Marking the end of the summer holiday in Japan this year fell to a weekend away at a festival. We had seen pictures of the festival beforehand, but hadn’t wanted to hope it could possibly be as beautiful and laid back as it seemed. But, ahhh, bliss, it was! The festival, called Sunset Live, took…
Month: September 2017
Musical Conversation
The Beat cafe provided us with another musical and conversation delight during the summer holiday (I hate that I now call this a ‘vacation’) Although we were tired and sitting on a wooden bench for three hours had its own challenge, we got to enjoy three musical acts as the sun set over Ayaragi beach….
Shrooms and Typhoons: “The Earth without art is just Eh”
In September, we were lucky enough to visit Naoshima Island, Japan’s infamous ‘Art Island’. The island is home to an extensive collection of artwork owned by the Benesse Group. The collection includes six of Monet’s ‘Water Lilies’, David Hockney pieces, striking architecture from Tadao Ando, and unique mushroom sculptures from Yamoi Kusama. The long weekend…
J&J visit the Inaka!
At the end of August we were lucky enough to host our first oversees guests as James and Jade visited us from the U.K. On Thursday we took a day at the beach and relaxed the hell out of that. The sea was like bath water, but alas, it is quite the temptress! After a…
Playing at Paddle Boarding
During the summer holiday in 2017, we visited our good friends, Lauren and Brittany, on their beautiful Island home, Suo-Oshima. We last visited the island in autumn, and it was a nice enough place. However, summer is the season for Suo-Oshima! The sea was glittering and the mountains were lush. It looked like the most…
Shimonoseki 花火 Hanabi (Flower Fire = Fireworks!)
A year ago Dan enjoyed his second day in Japan at Shimonoseki fireworks. Fireworks are a big summer festival favourite in Japan, known as flower fire. A year on, now we were part of the group blocking off space with our massive tarpaulin, and we got to witness the beautiful show once again! An hour…
Still Mad, One Year on…
A year ago I wrote a post about why I am mad in Japan. A year later, the madness is less and life is a little more normalised! The hair. Yep, it is still insane. Although longer now with some blonde tips, it is still hard to control and has a constant fluffy halo. Looking…
Poker Face
Please, show me your poker face! Puppppuppppupoker face. Mine needs some work… The lovely mother of one of my students ( the one that has taken me and Dan under her Japanese culture wing), recently invited us to a poker night. She had been gifted a poker set from a British friend and was keen…