Daytrippin’

I’m back! Sporadic as ever, but I am here to try and carry on with my mission to get up to date with this blog. So this blog is going to cover two daytrips Shyam and I made in the latter half of last year. The first one was to Enoshima and the second was to Nikko.

So, we went to Enoshima at the very end of October. Unfortunately even this late in the year, Japan is still pretty hot, so we had the hot sun to deal with all day. Very good excuse for ice-cream though, of course. Now, Enoshima is an island connected by a bridge to the mainland. It is also an island that has a lot of stairs. So many, in fact, that there are escalators going up that you have to pay to use. I decided we were going to walk and not pay for the escalator. Big mistake!! We earnt our ice-cream at the top 100 times over!

A view of Mt Fuji on the bridge across to the island.

A picturesque shot during the long climb up.

One of the views from the top, including the Sea Candle.

No photos of the escalators unfortunately. After the ice-cream, we then descended a bunch of stairs to get to the other side of the island where the Enoshima Iwaya Cave is. I really wanted to go into the cave cause I love stuff like that (thank you Famous Five, lol). It was very cool! Naturally created by wave erosion and it has Buddhist statues inside. At one point it gets so dark you have to take a lantern to light your way. It reminded me of an episode of Cardcaptor Sakura, haha.

A window inside the cave gave us this wonderful view of the sea.

After the cave we had to climb back up all those steps to the top and then back down all those other steps to the bottom again. It was honestly tortuous and I wouldn’t want to do it again. But the views and the cave experience was definitely worth doing it once. I would 100% recommend taking the escalators up though. You can take nice photos of the view on the descent instead.

Our next daytrip was to Nikko. We went there in mid-November and unfortunately missed the autumn leaves being in their prime by just a few days. We still got some nice colours in our photos though. Nikko is about 2 hours north of Tokyo, in Tochigi prefecture. We took a special limited express train there, which was crazy busy and already full when we tried to buy tickets, so we had to wait around an hour for the next one.

Once we arrived at Nikko station, we took a bus a short distance to the famous Shinkyo Bridge. We got some amazing photos here. It was like something out of a book. That alone made the journey worthwhile.

Nearby to the bridge is an area that holds a five storied pagoda and some shrines and temples. It was busy, of course, and there were a fair few stairs involved. But lots of beautiful buildings as always.

We took a bus to Kegon Falls after this, but before we looked at the waterfall we stopped for lunch. After a little bit of uming and ahhing, we went into this restaurant that seemed to offer something at least vaguely vegetarian friendly for Shyam. It was run solely by an elderly couple; the wife in the kitchen and the husband running front of house. He spoke a little English and was very welcoming. It was very reasonably priced, the food was lovely, and it was perfect to warm us up as the higher altitude had made it uncomfortably cool for the clothes we were wearing. らーめん屋敷 (Ramen Yashiki) was the restaurant name. I definitely recommend it if you ever go to Nikko.

Kegon Falls is a very impressive waterfall. It drops a long way down. You have to take a lift down and then walk along this cold, long tunnel to get to the lower observatory deck. It’s definitely worth doing though as you get very close to the waterfall. It’s a very refreshing, beautiful few moments as you stand and stare at it and listen to the crashing of the water. There are also some souvenir shops and food stalls nearby.

After the waterfall we managed to catch the nearby Lake Chuzenji during the golden hour and got some wonderful shots. It was the perfect way to end a very picturesque kind of day. And enabled us to tackle the long journey home with content smiles on our faces.

Summer fun in the sun

Okay, a bit later than planned (understatement of the year!), but here I am with my blog about last summer’s trip to Okinawa.

So on August 2nd, Shyam and I headed to Narita airport to make the short flight south to beautiful Okinawa. We stayed for 4 nights in a cheap but comfortable hotel a few minutes walk from American Village in Chatan. It was a holiday away from it all, exploring somewhere new, but it was also a chance for us to see a friend who had moved there a while back. So we spent a fair amount of time with her and her baby son. She drove us around, which was very important because it is best to have a car handy when in Okinawa. And we got to see lots of cool places we might not otherwise have seen.

When we landed in Naha airport we were starving! So we headed straight to a Royal Host as it was the only restaurant open at the airport that had anything remotely vegetarian friendly. After that we had a rather lengthy journey (I think about an hour and a half?) on a regular run-of-the-mill, local type bus. So not the most comfortable journey ever but a very cheap way to get from the airport to our hotel. Check in at said hotel was very easy and we were very pleasantly surprised by our room. It was very spacious and even had a microwave!

