How to Make Graduation Hakama

Finally i graduate from my medical school in this november TwT after three years of struggle, finally it's time to enter the real world! I'll start working in hospital this december, and i personally can't wait for it >_<

About the graduation ceremony, i've decided (after a long time) that i'm going to wear hakama instead of kebaya. I know, it sounds ridiculous since this is not japan, but i want to try something new and since buying new kebaya costs too much this time :') so i decided in the end i'm going to make my own graduation hakama! I know most people might think that i'm not proud of my nationality, but no, that's not it, i just want to try something anti-mainstream in the end of school and also there's no rules that said we must wear kebaya, so why not? xD

Another reason why i want to wear graduation hakama is because the hakama itself has a long history and meaning. The history dated back to late meiji era, and hakama were originally worn by teachers of women’s schools, but gradually worn by students. Another source also told that hakama was a 'revolutionary' clothes, due to the fact that after the meiji restoration, fashion changed so much, included how women dress specially in the newly established girls school, and their uniform was hakama pants that worn over kimono, which makes them easier to do activity when they work or study. However, in this modern era, hakama is only worn in special occasion, for example like graduation. There's also meaning behind the number of the pleats, i forgot where i read it, but i will make sure to search it and put it here once i found the article again :D

but, hakama pleats in general represent the traditional virtues of the samurai and divided into five on the front and two on the back of the hakama.

Front pleats : 

1. Yuki (courage, valor)
2. Jin (humanity, benevolence)
3. Gi (justice, righteousness)
4. Rei (courtesy, civility) 
5. Makoto (sincerity, honesty)

Back Pleats : 

1. Chugi (loyalty)
2. Meiyo (honor, dignity)

And now, let's get started to the basic pattern! Anyway, this pattern is for someone who has a relatively big under bust like me, so if you are small and skinny, you might want to change the size :D also, this pattern might not be historically correct, since i combined the available pattern online and from seeing photos .

My under bust size is +- 82cm, and my hakama length is 98 cm (A + 8 cm) so this is the pattern i made :

hakama pattern

There's total 5 pleats in the front, and 2 in the back, and the pleats goes something like this :

graduation hakama pleats

For the side opening, there's a method to make it neat, you can read it in yousai blog, basically you flip it first to the front, sew it between the creases, and flip it back to back and sew it again in the back, and then it will create something like this.

hakama side opening

After that, put together the front and the back part and sew it~ and for the obi part (i don't know what's the part name actually hahaha) i made it both 300 cm long so i can create a ribbon at the front~

Anyway, a lot of people thought that graduation hakama is a pants, but actually it is more like a skirt since there's no divider inside it *_* 

photo credits to Kyoetsu's Shop

 And voila, after every part is sewn, your own graduation hakama is ready to wear! 

But wait, before that if you want to make your graduation hakama more neat looking and hard, you
might want to starching it first before you wear it!

and here's my final look of my hakama!

Graduation Hakama~!

Finally Graduated !

FAQ & Syarat Visa Jepang

Hallo!

Kali ini edisi bahasa Indonesia karena mau agustusan ya, kidding, karena memang target audiencenya yang ini khusus untuk orang indo, jadi yuk langsung aja 

untuk yang satu ini, aku selalu ngurus di kedubes Surabaya karena memang yang paling dekat dan kata orang-orang paling cepat dan mudah buat ngurusnya (sempat waktu itu ketemu orang Jakarta dateng jauh-jauh ke Surabaya buat ngurus visa jepang, alasannya karena ditolak di kedubes jepang jakarta dan karena urgent, dia dateng ke surabaya dan diiyakan) walaupun gitu, tetap saja kalian harus siap semua berkas dan sesuai syarat buat mengajukan visa Jepang.

