Happy New Year to you all
It’s been a long time since I last posted here and I’m sorry to all those who have regularly checked my site. I’m still here, loving life in Japan more than ever. As usual, my life here is non-stop and round the clock. My bedtime has become an unhealthy 2-3am and I have given up on getting a sensible amount of sleep. I seem to be busy most nights of the week, and at weekends I usually end up going away with friends or partying at home. I don’t think I ever adjusted to the time difference in Japan. I think I am walking around in my own timezone, oblivious to that fact that it’s 3am on a week night and I’m not in bed or I got up at 1pm at the weekend.. again.
At the end of last year I finally headed home for the first time in 18 months of living in Japan. It was strange to be home after so long and I found myself viewing my own country from a different perspective. The immediate things that I did not miss were the awful weather – it practically rained the whole time I was home, the cost of petrol (gas to all my American friends), the cost of things in general and service stations. Don’t even get me started on British Service stations – I could write a whole new blog on the subject. However, the UK is not all bad… I did miss my mum’s haggis and mash! Christmas dinner, London and not being the only foreigner in town! It was nice to be back and to see my family once again and I realised how far I am removed from homelife being here. Sadly my grandad passed away whilst I was home. At 94 he was a remarkable man and he will be sadly missed by many people. His strength, level headed approach to life and extreme generosity and kindness were remarkable and he is certainly someone who I will look up to and always have the highest respect for.
Some of you may have heard that I took one of my students home with me for a homestay visit for Christmas and the New Year. This was both fun and interesting as it reminded of my stay in Hong Kong as a child. My family made Yukata very welcome and treated him to an amazing experience in the UK. We did so much and saw so much that most of the time we had to wake him up to tell him what was going on! I hope he enjoyed his time and I know he is already wanting to go back to visit with his girlfriend.
Ice skating in Norwich
On Boxing Day Yutaka made my family all sushi. His part time job is at a sushi restaurant and he is a good chef. Both he and I were a bit taken aback when we were looking for the ingredients for the sushi in Tesco and ironically enough the name of the only company that makes Sushi rice, nori (dried seaweed) and mirin etc is Yutaka!
So, we visited the Lakes, Liverpool (Yutaka is a big Beatles fan), Cambridge, Norwich, Ipswich, Southwold and London. I needed a holiday to recover from my trip when I got back. We stopped off in Bangkok both ways for 10 hours which was fun, but exhausting. When we finally made it home I slept for 21 hours straight and still felt tired for work the next day (perhaps I did drink a bit too much red wine on the plane).
Temple in Bangkok
Since coming back I have not stopped. The weekend before last I headed down to Kumamoto city with Teresa and Saranne. We had a great Mexican meal on the Saturday night and Sri Lankan meal on the Sunday night. We drove up to Mount Aso – one of Japan’s active volcanoes on Kyushu island which was fun. I have been twice before, but it was still exciting to see the bubbling lava whilst inhaling dangerous amounts of methane gas. Eventually we were evacuated from the crater as it was too dangerous! What was dubbed as a ‘Hiking weekend’ turned into a quick walk up a hill near the base of Aso. It was SO cold that we didn’t hang around. We also did the obligatory onsen (hot spa) visits along the way. No trip would be complete without a trip to an onsen and karaoke. On the way from Aso san to Kumamoto we stopped at perhaps one of the best onsens I have visited in Japan to date. The inside was like a lunar landscape with random volcanic rocks and tree trunks sprouting amongst baths of bubbling hot spa water. The atmosphere was surreal. You could barely see for the heavy spa mist, dome like ceiling and the dim subdued lighting. Japanese onsens are quiet places. All you can hear is the sound of the water bubbling away as you lie back in a hot bath. You soon forget that you are surrounded by many other naked men! I braved the cold and ventured outside to the rotembro (outside baths) which were amazing. Your head is crisp and cool, your ears sting from the cold, but your body is submerged in a boiling bath. Stick your onsen towel over your head and you are in heaven. If I could die anywhere, I would like to slip away peacefully in a Japanese onsen!
Last weekend was a nabe (Japanese hot pot cooked at the table) party and karaoke session until 3am in Ube followed by 4am ramen (Chinese noodle soup) from a street stall. It is surprising how much you get into karaoke when you are in Japan. I know of very few foreigners who haven’t at least been once and who don’t secretly enjoy it. You don’t even need a drink to relax… I have had plenty of fun sober karaoke sessions. I impressed all with my rendition of Eminem Stan and my bad accented version of La Bamba. Bring back my karaoke buddy Sean who I miss for late night karaoke and snack bar sessions!
Sunday afternoon I was awoken at lunchtime by a minor earthquake. What is strange is that we are supposed to be in a relatively earthquake free area and yet according to the Japan Meteorology website we are practically sitting on top of one. My school teacher kindly reminded me that my house is so old it would probably be one of the first to fall should there be anything more serious that a magnitude 3 (which was experienced on Sunday).
Last night I went to a New Year’s party with the English teachers from Onoda High School. The meal was excellent – 6 courses ending in champu nabe (nabe for sumo wrestlers). After, myself and two teachers ended up at the Pachinko Parlour in my town. Pachinko is a Japanese variation of slot machines. You buy large quantities of ballbarings and fire them around a course – with the aim of getting as many balls as possible in a tiny hole. It is crazily popular and people spend and lose small fortunes. The halls are massive and the noise is excruciating. Pachinko in Japan is said to fund North Korea, but it doesn’t seem to deter the millions of Japanese who regularly play. It is not uncommon to spend 4-5 nights a week or more at the local Pachinko parlour. We went for just 25 minutes and I quickly lost 3000yen (about £14). I decided to call it a night as yen now actually has some value and is worth holding on to following the Asian stock market crash. I fear Japan's economy is in big trouble given that things were already looking bad before the crash.
Wishing you all a very happy and propserous New Year.
マーク
My shodo teacher and good friend (Hamazaki Sensei) a very talented shodo writer herself, told me that these guys practice many many times to be able to present 1 piece. This may look easy, but trust me, getting the right balance and flow to produce something like this takes years and years of practice. Also there is just one chance to get it right on the day. The size of the canvas is 6 tatami mats. Very impressive! To see the video below, click on the arrow.
