Umamusume: Pretty Derby Global Release

1 Jan 2026

Today is the start of year 2026. Just the past few weeks, my work colleague had introduced me to a smartphone video game where you can train humanized racehorses. The game is called Umamusume: Pretty Derby. 

To summarize the game, it is a video game created by Japanese publisher Cygames, which centralizes on moe anthropomorphized racehorses known as Umamusume. 

The Japanese characters for umamusume are ウマ娘, in which ウマ means horse while 娘 (kanji for musume) means girls, thus the literal translation is "Horse Girls" with the individual words taken into account.

In this video game, the horse-girl characters, called Umamusume, are to compete in races at various racetracks inspired by real-life race tracks managed by the Japan Racing Association. The umamusumes are named and inspired from actual racehorses, where they reflects namesakes' personalities, racing records, and relationships with other racehorses.

Players are to play as trainers. A trainer is responsible for raising and training horse-girl characters called Umamusume to compete in races whilst achieving the Umamusume's individual goals. 

In the single person "Career" mode, players are allowed to choose their desired trainee or a scenario such as URA Finale or Unity Cup. After choosing, they have to meet various goals such as hitting a certain amount of fans or get top 5 or 3 place in certain races when their turns are up. To meet the goals, players can take turns to increase their trainee's five attributes (speed, stamina, power, guts, and wit), rest or recreation to restore energy or mood, or enter races to earn skill points and fans. In addition, unforeseen events between the goals throughout the Career can also impact the trainee's mood, attributes, and skills, which will in turn impact the performance of the trainee.

Besides the single person option, players can also utilize their best trainees and compete with other players in a set of races for various rewards via the PvP "Team Trials", "Legend Races", and "Champion's Meeting" races.

Malaysian rail operator KTM commenced ETS direct services from KL to JB in 4.5 hours

26 December 2025

As 2026 is fast-approaching, I would say that 2025 has been quite an eventful and promising year, especially as a train otaku. This is because across the world, new train routes has been opening left and right as well as new rail vehicles being introduced as an improvement from their previous generation counterparts. However, there is one particular news that caught my eye regarding rail transportation as it would impact on how I travel to KL.

Since 12 December, the ETS (Electric Train Service) has been running 4.5 hours direct services twice per direction daily along the 330km line between KL Sentral and JB Sentral after electrification and double tracking works are completed along the 192km Gemas-JB section, which is an improvement in the scene of rail transportation in Malaysia. 

The route in yellow shows the ETS route while the route in light blue shows the route by coach via the North South Highway.

As a train otaku, hearing this news had definitely made me felt happy because I can finally take the train directly to KL from JB. Even without a direct connection to Singapore, I still felt that the ETS option is more viable than flying despite having to first cross the causeway to JB before making the trip to KL. This is because flying involves having to get to Selatar or Changi AP two hours prior to my hour-long flight for check-in and also getting to KL city center from KLIA or Subang AP via grab or public transport after my flight and airport and immigration procedures. So, flying between Singapore and KL also does not save much time as compared to taking the ETS.

The route by rail before and after the ETS extension

Before the ETS was extended to JB, passengers wishing to travel by rail had to take a diesel-powered train to Gemas before continuing their journey up north with the ETS, which was unpopular because it was quite cumbersome and would took upwards of 11+ hours just to get from JB to KL and beyond. This is especially the fact that if I were to make the journey from Singapore instead, I would have to...

- make the journey to Woodlands Train Checkpoint from elsewhere.

- take the Shuttle Tebrau to JB Sentral (5 mins)

- take the Ekspres Selatan (Southern Express) diesel train to Gemas

- finally take the ETS to KL Sentral. All of which adds to the travelling time.

During this time, taking a long-distance bus is therefore more popular as it directly takes passengers between the same cities for shorter travelling times averaging 5 or 6 hours with different boarding and alighting locations available depending on the operator.

Few years back, there was a plan for a high speed train linking Singapore with Kuala Lumpur with a direct non-stop service taking 90 minutes. However, due to changes in the Malaysian government in 2018 and 2021, the plan was scrapped, then put on hold, and then scrapped much to my disappointment because it would have been an opportunity for more seamless travel between the two cities.

Despite that, as of now, travelling by the ETS is still convenient, in which the combo involves taking the Shuttle Tebrau from Woodlands Checkpoint to JB Sentral before continuing the journey via ETS to KL Sentral, all within 5 hours. By end-2026, it would be even more convenient the RTS link between Woodlands North and JB Sentral will be completed as it will be connected to the Singapore MRT network unlike the existing Woodlands Train Checkpoint. 

However, it still can't compare with the now scrapped HST because the ETS will stop at 15 stations between KL Sentral and JB Sentral with only 140km/h operating speeds while the HST allows seamless travel at 320km/h despite offering a domestic + shuttle combo between 8 stations in just 135 minutes according to the original plan.

SG60 National Day Weekend events (8 Aug - 11 Aug)

As Singapore will soon approaches its 60th anniversary of independence this coming 9th of August, I would like to share with you the happenings across the country in celebration of the Diamond Jubilee during this National Day weekend.