Selama ini aku sudah ngurus dua jenis visa jepang, yaitu Visa Jepang Knjungan sementara untuk wisata dan Visa Jepang kunjungan sementara untuk mengunjungi teman. Dua-duanya beda persyaratannya dan harus diakui, kunjungan teman berkasnya lebih ribet jadi kalau memang mau niatan wisata walaupun ada teman disana, langsung aja pakai yang visa jepang kunjungan sementara untuk wisata. Walau begitu, ada keuntungan kalau kalian pakai visa jepang kunjungan sementara untuk mengunjungi teman, apa? kemungkinan besar kalian dapat visa akan lebih tinggi. Alasannya? yuk dibahas bareng-bareng.

Buat kalian yang memang murni mau wisata, kalian bisa mengajukan visa kunjungan sementara untuk wisata dengan persyaratan seperti di bawah ini : (sumber : kedubes jepang jakarta)

Syarat Visa Jepang untuk Wisata

kalau kalian sudah siap semua berkas, kemudian pastikan hal-hal dibawah ini :

1. semua berkas dalam A4 (ya, termasuk fc ktp, ktm, lalalayeyeye)
2. Tidak boleh distaeples, nggak boleh ada lipatan, tekukan (pokoknya mulus)
3. foto ditempel dengan lem 
4. semua berkas disusun URUT sesuai persyaratan. Semua ini penting banget buat dipatuhi kalau kalian nggak mau berkas kalian ditolak bahkan sebelum mengajukan ya. 
5. yang satu ini, entah gimana, tiap kedubes kayaknya bakal beda-beda dan tiap waktu bakal berubah juga, tapi berdasarkan pengalaman terakhir (per Juni 2017) minimal saldo tabungan per orang adalah 30 juta, yang mana nambah 5 juta dari per Januari 2017 yang cuma 25 juta. Karena itu sebisa mungkin diisi yang banyak yaa. Triknya, kalau memang kalian tidak ada uang segitu di tabungan, pinjam dulu ke saudara/teman, terus di print tabungannya setelah itu bebas deh uang mau dikemanakan~ atau kalau jalan-jalan bareng temen-temen, bisa banget uangya dioper terus diprint biar saldo terakhir cukup sesuai persyaratan ^^
6. yang satu ini juga penting, pastikan tabungan kalian jangan ada peningkatan yang terlalu drastis, karena memang waktu pertama kali ngajukan, aku jarang banget pake atm dan begitu diisi banyak, langsung ditanya macam-macam, alhasil ganti pakai tabungan ortu deh yang flow masuk-keluar uangnya lebih masuk akal :')
7. Syarat foto. Yang satu ini harus diperhatikan baik-baik ya, kalian bisa lihat di bawah kriteria foto yang bagus seperti apa. Buat yang biasa pake jilbab, pake jilbab tentu saja gak apa-apa, dan kalaupun memang di ktp/paspor nggak pake, tapi sekarang pake jilbab juga gak ada masalah kok sejauh ini (pengalaman juga dari teman). Oh iya, perlu diingat kalau bisa senatural mungkin ya fotonya, karena pasti disuruh ganti kalau makeupnya terlalu menor + pake lensa kontak warna warni yang nggak normal wkwk
8. Untuk surat keterangan belajar, di kedubes surabaya disediakan sendiri formulirnya dan bisa diambil cuma di loket kedubes, jadi kalian bisa isi sekalian disitu~
9. Jangan melampirkan halaman yang nggak diminta, alasannya karena akan mempersulit proses dan kurang efisien
   
   
   
   

   

   syarat foto visa jepang

    Kalau semua syarat sudah, langsung deh, ke kedubes jepang, pengajuan di surabaya sih setiap hari senin-jumat 08.15 - 11.30. Pengerjaannya minimal 4 hari kerja, meaning kalau kalian ngajukan hari jumat, otomatis akan jadi hari rabunya, jadi kalau kalian mau berangkat, jangan mepet-mepet dan jangan terlalu awal juga (karena masa berlaku visa hanya 3 bulan). Perhatikan juga sama jadwal libur kedubes, apalagi kalau akhir tahun dan hari besar lainnya. 
   
