This could take a while....
Indeed it could as I have accumulated rather a lot of information that might be of interest to some of you, perhaps (But I'll split it up for you - pleasure delayal). Well happy new year. It is appropriately enough the year of the cock, chuckle chuckle. I'm not sure why it is appropriate but well it sounded good in my head before I wrote it, and as no one pays me for this I can write wot I want right?
The reason I have so much to write is that my Mum and Patrick my younger brother (I was tempted to say little but I think he might be a little taller than me now) came out to Japan for the Christmas/New Year celebrations. We visited if not the four corners of Japan then at least a large chunk of the country. The day after they arrived I dragged them to Kobe to see the Luminarie a fairy light display commemorating the victims of the Hanshin earthquake of 1995. Fairy lights don't really do it justice, its a huge light display, really rather beautiful. (I'll post some pics asap) The only problem was that it was also rather popular so we had to queue for almost two hours before we reached the main event. The police had turned the whole of downtown Kobe into a giant queuing system like those annoying things you get in banks. I thought it was worth it and even in their jet lagged state I think Mum and Patrick enjoyed it. What they didn't enjoy so much was my attempt to throw them in the deep end of Japanese cuisine, I now know that gunky octopus balls should not be fed to tiered people. Still they may not have enjoyed the food so much, but I had a fantastic time finishing everything off.
Christmas in Japan is even gaudier than at home, not really surprising when they have no hint of catholic/protestant/free-Presbyterian guilt to ruin the fun of shopping and eating. Only they dont care much for the day itself, Christmas eve is an end of year valentines day but Christmas day itself is primarily a time to change decorations over to the new year ones. In fact Christmas means so little that even lowly English instructors have to work. We were not a particularly cheerful bunch at work that day, especially once we realised it was the busiest day of the year. I was lucky though with family to go home to. We improvised a turkey and made quite a good stab at a traditional Christmas dinner, there was even Christmas pudding and brandy butter.
Right that's a first installment, pictures and more details of my adventures will follow soon.
All the best,
Roger
The reason I have so much to write is that my Mum and Patrick my younger brother (I was tempted to say little but I think he might be a little taller than me now) came out to Japan for the Christmas/New Year celebrations. We visited if not the four corners of Japan then at least a large chunk of the country. The day after they arrived I dragged them to Kobe to see the Luminarie a fairy light display commemorating the victims of the Hanshin earthquake of 1995. Fairy lights don't really do it justice, its a huge light display, really rather beautiful. (I'll post some pics asap) The only problem was that it was also rather popular so we had to queue for almost two hours before we reached the main event. The police had turned the whole of downtown Kobe into a giant queuing system like those annoying things you get in banks. I thought it was worth it and even in their jet lagged state I think Mum and Patrick enjoyed it. What they didn't enjoy so much was my attempt to throw them in the deep end of Japanese cuisine, I now know that gunky octopus balls should not be fed to tiered people. Still they may not have enjoyed the food so much, but I had a fantastic time finishing everything off.
Christmas in Japan is even gaudier than at home, not really surprising when they have no hint of catholic/protestant/free-Presbyterian guilt to ruin the fun of shopping and eating. Only they dont care much for the day itself, Christmas eve is an end of year valentines day but Christmas day itself is primarily a time to change decorations over to the new year ones. In fact Christmas means so little that even lowly English instructors have to work. We were not a particularly cheerful bunch at work that day, especially once we realised it was the busiest day of the year. I was lucky though with family to go home to. We improvised a turkey and made quite a good stab at a traditional Christmas dinner, there was even Christmas pudding and brandy butter.
Right that's a first installment, pictures and more details of my adventures will follow soon.
All the best,
Roger
posted by Roger at
6:10 pm
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