Unlike celebrations from previous years, this year's National Day Parade will not be just held at Padang, but will be expended over to the various venues of surrounding Marina Bay area as part of the "expanded canvas" to mark SG60, with various events like carnivals and street performances.

1. NDP Flypast 2025, 9 Aug

This year's National Day's Fly our flag segment will feature a pair of two CH-47 Chinook helicopters carrying the State Flag, flying along both the eastern and western routes of Singapore. This segment will take place from 5.30 pm to 6.20 pm. Also, the pair of two CH-47 will each be escorted by a pair of AH-64D Apache Attack Helicopters.

2. Red Lions and Fighter Island Flypast on 10 Aug.

At 4pm, the Red Lions, which is SAF's parachute display team, will be landing onto the Bishan Heartlands site. From 6pm to 6.30pm, there will be four F-16s fighters flying in a diamond formation over the five celebration sites. They will be flying each loop twice to provide more opportunities for people to catch a glimpse of them. 

3. Mobile column on 10 Aug

As part of Celebrate @ Heartlands, there will be a showcases of 170 air, land and maritime vehicles from the SAF, Home Team, and Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, travelling along five different routes.

Source: NDP

References

Ang, A. (2025, July 18). 12 national day-themed activities to soak in the SG spirit even if you didn’t snag NDP tickets. TheSmartLocal. https://thesmartlocal.com/read/national-day-activities/ 

Chua, N. (2025, June 9). NDP 2025 pack to come in 7 designs, feature works by artists with disabilities. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ndp-2025-packs-to-come-in-7-designs-feature-works-by-artists-with-disabilities 

Fong, C. (2025, August 2). NDP flypast 2025: Flag flypast routes on National Day, Air Participation & Fighter Jet Flypast. Little Day Out. https://www.littledayout.com/ndp-flypast-fighter-jet-fly-flag-route-singapore-national-day/ 

The LEGO Group. (2025, July 28). Discover Singapore’s largest Lego mural at the National Museum of Singapore to celebrate Singapore’s 60th year - local news - lego.com SG. LEGO.com. https://www.lego.com/en-sg/local-news/news/2025/july/event/sg60 

Loi, E. (2025, August 8). NDP 2025: No ticket, no problem – here are some spots to soak up National Day vibes. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ndp-2025-no-ticket-no-problem-here-are-some-spots-to-soak-up-national-day-vibes 

National Day Parade. (n.d.-a). Celebrate @ heartlands. National Day Parade 2025. https://www.ndp.gov.sg/ndp-at-heartlands/celebrate-at-heartlands/#8514ca6a9fb04e5890bda2b489d490fc 

National Day Parade. (n.d.-b). Show. National Day Parade 2025. https://www.ndp.gov.sg/ndp-at-padang/show 

National Day Parade. (n.d.-c). The NDP logo. National Day Parade 2025. https://www.ndp.gov.sg/about-ndp-25/ndp-logo 

Ong, C. (2025, July 10). NDP 2025: Flag flypast in the heartlands; special SG60 aerial displays at Padang and Marina Bay Area. CNA. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ndp-2025-flag-flypast-heartlands-special-sg60-aerial-displays-padang-marina-bay-5230846 

Seah, H. (2025, July 12). National Day Parade (NDP) 2025 – flying with the RSAF ⋆ MAPHOTOSG. MAphotoSG. https://www.maphotosg.com/national-day-parade-ndp-2025-flying-with-the-rsaf/ 

Wong, A. (2025, June 30). NDP 2025: Carnival Games, street performances at expanded Marina Bay Area celebrations. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ndp-2025-carnival-games-street-performances-at-expanded-marina-bay-area-celebrations 

Wong, A., & Chin, H. S. (2025, May 26). NDP 2025: Live show to Mark SG60 will extend from Padang to Marina Bay for first time. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ndp-2025-live-show-to-mark-sg60-will-extend-from-padang-to-marina-bay-for-first-time 

Yow, D. (2025, July 8). NDP 2025: Heartland Sites announced for Singapore’s 60th birthday celebration. CNA. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ndp-2025-heartland-celebrations-singapore-sg60-independence-5226376 

Japanese meat exports to Southeast Asian Countries

Recently, I am reading some articles on Japanese meat export to Southeast Asian countries and the challenges faced. They include market demand and religious restrictions like halal certification requirements. In this blog post, I am going to share two articles (in Japanese) regarding this topic.

Meidi ya supermarket: Kochi Fair

Yesterday, I went to Meidi Ya because there is a Kochi Fair promotion going on until today and bought the following pictured items

Left: bonito flakes

Right: Mochi

At the sushi section on the second floor, there is a large display of information regarding the kanji for various kinds of fishes used for sushi and sashimi.

The promotional advertisement for the Kochi Fair.

Dao Xiang Chun Flower Cake from Scarlett

Yesterday, after work, I went to Sun Plaza’s Scarlett and bought Dao Xiang Chun’s Flower cake for $2.65. It comes with a box of four.

West gate Sauerkraut Fish

20 Mar 2025

Tried the sauerkraut fish at the Food Junction at B1 of Westgate Mall in Jurong East. It tasted just nice in terms of the sourness and saltiness of the broth. Always liked to add in the Tofu as an additional topping seen from the menu on the 3rd and 4th pictures.