There were also cute Kimetsu no Yaiba themed signs in the hotel corridors.

The hotel was on a main road and the view of the sea was rather marred with buildings, but for the price we paid it was great and a perfect little base for 4 nights.

It’s been nearly a year since we went, as I said, so I don’t remember the day-to-day details very well. So I’ll just give a brief overview of some of the things we did and saw and include lots of photos I took.

Most of the beaches were, unfortunately, all closed off because of Covid, but I managed to get a few decent photos, and we did manage to go on one beach that was off the beaten track. It was very windy that day, but we collected some seashells, which is definitely a thing to do in Okinawa (at least according to my students), and had a little paddle in the sea too.

Not our best pic together ever, but it illustrates how windy it was, haha.

One of the days we drove to Yomitan and went to a collection of pottery shops and workshops called Yachimun no Sato. It was raining when we went, so we kind of dived from one shop to the next, but they had lots of gorgeous handmade crafts, including many iterations of the famous Shisa, the guardian lions of Okinawa. I didn’t get any photos unfortunately, apart from a quick snap of the site map ^^; It was definitely worth a visit though.

Another day we went to the capital, Naha, for the day. A lot of it was closed down because of Covid, but they had a huge Donki there with lots of souvenirs available. Other souvenir shops were also open, and we found a Chinese restaurant tucked away that did some, I think, quite authentic food. It certainly tasted good!

Whilst we are on the subject of food, I have to say Okinawan food, at least the bits I saw, were very American swaying. There is naturally a huge American influence there because of the military bases. Lots of burgers, ice-cream, pancakes, etc. We did go to this lovely little beach cafe for breakfast one morning. It’s called Happy Bowls Oki and is run by lovely people. I tried their avocado toast and peanut butter toast and it was so delicious! Plus we got some beautiful photos of the sea nearby too.

I can’t finish this blog without mentioning some of the beautiful scenery we saw during our time in Okinawa. We drove to a place called Kafu Banta, which had absolutely breathtaking views from up high of the sea. Taking in this view was probably my favorite moment of our holiday.

We also walked along the seafront near American Village one evening and got some shots as the sun was setting. It was a lovely walk, though maybe one too many feral cats along the way.

Overall it was a nice short break away. I’d love to go back one day when there are no Covid restrictions and do more of the Okinawan-esq things like snorkeling and island hopping.

And that is another blog done. Sorry it’s so vague. I really need to write these when the information is still fresh in my mind. I’ll try harder ^^;

Fun post hospital stay outings

One of the first things I did once I got out of hospital was go to the BTS, The Best exhibition in Yokohama. I’d booked the tickets prior to all the hospital drama and had been very worried I’d miss out on going. So when I was discharged two days before I was due to go, I was extra relieved. I became a big fan of BTS at the very start of 2020 and they and their music have really helped me through in the last two years. So this entry is a little self-indulgent, but as I’ve said in the last two entries, this blog is for me, first and foremost.

The BTS, The Best exhibition was held in Yokohama for a few weeks over last summer (it’s since been to Osaka and Fukuoka). They had rooms that featured props/sets from some of their Japanese songs’ music videos, outfits they’ve worn, other memorabilia from their career so far. Pretty much exactly what you’d expect to find at a music group’s museum/exhibition. We weren’t allowed to take photos except for in the music video rooms, which was fine by me because these were my favorite rooms by far!

So the first one was from their song, Lights: Lights MV. They recreated the movie theater from the video and even the ATM. It was very cool!

They even had replica popcorn between some of the seats.

Sorry for my silly face. We didn’t have much time to get photos with this, haha.

The next room was for Stay Gold: Stay Gold MV. This room was super cool and so pretty! They recreated the flower atmosphere from the video and it had a Team Labs vibe going on with how the lighting worked. I really liked this room!

The lights followed your movement! So cool! (I look like I have tattoos on my arm)

The third and last MV room was for their newest Japanese single, Film Out: Film Out MV. I think this was my favorite. It recreated the dramatic atmosphere of the video so well. I actually felt like I was in it. It’s maybe my favorite Japanese BTS song as well (so difficult to choose favourites), so this room felt very special to me.

