Hello and welcome to our life since we left dear ol' Melbourne !

Ian : First , i'd like to share some images from 10 kilometers above Australia, Papua New Guinea and a reef :





Michael : I am sure most of you are eager to hear about Japan. In a word, it was fantastic. I really enjoyed spending some time in a culture that is completely new to me, and the small everyday challenges like making yourself understood were extremely enjoyable and rewarding. I can now order a table for two at a restaurant like a pro (Fu-ta-ri ta-bu-ru-de o-ne-gai-shi-mas)! Of course, it was more of a problem understanding what people said back to us.


We spent one night near Tokyo when we first got to Japan, this was in a town called Narita close to Tokyo airport since we arrived very late at night. We made our way to Tokyo city proper early the next morning and then took the Shinkansen (bullet train; Shin - new, kansen - railway) to visit our friend in West Japan (in a little town called Nagahama). Btw, if anyone is thinking of visiting Japan, I can thoroughly recommend the Japan Rail Pass. It makes travelling around very convenient and cheap. They have English speaking staff at the JRP offices at all the major shinkansen stations in Japan, so it’s easy to reserve seats.
rice paddies everywhere footpath shrine
Nagahama shopping district

Nathan and his partner Akira picked us up at a small town called Maibara and took us out to lunch at, of all places, an Italian restaurant. I have to say, it was nice, but certainly not Melbourne! Nathan took a few days off work and we spent the first day in and around Nagahama town. Nathan described it as the country, but it turned out to be a city about the same size as Brisbane – but a lot more interesting (sorry Natasha!). Until we got to Nagahama, we hadn’t met a single Japanese person that couldn’t speak reasonable English, so this was the beginning of our immersion experience in the Japanese language. We were able to pick up a few words and phrases quite quickly.

Nanzenji



The next day Akira took us to Kyoto and we saw one of the oldest and most important temples in Japan (Nanzenji) where the tea ceremony and Japanese Buddhist philosophy reached their most developed form. It’s more mundane claim to fame is this enormous two-storey (actually about 10 modern stories high) gate, which was once the hiding place of an outlaw. He didn’t end well though, as he was slowly poached in boiling water when discovered. Charming, eh?




Akira , Nathan's partner & lovely guide

Kyoto is just dripping in history. It’s full to the brim with temples and shrines but also has other little gems like the Philosopher’s walk – a little path next to a canal that was used by a Kyoto University philosophy professor for his daily constitutional. This is now a tourist attraction, so it’s lost it’s pastoral charm somewhat, but is still definitely pretty. We did the walk, about 2km, but it was very hot on that day, resulting in a bad headache. I later found out that I was coming down with the cold that Ian had been nursing all week. Thanks Ian!




We went back to Kyoto the next day and saw the ancient castle (Nijo-jo), which was fascinating. The Japanese do gold leaf in a very different way to the Europeans. At a time when high baroque was all the rage in Europe, the Japanese were trying to simplify and clarify their arts. Nijo-jo has two palaces, only one of which is open to the public on a regular basis. Ninomaru palace has some great painted all panels that use a lot of gold leaf. The themes are very simple, but beautiful. All the rooms are kept dark because the light affects the paintings, but the gold makes them glow in the dimmest of light. The whole place is filled with this low, warm gleam. Very nice.
Nijo-jo

Arishiyama

As you probably know, you almost always take your shoes off to go indoors in Japan. Most buildings have a gengkhan, a low area near the door where you leave your shoes before stepping up into the room proper. It was at Nijo-jo that I first realised how great it felt to walk on wood – in socks. The floors are made of wooden planks with matt surfaces, on which people have been walking for many years and these feel quite satisfying underfoot – like eating hot stew in a warm house on a cold day. Sorry, that was the best comparison I could come up with!

Why is she standing on a giant triffod pod ? No idea.

