LiFe is to0 sHOrt To blend iN

Ze-ka.....Japan for a month!

2008-04-09T11:43:00.008+09:00

I had my final visitor to Japan this last 4 weeks. Zeke came to stay with me in Tokyo - intended for 2 weeks but the retail experience was far too much to fit in to such a short time.
The first week here I was pretty much working most of the time so Zeke used this time to catch up on sleep and explore Tokyo.
He had his first karaoke experience with Anna, Kiren and Nick after drinks at the Hyatt and yakiniku dinner. 2 days in Japan and he was already at home!

I took Friday off work so we could head out of Tokyo for the day and visit Kamakura. Rented bicycles meant we could get around to see all the temples, gardens and giant buddha a lot faster...power up!

The weekend was spent shopping in Ebisu, Daikanyama, Harajuku, Shibuya and Aoyama. And a night out in Shibuya on Saturday night....which included standing bars, karaoke with strangers, night clubs and eventful taxi rides home.

Zeke's second week was mostly taken up with a trip to Okinawa...a small island south of Japan a couple of hours flight away. We stayed in a nice beach front hotel (all be it in a very Americanized area of Okinawa) and relaxed the first night so we were ready for the following days trekking and kayaking.
Our guides, Daiske and Mana, picked us up from the hotel and chauffeured us to the North of the island. We started by visiting the biggest aquarium in the world where Zeke was accosted by a group of kids who asked for his picture! Next stop was a tour through an old Okinawa style neighborhood and visit to the beach front before setting off on a river trek which ended with a beautiful waterfall.

After a picnic lunch we headed across the island again to go kayaking. I opted to go in the kayak with the guide whilst Zeke powered off in one by himself....excellent upper body exercise!
Dai and Mana took us for dinner to a traditional style Okinawa soba restaurant before we collapsed in bed after a long day.

After such a good day with the guides we decided to take a second day with them. This time we headed to south of Okinawa and started with a visit to castle ruins over looking the bay and a venture into a network of caves. The weather the second day wasn't as sunny but Zeke still braved trying snorkeling...it turned out that it wasn't the cold sea that he had to be afraid of but the mysterious creatures living in the coral!
After drying off we got back into the car and headed off to watch a traditional Okinawa dance that started back in the days when Okinawa traded goods with China and the dance welcomed the boats as they approached the island.

We ended the holiday with an onsen (deciding not to opt for the oldest onsen in Okinawa that resembled something from a horror movie!) and headed to Nara for the flight back to Tokyo.

It was another early start back in Tokyo to watch an annual Sumo tournament at the controversial Yasukuni temple. It was one of the most perfect days I have spent in Tokyo, sitting in the grounds, sun shining, sakura falling all around and watching the fights.

Zeke decided whilst in Japan he wanted to get a tattoo. We found a good artist, who having tattooed John Travolta and Keith Flin, Zeke decided was good enough for him and took the plunge. Friday we headed to the renowned Gon Pachi (Kill Bill) restaurant with Kiren and Nick and called it an early night after an eventful week.

We spent the rest of the weekend around Tokyo and got quite drunk on Saturday night drinking in the street watching jazz bands and doing puri kura. Sunday we did the traditional Yoyogi park to watch the rockers dance and sit in the park. The highlight of the day however was meeting Pharrell Williams and also spotting John Mayer. Not satisfied with three weeks in Japan (or maybe my company) Zeke extended his stay for a fourth week. I was back to work again so he got to catch up on sleep and visit some final places around Tokyo including the Meiji Shrine in Yoyogi, the Imperial Palace, Akihabara, Ginza, Tokyo Dome, Tsukiji, Shimokitazawa, Ikebukuro, K-1 and also managed to squeeze in another night clubbing, more karaoke and a tattoo!
On his retail adventure, Zeke managed to wangle his way onto the website of Mighty Diner Store. I will leave it to your imagination as to what he told them on his path to fame but check out the site!! http://www.mightydiner.com/blog/?mode=normal&p=3

Staying with the Japanese theme Zeke had a Koi carp and kanji tattoo on his shoulder - this one took a lot longer and looked a lot more painful. The next day I went back to the tattooist to get my own peice of body art - he did a really good job of fixing the teenage impulses I already have and incorporated them into a sakura tree with deeper meaning kanji.

Not being put off by going through almost 6 hours of tattooing I still wanted to go out Saturday night to see the Dexpistols DJ for my last time. Kiren came round to my place where we drank until 12.30am before making a mad dash for the last train to Shibuya. The Dexpistols set was good but the rest of the night was a bit of a let down on the music front. Determined not to get a taxi home we left the club at 4.30am and spent an hour in karaoke whilst waiting for the trains to open.

Sunday afternoon, when we finally woke up, we headed to Yokohama City to watch the K-1 World GP fights in Yokohama Arena. It was a really good event and some exciting KO's...it did leave us wondering though - who is blake?!

Monday night we met up with my friend Akira in Shinjuku and decided that karaoke would once again be a good idea. Vast amounts of Jack Daniels later I found myself alone in the karaoke room wondering where my drunkard comrades had gone. After finding them in and around the karaoke shop we all managed to get in a taxi and get home.
With Tuesday off work I got to spend the day with Zeke. We headed to Tokyo Dome intending to go on the roller coaster but unfortunately it was closed for maintenance (or fortunately in Zeke's case) so we stopped for food at Bubba Gumps and went to check out Ikebukuro area before going to Kiren and Nicks apartment for dinner and a movie.

My last day to have lunch with Zeke we went to Tsukiji Fish Market for fresh sushi lunch...I was surprised and impressed that Zeke ate everything served plus the things I couldn't eat.
I enjoyed the last month with Zeke so much and have so many good memories that I can look back at and laugh...it was a perfect way to bring an end to my 2 years in Japan. Being able to share my experience with people close to me has made it so much richer.

High School Graduation Time

2008-03-19T16:38:00.001+09:00

On my way to work last week I noticed High School students were dressed up in kimono for their graduation. It reminded me of how special a day it was for my students at Nagano Nishi High school a year ago at their graduation. Jay made a video for them to keep. Check it out.

5K Ekiden Race, Tokyo Palace

2008-01-21T13:06:00.000+09:00

Warming up...nice shot of Ginza in the background

Before the race....it was sooo cold!

Shigeo starting for our team

Team Democrat

Tomoko too fast for the camera

Team Democrat

Back at the start - award time!

A 5k relay race around Tokyo palace with Tomoko and my team - The Democrats!

We came 7th....out of 10! More training on my part required I think!

Hakone Birthday Weekend

2008-01-16T14:55:00.001+09:00

The second weekend back in Japan saw me turn 26. To celebrate the occasion I went to Hakone to an onsen resort hotel for the weekend with Tomoko, Rika and Ayumi.
Being so cold up in the mountains we headed stright to the onsen.

With some time left before dinner we took advantage of the hotels karaoke rooms and the girls got to experience karaoke Kyla style a la Cameron Diaz, My Best Friends Wedding!

I got presented with a customized birthday dessert at dinner time!

The next day we went to a spa/novelty onsen. It was a huge facility with different baths - red wine, green tea, sake, coffee, chocolate! lots of restaurants and beauty treatment facilities.
After having a dip in the red wine and sake baths I had a head to toe ayurveda massage followed by a facial.
Such a relaxing weekend and perfect chance to recover after the last 5 weeks.

Hakuba....first ride for 2008!

2008-01-16T14:51:00.000+09:00

The same day that I arrived back in Japan I made the 7 hour journey on the night bus with Andy to Hakuba for the weekend.
We met up with Ben and Tiff and their friends from Iida in Goryu for 2 days. Atsuko also came along for the weekend after her holiday in Thailand.
I was feeling both jet lagged and overwhelmed being back in Japan so it was a pretty quiet weekend apart from snowboard action.

Whirlwind Christmas in UK

2008-01-16T14:23:00.000+09:00

After three weeks of partying with Taneka I was feeling quite exhausted by the time I touched down in London. I spent the first night with a visit from my Mum in London. We went for dinner and I tried to fight the desire to sleep so that we could catch up.
I had planned to work in the PTS London office for 2 days to meet my UK co-workers and share best practices. It was interesting to see the same company operating so differently in the UK from Japan and I felt slight reverse culture shock at the working culture back in London.
I spent my lunch breaks visiting my old favorite places around Liverpool Street including Spitalfields, Brick Lane and Old Street. In my first visit to the newsagents I tried not to gasp as I paid almost £6 for a magazine, drink and Maltesers. This was a general theme in London with the price of drinks, eating out and travel - I can't remember the city being so expensive.
My second night in London I met Suzie and Annabel in Oxford Circus for dinner and drinks. We were all quite shattered with the events of the festive season so didn't stay out too late.
I decided to stay in London a third night at Suzies place which meant we could spend more time together and I could meet Sagar on Friday before heading up to Raunds.
Seeing my friends reminded how much I have missed of their lives and you can't really catch up you just have to start again from that point which was quite sad.
I was so excited to see Sagar and spent hours just talking before heading for some lunch before I had to catch my train. Being with my friends in London made me quite homesick but the life style of London just doesn't compare to Tokyo.

Back in Northampton I headed straight to Heart to surprise Tony and felt nostalgic being back in the little shop. I went out with Ali and her friends that evening for a farewell meal before she headed off to San Diego. Lou also came for dinner so I got to see them both on my first night back. We went to Northampton and to a club in Town after drinks - I spent most of the night with my mouth open at the sights in there - it was like something off Footballers Wives meets Shameless. Needless to say I was in no hurry to go back to Northampton for a night!

Most of my time in Raunds was spent either sleeping, drinking or gossiping with friends and family.

Christmas Eve me and Ali went to a local bar and continued the night with a house party until 5am causing us to nearly miss Christmas Day.
For Christmas dinner me and my Dad joined 15 of his friends so that we didn't have to go through the pain of cooking and cleaning up for dinner.

Before the New Year I spent 2 days with Big Kyla and was happy for a break out of Raunds and to catch up with her and Lee.
I also had a sad goodbye with Ali before she headed off to San Diego to live but we were both happy we had the chance to spend Christmas together.

To see in the New Year Lou and me went back down to London, Hoxton Square for drinks before heading to Turnmills to see Simian Mobile Disco, Mylo, and 2Many DJs and also met up with Kiren and Nisha who were also in the UK for the festive season. Out of character for me I was done by 4.30am and we all headed back to Amy's place to get a few hours of shut eye.

I spent my last two days packing and took my little cousins (who are not so little anymore) to the Snowdome in Milton Keynes with Zeke for Snowboarding lessons.

The 2 weeks went so fast and felt almost like a dream. It was very emotional being back in UK and then saying goodbyes again.
Before I knew it I was back on the plane and biting my lip not to cry.
A weekend of snowboarding planned though gave me something to look forward to back in Japan.

Taneka in Japan....The Mountains...

2008-01-16T14:07:00.000+09:00

Taneka's third week in Japan she stayed in Tokyo a few more days, ventured around the city, took some puri-kura and met up with some of my friends for dinner.
Sitting in Starbucks in Shibuya one evening after work I spotted Busy P at the crossing - I couldn't miss the opportunity to be a groupie so me and Tweek ran out to get a picture of him. I actually came over a bit star struck...!

After all the star gazing we headed to Ikebukuro to meet Kiren, Nick, Ai and Akira for dinner.
Akira was providing the entertainment by imitating Jonny Depp.This would be Tweeks last opportunity to have drinks out in Tokyo so we headed to one of Akira's local bars to meet up with his friends. He took us to a tiny Japanese bar where we had a private tatami room and were served the recommended beautifying drinks...it was only when we were shown the bottle that we realized that one of the drinks had a lizard stewing in the bottle (or a wizard as they said!). Tweek being veggie (nice excuse) I got to drink the lizard drink.
Everyone got nicely drunk that night and Akira ended up a little worse for wear.

Wanting to see more of Japan Taneka headed up to Nagano for 2 days to stay with a Japanese family. From the tales I have heard it sounded like she had a great expereince but the best has to be Mr. Tateyama playing his flute for about 20 minutes whilst Tweek sat smiling pretending to record him...and then being asked to sing 12 Days of Christmas for Mrs.Tateyama (which she refused)!
I followed Tweek up to Nagano at the weekend and we headed to Hakuba to Lady Diana hotel for a weekend of snowboarding before she jetted off to the sunny climes of Australia.
We had a great weekend with Ben and his friends from Iida both on and off the slopes.

Tweek and I both departed Japan on the same day, me heading back to UK for Christmas.
It was so sad to say goodbye after having 3 brilliant weekends and travels together.

Taneka in Japan....The Cities....

2007-12-04T14:02:00.000+09:00

Taneka arrived in Tokyo last week visiting Japan on her way to Australia and New Zealand for a year. I managed to find her in Shinjuku station and headed to an Izakaya for her first Japanese experience. Although vegetarian Tweek decided she would allow fish for the Japan leg of her tour and sampled some delicious sashimi (well I thought it was).
Whilst I was working Tweek went to Kamikura for a day trip to see the Giant Buddha and met me after work for dinner and drinks with Taku in Shinjuku. Was a fun night and we had a mini tour of the side streets of Shinjuku on our way home.

Friday we headed to Kyoto for the weekend on the shink. The first day was a little unsuccessful as we tried to master the buses around Kyoto which led to me asking about 5 Obasan's for directions and going round in circles....we ended the day with a relaxing onsen so it was all good in the end. Kyoto is a very romantic city - it felt a bit like Venice, and was a lot more relaxed than Tokyo. We toured the back streets of Gion at night hoping to see some Geisha.

Gion

Saturday we headed to Nara for the day with Richard (who is traveling Japan) and Carrie (former Nova teacher leaving Japan due to the company collapsing). We were welcomed to the town by the wild deer in the park who stand around the biscuit stalls waiting to get fed. I was quite scared of them as they seemed to be able to smell the biscuits in your bag and packs of them chased you around until there was none left. Was quite funny though watching them chase the old ladies around and butting them!!

Nara

On the way back from Nara to Kyoto we visited Fushimi Inari Shrine and walked the 4km path up the mountain through the Tori gates. It was spectacular to see and my favorite part of the trip.

Fushimi Inari Shrine

Karaoke and Nomihido...!!!

Karaoke

Everyone got quite carried away and I don't think we managed to listen to each other sing (probably for the best). Tweek's added effects of cartwheels and forward rolls outside the room added a new dimension to the experience.

