Japanory

Summer Holidays: Aikido, Gymnastics and Pink Hair

June 30th - July 11th 2008

We have nine weeks of summer holidays. NINE WEEKS! In my day, it was only six…

Nine weeks!

We're actually planning to spend most of it in the UK, but have a couple of weeks to kill first.

Rhiannon's asked to go to some extra Aikido lessons. They last for an hour and a half and with a small group, they can learn new and exciting techniques. Involving large sticks! By doing these few extra hours on the mat, Rhiannon attained her orange belt – 8^th kyu. I'm so proud of her.

Next, she wants me to dye her hair pink. OK, why not? Let's get the rebellion over and done with now. By the time she's a teenager she won't be able to do anything to bother me... famous last words, eh?!  Besides, it's fairly temporary and with 9 weeks to fade, we should be OK for back to school time.

During the second week, I've enrolled her in a Gym School being held by ICan Gymnastics who run the silly-o'clock lessons at school. This week, however, the days are being held at another international school which has real gym equipment. Rhiannon will get to go on asymmetric bars, the beam, mini-tramp and mats.

After the first day she came back in agony having discovered muscles she didn't know she had! She had an absolutely brilliant time (and I think has developed a bit of a crush on one of the trainers there!).

On the Friday, I went to watch. The first thing I saw when I went in was my daughter doing a cartwheel off the end of a beam! EEK!

I was extremely impressed with the ICan team and their philosophy. And very pleased that Rhiannon enjoyed herself so much. I've agreed that even though she won't be continuing the early morning lessons at school, she can go to any holiday schools they hold for the sheer opportunity to use this specialised equipment with qualified teachers.

Two weeks down, seven to go…

Aikido Exhibition at the Nippon Budokan

Saturday 24^th May 2008

Rhiannon's favourite sensei is representing their dojo – Pacific Aikido – at a massive exhibition in the amazing building that is the Nippon Budokan.

Unfortunately, we missed his time on the mats but met him at the Metro station.

This building is magnificent. It was originally built for the judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics and its name translates as Martial Arts Hall. It's also the place where many rock concerts are held; the Beatles were the first to play here in 1966 and the round hall has hosted many great names ever since.

Today, however, the focus is on a breathtaking display of Aikido. Numerous mats are set out around the stage with the audience seated in layers above them. It was hard to see the actual movements as we were so far away from the show. But one performance was outstanding; a very ancient gentleman stood in the centre of one mat and was set upon by about 20 people. He fended off each and every one with barely a movement.

I was more fascinated than Tim and Rhiannon were, so we didn't stay long. No money was lost though as entrance was free.

(This is the interior of the Budokan set up for a concert)

Sports Day - again

Thursday 8^th May 2008

Year One's Sports Day is rather different to the Reception "Race Day" last year.

For a start it's held at a real sports track. The school has no area for this sort of thing at all – at break time, the children have to play on the roof of a 7 storey building.

Deb and I have coffee before making our way to Yoyogi track which turned out to be a heck of a lot further than we expected which wasn't helped by us getting a bit lost. Yoyogi track is enormous and the school had only a part of it. We finally found our children just after the event started. Oops!

There are four houses in this school: I can't remember the names (actually, I can't be bothered to look it up) but the associated colours are red, blue, yellow and green. Rhiannon is in blue and parents are expected to wear the house colour too.

Goodness knows how the teachers organised the kids, it looked to be absolute mayhem, but with a theme. Each group went through a series of events and were awarded points. So far, so good.

However, it was unbelievably hot. Absolutely sweltering and everyone was wilting fast. Some delightful child emptied Rhiannon's water bottle over the ground – how spiteful. So I had to find a tap to get her rehydrated quickly.

I was pleased to see Rhiannon finally showing a bit of competitiveness, and a lot of skill in many disciplines. She still prefers to run at a snail's pace while waving to friends in the crowd though.

It got hotter and hotter. The games were taking longer than anticipated to finish and to my disappointment the parents' races were cancelled as time ran out. I was eager to race against a particular mum who seems to have taken an instant dislike to me due, I believe, to us both wearing the same Long Tall Sally outfit when we first met! As we didn't get a chance to speak on that first occasion, I can only assume this was the reason. Since that first meeting she has pointedly ignored me at every opportunity. Expats can be very strange people, sometimes. I bet I would have beaten her in a race though…

After a while, the point awarding system started breaking down as the teachers lost track of what was going on. So, to our mirth, they just randomly handed out points willy-nilly.

