Awesome Autumn in Hakuba

In September we celebrated one year of living in Japan. Until we had confirmation that Ath's contract would be extended we were in full sightseeing mode, trying to cover as much of this amazing city's scope as possible schlepping and exhausting our 3 young kids in the process. I wouldn't say we've stopped now we have more time, we've just calmed down a bit and living in Tokyo feels like 'real life' where our routines and home in Shibuya are fully established.

Living within an expat community is the perfect catalyst to keep my exploring hat on. A tall latte from Starbucks on Meiji Dori (the closet coffee shop to the British School with rare outside space for little ones) and Jonah's banana and orange juice, is our morning ritual after dropping the girls off at school.  This is where lots of school mums hang out and has transformed into a knowledge pool where everything from restaurants, recreation, interesting shrines and temples, parks, shops, sashimi bars, weekend city escapes from the city...you name it gets covered by an international bunch of mums bonded in friendship by our common 'gaijen' (foreign) status with kids at school.  The fact that there are some outstanding woman amongst this crowd is a bonus and many are friends I know will be in my life a long time. I stick notes in my iPhone which is now like my directory containing the latest information about Tokyo and its surrounds. Despite being able to speak or read Japanese, getting around and discovering remote places in no longer an issue.

We're officially in Autumn now, weather has cooled down and the colours of the trees are changing. Fall has to be my favourite season and I've loved the experience in Japan. Over half term school holiday in October we headed north to the Japanese Alps for the weekend.

We figured driving a long way with a baby at night was not ideal, so I left in the morning with the children on the Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train). The girls love travelling on these high speed trains. After cleaning the train (see pic below) at Tokyo station the cleaning staff line up in a long row adjacent to the train and proceed to bow. After this a bell is rung which is a signal for passengers to board the train and at the same time it acts to welcome everyone onto the Shinkansen.

The Shinkansen is similar in speed to the Eurostar (London to Paris) but somehow when you throw the Japanese service experience in, this truly feels like you move like a bullet. We arrived in Nagano in an hour and 20 mins (same journey took Ath about 3.5 hours to drive) and we then took a local bus into the mountain village of Hakuba.

Hakuba is well known by Australians who dominate the village over ski season Dec-March. As we were visiting out of season, there was hardly a sole around. No restaurants were open either so we stocked up at Lawsons (convenience store) and the Phoenix hotel provided us with a great bbq and food for dinner on Saturday night. There was so much rain the day we arrived due to a typhoon that passed over Honshu island it was really stressful for Ath driving up that night. Thankfully he arrived safely after midnight using the 'find a friend' app on his phone, as we were pretty remote in the mountains tucked away in a wooded cabin.

The following day we explored Lake Aokiki about a half hour drive from Hakuba. This lake has pristine, aqua blue water. I think the reason for this is because no motorised boats are allowed on it. The reflection of snow capped mountains in the lake and a forested trail around the circumference in amazing autumn colour made this a great morning. The girls managed about 4 kms.  We had a laugh when we arrived. We were the ONLY car in site and parked on a random sand road/ park space. Not sure how, but a Japanese worker spotted us, ran over talking in Japanese and made us move the car to this huge designated car park area (with not one car there).

Exploring Hakuba was fun. We had to rug up in hats, gloves and ski jackets. Even though the chalet had the most awesome huge modern bath tub which we could only fill by operating a remote control wall panel, we decided to use the local onsen to bath the family that evening. The indoor thermal water is so rich in minerals - you can almost smell the goodness! The water was really hot, so the girls used the outdoor onsen where the water was cooler given the outside temperature was about 2 degrees. Jonah loved it too. The locals love bathing their babies in the hot onsen waters and we're well into this tradition now.

The final day was the highlight for us all. We took a 8 minute gondola up the Hakuba Iwatake mountain area to the most breathtaking view of coloured forests. The trees were bright shades of reds and yellows and although we tried to photograph this, no photo can do the experience justice. Rach loved the gondola, it was really high and she screamed in delight for 8 minutes up and down. The view of the mountains and scenery from the top was incredible. We took the footpath and did an hour walk round the forest trail at the top. After busy urban life in Shibuya, it was really refreshing being in such invigorating nature. There were some climbing frames made of rope and a swing at the start of the forest trail which the girls thought were fun.

