leaving on a jet plane
well, we're Off! Have a very happy christmas and new year everyone (oh and enjoy my birthday too!) and I'll be back on the 13th January to bore you all witless with lovely photos. Just to reassure you, there is absolutely no chance whatsoever that I will jump off anything high with a bit of elastic round me, but we are going on a whale-watching, seal-swimming, jet-boating, sea-kayaking, glacier-walking and -flying, fjord-cruising adventure! Let's just hope it doesn't rain the whole time.
Chances are I won't be able to resist the lure of the internet cafe for a whole 3 1/2 weeks so I'll probably pop in from time to time. In the meantime I suggest you listen to the archers, which is particularly exciting just now (I am having it taped - they've been building up to this for over a year!); read 'tis the season and Tony Hawks' letters to skateboard fans; watch the kittens; and stuff yourselves silly with turkey and parsnips and chocolate and nuts.
PS The person who came here on a search for Brenda would say she felt like a greengage plum; what *are* you looking for?! I am, however, the only search result, so I feel quite proud.
Lisa at 23:54
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it's chriiiiiistmas!
or it was in our house yesterday, anyway. Since we won't be here for the real thing, we had an official christmas. We opened all the pressies people have very kindly sent us (thanks everybody!) - a special mention must go to Katy, whose box, once emptied, was such a huge hit with the cats! Champagne, roast chicken with bread sauce and everything - I even managed to source some parsnips (though I am not telling you how much they cost; lets just say they were worth every penny!) Cameron had a Christmas pud, just a small one, of his own, and we played a game of 'throw the magnetic men and save the world' (thanks Mum) on the fridge door - a relief to everyone that the world is now safe, I'm sure. In the evening we went to Shinjuku to look at the pretty lights and get some air - pics will have to wait a bit though, no time!
Today is the usual frantic day-before-a-holiday day. I am running about with a huge to-do list (C, sensibly, has gone to work). Better get on!
Lisa at 05:14
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blood, sweat and tears*
Lisa's top cooking tip number 1: When Delia says 'lightly grease' your cake tin she doesn't mean it, she means 'put loads of grease on'. Unless they are supposed to stick so firmly to the tin that you have to chip them out with a chisel.
Or perhaps it's more that the mincemeat isn't suppose to all leak out and glue your pies to the tin? Some domestic goddess I am. Though I have to say they smell fantastic. They just look a bit...well, they have a delightful home-made quality. One of them doesn't even have a bottom, but I'm sure they will taste just fine. And the second batch (loads of grease, less mincemeat per pie**) is going to be fantastic I can tell. Particularly because three of them contain jam instead of nasty chopped-up brown fruit.

*blood anyway. But only because I gave myself a paper cut with the edge of the recipe book.
**because I was running out. Too much per pie in the first lot
Lisa at 09:23
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update
look here, they do still make them! Only it's gone all modern and trendy. And safety-conscious - or are the candles a false memory?
This one's a bit better. With candles.
Lisa at 06:38
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christmas time, mistletoe and wine
Japan goes all-out for its imported ceremonies. Despite less than 1% (i think) of the population being christian - not even the "sort of christian-raised a bit; we sang carols at school does that count?" of most people in the UK these days - there is christmas music playing in all the shops, the department stores have huge displays of red, green and gold and carrier bags wishing you a merry christmas, and the lights and trees are just beautiful. It's all so tasteful! I don't know why I'm surprised, having been here through halloween and thanksgiving I should have expected it. There isn't the frantic rush of shopping you see back home though - it just seems to be a different theme to decorate in. Mind you, it's always a frantic rush of shopping here so maybe it's just a lack of contrast. I spotted seven inflatable disney dwarves swaying as they sang the first noel in little dwarfy voices earlier in the week, wish I'd had my camera.
No mistletoe, mincepies, mulled wine or morecombe and wise. No cliff richard. No wizard of oz, wonderful life or walking in the air. No tree. And no blue peter advent candle made from a couple of coat hangers and some manky tinsel (do they still do that?). Yet it still manages to feel christmassy; in fact I have more of a christmas mood than I've had for a few years. Is that the lack of desperate crowds in the shops, or maybe the fact that it is cold and dry rather than grey and damp?
Lisa at 06:23
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oooooooh. I take it all back. The Archers is hotting up!
Lisa at 23:48
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mince pies
they did used to have meat in, honest! I wasn't making it up! Ox tongue or mutton and veal(e)
Lisa at 23:41
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It's all been food again today hasn't it. Let me see if I can think of something else to tell you about...
No. It seems not. Even the Archers is dull at the moment (I just know they are building up to a huge Christmas showdown and I'll miss it!)
Lisa at 08:46
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Guess what I made at my cooking class today? Go on, guess. Kushiage. Honestly, you don't eat something for...well, ever, and then you have it for two consecutive meals! Not a brussels sprout to be seen today though. Then I had to explain about mince pies (mincemeat. But it doesn't have any meat in. I think it used to. But not now. Just fruit and...I don't know. Why is it black? is it tar?) and christmas pudding (a bit like mince pies but in a pudding and steamed for hours and hours. Frankly, I'd pass on it and fill up with quality street).
Then I went and picked up our tickets, yay! And, strangely, that was it. I don't know what happens to the time here but by the time I got home it was dark. I was going to make some mince pies (see what a devoted wife I am? I don't like them at all but it won't be Christmas for Cameron without them. And you can't buy them here. Do they eat them in New Zealand? does anyone know?)...but I didn't. I don't seem to have a pastry cutter you see and Delia says you have to have two of different sizes. And if that's what Delia says, woe betide me if I try to make mince pies without them. Oh, and i got sidetracked by a packet of Cadbury's chocolate fingers (which you can get here!)
Lisa at 08:42
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Last night we ate the weirdest thing we've had yet (yep, weirder than raw jellyfish/octopus eyes/raw horse). A breaded and deep-fried brussels sprout! It was part of a kushiage set, which was mostly delicious. The other odd one had a christmas theme: turkey and cucumber on the stick, with a slice of cranberry jelly stuff on the top.
Lisa at 22:48
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the cats are confined to barracks today. the snow on our roof froze overnight and now, in the sunshine, has slipped down to overhang the roof in great square chunks that periodically drop off and shatter on the patio.

Here's a picture from my window:

Lisa at 01:35
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bleurgh
got so stressed this afternoon trying to do everything at once (mainly trying to get all our christmas parcels wrapped in pretty paper, then in brown paper, then posted) that I didn't notice I was guzzling down chocolate until I ran out. And now I feel a bit sick. Apologies to people who receive them for the shoddy and obviously hastily-done quality of the wrapping (and the chocolatey finger marks) but I wanted to get them away today - it being the last posting date from the UK to here, though of course such a thing doesn't exist the other way round - and didn't realise until I was looking for it last night that we didn't pack the wrapping paper. It must be in the Warrington loft I suppose, along with various other articles that would have been useful: it does funny things to your head, packing to move across the world (we'll just take two plates and two bowls, that will be plenty...).
The man in the post office looked quite alarmed at my armful of brown paper and sellotape but obviously realised that this was not the time to start quibbling about sizes and took the lot off me.
Have I told you about the traumas of posting things here? Not only do they have to be weighed, they also measure them and if they are the wrong size or the wrong shape (eg a small, square card instead of a standard rectangle) then they either refuse to take them or they charge you a fortune. Depending, as far as I can establish, on the phase of the moon and the direction of the wind. Or possibly on the colour of the envelope. I also found out yesterday that you are not allowed to include a letter in a parcel as they go at different rates: a friend was made to unpack a carefully wrapped parcel in the post office to prove he wasn't lying about there being no letter inside!
On the good side, they are extremely efficient and helpful, and they have a service here for new year's cards where you put them in a special box in the post office and they all get delivered on the 1st of January. And you don't have to put a stamp on! That wouldn't happen at home.
My final post-related story for today. Cameron's aunty Irene very kindly sent us a christmas parcel. Which I found, when I left the house one day last week, wedged firmly into our letterbox. This is most unusual, they are always very good about ringing the bell (and I was definitely in): I can only conclude that he thought it would fit, pushed it, then when it got stuck and wouldn't go in or out without the paper ripping, was too embarrassed to ring the bell so ran off and left it!
Lisa at 07:08
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According to BBC World last night, that was the first time snow has fallen in Tokyo in December for 11 years (there's a non-bbc link here and some nice pictures here). It's thawing now: drip drip drip then the occasional house-rattling thump as a huge chunk drops off the roof.
Lisa at 23:32
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in the bleak midwinter
Lisa at 23:00
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genes will out
Not only am I showing signs of becoming my mother, I seem to be turning into my mother-in-law too! That can't be genetic, can it? I am on a real craft bent at the moment; here's a list of currently underway and soon-to-be-started projects:
- knitted cushion cover
- cross-stitch picture*
- washi box for slippers
- applique calendar with japanese year animals**
- various cloth sheep things, next year being the year of the sheep
Although no doubt I will lose interest in it all soon and they will languish incomplete in a cupboard somewhere.
Actually, it could be my granny (the other one, not the one with the huge handbag!) not my mother-in-law. She is pretty crafty (in a nice 'makes lovely things' way, not a scarey witchy plotting way)
*Not sure whether this one strictly counts, having been underway now for the best part of 7 years
**They have the same animals as in China, but the new year starts on the first of January. Which makes me a Japanese tiger but a Chinese ox. And Cameron is a Japanese rooster but a Chinese monkey (check yours here) - a good job we came to live here, tigers are so much cooler than oxen. (Though...to confess, looking at the list of hobbies for each, maybe I am more ox than tiger. Cameron is certainly more monkey than rooster, it even lists karaoke as a monkey hobby and I certainly can't see him in a rooster brocade jacket!)
Lisa at 01:38
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I love days when I don't have to work (shh, don't tell them that!). My total today and yesterday has been 2 hours. (I know, that will never pay the mortgage). Yesterday afternoon I went to Shinjuku and played with cameras until an odd mexican chap scared me out of the shop. I expect he was just being friendly. (me: are you on holiday? him: no, I'm married.) Then the heavens opened so I dashed home to sew a bit more of my cushion cover (I've done all the knitting now so I confess I've lost interest somewhat), drink tea, and generally veg out before going out for a delicious sushi dinner followed by haagen-dazs-and-espresso (together, in a bowl. mmm). Today I went to yoga (this week's bizarre variation: cat, with one leg in the air and the opposite hand holding your ankle behind your back) then over to asakusabashi for an afternoon of sticking and pasting; I now have a nice green box to keep our collection of slippers in! And we've just watched man on the moon, which I can recommend. Unfortunately sitting through a film has completely wiped what I wanted to say from my mind so I'll go away again until tomorrow. Hopefully I'll remember then!
Lisa at 10:02
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By the way: we've been here 8 months today! Whee!
Lisa at 00:53
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our weekend
(in a list)