Nightclub Kyoto

As our hostel had a curfew of 11pm we had no choice but to go to a club (its a hard life) and ended up in a very cheesy local R&B place where everyone thought they were a gangster (hot j-boys but def not gangsters!). We danced the night away there until me and Tweek were dragged out at 4am....and we ended up crashing at a friends of a friends place for a few hours.

Gatecrashing

We spent our last day in Osaka at the biggest aquarium IN the world, with the biggest shark IN an aquarium IN the world (thanks Carrie!) followed by a small walk through the arcades and some retail therapy.

Osaka

I left Taneka in Kyoto to carry on with her tour of Japan - Kyo-san staying with monks, Hiroshima, and some more of Kyoto - before coming back to Tokyo at the weekend.

Saturday was spent strolling Harajuku with Dave who guided us to a gorgeous Organic Veggie restuarant and a few beers in the street to get us going for our night of partying ahead.
We met Kiren, Ai and Akira for pre-drinks in Roppongi/Ebisu before going to Unit in Daikanyama.

The line-up that night was fantastic - SebastiAn, Kavinsky and Busy P, and was a good intro for Taneka into the clubbing world.

Busy P

Sunday was back to Harajuku to see the carzies dressed up and dancing in the park - the rockers are like something straight out of Grease!
All the dancing in the park gave us a second wind so we headed to Ebisu for a Korean dinner of Spicy Tofu Hot Pot and Korean sake, Makori and a mini bar crawl.

Halloween

2007-12-04T13:55:00.000+09:00

A good excuse to get dressed up and have a house party really!
After the party we headed to Womb in Shibuya - our costumes got us free entry...brucey bonus!

P-Crew Dance group

2007-11-22T14:04:00.001+09:00

P-Crew Dance group
Originally uploaded by j.a.m. la vedoya

I came across this picture and reminded of my days working at Nagano Nishi High School - the students there had such good character - and Jay too!

A step closer to heaven

2007-10-24T13:19:00.000+09:00

Tomoko-san and me managed to get a group of people from our office together in the name of breasts to take part in a 10k charity race for breast cancer awareness. The race was held at the Imperial Palace which has amazing views of Tokyo as you run around.

Pre-race Starbucks....

Anna also joined the PTS team for the day, and we had Lynne and Rika there for support.

Tomoko-san was first across the line from PTS!

After the race we spent the rest of the afternoon in an Italian restaurant eating pizza, pasta and drinking beer....this is marathon training Ky-stylee!

PTS 10th Anniversary Party

2007-10-17T14:32:00.000+09:00

View from the party at Roppongi Hills

The Party Room

PTS Consulting Japan KK has been operating in Japan for 10 years. The company held a party for staff and clients at Roppongi Hills Observatory Cafe.

Kojima-san...Japanese owner

Kevin from London and Alain from PTS Japan

E-chan...PTS staff and running partner!

sam, lynne and me

sam, lynne, ruari and me!

ruari strangling me!

I was nominated to work on the reception for the first 2 hours but got to enjoy most of the party antics later on.

The party being on a Monday night I thought getting home at 1am was late enough....I found out the next day that most of the guys in the office were still going strong at 5am!

Oshman's Trail Run Event - Saitama

2007-10-17T14:14:00.000+09:00

Having just found out I got a place in the Tokyo Marathon in February I thought it was time to start some serious training. I kicked off my new regime with a weekend in Akigokubo, Saitama with Oshman's Sports Retailer for a Trail Run and Trekking event.

http://www.oshmans.co.jp/basic/solution/event/071106outdoor/index.shtml

The event was open to 50 people plus Oshman's suppliers who had small stalls set up with previews of next years products including North Face, Columbia, Keen, Merrell, and...

I shared a log cabin with Tomoko-san and her friends Iki-san and Tomi-san in the mountain resort. Trail running was such a good buzz - hard work going up the mountain but fun running back down trying to control your speed whilst curving round bends and jumping rocks.

The technique was actually a bit like snowboarding. The trail run was about 2 hours long and we had a professional guide as well as Oshman's staff guiding us.

In the evening we had a cooking show to demo outdoor BBQ's etc, followed by food, free alcohol and a raffle for the suppliers products. There was some really good prizes - Tomoko-san got Merrell trail shoes, Tomi-san got 2 packs and a hoody, Iki-chan got premium organic coffee......and I got a HUGE tent! It was so heavy one of the guys from Columbia brand kindly offered to have it delivered to my house.

By 10pm I had managed to drink enough wine to forget most of the people I spoke to that night and thankfully was escorted back to the cabin by Tomoko and Co.

Sunday morning the girls went to Yoga whilst I opted for a lay in to recover from the trail run before a day of trekking ahead.

I thought trekking would be more like the hiking I had done in Nagano but it was actually really hard and took us through some really tough courses.

After 2 days of hardcore outdoor activities my legs are still aching but I am now converted to trail running!

Some Zen Loving for Madz on her birthday!

2007-09-27T15:20:00.001+09:00

Remember this day Madz?!

Hard at Work

2007-09-26T13:58:00.001+09:00

A shot of my office....with me hard at work ;-)

Party time!

2007-09-25T15:05:00.000+09:00

Another long weekend in Japan and I seemed to spend 50% of it dancing and 50% sleeping!
An early start on Saturday with a day of snorkelling and yoga booked with Kiren, Tomoko and Rika started the weekend with good intentions. I have never tried snorkelling before and with the instruction in Japanese it was quite funny!

Saturday night was a drum and bass night at Womb to see Andy C and MC GQ. Not the biggest fan for D&B but it was good for a change and the club was packed as ever. Not wanting to go home at 5am when the club closed I joined a group of people at a private party in an upstairs bar where I was informed if we bought a drink we got a voucher to get into an all day club for free.
So the night ended 3 clubs later at 8.30am.

Having slept away most of Sunday I was ready for round 2 - this time a Hip Hop night at AgeHa. I went with Andy, Ben and Dave, and wasn't sure what to expect but I was very impressed. The boys got the night going on the train with their rendition of "the same girl" - (check out the video on my Facebook if you are my friend....hilarious!) The headline was Lupe Fiasco and was surprisingly impressed.
4 clubs in 2 days meant that the rest of the time I was sleeping....and now back at work am feeling the effects....but was definitely worth it.

A bit of culture

2007-09-18T13:58:00.000+09:00

This weekend the temperature rose to 35c just in time for the bank holiday. Saturday I went to Tai-Bo with Kiren and Nick in Ikebukuro....Nick's coordination skills earned him a few scowls from Kiren but the teacher was hilaruous so I think she distracted from most of his "independent" moves!

After all that exercise me and Kiren met up with Andy her her co-workers in Shinjuku for lots of food and alcohol....that's what I call a balanced lifestyle!!

Since living in Tokyo the most culture I have expreinced is going to the Earthqueake simulation/museum and dancing to Japanese Techno DJ's....I think that counts right?! So to top it up on Sunday I went to Kamakura with Kiren and Andy to watch "Yabusame" - Galloping horses clad in samurai armour provide a speeding platform for displays of yabusame (mounted archery).

riders preparing

live music...

japan pose...

.....andy

After spending a few hours standing in the beating heat of the sun watching the festival we took the local train to Shonan beach for a swim in the sea. Japan is renowned for having less than perfect beaches so we weren't put off by the seaweed floating around us as we cooled down in the water.

beautiful scenery

sunset at shonan

With Monday off work and the sun still shining I spent the day adventuring on my bike and visited Toshimaen, not too far from my house, and found the area had a water park, theme park, cinema and day spa. After achieving a nicely red forehead and arms from cycling all afternoon, I met Kudo-san for dinner in Ebisu, and we found a place that served one of our favourite drinks - machori - a Korean sake and really nice food, finishing off the 3 day weekend nicely.

Next weekend is also a 3 day weekend...its a tough life, but someones got to do it ;-)

Islands, beaches hotels and sweat!

2007-09-10T12:41:00.000+09:00

With a sudden change in weather from Typhoon to sun Kiren, Anna and me headed off to Sarushima Island for a spot sun bathing and historical education. After a trek across the island and through the tunnels from the war, we found a nice little rocky area to sun bathe facing out to the sea for the rest of the afternoon, away from the madding crowds on the beach.

On the ferry over

Saturday night we managed to resist the urge to go out (also thinking I need to lay low to get back some anonymity) and settled instead for curry and rugby at NK Mansion Ikebukuro.

Sunday morning I met Tomoko bright and early at Shinjuku for our journey to Enoshima. We arrived at the beach town and started with a 2 hour run through the temples and beaches before heading for an onsen and lunch. Enoshima is a surfers beach just over 1 hour from Tokyo. I was quite jealous to see them all bobbing around in the sea on their boards even though the surf was quite flat!

Back in Tokyo we checked in to the hotel in Akasaka, had a walk around the Japanese garden and after an exhausting day, we sent our selves to sleep watching a movie, eating sushi and drinking Chu-hi.....J-Bliss!

It's a small world

2007-09-10T12:34:00.000+09:00

I am just finding out that even the biggest cities in the world can become small places - Friday after our run around the palace Ayumi and I went for dinner in a small tex-mex in Roppongi and just as a group fo Japanese guys were leaving one of them approached me and said (in perfect English) "I think I know you...."
and I'm thinking "ummmm I don't think so....."
and he proceeds...."Yes, night club in Shibuya...."
and I'm....."OOOOHHHHH, yes"
and he "you remember my friend....!!!" .....and now I'm going a bit red!(details now to be withheld).
Then another guy that Ayumi and I met in slightly bizarre situation a few months ago also came in.....how in a city who's population is almost the same as the whole of Australia can I still not escape such situations?!

Typhoon comes to Tokyo

2007-09-07T10:27:00.000+09:00

This is the typhoon that was on top of Tokyo last night - offices were closing early and sending people home in fear that the trains would have to stop or the metro would be flooded.

My beautiful cousins

2007-08-29T12:03:00.000+09:00

Justice vs. Simian - We Are Your Friends

2007-08-07T21:37:00.001+09:00

The highlight of the festival was the Red Marquee on Saturday night - these guys really impressed

Fuji Rock 07......and we LOVED IT!

2007-08-05T12:30:00.001+09:00

Last weekend was Fuji Rock Festival in Japan...AMAZING! The line up was briliant, venue was brilliant, the weather was mostly scortching...check it out....
http://www.fujirockfestival.com/

It was the most amazing festival I have been to. The setting was Naeba Ski resort about 1 hour from Tokyo on the shink which was an amazing back drop to the 10 stage event.

If there is something Japan has got spot on its festivals. So much attentionwas paid to making it spectaular from light shows on the mountian, to night walks with disco balls and lights through the forest.

I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Shimoda - My first PTS trip!

2007-07-21T20:34:00.000+09:00

Tomoko confirming the plan!

PTS treated some of the staff to a trip to a beach in Iizu for a weekend. I headed down with Tomoko, Rika and Emi on the 3 and half hour train ride to Shimoda.

Tomoko had a plan of action all mapped out for us for the first day starting with lunch in a local Japanese style restaurant where we had fresh fish before taking a tour of the town.

Touring the town

We visited the temple and I got some good luck before setting off to Find Perry.

I got good luck this time....how about you girls?!

Perry is in all Japanese history books and was responsible for opening up Japan to the rest of the world - and this is where it all happened.

Perry left before they finished the cast

Dinner was a BBQ and open bar at one of the hotels....hold on....go back.....open bar?!

The famous jacuzzi....Frank enjoying his beer in style!

Yes trouble is brewing, you saw it coming! My first work event with the company and after an afternoon of drinking I joined a drinking game with the guys from my office at around 11pm....apparently I got home at 3am....soaking wet from getting in the jacuzzi and a little worse for wear (sorry Emi and Yuka!) but I payed heavily for it the next day!
I managed a swim in the sea before collapsing on the beach and then heading home on the long train journey that felt like 8 hours rather than the 3 and a half that I thought was long the day before!
But I had a great weekend and got to spend time with Tomoko and Rika - really lovely girls who work in my office...I just hope they don't think I'm a typical gaijin girl.....I'm not....honestly ;-)

Joan comes to Tokyo

2007-07-17T20:11:00.000+09:00

On Tuesday Joan came to Tokyo after spending 2 days in Osaka. We started his visit with a trip to Tokyo Dome to watch the Giants vs Tigers with Tomoko.

The Giants lost to the Tigers (again!) but we still had fun watching the game.

Whilst I was at work Joan visited Tokyo and surrounding areas but unfotunately the weather has been rubbish this last week so most of the time he was soaked in the rain....I tried convincing him that Japan is not like London but the rain turned into a typhoon by the weekend!

Thursday night we headed to Shibuya for dinner and drinks at an iizakaya...this was the start of a slippery slope of drinking all weekend.

Friday night we headed into Roppongi around 11pm having drank a fair amount of sho-chu at home. With the intention of going to Womb we started at A971 in Midtown, where I bumped into people from work and then ended up very drunk and very lost in Shibuya so retreated to an iizakya for more drinks waiting for the train at 6am.

Saturday the typhoon really hit Tokyo so when we finally got up and out we headed straight back to Roppongi Midtown to carry on from where we left off that morning - in A971!!

I couldn't let Joan miss the Japanese culture that is Karaoke so we headed to the nearest combini bought a bag of alcohol and went to Karaoke for 3 hours!! I wasn't sure what Joan would make of it but I had to drag him out of there at 11pm so we could go back to the bars....his rendition of Robbie Williams was top notch;-)

The rest of the night involvedmore alcohol, more bars and finally (Joan being the Latino lover that he is) we ended up in a salsa bar till 6am - again!

Sunday we managed to do a rapid tour of Harajuku before Joan caught the night bus to Kyoto.

I haven't seen Joan for 4 years....and he hasn't changed a bit - still as mad as ever!

Kamakura

2007-07-08T22:55:00.000+09:00

Today I went to Kamakura with Kudo to see the 'Great Buddha'. Kamakura is in Kanagawa prefecture about 1 hour from Tokyo. We took the local train to Kita-Kamakura and started the afternoon with a walk around the temples. After finding out the Great Buddha was 1 hour walk we decided to take a taxi there.

It was really breath taking and such a peaceful place.

After seeing the traditional sights we took another local train to Shonan beach and watched the surfers as we walked along the front. There is an amazing view of Mt Fuji from Shonan.

We got back to Tokyo around 8pm and was suddenly hit by hunger as we hadn't had time to stop and eat all day. Kudo took me to another back street restaurant, Thai this time, and was really nice.

