Hakone

Japanese insurance companies often offer special travel / accommodation deals to customers who pay into their health insurance schemes. There are hundreds of hotels / resorts around Japan that are solely open to customers of insurance companies and are therefore not advertised or available to the general public. These places offer seemingly impossible low prices - it was therefore with some degree of trepidation that Yuki, Clara, and I went off to Hakone (100km from our home in Tokyo) to take up our 1 night reservation in the Toslove Hotel. From a search of the internet, the hotel does not even appear to have a webpage, the best I could find was this link.

Before our check in at 3pm, we decided to get some lunch and then take a boat trip on Lake Ashi which forms part of Hakone. We opted for an Italian restaurant on the shores of Lake Ashi - delicious, but the lasagna I ordered was of minuscule proportions and extortionately expensive. I felt a bit cheated but decided to hold my tongue and keep the atmosphere light.After lunch, we crossed the lake under very Scottish weather with heavy rain and high winds - invigorating and effective in blowing away some of the cobwebs accumulated by the hard Tokyo cityscape and charmless sterility of Makuhari (where I work).

Upon arrival at the hotel, the Porsche 911 parked outside reception was a portent of things to come. We checked in and all the signs were good - immaculate interior with gleaming marble floors, eager to please staff, and a quite fantastic and spacious room with large sliding doors looking towards lovely green trees. We loved the place immediately!

We stayed in our room for a while and exchanged superlatives before heading down to the hotel onsen (baths heated by geothermal energy with health giving minerals). I quickly showered and then got into the indoor bath - lovely and hot making the knots in my muscles slowly untie. After 5 minutes, I ventured out into the cold air to try the outside bath. Hot once again but the cold and wet mountain air made for a lovely contrast. I sat in the hot water as large raindrops from the overhanging trees splashed onto me to the soothing sound of singing forest birds in the background. I sat there with a smile on my face and really appreciated the moment, heightened further by the complete solitude - I was the only one there.

Once back in the room, Yuki and I opened some beer from the minibar and were quite surprised to discover that the charge for the contents was actually lower than supermarket prices. Making a profit is obviously not a big priority for the owners of the hotel. Clara watched a DVD from the selection on offer behind the hotel reception and then had fun on the PlayStation 2 which are also available for hotel guests.

After an hour of light drinking and reading, we went to the dining room for dinner and received a quite sumptuous menu of Japanese cuisine. I am not the most appreciative person when it comes to Japanese food but Yuki was clearly a very happy lady. After dinner, we relaxed in our room once again before heading down to the karaoke bar to sing a few songs and have a couple more drinks. I sang a few numbers but my performance was less than stellar. Clara was very brave singing a couple of songs in front of a group of other quests and hotel staff.

We returned to the room once again and dispatched a happy Clara off to bed. As one of the hotel staff members wanted to sing a couple of songs with me, I briefly returned to the karaoke bar once again. I was the only customer by this stage and did not have to worry about embarrassing myself in front of the other guests. After talking to the barman, it turns out that the Toslove Hotel only has 14 rooms and that July is the busiest month of the year. If July is the busiest month, the place must be deserted in November.....sounds perfect!

Back in the room, I tried to watch the Germany v Argentina World Cup game but found my head lolling around through tiredness and the effects of the beer and wine. Sleep came quickly once I forced myself off the sofa and onto my bed.

After breakfast the next morning, we made an early departure and resolved to make a return visit for a couple of days in September. Quite a fantastic place at a price that beggared belief! We will be back. We then went back to the lake to browse though some of the local shops and perhaps buy a souvenir or two. Hakone is famous for wooden products with distinctive designs. I still use wooden chopsticks from Hakone that were given to me 15 years ago by a student when I worked at GEOS language school in Tokyo. As can be seen from the following photo, there are quite a lot of Hakone products on offer. We also made a return to the lake, this time under our own propulsion. We hired a pedalo which left me a sweating wreck after 30 minutes of exertion. It was good fun for us all and allowed us to take some decent pictures of the famous tori gate which emerges from the lake. The time in the pedalo effectively marked the end of our brief visit to Hakone but we will definitely return in the not too distant future, probably for two or three nights next time. The highlight of our trip was clearly the hotel. It is not a place to party, but perfect for changing down a couple of gears and enjoying the finer things in life. I will take a good book with me next time and my swimming trunks for the hotel pool.

I haven't enjoyed myself so much in a long time - a great weekend with the family that will be repeated in the not too distance future.

