hello

Apologies for not writing for a while but I seem to have been so busy lately - almost like all of the people I meet here - everyone seems so busy it is scary. So I guess now I have joined the "permanently busy" club.

Due to the fact that my pictures take so long to download I have created a photo album in Yahoo! so you can see them all if you are interested - just click on the link below and then click on the "Japan" album and you should have access. If you have any problems let me know. I have tried to include a brief description of where each one is etc for your benefit.

http://photos.yahoo.com/comeinjapan

The weather here in Gotenba continues to be extremely changeable (we had a scorcher last Saturday and Sunday was almost like the middle of winter - heavy fog and very cold!) but I am still enjoying life - as I said before I seem to be permanently busy (I have some new students and have a couple of student renewals so I am quite happy about that) and I have also started having regular Japanese lessons with a very kind lady called Yuko, who also teaches me about Japanese culture and sometimes takes me to visit places of interest in and around Gotenba. For me this is a really good opportunity.

I will attempt to write more soon - next week is Golden Week in Japan so I have a whole week off - wow! Until next time. Take care.

PS I`m keeping my fingers crossed for Man Utd to pull of an amazing victory today and get through to the Euro semis but I don`t think its going to happen somehow! Lets`s hope I get a suprise when I wake up tomorrow!

Konichiwa. Genki desuka?

I am currently watching on the TV American tanks rolling into Bahgdad - amazing - I never thought it would happen so quickly. I hope the remainder of the war will be over soon. It is very depressing to think that more people will have to die.

As a friend of mine said recently, and I hope he doesn`t mind if I quote him, "The allies seem to be perfectly capable of wiping out their own armed forces on their own. Two crashes, one UK plane shot down by the US, one US solider attacking his own forces with grenades, and we have only been going a few days". This was of course from a couple of weeks ago and much more friendly fire has occured since - it`s worrying that these things happen so frequently. I also saw the aftermath of the bombing of a Kurdish convoy in Northern Iraq this morning in which the BBC reporter John Simpson was travelling. I find it incredible to believe that this happened - don`t people think to check who they are actually firing on! Anyway, life goes on and so does the war. What can we do but watch!

The weather here today is really great - very warm and sunny - and I took a leisurely bike ride around the neighborhood today and discovered a small park area with a small fountain and a kind of shrine. It was very relaxing and I will no doubt go back there with a good Marukami book in the near future. I also had a Japanese lesson at lunchtime - it was quite interesting - and I felt as though I understood most of what I was being taught. It`s just a case of practice and I will hopefully be able to find as much time as possible to do this. I also have found another Japanese teacher though a lady who works at the city hall`s international office so I will hopefully be able to arrange lessons with her soon. I really need as much help and practice as I can get. The international office have also asked me to do a presentation and slide show in May using my photographs and experiences of Japan so far - I am looking forwrd to this and it will be a good opportunity to meet some new and interesting people.

So let me tell you about yesterday - an interesting day to say the least. We had organised a GEOS trip to Fujikyu Highlands (a theme park a bit like Alton Towers in England but nowhere near as big) but only one student came along so it was a bit strange with three native teachers and one student but it was fun. The theme park boasts a roller coaster called `Fujiyama` which is one of the longest roller coasters in the world (picture to follow). This roller coaster is simply the best one I have ever ridden (and it beats the one I rode in Busch Gardens in Florida, USA about ten years ago). Fujiyama itself lasts for about three minutes or so, which actually feels like an eternity when you are travelling at high speeds and rising and dropping like a yo-yo. We queued for about two hours for this ride but it was well worthit. At one point I thought that one of the native teachers with us who doesn`t like roller coasters (or heights for that matter) was going to chicken out but she didn`t - so I have eternal respect for her. I also thought at one point that she was going to attack me in a very violent manner for suggesting to her that she would enjoy the ride once she was on it.

We actually rode Fujiyama second - before this we had taken another well known ride (of which I forget the name) but which involved accelerating from 0 - 172kph in 1.5 seconds (something to do with compressed air) - wow! - and then a 90 degree vertical drop - another wow (or in actual terms a very loud expletive!) - and it is absolutely awesome. This ride only lasted for 25 seconds (we timed it afterwards!) and we had queued for a grand total of three hours! Crazy you might say, and illogical (as a Vulcan might say) - but it was worth it to feel that kind of acceleration and thrill. I think the sign said something about 4.25 G - over four times normal gravity - it sounded impressive to me! The remainder of the park is pretty much like any other you might visit but we had a cool time anyway!

We had actually gone to FujiQ by bus in the morning - it took about 40 minutes - and we had therefore fully expected to be able to return by bus in the evening. So at about 7.40pm, when we had had enough of the place, we turned up at the bus stop only to find that the last bus had actually already left for Gotenba at 6.04!!! So we had a bit of a problem. We felt a bit stupid to say the least, and after turning down the option of a taxi, we called some friends to ask if they would be so kind as to come and take us home. The guy who runs the Internet Cafe in Gotenba was really great and organised two of his friends to drive and pick us up - they came at about 9.15. In the interim period, we had to do some some serious `time killing`.

