Luke's Blog

April 4, 2007 to July 12, 2007

July 12, 2007

It's been three weeks since I have seen the sun. I'm starting to forget what it looks like. How is it possible that it can be cloudy for three weeks straight. Damn rainy season. It is of course raining again today but I can look forward to seeing the sun as I leave for Canada tomorrow. I'm sure it's still there above the clouds and I'll see it when we take off.

I'm flying Air Canada and so naturally I'm packing some extra food as the only meal they are serving on the 12 hour flight is breakfast and I don't hold much hope for the quality. Probably sandwiches or something. Anyway packaged bento boxes are easy to get and would be a great snack on the plane I think.

I have just about finished packing the enormous suitcase we have so that Mika can take the smaller one. It is cavernous, and large enough to fit a person in side but it is what we've got. Interestingly, it seems that you cannot buy soft side suitcases in Japan. They are all hard shells that weigh a lot. So even though my suitcase is bigger, it probably weighs just as much. Empty anway. I'm making sure to not fill it up so it is not heavy. So far so good.

Mika's working very hard these days as the consular officer is off on holiday. Again. He seems to have a lot of time for holiday's. So Mika is stuck doing her job and his. Well mostly his as Canadians in trouble take priority over salary scales. She desperately needs a holiday. So everybody be nice to her when she comes to Canada so she can relax.

I will of course be checking my email and I should be able to update my blog remotely. I'm not sure about whether I will be able to do pictures or not but we'll see. So see you on the other side of the pond shortly.

July 9, 2007

Mika has been at home all week with strep throat. Consequently we have not done very much. We did finally go to my tea lesson on saturday and I decided to get out the house yesterday to go hiking. Despite the grey weather that we have had constantly for the past 2 or 3 weeks I needed to get out. Although this is supposed to be the rainy season it hasn't rained much but we haven't seen the sun in ages. I needed to get outside and since it hasn't rained even when its cloudy I figured it would continue to be much that same. And it was.

The convenience of public transportation makes hiking easy because you can take the train and buses to get to most trail heads. It took about two hours on the train to get out of the city to wilderness at mount Mitake and mount Otake (near Mitake station on the Ome line). Before I went into my hike I knew I would be in the moutains. All of Japan is moutains. But the significance of this on hiking was driven home when, after 5 hours, I had reached the end of the trail at Okutama station. Moutains means there is no realtively flatish terrain. You are either going up at steep angles or down at steep angles. The up parts are cardio challenging while the down parts are physically demanding as my sore knees will attest too.

Essentially I spent the first 2 hours climbing up the mountain and then the next three hours going down the moutain. Dropping about 1000 metres (3200 feet) your knees really take a pounding.

I took a bus to a cable car which takes you up about 400 metres to a small village and shrine at the top. Every hiking trail seems to given or go through a shrine. The small village has a road a little over 6 feet wide winding up to it but only a Japanese, dinky car could make it up that road. No North American car would fit. Especially on the streets at the top which are all sorts of a directions that I got a little lost trying to find the start of the trail

I mentioned it was a cloudy day and that means that you can't see anything off the moutain most of the time except when you get down 500 metres or so. But the hike itself was quite enjoyable. It was humid to be sure but cool so you did not over heat. The clouds I ended up hiking in gave that misty view you see in horror films or when you step out of a shower on a cold day.

The vegetation, from a distance looks similar to what you would see in a forest in Ontario until you look more closely. It's almost entirely cedar trees and bamboo grasses with occasional stands of deciduous trees that look like Japanese maples. It's no wonder that so many wood products in Japan are made of cedar as opposed to a hard wood.

As mentioned earlier, it seems that many hiking trails are centred around shrines (Shinto belief centres). Along the trails are also many shrines to various gods, probably of each mountain. It makes for quite an interesting viewing experience. Especially the gate at the entrance to the next section of trail leading over the top of mount Otake. With the help of a conveniently located tree branch I managed to take a self picture too.

The climb down the moutain was less enjoyable as my knees started hurtin after about 2 hours down the moutain. The trail was quite rugged with many switchbacks and lots of rocks, roots and other hazards. Occasionally they had to put in iron ladders to get down sections and near the bottom they gave up on the trail and put down a lot of concrete stairs.

It was nice to get out of the city and breath some nice air. There are many more places to hike and I will endeavor to get some others from the embassy to join me next time.

