FUJI SUNK.

Now. On the way to Tokyo there is Fuji San, Mount Fuji. Most travelers will be on there way to Tokyo and see the perfect Mountain peak from their comfortable Shinkansen train and think, oh crap, I should have popped in at Mount Fuji. No, no you shouldn't. The view you got out the window is as good as it gets. As Dad put it, `This makes Niagara Falls look cultured`.

SOUL FOOD.

Thought I would give and update of the things Japanese life brings.

To begin, SOCKS. They love socks. With good reason too as you take your shoes off in all homes, most restaurants and some parts of uni. Obviously my grey English cotton numbers were not going to cut the mustard so I branched out into glittery, frilly, woolly and patterned, outshining the grey by a mile.

Second on today's musings is restaurants. Quite a few, in Nagoya at least, have plastic examples of their food before you go into the restaurant. Just in case you don't like the look of it I suppose but the other thing about Japanese restaurants is they all sell the same stuff... Maybe there was a sale on at the plastic food shop this month.

And to round up today's post, umbrellas. Now I'm not talking about the flimsy fold up variety which always, ALWAYS breaks, but the larger, sleeker variety. Come rainy season no body wants to be caught out so there are always a stack, whatever the weather, in every shop and ones to borrow at uni and most public places. Just in case you have an especially fancy umbrella, or maybe as a reminder to pick it up again, they also have umbrella locks. Like bike locks you position your brolly at a clasp, lock in and leave with the key. When you are finished and ready to brave the elements you are sure to still have your beloved friend. Not that any one would steal it for fear of the public eye. I don't quite understand this yet, but its something to do with social behaviour and

WATASHI WHERE?

Went to Mino today in search of a paper museum. Okay I know how that sounds but paper is cool! I never grew up from that 11 year old obsessed with new pens. Pre-email would have been my hayday.
Anyway, arrived at Nagoya station bright and early to get the bus to Mino but was actually quite stressful because being illiterate in Japan is not fun. Nor is their cash society. Linguistics/logistics aside we got there in the end to find the Paper Art Gallery which was a bit naff in places and pretty awe inspiring in others. Also got a personal tour (Completely in Japanese) round a 200 year old house and gardens. 'Unn' is Japanese for 'uhuhh' and mine is getting quite authentic!

Japan is very very flat with very pointy mountains and hills dotted about, for which Mino is surrounded, so we went to this lovely park and climbed to the top of one said pointy hill to admire our surroundings. It was very pretty indeed! The park also had these one roomed open buildings people hire in the summer to stay in.

BENTO BOXED.

I have been saving this post for a while because I wanted to be absolutely sure I had the best possible examples. Bento box just means, lunch box with little bite sized delights inside. To be delightful, they put little faces on the food. Gives a whole new meaning to 'happy eggs'. On Saturday we went into Nagoya, to a shop called Tokyo Hands where you could buy pretty much anything you needed. I needed a Bento Box. These fine examples are what I have narrowed it down to, help me choose?

SUNDAY SCREENING

I know it's not Sunday but I couldnt work out how to do this last night so lets just pretend the time difference is to blame! Here are a few dumb videos I took with my camera. I'm not sure if they are very good quality, but its just to give a better idea of Nagoya and Osu Market.
Enjoy!

BEDDING DOWN.

I thought I would show you my flat and surroundings. I have a small but perfectly formed apartment near the train station and only 5 minuets bike ride from my university building (yep, they gave us bikes because we are now adoptive japanese and this is the only way to travel). My room looks a lot smaller in that photo than actually is and everything seems a bit harsher. I think its the light. That is Lucy, who lives next door, trying out the wireless on the loo! And of course, no shoes allowed! The top left is the view from our balcony - the station and a few bars and restaurants. Havnt quite mastered our food vocab so we`ve just been randomly pointing at things and seeing what we got. Makes for a very interesting meal!

JAPAN!

I have made it all the way to Japan! I am now well acquainted with airports of all sizes:

Heathrow, always a bit of a let down

Helsinki was nice, lots of windows and the coolest Reindeer rugs (mental note to save a bit of money for one of them)

and Nagoya, the best one purely for the fact it was in JAPAN! whoooo!

Pictures to follow.