Japanory

Serious Shopping

April 2008

I've just been reminded of what I did this month – by looking at old bank statements… oops!

I didn't actually own a handbag until I was in my mid-twenties and working in the City of London. I just hated them. But necessity demanded I have one to carry all the crap a city job required. Since then, I've always just had one bag on the go at any one time and used it until it fell to pieces.

Since I've been here though, I've noticed a change in me. It may be the expat company I keep, or the proliferation of fabulous shops in the vicinity, or the countless stunning bags carried by the lovely Japanese ladies. I feel the need to upgrade my image a little. I can't carry on with the aging rocker/hippy look much longer and need to smarten up. I can't do this with clothes, but I can with accessories…

Unfortunately, I can never find the Perfect Bag for all my needs; easy to carry over my shoulder, quick to get in and out of, right size and shape, secure from thieves, enough pockets/space for everything… I'm fussy.

I start by buying a fairly standard-for-me black, leather messenger bag from a local, high class department store. The assistant tells me, I think, that it's made from lizard skin and only has one tassel as opposed to the many I tended to go for (see above re heavy rock-roots).

Still not quite smart enough though. 

So I try Prada where I bought a purse and a card holder, but really didn't fancy any of the bags as they were made from nylon. Now what?

Gucci. Again, I'm back to the tassels but the bag was very heavy and damn awkward to get into. So I sold that on later.

However, one of my Tuesday Coffee Girls is into handbags in a big way.

Her choice is Louis Vuitton. And her husband is adorable. When she goes into her local shop the sales assistants take note of what she's been admiring. When she leaves they call her husband to tell him… and he buys one for her! This is something beyond my wildest dreams. So I have to buy my own goodies.

Now, Louis Vuitton doesn't do it for me. But one day we were passing Chanel on Omotesando and I spotted THE most gorgeous bag in the window. The girls forced me into the shop. I tried the bag on and was totally smitten.

It was SO "me" – but the "me" I was trying to get away from. It was a long knitted, fringed messenger bag covered in little brooches and other decorations. We tentatively asked the price. It cost more than we'd just spent on my car!!!

Rather than run away screaming, we casually browsed through the shop and I discovered my downfall. The Perfect Bag at long last.

After pondering a few days, I went back on my own and got my first Chanel bag – a large black lambskin classic flap with silver hardware. It's everything I want in a bag. The leather is buttery soft; the signature leather interwoven chain is to die for and the burgundy interior spot-on perfect.

It is the start of an intense addiction.

Loss of Information

April 2008

I have no idea what else we did this month as I have lost my diary for 2008 and the only photos I have are the ones in the previous post.

However, on the 3^rd it was my birthday and the 15^th was our wedding anniversary (even now I have to double check the date, eep!). I can't remember what we did or whether I got a present or not – unlikely unless I bought it myself to be honest. Luckily I'm used to him by now!

I can only presume the rest of the month was spent working and general day to day stuff.

Sorry!

April Visitors

Wednesday 9^th – Thursday 17^th April 2008

My friend and her just-about-pre-teen daughter arrived. Tim kindly collected them from the airport so they didn't have to negotiate the train and Shinjuku station.

Rhiannon's back at school but there's plenty of time for the two girls to play together in the afternoons / evenings. Rhiannon just adores having an older girl around and E plays very patiently with her. For the duration, we've put them into the same bedroom, so little sleep is had by Rhiannon. But it's only for a week.

We did the usual trips:

Asakusa; where for the first time, I noticed this stunning mikoshi in the Metro station. A mikoshi is a portable shrine that's carried through the streets during the numerous festivals.

A trip to a sushi conveyor belt restaurant. Rhiannon is dreadful in these places – she grabs everything she likes the look of but never eats them. So now I've given up getting my own dishes and eat the ones she rejects. But not the red salmon egg ones, they are disgusting! Very pretty, but not for me. It's like eating fishy eyeballs.

We also went to Fuji-san. There was a lot of snow on the mountain although the roads were clear. As you can see the girls had a lot of fun. And posed everywhere in true Japanese fashion.