Right now, though, I can start thinking about packing for our visit to Canada. I'm leaving Friday the 13th (I'm not superstitious) at 5 p.m. local time and arriving in Toronto on Friday the 13th at 3:55 p.m. Crazy isn't it. It's going to be a long day. Then its off to Ottawa until Mika arrives on the 26th. See you all soon (if your in those places that is).

July 1, 2007

We finally have internet back. It was accidentally disconnected two weeks ago when they installed internet in our neighbours house. It has been reconnected to a new service now so I can now update the webpage. Unbelievable red tape to get it done though. The service guy came from NTT (telephone company) and hooked it all up but the service provider, which of course is not NTT (its complicated here), had not yet switched the right things and wouldn't do so until they received a call from NTT who was waiting for someone else who was ..... AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGG!. So four hours later we have internet thanks to Mika spending the day on the phone.

Since the modem is in a different place (long story about that) I wanted to run the internet through a wireless router that I have but that doesn't seem to be working. For some reason the router won't talk to the modem about the internet connection. It is really frustrating. SO I have a 50 ft. cat-5 cable running out of the living room, up the stairs through the dining room, up some more stairs to the computer. WHAT A NIGHTMARE!

So while I was waiting for the slow wheels of Japanese bureaucrazy to get this done I wrote other blogs. So enjoy.

Oh and Happy Canada Day!

June 23, 2007

Independence day in the USA is of course July 4. This falls in the middle of a week and so the American Embassy, as it apparently does every year, decided to have a public celebration on Saturday June 23 for all of Tokyo. Well that's what it felt like anyway. We arrived at the American Embassy housing compound which is separate from the embassy itself. It houses close to 400 staff and their families so it has a lot of space. After going through security (metal detectors and the like) with all the other Japanese, we arrived on "Main Street USA" where a tall Uncle Sam was there to greet us. There was a mountain of people and food stalls of all kinds plus free beer and soft drinks.

Although the US Air Force Forecast at 10 am was cloudy with a chance of rain, when we looked outside it was a beautiful day. They could not have had better weather. There was a main stage where several acts would be performing and they had a parade down main street with a Marine colour (or is that color ;) ) guard and an army band from Camp Zama (in Tokyo). The parade included the boy scouts and most interestingly the Tokyo Harley Davidson group. These guys are in love with all things Harley and blinking police lights. Some bikes were in traditional Japanese, American-theme excess.

The main stage had clowns perform for the kids and then the enormous Taiko (Japanese drumming group) took the stage with about 30 people. Three of which were from the Canadian embassy. The food was amazing, and the spirit was lively. Such a nice day.

We had to leave early because we were having supper with our tea instructor and her husband (the tea grand master). Fondue (cheese and oil) were on the menu along with copious amounts of wine and I managed, although I'm not sure quite how, to get a creme caramel to their house on the train for dessert. Here is a picture of all of us taken by our teacher's sister who came by later.

June 22, 2007

We're still doing tea ceremony lessons and I have reached a point where I am, in my teacher's opinion, ready to go for my Shoden (first level of tea ceremony). There are four levels and then you can be called a Sensei (teacher). So this is going to happen in November and I will have to perform the tea ceremony for the head of this branch of tea ceremony (omotosenke seha) and any other teachers who wish to attend. Mika thinks that because I am the only foreigner and a male that I will have all the teachers attending. It is somewhat unusual for men to learn the tea ceremony these days even though it was originially it was done by men. As I understand it, it is one of the saumurai arts along with flower arranging (ikebana) and incense and of course slicing people up with swords.

On our way to our lesson we decided to see what was down a side street and came across a traditional medicine store. In the window were dried sea horses, snakes and all sorts of other stuff. Kind of weird but interesting.

June 21, 2007

Japanese fashion is complicated. I've been trying to figure out the essence of the styles which change here as fast as the weather. I think I've nailed down a few things which I want to tell you about along with some of the latest fashion trends. To do this I had to endeavour to surreptitiously obtain photo examples with my camera and cell phone camera.

First thing to note is that fashion falls into general groups as in North America. The business attire, weekend casual for the salary man, want-to-be gangsters etc. I will not go into all of these at the moment, although maybe in the future if I have time, as there are many of them and will detract from what I think are the more interesting observations and current trends.

