Japanory

Home to Tokyo

Tuesday 12^th August 2008

I now call Tokyo "home", not the UK. Whereas Tim still refers to going to the UK as "going home". Not sure whether this has any bearing on anything, just something I've noticed.

So now it's time for Rhiannon and I to get ourselves back home where Tim will meet us at the airport.

Ignoring the horror that is Heathrow airport, I made a quick trip to the Chanel store and bought a pair of shoes. There's no way I can find my size in Japan; my feet aren't huge at size 41-42 but over here that's a man's size – so I was thrilled to find a pair in Heathrow that fitted me. I paid and off we went. Unfortunately, I discovered later that I'd used the joint account card instead of my own so had a bit of a moment when Tim found out the price. Oops! He was actually very cool about it, thankfully!

The flight was pretty uneventful and, thanks to the Nintendo I got some peace and even managed to sleep for a few hours. However, I did panic a little when I woke up to find Rhiannon had disappeared. It turned out she was at the bar (I love Virgin Atlantic. Bars on planes, perfect!) chatting to the crew and random people as if she was princess of the air.

Landing at the slick, empty and hassle-free Narita airport we shot through in about 30 minutes; from plane to outside to meet Tim. In all the excitement of meeting up with Jane and Eve, we'd neglected to tell him about Rhiannon's radical haircut and he didn't recognise her, much to her delight!

Tim wasn't the only one to get a surprise. I got two.

Firstly, it seems that Tim has promised Rhiannon she can have a hamster. I don't like hamsters – I'll explain why later.

Secondly, something far more pleasing; Tim has booked us a couple of trips. Next week we will be visiting a place in the Japanese mountains called Hakuba and the week after that Rhiannon and I will join Tim on his regular business trip to Seoul, South Korea. How exciting!

But now it's time to recover from jetlag.

And see if I can stop the sneaky hamster promise from taking place.

Don't Drop the Hog!

Each and every day in Japan I see something that makes me do a double take.

I particularly love what I see on the roads here.

Here is a lorry full of big boxes - "Do Not Drop".

Inside the boxes are Harley Davidson motorcyles! "Your Hog Has Arrived!

Sogetsu Ikebana - First Certificate

May 2008

(Yes, out of chronological order again, sorry!)

How wonderful! I've passed my first certificate in Ikebana! I haven't had a certificate for anything since I was at school so I'm rather proud of myself. Well, it takes about 3 months to actually receive the certificate but I've finished Book 1 and Sensei has sent off for the paper.

There are twenty lessons in each exercise book; four books to complete before attaining a diploma and then, in theory, I am able to teach this elegant art. I really hope I will have time to complete this. The classes aren't every week and shut down completely throughout the summer so it will be a bit of a trial to find enough time. We'll see.

Books 1 and 2 cover the basics of creating arrangements using the plant materials and containers. Fixing the plants in a shallow basin called a suiban is moribana style and using a kenzan - needle holder. Securing branches and flowers in a tall vase (nageire) is a lot harder and sometimes very unladylike language comes out of my mouth when everything topples out.

Often I don't quite 'get' what I am supposed to do. I think this is a twofold problem; no direct translation from Japanese into English of a specific concept and my lack of a natural Japanese eye for style. But I really enjoy finally being able to arrange a few flowers in an attractive way at long last.

This photo is not one of my creations though, I can only dream of being as good as this.