べんきょうしている

Kuala Lumpur and Melaka, December 2011；クアラルンプールとマラッカ、2011年12月

2012-01-08T20:37:00.004+09:00

Happy New Year! It's been a long time since I last posted on here, but it's time for a photo update of Malaysia where I went over Christmas/New Year. Malaysia was fantastic, I really enjoyed it. It was incredibly easy to travel around and do stuff because English is so widely spoken - I knew that English was a second language there, but didn't expect everyone to be able to use it, but people just switched between languages automatically. At the start, I found the accent a little tricky but then I tuned in. Although I'm used to traveling, talking to people and getting around in Japan, I'd forgotten how much easier everyday life is for me with English!

It's about a 7 hour flight from Tokyo to KL, and an overnight one with Air Asia, so I was in Malaysia 6 nights overall, with 2 nights in the middle staying in Melaka, an old colonial town. Melaka was fascinating because of the mix of Eastern and Western architecture in the same street, a combination of Malay, Indian, Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese buildings often jostling for space with each other. Mosques, temples and churches were within a hundred metres of each other, often much less.

It was similar but not so pronounced in Kuala Lumpur. From what I read, ethnic Malays (considered by the government to be Muslim) comprise about 65% of the population with the remaining 35% being predominantly Hindu, Buddhist or Christian. This also meant that the Christmas period was strongly celebrated there with beautiful Christmas decorations and lights. My impression as a tourist was Malaysia was quite a multi-cultural and inclusive society which had a nice atmosphere.

Kuala Lumpur had a great mixture of modern and futuristic architecture and traditional buildings, I really liked the city and the atmosphere. The shopping centres were fantastic and the food was absolutely delicious!

I flew with Air Asia, which is a budget airline that started serving Japan one or two years ago. I'd definitely fly with them again.

Anyway, photos again at the right-hand link under 'Holidays and Days Out'. Believe it or not, these are already cut down by about 1/3 - I took 391 photos!

じゃあ、明けましておめでとうございます！お久しぶりですね！このブログが去年ちょっと忘れたね。じつは多分ただ怠けていた。兎に角、マレーシアのアップデーです。
この冬休みマレーシアに行った。周りの移動することが楽しいで簡単だった。マレーシアに英語が広く話されていた。

クアラルンプールとマラッカに行った。クリスマスの日に出た、1月2日に帰った。まず、ＫＬに三泊、次にマラッカに二泊、最終の日がまたＫＬでした。美しく印象的な国です。大晦日にペトロナスツインタワーに花火を見た。それはすばらしかった！

写真が右のリンクにある。

Growing goya

2011-09-18T10:36:00.000+09:00

So that I can find this information on growing goya again this year, this is an article I found back in May this year.

'Green curtains' block heat, save energy

The Yomiuri Shimbun http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110509004046.htm

A growing number of people are turning to nature to help them save electricity this summer, creating so-called green curtains of climbing plants.
According to the Energy Conservation Center, Japan, a key element in power conservation is reducing the use of air conditioners, which consume the most electricity in homes. A green curtain helps block the sun and keep room temperatures from rising through transpiration of the plant's leaves.
Green curtains can be easily set up at home, and Tokyo's Itabashi Ward Office has been promoting them as an effective way to battle global warming.
With power shortages expected this summer as a result of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the ward office has received an increasing number of inquiries from local residents about growing green curtains.
It also received more than two applications for every spot available in a class organized by the ward office on how to grow a green curtain.
Likewise, Katsushika Ward of Tokyo distributed free goya bitter gourd seeds to residents in late April. All 500 packets were taken by the second day.
A Katsushika Ward official in charge of distributing the seeds said, "Interest is higher [in growing goya] than usual. Many people are trying to grow it for the first time."
Tsuneo Kobayashi of Itabashi Ward, 79, has grown goya since 2009. He said the plant can make a four-meter high and three-meter wide green curtain as its vines grow.
"The room with a green curtain is clearly cooler than one next to it, which gets direct sun," Kobayashi said. "Seeing green plants soothes me."
Plants suitable for making green curtains include goya, bottle gourd, morning glory and others.
Accordnig to Koichi Sugawara, secretary general of the Tokyo-based nonprofit organization Midori no Curtain Oendan (green curtain cheering squad): "You can save money on electricity by making green curtains, which also give you the joy of growing and harvesting something."
Ichiro Awano, public relations director of Sakata Seed Co. in Yokohama, recommended goya for green curtains because it is easy to grow. People who want to use planters should purchase one that can contains at least 36 liters of soil, Awano said.
Goya seedlings should be planted 20 centimeters apart in a planter filled with soil for growing vegetables. It is important to fix a garden net firmly under the eaves, which goya vines could twine around. A net with a mesh of 10 to 18 centimeters should be used, Awano said.
When goya has seven or eight mature leaves, the tip of its stem should be nipped off to help lateral buds grow. Provide additional fertilizer after goya begins bearing vegetables, he added.
"If you want to make a thick leafy curtain, you should give extra nitrogen fertilizer," Awano said. "But this will result in a slightly smaller harvest."
It is now the season for planting seedlings in Japan, but the best time differs slightly by region.
"Before you actually start, you should seek advice on how to grow seedlings at the garden shop where you purchase them," Awano said.

(May. 10, 2011)

See also
http://hobiger.org/blog/2011/07/
http://greenjapan.com/living-in-japan/3597/

Bitter Gourd (Nigauri)

2011-09-18T10:28:00.000+09:00

I've just found this post that I started back on 15th August, but never got round to posting. This strange knobbly looking vegetable is a goya, quite possibly one of my favourite vegetables for its fresh unusual taste and nutritional value.

I first ate this five years ago when I went to Okinawa, the southern-most group of islands in Japan. In Okinawa, it is most well-known in Goya Champuru recipes. It seems to be a vegetable that causes mixed reactions. Many people say it is bitter and so they don't like it. But paired with the right ingredients it is incredibly refreshing! Having said that, I love it so much I eat it raw in salads and smoothies.

It is extremely rich in vitamin C, B vitamins and many essential minerals, higher than other dark green vegetables. It's also supposed to show improvement in psoriasis sufferers, but difficult to pin that one down!

As far as growing it is concerned, it is a very popular summer plant in Japan. It is a climber and forms a dense mass of leaves so is known as one of the 'Green Curtain' plants. 'Green Curtains' block sunshine going into the house and so make rooms much cooler.

This year I decided to have another go (3rd time lucky?) at growing this vegetable. Previous attempts have been abysmal, really through my own fault (too small a pot the first, planting late in the season in poor soil the second). But this year, there was more information available on the internet on growing this vegetable due to energy saving requirements in eastern Japan after the Tohoku earthquake.

When I started this post in the middle of August, I was feeling rather discouraged... As well as the above I had written, 'So far I have eaten 3 of my own goya, plus have another 5 currently on the plant, hopefully more to follow! This is from 2 plants. Don't think that's exactly a roaring success, and the leaves are rather sparce and pathetic actually, although they do block some of the heat. But... much better than previous years, and I pinched out the growing tips rather too late I think, taking the advice I thought I got from my goya-expert neighbour! I'll definitely try this again next year. Apparently, planting directly into the soil also helps get a much denser curtain but that's not really an option without a lot of planning...'

Now it's another month on, and I've been really happy with the number of goya I've got, at least for my first attempt. In the last few weeks, the leaves have become really abundant from about a metre and a half off the ground, and in the last week or so I've had a goya a day! Seems to be a late starter! I've just taken this photo today. Thinking about the fact that the leaves were sparce at the beginning and never ended up growing at the bottom of my plant, I think I've worked out the reason for that. Thinking I was cooling it down, I sprayed the leaves as well as watered at night. But that seems just to have killed them off. Next year!

New pet...

2011-09-17T18:33:00.002+09:00

Wow! I've just discovered I have a pet! No picture yet, because he/she won't stay still for long enough but he looks like this http://www.nara-edu.ac.jp/ECNE/kaerhebi/kaisetu/yamori.htm... The other evening I was on the telephone and heard a loud noise between the picture rail and the wall. I assumed it was an unnaturally large cockroach, because I saw rather too many of them last summer (ie the first summer that I lived here).

This year however, I've seen maybe only two cockroaches and I'd assumed that that was just because I'd eliminated them the previous year (the house had been empty for at least a couple of years before I moved in).

But I think I now have my answer... I just saw a gecko in my lounge! My first thought was 'aaghhh, how do I catch him and put him out' but reading up about him on the internet, I think I might keep him. He's way too fast to catch anyway, is likely to drop his tail (painful for him) if he feels threatened, and apparently feeds on cockroaches and other insects. Do I keep him, or use mothballs to repel him? And how did he get into the house in the first place? I think he'll probably leave pretty soon of his own accord as soon as it starts to get cooler given that my house is either roasting hot in summer or freezing cold in winter!

More reading tells me that gecko is 'yamori ヤモリ' in Japanese, meaning 'house guardian'...

Lake Toya and Furano/Biei, Hokkaido

2011-07-03T21:19:00.000+09:00

Well, that was a lovely relaxing holiday! I went up to Hokkaido for a few days - one night at Lake Toya and 3 nights in Furano. I was really lucky with the weather too - it didn't rain as much as it was forecast to, and so I was able to get a day and a half of cycling in which was what I had planned.

Lake Toya was beautiful, although a bit too onsen resorty for my liking. But I wanted to see fireworks and see em I did! Breakfast and dinner were also great. I stayed in the Hotel Lakeside Terrace and had arranged the free (2.5hour) shuttle bus both ways - excellent value, as was the hotel (booked on Rakuten) with a huge healthy buffet breakfast and dinner. The hotel was also huge, built in 3 wings - the dining hall alone probably seated about 300 people at a time.

It was wonderful to see Furano in June, the flower fields were beautiful. Even so I was still a little early for the lavender - mid-July is probably the best time, but end-June was when I had my holiday. It was beautiful cycling around the Biei countryside. There is a great rental bike shop 'Guide no Yamagoya ガイドの山小屋' near Bibaushi station (美馬牛 Beautiful Horse Cow?!), ask at the station for directions, or check online at www.yamagoya.jp (website appears in English, but many of the links have English as well. It cost me 1500yen for a full day hire of a 7gear mountain bike. Cheaper bikes are available but don't have any gears which would make those hills quite tricky! They also lent me a rucksack and have left luggage facilities too.

The previous day I hired a bike from a souvenir shop just on the corner near Furano Station. Again they have left luggage facilities if people need it. I then spent half a day visiting the Cheese Factory, Wine Factory and Grape Factory. In the afternoon, expecting rain, I took the bike back and caught the train to the seasonal station Lavender Batake to go to Farm Tomita. Very nice to see again. This is perhaps the most famous lavender farm in the area, probably partly because it's the easiest to get to, however I was much more impressed with the scale of the fields and mountain backdrop at the Hill of Shikisai about 3km from Bibaushi station.

On my final day, I took the bus to Asahikawa to see Asahiyama Zoo (last went there 6 years ago, and they are still making changes. This is the best zoo I've ever been to, their vision being to make life as comfortable and interesting for the animals as is possible in a zoo which in turn make it as interesting as possible for the people that visit. Little by little they are redesigning the animal areas, however the areas for very large animals haven't been redesigned yet. This is an amazing turnaround for a zoo that in 1995 was near bankruptcy and close to closing down. (In 1996 only 260,000 people visited, by 2007 that figure had swollen to 3,060,000.) I recently really enjoyed the drama documentary about the story of how the zoo started to be redesigned Asahiyama Zoo: Penguins in the Sky' http://www.nipponcinema.com/trailers/asahiyama-dobutsuen-monogatari-trailer. It was amazing just how close the animals were in the redesigned areas, you are sometimes only 50cm from a very fierce furry animal through a well-designed double fence.

As you can see from some of my photos, the seals have perspex tubes to swim up and down in if they want (they don't have to), the penguins are clearly visible swimming through the water alongside you as though flying in the sky, the large cats have a very high volume to move around in as they can climb right up trees and structures within their enclosure, the lesser red panda can cross over your head on a panda foot bridge!

Useful starting webpages for traveling in this area:
http://www.furano-kankou.com/english/home.htm
http://www.cbnet.co.jp/furanobus/lavender.html　(timetable for Lavender Bus)
http://www.asazoo.com/index.php?bus　(timetable for Asahiyama Zoo bus)

Trains and buses are infrequent, so you will need to use a combination of bus and train, and plan well to make sure you do as much as possible between transport stops. Except for when going to Lavender Batake station I recommend using normal JR as the Norocco tourist train is twice as expensive.

Photos at the right link!