Just me immersing myself in the MV, haha.

The other rooms were very interesting too. Lots of photos, memorabilia, outfits, etc. I couldn’t take photos, as I said, and my memory is kind of vague now. There was a special place where messages popped up from people visiting the exhibition, which was pretty cool. Then last, of course, was the merchandise shop. I somehow kept my shopping down to the bare minimum (maybe the huge hospital bill was still fresh in my mind >.< ).

You can never have too many notebooks and pens >.>

I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition. And then, a couple of days later, I indulged myself in another BTS themed outing. Katy and I went to Tokyo Tower to go see the special Film Out illumination. It was on the main deck and basically they had an illumination show on the ceiling set to the music of the song. It was very beautiful and actually my first time going up Tokyo Tower too, so an extra special trip out.

I’m not sure how to upload video on here, so this image will have to suffice, lol.

Okay, I’m done with this BTS infused entry. The next entry will be about our trip to Okinawa at the end of July last year. It will hopefully be up within the next few days ^^;

An unexpected hospital stay

So, I didn’t really do too well with the whole catch-up blogs thing. I’m going to give it another go now. As I said in my last blog, this is mainly for me to be able to look back on my time in Japan x amount of years down the line, so I want to try and record all the big and/or interesting events. So with that in mind, this is definitely not going to be one of the more fun reads, but I feel it’s important to document it.

In July last year, just before school finished for the summer, I ended up in hospital for 5 days. Now a hospital stay is never fun, but it is even more stressful when you’re in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language well and there are various restrictions due to a global pandemic. It was a very stressful, distressing few days for me, but I want to briefly write about it now as it was a big event that happened to me here. Also, it might be helpful for anyone wanting to know about hospitals in Japan.

So I had bad stomach pains, which got worse overnight. Early in the morning I finally decided to call an ambulance. This was stressful as I had to attempt some Japanese first, but actually they got me connected to a translator pretty quickly, which was different to my previous experience, so I was very grateful there. The ambulance arrived swiftly and they looked after me very well. The translator was on the phone with me most of the time and they got me to the hospital after some negotiating about which hospital it should be.

The hospital admission is a bit of a blur, to be honest. There were various tests and scans, as well as a very painful, traumatizing PCR test (I think they pushed the swab too far up my nose, it was horrible). They then told me they needed to do a Laparoscopy. So I was given a couple minutes to talk to Shyam on the phone, and then prepped for surgery. I remember the anesthesiologist had very good English and was joking with me. Then the next thing I knew, I was in recovery after a successful looksee inside my tummy.

After the surgery there was a lot of different information given to me. First I was told I’d need to stay for two weeks (which was incredibly alarming and distressing for me). They gave me loads of forms to fill in re. payment for using hospital pyjamas, for meals, and other amenities. I was told I wouldn’t be eating or drinking anything (not even water) for the first day. Eventually someone came and told me that actually I’d probably only have to stay a week max. This information was mostly in Japanese or very basic English. There was one nurse there who spoke really good English though. She couldn’t spare me too much time unfortunately, but she came by when she could.

Also, a special shout out to my doctor. He spoke a little English and he worked so hard for me. He came by often, he twisted a load of rules so that Shyam could come by and visit me everyday, if only for a short time. He even offered to basically be on standby just for me on his day off over the weekend. And when I was eventually discharged, he wrote me a letter in English detailing all the important stuff. He went above and beyond for me and I will always be grateful to him.

So the actual stay was lonely and isolating. Shyam came by everyday but was only allowed to stay for ten minutes or so. He did everything he could for me though. Left his Nintendo Switch, brought me a great book to read, lent me his ear pods, etc. But I remember crying a lot and finding it incredibly difficult. The nurses and other staff did their best to help me and cheer me up, but it was a terrible experience for me mentally.

It got a little bit more fun once I was allowed to eat and drink again. I started playing a game of ‘which flavour jelly will I get this time?’ They started me off with one pot of jelly and water. And gradually upped my meal contents over the course of the 3 and a half days I was allowed to eat real food. I, of course, took pictures. Not of all of the meals, but some of them. So here, have a visual on some Japanese hospital food delights.

My first post op meal, some 24+ hours later.

The first slightly more substantial meal: very watery congee, miso soup, the yellow stuff I couldn’t eat, and my fav, jelly.

