First snow!
Spotted, not here exactly but not so far - on the way to the midwife clinic on Saturday. Less than an inch, but definitely white. And it is very cold here now, though, like last year, there is no frost due to there being no moisture whatsoever. I bought Cameron a hygrometer for Christmas which has been consistently off the bottom of the scale at 30% humidity; the cats and my hair crackle when brushed. (But it's beautiful! Crisp blue skies! Much nicer than the Tokyo summer.)
Sorry to those of you I scared, I should have included a geological hammer in the snake picture, for scale. It was only about a foot long.
Sunday we walked through the park (so crisp! so blue!) to Harajuku where we - well, ok, I - stuffed our (my) faces with sushi, it having been weeks since we did so. Back home intending to go to the gym...Cameron made it while I snoozed all that carbohydrate off on the sofa.
Back to work today but only for one day as we have the rest of the week off, so it doesn't feel too onerous. Actually I'm only doing half a day at that, having gone to meet a new person for morning coffee and ended up getting home from my new friend's house at 3! Hoorah!
Lisa at 07:13
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Christmas in Japan at Lost in Transit.
Lisa at 05:55
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Some holiday snaps
(Hover over them to see what they are; click for a bigger picture).

Lisa at 03:15
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Hi honey I'm home!
Had a lovely relaxing time - each day a nice man from a nearby restaurant came and brought us breakfast, then we vegged about the house (about 3 m from the sea!) reading and sunbathing all morning. Afternoons we went out and about: some very strenuous activities including snorkelling, swimming in the sea, shopping (I was very, tragically, excited by the presence of a Tesco hypermarket on the island. Why do they get one when Tokyo only has silly small shops? I note here that shopping in silly small shops (bakers, grocers, etc) is one of the things I claim to like about living here; I never claimed to be consistent). We visited a waterfall, had a ride on an elephant, saw butterflies, tigers, parrots, otters, fish and snakes (in zoos and aquaria not wild!) and had a day-trip to Ang Thong National Park (where the beach was set) where we saw wild monkeys. Unfortunately that was the day a big storm hit but otherwise the weather was perfect, mid-to-high 20s and mostly sunny. Evenings we stuffed our faces in a succession of nice restaurants (prawns as big as your head!) and mostly played rummy.
I realised I was back in Japan yesterday when I spotted a poster on the back of a toilet door: How To Wash Your Buttocks. (It turned out to be instructions for using the fancy bidet function on the loo, but still.)
Today has been a prepare-for-Christmas day: mincepies made, bread made, pressies wrapped. Still to get the decs up but it's on the list.
Lisa at 07:57
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Off on our hols
Back 23rd. Have a good week!
Lisa at 11:01
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Looking down on creation
Well today my little cup of joy is just runneth-ing over. I am so easily pleased, all it takes is some blue skies, preferably set off by straw-coloured trees and scarlet bushes, and some piles of crispy golden gingko leaves to kick through, and that's me!
This morning we went to the midwife clinic for a checkup. Apparently I have a good tummy, the best sort (?). Which is nice, though apparently it means I'll have a good labour, with strong pains (she was very clear that strong pains are a good thing and that I was going to have them). And she massaged it for me with lovely aromatherapy oils, then made Cameron do the same and told him he should do it every night and talk to the baby at the same time (my doctor never does all this! Much as I like him, he's strictly a weight-blood pressure-everything OK kind of guy.) Next to my feet - one each. Fabulous. I have never really thought much about reflexology before but she was quite amazing - fancy being able to tell from my foot that I have a hard head (eh? we wondered - turns out she means I've been working hard lately!) and a stiff neck (always). And that I don't have constipation (oh sorry, should this post have a warning?) but the circulation to my womb is good. In fact, she exclaimed you are very healthy! - I'm really going to miss all this once the baby is born.
While I was drifting and having my feet massaged, somebody crept in and left a sleeping 2-day-old baby in the room on a cushion. Odd.
We then had an hour or two to kill before Cameron had to go and play football, so we mooched about Shinjuku looking at gadgets and drinking coffee. I spotted a shop with ponchos so I went back after he'd left, hoorah! She said they were new in - I knew they'd appear here eventually (they were in September's Vogue after all). I got a lovely soft bright blue one and was very tempted by a grey knitted one (from Nepal!) for those not-so-bright days - it had a hood - so I might have to go back for that.
Nipped to Harajuku to get a Thai guidebook from the library, then walked home through the park. Hence all the rejoicing in the sun and trees and feeling lucky lucky lucky to be here. The nice lady in the greengrocers gave me a raffle ticket too though I have no idea why.
Lisa at 06:33
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Left: an ashtray spotted for sale. We ♥ smoking. This ashtray is for all (something) tobacco. Please enjoy smoking and keep happy. Right: a new shop in town.
Lisa at 08:16
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On the other hand
Counting my blessings, of which there are three.
(Before Tamako tells me off: yes I know there are lots more, but I'm not about to start getting all soppy about friends and family here, it's not that sort of blog. And yes, I have my health and all my own teeth. And a very privileged lifestyle. And...anyway. Three.)
1. I'm going to Koh Samui in 3 days and their rainy season looks to be ending tomorrow!
2. I've been approached by a new person with some work! (Only this is a Mixed Blessing given that she wants to know my rates and I never know what to say. I don't want to be too cheap but I do want to be reasonable.)
3. Being a student during the grunge phase is finally paying off! I have a shelf full of enormous misshapen jumpers, which are just perfect now I can't fit into my winter coats.
Lisa at 00:18
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Guess what? A whinge!
Meh. I had one of those nights where you doze, never really getting to sleep because your jaw-grinding wakes you, your mind plays the same tasks over and over and then when morning finally comes your head is pounding. Is stress bad for the baby? I have been working on a particularly nasty supplement this week: the client is re-writing it as I edit, which can't be the best way. Yesterday was booked as a day off - I had lots of little pre-holiday tasks to complete and people I'd arranged to see (coffee with a friend, taiko in a proper hall so we could play un-muffled!, haircut, major trip to the post office with Christmas parcels, return library books, etc) but coming home from that and starting work at 5 pm was not really very enjoyable (grind grind grind). Still, this time next week I'll be on a long white beach and won't care.
The post office was fun, she looked at me like I was a loony as I piled parcels onto the counter. I could have done without the elderly lady outside who tutted at me when all my christmas cards fell from under my arm with a big clatter into the gutter. It isn't as easy as it once was to get down and pick them up, given this past week's growth spurt, either. I nearly cried (but was a big brave girl and settled for a good grind). In order to send parcels you have to list their content, which of course I had forgotten. And there's only room for four things anyway, while some of my parcels contained seven or eight. With hindsight, I wonder if 'christmas presents' would suffice?
The library was closed, a shame as I had an hour to kill and said nasty supplement in my bag. A lady outside showed me that I could post my books into the big bin things outside. Only she seems to be posting magazines not books, so I do hope I haven't sent them off for recycling! I spent the hour mooching Omotesando in the rain. I note that the new swanky big white and bright Dior shop is now open. A fabulous frock in the window was not sufficient to entice me to join the queue along the pavement (carefully contained by two men with placards).
I have just remembered I haven't cancelled the milk for next week. I did ask Cameron to ask a colleague to write a note but his unhelpful reply was that it is easy and that I can do it; my response of course was that in that case he had better do it and the upshot is that neither of us has done it and the note should have gone out today!
This morning I am working once again but dashing off mid-morning because a friend has kindly offered to take me to Akachan-honpo, a baby shop. Now, what do I need to buy? It needs something to wear, something to sleep in and something to carry it in. That's all, right?
Lisa at 23:36
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Another day, another prenatal class. Like last week's, this was run by the ward office who provided a translator - unfortunately the same one as last week. This week she was either so engrossed in the subject or so worried about her daughter (at home with a high fever) that she quite forgot to translate until prompted ("what is she talking about now?" seemed to work but only for about 2 minutes). Still, it was fun.
First was dental hygiene. It was kind of like a primary-school science lesson: we used plastic pipettes to put some saliva on a blue tablet thing which we than wrapped in plastic and stuck to our arms (to incubate at body temperature I presume). Ours all stayed blue which means we have no RD. What's RD? Not a clue. Some sort of mutant bug, we think. It's good not to have it. Then we all licked some litmus paper to check the acidity of our saliva (it gets more acid when pregnant so we must all chew gum. I think.) And lastly we licked a white paper strip to see if our gums were bleeding (no! not to see if it went red which meant that they were, it was far more high-tech than that. A little square on the back stayed yellow if there was no blood and changed colour if there was. All of ours stayed yellow so I, being a scientist, wanted to get another one and test it after biting my cheek, but I wasn't allowed. I think they were a dud batch.)
What else? Oh we've come home with toothbrushes and floss and all sorts, as well as a disclosing tablet. I was rather hoping we might chew that in class too but no luck there. Interesting cultural differences with the two indian girls, who have never heard of dental floss (and also won't eat bananas or pineapple when pregnant because apparently it cools the body too much - but that came later).
Part two was nutrition. They gave us food! The swiftest way to a pregnant woman's heart, for sure. Carrot-and-bacon salad and seaweed with flaked fish followed by tinned fruit. Then they wheeled out the trays of plastic food (our interpreter had all but entirely given up by this point - they made the mistake of giving her food too - so I had to interpret for myself. I could have ended up believing anything. Luckily a nice American girl had good Japanese and steered me right.) One set of trays was all the food you should eat in a day, which looked rather a lot but perhaps I should try piling everything up, it might surprise me. No chocolate biscuits or cakes! I liked the teacher actually because she was very sensible with her 'everything in moderation' views only she does want us to drink a lot of milk, very keen on calcium. Not cheese because it's salty. Instead of salting veg to cook you can use sugar (this sounded so strange we checked it witht he interpreter!). Miso soup is too salty so you can make it with half yogurt (yuk!). The other tray contained plastic foods that contain calcium in case you can't drink milk. Much tofu.