As always its never a dull moment when driving in Japan and we took the wrong route home via Nagoya. We had no idea until after driving for 2 hours we saw a perfect view of Mount Fuji from the car. Fuji is south so we had travelled all the way south rather than east, so despite seeing beautiful views of Fuji-san what should have been a 4 hour trip home took over 7 hours on a bumper to bumper two lane motorway!  With overcrowded Japanese road side service stops (and failed attempts to find a Starbucks on route) I'd say kids were were hungry and grumpy when we got home at 9:30pm. But we loved this weekend trip and we know the beautiful nature expereince up Mount Iwatake will stick as an amazing memory of Japan.

Spot our car in the lonesome car park area #japanrules

View from top of Iwatake overlooking the mountains - this pic does no justice 

All aboard the Shinkansen - our bullet train that flew us to Nagano

Super cool technology - a bathtub in our chalet that can only be filled using a remote

The blue lake Aokiki and surrounding forests

Lake Aokiki 

Taken from the gondola - amazing autumn colours everywhere

Our forest walk at the top of Mount Iwatake - about 90 mins round trip 

Girls loved this swing in the forest

Simply - this is Japan. Magic all around. 

A hot hot hot summer

Has it really been over 2 months since I last captured a blog? Well it's been a long summer with my three young ones and timeout has been a rarity. Our original intention was to spend the summer months of July and August exploring Japan and further venturing into Tokyo's child friendly spots. When I told my friends in Tokyo my grand plans for the summer I had vague, mildly encouraging responses like 'look we admire you Lori, the summer here is tough' and 'we really look forward to hearing your stories when we return' (from their 2 month vacations).

Well they told me afterwards, I had them in chuckles when I sent an email 4 days into the school holidays that all attempts were failed! I had 10 days of holiday in Tokyo solo with my Ath (I'd say 99% of the school community leave for the summer) and with soaring temperatures of over 35' and a humidity factor that made it feel over 40' I jumped ship as soon as possible.

For the first time since we've arrived in Japan, I was pretty relieved to get out of Tokyo. I'd consider this an unbearable few weeks in the city. We had a fantastic month in South Africa bonding with our wonderful family and catching up with close friends. Atholl had a great time here too. He took advantage of the kid-free time and had some awesome travels into deep Japan exploring mountains, lakes, onsens with lots of cycling and hiking. There were a number of expat husbands left behind too who he went out with having fun in the city and watching football (Both Arsenal and Man U made it too Japan).

The school year at BST (British School in Tokyo) ended in June - Anna completing Year 2 and Rachel Reception. The last few weeks of school were pretty frantic with end of year assemblies, class parties, and sayanara (farewell) parties for school and adult friends leaving Tokyo. I really felt the sense of sadness living in a transient environment when neighbours, the kids classmates and our friends who become such amazing support in so many ways leave. Although it hasn't been long, living as expats definitely adds an intensity and special closeness to relationships and friendships. We see each other twice a day at school, sharing coffee mornings, notes and resources about the city, we explore and experience the city together ... all bound by the common thread of being 'on our own' with generally not knowing anyone from past lives. Its remarkable how quickly meaningful connections develop. We've made some incredible friends here some of which have now moved on now to new parts of the globe on their new assignments.

We spent the first 2 weeks of school holidays meeting up with those still around Tokyo for play in the parks.  I took the kids on a few outings to the Shinjuku Toy Museum, Legoland in Odaiba, Children's castle (an indoor play and crafts centre in Shibuya) and one weekend we drove an hour west to Showa Kinen, an incredible park with an impressive and massive complex of pools and swim rides.

One morning I thought we'd try a public pool in nearby Shiba Koen where we discovered the ridiculous number of rules that come with swimming in Japanese swimming pools! I could kind of understand the no kids in diapers/nappy rule (Jonah was at home with a nanny as I had found this bit out online in advance) but here were some of the other rules: no suncream (shower before pool entry), no accessories - meaning no sunglasses, hats, jewellery when you are in the pool. You have to swim in a certain direction, no noise, no photographs, no jumping or diving, no food at the pool area..and they vacate the pool every 30 minutes to check no-one had drowned! I was a bit frazzled when I left the place, and no matter how much my girls enjoyed the swim, it wasn't quite worth the stress nor the 80 bucks for the babysitter for the morning!

