park life

The older I get, the more I realise that nothing ever goes to plan. It was the sunniest day of the year thus far and so the Brit inside me naturally thinks 'BBQ!' but I havent seen any disposal ones being sold, which leaves the next best thing: a picnic. Problem is that I live in Nagoya, which Patrick described as 'just concrete' when I told him I was coming here last year. There are some leafy areas in Nagoya but they are far and few between, but Kevin, Kyla and I decided to head to Higashiyama Park and try our luck there. We didn't know that there was just the zoo and the botanical garden there (entrance fees apply), and actually the park doesn't really exist. I hate zoos, I think that animals are much happier in the wild and it makes me sad seeing them locked up in small cages. Japanese zoos are worse than most, since the cages are teeny tiny and not much effort seems to have been made to try recreate the animals' natural habitat.

Having headed to Higashiyama Park, we've discovered there is no park but we did stumble upon Jae, who works in the zoo manning the peddle boats. He was on the other side of the wire fence that stretches all the way around the zoo. We spent a bit of time acting out melodramatic scenes pretending we were lovers, imprisoned and separated by the wires. You wouldn't be able to guess that we are all twenty-somethings.

Jae came over in a bit with keys to the gate and snuck us in so we could go on his peddle boats. It completely made our day, peddling about and trying not to crash into the other boats. The wreckless kids, children just cannot steer properly these days! I didn't want to go into the zoo but Kyla wanted to check it out so I gave in and said we could walk through it real fast. I am dismayed by the lack of care that the animals are given. For example, its sweltering hot and the polar bears were locked in barren cages with no water or anything to amuse themselves with. It was a heartbreaking scene. The camel pen was only big enough for them to walk about five paces before they reached the perimetre, and the seals' waterworld' was molded plastic painted to look like rocks. I dont think the seals are fooled! Grrrrrr! Majorly vexed, I am never ever going in another zoo again.

penguin pen

Some very cute penguins, but they would be a whole lot cuter and happier in the wild.

Ooh la la

Here comes the summer sun. Oh yeah baby, sunny days, blue skies...hmmm heaven! One minute it was freezing, the next thing we know we were in our shorts and summer clothes, the cool breezy days of spring were completely non-existent as we went from cold straight to hot with no stop over in between. It's supposed to get a lot hotter but thankfully, I will be out of the country by then so I wont have to endure the stifling and humid Nagoya summer, which stretches to late September.

Law BBQ

This party was a private bash for the close-knitted elites of the Law Faculty, but I got invited through my Vietnamese friends who were doing most of the cooking. The food was obviously gorgeous, on the par with mummy's Vietnamese cooking and that is a high accolade. The weather is beautiful in Japan at the mo, so we were blessed with a warm and sunny day. We had three BBQs going, and a heavenly array of Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese food and the party spilled over to the evening when the weather plummeted. I was freezing! I was only wearing a skirt and top...bbbrrrrrr.

Ladies, take note: Japanese boys do not offer you a shirt/jacket if you happen to be shivering! I was enviously eyeing the boys in their multi-layered clothes: a t-shirt, shirt and jumper, and no one offered me even one layer. Why? Not because they're horrible, insensitive types but simply because Japanese boys are shy. Giving a girl a garment of clothing equates to an open declaration of love, and would be seen as odd when we haven't even been to karaoke together. So, shiver I did.

Some doodlings

Sven drew this picture of me playing tennis, strange how simple things can make you happy.

The Life of a Politics Student

Me: Mum, have they sent my polling details home yet?
Mum: Huh?
Me: The coming election, have I received anything yet?
Mum: Oh yes, that came last week.
Me: But Mum, I need a postal vote because I won't be at home, can you sort it out for me?
Mum: Oh Thanh, why do you worry so much?
Me: Because I want to vote, Ma.
Mum: You know, it doesnt matter if you don't vote.

Antonio's Birthday

We planned a surprise birthday party for Antonio, it worked a treat and he was very....well, surprised. This probably had something to do with the fact that we threw him a party two weeks after his actual birthday.

This is what happens when I give someone else my camera

Mark is a fellow Brit hailed from Edinburgh. He was going to vote Conservative in the election and I was supposed to dedicate a lot of time to converting him, but then Silly Mark forgot to register for a postal vote and now my job is done!

And the reason why I am NOT voting Conservative?
a) they propose to leave the UN Convention on Refugees
b) build more roads (the issue is public transport, love, not more roads!)
c) remove speed cameras and have more traffic police to do the same jobs as the cameras did in the first place
d) more police (err...so thats where the traffic police comes in)

Check you out!

Master Benjamin Forsythe, hats off to you, my ol' chum! The clever clogs has been accepted into the Politics Masters course at Bristol. I really must have words with my department about the people we're letting in these days. Lol.

Huge congratulations darling, I am completely over the moon for you. Lunch at Havana?