And on that note I am still working and we haven't a thing for tea. Cameron was going to nip to the supermarket and bring sushi but he's stuck in traffic. Why oh why (etc) is there no M&S here from which I could fill my freezer with ready meals for such emergencies?
Lisa at 09:24
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And they all seem so quiet! (This is Cameron's home town.)
Lisa at 08:35
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pa rum pa pum pum
Christmas shopping is extra hard in a country that supposedly doesn't celebrate. I've never gone in for 'gift packs' of deodorant, soap and a flannel but somehow they get you into the right frame of mind. All you get here is sparkly lights (nice) and the drummer boy (pa rum pa pum pum). Add to that the fact that whatever we buy has to be postable - not too heavy, non-breakable - and it all becomes quite difficult! Still, I'm nearly there after work's computer system broke yet again - one more paranoid than myself might think they were trying to prevent me from working but I just think it's a bit rubbish.
Anyway, I walked all the way to Shibuya in the interests of keeping fit and because it was a beeeautiful sunny-but-cold day (pa rum pa pum pum). I then did several circuits of the shops getting more and more despondant before fortifying myself with coffee and cake and a stiff talking-to (note: I don't know if Starbucks is doing the same seasonal stuff in other countries but if it is the cranberry bliss bar is quite delicious; the peppermint mocha a bit weird and the apple cider yummy). This pulled me together and focused my mind and I'm now almost completely done (me and my drum). Of course, it's all load of old tat but hey! That's Christmas!
I then walked to Omotesando and am very pleased I did as I found a lovely scarf and mitten set for myself in Benetton that somebody can give me. That's my sort of shopping.
Oh and in other news I astounded myself several times when I caught a glimpse in a mirror or shop window. I have quite a bump! Of the sort that makes people predict I'm having a girl (high and pointy) - my sister's is apparently more spread out so it will be interesting to see if hers is a boy (which is what our granny and Katy have said from the start). Personally I suspect these predictions to be rubbish approximately 50% of the time.
Lisa at 08:50
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A lovely lovely lady gave me her seat on the train yesterday! Unfortunately I was getting off at the next stop (and was so taken aback I didn't manage to tell her) - and also unfortunately I'd had to stand for three stops while she finished her conversation, but still. How nice. Rather oddly though she got off at the next station and hopped back on one door further down the carriage. Maybe she couldn't bear the thought of watching me occupy her seat?
Lisa at 01:05
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And yesterday was all about shopping. In the morning I went on a TGA trip - TGA is the relocation company that looked after us when we arrived; they run trips to places of interest every now and again. It was a part of Tokyo I hadn't visited before (Ningyocho) and advertised as a Christmas shopping trip, so off I went. Of course I failed completely to buy presents but I did buy some lovely things for myself! First to a crafty shop, then to visit an artisan (the guide whispered 'he's not very social') who makes the boxes geisha use to store their kimonos. They start as wicker baskets but, after 6 months of building up the lacquer layers, are absolutely beautiful. I considered ordering one - a small 'treasure' one rather than a full kimono one - but before I can do so, have to pick a family crest to have on the side! I might go back, it would make a lovely souvenir.
Then, and this was the point we all got quite excited, to a kimono and obi wholesaler. Both new and used, they were priced for the department stores and available to us at huge discount. We went through the boxes like termites: 7 excitable ladies and lots of beautiful things! One of the loveliest obis had pictures of edo-period life and looked just like some of the antique screens I've seen in museums. I don't know how many threads it contained but it was so detailed it looked painted. 36,000 yen (the discounted price) was a bit steep for me, oh but it was fabulous. I ended up buying a garish red and gold obi that will be lovely and Christmassy either on the table or hanging down the stairs - and was saved from another by one of the other women snapping it up. The choice was almost overwhelming, which actually helped - it was so hard to choose I ended up just picking out the one. I also bought a wedding kimono because it was such a bargain (3500 yen - about 17 quid and I don't think you could buy the silk for that!) and a hanger for it, though I can't put it on the wall here because it is white and will just blend in. I vaguely toyed with the idea of cutting it up and using the material but the embroidery goes across panels so I think that would be a shame.
Lunch, and the trip was over. But Sarah had confessed during the morning that she didn't know about Chicago - a used-clothes shop on Omotesando, it has a reasonable selection of kimonos and obis. So we just nipped over there; she bought a second obi and I ended up, completely unnecessarily, with another kimono. It was too beautiful and too cheap to ignore. This one really might end up being cut up one day - when I learn to quilt (it's on the list) - or it might go on the wall here, as it's green. Or, who knows, maybe one day we'll be invited to a fancy-dress party and I'll have the perfect costume all ready!
Lisa at 00:43
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Today's main post is very baby-oriented so I've put it over at baby blue so as not to scare anybody away. Those of you who prefer it nice and safe over here, I give you this article - if it's true then Cameron might one day get me to accompany him to Australia - and this, an electronic device that interprets your cat's miaows. Mine are basically saying 'feed me', 'let me out', 'let me in', 'stop ignoring me' or, in Jura's case, just singing. I don't think I need a fancy gadget.
Lisa at 07:59
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A new location
I've just made my first post over at lost in transit, a communal blog by expats all round the world. I felt strangely nervous before doing so; in fact, I've been fretting all week about what it should be - it has to be good! - before eventually deciding just to bite the bullet and post. Anything. It's an interesting blog: do go back through the archives sometime when you have a spare hour or so.
Lisa at 00:48
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Sweet (look at me today, Miss Prolific!). My dad says that my story about the taiko last night reminded him of going to see Jesus Christ Superstar at the cinema when I was on my way - mum was most uncomfortable!
Lisa at 11:43
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Bankers
OK I'm back and feeling much better, ready for a small rant about the bank. Before that though, while we're on the subject of diet, bread's good for you, right (it must = carbohydrate and some sort of vitamin or mineral)? Only I just ate 3/4 of a (large) loaf of bread. I hadn't eaten a morsel since lunchtime and it was just so soft and freshly baked and delicious. I feel a bit full now though.
So, all I wanted to do was transfer some funds back to the UK (because there is zero interest here and we have a mortgage at home) and some to Thailand to pay for our holiday. I remembered from bitter experience that I am not allowed to transfer money out of the country (though I can do internal transfers so anyone with an ounce of nous intent on siphoning off their husband's money can surely just transfer internally to an account in their own name - or that of an accomplice - then transfer overseas from there? I don't know) so I came armed with a 'power of attorney' form all filled in (by me, naturally) and signed by Cameron as well as the two ready-prepared transfer forms. Signed by Cameron.
Firstly, she told me (which I'd forgotten) that she would have to call Cameron to make sure it was OK (why did we fill in the forms?) Ok, I said, but he's out of the office today so you'll have to call his mobile (this is where your accomplice comes in, should you be siphoning). This, slightly surprisingly, was OK so I found his number and gave it to her. Much palaver involving transferring money to Thailand (which you're not allowed to do in Euros even if the bill you are paying is). Eventually we agreed on US dollars as a suitable currency - now remember this bit, it's important later! - so I changed the power of attorney form to show the appropriate amount to transfer. In front of the girl. While this was going on she was trying to ring him but getting no reply
When I suggested we transfer less back to the UK (this was the transfer for which permission was required), just the total I am allowed to do without a phonecall, that wasn't permissable because, you see, it said 6 on the form not 5. Never mind the fact that I myself had written that 6 there not 15 minutes before when I checked the account balance! And just changed the other bit of the form to agree with the transfer I was making! Fortunately Cameron eventually picked up his phone - she asked whether that was Mr Watson and his affirmative reply was sufficient security check - and said that it was OK for me to make the transfers. She had to ask him every single question she had already asked me; it wasn't just a matter of getting his permission but ensuring I was making the correct decisions about, eg, commission fees and currencies, because who knows what I might have said.
On the bright side, a nice lady offered me her seat! But she was American and a newish mum, so of course she did. None of those young healthy Japanese men stood up. And the whole process only took 45 minutes, which is pretty good. I'd mentally allowed an hour before getting Impatient.
Then I sat in Starbucks for a couple of hours editing a pig of a manuscript (though I must confess I enjoy the piggy ones, it's the routine easy ones that bore me witless) before heading to a tour of a maternity hosital. The good outcome of that was that I've decided I definitely would prefer to have the baby in a midwife clinic than a hospital - I just need to get booked in!
And then I whizzed to the supermarket to pick up some chilled soup (spiced pumpkin, yum) for my tea, it being far too late to consider cooking. The fruitcake behind me in the queue peered closely at my basket the whole time we were queuing before eventually asking me what "that" was, he'd never seen anything like it before. To which I replied, it's soup. He then quizzed me on what you do with it (heat it up in a saucepan or the microwave, no you don't need boiling water), what it tasted like (it's nice) and which aisle it was in (the chilled one) before declaring he would be back tomorrow to buy some and was it British because I sound British like his brother-in-law (no, it's Australian but yes, I am) and that whatever it was he was buying (I didn't examine his basket too closely) was American and you couldn't get it anywhere else but that supermarket. I ran. He was then in the ticket queue next to me at the station so I went and hid in the loo, I'm ashamed to say, while the first train left. He's probably just lonely.
