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…
Considering the ease with which one can get to Osaka from Nagoya and the number of times I have been back and forth to Kyoto and Tokyo, it does seem odd that we had not visited Japan’s second largest city till last weekend. Our only real pull was that we felt we “should” go, so,…
On the Sunday before the Sports Day public holiday, Oct 11th this year, the All-Japan Ninja Competition is held at one of Japan’s surviving original Ninja training compounds: Koka Ninja Village. As part of our ‘making the most of the last few months’ campaign, we decided to head down on this day and we were…
The New Zealand retreat was wonderful! I cooked and ate clean, NZ produce, drank and washed in sweet rainwater, chopped kindling and built a fire for my heating each day and I managed to slow my brain right down and get lots of writing done. The Northland winter was astonishing, equally cool, sunny, blue sky…
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…
Our trip to Kyoto last week was scheduled to catch the first night of the lantern festival in Gion. I’m doing this quick post because the festival is still on and it’s well worth a visit – especially if you haven’t been to Kyoto yet and you’ve been waiting for a reason to go. I…
