animals. Hueh? Hueh? Yes, I'm serious! I'm not joking!

So you can't go to the cafe, but your little friend can't go by him/herself to the cafe either. So howww.... OK, this is how it works. It starts with making a reservation for your little friend. Then send your little friend (by mail) to the cafe. Your little friend will be welcomed at the cafe. And then your little friend will have the best time of his/her life (hopefully he/she won't miss you that much)!

The evening will look like this:
1. the guest will get a jummy welcome drink, dinner and a delicious dessert;
2. after the guest has enjoyed the meal, some entertainment will be offered. Your little friend can listen to ghost tales or play cards with the staff;
3. sleepytime! Probably your little friend will be exhausted after having an evening like this. So the cafe offers the guest one night's lodging.

The next day your little friend will be send back to you, with souvenirs! The package costs ¥4,968 (that's about €26). Hmmm, is it really worth it to send your little friend to Yawarakan’s Cafe?

It's a nice idea to show your love for your little friend this way. Definitely something for little Jumi. But then I read that one strict rule is that 'stuffed animals must be no larger than the size of your hand' to enter the cafe. Nooooo whyyyy. OK, sorry little Jumi....

Source: en.rocketnews24

Oui oui en France Jumi will be

No skyscrapers, busy traffic and hardcore faire du shopping in Seoul. Nope, this time little Jumi will take a little rest in the south of France. So the upcoming two weeks we won't post crazy Jumi news. Sowwie TT, but you can still follow us on Instagram and Twitter! See how little Jumi explores a totally different world than what she's normally used to. Of course, of course we'll be back with more crazy Jumi on Tour news!

For now, I'm preparing my journey, listening to Hey - je t`aime(쥬뗌므). Au revoir!

Bye bye foodheaven Seoul

.... and now I'm stuck with boring coffeeshops (or other type of coffeeshops, hmpf) and one dessert restaurant. A real cultureshock after coming home from foodheaven on earth: Seoul!

Even though we weren't feeling very well during our foodjourney, we ate as much as we could. Yes, even with a high fever, how could you resist this!

This is good stuff, traditional dinner!

Gwangjang foodmarket. Jummy pighead! (...ok, I didn't try it)

Of course we had to try some sushi here

Coffeeshops, omg, I'm gonna miss that. Some cafés are sooo cute and some offer just the most jummy desserts.

Why not having honeybread for dinner (Gurunaru cafe)

Gonna miss this big macaron with ice cream filling

Don't think I've eaten this sheep! This is themecafe Thanks Nature Cafe

Outside there were nice things to eat too.

Fresh poop of this man. Man what have you eaten, your poop tastes delicious

Huh? Seungri (of BigBang) selling cake??

Nooo, ulggg, now there's drool on my laptop...  have to clean it :( If you want to see what else we've eaten (and done), you should check out our instagram. Seoul, Seoul, gonna miss your fooood!

Jumi on tour: Camera Japan 2014

Yes, this year too we went to filmfestival Camera Japan in Rotterdam. And hm. It looks like we're seeing lesser films each year. Last year we've seen two films. And ahum, you can guess how much films we've seen now: one.

Aarrghhh, yup the filmschedule. It didn't fit with our schedule (yup, taking a day off from work wasn't an option, because this, in the eyes of nagging bosses isn't a 'urgent reason' to take a day off. OK, enough nagging about work). So we've only seen Unforgiven starring Ken Watanabe. This is a remake of Clint Eastwood’s 1992 western. Now it's taking place in Hokkaido in the 1880's. The story is about an ex-samurai who gets hired to revenge the mutilation of a young prostitute. The film is not really my cup of tea, but I don't think it's really bad or whatever. The story is slowly paced, therefore I got bored in the longer scenes, so you shouldn't expect hardcore action. The interesting thing is that the Ainu (native people from Japan) played a small part in the film. Interesting because in 'old movies' I often see the focus on Samurai and geishas. Is it worth watching it? It's OK to watch it at a rainy Sunday afternoon. But if you're already in a nagging mood or tired hm.

The festival (location Rotterdam) is pretty much the same as last year. There was a small market, artwork, performances. The filmschedule didn't fit with our schedule. Too bad. Because the few films (two) we really wanted to see where shown on crappy days during crappy times. So about the offer of films... hm. OK, last year we've seen two films, this year one. Next year zero?

Jumi in Paris: in snailheaven at Le Bouillon Chartier

Yes, finally she did it. Little Jumi has eaten snails or l'escargots for the first time in Paris. And she loved it! Yup, by recommendation she went to a French (duh) restaurant Le Bouillon Chartier.