Friday night we met Mark and Julia, the couple we picked up in a bar after the sake party last month. Delicious Thai food (though, worryingly, the kitchen seemed to have a big fire about every 20 minutes), followed by a visit to the pub with the world's most limited juke box (but we were forced to use it in order to turn off the christmas music), followed by the obligatory karaoke. We had intended a reasonably early night in order to spend Saturday cramming Japanese words into our short-term memories, but, well. We were home by 3.

Saturday we naturally slept late then went to see if we could find where the exam was going to be on Sunday. Not too far, but right in the suburbs; I think, if you manage to fill in the application form and turn up (both form and map in Japanese) then they should let you pass.

Bit of study, takeaway pizza, more lord of the rings (we have 6 hours or so of 'how they made it', it will be a while before we are not watching LotR any more!)

Sunday; The Test! The trains didn't behave as well as they had on the Saturday; ie the first one we got on sailed merrily past the station where we wanted to get off. Still, we'd left plenty of time so we got off and went back the other way. Very bizarre when we got there; this tiny station (one exit) in the middle of nowhere was jam-packed full of foreigners. It could have been a scene from a film (invasion of the gaijin) as we all lumbered up the tiny shopping street, muttering. I'm sure the locals were in hiding. Too much hanging about between papers; ridiculous giving out instructions in japanese (we're level 4! We Don't Understand You!) - the invigilator at one point said something very clearly at the front of the class - nobody moved. She tried again - nobody moved. Eventually they had to come round and mime individually that we weren't allowed to put a drink on the desk. Had she used the words nomimono (drink) and kaban (bag) rather than some fancy-pants language, she might have had more luck. Too many kanji we had never before laid eyes on, a few questions about wearing clothes of various sorts* (we said before that if wearing stuff came up we were in trouble!), some writing about a black cat and a brown dog, both of whom (I hope) were cute! Still, at least it's over. results in February.

On the way home i could have sworn I saw somebody I'd been at middle school with. I was just getting over the gaping part and thinking about calling his name to see if it really was him, when we had to get off the train. If I had to nominate people who might be working overseas, he wouldn't appear on my list. It can't have been him.

A delightful afternoon with no twinges of conscience about not studying. We watched the others in a satisfyingly full-circle thing; that was the film we saw all but the last 10 minutes of in the hotel the night before we left for Japan. It was just as good the second time, and how nice to know how it ends!

Dinner out with Eric - the last of the shell visitors - and some friends of his.
*different verbs depending what you're wearing. a word for wearing something on your head/legs/trunk/wearing an accessory...gah!

Lisa at 00:32
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impenetrable Japanese conversations
I meant to tell you yesterday about an odd conversation I had at my cooking class. The teacher asked me what would be a suitable souvenir of Japan - sweets? So I said that japanese sweets were...difficult...for western tastes (see how subtle I am becoming!) but that tea or rice crackers might be nice, depending who it was for. Who is it for? They all giggled. I tried again: who is the souvenir for? (giggle giggle). I tried in Japanese: dare ga...(couldn't remember how to say 'to give to')...they helped me construct the japanese sentence, then told me how good at Japanese I was. (yeah, yeah). I asked again: giggle giggle. I gave up and we chatted about whether their husbands ever came home for dinner.
What was that all about?
Lisa at 01:10
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things are looking up!
I just found half a bottle of wine in the fridge. I can't believe it's lurked there undiscovered since saturday, but it must have done. Seems a shame to leave it now I know it's there though. Cameron is out tonight (I'm booooooored! Sooooo booored! And I should be studying but somehow just can't get my head down to it) and I had a huge delicious lunch so I've just had (tinned) corned beef hash, washed down with a nice glass of chardonnay. Tinned corned beef hash not great, I think it's worth the hassle of peeling potatoes and making it properly. Though enough ketchup (and wine) and it was OK.
Cats ate well tonight; they are both lying on their backs on the bed, their little bellies like drums. I cooked them some liver (all the cat food here has fish in it, and they're just not keen), then fanned it for them because it was too hot for them to eat. Spoilt, do you think?
Lisa at 09:56
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wheel washing
It seems I was wrong and it's perfectly normal. My dad says they do it in the UK too; if they make the road muddy they can be prosecuted. (Though I bet in the UK it's not the man's job to wash the wheels. Chief wheel-washer. And I bet he doesn't wear a smart navy uniform and bow when you walk past!)
Lisa at 09:07
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what is it with certificates?
Did I mention a couple of weeks ago, I was at my cooking class and this mad Chinese woman turned up to register for the following week's class and to ask whether, after doing the class, she'd get a certificate? My teacher was clearly a bit taken aback and hummed and haaed, saying she could have a certificate if she did a whole course (1 year) then the madwoman said that wasn't fair because she was only here for a couple of months and she needed a certificate? She was quite forceful about it. Anyway. We were mid-cook again today when the doorbell went and there she was again. To buy my teacher's book and to ask her to sign a certificate that she'd knocked up herself using powerpoint ('This is to certify that...has successfully completed a class in which she cooked sushi and tempura...') Whatever is she going to do with it now? I didn't like to ask, it seemed impolite...but after she'd left there was some discussion between the Japanese ladies, the gist of which was that they felt it was a bit peculiar also. Though, they agreed, she was very skillful to have made the certificate.
Lisa at 05:21
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!
Lisa at 23:52
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nerves...
Just did last year's paper. Passed, but for some reason that has just scared me more. With my usual twisted logic I am convinced that means that this year's test will be really hard. The most difficult sections - that I did ok on - had all the stuff I knew last year, so that won't happen again will it?! Also, I struggled with the easy grammar sections and shouldn't have.
Cameron and I have got the same marks so far (though he hasn't done the grammar paper yet and that's his strongest) but with different questions wrong.
I'm off to chew my nails.
Lisa at 10:09
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I hurt today. But in a good 'I exercised' way not a really sore way. I think it must have been the bit where she had us doing sun salutations with one leg off the floor! Her reasoning was that if you tried something really hard it made everything else feel easy...hmm. Not too sure about that; I find the chaturanga to up dog bit hard enough! (Um. OK. Start in plank: hands under shoulders; body straight, toes and hands only things on floor. Bend your arms, keeping your elbows in next to your body, until your body is about 4 inches off the floor - this is chaturanga (and I can get this far). Then move your body forwards, roll over your toes and bend your back to go to up dog. I can't do it without collapsing in a heap. Now try it with one leg up in the air! What I particularly like about the website the pose pictures are taken from is the bit where it says 'breathe easily and naturally through your nose'. HA HA HA!)
Lisa at 06:43
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I just ate an apple! The first whole, uncooked apple I've had in probably 15 years...they were sitting looking so enticing in our fruit bowl (given to us by friends who had been to the Japanese Alps and picked them last weekend) that I just decided to go for it. Sore tongue, itchy lips and gums, bit stuffy/sneezy but otherwise OK so it looks like my reaction has improved over the apple-free years. And well worth it; it was fantastic! Ooh though - sore tongue.
Lisa at 09:01
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Is there any other country in the world where a lorry leaving a building site has its wheels washed by a man with a hose so it won't get the road dirty? i think not.
Lisa at 05:14
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What a weekend! I'm (almost) glad it's Monday and intend to eat beans on toast and salad for a few days while I recuperate...Friday night we went to Jose and Grace's apartment for dinner. Delicious peruvian food (very hot chilli!) and interesting chat (Jose: Cameron, do you believe in the afterlife?). They have just found out that they'll be leaving Japan earlier than planned...and going to Barbados!! It's a hard life. We left much later than we'd intended - I thought it was around midnight because my contact lenses were just starting to feel dry, but when we got in the taxi we looked at his clock and saw it was 2.30! Saturday was mostly spent cooking, as expected, with a short trip out to buy a tablecloth and a lettuce. I think it went OK apart from the profiteroles: the one thing I was confident I could make and they came out as dense and soggy dumplings! I have no idea why (but perhaps leaving them in a cooling oven for 10 mins before noticing it wasn't on didn't help). Profiterole sauce was enough to take out fillings (note to self: don't leave it bubbling and wander off). I had 2 small fires - who knew a metal garlic press would be flammable?! - neither of which set off the smoke alarm. My chicken in red wine, however, had the alarm going off every 2 minutes, and would have started the sprinklers if I hadn't found the off switch very quickly! - but generally I think it was OK. Nobody was sick (!) and they all seemed quite jolly. Bread and butter pud made with pains au chocolat is fab. My oven has now given up the ghost - must ring up about getting it fixed as it won't light!
Sunday we had a long lie in then had to rush about in order to meet friends for lunch in omotesando. Great restaurant and a deliciously non-Japanese mixed grill just hit the spot. Wandered around Harajuku with Stephane until it got dark, then home to veg in front of Lord of the Rings, look for hire cars in New Zealand, knit - it's now going to be a cushion cover not a scarf - and eat cheese sandwiches and hot chocolate.
This time next week the test will be over. A bit scarey as I've not opened a book in a week. Must get my head down this week (booking holiday stuff is so much more fun!)
Lisa at 02:07
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wow!
such efficiency. Christmas parcels have started to arrive! Thank you everybody. I, of course, haven't started yet: it will be a lovely surprise when your presents arrive mid-march, right?!
Lisa at 04:39
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My mum just sent me this:

The first Chinese brother swallowed the sea and a boy drowned so he had to be tried for murder. He went home and the second chinese brother came. He had an iron neck and couldn't be executed. He went home and the third chinese brother came. He couldn't be drowned. The fourth one could not be burned. The fifth one could hold his breath indefinitely. The judge said they could not kill him so he must be innocent so they all lived happily ever after.

