Refuge of a Maladjusted Moose

Voting

2010-04-14T07:56:00.002+01:00

A quick post about voting (mostly to vent frustrations). After a few days of trying to figure out what hoops I need to jump through to get registered to vote I have just come to the immensely irritating conclusion that it is not going to happen. Basically I need to get co-signed by a British, non-relative, also living abroad. There is no one within a many mile radius who I can get to do that. Bugger. No voting for me this time :(

For those reading this that do not have that excuse I say this -

GO VOTE

Jonny

The one that got away....

2010-04-06T11:03:00.004+01:00

I haven't done much in the way of tourism during my time in Japan. But that tourism I have done has tended to involve Castles. There is one Castle which I have been wanting to go to for a year or more now, it's close enough and very famous...

Himeji Castle is one of "the" Japanese Castles. It is also the most visited Japanese Castles. It is also closing its doors this month for 4 years worth of renovation. It was on the news today and is proving extraordinarily popular as people see it one last time before it disappears from the public eye (they will be covering it up with scaffolding and the like). Combine this with the fact that I will be returning home in a few months and my chances of seeing this one are pretty non existent.

And so it is with regret that I post this one under - "The one that got away...."

Crazy Japanese Advert Part V

2010-02-09T10:22:00.003Z

I was going to do another post about my trip to Hong Kong...... Unfortunately the inspiration left me and I couldn't write what I wanted to say in any kind of legible form. So instead your going to get another weird Japanese advert from off you tube. Oh well.

Hong Kong - the Transport

2010-01-28T06:49:00.005Z

I got back from my long awaited holiday to Hong Kong last Friday and thought I should finally get round to blogging about it a bit before I forget about it. In this first post (I'll hopefully do one or two more) I thought I'd talk a little about all the different forms of transport I used.

the Bus - Upon arriving in Hong Kong and meeting with my Father in Law we were guided to the right airport bus to take us to the district that we were going to stay at. It was late so the bus wasn't too full and the bus took about 45 minutes which wasn't that bad as it had a long way to go.

The next day we got another bus to the centre of HK (we were staying in the New Territories). It was packed and even though it was the express the 30 -45 minute ride was pretty uncomfortable. Needless to say I didn't get many more busses while on my trip. Just a bit too uncomfortable an experience to do too often.

the Taxi - I ended up getting a lot of taxi's whilst I was in Hong Kong. Fortunately they are really cheap, unfortunately ended up having to get about 2 taxi's a day. Our accommodation was a little way a way from the MTR station so we ended up having to get the taxi to the station a lot. Price was less than 2 pounds though and there was 4 of us most of the time so it worked out okay.

The taxi drivers appear to be some of the better drivers in Hong Kong. I don't know why this is, maybe they are more conservative with Westerners in the back, but I think I felt the most comfortable with the Taxi drivers than any of the other drivers I had the pleasure of experiencing.

the Tram - This was a fun little form of transport to get through HK Island. Double decker, really thin, and with hard wooden seats. It also bumped around quite a bit. But I'm really glad I got the chance to ride it. It costs less than 20p and drives through the nice parts of time. Well worth it either to get somewhere or just to appreciate the view from the top deck.

the Ferry - One of the things I managed to do on the trip was take the ferry from Hong Kong island to Hong Kong mainland. Its a short trip but in the evening its really worth it. Staring out the windows as the lights start to turn on in the night was great. Shame about the smog.

Also took a trip on the ferry from Lantau Island to Hong Kong Island. This one was a bit longer and there wasn't really as much to see. It was also choppier, which didn't bother me but did turn my wife a bit pale (which did bother me).

the Minibus - and why you should NEVER RIDE A MINIBUS IN HONG KONG!!!

Had to take one of these after seeing some of my wifes relatives in a different part of the new territories. It was the most convenient way to get from one area to the other. It was terrible (if you hadn't already guessed.

The mini-buses all line up at a stop (a bit like taxi's), when the fill up their off. They head pretty much to a single destination with a stop or two on the way. I get the impression that the drivers make more money the faster they go as they can make a return trip faster and make more cash. And boy do they go hell for leather. Our Driver decided that 70km/h was a good speed for tight twisting hillside roads and that breaking was not necessary. What I particularly enjoyed was the speedometer that was rigged up to show everyone in the bus how fast the driver was going in BIG RED NUMBERS. It even had a buzzer if he made it past 80. Not that this stopped him. By the time that we passed the car crash at the side of the road my hand was tightly gripping the handle in front of my seat. At one point I though it might have to get off the bus with me.

By the end of the trip I felt more than slightly shaken and decided than mini buses in Hong Kong are not a good idea.

the Cable Car - Interspersed in between the shopping and all the visiting relatives/ eating meals (which seemed to coincide), we actually found a day to do some site seeing. My parents decided to spend this day visiting Lantau Island on which there is a touristy cable car to ride. It was okay, but well, its primary view seemed to be of mountains and an airport. So it wasn't exactly what I would call scenic. There was a big Budda at the end of the ride though and that was impressive.

the Airplane - The necessary form of transport to and from Hong Kong was mercifully short and almost pleasurable for once. It clocks in at about 4.10 there and 3.30 back. This combined with a selection of your choice movies and tv shows to choose from meant the time went really quite quickly. A few episodes of top gear and it was all over. Oddly Top Gear appears to be on of those things that I seldom do on anything but flights, that and drink coke.

*edit* the MTR - I forgot to mention this one, must be subconsciously leaving the best till last. The MTR in Hong Kong is easy, well priced, fast, clean, and efficient. It was only packed on a few occasions and we were often able to sit down after a few stops. We probably used it the most the whole trip and tried to use it over any other form of transport. Most of this is because it is so new I suppose, but its a very good example of a subway none the less. Also I noticed that it has been built with expansion in mind. Many of the stops seemed to have space for an extra car or two at the end (thinking ahead). If your in HK and need to get around the MTR with an Octopus card is your best bet.

Well thats enough for now, its time for tea. Will try post more on my trip over the weekend.

Boxes

2009-12-20T06:35:00.004Z

I went to a puppet show yesterday. It was pretty good.

It wasn't any old puppet show, would not have gone to see it if it was. I got told about it from one of my students who was working for the makers. Essentially it was preformed by a Japanese puppeteer troupe that specialises in puppet shows for the deaf. This meant, that among other things, I could understand it. It told a tale in mime I suppose with a surprising amount of emphasis on music. But I think that the music used was quite basic and often accompanied by visual prompts, so they had their bases covered.

It told a fairly simple tale about growing up, having a family, and then watching you children have a family. It also told of how they interacted with boxes. Ever increasing amounts of boxes (think tv, washing machine, air conditioner) and how they didn't necessarily help family life. It was a fairly simple message but it was well told. And all in all we are both glad we went to see it.

In a similar vain, I bought myself a new box. It looks a little something like this -

Rice Fields

2009-11-29T10:33:00.002Z

I had this idea a while back for a series of photos. Basically my thinking was that here in the country much of the landscape is dominated by fields of rice. And as the months of rice growing go by the landscape changes hugely depending on the rice fields state of maturity. Like most plants I suppose. Anyway, I thought if I took pictures of a rice field over the months it would help my readers actually understand what this Yosano place looks like (for the most part). Well that was the plan...

Ultimately it failed. I can think of a number of good reasons for this. I don't own an actual camera. I'm not a photographer. And this year was a bad year for rice. The summer was too cool (good for me, bad for the rice), so it never really hit the heights of maturity that it did last year. This means instead of being able to show the changes in rice - from just planted sparse rice fields, through lush green, until finally ending up in light golden yellows - I've instead ended up with a series of different shades of green. Add to this a mobile phone camera and a photographer with no sense of "good lighting" you have a mess of green fields.