It's a nice feeling to know that the beach is a short/cheap train ride away now...and still enough time left his summer for surfing!

New life in Tokyo

2007-07-08T09:54:00.000+09:00

I have been in Tokyo for 1 month now, living in Shin-Egota and working in Azabu-Juban.
I received lots of lovely welcome gifts when I moved to my new home, one of the most surprisingly was this one from Flashy......

Although I'm still in Japan my life is so different now. Already I have met so many nice people and made good friends in my office. It has been great having Kiren here too and living so close by means we have been able to hang out even though we now both have 'real' jobs and are really busy with work!

In the last few weeks here I have just been settling in both with Tokyo and my job so no major events yet.

Me, Kiren and Nick went to the US Embassy day with Kirens friends from work. It was sooo hot that day but with the free beer, lots of American food (the delicacy that is burgers and hot dogs), bands and taiko drummers we had a really nice day.

Last weekend I hung out with Andy, who also used to live in Nagano prefecture and has recently moved to Tokyo. We spent the afternoon checking out the summer sales and Yoyogi Park before I went to have dinner with Kudo in Shibuya.
Crazy Elvis dancers in Yoyogi

This weekend was the first time me and Kiren had time to explore new parts of the city together and went to Shimokitazawa. It's cool there, an old hippy area that is like Portabello in London - both of us felt like we had left Japan! We checked out the back streets of Harajuku later that we had never ventured before and found a few really nice places to eat and art houses. The day made me feel really calm, like I had come home. The more I find my feet in Tokyo the more I want to stay.

On Tuesday Joan will be visiting me from Morocco for 6 days. The last time we saw each other was my 21st birthday (I can't remember much of that!) after living in Holland together so it will be a nice reunion.

My little apartment

2007-07-08T09:46:00.000+09:00

I didn't think I had so much stuff but it took me 2 weeks to empty and clean my apartment in Nagano. Luckily having a car made it so much easier to take all the rubbish and things to recycle in the last few manic days.

This was the first time I had lived alone, in England house sharing is more common, so it was like the end of a mini-era leaving my apartment.

The before and after clearing!

One final shot of the view from my apartment

Last week at school

2007-06-08T09:03:00.000+09:00

Today is my last day working at Nagano Nishi High School. I'm not sure how I feel about it all yet, I guess when I move to Tokyo next week I will be able to reflect on it all. At the moment I still feel a little tense at work so its hard.
Ive had a few farewell parties with students this week and went to Pri-Kura and for crepes last night with some of them - they are really sweet and there is no doubt that I will miss them.
I said my farewells to Matsushiro High school on Tuesday. All the teachers from the school gathered at lunch time to say goodbye - I managed about 10 words of my speech before I burst into tears! Most of the students there didn't know that I would be leaving and it was quite touching that some of them were upset about it....in Japan its rare to see emotion so you never really know how people feel about things, that was quite a compliment I guess.
Today I have to say goodbye to the teachers at Nishi individually...not looking forward to that at all. And also the principle and vice-principle (neither of which has spoken to me since I handed in my notice) so I'm not sure what to expect.

The last 5 years of my life I have moved to a new place every year, and every year had the same sad goodbyes. I have met so many great people and had amazing experiences in each place, and that makes it all the harder - I don't know how many more goodbyes I can take!

Update!

2007-05-28T11:46:00.000+09:00

The last couple of weeks things have settled down at school and I have taken some time out spending afternoons at Obuse to relax with nature before I move to Tokyo in 2 weeks time.

Last week was a special day for two of my best friends here in Japan, Kiren and Nick got married at Zenkoji temple in Nagano. Over 20 of their friends and family from overseas came for the big day which was absolutely amazing.

I met up with Kiren and her friends before hand to raise a toast (and drink a few bottles of champers) before our friend became a wife!

The ceremony was a traditional Buddhist ceremony held in a temple on the grounds of Zenkoji.

The ceremony was conducted in Japanese of course but at the end Kiren and Nick had prepared some words to exchange - at this point most of the guests burst into tears! It was very touching.

Kiren and Nick both wore traditional dress for the ceremony and changed for the reception and party (apparently the kimonos aren't very convenient for going to the toilet!!).

The reception was held in a French restaurant in Nagano Cultural Centre. It was beautifully decorated and I think everyone enjoyed the 7 course dinner!

After the reception we all headed to the night party and more guests joined for the celebration. It was held at Green Gerbera where there was more food, wedding cake, lots of drink and some dancing!

Congratulations Kiren and Nick xxx

Befor the big day however there was the obligitory hens night in Nagano. Kirens friends all made a real effort to make it a good fun night bringing things from Oz that we would never find in Japan!

We started the night with a dinner at an Izakiya and then went on to karaoke. Kiren was a good sport and pretty much put on whatever she was given! There was some games started in karaoke and Kirens mum was the first victim. Her dare was a prevocative dance to a stranger....and she did it! Those poor karaoke workers - bet they love the gaijin parties!

Last weekend me and Madz headed to Kats house in Asashina for Ericas 'Kimono and Cake' birthday party. We all donned some form of 'kimono' and I was really impressed with the effort that everyone made. After a few rums I decided Id had enough and stole Kats bed for the night but the party continued into the wee hours!

This week I managed to find a place to live in Tokyo. Its quite central, on the same line as work, lovely house and only 2 people will live there. I can't believe Ill be gone in 2 weeks. This last year has flown by. I don't know how much longer I will stay in Japan, I guess it depends on my job and the company...and how much longer I can live without my friends and family nearby.

At the weekend I went up to Nojiriko to meet the GAA to have another go at wakeboarding. I was rubbish this year! But I gave it my best shot! The lads, as usual, were brilliant and put me to shame. It was really nice seeing them again and cheered me up no end.

As you can see the lads nailed it and were brilliant....

I on the other hand managed to give them a good laugh with my falling technique!

The time has come....

2007-05-08T13:04:00.003+09:00

...to leave the mountains.
In June I will be leaving behind the mountains of Nagano and heading to Tokyo to pick up where I left off with my career in London. Unfortunately this has meant my early departure from my current teaching position. Whilst I expected to get a bit of backlash from my school, when it finally came it wasn't a particuallrly nice experience - and this is only the start of it.
Being called selfish, accused of using the school PC to find a job (NOT TRUE!), having my resignation refused (whatever that means), and refusing to get my tax return forms.

Anyway, c'est la vie.

Last week was Golden Week in Japan which means only 2 working days. I spent the rest of the week cycling to Kawanakajima with Kat, playing mallet golf in Iizna with Kiren and Nick, cycling to Oasis Obuse to relax in the park.......and my latest hobby....learning to longboard!

Today I am at my visit school which is a breath of fresh air - no negative vibes or tense working environment. I made the most of the nice weather and cycled here today which is just over an hour from my appartment.

I will miss the country side when I move to Tokyo but I am sooooo looking forward to having something that resembles a life back, in the form of going out, live music, club nights and team sports.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Hump de Bump

2007-04-26T16:19:00.001+09:00

I love this new vid from RHCP!

Ali and Lou in Japan - Week 2!

2007-04-18T09:24:00.000+09:00

Ali and Lou came to see me at the end of March for 2 weeks.....although I blogged some of their time here, I left it to them to blog their encounter. Here is Lou's blog of their second week in Japan.

Week 2 by Lou

Monday 12th March - The recovery day and Gyoza!
After snowboarding all weekend and partying (Ali and Kyla!!!) till dawn today was going to be tough. It began by all three of us intending to, but not taking the rubbish. I don’t think anyone could have peeled us out of our beds too early! Poor Kyla did manage to make it to school.

Ali and I decided to go to the supermarket to make Gyoza for Kyla to demonstrate our new found skills learned at the homestay. We managed to figure out most ingredients however struggled finding starch (white powder is hard to distinguish!) and soy sauce (there was a whole aisle of brown juice!).

We then met Belinda and Kyla in Nagano. We visited the international corner in Monzen Plaza for some lunch and popped to the clothes shop where Kyla has made an impact on the girls who work there. So much so they requested a photo of her not once but twice! One girl had even written a note for Kyla in English.

Eventually after walking the streets of Nagano we found ourselves in a Thai themed cocktail bar/shop. We managed a set of some gorgeous cocktails.

We then jumped in a taxi and went back home to make gyoza. We also watched Lost In Translation – mine, Kyla and Ali’s traditional holiday movie!

Tuesday 13th March - Sake, Sushi, Sashimi and School!
Today we went to Kyla’s visit school. What a welcome we were given. Conversation flowed along with green tea. Then one of the teachers gave us a grand tour of the sports facilities and club activities. We watched Kendo, Judo, Baseball, Track and field, Volleyball and even joined in some badminton practice.

After school we visited a superb traditional cake shop where we bought more gifts. After a brief soba noodle infused lunch we made our way to Xebio sports store. After wanting to purchase everything in the store we each left with a bag in toe (only one mind!), went to buy postcards and going to get ready for an evening with Ikukos parents.

Kawanakajimi - where we stopped for lunch

We drove to their village (Yoshi with 26 houses) their house looked like a castle – it was beautiful; a garden waterfall and pond with koi carp, traditional Japanese interior that was modelled on a castle in Kyoto. We sat around the kotatsu to keep warm, whilst an amazing banquet was layed out.

An in traditional Japanese style the sake flowed as soon as we sat down.

Kyla got in full conversation with Ikuko’s father (via some translation from Ikuko!) . It was one of the best evenings of my life - a great experience, and not one most people have in a lifetime.
And happy birthday once again Ikukos dad!

Wednesday 14th March - Tea ceremony lesson.

We took the shinkanson to meet Miki in Saku . She was there waiting dressed in her Kimono looking stunning. She took us to her house for a look and to see her cute pets first and then to Moss burger for lunch - still in kimono! Then onwards to the tea ceremony. Another gorgeous house and a ceremony held by Japanese ladies ready to give us another unforgettable experience.

The teacher.

Preparing the tea.

Drinking the tea – oishi – delicious!

Thank you Miki!

Back in Nagano, our last eve there all together (for this trip anyway!), we decided what better way to spend it than with great friends, 2 microphones and some ‘tunes’!

You guessed it karaoke!

Ali the shy but talented!

And Kyla you ‘Wild Thing'!

Unfortunately a member of staff asked us to leave just after 2am using a mobile phone for translation purposes.

Ali and Lou in Japan - Week 2!

2007-04-17T10:46:00.000+09:00

Thursday 15th March - Tokyo here we come!

Taking the Shinkansen we arrived around mid afternoon experiencing Tokyo’s mesmerizing underground system but loving how clean and pleasant it was.

First stop Ali, Kyla, myself and Kyla’s friend Kieren went for a ride on Tokyo’s equivalent to the big dipper at the Tokyo Dome!. We did all think the drop was never going to end but we survived and lived to tell the tale! We all went to a Chinese restaurant (after the rollercoaster) before retiring ready for the weekend ahead.

Friday 16th March - La Foret and Womb!

This morning Kyla left early for an interview leaving her mobile phone in the hands of Ali and myself so we could meet up afterwards. We met at the unmissable huge Starbucks in Shibuya and walked to Harajuku to embark on some serious shopping. We spent 6 hours and a few yen in La Foret - a boutique shopping centre just packed with nice clothes shops. We even split up in desperation to find something we liked within the allotted time! After hitting shopping overload we managed to tear ourselves away and back to meet Kyla’s friend Kat. We began with some chu hi’s, a quick shower and some sunnies before making our way (a long journey, stopping for photos with stranger, combinis and illicit substances!) to Womb to see a British DJ, Nathan Fake. A great night had by all. Dj was wicked, club was massive and me and Ali got to see the famous Japan dance! We made it back to hostel via a Maccy D’s and a Japanese taxi.....At 6am!

Saturday 17th March - Electric Avenue!

Bumped into 2 girls from Daventry, my home town, in our hostel! They were travelling and were staying in Japan for a week at the same place we were!!! After getting over the shock we all made our way over to electrical city, Akihabara, in Tokyo. I have never seen so much technology in my entire life wow! Neon lights and apple computers galore! Kat bought a camera and Kyla some straighteners before heading to Harajuku. Stopped of in a café before walking to see the Meije shrine– the biggest in Japan, it was really impressive. We also took a walk around the Yoyogi Park and saw various performers like Covent Garden I guess, but here they perform for fun and publicity and not for cash. We then met with Kat and Madz before they began their St Patrick’s Day celebrations (their not Irish, just festive!). We went to the cinema next to the hotel where some of Lost in Translation was filmed. All the films were sold out but found the best ice cream parlour ever, Coldstone. They make the ice cream in front of you and sing ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ whilst making it! Sunday 18th March - Baseball Japanese style! Today was Tokyo Giants v’s Tigers playing at Tokyo Dome. As avid fans we arrived at early doors to avoid any seating discrepancies, and to ensure we had our fan caps! Manged to sit next to a wild Japanese family who became very talkative after a few rounds of beers! The baseball was impressive too. The Line Up The Mascot And the game. Afterwards our last supper consisted of Fish and Chips at ‘Bubba Gump’ a Forest Gump themed place. Emotions were flowing after what had been the best two weeks ever, knowing it was coming to an end. So much so, all track of time was lost. We knew it was getting on so made our way back to the hostel to collect our bags. We took the tube to go to the express train to the airport - only to discover we had several stops to get past and not much time! After much deliberation amongst ourselves, the station master and a random train passenger we took what we thought the best option. We had to have the quickest and most disappointing goodbye ever - with 3 great friends it wasn't easy and we all wanted to express our thanks and appreciation to each other. Ali and I arrived at the airport (after stopping at the wrong terminal) 1 hour before check in. The lady behind the desk was not concerned at all. It was just Ali and myself a little harassed. We managed to speak to Kyla before take off to say our goodbyes, who had also just made it to the last shink home!

What a trip – the trip of a lifetime.

Thank you Kyla and Ali with all my heart. Louise x x x

We are back safe and sound.....

2007-04-16T14:15:00.000+09:00

This is the email sent out by Inga on Sunday after their 2 week stay in Japan!

