Merry Christmas!

Well I finished work a few days ago and since then its been so much fun! Have done loads of the obligatory Karaoke - and trying to chose the stupidist songs - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was high on the list.
Went to Ginza for Christmas eve and had drinks in a very posh restuarant. Then Christmas day we tried to get to a place that sold traditional Christmas dinner but we unfortunately forgot all the information telling about such places so we wandered round until 5 ish before we were able to go to an Italian restaurant called La Boheme (!) for roast chicken, potatoes, salad and lovely red wine (well its sort of Christmas lunch). Then into Shibuya for a few more drinks before getting the last train home only to spend the next 3 hours doing injustices to other peoples songs again. Boxing day was spent recovering and then cleaning our new flat - which is now looking something like inhabitable ready for Gina to come out to visit.
Have got a busy schedule planned for the next 2 weeks until I go back to work so will keep this up to date at a later stage.
Merry Christmas all - it was not the same out here without seeing ya'll! Hope you all enjoy the festive season nonetheless!
Photos to follow sooooo soon!!

Jingle bells...

Christmas has hit Japan and how they go for it here. Some of the decorations look nice - some hideous. One of the Christmas trees near where I live has been entirely drenched in gaudy purple sheets. You can barely see tree beneath it. Now I know you could possibly say the same is true in the UK, but I'd still argue its worse here and as for the canned music - I have never heard so many bad variations of Jingle bells.
There. I've done it, the compulsory moan about Christmas. You can take a girl out of England....Actually I am looking forward to Christmas out here. It will be my first away from home and that will be wierd but there is plenty of stuff to do here and I get two and a half weeks to travel round and do some cool things. Like breaking my legs snowboarding for example.
Had fun celebrating my birthday on Saturday. We really did it in style. I perhaps was not as restrained as I should have been on the old beerus and gin n tonicus but then again it was my quarter of a century. Of course karaoke was involved and I got to bed at 9am he he. oops.
Have got a really busy couple of weeks coming up before the holiday. I am moving into a new and much nicer flat with a couple of other teachers so I'm looking forward to that but it does mean that I also have to repeat just about all the paperwork I had to do when I first got here. I will have to make yet more use of my 'please be gentle I'm a foreigner' face.
Sayonara

Hakone

Hakone was an excellent break. Spent lots of time in cable cars going up and over mountains made so colourful by the trees whose foliage was every shade of green yellow, orange and red. Didn't eat the customary black egg which is cooked in the hot sulphurous volcanic earth but I didnt mind as it was pretty stinky hanging around! Went on a really tacky pirate ship across a lake and walked up a mountain which had amazing views of Mt Fuji. It was a clear but really cold day so I managed to get a few good shots of the mountain and surrounding area.

Spent Tuesday evening in a local pub being fed wierd and wonderful local specialities and inflicting our karaoke on the rest of the pub in true British style!

The open air sculpture museum was nice but made more spectacular by the surrounding scenery - set half way up the mountains. It was just so nice to get out into some open air and to get a lungful of fresh air - I'd forgotten how much I miss it being a country lass anyway! Oh and I think I managed Japanese public bath etiquette without causing too much offense! Its an all-together-all-naked experience where you have to wash first before plunging into a pool heated to abnormal temperatures (naturally in the Hakone area because of the volcanic mountains). Apparently a lot of ooo ooo aa a a a aaaaaaaaahs are the norm until you aclimatise to the heat and as soon as you do, you are encouraged to jump (well ok slide gracefully) into the cold plunge pool and if your heart is still in tact after that you can then have the pleasure of sitting in a sauna and sweating it out once more!

So getting back to work after that was hard work but I have only got three weeks to teach before the Christmas break - and unusually for English schools out here we have over two weeks so I expect I will have plenty of time to do some more travelling around. I can't wait for that although it will be a bit strange being away from home for the first time ever! Awww!

Boo Hoo!