Still I did take the shots, and have archived them for your viewing pleasure. I also put together a quick collage of them. Because Picasa can...

Yet More Castles

2009-09-17T06:39:00.005+01:00

We managed to take a much needed holiday over the past weekend. And whilst it was only a few days long it really helped sanity levels. We managed to get in some good eating (beef and bagels) some good site seeing (2 castles, some old fashioned streets and a museum) and some shopping (some might say a bit too much). Today I thought I'd cover the castles, because I like them, and I've talked about Japanese castles before.

The castles in question were Nagahama and Hikone. They lie pretty close to each other on the Eastern bank of Lake Biwa (the biggest lake in Japan). The main parts of the castles looked pretty similar to pretty much every other Japanese castle I have seen (as can be seen below) but the both offered two completely different experiences.

Nagahama castle stands pretty lonely in Nagahama. Its devoid of most of the fortifications that are often present around Japanese castles and is just a Keep. Its a pretty standard keep at that, with unimpressive modern innards and a standard Japanese facade. (As a side note I have now seen about 5 Japanese castles now, so while it might look impressive, it looks less so when you've seen a few). It was filled mostly with old documents and a few old relics. There was no English translations to speak of so I have no idea what they were trying to be showing but it looked a bit boring and piecemeal. There didn't seem to be any attempt at trying to tell a story of the castle or educate the visitor. Fortunately there was one standard thing that Nagahama did have that was a huge bonus. Great views. Most Japanese castles have a parapet you can walk around at the top that often offer the best views of the city surrounding it. Nagahama castles parapet offered wonderful views of Lake Biwa and Nagahama city. It was one of the few times on our trip that we could really see the extend of Lake Biwa. It was stunning.

Hikone castle was a totally different kettle of fish. On arriving in Hikone we stopped off at the tourist information office to pick up a map to the castle. What we came away with was an English guide to being a tourist in Hikone. Complete with walking routes, major sites, and a paragraph or two of information on everything worth seeing. This included a load of information about the castle. It was great. The castle itself is actually a huge complex with a large hill in the centre. The fortifications for the castle were pretty extensive and included a moat or two and a few very large walls and barricades. The guide we were given guided us up the hill along varies paths that lead to the keep at the very top. Then down the other side and through a very nice scenic garden. You can then go further still, walking down a touristy street that has been made up to look more traditional. It was a good place for souvenirs and ice cream. The only let down was the keep itself. Its a great keep because the inside is actually in the style that it used to be (has always been) but there are so many people wanting to see it you just end up shuffling around uncomfortably until you get ejected at the end and are left not quite understanding what you were meant to see. Oh, and there was no view at the top, just ridiculously steep steps.

Shameless Plug

2009-08-12T00:28:00.005+01:00

'Bums, Crepes and Jon Bon Jovi'

Synopsis: From catheter care to crepe creation, Lucy introduces you to a fresh array of colourful characters. And with the music of Jon Bon Jovi, what more could an audience want?
Start time: 17.45 (50 mins)
Prices: £7/£5 concessions
Dates: 24th-29th August

Location: Riddles Court, 322 Lawnmarket

How to get tickets: 0131 225 8961 or get them at the door.

Testimonial: WONDERFULLY WRY. This show is what the fringe should be all about. (Three Weeks)

This shameless plug was brought to you by a proud brother. He saw the show last year and won't be able to make it to this one. He is most upset. So please go see the show in his stead.

First Blood

2009-08-09T08:42:00.002+01:00

It was Loks year anniversary of coming to Yosano about a week ago. Mine will be in about a month. I'm not sure if I take any significance from this fact.... don't think we have really celebrated it or anything. But it happened and I suppose I should mark the fact.

Perhaps more importantly it has meant that we got a new table for the sitting room. One of the leaving JETs from the town has kindly gifted us with a spare LARGE kotatsu that she had. So we traded our smaller kotatsu for it. Its great, means that I can sit next to my wife and everything. Unfortunately it claimed FIRST BLOOD the other day. I whacked my pinky toe into it right before a lesson and took a chunk of skin off. I'm not entirely sure how I managed it. I'm normally just left with pain when I kick things. After a few shaky days I thing its starting to get better though, no matter how hard it is to bandage a pinky toe (or how stupid it looks).

In related news the leaving of some JETs means the arrival of others. Fingers crossed this leads to more things to do around town.

Too Hot!!!

2009-06-21T03:05:00.002+01:00

Summer has come to Japan and I am too hot.

I sit here writing this blog post next to an electric fan. I'm still sweating. The Laptops uncomfortable hot and resting my wrists on it to type a lot is not exactly what I'd call comfortable. Last night we had to move downstairs into the sitting room to sleep as its the only room with air conditioning. No mater how many windows we open during the day we just can get the house cool enough to sleep in the evening. Leaving the windows open during the evening isn't an option as tons of tiny little blood suckers find their way through the bug screens to feed.

Going out during the day is an exercise in endurance. Even equipped with short sleeved linens I find myself sweating like I was in a sauna. I'm just not used to the heat. I've never liked the heat.

All in all Japan weather sucks in the summer, so I'm getting the blog moaning done now. Sigh..... its going to be a long few months.....

Hiroshima

2009-05-26T02:48:00.002+01:00

So I went to Hiroshima over the weekend. Here are a few of my views on the place.

First off, its an extraordinarily depressing place. I don't think I've been anywhere that oozes depressing vibes in quite the same quantity as this place. As soon as you get off the tram you are greeted by the A-Dome. A spectacular mess of a building that use to be prized by the people of Hiroshima before the bomb went off almost directly above it. The devastating effect that this had on the building is being preserved. Its quite odd.

After this as you head deep into the Park now dedicated to peace and memory of the first Atomic Bombing you are greeted with eery silence. The place is really kinda busy with tourist but is just soo quiet. So full of reverence, its uncomfortable. The park itself is really nice. Lots of nice sculptures and palm trees along side normal trees. But it just doesn't seem right to appreciate it for a park. Its just too plainly a grave at the same time.

Lastly you get to the Peace Museum. A stunning bridged building that houses a large amount of information on Hiroshima before and after the bomb. It really is a great museum. Lots of text to read so that you can learn up on the bits that interest you. Lots of pictures and diagrams and models and video feeds. Its also really cheap (35p) as I think its mostly funded by donations. But it is a little upsetting when you stop to think about it. The first half of the museum mostly informs you about the history and horrors. Unfortunately the second half decides to show you the horrors. Needless to say I spent most of the short time I spent in the museum in the first part. I wish I had more time but considering how uncomfortable it makes you maybe its good I didn't.

Overall I'm really glad I went. I felt a kinda pull to go there, almost like a pilgrimage or something maybe. To see how science can be put to the wrong means. Now I can say I've been, and that I'm slightly better informed. But it wasn't an easy trip to make or come to terms with.

Golden Week

2009-05-06T02:45:00.002+01:00

This week (or at least the last 5 days) has been a huge public holiday here in Japan. This means that the roads are packed, the tourist resorts are teeming, and the hotels are all fully booked. However we opted to avoid these common pit falls by doing small day trips with friends. Overall it has worked out quite well. What follows is a brief run down of the highlights.

On Saturday we went off to Ine with some friends/ my students. Ine is a seaside town nearby where we live. It is in a well protected bay so is filled with very calm waters. It has a history of Whale fishery and many of the houses are old and show the traces of this past. The entire area is considered protected because of this, so whilst many of the old buildings can appear a bit run down and the roads are narrow and winding, it does lend the place a kind of charm.