 

Another trip to Meiji Jingu and Yoygi Park where Rhiannon noticed thousands of tadpoles in the manmade lake, just waiting to be caught. It's funny how things we take for granted in our family are considered extremely odd by others. E was very squeamish about catching the wriggly creatures and had never done this before. But she wasn't about to be outdone by a six year old and soon got into it.

 

 

We finished off their brief visit with dinner at the fabulous Jidaiya restaurant where we introduced them to the joys of cooking your own suki-yaki.

Spring is Sprung

21^st March 2008 – 7^th April 2008

And it's the Easter Holidays.

I try to get Rhiannon some playdates in order to make the time go a little easier for us. The trouble is, most people jet away for the breaks (and we aren't, humph) or have visitors (and we haven't, thanks to all the hoohah trying to get people to commit to dates).

On the one day I managed to get a playdate (which incidentally has never been reciprocated to this day...) I took two little girls into Shinjuku-gyoen.

It was beautiful!

Flowers are blooming and there's a definite feeling of spring arriving. Early hanami picnickers are out and the two girls had a fun time.

 

Notice how brown the grass is? We barely get any rain throughout the autumn and winter months and after about January, the grass turns brown until the rainy season in June.

Tim's taken a few days off so I can continue my Ikebana classes on Mondays without having to take Rhiannon too. They do trips to Disney and other places suitable for children and husbands.

Red Double Decker Bus

I've mentioned before that I'm not too on the ball in the mornings

Driving to school one day I pointed out an old Routemaster red double decker bus to Rhiannon. Just in a matter of fact way as she's never been to London. I told her I used to catch one of those to work sometimes.

Then I did a double take.

Hang about! A red double decker bus is a LONDON inhabitant, and not normally seen outside its normal environs of the Big Smoke. What on earth was one doing trundling its way down Meiji Dori, Harajuku? And more to the point, how the hell did it get here? These beasts are not known for their flying abilities but it had obviously migrated somehow.

It turned out to be a tourist bus and inside is a bar!

Japan has strong links with Britain as the British Embassy in Tokyo is the oldest surviving consulate, which was built in 1906. A Japanese diplomat in London persuaded London Transport to donate one of these wonderful buses to Japan.

Nice to know these typically English buses have a new lease of life. They'll like it here.

Another Aikido Watching Day

17^th March 2008

Just some quick photos here – you've heard about Aikido enough, but I just love these pictures as it shows just how much fun Rhiannon has.

 

This is how to deal with an unruly child...

 

But then they get revenge.

Peeling Peas…

Thursday 13^th March 2008

I said everything happens while Tim's away, didn't I?

Well, now fish are dying and it appears they have constipation – which turns into bloat and finishes with death.
 
I googled "bloated fish" and discovered that fish do indeed get constipation. So badly, they in some cases they sort of blow up. The cure, apparently, is to feed them peeled peas. I spent ages defrosting and peeling peas...

The beautiful Honey Gourami (now called Bob, of course) is very poorly and his mate has already gone belly-up. But, although the rest of the fish are doing a very good impression of a piranha feeding frenzy on the peas, the seriously poorly one won't touch them.
 
I've been yelling at the tank "EAT THE PEAS! EAT THE PEAS!!" and considering how to give an enema to a fish. I wonder if squeezing it would work or if it would just explode...

I'm expecting men in white coats to turn up soon.

He died later in the day. Of course, I duly "buried him in the garden with the rest of the fish" or that's what I told Rhiannon, anyway.

Then I found a shoal of new baby guppies, so now there's  plenty of room for them.

Shopping, Cocktail Parties and Credit Card Fraud

Wednesday 12^th March 2008

Why does everything happen when Tim is away? He's off on business again.

I have to go to a cocktail party at the Embassy tonight on my own. Merle, my helper, is to babysit Rhiannon, but I have no intention of being late so she shouldn't be too troubled by Rhiannon playing up.

I fancied a shopping day so went to "my" antique store and bought a lovely granite frog for my garden. As you do!

Real frogs always return to spawn in the pond from which they hatched. So the frog is a symbol to ensure your family always come home to you. I couldn't resist this! 

I'd also paid a visit to Tiffanys and treated myself to some silver trinkets. Can't resist those turquoise boxes either.

A very nice day by my standards!