And now I promise to shut up about it.
Lisa at 10:13
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We're staying in tonight! Hoorah! (First time since Friday and we're neither of us spring chickens any more you know. I am more springlike a chicken than Cameron - especially as he's feeling very sorry for himself with a nasty cold - but still. Pasta, cats, TV and no conversation!) Last night was very subdued anyway after the previous night's excesses. When will i learn that shochou gives me horrible horrible headaches even after one or two drinks? The trouble is, a lemon sour is so delicious. Anyway, once again today I had no work (seems to be a thursday pattern) so I went cooking this morning - sushi cake, chrysanthemum-shaped fish and soup - then to Keiko's house ostensibly to talk about some website she's supposed to be composing (but really to eat pastries from her local bakery) - then to Shibuya where I bought a large (40 cm) pan in order to cook for 7 on saturday, and some needles and wool with the vague idea of knitting myself a scarf. My granny will be proud (if I ever finish it). I seem to be in a handicrafts mood at the moment, which is most unlike me. Probably just another way of subconciously avoiding Japanese study (10 days and counting!)
Ok so Saturday's menu is starting to shape up. It had better come together quick as I have to go to the supermarket tomorrow. Starting with thin Japanese beef wrapped around carrot, burdock root and something green - probably beans - and cooked in soy and sake and stuff (cold). Main course either tarragon chicken or my dad's special chicken in red wine or a fish pie or something else if inspiration strikes. With roast or mashed potatoes and something green and probably mashed japanese pumpkin. Pudding: pavlova or Nigella-style profiteroles (caramel sauce and stuffed with burnt-sugar custard. mmm) or a chocolate bread and butter pudding (though I've a feeling if I was going to make that I should have started today) or Nigella's pain au chocolat bread and butter pudding. What do you think?
Lisa at 09:06
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Thanks mum, I knew you'd know. It seems there were only 5 chinese brothers, not 12 - but one of them did swallow the sea.
Lisa at 02:17
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Roll on the holidays
I'm so knackered (but yay! This time next month we'll be exploring new zealand!) and it's not going to get better for the next couple of weeks at least. Fortunately work is quiet (that attitude is not going to pay the mortgage, is it) but in between trying to find somewhere to stay while we're exploring NZ, and a vehicle in which to explore and all the rest of it, and studying* for The Test (11 days to go. I have virtually stopped panicking and sunk into a calm acceptance that I'll either be lucky or I won't and my studying will have little effect on the outcome), and entertaining the steady stream of shell visitors who are, it seems, trying to use up this year's travel budget by all coming at once, I haven't got time to panic about this dinner party malarky on Saturday. Who's stupid idea was that? Normally I'm happy to have people round to dinner, I make easy stuff (casseroles, roasts, pasta, chocolate pudding) and we eat it and drink a lot and it's all fine. Our guests this weekend are kind of sophisticated - they know about wine and do fancy cooking. All paper frills on the sticky-out bones and enough matching glasses to go round, you know? Not exactly my style. So I'm a bit worried and yes I know I shouldn't worry what people think but I do of course. I was talking to her (the fancy cook) today about how I thought when people came they came to see us and it wasn't really right to spend all your time faffing in the kitchen (Nige says so so it must be true) but she didn't agree. Damn. Ah well, she's been warned! And we have seven people coming and only six seats at the dining table so it will be a squeeze and either Cameron or I will have to sit on the patio furniture (or I'll have to be a good Japanese wife and eat on my own in the kitchen). I think my maximum number of matching glasses is five (I have a lovely lot in the loft in warrington!). I don't have any pans big enough to cook for seven and you can't get large cuts of meat here. At present I'm thinking of getting takeaway pizza all round and turning on the TV while we eat. Probably not the attitude.
*actually not studying v much. Thinking about it a lot, talking about it a bit, but actual sitting down and doing it? Not much.
Lisa at 08:06
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a busy weekend
phew! could do with another weekend to recover - where was my vegging time? Saturday: gym, lunch with Kavitha at fujimamas (yum!), tea at christies, spot of shopping, KFC dinner (no time for real food!) then off to see Primal Scream. They rocked. The audience were in jeans/t-shirts/trainers combinations, which you never see normally - where were all the fashions? Perhaps that is just seen as suitable concert wear? I spotted a man carrying a small Paddington-Bear-style case, and wondered what he had in it - he sat next to me on the train home so I found out: scrunched up newspaper and flyers. Clearly just an accessory.
Sunday was spent with Bob - he's over on business and it's mean to leave people in their hotel rooms on sundays. Sushi lunch, a look at the harajuku freaks, to the shrine and the park, then down omotesando to the oriental bazaar before walking into Shibuya to see the neon, marvel at the number of people crossing the road, have a few drinks then a yakitori dinner. Feel quite sleepy today but have to get my finger out and do some work in order to be in Odaiba (Cameron's office) for a japanese lesson at 4. Then out for dinner again tonight! It's a hard life.

Cameron, Bob, and a freak. Can you tell which is which? (I'm not sure why C is gripping the poor girl - was he worried she might try to escape?)
Lisa at 00:25
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thank you blackstar. I think this will keep us quiet for a while!
It isn't so long ago I was wondering what was the point of all the extras on DVDs - never having been one for watching 'making of' programmes. But I completely understand for something like this (though I am mystified what they have found to fill two extra discs of extras with!) - and I love the extras in Moulin Rouge too, with the rehearsals and full, uncut dance routines.
When are they going to add a function where you press a button and it flashes up what the character you are watching's name is, who they are related to and what they are doing, and the actor's name, filmography and family details? It would make our living room so much more peaceful [me: who's that. Cam: (names actor). me: oohhh yes...(pause)...what else has he been in? Cam: (lists films I claim never to have seen). me: what's he doing now? Cam: I don't know, you were talking over it. me: (cross). Cam: (crosser)]
Lisa at 05:59
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put me out of my misery
Please. Does anyone else remember the children's book about the chinese brothers (I think they were brothers - about 12 of them) who drank the sea? What was that all about? Can anyone remember what is was actually called? All I can remember is the front cover - it was yellow and had a picture of the brothers getting huge as they drank. I think.
Lisa at 04:49
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it felt good to be out of the rain
it's so dry here the cats crackle when you stroke them. I think I am dessicating, like a coconut. or a prune. or something dry and shrivelled (and sort of flaky. nice.) Everybody has a sore throat and bad static hair.
But the cold autumn smells and red leaves against clear blue skies make my heart soar. The best time of the year.
Lisa at 12:12
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Oops sorry, I didn't come back did I?! We thought our teacher was never going to leave - she is clearly as worried about this test as we are - but I'm not convinced that trying to teach us new points of grammar at 9.15 after a full day's work is going to be very successful! Towards the end of the lesson I couldn't listen any more, it was like teaching a tree. We did our first listening 'past paper'; yes, you're right, we should probably have done some before now. It was *hard*. Some woman wittering on about what time her baby went to sleep and how long it slept for before waking up, and we were supposed to say what time it started to cry. Not knowing the verb to cry wasn't hugely helpful. By the time she eventually left we had to eat, then it was pretty much bedtime. Phew!
Today was better. An unscheduled day off (sounds Good but actually Bad, because all the work I was expecting to fit in today/tomorrow will all arrive tomorrow) meant that I didn't have to rush home after my cooking class (sukiyaki today, mmm). A good thing in itself because my teacher wanted to show me an antiques market near her house (I think she must have just discovered it or something), so we spent nearly an hour there. I have found something else I'd like to collect - though I was was very good and didn't buy anything today - the old traditional Japanese basket and cloth lunchboxes are lovely (but one on its own would look silly, I think I'd need at least three. Like the burmese cowbells I keep dropping hints to Cameron about!). Actually, having seen the price of this one online, the ones I was looking at today were a bargain so I might have to go back.
Next, into Shibuya to get the picture I bought at last week's craft fair framed. Always entertaining...if I was an organised sort of person I'd have looked up 'frame' as a bare minimum before I went. The poor chap spoke no english at all and did a lovely mime to tell me that I would have to go and pay on the other side of the shop and then come back with the receipt. He's promised to ring me when it's done, in 2 weeks. I think it will be OK. I hope it will.
Pottered around Shibuya a bit more - am getting tempted by new boots and clothes at every turn now; I've reached the phase where it is just too long since I've had anything new. I bought some washing-up liquid, which cheered me up no end.
In cat news, Islay has taken to drinking from the bath - usually when it's wet after use, but last night she had a great big long drink of hot soapy water while I was in it. Is that normal? And Jura today tried to run out of the patio door, not realising that the insect screen was in place - hit it head first, and bounced back looking extremely disgruntled! If she doesn't like being laughed at, she shouldn't act like a cartoon cat.
Lisa at 07:46
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I'm so ahead of the times, me. (see here).
The person who came here looking for louis vuitton footballer's wives must have been horribly disappointed. not sure what the trousers tucked into wellington boots person or the umpteen people looking for furry boots will have thought. And all those various searches for stuff to do with turquoise? Try here or here. More in a tick, I've got a Japanese lesson in 5 minutes.
Lisa at 10:03
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I am definitely turning into my mother. Here's the evidence:
1. the bag thing
2. out sitting on the step at the first hint of sunshine, even if I have to wear a fleece to survive
3. a tendency to 'dust'* in the afternoons and fall asleep on the sofa in the evenings
*by which I mean, a tendency to go and sleep on the bed. Always referred to as 'dusting' in our house
4. afflicted with disappearing keys (I haven't yet taken to roaming the house calling 'has anybody please seen my keys')
5. mint sweets secreted about the house
6. picking up my cats in order to chase the neighbours' cats

Is it inevitable?