On Sunday evening we went off to a local festival, filled with traditional floats. The floats contained Children with flutes and drums, so it was kinda noisy. But there was a pretty lively atmosphere in general so it was okay most of the time. We followed the floats for a bit watching them navigate the streets and back alleys of the town. Then headed home. See pictures for more details (taken before it got too dark).

Yesterday (Tuesday) we headed off to Amino with more friends/ Loks students. Again its a seaside town fairly close by to Yosano. When there we visited a nice beach which was REALLY clean, and had sand that made a sort of musical noise if you played it right. I think this was down to the coarse and dry nature of the sand (special to that area I suppose). We then went somewhere for some nice lunch and were fed even more after a trip to the friends parents. The insisted on getting us to try all the seasonal bamboo shoots and seaweed (it was nice for the most part). We returned home with a bucket of bamboo shoots and more seaweed than we know what to do with.

Finally this evening we are seeing more friends/ students of ours and going out for some cheep Sushi. The local conveyor belt sushi place recently dropped there prices to 94¥ a plate. Such a deal is too good to miss.

Open Street Maps

2009-04-30T12:47:00.002+01:00

I literally just found this website. Normally I wouldn't post something like this but it really is quite impressive.

http://openstreetmap.org/

At first glance this may appear to be just another street map page but zoomed in close there is quite a bit of extra data to be found. For example - Post box locations, Foot and Bike paths, Bus Stops, tourist spots, and Pubs. Something for everyone I think. Think I'll be bookmarking this one.

Weather Update

2009-04-27T10:33:00.002+01:00

Just thought I'd do a quick update on the weather. Mainly as I haven't posted in a while and figured I should. It's not like I haven't been up to anything, more that I just haven't felt like posting. So now you get to read about Japanese weather. Deal.

Anyway, to sum it up in a single word its been "Changeable". About a month ago it was still pretty cold, as we were just seeing off the last cold spell of the winter. Then about a weekend later I was out at a local festival (see pictures of festive activities in Lok's Pics to the side). The weather by this time had changed to a glorious 25 degrees. And to be honest that's a little hot for me but it was pretty nice non the less. This good weather continued on till the next weekend and spring was looking like a good time to be in Japan.

Unfortunately, this weekend past saw another change in the weather. The cold came back and it brought a couple of days of almost solid rain with it. During a local festival no less. And whilst this front will pass soon I think the thunderstorm I am experiencing during writing this can't pass soon enough. The problem with thunderstorms in this old wooden house is that it tends to shake the house. Needless to say I find this a little disconcerting.

Still, it could me nice this weekend coming. So I have my fingers crossed for that.

Crazy Japanese Advert Part IV

2009-04-25T12:45:00.001+01:00

Its that time again. I found another crazy advert to share with you all. So without further ado here it is in all its Japanese glory.

Sakura

2009-04-07T03:57:00.002+01:00

If there is one thing that Japan is famous for besides Samurai, Geisha and Technology it would be Sakura or Cherry Blossoms. And this weekend past I got my first opportunity to see the Sakura first hand.

Lok and I took a trip to Kyoto to have some Indian curry, do some shopping, and go to Gion to see the cherry blossoms. They are only out for about a week and are usually insanely popular. You only had to see the queue for the bus to Gion at the station to realise it was going to be packed..... Fortunately its a bit enough place and we got to see some pretty trees covered in whites and pinks.

After the success in Gion and not quite done with the weekends viewing we took a trip from Kyoto to Kanazawa. Kanazawa contains one of Japans top 3 Gardens so was a perfect spot to see some Cherry Blossoms and generally appreciate spring. It was a very nice way to spend a couple of hours and we are both very happy that we went. Honestly I can't say that much about it but there are more pictures to the side and they explain things much better than I can.

Also of note is that it is indeed spring here now. Finally. The weather has suddenly become very nice indeed. It was about 20 degrees yesterday, a nice change from the 5 degrees of last week. All things considered it is a good time to be here. Shame about the impending rainy season though....

Moose in the Machine

2009-03-15T08:49:00.002Z

I have created another blog of the above title, though I'm yet to post on it. This is going to be a more erm... geeky blog for friends. Its not going to really interest you if you don't like technology/ comics/ rpgs/ other similar things. You have been warned. If this still hasn't frightened you away then you can find a link in the blog list to the side.

Bury My Heart on Wounded Knee

2009-03-15T08:26:00.002Z

Being in a small town with little to do a lot of the time has a few advantages. One of these is that it has allowed me to get some reading done that I have been meaning to do for a while. The current title I am on is "Bury My Heart on Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown.

In short its a factual book on the history of the American Indians from 1860 to 1890. I'm only half way through it at the moment but it has already proven itself to be a well written and enjoyable affair. It has also proven to be one of the most difficult reading experiences I have had in recent memory. Not because its hard to read, far from it. And while its dense with information it doesn't slow you down much. What does make the book a difficult one is the subject matter and its often graphic nature. It pulls no punches in explaining all of the atrocities of the time period in detail. How the author feels about the demise of the Indians during the time period is quite clear, and within a few chapters its obvious that your reading a book about Genocide.

But for me, reading about the wiping out of innocent Indian Villages isn't the hardest part. What I'm finding particularly tough is the rays of hope. The people who see whats occurring and try to stop it. Who try to help the Indian cause in anyway they can. To see these good people promptly pushed aside and broken by powers beyond there control. That's whats really tough to read.

However if you have the stomach for it, and enjoy history books in general or the wild west, then you should consider searching this one out in the history section of your local bookstore. It really is quite good.

News

2009-03-10T00:13:00.002Z

What follows is a few bits of news of my life in Japan. Some people already know some of it, so this is for those that don't.

It has recently become clear/ I have recently decided that I will be staying in Japan another year. This decision took a lot of hard thought and anguish. My wife made up her mind some time ago that staying in Japan for another year was the best way to pursue a career which I had to agree with. As I haven't really been able to find the work here I had hoped to there was a chance that I would go back the the UK to better further my own career goals. However with the financial crises and many other points in mind I eventually decided that staying here for around another year is best.

In a related note I have decided that I need another Blog/ 2nd Blog. This Blog has served me well for my observations on Japan and trials and tribulations of living here, and it will continue to do so. But I have decided I need somewhere to vent items of a more personal interest which may only relate to friends and not to family (read Geek stuff). I'm fed up of having something I want to chat about with like minded Friends and not actually having any nearby to chat with, so I think its time to make a new Blog for it. So if you'd be interested in reading me ranting about these things/ have any ideas for what I can call the new Blog (I'd prefer to keep "Moose" in the title) then please let me know.

Crazy Japanese Advert Part III

2009-03-08T10:02:00.004Z

A few things have happened of note lately. The first was my wedding anniversary which was on Thursday. Yes it really has been that long, it shocked me too. The second was that I was stuck down by a particularly spiteful cold/flu/bug thing. Which practically immobilised me on Thursday and Friday, then proceeded to do the same to my wife on Saturday and Sunday...... bugger.

On a lighter note, here is a shamelessly cute Japanese advert.

Another post about my Photos

2009-02-27T06:30:00.002Z

I've been meaning to sort out the photos on this site for a few months now as I felt the format they were in was a bit off. So with some re-tagging and a lot of shuffling I have reorganised my photos into a format that should make it easier to find the newest ones. The simpler layout also means its easier for me to copy the photos to the Laptop so I should get round to updating them more (fingers crossed). Some of the new photos of note are a Snowman and some deer. Enjoy.

Taikichi Irie

2009-02-24T05:56:00.002Z

I went to Nara this weekend past, just for a day really, and so had the chance to wander around this Japanese City rich in History and large impressive old buildings. But instead of doing that I decided to try find the Nara City Museum of Photography, because it seemed more interesting.

