New Years in Nagoya and Birthday Snow

Hi!

With the best of intentions I set out to do a blog post back in January, and then things got busy, and they have only started winding down now.

It's the end of the academic school year over here, so exams are being sat, reports are being written, and the end of year graduation ceremony is going through the finishing touches.  This year is our first year 12 graduation for our program, so it's a bit exciting!

I'm going to have to do a mad recap because it's been more than two months since I last updated.

After Christmas we went to Nagoya to celebrate New Year's.  In Japan, Christmas time is generally a time when friends catch up, and Christmas Eve is one of the biggest date nights here.  New Year's Day is the time spent with family, usually in your home town.  In other words, it's the reverse of Australia.

Part One - Nagoya and Toba

We jumped on a shinkansen to Nagoya just before New Year's, and rang the new year in there.  While we were in the region we did/saw a few notable things:

Ate a Nagoya speciality that is delicious but not at all photogenic: Tebasaki chicken wings

Ate another Nagoya speciality that is regrettably endangered (found this out later, sorry eels!): Hitsumabushi - grilled eel

It's not surprising that eel is endangered here, this was honestly one of the most delicious things I've eaten since we arrived almost a year ago, and ordinarily I'm not an eel fan.

I had to lead with the food, because I am a major food tourist.  As well as the food we also had a look at the Nagoya aquarium, where I took a whole bunch of blurry photos.

More photos of Nagoya HERE

We also took a trip out to Toba, about 90 minutes by express train from Nagoya.  Toba is famous for a few things: pearls and oysters, a shrine that contains some sacred items owned by the emperor, and Meoto Iwa - the sacred wedded rocks set out in the water.

We had a look at the pearls and the wedded rocks.

In Toba, there is the Mikimoto pearl island and pearl museum.

Admission wasn't too expensive, and it included a pearl diving demonstration.

It's probably worth keeping in mind that while we were watching this pretty impressive display, the temperature was about 1 degree and the so-called sea breeze was more like a frigid wind.  The women doing the diving carried on like troopers, waving up at the crowd standing huddled in scarves, hats and gloves.

At the pearl museum, we saw a BIG PEARL

And an oceanic princess from Australia

Although they were replicas, they certainly were large.  We went to the gift shop but 1. I'm not a pearl fan and 2. Things are stupidly expensive at that shop.  The pearl diving demonstration was definitely the highlight of the visit, but the museum provided really interesting insights into how pearls are bred, farmed and treated.

After our visit to the pearl museum, we took a short train trip to Futami to go and visit Meoto Iwa, the wedded rocks.

OH MY GOD it was cold.

Jason's cold face

My cold face

Well worth the trip, Jason and I liked the little shrine entrance dooby thing sitting on top of the larger wedded rock.  It reminded us of the miniature stonehenge in This is Spinal Tap.

We made our way back home back to Tokyo on New Year's Day and had a couple of subdued days before work started back up again.  Great trip, and guess what, more photos HERE!!

Part Two - Jason's birthday and the snowfall

We spent Jason's birthday in Ueno, Tokyo so we could do things like stay out late in Shinjuku without worrying about catching a train and getting packed in shoulder to shoulder for the 25-30 mins it takes to get back.  Plus it's near Akihabara (electric town), win-win.

We hung out in one of our favourite bars in Shinjuku, where I discovered the best toy ever.

We went to the Gundam cafe in Akihabara.  Jason couldn't wait!

The food was bad OH NO

Jason got a free sundae for his birthday at the Biohazard cafe, and they sang for him too and it was fabulously embarrassing.

And then, as if it couldn't get any more BIRTHDAY....it started snowing

It was a bit of a struggle home through the snow, transferring trains and lugging big bags through snow drifts ain't all it's cracked up to be.  The shot above of the stairs was taken on the way up to our apartment door.

It was pretty spectacular seeing all the snow and how it made everything take on a dreamy quality.

The view from our balcony of the house over the road:

That's not all, but that's all for now.  More photos of the snow etc in Akihabara are here.

I hope to update again soon.  Until next time!

November wrap-up and Christmas as a workday

It has been a while, but I warned you in October that November would be crazy, and December wasn't too laid back either!