Well I was going to put on some photos to show you all - to discover that I have lost a whole memory card with over 100 photos on! Arghh I can't believe it! It may still turn up but I am getting less optimistic about that since checking everywhere I can think of. I can't even work out the last time I saw it so I can't go back to where I've been and ask either. Its a real shame but I suppose the images are in my head - at least thats one way of looking at it. Hmph.

Apart from that, I am going to Hakone tomorrow with some friends. Its in the mountains near Mt Fuji and there are lots of open-air museums and natural hot springs. Perfect to relax and get away for a couple of days. So will write again soon about that.

Some facts you may or may not be able to live without.

Went to a small Jazz gig yesterday afternoon with my friend Hiromi. The venue was really small and there were only about 15 people there but the music was excellent and we were invited to stay for the party afterwards. Plenty of food, drinks and more music - this time in the form of Shamisen (a traqditional Japanese guitar / banjo) and traditional singing. The party grew more and more drunken and I was totally welcomed by these people I had just met. I was encouraged to clap, sing, dance and have a go at playing all the instruments (as they laughed heartily at my poor attempts!) Some of them spoke English others didnt but it didnt spoil the fun and it really is true that true communication happens inspite of language barriers! They play every month and I am definitely going to try to make it next month too.

Also went to Tokyo Designers week and 100%Design UK on Thursday. It was a really interesting event - full of zany creations and some downright silly ones too. It also reminded me of being a fresher again - full of queuing and being squashed! I have now been inside a dyson hoover (well obvioulsy not to scale) and have put my head in a big box full of lights which flickered on and off as you shakeyour head. If it sounds bizarre - its because it was - totally! We also stumbled accross the nearby Tokyo Fashion Week festival and were ushered to the front row of a fashion show - expecting to see the likes of Kate Moss we were left a little dissapointed but it was nevertheless an unexpected pleasure!

Also would just like to mention a little bit about digital Japan especially the toilets! They seats open as you walk in, make flushing sounds as you pee (to protect the sensibilities of the delicate female population), flush as you stand up, warm the seats for you and have countless buttons for washing, squirting and more I havnt had the pleasure of working out. Have yet to find a loo that will actually wipe your arse- but Im sure the engineers working on the project are Japanese!

So thats all for now, I will leave you with some of quotes from one of the English language magazines I have been reading recently:

Election over: ...no other country in the world would tolerate election posters being put up every 50 metres without somebody scrawling a moustache on at least one.

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper has found it necessary to respond to an initiative of The Yomiuri Shimbun which has been leaving two rolls of toilet paper for each stack of neatly bundled used newspapers they pick up from their readers doorsteps. Previously only leaving a single roll, it will now leave two.

Radio shows for cats may be broadcast as soon as next year when the digital radio radio network is launched.

Japan's first whistling competition is being planned by 63 year old professional whistler Masaaki Moku to try and popularise his rare vocation.

Asahi Breweries has recalled 1.6million bottles of nonalcoholic beer whose lable says it has 10 caleries per bottle when in fact it has 19.

New York City police were reported to be baffled at the news that, because Japanese law requires anyone coming across a lost article to turn it in to the nearest Koban (police station) cops here spend a considerable amount of time filling out reports of lost umberellas. A New York City assistant district attorney was heard to murmur, 'The Japanese are (expletive) insane'.

A 2004 census found that there are 46 homosexual penguins in Japans aquariams and zoos.

The number of university students busted this year for drug use hit an all time high: 107.

If you are curious about the world your dog lives in, you might consider buying a gadget called Wonderful Shot, a digital camera that attaches to your dogs collar and takes a picture every minute of every hour from which you can compile a diary for your dog.

And Finally...

The Asahi Shimbun revealed that a small bottle of schoolgirls saliver can be bought for 12000 yen (60 pounds) pants cost 8000 (40 pounds) and urine 11000 yen (55 pounds!). Urgh!