Gomi Zero no Hi - Zero Rubbish Day

2011-05-29T09:33:00.001+09:00

As I start writing this post I am already onto my 2nd cup of coffee, remarkable only because it's only 9am, and I've been up for 2 hours already. On a Sunday.

Gomi Zero can be read as Zero Rubbish or as a go-mi-zero (5-3-0). It's a play on words. Every year, on or around 30 May, Gomi Zero is held.

Every year throughout Japan on Gomi Zero Day, residents are invited/press-ganged into picking up rubbish to help beautify the country. A lovely idea, as I'm sure you'll agree! Mine however starts very early (supposedly from 8am, but actually from 7:40am each year).

This year the selected day was today, because 29th May is a Sunday and so most people have the day off. However, I was secretly hoping it wouldn't happen because heavy rain was forecast due to an approaching typhoon... At 6:45 I woke up, and noticed it was raining but not too heavily. Sigh. No lie-in perhaps. It would go ahead if it was only light rain. Perhaps this was light enough. A check of the 10minute rain forecast of my area for the next hour showed it was going to vary between light and heavy rain, with more typhoon like rain predicted for later in the day. OK, probably won't happen, but I'd better get showered and dressed.

At 7:30 in one of the heavy rain intervals, the announcements started through the city loudspeaker. Ah, I really need to improve my Japanese. As I was listening, I could pick up some but not all of it. 'Good morning... after a lot of discussion this morning... please'. Surely.... Surely they can't mean...?! But then in neighbouring houses shutters were opened, and people started popping out with umbrellas and wellies. Plainly everyone else wasn't sure it was going to be cancelled either. Mutterings of 'but it's raining... I'm surprised... amazing eh... It's not going ahead in neighbouring X-city and Y-city... Can't be helped...' were heard.

And so, armed with a big umbrella in the bucketing rain, but coffee-less, I walked down the road with my neighbours for the cheery introductions, and doling out of gloves. We were instructed just to clean around the front of our own houses. Everyone's thought of 'but but but it's clean' was mostly unheard. Umbrellas in one hand, people picked up leaves, and tiny weeds for a full 10-15 minutes of show, and then started gathering again and talking. At 8:30 it was considered the right time to walk back down the road to be thanked and officially dismissed. Have no idea what was said really, partly because it was raining so heavily on a nearby tin shed, but they seemed to talk about the summer picnic (to be avoided) and thanked everyone a lot for coming together despite the bad conditions.

Then there was the invitation for the retrospective bribe of a can of drink, and a not exactly polite scrum for the cans of beer, I was too slow so only got a can of coffee.

Exchanged the 'thank you for your hard work' with my neighbours. Then home to put on the kettle and change and dry out.

So that was how my morning started. Gomi Zero 2011 in heavy rain. Rather nice really.

Takamatsu, Shikoku

2011-04-24T19:04:00.000+09:00

Back in February, I went to one of the 4 major islands of Japan - Shikoku. Now I have been at least once to all 4 of the major islands (Hokkaidō, Honshū, Shikoku and Kyūshū)!

I had been meaning to visit Shikoku for some time, but without knowing much about it. In fact the deciding point for me was that I booked the couple of nights whilst I was still feeling ill in January, with the main reason being that (aside from Okinawa) it seemed to be marginally warmer on average in February that the rest of Japan! However as I researched more, I discovered that it seemed to be a very interesting and beautiful area. I wasn't wrong!

This was indeed a really beautiful area, and one that had a lot going on. I want to return some time!

Photos at the link on the right.

March 11th - 17 days on

2011-03-28T21:16:00.007+09:00

This is a difficult post to write, and please be aware that these are just my perceptions from living in Japan and from what I see on the news here and internationally. Although aware through my own research and living here, I am not a scientist or an expert on the current situation, but I don't think the true picture is completely apparent outside of Japan.

It's been over two weeks, and in some ways I think the timing of this post is right. For me, I'm starting to grasp more of the enormity and reality of it all and could only now write this. Perhaps for many people outside of Japan the initial horror has passed, and it's just another news item.

I think that in the last week, the focus on international media (and even domestic media to a lesser extent) relating to Japan has shifted from the devastation in northern Japan, to nuclear power plant and radiation worries internationally. Of course the nuclear power plant situation in Japan is a very serious concern, and has added to the number of evacuees and problems of food supply, not mention the large number of workers and their families. However outside of the 20km zone, airborne levels are low. For example in Tokyo, about 240km from the Fukushima power plant, after a very brief alarming spike they are currently at 0.11uSV/hour - higher than normal in Tokyo http://www.mext.go.jp/component/english/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2011/03/28/1304324_2819.pdf but still well under the international average of 0.27uSv/hour (based on an average background radiation of 2.4mSv/year). Outside of Japan, increases are minute (for example about one millionth of what you would get in normal daily background radiation). This fortunately isn't another Chernobyl.

The devastation in northern Japan hasn't gone away, even if the focus on the news has. Pictures in the news show the remarkable transformation of a major road with a great chasm after the earthquake - six days on you'd never know. Businesses are starting to relocate and get back on their feet. This enables some supplies to get through to the affected region. These stories are great. But the reality is that whilst things are looking better, they are still not good. Food, water, basic supplies and medicine are starting to get through now, but the diet is poor because non-perishable foods have to be used. As at March 22nd 320,000 evacuees are staying at about 2,100 shelters. The risk of contagious disease such as flu is high. http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/03/80009.html. The landscape is still flattened.

There is a still a lack of basic supplies, electricity and heat in many areas. It is still very cold. This means that people, especially the sick and elderly are still dying having survived an earthquake and tsunami. This is correctly described as Japan's worst disaster since World War 2. This page shows a translated interview with some local people. http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/japan/110322/japan-rebuilding-tsunami-earthquake-ofunato-iwate

It seems that many people feel that because Japan is a rich technologically advanced country, people don't believe that they need donations so much. Yet the United States is also a rich technologically advanced country and they received substantially more donations in the first week after Hurricane Katrina. http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/18/pf/japan_earthquake_aid/index.htm.
Often people donate in the first week whilst the emerging images are so strong.
Japan always donates generously to disaster relief funds, again for example Hurricane Katrina http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2005/September/20050915165123ajesrom9.768313e-02.html and now Japan needs help to rebuild itself.

The northern area of Japan, especially the coastal areas, is not the richest region. If a situation like this were to happen in the UK, then international help would be needed. Japan is no different. I think that people see videos and pictures on television and see people behaving in a quiet ordered manner without asking for help, and assume that help isn't needed. There has been little looting in Japan, people tend to be more honest. The culture in Japan is often to endure quietly and to try to resolve your own problems, not to ask for help. The 'stiff upper lip' reputation of the British is more apparent in the 'gaman' of Japan. Just because people don't ask for help, doesn't mean that we shouldn't give it. Money is always needed for rebuilding no matter how developed a nation is. Rebuilding homes, services, companies and lives.

Donations are the best way to help, so that the relief agencies can spend it on what is needed most. The Red Cross in your own country will have a donation fund for the Japan Earthquake/Tsunami and is a good way to help. This is the key aid agency organising support in Japan. They will ensure that the money is used efficiently and, in the event that it can't be used efficiently in Japan, they will use the money for other countries that need it even more.

In Britain http://www.redcross.org.uk (online, or by phone or post), or you can use Google Checkout to pay via the Google Crisis Response site http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html
In Japan there are many more options which will get aid to the right place. Almost every convenience store and supermarket has a box, many legitimate charities including Second Harvest http://www.2hj.org/, but again you can donate on the Red Cross website http://www.jrc.or.jp/english/index.html

You can also donate by buying the Songs for Japan on iTunes for GBP7.99, $10 or 1500yen - all proceeds go to the Japanese Red Cross.

All singing, all dancing new water heating system!　新しいお湯の暖房

2010-12-31T20:09:00.003+09:00

OK, well not all dancing perhaps, but definitely all singing!

You may remember that my water boiler has been playing up since last winter, pretty much since I moved in fact! In summer it's not a problem because my water is heated purely by solar panels, but between October and April it needs oil to heat it.

Apparently the boiler system was old, and my owner knew that she was probably going to have to replace it at some point. This winter, so far she twice had to get repairs done on it. The last time she repaired it, just before I went on holiday, I woke up the next morning to renewed problems. She decided to replace it.

Hooray!

I now can have a shower with continuous hot water, I keep going into the kitchen to wash my hands and look at the shiny new control panel! And it's a gas boiler, not oil, which means that hopefully it will be cheaper to run, and also means that I don't have to hang around on Mondays to catch the oil delivery van. Even without central heating, bathtime is going to get a whole lot more pleasant!

And did I mention the all singing all dancing bit? Seriously, it's a bit like having a maid to run your bath for you... As with the oil system, the bath will automatically fill to the desired level at the touch of a button, and then keep the water hot at the desired temperature. But this one plays a little ditty when it's finished and a woman's voice shouts out in Japanese, 'Your bath's ready'! Rather fun!

And if you put the lid on the bath and set the timer, then it will automatically fill your bath for the time that you want it! I'm going to try that tomorrow morning!

Oh, what fun!

さあ、新しいお湯の暖房が有る。全部が自動。それに声を出す。ちょっとお手伝いさんが有るみたい！タイマー機能も有る。楽しい！

Christmas in Naha、　那覇のクリスマス

2010-12-31T19:30:00.010+09:00

Well, another wonderful Christmas in Naha! Actually, although I went to Okinawa last year, it's been almost three years since I was last in Naha. Hard to believe that time flies by so quickly! No photos in this post itself, because I'm having a spot of bother with rotation with some of the key photos, photos as always at the right link.

Two years ago, I had intended to revisit Naha and the islands around Ishigaki, but sadly ANA never re-released the cheap fares of 2007, and I ended up having bought an outward fare with no way of affording the return fare... That holiday had to be cancelled which was very disappointing. Last year, I went only to Miyakojima, a beautiful island, but it could not maintain my interest for the whole holiday. This year, I learnt from previous mistakes and, wanting to go again to both Naha and the islands surrounding Ishigaki and reserved/cancelled/reserved/cancelled etc etc outward flights, until the inward flights were released. I also had hotels booked for a myriad of outcomes...! At one point in October I think I had four possible cancellable holidays booked! As half expected though, ANA again did not release cheap return fares, so I decided to go only to Naha with ANA, and back with Skymark. I had also managed to find myself a fantastic long-stay plan with a favourite hotel for its breakfasts (30000yen for 6 nights B&B, Sun Palace Kyukyo), so was very happy!

By the time my holiday came around, it was really starting to feel like winter. OK, not cold as in the way the UK has been recently, but I've become somewhat softened to life in Japan so a maximum of 10-12C during the day and 4-8C at night was unpleasant! And my house has a somewhat bizarre characteristic too - that of being about 5C colder inside than outside during the winter, and the reverse during the summer... Of course, that could be due to only having hot and cold air-conditioning in my bedroom (radiators don't exist). There was a rather funny incident a couple of weeks ago when I was getting ready to go out to work, and had put on my hat, scarf and gloves... Only to step outside the door and have to take it all off again because it felt so hot!

Coupled with these winter temperatures, my water heating was playing up again, the successful outcome of that is in another post. I could be in the middle of a shower in my minimalist unheated bathroom, when the boiler would suddenly decide it didn't want to play anymore... I was getting a little cheesed off, as well as having a cold to show for it.

The holiday came at last and, just as I relaxed with the pleasure of being off work, my cold escalated! The flight out was somewhat painful - blocked sinuses meant that ear pressure on landing was not nice. And for the next five days the headache intensity increased to be the most excruciating headache I've ever had. However, this was my long-long-awaited holiday, and boy did I mean to make the most of it!

I arrived in Naha on Thursday 23rd, visited a nearby garden and got a light dinner of avocado taco rice before an early night intended to knock my cold on the head... Next day, armed with a 6 pack of tissues I got a highway bus up the island to the South-East Botanical Gardens. I've been meaning to go here for so long now, apparently they are the largest tropical gardens in Japan. Not driving, I'm very pleased to have GPS on my phone. To get here, you take the 111 Highway bus from Naha Bus Terminal at Asahibashi. The bus takes just under an hour to get to Okinawa North Interchange (Okinawa Kita Inta-). From there it's about a 15 minute walk (or, according to the website a 5 minute taxi transfer... Hmmm, where is the line-up of taxis on this roundabout?!) Actually even Navitime let me down a little on the way back... It suggested a shortcut which brought me out precisely *under* the bus stop...