My starting point on this quest was Nara Park. From there I managed to follow numerous park maps out of the Park area and into a more residential area. Undeterred by a few misled detours I finally came upon a sign that seemed to point the way to the building I desired. I followed this one deep into the aforementioned residential area and just as I was about to quit found a similar sign. Realising I was on the right track I followed this sign, and the next, until finally (about 30 minutes walk from Nara Park) I reached the odd modern/ traditional building that is the Museum.

The museum was essentially formed when the prominent photographer Taikichi Irie donated a ton of his work to Nara. So they built a museum to put it all in. Most of his subject are Buddhist ceremonies so I spent maybe 30 minutes to an hour browsing over some obscure customs and generally pretty photos. Unfortunately google image search didn't really find a great deal of his work so you'll have to take my word for it that it was pretty interesting (or at least I found it a nice change). As an added bonus the museum also had a guest exhibits for the Nara branch of the Japanese Photography Society or some such. Which meant I didn't have to just look at Buddhists and over sized tea cups the entire time and could instead look at dogs with bubbles and a picture of family planting vegetables (which I was informed was to show that they wanted the plant to grow up strong, and their kid to grow up strong).

I really enjoyed getting away from the main hubbub and finding a different thing to gawk at. I seem to be making a habit of finding these weird places to see as opposed to more museums filled with pots.

No more photos today as they are a bit of a mess at the moment and I haven't got round to fixing them yet. Arg.

Man Day

2009-02-14T08:41:00.005Z

Japanese society is still quite a bit more chauvinistic in its tendencies. More than I am used to anyway. The woman's place is still primarily considered to be in the home and discrimination for jobs and such is less frowned upon. But this fact is no more apparent in my mind than in the Japanese adoption of Valentines day.

As you might have guessed, Valentines day in Japan has been taken over in order to favour men. It is a day where women give chocolates to the men in their life. This not only includes loved ones but also work colleagues. The later of which is termed “duty chocolates”. February 14^th is not a good day to be female.

Technically its not really a one sided exchange. Japanese women get their rewards (more chocolates) on March 14^th, so called “White Day”. But I think this is beside the point, the actual day is February 14^th, Japanese just twisted it to suit them and added an extra day on the end to keep their other halves happy. There inventiveness never seizes to surprise me.

Anyway, enough of this, I have chocolates to eat......

Rice

2009-01-29T07:00:00.004Z

I have quite a few posts backed up at the moment with things I want to talk about or mention, but for one reason or another they won't be the topic of today. Today your just going to get rice.

To say rice is important in Japan is a bit of an understatement. Its difficult to comprehend just how much power this simple foodstuff holds over the culture without coming here. Here are a few random facts that show its importance.

The word for rice is "Gohan", of which the "go" part is an honorific.

The literal translation for breakfast, lunch and tea are morning rice, afternoon rice, and evening rice.

Rice is often used in the kind of expressions that bread is used in UK culture. "Daily Bread" etc.
Its also bad etiquette to leave a single grain of rice in your bowl.
Whenever there is a problem with bad rice, it gets a news story. Its that big a deal.
Everyone owns a rice cooker, and the majority of people eat rice about 3 times a day. Morning, Noon and Night.
A Japanese family of five (one we know) goes through about 10kg of rice a week.

To put it bluntly Japan=rice. To make it worse the Tango area we are in is one of the top areas for rice growing and rice quality. We just can't avoid the stuff.

Whilst living here we have upped our rice intake considerably, and we now find ourselves eating rice about twice a day. When we came we bought 10kg's of the cheapest rice we could find, its rice right? A few weeks ago while dining out however we got the chance to sample some top quality local rice (that happened to be produced by our hosts uncle). We were very impressed. Its hard to explain how the rice was better than the one we bought for ourselves but it was, undoubtedly, in every way better. Tastier, silkier, softer, harder, it sounds a bit double negative but it really was good rice. In a single meal we were converts and aimed to get this better rice next time we ran out.

About a week ago our rice supply ran low and so we asked for some advice on where to get this good rice. One thing led to another and in a few days the same friend had polished some of his uncles rice and sold us a 10kg bag for a very reasonable price (about what we paid for the cheap stuff, knowing the right people has its advantages). Now we can look forward to happily tucking into 10kg of the finest Japanese rice for the next 6 odd weeks. We have already realised it makes for a good fried rice, next week maybe I`ll get a chance to use it in a risotto.

Two Castles

2009-01-15T00:49:00.004Z

On my previously mentioned trip to Osaka I also got the chance to go to 2 Japanese Castles, Osaka Castle and Okayama Castle (a City about 50 minutes away from Osaka by Bullet train).

I found both Castles to be very informative (which is good). The tours of both take you to the tops floors of the Castles from which you can view the surrounding area. This is good for Site seeing and picture taking. Then as you walk down all the levels of the Castle you are slowly told about its history, along with seeing any accompanying artefacts. There are also often chances to get your picture taken wearing old style clothing etc. Not of much interest to me but of note to some.

I should perhaps mention that Japanese Castles tend to differ a bit from their western counterparts. Instead of oft Gothic stone buildings they are high rise wooden structures with a slight Pagoda style to them. There defence tends to be in the form of huge ramparts and moats built in many cases with massive stone slabs. However the wooden nature of the internal buildings does mean that they have a tendency to burn down. Indeed both the castles I looked at were 1960 reconstructions as the originals were burnt down during WW2 bombing.

Osaka Castle is surrounded by a quite impressive park, due in part to the equally impressive footprint of its surrounding defences. Once you have walked for 20 odd minutes to get to the Castle you can start to learn its brief history. I'm not going to go into much detail here but essentially it was built by the Son of a farmer who grew to great providence. So much so he had the Political power to go to war with Korea. After his death though his son promptly buggered it all up and Tokagawa came along and burnt the Castle to the ground. It was rebuilt afterwards but never again reached any state of importance. Its kinda funny that such an impressive Castle had such a short time in the lime light.

Okayama Castle, or the Crow Castle, is of particular note for its dark exterior. I don't have as much to say about this one, but it does have a prominent history of use for a few hundred years (complete with a portrait gallery). One tower is still original but another few towers, gates, and the main building all burnt down in WW2. Still they have done a pretty good job of restoring the Castles I think. Also of note for this Castle was that although the majority of the information contained in it was not in English, I did receive a pamphlet which was packed with useful info about the Castle. This was so much better than Fukuchiyama Castle which has no English and is little more than a small museum with no theme.

Finally here are a few pictures. More can be found in my Albums to the side for those interested.

A trip to Osaka

2009-01-09T07:23:00.002Z

I'm posting this up before I have had a chance to look over it again and decide to delete it (as I do many other posts of this nature). I felt I should give this one a chance though. Consider this a warning.

In a recent trip to Osaka I yet again ended up in Den Den Town (the Electronics district). We were looking for a new laptop, which pretty much meant I was left to my own devises for a couple of hours to see what I could turn up. During my wanderings though I spent allot of time again in shops focusing (often entirely) on computer parts. I think I have previously mentioned on my blog how I have found this to be enticing but I was finally able to come up with the right words for the exact feeling.

I used to be heavily into computer hardware for a time. Building my own, tweaking parts for extra power, using extravagant cooling, and buying new parts when I could afford them. More recently, however, I made a pointed decision not to do this any more. In a nutshell it was because I realised I was putting allot more effort into computer than I was getting out of it. I was left with a well spec'ed machine that I hardly ever got the chance to use as I was changing it all the time. So, I bought my first laptop and haven't looked back since. I was able to play a few games on it (HL2, Portal, and more recently World of Goo) and I grew to love how it just worked. I didn't have to worry about all its innards. It was quiet, it did what I wanted it to do, and my new laptop and me got along famously.