Ummm

Went on a day-trip to Yokohama yesterday which is a port-city on the other side of Tokyo. It has a very different feel to it whilst still being very urban and busy. We went on what was until recently the biggest ferris wheel in the world and you are able to see Mount Fuji in the distance - Its a wonderful sight - its such an iconographic image of Japan - and it really lived up to this reputation - there was even the famous bit of mist just dusting the top of the peak. I am going to try and climb it in June or July (the only time you can).
We then went for the 'cultural' option and scared ourselves shitless on a giant (but very short) rollercoaster. Followed by an ascent of the highest skyscraper in Japan at about 400m tall and 69 floors. The lift is in the guiness book of records for being the fastest in the world - it takes you up in 40 seconds and our ears were popping faster than they have ever done - it was really painful!! Again at the top you get a wonderful view (it was a clear and sunny day - probably in the high 20 degrees!) and an even better view of Mount Fuji, Tokyo bay and the sprawling metropolis.
Had dinner in Chinatown - amazing food and really just a cool place to visit.
Oh and we took our photos in the very-Japanese booths (PuriCuri or something like that - shortened and distorted from Print Club) where the backgrounds change and it takes a picture every few seconds. After the shoot you go out and 'draw' on the photos - adding gawdy hearts and stars and 'magical' effects around the pictures. Its strangely addictive!
Today I went into Ginza (the chic exclusive part of Tokyo where shoppers go to buy European high fashion clothes) - not to blow my months wages on a pair of shoes but to visit the many free art galleries. Some interesting stuff although I have yet to find somewhere as impressive the galleries in London.
The level of respect people show you here is really high (if a bit hypocritical / hard to get past at times). You can't enter or leave a shop, cafe, restaurant, bar etc etc without big cries of 'Thank you' or 'welcome'. They also have neon-stick waving men in uniforms who guide pedestrians past any road / pavement works even if it is (as it mostly always is) perfectly easy to see the way to walk.
Cant think of owt more to say - am not in a particularly writerly mood at the moment but will try harder next time. or maybe I wont, ha ha.

Yada Yada Ya...

Well its been a bit long since I wrote and I feel its time to write properly. Life here continues to be as exciting and baffling as ever. I went on a boat trip through the city last weekend and was decidedly underwhelmed by the whole experience. The best bits of Tokyo can definitely not be seen along the banks of its rivers! It was one dull concrete constuction after another not helped of course by the fact that I wasnt able to understand much of the accompanying guide talk. However, it is as good a way as any to get through the city and we were at least able to giggle at the English in the toilets: 'passengers who use should always pour water'. There have been a number of amusing such displays: on a sandwich: 'please make your best choice of our delicious and tasty sandwiches' (what pressure I think on the consumer of these sandwiches who has to make their very best choice). And my personal favourite so far: 'Parking Rot'. (The Japanese dont pronounce 'l' or 'r' but a sound somewhere in the middle). It always reminds me of that chain email that you've probably all seen about English round the world and my favourite being in Russia: 'The manager has personally passed all the water in this restaurant'. (It still makes me giggle.)
I am reading a book my mum sent out to me called 'Watching the English' by Kate Fox - its quite an amusing read and if anyone was interested in discovering our national character then I'd definitely recommend it. She also talks about how similar we are to the Japanese - and I have certainly felt it here. If you thought we were good at queueing for example - you could revise that opinion here - The Japanese, it seems, form orderly queues wherever it is humanly possible and any flouting of the rules is severly frowned upon! They are also very shy and will go to great lengths to avoid speaking to foreiners even if their English is quite good. I have been told that many people would like to talk to me more but are too embarrassed at their level of English and will therefore shy away. Means that I will have to start being a bit un-English and strike up conversations!
One of the local ex-pat bars is having a Halloween party soon and apparently the costumes were very impressive last year and I feel it necessary to go one better than that. Im thinking Goblins at the moment...! Check out the photos on www.hippydippydoo.com I'm on the second page!
I was also supposed to be Debbie McGee for one of the other teachers I came out with. He is an escapologist and needed someone to distract the crowds a little and check his handcuffs!! He wants to go into central Tokyo on a Sunday (the busiest day of the week) dressed up as Batman and perform wonderful feats of magic... He asked me if I would be up for joining him pointing out that we may well get arrested!! I was saved last Sunday by the rain but feel that if called upon again I would find it hard to refuse. He a very funny character and I reckon its something I could definitely tell the grandchildren about, so to speak!
On a more normal note, Im off to Ginza now which is The place for tremendously expensive shopping, chic bars and resturants - or in my case window shopping and gallery visiting. How ultra cool darling...