Without any expectations she arrived at the restaurant. It has a simple and oldish look, but it's charming. The dining area is huuuge! And I can understand why. There are many tables and many maaany customers. So Jumi had to share the table with two other customers. But that's OK. The funny thing is that those two customers didn't know each other, but started to have interesting conversations about anything. And I think that's normal here (or maybe in the country). If you start to talk to a stranger in a restaurant in Jumi's city, you'll get a angry face immediately or the stranger will grab his/her smartphone just to avoid conversations (haha that's me). The restaurant has a good atmosphere. Next: the heavenly piece of escargot!

Hello Kitty Con 2014 in LA

OMG, I wish I could teleport myself to Los Angeles for a moment. Why? Because here's the place where they have a lot of cooool conventions. Remember last year? A Kcon! And now they're having a..... HELLO KITTY CON.

This heavenly con is all about Hello Kitty. With activities, art, exhibits, exclusives, workshops, lectures, panels, sneak peeks, tattoos, food, fun, and... I guess Hello Kitty herself will visit the con too!

It will all take place at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) in Downtown LA’s Little Tokyo. When? From October 30 - November 2. Be there! And don't forget to share us your heavenly Hello Kitty con stories.

Source: gizmodiva

Jumi on tour: S.H.O.E.S. exhibition Rotterdam

We went to S.H.O.E.S., Sexy Heels or Easy Sandals in Rotterdam. This is an exhibition with more than 500 shoes (mostly high heels) from many famous designers. From Manolo Blahnik, Alexander McQueen, Dior, VanHaren, Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin to Kobi Levi. Even though little Jumi isn't a huge fan of high heels (she prefers walking bare foot), we had to stop her trying to put her foot in a shoe. Yup, little Jumi went crazy with all these shoes.

Vivienne Westwood

We went crazy seeing shoes of Kobi Levi. Omg, Omg!

Kobi Levi - Blow

This was definitely one of Jumi's fave exhibitions. After seeing all these shoes, we got greedy and just wanted to shop for more shoes. Too bad that this exhibition will end this Sunday. To experience and feel the shoe craze again, we've posted some pics. Check them out, here at JUMI!

JUMI on tour: IFFR 2014

It was time again to go to the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). This year we totally loved, again, a new movie of Miike Takashi: The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji.

The Mole Song
This funny movie is based on the manga "Mogura no Uta". It's about a police officer, Reiji, with a strong sense of justice. Reiji is ordered to become a mole. He has to infiltrate Yakuza. Reiji is strict and tough, yet in some situations he goes too far. This leads to hilarious moments (OMG, that part with the yakuza initiation ceremony. Rejij misunderstands something and starts to eat the plate). Reiji is just a bad undercover cop. His clothing, his attitude, a tough guy but in a bad way. Totally love how it is filmed in different ways. Loved the fashion :) And it's just sooo funny crazy. All the characters were funny. Too bad that I can't see it again in the cinema. A good movie to see in the morning, afternoon, evening... well anytime. Totally love it.

The Pinkie 

This is a short movie (65 min.) by upcoming director Lisa Takeba. It's sweet, lovely and had a lot of crazy wtff moments. To be honest I didn't have high expectations of The Pinkie, after seeing the Mole Song. So I wasn't really dissappointed. It's funny, but I missed just a little sparkle. Well....hm, I must admit, I already was a bit tired when I went to see it. What I really like were the short animations. The Pinkie is a movie to see at a high tea girlie afternoon. But beware, the movie has a little "Oldboy" twist. After the movie, the director Lisa Takeba was invited to come up on stage at IFFR for a Q&A. I must say that the interviewer of IFFR was being rude to her when she answered a question in a short way (probably because of languagebarrier). You could say things on a nice friendly way, instead he chooses to be a Dutch d*ck. Whatever, I hope Lisa Takeba makes more movies, and well maybe we have an upcoming female version of Takeshi Kitano! :D 

Secretly Greatly

Yeah nice to see Park Ki-woong on big screen! Yup, I'm a dorama queen (he played in Full House and Me Too Flower). Back to Secretly Greatly. This is about a North Korean spy, Won Ryu-han who has a secret mission in a South Korean village. He's a hitman, but now he has to pretend as if he's a village idiot. The longer the spy stays there, the better he become friends with the people in the South Korean village. He's spying with two other collegues. But then the secret missions is ended. Now they're ordered commit suicide or kill each other, because all traces have to be erased. Secretly Greatly is a nice movie (maybe a bit too long). Nice to see the friendship between the spy and the villagers. Good to see on a Sunday afternoon.