Lisa at 11:24
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I have reached the point in my week where Tokyo is full of stupid people being deliberately obstructive. And I'm fed up to here (quite high) of pregnant women beating themselves up because they had a glass of wine/some chocolate buttons/half a packet of crisps (all real examples). And as for the woman who posted to one of the messge boards claiming that when she "has" to have chocolate she has a handful of cocopops, all I can say is: get a grip!
Gah. I need a nice long bubble bath, a glass of red wine (=grapes=fruit=healthy) and a large amount of chocolate (=beans=healthy OR = calcium=healthy, take your pick. I like both) and/or ice cream (=dairy=healthy). I am a Bad Person.
Lisa at 09:49
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The drumming was fantastic: very exciting and visually attractive too. Only I have seldom, if ever, been quite so uncomfortable - my neck pain, coupled with the very hard and slightly too small seat (what is it with Japanese theatres, are they worried people will fall asleep if they are allowed a soft cushion?) and the almost complete lack of leg-room all conspired to have me gingerly shifting position every couple of minutes. Oh and my internal organs all received a good kicking throughout: this child either really loves or really hates the sound of the taiko drum - I don't suppose we'll know which for some time yet.
Having said that: the drumming! The drummers were incredibly muscly without an inch of fat on them (have a click about on their website, I can't link the pictures because it's all frames); and they had to be to keep up the rhythm for so long. At one point they were sitting on the floor, leaning backwards at about a 45-degree angle and drumming away, supported by their stomach muscles. Ow! And it wasn't just drumming, there were some dancing (actually slowly walking) girls, some twangy things, a piece played on clave-like sticks and the odd bit of singing (though I prefer the word vocalisation to describe it).
They're going to Europe next year and it's definitely worth going to see if you can.
In other news, my neck is feeling a bit better today so I am much more cheerful. I have nearly the full range of vertical motion back and can manage about 60 degrees horizontally as long as it is slow. Feeling tired though: Cameron was up at 4.30 this morning to go to Osaka for a meeting.
Lisa at 23:46
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ow!
All I did was turn over in bed; something went twang! in my neck and now I can hardly move unless I shuffle chin to chest. Coupled with hours and hours lying awake last night I am not on tip-top form, in fact I have skipped taiko. But we are going to the kodo drummers tonight to see some real taiko, which I'm quite excited about.
Lisa at 02:54
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Interesting. Lawson is a combini, a convenience store, and just the place to go if you are in the need of high-additive brightly coloured food. (I admit I do sometimes pop in for a 'ready meal' or as close as you get in Japan)
Lisa at 07:11
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Hooray!
For Gap, who have picked up on my oft-repeated request and started to stock low-rise tights.
Lisa at 06:25
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Ok since you asked
This is hello kitty world. There was loads of hello kitty tat in the shops but the place itself was not that kitty-y. It was decked out like a giant tree thing and I have to say we didn't really know what was going on. There was a stage by the big tree with an incredibly perky girl apparently conducting a raffle with the aid of a giant rabbit, watched by heaps of tiny children. There was a kind of 'cute animals do the baking' display with animatronic fluffy toys but honestly it must have been 20 years old so the movements were kind of jerky. Like disney from the 50s (I think I'm thinking of the bit in Snow White where the woodland animals help with the housework). And a display about electricity with cute batteries singing 'imagination' and a rabbit, bizarrely. Oh and another rabbit strapped to a table with a headset on, like Frankenstein's monster bunny - but we didn't see that one move. And of course we skipped kitty's house for its 70-minute queue but I was quite disappointed as that would have been the highlight for me. We did go and watch a 3d film (in Japanese) about, um, some pirates I think. Cameron got to sit in a moving chair but we expectant mums and short kids had to sit still. The 3d was quite good though they pumped in a 'cherry blossom' aroma at the end which was nauseating. I'm glad we went! But felt quite disappointed not to see her house (I might go back in the week sometime when it's quiet...)
Oh and there was a 'grown ups' shop upstairs selling, amongst other things, hello kitty toilet-seat covers and bras. Yes really.
Lisa at 01:06
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It was a bank holiday weekend so yesterday we went to the John Lennon museum in Saitama. Cameron has been wanting to go for some time and with our recent Beatles DVD-fest (8 of them!) I was fairly interested too. I spent most of it feeling sorry for his first wife and son who were effectively ignored (OK, Yoko did pay to set up the museum - I think - or at least help towards it, but still. Seems unfair). I did enjoy his sketches from when he was trying to learn Japanese.
Sunday we went out to Hello Kitty world! Where we were both a little disappointed at the lack of pinkness and kitsch. We did opt out of the 70-minute queue for Kitty's house so perhaps the failing was ours. And the kiddies seemed to be enjoying themselves which is, I suppose, who it's aimed at.
Saturday was so beautiful (unlike today which is cold and disgustingly wet) we walked through Yoyogi Park to Omotesando, did a spot of shopping and treated ourselves to hot chocolate and cake, then walked all the way home again. We hit the local shops after 5 so stopped off for dinner at the West Park Cafe, where I gorged myself on delicious rotisserie chicken with herb butter. The table next to us was occupied by five extremely well-behaved 5 ('and a half') year old girls, having dinner before a sleepover. The main topic of conversation was who should sleep where with some giggling over boys - it seems girls never change. One poor little mite, Australian, declared that of course she was supporting Australia in the rugby before having to backpedal rapidly to agree with her friends, all of whom were at least half english. Bless.
And on the other side of the restaurant (I do like to people-watch) a girl wept silently and decorously into her napkin. Much specuation: was her boyfriend taking her out to dinner for the last time before going to war? Was she finishing with him to spare him the heartache of finding out she had consumption? (Ok my imagination tends toward the victorian) Intriguing. And then we came home and watched the rugby and even I got quite excited. And Cameron for once wasn't supporting the opposition so we didn't have to fall out. Which was nice.
Lisa at 09:46
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I think I might have been terribly rude last week. Thursday night we were at the Hyotan (it's a pub) and one of the staff, in visiting on her night off, came over to say hello because we haven't seen her for ages. She then dished me up a plate of food 'good for baby' but I'm afraid I couldn't eat it and had one piece then tried to pass it over to someone, anyone, else. Well, would you want cold thin-sliced pigs ears?
Lisa at 13:08
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Midwife madness
I must remember to ask my friend Mia-the-midwife if random lifestyle advice is a proclivity of midwives everywhere or a peculiarity of Japan. I've met two this week in my quest to find a place to have the baby. Midwife One told me that I should eat lots of rice - in fact, to eat a full Japanese meal (meat, fish, veg, rice) three times a day - and never wear a bra, and that I must walk briskly for 1 1/2 hours every day. Clearly this is not going to happen: who has time to slot an extra 90 minutes into their day? Which brings me neatly to Midwife Two, who says I should go to bed at 10 every night and get up at 6 (I made the mistake of saying I usually get up around 8 and then had to laugh at the expression of horror on her face). Also, I should eat lots of vegetables but nothing sweet, not even fruit, and definitely no dairy. (Is this why they have so much osteoporosis here I wonder.) She also runs a singing class to teach voice control, which I think must be something to do with breathing. Oh and, after struggling for some time for the word, she seemed to say that I myself should be doing lots of moxibustion: this is a kind of aromatherapy where they burn herbs, often performed to try and turn a breech baby and, I would have thought, not particularly suited to amateur dabbling in the home.
So I expect I'll do what I usually do and ignore them all.
Lisa at 03:12
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you know when you are so tired and stressed and overwhelmed you just want to curl up in a small ball and howl?
I'll blog again when I've regained some equilibrium
Lisa at 05:32
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Busy busy busy
And utterly exhausted: did somebody say something about taking it easy during pregnancy?
Yesterday morning was the pregnancy group, to which I cycled as it was quite close to home. Came home via so many shops I had to push my bike as the basket was so full I was scared of stuff dropping out (or of overbalancing). Then in the evening I had to make a trek all the way across Tokyo to pick up a super-bargain pushchair. Cameron is having a busy worky week: we haven't seen each other to have a conversation (I've been asleep before he gets home and still asleep when he leaves!) since Sunday night and don't expect to do so until Saturday morning though there is a small chance he might get home before bedtime tonight. Which would be nice.
Today I took some work to starbucks for breakfast, just for a change of scene, then met some friends to go to a van Gogh exhibition, so I have sunflowers on my mind now. The exhibition was quite disappointing - they had a few vGs, which were lovely, but they had filled the gallery with other random paintings of flowers, most of which were not very exciting. We did see some Monet waterlilies but when we got to the painting of 'woman reading next to van Gogh's sunflowers', ie a painting of the painting we'd gone to see, that was really too much.
So we went for lunch in an excrutiatingly noisy Italian restaurant - so noisy we gave up and went elsewhere for coffee then sat and chatted for hours. Quick trip to the secondhand bookshop before going for a much-needed and long-overdue haircut then home to finish off the work. And now I am going to have a long soak inthe bath.