Lisa at 06:45
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bleurgh. Yesterday passed in a haze after Saturday night's sake party. We went to my cookery teacher's house - about 12 people in a room approximately the size of a matchbox. She cooked delicious things: marinaded mackerel, octopus and seaweed salad, duck nabe, and had a man along to tell us about sake. We drank normal sake, both chilled and heated, then moved onto the special stuff: one was unfiltered so cloudy white with a strong flavour; the other, 'raw', (not heated in production...I think). The trouble is, you drink from tiny eggcups, so have no idea how much you are drinking. Plenty though I suspect. After dinner we had to play a silly game that involved bashing plastic men with a hammer until their heads came off...we came third, hooray! And won a bottle of salad dressing.
Then onto a bar where we encountered an Australian woman intent on tormenting a very staid American couple, and her NZ husband. We sang karaoke with them until 3. Yawn!
Lisa at 02:10
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I'm so excited! My copy of the little friend has just arrived. Scared too though...my expectations are so high I am bound to be disappointed. The secret history is my favourite book ever.
I am not starting it yet...must do some Japanese. I'll have to put it away though because I can feel it calling to me! It's sitting on the sofa and looking at me. Gah.
Lisa at 04:05
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better late than never
some fireworks! Almost as good as the real thing. I'm off for a cupasoup now to make the experience more realistic. (link courtesy of Cath)
Lisa at 06:15
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Absent yesterday because I was exhausted after a hard day's sticking and pasting. I went to a craft shop thing in Asakusabashi, on the other side of Toyko. It looked like a normal craft shop, with kits to make things, and examples of the things made, only - and I think this idea could really take off at home - there are tables and nice old ladies to help you make the thing you choose! what a great solution to the usual problem - buy it, take it home, unpack it...oops no, there go the good intentions. Leave it out ready for a few weeks then put it in a cupboard, never again to see the light of day. And I know that's not just me...
So, you buy your kit (I chose a remote control tidy because it was smallish so hopefully easy-ish, and because we have a silly number of remote controls). Then you go upstairs and choose your washi - so many different colours and patterns, it was harder than choosing wallpaper - pay for it all (so cheap!) and settle down to make it. With the nice old lady, it felt a bit like being back in nursery school, especially as she did the tricky bits for me and I got glue all over her table. Fantastic therapy!
Lisa at 05:39
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congratulations
to Keith and Jonny, who have both just got engaged. Not to each other.
Lisa at 00:19
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family visitors
hello! Is that you, Ellen? If someone completely random has just visited from canterbury, then I'm sorry, I thought you were my cousin and I just wanted to say hi. (You can let me know: leave me a comment at the bottom there). And while I'm doing my meet n greet, hello Catherine!
The trouble is, now I know who some of my visitors are, I feel pressured to write pithy and insightful comments about Japanese society, rather than wittering on about teabags and legwarmers. Maybe tomorrow...(mind you, family visitors know me, so I don't suppose they were expecting pith, wit or insight. It's the rest of you I should be apologising to.)
Lisa at 13:12
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remember remember the fifth of november
...traditionally the one night of the year when I feel homesick. Should be OK this year though as I am not expecting to see any fireworks to remind me. When we were little it was the most exciting night of the year (after Christmas eve of course) - as soon as it was dark, Suzi and I would be out on the front steps, with Dad's big torch, waiting for the Clack family to arrive and signalling to aeroplanes. We all wrapped up well: scarves and gloves, ski-jackets, legwarmers, earmuffs and snoods as fashions came and went. Soup, red cabbage, lasagne, pigs in blankets, baked potatoes. Some years a bonfire but never a guy because we were too sentimental to burn him. Fireworks, and plenty of them: we could choose the order but our dads did the lighting. And the running away when they fell over and came shooting up the path. BIG bangs. Ooh look, magnesium. Sparklers last of all, lit from a blowtorch and not to be picked up once dropped. Then indoors to warm up, sometimes with indoor fireworks: odd, smelly, squirming black snakes and teeny sparklers.
Lisa at 06:16
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tea for two and two for tea
Just wanted to say thank you to all the kind people who have offered to post me some teabags. I'll let you know - I currently have high hopes for the fortnum and mason tea I found at the weekend - despite each bag being individually wrapped, which makes me cross every time I go to use one. A special thanks to Chris for finding a picture of the box so that I know what I'm missing, and for pointing out that the nutritional information states that they don't contain any shellfish - which explains perfectly why they aren't available here. (That, and there being no Sainsbury's.)
Lisa at 23:12
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the first Sunday in November
began with breakfast on the patio, in T-shirts. What a great country!
Cameron has been off playing football today - apparently with a cow - so I went to Harajuku/Omotesando area to potter about. On a whim, I went up to the shrine - and what a good whim! It was packed full of the cutest children you'll ever see - I think it must have been the 7-5-3 festival, when boys and girls of those ages dress up in very fancy kimonos and go to the shrine. I didn't like to stalk the kids but here are a few pictures:


It's been a day of near-purchases: I next went to the flea market in the Togo shrine, though I was a bit late and they were starting to pack up. Nearly bought some dragonfly-shaped coathooks (but she packed them away before I'd completely decided!) and fell in love with a bowly vasey thing...kept going back to look...umming and ahhing, will I won't I...until I realised I'd misread the label and instead of being about £40 (so almost affordable after some dithering) it was more like £90! So I left, empty-handed. Found a shop full of second-hand clothes, imported from the states I think..tried on a very nice jacket but decided I didn't really need it. I'm having a crisis of style at the moment, ie I don't have one and I want one. Is a second-hand sheepskin coat part of that new style? I don't know yet. Hmm, what else. Wandered up and down Takeshita-dori, Tokyo's Carnaby Street, just watching the fashions. Sunday is freak day where they all put on their best freak costumes (I long to know whether they leave the house like that or if they go out in their schoolgirl sailor suits and change somewhere, painting the blood on their faces, strapping on the bandages...). Unfortunately the camera battery ran out but I managed one snap:
Lisa at 07:53
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Thanks Katy. Here we are:
We're the Witches of Halloween oo-oo!
The ugliest you've ever seen oo-oo!
We go out at night and give you such a fright!
We're the Witches of Halloween oo-oo!
Cool.
Lisa at 01:44
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eurgh
for those of you desperate to know how the Quest For Tea went, the answer is badly. Ahmad's might well be the "world's most exclusive tea", but it is absolutely revolting. Highly perfumed, tastes and smells like a rose-scented drawer liner. No discernable bergamot. Ick!
Fortunately the box only contained 10 bags. The Quest continues...
Lisa at 07:33
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blogwise is worth a look if you have some random surfing time - a new list of blogs, categorised by location or keyword. There's a blog for everyone!
Lisa at 02:21
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hello!
Who's there? Someone googled cameron lisa japan, which surely must be someone we know - say hello, don't be shy now...!
Lisa at 23:31
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here it is. I knew I'd written something about my supermarket. Why wasn't it there yesterday?
Anyway, it's irrelevent now. I just didn't want to be beaten!
Lisa at 23:27
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coo-ee, Helen!
Don't say I don't do anything for you. Look at my archives! Better?
Lisa at 23:26
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It seems I'm wrong. It's only we stuck-up English who don't go in for trick-or-treating; Cameron informs me that guising is traditional at halloween in Scotland (though, oddly, he can't remember if he ever went). And now I come to think of it, we often went to the scottish country dancing halloween party for Katy's birthday - witch costumes made of binbags, sticky buns on strings and strip the willow.
Lisa at 11:12
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PS who remembers this? (Hands up. Come on Suzanne, Katy, I know you do. Caroline?)
we're witches of halloween woo-oo
the ugliest you've ever see woo-oo
does anyone know how it goes after that?
I remember one bonfire night, marching in circles around the sand-filled flowerpot and singing that song, with those green glow-sticks held up so that we really did have green faces. Cool, eh?
Lisa at 08:59
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brr
it's distinctly chilly here now. We've realised that our heating doesn't have a timer (so one of us will have to hop out of bed and put it on in the mornings - fortunately it is pretty efficient) and dug out our winter jumpers. I've been seen in woolly tights and everything! Still lovely and sunny though, I think Japan winters will be good.
Little to write about today. I popped into the Louis Vuitton shop this morning (as one does...*) and fell in love with a coat. But I'm not thinking about it. Especially since it wasn't priced. How expensive must it be to not be priced in there, where they think nothing of thousand-pound price tags?! I also kind of liked the cat-carrier...but you know, I'd need two...
Speaking of the cats, I think they had a run-in with one of Tokyo's mutant crows this morning. I wouldn't mess with one, they're enormous with big pointy beaks and evil glittering eyes. I heard an almighty screeching and caterwauling; when I got downstairs both cats were inside looking very shaken and with tails like bottlebrushes. Poor things - hopefully they'll have learnt their lesson!
It's halloween today so we're going out (bah humbug). Never a country to be left behind when there's a trend passing, the shops here are halloween crazy. Call me a miserable no-fun brit but I'm not sure I really approve of sending kids round to beg door to door. Of course, penny for the guy is a Good British Tradition and therefore completely OK. Bah. Humbug. (I'm one of those horrible people who insists that carol singers manage at least one verse of a proper carol, and don't come before it is at least December. Meh.)
Lastly, comments are out at the moment. I hope they fix themselves soon...in the meantime you'll just have to email me.
*I was with a friend who wanted a watch battery, and apparently that is where she gets them
Lisa at 08:43
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your mission, should you choose to accept it
...is to find some decent teabags. (And not accepting the mission is not an option.) The last box of teabags we carefully shipped halfway around the world and have eked out, making two or three or sometimes even four cups (don't tell anyone) from each bag, is coming to an end. There are two bags left, and I think they will have to be kept for a special occasion. If anyone out there can suggest a brand of tea that will taste a bit like Sainsbury's Earl Grey, I'd be delighted. I haven't investigated what is available here yet but I know I don't like Twinings, too perfumed. Liptons is too...well...anyway I don't think they do earl grey. (Liptons is made in the UK you know. So why do you only ever get it abroad?)
If the cats ever come in I'll saunter down to the local supermarket's 'import centre' for some research. Fortunately they have stopped playing That Tune so I can browse without fearing for my mental health. (That's funny. I tried to link back to an old post about how my supermarket now has an import section and how I was worried about the staff as they played 'it's a small world after all' on a loop for 3 weeks when it opened. Only I can't find that post. Did I dream it? Maybe I just emailed someone about it? Am I losing the plot altogether?)
Wish me luck.
Lisa at 01:51
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name that allergy
Any takers? It started yesterday and has got worse today: sore, itchy eyes; sneezy, runny nose. Like the hayfever I usually get for a couple of weeks in May (which I think is tree pollen). Only it's nearly November, most plants have shut down for the winter, so has anyone got any ideas? The only flowers out and, presumably, pollinating are chrysanthemums and the odd azalea (I think?) and there are none of them in my neighbourhood as far as I know. We're certainly not overrun with them, you'd have to search them out. Maybe it's not pollen - but what? Haven't eaten anything weird as far as I'm aware.
Anyway I took an antihistamine, which hasn't helped hugely (hmm. So maybe not an allergy, perhaps I'm getting a winter cold-and-itchy-eyes thing) but has meant that I spent the afternoon in a haze of sleepiness, dazed and confused. Fab. Think it's wearing off now, so I am going to have to go back and look at today's work, see if I've done anything ludicrous...
In the meantime, suggestions for what it could be will be much appreciated. Sensible ones.
Lisa at 08:16
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diamonds are a girl's best friend
I was gazing around the room at yoga this morning, having collapsed in defeat, when I noticed the shiny jewels all around me. Virtually everyone in the class had a huge sparkler as an engagement ring, and many of them were wearing matching earrings. One girl was wearing a fantastic diamond bracelet (I suppose it could have been cubic zirconia, but I somehow don't think so). They all have rich-people's small bottoms too. I think I have stumbled into the wrong class (and they are all too polite to ask me to leave!). I wonder what their posh going-out jewels look like if that is what they wear for exercise?
Lisa at 04:43
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This is a question for my older readers. Do you remember Shogun, the one with Richard Chamberlain? I wasn't allowed to stay up and watch it at the time, so when I found it in our video shop I had to get it out (unfortunately it's cut down into a 2-hour film - I really wanted the full 12-hour miniseries). When it was shown at home, was the Japanese subtitled so you could understand what was going on, or was it left so that you felt as bewildered as he did? Here, we have Japanese subtitles on the English dialogue, as always, which is fine. But if there were English subtitles on the Japanese dialogue, they've been removed! We can understand the Japanese that Chamberlain speaks (nice and slow, easy words) but when the lords are plotting between themselves in that gruff, gutteral Japanese that feudal lords always speak in these sorts of things, not a chance! And I'd like to know how much of the plot we are missing.
Lisa at 02:41
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I'm so tired I could just cry. It was such a beautiful day today that when I had to go to Ebisu I decided to go by bike rather than underground, and ended up cycling for about 2 hours. Tokyo is *hilly* and now I ache all over. So I'm off to bed.
I was just trying (and failing) to find a map of Tokyo so you could see how far Ebisu is from my house (not very, is the answer - maybe 4 miles?). I failed to find a useful map, but I did find this, a map of Tokyo's toilets with star ratings. Very useful.
Lisa at 14:50
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words learnt yesterday: 4. still not v. good.
saru, monkey; kaeru, frog; yuube, last night; uwaremashita, was born. Try making a sentence from that lot!
Lisa at 01:40
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Yokohama
Yesterday was the day of the Great Shell Wives Outing. (I want to call it a bantay but I'm afraid only my (mum's) family would know what was meant. Does anyone else know bantay, from (I think) band-tea, meaning a mass outing/jolly? No? Just us then. Probably you don't know boogeek either!).
It turned out to be much better than expected as there were only 5 who made it during the day, and we all got along OK - not that I expected not to get along with them, but it's a funny thing, spending time with people simply because your husbands work for the same company. In fact, as a complete aside, that's one of the hardest things for me about being here - I am no longer defined by who I am and what I do, but by who I'm married to. Of all the western women I know here, I think only 2 or 3 are here for themselves, everyone else is an accompanying spouse. Some cope with that better than others. Um.
Anywhere, where was I. Oh yes. I went cooking in the morning and didn't really have time to go home so arrived early and had to wander the backstreets of a yokohama suburb for half an hour before finding a coffee shop. On the train, the young Japanese couple next to me were spelling out the English writing on the signs and adverts - just like Cameron and I try to spell out the Japanese - and asked me how to say priority. It is a hard word. But I felt very pleased with myself because I'd understood the question, asked in Japanese! Wahey! I did have to ask him to repeat it once, but that's OK, I wasn't expecting to be spoken to.
Eventually the time came to meet and we got into Vanessa's car (she has a car! She drives in Japan! How brave) and went up to the sankeien garden, which was lovely. Cats, ducks, carp, crows, unfortunately loads of very large spiders which scared me witless of course, very embarrassing (I think all the spiders in Japan perhaps live in this garden as you hardly ever see one here); leaves just starting to turn and mist on the water. No photos, as C took the camera to work yesterday. In the garden, a 200-year-old Japanese house you could go and explore. Very dark, very spooky, quite smoky. A place upstairs to keep silkworms and a boat to hold mountain water for cooking.
A quick drink at the Yokohama country club (you see the circles I move in these days?!) where we bumped into an absentee shell wife, looking frazzled at her son's birthday party, then into Chinatown where we met the rest of the gang (!), poked around in the shops and visited the shrine, which is even more spectacular lit up at night, before stuffing ourselves silly with delicious chinese food.
The only trouble with Yokohama is trying to get back home afterwards - train, change, train, change, subway, change...only I was fed up by that point and got a taxi home.
Lisa at 00:19
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One more thing...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATY!
Lisa at 08:50
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That's a funny thing. I always talk about taking the video back, watching a video. It was a DVD. It's a bit like doing the hoovering, even with a dyson. I suppose.
Lisa at 08:49
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Just call me Nigella*
In a fit of domesticity, I've made bread. Bread! Me! Mind you, haven't tasted it yet, it's still rising on top of the stereo. Actually used one of Nige's recipes because rather than making me feel goddess-like, he makes me feel like any old fool could do it, which is what I need mostly. Oh, and his writing makes my mouth water.
Otherwise it's been a very quiet day. Worked all morning, went down the road to buy food and take the video back, pottered all afternoon. Have learnt some words though I can't swear that they'll still be there tomorrow. I can't swear they'll still be there in half an hour. (kaeru, frog. Also unlikely to come up I feel.). Hmm, the video. We watched dancer in the dark last night. Not very cheery really. Not cheery at all.
do you think there is a spate of kids called Nigella now? If neighbours could spark a load of Jasons, it's probable I think.
Lisa at 08:45
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New words learnt (actually, old words re-learnt) yesterday: 3. Not v. good

kasa (umbrella), kagi (keys), haizara (ashtray). 3 a day times...um...39 days = 117 new words. Must increase rate of learning. Will try for 4 today. gah!
Lisa at 00:16
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800 words. Is that a lot? I have no idea. We have to know 'approximately' 800 words (and 'approximately' 80 kanji) for the JLPT test, to be sat next month. Of course, we have to know the right 800 words, so I suspect parts of our already limited vocabularies will just not count (turtle. gourd. a kind of happy melancholic nostalgia. sea bream. miaow). I just tried to think of all the words I know but I ran out around 30, which doesn't bode well...(I wonder how many english words we know? I tried to find out on the web but I got bogged down in discussion about word families and how you define a word, so I gave up. A lot though. many. plenty. oodles. stacks heaps umpteen bucket/shed/sackloads. a multitude).
Lisa at 06:27
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You take the high road and I'll take the low road