".....back at about 8 last night, shattered, bed at 10, dreamt of amazing things - Raunds high street was Japanese with massage salons, i thought what a brilliant idea!!!! today we are getting everything straight at home ready for work tomorrow - boooo hisssssssssss! back to work for a rest ..... ha ha!had the best time(thank you Kyla - you will be glad to get your bed back, and no oldies saying 'how much is that in pounds?'). if anyone wants to look at some of our more hilarious moments - Kyla's blog page has them all in - yep ready for the world to see my bad hair days, poor dress sense, photo faces with eyes closed, grimacing etc etc. hooray for the world wide net!!!! got a really big shock when we got home ..... cold toilet seat .... Ronnie's new job is warming it up for me, a gal gets used to the finer things in life! so now i am back with a tan (not) pounds lighter (money wise not weight wise) and far more culturally aware ... as ky says the stereotypes of Japanese life and people are all ...................... perfectly true! they all do wear glasses (contacts in most cases) do all bow - even when driving, and nothing is ever late! i hope their perceived stereotypes of Brits lived up to their expectations. polite, refined, gentle, quiet spoken, good manners ....... pity some of you didn't go as we probably let you down. whaddya mean you don't do chips with sushi????!!!!hope everyone is well here. we will be getting in touch slowly but surely.great to come back to heatwave. the mountains in japan were cold and windy but stunningly beautiful.right heading to the shops for essentials ............ bread, milk, crisps, chocolate, sausages ... as you can see we now shop Japanese style. syonara xxxxxxxxxxxxxx...."

Inga and Ronnie in Japan - Week 2!

2007-04-16T12:21:00.000+09:00

After an action packed first week going all over Tokyo and Nagano Prefecture Inga and Ronnies second week in Japan was more relaxed.
On Monday they explored the area around my apartment, Tokuma, whilst I was at school and went out for dinner with Ikuko to Doma Doma that night. On Tuesday we all went to Hakuba for the afternoon hoping to go for a ride in the gondola to the top of the mountain but it was too windy so we had cake in a cafe at the bottom instead and took pictures.
On Wednesday Inga and Ronnie went to Matsumoto castle whilst I was at school. Their pictures from the castle are really beautiful as the sakura was in full bloom all around.

I introduced them to the delights of Japanese parfait at the Italian near my house that night.....how do Japanese people stay so slender??!

Towards the end of the second week they were begining to get their bearings and Ronnie had picked up the rules of the road (bow in the car, don't run over pedestrians, beware of the cliff edge etc) so they drove up to Togakushi for the afternoon. I was quiet impressed that they found the area as they had no map and only very vague directions from my house. Togakushi is a ski resort, hiking area and soble noodle town abdut 30km outside Nagano city. It was a shame I had to work as there is a good hike there up to a temple, but unfortunately I couldn't find any English maps or guides before they left.

Thursday night we had a traditional evening at Ikukos parents house in Yoshi. Lots of sake, tempura, soba and Japanese - English translation via Ikuko! Ikukos father brought out some of their family heirlooms to show us that are over 300 years old. Apparently they only make an appearance once a year so we were lucky to be able to see them.

The last day......was spent with a lay in then last minute shopping in Nagano city. For our farewell meal we had a Mos Burger that night and went to bed early for the chuo taxi arriving early hours the next morning.

It was soooooo nice having Inga and Ronnie visit me in Japan and rather than cure home sickness it reminded how much I miss everyone back home.....Saturday morning was so sad saying good bye. I hope they had a good experience in Japan and got a chance to see the life that I have been living here.

Back to Nature

2007-04-09T09:53:00.000+09:00

Saturday we drove from Komoro to Mt Asama via the skyline route which gave us views of all the surrounding mountains and good view points for the mountain. Mt Asama is an active volcano that last erupted 10 years ago.

We stopped at.............to hike around the falls before heading to Onioshidashi which is a molten lava national park at the bottom of the mountain.

Having spent most of the day with nature we decided to head to Jusco in Saku for some retail therapy.
Back at the hotel Inga had her first onsen experience (Ronnie was a bit less enthusiastic about getting naked with the locals and opted to stay in the room!), it was all going smoothly until when in the onsen we realised we had forgot to bring towels with us.....I told Inga not to worry Id go and sort it out whilst she stayed in the onsen......and Im not going to tell you what I did next!!!

Miki and her husband picked us up to take us for dinner that night to a local izakiya where we had yakitori and yakiniku (a plate of sashimi was brought out but we left it to Miki's husband to eat!). We were also served with hot and cold sake which also went down well.

The next day we went to the old shopping street in Karuizawa and then to the new retail outlets - lots of lovely things but just window shopping for me :-(

We sampled Japanese fast food for dinner in the form of Mos Burger.

Nishi and Zenkoji

2007-04-09T09:48:00.000+09:00

Friday was a fun day at school for the students as they prepared to recruit new students into their clubs. The students spent the morning preparing and practising and the afternoon demonstrating their club activities.
Inga and Ronnie came to school with me in the morning to have a look around and meet the teachers. We spent some time watching Kudo (Japanese archery) and speaking with some of the other students.
They headed off to see Zenkoji and find the key to enlightenment whilst I stayed at school to prepare for the new year.

At lunch we went to Tofu cafe and had stews, desserts and drinks all made from tofu and soy.

After school we made our way to Komoro where we stayed in a hotel for the weekend in order to explore Karuizawa, Mt Asama, Onioshidashi, and Shintori falls.

A walk into town and okinomiyaki

2007-04-09T09:44:00.000+09:00

Thursday was the welcome ceremony at Nishi for the new first years. I decided to let Inga and Ronnie off with sitting through another ceremony. The ceremony was really nice however, the brass band club played the school song and ended with Disney's 'Under the Sea' for the new students and their parents. Of course there was lots of speeches in between.

Inga and Ronnie spent the day in Nagano city exploring the department stores. They made their way there on foot from my apartment which is 1hr 20m away....and back again....gambatte!

No you deny eat this yan raw....you coowk it ye sen!

That night it was time to sample more Japanese food. This time it was a less offensive okinomiyaki - a savoury pancake with meat and vegetable fillings that you make yourself at the table.

Ronnie cooks the noodles whilst Inga takes care of the Okinomiyaki

Matsushiro and Mori

2007-04-09T08:57:00.000+09:00

On Wednesday it was the opening ceremony at Matsushiro high school so I took Inga and Ronnie along to watch and meet the teachers. We spent the morning talking to the English teachers in the office and drinking green tea. After the ceremony one of the teachers volunteered to give us a guided tour of Matsushiro and Mori.
He took us to the old school that had been preserved, the castle ground remains from a famous battle, museums, restaurants and then to see the apricot blossom in Mori.

Shoes on shoes off shoes on shoes off shoes on shoes off shoes on

We tried a traditional Japanese dessert for lunch made from ground chestnuts, fruit, mochi (pulped rice) and agar agar (made from seaweed). I knew it would be an unusual taste for Inga and Ronnie and even I struggled to eat it - but that was due to the fact that I couldn't stop laughing watching them eating it and trying to be polite!

Mori is apparently a good spot for viewing the blossoms as it is an orchard for growing apricots.

After the ordeal of the dessert at lunch time we decided to have a relatively familiar meal of curry that night for dinner.

Now they are here....!!!

2007-04-06T15:49:00.000+09:00

Inga and Ronnie arrived on Monday morning and we spent the first 2 days exploring Tokyo. We stayed at Tokyo Dome hotel - I didn't manage to get them on the roller coaster though!

The first day we went to Akihabara, Ginza and Odaiba. Odaiba is a man made island and beach on Tokyo bay. It was nice to visit at night on the sky rail and look back on the city lights.

The next day we had a speedy tour of the rest of the city including Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, Yoyogi Park and Omotesando Hills before catching the shinkansen back to Nagano.

Over night Narita

2007-04-06T15:43:00.000+09:00

I arrived back from Cebu on Sunday and spent the night in Narita at a hostel so I could meet Inga and Ronnie from their flight the next day.
I had a whole afternoon there so spent it walking around the temple and gardens. April is cherry blossom season - sakura - so the gardens were really beautiful.
I was quite surprised at how nice Narita was....it had Japanese streets, lots of temples and gardens and even a pub owned by Richard Branson!

Cebu....my experience in the 'developing world'

2007-04-05T09:14:00.000+09:00

The resort mini bus

Atsuko and me headed to Cebu in the Philippines for 8 days. The first stop was Mactan island to Plantation Bay Resort. We spent 2 days in 5 star bliss at the resort...but we paid 5 star prices. I didnt expect the resort to be cheap but it was clear that every time you spent any money you were being ripped off....example - a bottle of rum is 18php, 1 drink in the resort was 250php....basically the resort cashed in on the fact that outside of Plantation Bay there was nothing to do and no where to go....having said that is was beautiful so no more complaining!

In Plantation Bay resort

Outside the resort

We left the resort via taxi and headed to the main island to Constolation and stayed in more 'beach hut' style accommodation. The beach there was for locals and not the white sand I had imagined. We spent the first day drinking bottles of rum (and every day after that!) and singing karaoke on the beach.

The only food available in this area was from street vendors - every part of a chicken, rice, pork, bread.....having been brought up by a mother with an OCD about cleanliness and hygiene I couldn't bring myself to eat any of it....so my diet consisted of crisps, rum, and bread. Atsuko was less anal about the local food than me though and sampled the local delicacy at most meals...she is still with us.

My diet for 8 days!

Atsuko sampling street food

Travelling via a local 'jeepney' (a very scary local bus) we explored the area surrounding Constolation and visited Madarau city and local towns.

A typical jeepney

The local market

In desperate need for a nice beach one day we headed further up the island to a private resort and paid the price to sit on a white beach with clear water, fish swimming around your feet, lovely restaurants and swimming pools.

A nice meal at the 5 star Alegre Resort

Travelling in a side car

After 5 days spent by the sea we decided to go to Cebu City to see if we could find some civilisation. We stayed at a youth hostel in the uptown area and spent 2 days exploring the city via jeepney including churches, shopping malls, nightlife, and all the tourist spots.
With the temperature at a constant 34c we did escape into the cinema a few times and found Starbucks.

Cebu City

Cebu is undoubtedly beautiful, however, having never been to a developing country before it was a bit of a culture shock for me. As much as I enjoyed the holiday and 'cultural learning experience' I don't think it will be somewhere I would go twice and I am now also questioning whether I want to visit many other Asian countries.

Ali and Lou hit the mountian

2007-03-14T13:54:00.000+09:00

After 2 days spent on a homestay in Toyashina near Matsumoto the girls returned to Nagano at 5pm Friday night looking exhausted only to be shuttled home to pack for a weekend of snowboarding in Hakuba.

We headed up Friday night with the intentions of having a few beers in the lodge....well, me and Ali had a few beers, then a bottle of vodka and then a few kahluas!

The lads turned up in a mini van all the way from Yamanashi that provided some additional entertainment over the weekend....with Ali driving!

Saturday morning we headed to Mt Happone. Ali had the privilege of having Alan as snowboard instructor for the day whilst me and Lou snowboarded across the mountain...a little of piste and a little lost but had a great day.

Saturday night saw 'a few more beers' at the lodge before making our way to a club called Naughty in Tsugaike where a reggae/ DJ/ MC night was being held. The club was really cool and had a skate ramp at the back of the dance floor. A few hours of bumpin and grinin to the reggae and we headed back to the lodge, quite intoxicated in a snow storm....we made it home though and sat up till the small hours drinking sake with a group of skiers who were staying at the lodge to make a film.

Sunday morning was a bit painful to say the least but we got back out on the mountain and whilst Lou spent the afternoon snowboarding with Madz, Bel, Matt and Alex - Ali and I went for a little adventure in the car, up a few gondolas, stopped for crepes and Hagen Daz before calling it a day and coming back to Nagano.

It was another BRILLIANT weekend in Hakuba and I'm devastated to think that it will be the last....But what better way to spend it than with my girls.

St Paddys Day Celebrations

2007-03-14T13:52:00.001+09:00

www.KeepHerCountry. com/st_paddys_ day_hakuba_ parade.html

I forgot to say....

2007-03-12T11:57:00.000+09:00

.....that I have withdrawn my decision to stay on JET for a second year. So my time in Nagano, at Nishi High School will end in July. My reason for leaving JET is I felt that I have got as much out of the English teaching experience as I can and whilst I have THE best lifestyle - snowboarding every weekend, live in Nagano city, my own apartment, good school - the job as an ALT is not enough to occupy me for 2 years.

So what next? Usually I am a super planner and have the next phase all lined up but for once I am just going to see what happens. I have thought alot about what I want to do, where I want to go and if I will come back to UK. At the moment I don't know where I will end up.

I have however just booked my ticket to Fuji Rock Festival (Japanese Glaso) with Kiren and Nick. It starts on my last day of work in Japan - so the farewell party plans have begun!!!

They are here!

2007-03-06T15:10:00.000+09:00

Ali and Lou arrived on Sunday (after an adventure to Niigata via the wrong train!) safe and sound! I was so happy to see them and nearly cried when I met them at the station. They both bought me lots of my favourite things from UK including Grazia, cream eggs and mini eggs!
I had Monday off work to take them to the Monkey Park in ShigaKogen for the afternoon. A little detour of the countryside and we found the park that was at the top of a hike.
At first we were all a little scared of being so close to the monkeys but they didn't seem to be that interested in us!

Monday night we went for dinner with Ikuko to a Japanese restaurant called Ootoya near my apartment. The girls got to try some really traditional Japanese food and desserts, which was quite brave on their first day!

On Tuesday they came to school with me in the morning and I gave them the grand tour. Unfortunately I don't have classes for the whole of March (poor me eh!) but we got to look around the school and all the sports facilities. Next stop was Zenkoji temple which is right near my school.

We took a walk into town and I introduced them to Tullys coffee shop and my favourite sake shop! We met Jay for lunch at Tofu Cafe after a bit of souvenir shopping. Jay was unfortunately the messenger to tell me I had to come back to school - woops! So I left the girls to their own devices to tour the city.

Graduation Ceremony

2007-03-06T14:45:00.000+09:00

The third grade students at Nishi had their graduation ceremony on Saturday. It is a formal ceremony to collect their certificates and say goodbye to the school and teachers. All the students made such an effort to dress in beautiful kimono and suits.
The main ceremony was held in the school gym and was quite formal, when that finished the students went back to their homeroom to collect certificates and have a smaller ceremony with their homeroom teacher. Me and Jay joined one of the classes and it was quite emotional to see the teacher saying goodbye to a class they have taken care of for 3 years.

With the ceremonies finished the students head to the courtyard of the school to say congratulations to each other and relax and take pictures. Although it meant I had to work on a Saturday it was so nice to see the students final day and how proud they looked to be graduating from Nishi.

