Tokyo: 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...