Kampai!

Well I am back online and have saved my most important emails from cyber blackhole. It only took me 5 hours spread over 2 evenings and about 1000 yen for the pleasure! That and other things conspired against me last week to make me a little stressed out but now things are back to normal and life is fun again.
Was going to go away to Hakone this weekend which is where most Tokyoites go to escape the city (which is something I am beginning to understand!). The bad weather and bank holiday mass exodus from the city thwarted our attempts so we bumbled around Ueno park - which is no where near as green as Hyde park or owt like that, but it is a cool place to spend your sundays and there are some great art galleries there too.
I cant believe I have been here nearly 2 months now - life here moves so fast! I have re-started learning Japanese with a lovely lady who has also offered to take me snowboarding this winter. Should be great.
Have had a lull in the Karaoke / dancing madness and am starting to get itchy feet again!! tee hee. So im off to the Crazy Cactus bar now - full of expats but the beers cheap and the atmosphere is cool. Kampai!!

Nomihoodai!

Dear all, I fear i am going to have to stop writing all my posts on a monday evening after my 2 days off as it will start to appear as if i spend my whole time misbehaving! The latest installment of the aforementioned is a sake and beeru (local pronunciation - my personal favourite being "gin n tonicu") fuelled evening dancing to R&B / Hip hop in a western style club in Shibuya (central Tokyo). I keep telling myself as i leave my house on a saturday night that i WILL get the last train home but it just seems like such a party pooper to leave early. So yet again my sunday was spent in bed! I am lucky to have monday off at the moment (its going to change to sunday and wednesday soon). But it means that I can still get up and do something on Monday. Have seen some cool art galleries and some really crazy architectural structures that you could only imagine in Japan.
There is also a place called condomania - which I have yet to see but it should prove quite interesting i think! Have so far managed to decline the offers of "fancy a trip to Tokyo disneyland".
I discovered today that there are 30 million people living in greater tokyo - no wonder i get lost and confused everytime i go into the centre (I am so glad i learnt some survival Japanese before I came out here!). Trains on the central line go every 2 minutes during the week and every one is packed out. You have to watch out for groping on such trains - which is why the government has now introduced women-only carriages during rush hour times! I have thankfully had no problems so far - and have got myself well prepared for such events (you have to grab the offenders hand and hold it high as you shout the japanese for pervert to embarrass them!) I can understand how that works! There is quite a high level of seediness around - all the manga is packed full of big breasted women, scantily clad and the men read it on the trains with children sitting next to them and yet you would be frowned upon for holding hands with your partner in public. It is also a big faux pas to eat in public and yet nobody seemed to bat an eyelid the other day as this guy was gobbing big phlemmy balls of spit onto the otherwise pristeen train carriage. Double standards a-plenty!!

Hello Kitty

I cant believe i have been here a month now - the weeks have just flown by so fast! I am settling into the teaching - I have some really nice classes and some hellish ones too (just for balance) Its the five-year-olds who just wont do anything they are supposed to that are the worst but ill learn how to handle them soon I suppose! I have had tears in my classroom twice now and each time it just means the whole lesson goes down the pan!
I ended up in another Karaoke place again on saturday - this time at least managed to stay awake. I think ive got the bug but its going to have to be curbed as it is getting a bit too expensive!
Great to hear all your news - please keep the emails coming and I promise i will write proper emails and letters soon!

Karaoke!!!!

