Japanory

Our First (Very) Full Day

The following day was a Public Holiday so some friends could take us sightseeing. They showed us how to use the Metro and we quickly got the hang of getting around, but the stations themselves are challenging. Finding the right exit was initially done by trial and error - usually error - but luckily we discovered the many maps with "you are here" written in English. Also gratifying was the way that many people took pity on these poor gaijin looking lost and many times we were approached with offers of help.

Having lived in London for many years, I am used to the crowds and navigating underground railways, but Tim and Rhiannon were wide-eyed at it all. We find the Metro incredibly cheap, immaculately clean and exceptionally efficient. The large pot plants that adorn the stations amaze and cheer us, and our most used phrase about nearly all aspects of Tokyo is, "can you imagine this in the UK?!" The plants would be stolen and / or vandalised within minutes.

Despite spending her entire life deep in the suburbs of an East Midlands town, Rhiannon seems to be a natural city-girl and experienced no qualms about the crowds or the Metro, which was advantageous because our first excursion was to Shibuya; what a baptism of fire! The busiest place in Tokyo on a normal day: on a Public Holiday it was incredible. Hachiko crossing was a sea of people ambling across at less than normal walking speed.

As a blue-eyed blondie, Rhiannon gets masses of attention when we are out and about. We hear "kawaii!" (cute!) a lot and someone even told her she looked like "a doll"! She was not amused. Initially, she became cross and embarrassed about it all but soon started to enjoy the interest with a shy smile.

Our next excursion was to Asakusa, which gave us a taste of a slightly more traditional Japan, with its rows of wooden stalls leading to the Sensoji Temple. Again it was incredibly busy so we didn't stay long - just enough time to get a taste for the area and to see the famous Philippe Starck Asahi Brewery building with its golden 'flame', or 'golden poo', as it was soon christened... The building to the left represents a glass of golden beer with a foaming head.

On the way home we made our first foray to our local supermarket. We have been blessed with a nearby Marusho and didn't discover the expat essentials of Costco and Nissin for several weeks. Rhiannon expressed a desire for fish-fingers and baked beans, bless her! The look on her face was an absolute picture when she saw the extensive fish displays in Marusho. Fish fingers were quickly forgotten and she decided she wanted an octopus and some of the "pretty jewels" (glistening red salmon eggs). I had to refuse as I have no idea how to deal with an octopus and we finally settled on chicken and vegetables for the time being.

I decided to buy something unfamiliar on each shopping trip, but this hasn't been successful. The baps I bought were filled with azuki - red bean paste, which was a surprise, and not a taste we are accustomed to. Rhiannon chose something she thought were packets of sherbet that turned out to be furikake, a mix of seaweed and seeds. Surprisingly, she didn't like it - such English tastes will soon change, I'm sure.

Arriving in Tokyo

22nd NOVEMBER 2006

Three exhausted and jet-lagged individuals arrived in Tokyo on a grey Wednesday at the end of November 2006.

Nobody had slept during the twelve hour flight from London to Tokyo. Our incredibly excited and talkative daughter kept us (and everyone else on the flight) awake with her incessant chattering about our impending new life. However, her five-year-old logic didn’t quite understand the concept of the distance from England, because she kept asking, “can my friends come for a sleepover tomorrow?”

Our first view of Japan was through the windows of the plane – Mount Fuji emerged above the clouds looking every bit as magnificent as expected.

Moving through the airport was a joy compared with the maze of incompetence that is Heathrow and we soon reached ‘the outside’ where we were collected by car for the final leg of our trip to our new home in Tokyo. Gazing out the window on the way from Narita to Tokyo, I was in a kind of sleep-deprived limbo so recall little of the journey. However, I do remember expecting to see glamorous skyscrapers, similar to Hong Kong’s spectacular architecture, and being slightly disappointed at the expanse of bland, grey concrete greeting me out of a layer of smog. But I remained open minded and was pleasantly rewarded. Most obvious was the exceptional cleanliness of Japan, with teams of cleaners on every street corner sweeping up the falling autumn leaves. Tokyo was greener than I was led to believe, with tree-lined streets and a profusion of potted plants outside most homes and businesses.

Even the driver’s state-of-the-art GPS had problems finding our new house – I never expected there to be such narrow side roads in the city! By the time we stepped inside, Tim and I were almost comatose with tiredness but still Rhiannon didn’t take a breather! She zoomed at top speed through the house, immediately laid claim to her new bedroom and proceeded to plan exactly how it should look. Amazingly she chose the smallest room, which was fine with us. With wonderful forethought, a colleague had left some life-savers at the house: tea, milk, food and a large pack of colouring paraphernalia which finally kept Rhiannon happily and quietly occupied while we sorted ourselves out by drinking tea and getting our bags unpacked.

Somewhat restored in mind, spirit and body, we explored our immediate neighbourhood with its one-car-width streets, little shrines and interesting private homes. Since it was nearly December, we were pleasantly surprised to see camellias and daffodils blooming and a nearby house with grapefruits growing in the garden.

Finally, we all collapsed into bed early in the evening and managed a full and refreshing sleep before I was rudely awoken at dawn by spine-chilling screams and guttural shrieks. With relief, I soon realised this was the Japanese birds’ dawn-chorus; far more discordant than the melodious British songbirds.

Our new life was about to begin!