This was good news because it meant that the blue team won. Even though they only had half the number of children than the other teams and lost most of their races!

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.

Aikido - Proud Mum Moment.

8^th December 2007 (and 3^rd December)

Yeah, I got the posts out of sync, sorry!

Because Rhiannon has been taking two classes a week in Aikido, we have the pleasure of going to two "watching days". These more than make up for the dismal Christmas Concert (which you will hear about tomorrow... sorry!) as they are fantastic fun! The teachers are hysterically funny and the children clearly enjoy themselves very much indeed.

Proudly we saw Rhiannon achieve her yellow belt – 9^th kyu in this particular dojo. She is immensely pleased with herself and it's good to see the hard work recognised by changing the belt colour.

This doesn't happen in many dojos – most remain on a white belt until they make it to 1^st Dan ie black belt. But children, especially as young as this, need to see the change and progression. And the coloured belts make this possible, it gives them something to work towards.

 

And down he goes!

 

The ceremony of Receiving The Belt

 

Group Photo

 

She wouldn't change out of her Aikido kit! Doesn't she look pleased with herself?

Hawaii – the end of the holiday

Saturday 27th October 2007

Most of our time in Hawaii was actually spent on the beach near the house with a few trips to various shopping malls for food and a look around.

So here are a few final photos of Rhiannon enjoying the surf! No, she didn't venture much further in to be honest! The waves just a few feet out were incredibly strong and even I found it hard to swim through them.

Travelling back through the airport, guess what? Yup, we were hauled over for yet another full search and interrogation. Not impressed.

With the dateline confusion, we left on Saturday and arrived on Sunday even though it's only a 7 hour flight.

Everyone had to go back to work and school on the Monday so we made a note not to do that again! Especially as Rhiannon was still on Hawaii Time and woke up at 3am - meaning I had to as well...

We must give ourselves a day to recover and unpack in future.

Surfing in Hawaii

No, not me! I was enjoying lying in the soft white sand taking photos of the bucket & spade and laughing at Tim and Rhiannon's attempts.(For some reason my camera went all weird with these photos - perhaps the salt got to it. It recovered well though).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the waves were pretty strong and after one particularly spectacular wipe-out, Tim discovered his wedding ring had been snatched by the sea. Rhiannon was very upset – she seemed to think that meant we weren't married anymore! So later that day we went & bought him another one. Not as nice as the original, sadly, but there we go.

 

And this is how surfing should be done.

Quick Round up to Finish September 2007

Oh lord, I am NEVER going to get this blog finished am I? Ah well, I can but try my best.

 

Tim and I start making decorations for Rhiannon's party. This involves trips to the fabulous Tokyu Hands to buy huge pieces of cardboard to cut out fish and other undersea creatures. An international supermarket called National Azabu has an upper floor selling all kinds of decorations so I invest in several miles of sea-coloured streamers, many packets of balloons and a series of party bag fillers.

Out of the blue, Tim arrived home one day with a 6 foot long inflatable Orca. As you do! We will suspend this from the ceiling of the hall.

We plan a set of activities with the intention of rotating groups of kids around the room. Pin the necklace on Ariel, face-painting, decorating mini-buckets, food, dancing and so on. I create a playlist on my Zen MP3 player and make sure the thing works with the PA system. It does. Goodo!

Everything seems to be going well in this respect. Apart from some people not RSVP-ing. This does irritate me – apart from manners, we need to have their details for the security guards on the gate to the area where the party will be held. I also need to know how many goody bags to make, so I email everyone who hasn't replied thus far and get all but one to reply – most are coming, which is fabulous! I have to assume the person that didn't respond won't be coming.

I have a hair appointment for a recolour. This takes AGES! But well worthwhile. My hair is extremely strong and resists bleach so it takes several attempts to get it light enough to take the cerise colour. But I'm very happy with the result… after four hours!

