Bullet-pointed week
Since I am planning on leaving Japan this year, look out for more posts about things that I want to remember and tell you about – weird things, funny things, note-worthy things and, hopefully,...
View ArticleBullet-pointed weeks
Time is flying at the moment – in a mere five weeks it will be the end of term, and I’ll be faced with an unending expanse of time to spend lying in my apartment with the air-conditioning on. Actually,...
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A great day out
Last weekend I met up with Hitomi, one of the teachers from Shinden, where I taught last year. I hadn’t seen her for ages and it was really good to catch up and to give her the Lion bars Mum had...
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Killing in the supermarket
Only in Japan could you go to the supermarket on a Sunday afternoon to find two men, each wielding a stake and a big knife, working their way through a tank of live eels. The process was: grab a live...
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Dieting, Japanese-style
Whilst waiting for my washing to finish at the weekend, I flicked through a couple of the womens magazines in the laundry and came across an advert for diet pills, aimed presumably at the millions of...
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Mail order mushi
The post offices in Japan aren’t just for buying stamps and posting letters, but also stock a huge range of leaflets advertising mail order shopping services. Not just your average tupperware and mens...
View ArticleGadgety greatness
Thought I’d share another cool gadgety thing that Japan has but England doesn’t. This time it’s nothing high-tech, but instead is a magnificently simple loo paper changing mechanism: A friend from...
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Gomi rules
Gomi is rubbish, and Japan has a very strict set of rules regarding the handling and disposal of the different types. I recently finished reading If You Follow Me, a fun and easy-to-read book about...
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Photos of pretty things in the ‘hood
The streets here often have beautiful displays of flowers – outside peoples homes, on the sides of the pavements and even in the middle of the road. Whereas at home people would get drunk and destroy...
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Mochi machine
Mochi are Japanese sweets made from pounded sticky rice and normally filled with sweet red bean paste. You have probably read me talking about them before, or heard me writing about them, becuase I...
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