Flash forward again to Den Den Town and I find myself surrounded by fancy graphics cards and motherboards in abundance. The place would make building a PC easy and a joy to do (instead of the pain of having to source all the stuff online without being able to see it). It made me feel so envious, it made me feel like I wanted to do it all over again.....

......It made me feel an ex- addict. Craving something I had long since left. Sure it was good for me at the time I suppose but it turned bad. And seeing it all there before me, tempting me, made me feel really oddly dirty. Fortunately when I figured this odd feeling out it helped me work through it. Reminded me of the reasons I left PC building (mostly) behind.

So now I look forward to a new laptop (though not technically mine), a more portable affair with less graphics and more practicality. Free am I from the shackles of worrying about the right PC hardware to play Crysis or some such game. In short I feel freshly liberated, and that's a far nicer feeling than that other one I've previously mentioned.

New Year Snow

2009-01-01T11:02:00.003Z

Happy New Year all.

Its finally happened. I've been looking forward to this day with dread for months. The snow has finally fallen on Yosano and its a pain. The cold is bad enough but trying to walk around outside is an exercise in futility. It take 3 times the amount of time to go anywhere and the snow isn't even very thick yet. Things don't look good for us getting out and about in this weather. We went out briefly today to go to a shrine (a Japanese new year thing), but since then we have been hiding in doors. Oh well.... I did get the opportunity to take some pics.

Christmas and New Year in Yosano-Cho

2008-12-28T12:26:00.002Z

Christmas was a few days ago now and I thought I should post a bit about how I spent the holidays and how I intend to spend the rest of them.

My holidays started on the 23rd. Well at least, that was a day off Lok had in the run up to Christmas. December 23rd is the Emperor's Birthday and is therefor a National Holiday here in Japan. We took the time to bake Sweet Potato cake's for Lok's Colleagues and have Shabu Shabu (a kind of hot pot dish that involves cooking very thin slices of meat in a pot of boiling stock for a very short amount of time). It worked out pretty well even though we are sure we prepared it wrong. Still it was a chance to eat a lot of meat, which we don't get to do often.

The next day it was back to work (well not for me) as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are just another holiday over here. In the evening though we were able to eat a few things we'd been missing. Treating ourselves to food stuffs that are more difficult to find over here such as mozzarella, cheddar cheese, balsamic vinegar and cured ham. I was surprised how much I missed cheddar cheese.

On Christmas Day, as luck would have it, there was a Christmas Party being held that I was invited to and Lok had to attend through work. It was mostly for the benefit of a group of children who all get help from a teacher we happen to know. So we ate some Japanese style Curry, played a few games (..badly), and there was cake (bonus). There was also a couple of children's stories that were read out during the party. What was interesting (to me) about these was the methods used. One was read out by someone wearing an apron. Using said apron and numerous felt figures in the pouch in order to tell a much more visual story. The other method was essentially an over sized picture book that had been placed into a wooden frame. This was made to look like a small scale theatre. I don't know why there things stuck me as interesting, I guess I just found it an interesting way to make things a bit more visual.

On boxing day I had to work. I had a lesson in the afternoon. Fortunately it went better than expected.

That brings us almost up to now. We are currently both on holiday for about 9 days (including weekends) and are planning to use the time to do some much needed cleaning. We have already done 2 rooms in the last 2 days. Its going to be a long hard job I think, the windows of this place are filthy and may not have seen a good clean in years. And the cupboards are full of junk. Hopefully we will be able to get out a bit as well but we are conserving money for a later holiday at the moment so we probably won't get far. Also its been very cold so hiding in a heated sitting room is much more tempting.

This isn't anything like any other Christmas I've ever had, but it hasn't bothered me very much which is good.

Quiet Few Weeks

2008-12-21T08:46:00.003Z

As the title suggests we haven't been up to much here in Japan this last few weeks. This is partly as we went to Tokyo a few weeks ago and are planning to go to Osaka and Okayama in a few weeks (with Mother in Law). So we don't really want to stray too far as transport is expensive. We have managed to get out to both Fukuchiyama and Omiya again though as they are both close by.

The trip to Fukuchiyama was mostly an excuse to eat donuts and KFC.... we had cravings. We also went to Fukuchiyama Castle which was nice, well it looked nice from the outside but it turned out to be little more than a small museum. This wouldn't have been a bad thing only it was Japanese language only so I couldn't actually read anything. We were able to get up to the top of the castle and take a few pictures of the surrounding (small) City.

These day trips have also been a chance to stock up on food and clothes for the cold season, which has started in earnest. Still no snow though which is surprising allot of the locals.

I've also managed to have a couple more English lessons, which is nice but I'm still unsure as to whether I'm finding enough of them yet.

.... Its now time for a small Movie Review....

We got round to renting "the Mummy 3" yesterday. It sucked. Big surprise really as we both figured it would. The script was terrible and contained some truly bad lines such as "the Yak Yakked" and another that I shan't mention out of context. The story was just a rehash of the first. The caste were mostly irritating. The special effects were over the top and mostly unnecessary. But worst of all (for me) was the action scenes. They just lacked any of the rawness that was so good in the first film. In the first "the Mummy" the fighting scenes staring Brendan Fraser arguably made the film. They were gritty battles that were less about style and more about hitting the guy harder and getting hit less. Flash forward again to "the Mummy 3" and you find that the inclusion of the Chinese characters has been used to try slot in more stylish fight scenes like you'd expect from Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. But it just seems tacked on, and if I wanted Kung Fu I'd watch a Chinese film.

It's a shame really as it wouldn't have been difficult for them to put out a bad film that at least got the action right. I could end by concluding that even though it had so many faults it was still an entertaining way to spend two hours (like I might conclude of Indy 4). But I can't. I'm glad I watched it, but it was painful to watch, and there are so many better bad movies to waste 2 hours on. Leave it on the shelf unless your a "the Mummy" fan that just doesn't care how badly it sucks.

.....

Well that enough for now. If I don't post again for a few weeks (I will try though) -

Merry Christmas (to those that celebrate it) and a Happy New Year to all.

Crazy Japanese Advert Part II

2008-12-13T10:56:00.002Z

I didn't expect to add another of these so soon, but I literally just saw this one and had to share it.

And.....

Crazy Japanese Advert Part I

2008-12-08T09:44:00.002Z

I couldn't resist putting up a youtube link to some odd Japanese adverts I have to put up with here. Some of them are charming, some of them are funny, some plain odd, and others just don't seem to make any sense. The following advert is one of the later. Its an advert for Processors (the ones that give computers the ability to number crunch).....

Crab and Tokyo

2008-12-03T00:34:00.003Z

I think is time for another update on this blog thing again so here goes.

I think I have been up to two things of note since my last update - one was a trip to a restaurant to try out a local delicacy and the other was a trip to Tokyo to erm..... well it was more situational really.

Starting with the easy topic we went to Amanohashidate and had some Crab. It's a pretty famous thing to go eat around here and can be quite expensive as they are kinda tight with the fishing quota's for it. I don't feel like going into detail (as it was a few weeks ago now and I talk about food enough as it is) but I will say this. It was a bit much....

This picture doesn't show it well but essentially we were served grilled crab, crab stew, crab soup, crab custard like savoury dish, crab sashimi (raw crab (actually very nice)), there was also a few other non crab things and well..... I might have missed something. It all started very well with some simple grilled crab and sashimi but then it just got too much. I gave up before the end not so much because I was full but just because I couldn't face any more crab. And yet this kinda meal is a very popular treat here....

I don't really think it works, too much of a good thing, far too much. But it was good and an experience even though it was REALLY expensive.

