A few months ago, I received an email from someone who was moving to Nagoya and considering living in the same building in which we had lived in Kakuozan. I spent some time on Google Maps and created a map which outlined the basics of life in the area – train station, konbini, supermarkets, nearby…
The flattened boxes and packing material have finally been taken away, and everything except my desk, which was damaged and is being repaired and refinished, is in its new place, so I guess ‘I’m still settling in’ can no longer excuse a lack of blog posts. I find myself in the midst of a problem, though – about what should I blog?
The plan was to do our best to treat Sydney as though it were Japan and continue to travel, playing tourist in our own land, and continue to blog about life as an ex-pat wife, hopefully hitting on the odd issue that could be helpful to someone. It seemed a good plan…
Urgh. Feeling very much in the midst of this at the moment. We are pretty much in the same position as we were when I wrote this post from Sydney in Jun 2008 – the packers are coming on Tuesday morning at 9 (four hours after Brigid will be picked up for her trip to…
Anyone who cooks even slightly, and probably many people who don’t, gives at least some thought to buying a knife or two when they come to Japan. It wouldn’t be stretching the metaphor too thin to equate a chef’s knives to a Samurai’s swords so it makes sense that many cooks dream of having knives…
We’re returning to Sydney January 8th 2010. I haven’t written about leaving Japan yet because, frankly, I’m quite sad about it but some boxes have arrived (for what purpose we aren’t quite sure) and the packing company is coming Tuesday to estimate how much space we’ll need on a container so I guess it’s about…
This post has been milling about my mind for a while but particularly this month as today approached. I am sure it will not be worded as well as it could be but you will have to forgive me, you will see why below. There are many wonderful things about being an ex-pat, though perhaps…
When we first came to Nagoya to find a home here it was late May and it was the Summer green of the trees in the street, which filled the view from the study window, that sold me on our house. The bark of those trees also filled me with a quiet hope – I…
Our last day in Kyoto was Sunday and the weather finally cleared so it was both safe and worthwhile to get the dslr out. We strolled Gion again (still sweet but not half as romantic as in lantern light) and failed to see the Imperial palace (it seems you have to make a booking…
Since moving to Nagoya I have, I’m sure like many other expats, become fairly reliant on the Japan Postal Service and they just never let me down! I think I’ve mentioned before how much faster Amazon orders arrive here than in Australia but I think that is partly due to orders probably waiting Stateside until…
One of my local Supermarkets is called Paré Marché and at the moment its walls are littered with posters wishing us “Merry Paré Marché!” Stores all over the city have similar posters and I’m not quite sure whether they are misunderstanding the phrasing or just approaching the whole issue of the commercial overload of this…