Lisa at 09:19
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Yesterday was such a beautiful day (breezy but warm, clear blue skies) that after having breakfast on the patio (thus beating last year's record we think - and last year we were in fleeces not T-shirts) we decided to have a walk to Shimokitazawa. It's only about 15 minutes from here but a different world from central Tokyo, with small recycle (secondhand) shops, funky record shops, gorgeous asian furniture and some lovely bars and restaurants. We eventually settled on rotating sushi for lunch, followed by a doughnut just for something sweet. And we were very restrained, buying nothing but well-reduced timtams (half the price of the international supermarket!). We did go into a baby clothes shop but I just get too confused by the sizes. How big are they when they come out? How fast do they grow? (Why does Gap sell clothes to fit up to 3 kg and then 5-7 kg: what do they wear at 4 kg?) Cameron suggested we ask people to send baby clothes for Christmas, which is probably sensible as we do need them, but doesn't seem right somehow. And, of course, we had to go into one of the two dog clothes shops, where we giggled at the 20-something man holding up coats for size against the ridiculous bundle of fluff under his arm and the middle-aged ladies carefully selecting dog biscuits from the counter using tongs as you might in a bakery. We then came out and gave abuse to a naked dog walking down the street: has it no shame?
Lisa at 09:50
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Flicking through the channels last night waiting for Frost to start, we came across a travel show about England. The American girl was trying to do an 'off the beaten track' tour, travelling by barge (London-Yorkshire in no time at all and apparently for just a few dollars), hotel-bus and steam train, and generally it was quite a nice programme and I felt quite homesick. The bit we enjoyed most though was when she wandered into a kebab shop in Liverpool, turned to the camera and said that one of the nicest things about England was the way you could go into any fast-food shop, even if it looks like nothing (gestures to formica counter and tatty menu), and you would always get something nice to eat. She the asked the chap what he recommended (actually she asked for 'something really yummy') and came away with a tray of chips and curry sauce! (We were also laughing because, to us, that's one of the nice things about Japan, the way you can go into frankly grotty-looking establishments and get good food.)
Lisa at 08:15
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Neil Young is fantastic, and I know because we saw him last night. I was a bit unsure beforehand because his latest album is...well, a bit strange. It's a series of songs, not quite a rock opera (maybe a concept album?), about a fictional family - the Greens - living in a fictional town - Greendale - and he seems to have thought out all the family history far beyond what appears in the songs. It might make me a bad person but generally when we see people live I like them to do all the old favourites, I'm never that keen to hear new songs (I also like to buy greatest hits compilations). Anyway, we knew the first half of the show ('act 1') was going to be Greendale. Well it was brilliant! He told little stories about the family between each song then, as he was singing, actors acted out the lyrics and mimed along. In a real am-dram way (pointing to their eyes when they see stuff, to the floor when they were talking about being here). I think all bands should be encouraged to interpret their music this way as it gave a whole new wonderful dimension to the stage show. My personal favourite bit was the finale where, like a real musical, all the cast appeared on stage to dance and clap and sing. The sea captain in his waterproofs alongside old grandpa (who, incidentally, was the roady too) and grandma; the paperboy and the pub band (playing along on broomsticks); the environmental activist and the TV journalists. And a stage-full of extraordinarily enthusiastic japanese dancers, clapping and gurning for all it was worth. Act 2 was quite humdrum after that: Neil Young being Neil Young, Crazy Horse being Crazy Horse. And not being the Neil Young I like best either, it was very rock and roll with extended guitar nonsense. It all got a bit King Crimson at one point when a keyboard descended from the heavens on wings of a dove (or an angel, it was hard to tell) but then perked up again when they broke into 'like a hurricane'. At which point the stage crew pushed the big wind machine out further onto the stage. Cameron thinks it might have been coincidence as apparently it was running for ventilation all the way through; I maintain it was part of the literal interpretation tradition begun in the first half.
Lisa at 06:41
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Look where we're spending the week before Christmas! I'm very excited indeed.
Lisa at 03:30
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In the middle of the night
3.44 am, to be precise, we were shaken awake by another quake. Cameron turned straight back over and went to sleep; I found myself awake for hours so feel a bit weird this morning.
Lisa at 01:11
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I had one of those uniquely frustrating Japanese experiences today. I've been putting off filling in my medical insurance form but, as I currently see the doctor every month, it's getting a bit silly. The only thing I had left to fill in was the bank's fax number and sort code so I thought, as I was going to Shibuya today anyway, I'd pop in and ask them. Well. It seems the fax number is a Deep Dark Secret, not to be told to the likes of me. I approached the chap on the front desk, optimistic because the front-desk staff generally have excellent English. I clearly picked the exception to the rule but I spoke slowly and clearly and thought it would be fine. I communicated what I wanted and he bustled off to ask a girl at one of the inside desks. He came back, demanding to know *why* I wanted to know the fax number. I said well you see, I have this form... so he took the form and dashed off again. Eventually he reappeared to tell me that they don't think I need to know the number! I asked whether he was telling me that they didn't have a fax machine, to which he made one of those noncommittal grunts that Japanese men (men in general?!) are so good at. I interpreted this to mean they have no machine but, having thought about it since, that's ludicrous! I can't imagine there’s a bank anywhere in the world that has no fax machine, let alone in Tokyo, the city that runs on faxes. And the sort code he grudgingly gave me is all letters, not a 6-digit number as I was expecting so I hope that's OK.
After taiko (which was great fun, I was a tiger and we were attacked by the dragons) I spent the rest of the day dashing about. Out to the carrot tower (ridiculous name) to pick up tickets for the kodo drummers; over to Shinjuku to buy various ink cartridges and photographic bits. Yodobashi camera, always a contender in the world's most confusing shop competition, has rearranged its entire stock in all four buildings so that all took some time longer than anticipated. Shinjuku thinks it's christmas: the only appealing cake to go with my afternoon cocoa (it's good for you!) was a cranberry slice and I had to eat and drink fast to get away from I saw mummy kissing santa claus, then I watched men on a hydraulic lift putting up the christmas lights.
I then popped into Takashimaya, one of the bigger department stores, to check out their maternity wear. When I eventually stumbled into the small dark back corner of the 9th floor, I realised that their pregnant clientele is obviously aged 50-something and that it's company policy not to let pregnant women wear anything but black, beige or grey. Or navy on very special occasions. Apart from at night, when they all revert to childhood and sport pink frilly nighties with teddy motifs. And the bras (sorry if it's too much information, but what I was really after were bras and tights) were all pink, lacey and well-padded and all tights were tea-coloured and thick. Very disappointing indeed.
And finally I popped to the menswear floor to buy some braces (it's a long story but it involves too-big maternity jeans). The assistant looked at me like I was a loony (perhaps she's right) when I said they weren't a present and asked me twice more in Japanese and then again in her very best english before consenting to give me them in a plain paper bag and plastic bag (minimum wrapping here). I should have just let her beribbon them, would have been easier.
When I got home I found Yolly still here ironing, waiting to rub my tummy (arg!) and tell me I'm having a girl (this week!) because I like flowers. Doesn't everyone? And I think I forgot to tell you of last week's insanity (last week it was a girl too, she's getting more consistent. At least she’ll be able to say she was right, whatever comes out) - she told me my bust is getting bigger! I'm British, you can’t say things like that.
Lisa at 13:14
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(I hope you don't) read it here first!
Cats are acting very strangely this morning. Jura is trying to get into things (the freezer; the tumbledryer) and running about wildly; Islay has had a drink from the toilet and is running about wildly. I do hope they're not trying to warn of an impending quake ('The Big One').
meow meow meow
what's that Jura? There's a big earthquake coming?
meow
and some kids trapped in a mine?
Lisa at 01:08
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Update: A 6.5. Quite big. And it was deep, apparently, which I imagine is why it seemed to go on for a long time.
Lisa at 09:03
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Eep! That was a big one!
Started off gently, didn't think much of it - only it didn't stop for ages, then suddenly got quite shakey indeed. Went on for long enough to get sweaty palms but not long enough to spring into action. Cats seem completely unperturbed; they are so Japanese these days.
Lisa at 08:35
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It's definitely autumn here now. Not only because the leaves are changing - although they are - or the temperatures dropping (we've put the heating on twice now!) but because I have started to cook. All summer we eat easy food; in summer proper I try not to put the cooker on at all then as it cools a little I can't be bothered faffing about so we have tried-and-tested food. But we had experimental toad in the hole Sunday night (thumbs down), experimental chicken-n-rice last night (thumbs up) and I've just been to buy pumpkin and sage for tonight's experimental pasta dish. I don't have very high hopes as I seem to recall I don't much like sage, but it looks nice in the book so I'll give it a go. And tomorrow night we're having stew. Sorry Cameron (but honestly, you can't just not like stew, all stew, and soup, all soup. It's weird.) Oh, and Cameron has eaten the last Christmas pudding, so it must be getting on to re-stocking time!
This site has some lovely photos; I particularly like the historic ones. Cameron thinks he must know the chap as he seems to live near his mum and dad, but there aren't enough clues on the website to tell for sure.
Lisa at 07:16
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What we saw of the bunnymen was very good: he does have a fabulous voice. But who plays without a support band? It is not civilised. Their lack of support meant that they started to play 15 minutes before Cameron got home then I, assuming there would be support, decided I needed a burger first (high in iron!), with the result that we arrived in time to hear two songs before they said thank you Tokyo goodnight! How very disappointing. Fortunately they came back twice so we heard a total of 6 songs (40 minutes including the time spent waiting for them to reappear) but still, we felt very sad.
Lisa at 05:07
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I've spent today being a pregnant housewife, which suits me because I've been feeling a bit icky anyway and I need to conserve energy for tonight's Echo and the Bunnymen concert. The initial plan for the day involved a museum visit and editing a manuscript only it's raining and the friend I was going to the museum with says she's had a tough weekend (without elaborating so I do hope everything is alright over there) so we postponed the outing and I can't access my work email! How frustrating. So I've washed laundry and dishes, tidied the house and varnished my latest washi-paper creation, done some exercise and inflated my birth-ball (I'm sitting on it now and it's great - my back doesn't ache at all!)
