THE SWISS PRIDE

Let's Pack-a-boo in Zürich and have a daily look at the swiss packaging design!
The swiss flag is figuring on almost every pack.
Expressing their pride through almost every pack is at least legitimate for the very wide chocolate section. We can't deny Switzerland is the world

wide famous country for their incomparable and unbeatable cocoa/sugar mixture.

HAPPY AND COLORFUL MONDAY EASTER!

Shot in Coop, a chain supermarket in Switzerland, the eggs have the particularity in the country to be extra-colored. The most exceptional fact is they aren't not only available for a limited period like it could be for Easter but they make themselves beautiful for us all year long!
Difficult to not have a crush on them...

SHOWER YOUR TEA WITH HONEY!

Pack-a-boo!
Famille Michaud Apiculteurs, the first honey seller in France revolutionizes the usual packaging codes under its flagship brand Lune de miel (honeymoon).
The shape, colors, vocabulary and flavors used by the facturer usually belong to the cosmetics section.
Metamorphosis
A shower gel bottle is the honey jar's substitute.
Tender and golden colors.
Two floral flavors are available. Rose, symbol of love and devotion; Jasmine, symbol of temptation. It perfectly fits the brand name!
Sensual, Voluptuous, Arousing, Enchanting, are the packaging's master-words.
For convenience, the SimpliSqueeze® system makes it cleaner and easier to pour.
Elegant and convenient. Ready to savor it?

AIGLE RAINBOOTS PRINT SHIRT

Aigle sees further, Aigle sees colors.
Less convention, Still an icon.
16 pop rainboots. 4 greens, 4 yellows, 2 reds, 2 blues, 2 oranges and 2 lilas.

Once upon a time...
Aigle is a French footwear and textile company founded in 1853 by the American businessman Hiram Hutchinson.
First specialized in the production of footwear, Wellington boots, raincoats and quality outdoor clothes, it has now expanded to a wide range of urban and classic clothing.
A collector tee-shirt.

KAWAII JAPANESE SNACKS

Coming from a local pharmacy in Omotesando, I obviously found medecines, protein bars and... snacks! (who would believe a pharmacy would also sell junk food?!)
Let's have a deeper look.

First, those snacks are visually pleasant to see! It looks more like toys than food.
Is that really eatable? No way to check it. Every single word is Japanese. Ive many doubts about the nutritional quality of high processed food, but I'm also taking in consideration that Japanese are really careful about hygiene so it just can be safe.

Eating was first considered as a primary need. Like drinking, sleeping, exercising, eating was essential to survive and still is. We just see it differently. Now, It is no more about the calories needed, it is about a set of values we belong to. We do not only want to feed.
Those 'kawai' packagingS cater for the Japanese demand of excentric, cute, dinstinctive, high-marketed products. Our expectations are increasingly higher and higher.
We consume more than we need to match the society. We buy a particular to belong to a specific group. We 'overbuy' to buy ourselves a status.
Many people think the more expensive what they buy is, the socially higher they feel.

My TEATIME products, Most of the products bought are from the Korean confectionary LOTTE, a subsidiary company of LOTTE Group.
Lotte Confectionery produces Crunky candy bar and the Chic-Choc cookie (a chocolate chip cookie), one of the most famous brands in South Korea. Additionally, they produce other baked snacks, including the Margaret cookie. Lotte is also popular for their cookies called 'Kancho' (also known as Koala's March in Japan), which are small cream-filled cookies shaped like koala bears and packaged in a unique octagonal box. Im my tea time selection!


Ghana milky chocolate bar (60g), is the most popular among all Lotte Ghana chocolates.
Concerning chocolate bar's packaging, RED = MILK, BLACK = DARK. the 'dark one' contains a maximum of 50% cocoa! I'd rather say a minimum...
Ghana refers to the country located in West Africa, famous for its cocoa production.
Ghana is the world's second cocoa producer, On the top is its neighboor: Cote dIvoire.
Chocolate is made of cocoa, sugar but this one contains palm oil, rapeseed oil and artificial aromas... could be avoided!

Chocolate pies from LOTTE, 'countryside package' attraction!
It shows a bedtime story's landscape: a traditional Normandy-style house with its thatched roof, squirrels, green grass and the French flag colors. Disappointment when we come to the product: The biscuit is a basic waffle with an hazelnut filling.