Atholl and I took a trip for a few days over his birthday to the Izu Penisula in mid July about 180km from Tokyo to a beach town called Shimoda.  Unfortunately Anna got a bit sick that week (I reckon it was a bug either ironically from the super clean Shiba Koen pool or heatstroke!) and threw up most of the way down south through windy roads...Its a peninsula that juts out into the Pacific Ocean, with really beautiful lush green terrain and white sandy beaches, onsen, scenic mountains and great swimming.

We spent 2 nights in Ohama beach, at gaijen friendly B&B's. White Beach hotel had a Mykonos feel - really hip and cool catering to the expats. We found a casual beach pop up burrito place to eat at, it had a fun vibe. The other 2 nights we stayed at the Izu Tokyu Hotel with stunning views of the coast, and a great pool - YAY Jonah was allowed in there and a small kid friendly beach. We had a lovely time - it was good to break the stifling heat in Tokyo with some cool ocean air and swimming.

We're back at school now and its slowly thankfully cooling down. It's been nearly 1 year since we arrived in Tokyo and Ath and I feel extremely blessed to have another 16 months to explore Japan. We've had an amazing taste so far and we're hungry for more...

Outing to Asukayama Park, Oji one weekend where we found some water too keep cool

Tokyu Hotel, Izu Peninsula view from the hotel

The Tokyu Hotel Pool 

Ohama Beach, Shimoda

Biking parklot at Showa Kinen...38' weather and the crowds were flocking to the pools

One of the many pools at Showa Kinen

Mini-Tokyo in Lego @Legoland Odaiba

View of Shimoda from a sweaty hilltop walk 

Driving down to the Izu Peninsula

Only in Japan

Two weeks ago we received exciting news that Atholl's contract will be extended giving us another year in Tokyo. I had visions of myself kicking and screaming in September - I don't want to go home (yet!) and I felt quite emotional at the thought of leaving so soon. We've always known that 12 months in a city as exciting as this one, is definitely not enough time and 9 months into our stay having fully integrated into our BST school community we've made some really great friends from school, the neighbourhood, and our lovely chabad community. Definitely too premature to think of packing up again...

Friends back home often ask me - what is it about life in Tokyo that you love? Truthfully I think I could write an essay on how this ranks as one of the top places I've visited (and lived) for many reasons. We experience a degree of safety over here, that makes cities like London and Sydney feel unsafe in comparison: its absolutely OK to leave the house unlocked on a daily basis, leave items like wallet and phones in unlocked cars on the streets. I've even left my sleeping kids in the house to run across to my neighbour for something. Many kids we know, from as young as 9 or 10 years old commute independently to school: walking, riding bikes and taking public transport alone. Its remarkable to experience this considering how densely populated city this city is (about 13 million people live here). And as Ath recently put it, describing some Only in Japan (OiJ) moments would probably suffice to validate this.

Atholl recently met a tourist from NYC in Starbucks who was having an OiJ moment. His cousin who lives in Japan had left his laptop in a local park in Tokyo that weekend. He frantically returned to the park the next day, almost 24 hours later, to find his laptop untouched in the spot he had left it. That's OiJ.

Atholl's colleague told him a story how he recently lost his camera. When he retraced his steps along a busy Tokyo road an hour later, he found his camera on the sidewalk completely fine and placed in a safe spot so that no one would ride over it. That's OiJ.  

And another classic - was the story from Atholl's workmate, who left his wallet behind on a bus. He had assumed it was gone, but the next morning when he took his bus at the usual time, his wallet was in exactly the same place he had left it, with his cash inside! For sure, that's OiJ!

