Checked In

Just letting you know we’re at the airport, checked in and ready to go！

I is for...

I is for...Insane Izakaya!!
Note: An Izakaya is a Japanese-style bar-come-restaurant, particularly popular with working men and old geezers and are usually smoky and have rubbish, but reasonable, food. Hmm.. nothing different to a British pub 5 years ago!
I didn't get to celebrate my birthday last year due to the earthquake and the craziness that ensued last March (my thoughts are with the victims), so I wanted to do something memorable for my 25th this year!
Following some yummy, spicy Mexican food, I chose 'Kagaya Bar', which I'd heard about on gaijin (foreigner in Japan) forums.
It was just HILARIOUS!

First we were served our oshibori (hand towels) by a robotic Anpanman, and had to introduce ourselves to him and were made to shake his hand.

Then we were expected to stand up and sing our food order in front of everyone!

Not knowing what would happen, we cautiously ordered our drinks 'Chinese-style', and the Master came out dressed as Jackie Chan kung fu-ing and screaming and kicking and even made smoke come from his fingertips!

Further drinks were served 'English-style' and this cute bear did some warm-up stretches, followed by a huge struggle to carry the heavy tray (more screaming!!)!

As a lovely surprise, the Master brought out a birthday cake (I didn't have one last year) for me and everyone including other customers sang Happy Birthday! So happy!!

Then we were introduced to Jack the Frog. A picture doesn't do this character justice, so please enjoy this  brilliant video (warning: the last part contains sexual references)

Note 2: All the above pictures taken by my friend Yukimitsu on his professional-quality camera. Unfortunately I had forgotten my brand new camera that day.

I is for... I'm visiting!!!!!

If you didn't already know, I'll be visiting the UK March 16-28th, with two cheeky visits to Vietnam on the way there and back! I'm so excited!! It's times like these that I'm really glad I created this blog, because otherwise I wouldn't know where to start!!! I feel like I've been living in Japan for about 4/5 years!! Any comments of 'it's flown by' won't be met with agreement from my end!!
Well, to jog your memory and to get conversations flowing, here's my Top 5 Most Memorable Moments in Japan including links to those posts:

5. Being homeless overnight in Nagano city with Jen, in -5C temperatures, because we didn't have money to stay in a hotel and because we'd arrived too late to see the bathing monkeys in January 2010.

I notice how i didn't mention we were wandering around the snowy city all night without shelter in the original post *ahem* At the time it was one of the worst 7 hours of my life, but Jen and I often look back and laugh at how miserably cold we were, and we found an appreciation for simple comforts and respect for REAL homeless people.

4.　Snowboarding for the first time with Aeon coworkers in February 2010. I've since been snowboarding 5 times, and despite my recent bruised rib, as I said in the original post, "I'll never get board of doing that'!! (*^^*) I love the speed and freedom of whizzing down a mountain (until I inevitably fall down that is!). And the mountains always come with spectacular views!!!

3. A Most Japanese Weekend in March 2010. The most Japanese-ness jam-packed into 24 hours!!

2. Visiting Osaka to meet Toshi's family in August 2011. I really, really can't express what a great time I had, and I think this marks the time when I felt truly accepted in Japan, and didn't feel like a foreigner anymore. 吉田家族のおかげで！On the last day I was very emotional!! This was also my first time to Kobe and Nara, and I got some great sightseeing done too!

1. Climbing Mt Fuji in August 2010. As you know, I love astronomy, and the stars visible from Mt Fuji at 3000m+ were just... more than countless!! The Milky Way was just so dense, even more than the view from my little Welsh village. You really have to climb it for yourself to experience this! Another thing is that the side of the mountain is red and it was just like being on Mars,  and I was pretending that the moon we could see was Earth (although that wouldn't be to an accurate scale). Finally of course the sunrise was staggering (this was the first sunrise I'd ever sat and watched )and the man near me shouting 'Banzai!' really made that moment for me!! Unforgettable!!!

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus!!

Happy St Davids Day! ウェールズの日おめでとう！　 ウェールズと言えばすいせんですね。

Diolch Seiko-san, un o fy myfyrwyr, am brynu blodau gan gynnwys cennin pedr!!

Thank you Seiko-san, one of my students, for buying me this lovely bunch of flowers including a daffodil for me!

See you all soon back in the UK (if only briefly)!!! It hasn't sunk in yet; it feels like a lifetime since I was home, but I'm looking forward!