Beige bowl had fish, tomato and egg. The congee was less watery. I don’t remember what the other stuff was.

Shaky pic, sorry! Much more normal meal. I got sick of that godawful barley tea though. Just give me water, please!

So on my fifth day, I was finally told I’d get to go home. Shyam brought me a change of clothes in. My lovely doctor spent lots of time talking to us and making sure we had everything we needed. He booked me a follow up appointment for the following week with him. My English speaking nurse came by to wish me well. Actually a whole group of nurses joined me in the common area for goodbyes. It was very sweet and I really wish I’d asked for a photo now. Shyam meanwhile sorted the payment out. And then we were in a taxi heading home and my hospital stay was thankfully over.

This entry is much longer than I intended, but I just want to finish by quickly talking about the money side of things. Being born and brought up in the UK, I’ve always taken it for granted that you go to hospital and don’t have to worry about paying for anything. It’s very different here. They have National Health Insurance, which you pay on a monthly basis, but this covers 70% of fees. Meaning, you are still liable for 30% of the bill. My hospital bill was a sizeable amount. More than I had imagined, actually. It was very sobering and made me incredibly thankful for the NHS back home. Hospital is stressful enough without having to worry about the bill total adding up.

Ending on a slightly better note, my friend mentioned I might be able to claim some of the money back. So I finally explored that option recently and, after some Google Translation aided emails with my ward office, I was able to apply for the High Medical Costs benefit. I got nearly 3/4 of my hospital bill back, which was naturally incredibly relieving to me. So it’s a very good thing to know about if you’re ever in a situation like this.

Okay, I’m done. I’ll be back with a much less serious post next time. Hopefully not another 3 months down the line ^^;

Back from the dead 2022 version >.>

So um… hi! I’ve been going to write this blog so many times but it’s just never happened. I really do want to keep a record of as many of my moments here in Japan as I can though. So over the next few days (weeks/months >.>), I’m going to be writing several ‘catch-up’ blogs. They’re mostly for me for when I’m finally back in the UK and want to reminisce. But if you read them, I do hope you enjoy them. The details will be sparse on some blogs as my memory is terrible, but there will be lots of pretty photos to make up for it.

So first up, we have our Spring trip 2021 to Kyoto and Nara. The school yeah finishes here around the start of the last week of March, and then the new year starts during the second week of April. So we decided to go on a little adventure during our off time. We did the mad, cheap thing, and took night buses there and back. So we actually had 3 full days there with two nights in a hotel squished in between sleeping on the uncomfortable buses.

So the night bus got us into Kyoto bright and early on Tuesday 30th March. We did the only sensible thing at what was about 6:30am and ate a hearty McDonald’s breakfast 😂 and just chilled in there a bit until the hour was a little more reasonable and we were more awake. Then we headed straight for Fushimi Inari Shrine.

One of the most famous sights from Japan, I think. I love foxes and torii gates, so I was in my element! It was really fun walking through them all. It would usually be heaving with tourists, so a rare time to get some less crowded photos of them.

I don’t actually remember what we did after this. We would have checked into the hotel at some point. We also visited a beautiful garden with cherry blossoms blooming among other pretty flowers – I distinctly remember some bright red flowers. We also would have eaten again, but I can’t for the life of me remember what we ate. I have no food photos from Kyoto, which means we must have not eaten anything particularly special. Kind of terrible of us really, but what can you do. 🤷‍♀️

The next day we got out bright and early and took the train down to Nara. It’s only a short journey, so the perfect daytrip from Kyoto. The main attraction is, of course, Nara Park. Deer roam freely all around the park and there is Todai-ji, the temple that houses the famous Daibutsu (Great Buddha) of Nara. It was a really lovely, sunny day, so we spent many hours walking around the park seeing the various sites and, most importantly, feeding and petting the deer.

Encountered this very informative sign upon entering the park 😂

Me making the rookie mistake of opening the senbei near a crowd of deer and getting ambushed 😅

We found a lone one a bit later and I was able to feed it a bit more successfully.

And we found a baby one all by itself and I managed to get this adorable shot 🥺

Again, I’m sketchy on the details of the full day. I can’t even remember if we ate anything in Nara or not. Maybe just snacks… I did get a little deer plush and call it Senbei though. We took the train back to Kyoto at some point and I finished the day with a headache and early to bed. I remember that much. Typical me really.

