Cherry Blossom Adventures

Firstly, I still hate skiing…I did have a great time away for the weekend though! I have come to the conclusion that snow sports are not for me…

We went to an awesome place in Niigata in which we had to leave our car at the bottom of the mountain and catch a crazy snowmobile up the mountain….our ski ryokan was literally on the side of the mountain…go outside and you are in the middle of the snoboard/ski path! It was great….

Check out my photos of at flickr here…

Here are a couple of my favourites though…

Due to the heavy snowfall in Niigata, Nagano, Saitama and Tokyo it took us nine and a half hours to get home….(to give you some idea I think it took us 3 and a half hours to get there in the early morning on Saturday) The drive home was an experience…Junni lost control of the car at one stage and we ran into a snow bank….luckily we were not going very fast and there was no damage! Just a bit of a shock!!!! I know how to put snow chain on the tyres now though!

B for…. in my encyclopedia of me will be coming up soon!

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Lately Shumpei and I have been talking about marriage and getting engaged a lot more. We plan to get engaged sometime this year .I think we could just do it now but he wants to wait until we are in Australia (A lot of it has to do with asking my father for permission…and part of it is that he is worried that is is not a good idea for us to get engaged until he can speak English…I am not really worried about this at all but I think what worries him also is that if I go back to Australia I might want to stay while he would want to return to Japan. The thing is, I want to come back to Japan….and he knows this but is still worried a little I guess)

With Nay, talking about her wedding plans and Sara talking about signing the papers this year but waiting for 2010 for the marriage ceremony it has given me a lot to think about. Nay, Sara and I are all of similar ages and in similar situations. We are all in serious relationships or engaged to Japanese men and planning on living in Japan after we are married. Nay will be having her ceremony in Australia (In Brisbane actually, where I am from!) while I think Sarah plans to have it here in Japan. Nay will also have a small Japanese ceremony in Japan at a later date. We keep in contact via email, facebook and our blogs and while none of us have ever met I know that we feel a connection due to our circumstances….We were hoping to meet up before Nay headed back to Australia to finish her studies but we have left the planning a little late….However I hope to meet Sara later in the year and Nay when I go back to Brisbane (Since she will be there until September, when she will get married)

Shumpei and I have tosses up the idea of getting married late next year in September or October (2009). If we were to do the ceremony here in Japan (Which has been the plan)…I know my family would fly over for it but I feel bad that so many others would be left out so there has been talk of maybe having a small party/reception type thing while we are in Australia. Plus, if we did it here it would be in Japanese meaning that my family would struggle with language and language barriers that they would have with all of the other guests.

There is a lot of things to think about. Where to file the papers for instance? In Japan or Australia, or both (Can you do both?) How much money we could afford to spend on ceremonies etc (At the moment is is close to zero)…..Also if the wedding is here in Japan what sort of wedding should it be. Traditional? I don`t think I could wear the traditional wedding kimono…..I could do it, especially if that is what Shumpei wanted but in the past when we have discussed it he has said he doesn`t necessarily want a traditional wedding….but white weddings here in chapels have fake ministers that do the ceremonies…and I am not sure I could handle that either. I think outside would be perfect…..or in a proper church with a proper priest. If it was in Japan that is…..If it was in Australia, despite being raised Catholic would I want to have a wedding in a Catholic church, especially since Shumpei is not Catholic…and has no intention of becoming Catholic.

I have never wanted a big fairytale wedding…..In fact the whole thing scares me a little because I would be so worried that after a lot of planning that the day itself would not live up to the expectations we had. I am all for garden weddings, with only a close couple of family and friends and a small reception at a restaurant. Here most of the time you can not invite so many friends to your wedding because extended family, business associates etc come higher up on the invitation list….

International weddings are a difficult thing to deal with. Most people I know have either had the weddings in their home countries or in both their home countries and Japan….Japanese weddings are absurdly expensive and I really wouldn`t want to spend that much money on one day. Shumpei and I are both young, i have no savings to speak of and Shumpei did have savings but has used a lot of it in the past couple of years by flying to Australia or for when we set up this apartment….I know he still has some but when we go to Australia later in the year he will do an English course and I will work so we will be living on one salary for a little while.

In Japan, like I said wedding are absurdly expensive….Shumpei`s brother`s wedding was so expensive it was unbelievable. And while it was really pretty, and a beautiful day…but I do not want to spend that much wedding on one day.

Are you married? What did you do for your `big day`? Are you in an international marriage…how did you please everyone? It would be interesting to hear what others did…especially those who entered or are entering kokusai kekkon themselves (International marriage)!

There is so much to think about and it is hard to know where to start!

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It snowed in Tokyo today….It was snowing when I woke up just before 8am and was still snowing in Kichijoji at 2pm until it turned to rain…

I am not sure when the sight of snow will stop turning me giddy with excitement but being an Aussie girl from QLD who had not seen snow until 19 it just feels I have a lot of snow viewing to catch up on!

Tokyo rarely sees snow even in the height of winter…and some years it will not snow at all!