The gardens were lovely. It was a beautiful day, and I enjoyed snoozing on a hammock looking up at the tops of palm trees in the blue sky! Getting sunburnt in the process, it would seem too! I enjoyed the relaxation of it all, but didn't really feel that the gardens justified the entrance fee of 1000 yen, would not necessarily recommend it, and I am a big fan of botanical gardens! Plus, the piped relaxation music annoyed me - probably in part because of my headache! Look at the colour of my dragon fruit smoothie - believe it or not, it's natural!

That evening, I decided to go to a Spanish bar that I'd found on Navitime. However, not managing to find it, I ended up in an Irish bar (The Smugglers) instead. The staff were very friendly and spoke Japanese and English (many of them seemed to have studied in England/Canada previously), and in fact I ended up in making friends with one of the locals (Jun, and later his girlfriend Ayumi too) and having a very enjoyable time! They didn't speak much English at all, so we had to rely completely on my Japanese!

The following day, Christmas Day, I went to Shuri Castle. I had been meaning to go here for a long time, but was too castled and templed out previously. It dates from the late 1300s as a royal residence, although of course has been rebuilt several times. As a Ryukyu castle, it has many Chinese influences, and is completely unlike any Japanese castles I've seen in the rest of Japan. It's truly beautiful, and very impressive. Later on, as I walked in the grounds and around the lakes and stone streets, I really appreciated the tranquility. I also had an absolutely delicious okra curry sitting on a restaurant balcony waiting for the rain to stop... It didn't!

Incidentally, the monorail had been completely decorated for Christmas inside every carriage! All the handrails were wrapped in tinsel and baubles, and the windows had Christmas transfers on them! Very festive!

That evening I met up again with Jun and Ayumi. This time we went to an old haunt of mine, 'Wa no Ichi' to enjoy some traditional Okinawan food and see a favourite musician of mine, Jun Suzuki. I was impressed that not only did Jun recognise me after a couple of years but also that he remembered my name! Another fun evening ensued, and Jun and Ayumi managed to bring me out of my usual shyness which was a rather nice experience! Along with his own songs, some old some new, Jun sang some old Okinawa songs and some Christmas songs too. He told me that sometimes he plays now in Tokyo too, so maybe I'll manage that sometime. Oh, and listen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NFzLcz3SsI&feature=related to his own upload of of one of his originals 'Itsumademo'!

The following day Sunday, Boxing Day, I went down to Itoman to the Okinawa Peace Museum. Having already been to the museum at Hiroshima, I knew that this was going to be disturbing. However, I knew that my understanding of the history of Okinawa, a place that I truly love, was scant. I wanted to know more. This part of its modern history was even more harrowing than I had expected, and all the more real because it was such a balanced account of the stupidity of the time.

In the Battle of Okinawa in World War 2, 40% of Okinawans died. Around 200,000 Japanese people died compared to 12,000 American people. The Battle of Okinawa was used by the Japanese as a delaying tactic to keep the war off mainland Japan. It was seen as expendable. Okinawa had only been officially part of Japan since the late 19th century, so only for about one generation until the start of World War 2. (From the end of World War 2 to 1972 it was US territory.) The Japanese government did not trust the people of Okinawa to stay loyal to Japan, and led them to believe that the American side were barbarians. There were many mass suicides from the cliffs to avoid capture by the barbarians. But also Okinawa had its own dialect, and the Japanese military were given orders to kill any Okinawan using Okinwan dialect believing they could be a spy. Many Okinawan civilians were killed by the Japanese military. Civilians and military alike fled to the caves as the war killed residents and troops en masse; as the military hid in the caves some soldiers were afraid that the crying of children would give away their location so children were killed. Many people died of starvation. Then, and indeed now, Okinawa was not economically comparable to mainland Japan, and there was not enough food to go round. Some civilians were forced to evacuate to malaria camps, so that there was food for the military personnel. Over 200,000 Japanese died in the 3 months that was the Battle of Okinawa. It was the only ground fighting fought on Japanese soil, and was also the largest-scale campaign of the Asia-Pacific War.

Most of what is known of the Battle of Okinawa comes from personal accounts. Slowly, over the last 30-40 years, survivors have started to open up and talk about their experiences in order that their testimonies may be passed onto future generations and that this situation may be avoided in the future. Many of these testimonies included not only the terror and horror but also moments of compassion on both sides.

Outside the museum, there was a vast area of memorial stones, each with maybe two hundred names of the Japanese and foreign people who died in the Battle of Okinawa. The sheer size of the memorial area had a horrendous impact.

That day felt phenomenally cold! I think the top temperature was actually 15C, but the wind was incredibly strong so it felt much colder. After the museum I went to a nearby restaurant and had a late lunch of a huge bowl of soki soba (steaming hot Okinawan noodles in soup with beef). On the way back to the hotel, I bought some cold medicine and this knocked me out pretty much until the next morning!

From Naha, you can get to the Peace Museum by taking a number 89 bus from Naha Bus Terminal, and changing at Itoman Bus Terminal for a number 82 bus (get off at Heiwa Kinendo Iriguchi). 560yen plus 460 yen each way.

On Monday my cold peaked although I didn't know it then. I was beginning to think my head was going to explode. Since Sunday afternoon, I had only woken up long enough to take more medicine, sleeping for almost 15 hours straight! On Monday and Tuesday, as a combination of my cold and the medicine I was taking, I was sleeping every time I sat down on a bus, woken up each time by my own embarrassing whimpering noises! Monday, I decided to go down again to the southern part of the main island to visit Okinawa World. To get to Okinawa World, you have a few options. The cheapest way is to take a number 54 or 83 bus from Naha Bus Terminal to its terminus Gyokusendomae (560yen). However the route only runs every 1-2 hours, so instead I used the same buses as to the Okinawa Peace Museum yesterday. I took the cheaper route back. Incidentally, this website is good for checking bus timetables around Naha http://www.okinawabus.com/noriaibus/index.html

There are a few ticket options, I got the most expensive pass at 1600yen to see the caves, the Ryukyu working village and the snake museum. I thought the price was rather steep, but in retrospect I think the caves were definitely worth the price. Gyokusendo Cave is claimed to have the greatest stalactites and stalagmites in Asia. It's 5km long with 890 metres currently open to the public. It was beautiful, and the subtle lighting and complete lack of piped music was great for the headache! I was expecting it to be cold, like everyone else it seemed, but in fact the average temperature is 21C! Lots of people taking off their layers at the entrance to the cave! I wasn't so impressed by the village, but the snake museum was very interesting too.

I had found an interesting looking Russian restaurant called Perestroika online, and rather fancied a spicy bowl of Borscht that evening. Unfortunately though it was closed for the Christmas holidays. So instead, I went to find the Naha Harbor Diner, a treehouse restaurant! It's not a real tree, a building like that wouldn't survive the earthquakes, but it is rather cool! Had a nice sausage and lentil stew, and glass of mango juice. It came to 1300 yen, so yes prices were rather high and the portion size would have have been small had it not been for my cold. But it was a very cool restaurant, and I'd go there again!

Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day again, so I took the bus to the Chinen coastline. Bus number 38. I went to Azama Sunsun Beach, a little too manmade for my liking. I must try again sometime to find that beach I found when I first came to Okinawa. I thought it was near Chinen Marine Leisure Centre, but I couldn't find it last time either... Nice and relaxing, and then I walked for a few hours along the coast. A lovely relaxing holiday! Now, where and when next?!

Wood Block Printed Lanterns in Ueno Park, Tokyo

2010-11-07T21:13:00.002+09:00

Until 26th December 2010, there is a fantastic display of china woodblock printed lanterns in Ueno Park, Tokyo. According to the website there are 165 of these lanterns, there did certainly seem to be a lot! It says on the website that they are lit up between 6pm and 9pm, but I think actually that they are lit when it gets dark because I was there earlier.

It really is well worth a look, I was very impressed! They're easy to find, just come out of the Park Exit of Ueno Station and walk into the park. The lanterns follow the main path, with some off to the sides. More pictures (not 165!) at the right-hand link.

Sawara Summer Matsuri 2010 佐原の2010夏祭り

2010-07-17T22:53:00.001+09:00

Back at the start of last year, I went to a beautiful old Edo town called Sawara, about 30 minutes from Narita. At that time, I saw pictures of the summer matsuri (traditional Japanese festival) and have really wanted to go...!

Well, now I have! And it was every bit of fantastic as I'd expected! Absolutely huge and amazing floats, about 7m high, and weighing several tonnes each, are pushed and pulled along the roads and canal-side in Sawara. For three days! In summer, there are 10 floats (I've only got pictures of 9) and in autumn there are 14 floats. Now imagine moving a 4 tonne float in humid weather at a temperature of 32C... It was hot enough just watching, see the strain on their faces...!

Below are some video clips from 15th - 16th July, which really give a good idea of what this festival looks like, and the atmosphere. Photos if you look at the right-hand link, plus the videos again at the end.

今週末に佐原の夏祭りを見に行った。すごい！山車が巨大ですごかった！今、天気が蒸し暑くて32C ぐらい。いたいと思う！下にビデオが有って右のリンクに写真が有る。どうぞ見て下さい！

New York Drinks Dirty Water To Save Children

2010-07-15T18:32:00.000+09:00

http://inventorspot.com/articles/new_york_drinks_dirty_water_save_children?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

...

Odaiba お台場

2010-07-15T16:46:00.001+09:00

No, I'm not in New York with the Statue of Liberty! I've been to this area of Tokyo (Odaiba) a fair few times, but have only just now got round to uploading some pictures from when I went again sometime back in May this year! The first picture is, of course, of the copy of the Statue of Liberty. Apparently, in addition to the Statue of Liberty in New York, there are also two replicas of the statue in France (where the New York one was made). One of these was sent to Tokyo in 1998 for "French Year in Japan". It was so popular that a replica was erected in 2000, after the original was sent back to Paris.

It is near a shopping centre called Venus Fort in Palette Town. Venus Fort is an Italianate style indoor shopping centre with an artificial sky painted on the roof that changes colour from night to day! Great fun!

First shoes

2010-05-09T08:19:00.000+09:00

Seen in a JUSCO bakery...

Cockroach bomb evacuation cycle ride!

2010-05-04T14:17:00.000+09:00

Well, it was about time that I did a bit of exploring around here, and I found that within about 10-15 minutes cycling I get to a stream in what counts for definite countryside in this part of Chiba. It was really rather nice when you blocked out the pylons and telegraph poles!

The path by the stream was gravelled, so not terribly pleasant to cycle along, but I still think I will return there soon for another cycling breakfast! View from the cycle path, and of a temple that I found with beautiful wisteria.

I also passed lots of old secluded houses, most of which were so surrounded by beautiful trees and shrubs that I couldn't take any pictures. But this old house amused me, with its basketball net in the front garden...

Apologies that pictures are even worse than usual! I only had my phone camera with me today.

Cockroach bomb evacuation!

2010-05-04T13:05:00.002+09:00

OK, so this one isn't a real one - this is a pull back and release toy that I bought a few years back to wind up the students... Along with a very realistic centipede. Although I just came across it on its back in a cupboard just now and did have to give it a 2nd look!

Well, I moved here last November and that first week saw just one terminator style cockroach. Since then, and probably my phobia as a result of my first ground floor apartment in Japan that had giant cockroaches and centipedes coming in through the gaps in the walls and up through the tatami, I've been a little worried about this older house...

It's getting warm here, and so I put down some cockroach traps a month ago. Only seen two cockroaches in them (both in my bedroom...) Haven't seen any running free inside, but decided it was time to cockroach bomb the place before the rainy season starts. Cockroach bombing requires planning. It's a bit of a mission actually. You have to make sure that you bag up anything that could get contaminated and that isn't easily washable or wipeable. Your plants and flowers need to be put somewhere safe, out of direct smoke. I covered all the bedding and soft toys with a blanket that would be washed afterwards.

Then you need to open all the cupboards and drawers, and decide on the best location for your bombs. I used 2 large and 1 small bomb. I guess there is no way that it covered the whole house, but it came close to 3000yen and I want to do this again in 2 weeks to be really sure...!

Prepare for your few hours out of the house... The instructions on my bombs said that I needed to be out for at least 2 hours. I reckoned on 3... I made a cottage cheese and egg sandwich for breakfast, and made sure I had my bike keys and everything ready by the front door. Turn off all gas and electrical equipment - not sure if that is strictly necessary, but I read somewhere that it's best. Place your bombs and prepare with water. Then, when you're ready to start, set off all the bombs starting from the furthest from your front door. You have about 1-2 minutes from contact with the water before they go off.