In the evening I spent a couple of hours self-consciously standing around at the cocktail party before making my escape and got home in time to put Rhiannon to bed, albeit a bit later than she'd normally go.

Did some work on the PC to get a head start on the dreadlines before the Easter Holidays begin.

Then the phone rang. At 1am. Luckily I was still up. I panicked when it rang - it being so late here. Amazing how many dreadful thoughts can run through your mind in a few seconds.

It was my bank.

"Did you make these payments to xxx and xxx for £360 and £750?"

"NO!!!"

Some bastards have taken my credit card details off the internet for the 2nd time in a year. But well done to my fabulous bank for noticing the fraud so quickly. Luckily my bank is run by human beings who are on the ball and they know where I am (apart from thinking about the time difference) and recognise my spending habits… hmm!
 
So, all is well. But for now, I now have no credit card as I had to cut it up, but that's OK considering the past couple of days spending spree!

Kappabashi Shopping Trip

9^th March 2008

Yeah, another one!

I just love this area and the prices are so reasonable compared to the heart of Tokyo. Peggy and I tend to go together as we have almost identical tastes.

We both went for the same bowl (the one Raymi is sleeping in here) but there was only one left in the shop. I deferred to her as she was the one who found it first – just! But she asked the shopkeeper if he had another one in stock.

"Oh yes. of course".

But 'in stock' meant he had to send a runner to his store room several streets away. We waited nearly half an hour – I was going to have to buy it now, wasn't I?

When he returned the two bowls were different blues – one was darker than the other. Secretly I hoped that Peggy would want the darker one so I could have the one she'd found in the shop. She did! So we were both very happy.

We also found a lacquer store where we'd heard the owner didn't like serving gaijin. But we were determined to visit. The reason being we had seen some very cute bento boxes and wanted to get our daughters one each. These aren't small enough for packed-lunch-bento-boxes, but more suited to general meals.

Obviously the person who told us about the grumpy shopkeeper was an awkward gaijin customer (plenty of those around…) as we had absolutely no problems with her at all and came away with one of these gorgeous creations.

As you can see it separates into compartments – rice or soup in the bottom and other foods in the upper layers.

Rhiannon loved it.

A New Car!

7^th March 2008

As you may have read here, Tim's Landrover died in spectacular fashion. (I didn't get the technical facts right, apparently, but never mind; the end result was the same).

He managed to find a breakers yard – very rare here – and the manager came and somehow drove the clanking heap of junk away, enveloped in clouds of black smoke. This was quite a sight! You just do not see old, knackered vehicles on the roads here at all. Even lorries carrying rubble are polished and chromed to mirror-like perfection.

I have a little runaround Toyota (Corolla in the UK) for the school run and stuff. Poor Tim has been reduced to fighting the rush hour metro squeeze. A long and uncomfortable journey involving a train change which requires a nearly 1km walk between stations. Now he may know how I felt doing the school run <evil cackle!>

So he's been looking at getting another car and I just figured he'd get another Landrover, as he's always been such a geek about them. But he's got cross with them and all the work they entail. Instead, he's been looking at "ordinary cars". It's against his (and my) nature to buy a brand new car. I used to be in car sales so know the depreciation as soon as they are driven off the forecourt. Such a waste of money. However, the secondhand car market here is extremely difficult to track down. Japanese like brand new cars.

One day he phoned me to ask "Do you like Celicas?"

Silly question – he knows darn well I love Celicas.

"Yes, you know I do. Why?"

"Well, someone here at work is leaving early and wants to sell his". (Why on earth would anyone want to leave Tokyo early?) OK, I guess that's not the point really…

Tim continued, "It's a convertible, are you OK with that?"

"WHAAAAA?! Yes, of COURSE I'm OK with that. When can we get it?"

So we got the gorgeous Celica and I now pose around with the lid down. Lots of non-car people at school think it's some kind of supercar and I get a lot of envious looks (and probably snippy comments behind my back) but who cares? It's gorgeous! And apparently very rare in the UK. We think we may ship it back when we leave here.

Oh and the GPS speaks English too. That's quite a strange change after a year or so of getting directions in Japanese. "Slight right turn" "Traffic congestion ahead"… usually when I'm already stuck in the jam anyway.