Anniversaire in Omotesando is a wonderful shop. It took me some time to realise that it is mostly set up for wedding planning, because it looks like a very exclusive sort of department store. The chocolate stand has three or four boxes of chocolates but they are exquisite. The champagne stand sells only one type, but it's the best. Upstairs they have some fabulous housewares and evening dresses as well as beautiful wedding gowns (in the Japanese western-wedding style: very white, very sparkly, very big). Yesterday afternoon, we were sitting in the Anniversaire cafe, when a girl came along and gave us handbells - G sharp for me, C sharp for Cameron - from a basket. Shortly after, there was a round of applause and a trumpet fanfare and a bride and groom processed past (we put down our cups of tea and jangled our bells and applauded). I don't know where they went after that - it looked rather as though they turned the corner and went back into the shop, or into McDonalds, but perhaps they hopped into a waiting car instead.
Lisa at 03:03
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public drumming

Left: kids from the school do their thing. Right: me making a twit of myself. I do have my arms in the air at the same time as everybody else in my group (off the edge of the photo so you'll have to take my word for it), which shows progress.
My favourite part of the day was the rehearsal before, practising getting us on and off the stage (not enough drums to all play together so mostly the kids played followed by the adults, swapping seamlessly mid-piece). We were practising without the drums so had to wave our sticks about as though we were hitting a drumskin while making the drum noise vocally bom-bom-bom!
Lisa at 06:48
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A minibreak in Izu - day 3

Day 3 was bright and sunny again so we decided to go to the famed white-sands beach. Only breakfast of course took longer than anticipated so we had to walk along a nasty main road - we caused quite a stir! - instead of going by bus. No matter, it was worth it when we arrived. Golden sands almost to ourselves apart from a few beginner-level surfers, more crashing waves and a sea that was sufficiently warm for a paddle. Spent the morning lounging on the beach before packing up a picnic and heading into Shimoda to see if it actually had a centre and a seafront or if the previous night's suspicions were correct. It seems they were correct as we walked for miles and miles and found little of interest. We ate our picnic by the harbour then Rachel decided to have a small sleep on the bench so we left all our stuff with her and wandered around the headland and back. On our return we found she was surrounded by old men: I think we had strayed into their territory.
Onto the bus and into the wilds of the central peninsula. Very green and rustic looking; not a soul to be seen. We felt very proud as we got off the bus at the correct location and found our ryokan...and a good job we did given the aforementioned lack of people to consult. The ryokan was right next to the stream which looked and sounded nice but smelt quite damp. Still, we gamely gathered towels and yukatas and toddled along to the rotenburo (outside bath) 700 m up the road and across the stream on a rickety old bridge.
The bath was interesting. We were there alone at first, which was just fine as we rapidly realised that the men's washing area was separated from us by a thin bamboo screen and that everybody shared the same bath. We soon heard some rattling from around the screen so cowered under the water as a small boy with big eyes drifted around the screen. His mum soon joined us and then, to our surprise, dad came too! I scuttled quickly from the bath (too hot for the baby) but the others stayed a while with the family - I have to say the man was not as modest with his modesty towel as he could have been!
Some discussion about whether it is OK to walk about outside without pants, then back down the road and trip-trap-trip-trap over the rickety rackety bridge in our yukatas and geta (silly wooden flipflops). More giant spiders were noted. In fact I am very proud of myself because there was one actually in our room when I woke up the next morning but I managed not to screech (I chewed my pillow) and scare the others - and it disappeared while we having breakfast so I managed to stay calm.
We spent the evening quietly, as one tends to in a ryokan. Lorna I think was asleep around 9; I read my book and Rachel played infinite games of the aptly named patience. Dinner had been interesting with Rachel turning quite green over prawn brains and the lady getting upset because we hadn't called for rice quickly enough. I found her quite frustrating as she could/would not turn off the super-polite Japanese to use words I could understand and she quite clearly couldn't understand any of my attempts. We managed in mime.

Lisa at 09:30
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the life of a medical editor
Depression makes a nice change from cancer.
(actually it's been anxiety disorders today - my least favourite because I always recognise the symptoms in myself. It's like the bit in three men in a boat where he decides he has everything in the medical dictionary apart from housemaid's knee.)
Lisa at 05:54
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A minibreak in Izu - day 2
Day 2 dawned bright and sunny and the anticipated 'Japanese breakfast' turned out to be sausage and egg, delicious homemade bread rolls with jam and coffee, so we were quite happy. Apart from the giant spiders hanging from the balconies outside, which I coped with by virtue of not having my specs on when I noticed them. The nice hotel man drove us to the station to drop our bags in a locker then to the suspension bridge that formed part of the coastal walk. Predictably, there were hundreds of old ladies in hats there, posing for photos in front of everything and anything imaginable. We spent some time basking in the sunshine and watching the waves crashing on the cliffs below before deciding to walk a bit of the walk - not the full 10 kilometres, that would be silly. All was going well - shady trees, blue skies and sea, more crashing waves, fishermen, etc - until we started to notice the monsters spiders hanging in the trees and to the sides of the path. Rachel is distinctly nervous of spiders and squeaks when she sees them; I am pathetic and terrified by them; Lorna is quite well adjusted and will look at them in interest but not touch. The walk was taken much faster after this. We eventually came out at 'the shed', which was, in fact, a shed and not the hoped-for coffee establishment and wandered about a little longer looking for elevenses then, as we failed to find any, lunch. Eventually found a small supermarket so we had a picnic on the harbourside surrounded by more divers squelching about in wetsuits than you have ever seen in one place.
We crept warily back to the bridge and onto the train to our next destination, Shimoda. En route, we stopped off at a kind of dog theme park. First we went to the play with dogs area, where we could pick up and cuddle all sorts of girl dogs. The man in charge looked panic-stricken at our arrival (I don't think they have a huge number of gaijin visitors) but somebody rushed off to the other end of the park to find a girl who could speak english, and everybody relaxed. She told us some dogs' names and that this one was shy and the other greedy, so thank heavens they found her. The enclosure was a bit smelly to be honest but then, I'm not huge dog fan, and they were quite cute once you got used to it. Next we wandered around dog town, looking at dogs in cages. Poor wee things. But then - and this was the absolute highlight for me - we found our way to dog forest where a smiling girl asked (in Japanese with no sign of fear) if we were wanting to walk. We each chose a dog and were made to put away anything that was in our hands before carefully and firmly taking hold of the lead to walk it around a small circular route through the trees. Fantastic. My little dog (Netsume) was very cute with a fluffy face and picked up a stick to carry about. Rachel had a largish dog called Korea (we think) and Lorna a sausage dog called Cocoa, who shared Netsume's stick part of the way in an adorable manner. I expect they do it every time. Finally we went back to the play with dogs area to see the boy dogs who were now out. See the photo below (and do note our old-lady hats; we just wouldn't have felt the part without them)
A bus from Shimoda took us once more into the wilds - no streetlamps again - and we found our little minshuku, where we were the only guests. Unfortunately the local restaurant was shut so we had to go back into Shimoda, where we wandered about feeling despondant and hungry for ages before happening on a suitable eating establishment where we had a good meal of kushiage. What a strange town it is! It seems to have no centre, no real shopping street, and nowhere to eat - yet it is known as a tourist destination.


Lisa at 04:55
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He's keen!
Col Sanders at the KFC in our local station has his santa outfit on already. I think he's foolish myself - he'll only be bored of it by the time it is Christmas
Lisa at 04:42
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A minibreak in Izu - day 1
Having made vague arrangements to meet Rachel and Lorna somewhere on the Izu peninsula sometime on Wednesday and having little idea how long it would take me to get there, I left home around lunchtime. All was fine; I had an uneventful journey apart from a momentary panic when my train split in two and the other half pulled off, leaving me in the station (but it was fine - the other half just got there quicker than me.) The snow-capped peak of Fuji was gleaming spectacularly in the sunlight and the train went right down to the sea before following the coast so it was really very pleasant. A lady made a tiny paper crane from a sweety wrapper and gave it to the tourist sitting opposite me.
At Atami, we changed from a proper train to a tourist train painted with roses and sophisticated french slogans. 'We' at this point was me and a horde of old ladies, all unfeasibly short with pointy elbows and old-lady hats (see day 2) who hustled onto the train to rush for the best seats. Two old men shoved me away from my chosen seat then glanced at my tummy and apologised - but there were plenty of other, clearly less desirable, seats available so I just went away to sit opposite two old ladies, strangers to each other, who fought and elbowed each other all the way over who had the larger half-share of the bench.
I decided to get off at Ito and have a look around. I had just missed the bus so I hopped in a taxi to Komurayama park, a dormant volcano. The chairlift going up was fun: no safety bar or security of any description, merely a seat hanging from a wire - but it was only about a metre off the ground so not too scarey. What was slightly scarey was my realisation, when I was alone at the top, apart from two men with cameras, that not a soul in the world knew where I was. The thought crossed my mind again when one of the chaps started chatting and wanted to take my photo - but it seems he just wanted to practise a bit of English and he used my camera, so it was fine. The view from the top was wonderful and it was so quiet! To my left, Fuji-san; to my right, a vast expanse of blue sky and sea and a couple of little islands.