Rhiannon has joined Rainbows, but it really doesn't suit her at all. In general she just doesn't "get it" and I can't see her staying long, but we were in the waiting list for ages so we'll continue for now. There are a couple of girls who steal from her which required a nice chat to all concerned. This parenting lark is bloody hard work sometimes.

Friday mornings are a slog to get Rhiannon to gymnastics at 7.45 am, but the team who run it are absolutely fantastic and I can recommend them to anyone in Tokyo – it's ICan Gymnastics – run by the extremely charismatic and capable Mr Lee. Sadly the school has no gym equipment so all the kids can do is learn to tumble, which is good in itself, but not worth getting up at silly o'clock for. We look into getting her into other clubs with more equipment.

Saturday is a run-around with Aikido in the morning and a kid's party in the afternoon. While Tim and I have coffee in Starbuck I manage to not put the top on the coffee cup properly after putting in my 16 bags of sugar… a litre of hot coffee all over me. And I'm wearing cream trousers. Lovely.

I'm writing a Tokyo Tales article about something that I decided would be good with a photo of Maneki Neko - the "Beckoning Cat" so arranged these teeny ornaments for a photo that I don't actually recall using! They are about 1.5cm high.

 

And here is a gratuitous photo of a somewhat larger Raymi!

 

Round-up of a Week or Thereabouts

Saturday 16^th June to Monday 25^th June 2007

Certain people (Nickie at http://typecast2000.blogspot.com/ for one!) have impressed upon me the need to get this darn TravelBlog up to date as soon as possible… I'm doing my best! But I do have several projects on the go all the time)

 

Anyway, I thought I'd just do a quick round-up for this week to clear some general bits and pieces and get a couple of rants out the way.

Saturdays: Rhiannon does her extra Aikido lessons while Tim and I enjoy our Starbucks coffee and a proper grown up chat about life, the universe and everything. Then we do something else in the afternoon - either together or Tim may take Rhiannon off on her own to allow me to work.

On the second Saturday Rhiannon went to a birthday party with a lovely girl whom we met on the bus to school. It was held at a kindergarten some distance away and lots of craft activities were arranged for them. She had a wonderful time while Tim and I wandered around a nearby shopping mall. Tim's pretty good at shopping, unlike many men. I don't ever force him to come shopping with me, but once in a while it's nice to be accompanied. I think it helps him that I don't shop for clothes or shoes - especially not here! It's hard enough for me to find things that fit in the UK (I'm 6' tall) so there is absolutely no point in browsing here. However, Tim copes OK with interior design shops and kitchen departments, so we enjoy that together.

Father's Day: I'm sure we did something nice for this, but I have no recollection of precisely what! Give me some credit - remember, I am writing these posts 3 years on and I can barely remember what I did last week!

Monday: My Ikebana classes have finished for the summer so instead, I treat myself to a pampering session at Boudoir. It's lovely there and it's not sometime I indulge in as often as I should. For the second Monday I get myself to the hairdressers - Sinden - Time for an extremely long - 4 hours - appointment to get my colours redone. This involves copious applications of bleach over my fringe and this time around the back too. Once that's finally taken (my fine hair is remarkably resistant to bleaching) I am then slathered with cerise pink dye. The rest of my hair is dyed black. No, there is no photo, sorry! Later, as I pass some extremely cool Japanese teens, I overheard them say "Excellent hair!" and am ridiculously pleased.

Work: At this point I am doing a heap of work for the independent publishers in the UK. As well as writing the Tokyo Tales articles each month, I do a load of web mastering stuff for them - editing, proof reading, formatting and uploading the various formats onto the server. This takes AGES due to the clunky software. All the uploads arrive within a day or two of having to be on site, so I often work deep into the early hours to ensure they are online by the dreadline. (No, that's not a typo - I prefer dreadline to deadline; it speaks volumes.)

I'm also now writing a monthly travel article for them, so that's another project to add to my monthly work. I've always wanted to be a travel writer, so thought this would be a fabulous opportunity. Unfortunately, it ended up being the least exciting of the articles I wrote. For a start, it's really hard to encompass the essence of a place into 500 words. I've travelled a LOT, so use my experiences in these articles, so for once, there's not a lot of research that needs to be done. However, I am not allowed to have a by-line, which is pretty unfair in my opinion. Apart from getting no recognition for my freelance writing, it doesn't really allow me to add these to my portfolio. Also, it gives the impression the site owner writes them herself…

Playdate: I am firmly of the belief that children should have as many playdates as often as possible. It helps them build friendships and enforces certain socialisation rules that only children often lack. However, when my daughter arrived home from this particular playdate in tears, one has to rethink who they should have playdates with. This one was with a woman I've mentioned before in this blog but I shan't reference back. I've learned from others that she is unstable and should be avoided at all costs. Now I make Tim go and collect Rhiannon from her house as I have had enough of her.