Here are the details for November:

I wrote 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month.  Supposedly that makes me a novelist, but honestly what I chucked on the page really doesn't have the flow of a nice cohesive piece of work.  When I can stand to look at it again, I will try to edit it into something readable.

My year 7 students also took part in the challenge, and set their own goals for the young writer's program.  A couple of them almost made it to their personal goals, two kids wrote over 10,000 words.  For a 12 year old, I think that's amazing.  They did fundraising during November and early December towards their goal, and I'm happy to say they were able to raise ￥20,000 which they will donate to Save the Children in the new year.

Also in November, we had a guest appearance on the Arwen and Jason sitcom.....

Emma!

After a couple of days of sightseeing we let her loose on the city, and I think it managed to survive after the initial impact of awesome.  Thanks for coming on the show!

Then there was a long stretch of work work work for the both of us until suddenly it was a week before Christmas and I realised that I hadn't made a Christmas pudding (this is usually something that sits in the pantry for a month and a half prior to Christmas becoming amazing).  Spent some time decorating the apartment to look vaguely Christmassy, got the makings together for a pudding.

Christmas isn't really celebrated in Japan, not in the same way as back home at all.  At home Christmas is all about family, New Year's is about friends.  Here Christmas is for friends and/or couples - Christmas night is a big date night apparently.  When it comes to New Years here - it's all about family, in a huge way.  People travel home to their families, everything shuts down for a few days - restaurants and ATMs included.  Something that Japan does well however, is Christmas lights.

The Sunday before Christmas we went to Odaiba and checked out the giant Gundam which was lit up all pretty for Christmas.

Afterwards we had a pretty average dinner at a Mexican restaurant and played around with the games in an arcade.

Christmas Day and Boxing Day are both working days for Jason and me.  Most of the people in my office took the days off, but Jason wasn't able to, and I wasn't about to hang out at home on Christmas Day by myself.  So...Christmas Eve became our Christmas Day.  The 24th of December was a holiday because of the Emperor's birthday, so we did all our present opening and feasting on Monday.

Our stack of presents to each other from the 100 yen shop and elsewhere....including:

Creepy Christmas masks.

The haul from Kris Kringle in Melbourne.

We had a chat with Jason's folks over Skype before lunch, and it was lovely to catch up with what everyone's doing.  Time is passing so quickly.

Here's the damage: LUNCH

I roasted some pork ribs in a red wine/garlicy oniony type marinade, roasted some parmesan potatoes too, bought a rotisserie chicken which I chucked in the oven, as well as some steamed brocolli and carrots on the side.  We had some of the Christmas pudding when we had digested enough to move off the couch

Breakfast and dinner was divided between this care package from Jason's folks:

and leftovers from lunch.

On Christmas Day, we both went to work.  No classes meant that I had a chance to tidy up things I don't get a chance to look at during the term.  I also got a chance to Skype with folks back in Melbourne, which was lovely.  On Christmas night we took part in the time-honoured Japanese tradition of having KFC for dinner over Christmas.  To get the special package, I had to pre-order at the end of November.  I picked up my package and we had a second go at a Christmas feast.

No pics this time, it was just KFC, you're not missing much.

That brings us to today.  I'm off work from the 27th until Jan 7th, Jason gets fewer days off than me.  Nonetheless, we're going to make the most of our time.  We'll be in Nagoya over New Year, and the next update will be a post-New Year Nagoya extravaganza!

Until then, click on some photos!!

Yay!!

Halloween and music mishmash

This is a pretty random mess of content, all the things that didn't fit in previous updates.

In late September we went and saw a band called Limited Express (has gone?), who we'd seen in Brisbane before, and they were great, very high energy.  Here's some pics:

More, much more blurry photos, but a couple of pretty good videos: HERE

We also, more recently (Oct 20), went to the last ever (so far) Blip Festival, which was held in Tokyo.  Blip Festival is a night where a series of bands/musicians do their thing with chiptunes, music made from the tones of video game consoles.  I listened to much more dubstep than I ever had before (not sure if that's a good thing), and again, here's a couple of photos:

Bud Melvin plays the banjo over game boy tones and dulcet tones.