New Format

Just noticed that Blogger has a number of new blog designs on offer so I thought a new look would freshen things up a bit. Hope you like. It is now nearly midnight on Sunday and the dread of another week at work is upon me. I am happy that the World Cup has started and am looking forward to Japan v Netherlands on Saturday 19th June.

Not too long until Yuki, Clara and I head off to Hakone for a night away. After that, Clara will go to Scotland for a month, departing from Japan around the middle of July. While she is away, we have another trip planned to Karuizawa, a popular resort in Japan. Another week beckons....lets hope it is a good one.

Lake Kawaguchi Revisited

After a 3 year hiatus, we visited Lake Kawaguchi once again to have a brief change of scene and for some respite from the metropolis. The location of Fit Resort is shown on the poster of Mt Fuji. I won't go into too much detail as my post from our last visit (nearly 3 years ago) would suffice.

One of this years highlights was playing tennis - Clara found great pleasure (and exercise) in being the ball girl and played an important role in keeping the game flowing as the need for players to scramble around for tennis balls was removed. The other highlight was swimming in the lovely pool with Clara. As with the last time, the pool did not have many other swimmers, for most of the time we were the only people there. Clara loved it and gained a lot of confidence - a great chance for both of us to spend some quality time together.

The room itself was slightly disappointing, but that became less of an issue the more beer and wine I drank on Saturday night. A lovely weekend away which was not even spoiled by the 2 hour traffic jam we found ourselves in on the drive home. The only problem is that the weekend is over in a flash and I will be getting up at the crack of dawn tomorrow for the long train journey to Kaihin Makuhari - no rest for the wicked. Perhaps some colleagues and I will climb Mt Fuji this summer if we all gather up the required motivation. As I have been in Japan for some time now, I really need to conquer Mt Fuji to tick off the list of things to do. More on that later, perhaps.......

Mark to Japan

Mark came to Japan on Friday evening in order to attend the interment of Takashi's remains in the family grave. We had a few beers on Friday night to catch up and left the house on Saturday morning to travel to the nearby Kodaira City cemetery.

The actual Buddhist ceremony was very brief with only close family members in attendance. The urn was placed in a space under the large granite headstone with a surprising lack of ceremony and then after the priest had recited some sutras, we went off to a steak restaurant to have lunch. The mood was relatively light and Takashi was spoken about fondly by all. The day was more of a celebration of his life than an event to mourn his passing.

After a nice family dinner, Mark and I went out around Kumegawa for some beers and entertainment. We ended up playing darts until about 4am and then got up around midday on Sunday. Although Mark's flight was not until 7pm in the evening, he had to leave the house much earlier as Narita Airport is a fairly long journey from Tokyo. I suppose it was only a matter of time until an error of semi-biblical proportions decided to make things interesting. I did well to get Mark on the Narita Express, it just turned out it was the train from the airport and therefore going in the opposite direction. Mark ended up getting a taxi which cost him about GBP150.

Despite the last minute hiccup with Mark's train, his visit was a success and was certainly appreciated by Yuki's family. I will probably visit Hong Kong for a week or so later in the year as it has been some time since my last visit.

Now I have a 1 week holiday. I have lots of things to keep me busy (more on that in later posts) but I will also ensure that I find ample time for enjoyment. Bye for now.

Tama Zoo

The Japanese are on holiday mode at the moment as it is Golden Week - the period when a number of holidays fall together into one block. Everyone is on holiday, with the exception of myself.

Since it is the weekend and the weather is gorgeous, Yuki suggested we visit Tama Zoo, a short train and monorail journey. The kid in me likes the idea of travel on a monorail - it is still a fairly rare mode of transport and the views tend to be very nice from the raised track. I think it took about 30 mins to the zoo from our house in Kumegawa. I was keen to get out of the house and get some fresh air as the skies are blue and the air is fresh. We had better make the most of the cool clear days as Tokyo will soon become a hot and humid sauna once again.At the entrance to the zoo there were carp wind socks called koinobori. These are traditionally put up to celebrate Children's Day in Japan.

The zoo was nice enough and some of the animals were fun to watch, the mischievous monkeys in particular. However, the most pleasant aspect was simply walking around the zoo, enjoying the sun, fresh air, and surrounding trees.Clara also enjoyed stretching her legs although found my perpetual monkey impersonations slightly grinding. We are all going out for dinner soon (in about 30 minutes time) to a nearby restaurant. Beers between 5pm and 6pm are half price - only ¥250! Tomorrow we plan to do a bit of spring cleaning and will also try and organise some of Takashi's things. A very nice day so far and a good dinner to look forward to.Although I am working the whole of Golden Week, I will have the following week off in lieu...more on that soon.