   
   FAQ (Frequently Asked Question)

•  Persyaratan di web kedubes jepang Jakarta sama Surabaya sama aja? 

sama aja kok, aku dua kali pakai persyaratan di web kedubes Jakarta dan waktu disana (di surabaya) juga sama aja~

•  Bagaimana kalau paspor sudah kadaluarsa? Apa boleh ngurus visa dulu baru diganti?

yang ini tentu aja nggak boleh ya, karena syaratnya paspor harus aktif dan seingatku juga minimal 7 bulan sebelum tanggal berakhir paspor (jaga-jaga aja setahun sebelum tanggal berakhir ya!)

• Katanya Jepang bebas visa? gimana caranya?

nah khusus yang ini cuma buat pemegang e-paspor, artinya kalian tidak perlu mengajukan berkas dan persyaratan semua pengajuan visa TAPI kalian tetap harus mengisi formulir dan registrasi bebas visa disini . Yang satu ini lebih mudah dan cepat lagi, karena 2 hari jadi (jadi hari berikutnya).

• Biayanya berapa?

nah yang satu ini ada kabar gembira bagi kalian yang masih pelajar dan S1, karena visa jepang bebas biaya buat kalian. Kalau sudah S2 dan seterusnya tapi tetap bayar ya, biayanya tergolong standar kok (nggak semahal biaya visa korea hiks :( ) Single Entry 370k, Multiple Entry 740k, Transit 90k (per April 2017)

• Waktu ngajukan visa, apa boleh diwakilkan? 

Kalau memang kalian mengurus lewat travel, boleh, tapi kalau memang sendiri, sebaiknya kalian datang sendiri-sendiri karena mau tidak mau pasti nanti ditanya. Kalian bisa baca lebih lanjut tentang pengajuan yang diwakilkan ini disini

• Di form ada tulisan guarantor dan inviter in Japan, apa maksudnya? Gimana kalau tidak ada guarantor dan inviter in Japan?

Nah yang satu ini, berhubung saya ada relasi disana, jadi bisa mencantumkan. Buat kalian yang nggak ada inviternya, mungkin kalian bisa mencoba mengurus visa kalian di travel agent saja, karena dengan begitu mereka bisa mengisi semua berkas kalian yang kurang~ buat yang masih lama mau ke jepangnya, cari teman di jepang, biar bisa ngurus visa sendiri nantinya hehe

• kalau masih pelajar, kolom address of employernya diisi apa ya?

kalau masih pelajar, kolom ini harus kalian isi dengan nama sekolah kalian ya~ kalau nggak diisi nanti pasti disuruh ngisi

• Apa penyebab visa Jepang ditolak?

yang ini aku nggak bisa jawab karena syukurnya, nggak pernah ngalami dan selama ini kedubes tidak pernah memberikan alasan kenapa ditolak bagi orang-orang yang visa nya nggak jadi. Kemungkinan besar alasannya mungkin karena di saldo tabungan, walaupun di kedubes jepang Surabaya biasanya akan diberitahu ketika kalian sampai di loket berapa minimal saldonya, tapi mungkin tidak sama dengan yang di Jakarta. Alasan lain mungkin karena persyaratan kalian nggak lengkap atau mungkin memang bukan rejekinya, apapun itu jangan patah semangat karena masih ada banyak kesempatan untuk datang ke Jepang, so keep your head up! ^^

• Gimana caranya biar visa Jepang diterima?

caranya tentu aja dengan membawa berkas yang lengkap dan sesuai persyaratan dong, kemudian cara lainnya (mitos sih ini) dengan pakai Juminhyo. Nah, khusus yang satu ini memang nggak diminta kalau kalian mengajukan buat visa yang wisata, tapi bakal ada di persyaratan kalau kalian mengajukan visa untuk kunjungan teman. Juminhyo sendiri merupakan surat register kependudukan Jepang, yang mana tentunya cuma dipunyai oleh orang yang tinggal tetap di Jepang. Juminhyo nya sendiri harus asli, bukan scan-an, bukan fotocopy an, jadi ya... harus minta kesana dan dikirim kesini huahaha. Pengalaman sih, juminhyo disana memang dicetak sendiri khusus di pemerintahan sana, dan harus di stempel asli sana ya. Selain itu juga kalian bakal butuh surat undangan jika kalian berniat mengajukan visa untuk kunjungan teman/keluarga. Persyaratan lainnya bisa kalian lihat disini. Yang ini memang ribet, tapi kesempatan buat dapet visanya bakal lebih besar~

Anyway, happy holiday buat kalian yang mau ke Jepang! Jangan lupa baca artikel-artikel lainnya ya~ bisa langsung kalian search di tag : Japan ~ Bon Voyage!