Leave the house! This is very important!! A few years ago, a friend was off work with a rather nasty facial twitch. It was a mystery, no one knew what had started it off but it lasted about a week and a half. About a month later, some of us were sitting around over a few drinks and the conversation turned to how to rid your old apartment of all things nasty. Bug bombs were recommended as the best step, but that it was a bit of a performance because you needed to be out of the house for hours and then come back and wash everything. This same friend casually asked with surprise if that was really necessary because he had stayed in his apartment for most of the time whilst smoking it out... Coincidence?!

So, it was about time that I explored the surrounding area, and more about that in my next post, but fast forward 3.5 hours to my return to the house. Let's hope that 3.5 hours was enough, because it gave me a bit of a tickle in the throat when I came back in to open all the windows...

Then I had to wash, wipe and vacuum everything. Result? Well I only found two medium sized and 6 baby cockroaches - mostly upstairs. Maybe I haven't found all of them yet, but still... Maybe it's not such a problem? Anyway, must do it again in a couple of weeks to get any new ones...

Mid-April snow!

2010-04-17T22:08:00.001+09:00

This year is proving to be more incredibly odd in terms of weather than ever before! Not only is the temperature yoyo-ing daily by an average of about about 10C, but I also work up this morning to snow and had to pick my way through slush to the station. Hard to believe that it was 21C on Tuesday!

Bicycle lights and locks

2010-04-14T22:21:00.000+09:00

Finally I've remembered to write about this. In Japan, everyone seems to cycle. You see more bicycles in Japan than any other country except perhaps Holland! When I first visited Japan, I was surprised by how many people cycled everywhere, and that cyclists can use the pavement - not sure if it's strictly legal to do so, but everyone does with the exception of racing cyclists.

I was also surprised that Japanese cyclists always use an umbrella when it's raining. I've never seen that in any other country. I'm sure it's not really safe, but perhaps that's one of the reasons why people tend to cycle on the pavements. Me, I'm more of a fair weather cyclist!

Basic bicycles with 5 gears are cheap in Japan, maybe about 40-50 GBP. I bought mine about 3 years ago and recently have found that it has really come into its own, now that I've moved and live further from everything. I use it to go to the supermarket (always plenty of bicycle parking), but also sometimes use it to go to one of my schools on fine days - it takes me about 25 minutes.

In Japan, it doesn't stay light that late in the evenings, even during summer. So when I leave work it is always dark. Fortunately in Japan it is very common to cycle on the pavement, so I feel very safe, but even so sometimes the pavements are a bit uneven and I have to slow down.

Anyway, this post was intended primarily about bicycle lights and locks. All bikes in Japan seem to come with pedal powered LED front lights, which work pretty well and don't seem to get pinched. This of course means no more carrying your bicycle lights with you when you get off. Not sure if this is just a feature of the honesty in Japan, or just that everyone's cheap bicycle already has a front light. Also, bicycles come with an integrated back wheel lock, so (unless you have an expensive bike) no more carting around a chain lock.

Using your bicycle is much much easier than in Britain. I keep mine outside under the front porch to get rusty, but it is just ready to go!

First week of the new school year

2010-04-11T16:28:00.000+09:00

The first week of the new school year in Japan doesn't make much difference to me, but became evident yesterday evening when I was coming back from work. I was going up the stairs at the station behind a group of junior high school girls, who were practising the little bit of English they knew, "Nice to meet you!". One of them, plainly embarassed about speaking English, turned to check no one was listening, and saw me! A knudge and a whisper to her friend followed, and when they got to the top of the stairs, one of them said to me "Nice to meet you", so of course I gave the stock reply "Nice to meet you too!", which got a hand punched into the air with a "Yes!" from the girl!

I followed up with a "How are you?", one of them just repeated "How are you?" back, but her friend said "Chigau (that's wrong) I'm fine". We then exchanged "See you"s, an amusing little encounter at the start of April!

It's actually not just the new school year. Many of the new graduates also start their new jobs in Japan - April is the time for starting new jobs too. So there are lots of young Japanese in evidently shiny new suits as well...

Cherry blossom

2010-04-11T16:17:00.001+09:00

These are pictures that I took the other week of Sakura Road in Tokiwadaira, Chiba. I went to a really nice restaurant there with some friends (delicious meal and as many different varieties of bread as you can eat!), but honestly the smell of grilled chicken from some of the stalls almost stopped us getting there!

Coke machine playground bullying

2010-03-31T11:00:00.002+09:00

The DyDo machine isn't allowed to play with the other machines...

Japanese Study Resources

2010-03-28T18:48:00.005+09:00

Listed in this post are books, gadgets and resources that I have found, or am still finding, either useful or fun for my Japanese study:
Where I can, I have included links to the relevant websites. This post will get updated from time to time.

Dictionary
I have found the Canon WordTank G55 to be very useful for a beginner-intermediate English-speaking Japanese student. The kanji lookup tool is easy to use. From the dictionaries you can quickly jump from the kanji to the reading in hiragana, something that you cannot do with many dictionaries. A friend of mine has a dictionary where you can draw the kanji you see and get the English meaning, but you can't get the Japanese reading of the kanji.

Books

Or order from the Japanese site here
This enabled me to easily remember the hiragana and katakana. His method of creating stories to remember the characters really worked for me.

Or order from the Japanese site here
I also have this book, but after the first couple of hundred kanji he encourages you to create your own stories, and I haven't been able to devote enough time to doing that consistently yet. However, once you use this method you are forever trying to make up kanji stories - once you have one you like, you will remember that kanji.

This is a useful website to use alongside the book. http://kanji.koohii.com/

Or order from the Japanese site here
This is a fun book to pick up some useful everyday expressions.

Or order from the Japanese site here
I find this book useful, but a little heavy-going.

Or order from the Japanese site here
This book is ideal for beginners, but I still find it really useful now - probably because my grammar still leaves a lot to be desired...!

Or order from the Japanese site here
This was great for light relief! As the crosswords are either Japanese/English or English/Japanese, some of my beginning students have also enjoyed them!

For JLPT Levels 4 and 3, I found the Nihongo Challenge series very useful - see here for an example book
For JLPT Level 2, I am finding the Nihongo Sou Matome (日本語総まとめ問題集) series very useful - see here

Free websites
http://quizlet.com
http://smart.fm/
http://kanji.koohii.com/

Other resources

A friend of mine gets me the Asahi Children's newspaper once a week. Written in kanji, but with furigana, a lot of the kanji get repeated, so it is a fun and interesting way of learning kanji.
I've enjoyed reading Doraemon in Japanese.
Watching DVDs with English or Japanese subtitles is also a good way of improving listening skills. I enjoy the Hayao Miyazaki films, but other memorable ones for me were Okuribito which was an academy award-winning film, and a children's film called Kogitsune Helen (which was the first film I enjoyed and followed entirely in Japanese).

Strange floorplans

2010-03-28T16:09:00.000+09:00

I was just reading about a new book available in Japanese bookshops called Henna Madori (Strange Floorplans). Have a look at this website which gives more information. http://qjphotos.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/japanese-floorplan-fails/。

今ネットで新しい本ついて読んだ。本が「ヘンナ間取り」という。おもしろいそう！

偕楽園、水戸　Kairaku-en, Mito

2010-03-21T17:20:00.008+09:00

I went to Kairaku-en in Mito last weekend. I went after work on Saturday and stayed overnight in the Toyoko Inn. The next morning I got up really early and walked along the river to the garden, getting there at about 7:30. Even though it was so early, it was already pretty busy.

Kairaku-en is famous for its vast area of plum trees in late February/March. It was beautiful - especially from above, but a bit too regimented on ground level for my taste. I preferred the bamboo grove which really was very peaceful.

If anyone can tell me what the bird is in this photo, I'd be very interested - I see it a lot in gardens!

Have a look at my photos here!

先週末、水戸の偕楽園に梅を見に行った。きれいだったが多分竹の森のほうがいい。

その土曜日夜に仕事の後で水戸に行って東横インに泊まった。次の朝に早く起きて偕楽園に歩いた。7時半に公園に到着したがもうこんでいた！

写真を見て下さい！

Jougashima 城ヶ島

2010-02-20T18:02:00.004+09:00

Well, at last I've been to Jougashima, having wanted to go there for a couple of years at this time of year! Actually, I was really too far at the end of the narcissus season, but it was such a lovely day, and I still found one path that had narcissus at their best.

For those living in or near Tokyo, Jougashima is well worth the visit on a sunny day. It's going to be especially beautiful in mid January to mid February, because lots of narcissus is planted there - not only in the park but also along many of the paths and roads. It seems to have a mild climate - admittedly I was wearing a heatec top, two jumpers and a scarf, but I did take my coat and gloves off, and felt that it was mild!

You get there by going to Misakiguchi Station, and then taking bus number 9 from stand 2 just outside the station. Buses are about every half hour. Take the bus for 30 minutes to the last stop Jougashima Bus Terminal. Walking back up the road past the souvenir shops leads you in a couple of minutes to some metal stairs up to the lighthouse (apparently the 2nd oldest Western style lighthouse in Jaan, built in 1870 - you can't go into the lighthouse, but there's a great view all the same! Going past the lighthouse, you go down some stairs to the road, and turning left after a little while you get to a path to walk around the coastline on the rocks. This is such a beautiful rocky beach. From the black sand to the volcanic looking rocks, it was just my kind of beach! It was easy to sit on some rocks by the sea and just muse for a while... Following the beach around to the Horseback Cave or Eyeglass Rock (you can see the Boso Peninsula in Chiba from here), you can go up some narcissus lined stairs/path around the cliff to Jogashima Park (go right when you get to the road). OK, for my own records, the narcissus along this path were already dead by today (20th February), at least a couple of weeks earlier would be better...

After wandering around the park and down to the other lighthouse on the beach, I went back the same way, out of the park and down the road to the short bridge back to mainland Miura Peninsula. Just before the toll bridge you get to a gap in the fence which doubles back on itself to a short sharp flights of steps down to the port! Turning right leads you onto a road that after a little while has restaurants and shops on it, most selling very fresh tuna in some form or other. At the end of the road, follow the road around the port (see picture at top), and then bear off right again until you reach the port bus stop (Misakiko?) From here there are several buses that go back to Misakiguchi Station. With a lot of sitting and wandering, I spent about 4 hours here, not including lunch.

I had intended to get up early from Yokohama, but didn't in the end - decided I needed the sleep more, being put next to the lift didn't help! It would have been lovely to be there when it was still early morning, rather than arriving at about 10am with everybody else! Still, it was a Saturday and not too busy.

Jougashima is beautiful. There were times when the sea looked as turqoise as it does in Okinawa, and its rugged coastline on the south side is wonderful. More pictures at the link on the right.

にんにく Garlic

2010-02-19T20:56:00.002+09:00

じゃあ、にんにくが好きは幸運ですね。今晩、明日に城ケ島へ行くから横浜で泊まる。横浜駅来た時にレストランを探してイタリアのレストランを見付けた、「にんにく」と言ったね。でも関係をできなかった！もちろん、にんにくが一杯でした！

Well, it's a good thing I like garlic! Staying in Yokohama tonight cos I'm going to Jougashima tomorrow. When I got to the station, went to find something quick to eat, and found an Italian restaurant called Ninniku. I forgot to make the connection that ninniku means garlic! There was certainly a lot in my meal! Honestly, I probably　felled the hotel receptionist before I even got to the desk! Nice meal though!

I-Phone Stylus

2010-02-13T21:25:00.003+09:00

I don't have an i-phone but have got to see if this is possible on my phone's touch-screen... Surely not...!
http://inventorspot.com/articles/whoops_i_ate_my_iphone_stylus_37772

Sapporo Snow Festival

2010-02-09T10:40:00.001+09:00

Have a look at the pictures of this ice sculpture festival -
http://pinktentacle.com/2010/02/snow-sculptures-at-sapporo-snow-festival-2010/

Fantastic eh?! One day I want to get to see this!

A couple of everyday updates...!

2010-02-09T09:55:00.003+09:00

Well, it's been over a month since my last post - I've been very busy with work, and my house has been rather too cold to sit down and write on the computer! But last week, a friend of friend was throwing out her kotatsu, and my friend stopped her so that I could have it! She left it on my doorstep yesterday!

Now, the kotatsu is a very special kind of table. It looks like a low coffee table, and has a heater underneath. In winter, you set it up with a thin quilt under the tabletop, switch it on, put your legs under it, arrange the quilt over your lap, and only come out if you absolutely have to! Previously, I've only used them in friends' houses, but everyone says that it's very easy to forget all your household jobs when you're under the kotatsu... I've only set my new one up today and I can already see the draw of it! I'm very lucky with this one, it's got a few dings, scratches and white hot cup marks - but I think I can probably get rid of the white marks with a cloth and hot iron - it's fine anyway!