A real SNACK TIME needs its original PRETZ
the taste is as great as the vintage packaging!
A similar product is commercialized in France and called "Mikado", it is mostly covered chocolate. It actually comes from Glico which agreed to give the licence.
The PRETZ finger biscuit is the original one, the first one to be launched by the Japanese confectionary Ezaki Glico in 1934.
Here are the 2 best sellers in Japan: the salad and butter flavors.

Tohato, another Japanese food company specialising in snack food, and selling this eye-catchy caramel corn.
This caramel corn is usually sold in a plain coloured package. The most famous one got the red package, so this one must be a special edition. The lower yellow part represents the corn and the upper one.. a fish?!
explanation:
This is the 'golden week' here soon in Japan:
The first national holiday during Golden Week is April 29, which was the birthday of the former emperor Shouwa. Now, this day is called showa-no-hi (Showa Day). The second holiday is kenpou-kinen-bi (Constitution Memorial Day), May 3. Then, May 4 is called midori-no-hi (Greenery Day) during which shows appreciation for nature.
Finally, the last day is kodomono-hi (Children's Day) on May 5th, dedicated to the healthy growth of children. Children's Day is also called tangono-sekku. It's Japanese boy's festival and is traditionally the day to celebrate and pray for the health of boys. Japanese families with boys hang up carp streamers (koinobori) outside because carps are believed to symbolize successes in children's lives. Also, samurai dolls called gogatsu ningyo are displayed in their houses.
Hence the fish symbol figuring on the packaging :D

have good snacking!

UCRAZY FOR TRAVELLING

Here is my main passion: discovering new places, new products or concepts; learning more from people, books, the global information. My purpose every single day is finding out something new.
Ive the amazing opportunity to travel wherever and whenever I want. I want to take the advantage of it.
"Today I'm in Tokyo. Yersteday I was in London. Tomorrow I'll be back to Korea."
Im gonna write and post about 'worldwide discoveries which hit my attention'.
After all, looking for new things isn't it somehow looking for oneself?

UCRAZY FAMILY

Today is saturday.
I woke up around 12.30, went to Peacook supermarket (I moved to Omotesando area by the way :( I bought that "French" bread and soy coffee latte as 'breakfast' or "fast break" I'd rather say.
Ensuite... direction Shibuya! I totally felt in a mood to buy an e-reader (very useful for my studies... I spend long hours in the to go castings, but dont do any mental work! how frustrating!) I didnt find any shop. Akihabara is the best area for electronics!
I just dont know which one I want. Such a bloody fight on that new market btw the Sony e-reader, the Kindle from Amazon (leading e-reader) and the prestigious I-pad, sold for a minimum worldwide price of 499$.


Tired to not find what I was looking for, I at last ended up in Tsutaya, a huge book and CD department store in the heart of Shibuya. 3 hours of J-pop through my ears. Ayumi Hamazaki recently released her new CD but the electro group "Capsule" got all my attention.

Ensuite Ryu m'a rejoint et on est allé chez... ses parents! 30 mins away from Tokyo.
Well, to sum it up, I just find it hard to understand Ryu's relationship with his parents! Je pensais que la famille japonaise etait plus traditionelle, avec des coutumes et des usages... he behaves the way he wants to which wouldn't even be polite in France. He went away from the table whenever he felt like, sleeping on the floor, sitting back and then eating with doubtful manners, to finally leave the house. Spite we already ate a lot, he dared to loudly say "Im going for ramen now!"(japanese noodles dish).

Ryu told me many times he didnt like his family. He finds his parents too 'normal' meaning 'boring'. He never feels like visiting them. I was shocked when he confessed "Im waiting for my parents to die!".
I asked him what was wrong with them... which crime did they commit?
He answered "nothing", "I just dont have anthing to do with them" "I could pay for them to never see them again".

He proudly told me everything bad he did before.. with people.. getting crazy in the train, stole bycicle in the park. He added he also doesn't care about anybody in that world.
Ruy's slogan "I, me and my"He doesnt like people and only feels like spending time with what he calls "special people". (Im part of them, so as Suzuki :)
Well, I first considered him as a 'funny character' who likes to be provocative.
He's first of all a sensitive person who needs attention and devotion.
Love is universal and links Human-Beings up.

