Making a Home in Nagoya, Japan

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 Aussie Quarantine) and we are in preparation limbo. Our days are a blur of decision making: Air, Sea or Plane?; Pack ourselves or leave for the packers?; If pack ourselves do we do it now or will we need it before Tuesday?; Do... More...

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 forged using the same methods as those swords.... More...

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 time. I can’t quite bring... More...

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 I should say “mobile ex-pat” to distinguish we who live in a new... More...

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 suspected they were some kind of stone fruit tree, all of which have beautiful blossoms.... More...

   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 in advance – be warned) but enjoyed a walk in the surrounding... More...

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 there are enough orders for... More...

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 festival... More...

Shane at The Nihon Sun put a call out to those of us living in Japan to post a picture of the view from our windows and so I thought I’d use this gentle, almost-tagging to ease back into blogging after the break I have taken recently. I have been assessing the role that procrastination plays in my life (substantial) and attempting to tackle it... More...

As the hostess of this month’s Matsuri, I posed the question: What has Japan taught you about yourself or your home country? A few brave souls took on the challenge, dug deep and provided us with the posts outlined below. If you submitted your post via the blog widget and did not also put a link on my original matsuri post on this blog my apologies... More...