This page has some lovely drawings of cats under the kotatsu!
http://www.nilab.info/cheapjap/000149.html

I've also renewed my visa again. This involved two very early Monday starts into Tokyo to get to the immigration office in Shinagawa for between 8 and 8:30am when the queue starts to form. For the first visit I stayed in a Toyoko Inn overnight which made it a more relaxed start to the day. I've now got myself a Toyoko Inn loyalty card which has already paid for its 1500yen annual membership fee. It offers various benefits such as early check-in and one free night after ten, but the most useful benefit for me (having a Sunday/Monday weekend) is that it gives a 30% discount on Sundays and national holidays. Very useful! I see a few more evenings away coming on!

Happy New Year! 明けましておめでとうございます！

2010-01-01T21:18:00.002+09:00

Happy New Year Everyone! I can't believe that I started this blog about two years ago. At that time I said that they would write in it everyday in English and Japanese. Well, I haven't managed that, but I have posted 279 times so far. I'm going to continue this year too!

みんなさん、明けましておめでとうございます！このブログが2二年ぐらい前で始めた、信じられない！その時に毎日英語と日本語で書くつもりと言った。じゃあ、できなかったがこれまで279回を書いた。今年も頑張ろう！

Shisaa

2009-12-27T21:29:00.003+09:00

By the way, I bought something in Miyakojima - photos when I've unpacked... I first saw Okinawan shisaa in Taketomi http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ekHIi91TTz-zkPx1vRztLA?feat=directlink 2 years ago... Well...

More photos from Miyakojima!

2009-12-27T20:19:00.000+09:00

Well, I've just added some more photos from my holiday in Miyakojima. I've tried to keep the photos of sugarcane to a minimum - there is a lot of sugarcane and it is beautiful. Apparently sugarcane takes 2 years to harvest, hence the difference in heights.

Miyakojima

2009-12-24T22:22:00.002+09:00

Well, I'm on holiday here on Miyakojima in Okinawa. You can find some photos from the last couple of days to the link on the right - more to come!

Tokyo Metro Manners poster

2009-12-18T11:44:00.001+09:00

December 2009

Please do not pass out on the metro - do it at home...

Christmas classroom

2009-12-16T18:18:00.001+09:00

The artistic prowess of children aged 5 to 11 at one of my schools...Colourful, innit?!

Moved house!

2009-12-14T16:42:00.001+09:00

Oh, it's been a long time again since I've written on this blog!

For those of you that don't know, I've recently moved house again. Still pretty much within the same area, but this time to a whole house instead of a 1K studio flat! And because it's an older place and further from the station, it's cheaper. Although it needs some money spent on it, and I'm renting so don't want to spend too much, it really is rather nice. It's got parquet wooden flooring throughout and two traditional tatami rooms complete with shoji paper screens at the windows. And heated toilets and a heated bath. All rather nice!　

So anyway, what with moving, cleaning, unpacking, working, going out and Christmas preparations, I've been (and still am) rather busy!

No (or perhaps little) Japanese on the blog for the time being, because I want to write on the blog but have very little spare time right now...
That's it for now cos I've reached my stop!

Cricket maybe... コオロギかな。。。

2009-10-19T15:34:00.003+09:00

昨夜、この見なれない生き物が家の外側にいる。コオロギかな？

This strange creature was lurking outside my door yesterday!　　Is it a cricket?

Typhoon continued

2009-10-08T17:54:00.001+09:00

Well, woke up at 5am to a little bit of rain, but when I got up just before 7 this morning, it was a beautiful sunny day (up 9 degrees from yesterday to 26C). Very windy though! From the news, the typhoon headed a bit further north than my area. Quite a lot of flight and train cancellations and delays throughout the country, as there were yesterday as the edge arrived.

Because of train cancellations on connecting lines that use bridges, my usually quite quiet local train line was ridiculously crowded ー glad it was just one stop before I had to change trains! I'm at school now and I can see the station from the window. There is a poor station attendant who has all day been pretty much continuously sweeping up leaves that are being blown up the stairs. What a thankless task! Imagine his conversation when he gets home tonight: 'So what did you do today?','I swept up leaves','Anything else?','No, that's all my boss told me to do...'

Typhoon number 18 台風18番

2009-10-07T21:44:00.002+09:00

Having a bit of weather here... At the moment it's just a bit on the breezy and wet side, but this 'super-typhoon' is due to make landfall here tomorrow morning. Should make things interesting...

Flowerpots, table and chairs all inside...!

Black Tights Day, Hooray! 黒いタイツの日を万歳！

2009-09-29T09:37:00.003+09:00

今日、黒いタイツの日になった！どこへ住んでも嬢にそう変わりはないと思う。秋が一番好きな服の季節だ。

At last, today is Black Tights Day! I'm sure women are the same wherever they live, there is always one day in Autumn when you know that you can start wearing black tights. You can go into Autumn clothes perhaps a couple of weeks earlier, but the first day of wearing black tights really marks the first day of Autumn.

Rice crop art

2009-09-12T09:42:00.003+09:00

This is amazing! Some enterprising regions of Japan are creating artwork out of planting different varieties of rice... http://www.pinktentacle.com/2009/07/rice-paddy-art/.

And a JAL advert created the same way another year... and video as they decided they didn't like it after all... http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/07/jal-logo-uprooted-from-rice-paddy-art/.

両親のねこ My parents' cats

2009-09-06T09:58:00.005+09:00

I couldn't resist putting a couple of pictures of my parents' two cats on here. They're brothers, and getting on for 2 years old now. Aren't they sweet?!

They get on really well together, but play fight sometimes, just as brothers do!

月見　Moon Viewing

2009-09-06T08:14:00.003+09:00

In Japan, it's traditional in the Autumn to enjoy the beauty of the moon on a clear night. Last night, the moon was particularly bright and beautiful. Actually it was best as I came home from work, because it was lower and bigger in the sky, but I didn't take the picture until later! Maybe I'll get another chance in the next couple of nights. in which case I'll update.

In Japan, McDonalds even sell a sell a special seasonal burger called a tsukimi burger (moon viewing burger). The version with cheese is one of my favourite burgers, the burger is made all the more special because you can only buy it for part of September!

Tsukimi is traditionally a time for celebrating the Autumn harvest. I hear that it's traditional to eat dango, which are delicious sweet dumplings made from rice flour, whilst watching the moon. I occasionally buy the 'skewered with sweetened soy sauce version' throughout the year from the supermarket.

RHS Rosemoor, Devon, England

2009-08-30T15:55:00.003+09:00

今月の中はお休みからイギリスに戻った。家族と友だちと遊びに行った。楽しかった！南西イギリスに有名公園が有る。両親とRosemoorを見に行った。とてもきれいだった！も少し写真はリンクを見てください。

The middle of this month, I went back to England for a holiday to see family and friends there. I had a lovely time! One day, my parents took me to Rosemoor Garden in Devon, I've always wanted to go to one of the RHS gardens. It was so beautiful! Have a look at the link to see some more photos.

総選挙　General Election

2009-08-30T10:53:00.002+09:00

今日は総選挙ね。自民党は政権をすてる筈だ、そして民主党が政権を握る。。。

It's the General Election today in Japan. It's expected that the Liberal Democratic Party will relinquish their hold, and the Democratic Party of Japan will become the ruling party...

It's said that policy-wise, the DPJ will gain power because of frustrations over the economy, and a loss of confidence in the LDP to deal with issues such as the rising national debt and rapidly aging population. But it's also to do far more with the desire for change. The LDP have been in almost unbroken power for 54 years, and a DPJ Prime Minister (probably Yukio Hatoyama) is seen to be able to bring change. We shall see...

豚インフルエンザ　Swine flu

2009-08-30T08:43:00.003+09:00

最近、日本で豚インフルエンザは新しいインフルエンザと言う。でも西洋でまだ略式で「Swine Flu」豚インフルエンザと言う。

日本で、豚インフルエンザが遅く上がっていった。二週間前11,636新しい病人がなった。でも、また報道によれば先週は日本で、急に15万新病人がなったらしい。先週、また学校を始めた。。。

二月前に英国の施政は最悪の場合の桁を出版した。同様に日本の厚生は流行伝染のピーク時に毎日760,000病人までなれる。

Recently in Japan, people are calling swine flu the new flu. But in Western countries it's still informally known as swine flu.

In Japan, swine flu was slowly rising. Two weeks ago, the number of new cases stood at 11,636. But, also according to the news, this week, the number of new cases rocketed to 150,000 in one week. Last week the schools went back...

In much the same way as the UK government published a worst case scenario figure a couple of months back, the Japanese health ministry have published a figure that up to 760,000 people in Japan could become infected daily at the peak of the epidemic expected in late September, early October.

So far I don't know anyone who has had it, but I feel it's only a matter of time... I shall continue my obsessive hand-washing after every lesson and every time I'm near a sink and disinfecting my hands so many times a day!

A vaccination isn't expected to be available until after the epidemic peaks in the first wavel...

https://hasseidoko.mhlw.go.jp/Hasseidoko/Levelmap/flu/index.html
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/150000-patients-estimated-to-have-contracted-flu-this-week
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200908290090.html
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200908280041.html

久しぶりにブログに書く Writing on the blog for the first time in ages!

2009-08-30T08:36:00.002+09:00

久しぶりね？！　今日、ブログの日のつもりだ！また掃除と勉強をしなければならない。。。

It's been a long time, eh?! I do intend to write on the blogs today. I must also do some cleaning and study...

Junrenka by Shounannokaze, again! また、湘南乃風の純恋歌

2009-07-26T19:00:00.010+09:00

Well, I've been working again today...

Some considerable time ago, I posted the kanji and furigana lyrics to Junrenka, and said that there was a translation to follow. Well, inspired today, and with some help from a Japanese website, here is my attempt...

English Translation (thanks to jpopasia.com for the initial translation, to which I have made some changes - for the better I hope!)

When I close my eyes, there you are, shining the most brightly amongst one hundred billion stars
For the first time I mean it from the heart; ring out into the night sky, love song

My best girlfriend, you made delicious pasta
I’m fell in love at first sight with a family-oriented type of girl
Poor people are not successful, that’s a load of rubbish; I look at them, and they’re laughing and having fun
I’m soothed by their tender smiles, deeply in love

I was happy, happy, and skipping, quite unlike me
“I want to say I love you” I was transfixed by you who were staring at the hazy moon
For the first time, I thought “this is a woman that I want to protect”
Making a serious face, I held you tight

When I close my eyes, there you are, shining the most brightly amongst one hundred billion stars
For the first time I mean it from the heart; ring out into the night sky, love song

Because of that we’ll always be together, you and I
Recently it’s been said that it’s bad for us to see each other
But one way or another, I’m going to watch tenderly over you, my gentle lover
Don’t call me “Naa”, it’s such a odd nickname; everyone probably thinks we’re a couple of idiots
But whenever I feel down
You heal me, with your gentle voice

We’re definitely well suited to each other, we understand each other, even though we clash
When we can’t compromise, and we shout and are unfeeling
I get away from the house to go play pachinko, I kill time and calm down
Then with some complimentary cosmetics in hand, I go home to apologize

When I close my eyes, even though the star that I love was shining so bright
Right now the clouds are blocking it out, and I don’t understand why

I’m going, I’m going to see you…
I’m going…
I’m going to see you…

The hazy moon shines down on rows of cherry blossom trees
I drop in on the place that we met, on my way home
The scenery isn’t what has changed, it’s us
I’d anticipated I could see everything, even though it’s something that can’t be seen with the eyes…

I want to be close with you, you want something fresh
Even though you do it all for me, I do it all for myself
As the the spring night breeze blows on me, I’m struck by memories
The wounds have multiplied, I grasp the precious things I’ve been reminded of

I’m going to see you, let’s walk hand in hand
I definitely won’t let go, even when our hands go weak from old age
We’ll fight as many times as we have grey hairs, and our happiness will be as great as our wrinkles
Let’s live and feel together

Love song, I can’t live alone anymore
I’d like to have you at my side all the time
Love song, I’m won't make you sad anymore
Looking up to the sky, that’s what I swore
Love song, I proclaim my love with this awkward song
All stupid men sing about love
Listen to it with me, at my side
Love song, over and over again

Love song…let’s talk about everything
Love song…let’s make a promise

When I close my eyes, there you are, shining the most brightly amongst one hundred billion stars
For the first time I mean it from my heart; ring out into the night sky, love song

When I close my eyes, I want you to be shining the most brightly amongst the one hundred billion stars
I won’t forget again, the night that I held you tight
Reach out, love song