Getting a sick note in Japan

2007-03-01T12:18:00.000+09:00

Getting sick IN Japan can make you sick OF Japan! Since last Thursday I haven't been well and it really hit me over the weekend with what felt like a mix of food poisoning and the worst cold ever - otherwise known as the flu. So on Monday I did the unspoken in Japan and rang in sick, at which point I actually felt like I might die. The response I got from my school was over the phone directions of how to walk to the nearest doctor/hospital. Barely being able to stand I didn't pay much attention. By Wednesday I could get out of bed and tried to find this hospital. The directions took me to a pharmacy.
Standing in the pharmacy not even knowing the Japanese word for doctor, still feeling extremely rough I tried to convey what I was looking for. As they spoke no English they couldn't understand me and they found it quite funny (maybe it was a nervous thing) so I called the school again and asked my 'caretaker' to explain to them over the phone what I was looking for. My 'caretaker' who is an 'English teacher' couldn't understand me and continued to make bird like Japanese noises over the phone whilst I tried in simplest English to explain what I was asking her do. At which point with people laughing at me, making bird noises at me and feeling like I might faint......... I burst into tears.

Then everything stopped.

The pharmacy workers began running around getting out maps and tissues. My caretaker told me to calm down and go home.

A guy in the pharmacy drove me to the doctor and explained the whole ordeal to them in Japanese. Lots more pointing at my various body parts and I was sat down with a thermometer under my arm pit and a card to fill out to see the doctor. Relief.

Relief for all of 60 seconds.

I was called through to the doctor who spoke lots of Japanese at me....."nani nani nani cold nani nani nani influenza nani nani nani where do you come from nani nani nani injections ok"

So Im nodding going, yes I have the flu, yes I come from England and yes I had an injection for the flu in England (well, not really but I HATE injections and all I really wanted was a sick note for my school and get out of there). Next thing I know I'm being taken out of the cubicle and having long cotton buds pushed up my nose....and thats when it happened.....the needle came out.....OH CHRIST, I'm going to have an injection I think.....and look over my right shoulder so I can't see the needle. And thats when I realise what is really instore. A drip. Part of the room is partitioned off with people laying on hospital beds with drips going into their arm.
Now Im thinking, ESCAPE ESCAPE ESCAPE, but before I know it Im on the bed, with the drip bag of god only knows what, being prepared and my veins being prepped for the needle.
30 minutes later the drip has finished and Im feeling a little traumatized by the whole crying, translation, nose, drip experience and they are about to show me out the door.
Another 10 minutes of trying to say that what I really need is a note to show the school I have been sick so that the kind, caring people that they are don't use my holiday days for when I was absent.

Result....I've got the note. Who knew it would have been so easy as to just get lost, cry in a room of strangers, have your nose prodded and a drip!

Hakuba....and we drove there!

2007-02-20T16:26:00.000+09:00

Saturday morning Madz and I drove, yes drove my new car!, to Hakuba for a day of boarding. It was a gorgeous sunny day and it took great waves of willpower to come home and not join a party there that night. But we were strong and came back to Nagano and went to the onsen by the river.
A back route to Iiyama home (cause were clever like that) and a quiet night in was in store - after the last few months of solid snowboarding and partying our bodies needed the rest.

Sunday we headed back to Nagano, in the car like, for a day of retail therapy.

I call her Red

2007-02-20T16:18:00.000+09:00

I'm not one for naming things like cars but this week I acquired a new car from Jim-San as he departed for the UK, and I call her Red. This is Red at New Year outside my place- as you can see she has handy snowboard racks on the roof.

This next picture makes me sad. This is Madz driving Red. The reason being I have to wait 4 weeks to have an eye test to get my Japanese license. 4 weeks. So I'm sad that I have yet to road trip in the car myself.

Matsushiro 3rd Graders Farewell

2007-02-20T11:44:00.000+09:00

Thursday at Matsushiro I only had 1 lesson as the afternoon was dedicated to a farewell party for san-nensei. The students put on a show that consisted of a comedy act presenting, various students bands singing, rapping and dancing and drama sketches. Although I couldn't understand them the show was really good and I think it showed what great character and atmosphere there is at Matsushiro high school.

Nozawa Onsen Long weekend

2007-02-20T11:35:00.000+09:00

Another thing I like about Japan other than the great food and a festival for every possible commemoration, is the number of public holidays....alot more than the UK!

The last public holiday was 2 weeks ago. I visited the light festival at Zenkoji saturday afternoon and met some friends in town for dinner after. The lads came from Yamanashi as well as Ricky and Ultan from Sendei. After dinner at the izakaya we went in search of some Nagano nightlife (which seems to be rapidly decreasing or hiding under some unturned stone!). Not wanting to go in the club containing all of 9 customers, we opted for the bar next door which turned out to be quite fun. It wasn't long before the drums and guitar was out and the lads had the whole place going.

With 6 lads staying in my appartment that night I decided to stay at Kirens house to make sure I got enough sleep before an earlier start on the hills the next day.

Kiren and I headed to Nozawa Onsen in the morning and were joined by everyone else at lunch. The conditions in Nozawa were white out but there was great powder.

With everywhere fully booked for the long weekend we headed back to Nagano at the end of the day and went for a curry before some of the lads drove back to Yamanashi.

Sunday night there was still 4 people staying at my place to get a final day of boarding in on Monday.

Zenjoji Light festival

2007-02-20T11:20:00.000+09:00

Each year a light festival is held at Zenkoji temple to celebrate the anniversary of the winter Olympics held in Nagano. Although I see the temple almost every day I never tire of it. It looks so beautiful at lunch times with the sun over it, after school at sunset and at night. But it really was worth seeing at the light festival. Different parts of the temple grounds were lit in different colours and strobe lights shone across the sky. What is usually an ancient wood construction came to life with greens, reds and blues dowsed over it.

The lights were turned on at 6pm with a gasp from the crowd. With lots of posing and pictures taken, everyone made there way through the temple grounds and headed either for a traditional Buddhist meal at a restaurant, mochi freshly made in the street or street vans selling grilled tofu. Ikuko and I watched the mochi being made and luckily were the first 100 in line so we got a free serving! Mochi is a Japanese sweet made from pulped rice and dusted with a flavour. It is supposed to be healthy and is fat free - bonus!

Tuesday is lunch day!

2007-02-20T11:10:00.000+09:00

Tuesday is often the day that I head into town on my lunch break with Ikuko. Over the last 6 months we have been to sooo many nice places to eat in Nagano that if it wasn't for this weekly outing I would never have discovered. One of my favourite places to eat is Tofu Cafe near Zenkoji temple. The main feature is tofu but not the bland tofu that people are usually familiar with. At the cafe you can have a set lunch with different kinds of tofu and a self serve tofu bar, you can get anintofu which is a jello like dessert with fruit and soya fruit smoothies.

Well today is Tuesday so to stay true to tradition I will be popping out for a bite to eat. Today's menu I think will be soba crepes with prawn and avocado - if there is one thing Japan does really well, its food!!!

Nozawa Onsen this time!

2007-02-05T11:33:00.000+09:00

James took his turn to organise a weekend snowboarding at Nozawa Onsen. It was the first time that we had been there - and we loved it! The mountain was beautiful and not as busy as Hakuba. We stayed in a lodge right next to the lifts which was also very cool. The lodge was fully booked so we had to have the rooms in the basement that usually comprise the TV room and the helpers bedroom so we were a little packed in but was nice all the same.
Saturday night involved a fair bit of vino and karaoke but the best part of the evening was having a snowball fight and stealing a snow shovel to use as a sledge on the way home! Usually were so cold we don't even want to touch the snow but I think it was a measure of how much we had drank that we were rolling around in it in the middle of the night!
Back at the lodge the J-Group was in full party action so we joined in with them and got people up performing a dance from their country.....Irish, Scottish, Japanese and even Nepalese!

Kat and Madz are becoming pros!

Karaoke mayhem!

It didn't feel so funny Sunday morning though and everyone was quite quiet for the best part of the day. I did however brave trying a jump in the ski park! It was only a littley but still, the only way is up right!

Me doing the baby jump!

We finished another brilliant weekend with dinner in Nagano thanks to the Yamanashi boys being kind enough to take me home.

Just more snowboarding

2007-01-30T09:19:00.000+09:00

Friday night I went down to Kats place in Asashina for the first time. She has a real house and its so nice - even has a built in alarm in the form of next doors cockerels!
Saturday morning me, Kat, Madz, James headed to Sugadaira for a bit more snowboarding action. Sugadaira is kind of between Nagano and Ueda, the mountain was quite small but good for beginners and practising. James was the nominated instructor for the day and everyone managed to improve - and Madz cracked it!

This is the bike Im thinking would be handy for getting to school!

I told you girls, these J-boy snowboarders are hot!

My Mum keeps asking for pictures of me 'doing it'......so this ones for you mum!
Saturday night I went round Kirens place to catch up with her and hear all about her job in Tokyo. It all sounds so exciting and really tempts me to head for the city, but then I remember how easy my life is here in inaka!

Sunday I met up with Atsuko in Nagano. We went to The Hungry Caterpillar for lunch and to plan our trip to Cebu in the Philippines! We are going for a week, not a cultural discovery type trip, just a week on the beach, white sand, sea and cocktails, can't wait.
I'm hoping to plan it well enough to arrive back in Japan the night before Inga and Ronnie arrives so we can then spend a couple of days in Tokyo before I bring them to Nagano. The next couple of months are going to be so busy. Its not long until Ali and Lou come, then before I know it Inga will be here, then it will almost be summer time again (I hope - snow is nice an all but being cold all the time is wearing thin!).

Hakuba GAA Weekend and Reggae Snowsplash

2007-01-23T13:59:00.000+09:00

Friday night I made my way to Hakuba with Kat and James to meet everyone from the GAA at the Lady Diana hotel. The guy who runs the place is hilarious and he had a welcome to Japan GAA poster with IRA in brackets at the bottom as well as a Irish flag hanging up.
The first night me, Kat and James went and checked out Tracks bar where the Reggae Snowsplash was taking place - it was a cool bar and we were loving the reggae vibe. Kat also taught me her 'Japan dance' that went down a treat the next night!

Saturday I hit the slopes with Kiren and James and later met up with Alan, Cairon, Paul and Shaun by the afternoon and a few expert runs later me and Kiren decided to find the girls in their lesson when low and behold we stumbled across Pod bar and it just happened to be happy hour. A few vodkas and meat pies later we were feeling quite confident on the slopes and Kiren was so mellow she looked like she was born in the snow!!!

Dinner was quite interesting with the GAA awards and someone put mine and James name down for some novelty awards....most sensitive balls.....nicest person.....ill let you figure out whos who!

The Reggae snowsplash turned out to be a really good night, it was packed in the main bar and the music was brilliant. We started drinking bottles of 'Canabia' just to go along with the mood - im sure it was just cheap larger with a clever label!

Me and Madz managed to get home by a sensible hour but most others came back at around 4.30am and managed to have 4 hours sleep before getting back on the mountain in the morning.

I spent Sunday boarding with Madz and we made our way across Goyru to 47 to watch the lads do some jumps in the park and stop for a beer for lunch.
It was such a good weekend and I got to see some faces from Shanghai again too.

The after party

2007-01-17T11:16:00.000+09:00

After the Skeleton I arranged to meet Jay and his family, and my Nagano crew at an okinomiyaki restaurant near my place. We managed to get 2 tatami tables together and all enjoyed the entertainment of cooking the food and Lisa, who suddenly came alive after about 15 minutes (as Jay said!).

Although I was set for a quiet evening we all decided it was too early to go home so went to karaoke where we ended up staying for 3 hours! The boys did escape early though to watch the footie back at Nicks place....but was probably just as well as the girls were taking up most of the space dancing on the tables!

Somewhere between to 1 minute from the restaurant and 7 11 and the 30 seconds to karaoke I managed to loose my purse....so not the best end to the night but had such a good time I wasn't overly bothered.

At 3.30am japan time (6.30pm UK) I called my Dad and all he did was laugh at the fact that I am old and catching up with him!!! But was nice to speak to both my parents though - the time difference makes it sooo hard to speak to people in the UK so I haven't been able to speak to my Dad very often.

Having lost my purse, money, bank card, visa Sunday saw me pretty much confined to my apartment - enough time to recover from the night before (i actually lost my voice from singing so much) and tidy my apartment.

Saturday 13th January - World Championship Skeleton

2007-01-17T11:04:00.000+09:00

Jay and I headed up to Iizna to watch the Skeleton on Saturday. Skeleton is like luge but is head first. The sledge goes up to 140km/ph, whilst the driver? tries to guide it through the quickest and smoothest path I guess. Yamamoto-Sensei had organised staff passes for us so we got to go 'behind the scenes' a little and were provided with a free lunch! In return I was nominated to help with the award ceremony at the end of the day.

We met the guy who runs the Skeleton club in Iizna. I asked about having a try and he gave me number to call him and go along! After the event me and Jay were speaking to some of the athletes and asking how they got into it. One girl said she only trained for 8 weeks before becoming the national champion in America....so watch this space! But me and Jay did decide that the measure of how good you are at Skeleton is really how crazy you are.

January 12th - A quiet transition to old age

2007-01-17T10:57:00.000+09:00

On Friday I turned 25 and feeling old! After a late night seeing Lily I decided to have a quiet evening in Nagano with Madz. We met in Starbucks and planned to go and play ping pong but got distracted trying out new cocktail bars in Nagano! We went to Asian Night Market to sample some of their cocktails - it was really nice, and then had a wonder around before heading home.

With my 'decision' still looming my mood wasn't exactly right for a big party but I had a nice night with Madz just hanging out.

Thursday 11th January - Lily Allen in Tokyo

2007-01-17T10:04:00.000+09:00

After work on Thursday I caught the shink to Tokyo to go and see Lily Allen with Kiren. The gig was at Club Quattro in Shibuya - it was the perfect venue for her as it was really intimate and we were standing really close to the stage. Lily was brilliant - such a good voice, but looks a lot older than 21 in the flesh.
The gig finished surprisingly early so me and Kiren headed to the combini to get loaded up with chi hi whilst trying to find somewhere else to go. A failed attempt saw me catching the last shink back to Nagano (apparently Tokyo hasn't got much going on in the way of clubs on a Thursday!) but it was probably the best idea anyway as
my alternative was to catch 40winks in an internet cafe before coming back in the morning and straight to work!