Its sunday evening now and I am suffering from post-karaoke madness! We went into the centre of Tokyo last night to have a few beers which soon turned into a few more and before I knew it I was astounding my audience with such sweet vocals and blinding harmonies in a darkened karaoke room. Well actually I decided that I had to turn to my gangster roots and mash up the place drumnbass styleee. Oh yes I have an underscovered talent as a master of ceremonies I can tell you!! Its such a lot of fun to do as a group of friends and the `all you can drink beer offer` is a nice touch. However, I got a bit too excited, danced a bit too much and promptly fell asleep on the comfy sofas! Apparently it was hard work moving me when it was time to get the first train home at 6 in the morning!

mice roppongi and hairdressers

I spent my first proper weekend visiting the crazy sights of Shinjuku which is one of the busiest areas of Tokyo and also where my Japanese friend lives. after finally managing to leave the station and find my friends (it has a confusingly large number of exits and floors and areas and people and signs and noises) we had a good tourist stroll around before heading to Roppongi (I love that name) where the nightlife of Tokyo can be found. We went up Roppongi tower which has 52 floors and the lift gives you motion sickness and makes your ears pop! but the view was well worth it. just as the sun was setting you get an amazing view over Tokyo with all the dizzy lights from bars, sushi restaurants, cars, ferris wheels, skyscrapers and all the rest. on a clear day you can apparently see as far as Mount Fuji from that tower which must be impressive.
There was a really cool ancient to modern art exhibition of China on at the same time. It was so refreshing to see and apreciate art again having finished the formality of studying it!
We ate in a restaurant in the same building and at one point my friend Hiro screamed- there was a mouse running around the floor under the tables. The whole place exploded it was so funny to see! Eventually the offender was whacked over the head by one of the chefs and calm was restored. Still didnt get any money off our meal!!!
I have done the compulsory thing of getting on an express train instead of a local one and for some reason my Japanese wasnt good enough to negotiate the best way to proceed after that! I got home after 1 & 1/2 hours when it should have taken me 25 minutes!! It had to happen sometime! At least the trains here are always dead on time - even if there are a confusing array of choices (local, rapid, private, JR, subway, overground). And they are all sparklingly clean. I have even started to fit in with the locals as I catch a few forty winks on my way to work. (Everybody is asleep on the trains here!)
Finally- one of the many quirks of this place is that hairdressers (of which there seem to be thousands) stay open really late but in the absense of real customers they crimp and cut and curl and perm plastic models hair in the windows. Does that happen at home or is that a bit bizarre!!

Crazy Place

Well I have survived my first week! And that has included a typhoon, my first hangover on artificial beer (that was before I realised it even existed), the sight of my flat (urgh) and a proposition of a very good massage from a bloke from Calcutta (urgh). but no teaching as yet. That starts tomorrow. I have an ok timetable with sunday & monday off at the moment - but that is likely to change to sunday & wednesday. Mixture of kids classes (which I think will be hectic but fun) and adult classes. Other teachers seem very nice and I have managed to hook up with my Japanese friend and another teacher who I worked with in Cheltenham. The food is amazing but have been relying on picture menues rather a lot! Am really impatient to be able to start to understand and say more than I can do at the moment! Patience my dear! Will start lessons as soon as I have settled in better.
Thank you all for your emails - I promise to write to you properly soon but i really need to go back and start round 2 of the flat cleaning (the teacher who left before me left it in a bit of a state). Thinking of you lots and lots
xxxxx

Konnichiwa!

Hi everyone!
I have arrived here safely, and it`s amazing already! There is a massive thunderstorm here at the moment and I left the hotel without a coat. Just got back soaked! Am staying in a hotel for the first week before moving into my own flat on sunday. Have already made good use of my Japanese and am understanding much more than I expected. It`s wicked. I really feel like I will like it here　おおps　伊中st　pれss　oops i just pressed the switch button and has taken me 10 minutes to find the alphabet key! think i will leave the symbols there for humours sake! talking of Sake - we are off to find a bar in the area that will accept drowned rats... Will write more when I have more time!
Missing you all lots
Ella xxx

London July 2005

London July 05

Grad Ball 

New to blogging

Experiment