Well that was surreal to say the least. Took the train all the way out to...well, the hounslow of Tokyo I suppose. No problem finding where to go at the station - I followed the man in the 'famous grouse' top and the girl in the tartan hat and, as I approached the field, I was guided by the skirl of bagpipes (bravely, I didn't turn and run back the way I'd come). The weather was doing a fair imitation of Scotland (in the summer ha ha) - chilly and damp and threatening rain at any minute. Cameron was playing for France in the traditional highland 5-a-side competition: when I arrived he was feeling miffed because he had the wrong boots and the rest of his team weren't pro footballers. However, after a can or two of lager that seemed to matter less to him, and his accent was getting a good airing, so all was well there.
I left him to it to explore...well. Giant men, the like of which you rarely see in Japan, in slightly-too-short kilts, throwing weights and hammers and what have you. I felt I was taking my life in my hands standing close by the hammer competition - they seemed to be letting anyone have a go and if they let go too soon that would be the end of the small Japanese dancing children, or me. I had a feel of the hammer and it was *heavy*. I know little about the rules of caber-tossing, but is it usual, once everyone has had a go and failed to turn it, to produce a hacksaw and take a foot off the end? Nobody managed to toss the shorter version either but I didn't see them shorten it again: presumably tossing the meter-rule is a less attractive spectator sport.
I wandered off to find some food - haggis, neeps and tatties washed down with Irn-bru. Not a raw fish or a grain of rice in sight. I ate that surrounded by Scottish ladies - you know the type. Slightly librarian-like, hair too long, large glasses, into knitting and country dancing? Where did they all appear from I wonder. The field was quite full of characters; one of my particular favourites (in fact I stalked him for a while - there's a picture below) was a 'laird' type, long dishevelled hair, full highland outfit - and his friend, a refined-looking Japanese lady in a delightful tam-o'-shanter. The dancing competition was in full swing by this point - my, do they take it seriously. We found out that the judges for the dancing competition at this charity event had had to be flown in from Scotland, else the dancers refused to compete - apparently that uses most of the funds raised! (I expect they make plenty on the jam and marmalade stall though: I was tempted until C pointed out that it was about a fiver a pot!) I thought one boy, surely old enough to know better (he must have been in his 20s, even allowing for Japanese youthfulness - there's a picture of him down there too), was going to cry when he hopped on the wrong leg mid-fling. He appeared to be competing with 6-year-old girls (who had their stage mamas cheering them on).
The commentator (there was a chap with a microphone wittering on all day: is the caber going to turn...is it...is it!..it's not, ad infinitum. Come to think of it, for all I know he could be the ambassador) was very excitable during the under-5s egg and spoon race, although not what one would call 'accurate', not if he was looking at the same race as I was. One child (probably a ringer, he looked at least 5 1/4 to me) was way out in front when the commentator was talking about a photo-finish. There was disappointment all round when he announced that the adult races were cancelled due to it being more of a bog than a track. Clearly, I was inconsolable.
Cameron was resigned to not winning the footy by this point - the last team they played was made up of the best players from other teams, as the team that was supposed to be playing had got bored and wandered off somewhere. Slackers. For the first time in his life, Cameron wished he was older - another 15 months and he'd be allowed to play for the over-35s, where he could be a golden boy again, rather than being an old man in the under-35s as he was yesterday. He's never going to fit in with the others though - not unless he gets himself a Japanese wife. I just don't blend in.



Lisa at 04:18
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This is where we're going tomorrow. I can't think of anything suitable to say.
Lisa at 14:06
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I've done well for books today - went to the SWET 2nd-hand book fair: all paperbacks 100 yen (about 50p. A bargain back home, a miracle here!). Am now the proud owner of 7 lovely new books, plus 3 free magazines. Yay! Also managed to get tickets for Primal Scream next month (I bought them in Japanese and everything. I'm so proud), and to get the playstation working - so I won't be reading those books until Lara has collected the three remaining artefacts! Cameron has been off at some motor race thing - he claims it is work...
Lisa at 10:29
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I'm doing fine with my whisky and wine
OK it's my turn (see Lisa's blog). Here's what's in my bag:
umbrella
mint sweets
yoga eye pillow (just in case...)
bar of crunky
minidisc player + 6 spare discs (important to have just the right one for your mood. However, this does mean I am carrying something like 200 hours of music about - a bit excessive for my usual 20-minute train ride perhaps?)
wallet: cute, red with flowers on.
little coin purse (note to self: next time you buy a wallet, get one with a place for coins)
raffle tickets, to be drawn a fortnight ago
6 old receipts, assorted
7 pens (5 are red. Guess what I do for a living?!)
phone bill, paid
keys
2 old train passes
business cards, assorted, mostly restaurants (why do I always pick them up?)
flyer for...um...christmas craft fair next weekend (already?)
lip balm
2 lipsticks
powder
tissues
nail file
cocodamol tablets, bashed up
loose change
sunglasses
book
japanese text book
dvd (this isn't always there, obviously. I just went and got it out to watch tonight)
No wonder I get backache! I think it must be genetic - I am not nearly as bad as my granny (fruit knife, spare fruit knife, rainmate, spare rainmate...about a stone of handbag) or my mum (who carries every bill she has ever paid, along with half of the UK polo stock and assorted toys she has stolen from children*). Suzi - if you read this, have you got these genes too; what's in your bag? Anyone else? (Men: pockets).
*She's a teacher, not some sort of scarey witchy toy-stealer. Or is that the same thing?
Lisa at 08:35
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Still being in your pyjamas at 10 in the morning is all well and good (and cosy, lovely) until somebody comes to the door. I did my best to look like I might have flu but I could tell he wasn't convinced.
Lisa at 01:01
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Today's good news is that I don't have to work! The bad news is, it's raining. That does, however, provide the perfect excuse to stay in my pyjamas and read, ready for next week's book group meeting (we're reading a history of the world in 10 1/2 chapters and Colette's the captive - no link as it is out of print. Good choice!). Cameron won't be back until late as he is having to go to Nagoya for a teleconference (don't ask. I also, naively, thought that the point of a teleconference was to prevent people travelling, but what do I know?) so I have hours and hours stretching ahead of me. Give me 3 hours and I'll be bored and back here wittering.
Lisa at 00:32
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not a plum. did I say plum? (I've been out for dinner and come back and been worrying about it all evening). It was more like...um. A greengage. Or a very large grape. Or perhaps a ping-pong ball.
Lisa at 11:58
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I just passed a woman on the street carrying a teeny tiny baby monkey wrapped up in a towel. Its head was about the size of a plum. Sweet! But not normal, even here. Surely.
Lisa at 07:10
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we're on our way down under
we're on our way down under
da na na na
da na na na
Just booked our flights for Christmas in New Zealand! How exciting is that! We'll be able to see the Two Towers at the same time as the rest of the world instead of waiting until spring for its Japan release! Oh, and we'll probably see some good scenery and stuff too I expect...
Lisa at 03:45
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I feel the earth move under my feet
I experienced my first high-rise earth tremor yesterday (when does it stop being a tremor and become a quake?). It was very odd - when you are on the ground or first floor, it feels like a sharp jolt, like someone has slammed an enormous car door, or a rumbling, like being inside thunder. Up on the 14th floor in my cooking teacher's flat, the room gently swayed back and forth. I felt vaguely disoriented and thought it was me swaying (? as you do) until I asked her and we noticed that the light fittings were swinging.
Incidentally, I never know afterwards if there has been any sound. It feels as though it should be noisy but somehow I don't think it is. Silent in fact. But I can't remember. I'll try and concentrate next time.
Lisa at 23:00
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a question of etiquette
"You are very kind" she said "to correct my English". But what did she mean? Was it meant as it sounds, that she appreciates learning new words - and that really is all it is, her English is excellent. Today, for example, I suggested that instead of oxygenated she might like to try oxidised. And oxidation instead of oxygenation. But did she really mean 'shut up I'm doing just fine on my own' but was too polite to say so? I don't know, but I've been worrying about it all day.
Lisa at 13:37
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No post for a few days due to running about manically. It started with beers on Thursday night, went onto a cookery lesson Friday morning - complete with duck impressions, yoga, and an explanation (I think) of why you have to eat mushrooms if you are going through the menopause - and a full day's work squeezed into Friday afternoon (multi-tasking? A doddle. I was almost editing different things with different hands!) then out for a delicious dinner at kubakan friday night. I spotted a review of the restaurant in a magazine on saturday that claimed the clientele were young, funky, sophisticated and moneyed...that's us alright!
Saturday we slept late then had to rush to get a haircut before dashing across Tokyo (leaving the cats with 3 meals-worth of food in their bowls; a food mountain. Must buy automatic feeders) to catch the shinkansen to Nagoya. Eiji got on the train at Yokohama - after finding our hotel we wandered around Nagoya looking for food and stumbled across a nice Chinese restaurant. Eiji accepted our pleas for no raw jellyfish and ordered lots of delicious food...eventually we were joined by Maruyama-san, happy as larry (who's larry?) after 3 days 'working' at the grand prix carting diesel about and watching the goings on.
And that is of course why we were there, so on Sunday we collected Eiji's customer (who would not let me be polite to him but insisted I sat in the front of the taxi and went onto the escalators first! Honestly...) and set off to the race track. Luckily Cameron has some contacts (!) so we got a little tour of the garage and the fancy labs and saw the ferraris all in bits. Very exciting, and I don't even like motor racing! We spotted some people we knew...both schumachers, david coulthard and some other drivers who Cameron recognised but I of course hadn't even heard of. I had a brief stint of attempting to take some photos but it seems I'm not cut out to be paparazzi and didn't manage to snap any celebs at all!
Then we went off to find our seats, via a detour round half of the track. So many people! All wearing ferrari stuff! Cameron was quite disgruntled when I acquired some flags for us to wave, turns out waving honda racing flags is not the thing when you work for Shell. What do I know, I just wanted a flag! I eventually acquired a couple of Bridgestone ones, which were apparently OK (though C never did actually wave his!). Seats were right in the sun and incredibly hot, which provided a good excuse for me to buy a (ferrari of course) T-shirt: a lambswool top was not appropriate garb at all. Oh well. We had about 45 minutes to kill so I amused myself watching the men watching the race queens (what do they do? What are they for?), and a childrens choir sang something that we stood up for. The national anthem? No idea.
Racing extremely loud. If we go again I will definitely take earplugs because it actually hurt physically. Schumacher was right at the front but I can't tell you much about the race I'm afraid (try here - we were sitting right next to the marlboro banner you can see in the first picture of the gallery!). We did see an engine blow up which added a bit of excitement, but no exciting crashes or overtaking antics, at least not where we were sitting. You'd have to ask Cameron if you really wanted to know about it, I was just enjoying the atmosphere! Every time the Japanese driver came past the crowd got very excited and waved their flags, sounded a klaxon and whatnot. When the ferraris came past I waved my flag and so did the 3-year-old sitting in front of us (though to be honest she was waving at everyone!). I like to think that in my own special way I helped with the victory.
Lisa at 02:13
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Yolly (our maid...yes yes I know I should be a domestic goddess and do my own ironing, and yes I feel the middle-class guilt too...) just told me 'I thought you were skinny but you're not'! What was that? She said it as though it was supposed to be a compliment but of course I have interpreted it as 'blimey what a heffer'. Mind you, she's not renowned for her sensible conversation - other classics have included the fact that all British men leave their wives when they come to Japan because the Japanese women are so nice. Oh, but it won't happen to me. And the fact that all British people in Japan know each other, and that British people love their parents more than their spouses...and that no British people have children because we enjoy life too much (?!). Anyway though. She thinks I'm fat. Must go to the gym...(ha! though! She saw pictures of Suzi's wedding and said that she looks older than me! Ha ha! Unfortunately it's clearly not true. Boo.)
Lisa at 08:48
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I should have bought two tins of beans, then I could have put the other one* into my earthquake survival kit (you can tell that's not a Japanese list - deodorant?!), which at present consists of 18 litres of water and a fire extinguisher. Actually, the fire extinguisher is only there because it happened to be there when we moved into the house. I do have a torch somewhere...
* I made Nigella's onion pie last night, OK?! Beans on toast is perfectly acceptable occasionally!
Lisa at 06:50
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Hairnets and dogfood
Living in Japan, where women have their own particularly 'special' sense of fashion, and working from home* (because what's the point in making an effort when you're not going to see anyone?) are doing nothing for my fashion sense. I am forgetting how to dress. No, not how to dress - that would be silly - I can still get my trousers on the right way round and my socks on my feet - but what to wear with what. I got halfway up the hill home before I realised that I just went to the supermarket (it's a small world after all) dressed like a spinster of the parish in an ankle-length skirt, shirt, cardy, sensible lace-up shoes and socks. Socks! With a skirt!! And I hadn't brushed my hair. And I bought a tin of beans and two tins of cat food. What is happening to me? Somebody take me out where I can wear sparkly makeup and silly shoes, quick! Things are only going to get worse as time progresses and I am stuck with the contents of my wardrobe (Japanese clothes are small. Teeny.) - when it goes completely out of fashion, I won't know. Perhaps it already has...is anyone else still wearing 'gypsy'? The alternative is to submit to Japanese fashions and wear the legwarmers, buy some sock glue, and be done with it.
*great in some ways: cats, music while I work, a bed to collapse on when it all gets too much, nobody asking stupid questions. Bad in others: days can go past where I speak to nobody but Cameron (and he doesn't want to speak back, he's been at work with real people all day!), I have to make my own cups of tea, nobody ever brings me chocolates and I end up working into the evening in order to overlap with the UK
Lisa at 06:13
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I'm also top for souwester yellow UK. Woohoo. And hello if that's what you came here looking for.
Lisa at 09:40
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A quiet weekend. Out Friday night with Cameron's colleagues, who now know two new english words - wimp and wishy-washy - while once again I have failed to pick up any japanese. I must, must do some homework. Monged about for most of Saturday - managed to drag ourselves out to a supermarket as we had people coming for dinner, which was a bit hit-and-miss as I can't get the hang of my oven: bruschetta were fine at the second attempt (first lot went up in flames!) then roast pork, which was pretty good even if the 'pan juices' were more like 'pan charcoal', with roast potatoes (yum). Nigella's blackberry galette for pudding was ok but not brilliant - had to improvise the creme fraiche with a cream and yogurt mixture, and it wasn't the same. Jose and Grace were polite enough to eat it all, though I'm sure I have confirmed all their prejudices about English food.
More monging on Sunday - we went to see the road to perdition which was, well, pretty grim. I'm no fan of Tom Hanks anyway and in this one he just trawls about 1930s America killing people and looking stern. Oh and his son goes with him. You can tell you're not entirely involved in a film when you spend half of it trying to remember when you last had a boiled egg (because someone is having one onscreen) and the other half wondering whether Jude Law's directors resent his pretty face as he gets cut up in every film he makes! Afterwards we went to dai-sushi, on Jose and Grace's recommendation, and they were right, what a fantastic restaurant. It's more western than most sushi bars here, more how I imagine them to be in New York or somewhere, with lots of stainless steel and - gasp! - a female sushi chef. As well as the raw fish, you could get sushi topped with various vegetables, hot courgette fritters, sirloin steak... and the best california rolls I think I've ever had. We stuffed ourselves silly.
We got home to find a very bizarre film on about a group of Yorkshire women sumo wrestlers and the cats had their first encounter with a cockroach. Islay trotted about after it in a non-aggressive manner; Jura chased it behind a curtain. Typical.