Intruders

Again, I've seen a good suspence movie. Intruders is about Sang-Jin who has to finish his work (writing his screenplay). So Sang-Jin goes to a mountainious village to work quietly and peacefully on his screenplay. Hm, quietly? No. He meets a weird man and ex-con, who's sticking with him. Not for long. After Sang-Jin thinks he can work quietly, he meets a group of annoying youngsters. One day Sang-Jin finds the youngsters dead. Oeehh. Intruders is a thriller with black humour. It has an open ending, but that's not bothersome. The movie starts slow, but a good way to get to know Sang-Jin better. It didn't bored me one second. Great acting btw. One actress was so good. She played soo annoying, that I was hoping that Sang-Jin would slap her on her face (because she was slapping his face constantly. Poor Sang-Jin). Nice to watch Intruders on a girlie movie night. Loved it. 

Little Jumi in Tokyo

Siiiigh....

Hey lovely readers... Little Jumi went on a trip to Japan. She had a lot of fun in fabulous Tokyo!
Here she is dreaming away at the magical view of the amazing metropolis in SkyTree!

What she really loved are the Japanese beauty shops. She went crazy and bought so many stuff that she is totally broke now.

Little Jumi resting after her shopping haul.

Also Little Jumi went to K-town in Tokyo (near Shin Okubo station). These small streets have a lot of Korean shops filled with K-pop, make up and yummy kimchi.

So she found her favourite shop! Pinching Ji Sungs cheek.

Touching Lee Byung Hun in public... Naughty Little Jumi? We can't blame her.. ;)

Shopping for Sanrio goodies in Ikebukuro

Having fun in Harajuku!

Stay tuned for more stories from Little Jumi in Tokyo!

Jumi on tour: Japanese film festival 2013 - part 1

We had to wait a year for a new edition of filmfestival Camera Japan. And finally, yesterday, we went to Rotterdam to experience the 2013 edition... without high expectations.

Nope, we were already a bit dissappointed by the filmschedule. Some good movies have been (or will be) played just ONCE. And some were scheduled at crappy times! We wanted to see Bad Film. But no, this one was shown on a weekday in the afternoon. But we couldn't take a day off from work. Boehoehhh. And Hentai Kamen is scheduled toooooo late :(

Besides showing Japanese movies, there was a small market too. A tiny one. The same as last year. Nothing special.... As for the entertainment, there was a kimono fashion show. And 'paper drama', a form of storytelling with picture scrolls, supported by flute music. It was OK that there were different things to see, but to me it wasn't really.... uhm... nothing special to me. And we haven't eaten anything. The (cranky) kitchen of the theatre was closed at 9PM. There was a set up for an Izakaya (Japanese pub food). Jummy! Having sake with donburi! But they've served it at ten at night.... when many people were already in the movie theater, so these people (like us) even couldn't smell and try it. Too bad, maybe they should serve earlier at night, for a few hours.

Next time, it's better to bring a bag of food with you.

No, I think the 2010 edition is still the best, with interesting lectures held at a museum and interesting movies scheduled much better.

Anyway, back to the movies. This year we've just seen two movies. Curious which one? Click here.

Jumi on tour: Japanese film festival 2013 - part 2

It's like we're seeing fewer movies each year at Camera Japan Festival. This time we were irritated, annoyed by the filmschedule and not to forget, hungry. Movies were shown at crappy times. It was impossible for us to take a day off at work, so we couldn't see some interesting movies. Anyway, this year we've seen two movies: Aura - Koga Maryuin's Last War and Outrage Beyond.

Aura

A romantic comedy about a boy, Ichiro, who got bullied at his school because he has a rich imagination of being a hero in a fantasy world. Ichiro transfers to another school. Acting more normal, because he doesn't want to be bullied again. Then Ichiro meets a strange girl. A girl who also has a rich imagination. Now she gets bullied. Ichiro has to protect her from being bullied. Read more...

This anime wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't like the ending of it. At the end it was kind of a 'realistic' story, with some sort of moral. It's an OK anime for younger people, but to me (nope I'm not old) it was not worthy enough to see this one at the festival.


Outrage Beyond

I was sooo excited to see the sequel of Yakuza movie Outrage: Outrage Beyond. But this second and last movie I've seen at the festival was a bit of a disappointment. The movie wasn't bad or whatever, but I missed the real violent sparkle of the first Outrage. Yes, you really have to see the first one. To me, the movie starts off slow. And there wasn't really an unforgettable scene in Outrage Beyond, just like the dentist scene of Outrage part one. But I still love the charismatic Kitano Takeshi.


After saying this, I must say that Outrage Beyond is my favorite I've seen at Camera Japan 2013.

Home Made Market XL in The Hague: a jummy experience

Yesterday we went to the Home Made Market in The Hague. This cute market is all about home made stuff. Beautiful scarfs, sweet postcards, funny furniture, cute jewelry and a loooot of jummy stuff. From Indian, Vietnamese, English, American snacks to jummy cakes, pies and cookies. OMG... *droooool*.