On our third day we packed in a few big ones in Kyoto. We went out to Kiyomizu-dera temple first, and then across to Kinkaku-ji, and also squeezed in Nijo Castle. Busy busy day! Kiyomizu-dera is very elevated and the views were breathtaking! Kinkaku-ji was incredibly picturesque and well worth a visit. Nijo Castle was, I think, covered in scaffolding, but the gardens were beautiful.

The pagoda at Kiyomizu, shrouded by Spring ❤️

One of the many breathtaking elevated views from Kiyomizu-dera.

Kinkaku-ji looking resplendent amidst nature.

After all our sightseeing, we did some souvenir shopping, ate something 😅, and settled in to wait for our night bus. I think there was a game center open quite late where we whiled away some time. Then the night bus got us back to Yokohama at something like 5:40am. So an incredibly long day!

It was a very good trip, but I think if we head out west again (we want to go to Osaka, particularly for USJ), we’ll not be cheapskates and just buy shinkansen tickets, haha.

And that is the end of the first of hopefully many catch up blog entries. I just need to keep up the enthusiasm and motivation to write them. So hopefully look out for more blogs in the near future. 😊

November trip to Shizuoka

So, as promised, a little step back in time to November last year. Shyam and I went on a short trip into Shizuoka prefecture when we had a long weekend off from school. I desperately wanted to see a couple of attractions there, so off we went early one day on a train. My memory is a little fuzzy so this write up will be a bit sparse, sorry.

The first stop on our whistle stop tour into Shizuoka prefecture was Atami. We had to change trains there and it was still fairly early, so we decided to have a short look around. It’s a seaside town with a bustling market and gorgeous beaches. I believe it was windy but warm under the sun. We sat and ate sandwiches by the sea.

Looks like an August day, not November, haha.

After that it was onwards to the destination I was most anxious to go to: Shiraito (white thread) Falls. An absolutely breath-taking waterfall, which was made even more amazing by the autumn leaves being in full colour. It’s difficult to describe how I felt when I eventually saw them in person. I’d seen plenty of pictures, but seeing and hearing them was out of this world. It is easily in my top 3 moments of being in Japan so far. Just astounding really. I 100% recommend visiting them if you come to Japan.

We took the train to Mishima after we’d had our fill of waterfall watching. We had booked a hotel here for the night so that we were nicely situated for heading out to Mishima Skywalk the next day. The hotel room was surprisingly big! Much better than the room we had in Nagano. Mishima itself is an okay place. We eventually went to an izakaya chain Shyam is familiar with (finding vegetarian friendly restaurants is sometimes pretty hard here). Then got a very good night’s sleep!

The next day we got up early and headed straight for Mishima Skywalk. This is the longest suspension bridge in Japan. It was some sight to behold! I’d had wild ideas beforehand about wanting to go on the zipline that goes alongside the bridge, but as I walked across and saw said zipline in action, my tummy pretty much dropped out from under me and I lost all desire to do it ^^; I have some regrets now, but not in an overwhelming way. It looked very scary!!

You can see said zipline in this photo *shudders*

There was a vast gift shop and restaurant on the near side of the bridge, and once you walked across it you had food stalls, another gift shop, a high wires adventure playground, and lots of lookout posts and things like that. I had some very yummy karaage and we took lots of photos and had a good wander round. Then we walked back across the bridge that, I should mention, swayed rather alarmingly, haha. We bought a few bits in the gift shop and then caught the bus back to Mishima train station.

It was still fairly early when we caught the train back towards Yokohama, so we decided to stop off in Odawara on the way back. There is a castle there, which we walked to and took photos of but decided not to go inside it.

And that was the end of our November trip. Not as many details as usual. I promise to write up about our next trip in a more timely manner so that my memories aren’t as faded. Until next time! 🙂

Graduation Day no. 2

Ahh I’m bringing this blog back from the dead. I feel so bad for not having written in it for months. I’ve just been extremely busy with school and life in general. Just want to start by pointing out how inappropriate the title of this blog is now, but also actually incredibly appropriate since so many people come to Japan for a year and end up staying for years -plural-, lol. So yeah, I’ve passed the 2 year mark now. Though, honestly, I think it’s mostly because of the pandemic. I’m not sure if I’d have stayed this long if not for Corona, but who knows…

Anyways, this post is going to be about the second junior high school graduation ceremony I have attended. I honestly can’t believe it’s been a whole year since I attended my first one, but 2020 passed in a blink of an eye, at least for me. I taught the 3rd graders at this school a lot more often than I did in my last school, so I knew them better and was a little apprehensive about how emotional I would get, so I was very thankful that I had the safety of my mask to hide behind for the ceremony, as I did last year, haha.