If you are in high school then your dress and hair cut is dictated by the school. In general, this means shortish hair (no dye jobs). Dresses and white shirts for the girls and dress pants (grey or black)/shoes and white shirt for the men. There is a cool way to wear this clothing when not at school and that I haven't quite figured it out completly. Having said that, it appears that for the boys this means open shirt (tie dangling loosley if worn) and a general sense of baggyness as you drag your feet on the sidewalk. More on this as I continue to get my finger on this.

What is clear about Japanese fashion in general is that almost anything goes if you don't have a uniform like the school kids or salary man business suit. This means that your clothing is widely varied in patterns and colours. Everything is all mixed together, using a great deal of consideration, into an outfit that would strick the average North American as odd or even flashy/gawdy. The guys who are not in High school and are not salary men have a greater variation in style. In general these guys have a somewhat feminine look to them as was remarked by my Aussie friends when they came in January. So much effort and money into hair styles that they spend as much time in the bathroom in the morning as any other diva; man or woman. Often hair is dyed, or uniquely coiffed and long. They prefer pointy shoes that look like clown shoes when you take in their whole body proportions and big wallets and other odd bits and do-dads hanging from your belt are very popular.

The women are another story and a complicated one. In fact that is the word that best describes their outfits. Complicated. The North American style for women has fewer items in the outfit whereas a daily outfit for the younger women involve several layers of shirts, vests, jackets and dangly bits around their necks with several layers of skirts, shorts or jeans, stockings, socks and shoes. All of it carefully thought out. I wouldn't have the patience to put that much thought into my dress in the morning. It must take hours.

In the area of footwear, most women will wear high heeled shoes all the time for all activities from going out on the town to grocery shopping and touring. In contrast, North American's are more fond of running shoes or other comfortable shoes. The Japanese women's shoes as wild as their oufit and there styles varied. More often than not they are chosen for their style and not their fit. So the women teeter around on these ill fitting shoes. Half these shoes would be easily describable as the type prostitues might use. If they are not wearing these, they have flats usually with what look like doilies for socks. These just look terrible in my opinion because the socks are clearly visible and don't match the design of the shoes but its very common place. Yuck!

Of particular annoyance to me is their propensity to wear knee high stockings in such a way that the tops of the stockings are easily seen. They come in a whole range of colours and patterns and put together in strange ways. It just doesn't look right to me. On top of that is the desire to wear leggings that don't go all the way down the leg. This is worn under shorts, dresses and pants. Key however, is that they must be seen. What in the world are they thinking or why aren't they thinking.

One of the latest fashion trends (for spring/summer) seems to be the smock. It gives you a frumpy look that I'm not sure I can appreciate. It's like they are all expecting to be pregnant any minute. That wouldn't be so bad for the country which has a negative population growth except I get the feeling most of them probably don't want children (although they find them very "kawai" = cute).

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For the women, once they get into the thirties and work for a company or have a husband the fashion tends to be a bit more subdued and European-type fashionable. The salary men universally wear dark suits and are not allowed by work to have the feminine hair styles that younger men have. Casual wear is very prepy though (for lack of a better term) for these men and always top of the line. A tremendous amount of money is spent on fashion here. Of course they can't spend their money on much else as they don't have room to improve their apartment and can't afford to own and park a car.

That's all for fashion now. It's just a taster of the variety here. If I have time I will delve into it a bit more later.

June 18, 2007

You can mark time in Japan by watching when flowers bloom. At the moment it is the time of year for hydrangeas. There are out in bloom all over the city. EEven in our little corner of it where I took these pictures. It turns out that tthere are many varieties of hydrangeas. They look similar but bloom differently.

We saw many more in a nearby park called Shinjuku-gyoen. It is located in the middle of the city and is a well kept oasis in the concrete jungle that is very relaxing. One of the interesting things about the park is how they handle the entrance ticket. OK so I might sound like a weirdo but hear me out. You see all the tickets for trains and the like are printed on paper and there are 32 million people in Tokyo alone who ride the trains everyday. It must be a staggering amount of paper used everyday alone to make tickets. Now I realise that they can be recycled but there is an significant energy cost in doing so. So this brings me back to the ticket at the park. It is a reusable ticket that is similar to an Etch-A-Sketch where the day is printed on the ticket with an electrostatic charge the iron fillings stick to. Very easy to erase and re-use. I thought it was a neat green technology idea that could save huge amounts of energy and paper if used on a grand scale. So here it is. The humble, reusable ticket.

