Autumn

I had a bit of a wander around campus today because the autumn colours are so beautiful.
Here are the pictures I took.

Tokyo

Just recovering from a hectic weekend in Tokyo for the JALT conference. We caught up with a few old friends and even managed to squeeze in some sightseeing.

Pictures on Facebook

Fujiwaradake (1120), Mie

We lead a hike up our favourite mountain, Fujiwaradake in Mie, today. There were 20 of us in all and we had a great day. It's a challenging hike and we had some showers going up and sleet and hail at the top, but we all enjoyed ourselves.

Brit Abroad

I'd like to pretend that I live entirely on things like raw octopus in wasabi and daikon and natto, but I will confess that I thoroughly enjoyed a plate of good old beans on toast today. It was particularly exciting because we have never seen baked beans in the shops here. I actually haven't had this meal in a YEAR AND A HALF! We have recently found a way to get hold of these luxury items for 420 yen a tin (about 1.80 in UK pounds) from a guy who calls himself "The Meat Guy" and delivers throughout Japan. We also ordered a turkey and a leg of lamb from him. Everything arrived frozen - including the tins of beans, but they tasted great.




Taking photos of food is a particularly Japanese thing. I guess I am assimilating despite the beans on toast...

Guess what David is making for dinner

Yuzu

My lovely colleague, Suzuki-san, gave me a present today. It's a yuzu. Here's how the conversation went:

Suzuki-san (beaming and reaching into her bag): A present for you!
Me (beaming back - I love presents): Thank you! thank you!.... what is it?
Suzuki-san: Yuzu des. From my garden.
Me: Oh! A yuzu! Lovely! Do I peel it like an orange?
Suzuki-san (horrified): No no! Don't eat it!
Me: So what do I do with it?
Suzuki-san: Use the peel in your bath. But not the juice - it will give you a rash.
Me: Oh! OK. What should I do with the juice?
Suzuki-san: Put it in your dashi!

[I know dashi is a kind of Japanese soup stock, but I have never made it. It takes hours and most people buy ready-made dashi in the supermarket.]

Me: Dashi! OK! What else can I use it in?
Suzuki-san (thinks hard): Do you like shabu-shabu?
Me: Yes!
Suzuki-san (looking relieved): it's good for shabu-shabu.
Me: Great! I will try it.
Suzuki-san: But don't put too much in as it's very bitter

I looked up yuzu. Perhaps I should try and make this ponzu sauce.

Why I hate shopping for clothes in Japan

1. Clothes are so expensive here
2. The largest size in women's clothing stores is usually a size 6 (UK 10 / EUR 40)
3. The largest size is often not on display, but hidden in the stock room
4. To get a "large" size, you have to ask for help from a tiny sales assistant
5. She usually approaches you first and asks you if she can get an "EXTRA LARGE" for you
6. Everyone in the shop looks round to see who the "fatty" is (or is it my paranoia?)
7. Even if this giant garment fits you, the arms will be too short and it will gape around the bosom
8. You leave the shop feeling like an enormous foreign monster
9. If you didn't have body insecurities before you go to Japan, you sure will have them when you get there

David (who is 6ft 5 inches tall) tells me that I should be pleased that I can actually buy things here at all.

I can't wait to go shopping in California this Christmas.

Fun autumn food shopping

We still don't know what most of the stuff is in our local supermarket, but we are expanding our culinary repertoire slowly. Here are some things we bought today:

(clockwise from left to right)
a round zucchini
ready-roasted chestnuts
burdock
miso paste
a square persimmon

Lunch Party

What a lovely afternoon of fine food, drinks and conversation. Some of which we were even able to follow! Mamoru and Naoe were such kind hosts and I hope we can reciprocate one day.

(clockwise) Hisako, Kithota, me, David, Takahashi-sensei, Naoe, Katsusada, Toshie, Yoshiko and Mamoru.

Sports Day 2007

It's Sports Festa time. Again. (cue "I got you babe"). I just checked my blog from the 2005 and 2006 events to see if I can spot any differences.... um....not many actually. Still, it's all good clean fun and a nice opportunity to see students outside of class. Tatyana's seminar group were the winners this year, but even we losers got a nice hand drawn certificate (embellished with cartoon smiley faces) congratulating our efforts and telling us not to give up.

This year's photos
2005 Sports Day
2006 Sports Day

Hiking friends

One of the reasons I like hiking in Japan so much is that you meet the nicest people up mountains. People are often surprised to find us foreigners climbing mountains off the beaten track and they ask us lots of questions, share their food with us and give us hiking tips. Hiking is something that few young Japanese people seem to be into, in fact, it's mainly people over 60 that we meet on mountains. Many have been hiking their whole lives and are very fit. Just last Sunday a woman who looked like she was in her 80s overtook us halfway up Nagisodake. I hope I will be like that when I am an old timer.

A few months ago we met a group of people near the top of Mt. Miroku. We got chatting and it turned out that many of them had been in Dublin and loved Ireland. They were part of a neighbourhood retired person's climbing club called "Hiyokko" which means "Chicks". They even had matching key rings with chick motifs on them. We found this really funny as our hiking club is also called CHIC (Chubu Hiking International Club). We were also shocked to find that they know my colleague Takahashi-sensei - he's one of their neighbours. What a small world! We stayed in touch with the Chicks and we have been invited this Saturday to a lunch party at Mr & Mrs Yamashta's house. I am really looking forward to it. It is actually our first invitation to a Japanese home.

Is anyone going to come and visit us?

We have lived in Japan for 2 years and 7 months now and I love it more each day. I know I had a few issues with the cold in our first year, not helped by living in a (typical) badly designed apartment. These issues were probably exaggerated by soft, easy living in a huge, modern (free!) apartment in Abu Dhabi for 6 years. I occasionally have a bit of a moan about our living space, but to be honest it's no longer a big deal when there are so many wonderful things about living in Japan. We don't plan to leave anytime soon. Is anyone going to come and visit us? I just read two good articles in the Guardian that might help to persuade you:

About food
Off the beaten track with Hari Kunzru

Nagiso dake, Nagano (1677m)

Last time we did this hike was in the snow earlier this year. We were much quicker this time and got back down well before dark and then had a trip to our favourite onsen before driving home again.