So also the same as last year, it was just the eight classes of 3rd grade and the teachers who attended the ceremony. It was filmed and I think many parents gathered in the classrooms to watch it on the TVs in there. Something like that. The gym was freezing because they obviously had to make sure it was well ventilated. I shan’t go into great detail because it was very similar to last year. Lots of bowing, singing, and then a seemingly endless stream of students going up on stage to collect their graduation booklet. I survived emotionally until the end, when they evilly decided to play some very sad sounding music as the students left class by class. The emptier the gym got, the wetter my cheeks became, lol.

The ceremony lasted just over 2 hours and afterwards we all filed back into school, seeking the relative warmth of the staff room compared to the gym. A bit of time lapsed and then we all gathered outside to give the students what was like a guard of honour as they left school for the last time. The students seemed surprised but absolutely delighted that I was amongst the teachers seeing them off. I got lots of great reactions, including a high five from one of the more exuberant boys. Also, a girl I helped with a speaking test she had to take to get into a specific high school came over to tell me she passed. I was delighted for her and told her good luck and to keep studying hard.

After the students left, it was time for our special graduation bento. I was worried it would be like last year and I’d have to force down some wasabi filled sushi again, but happily they were different ones! It was very good! and extremely filling!

I also took the chance to read the messages some of the students wrote for me, which were put in a nice little booklet. It’s such a lovely keepsake for me. The messages were mostly in English. The one Japanese one was easy enough for me to understand what it said. It’s so sweet of a handful of the kids to take the time to write to the AET who only taught them for the one year. I was so pleased to receive them! 🙂

There was a bit of hanging around to do after lunch with not much to do. I tried to while away the time by writing down some ideas for the 2nd grade lessons I would be teaching the next week. The graduation day itself was lovely though, and I’m really going to miss some of my 3rd graders. They were (mostly, haha) a really lovely group of kids. I genuinely hope they go on to do amazing things in high school and beyond.

So concludes my first blog entry in months. I really will try my best to write in here more regularly. I might go back in time a bit for my next entry and write up about a trip I did in November, if I can remember decent details of it, as it was an excellent trip! But other than that, going forward, I hope the current situation allows me to do some fun, exciting things, which I can tell you about. Until next time… 🙂

After a long absence…I’m back! ^^;

Um… so I haven’t updated since June… ^^; I’ve been going to update on several occasions, but it’s just never quite happened. The motivation just hasn’t quite been there. I guess because I’ve basically been doing the same, Covid-restricted type things all summer. I mean, it’s not actually too bad here. We can go out and do most things we would normally do, but obviously with masks, temperature checks, copious amounts of hand gel, etc. I go to school Monday to Friday and I’m still enjoying it a lot. Staff and students are great! I’ve been going to quidditch semi-regularly. The summer heat has been punishing again as it was last year, but I managed a few sessions, albeit pacing myself a lot. Seeing friends here and there, but mostly chilling at home with the blessed air con, haha.

So, I got inspired to write this post as last week I finally went on a mini trip to see a different part of Japan for the first time since Covid. We had a four day weekend (called Silver Week locally). So Shyam and I decided to take a two night trip to Nagano. We went for the cheap option and went by bus there. It was supposed to take 3 hours 45 minutes. However, on the way there it took 5 hours, and on the way back it took 5 and a half hours! Next time, I’m paying extra and taking a train! lol.

We stayed in a basic hotel next to Nagano station. The room was barely bigger than the tiny rooms you get in Tokyo, but it was fine for two nights.

View from Nagano train station. A city next to mountains.

Because we arrived much later than scheduled, we didn’t really do anything on that first day. We explored the little Nagano City had to offer. Some quirky shops, arcades, many many restaurants, and then we had an early night ready for another early start and more travelling the next day.

