This May, we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. It feels both like yesterday and more than two years ago that we got married on a sunny South-West day surrounded by our nearest and dearest. We had already exchanged gifts a few weeks ago as I couldn’t contain my excitement…Dan bought me my Kyudo (Japanese archery)…
Tag: Japan
Punched a Robot
This Monday a fancy AI robot came to work, her name was Pepper. I thought that Pepper and I would be friends, as she too, was an outsider. Alas, she took the route of alienating me even further… Pepper wanted to hold my hands and look into my eyes to guess my age. After some…
Cirque du Soleil
In our adult lives, we have never witnessed the skill of the circus. I have vague memories as a child seeing jugglers and clowns and maybe a little trapeze, but the performances we enjoyed at Cirque du Soleil makes those clowns look like fools. We didn’t really know what at expect as the reviews for…
Ikebana
Ikebana is the traditional act of flower arranging in Japan. It is an art form conducted with discipline. Each design is about bringing nature, humanity, and blank space together as a collective piece. A teacher at one of my schools recently gave Dan and I tickets to visit an Ikebana display and experience it for…
Nagasaki Weekender
Dan and I recently had a weekend away, in the great company of Brittany and Lauren, to Nagasaki. Just like the infamous Nagasaki night view, this beautiful hilly city has to be in my top three favourite places in Japan (so far…) We stayed in a fishing port town called Mogi, a twenty minute drive…
Thoughts on Japanglish…
Japanglish (Japanese style English) is a common occurrence found mainly in ￥100 shops in Japan. (The better Japanese equivalent of the pound shop). It can often be found on bags and clothes in particular, and it is usually supposed to inspire the owner and make them feel a little more sophisticated. I own a few…
Our Neighbourhood
A little peak into the beauty we are surrounded by on a daily basis. This is a short bike ride we took to our nearest gym, back past our apartment (you see a flash of me pointing at a Soviet style look alike block) and to the beach, about 100m away from our door. Pretty…
Having a Down Day? Fear Not, I Have the Ultimate Stupid Solution!
The other day I was feeling a little unwell and had to spent the afternoon at work being wound into a tight ball of stress by the pen clicker sat next to me. You know the type, those that click out what I can only assume is a tune in their mind on a pen….
Reflections on a 1970s Classroom
I am already starting to get used to life in schools in Japan, so, before it becomes too ‘normal’ for me, I wanted to record my impressions of the Japanese school. When I arrived, each school felt like walking into a 1970s under-loved British school. I was surprised by the lack of technology, heavy reliance on…
It Chills My Bones…
In Shimonoseki, the winter is similar to the UK, perhaps even a little warmer. The average low temperature is 6 degrees but it sits around 10 degrees most days. Unlike the UK, the sun is also often shining framing the mountains and beautiful beach near our apartment! Bliss. Yet, the Japanese winter can be a…