Decisions....

2007-01-09T10:17:00.000+09:00

Today was the first day back at school and I have on my desk an offer from the school to recontract. So what to do? I really am stuck. I am enjoying Japan so much and living in the mountains is amazing. At the same time I do miss people and things from home....and with my 25th birthday insight I'm starting to wonder how much longer I can be an ALT before it starts to affect my 'real' career goals....agh!

I have done the pros and cons, I have assessed my goals, I have considered different career options but I still cant decide which box to tick!

Iizna....Surviving the storm!

2007-01-09T10:11:00.000+09:00

Kiren and I headed to Iizna for the first run of the season there. It turned out that the day pass was only 500yen because it was fully open so was a cheap day out. The first few runs there was 5 people on the mountain and me and Kiren were 2 of them...it would have been brill if the whole slope wasn't pure powder. I know for some people this is good but we were just ploughing through it and getting stuck as opposed to surfing it! It did get busier though and as a result it became more packed as the day went on.
We decided to call it a day just as a storm hit....after getting the car out of the snow, Kiren had the challenge of driving back through a white out with me saying 'stop the car stop the car don't move!' most of the way down!

We made it back to Nagano which had become completely snow covered in the 6 hours we were away!

That night we went to watch Nicks ice hockey team play in the finals at M Wave. His team won and we got to see Nick being quite aggressive!!!

First Prayer of the year at Zenkoji Temple

2007-01-09T10:04:00.000+09:00

On the 2nd January hoards of people flocked to Zenkoji temple to pray for the first time of the year. It is a tradition in Japan and is supposed to bring you god luck for the rest of the year. People queue over night and for hours just to get into the temple.

New Year in Hakuba

2007-01-09T09:56:00.000+09:00

For the New Year celebrations Kat, James, Belinda and I headed to Hakuba for 5 days of boarding and drinking! When we arrived we were a little worried about the lack of snow but the first night had a massive dump just in time for our first day out on the slopes. Bel and Kat headed to ski school with an instructor from the lodge whilst James and I had our first day in the powder. It was a new experience for me to snowboard in sooo much powder and I am still getting used to it now. James was quite patient waiting for me to pick up snowboarding again but we were joined by Kiren and Nick for the last 2 days so we started to venture out a bit more.

Hakuba was fairly busy and there was a couple of days when James and I got trapped up the mountain in storms and had to wait for hours for a lift down. The second 2 days were really good though and the sun even came out.

For New Years eve we went to a club near the lodge that started off pretty empty but was packed before new year. Again it was sooo sad to be away from my friends and family but we did have a good party that night!

Christmas Day in Japan!

2007-01-09T09:48:00.000+09:00

Christmas Eve Kat, James, Matt and me all stayed over at Belinda's house in order to wake up together on Christmas day. The day started with Champagne breakfast and present opening. With that out the way we headed into Nagano on the train (donning glasses, tinsel and feeling a bit merry) where we had a massage and a few hours of karaoke....After tearing Kat away it was time to go home and get the cooking started for the dinner that night.
Kat and me were feeling too festive to sit down and cook but managed to produce some kind of dish (no really traditional food - cous cous?!) before everyone arrived. Nick, Kiren, Alex and Rich (who added more traditional fare in the way of stuffing and gravy!) joined us for dinner and a night of entertainment provided by Kat and myself in the form of charades!

Although it was hard being away from my friends and family at Christmas we managed to pack enough activities and champagne into the day so as to keep ourselves happy!

December in Nagano

2006-12-22T14:29:00.000+09:00

This week we had our first snow fall in Nagano which all of us in our first year were quite excited about! I was a bit dubious about how I was going to get to school, but still ended up cycling...which I don't mind as it gave me time to stop and take pictures.

It is also a great time to be an ALT as we can wind down for the year and play games in class...and sing carols around school with Jay!

Cant wipe the smile off my face!

2006-12-14T09:30:00.000+09:00

Tis the season to be merry.....but now for more than the 3 reasons I already had (snowboarding, Belindas birthday and Christmas) but also because my 2 bestest friends from England have just booked their flights to come see me! Ali and Lou, you don't know how happy you girls have just made me!

Hakuba...The first day of the season!

2006-12-11T10:47:00.000+09:00

This weekend I went to Hakuba 47 with Kiren and some friends from Yaminashi. We had an early start on Saturday morning to drive up there by 9am to meet everyone at the hotel.

A few hiccups with my bindings and we were set to have our first run of the season! Its still quite early so only the top of the mountain was open but it was good to get out there. It really lifted my spirits and reminded why I came to Japan - to have fun and snowboard! This month so far has been quite slow, but now that the ski season has started I'm so excited!

The lifts closed at 4pm so we made our way back to the hotel for onsen and a few beers.....Did I say that the guys from Yamanashi are Irish?! So we had quite a few beers! And then attempted to play darts, which we realised the next day we only got half through the game and forgot we were playing!

The hotel room we had was a mix of Japanese tatami style and western bed`s on a split level...but I think by the end of the drinking that night the stairs up to the beds was a bit much for some people so most of us ended up on the tatami.

It was one of the best days and nights Ive had in Japan so far and I haven`t laughed that much for a long time....the laughing made my side ache so much I forgot about the bruises on my knees!!

NHK Figure Skating

2006-12-04T19:38:00.000+09:00

On Saturday I met Ikuko at Big Hat in Nagano to watch the NHK championship figure skating. I wasn't overly excited before I got there but it was amazing! The skaters are so strong especially the pair dancers....was v.impressed.

This girl came first for Japan.....Japan also bagged 2nd and 3rd! Must be there forte

After the skating I went into Nagano to meet the latest edition to our gang....James, Kat's boyfriend has come to Japan for 3 months...we have all been waiting in anticipation to meet him for ages! Very nice chap and also went to university in Leicester when I was there (as did Kat) but we didn't know each other. James is also into snowboarding so I'm hoping he will be getting the lovely Kat up the mountain with me on a regular basis!

Firework festival in Nagano

2006-12-03T13:00:00.000+09:00

We watched the Nagano firework festival by the river...although it was freezing cold there were loads of people there and the fireworks were really beautiful.

Never again......until next week!

2006-11-27T16:34:00.000+09:00

I have been in Japan, Nagano, for almost 5 months now and not until last Saturday had I experienced a night out in my own city. In order to correct this I went out 'on the town' the last two Saturdays in a row.

Episode 1
Last Saturday I met Bel, English Matt and Atsuko at Belinda's for pre-drinks and then headed into Nagano having consumed Kahlua, vodka and plum wine...nice mix!
First stop was Doma Doma where Kiren and Mary also joined us for a bit of food and lots of cocktails....oh and neat sake...I think you can see where this is going - a very very blurry place.
Making our way to High Five we stumbled upon Parle....I invoke the right to parle....Pirates of the Caribbean theme bar! They have the theme music playing on repeat and the bar man was dressed as a pirate, and gave us pirates gold....well the prices of the drinks I wanted some rubies too!

By this point we were ready to dance and went to High Five, where I danced for 5 hours straight until 4am and it was time to go....I was dancing pretty much on my own for most of it bar the random Japanese guys who kept taking naps in the corner - not sure what that was about!

Leaving the club we/I remembered that Doma Doma is open till 5 so we tried to go back in and for some unknown reason they wouldn't let us back in....soba noodles on the steps and a taxi back to Bel's and the night was pretty much over....I missed a few details out but lets just say I there are a few places I probably shouldn't go to for a while!

Episode 2
This Saturday, me Kiren, Atsuko, Rich and his pal from Ueda went out.....again started at about 6pm and went to Izakaya for dinner....then to a Russian bar - was very cool and had good DJ...And then to High Five....High Five was pretty busy this time and again danced pretty much the whole night....got kicked out at 4am and went to another club, Fame, got home at about 7am and woke up mid day with Atsuko, Rich and a complete stranger in my apartment....not bad eh!
Turns out that he is called Ben and is working in Ida, he was visiting his friend in Nagano and somewhere along the line we accosted him and brought him home!

So, yeah, had pretty eventful couple of weekends in Nagano and maybe need to give it a rest for a while....well at least until the weekend!

World Championship Volleyball 2006

2006-11-21T10:14:00.000+09:00

The World Championship Volleyball tournament is held every 4 years, and lucky for me it was on this year. Matches have been taking place at various cities around Japan including Nagano. I went on Saturday 18th with Ikuko to watch the Men's Group C matches.
It was so exciting and I got quite into it. During breaks they had dance clubs from schools around Nagano perform, some of them were so little and cute.
One of the English teachers from my school was working at the event and I found out that he is the coach of Nishi's girls team - I am going to join! There is one slight problem though...I don't actually know how to play volleyball and school sports clubs are quite serious here...but that's a minor detail.

Yamamoto Sensei, also got me and Jay into the Volleyball on Tuesday night for free. We watched USA v Italy...was a brilliant match, and watching it with our students was fun as they were really excited.

And the day just got even better - Jay invited me round for dinner and Megumi-san made delicious okinomiyaki!

My fair city

2006-11-21T10:07:00.000+09:00

Having realised that I haven't given much exposure to Nagano City on my blog, and on the advice of Jay, I decided to make a photo journey from my house into the town. It gave me a chance to appreciate things that I see everyday but don't really see, and also capture some photos of the changing leaves. Autumn in Nagano truly is beautiful.
If you want to see the photo journey then check out my flickr www.flickr.com/photos/kyinjapan

Cancel all plans.....the Horlicks has arrived!

2006-11-21T09:42:00.000+09:00

This is such a British thing, Horlicks, that loveley malty drink, slightly sickly, sends you to sleep, sounds great no?! Well I just received a supply of the lovely malty treat from Auntie Inga....gold medal!

So now I have to cancel all plans for the evening so I can go home, get into bed with my fleece PJs, hot water bottle and a big mug o horlicks!

How to prevent wrinkles

2006-11-15T15:21:00.000+09:00

Events this week have caused me to raise my eyebrows on several occasions. Now we all know that raising your eyebrows causes wrinkles on your forehead....so if you don't want wrinkles don't mess with the WA.
The first event was being 'told off' for dying my hair. Apparently its against school rules - raised your eyebrows right? So anyway, I dyed it again (figuring they are more like guidelines than rules) and now I am being ignored.....

The second event was in class. For a listening class I decided to play The Streets - The Irony of It.....and then analyse the song. The song compares drugs and alcohol, so working in a Senior High School, I thought it would be a good issue to discuss. Whilst the students are working on their ideas I went around the class to discuss it with them individually. A group of girls asked me if you can smoke banana skins like a drug, and having no knowledge about this kind of thing, I said maybe yes because most drugs come from a natural source for example poppies. One by one they read out their views......and then one girl added at the end of hers "I would also like to announce that Kyla knows how to make drugs. So if you want to know you should ask her"......
I nearly f**king died.....In Japan it is ZERO tolerance to drugs, any drug, you go to prison for smoking the reefer, I would get deported. The Japanese teacher working with me looked like she was about to run away and call the police.....
But I must say, she did say it in perfect English!

Anyway, moral of the story, if you don't want wrinkles - DON'T MESS WITH THE WA!

Me being a teacher - who would have thought!

2006-11-15T15:19:00.000+09:00

Debate and Speech Contest

2006-11-13T16:42:00.000+09:00

Last week my students took part in a debate contest....although they didn't win they were great and fot their efforts me and Jay took them out for THE best ice creams in Nagano!

This weekend two of my students took part in a speech contest and came 1st and 2nd.....that's because they speak the queen's english with me as their teacher!!!!

Preparing for speech contest.....

The big day.......

My english stars!!!

Ali - What perfect timing...its snowing!

2006-11-13T12:08:00.000+09:00

The lovely Ali surprised me with an almost lovlier pair of mittens sent from England today.....and the timing could not have been better - as my Aussie mate Bel, keeps enthusing (having never seen snow before) its snowing in Nagano!!!!

The tops of the mountains are now white and the temperature is rapidly decreasing. The only way I could get to sleep last night was by drinking 5 Kahlua coffees and then listening to a story on BBC Radio 7 to send me asleep.....I needed a distraction from the fact that my hands and feet felt like ice cubes, and, being scared of working out how my kerosene heater works, this was the next best thing I could come up with!!!

ALT positions: only mature, responsible, respectable people need apply........

2006-11-08T14:52:00.000+09:00

Such a lady!

Hello cowgirl!

Drink doesn't affect me

I ruv you

Its amazing....did you hear that?!

For some reason we could only hear eachother if we used a headset...

Giddy up!

What a suprise

In the Pink Cow bar in Tokyo for Halloween we provided lots of entertainment....for ourselves!

Halloween!

2006-11-01T22:22:00.000+09:00

Jay and I decided we would perk up the school by dressing up for halloween.....It was such a good fun day and the kids loved it....as well as the locals who got the pleasure of seeing us posing for photos at Zenkoji temple!

In the office

Jay making balloon animals at lunch time

In the principles office

The kids reaction!

Zenkoji Temple

Tokyo Halloween Scavenger Hunt...."Through the Decades"!

2006-11-01T09:54:00.000+09:00

This weekend we went to Tokyo to take part in a Halloween event that is held every year for JETs...A fancy dress scavenger hunt around the city to solve a murder mystery.
I took Friday off work (and got to speak to Zeke on skype in the morning!) and went to Tokyo in the afternoon. On the bus, to my horror, I realised I had forgotten one of my boots to wear with my outfit so had to go shopping in Harajuku when I got there...its a hard life!
Harajuku has lots of well stocked vintage shops and I bought a pair of tanned leather boots (and a pair of wedges just in case!!). Shopping complete, I went to the hotel to check in and try and get a few hours sleep before the party that night.

The rest of the girls arrived from 7pm and slowly got ready to hit the town. The first stop was a Jazz bar where the other girls had dinner and champagne and I had cocktails, rum and Baileys before going to the club.
The cub was an 'underground' kind of venue that is off the beaten track. It was very cool and the night started with a funk jazz band and was followed by a DJ playing electro funk type music. Oh and the Tokyo boys....I had given up on Japanese men until that night.....stylish, cool, and not a mullet in sight! So I realised that Nagano city men are the British equivalent to (no offence intended) those from Birmingham or even further North.....and Tokyo boys are equivalent to those in East London scene....there is hope yet ;-)

Ok so enough about the boys......the next day was the scavenger hunt. We had to be up at 8 so after 4 hours sleep no-one in our team was particularly genki and whilst the others were collecting there packs of info we were hanging around the breakfast and coffee table trying to cure our hangovers with muffins and lattes!