In April Stacey visited us and we decided to take her and Aaron for lunch to Nakameguro, a great little neighbourhood. We had to buy her train ticket at Shibuya station and when we arrived at our destination station, the turnstiles wouldn't let her though. Initial thoughts were that we hadn't paid enough for the ticket, so we had to take the ticket to the station officer. Well turns out, she had overpaid! And the machine wouldn't let us through until she received her cash back for overpaying the equivalent of 20c! OiJ! These anecdotes really illustrate what an overriding respect there is in Japan for people and for property that is not rightfully yours. Amazing.

Cleanliness and impeccable respect for the environment is another massive reason I love living in this urban megapolis. Trash is taken home with you because no dustbins exist around Tokyo. You can literally feed your kids off this city's streets, no jokes. You will find street cleaners everywhere, collecting bits of trash, cleaning skirting boards in departmental stores, sweeping the lanes in parks to keep them clear. Despite the millions of commuters on the subway daily, there's none of that London tube (underground) classic when we used to blow our noses at the end of the day to find black in the tissue from city pollution.

We've learned how to properly separate our garbage for waste management and recycling, which includes thoroughly washing out tins and bottles before we leave them for collection. This occurs on a Monday in our neighbourhood with a series of trucks, each one responsible for a different material (plastics truck, paper truck, tin truck etc) and don't cut corners by not washing out your jam jars and tuna tins thoroughly - they will not be collected.

This respect for people, their property and the environment has heightened my self awareness greatly.  I think it's a humbling experience to live among such a respectful and orderly society. I definitely feel this has brought some 'calm' to the way I live and how I engage people.

...and then there's the cool, OMG moments, the radical stuff we see everyday that undoubtedly makes this coolest place in the world. The crazy architecture, fascinating parking garages where you park your car and then it disappears into a maze of cars underground or above street level controlled electronically. Getting lost down narrow alleyways and tiny roads to find quaint and quirky cafes and restaurants hidden in the nooks. Expressways (motorways) that weave their way throughout the city high above the street level, and the fanciest cars (not only Porsches, Ferraris, Lamborghini's by the dozen but we've spotted many Tesla's and Maybach's around (Ath told me that car is over $300,000!!) Departmental stores (on the Harrods and Selfridges scale) with magnificent foods courts where a melon can easily cost around 7000Y(around $70).

Service levels and punctuality are exceptional: tradesmen and service people turn up 5 minutes early every time to do a job. They'll bow as they say hello, take off their shoes when entering the home and have their cloth towels to clean up - leaving the job cleaner than they found it.

The animal thing is interesting too. We've seen pet goats at the street markets, a flower seller with his donkey in the middle of Shibuya, dog accessory shops with price tags that match Louis V, baby shops that sell strollers for dogs and dogs dressed smarter for the park than I do when I go out!  Pet tortoises and rabbits in the park - street life entertainment at it's best. Life is a zoo out there for baby Jonah.

I've seen but not tried a green tea flavoured kit-kat in 7/11 and hear bells that ring every single day at 5pm. It's become a regular in our family to shout out ' that's the 5 clock bell'. I've been told they ring these musical bells daily to test the city's loud speakers, in case of emergencies, but for our crew it's our reminder that the day is at a close and time to start winding down.

I feel very blessed to live with my family in such a beautiful, safe and exciting city.  I now fully appreciate the challenges expats face when repatriating back into the western world. My Kiwi neighbour Susan is leaving here next week after living away from NZ for the last 9 years - she told me she is going to face massive 'culture shock' when she heads home to NZ. And I couldn't agree more.

Dogrun at Yoyogi Park provides large areas for dogs to run according to dog size and weight. OiJ 

Making use of every inch of space..a car parking lot in Tokyo electronically controlled to move cars up and around

Dog stroller for sale

Near our home, a super thin house with its car wedged between the wall and stairs

Earth Day festival Yoyogi (festivals here every weekend)

Just a great sighting on way home from a run over a Tokyo bridge - a lone trumpet player

Pet tortoises having a stroll in the park one Sunday 

School holiday fun

We've been blown away with the amazing facilities available in Tokyo for kids. Despite a few lazy pyjama mornings during the easter holidays we spent a pretty active two weeks exploring our city. We were lucky to have my in-laws visit from South Africa during this time and we had a great holiday together.

