A Trip to Gunma

We all recently went on a trip to Gunma Prefecture, only about 3 hours drive from Tokyo. Our trip was to celebrate the 60th birthday of Setsuko, Yuki's mum. Any trip outside of Tokyo is always eagerly awaited, and so the promise of 1 night away in the countryside was extremely appealing. We stayed at a small (and relatively unknown) resort called Sarugakyo The hotel bedroom was not the best I've stayed in, but who cares, we were out of Tokyo for the night and nothing was going to spoil our fun.

The highlights of our stay was the hotel's onsen (hot spring) and the local cuisine. The onsen was one of the nicest I have seen and guests were able to bathe inside the hotel in a lovely wooden bath or outside, under the green foliage of the surrounding trees.

The food was pretty enjoyable and I particularly liked the liquid tofu. The tofu was served in a shallow pan, under which a candle was placed. Once the candle heats the tofu, a skin forms on the top of the tofu which is known as yuba in Japan. The diner needs to continually remove and eat the skin with a bamboo stick as it forms on the surface. It may not sound appetising, but it was extremely delicious (creamy) and is apparently great for your health.

After dinner, we all made our way down to a room with an irori to sit and listen to an old crone regale us with Japanese folk stories. The folk stories were then followed by a mochi making lesson. Mochi is a popular Japanese cake made from rice. Part of the process involves beating the rice mixture with wooden hammers to create the right texture.

After mochi making, we returned to our rooms to drink a little wine and relax a bit more. Shortly afterwards, I promptly fell asleep on the futon and slept extremely soundly. A welcome break away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo.

Alan and Akie

Alan, a friend from Scotland recently tied the knot with Akie. To celebrate, I met up with Alan on the 12th of May and then also met up with them both on Saturday the 17th of May.

On the twelfth, we had food and beers at the top of a famous department store called Takashimaya. It was a very enjoyable afternoon as we sat outside with our food and drink. We were both on holiday so I guess that was an added bonus. I felt slightly the worse for wear the following day.

On the 17th of May, Alan and Akie had arranged a small party in Shibuya, one of the most popular night spots in Tokyo. The place was teeming with people, all set on a night out on the town. We went to an Indonesian restaurant for dinner and the food was quite agreeable. It was good to meet some of Alan's other friends again and we were all in good spirits. The video should give you some idea of how busy Shibuya gets.

We had planned to go to a nightclub but that fell by the wayside and we eventually ended up in a Japanese eatery for more refreshments. We all had a good evening and Alan was on his best behavior as he only kicked one stranger all night.

Congratulations to Alan and Akie!

Esslemont Academicals 1996

BACK : Kane 'Kano' Davidson, Graeme 'Grambo' Campbell, Willie 'Goat' Barrett, Ruaraidh 'Rory' Obrien, Craig Campbell, Gordon Stuart
FRONT : Graeme 'Glovesy' Glover, Josh Magar, Martin 'Mellor' Fraser, Fergus 'Bash' Thomson

It has been a slow news week so I thought I would post a picture of Esslemont Academicals, quite possibly the finest team to compete in the Aberdeen University Inter-mural Football League. A team mostly lacking in skills but with plenty of heart. If someone can jog my memory with the final two surnames, it would be appreciated.