Earlier on in the week, Mika's Uncle and Aunt who live in Nagoya (1.5 hours by Shinkansen from Tokyo), came to visit us and see a display of a few of Da Vinci's art works at the National Museum. They were kind enough to treat us to supper along with Mika's cousin at a restaurant in a private room with our own sushi chef. The food was so good. In particular the octopus was the best I have every tasted. For those who have had it, it often has a rubbery, chewy texture. However, the octopus we had was different. Almost like a scallop in texture. It was boiled and the tenderised and tasted magnificent. We had many other delicious items that I took pictures. You can start drooling now.

On a completely related note, if you have not had the pleasure of preparing a meal with a really sharp kitchen knife, then you are missing a real pleasure. A few weeks ago we decided it was time to up the ante and buy a really good knife. Easy to do in Japan. We went down to the fish market where there is a store called Sugimoto which sells nothing but culinary knives. From Soba noodle knifes, to sushi knifes and everything in between. We bought a chef knife made with Japanese carbon steel that is so sharp that cutting a carrot feels like cutting butter. It is absolutely amazing. When you buy the knife, they give it one more extra sharpening and your ready to go. Best of all they sharpen their knives for a cheap price. Expect to pay $200 for the knife but they are soooooooooooooo good!

June 14, 2007

When it comes to free food, teenagers are nothing compared with the Japanese.

Mika and I were invited to attended the opening of the Sky restaurant at the New Otani hotel. A swishy joint that rotates to give you a 360 degree view of Tokyo. There was, of course, free food in a buffet style. The Japanese dressed in business attire were lined up taking three or for portions of each food presented leaving little for those who followed. Dessert plates in one hand, carried by thin ladies on rickity high heels, were piled high with six or seven different cakes while in the other they had all manner of beef, sushi, noodles etc. Having taught high school students I was used to gluttony, but the Japanese, as they so often do, turned gluttony into high art. It was incredible. I am beginning to see cracks in the facade of the always polite, considerate, reserved and generally nice Japanese.

June 8, 2007

Well on June 2, in Ottawa, a memorial service was held for Nick. By all accounts it was a very nice event and we were sent pictures which I have not yet been organised enough to do anything with. Wait and see. I'm thinking of a collage or something.

I've finished my three weeks substituting at St.Mary's international school. All the exams are marked and the kids are on holiday. So I now have time to catch you up on some of the things we've been doing and add some more commentary one living in Japan.

Buildings in Japan, and Tokyo in particular, rise and fall with great regularity here. In our almost year here we've seen a house torn down and replaced, an apartment torn down and is almost finished being replaced and a open lot with a new four story office building built. And that is in our block alone! A giant new office tower and shopping area called Tokyo Mid-town was finished at the end of March. Nick and I had been for a visit but Mika had not yet been so we went two weekends ago. It is quite a nice building with a lot of fancy clothing shops, a supermarket and a nice green area behind.

The new building is not far from the Canadian embassy (on Gaien-Higashi Dori for those who might know Tokyo geography) and we don't live far from the embassy so we walked there. On our walk over we saw something that I haven't seen before. An antique Mercedes stretch Limo. It was in great condition and looks to have the stylings of the 1960's. I'm not a dictionary of car styles etc. so that's my best guest but was amazing to see it on a Sunday in downtown Tokyo. You don't see strech limo's much in Tokyo, let alone an antique one.

After our trip to Tokyo Mid-Town we went to a store I discoverd by reading someone else's (I don't know if I used the apostrophy correctly there) blog. I was looking for some drafting supplies and discovered this store called Sekaido which sells any kind of art supply you need. It is quite an amazing store. You can buy plaster busts of all sorts of people paint and I have never seen so many different colours of pencils, chalk and paints in my life.

Last weekend, we went to Tokyo Dome. It is a covered baseball field similar to the Skydome and is home to the Yomiuri Giants baseball team. On the site is also a hotel and an amusement area with roller coasters and the like. Looking for some adventure close by we went to see it. We were not expecting to see the people we say. We deduced, I am a scientist you know, that there was a comic book character meeting going on as half the people in the park area we dressed up in costumes from all sort of Japanese anime and comic books. It was quite extraordinary how much effort these people had put into their costumes. One thing I've noticed about the Japanese is that when they get into a hobby, it's all or nothing. They do one or two things with an insane intensity whereas North Americans, have a broader range of interests and less fanatical zeal towards our hobbies. Anyway, many of the characters I don't know but I did get a picture with two people dressed up as, well I don't know the characters. Anyway, get a load of these guys Mike. Its weird but I think great at the same time.