One day we took a trip to Odaiba - a modern, artificial island in Tokyo bay and popular entertainment hub with lots of stuff to do ranging from shopping arcades, amusement parks, legoland and more. A few months ago, some friends took Ath and I to Odaiba one evening to Ooedo Onsen Monogatari (a recreated edo village with lots of food stalls and a great onsen). I was keen to come back to explore more so we took the kids on the monorail over the rainbow bridge to see Odaiba. Although there was some confusion initially about which was the best end of the train to ride (as the train had no driver) the views were great. The kids loved playing at Decks Tokyo Beach. Nothing like the white sand of Bondi but it served the purpose of a play on a beach and Jonah found some Japanese kids to hijack for  buckets ad spades.

Tokyo boasts some amazing open spaces. Bike riding in Yoyogi Park is becoming a sunday afternoon ritual and during the holiday we also tried the 'mud park' opposite Yoyogi.  Its your typical 'olden day' park: basic, simple, lots of tyres and mud. What more could 3 youngsters desire. There are no slides or climbing frames but resourcefulness has resulted in such a fun place to get dirty. The sandpit had real cooking utensils and pots and pans, there were wheelbarrows to ride in, tyres suspended from trees for swinging and a wood sawing area. I had to drag my kids out of there. Once we got home I piggy backed the 3 of them, caked in mud, upstairs to the shower before we stepped foot onto our carpets.

As there were still some cherry blossoms around mid April we took a trip to Hama Rikyu Gardens one day - beautiful landscaped Japanese gardens on the Sumida river near Shimbashi station. Very pretty and although a bit of a trek with kids and strollers this really gives you the sense of a green haven in the midst of bustling urban life.

Another lovely park during Sakura week was Inokashira Park and Zoo. Although Im not really a zoo person, it worked for our crew: small and manageable with a great kids playground and small amusement area.  Although the elephant looked really unhealthy there were lots of happy scurrying Guinea pigs in a large petting area. Rach was a natural and loved holding them while Anna tried but just couldn't do the claws on her lap - it was quite entertaining watching her scream.

Another fun outing was to Tokyo Sea Life Park - an awesome aquarium about 15 minute train ride from Tokyo Station. We had a long walk through the station but it was worth the commute. Rachel was taken with the penguins. Anna loved patting the sting rays and baby sharks and we all loved the massive tank of huge tuna fish. Super cool! It continues to amaze me how these incredible facilities such as Tokyo Sea Life & Inokashira Park zoo are free for kids. Love the Japanese logic.

Probably one of the most fantastic outings for kids we've seen in Tokyo was the athletic park called Mori Koen Field Athletic Course. 100Y to get in ($1) and about 10 hours of entertainment. This place is a gem with about 36 obstacle courses the kids have to challenge like climbing giant ropes and wood jungle gyms really high. They have courses across ponds (Tom Sawyer style) and have to climb walls using ropes and bars.  Some Japanese friends took us - and it's one of those places your children will remember for a lifetime.  Amazing amazing - we will be back there!

The final day of school holidays was a special treat for me and the girls. We ventured 45 minutes on the train to Disneyland and although a long day it was a very special experience and perfect way to end the school holiday. Disney celebrates its 30th year anniversary in Tokyo this year, and commemorates this with a parade for the duration of the year - called 'Happiness Is Here' . Turns out the day we went was THE first day of the parade, so we saw people queuing for front row seats in the parade for 6 hours! It was pretty special and a highlight of the day. We covered about half of the park I think and will definitely be back with Ath next time.

We had a great weekend away at Lake Kawaguchiko near Mount Fuji. I'll have to capture this experience in a another blog but it was a lovely trip out of Tokyo. We had awesome views of Fuijsan for half the trip and the other half was a right off, due to the rains from a typhoon that made its way into Tokyo that weekend.

In all this was a really great holiday for the girls with not only lots of entertainment and amazing excursions but also an abundance of quality time and love from their adoring grandparents which definitely added the cherry on top of a magical holiday.