Oddly the best thing about the short trip to Amanohashidate for crab wasn't the crab but was instead the walk afterwards. We walked across the "stairway to heaven" land bridge bit. It made for a very nice walk and I suspect we will do that again.

More recently (last week) we went to Tokyo as Lok had a conference there. This gave me a chance to wander around and well.... geek out a bit. First day I went to Ginza to see the Sony building again. It was nice.... lots of stuff I couldn't afford, some very thin TVs (OLED for those in the know), many MP3 players, blah. It was good and all but its just a giant Sony advert and they don't really disguise the fact. Also if you look at tech blogs enough there is nothing new to you (or me).

Wandering around Ginza a bit I stumbled across a very odd art museum. It was free, gave me tea, and I think it was trying to support some charity but there wasn't really anyone to explain it to me. What was perhaps the weirdest thing about it was the art. It was lots of pictures of Planets and Solar Systems using lots of colours. It looked very like Computer Generated stuff till you got up close and realised it was painted. This made it somewhat impressive but most of the pieces weren't really of interest to me. I did like the last one I saw but was unable to get a postcard or anything of it.... It kinda had a man (read tiny speck) on a mountain looking over a huge barren landscape with the moon in the sky and stuff. I'm not great at describing this kinda thing so I'll leave it there. But it was odd and a nice little find.

The next day I went to Tokyo National Museum where there was a very good exhibition on Sri Lanka's Buddhist civilisation from 500bc to present. I new nothing about it and left feeling I knew a little. So it was quite good, very bilingual, informative, with lots of pretty things to look at. It was a special exhibit but I'm glad I paid the extra to see it as the rest of the museum was just a collection of Japanese artifacts shown of more as individual art pieces then any kinda informative collaboration.

The second half of the day was spent at Akihabira. In like one gigantic store. For like 2 hours. Hehehehehe. It was filled to the brim with electronics and it was just so very nice to see everything in the one place. It could really make me get back into building computers and such though. Its odd but just having everything in the one place at a reasonable price makes things so much more tempting to buy then having to trawl through endless web stores just to get what you think your looking for. It was also nice because it also contained almost all the kinda items that you'd go to Akihabira for in one place which is much nicer to go around then the district itself. It didn't however contain the kinda manga that make Italians turn pale and stagger out of shops in shock saying "there's just so much.......". Just meeting that Italian was worth the trip.

My final day in Tokyo was a lot less productive. I looked around a couple of districts but never really found anything of interest or what I was looking for. Also got a fair bit of shopping done but don't think I got anything in the end.

On the way back to Yosano we stopped in Kyoto for a short while to see some of the Autumn leaves. This is another popular Japanese past time and shows a real appreciation for Nature's Beauty and for the Seasons in general.

I think that's a nice note to leave it and I'm fed up of typing too.

For more pictures look under the areas I have talked about.

More Photos

2008-11-11T03:52:00.004Z

I just cleared out the photos on my mobile and got round to loading them onto the web. They are mostly in the Random Pictures category at the moment so feel free take a look. Also, I thought I'd explain a few.

These were taken in Omiya, at a place called Kappa Sushi. Omiya is pretty close which pretty much makes this place our local Sushi bar (at least of the conveyor belt variety). I particularly like this place as its really cheap (about 60p a plate) and you don't need to eat too much raw fish (they do hamburger sushi). We've eaten there twice now, both times we have left a large tower of plates in our wake.

I keep saying that I make frequent use of the kitchen here, but the equipment leaves allot to be desired. The above item was actually purchased by us to right this wrong. Its a Portable Induction Cook top and heats with magnets don't you know. Its surprisingly efficient and really clean and easy to use. I can maintain a constant low heat for a risotto on it easier than I ever could on gas, though as its only portable I can't quite hit the high temp notes for a good stir fry on it. Either way I find I use it whenever I can. Our gas hob is held together with tin foil and occasionally burns yellow. I don't think its safe so try not to use it.

This mess currently passes as our sitting room. Of note is the table with a skirt in front of the sofa. Called a Kotatsu these tables are designed for warmth in the cold winter months. There is a heater underneath the table so along with the skirt it forms a warm cushion of air for you to park your legs under. As central heating isn't really available this contraption is often the next best thing. We are yet to turn on the heating element but have been using the skirt as its getting pretty cold of late.

Update

2008-10-28T05:24:00.002Z

It's been 2 weeks since my last blog update.......

..... Its not like I haven't been up to much, I just find it really hard to put the effort into post on this blog sometimes. Its easier when I do it right after an event I want to blog about but it's not always practical to do so. Either way I am now going to take some time to write a short update to let all of you that take the time to read my rambling know what I've been doing these last few weeks. I also figure its a pretty good time to give you all an update on the general situation. So here goes -

Last weekend on the Saturday we had a few Japanese people over (mostly housewives with an interest in obtaining a few hours of free English practice) for some Afternoon tea. We made some finger sandwiches, brewed up some fine English tea (Betty's Tea Room Blend don't you know), and I even got round to making a small Orkney Fudge Cheese Cake. It all went down very well (especially the latter) and our guest all brought there own treats to add to the party. Much fun and good eats were had.

The next day we went to a local festival that was being held a few streets away from our house. It generally consisted of a lot of stalls to buy street food and antiques, also there was a little parade.

This weekend just past we went to Kyoto for a few nights. I think it only served to make us poor and pine more for city life though. Its so nice being in a City with a reasonably sized town centre. With places to eat all kinds of food (including fish and chips) and endless amounts of shops. But also Kyoto just has so much more Character than some cities. Lots of old style buildings (which they are currently looking into protecting), temples by the dozen, and gorgeous gardens both Zen and normal. It really is a place where you can go to see the whole of Japan in a microcosm.

You might have noticed that mostly I talk about the weekends. This is essentially as I don't tend to get out much during the week. There's very little for me to do here other than grocery shop. Most of my days are spent watching allot of TV on my laptop (its a hard life). I get a little bit of housekeeping done occasionally alone with other odd jobs but that's about it. Of course I have been trying to learn Japanese. I think I'm getting somewhere with it, just not anywhere fast. I have started trying to learn Kanji though, with hopes of improving my vocabulary and you know... actually being able to read Japanese. Along with this I also have a personal side project I'm starting to work on a lot more now which is gaining momentum.

Lastly there is work. Well so far not much of it really. I am trying to get some work as a English Conversation teacher and so far the upkeep hasn't been great. Part of my problem is that if your free in the evenings there are free classes you can go to (run by my wife among others), so its tough to get people to pay for what they can get free. Still there have been a few takers and I have finally got my first paid lesson booked into my diary (I have been doing a few free classes to try drum up interest). Its not much really but I'm at least a little more hopeful now.

Well that about sums it up I think. Consider yourselves updated.

Amano Hashidate

2008-10-12T06:57:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we decided to take a trip to Amano Hashidate, one of Japan's top scenic views. Fortunately it is not very far from where we are so only was only a couple of stops once we got to the train station. Unfortunately I caught a flat, so had to walk half the way to the train station and all the way back till I could get it fixed..... anyways.

Amano Hashidate is essentially a natural land bridge that almost covers a coastal inlet. It's described in Japanese poems and literature as a "Stairway to Heaven". To see it in its full glory we took a chairlift up a hill to the view spot on the south side (it is viewable from the north as well but we felt that was bast left for another day). Looking at Amano Hashidate the right way isn't quite that simple. The correct way to view it is this your head between your legs, looking behind you. It's odd how many people took pleasure in prostrating themselves in this manor to view this famous site in the way it must be viewed.

I'm not sure I'm convinced that it looks like a stairway to heaven. I do think though, that upside down it looks more like one then the right way up. And if you were to have a few beers first, and fall and hit your head while attempting to look through your legs after those few beers. Eventually it could end up looking very like a "Stairway to Heaven" I suppose.