UCRAZY WEEKEND

I had such a beautiful weekend!
We went out to Feria, Lex and Lugano.
Samedi je suis allee au Yogogi Park avec Ryu pour le Sakura Picnic, Susuki et Anastasia nous ont rejoin en fin d'aprem... Cherry blossom was fantastic... such a nice atmosphere! people are dancing on the grass, eating sushis and Japases "hot pot".. drinking drinking!!! We bought soOo many sweets with Ryu before coming! Morinaga, Meiji, Lotte, Bourbon chocolates... et le fameux santory whiskey!
Then went to Dome park inside Tokyo to get scared with the rides.wasnt actualy that scary but you should hear Japanese screaming for such little sensations hehe.
I and R. went to Akihabara to see all those electronics stuffs.. mangas.. curiously went to visit a sexshop including those rape games the whole world is talking about! such a scandal.
In the evening we went to Ebisu area to appreciate this aquarium restaurant called Medusa.
The view is worth it!

UCRAZY FOR JAPAN??!!

I still like Japan,I just dont love it anymore.
First time I came here, I only saw the 'appearance'. That was an all brand new experience to me... endless buildings.. cutting-edge technology.. city which never sleeps (lots of shops open 24h), all those colorful Japanese mangas, games played by teenagers so as seniors... Tokyo was just synonym of pure crazness! I enjoyed myself every night going to clubs, going back to my apart at 8 to have a shower and then heading straight to my agency. I felt so dizzy, dizzy by so much colors, fun, noise... my 5 senses have never been so 'awake'.

Now its quite different.
Im not going out that much (first and main reason is there are no party girls in my agency and we're not as close as I used to be with other models from my frist time here).
I see the city and people differently.
First,I already knew how Tokyo will be like when I'll be back. First time was so surprising than now it just seems more 'common'.. so Im focussing more on people than the city itself.
For my first trip, I felt so amazed by people's kindness. 'Japanese all have a big smile upon their face, all thank, all apologize, all bending'. They all look sooo nice and respectful.
But now, I see them more like "robots". They become 'inhumans' by showing off their 'best human behaviour'. its just TOO MUCH!
My feeling towards the Japanese society have considerably changed.
Relationships aren't that 'sane', and prooves are many:

Japan has one of the world's highest suicide rate.
Workers 'are crazy about work'. My jap friend, for example works from '8 to 8', 6 days a week, which doesnt leave enough time for social relationships.
At the same time, rape games are rising (the daily headline on CNN!). The supply just caters for the demand... a sexual demand!! making up for the 'sexual lack' back home.
A japanese friend recently asked me: "What do U waana do latter?"
I told him I'd love to work on psychology, anthropology, intercultural management.
When he first heard "psychology', he burst out laughing.
Indeed, Psychologist are uncommon, even unexistent in Japan. Going to a see a specialist dealing with mental pbs (or simply if you need to speak) is seen as a 'weakness'. Everybody is human, every single person can feel depressed sooner or later. they just find difficulties to accept it.
If the husband loose his job, he would certainly prefer hiding the truth til finding a new one. Too much pride? what are they afraid about?

UCRAZY BACK TO TOKYO

HERE I AM!!! BACK TO MY FAV CITY!
Havent been writing for a long time.
But I cant be happier as I'm now standing in my world's fav capital city!

TOKYO
the place where my new life started in october 2008. A new model's life.
However, I see and feel the things very differently.
I'm in a completely different state of mind; nothing to compare with my first trip.
I felt like a caged bird and Tokyo was the key.
Freedom was the master word. Enjoyment, fulfillment, adventure, new experience... but always totally under control toward my choices and myself first.
The 'every single night going out' habit turned into "having a rest in my Akasaka apartment" and "wisely going out".

I'm lucky enough to have R. who's such a great friend.
I everyday learn more about the Japanese culture. Rituals, process, mind.
we can't halp going back to my a Takoyaki place.
Takoyaki is my favorite snack and more generally the tasties food I've never tried.
What is Takoyaki? Takoyaki are fried octopus balls sprinkled with dry fish, mayonnaise, but it wouldn't taste that great without the Okonomiyaki (kind of DELICIOUS Japanese crêpe) sauce. this sauce is made with Saké vinegar, honey and mashed vegetables.
A "best of" with a Suntory whisky highball drink. miammiam glouglou.

I also appreciate spending time with Charlotte, my 16 year-old english model friend and roomate soon. She's incredibly mature and 'down-to-earth for her age.
I get along with her much more than anyone. We at least find other topics than boys, food and diets, listening to (or suffering from:) the extraloud clubbing music playing the whole day in the car!
The feeling to get quickly stupid. Such conditions actually boost to study.
I sometimes consider studying as a 'shelter' from stupidity.

Thats the end of my fourth week-end in Tokyo.
Tomorrow the castings will start again.
My agent Hope will serve as my usual waking-up alarm and will be waiting for me downstairs.