Belinda rounded us up for some pre hunt piccies and off we went into Tokyo dressed like a mix of my gran, Grease, and Geri Halliwell's 'Rainin Men'.....We were also equipped with some white boards which proved to provide much needed funny entertainment.....see the pictures!

With hangover creep setting n Me, Madz and Kat were defeated and headed to Book 1st to stock up on British magazines, went to Puri Kura for some photos and then hit the shops! Zara actually had some really nice winter coats that we poured over for about an hour before deciding that as we only have £50 left until pay day winter shopping should be put on hold....although Kat did splash out and bag her self a nice one.

Back at the hotel we got ready for the dinner and award ceremony...best outfits, scavenger winners etc....and started drinking the red wine again. We were late for the dinner but we weren't too bothered and entertained ourselves by posing with the decoration in the bar....even the fruit! Outside some more provocative pictures were taken that can be viewed by donating a small fee to the 'winter coats for brit girls' fund.

Saturday night was also the celebrations for the Gaelic Football tournament. Me, Kat and Madz went to Roppongi Hills to Paddy Foleys Irish Bar to join the players. I was impressed that some of them were still dedicated and wore their tour tops.
Paddy Foleys was fun and we got letchy americans showing off their money to buy us drinks...suckers!
After all the fun of the weekend I was out of genkiness, out of money and so went home after the bar....Kat and Madz went on to a club called Grace in Roppongi to meet the rest of the hunt teams.....see Madz blog for an update about the club!

Sunday required nothing less than Pizza Express for lunch before getting the highway bus back to Nagano.

School Festival .... Saturday 7th October

2006-10-18T10:33:00.000+09:00

Nagano Nishi celebrated its 110th anniversary.
The celebrations (held on a Saturday, why oh why?!) involved the students putting on shows, dancing, music......and then the speeches!!! So as soon as they kicked off me and Jay headed for the doors but were spotted by several levels of security in the form of teachers, leaving the school...oops!

Dinner with my girls.......Friday 6th October

2006-10-18T10:26:00.000+09:00

Belinda - Australia mate
Me! Alright girl
Kat - Newcastle like
Madz - Scotland Hen
Ikuko - Japan desu

After not being able to meet up for a long time we decided that the next event would involve dinner at a restaurant in Nagano, Sandalwood, that is uber cool.
The night involved lots of sampling of the cocktails and we didn't actually manage to check anywhere else out as we were so carried away catching up on everything.

Shanghai.....Asian Games 2006

2006-10-17T16:30:00.000+09:00

Satrurday...........
With a 6.30am start to get to the hotel for a group breakfast at 7.30 I was already exhausted before we kicked off!
A quick change into my kit and an introduction to the girls B team (as in we had never met, let alone trained before the day of the games!) and it was off to the pitch.
Our first match kicked off at 10am so we had some time to kick and pass the ball whilst remembering each others names.....and as I have never even seen a game of Gaelic Football before, I got to watch a few matches before ours to get the general idea! Luckily there is no offside or such rules to learn.....1,2,3,4 bounce 1,2,3,4 kick, score, hit, grab, kick, slam, pass, jump, sprint, tackle.....Easy?!

On Saturday we played 5 matches - won 1, drew 2 and lost 2.......but when we won it was like winning the world cup! I got a real buzz from playing and now I want to train to get fast at sprinting.....so maybe Zeke - as you are number1 sprinter when playing football you can give me some tips?!! It was a long hard day and my whole body took a battering.

The matches finished at 5pm and I went back to Gordons being in no fit state to join the BBQ party at the rugby club.

I had a wander around the shopping mall before passing out watching the last Friends episodes.

Sunday.......The Finals
Due to our amazing performance in Saturdays matches we weren't in the running for any cups, bowls or even plates so our final match was just a good bye game and got us up and out to support the rest of the Japan games. After our last match I got my beer tokens and bought the finest alcopop I could find and went and had a massage (provided free as part of the weekend) on a hill overlooking the pitch so I could still watch the games.......bliss!

The Ladies A team made it to the finals for the plate.....and took it home.
The Mens A were knocked out in the semi finals

All the results are below

ResultsMens A
Japan 0-3 Shanghai A 2-2
Japan 2-11 HK B 2-2
Japan 4-6 Taiwan A 1-4QF
Japan 0-8 Beijing A 0-4SF
Japan 1-8 Singapore A 2-7

Mens B
Japan 0-2 Dalian A 2-2
Japan 4-5 Shanghai Tigers 0-5
Japan 1-9 Taiwan B 2-3QF
Japan 2-7 Singapore C 1-1SF
Japan 0-6 Shanghai B 4-1

Ladies A
Japan 4-2 Shenzhen A 1-0
Japan 1-2 Dubai A 2-4
Japan 2-2 HK A 2-5Plate SF
Japan 3-2 Singapore A 2-1
Plate Final
Japan 3-4 Beijing A 3-3

Ladies B
Japan 0-2 Korea B 2-2
Japan 1-0 Taiwan B 4-5
Japan 2-2 Beijing B 0-1
Japan 0-2 Shanghai B 2-2
Japan 1-0 Singapore B 2-2
Japan 0-2 HK B 2-3

After a long weekend of matches a well deserved party was next. The ceremony was held at the Regent Hotel where free drink and food for all was provided....the coach trip there was very amusing with singing performances from some of the team.

The reception was was brilliant and the Trade Minister for Ireland was there as well as a famous commentator.

After we got the food out the way dancing on the tables commenced. There was a bit of a disco and then a band who had to compete with people dancing on the stage in front of them!
The reception finished at 1am so it was back on the coach and off to an Irish bar...again another band, lots of dancing and drinking and other shenanigans going on!!!

Seen as some of us had to be at the airport for 7am we decided there was no point sleeping so headed for a club. I wouldn't call it a club exactly but it was good fun and dancing on the bar was permitted! We managed to get back to the hotel for 6am - enough time to shower breakfast and head to the airport....Monday was not a pleasant day!

Overall the weekend was brilliant and I love Gaelic Football....as well as the Irish celebrations!

Shanghai.....The Holiday

2006-10-17T11:47:00.000+09:00

I arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday 10th October. My cousin Gordon (and his driver!) picked me up from the airport which was about an hour from his apartment. But an hour in v.nice car with DVD players and a driver to take you is not so bad!
By the time I got to his apartment it was quite late but I was so excited I managed to stay up and chat with Gordon and Heiwan till the early hours.
So first I am going to tell you about the apartment.....WOW! Gordon lives in a serviced apartment in one of the main shopping areas, Puxi. His apartment was on the top floor and had amazing balcony views of Shanghai. They have swimming pool, gym, sauna, steam room, relaxation room with massage chairs, daily yoga lessons, virtual golf, reading room with Vogue!, huge screen TV room, a pool room and a bar.....so my first thoughts were "when will I have time to see Shanghai with all of this to entertain me"!

Below the apartment there was 2 Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Warner Bros Cinema, Hagen Daz, Shopping centre with (to name a few) Diesel, Boss, Fornarina, Miss Sixty, Clinique, French Connection, La Coste, DKNY.......and lots lots more. There is also a supermarket in the basement....so you see what I mean as no time to see the rest of Shanghai! I think this is the point when I realize how much living in the mountains is affecting me when I get excited by seeing shops that I see 10 times a day in London!

Wednesday.....
I started the day by taking advantage of an on site gym and massage chairs.
Gordon had to work as our grandparents had stayed with him for the previous two weeks so he had already taken time off....but that was fine because Heiwan was my tour guide (which I think she does very well!) . The first stop was the fabric market where you can pretty much order any clothes made to measure from shirts and suits to coats and dresses. I took a picture of a coat from a magazine, selected the fabric and had it made to pick up at the end of the holiday. I also bought some very cheap, nice pashmina scarves (well its cold in Nagano now!) and jewelry.
With all that shopping and exercise we were feeling hungry so went to a gorgeous restaurant on the river with a great view of the Pearl Tower. It was in the same place as the Evian Spa - it looked sooo nice in the spa but being on a budget I couldn't afford a treatment this time....My next visit to Shanghai though will definitely involve some pampering!

After lunch we had a walk along the river and watched some dancers. Next was some culture in the form of the Shanghai History Museum. It was really interesting to see how much and how quickly Shanghai has developed, and also the presence and affect that the west has had in Shanghai dating back to the early 21-C.
With some cultural things done we headed to a supermarket - its one of the places I always find interesting when I visit another country, I think you can get a feel for the way of life through food....and also see some very strange things! I got to buy Mangoes which I cannot find in Japan so I was happy!

We went and met Gordon after work and headed to a Thai restaurant for dinner....very nice food and a beautiful restaurant. ....with English menus - happy days!

Thursday....
Again started the day using the gym, steam room and massage chair (god, I could so happily be a house wife!) and then headed to the famous Yuyuan gardens. It was really beautiful and has been persevered really well. After all the walking we went to a Tea House....for some tea. We had flower tea which is really pretty to look at and tastes good too - always a bonus! They put the dried bud in a glass tea pot and it slowly expands to the full flower....so clever! The tea was served with a strange selection of nibbles....no, no jam and scones Im afraid......cubes of tofu, pickled quail eggs, some kind of salted dried fruit and a green tea cake.....oishii no?!

The super brand mall was next.....fake everything. Golf clubs, clothes, shoes, trainers, North Face anything, LV, Gucci, Prada, Channel, Balenciaga, Chloe, Coach........Bags Bags Bags. So with some dodging of the police and alot of haggling, a couple of very nice genuine, huh huh, bags were purchased.

Next stop was the "City Store" to get some things for dinner....this one goes out to my fellow Nagano-ites....You can buy every English food you could desire there....oh yes, it was good! Only you will understand my excitement over Baxters Vegetable Soup and Horlicks.....the simple things.
Home was the last stop and Heiwan cooked dinner and I got to spend some time with Gordon catching up on the developments of his job so far in Shanghai. Im not going to say exactly what he is doing as it involves new product development and this is the world wide web...but with my lateset desire to work in the food industry it was really interesting to see how things take shape.

Friday..........
Again being super keen I started the day with a visit to the gym and sauna but cut out the massage chair as we had to head off early to go to the Jade Buddha temple. I know, I know - I live in the land o temples but I still wanted to go. It was a very different experience as lots of people were praying and worshipping. This involved lighting incense and bowing with it in front of the gods so the temple smelled lovely! We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the main part with the Buddha which was more extravagant.

Then we headed to an antique market, antique being a very loosely used word, and I bought a nice poster for my apartment. Its a good job there is a luggage limit or I would have bought so many trinkets home! At the opposite side of the antique market was the pet market - I think this was the best place I went to in Shanghai...Partly due to the giggling at the expense of Heiwan as we walked through very narrow rows of stalls selling unrecognisable bugs that were squirming and dropping on the floor, grasshoppers in all shapes and sizes that they train to fight, cats, dogs, pigs, birds.......some of them were so cute but I felt sorry for them being caged up in tiny little cages.

We headed back to the apartment and had Baxters Soup for lunch!!! Then Heiwan went to meet her sister and I got ready to go and meet the GAA people in Pudong.

I got to the hotel quite early and as the lads were training and having an early night (v.serious) I went into town to the Blue Frog bar with the girls for a drink, and as they headed off for the tournament draw, I sneeked off to meet Gordon, Heiwan and her sister for dinner in a Shanghainese restaurant - my first chinese meal since I arrived!

We left there and went to a glass museum/bar, that was very swanky. They served really good cocktails and we sat outside overlooking a street of nice bars and clubs and next to Jackie Chans apartment. The bar itself was probably one of the nicest I have been to.

After a crazy experience with a taxi that involved driving on the path (getting in a car in China is life endangering stuff) we went home as the next day I had an ultra early start to be back in Pudong for the kick off for the Asian Gaelic Games 2006....

R n R at last!

2006-10-03T11:14:00.000+09:00

This weekend was the first in many when I had no plans (because the girls team for the football tourny was cancelled) so I enjoyed doing not very much!

Saturday I went back to the hair dresser to have my hair colour adjusted.....but I went on my own and they did the exact opposite of what I wanted.....I locked myself in their toilet and cried after.....not in a spoilt brat way but because living in such a different culture had been really getting to me last week and that was the cracking point.....so I cried because I can't communicate with people, people don't really understand me and because I wanted fabulous hair for going to Shanghai and instead I got normal, plain, dull brown hair - joy!

So I pulled myself together, said aregato in my genkiest voice and went to Starbucks for a Chai Latte for a little taste of home (well, home as in, that's my favorite drink in London, not home as in India!). The rest of the day consisted of browsing the shops and getting ready for ANOTHER welcome party!

Saturday night was the welcome party for Club Konichiwa. It was held at a local Izakiya(pub/restaurant) in Nagano. The turn out was pretty poor but having had a near break down that day I made the most of the 'all inclusive' drinks and hit the red wine and cocktails! Most of the evening everyone was speaking Japanese so I was happily left drinking my wine and letting all the stress of the world fuzz away! Half way through they realised that we hadn't all met so we did our introductions in Japanese. I had drank a fair amount of wine by this point so was feeling quite confident and trying to add little jokes in.....but I think they just think I am a typical Brit girl, going too far with the alcopops on a Saturday night!

Shin and Atushi - 2 teachers from Club Konichiwa
Me and Taeko - Leader of Club Konichiwa

Ikuko and Julia (AJET President)

The Gang!

After the party me and Ikuko went to Puri Kura for some photos - that place is addictive, I tell thee! I'm sure Madz will tell exactly HOW addictive in her blog v.soon!!!!!!

On the way back we had about 20 minutes to wait for the train, but had entertainment in the form of local kids break dancing in the station.

Sunday was a full day of R and R. Sleeping until 12pm, I managed to get up and do some MTV Power Yoga - anyone interested, its a good DVD! and then spent the rest of the day reading my trashy chick flick falling in and out of sleep, drinking cocoa, and eating grapes from Ikukos parents vineyard......bliss!

Tokyo Weekender......