Nullsleep takes himself really seriously I think.  "This one is for everyone who is filled with a sense of existential dread" - a real thing that he really said....derp

Covox is a guy that does some of the doofy doof.

Nnnnnnnn was great fun, not my style, but high energy and I guess it was pretty good for dubstep.  Unfortunately I have no good still shots, only video, and you can find that, plus other blurry photos HERE.

Okay and the real highlight.  Jason works near Yoyogi, and we both have our Japanese lessons at his work, as they do both English and Japanese lessons there.  Halloween isn't such a big thing over here, compared to America, but Halloween near Jason's work was pretty cute this year.  Seeing the potential may mean I actually go to a bit of effort next year.  Here is Halloween Yoyogi-style:

Not going to link to the others, trust me, this is the best of a bad and blurry lot.  There were kids running around everywhere in costume, we saw a Mario and Luigi duo in very accurate outfits, and numerous witches, princesses and pumpkins.  If the kids over here could get any cuter, it would be illegal.

In terms of the everyday stuff, I went to a workshop for the IB in mid-October in Kuala Lumpur.  The workshop was great, non-stop contact with a lot of motivated teachers.  No time for sightseeing, but I brought home a pile of things that are hard to find/expensive over here - good toothbrushes and deodorant mainly.

We both had a recent bout of flu - mainly gross and not worth repeating, but I think we're doing better now.

Last of all, tomorrow I start NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month, something I have roped my year 7 students into as well.  Over the course of November I'll be writing 50,000 words, so I will be limited in my blogging for a wee while.  I may do a mid-November update with a guest appearance, but things will be quiet for a while.

All the best to you and yours!

Birthday black eggs and pirate ships

So, it's time for an update.  This will be all a bit me-me-me, apologies in advance.  A lot of it is birthday stuff.

The 2nd of October was my birthday, and a mid-week birthday is a bit of a bummer when you and your partner have vastly different schedules and get a couple of hours of time a night together...but I digress.  To combat this, we started the celebrations the weekend before.  Yayyyyy!!!!

I bought a gigantic boneless leg of lamb from an online meat merchant, and on the Sunday I roasted it with a buttload of garlic, lemon and a spice rub of cumin, cinnamon and nutmeg.  I roasted some potatoes, steamed broccoli and carrots, and made some gravy from the pan juices.  It sounds like a lot of work, but I can be a control freak when it comes to roasts, and this was my birthday roast dinner dammit, and I knew what I wanted.  I don't have any pictures because I was too busy singing in the kitchen and drinking a lot of red wine before and during, and afterward I was too busy drinking a lot of red wine and eating lamb and potatoes.  It was amazing, trust me.

On Sunday morning before all of the cooking, Jason bought a couple of cute mini sponge cakes, one chocolate and one vanilla.  After dinner, he came in with them covered in blazing candles, including a novelty one singing happy birthday.

 

It was cuter than cute.

Post dinner and cake, out came the cards posted from my two amazing aunties - thanks Annie and Joan!  I also opened up my presents from Jason - a dress, killer heels and a belt.  Here I am wearing my birthday dress and heels next to a robot:

On the night of my actual birthday, we went on a date to Machida, not too far from where we live.  We had dinner at Village Vanguard, which has the best burgers I've eaten in Japan, and probably close to the best burgers EVER.  Then we had a crepe from a crepe van, and played taiko drum master at a game arcade.  It was awesome, and yet again, cute.

The weekend after my birthday happened to be a long weekend, and I had taken the opportunity back in late August to book a hotel room in Hakone for that weekend.  Yeah, that's right, the birthday celebrations kept on rolling.

Hakone is maybe 2 hours from Shinjuku by train, and is a really popular tourist destination for both Japanese people and for international visitors.  The drawcard for Hakone is the hot springs borne from volcanic activity and the scenic mountains.  Seriously, Hakone is gorgeous.