PS - Pictures can be found on the left.

Mayonnaise

2008-10-05T09:00:00.003+01:00

Japanese mayo sucks. Or at least, I don't like it so much. Its okay, but pretty heavy handed on the mustard and vinegar. This created a problem as I can't find Hellman's here. So yesterday at the 100yen shop I armed myself with a squidgy bottle and resolved to make my own mayo. (To truly understand that piece of equipment you need to be an avid Good Eats fan (but if you type good eats mayo clinic into you tube you'll get the idea)).

And today, mayonnaise was made. It was odd starting off, as making mayonnaise is a somewhat frightening prospect, and I was kinda scared - about cooking.... odd. But after a long while and some laborious whisking I did actually succeed. It even tasted okay after a few alterations. Beats Japanese mayo anyway. I think I will try it again though with a few ingredient changes in order to obtain a more subtle flavour. For one thing the vinegar I used was a little harsh, so it's all citrus next time.

I shall leave you with a picture of my labours (like a proud father or something).

Fukuchiyama

2008-10-04T12:33:00.002+01:00

Today was a good day. We decided to go to Fukuchiyama (a nearby City) for a change of scenery. Fortunately we found out that there was a direct bus there we could catch. It took about an hour and cost about £5 one way but in Japan where we are that's a pretty good deal.

When we got there Lok-Yin instantly went off to Book Off (a kinda chain second hand manga store which also deals in CDs/DVDs/ and Video Games). It was here that we bought the first of the days sizable haul - various manga. I am still surprised by how cheap the stuff is here, today I saw the first 40 volumes of Detective Conan (a popular manga based on Sherlock Homes) selling for just 2000 yen (maybe £10)!

After Book-Off we made our way to Mr Donut and had some Donuts. They were very nice and filled the time that we had to wait for our next bus well. The next bus was free and took us to a Department Store called Jusco that lies on a man made plateau in the hills in the outskirts of Fukuchiyama. We both bought a few things, mostly from a 100yen store and we ate some Donburi (stuff on rice) for lunch. I may reveal what I bought later in the week but it depends on how well things turn out.

Finally we headed back into the town centre for a bit more shopping, and to catch the bus home. We were many bags heavier then when we left. The positive note to this though, oddly, is that we now think we have found the place nearby that will satisfy light to medium shopping. It doesn't take an age to get to, or cost a bomb, and there's always Osaka if we need something really hard to find. Also, irritatingly, I didn't manage to get to go to Fukuchiyama Castle this time round. But there is still time I think.

No photos today....... except the newly added album link at the side. Fear the 2mp Camera of my Ketai (mobile).

(Insert Expletive Here)

2008-09-30T06:18:00.002+01:00

I had hoped to put up some photos today that I have been slowly accumulating onto the camera on my mobile phone. Unfortunately it turns out that this will not be happening any more (at least not today). This is not because I failed to get a memory card this week, as I purchased one on Sunday at Will. It is also not because of any troubles I have had getting the memory card to work with my phone or my computer. It is in fact because I managed to delete all the photos that I moved onto the card by pressing an option on my phone that did not in anyway look like it would delete everything on the memory card. I am somewhat annoyed by this. Fortunately few of the photos I did take looked very good anyway, and while there were a couple probably worth saving Lok Yin also has similar photos on her camera. I should be able to make them available sometime soon.

(Insert Expletive Here)

Anyway..... I'll try not do that again, and attempt to take new and better pictures in the future.

Kimono's, Flowers and Rain... O my!

2008-09-24T12:20:00.004+01:00

On Sunday past much happened that was amusing, painful and tiring. The day started with Lok and I getting up to get ready to go to some Kimono trying on thing that she had agreed to go to. We were out by quarter to ten where we met the only other JET going (Kim from Miyazu) and got driven the short drive to the place where the event was to be held and stuff... happened.

It turned out that we were to meet with the Owner of a Kimono factory at his house and factory. We were taken to look around the factory at first, where we were shown much weaving equipment . His wife even demonstrated how some of the machines worked. If you've ever been taken around industrial revolution textile factories then you pretty much know what was there, except that these machine were for Kimono's so were somewhat more complex. It was okay I guess...... but I can only get so worked up about clothes.

After this we went into the main house and sat in the lounge (western style) to drink green tea and talk a bit. Lunch was soon laid out and consisted of tempura and sushi. It was pretty good stuff, pretty high quality Japanese food I think. In truth it wasn't really till we got shown around a few rooms of the house, got fed the fine food, and shown the Kimono worth £500,000 that I realised our host was kinda wealthy.

After a leisurely lunch it was Kimono time. To my surprise they were able to find me a male version, that after some confusion, I put on (well actually I stood there getting it put on me). It was a little short (and I later worked out that it belonged to the host) but it was a nice shade of green I guess. After a while we were all Kimono'd up and there were many pictures next to the previously mentioned expensive kimono.

Then to my dismay there was flower arranging......I perhaps could have covered up my general distaste for being forced to cooperate in this activity slightly better. But I have only so much tact and it isn't nearly enough to survive in polite Japanese society I fear.

Finally, out of the blue, we entered into a Japanese tea ceremony. It was a bit of a shock as it wasn't what we were expecting. All in all it pretty rounded out the holy trinity of traditional Japanese activities. Such a shame that like the previous activity things did not go so well. See.... I had to sit down, on a tatami mat, Japanese style. It wasn't pretty. I can't sit that way, legs tucked under, sitting on your feet. It wasn't working. They tried to wedge pillows in to ease things and I managed to get to a state where i could kinda sit. I was, however, in excruciating pain the entire time (even when my feet got kinda numb). Through this I was told to do this, and that, in broken English and poor translations. Much of it required me to bow and lean forward. Each maneuver sent more cascades of pain over me. Leaning forward to drink my tea caused so much anguish that I drank at a rate that made people think I didn't like it. I had heard a lot of things about the super bitter green tea of tea ceremonies. I'm not really sure what the fuss was all about, its not a bad cuppa but it did taste a little of vegetation. All of these problems paled into insignificance though when I remember what happened when I was told I could stand up again. It was really REALLY embarrassing, when, aided by my wife, I managed to fall upward (I can think of no better way of describing it). My feet really hated me after that little escapade.

Fortunately that was the last activity of the event and we were soon off home. In retrospect I did really enjoy most of it (the food and experiences) but it was so much to take in I am afraid my very confused demeanor most of the time made me look less that enthusiastic about the whole thing. And in Japan its all about looking enthusiastic even if you aren't. Again with the requiring more experience in Japanese Etiquette (that is if they ever let me try again).

It was about 4 in the afternoon and we still had to head off the the local DVD rental place to give back a copy of A Beautiful Mind (incidental quite a good film), and do some food shopping for the next few days. The weather wasn't that great though and when we arrived (after a 20 minute bike ride) the heavens opened. It didn't stop after we'd done all our shopping, and it was getting dark. We waited as long as we could but eventually we had to head out into the pouring rain to cycle home, not a waterproof in sight. And we did make it, were soaked to the bone, but we made it. It was fun though, there is something primal about getting that wet in the rain. It helps when it's not cold of course and you can have a nice hot shower when you're home.

PS. I have changed the comments laws and regulations of this blog to allow any Tom, Dick, or Harry to post on this blog. No User ID or google account required. Thus no excuse for not commenting (though thanks for those who braved the system in order to post). If I get any problems I might rethink the idea but I doubt I'll see much comment spam.

PPS. I realise there have not been many photo's uploaded yet. I have resolved to get a SD card this weekend that should solve the issue. So come rain or shine I should have an Album link with some pics up by next week. Thanks for bearing with this long post. But Sunday was a very long day.

