'Twas Christmas Eve..

Yoko and Richard learn about advent calendars..



December 22nd For all you astronomy fans out there, this year's Winter Solstice (冬至) coincided with a rare lunar eclipse (月食). Regrettably, Tokyo was being treated to pouring rain at the time, so I was unable to see the moon :'( But to celebrate the Winter Solstice, I had pumpkin salad for lunch with Fumiko, my student, and that night, I took a yuzu bath (an orange citrus fruit)- a combination which is said to prevent one from catching a cold the following year!

December 23rd National holiday- fake-early-Christmas day!!!

The itinerary was:

Watching Tron Legacy  ..

Listening to the Salvation Army play ..

Christmas Karaoke ..

 Christmas dinner..

and ..

Christmas Dinner Posing with Illuminations

A lovely day with lovely people :D

 

December 24th Merry Christmas Eve!

Quote of the day: 

Me: What will you be eating for Christmas tomorrow?

10 year old student: Hamburger!

A Christmas message and an apology..

 

December 25th I worked a full day at AEON..

..followed by meeting Branwen (my school friend) and her friends at a British pub.

 Dipping nachos into cranberry sauce!

The night ended at a club, where I got to speak to my favourite Japanese DJ, Shinichi Osawa. Christmas magic!

It's a Saturday night, but there are no cocktails in sight!
I'm keeping warm under my kotatsu (table heater) while studying for my JLPT Japanese exam tomorrow (on Sunday 5th) requiring listening, reading, grammar and kanji knowledge.
Wish me luck!

Edit: I'm confident I did well enough to pass :) Yay! Wow, it felt just like being at school again. A Japanese-speaking school, that is.

F is for..

Festive

Happy December everyone! I've heard it's been severely cold back in the UK so please take care everyone!  After enduring the hottest summer in Tokyo ever, I'm glad I didn't go through the coldest November in 17 years! 

As it's the 1st of December, I've put up my decorations and I'm playing christmas music. We've also been giving christmas-themed kids lessons at Aeon too.

Thank you to my Grandma for the surprise advent calendar:





Of course Japan isn't a Christian country, so there are bound to be a few differences...

A christmas cake in Japan is a white sponge with strawberries and cream:

Only £23.76!!

Santa is Japanese and has bad teeth:

Christmas tree decorations can be a little different...

But I'm very happy they put up a Coca-Cola advert on my way to work!!

 "Let's unwrap happiness"

F is for..
Fall

Ginkgo trees (which smell awful but look lovely) in Hikarigaoka and trees in Nerima

F is for..
Food

Giant apples @ £3.04 each!!

Yakitori,  a photo of my very first meal in Japan, and raw duck

Natto, fermented soybeans (I wasn't smiling after trying it!) and making takoyaki (octopus balls)

 Sushi at a 'train sushi' restaurant and grilled tuna head!