※目(め)を閉(と)じれば　億千(おくせん)の星(ほし)　一番(いちばん)光（ひか)るお前(まえ)がいる

初(はじ)めて一途(いちず)になれたよ　夜空(よぞら)へ響(ひび)け愛(あい)のうた

大親友(だいしんゆう)の彼女(かのじょ)の連(つ)れ　おいしいパスタ作(つく)ったお前(まえ)

家庭的(かていてき)な女(おんな)がタイプの俺(おれ)　一目惚(ひとめぼ)れ

大貧民(だいひんみん）負（ま）けてマジ(まじ)切(ぎ)れ　それ見(み)て笑(わら)って楽(たの)しいねって

優(やさ)しい笑顔(えがお)にまた癒(いや)されて　ベタ惚(ぼ)れ

嬉(うれ)しくて嬉(うれ)しくて　柄(がら)にもなくスキップして

「好(す)きって言(い)いてぇ」　おぼろげな月(つき)を見(み)つめる君(きみ)に釘付(くぎづ)け

守(まも)りたい女(おんな)って思(おも)った　初(はじ)めて

まじめな顔(かお)して　ギュッと抱(だ)きしめた

※ Repeat

あれからずっと一緒(いっしょ)だよな　お前(まえ)と俺(おれ)

最近(さいきん)付（き）合(あ)い悪(わる)いと言(い)われるけど

なんだかんだ温(あたた)かく見守(みまも)ってくれてる　優(やさ)しい連(つ)れ

「なぁ」変(へん)なあだ名(な)で呼(よ)ぶなよ　皆(みんな)バカップルだと思(おも)うだろ

でもいつも落(お)ち込(こ)んだ時(とき)

助(たす)けてくれる　お前(まえ)の優(やさ)しい声(こえ)

きっとお似合(にあ)いな二人(ふたり)　共（とも）に解(わか)り合(あ)って　重(かさ)なり合(あ)っても

折(お)り合(あ)いがつかない時(とき)は　自分(じぶん)がってに怒鳴(どな)りまくって

パチンコ屋逃(やに)げ込(こ)み　時間(じかん)つぶし　て気持(きも)ち落(お)ち着(つ)かせて

景品(けいひん)の化粧品持(けしょうひんも)って　謝(あやま)りに行(い)こう

目(め)を閉(と)じれば　大好(だいす)きな星(ほし)　あんなに輝(かがや)いてたのに

今(いま)では雲(くも)がかすめたまま　それが何故(なぜ)かも分からぬまま

会(あ)いに行(よ)くよ…

桜並木照(さくらなみきて)らすおぼろ月(づき)　出逢(であ)った(ふたり)二人(ふたり)の場所(ばしょ)に帰(かえ)りに一人寄(ひとりよ)り道(みち) 変(か)わらぬ景色(けしき)　変(か)わったのは俺(おれ)ら二人(ふたり)　すべて見えてたつもり

目(め)に見(み)えないものなのに．．．

馴(な)れ合(あ)いを求(もと)める俺(おれ)　新鮮(しんせん)さを求(もと)めるお前(まえ)

お前(まえ)は俺(おれ)のために　なのに俺(おれ)はのため

春(はる)の夜風(よかぜ)に打(う)たれ　思(おも)い出(で)に殴(なぐ)られ傷重(きずかさ)ねて　気付(きづ)かされた大事(だいじ)なもの握(にぎ)りしめ

今(いま)すぐ会(あ)いに行(yu)くよ　手(て)を繫(つな)いで歩(ある)こう

絶対離(ぜったいはな)さない　その手(て)ヨボヨボになっても

白髪(しらが)の数喧嘩(かずけんか)して　しわの分(ぶん)だけの幸(しあわ)せ

二人(ふたり)で感(かん)じて生(い)きて行(い)こうぜ

LOVE SONG　もう一人(ひとり)じゃ生(い)きてけねえよ

側(がわ)に居(い)て当(あ)たり前(まえ)と思(おも)ってたんだ

LOVE SONG　もう悲(かな)しませたりしねえよ

空(そら)に向(む)け俺(おれ)は誓(ちか)ったんだ

LOVE SONG　ヘタクソ(へたくそ)な歌(うた)で愛(あい)を　バカな男(おとこ)が愛(あい)を歌(うた)おう

一生隣(いっしょうとなり)でいいててくれよ

LOVE SONG　何度(なんど)でも何度(なんど)でも

LOVE SONG…　何(なん)でも(ば)話(はな)そう

LOVE SONG…　約束(やくそく)しよう

※ Repeat

目(め)を閉(と)じれば　億千(おくせん)の星(ほし)　一番光(いちばんひか)るおまえが欲(ほ)しいと

ギュッと抱(だ)きしめた夜(よる)はもう二度(にど)と忘(わす)れない　届(とど)け愛(あい)のうた

But the rainy season has finished...?

2009-07-23T07:02:00.006+09:00

Oh come on, what shoes am I going to wear today eh?! Maybe it'll have stopped in a couple of hours when I have to go out? Otherwise I'm going to be wading through a small stream to get to the station...

Whilst we get rain all year in Japan, we do have a distinct rainy season during June and up to mid-July. The rainy season was announced to be finished a couple of weeks ago, so this is just too much rain!

Update: fortunately it stopped at half past seven and the water all drained away quickly! It's now 8am and the sun's even trying to come out. Given it's due to be 27C (a bit cooler today!), it should be dry soon if it doesn't rain again.

Google Earth

2009-07-15T17:14:00.003+09:00

It occurs to me that I really haven't been making the most of Google Earth! Of course, this is the ideal way of spotting potential countryside walks! Together with Navitime GPS, I've just planned some more walks... And all within about an hour's train ride heading away from Tokyo!

Countryside in Sanuki, Joban Line

2009-07-15T14:43:00.017+09:00

Well, I rate that as a very successful morning! As far as hiking guidebooks in English are concerned, they tend to focus on the west or north of Tokyo. As I live in the north-west of Chiba, this means a good 2.5 hour train journey to get to suggested walks.

This morning, I had intended to go again to Mount Takao, so was on a train at 6:10... Of course, it was packed with people going to work, so I decided to go in the opposite direction, and see where that got me. If there aren't any suggested walks for this area, then I'll have to find my own!

I decided to use the Joban line towards Katsuta in Ibaraki and use the journey to make a note of nice bits of countryside close to stations. (It looks like the riverside walking at Tennodai and Fujishiro stations might be nice, and also the countryside near Sanuki (this post) and Takahama station.) I thought about going to Hitachi Seaside Park and getting a bus from Ishioka station, but changed my mind by the time I reached that station! Fortunately, you can travel on a train and just double back if you fall asleep or change your mind, and it doesn't cost you any extra, so I got the train back for 30 minutes to Sanuki station, where I had been the most impressed by the countryside. Incidentally, there are quite a few towns called Sanuki in Japan - this one is in Ryuugasaki City, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Walking along the road next to the tracks, on the right-hand side, heading to Ushiku for about 10 minutes leads you a small track over a bridge. From there, you can just follow whatever little road or dirt track, through allotments and rice fields, that you choose.

Next time, I will try not to play with my phone so much on the train journey, so that my phone battery has rather more charge for my GPS... Lucky really I had my charger and that kept me going until I got to a station at 1pm - there weren't many people around. Even if there were, directing me to a station down dirt tracks 45 minutes walk away wouldn't have been easy! I might get a paper map of the area now too.

And a short video clip of a rice field - I love the movement and the sound, as the wind blows!

So that was Sanuki, which can be done in under an hour by train. The name also appealed because it was just one syllable different to the Japanese racoon dog, the tanuki...

Tesco Express

2009-07-12T17:02:00.000+09:00

Went to the Tesco Express in Chiba Chuo today. Not a lot of interest perhaps, but I did manage to get some own brand baked beans about half the price of Heinz. Baked beans are a luxury imported item here!

今日、初めて、千葉中央でテスコエクスプレスに行った。多分、余りおもしろくないがベークトビーンズを買われた。日本にベークトビーンズは高級の輸入食料だ！

Holiday in Nikko 日光の休み

2009-06-28T13:49:00.007+09:00

Yesterday, I got back from Nikko after a very enjoyable 3 day break. The countryside around Nikko is so beautiful, and there's lots of wildlife too, I saw many birds and butterflies, snakes, squirrels and monkeys. I'm looking forward to my next trip there!

The first day I spent looking around the temple area of Nikko, and had a delicious yuba (tofu skin) and soba (buckwheat noodle) soup lunch. The 2nd day I spent walking in the countryside, had a few short conversations with Japanese walkers, and one couple very kindly gave me some grilled chicken to have with my lunch! Although the temperature reached 32-33C that day, it didn't feel too bad in the shade of the forests. And I bought a bottle of frozen green tea from the convenience store which lasted cold all day in my shoulder coolbag, as well as keeping my salad and rice ball chilled!

Photos and commentary in English are in the two links to the right (Nikko and Tobu World Square).

昨日日光から帰った、3日間の楽しかった休みです。日光の自然がすごく美しい。次の泊まりを楽しみしている。写真と注釈が右のリンクに有る。日光と東武ワールドスクウェアの写真がある。

Wander around Nippori 日暮里の散歩

2009-06-16T13:15:00.003+09:00

Went for a long-intended bit of a wander around Nippori today. It's a nice old area of Tokyo with lots of old houses and temples, along with a Swiss chalet serving lunchtime sandwiches... Which is where I took the picture of the butterfly! More photos to the right link.

今日、日暮里に散歩に行った。この町は古い東京です。沢山の古い家とお寺が有って、スイスシャレーまでもがある。。。スイスシャレーにサンドを買える。その場所喋喋の写真を撮った。もう少し写真が右のリンクにある。

A couple of musings

2009-06-15T19:42:00.002+09:00

Firstly, after my long mountain walk yesterday, and hundreds and hundreds of steps, I can no longer walk without pain! Particularly going down stairs. And I won't be sleeping in my loft tonight, it was hard enough getting down the ladder this morning, and I've seized up even more now!

Then, just now I went to the supermarket to get a few things. It's been a pretty good day today weather-wise, but when I left the supermarket the heavens had already opened. Well, it is the rainy season, after all! And, given I didn't have far to go, it was actually rather a nice reminder that I live in a sub-tropical country! And speaking of the rain, I was reminded of something that I noticed when first coming here on holiday... People cycle with umbrellas here - not something I've seen anywhere else. One of my students asked me the other week what British cyclists did when it rained, if we didn't carry umbrellas... We just get wet of course!

Ikea Meatballs

2009-06-15T18:35:00.003+09:00

After visiting Koishikawa Korakuen, I went to Ikea for delicious meatballs for lunch. As you can see they are exactly the same as Ikea meatballs everywhere. But I bet you don't get ice cold green tea to drink with yours in England!

I also bought these poppy giant wall stickers for my flat, which I'm rather pleased with...

Koishikawa Korakuen 小石川後楽園

2009-06-15T18:17:00.005+09:00

Today I went to Koishikawa Korakuen, which is a garden near Iidabashi in Tokyo. Beautiful! More photos to the link at the right.

鋸山　　Nokogiri Mountain

2009-06-14T17:19:00.006+09:00

Well, a long time ago when I first started this blog and went to Ushiku Daibutsu, I cam across Mountaincat's post on Nokogiryama. Ever since then, I've been meaning to go to Nokogiri, and finally did so today!

Wanted to get there before the coachloads, so got up at 5am and got a train around 5:45 which, after a few changes, got me to Hamakanaya Station just before 8:30. The ropeway is just a 10 minute walk away from the station.

It was well worth the early start, and despite the rainy season having started here last week, the weather luckily stayed dry! Even though it felt very early, I really appreciated the beuatiful scenery as I got about 1 hour or so from Nokogiri. I saw ducks paddling in the corner of a rice field, and even two llamas in a field surprisingly!

The tourist leaflet that I got says that the great Buddha statue was well known all over Japan. It does say 'was well known'... Certainly very few people I've spoken knew about it before the documentary on NHK the other week... It was a really beautiful area, and very green, really nice!

More photos to the right link.

ILOHAS twistable pet bottle

2009-06-07T14:39:00.005+09:00

Coca Cola has recently launched a new brand of water ILOHAS in a lightweight PET bottle. The idea is that once you've finished drinking the bottle can be twisted into a much much smaller size (about 40% less than other PET bottles apparently). This makes it more environmentally friendly - see short video clip:

However, there's a problem... I used to buy my water bottles and then refill and reuse them a few times. These lightweight bottles can't really be refilled, because they squash too easily. Until the novelty wears off, these are so much fun to twist that I'm going to get through way more than an extra 40%...!

