After 3 or so dry weeks, it finally rained on Tuesday! But now we're back to clear, blue skies and cold days.
Not up to much, just working and preparing for lessons and trying to keep warm!

The End of Winter Vacation

Kamakura, 50km south-west of Tokyo is extremely popular with Tokyoite day-trippers, and was particularly crowded at the beginning of the New Year with people wanting to make their first prayers of the year. Yukimitsu, Shunsuke, Jen and I survived the rush and made our New Year prayers at Kenkoji Temple, and drew our omikuji or "fortune strip". I received 中吉 for this year, my translation being 'so-so fortune'! We kept warm by drinking Amazake: hot, sweet rice wine.

We took the monorail to visit one of the most famous landmarks in Japan, the Daibutsu. For a more than reasonable 20 yen we were able to go inside the Giant Buddha. It must be said that despite being very dark and not so aesthetic from the inside, it was a privilege!

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Nagano is a prefecture 200km north of Tokyo, and is famous for being cold and wintery. Jen and I, as a last minute plan, took the bullet train to Nagano City where we discovered it lives up to its chilly reputation! At -5'C it was uncomfortably cold... but our overnight stay satiated my thirst for snow after missing the White Christmas back in the UK.

Zenkoji Temple in Nagano City.

It is said that wafting the smoke over your head gives you wisdom. Fingers crossed!

Yudanaka, a 40 minute train ride from Nagano city took us to the Japanese Alps, which have a dark colour, due to volcanic activity. They were stunning!!

A 1.6km walk through the forest on windy paths will take you to Jigokudani Monkey Park, where Japanese Macaques exhibit the unusual behaviour of taking dips in the hot springs!!

The area was rich with boiling water spewing from the mountains sides, and a geyser demonstrated its true power!

明けましておめでとうございます！

Happy New Year and 2010 from Tokyo!!!

December 31st 2009

To celebrate, we first visited Sensoji Temple in Asakusa (the one with the giant, red lantern) to make our last prayer of 2009. We threw in a 5Yen coin, as that amount is considered lucky.

After the final karaoke of the year, we headed to Daimon, south-East Tokyo and back to Zozoji Temple for the New Year festivities.

23.30: The monks of the temple sang an indistinguishable chant and rang a small bell to close the past year.

23.59: Over the loudspeakers, a woman's voice announced the countdown.

00.00: Tokyo Tower lit up with the numbers 2010 and thousands of balloons were released. Each balloon carried a single wish up into the clear sky. Naturally, the balloons are made of a biodegradeable rice paper.

00.00 - 01.48: Selected members of the public assisted the monks in swinging a hewn log at the large bell beside the main temple once each minute. Each of the 108 bell reverburations are said eliminate our past wrong doings and ill-fortune and cleanse our minds for the next year.

The temperature was dropping and despite my many layers, of clothing I soon couldn't feel my limbs!So we took advantage of the all-night trains (the only time each year) and headed to Shinjuku to a smoky Izakaya (Japanese pub).

It is a Japanese tradition to eat Soba noodles (pictured) and mochi, a rice paste cake.

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January 1st 2010

Hikarigaoka hosted a traditional Chinese New Year dance:

"Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!"

Tokyo Tower is taller than the Eiffel Tower..

.. so not everything is smaller in Japan! To be precise, Tokyo Tower stands a proud 13m taller. It is one of the most famous landmarks in Japan and has an observatory at the top.

Nearby, we came across Zojo-ji Temple, which was undergoing preparations for the New Year Celebrations 2 days ahead.. Zojo-ji Temple was re-constructed in 1598, making it one of the oldest temples in Tokyo as it survived the WWII bombings.

The mini statues with the hats are of the Buddhist Deity Jizou, the guardian of stillborn and aborted babies. The statues  wear red hats and have red toys to represent the expelling of illness/death.

Afterwards, I finally made a pilgrimage to the Pokemon Centre near Tokyo Bay:

Happy times!

メッリクリスマスみんなさん！！

8 Things that can be done on Christmas Day in Japan

Santa Claus is Coming to Tokyo!

A Mameshiba Christmas setting in Ikebukuro...

Mecha Kawaii!!

Christmas in Hikarigaoka's main mall- kids get a free train ride!

 

The first of two Christmas Karaokes!! I am wearing antlers ^_^

The playlist included:

Jackson 5- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Mariah Carey- All I want for Christmas

Wham- Last Christmas

The Pogues- Fairytale of New York

and a Japanese Christmas song called Speed- "White Love"

I was disappointed that many golden oldies such as Wizzard and Slade had not managed to reach Japan's karaoke boxes (nor America for that matter).

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As for Christmas, I am celebrating on the 23rd as it is a National Holiday, so I have the day off. I will start the day by watching Avatar before heading into Tokyo to search for a Christmas dinner, karaoke and various Christmas things. So for me, Christmas is tomorrow hurray!!! ^_^

Earthquakes and Heat!

It's really cold indoors in my apartment (down to 15C or so), and taking my students' advice and I finally got my kotatsu working!
It is a table heater, with a blanket covering it, and is extremely comfortable to sit under.

So warm and toasty.. I can't imagine my life without it!! :)

I was noting that I had not felt any earthquakes having been here for 3 months.. so as fate would have it, Tokyo has had three earthquakes in the last 12 hours. Very exciting! The first, yesterday evening was very mild- only the baubles swaying on my christmas tree confirmed my initial thought.

The two during the night were comparable to the Nottingham one 1 and a half years ago, about a 4 on the scale.

And finally, here's one otaku (nerd) that has gone just too far..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8419368.stm

An Update

This week was Parents' Observation week, so I've been really busy all week designing super genki lessons for the kids to impress their mums. Lots of paperwork.

It's getting really cold in Japan, but snowfall is not expeted until February-time.

Tomorrow I have follow up training, so I'm making the most of my one-day weekend... preparing lessons!

I must say my grandparents were totally spot on- the last two weeks really have flown by! It's insane! Even when I notice how fast the time goes, its continues. I'm not complaining, because I want the warm weather back! But I'm happy and having fun :D

Finally, thank you to my grandparents who sent me parcels- I enjoyed catching up on the choccies on my advent calendar! And thank you for the Christmas card Auntie Glenys anad Uncle Eric :)

My Apartment- Christmas Edition

I may be in Japan, and I may be working on Christmas Day, but I'm not ready to forget about Christmas!!

Thank you for the presents mum, dad, Grandad, Grandma and Val!

I bought the flashing light-up Rudolph-Snowman hybrid thing for my solo Xmas disco!

名古屋

Please enjoy some photos of Nagoya, a city of 2.7mil people just over 150 miles from Tokyo.

Travelled there by night bus Sunday night, and returned by speedy Shinkansen Tuesday morning.

The city had such a different feel to Tokyo. It wasn't nearly as busy or crowded as Tokyo, and the buildings seem much older. Tokyo has very little remaining architecture that is over 100 years old, so Nagoya felt more traditionally Japanese. Nagoya Tower was pretty comparable to the Eiffel Tower.
Unfortunately Nagoya Castle is not the original 1525 structure as WWII bombings burned down the original. The two golden dolphins on the roof are ironically anti-fire symbols.

The bullet train back was so fast and smooth, and it's so refreshing to see the Japanese countryside and little towns nestled between the volcanic jagged landscape.The weather was clear so the commuters were treated to epic views of Mt Fuji.

Being only one of three native English speakers at the gig made it very easy to have a chat with the bands:

With Finch's frontman Nate and bassist Daniel

Bridgend band Funeral for a Friend- We spoke some Welsh :D