So the whole day we were going on rides with all sorts of costumed people. It started to look normal after a while. Odd isn't it.

Anyway there are a few roller coasters of which the biggest one was quite a ride. A long drop at an 80 degree pitch starts you off and then you do all sorts of loops and twists and upside down bits. It was quite fun. All the rides were a blast and a change from the everyday. We had a good time a got a little wet on the water ride.

I forgot to mention a store we say on our way out there. I got a kick out of this because it typifies the excess in fashion that is the Japanese way. I will have more to say about the fashion trends later as soon as I amass some exemplar images to guide you through the unique fashion of Japanese. For starters, how about this store unabashedly called "Bling Me". Guess what they sell. Anything and everything covered in fake gems of all colours. How about Nike sneakers with a gemmed swoosh? It cracks me up.

May 29, 2007

When Mika and I were in Hiroshima helping Nick`s brother and father we did have a little time to walk around and see stuff close to the hotel. I forgot to post those pictures. As you can imagine, I had not brought the camera as it wasn`t really that kind of trip. But you know these cell phone cameras work quite well, so I took some pictures using my cell phone of the A-bomb dome and surrounding park. Nick lived very close to it in fact and it is quite a large park with a lot of benches.

Apart from the circumstances that brought us to Hiroshima in the first place, the city is quite nice. A lot more greenery and the weather was warm but not hot and the humidity was comfortable which made strolling around the park very pleasant.

The rose bushes were blooming and I'm not sure that I've seen rose quite as nice and healthy looking.

There is a wonderful peace monument and memorial to all the victims of the Hiroshima Atomic bomb. A stone chest with the names of the victims is in the middle of the park and looks out on the A-bomb dome. The dome is also a memorial and cannot be entered without setting off alarms. It has been stablised to stop any further decay or falling over but it has been essentially preserved in its condition after the bomb. Aparently it was just about directly under the explosion so the energy travelled vertically rather than horizonatally which is why the walls are still standing.

In the park is also a monument for good luck which has cases of paper cranes made by kids. The story goes, according to Mika, that a girl who got leukemia as a result of the bomb started making paper cranes and stated that you would be cured by the time she made 1000 papers cranes. Apprently she didn't quite make it but it is now held as a symbol of hope.

There is also a castle in Hiroshima. It's quite a nice castle but a little different than you would normally think. At one corner is a tallish structure that serves as the central administration point. Most of the rest of the buildings are one floor connected with walkways. Most of those buildings are gone and are park land but the superstructure is there as a museum with some nice swords and other artifcats. No pictures allowed.

There is a nice view from the third floor as well of Hiroshima. It was a nice day.

May 24, 2007

Its been an uneventful week and that, as far as many are concerned, is a good thing. Nick's ashes are in Canada and a memorial service is being planned for June. We, however, will not be coming to Canada for a much needed holiday until the end of July.

I've been substitute teaching at St. Mary's International school for the chemistry teacher who has taken some parental leave for the birth of his second child. This means that I am now planning lessons and, unfortunately, will be marking exams at the end of next week. They do finish quite a bit earlier here than in Ontario. I feel like a first year teacher again as I am teaching chemistry that we don't teach in Ontario so I have to prepare all new material. Some things never change though, the students are fed up with school and don't really want to work. The last couple of weeks of school have always been the hardest to keep the kids in line.

It's quite hot here now. The growing humidity is also becoming an issue, especially in the classroom. However, that's why we have air conditioning.

We are continuing our tea lessons with the summer format for the ceremony and I am still working on a carving of a plate with pansies and a bird. My last plate with fish is off to get lacquered and for some reason this takes 5 months. I've stopped asking questions about why because invariably the answer is "well, that's the way its done". Real helpful, but that's the Japanese way. If it has work for a thousand years there must not be a better way to do it. I think that's rubbish but I'm just a foreigner here; what do I know.

May 15, 2007

Well if you knew him you have heard the news by now. For those who did not know, our friend Nick, who was living in Hiroshima teaching English, passed away Wed. May 9 at the age of 32. Having beat cancer and generally in good health he suffered a heart attack from from what the autopsy doctor estimated was a pre-existing heart condition. There is no way to know for sure, but he was in excellent health. We will miss him terribly.