Inokashira Park and Zoo

Hama Rikyu Gardens 

Celebrating 30 year anniversary of Disneyland Tokyo 

Odaiba  - Tokyo Decks Beach 

Penguin area 

Tokyo SeaLife Park in  Kasai Rinkai 

Sakura in Tokyo

It's hard to describe in words or photos the spectacle of the cherry blossom season. I'd heard about the Hanami ('Hana' - flower;  'mi'-watching) before we moved here, but living in Tokyo during the Sakura (cherry) season has been a really special experience.

We first realised that this country took its spring time seriously when even Starbucks changed the colour of their cups to pink for a few weeks in March and launched a spring campaign with their sweet and yum Starbucks 'Sakura' frappachino. 

Exploring parks and open spaces in cities we've lived is something Atholl and I are good at doing. We typically spend hours with the children walking, riding bikes and playing ball most weekends. Yoyogi Park, Shinjuku Gyoen and Meiji Park all lie within a few kilometres from our house. Although quite different, all three are gorgeous expansive green spaces serving as havens in this super busy mega-city.

The Hanami season is a time of watching the flowers bloom. Having being in winter coats forever - given we missed the Ozzie summer this year moving here in September - the first sights of small white blossoms in Yoyogi Park got me really excited.  I got hooked into reading the daily Hanami reports (explaining the percentage of blossom opening), working out best spots in the city to see the flowers bloom and naturally making lots of extra trips through Tokyo's parks to see the changes in the colours and growth as the weather warmed up. 

The season is relatively short lived (around 2 weeks) and the start is totally weather dependant. It can also be over very quickly if there's a large rain. The opening of the flowers this year took place around the middle of March. During this week I took a trip to Shinjuky Gyoen one morning and was amazed to see the large groups of people (some on organised tours) gathering around the trees discussing the stage of Hanami and taking photographs.

I've had a great two weeks viewing the Sakura often on my own (with my favourite travel companinon
baby Jonah) and sometimes with friends. I loved walking through Aoyama Cemetery one weekend which boasted some bright pink Sakura and also enjoyed a boat trip along the Sumida river to Asakusa (on an informal tour I took with school mums) where we saw lots of cherry trees on the river banks. 

Another great morning was cycling with a friend along the Meguro river. I borrowed a 'mama chari' -  an electric bike with a baby seat for J - and we cycled about 10 kilometres along the banks of the river under white cherry-tree lined avenues. Nakameguro was alive with Hanami parties and even early in the day (we got there for lunch) there was an amazing vibe with street vendors selling pink coloured alcoholic bevies and lots of cafes and bars buzzing. 

This past weekend, we spent a few hours in the Kitanomaru Park, north of the Imperial Palace grounds, also an amazing site where the cherry trees dip down into the moat below and it was beautiful seeing the magnificent Sakura against the backdrop of rowing boats on the water. Exiting the station (Kundashita, exit 2) was a breathtaking sight of Sakura. The blossoms are starting to drop so large white piles floated on the water giving a snow-like impression.

What really makes this time of the year special is the festivity around the Hanami. The Japanese celebrate with 'Hanami parties' across all of Tokyo's parks - lining picnic mats under the cherry trees and eating and drinking beneath the cherry blossoms. This obviously gets pretty rowdy in the late afternoons with lots of drinking and partying.

Although I've photographed more than a thousand trees I still cant get enough. Not only in the parks, but everywhere, sometimes it's the pink cherry tree outside Anna's bedroom window, or driving down the busy Meiji Dori road which is lined with Sakura in full bloom that just takes my breath away and calls for a picture as it's so pretty.  

Next weekend, we're off to Lake Kawaguchiko (5 Lakes Fuji area) and we're hoping to catch the tail end of the season, although its been raining this week, so we may be out of luck. Although I'm pretty satisfied that I've seen the best of the Sakura and promise never to comment on the Asian/ Japanese tourists taking endless pictures of Bondi Beach.  My iphone camera is overloaded with nothing else than the spring trees...(some of which are seen below across various locations). 

Lost in Translation and Deflation

Atholl's been writing a fantastic business update to his company and I thought I'd share this piece from him more publicly....  