The hotel we stayed in is a 45 minute bus trip from Hakone-Yumoto train station, along winding mountain roads.  It had some old-school charm, and the staff were great.  We never stay in ritzy places, so being greeted at the entrance and having our bags carried inside for us was an enormous novelty.  On a clear morning we realised just how incredible the scenery was, with Mount Fuji in plain sight behind a nearby mountain range.

I had three things on my to-do list for Hakone.  The Hakone ropeway and cable car; the pirate ship lake cruise; and the life-extending black eggs boiled in a mineral-rich volcanic hot spring (EAT THE EGGS.)  We managed to get the first one done the afternoon we arrived, and decided to keep the other two for the next morning.

The ropeway terminus - Togendai - was a ten minute bus ride from the hotel.  The ropeway has four stations - Togendai, Ubako (apparently 20 minutes walk from our hotel), Owakudani (the station for the black eggs), and Sounzan, the transfer point for the cable car down to Gora.  It was mid-afternoon when we started our journey, and the views from the ropeway car were unbeatable.

This is steam rising near Owakudani station from vents in the ground.

The view from the cable car was not quite as unbeatable.

To avoid a repeat performance of the cable car, we took the bus back to the hotel and ordered room service so that we could eat in our PJs.

The second day was FOGGY.

It all looked very dramatic, and there were showers and drizzle throughout the morning.  We got started pretty erly and made our way by bus back to Togendai, which is not just the ropeway terminus, but also the starting point of the pirate ship lake cruise.  We got there in time for the first cruise of the day at 9.30.  The morning showers and fog seemed to have kept a lot of people away, so the boat wasn't too crowded and we had many opportunities for awkward photos with fake tacky pirates.

We got off the cruise at Hakonemachi-ko, found a place selling umbrellas, and strolled around town for a bit.  Town wasn't very exciting, so we jumped on a bus bound for Motohakone-ko, a few minutes away.  Motohakone is charming and lacks the tourist trap feel you get near Hakone-Yumoto train station.

We found a ham and sausage restaurant (YES) and shared a bratwurst roll and a pot of coffee.  Before we left, I bought some salami from the deli at the restaurant to take home.

Next up, we jumped on the cruise back to Togendai, to get back on the ropeway for the Owakudani eggs.  The weather had cleared up by this pint, and people had started coming out into the sun.  The crowd on the ship coming into port at Motohakone looked unbearable.

When you get to Owakudani, one of the first things you notice is the smell of sulfur in the air.  The volcanic rock formations are stained with the minerals that come out with the water and steam, the same water and steam responsible for the heavy eggy smell.  It's a bit of a walk from the ropeway to the pool where the eggs are cooked, but we were ready.

At the top, the steam was RIPE, oh God was it ripe.

We returned down the hill a little and bought THE BLACK EGGS.

The deal with the eggs is, each egg eaten (supposedly) extends your lifespan by 7 years.  That is, as long as you only eat up to two and a half eggs.  If you eat three or more, all bets are off.  The minerals in the hot spring turn the shells black, and it's these same minerals that are said to extend your lifespan.

We ate some eggs.

They tasted...like egg.

Then we ate fried snacks and ice cream that undoubtedly eroded some of those hard-earned egg years.

The next morning we were due to leave, but were fortunate enough to get an amazingly clear day perfect for taking photos of the surrounding mountains.

We went back to Hakone-Yumoto station on the bus, put our bags in a locker, bought a train ticket home and did a bit of souvenir/snack shopping.  We got some Neon Genesis Evangelion flavoured ice-cream.

 What flavour is that....? I don't know.

Then we returned home.

Things that made our lives easier on this trip:

• The Hakone free pass, which gave you free use of any public transport including buses, the ropeway and cable car, the pirate cruise ship and the return train journey from your starting point.
• The Odakyu romance car, an express train with space for luggage, reserved seats, and a vending machine.
• The fact that English was spoken EVERYWHERE in Hakone, seriously this spun me out.  We had more interactions in English two hours from Tokyo in three days than we have in the past three months 20 minutes away from Shinjuku.

By the way, more photos are RIGHT HERE.

Hakone was gorgeous, my birthday week (okay, 10 days) was AWESOME, and Jason's birthday falls on a weekend next year, so we'd better start our planning soon.

Until next time.