Nick was happy living in Japan and doing something that he enjoyed. He had finally been able to start saving money and was starting to think about doing a Masters in teaching English as a foreign language. He was well regarded at his workplace by colleagues and students. This was demonstrated by the tremendous support for Nick's dad and brother who travelled to Hiroshima to take care of his affairs. Nick was cremated in Hiroshima and will soon be repartriated to Canada by his father and brother.

Needless to say it has been quite busy here. Mika and I travelled to Hiroshima to help with the details and Mika also went in an official capacity as a representative of the Canadian government. We have to say that the police were very quick and respectful. They had incense and candles burning while Nick's remains were awaiting cremation and all the officers bowed when ever they approached. We would like to thank them.

The time and location of a memorial service in Canada is not yet known.

We saw Nick last weekend on his Golden week break. He was in great spirits and happy. The situation with his hips had improved quite a bit and we enjoyed the azaleias at the azelia temple here in Tokyo. I have put an album of pictures in the photo section of Nick.

April 30, 2007

I have to admit that I have been slacking on the blog. Not because there isn't anything to write about but that there is so much to write about. So I'll start with the weekend of April 14. By the time I had edited all the pictures from Kyoto and wrote the blog I had not even got to our trip that weekend to Fujiyoshida where friends of the family lived.

Fujiyoshida is next to Mount Fuji on the opposite side to where the shinkansen goes and where I took a picture on our way to Kyoto. It is about an hour drive from Tokyo if there is no traffic and we arrived on a sunny Saturday morning. So what, I hear you say. Well it was quite a glorious day that Mount Fuji was quite a spectacular scene.

Since this area is about 10 degrees colder than Tokyo the cherry blossoms had not come out yet. So when we had met up with our friends, we drove to a nearby city to see the cherry blossoms on a hill side. The sight was tremendous and the air was so clear and fresh that is was a wonderful change from Tokyo. You forget what it is like to be in the country side after living in a place like Tokyo for a while.

Our hosts were the Sekiguchi's whom we have known since first coming to Japan in 1980. Mr. Sekiguchi runs a food company (Fuji Bussan Co. Ltd.)that sells prepared food's and high end food materials to restaurants and hotels and he is good at it. His daughter Michiko went to university in Canada and has been to the various cottages and was watched over by my parents while she was are Carleton. She is now married to a French Chef who works at company developing new products and such and they have a little girl who is quite outgoing and gastronomically spoiled since her father is a chef.

Our visit was very relaxing and if you didn't know you were in Japan you might feel you were in the outlying areas of any Canadian city. We had a wonderful dinner which included the most flavourful olive oil I have ever tasted. Just amazing how good it was. I was in food heaven at dinner. There are more pictures in the photo section.

That week my mother returned to Geneva and I ended up going into the embassy for a few days since there were a few people away. I also was asked to substitute at St. Mary's international school starting May 10 until the end of school (June 6) doing IB chemistry. Quite a challenge since the part left to teach, is generally not taught in North American high schools unless they do IB. So I've been doing a lot of reading to relearn a tonne of stuff. In addition, I'm tutoring a student who is writing his "A-levels" in chemistry in June. This is the Advanced British curriculum and it is quite substantial. Doing a bunch of stuff, I was never terribly interested in, or good at, in the area of organic chemistry. So more getting comfy with my textbooks is in order.

The following weekend, Mika's friend Hanako and her daughter came to Japan to visit her Grandmother. They stopped in overnight at our house and we had a grand time playing. We also saw them again this weekend in Yokohama where we had such a nice sunny day that we went to the harbour and Eiko (the little girl) learned to roll down hills.

Well, the cherry blossoms are gone now and have been replaced by a lot of green. The city looks nicer as a result. This is the nice time of year where the weather is nice and the humidity is not high. We still have the rainy season (June) to go through and the Humid season, in July and August, which is horrendous. North American's don't know humidity like this, let me tell you. However, we are planning to escape some as we are cashing in our one free trip per posting back to Canada in August. Looking forward to splashing in the lake.

Oh and I almost forgot. We finally got our wedding pictures printed and put into an album and before you ask, no we are not bringing it to Canada as it is bulky and heavy. Just look at the pictures posted in the photo section.