Apparently she turned on Rhiannon saying she was bossy, selfish and spoiled. To say I am outraged is an understatement. I am astounded that any mother would say something as cruel as this to a five year old. Rhiannon will not be going there again. However, I resisted the urge to stoop to her level at the time (and Rhiannon isn't beyond elaborating stories), but wish to note that while her two girls were here they stole items from Rhiannon's room and deliberately broke a number of her precious ornaments… I could rant for quite a while on this person, but I refuse to waste brainspace on her any longer. Besides, she will continue to crop up from time to time in future posts, unfortunately.

And finally: On Sunday 24^th June Tim has to fly away on business. Again. This time it's to Singapore for a conference that will take him away from us for the whole of next week. Once again, we have insisted on compensatory presents and he's promised to buy me a new PDA as my old Ipaq has given up the ghost. I do love new gadgets…

So that's that week covered. More singular posts to come in due course…!

Extra Aikido

Saturday 9^th June 2007

Pacific Aikido - the group who run the childrens' classes at school - have set up some Saturday sessions for those kids who wish to progress quicker through the grades.

Rhiannon is enjoying aikido so much, she insists that we sign her up for them, even though we usually prefer to keep our weekends free from school / sport related activities. But it's only for a few weeks and means Rhiannon will get her yellow belt sooner rather than later.

Who are we to curb such enthusiasm?

We drop Rhiannon off for her hour and a half session and then Tim and I wander down the delightfully named Cat Street to the nearest Starbucks. It's very pleasant for us to spend this rare grown-up time together, talking with each other without a kid interrupting or eavesdropping.

It's very easy to lose yourself in the parenthood trap and ignore each other's feelings and needs, so this short "us" time is valuable and very enjoyable.

Sports Day for Reception Children

Friday 4th May 2007

Ok, so it's not called Sports day - it's known as "Race Day". No idea why.

But today I discover to my distress, that my daughter is not sporty. In her races she is more intent on gazing around her and waving at "her audience".

Tim told me off for being too competitive. Perhaps I was a little over-critical at times… I surprised myself to be honest. I'd never considered myself as competitive, but sports were the only thing I excelled at when I was at school.

In fact, I recently discovered that the high jump record I set at Okehampton Comprehensive School in 1978 still hasn't been beaten. I feel disgustingly smug about this!

Yes, that was 1978… sadly not a typo.

The kid's races just involved running up and down a tennis court and attempting to throw bean bags into a basket a few feet away. In the picture above, Rhiannon was supposed to run in and out of the poles. She forgot. Ah well, we'll work on that.

But then the parents were invited to race! Wheeeee!

Forgetting I haven't run anywhere for about 20 years or even partaken in any kind of sport for nigh on 25 years, I leapt at the chance to show off. And perhaps give Rhiannon a little persuasion to buck her ideas up when it comes to athletics… OK, I admit to being a little ashamed. Not much though!

The Parents' Race was a relay. Our team won the ladies race and I also got into the men's race somehow. No idea how.

But the wonderfully misogynistic males of the expat community made me run the last leg as I was a woman *rolls eyes*. Then the chap before me dropped the baton before handing it to me and therefore we lost. Hah! Macho guy loses.

Thankfully Tim's photos of me didn't come out - I was too fast for the camera…

Yeah, right!

Cycling in Tokyo

End of April 2007

Once 'T' left for her trip to Australia we finally had some time to ourselves.

Rhiannon has been riding her bicycle up and down the cul-de-sac with stabilisers for some time now. It's very safe in this immediate area with little or no traffic, so - unlike in the UK - I'm happy for her to play outside on her own. She wants a new bike, which she does need as this one is getting too small for her now. But the prerequisite for this new bike is that she must learn to ride without stabilisers.