Japanese Way of Life (Vol. 4)

Present-giving is an ingrained custom of the Japanese Way of Life and it is not restricted to the presents we normally give at birthdays and religious holidays.

I didn't know this so I came to Japan unprepared, while other people in the know had come with ready-wrapped gifts of specialities from their home country. The Japanese particularly appreciate gifts from foreign shores.

When I went on the home stay at Christmas, I had to search long and hard for possible English presents. In the end, I settled for a bar of Cadbury's Fruit and Nuts, some Earl Grey Tea and English jam. On the closer inspections, the Cadbury's chocolate was made in Toronto and the jam was Welsh!

The Japanese are very good at giving presents to say thank you for the present they receive. My host family bought me a set of postcards (from Riku-chan, aka. Damien child), a studying charm from Ise-jingu, and a yukatta, a Japanese summer kimono. They absolutely put my tea, fake chocolate and jam to shame.

Hanami at night

The park was lit up with small lanterns, the blossoms gently blowing in the breeze, and the scene couldn't be more romantic.

At last...

The Japanese love their cherry blossoms and they all go just that little bit crazy when they come in bloom- so much so that they have a special word for it, which is hanami, meaninging cherry blossom viewing. The cherry blossoms are stunning, only blooming for two weeks before all the petals fall off and the trees are barren once again. Part of the joy is waiting for them to bloom, and guessing when the big event will happen. News channels dedicate special coverage and hanami predictions for each region, and when they finally come, it would seem like the whole of Japan has come out too to see them.

Parks are filled with families and old couples sitting around gazing at the blossoms. Nightfalls bring raucous groups of twentysomethings having picnics under the blooms and sometimes drunkenly climbing into the trees.

I took a day trip to Kyoto to see the cherry blossoms at the Imperial Palace Gardens, and this is a pciture of my favourite type of blossoms. I call it Pinky.

A Geisha at the Imperial Palace

I stumbled upon geisha walking around the Imperial Palace, occasionally posing for pictures by the big cherry blossom trees inside the grounds. She had little strands of pink cherry blossoms adorning her hair, but the strands would catch the lightest breeze and blow into her face. Here she is trying to to hold them in place.

...and from the back

Meet me half way

The last month of spring vacation proved to be as busy as I'd predicted. When I wasn't travelling, I was working to pay for travelling, but I like being busy so this suited me fine. I am never good at having too much free time and I hate the thought of sitting around idly dwiddling my fingers.

The highlight of the month was undoubtedly the ski trip, it was heavily subsidised by the law faculty and was a real bargain at fifty pounds for 3 days' skiing. If I'd known that lawyers get such a cushy ride then I would have opted for Law rather than Politics. Bristol lawyers are always being treated to a free bar at their balls, whereas politicians are lucky if we get a polysterene cup of Lambrini.

The rest of my travels around Japan has been brilliant too, it has boosted my confidence in my Japanese especially during the last week when I travelled by myself. It was just me and my bad Japanese to get me by, and much to my relief I didnt get lost or boarded the wrong train once. When I was hiking up the mountain, the signs were all in kanji and I came to a fork in the trail where I had to choose between three equally baffling kanji. Not wanting to get lost, I backtracked to find a sign with furigana and took a photo of all the signs for later reference. That was a good move since the trail was split into three directions and one of them had led to the carpark below rather than the summit. That would not have been fun.

Having spent half a year in Japan, I feel like I have definately matured and learnt a lot from my experience. It has made me more appreciative of everything I have, my friends and family. Nothing tests your independence as much as moving half way round the world to live in a country where you can't speak the language.

My love/ hate relationship with Nagoya is now leaning towards a great fondness for all the idiosyncracies of this large city. One of the things I missed while I was travelling was the lack of rubbish separation. Now, I tut at the blatant waste of a non-recycling lifestyle and I would say to myself, that wouldn't happen in Nagoya.

Alive

Im so sorry!!!! I know, I know... its been a long time but a BIG update is coming very soon. Thanks for worrying, Im alive and very well. Sorry!

The Most Beautiful Castle in Japan

There's a lot of debate about this but Himeji-jo is the most beautiful castle in all of Japan according to the Lonely Planet. This is a high accolade because there are quite a few castles dotted around the country and although nobody admits it, they do look rather similar.

I thought Himeji-jo was charming, the exhibitions inside the castle were really interesting and well done. One of the feudal lords who ruled over the castle was particularly good at painting and calligraphy, and there were displays of some of his work. Being a bit of an art geek, I was fascinated by the exhibitions because he seemed to me to have been an extraordinary man, being both politically powerful and artistically gifted, which is quite an unusual combination.

The grounds have hundreds of sakura trees beautifully framing the castle during tha hanami, cherry-blossom season. Unfortunately, I was too early and so the trees were still in buds :(.