Indian Food

Since it is Mother's Day in Japan, Clara suggested that we ate out tonight. We went to a new Indian restaurant called Noah's Ark that is about 1 minutes walk from our flat. Really great food made more delicious as we had a voucher that gave us 50% off the bill. A nice way to end the weekend before I make the trip away to Makuhari for another week at work.

It has been a pretty good weekend. I had a quiet night at home on Friday and was asleep by 10.30pm. On Saturday I spent a long time cleaning the blinds in the living room. Although they looked okay before I cleaned them, I was a bit shocked to see the cloth turn black as I wiped away the 5 years of accrued dirt and city grime. They are now in tip top shape and should be ok for a couple more years. On Saturday evening I went into Shinjuku, the center of Tokyo, to meet a Hungarian friend and a Scottish friend who used to be in my primary school in the Isle of Skye. Today (Sunday) Clara and I washed the doors to our balcony, another big job but fun to do it with Clara and a good chance to bond. Quite a productive weekend and hopefully I am now in Yuki's good books.

I'll probably book my flight back to Scotland next week. Clara will stay in Scotland for 3 weeks while I will stay only 1 week. I am starting to look forward to several nice long ambles through the large Tesco supermarket in Inverness and will shortly start writing my shopping list: deodorant, tea bags, shoes, stock cubes, brown sauce.........I don't really miss many things from Britain and am quite accustomed to what is available in Japan. The only thing I really miss is the bacon - you cannot get comparable bacon in Japan.

Work has been fairly busy of late and next week we are holding our yearly conference which will mean a welcome change to the routine. Right, I'd better start packing my bag for another week away in Makuhari. Bye for now.

Fishing - Okutama / The Tamagawa River

As I was working over Golden Week whilst every other person in the country was on holiday, Yuki and her family (plus friend Megumi) decided to have a day out fishing over the weekend, on Saturday 2nd May. We went to Okutama, about 90 minutes drive from our home in Tokyo. The countryside was surprisingly nice and reminded me of a cycle that I once done to a place called Kaneyama. I was expecting there to be hundreds of other people there due to our proximity to Tokyo, but it was not as busy as I had feared and it was generally a relaxing experience.

The only disappointment was that it was fishing Japan style. I was expecting the traditional battle of man against nature. The hunter against wily fish who knew the best places to hide and were discerning with the bait they went for. Not to be - every hour or so, a couple of blokes would come along with buckets of tiddlers and empty them into the river. I suspect that Japanese rivers have no actual marine life whatsover. Little wonder due to the damming of every single river in Japan (bar one in Shikoku) and the fondness for bulldozing river beds and covering them in concrete. Grrrrrrr!!!!! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, if you are interested in scenery, flora and fauna, there are plenty of other countries you should visit before Japan. Sorry Japan, that is the way I and many other foreign residents feel.

Despite confirmation that the only marine life in the river originated from plastic buckets, we did actually have a nice time. We had lots of food and drink, and relaxed in the warm sunshine beside the burbling Tamagawa River. Very civilised! The pleasant day was further extended when we stopped off at a popular noodle restaurant for some curry noodles and another glass of beer.A lovely day out, but a cloud was hanging over my head as I knew that while I would be working the following week, every other Tom, Dick, and Harry would be on holiday.