We also bought a wireless router to network our house up so we can join the new digital system. This seems excessive but did you know that Japan is going all digital in 2008? That means no analog TV signals or anything. This is in preparation for this. Sort of. Plus I wanted to do it.

It turns out to be a challenge when you have an English operating system, because a lot of hardware here doesn't speak to English operating systems well. It just looks like garbage even when you have all the language packs installed. So there was only one router I could buy that I had to flash new firmware onto before setting up the network. Needless to say, I got help from the embassy tech people on this one.

So back to the textbook and the colours of transition metal hydroxide complexes. Weeee!

April 20, 2007

I just wanted to say that its been raining a lot this week and has been cold (by Japanese standards). Today the sun finally came out and while I was outside, I could smell the flowers opening up. Everything has had a good drink over this week that the plants are exploding in new growth and it smells really good.

I mentioned earlier about the Quakex2007 exercise and forgot that I had taken some photos with my phone. So here they are. Someone bein resuced from the 4th floor, another person being carried out of the building with a broken leg and the earthquake simulator which is quite a jarring experience.

April 15, 2007

For the last two weeks I've been working in the consular section at the embassy again helping with passports. The Quakex 2007, earthquake prepardness exercise went off quite well but, as expected, revealed some areas that need to be improved. Having said that, the initial assessment was that the embassy is much better prepared to deal with a drastic earthquake in Tokyo and outside Tokyo should the need arise. The Akasaka fire department participated in the exercise and rescued some people using their ladder truck from the 4th floor balcony. It was all quite impressive actually.

Mika, my mother and I went to Kyoto Easter weekend and we seem to be following the cherry blossoms. The blossoms come out for a week or two but at different times across Japan. So I have loads of pictures of the sights we saw in the photo section but here is the summary of the trip.

We took the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo on the Friday morning and it takes about 2.5 hours to go the 500 km to Kyoto. On the way we got to see Mount Fuji which was quite spectacular. Upon arriving in Kyoto, we were greeted everywhere by the cherry blossoms.

As Kyoto is the old capital of Japan, it has a lot of cultural repositories in the form of craft shops, museums and, of course, temples. So we spent the bulk of Friday looking at Kiyomizudera temple by day and by night, the shops along the old streets, the pavillion at Ginkakuji, Zanenji temple and walking along the cherry blossom lined "Philosopher's walk".

The weather quite warm and there were thousands of Japanese, Chinese, and for some reason a healthy number of French, tourists. The architecture in these older parts of the city are certainly more interesting to look at than the new modern buildings. However, with the exception of the temples, the old houses aren't particularily earthquake proof so I guess its better to live in the new ones.

On Saturday we went to Nara which is about 30 minute train ride away. It turns out that the temple part of the city is full of tame deer. They are not particularily shy since they are fed by everyone. They are sacred and their "sacredness" has something to do with an emporer at some point in time but I'm not sure. Anyway, they are everywhere.

In Nara is the largest Buddha in Japan at 48.91 feet high. It is inside a building which therefore is quite a bit bigger. It really is quite impressive to see in person. Inside pictures are in the photo section.

Also near the Buddha is a Shinto Shrine known as the lattern shrine. Guess why. Latterns are along the path up to it and all around it. We were lucky enough to see the end of a Shinto wedding ceremony while we were there.

On Sunday we visited the other Pavillion in Kyoto. The first one at Ginkakuji was originally covered in Silver and its companion on the other side of Kyoto has been renovated and recovered in Gold leaf. It is quite impressive to see shining in the sun. We also went to a nearby Zen temple where there is a famous rock garden where we meditated for a bit on the meaning of life and all that.

It is quite an amazing city to visit and there is so much to see that it is impossible to see it all in three days. It seems like a popular place with the locals too as there were so many people there. The pace in Kyoto is also less hectic than in Tokyo which was a nice change.

We stayed in a ryokan which is a Japanese style hotel. The attraction of these places is the Ofuro (big, hot water baths) that are great to soak in after a day of walking around. My joints and feet really enjoyed it. Also the food was something you can't get anywhere else except in very expensive hotels. The food was included in the hotel price. There is a picture of breakfast in the photo section.

All in all it was quite a pleasant trip before heading back to the high paced Tokyo life. This weekend we went to Fujiyoshida which is beside mount Fuji where some family friends live and run a food business. But that will have to wait for another time. It's time to make supper. Time to light the BBQ.