2006-09-28T13:07:00.000+09:00

After the kind assistance of our PA I managed to purchase a return ticket to go to Tokyo on the coach to visit the GAA peops for the weekend. The coach journey was 3 hours (its only 1.5 hours on shinkansen) but was cheap and I got to catch up with some sleep.
Ruiri met me off the coach in Shinjuku and steered me in the direction of where I was to meet Norie and her sister for a day of shopping and sight seeing. The first stop was a flee market that wasn't so good but we saw some of Norie's friends there. Next was Harajuku where we had lunch in a lovely restaurant and then hit the shops. topshop opened a concession in Tokyo in September so we checked that out (v.small - don't go out of your way to find it) and looked at hundreds of other concessions (it felt like hundreds for my feet) in a big fashion department store. I managed to refrain from from spending my whole months wages but it took great waves of willpower.
Back out on the street we done a bit of sightseeing and had some pics taken with 'harajuku' girls! They dress absolutely mad....there was lots of very trendy people in Tokyo though....quite envious.

The picture to the right is a queue of girls waiting to go into a shop called Johnny's. This is only a section of the queue to join the queue at the shop. They are waiting to go in to buy pictures of their idols! Guys who work at the shop are all supposed to be cute and everyone calls them the Johnny's.....umh!

After Harajuku we headed to Shibuya to meet Ruiri after training and stopped at some more really nice shops on the way. By this point I had no will power left but luckily I also had no energy to try clothes so again managed to refrain from splurging.

That night I went to Ruiri's friend, Glens, birthday party. It was in his apartment that he shares with his girlfriend....and my, what an apartment. I felt so grotty in my shopped out tired state with eyes red from allergies (thats another story) with all the Tokyo socialites in a swish pad, bbq on balcony and wine flowing - now I really want a good job, lots of pay, nice things, good parties! But its the mountains, kids and momo cherry for me!
I didn't hold out long enough to make the night club and headed back to Ruiris where I passed out after a lovely cup a Irish cha....everyone else managed to party in Tokyo until 7am...it must be my age!

The next day was supposed to be training with GAA to get ready for Shanghai. But having succumbed to the sweet taste of city life again I just couldnt pull myself away from Tokyo so spent the day sightseeing and shopping. The sun was out in full force and first stop was Yoyogi park. It was just like Hyde Park in the summer and all of a sudden a rush of home sickness swept over me as I longed to be sitting in the park with Ali, reading The Times, watching the boys play football and deciding if it would be Turkish or Brick Lane bbq for dinner.....oh how I miss those days.

Ruiri met me after a trip to the hospital (injured ribs from training) and we went to the Meiji Shrine which is the biggest in Japan. It was so peaceful and a million miles away from the urban chaos just hundreds of meters away.

For lunch we had Pizza Express (making full use of my weekend in a real city!) and then Ruiri went training.
I spent the rest of the afternoon eating Baskin Robins, checking out the amazingly stocked book shops (and bought a trashy chick flick so any good reads you have come across please let me know!) and last minute shopping.

The bus home got me back to Nagano for 12am where I argued with a taxi driver for 10 minutes over my address....yes I know its Wakatsuki Odori and I know I'm not saying it right but I don't make your life hell when you say rondon do I???!!!!!

Tokyo was great and I spent all weekend longing to be in the city.....but then on Monday morning as I hopped on my cherry bike and cycled down the back streets and quiet roads, surrounded by mountains and lungs full of fresh air, I all of a sudden realised that I am very happy with what I already have.

Enki again!

2006-09-22T11:29:00.000+09:00

I had enki last night with the teachers from Matsushiro....it was also to celebrate with the baseball coach as the school team played in the Japan finals. School baseball is very popular in Japan and it is even televised so they done really well.
We went to a Japanese restaurant in Nagano and things weren`t looking too hopeful for me when I didn't like the first course.....it was some kind of creamed tofu that nearly made me sick but I managed to eat half of it so as not to offend! But from then on the food was really nice - crispy noodles in cheese sauce, fish tempura, mushroom sausage roll kind of thing, stuffed tomato and mango sorbet for desert...oh and of course rice and miso soup - no meal would be complete in Japan without rice!
It was a really nice party and the teachers really let themselves go....lots of beru and cocktails and laughing so we had fun - even if it was at my expense some of the time!

New Hair Do!

2006-09-22T11:19:00.000+09:00

Ok so your not surprised that I changed my hair again right....I have gone dark again and have a cute little bob thing going on (well people keep saying it's cute!).

I went to a hairdresser in Nagano who used to run his salons in Tokyo but came back to his roots. The owner goes to shows all over the world and is going to London next month....so we had some chat (via Magumi who was translating). His son also wants to train at hairdressing school in London but he has to have a certain level of English to enter so I offered to do a language exchange with him.
After my cut and colour (which went purple at first and was corrected!) the owner took us out for dinner with his wife for a Chinese which was delicious. It was good to speak to him as he is quite into fashion and brands so we had plenty to chat about....well most Japanese people are into brands, and if your bag ain't Gucci or Channel you just ain't down with the kids!

Mount Fuji......Only the biggest mountain in Japan!

2006-09-22T10:58:00.000+09:00

I climbed Mount Fuji this weekend......how was it? Gruelling, painful, hard, emotional, scary, cold, hot, steep.......but I really enjoyed doing it!
I met up with about 14 other JET's from Niigata prefecture and headed to Mount Fuji with them. I had never met them before so made new friends. Niigata is the prefecture up from Nagano.
We got to Fuji-San at around 8pm and headed off for the climb around 9.30pm. The group split into 2 so the faster climbers set off later. I went up with the slower group but this meant we took a longer path....not sure this was the best way to go about it now! The climb up took me about 8 hours. I was in full gear including pole and head lamp! It was pitch black on the way up and when we got high enough we overlooked Tokyo. It was like looking at a city from an airplane. I suffered quite badly from altitude sickness which I could say is possibly the worst thing I have ever experienced. I could literally take 2 steps then would have to sit down. The air was so thin it just wasn't getting into my body. We had some cans of oxygen that seemed to help...I'm still not sure if this was the placebo affect!

We just reached the top in time for sunrise, and even though I took a few pictures I didn't take that many as my whole body just did not want to function up there! The plan was to walk around the top of the mountain once up but you only had to take one look at my group to see that　none of us were in any fit state. I was even doubtful if I could make it down! It was sooo cold at the top, I had about 6 layers on!

On the way down the sun came out in full force so by the time I completed the 4 hour hike down I had a vest, leggings, sun cream and sun burn!

We were very lucky with the weather though as it was forecast 60% chance of rain....if it had rained I think that would have pushed me over the edge....I would have cried without a doubt!

I can honestly say that climbing Fuji-San was the hardest thing I have ever done but it gave me a real sense of achievement to have pushed through so many barriers in one night. And now that I have climbed the highest mountain in Japan I can do anything right???? It is quite typical of me to choose Fuji as the first mountain to climb - I don't like to do things by halves!

When everyone was down we headed to the hot springs. Having missed a night of sleep and being covered in dust and dirt it was just what the doctor ordered! It was a really nice hot spring and I managed to get a few minutes shut eye in the sauna. Still a bizarre thing to do though....go and get naked with 7 girls you have only ever seen during the night wearing 6 layers of clothes - by this point though I don't think anyone cared!

That night I headed back to Iiyama to stay at Madz apartment. I hadn't been to her apartment or Iiyama yet so I really wanted to spend some time there.
We sat up talking until about 2am and then slept most of the next day! But I still mustered up enough energy to go on a bike ride in Iiyama.....during a typhoon no less, which meant battling against gale force winds and trying not to get blown off my bike into the river!

Madz has a 'language exchange' with a local man in Iiyama who came round on Monday night. I have been dying to know for ages why apples are so expensive and why banana's are so cheap in Japan.....so he explained it to me! I'm such a geek sometimes but I love learning about international trade! Madz says he wants to ask me about the self sufficiency of the UK in terms of food provision as UK is an island like Japan and what would happen if war broke out? Could the UK provide food for its citizens? Or have we gone import mad? It only takes a quick walk around Tesco to realise that we might be up the creek if we had to provide for ourselves......Sorry I'm boring you now!

My first care package....Thank you soooooo much Lou x

2006-09-12T12:15:00.000+09:00

Agh! A package arrived for me today at work and when I opened it I felt like I was 5 years old again and it was Christmas.....it was a package of some of my favourite things from England from Louise....thank you soooo much Lou, it made me so happy I could have cried! I was running around the office showing everyone my things - I can't wait to go home and read the magazine....I haven't read a mag for ages.....and the sweets - we had those sweets when we did the 10k run in Dublin!...happy memories....and the cereal...Special K - you know me too well!

And there was also a postcard from Daventry to show my students - Lou even made a little English games for them on the back!

Anti genki day.....

2006-09-11T12:47:00.000+09:00

I'm sorry but I don't feel much like writing about my weekend at the moment. Reason being I had to work on Sunday. It was a meeting for teachers on how to judge debate contest....it's so Americanized and competitive....think along the lines of the film Spelling B.....so yeah, not much fun.

Saturday was a nice day though. I met Kat, Belinda and Madz in Nagano for a catch up and lunch. We went to an Indian Jazz Cafe! Its all you can eat for £5 and girls get ice cream too! The best bit though is when you are eating they have people performing on a little stage.....it is sooo funny! I can't remember what they were singing now but it was some old English song!

Madz and Kat had to head off early so me and Belinda went to see Miami Vice...OMG....Colin Farrell looks like some kind of 80's porn star! But was quite good when you got into it!

Sunday night I managed to set up my internet in my apartmentt and have registered with Skype so I can speak to all you peeps who also have Skype ABSOLUTELY FREE!

I also had my first phone call with the lovely Ali.....who seems to be making the most of London without me!

Today at school I have broacasting club at lunch time andEnglish club after school so I am mustering up all the enthusiasmm I posses....its like performing in a circus sometimes - if only I could wear a clown suit it might make the kids have a bit of enthusiasm too!

Ask Kyra Sensei...

2006-09-08T16:14:00.000+09:00

The weekly edition of 'what's in the Post Box?'

A selection of questions from Matsushiro students:

What do you think of terrorism?

Do you like injections?

Have you ever seen real David Beckham?

Which do you like fish or meat?

I don't mind these questions...it's when I get put on the spot by the teacher, in the class, in front of 40 students that I feel a bit uncomfortable.
In the lesson yesterday I gave a presentation to the students about Scotland....I even played Scotland The Brave and a poem recited in a Scottish accent to them....I thought I had done quite well but the teacher obviously thought I hadn't provided enough cultural information - these were the questions she put to me in front of the class:
Please explain to the students the relationship between India and UK.
How old is Glasgow Cathedral?
What is the entrance fee?
What is Irn Bru made from?
How far is it from Glasgow to Orkney Island?
Who lives in Edinburgh Castle?

Now I don't disagree that these are good questions but I don't know the answers....by the end of my presentation I felt so stupid...the kids must think I am stupid....Ok so I am not the brightest spark in the box....but come on...I'm a Business graduate!

Chocolate is the answer!

2006-09-08T16:06:00.000+09:00

Jay's Class
Originally uploaded by KyInJapan.

I was feeling a bit...um....tense? anxious? stressed? (not sure) at school today. I started the day by getting the wrong bus and then had a 'head-to-head' with a teacher...So I looked to Jay for some reassurance and he gave me some chocolate to help me relax!

Not being too hot on the teaching front yet Jay let me sit in on one of his lessons today. It was a great lesson and the 'winning' group in the class was rewarded with chocolate.....its always the answer...love it!

I am very lucky to work with Jay as I have someone to express myself too. I remember when I was living with Suelen in London, who is from Brazil, and she said that the hardest thing about living in a country where you don't speak the native language is not being able to express yourself properly - language barriers can mean that you never have a complete understanding or have the ability to communicate fully. It can be really frustrating......but Jay is my savior! (Well he gave me chocolate when I needed it most!)

The weather outside is frightful.....

2006-09-08T11:54:00.000+09:00

Mist over the Mountains
Originally uploaded by KyInJapan.

The weather has changed overnight....it has gone from tropical heat to monsoon! I can't complain as I have been near fainting at school in the heat....and the rain has entailed me learning a new skill - it is called the ride-your-bike-with-one-hand-hold-the-brolly-with-the-other-going-over-bumps-dodging-puddles-battling-wind.......and chant, as they say in Harry Potter The three D's: destination, determination, and deliberation!!!

The picture was taken outside of Matsushiro school where I teach on Thursdays, and even though the fog is thick it is definitely clearing now that summer is over.

Club Konichiwa

2006-09-08T11:39:00.000+09:00

club knochiwa
Originally uploaded by KyInJapan.

Wednesday night I went to club Konichiwa in Nagano.....only Madz, Belinda and Justin turned up from the JETs and a lady from??!!! Not sure but she knows Kanji so we guessed Korea?!
Club Konichiwa is a Japanese Cultural and language club where gaigen in Nagano can go to learn Japanese and about the culture.
This week we tried proper green tea made from powder and calligraphy. Green tea was a bit bitter but nice....the calligraphy was very difficult!
I am hoping that it was due to the torential downpour of rain that not many people turned up and that there will be more attendees to mingle with next week.
I am hoping to use the group to practice Japanese (I started private lessons on Tuesdays!) and to try out new things.
One of the teachers is a marathon runner......so watch this space!

My first moan....

2006-09-05T16:14:00.000+09:00

Ok so I have been here 1 month so I reckon that entitles me to at least 1 moan?!
I am tired of 'being famous' in Japan! White people really are like stars or aliens from outer space here.....I am constantly stared at in the street, cycling to school, at the supermarket.....I didn't really mind at first thinking it was just one off's but they really are amazed by gaigen.
So I go to the supermarket and there is a whole school of kids in there..... When they see me they huddle into groups and talk about me and laugh......old women look at what food I'm buying.....when I'm on my bike people nearly cycle straight into me cause they are so freaked out by crazy things a gaigen might do on their bike they seem to loose the ability to steer!

And the other aspect of it is that Big Brother feeling.....someone is always watching you and taking note of what you are doing......So no pulling your pants out of your bum at the traffic lights....just cant get away with things like that!

Ahhh....thats better - all moaned out now!

Sports Day

2006-09-05T15:37:00.000+09:00

Sports Day
Originally uploaded by KyInJapan.

Today there are no lessons at school because its sports day. Jay and I walked aorund the school in the morning watching the various games and speaking with students.
I was most impressed by dodgeball.....those girls really go for it! Really I am very jealous cause I want to be in a sports team, so far I have had no luck finding a team of any kind I can join in Nagano city (but I am playing in an all girls JET football tournament in a couple of weeks!)

Every class had designed their own T Shirts for sports day...some of them were really cool....some of them were a bit more suprising.....