Lisa at 00:42
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In the absence of inspiration (it is a Monday morning), here is a list of some of the most peculiar search-engine referrals I've had lately:

pictures of rubbish in a changing room
female sweaty armpits
pics of kitted up beatles (I'm top!)
the gap down her blouse was fantastic
japanese lollies
japanese ghost expat "you know"
tops of stockings are being seen in 2002
women in knee high boots airport
how much vocab needed to learn a language italian

I don't think i can help with any of them
Lisa at 00:16
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I've had a proper expat wife day today. Well, apart from working this morning of course (and searching the house for Jura, who eventually turned up 7 foot off the ground on a shelf in the linen cupboard. I have no idea how she got there but can only assume she has learnt to levitate, presumably as a result of her traumatic fall last year!). My afternoon has been almost exactly as I think everyone imagines my life here to be. Lunch with three other 'shell wives' followed by mooching around Omotesando (the Champs Elysees of Tokyo, dontchaknow). I bought Christmas cards and some postable pressies (starting early this year!) and we were given tea while looking at some beautiful Japanese screens. Into the oriental bazaar for a spot of shopping (and regretting being so talentless as the materials are wonderful. If only I could sew). The antique chest we fell for last weekend is still there...then coffee and more chat, and home. It will be martini time on the verandah before I know it!
Lisa at 08:58
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ask, and it shall be given
Here they are! (Black cats. Particularly difficult to photograph.) Islay left, Jura right. Yes, I can tell them apart. Mostly.

Lisa at 01:15
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dum de dum de dum de dum
OOh! ooh! Finally the archers is getting interesting again! After weeks of suffering inane stuff about Emma's love-life, pig pens and fancy-dress parties, Brian and Siobhann went out for an intimate evening, only to bump into Simon and Brenda! This is exciting! And Brian can't tell Debbie because then Simon might tell Jennifer. And vice versa. What fun!!
Lisa at 00:23
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Well here we are. 6 months to the day since we arrived, dazed, confused and wondering where our belongings were. We had 2 weeks in a hotel: Cameron was sent straight off to work while I wandered lostly around Tokyo and swam in the lovely hotel pool (at least until the day when I was doing leisurely lengths on my back only to spot a gang of window cleaners watching me through the glass roof!). Then we were back into 'real life', only now it was Japan-fashion.

We've both been a bit down recently - me feeling how far away everybody is, Cameron finding his working day impossibly long - so in honour of the occasion and to remind ourselves that, actually, we are doing OK (with the exception of the temperamental fax machine, which continues to baffle me) here are two celebratory lists:

Good Stuff We've Done

the world cup! I thought it was fantastic and I'm no football fan. Cameron thought he was in heaven (but I wonder when he will make his web page about the final?!)

mmm, sushi

overnight trips to Korea, Hakone, Kobe. Day trips all round Tokyo, to Kamakura, Mt Takao and (several to) Yokohama.

the Fuji rock festival. It rocked.

freak-spotting, gadget-shopping, traffic-stopping, ear-popping (harajuku, akihabara, shibuya, shinjuku).

Things We've Learnt

to buy train tickets, get dry cleaning done, parcels posted and photos developed. We can order pizza, and books from japanese amazon. We know where to go for the biggest selection of windchimes or pastries, the best places to take visitors (and places not to bother with), lots of nice restaurants, places for a sunday-afternoon stroll or a proper walk, where to get a decent cup of tea, dried figs, lush toiletries, T-shirts with cool slogans, and digestive biscuits. We sometimes even manage to come out of stations at the correct exit.

the songs you like are not necessarily those you can sing best.

Just Say No to those grey shrimp/woodlouse things that look so nasty on sushi. They are. Ditto raw jellyfish, chicken cartilage, and fish eyes. Everything else is safe (so far).

a small earth tremor is not a reason to run screaming from the house. Far better to observe coolly ‘that was an earth tremor’. Give us another 6 months and it won't even require comment.