Shumpei had my camera….for a work project which meant I couldn`t take any photos…BUT i did take the following on the school camera (Actually Ai took the first one)

School garden- Probably the only time this year it will be covered in snow (This was taken at 10am too, there was a lot more snow on it by 2pm)

Girly girls checking out the yard

The girl in the middle and the girl on the end with the white jacket whose face you can`t see speak English very well….with mini Australian accents. They also call each other sweetie since I tend to call them that

Conversation from the other day

`Asuka, can you pick up the blue one sweetie`

`Sure sweetie`

`Thanks sweetie`

They might be taking it a little bit far!

Since it snowed or rained all day we couldn`t take the kids outside to plan in it (Since no child in Tokyo really wears water proof snow gear to school) so we put some in a container from outside so that they could play with it on top of the tables in the craft room. There were mini snow ball fights, snowman and one girl who put some on the floor, took off her inside shoes and socks and walked on it `To see what it felt like….The kids loved it! The snow will all be gone by morning due to the rain and 3 degree temps.

I would not be surprised if we don`t see any more snow for the rest of winter!

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At the beginning of December I signed up for the Japanese Literature Challenge organized by Dolce Bellezza and you can read my post about it here (Ok the link for some reason will not work…Go to my Dec 4th post). The aim was to read three books by Japanese authors during December and January. I am happy to say i have now completed the challenge (I actually finished my final book on my return flight to Japan)

The three books I read were

The bells of Nagasaki- Takashi Nagai (Dec)

Snow Country- Kasunari Kawabata (Jan)

Kitchen- Banana Yoshimoto (Jan)

All three books were good and I think I read a good choice because one was N.F, one was more current fiction (well in the last 20 yrs), and an older fiction.

My favourite was definitely Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. It was a short book and it is hard to believe it was written by somebody so young. Most Japanese fiction that I have read has always been a little weird (You just need to look at Murakami`s books!) and this was no different. The book dealt mainly with loss and grief..with the main character losing her grandmother and then the other character losing his transsexual father to murder (so she was now his mother…if that makes sense). It discussed what it felt like to be left alone in the world. I also felt that the translation of this book was really good. Whenever I read translated Japanese fiction I feel that I am probably losing a lot of the meaning….but the person that translated this done an excellent job because I feel I finished the book with the message that you were meant to get from it…I will definitely be picking up another Banana Yoshimoto book soon!

Snow Country by Kasunari Kawabata was a beautiful book about a man that has a love affair with a local geisha in a mountain town (I just read that the town was at the base of the mountains i between Gunma and Niigata). When I finished it my first feeling was that I needed to read it again because I felt I missed something….I will definitely have to re-read it. I felt it a Little hard to follow at times but I think this had a lot to do with the translations….Kawabata is famous for the way in which he writes as it is said to be like poetry and I guess a lot of this was lost in the translation. Geisha in these provincial towns were a lot more like prostitutes than the geisha of big cities (Who are more like entertainers/ hostess`s). That said the scenes described in the book were beautiful. I can`t really comment on much more on this because I still feel as if I need to re-read it. Perhaps I will understand it more next time.

The bells of Nagasaki was a non-fiction book written by a doctor who later died to to radiation poisoning. It is his story of the day the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and the days that followed. I have never been directly involved in war or directly affected by it so the bomb raids and deaths of war that are described by Nagai are sometimes hard for me to comprehend but the way he wrote made it seem like the readers were there with him. My history, especially Japanese history, is not great and reading books such as this that touch on such an important part of Japanese history always make me want to pick up a history book and get cracking. Anybody living in Japan or with an interest in Japanese history should read this book. I have never been to Nagasaki but I went to Hiroshima several years ago and my experiences there will always stay with me.

I am the worst book reviewer ever but thought I should do a wrap-up of the books I read so that others in the challenge can see what I thought of the books! I enjoyed all the books I read for this challenge and would recommend them to anyone. My only note is that if you were to read Snow Country make sure you read it in one or two sittings because I read it in short bursts over several days and I think this is one of the main reasons I had trouble understanding it.

Oh and in other news I have finished 6 or the 60 books I put down for m 888 challenge! Only 56 to go for the rest of the year!!!!

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Shumpei and I met three years ago today (yesterday) and I hate to say it but it was love (or at least lust) at first sight! For gods sake I still remember what he and I were both wearing when we met. We take the 15th of Jan as our anniversary because while we technically started dating a week later we met on th 15th and for us it seems to ring truer as an anniversary (That said for the first year I think we thought of it as the 14th before we realized that we must of definitely met after midnight…..I know this because I went to watch a soccer game an ebisu pub with some friends which would of been playing later…..and we went to another bar before heading back to where we lived at the time…..and Shumpei was at a party at the dorm I was living in at the time)…..I remember walking into the room (third floor kaikan kitchen) and thinking ” My god that boy is hot!”….My gay friend (which whom I have very similar taste) also took a liking to Shumpei….and I will never forget the conversation where he tried to tell him he might be gay! (I am serious about my friend and I having similar taste….his old bf was sooooo hot…….and he had seen pictures of some of my ex`s and had fallen in love by looking at their pictures…A little freaky deshou?)