The next day we left bright and early and caught the train across the prefecture to Matsumoto City. I was very insistent that the extra travelling was worth it to see the iconic castle there. I think it was about 1 hour 20 minutes on the train, so not too bad. We got to the castle about 10am and it was already incredibly busy there, but the first sight of the castle already made the trip out there worth it for me.

We were warned on the way in that the wait to get inside the castle was 150 minutes, but we had come all that way, so it was never in doubt that we would wait to get in. 2 hours 30 minutes waiting in the rapidly warming midday sun was not exactly pleasant though. We kept ourselves amused in various ways. There were lots of families and several children were drawing the castle whilst they waited to go in, which was really nice and definitely something I would have done as a child too.

Eventually, at nearly 1pm, we got inside the castle. It has six floors and each staircase up seems to get steeper and scarier to climb the higher you get. They were trying to respect social distancing outside in the queue and inside as well. Staff members were communicating with each other on radios and sending us up each level in waves. The top two levels only had one staircase for going up and down, so we went up and down in strict groups. The interior was really interesting and you could really get a sense of how the castle was defended during sieges. They also had many different kinds of old weaponry on display on the lower floors.

After successfully navigating our way back down the steep, scary stairs (made even scarier cause we had to take our shoes off inside, so some of the steps were quite slippery when clad just in socks), we headed back out into the hot sunshine. We had a nice wander around the grounds, took some more photos (or rather Shyam did, and I didn’t steal them yet >.>), and then popped into the Matsumoto City museum, which is included in your castle entry fee. It was a nice little museum that showcased lots of historical details about the city.

The one pic I took inside the museum, haha.

After that we left the castle grounds in favour of exploring the city. Matsumoto City is a quaint mix of old and new. There was a shopping mall, arcades, restaurants, etc. like you would expect, but also this little, picturesque street that had various souvenir shops, street food vendors, and other various ‘ye olde’ type stores. There was also a shrine about half-way down the street, which is kind of typical in Japan. After seeing most of the city, we decided to go to the City Art Museum.

The very vibrant sculpture outside the front of the museum

We just opted to see the collection exhibitions, which houses several artists who have connections to Nagano. The only one I’d heard of before was Yayoi Kusama. But all rooms we saw were really interesting. I’m not that knowledgeable when it comes to art, but I enjoyed having a good look around.

After that we went to sort our train tickets out to get back to Nagano, before doubling back to this ramen restaurant that had incredible views on Google. They opened at 5:30 but already at 5:15 a queue was forming. It’s a tiny place that is kind of threadbare inside, but the miso ramen and gyoza were extremely tasty!

I got extra pork since Shyam is vegetarian 😀

We got the train back to Nagano after that and sleep came quickly again once back at the hotel as it had been a very busy day.

The next day we checked out of the hotel in a fairly leisurely manner, before hopping on a train in the other direction from the day before. We went to Obuse. This was about 25 minutes on the express train. Obuse train station is an adorable little station. It reminded me a little of Kita-Kamakura station. Very quaint and cute. We headed into the information office first and were immediately greeted by a lady who spoke exceptionally good English. She gave us a map and some great tips on where we should go.

So Obuse is famous for its connections to Hokusai, as well as chestnuts. So first we went to the Hokusai museum. It was your standard, small town museum. Lots of information about Hokusai and his career, paying particular attention to the parts relevant to Obuse. And of course a huge collection of his artworks. The museum shop was also well stocked and reasonably priced. After that we walked around town, taking in all the chestnut trees and stocking up on omiyage (souvenirs) in the many many stores dotted about the place. Obuse is a lovely little place to go see if you only have a few hours to spare.

We caught the train back to Nagano around 1pm, had a light lunch, and bought some more omiyage, before collecting our bags from the hotel and going to catch our bus home. Nagano is lovely and I would quite like to go back in the winter to see the snow monkeys, but we shall see.

Back to school!

Ahhh, so I’ve been trying to write this blog for about two weeks, but never got past opening the browser for it. Better late than never, I suppose.

The state of emergency in the rest of Japan was lifted at the end of May and things have gradually been opening up and getting back to, well, a semblance of normality. I needed to buy some summer clothes now that the temperatures are starting to get crazy hot, so I ventured into Yokohama central for the first time in, I think it was about 2 months, so it felt very strange. The UNIQLO inside Yodabashi Camera was open, so that’s where I headed.