*yang mau tanya-tanya silahkan coret-coret di komentar ya~

Japan AirBnB : Takatsuki House

Voila! I'm here again to review some AirBnB i use just last week when i go to Japan (again) hehe. This year surely has been a year of adventure since i travel abroad so much! I went to Japan last January, and decided to go again to Japan (and korea too) this July xD it was such amazing experience because i cannot get enough of Japan!

Last week, my main destination is to visit Gion-Shijo since i really want to see Gion Matsuri, that's why i tried to search everywhere near Kyoto but sadly almost all of it is already booked TwT good thing about Japan is they have super fast train (yeah, go rapid trains!) they are a lot cheaper than shinkansen but ofc more pricey than normal JR trains, but it was totally worth saving your time!

And that's why eventhough i didn't get any stay in Kyoto, i decided somewhere just near Osaka or between them will do, and voila, i got this super great and comfy house in Takatsuki. I'd say that this house is everything that i want and i need because its location is very strategic. It is only about 6 minutes to train station, very close to supermarkets (there are probably a tons of them), very close to shopping street, and also very close to ONSEN (about 6 minutes walk) but still, the area is very peaceful at night ~ so i guess this is the perfect airBnB so far ~

*psst : if you want to book airbnb in japan and have no idea about it, don't forget to read my review and tips for Japan AirBnB here

I have to thanks a lot to Taki-san because he really helped me a lot with all of my question and he really provide us the best stay and information all around. Really fast respond and very understanding, that's why i really suggested this stay to all of you who want to spend the night in Japan just between Kyoto (about 13 minutes with train) and Osaka (about 16 minutes with train) ^^

The house itself is really clean and very neat. Since it is 3 floor building, then you might encounter problems if you want to carry out your suitcase upstairs, but hey, why bother? because you can just keep your luggage downstairs near the bathroom because you don't wanna ruin the tatamis in second and third floor ^^ 

The first floor contain bathroom and laundry room. Just like any japanese house, the bathroom have its ofuro and i really love it since i don't have any back home xD of course there are shower too, but i suggest that you try their ofuro because why not? Near the ofuro is bathroom sinks and washing machine, so you can clean your clothes ~

First Floor : Bathroom and Laundry Room

The second floor contain everything you need, from dining room, kitchen, toilets and living room. The living room is floored with tatami, so you must be careful if you want to put things on top of it. Meanwhile the dining room is just beside the kitchen, and the amenities are perfect (and also the host provide you free instant tea, coffee and water) so you got everything you need to make your own food. The living room is also perfect because it has television and blank paper + pencil colour, so you can write or draw your thoughts just like mine xD (many previous guest write their hellos and goodbyes in here)

doodles for host ~

Second Floor Kitchen and dining room ~ the amenities are perfect ~

Andddd the best view is the third floor ( i seriously love this part!) because it has this classic japanese look. As you can see, the floored is also matted with tatami, and the fusuma sliding doors, and also the view from the window is very peaceful :') when i just got back home really late, i spent my night just looking from the third floor window and saw the peaceful night of Takatsuki. From afar, you can see there are still people who just got home really late and the outstanding banner that read 'ramen' (?) i planned to go to that shop but sadly i have no time to visit it in the end :( please if someone have their chance to go to that shop, do tell me is that really a ramen shop or not xD