Tokyo Metro etiquette posters

2009-06-07T14:10:00.014+09:00

The range so far of etiquette posters on Tokyo Metro... Click on each poster to see a close-up.

Packed like sardines 鮨詰め

2009-06-07T13:50:00.002+09:00

昨日新単語を習った。英語で「The train was packed like a tin of sardines」と言う。日本語で「電車は鮨詰めだった」と言う。

I learnt a new word yesterday 鮨詰め (すしづめ）。 It's what people say in Japanese to describe people packed like sardines! It means that people are packed together like the rice grains in sushi!

Junk mail

2009-06-04T21:35:00.003+09:00

毎日ジャンクメールが来る。問題ない。。。マンションの下にジャンクメールの箱が有る。さらに時々良いジャンクメールが来る。例えば時々ティシューとかバスソルトが来る。いいですね！

Every day people get junk mail in Japan. Still, no problem - my apartment block has a junk mail box underneath the mailboxes. And sometimes I get good junk mail. For example sometimes I get packets of tissues or bath salts. Nice, eh?!

Free iPhones for Students

2009-05-29T17:37:00.001+09:00

A university in Tokyo is giving out iPhones...

http://www.japantoday.com/mobile/view/tokyo-university-gives-away-iphones-to-nab-truants-via-gps

水街道の坂野家とバラ庭　　Sakanoke and Rose Garden, Mizukaidou, Ibaraki

2009-05-24T20:48:00.007+09:00

Yesterday I went to a beautiful old house (Sakanoke) and rose garden with a student and her family. The house was getting on to be 300 years old. Unlike many old houses, I understand it hasn't had to be rebuilt due to earthquake or fire. It was absolutely stunning inside, I didn't manage to take any photos I was pleased with but am intending to go back there sometime in the next few weeks if I get the chance.

http://www.city.joso.lg.jp/modules/section066/content/index.php?id=23

A few doors down was an absolutely huge private rose garden, with wonderful borrowed scenery of incredible mirrored rice fields as far as the eye could see. The garden itself was made up of smaller gardens and winding natural paths. It was a really enjoyable afternoon!

http://home2.netpalace.jp/RoseGardenSakano/profile/profile.cgi

More photos to the left link.

日本のマスクのメーカーは生産を増える　　Japanese mask makers boost production

2009-05-18T16:09:00.004+09:00

今回、記事は日本のマスクメーカー付いてです。文法をチェックした後で改訂する。

This time, the article is about Japanese mask manufacturers. I'll update it when I've had the grammar checked...

Japanese mask makers are increasing production to respond to the growing demand caused by the swine flu outbreak.

Nisshinbo Holdings will quadruple its output of masks. The company reports a surge in orders from government offices and firms since the weekend.

Unicharm is also increasing production. On Tuesday alone, the company received as many orders as it does during an entire week in winter.

Unicharm's output usually drops by over 80 percent at this time of year after the cold and hay fever seasons end. But the firm now intends to raise production to nearly 100 percent of capacity.

From NHK World English 29 April 2009.

豚インフルエンザの勃発ために増えれた要求が有る。だから日本のマスクメーカーが生産を増える。

ニッシンボホルディングズはマスクの算出の4倍を増えよう。その会社は週末以来政治の会社とほかの会社から注文の当然増大を報告した。

ユーニチャルムも生産を増えれている。火曜日一日だけ会社は注文量が冬の一周間分と同じくらいだった。

大体、風邪と花粉症のシーズンの終わりの後でユーニチャルムの算出は80パーセント以上を下げする。しかし、その会社は生産がほとんど100パーセントに増えるつもり。

もう一度最後の記事を書いた

2009-05-14T18:31:00.001+09:00

I've written the last news article again.

東京の中央に有った19世紀のオフィスビルは元の図と材料で再建された。再生された建物は博物館として使用される。

三菱地所が所有する建物は月曜日にメディアに開かれた。

三菱一号館ビルまたはナンバーワンビルは1894年にとしての丸ノ内の商業地域の最初のオフィス空間として完成された。

英国の建築家のコンダー、ジョザイアさんが元の煉瓦の建物をデザインした。その建物は三階と地下が有った。1968年に取り壊された。

建物の再建は約230万個の煉瓦を使ってで約2年間かかった。外側は元の建物の青写真と写真に忠実に修復された。

新しい場所は三菱一号館博物館と呼ばれ場所三階建てで約20部屋が有る。そこで美術品、主に19世紀の西洋のスタイルの絵が展示をされる。

一階にカフェもある。

来年の4月に建物が公開される。

やった！

珍しいね

2009-05-11T16:17:00.001+09:00

An extraordinary bus stop, eh?!

19th century office building in Tokyo rebuilt

2009-05-10T16:15:00.003+09:00

I was studying this afternoon, and had a go at translating this news article from NHK (published on 27 April) about a reconstruction of the first office building in the Marunouchi business district of Tokyo. As I can no longer get it on the internet, I've copied out the English text... I'm sure the grammar in Japanese version is very dodgy...!

Here is the museum website with a picture http://mimt.jp/english.html Mitsubishi Estate is the largest real estate company in Japan, and would appear to own much of Tokyo and a fair bit of the rest of Japan too, as well as having fully bought out Rockefeller Group in New York in 1989.

In fact, as people who live in Tokyo will know, the whole are is being rebuilt/restored. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080522f3.html

ここに博物館のサイトと絵です。http://mimt.jp/japanese.html

A nineteenth century office building in central Tokyo has been reconstructed using portions of the original plans and materials. The reborn structure will function as a museum.

The building, owned by Mitsubishi Estate, was opened to the media on Monday.

The Mitsubishi Ichigokan, or Number One, building was completed in 1894 as the first office space in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo.

British architect Josaih Conder designed the original brick structure with 3 floors and a basement. It was demolished in 1968.

It took about 2 years to reconstruct the building using about 2.3 million bricks. The exterior was faithfully reconstructed based on blueprints and photographs of the original structure.

The new space, to be called the Mitcubishi Ichigokan Museum, has about 20 rooms spread over 3 floors where art works - mainly 19th-century Western paintings - are due to be displayed.

There will also be a cafe on the first floor.

The building is to open to the public in April of next year.

東京に19世紀のオフィスビルが再建された

東京の中央に19世紀のオフィスビルは最初の図と材料で再建されたことがある。再生の建物は博物館として作用する。

建物は所有の三菱私有月曜日にメディアに開く。

三菱いちごかんビルかナンバーワンビルは１８９４に東京の丸の内の商業地域の最初のオフィス空間として終わられた。

英国の建築家コンダー、ジョサイアさんが最初の煉瓦の建物をデザインした。その建物は三階と地階が有った。1968に取り壊された。

建物の再建は230万煉瓦ぐらいで２年間ぐらいをかかった。外側は最初の建物の青写真と写真で忠実に修繕された。

新空間は三菱いちごかん博物館と言わせる。その空間は三階で20部屋ぐらいが有る。あちらで美術品、主に19の世紀の西洋スタイルの絵が展示をするはずです。

一階にカフェも有るはずです。

来年の４月に建物が人民ために開くはずです。

Food to make your mouth water

2009-05-06T14:38:00.004+09:00

This is really just to say that recently I've been spending more time cooking because it's been a holiday, and so haven't added anything to this blog. However, if you're interested in seeing a little of what I've been up to over the last couple of weeks, have a look at my other blog (only in English) Food to make your mouth water!

日本語の授業

2009-04-20T15:17:00.002+09:00

さいきん、また本当の日本語の授業を始まる。まだ一週一回に友だちと勉強するがもう少し練習が必要の感じだ。この授業に文法を勉強しない、会話だけを有る。今日の授業で日本語で英語の新聞の記事を説明しなかればならなかった。難しかったが楽しかった！

そしてから、一緒に電車にのって、話をした。その時にたとえば電車でとか喫茶店でとか居酒屋でとか皆さんは私に集中するらしいかもしれない！だから、その時にいつもあわてる！もうすぐはっきりに考えてあわてずに喋りたい！

Recently, I've started proper Japanese lessons again. I'm still studying once a week with a friend, but I feel that I need a bit more practice. In these lessons I don't study grammar, just focus on conversation. In today's lesson, I had to explain an English news article in Japanese. A touch tricky, but fun!

After that, we took the train together and talked. At those times, for example on the train, in a coffee shop, a bar and so on, I feel that everybody is paying attention to my Japanese! So I usually get a bit lost for words. Soon, I hope that I'll get over this block and be able to think clearly and talk without panicking!

2009-04-19T17:46:00.002+09:00

Hooray!! I've finally managed to get rid of the 'Read more' caption on my posts!

Narita Drum Festival continued

2009-04-13T16:42:00.004+09:00

This video shows some of the drumming groups around the town, before the parade started.

This video shows scenes from the parade, including the wrestling drummers (from 58s to 1min36) and the Okinawan style drummers (at the end).

This video shows scenes from the last half of the parade including the final steel drum group (from 18s to the end). If you like these steel drummers, then you're absolutely going to love the steel drumming performance on Mountaincat's blog - I especially appreciated the music from 'My Neighbour Totoro' from 5 minutes until the end!

This final video shows a very lively and happy group of drumming teenagers - absolutely fantastic!

Still photos at the left link...

Narita Drum Festival 成田の太鼓祭り

2009-04-12T21:15:00.005+09:00

Today I went to the Narita Taiko Festival... Took loads of pictures and video clips so it might take a while to get them up... I'm not sure how to edit videos yet... In the meantime, here is a unedited clip of one of the acts... Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T09:25:00.002+09:00

Wishing everyone a very Happy Easter!

皆さんへ、イースターおめでとうございます！

Good Friday 聖金曜日

2009-04-10T11:35:00.002+09:00

さあ、日本で砂糖衣の十字つき菓子パンを買わない。。。。だから想像が大切。。。

Yes, well, today is Good Friday and you can't get Hot Cross Buns in Japan so imagination is important...

Weather 天気

2009-04-08T21:43:00.002+09:00

このごろ天気がすごいきれい、本当にあたたかい。そして明日は度が22になる。。。いいね！最後の文が「そしてあしたは気温が２２度になる。。。いいね」そうだ。

These days the weather is beautiful, really warm. And tomorrow it's going to get up to 22C - nice eh?!　More natural apparently is 気温が２２度になる in the last sentence.

Cherry Blossom 桜

2009-04-08T10:08:00.005+09:00

Some cherry blossom pictures from the weekend! 週末の桜の写真だ。

清水公園、千葉県　　Shimizu Park, Chiba

2009-03-23T12:26:00.005+09:00

北千葉県に東武野田線で清水公園が有る。桜を見たかったがまだ早すぎた. とにかく、今朝早く起きて、午前７時半に家を出かけた。公園に９時に着いた。清水公園に大きな花庭が有る。今桜がまだ出ないですけど別のきれいな花が有る。

桜はまだ咲いていないけれど、別のきれいな花が咲いている。

もっと写真が左リンクに。

Shimizu Park is in northern Chiba, via the Tobu Noda line. I had wanted to see cherry blossom today, but I was still too early. Anyway, I got up early and left the house by 7:30. I got to the park at 9am. Within Shimizu Park there is a big flower garden. Although the cherry blossom isn't out yet, there are many other beautiful flowers in bloom.

More photos at the link to the left.

It's been a long time!

2009-03-15T14:25:00.002+09:00

Aaaggghhh!

It's been a long time again since my last post! The last few weeks have been very busy with work and being a bit run down, and I just haven't had a chance to add to the blog or indeed anything else! Today, luckily I didn't get called out to cover anyone, so at last I have some time to catch up with myself!

Even though I haven't been writing on the blog, I am still studying. Last week, I bought 3 books to add to my frighteningly growing Japanese library - a bilingual cookery book, a Level 3 grammar book (because I still don't feel confident in my grammar) and a Level 2 kanji and reading book. There's no way that I'm going to be able to take Level 2 this year, I will probably re-take Level 3 in December and try and get a better score - but I want to keep studying and improving past this level.

Today is a beautiful day! Recently it's been raining, windy and cold, but today it's a beautiful sunny day! I even got a chance to sit for a while on my balcony, for the 2nd time this year! It looks from the weather forecast this week that Spring might be on its way - supposedly the daytime temperature this week should hover around the 14C mark, fingers crossed eh!

New Blog 　新ブログ

2009-02-22T17:25:00.002+09:00

さいきん、新ブログを作った。このブログが料理だ。左リンクを見て下さい。英語だけで書くつもり。コメントとレシピをするがよい。

I've recently started a new blog focussing on cooking, see link to the left. This will be only in English. Comments and recipes welcome!