They had signs up at the entrance saying you must wear a mask, which was fine, I had one on. They had two separate hand gel stations at the outer door and inner door, as well as a disinfecting mat that you had to walk over to go in. Then, to get into UNIQLO, which is on the top floor, they had it all roped off so you can only get in and out of one area. Here they had someone take your temperature and more hand gel. So yeah, it was all very thorough, and kind of eye-opening for me, as I hadn’t experienced anything like that in just my local area.

On the Saturday (May 30th), we had our first quidditch session since March. It was so lovely to see everyone again after so long! There was no tackling, or close contact. A very sensible, socially distanced session.

Then on the Monday (June 1st), it was finally back to school! I was excited, but nervous I would sleep through my alarm, haha. I didn’t! And when I got to school it felt amazing to see the kids back in too. They had decided to split the classes into two groups. So group A students would come in the morning and group B in the afternoon, and then swap over the next day. And so on. Which I actually loved because teaching 20 kids instead of 40 was fantastic! The lessons were only 30 minutes though, which was a shame as my self intro lessons were rather rushed, but I met some fantastic kids who tried hard to speak with me.

This format lasted for the first two weeks, and then this week we’ve reverted back to full classes, though still only 30 minute lessons. So my self intro lessons with the first graders felt even more rushed, but I made it work somehow. Their knowledge of the UK is so good compared to the older students. Makes me wonder if some of them had a British ALT in elementary school. Next week we are moving up to 40 minute lessons, so gradually getting back to normal (normal lessons are 50 minutes). Oh, and of course, mask wearing is strictly mandatory, and the hand washing is almost military, lol.

So yeah, loving my new school so far. The Japanese English teachers are lovely, the kids are lovely, and the other staff members I’ve talked with so far are also lovely. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into real lessons from next week (technically I did my first grammar lesson today because of a schedule change, but the 30 minutes meant it was incredibly rushed.).

Tomorrow is our third post-lockdown quidditch session. Last week’s was a washout though as the rain was ridiculous, but the weather is meant to be better tomorrow. So fingers crossed we have a good session! I shall leave it there for now, but I will try my best to keep this updated more regularly from now on.

A small, long overdue update.

Well, it has been a hideously long time since I last wrote in here. Well over a month! But honestly, nothing much has been happening. I, along with most other people, have been stuck in the monotony of our current reality. Japan is still in a relatively relaxed type of lock down. The state of emergency was recently lifted off most of Japan and just remains in, I think, seven prefectures, including mine. So nothing is particularly different compared to my last update, well apart from masks being readily available again and basically every single person wearing them out. Oh and our current start date back at school is June 1st. It’s been pushed back two or three times already though, so we shall see.

So what have I been doing with myself? Well I certainly haven’t written that best selling novel yet! Honestly, all this extra free time counts for nothing when you lose all your motivation to do anything. I definitely need some semblance of routine to be productive. I have been trying though. I’m trying to teach myself Hangul (Korean alphabet). I also tried to learn some ASL (with the thought to progress onto BSL afterwards) but it’s a little like knitting for me, ie. killer on my hands, lol. I shall keep trying though. And of course been trying to keep up with my Japanese study. I’m not even good at learning languages! Haha.

The thing I’ve been best at though, of course, is wasting away time online, mostly watching Netflix and talking to family and friends. We’ve had some nice weather here over recent weeks too, so I’ve been sitting out on my balcony reading my book. I’m currently reading the second in the Book of Dust trilogy by Philip Pullman. So weird reading about Lyra as an adult, haha.

I did, however, go on a really good walk locally a couple of weeks ago. I opened Google Maps and was like ‘where can I go without getting on a train?’ and there is so much to explore around here! A 40 minute walk (same distance as my new school, lol) took me to a nature reserve that was actually kind of mind blowing! To think such a place existed in amongst such a tightly packed residential area! I’ll just post some photos so you can get a feel for what I mean.

I walked straight from residential area to this.

So yes, this was a lovely walk! Think I managed just over 10,000 steps in all on that Sunday, which was the most I had done in a long time. So nice to think I have this only 40 minutes walk away, as well as the gorgeous park next to my school, also 40 minutes walk away.

Anyway, I shall leave it there for now. Just didn’t want to leave this blog completely stagnant for any longer. I have just under two weeks and then hopefully -hopefully- will get to go back to school. Fingers crossed! Hope everybody is staying safe and relatively sane out there ❤