Now that's just stupid....

I spotted this gift shop when I was in Nagano. I'm not entirely sure what ducks have to do with gifts in the first place, let alone flapping ones. 

Cutie Honey

I came across this little gem when I was in the video shop the other day - "Cutie Honey". It's a live action film based on a really old anime, and it's in the running for "most typically Japanese film ever". It's got all the elements - dangerously high levels of pink, stupid Engrish title, semi-pornographic costume... it even features an "unemotional tree demon called Sister Jill". I haven't seen it yet, but if there's giant fighting robots in it, then it will definitely win first prize.

You can check out a review by clicking on the "Cutie Honey" title above.

Look everyone! It's Cutie Honey on DVD! 

More Cutie Honey. 

Livin' in a Winter Wonderland

Winter has descended in force on Asahi - over the past few days we've had about a foot of snow, which has made getting around a little difficult. Thankfully the snow plough came down my road yesterday, so it's pretty clear, but as a result a wall of snow has been ploughed up round my car. When I arrived in August I wondered what the shovel in my porch was for - now I know.

On the plus side though, everything looks absolutely beautiful in the snow. I snapped these pictures when I was walking to school yesterday - I just couldn't get over how magical everything looked in the early sunlight. I had a nice experience on Wednesday evening too, when I braved the cold to walk to the Circle K. I looked up and down my road, and realised the snow was unbroken - I was the first person to walk down the road outside my house since it started snowing at the weekend. I love that feeling of walking on unbroken snow - it's a bit like breaking the seal on a coffee jar: the sense of starting something new, tinged with the satisfaction of destruction.

It's stopped snowing now, and rain is forecast for the weekend, but I'm assured there will be plenty of snow over the next two months. Bring it on!!!

The graveyard behind my house. 

This is the road which winds up the hill to Nyu High School. It's become pretty treacherous since the snows came. 

The trees look fantastic in the snow. 

This is the view of Asahi from Nyu High School. 

New Lewis Born: Pope Calls for Calm

Meet Lewis. Isn't he the most adorable thing you've ever seen? He's the son of Trevor and Lorna Hill - used to work with Trev at Game in Surrey Quays. He was born last year, and thanks to his forward thinking parents, he's been blessed with the best name in the universe. Godspeed you young warrior! 

 

My first real tea ceremony

On Monday (which was Coming of Age Day in Japan - yet another public holiday) I attended my first real tea ceremony. I've been going to the tea ceremony club at school for months, but this was the real thing. It was the first tea ceremony of the year, which is known as a "Hatsugama", and it was held in Ota, the next town over from Asahi. I was a bit nervous, as it was a bit more formal than I thought it would be - the local mayor even turned up to give a speech. Luckily though everyone was very indulgent with me - they even let me sit cross-legged when my knees began to ache. Actually, I think some of the blokes were relieved to see me do this, because as soon as I sat cross-legged about four or five of them did the same!

Here are some of the guests at the tea ceremony, of which there were about twenty. Most of the women wore kimono, but the men were mostly wearing suits. You can just about see the tea ceremony teacher on the right of the photo, bending down. The ceremony was held in his house, which was absolutely beautiful inside - it was jam-packed full of traditional Japanese decorations. The guy looking down at his cup is the person who made all the sweets and cakes that were served with the tea. 

This is about halfway through the tea ceremony, when the second round of tea was being served. The first round of tea was a light sort of green tea, flavoured with umeboshi (bitter Japanese plums). The second round was an extremely thick and strong type of tea, almost like glue. 

This woman made the first few cups of tea during the tea ceremony. She's actually the niece of my supervisor at Nyu High School. The first few cups of tea are made in the ceremonial manner, as shown above, then the rest are made behind the screen at the back by some other people. 

This is me with my tea ceremony teacher. By this point I had been kneeling down for about 2 hours and my knees were killing me! In the background there's a hagoita - a sort of racket used to play an ancient Japanese ball game. 

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first snow started falling in Asahi just after Christmas, and it's been snowing on and off ever since. This is a photo of my house taken on New Year's Eve, but since then the snow's got a lot deeper... It's nice to have a bit of snow - it makes everything look so much cheerier. I just wish it wasn't so damn cold! 

The Nagano Trip

On 27th December I went on a three day snowboarding trip to Nozara onsen in Nagano prefecture, with about 15 other JETs. I've never been snowboarding before, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be really good fun (though I still have several lingering bruises). I had no idea what I was doing at first, but once Chris gave me a few pointers I was picking it up in no time, and everyone said I was a really quick learner. Which surprised me, considering how absolutely rubbish I am at skating and skateboarding. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I'm going again at the end of January! Anyway, here's some photos for you to enjoy...

The driving conditions on the road to Nagano were terrible. Officials were stopping cars on the toll roads to check what kind of tyres they were using - any cars without snow tyres weren't allowed on the road. 

I proudly display my snowboarding gear. I managed to get everything - board, gloves, jacket, snow boots and trousers - from second hand shops, and it all came to 10,000 yen (about fifty quid). Not exactly stylish, but eminently affordable. 

Our hotel. At times Nozara felt more like Switzerland than Japan.