Now, I imagine you could actually do many things to kill time, and I will not start here to imagine what some of those things are, but my idea was `Eye Spy` ! - a good way for the one and only student to practice his vocabulary I thought and usually good fun. We managed to find a McDonalds to sit in to keep warm until the ride home arrived (and as it was bloody freezing) and the one student who was with us was quite up for my idea to play `Eye Spy` and indeed it did kill a bit of time. After a bit of `Eye Spy`, Kim, one of the other native teachers (and the same person who had earlier overcome her fear of rollercoasters) suggested `20 questions` - another great way to kill time. I have a habit of taking these kind of games a bit too seriously but it was fun to rebuke the comments thrust in my direction about my methods and I have to say those 60 minutes of `time killing` were one of the best I have had since arriving in Japan, not that I have had much time to kill so far. To end a good story, we got home OK after a wrong turn or two and ate some really good ramen (Chinese noodles) to warm us up (and fill us up.). I (in the singular now of course) then took a really great warm bath (at home not in the restaurant!) and envisaged the day when I would be able to own my own theme park or resort type thing and be able to ride something similar to Fujiyama to my heart`s desire. It`s a nice dream to have!

Anyway, take care of yourselves and cheerio until next time!

I managed to escape from work on time tonight so I thought I would come and check my email and write some more of my journal. It has been raining here since early this morning - and as I said before when it rains here it really rains (well compared to England anyway!).

I thought I would take the opportunity to write about some of the culinary delights I have discovered since coming to Japan. Of course, I had eaten quite a lot of Japanese food in England but it`s never really then same as the native stuff. Basically, I like noodles (very much) and there are lots of noodles here - and many different varieties too. It`s so great for me really as I will never tire of eating noodles (or rice for that matter) so I am pretty much content with this. I enjoy eating ramen, udon, soba and any other variety there may be and I can eat these whether fried, in a soup or whatever. The rice here is a little different to Chinese style or Indian style - it is stickier and of a more rounded grain than other types. It is still really nice to eat however, and when I get around to fixing my rice cooker or buying a new one I will be able to eat more of the stuff, but I think I prefer noodles to be honest.

Also, just to sidetrack for a moment, I`d like to clear up a little confusion regarding me and my preference for eggs. For those of you who know me well, you will know that I can only eat eggs if the yolk and white have been mixed together, like in scrambled egg or omelette for example. I don`t know why this but there you go. I think it is the result of a bad experience I had eating a boiled egg with soldiers of toast when I was very young and I haven`t been able to muster the confidence to face another since, let alone one of the fried or poached variety. Additionally, if I do eat scrambled egg or omelette, I can only enjoy it if it has been cooked quite well in the pan!!! So getting to the point (as sometimes takes a while with me), some foods in Japan (and other parts of Asia) have egg in them so I always have to check if eggs are present before I eat them. Obviously things like sushi and sashimi (which I really like) don`t have egg in them, although there is a variety of sushi which has a kind of egg parcel on top of the rice. Its actually like a sweet omelette kind of thing and its not so bad.

Anyway, to wake you up again, the rest of the food I eat seems to be either fried chicken (or yakitori - meaning `fried` `chicken`), sushi roll (I found a cheap `Izakaya` which serves great sushi roll), or dumplings (Japanese style). I also really enjoy eating Japanese curry (which is thicker than the Indian variety and nowhere near as hot!) and Seven Eleven sell this great cake bread which I usually buy for breakfast, not to mention the chocolate bread. Actually, thinking about it, I haven`t seen the sponge cake bread for a couple of days - I really hope they haven`t dicontinued it. One thing I will complain about is the milk here. It`s one thing I really miss about England. The problem is that all the milk here seems to be homogenised or a bit life UHT or long life milk for those who are familiar with that. If you have ever had the unfortunate experience of drinking UHT milk you will know exactly what I mean! So, a large cold glass of fresh milk would be greatly appreciated.

Another aside, about convenience stores this time. Basically, all the convenience stores here are open 24 hours (which I imagine will be very lonely for some of the staff) and there are many of them. Seven Eleven, Daily Yamazaki, Lawson and a few other smaller companies. To be hoenst, it`s a bit similar to thinking about the number of coffee shops in London - everywhere you look you will see either a Starbucks, a Coffee Republic, a Caffe Nero or a Costa Coffee. It`s the same here in Japan - everywhere you look there seems to be a convenience store (and not just in the big cities). Not that I`m complaining you see - I think it`s really great (very `convenient` you might say!). Its`s actually very useful when you can`t be bothered to cook dinner after work, or you suddenly have an urge to eat something in the middle of the night (not that I have as yet!). They are pretty reasonable priced and have a selection of things to choose from. You can also pay your utility bills and withdraw cash from the ATMs there (although my thoughts on the Japanese ATM system I will save for another journal). Convenience stores are one thing that I think is really cool about Japan and something I would like to see more of in England, as usually you cannot get access to anything after 6 o`clock if you live in a small town. So Seven Eleven, please spread your wings and come to England!

OK, so that`s all for tonight - time to go home and get some dinner. Today was busy and I`m sure tomorrow will be just the same. Have a good day and take care of yourselves.