Good friends, and experts in this small but vital piece of education, recommended that the only and best way to do this is to remove the pedals as well as the stabilisers. Their son has been riding without stabilisers since he was about two, so they do know about it! Well, he never actually had a bike with stabilisers anyway, just two wheels and the handlebars.

Of course, Tim thought his method was better and just removed the training wheels. Over a period of 2 or 3 days, a panicky Rhiannon wobbled a lot, fell off and cried amid Tim railing against her. I had to put a quick stop to this before her nerve left her altogether and so I insisted the pedals should come off too.

Brave child got back on, with plasters on her scraped knees, wobbled a lot but this time she was able to put her feet down on the ground to prevent further crashes. It's all to do with balance, obviously.

Within half an hour she was ready for the pedals to go back on and we proudly cheered as she confidently rode her bike for the first time, without stabilisers!

I should add at this point that I cannot ride a bike. But Rhiannon has said I can have her old stabilisers if I want to get one! I do fancy a bike, just because I am acquisitive and I've seen some lovely ones around. I'm sure it can't be that hard to learn… even at my age.

Apparently there are over 86 million bicycles in Japan. I should think most of them are in Tokyo. It's most definitely the favoured form of transport.

There are so many different kinds from standard city bikes to peculiar 'lie-down and pedal' contraptions with a roof. We laugh to see a fully grown man in his business suit pedalling furiously on a kids' sized Raleigh Chopper style bike.

By far the most common sight is the mama-charis, literally "mother's bike". These very basic shopping bikes have a basket on the front and a child's seat on the back. Sometimes there will be a child's seat on the front as well! Actually, most bikes have a large metal basket on the front, even the toughest -looking mountain bike. Sometimes the basket contains a small dog, enjoying the ride with ears blown back in the wind. Occasionally the dog is a little bigger...

Mama-charis bomb along the pavements with the mother pedalling, sometimes with a baby strapped across her chest in a sling and a toddler sitting or sleeping on the back seat. There are special holders for umbrellas too. But when it's raining it's not uncommon for the cyclist to be holding the brolly over their head and cycling one-handed. It's terrifying. And nobody wears helmets either.

Other bikes that intrigue me are the electric powered ones. For ages I wondered how these women managed to cycle up hills with two kids and bags of shopping until someone pointed out to me that the pack near the pedals gave a little extra power to their efforts. There are also plenty of adult sized tricycles, some with two wheels on the rear, others with double wheels at the front.

But almost all cyclists ride on the pavements! And they don't cycle slowly, either.

With a small child in tow, it's frankly terrifying to see the speed they reach and they barely slow down to weave between the pedestrians. Although they don't' annoy me as much as mountain bikers in the UK, tearing up the countryside and feeling they are entitled to make up rules up as they go along, it's still tempting to carry a sturdy stick to shove in the wheel spokes.

Some politely ring their bell just before they are about to hit you. Which is nice. Unless you are deaf…

Apparently there ARE cycling rules, but they are rarely enforced. Unless you are a gaijin, when (allegedly) the police often take the opportunity to stop and fine you. Bikes have to be registered and display a little yellow sticker on the frame.

Official rules are (as far as I can tell):

• Ride on the road - unless you prefer to ride on the pavement
• If you ride on the pavement, do so slowly and with care
• Pedestrians have right of way on the pavement.
• Cyclists bear full responsibility for accidents with pedestrians
• All traffic signs and traffic lights apply to cyclists as well a motor vehicles
• Keep left
• Don't ride on the wrong side of the road - riding the wrong way is prohibited
• Drunk riding is illegal
• Lights are mandatory for night riding
• Park in designated areas. If you fail to do so your bike will be taken away by the Bike Police and you will incur a fine in order to retrieve it.
• Carrying passengers over the age of six is prohibited.
• Don't ride carrying an open umbrella or talking on your mobile phone

It's also very common to see "no bicycle parking areas" full of parked bikes.

So, if you want to be a true cycling Tokyoite, ignore all the above rules.

It seems the law turns a blind eye to all these rules until someone other than yourself gets hurt.

Perhaps I will stick to my trusty car instead.

Aikido and Ceramics… NOT at the same time!