みなさん、こんにちは

お元気ですか?私の家族と私は元気です、ありがとうございました。東京は今のところ風邪を 凍結が、幸いにもほとんど毎日澄んだ青い空を持っています。


I am proud to tell you that my Japanese is progressing well. I will leave it to you to find an online translation tool to translate my opening paragraph to give you a small taste of what it’s like to live in a country where you cannot speak or read the language. You will also see that the online translation tools don’t translate with 100% accuracy which adds to my confusion at times and why it’s easy to misunderstand people whose first language is different to yours.
My Japanese ‘skills’ (that may be a slight exaggeration) are now at the stage where I can get by with the basic necessities of everyday life, like saying: please, thank you, hello and goodbye, counting, asking for directions, asking how much something costs, asking what time a shop opens or closes, saying ‘I have a headache’ and ‘can I park here now without paying’? I am sadly still some way from learning conversation to a business level. 

Reading Japanese is not without its challenges either. There are three alphabets: Hiragana has 51 characters or sounds, Katakana 50 and Kanji only about 10,000! They are all used together and the writing above is a combination of all three. I can read Hiragana, a small amount of Katakana and I’m fluent in Kanji. Yeah, right! Generally, people need to ‘only’ memorise approximately 2,000 Kanji which is taught up to the age of 14 or 15 at school. Learning a new language at this stage of my life has been one of the most challenging tasks I have ever done, but the sense of satisfaction I get from understanding something new is terrific.

The picture below is one I took last night when Lori and I were going through our mail. We actually had to laugh because as the post piles up we battle to understand what it all means. There are bills for gas, electricity, home phone and internet and a letter from our bank. It is all written in Japanese with minimal English. We cannot make out what period they relate to, if they are indeed electricity or gas (we are guessing) or when they are due for payment. So each month I take my mail to the office and my colleague Sugawara san (my guardian angel who sits next to me), translates a bunch of these so that we can understand them. Lori then takes them to the Post Office or a convenience store like 7-11 where utility bills can be paid. She of course has her Google Translate phone app close to hand when doing that.

We are living in extremely interesting times in Japan at the moment. The country is undergoing a significant political and economic shift. For those of you who aren’t aware, 1989 was the height of the economic bubble here. Since then the economy has endured years of no growth, deflation, subdued stock exchange and property prices, and almost zero percent interest rates. 

Over this period various governments have tried to manage the economy out of this difficult position. In fact, in the last seven years there have been seven different Prime Ministers who have all attempted to work with the central bank, The Bank of Japan to resuscitate the economy. The governments have all increased spending (this strategy has been contrary to the austerity campaigns being implemented in Europe at the moment) and as a result the public infrastructure has been excellently maintained over the years. This continued government spending now means that Japan has a government debt ratio of over 200% to Gross Domestic Product, the largest percentage of any nation in the world and second only to America in dollar terms. A new Prime Minister Mr. Abe was elected in December and interestingly his focus has been to further ramp up government spending to finally return the economy to growth. In addition his intention is to weaken the Yen to revive the struggling export sector and to drive up inflation. Some have called his financial policies ‘Abenomics’ and although early signs have been promising, economists are divided as to the suitability of his tactics. Time will tell...

If you are interested in learning more, there are extensive articles on the internet that provide excellent insight into the history, the economics and the strategy of the past and current governments. I will certainly be watching the outcome over the next few years closely, I have found it enthralling. 

On a lighter note, in January we had our first snow of the winter, apparently it was the heaviest snowfall in Tokyo in over ten years. This is a picture of a park near our home taken by Lori the following day, what a beautiful city this is, amplified when it’s covered in white.

Until next time, 
さようなら

Atholl


PS: if you were having trouble finding a translation tool, this is my opening paragraph: 
Hello everyone. How are you? My family and I are well, thank you. Tokyo is freezing cold at the moment but fortunately has clear blue skies almost every day. 

In the snow

During half term we had a fabulous holiday in the stunning, quaint village town Nozawa Onsen. Not only were we really excited at the thought of our first family ski trip in Japan but this was also our first journey on the world renowned Japanese bullet train, the 'Shinkansen'. We took the Nagano Shinkansen line to Nagano - a town famous for hosting the 1998 Winter Olympics 90 minutes from Tokyo station followed by a local train through numerous snowy country villages to Togari Nozawa Onsen. Our luggage was sent in advance (seems to be the popular way of travelling around the country) so there's little hassle using the trains with minimal hand luggage. 