I worked late tonight because I had a private lesson. I bought a bottle of wine on the way home before getting in about 8:30…..we had tea in the apartment and it was nothing real special but here is a pic

And our wine “乾杯！”　（Cheers!)to celebrate our three years

Oh and lets not forget the happy couple (By the way it is hard to look happy and half decent when you have worked 8 hours plus done a 2 hour private lesson, cooked dinner and not eaten until 10pm)

Love you Shun! Here is to many years to come!!!!

Lost of kisses and hugs!

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Autumn is well and truly over…and the freezing cold has arrived. The weekend had leaves blowing everywhere….and me wrapped up like this watching Shumpei`s soccer game

• Leave for Australia on Saturday for 2 and a half weeks and still haven`t packed….and tonight was the last night I was going to have time to pack. Maybe I will do it after this but I doubt it….I will probably leave it until Saturday morning!!!
• I got my first Christmas card yesterday courtesy of Amanda!!!!I love Christmas! Thanks Amanda!
• Have been working on my life list and am thinking about posting it on my blog….Instead of new years resolutions I will have my life list and start working on things from that….Except I have over 200 things on it now….written down in my journal…Who else has a life list? What about new years resolutions?!?
• Have read one book for my Japanese Literature Challenge so far….I am not very good at writing book reviews but will eventually do a post on the books I have read for this challenge…
• And to finish up some photos from the last couple of weeks….Jon`s goodbye party, Youichi`s Birthday, Nabe party at James`s parents house…not in any order!

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Autumn in Japan is one of the best times of the year….as it is getting colder and colder too I think this will be the last weekend that we can say Autumn is still here. I like living a place that has seasons…Brisbane is kind of the same all year round with just a slight change in temperature!

Last weekend I went for a BBQ at Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa and got to take lots of photos of the colourful leaves!!! Here is a couple of my favourites but you can see the whole set

It was nice to have a BBQ too. It was actually with a family that James knows….he works with the father. I love that while Tokyo is a really big city but still has beautiful parks close by!

There are a lot of things I love about Tokyo I will miss it when I go back to Australia next July for a year. But I know I will be back and spending the year in Australia, the more I think about it, Is going to be a lot of fun too.

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I finally managed to get the couple of photos that I managed to take in Kyoto, before my camera broke, onto the computer. Here are just a couple of the photos from the trip! Shun and I try to take one trip together inside of Japan each year…Last year was Okinawa, this year Kyoto, and next year hopefully somewhere close like Hakone (Because we will be going to Australia in July we will need to go before then…maybe late February we will go for onsen!)

The above photo is of Shun and I at Kiyomizu-dera . This was my first time to visit this temple, and I am so glad I got to see it. I had really wanted to see it when I was in Kyoto several years back but hadn`t had enough time.

We sat in a mini outside cafe and enjoyed tea and cha-dango…This was my first time to try cha-dango….I am not a huge fan of mochi because I always feel like I am never going to be able to get it all out of my mouth…but with the tea it was actually quite nice!

No temple is complete without some kind of dragon! And what better than a dragon fountain!!!

We also went to visit Heian Shrine….I only managed to get two photos before I dropped my camera and it broke…

It was beautiful though!

I had a great time in Kyoto. It was a shame about my camera…I would have loved to be able to show you photos from when I met up with my highschool friend Kanako!!! I did use a disposable camera the rest of the time I was there but I still haven`t gotten around to getting the photos developed!!! When I do I will try to find a scanner and scan some in!

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Apparently all foreigners in Japan *might* be terrorists so from the 20th of November every foreigner entering into Japan will have to be fingerprinted and photographed...this is not just visitors to the country but even those who live here and have visas (In fact even people with permanent residency here will need to do the same thing…people who have lived here for years and years and years)….The thing that gets me is that there has never been an act of terrorism in Japan that wasn`t done by Japanese people…yet this is their excuse for demanding these details….although at the end of video I watched they also mentioned it is to keep out `Foreign criminals` and people who overstay their visa…….Apparently the fingerprints and photos are also able to be exchanged with other governments.

Since I am traveling back to Australia in December on my way back in January I will need to do this for the first time. Do you have any idea how long that will take??? Plus you have to do it EVERY time!!! I can just see myself after a nine hour flight arriving back in Tokyo, just wanting to get back to my apartment to find instead of an hour waiting in line I will need to wait five.

It is times like this I really hate Japan…..We are already forced to carry alien registration identification cards on us at all times (Which police or government officials can demand to see at any time…without reason) and now we have to be subjected to this……Perhaps this really is needed to stomp out terrorism but I do not beleive this to be the case…

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A typhoon (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070716a1.html) and an earthquake (http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070716p2a00m0na001000c.html)have hit Japan this past weekend (The earthquake this morning at 10am). While we had some rain and wind from the typhoon Tokyo was more or less OK. The earthquake, which hit Niigata (Similar to the one that hit the same area in 2004) could be felt in parts of Tokyo. But just to let everyone know, we are fine. Apparently the typhoon even made news in Australia!!

Will do a proper update of weekend in the next couple of days. Have lots of photos from Mandy`s trip to Tokyo!

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