We tasted carribean Chocolate cakes, deee-liciousss. The chocolate cream was so soft and chocolatey. Then we headed over to the stand of Sprinkles Bakery with American cakes. We tried the Hummingbird cakes. Shiiiit.... these were awesome!

Then we drooled a lot at the foodstand of Cakes 'n Buttons. OMG, everything looked sooo cute and sooooo jummy and sooo beautiful. They had a plate full of buttons made of sugar. It looked too sweet to eat. And like last year, they had many cakes with different flavors. Mmmmm. If you're planning to go to the next Home Made Market, we recommend you to check out the stand of Cakes 'n Buttons. Definitely Jummy!

Source: Home Made Market

JUMI on tour: IFFR 2013

Yes, JUMI went to the International Film Festival in Rotterdam again. This year we were a bit dissappointed in the movies we've seen. JUMI's first movie was Lesson of Evil, by Takashi Miike. It was the first and definitely the best movie we've seen on the festival!

Lesson of the Evil

It's about a very very handsome popular teacher at a high school. Girls adore him, guys think he's cool. Now the teacher wants to deal with bad behavior among the students. By punishing them on an not-so-cool-but-more-painful-way. Then a smart student and a teacher finds out that the handsome teacher isn't really that 'good' after all. Handsome teacher finds out that others know his dark secret, so he decides to teach them a deadly lesson, a lesson of evil... (colleague teacher gets punished in subway, woehoehhh nice scene). I love the acting of the handsome but sick teacher, Hideaki Ito. Lesson of Evil is about blood splatters and gore. It reminds me a bit of Battle Royale. Totally love it!

Pieta 

This Korean movie of Kim Ki-Duk won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, so we had very high expectations of Pieta. We've also heard that Pieta is a real brutal, cruel and controversial Asian movie. Sounded nice!.....But....hm. Pieta is about a heartless loan shark, who's threatening his clients who can't pay their debts. By injuring them, so that he can get his money through a handicap insurance. He doesn't have family, maybe that's why he's so cold hearted. Then he meets a mysterious woman. She claims to be his mom. Meeting this 'mom' changes him into a soft boy. Pieta is a psychological revenge movie with a lot of symbolics. To me, the movie felt too long. Cruel? Uhm, yes some parts were a bit cruel, but I have seen much worse. So I don't know what all the fuzz is about. Our mistake is that we had high expectations, so after the movie we were disappointed. This was not really JUMI's cup of tea :(

Drug War
If you really want to see some fast hardcore action, then this Chinese-Hong Kong movie by Johnnie To is just for you. The story is about a drug lord who's been caught by a police officer. He's forced to cooperate with the police officer. So the drug lord introduces the police officer into the world of drug organizations. There's a lot of shooting and of course drugs and sniffing in Drug War. The movie immediately starts with action and 'ieuwww-moments'. The part when some drug smugglers (mules) get arrested and have to poop their body packing into a plastic basket. Ieeeeeeuwww! But it's a good action movie!

The Complex 

Hideo Nakata. It's been a while since I've seen one of his J-Horrors. I definitely loooove Ringu, Dark Water and Death Note. So I had high expectations of The Complex. Hm. Eventually I didn't get scared once, because I was too busy to suppress my feelings of annoyance towards the main character. The dumb girliegirl Asuka. She moves into an apartment complex. Something strange is going on in the apartment next to her house. As stupid and curious as she is, Asuka 'breaks in' to that apartment. There she finds an old man...dead! OMG. Afterwards strange things occur. She meets a little boy who isn't that innocent. It seems that there's a link between the strange happenings (of course) and her own past.
The movie gets interesting when main character Sasahara (Hiroki Narimiya) is being introduced. Hello eyecandy! Luckily this handsome guy was in it otherwise it was just a 106 minute long scene about a sobbing and naive girl.

We've also seen a Dutch movie: The Resurrection of a Bastard (De Wederopstanding van een Klootzak). But this one was a disappointment too. In short: it's about a ruthless gangster who kills a young mother. Then something snaps in his head and he starts to act all holy and goody-goody. Boring.

So this years favorite is Lesson of Evil. Why? We got sucked into the story. After the movie, we were still in the Lesson of Evil mood... uhhh no I don't mean that we acted sick as hell as the main character *eheh*. But uhm...ah well, you have to see it yourself ^_^

Heavenly tunnel of light in botanical garden

OMG, is this really the heavenly tunnel of light? .....

Nope, this picture has been taken on our little earth. To be more precisely, at the botanical garden Nabana no Sato in Kuwana (Japan). Now they have this heavenly lightshow until March 2013. How beautiful.... I wish I was here now....

Source: nagashima-onsen, froot