Monday 16^th April 2007

Rhiannon goes back to school today (yay!) and is due to have her very first Aikido lesson after school.

There are loads of extra-curricular activities at the British School in Tokyo and Rhiannon is eager to try as many as possible. I'm very happy for her to give everything a go if she wants because I never had the chance to try anything due to where I grew up (deepest, darkest Devon in England) where there were no opportunities at all. And besides, I have a lot more work coming in and could really use the child-free extra hour or so at the end of a school day… Rhiannon is a rather demanding child and is, quite frankly, exhausting. (Understatement!)

Although there are lots of activities, sadly none are available for five year old reception year kids. Apart from Aikido. So I signed her up last term and today will be her first lesson. The Dojo is at school so I have no need to ferry her around and just have to pick her up at 4.30pm.

Once the school run is completed, Mum and I catch the metro to Kappabashi. I love Kappabashi where there are numerous kitchenware shops and, my favourite, ceramic shops. Although I've been there a few times already, this is Mum's first visit.

I should have realised. If I like something it will be the complete opposite to Mum's taste and vice versa.The pottery here is, to me, beautiful, edgy, rustic at times, decorated in a quirky manner and fairly modern. I swiftly realised Mum was not impressed at all. So I abandoned my plan of visiting all the "plate" shops and looked at some of the others in the area.

We discovered a shop selling many styles of glass bottles and jars ready for personalisation. Shops selling signs and others selling uniforms. There were also lots of personal shrine shops which were rather incredible if a little mystifying. I didn't feel too comfortable taking photos of those.

 

There was also a tiny shop selling all kinds of coffee making equipment. Not just pots and filters, but some Heath Robinson-esque contraptions too. Fascinating!

We were both intrigued by the many shops selling fake food. Outside most restaurants here are plastic replicas of the meals served inside. This is obviously where they buy their models. We wondered if the plastic foods are made to order depending on the restaurant's request or if the chef cooks to match the model.

 

Kappabashi's charms were soon over for Mum so we walked over to Asakusa so she could look around there. She loved this area when she visited at Christmas and wanted to nose around a stationery shop at the top end of the temple and to look around the many alleyways selling fabrics and kimonos.

I stayed a while until I got bored, and then left her there, confident that she was finally at home enough in Tokyo to be able to find her own way back to our house.

With just enough time for a cup of tea and a quick check of emails and so on, I relished the snatched moment of total peace before heading off to collect Rhiannon from Aikido.

As with any new activity, I was anxious as to find out whether she enjoyed it or not. She's very much a girly girl but incredibly active which needed an outlet. Hopefully, Aikido will prove to be this outlet. The Sensei assured me the mix of girls and boys was pretty even.

Nervously, I waited in the school's lobby for her to come up the stairs from the gym. Other children dressed in their white kit were coming up but Rhiannon was last as usual. Then I heard her…

Did I mention she is loud as well as over-active? There is no off-switch on her. And no volume control.

Anyway, she obviously saw me before I noticed her and she yelled up the stairs,
"Muuu-uuum!!!! I had SUCH a wonderful time! Aikido is brilliant! I got to throw a grown-up man right across the room and he hit the wall with a big SPLAT!!!!"

Aikido was obviously a huge success. I am very happy.

But then she decided to practise her newly learned moves on me... OUCH!

 

 Be afraid!

Snow Town Yeti!

Tuesday 13^th February 2007

 
OK, I agree this is a bizarre title, but it is the name of an actual place; a snow resort at the base of Mount Fuji. http://www.yeti-resort.com/e/index.html

As it's half term, and Tim has to go away for most of the week, he's taken a day off work to take us for our first real trip in the new car. We did go to Costco at the weekend, but that's not really a trip worth blogging about again (yes, we bought more toilet paper!).

We read about Snow Town Yeti in a magazine here called Tokyo Families. This is a very useful little mag giving ideas for days out suitable for children.

Miraculously, Tim has managed to work out how to use the Japanese GPS system in the car. In fact, I don't think he's been doing much else at work this past week apart from playing with the car which has been on the premises while the paperwork was being completed. One thing that made me laugh was his utter horror when he saw the digital map flash up with numerous swastikas. Swastikas, as I'm sure many of you know, are a symbol for Buddhist temples and we have a lot of them around here; the sign was used long before the Nazis took the symbol on.