Third floor Bedroom and Second floor living room

The view from third floor at night

Meanwhile, since the house is very strategic, in the way home you will meet a lot of vending machines, 7-eleven, mini stop (my favourite!), bread shops (which sell melon breads, yum!), shopping street, cafe and so on. Also, don't forget the ONSEN because OH. GOD. THEY HAVE THE BEST ONSEN EVER. like, ever. because Tenjin Spa (the name of the onsen) is a third floor onsen with a lot of onsen varieties, from 19 c onsen (yeah, you read that right) to 40 c onsen (yeah, you also read that right HAHAH and it burns like, hell) and sauna, and of course their outstanding  ROOFTOP OUTDOOR ONSEN (this literally win my heart) but well, i think i'm going to review it later in my next post~

ministop haul at summer night ~ (since the street is very quiet and peaceful, we just spend the night in front of the shop because our legs are really tired xD)

thank you and see you!
also, don't forget to use my airBnB voucher if you want to stay in any airbnb stay! ^w^)/ you'll get 350k IDR discount ~

Japan Culinary : Coco's Japanese Hamburger

When you look around in japan, mostly their streetfoods are containing seafood, ever since meat price is higher than the rest, only a few will actually sell beef meat. Usually they sell it in restaurants or ryokan, which is sold at a really high price *o*

It was winter night, the clock already struck at 11 pm and we just got into our room in Kanazawa, we're so hungry so we decided to check local foods there. There is no streetfood stalls in sight, but when we take a walk about 5-10 minutes later, we found this fastfood restaurant called COCO'S. The outside looks really neat, and inside is a warm-family-restaurant looking.The cashier and receptionist is located near the front door, so make sure don't just straight go inside, what you need to do first is write your name in the guest book and let the waiter know, you can wait in the waiting seat and after that the waiter will guide you to your table ^^

What's surprising is eventhough it's already 11 pm, there are so much people and family hanging out xD by the time i got to find my table, i realize that the interior reminds me a lot of  the scene from 'tsuki ga kirei'. The tables, the drink bar, also the foods too! *o*

It just look exactly like it xD i didn't get the chance to capture the whole interior, since i was too busy with my food (sorry). Anyway, the menus are wayyy to temptating, i specially cannot get my eyes off their cocoshe x_x Specially the one called 'Strawberry cocoshe with fondant chocolate inside' and ends up ordering it first before i get the main course xD

Strawberry Cocoshe

 The desserts are cheap, considering how they are sooo tasty (it's only 500 yen) and also, it is a perfect dessert after ordering the main course. My choice of main course is Coco's Japanese Hamburger with Grilled Kobe Beef and 6 KIND OF CHEESE inside (yeah, you read that right, 6 kind of cheese) since i asked which one is without pork and wine, and they suggested us this. Yes, it is expensive, but actually it is not too expensive since it use kobe beef .-. It has such a heavenly taste to describe, i really love cheese and beef, and mixing them up with this unimaginable way... is perfect. I love the taste, it is not too salty, not too cheesy, it has the right texture, it is soft but it also still chewy enough to eat.

 If you wonder if this is steak or is it hamburger, it is BOTH of them. This is japanese hamburger, so you won't expect a whole beef sliced and grilled but a mix of meats (sometimes beef mixed with chicken or etc) minced and formed together.

Japanese Hamburger Steak

Italian Smoked Cheese

 meanwhile my brother choose Italian Smoked Cheese grilled beef  soaked in Tomato Sauce. It really looks like vegan steak since it has so many vegetable inside x_x i didn't really like the taste tho xD

Coco's Restaurant

In the end, it was all worth it because it is tasty, it is warm, and plus, it is family-friendly restaurant. It has also doraemon special menus for kids (and it also temptating). It still considered as fast food, but it has a different taste than any othe fastfood i've ever tasted so far~ Also, if you are a maniac of studio ghibli, i happened to found one of their most iconic things in this restaurant : Grave of the Fireflies Candy. I don't know if they also sell it in another restaurant chain, but i bought this in Coco's Kanazawa. Every colour has its own different taste, and it tasted good! You should buy one as a souvenir~

Grave of the Fireflies Candy