Another interesting feature of Japan is the ubiquitous vending machines. Ian was in heaven. They have vending machines for every imaginable food and drink, hot or cold. You can get hot coffee (not very good coffee) in cans at these vending machines too. I really got into the green tea beverages. Not just any green tea, but matcha – the finely ground green tea used in the tea ceremony. It’s fantastic in ice cream (they do a mean matcha and chocolate combination) and goes very well as a filling for chocolates. In Japan, there are plenty of sweet things made with green tea as the major flavouring and I tried quite a few of these – of course, I have no idea what they’re called since everything is written in Japanese. I’ve even got a stash with me here in Glasgow – and am going through it slowly! For the junk food obsessed, there are lots of Japanese snacks (also available at vending machines) with a variety of fruit, nuts and FISH! These small dried fish come in bags (like bags of chips). I didn’t try any of these and they were just a bit too fishy and weird. There are also combinations of nuts and fish in the same chip bag .


snack food and 'YOU'


Nathan shows us the finer points of shopping Osaka style !

Nathan and Akira then took us to Osaka for the weekend and we went to one of the popular gay bars run by a guy from Brisbane. The most notable thing about it was its size – the lack of it. It was about the dimensions of your average bathroom, but long and narrow. A full house was about 8 people. There were 6 others there on this night. When our party of four showed up, they had to rearrange the place to accommodate us. Fortunately, there was no cover charge, as it seems no one goes out in Osaka on a Friday night. Just as well, because I can’t imagine paying to be stuffed into that small space. The owner was very happy to meet some people from back home and had a long chat with Ian about Brisbane and old times.



Osaka is definitely shopper’s paradise, particularly if you’re into electronic gadgetry like moi. We spent most of Saturday walking around town and going to one multi storey electronics shop after the next. Nathan is very much the tech-head and speaks good Japanese, so it was a productive shopping spree. I have a few more attachments for my computer now!

The electronics supermarket area of Tokyo

We headed back to Tokyo that evening and spent the night in a traditional guesthouse (Ryokan) right in the centre of Tokyo next to the main train station. It was another great experience. A futon bed on the floor and tatami matting floors, not to mention a high tech toilet. I won’t say anymore about this last point. By the way, Tokyo train station is a huge maze and seemed about 3-4 times the size of Melbourne airport.

Ian : also one of the best parts of our stay in Japan was being treated to a proper Japanese dinner courtesy of Sae - a friend of Nathans. A wonderful night of Japanese hospitality with a very informal atmosphere.



And then there was the night Nathan took us to an Onsen - traditional Japanese bath house. It's a place for regular family soakings - a classic, gently ritualised experience of calming sensual relaxation. Similar to what I experienced back in Brisbane at Hotel Diana (called a Korean bath house) but on a grander scale.

Michael : One of the best experiences I had in Japan was a visit to the primary school in Nagahama where Nathan teaches English. He took me along one day to "assist". Getting permission for this from the principal turned out to be quite easy. I couldn't help wondering what we would have had to do in Australia. Work cover? Police checks? Third party liability insurance? Forms? Induction? Safety training? Well, all we needed in Nagahama was a nod from the principal (or was that the vice principal?). It was such a foreign environment for me. I mean, I haven't been in primary school for the better part of 20 years. The kids were very polite, but nevertheless quite lively - just like any other primary class, really. Somehow, I thought Japanese kids would be more regimented and restrained, so this was a pleasant surprise. Perhaps Nathan is having a (bad) influence on them! We did 4 classes that day, I think and the routine was that the kids thought up questions to ask this visitor, in English. I got some pretty interesting ones like "What sports don't you like?" .. umm all of them? But seriously, it was a very unusual experience and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.


Nathan took some photos of me helping some of the kids with their work. Maybe there is another career open for me if the whole science thing falls through one day! It was also great meeting the other English teacher at Nathan's school, Esther who came around that evening to play GTA with Ian and Nathan. No, I'm not that into violent computer games, I have to say ..

Karaoke bar


A groovy little U.S.style coffee shop in Nagahama

Osaka style


sleeping is the favorite pastime of Japanese commuters

Ian : Well, that's about all for the Japan episode.
The next posting will be our 24 hours in London and the first two weeks in our new home of Glasgow.

Cheers & love !