So, Snow Town Yeti has been plugged in as a destination and we are almost ready to go.

First of all though, we have to get suitably attired for it. I possess nothing remotely appropriate for playing in the snow apart from a huge duvet parka. Ski-trousers and sensible boots are not part of my wardrobe, but then I never needed them sledging as a kid so probably don't now...

Rhiannon is to be kitted out in many layers of clothes under her "zoot-suit", an all-in-one waterproof affair she's had since she was two. Way too big for her then, she's finally fitting into it perfectly. New snow boots have been purchased for her. And her red puffa jacket to match Daddy's.

There's a cute story attached to this jacket: when I was pregnant, Tim went to China on business and returned with matching red jackets for all of us, bump included. Now, I find his and hers matching clothes incredibly icky and quickly donated mine to someone else. However, the jacket he thought would perfectly fit our soon-to-be-newborn was enormous! Not having had much contact with babies, he actually thought this jacket was newborn sized... *horrifying thought*. It didn't fit her until she was four years old!

Sledges have been bought, but the shop only had two left so we'll have to take turns. I can't find an old cattle-feed bag like I used to possess in my childhood – now that was a good sledge.

And off we go.

The lady in the GPS only speaks Japanese, but is very polite and doesn't get annoyed when we make a mistake. But the pictorial map seems easy enough to follow. The toll roads are fairly straightforward too, the cost is 700 yen per gate, and each gate is manned by cheerful individuals (what a job! Amazing they can be so jolly.) Getting to the main freeway was quite tricky as the entrances are really well hidden and it took a few attempts to understand that the small green arrows meant "This way to the main road".

An aside – why are they called "Freeways" when you have to pay to go on them?

En-route, I enjoyed gazing out the window watching the world go by, experiencing a whole new side of Tokyo not yet seen. From the huge skyscrapers of Shinjuku to the smaller, more traditional buildings. Many, many highly decorated shrines and temples and fascinating little shops. Lots of opportunities for a little giggle too as this sign indicates.

After some time, Mount Fuji appears straight ahead of us. Although still far away, this mountain takes your breath away with its symmetrical beauty and suddenness of appearance. Unexpectedly looming in the distance, it's snow-capped peak beckons and even the car- driver's nightmare, Rhiannon, perks up. "Are we there yet?"

Success! We find Snow Town Yeti and have some simple fun by watching the temperature drop as the car climbs the mountain (thermometer in the car). It got to about -10°C upon arrival. My jeans are not seeming like such a good idea right now.

The car park is empty and free, but apparently this is because all the Japanese schools are not on holiday so we are lucky. Entrance is straightforward too – we aren't going skiing or hiring anything, so the price is minimal. And we're in!

The layout is a few shops selling and hiring equipment, vending machines, of course and a restaurant. Outside the restaurant are a number of fire pits which look like they will come in useful later. Steps lead down to the snow. The snow isn't 'real', but created by a snow machine. Who cares? We certainly don't! It's not plastic; it's cold and is frozen water droplets, therefore it is real snow.

The place is almost empty and we spend the next four hours having an absolute whale of a time! I love sledging!! Interestingly none of us are into skiing – me for my dodgy knees, Rhiannon because she's a scaredy cat and Tim just doesn't see the attraction. One day I'll try it, just to see, but for now I'm happy to return to my childhood and slide as fast as I can down hills on a piece of plastic.

From time to time we take a break and grab some coffee or hot chocolate from the vending machine and sit around the firepit before heading back to the slope. We had some food, but it was revolting, like a particularly bad McDonalds.

Four hours of sledging is a great exercise – I found muscles I didn't even know existed. And surprisingly didn't get too cold. It was a beautiful day, and of course, the exercise kept me toasty warm.

After a while, the snow had compacted to the perfect consistency and rather than being stopped by the small upward slope at the bottom of the run we started going up it. Rhiannon very nearly went over the edge which frightened her a little!

Around the top of the hill the snow had melted and while Tim and I drank another tin of coffee Rhiannon wandered off to a baby's playground whereupon she promptly fell over in the mud. Time to call it a day

Days like this usually end in tears for a five year old. We all slept very well that night, but trying to move the next morning was painful!