Lisa at 13:46
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wheee! They're here!
Lisa at 08:24
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Blimey. Shows what I know...
Lisa at 07:37
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OK well they're in Japan and in the capable hands of some random man we've sent to the airport. (Not completely random: he's an airport pick-up man. I think he usually collects people.) He just phoned to say that they were on the motorway and he had the window open but did I think it would be better if he shut the window and put the aircon on! (?) I suspect they are shouting their little heads off - hungry, disoriented and never keen on car travel - nor on suffering in silence - but the line was too bad to tell. 2 hours and they'll be here!
Lisa at 06:48
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(Pacing nervously up and down)
Lisa at 05:54
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The plane has landed. Now keep fingers crossed they are OK.
Lisa at 03:07
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As you might imagine I've spent a bit of time over the last few days in pet shops - cats don't get a baggage allowance. Japanese pet shops are peculiar. They are stocked to bursting with dog accessories: dogs are the pet of choice here, clearly because they are more amenable to being dressed up and carried about under your arm. You can buy any little doggy outfit you can imagine, though I'm a girl of simple tastes and my particular favourite is the yellow souwester/mac/wellington boots combo. Cameron says boots for dogs is a sensible idea somewhere concrete like Tokyo and I suppose he's right...but they do look silly. You can buy wasabi snacks for your dog (presumably as a punishment), bows for its hair, wax for its paws and party frocks for when it goes out.
Most of them stock about two balls suitably cat-sized and perhaps a plastic squeaky mouse. I eventually tracked down a scratching post in the supermarket, but it's cardboard so won't last 5 minutes. I was very tempted by a cute puppy but came to my senses when I saw the price (oh but it was adorable. And I could dress it up!). I wouldn't mind a puppy, I'm home most of the time here so it would be OK. But it would have to be the sort that didn't smell doggy and wouldn't lick my face wetly. Do they exist?
Lisa at 22:46
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the calm after the storm
well, that wasn't nearly as bad as expected. I didn't sleep much last night anyway (see below) and the weather was loud for a few hours - wind whistling, no, howling, between the houses and occasional gusts rattling the windows and shaking the walls - but this morning has clear blue skies and a perfect stillness. If I didn't have to wait in for You Know Who, I'd get myself up a tower somewhere; I think you would see Fuji and further.
So, I wasn't sleeping but lying awake and fretting. A random selection of worries: what if Jura's bionic leg sets off the metal detectors and they think she's a bomb? what if they forget to heat/aerate their compartment? what if they're in a compartment with a lion or a ferocious panda or something being shipped to a zoo? what if the plane crashes? what if it's turbulent? what if they can't get through customs and are sent back? what if the pilot is a psychopathic animal hater? I don't worry nearly as much when Cameron flies (though I suppose might if he was transported in a wooden crate in the hold).
Lisa at 22:30
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batten down the hatches
Apparently the worst typhoon for 60 years is about to hit. The rain this afternoon was so hard that I could feel the floor shaking: will the house still be standing in the morning? Will the kitties be able to fly in OK? How will they cope with turbulance (at least I supose they won't scream and panic everyone like the woman in front of me on my way back to the UK last year)?

Lisa at 11:17
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I'm so excited!
Guess who's arriving here tomorrow? Go on, guess. Here are some clues. They are small and black, they've lived in Scotland for the past 6 months, they love ping-pong balls, shoeboxes and small birds and are not keen on small children.
I'm also very worried. It's a looong flight and they're only little.
Can't concentrate.
Lisa at 06:47
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It's a small world after all
The 2nd floor of Marusho, our local supermarket, has been turned into a 'world import store'. Which basically means they stock teabags, proper biscuits in proper packets (ie not in a plastic wrapper containing a plastic tray containing a disappointing four individually wrapped biscuits), a few western-style toiletries (dove shower gel and aquafresh toothpaste), and baked beans. A good thing, I think. But unfortunately they have marked this expansion by playing 'it's a small world after all' over and over and over and over again. In many different languages. I am afraid to go in, in case I am there when the shop assistants finally crack and gun everybody down (shouting it's not a small world! It's a bloody big one!)


Lisa at 06:12
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Two more:

• tight jeans tucked into knee-high boots. Very Adam Ant
• calf-length boots with knee-high socks and a short skirt

I'd better go shopping
Lisa at 07:21
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There's a brand new dance but I don't know its name
Now it is officially autumn, everybody has put away their summer clothes and got out the winter stuff. Seems odd to me, changing clothes by the calendar rather than by the weather (it was in the 20s again today) but I am enjoying spotting the trends for the new season. I'd better report them now because in a few weeks it will all look normal to me.

• Fisherman's hats are out, big woolly hats are in (yep, even in the sunshine of a September afternoon. Don't want to catch a chill)
  
• Boots are cowboy-style in lurid colours, or else furry. I saw some nice emerald-green furry boots yesterday
  
• Footless pop socks. Nylon calf-warmers. What are they for?
  
• Jumpers, cardies, jackets, woolly tights to be worn at all times. I have no problem with any of these items, they are very sensible when it's cold. But it's not.
  
• (My personal favourite so far) Not sure what this is called but I spotted a girl who looked fairly normal in a blouse and short skirt only on her legs she was wearing...well...they appeared, at the top, to be black hold-up stockings with lacey tops...by the time you'd looked down her legs to her ankles, they were no longer stocking-like but looked like boot-cut trousers. Hold-up trouser legs.
  

Am I just getting old?

Lisa at 08:43
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Just call me Deria
I like my cookery class. I really like it. I like it even more because the people there are so sweet - today I was told that I was a great grater (!) and (as always) they marvelled over how fantastic my Japanese is and told me what a large vocabulary I have (all because I managed to string together 'is there a small plate?'). Japanese ladies are just lovely and are fantastic for your ego. OK it might not be sincere...knowing the words for plate, pumpkin and hot don't really count as fluency...but it makes you feel good. And it's catching, you find yourself telling them how wonderful their English is, how nicely they have cut that carrot, and how they had better dish up the chicken because they are so much better with the chopsticks than you are (that bit's true...)! And then you get to eat a delicious meal: today we made onigiri (rice balls filled with, um, filling - tasty, although I foolishly put cod roe in one of mine, yuk!), tori no kara-age (fried chicken) and kabocha no nimono (squash boiled in soy and sake and whatnot). Mmmm.

Lisa at 06:49
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arg!
They're not even nice! Honestly, when you pay through the nose for a potato, you expect perfection, not to have to cut out the manky bits!
Lisa at 09:44
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Mmm, potatoes
Potatoes. I have 2 observations to make:
1. Potatoes here are stupidly expensive so have turned from a commodity to a luxury (and I haven't even considered buying a courgette since I've been here - they come individually wrapped and cost more than a quid each!). I had intended shepherd's pie for tea until I made the mistake of looking at prices in the supermarket - you'd think I'd have learnt by now, wouldn't you?! So we are the proud owners of three medium-sized potatoes, which cost more than the meat and will therefore have to be the stars of the meal (mums will start saying 'never mind the meat, eat your potatoes'). What to do?
2. I have spotted a gap in the market that is going to make me into a millionaire. I'm giving up editing and setting up a baked-potato van at shibuya crossing. I've not had a proper baked potato since I've been here and I think if I marketed it as a delicious healthy traditional British snack, it would take off in a big way. Mind you, I'd have to charge the earth to cover my overheads, what with the price of potatoes and all...
Lisa at 09:17
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Right, Tim, I've tracked you down! I wondered who my AZ visitor was and now I know...so hello! Hope you are well, glad you keep popping by, do leave a message any time you feel inspired!
Lisa at 08:22
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Don't you love 3-day weekends? I have no idea what you are supposed to do to celebrate the autumnal equinox (though it might be something like banging a big drum - see below - or, judging from the fashions I've seen today, getting out and wearing your winter clothes and big boots). We celebrated in our own way: went for a nice Italian meal on Friday night (comedy thing is actually next week - d'oh!). Gym and my readers' group on Saturday (Cameron stayed home and did exciting things like his tax return) - I once again got abuse for being quiet. I'm starting to get a bit tired of it, it's not as though I never say a word, I just seem quiet next to all the noisy opinionated american women! Pah! Stayed in with department store food, wine and Apocalypse Now in the evening. (I hadn't seen it before. It was OK. I don't, however, think it's the best film ever made. Nor do I feel the need to quote it.) Yesterday, we went and walked up Mount Takao. I carefully watched the weather report, which clearly stated that sunday would be dry so of course we didn't take waterproofs or anything. And we didn't need them on the way up - the heavens didn't really open until we reached the summit. Obviously you couldn't see Mount Fuji (does anyone ever actually see it?! I am starting to think it's a myth, made up for children and tourists) and we didn't hang about to try but started down as quick as we could - had to cut through a lovely temple but, again, didn't linger to admire it...then we came across the top station of the cable car so our walk was cut short. It was a nice idea! When we go again we'll go prepared with waterproofs, jumpers and nice dry t-shirts to change into for the hour-long train ride home, just in case.

Today we pottered about Omotesando, looking at lovely antique furniture, buying a street map, then went to see about a boy, which we both really enjoyed; it's a funny film (even though we laughed a good 30 seconds before the subtitle-readers) and nice and British, which we appreciate these days. And, of course, a fantastic soundtrack.

Lisa at 11:54
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OK, finally, you can see what we did in Seoul here.
Lisa at 11:34
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Things I love about being in Japan #2 (I think)
Wandering down to the station today on our way to find some breakfast - it being a bank holiday (actually the autumnal equinox. Last weekend was respect the aged day) - we heard a drum banging. Then a troop of small children (aged between about 3 and 6 or so) appeared round a corner, all holding onto a rope, which was pulling a drum, being banged very enthusiastically by a man on one side and a boy on the other. Following them were a gang of slightly older children, struggling to carry a gilt shrine. They were all shouting and blowing whistles, and I have no idea what was going on!

Lisa at 11:32
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