While most of our school friends tend to ski at Hakuba during the winter season, the well known ski resort with strong Australian and international influence including an English speaking ski school, we chose to try Nozawa for its more authentic Japanese experience. Our girls attended ski school in Japanese but fortunately skiing is a sport you can learn by watching and by the end of the week both were confidently moving (& stopping on skies.) 

We stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel called a Ryokan where the whole family sleep together on futon mattresses on a tatami-matted floor. The kids were super excited with these sleeping arrangements. Jonah was rolling around from mattress to mattress screeching with delight. We were given yukata (gowns) to wear around the hotel and experienced the most amazing hospitality from Ko, the owner at Ryokan Kiriya. Ko spoke very good English and we felt like we were staying in her home.

We opted for a western style breakfast in a communal dining room and every night at 6pm we were given a private dining room and served an elaborate 7 or 8 course Japanese meal. Starters were sashimi, omelettes, soybeans, udon and and lots soups (tofu/ miso etc) and then dish after Japanese dish we tried it all. Our favourite was shabbu shabbu where you dip the raw meat into a hot soup with vegetables on a small gas stove on the table to cook it. The kids would run riot and by the end of the meal the dining room was chaos. We wrapped up every meal with green tea, the girls loved that together with dessert (usually another kind of soup!)

The village itself was gorgeous. Spectacular mountain scenery being in the Japanese Alps, with steam rising from the hot waters on the streets and obviously lots and lots of snow. The town Nozawa is well known for its 13 natural onsen which means 'hot springs' in Japanese. This is extremely hot water rich in therapeutic minerals. There were 13 public baths and one in our Ryokan. We soon discovered there's nothing more rewarding than an onsen for an apres ski. Perfect combination! 

On our second day I took the girls to an outdoor onsen next to our Ryokan. The girls kept dipping from the indoor to outdoor bath, and got a kick out of the fact that we could bath outdoors in the snow! We even collected snowballs and cooled our faces down with it.  That night I saw a local Japanese woman bathing her 9 month old baby and that was all the reassurance I needed to know it was ok to take Jonah into 39/40 degree waters.  So every night we took our baby into these amazing therapeutic baths for his night dip - he has never slept so soundly as he did those nights in Nozawa!

Skiing with young kids is not a very relaxing experience. The mission to get everybody dressed (fetching all our ski gear from the drying room in the hotel) took about half an hour. We had a short walk through the snow to the travelator and had to collapse our massive buggy to get up to the slopes (a 7 minute ride) as being a Japanese size travel system it wouldn't fit! Once finally at the slopes we then spent another hour getting ski's, boots, ski passes, childcare sorted for J and getting ready for ski school. Phew....

Ath and I took a few ski lessons but soon realised that even though we hadn't skied for about 7 years it's a bit like riding a bike, so luckily picked up from where we left off. Nozawa has lots of green slopes (the more gentle runs) high up the mountain so we could take the Hikage  gondola for about 20 minutes and then enjoy a variety of runs using the lifts at the top of the mountain. A favourite for me was the forest trail ski path through amazing scenery about 7 kms down the mountain. We used the gondola most days up to the Uenotaira station via the most breathtaking scenery, white forests and snow covered peaks - just one of those sights that no pictures can do justice.

Rach needed a break from ski school in the afternoons, so we'd spend some hours sledding and playing on the doughnuts. They had a kids snow park and the girls enjoyed it. I didn't really get to watch the kids ski, perhaps that was for the best, but on the last day after we were told that Anna had progressed to the 4th level, Ath promised to take her up for a ski. She had little intention of traversing the mountain to control speed or making turns, this kid just flew down the mountain using a snow plough (what her Japanese sensei referred to as 'pizza') she fell a few times but absolutely loved the exhilaration that comes with skiing. 

We figured despite the effort of taking 3 young ones to the snow it was definitely a tick on the bucket list for us, and Nozawa is highly recommended as a brilliant skiing destination in this wonderful country with its incredible scenery, onsen and amazing powder.  Here are some pictures. I have about a thousand more....