I walked down, passing a man walking his huge black dog (I have no idea what it was but its shoulders were higher than his waist) and a chihuahua, declined a lift from two elderly men in the carpark and caught the bus back to town. Just time to walk to the seafront and examine the memorial to William Adams (who had built his ships in Ito with the assistance of the excellent local shipwrights) and a small sculpture park, before it was dark.
By the time I got off the train again, at the village where we were staying, it was really dark. Of course I hadn't brought a torch: I live in Tokyo where it's always bright - this place had no streetlights and hardly any buildings. I did fairly well, reading the map by the light of passing cars' headlights and only walking into one tree, but eventually decided I was really lost and wandered into what looked like a conference centre. The man on the front desk was really kind and rang my hotel, having rung directory enquiries first to get the number - the hotel man appeared about 30 seconds later to get me; I was about 50 yards away! Everybody we met on Izu was extraordinarily kind and the hotelman later dropped what he was doing (namely, cooking dinner for the rest of his guests) to run me back to the station to meet the girls (we discussed, in my best Japanese, the fact that Izu was dark while Tokyo was always bright. I never claimed to be able to do sophisticated chat.)

Lisa at 08:50
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Sorry
I am here, honest. Only R&L have been keeping me busy and then I got a nasty cold so had to mope about and then my cold kept me awake all night so I'm tired and now I'm working. I will definitely be back with pictures from Izu and a tale of public drumming very shortly.
Lisa at 04:46
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Right that's me. Off to Izu for three days (good job I checked last night; I was sure I was coming back Friday but in fact I am staying Friday night as well). I am hoping for rural Japan in the sunshine: clifftop walks, beaches, hot springs (to be looked at but not dunked in of course), waterfalls and the like. It is entirely possible what I will actually get is Beppu-style japanese tourist tat. Wish me luck! (Oh, and wish me luck finding the girls too - I note somebody rang me three times last night but I was at the Hyotan and didn't hear my phone.)
Lisa at 00:14
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And then there were six
Whee! Now we've all got one. Caroline has succumbed to the blogging craze as she prepares to head to France for the winter, and now the whole gang (or 'the girls' as they are known here) has one - well apart from Suzanne but her husband does one for her. Left to right: ClaireH, ClaireP, Caroline, Suzi, me and of course Katy.

Lisa at 23:41
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Hmm. I've just read an email from Sara telling me about her time in Izu. Apparently she went to a mixed onsen (though wussed out and wore a towel). I'm not sure I'd be too keen on that at the best of times; I am categorically not playing at the moment, even with a towel. Though there are suggestions that all onsen should be out of bounds when pregnant anyway so I do have an excuse (beyond natural modesty) if Rachel and Lorna decide that they absolutely must bathe with the boys.
Lisa at 07:39
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While I was off gallivanting around Kyoto, Cameron visited the Tokyo motor show ("work"). He's brought home brochures for all sorts of unimaginably space-age transportation, but the thing that seems to have made the greatest impression is the Toyota PM (which seems to have no web presence yet). It seems to be a small one-person pod, which changes shape depending on driving conditions, and colour depending on its mood. It can chat to other PMs and they will get into convoy to travel efficiently. You can sleep while you're in the convoy!
Otherwise we've been pottering about not doing much. We did see Kill Bill at the weekend; I surprised myself by not hating it as I'd expected. So much violence just gets silly and it was much less realistic than the other films, which I did hate (especially Pulp Fiction and yes, I know this makes me a freak). The anime section in the middle was brilliant and the rest of the filming was cartoonish too, with bright primary colours. Just a shame so much of the dialogue was in Japanese - I imagine had we seen it at home it might have been subtitled?!
It's cold and wet and horrible here today so I sloped home after yoga (my lovely teacher has printed me a sheet of supplementary exercises I can do when they all contort in ways I can't manage any more) and have been hiding out at home. Unfortunately I was caught in by the NHK man*; even more unfortunately he spoke excellent English. Must remember to pretend to be from Lithuania next time. I did manage to not pay but only by claiming to have no cash in the house - he says he'll come back tomorrow. But tomorrow I'm off to the Izu peninsula to meet the girls again! (Strangely, when one googles Izu Peninsula one gets a load of results on opisthobranches - sea slugs. This book, on opisthobranches of the peninsula, is apparently perfectly laid out for the nudibranch enthusiast. Hooray.)
*A bit like the license fee in the UK, you are supposed to pay for NHK channels even if you don't watch them. Only we have been told on many occasions that nobody actually does pay it (perhaps that explains the poor-quality programming) - not just expats, but locals too - and I did hear that there is no penalty for failure to pay. We've got away with it so far.
Incidentally, this means I'm away again until the weekend.
Lisa at 06:57
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A minibreak in Kyoto: day 3
Only a half day for me as I was heading back to Tokyo. We spent the morning exploring the station; every time I have sent visitors to Kyoto I have recommended they have a look at the station building without ever having done so myself (I usually dash straight out to the temples). It is quite spectacular and we spent much longer than we'd intended to riding up and down escalators (trying to get the perfect angle on photos) and exclaiming over the structure and views.

We then whizzed briefly through the Higashi-Honganji temple, which the girls had visited in the rain on Tuesday, to compare what it looked like in the sun. It has the world's largest wooden building, and jolly big it was too. Then along to the Shosei-en garden: I am a sucker for Japanese gardens anyway but this one had a cat and a film crew and sunshine and two lovely friendly ladies who came to speak to us and show us their photos from the Jidai Matsuri. They were also down from Tokyo and we had quite a nice chat (in nice, simple Japanese.) Unfortunately I seem to have taken photos in the garden almost exclusively on my film camera so it will be some time before I have them back - here's my only digital snap.

Lisa at 06:09
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I quite forgot!
To wish my oldest friend Katy a very very happy very belated 30th birthday! One down, the rest of us to go. I just wish I could be there to help her celebrate - though I'm sure she'll manage quite adequately.
Lisa at 11:25
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A minibreak in Kyoto: day 2
We unsurprisingly didn't get up that early on Thursday, although I was woken at the crack of dawn by the woman in the bunk above me (I can't remember the last time I slept in a bunk bed - youth hostels are fun!) getting up to deal with her rustly plastic bag fetish. The traditional Mister Donut breakfast was followed by a quick dive into Gap so Lorna could buy some trousers and I could get a jumper (having worn everything warm to the festival, it was now stinking of bonfire) and a walking tour through eastern Kyoto. Up to the Kiyomizu temple, on stilts on the hill and full to bursting with school children of all ages, and its sidekick the love temple where Rachel successfully navigated between two rocks, eyes closed, meaning she will be lucky in love. I think she peeped a bit: I don't know what that will mean. Along past the multitude of other temples and nice little shops, nipping in to Chion-in, where I hadn't been before. It has a 67-tonne bell that takes 17 monks to ring (we didn't try) and lovely nightingale floors. We were having a break in a corridor, checking guidebooks and having a drink, when we heard something approaching round the corner. We just managed to grab our things and scuttle out of the way before being trampled by a monk leading a procession of about a hundred (we assume) pilgrims, hands clasped for prayer and chanting as they hurtled along and out of view.
We ended up in the handicraft centre to spend all our pocket money.
Later that evening we headed to the entertainment area, Pontocho, for dinner. The restaurant we had carefully selected from the guidebooks was shut and as we were wandering about reading menus to find an alternative an old man with a pointy beard came and told us it was a very expensive area and we were tourists. Cheek! On chatting further, I was trying to have him recommend a restaurant but getting nowhere fast as he wouldn't simplify his grammar and kept correcting my pronounciation (surely if he could understand it to correct it it couldn't have been all that bad?!). My hopes soared when he asked what other languages we spoke - maybe we could communicate in French or German! (Note: I speak less of these than I do Japanese but things were getting desperate and I was hopeful that Lorna or Rachel might prove fluent.) Only he then said he spoke nothing but Japanese, goodnight, and dashed off down the street. A meiko jingled rapidly round a corner and we found a little, reasonably priced izakaya for all sorts of interesting food: seaweed in vinegar (think pond-slime) and tempura dried squid being two memorable dishes.
Later still, we popped into the Gion, in the hope that geisha and meiko might be carousing the streets. Of course they were not but it was quite atmospheric and we saw a witch. At least I think she was a witch, although she was dressed like a meiko, moving so quickly she must have been on an invisible motorised broomstick. Rachel managed to whip out her camera for a snap only her camera then started to make alarming whirring and clanking noises and hasn't turned back on since; I took a picture of her back disappearing down an alley and it is extremely blurred. Witches don't like to be photographed.

Lisa at 03:12
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A minibreak in Kyoto: day 1
Kyoto was lovely: blue autumnal skies, temples and festivals. We had some dificulties meeting up (somebody can't read a map!) but - thank goodness for the wonder of the mobile phone - eventually found each other just as the first festival, Jidai matsuri (festival of the ages), was getting underway. Lots of fancy dress, horses, big hats, men in grey kimonos; very efficient clearing of horse manure when necessary and a bit of drama when a young girl in front of us fainted and was taken away in an ambulance. Strangely, the parade halted in front of us every few minutes to wait for the traffic lights to change back to red, and the road hadn't been closed to buses.


Lunch was next on the agenda: katsu-curry and fried noodles, yum. A quick mooch through the edge of the imperial palace gardens then quickly back to the hostel to get me properly checked in and sort ourselves out for the evening's activity: the Karuma no himatsuri (fire festival - Japan's beltane.)