The Japanese Tradition: Bowing 日本の形土下座

2009-02-17T11:16:00.001+09:00

The Japanese Tradition: Origami 日本の形折り紙

2009-02-17T11:11:00.002+09:00

I haven't added one of these for a long time, so here it is - the art of origami!
日本の形のビデオを久しぶり！

Expanding chair

2009-02-16T13:05:00.001+09:00

One day, I'm going to get myself one of these chairs made in Taiwan...!

Shell House, Karuizawa シェル軽井沢

2009-02-16T10:28:00.001+09:00

Wow, what a stunning house!

http://www.trendir.com/house-design/futuristic-home-in-karuizawa-japan-by-artechnic-architects.html

JLPT Level 3

2009-02-15T18:46:00.001+09:00

まさか！３級を合格した。。。66％。だけ、でもびっくりした！

I really don't believe it! I passed JLPT 3! Only 66%, but I'm still surprised! I really didn't expect to pass this one because I wasn't ready for it.

Unseasonally warm!

2009-02-14T19:28:00.001+09:00

Rather warm today (23C)...! Top temperatures due to come down to a more usual 8C with a minimum of 1C by Tuesday. They were talking about it being like June/July weather in many parts of Japan. But without the humidity, so it's nice!

Shame I had to work!

http://www.japantoday.com/mobile/view/temperatures-rise-to-june-levels-throughout-japan

越谷レークタウン　　Koshigaya Laketown

2009-02-01T15:53:00.004+09:00

今日、寒いが晴天だ。越谷レークタウンでウインドーショッピングに行くと決めた。あのショッピングモールがすごく大きい。富士山を全く明らかに見えた。

It was a beautiful but cold day today and I decided to go window shopping at the new Koshigaya Laketown Mall. If you zoom in on the photo, you'll see that I could see Mount Fuji clearly.

遊び　　Play!

2009-01-26T13:33:00.005+09:00

さて、昨日働きたけれども今日休みだ。初めてカメラを遊べる！大町に歩いて往復が２時間ぐらい。もちろん、自然公園で散歩を楽しんだ。田舎ようだ。少し写真を撮った。でも、月曜日に動植物園が閉まったからちょっと失望した。もう一度行くつもり。さらに、もうすぐ花が出る。楽しみ！もっと写真が左リンクに。練習が必要と思う！

Well, I worked yesterday but today was a day off. For the first time I was able to play with my camera! I walked to Omachi, about a 2 hour round trip - of course I also enjoyed walking in the nature observation park there. It felt like the countryside in many parts, rather nice. I took a few pictures．But, because the small animal and botanical garden was closed on Mondays, I was a bit disappointed - I'll have to go again. I'm also looking forward to taking flower photos soon. Should be fun! More photos to the left link (More practice needed, I think!).

新単語　　New words

2009-01-26T13:02:00.000+09:00

昨日仕事後で、受付と居酒屋に行った。彼女たちは私に日本語を話させたからありがたく思う。大体友だちと英語を喋べるだから、その日本語の練習が良かった！すごく楽しかった！日本語をできるのにまだ口がきけない。流暢の練習をできる。

Yesterday after work, I went out to an izakaya with the receptionists I'm friends with from work. They made me speak Japanese, so I was very grateful! Usually when I'm with my friends we chat in English, so this Japanese practice was good! It was a really fun evening! Even though I can speak some Japanese, I still get very tongue-tied. I could work on fluency practice.

とにかく、この新単語を思い出したい。
以前　いぜん　useful for talking about things you used to do
以外　いがい except
意外　いがい unexpected
冗談　じょうだん joke
人格　じんかく personality
失業　しつぎょう unemployment
リストラする to lose your job

New camera　新しいカメラ

2009-01-20T08:12:00.002+09:00

昨日、ビクカメラで新しいディジタルカメラを買った。写真の質が向上させると良い。うれしい！遊びに楽しみ！

I bought a new digital camera yesterday, so hopefully the quality of my pictures will improve. I'm very very pleased with it, and looking forward to playing!

佐原　　Sawara

2009-01-04T17:42:00.004+09:00

今週松、佐原市に行った。すごく美しくておもしろいだったよ。佐原が江戸の町だ。１９９６に政府が保存命令をした。毎日江戸の店とレストランが開く。この町が大好き。今年の秋祭にぜひ見に行きたい！
もっと写真が左のリンク有る。

This weekend, I went to Sawara City in Chiba. It was fantastically beautiful and interesting. Sawara is an old Edo city, to my mind more beautiful than any of the old parts of Kyoto or Kawagoe. It had a really nice feel to the place. The town of Sawara first developed in the 13th century, and through the centuries prospered more and more. In the 17th century, work finished on changing the flow of the Tone River, allowing rapid transportation to Tokyo of products such as rice, soy sauce, vegetables and arts and crafts.

The historic district has so many Edo town houses that are more than a century old and, with the help of the government, are kept in a good state of repair. After the Meiji Restoration, some Western style architecture was also introduced.

I love cities with water, and there are so many small rivers throughout Sawara. This really adds to the peaceful and relaxed feel of Sawara.

Sawara is famous for its Summer Gion and Autumn festivals, with absolutely huge 'dashi' floats (10 in summer and 14 in autumn). I really want to go back in Autumn, or even just when it gets warmer!

I stayed in a cheap but clean hotel (Hotel Hokei - OK?!), bit cold, but I would stay there again. Again I was pleased though that my Japanese has come on a bit, because when I got there I needed to call the owner to check-in because there was nobody around even after I'd waited for about 10 minutes. He and his wife (who I met in the morning) were friendly enough, although I got the impression they didn't get too many Western foreigners there, by the ultra-ultra-politeness! No English spoken.

More photos at the link to the left.

初夢　　Hatsuyume - First dream

2009-01-03T07:59:00.000+09:00

Hatsuyume means the first dream in the New Year, had on the night of January 1st. The old belief is well-known. It was believed that the first dream of the New Year would foretell your luck for the coming year.

Especially good luck is to dream of Mount Fuji, a hawk, or an aubergine... An aubergine?! The superstition is memorised in the words 'Ichi-Fuji, Ni-Taka, San-Nasubi' (一富士二鷹三茄子) One - Fuji, Two - Hawk, Three - aubergine.

One theory for this being lucky is because Mount Fuji is the highest and most revered mountain in Japan, a hawk is a clever and strong bird, and the word for aubergine 'nasu' with a different kanji 成す also suggests achieving something great.

Ahem. My hatsuyume? I dreamt that I got some rice stuck behind my back teeth... Now what do you read into that for my coming luck this year?!

People's Visit to the Palace for the New Year Greeting

2009-01-02T17:06:00.005+09:00

An early start this morning to get to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to wave to the Emperor and his family!

I knew it was going to be busy, and that theoretically to be close to the front, I would have to get there at least an hour before the gates opened at 9:30am. Got there at 9am instead because that still meant getting up at the crack of dawn.

Again the queues were amazing. The atmosphere was great, they gave out Japanese flags to everyone, and I felt quite patriotic! People didn't mind queueing, because it was a nice opportunity to see the Emperor (behind bullet-proof glass). The Inner Garden of the Imperial Palace is only open twice a year to wave to the Emperor - once on his birthday (23rd December) and then again on 2nd January. It was very efficiently organised, routes were clearly laid out, they did bag security and body pat-downs before you went in, and then you joined the latest queue.

There were probably more older Japanese people there than younger people, quite a few families, and quite a few right-wing nationalist groups too. But the atmosphere was friendly and it was definitely worth getting up early for!

The Emperor and Empress appeared at 10:10am (the first appearance of 5 that day), along with the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, and other members of the Imperial Family. They waved to the crowd who all waved, waved their flags and cheered. Then the Emperor gace his New's Greeting, and then lots more waving and cheering! More pictures to the left.

御神籤　Good Year's Fortune (Literally, God Lottery)

2009-01-01T14:28:00.007+09:00

At the beginning of the New Year, I bought a traditional omikuji (literally means God Lottery).

Mine was 'Best Fortune', or should that just be best of luck?

Click the picture to read the English - I liked 'The person you are are waiting will come but late'?!!!

浅草の大晦日２００８　New Year's Eve in Asakusa 2008

2009-01-01T12:11:00.010+09:00

面白い。。。　日本の大晦日がイギリスの大晦日にすごく違う！気持ちが静かで安全だ。良いよ！
昨晩友だちと（ヨシコ）浅草の浅草寺に行った。楽しかった！浅草に１６時着いて晩御飯を食べた。１９時３０分だ。どうしよう？０時浅草寺を計画した。まず、明治神宮に行った。開けましておめでとうございます！！！

Very interesting! New Year's Eve in Japan is totally different to New Year's Eve in Britain! The feeling is quieter and safer, that's good!

New Year's Eve is traditionally spent with family - probably about 1% of the population go out. Of course, it probably depends on where you go for New Year - from what I understand near Tokyo Tower or Shibuya Crossing is much more similar to a Western New Year, but I got to celebrate a more traditional Japanese New Year which was great! We got to Asakusa at about 4pm - after eating, we thought what to do? We (my friend Yoshiko and I) had planned to celebrate New Year at Sensouji (Sensoji Temple). More pictures at the side (coming).

First, we went to Meiji Jingu Shrine/Park. It was very busy, and had a nice atmosphere. Some people were buying good luck charms for things that they thought important eg health, safe driving, wealth, lucky in love etc... I wanted to know if these charms had an expiry date on them - did they run out at the end of the year? I don' t think Yoshiko knew, but I don't think she was willing to risk it either - better to buy these things at the start of a new year...

Later we ate soba, a traditional meal on New Year's Eve. Soba noodles are made of buckwheat, and dipped in a soy flavoured sauce. Delicious! It being New Year's Eve however, it was very crowded, and we were seated next to an elderly couple who were completely trashed, and insisted on giving Yoshiko instructions on how to convey Japanese culture to a foreigner who couldn't possibly understand... I've never seen anyone put away noodles so fast so that we could leave! Unfortunately, because by this stage they were so slurred, I couldn't catch what they were saying very well, it was difficult to help...! Very funny actually!

Many coffee shops closed early, but we found somewhere to have a hot drink and relax until 11 when we went to Sensouji. Already the queues were huge, and the police were closing off roads. We ended up queuing just inside Kaminarimon ( Thunder Gate) at 11pm. Amazing the queue had started so early. Again I was struck by the fact that there seem to be two national hobbies in Japan - shopping and queueing...)

For the first 20minutes we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would probably celebrate New Year in a queue just outside Kaminarimon. Then the queue moved a bit. By the time it reached midnight, we were actually probably only about 100m from the temple itself. It was difficult to tell when it was actually New Year, because apart from a guy next to us counting down (was his watch accurate?!) and it got a bit noisier, very little happened... Whilst I always found it rather strange in Britain to wish a complete stranger a Happy New Year, it had become normal! But then we quickly moved towards the temple to make New Year prayers.

The police were preventing people from moving too quickly, the placards all say 'Slowly Please' amongst other things, and the loud speakers were giving all sorts of cautionary advice including to be careful when praying... It is traditional to toss some money into the large offertory box, but because it's crowded at New Year, they were warning that people might toss the money from a long way... Beware of low-flying coins was the message...

After tossing our offertory money and making our wish/praying we went to buy an 'Omikuji", a fortune ticket. Of course, had I got a bad luck fortune I would have been very British and said that it was all superstition... However, I was lucky and got a 'Best Fortune' slip, which of course spills over to all my family and friends, so I'm quite ready to want to believe it!!! Yoshiko got a good fortune slip. At this time again you queue for ages, actually not so bad by this time. It was absolutely freezing at this time of night, and for the last half hour I had been shivering violently from the cold with my teeth chattering! I was prepared and wearing about four layers, but even so...! When you get to the front you put your money in the slot, pick up the tin can of sticks and shake it to get your fortune ticket. As I say, mine was Best Fortune!!! Read the number (in kanji), open the drawer with that number, and take your fortune. (If you get a bad fortune, you tie it on a tree anyway, which is supposed to expel the bad feeling from your life... And then you buy a new one?!) Anyway, I got mine first time around and it reflects on all my family and friends which has got to be good!

Happy New Year Everyone!

類似のリス　　Squirrel tendencies

2008-12-30T16:21:00.003+09:00

二日間冷凍者の料理を作っていった。健康な食べること！

For two days, I have been cooking for the freezer. It's now packed with ready to defrost food for lunch! Healthy eating!

Tracking Santa on Google Earth

2008-12-24T21:06:00.002+09:00