Maizuru

2008-09-16T13:17:00.004+01:00

Exactly two weeks in to me living in the small district of Kaya in the small town of Yosano I decided to run off to the City. Well, there is only so much to do here....

The City was Maizuru and it lies about half way up the western coastline of Japan. Its not really a very big City but with two department stores and a cinema and only a 1 hour train ride away it's one of the most convenient Cities to escape to. We got up at 7 on Saturday morning, were

out the house for the 8.10 bus to the station and then got the 8.34 train to West Maizuru. There we had donuts (that were light and tasty and not too sweet) and wandered around a nice little park that used to be a castle. After a bit more public transport we worked our way through both the aforementioned department stores, bought a small kettle, and headed home.

We are quite happy with the kettle as it was small, cheap, and well we didn't have one. There was some confusion as the shop assistant tried to explain that it can only boil water once, but we managed to convince her that we knew what a kettle was in the end. They have water heaters here like you might get in a coffee house in the UK. They use too much hot water at home for tea and stuff so find them more convenient than a kettle. We disagree.

On Sunday there was cake.

Wednesday Night

2008-09-12T01:26:00.002+01:00

This Wednesday Lok and I went to a Introductory meal for the Yosano Town JETS held by the Board of Education. It was pretty well attended with maybe 5 tables each with 40 people each and was in the Youth Hostel at Nodagawa (which was incidental not like any youth hostel I'd ever been to....). We sat at the centre table with the rest of the Jets, the Chairman of the BoE, and a couple of others (whose names and positions elude me). It was basically a meal, buffet style, it was very nice and a good time was had by all.

Some highlights (or low lights) were-

Having to do a very short introduction speech (a few lines really). I chose to do this in Japanese so it was a bit tough but my effort was well received.
It was my first chance to get us to the Japanese way of drinking. Essentially you should never have an empty glass, but you should never have to fill your own. So there seemed to be a lot of making sure the people near you had enough beer/ ice tea in their glass. Its an odd thing to have to be conscious of. Also as I like to have a bit more control over how much I drink (alcohol wise) its a bit hard to keep count of how many glasses you've had as its never actually empty. You kinda have to drink slooooowlllllly.
There were a lot of Japanese coming over to practice there English on me and such. Which was good, many of them were quite capable. But I don't take to being one of the centres of attention well.
They sang the town song. They have a town song. They even wrote it out in phonetics so that we could sing along.

So yeah, Wednesday night was a good night. Crazy, but in a good way I think.

1 Week Update Continued

2008-09-09T06:29:00.005+01:00

Technically I only got as far as my first full day in Japan in my last post so here's some more of what I've been up to.

During Monday to Friday I didn't really get up to much. I shopped (for food mostly) and wandered around the area a little more and did a little bit of cycling (to WILL (a small conglomeration of shops about 20 minutes walk away (I'd call it a mall only well.... its tiny really))). Also I pottered around the house trying to clear up a little and just generally settle into the place. Did some cooking too but generally nothing of particular note occurred.

On Saturday Lok and I hired a bike (the house only came with one) and the 2 of us cycled off to Nodagawa. Its well....technically its a district of Yosano town. Yosano town is made up of 3 districts - Iwataki, Nodagawa, and Kaya - and as I've mentioned we live in the Kaya part. These districts all used to be separate towns but Admin decided it be cheaper to join them together and in truth after cycling to Nodagawa I couldn't tell where one place stopped and the next started. I did confirm though that there is not very much to do in any of them. But I think with some perseverance some interesting spots could be found and if nothing else there is a train station in Nodagawa (plans to escape are already forming). Whilst

cycling to Nodagawa we came across a Ramen Restaurant (Noodle Broth type thing). It looked pretty crummy but the Ramen was very nice, will go there again I'm sure.

Sunday included another trip to Will, this time to a nearby Cafe. We ate some lunch and read for a bit before shopping (again for food mostly). I ended up having to carry a 10kg bag of rice home, suffice to say I'll be cycling next time we need rice.

That's pretty much the first week and I'm now well into the second. I'll leave you with a poor quality photo of my current place of residence. Hopefully I'll be taking more photos of better quality as soon as I work out how.

1 Week Update

2008-09-07T10:27:00.002+01:00

I've been in Japan just over a week now and well... I haven't really posted much. I've meant to, but I haven't really felt I have been up to much.

On the Sunday after I arrived Lok and I wandered around the local area so that she could show me the sites..... or site, really. Kaya is not a large place by any stretch. It has a couple of bakerys, a book store, 2 supermarkets (small) and a restaurant or two. There is other stuff but well... its not what I'm used to. In fact, there has been alot of that lately. Things here are just a long way out of my comfort zone so it's taking me a bit of time to get settled. I think I'm getting there but it could be a long and winding road.

Things are not helped by our current accommodation. It's a old 2 storey house. Many bugs, one air conditioner and a kitchen that lacks any of the appliances I'm used to. Except maybe a fridge and rice cooker. We don't even have a real kettle, and the hobs are so inefficient that heating water can be a bit like waiting for paint to dry. I have been making an effort to cook though, stir frys mostly. The oven just happens to be a microwave/ oven so well..... its not very big. Its gonna take some getting used to.

Well, that's enough rambling for now. I might try write more in a day or two, I think I have more to say than I thought. Whether its interesting though is not for me to judge....

One Long Haul Flight Later......

2008-08-31T08:55:00.002+01:00

I have successfully made my way to Japan without too much upset at all really.

From Edinburgh I made my uneventful way to London on a 10.35 flight, checked out my bag's, switched terminal, and checked in for a flight to Osaka. None of this was very interesting but it all went smoothly. I didn't have to wait a long time in security or anything. After waiting a few hours in London I got on the 12 hour flight to Osaka at around 16.35. Suffice to say the flight was long, boring, and yet again I didn't get any sleep. I did get the chance to watch a couple of in flight movies and sample the JAL (Japanese Airline) entertainment system. Which was pretty impressive. Everyone has a their own screen in the seat in front of them and a controller with which to watch films, play games (of which there were many), listen to music, and a few other things that I forget. It realy was a pretty empressive setup but.... well.... its a 12 hour flight so theres only so much you can do to ease that level of pain.

The flight touched down in Osaka Kansai airport and my day began (it now being 1pm local time). Lok-Yin arranged for my main bag to be sent to her work, got us both on a train to Osaka. We went to Den Den town (osaka's electronics district) briefly. By this point Jonathan had left and was but a mindless automaton being led around. A few other tasks were accumplished before taking the 5.30 bus to Kaya. Which took about 2 and a half hours. Shortly after finding my place of residence for the next year or so I showered. Realised that I was human again. And collapsed into an unconcious heap.

I hate long haul flights.

Self Indulgent Drivel

2008-08-17T18:59:00.002+01:00

I have been having some trouble coming up with a suitable first post for this blog and the reason for this is because every time I start writing I end up with a pile of "self indulgent drivel". I think this occurs too much with blogs, people write stuff not because anyone wants to read it but because the just want to say it. Unfortunately I have come to realise that "self indulgent drivel" is inevitable. Thus in order to try reduce its amounts on my own blog I am going to try keep on point most of the time (I fully expect to get on my soap box occassionally but I'll try keep it to a minimum).

This brings me nicely to the point of this blog. Well, for those of you who don't know me, I am going to go to the town of Kaya (Japan) to live for a while. I'll be posting any news and experiences of this significant life change on this blog. Not for me, but for my friends, family, and anyone else who is interested. In short, its easier than group emails.

For now though I don't have much else to say. I'm heading out in just under 2 weeks now and preperations are going at a slow and steady pace. With any luck my next post will be made from Japan.

Till then....
Juanito