The journey and the first hour or so were utter misery: like a Tokyo rush hour but without the infrastructure. Queue for the train then jam-packed in (I had to close my eyes and be a tree) then pushing, shoving crowds (those small Japanese ladies in hats look so deceptivaly sweet!) in the narrow streets of Kurama. Firstly small boys very unsafely marching up and down carrying firebrands and shouting sairei ya sairyo (may this festival be best) - though I must confess I had not a clue what they were shouting and have looked it up since being home. The small boys gradually became men with larger brands (like, 10 foot long and 2 wide) as we pushed our way up the street. We nearly gave up at one point, fearing for our crushed bodies and flammable hair but decided to nip around one last corner - where we found people taking it in turns to bang the huge taiko drum, sake being handed out (to the festival participants but a man very kindly gave Rachel and Lorna a cup each), bare-buttocked men preparing to carry huge burning brands and tall maypoley things with a phoenix on the top and generally much jollity. We joined in the chanting for a while, finding that marching with the parade was much the most efficient way of getting back down the street, then ducked off down a side street to join the throng pushing to get back on the train for more misery.

There are some nice pictures of both festivals here.
Lisa at 02:26
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Oh no, it wasn't quite final: just to let you know I'm popping down to Kyoto tomorrow for a couple of days so I won't be back here until Friday (but I promise to bring photos if that makes you feel better).
Lisa at 04:27
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OK OK I'm sorry. I know I was bad but I'm back here now! I've just been busy busy busy and that, combined with my increasingly slug-like energy levels, has left no time or inclination for blogging.
Let's see; what have I been up to? Well, Rachel and Lorna, two old (not that old!) friends from university, arrived on Saturday morning, so Saturday was spent walking them about in the fresh air so they wouldn't fall asleep. We ate noodles and strolled through the park in the rain, watching teenagers tap dance with umbrellas, before having tea and cake and coming home for pizza. They stayed up until 9 pm, which is not bad going, especially considering I fell asleep myself at 9.30. Cameron spent the day at the formula 3 motor race; apparently he was on the telly later that evening but of course I was asleep so have to take his word for it.
Sunday, Cameron went to the Japanese Scottish highland games (we went last year, remember?) while the rest of us had a nice leisurely morning and an afternoon of tourism. Sushi, Meiji shrine, harajuku freaks, Oriental Bazaar, up the metropolitan tower to see how huge Tokyo really is; up it again to find Rachel's bag; yakitori for tea. The harajuku freaks, doing a kind of S-club-esque dance routine (S-club in that it was obviously choreographed and they knew the words; to my knowledge Rachel, 'H' et al never moshed) to the thrash-metal buskers, were joined by an amazing old lady, complete with kimono and facemask. She didn't seem to know the routine but she was certainly getting into the music. And the yakitori shop had a lucky dip to celebrate their 8th anniversary; I won a bottle of sake, Rachel a bottle of rose wine and Lorna a corkscrew, so that was very productive!
Yesterday they went out on their own while I worked half-heartedly and mooched about feeling knackered. We had a Japanese lesson, my first since July (I had no idea what she was on about most of the time, but I did learn that akachan, baby, has the same aka as 'red' because they are red when they are born), and David arrived home from his jaunt around Kyoto and Hiroshima.
You know you are supposed to play music to babies in the womb? I have an idea they mean more Mozart, Vivaldi, that sort of thing. I wonder what effect the White Stripes will have, because we're going to see them tonight!
And finally, another real-life friend has been inspired to start a blog (I feel quite proud - of course I am claiming parenthood!) so do go and see Claire (another one). She doesn't have comments yet but hopefully that will come soon.
Lisa at 04:15
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Watashi no shigotokan is a work theme park, designed to attract Japan's feckless youth into the wonderful world of the salaryman (because everybody knows kids love theme parks). It includes an "assembly line attraction" so they can experience the glitz and glamour of life on a bicycle assembly line - only thre are no bikes being assembled in Japan any more.
Lisa at 22:50
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I see I'm not the only one falling back in love with Japan now the horror of the summer has passed: Karla and Kavitha (15th October entry) have had the same reaction recently. Today was just wonderful: clear blue skies, temperatures in the high-teens (warm enough to be out, even after dark, in a flimsy short-sleeved top; cool enough to walk around sniffing the air with pleasure) and an autumnal tinge to the trees. They haven't yet reached the garish heights depicted on railway-station posters but there is a definite move away from green (so last season).
The day's joy was compounded by an unexpected absence of work. No good for my bank balance, but we'll call it a mental-health day shall we? I had my taiko lesson at lunchtime, so took the bus to Shibuya. I made friends with a lovely old lady at the bus stop, with whom I had quite a chat (mostly she said that the bus was late and I agreed. Then she said that perhaps the bus wasn't coming and we'd have to get the next one, and I agreed with that too. Then she remarked on how amazing it was that I could understand her - and I agreed) and she even gave me a sweet! It had a picture of Ise on the wrapper; she had been there in August so we agreed that it was a very nice place. And, by the way, wasn't the bus late? Some button-cute Japanese schoolchildren paraded past in their coloured caps - I imagine they were on a nature walk (though it was along a very busy road) as they had collections of twigs and leaves and one little girl (green cap) was wildly brandishing a poly bag full of large green grasshoppers.
Taiko was fun as ever; we learnt a new piece called echo of the ocean or of the waves or something. As the teacher described it, it goes clicky clicky clicky clicky clicky clicky clicky clicky until she shouts sore B, when we go big wave! big wave! big wave! Easy.
Then I hit the shops. (Actually, then I had lunch and read my book for an hour; then I hit the shops. Lunch, incidentally, claimed to be a tuna melt, but contained broccoli, red peppers and seemingly no tuna, though there was a small amount of orange stuff that could have been tuna in some sort of dressing I suppose. It was a bit nasty; stay away.) I collected last week's trousers (picking up a skirt at the same time). I do love Tokyo's posh shops - how fabulously spoilt you feel sitting in a comfy chair while they wrap your purchases in tissue before placing them in the kind of fancy bag that gives a spring to your step and makes you hold your hands perpendicular to your body, a la pretty woman, then stay sitting while they bring the credit-card slip attached to a little clipboard for you to sign. In Formes, they even carry your bag to the door for you and present it as you leave.
From there, I went searching for a poncho (no luck, Claire will be pleased to hear. But I want one: it will fit me all winter and there was one in Vogue this month so they must be OK. I found a teeny one in Gap Kids and a huge one in Zara Men but no ladies' ones to be seen. Yet.) I compensated with a selection of useful purchases from Loft before wandering along beside the railway tracks to Harajuku. The road was full of people looking cheerful in the sunshine; one or two (and me) were even humming to themselves and smiling at random passers by. My feet were hurting by this point so after some failed errands on Omotesando (why do I never remember the Oriental Bazaar shuts on a Thursday?) I caught a train to Shinjuku to buy some lovely new winter boots. They are super comfy and stylish too! Just right to pair with a poncho. Takashimaya just happens to have a 'boot fair' on at the moment so there were plenty to choose from and again, I got to sit (in the middle of a busy department store!) while the girl wrapped my boots and took my card then brought the little clipboard.
And now I am knackered but feel very pleased with myself. Better go unwrap all my lovely new things before Cameron gets home. (What, this old thing? Had it months!)
Lisa at 09:42
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doomed!
x-blogs in the Scotsman.
Lisa at 00:23
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Yesterday's Tokyo earthquake - and I barely noticed again! I certainly didn't feel any shaking; I was walking up the road from the station and realised there was a quake because I heard the buildings rattling and saw the windows vibrating - and the stickmen remarked sugoi jishin na (an earthquake!) Am I just getting used to them?
Lisa at 00:14
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Smell cafe
Do you think aroma might have been a better word to pick from the thesaurus?

Lisa at 02:53
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bleurgh
A writeoff of a day. Hardly slept last night; a combination of discomfort, a squirming child, a buzzing mind and two (gasp!) glasses of oolong tea with dinner, I think. David did very well, he must have left the house at 6.30 to go to the fish market. It's easy before you are used to Japanese time! I did drag myself up in time to get to yoga this morning, only to vomit in the loos before starting, which was a joy. I thought all that was supposed to be long behind me? Not sure if it was tiredness or the pint of banana smoothy I had gulped down for breakfast as I dried my hair. Both, perhaps. Yoga is getting more tricky, with more and more poses I simply can't manage - next week the teacher has very kindly said she'll write me a down a special little routine I can do when the others are lying on their backs, and a different sun salutation because resting my chest on my thighs is no longer really possible and chaturunga is only going to be feasible for another couple of weeks I think.
From there I had a sensible sit-down for 20 whole minutes, with a cheese and ham toastie and a coffee in a nice french-style cafe (actually a croque monsieur and a cafe au lait, according to the menu) before heading across town to meet Alison and make things from washi paper. We bought our kits and paper, sat down at a table to begin...only to be told that was the wrong table, that the table we had chosen was exclusively for making tissue-box covers from fabric and not (silly us) for washi-paper things; that was the other (apparently identical) table. Which was full, and would remain so for at least 2 hours! So we are booked in to make our things on Friday morning. We had a wander around the nice little shopping street (I found a fabulous jug that I considered buying - if I still want it I'll go back on Friday) before heading to Ginza with a vague idea of seeing a film. By the time we'd had lunch we decided to go instead to the secondhand bookshop, right back on the other side of town again...only to discover it is shut on Tuesdays!
Came home in a sulk. And it's still raining.