April 4, 2007

I have become somewhat busy recently. Last week I spent a week in Fukuoka, which is near Hiroshima. I was sent down there, ostensibly by Ottawa, to be the big, beafy security guy making sure that the locally engaged staff don't steal anything while the mission is in its last week of operations before closing permanently. This is funny on many levels, not the least of which, is that everyone at this mission will (all three of them) be moving to different Canada missions in Japan; and this is Japan where stealing is not really even considered. However, off I went and did my one hour of security inventory and then, since I had nothing else to do, decided to assist in anyway that I could. I did manage to get out and see a few bits of the city when I wasn't at the mission and those pictures are on the photo section.

My mother arrived last Friday, same and sound, and just in time to see the rededication of the embassy theatre. I missed the dedication because I was flying back from Fukuoka. They rededicated the theatre the Oscar Peterson Theatre and there was a performance by Oliver Jones.

Mom arrived just in time for the cherry blossoms. This is a big event in Japan and for the month or so, news casts and newspapers are making predicitions when the cherry blossoms will start blooming. Once they come out, you can only see them for a week or two before they fall off and are replaced by green leaves. It is very hard to describe how significant this event is but it might help to know that when they bloom everyone gathers outside on blude tarps under the trees and drinks late into the night. They visit places with high concentrations of trees and take pictures. They take boat crusises etc. Really important event.

It is quite interesting to note that most of the year these tree are indistinguishable from other trees and you really don't notice them. When the blossoms come out, it is quite incredible how many trees are all over Tokyo in all kinds of locations. We went to our Tea lesson on Saturday and then went to a nearby garden to see the cherry blossoms. In fact on the way to the garden we saw a lot of cherry blossoms.

On Sunday we went to the historic town of Kamakura to look at some of the temples and the cherry blossoms down there. Along with what seemed to be the rest of Tokyo. It was very crowded everywhere. There are quite a few pictures from this that I have put them in the Photo section for easier viewing.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day at the embassy as it is Quakex 2007. A simulation/learning exercise for the embassy. It is designed to practice and learn about the embassy's response to a major earthquake in Japan and also in Tokyo itself. Everyone is mobilised into their various response teams and it should be quite an educational experience for the embassy. Hopefully this means that we will be better able to respond to a major seismic event in Tokyo. Here's hoping it goes reasonably well and everyone learns a lot.

March 25, 2007

You do not want to have to be taken anywhere in an ambulance in Tokyo. OK, so you don't want to go anywhere in an ambulance if you can help it but it's definitely a bad idea in Tokyo. First off is that the roads a too narrow that there is no way for cars to get out of an ambulance's way so they get stuck in traffic a lot. Second, they don't seem to be able to drive the ambulance very fast. I don't know if this has anything to do with the size of the engine but when the roads are clear, cars are driving faster than an ambulance. Third, and the most annoying, is that the Japanese people are determined that an ambulance is as important as every other car. They don't let the ambulance pass through an intersection easily, as cars race to get to the other side of the crowded intersection as if waiting a few seconds is going to cause the world to come crashing down on top of them. The same goes for pedestrians who, although they have a green walking light, still insist on crossing the road before allowing the ambulance to get through. What daft people!!!!

Last weekend, Mika and I finally had people over for a sit down meal. I say finally, because every time we tried to organise something in the past, people were busy, we were ill or some other catasrophe ruined the plans. So finally we had people over. I must say it was nice to cook for a large group of people. It makes it worthwhile to cook a three layer chocolate mousse cake.

We have finally got moving on getting some of our wedding photos printed as well. Our photos were all digital and it has been very easy to show people the photos on the computer. However, we do want printed versions and have only yesterday managed to get ourselves to sit down and sift through the hundreds of photos to decide which to get printed. In addition, we have had a terrible time trying to find a photo album to put them in. The land of cute extends, unfortunately, photo albums. Essential most albums are covered with awfull, girly, frilly, yucky nonsense to the extreme or contain cartoon characters or are so plain and boring that they are good for everyday photos but not something special. Well we have found something finally so now we have the motivation to get photos printed.

Next week I 've been given a contact to do some more supervision work but at our consulate in Fukuoka. This consulate, along with Osaka, is closing down thanks to the PMO's office and they require someone in the last week to make sure the sensitive and secure stuff doesn't go missing. Sounds more interesting that it probably will be as essentially I'm going to act as a security guard. Oh well, hopefully I'll get to see a little of Fukuoka at night.