PS Congratulations to (sometime commenter here) Helen and Simon, just back from a fabulous-sounding honeymoon in Mauritius/S Africa. For anyone who knows them, there are some wedding pictures here (only it's an annoying frames site so you have to click the link to their wedding.)
Lisa at 07:18
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Bank Holiday weather
Absolutely chucking it down though, unlike the British wet bank holiday, it is hot (26 degrees) and steamy. Cameron has taken his cousin (David from New Zealand, arrived yesterday) out sightseeing; I am waiting for a phonecall to go and join them though unless the rain eases significantly I probably won't be going anywhere. Is that mean? Today's holiday is health and sports day so I imagine I should be out puffing around the park or something. I've done some work and had coffee with Kavitha: mental exercise is just as important, right?
David and Cameron have just arrived home absolutely soaked to the skin. And the rain has stopped.
Lisa at 05:49
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New toys
I do like going to Akihabara ("electronics town") on a Saturday afternoon. The train coming away is always full of happy excited people examining their new gadgets. This Saturday that was me: in a bit of a spree I acquired a new scanner (it's slim and minimalist and works standing on its side) and a mouse (its sleek and fast and doesn't need a mat. Though I like my mat so it might have one anyway, as a place to live) - also a USB hub and some minidiscs but that is rather less exciting I suppose.
Then I spent a happy afternoon fiddling; downloading drivers and software (becasue of course the enclosed stuff was all Japanese) and rearranging the desk. Shut up, I had fun!
And then a lovely lady came by with a changing-table-cum-baby-bath; not terribly exciting but a sensible purchase, being secondhand and all.
And then we went to an am-dram production of Blithe Spirit, where we bumped into some friends and giggled over the ridiculous drinks system*; giggled more, like children, at the fact that one of the patrons listed in the programme was called Mr Bumgardner (we wondered if he'd dropped an 'a' to sound less Germanic - perhaps a mistake). Oh and the play wasn't bad - though the lead man was dreadfully hard to understand and we all came away wondering why on earth the maid had wanted to bring back the dead wives; it was not satisfactorily explained.
*exchange money for a coloured token. Take your coloured token to a different table, where a man asks you what you want - because the colour represents the type of drink not the actual drink - and gives it to you. If you have the wrong colour token (because the first lady made a mistake), resulting in, for example, beer rather than wine, get sent back to the first table to exchange tokens because the man at the second table would be commiting a terrible faux-pas if he gave you a glass of wine in exchange for a beer-coloured token.
Lisa at 04:20
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The scan went well! I'll put all the boring detail over at the other site but I can tell you it has a head and a spine and two legs and was very lively, turning somersaults. No arms, but I am rather assuming that had they actually been missing, rather than me just now seeing them, the doctor might have said something. Oh, and it resembled neither skeletor nor a baby chick, but a load of grey swirls...
Now I can think of something else to worry about (at the moment; Suzanne's scan. Later today: who knows?)
Lisa at 08:22
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Look who visited Cameron at work yesterday!

Lisa at 11:30
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Oh and I meant to say: this week my maid thinks I'm having a girl because my face hasn't changed (compare with two weeks ago, when I was having a boy). It isn't clear what's supposed to happen with a boy - would I have grown a beard?
Lisa at 08:43
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This is more like it. Temperature back into the 20s and blue blue skies. I had to wear a cardy and socks yesterday!
I went to a pre-natal exercise class yesterday afternoon. My sort of class, we did some gentle aerobics for two or three songs, then sat down to do some arm exercise, then lay down for leg stretches. I can manage that. I felt very depressed when I got home though (pesky hormones): partly work traumas, same old story there, partly the whole trying-to-make-friends routine. I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort trying to make friends here - people keep leaving and I want soul-mates not just aquaintances! - and it's just such hard work. And depressing when it fails.
Today was taiko drumming. We have a performance, in public, in about 3 weeks' time. Should be amusing for the audience. Apparently the hall in which we are performing won't allow us to wear shoes; nor bare feet because our feet are dirty! We have to wear white socks (black or navy socks are apparently also dirty). I am definitely improving: I nearly always bang when I'm supposed to bang and wave my stick in the air when I'm supposed to. I just need to get the shouting (mostly hup!, sometimes ya! and occasionally sore!) and learn to do the whole-body thing, and I'm there. Oh, and remember the rhythms from one week to the next.
The full match report of Cameron's sending-off shame is now available here (click on the link at the bottom of the article). C says the reason the other chap wouldn't shake hands is because he had told him he punched like a girl (and also called him a Very Rude Word).
Lastly, it's Scan Day tomorrow so please cross your fingers everything is Ok - both for our little one and also for my niece or nephew who is getting scanned the same day. (And while we're on nephews, congratulations to Cameron's cousin Elaine on the birth of her son. It's all about reproduction just now.)
Lisa at 07:56
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Maxton, after complaining about the poor quality of today's post, tipped me off that somebody on radio 4 this morning was talking about curry now being the most popular dish in Japan (presumably in the same way we in the UK have chicken tikka masala instead of a sunday roast these days? I think the curry board is getting extra funding from some dodgy source to spread these rumours). I guess he was talking about this - Madhur Jaffrey discussing curry's global spread. Leaving aside the question of why he might be listening to woman's hour, I can only assume she is referring to the ubiquitous curry-rice, a kind of brown slop served over - you've guessed it - rice. Mildly spiced, it is quite delicious, and is served with some fantastic red pickles. I have no idea what vegetable matter they were before being pickled but perhaps it's best that way. I imagine Kavitha might have something to say about this and of course it is not authentic, but it suits the Japanese palate. I wouldn't have thought it would be Madhur's cup of tea at all, though.
Lisa at 10:57
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These chaps were wandering about Shibuya last night, occasionally posing for photographs and even more occasionally passing out flyers - only they wouldn't give me one. Performance art? Cameron thinks they were advertising some restaurant.
Lisa at 00:44
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Today I have been waddling about like a proper pregnant lady, mostly due to the effects of yesterday's yoga. It didn't seem that hard a class, must be because I missed last week. That'll teach me. Mark, who I shared an office with during my second brief stint at Shell, came over for dinner last night - he's in Japan for 4 days or something silly. Which was nice, though with a little more warning I'd have done something a little better than risotto with Saturday's leftovers and without proper risotto rice followed by chocolate biscuits. Oh well - take us as you find us!
Today I went to the tokyo pregnancy group and somehow, at some point, seemed to volunteer to take over as (joint) coordinator when the present one retires to have her baby. I didn't intend to - I thought about it when they asked and decided I don't really have time - but somehow my mouth just flapped about by itself and there we go. I met some nice people at the group today though so perhaps it won't be too onerous.
After the group I walked down into Shibuya, knowing there was something I wanted to look for in Loft (an all-purpose, sell-anything-vaguely-housey kind of shop). Of course, whenI got there I had not a clue what it was I'd wanted so I mooched about the shampoo-n-watches floor aimlessly looking for inspiration before giving up and walking to Omotesando and the Oriental Bazaar, where I bought some postcards for Mark to send. Katy has just reminded me of the things I had actually wanted to buy in both places: a nice big body pillow in Loft and (shh it's a surprise) in the OB. Looks like I'll be going out again tomorrow. With a list.
Lisa at 07:35
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A weekend in reverse
Dinner out at the fabulous legato last night with one of Cameron's Shell chums who's here on holiday with his family, so feeling quite tired today. I did make it to yoga this morning, surprising myself, but it is definitely getting harder. I missed last week, which never helps, but I can't lie on my back for more than a couple of minutes without getting numb feet as my circulation shuts off, lying on my front is becoming increasingly silly, and my balance is unpredictable!
My plans for a nice long walk in the beautiful autumn sunshine yesterday afternoon were scuppered by Cameron stripping the skin off his feet at football on Saturday. Nice. He also got sent off because somebody horrible punched him, so was understandably upset - as was I - I didn't know it was such a rough game (you can't just go around punching people, even on a football pitch) and will have to see about passes out for future weekends! (There's a match report at the top of this page if you are really interested.) So I spent most of the day dozing on the sofa instead, recovering from the exertion of cooking a proper roast on Saturday night for some friends. Friday night we saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Johnny Depp was just fantastic as ever.
I think that's what they describe as "a quiet weekend" in a tone of voice that suggests how dull.
Lisa at 07:03
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shopping
Again. Sorry. I'm getting more expat-wifey the longer I stay, aren't I? If I take up bridge, I'll be sure to let you know. I made a special expedition today to check the maternity wear in Benetton. It was OK but I'm not quite ready for it yet - I did note some raspberry cords that might work in a month or two but it is too early for up-to-the-armpit trousers with large elasticated panels. If I'll ever be mentally ready for such garments. Why don't they make well-cut stylish clothes that have, I don't know, concealed elastic or extra buttons so you can expand them as you need? Tomorrow I am sending a trial order off to one of the British places that do make such items.
I tried on some rather nice velour tracky bottoms ('limpers', as we called them when we were young, because they were comfy and stretchy enough to do a special silly walk in. I'll show you one day.) in Gap...they'd look fab on somebody else! I'm just not a tracksuit kind of a girl - not outside the house, anyway, I feel underdressed. They were nice...but they were white and quite see-through so not practical in the least. I bought a new bag (my old one is so last season darling), some funky shoes and some flowers to cheer myself up, and it worked. Compensatory shopping is all well and good, but won't help in a month or two when I can't get any of my clothes on! Though maybe by then I'll be ready for the Benetton Big Trousers.
Lisa at 07:21
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