Tokyo Grande Biere Festival 2010

In a departure from the ordinary, I ventured into town yesterday (Saturday 24th April) to attend an annual beer festival. Full details can be found here. Although I generally like the mass produced Japanese beer, one thing that I really miss about Scotland is the great variety of beers and ales produced by small scale local breweries e.g. the Isle of Skye Brewery. It was therefore a pleasure and an education to attend the beer festival and discover that Japan also had a number of small scale micro breweries that produce some fine beers.

The event was held in an area of Tokyo called Roppongi at Midtown Hall. Roppongi has long had a bad reputation as being a bit of a den of iniquity but has gentrified in recent times and seems to be where the cool and wealthy people live and like to spend their time these days.

As well as a goodly selection of beers (about 60 in total), there was also a selection of food which perfectly complemented the liquid refreshments. My personal favourite were the meat ball and cheese rolls - not particularly healthy, but fantastic none the less. The 5 hours in the hall passed quickly as I meandered around the hall with a couple of American friends, refilling the small tasting glasses provided to us on our arrival. The atmosphere was laid back and it was certainly a pleasure to watch everyone else enjoy their beers.

Towards the end of the day, there was an announcement that said prizes would be given to those who had a glass on which the logo of the lion also possessed a tongue. Upon close inspection of my glass, it turned out I was one of the lucky prize winners. I was given a t-shirt with the logo of one of the Japanese breweries and also a ¥2,000 yen discount voucher for the 2012 beer festival. I wonder how many of the winners will actually redeem these vouchers in 2012?

After leaving the beer festival in a merry state, my American friends insisted on a visit to a kebab shop they had discovered in a part of Tokyo called Akihabara. The journey there was longer than I had anticipated, but the kebabs were the best I have ever tasted. In the end, I had a stomach bloating 3 kebabs.

The weekend was improved still further when Yuki, Clara, and I went to Koganei Park today. The weather was lovely today (18C) and although we had to queue in the car for about an hour, once we got into the park, we lay on the ground-sheet we had taken with us or played catch. I am looking forward to having a weeks holiday soon (from 8th May) so the next 2 weeks at work should not be too hard to stomach.

The Wake and Cremation

Takashi was finally cremated yesterday - March 30th. It has been an emotionally exhausting period and we are all a bit fragile and will remain so for a while yet. The series of events have been a blur and I will not try and recount them in any detail. I tried to prepare myself for the process by searching online for information on a Japanese funeral and this link proved particularly helpful and allowed me to anticipate and understand each stage of the process.

As you already know, Takashi died early on Saturday morning. We all went to the hospital but did not manage to be with him at the end. He looked peaceful and it was comforting to know his suffering had ended. After various tasks were completed, Takashi was taken back to the family home to lie in front of the family shrine until being moved to the undertakers. The hospital staff treated Takashi with great respect and lined the corridor as he was taken from his hospital room down to the Chapel of Rest. Once the hearse arrived, all the nurses and doctors who had treated Takashi came down to offer their respects once again and to light incense. I guess that this is standard procedure for hospitals throughout Japan, but it really left me impressed.

Over the duration of Saturday and Sunday, friends and family visited to pay their respects. Each would light incense, ring a small chime, and pray for Takashi's spirit. A difficult couple of days. On a personal note, I have never been involved in a funeral or been close to death, so the whole series of events was a new and uncomfortable experience. I suppose that older one gets, the more experience you gain in dealing with these situations.

I saw Clara shedding a private tear when Takashi was taken from the house for the last time on Monday morning. The hearse pulled away and we all watched it drive slowly away down the street. Another end point.

Both Monday and Tuesday were difficult. I could feel my heart hammering away in my chest with the stress of the situation and apart from one of two lapses, I think I did well and I hope provided adequate support to the family. On Monday, perhaps the most difficult part was lifting Takashi into his coffin. I held his head and tried to lower it as gently as possible. After this, items that he loved or were closely associated with Takashi were placed in his casket. A suit, the clothes in which he wore to great success. A box of Kent cigarettes - he loved to smoke, but they ended up killing him. Some sake (rice wine) - he was never a man to turn down a drink. A picture of our dog Sora - he used to collect Sora from our apartment every day at 8am and look after him till 5pm each day. His wallet - I have a story about that which my brother, Mark, might remember. Once this was done, the lid of the coffin was put on, each one of us slowly lowering it down. The lid of the coffin had a small window at the top which could be opened so that we could see Takashi's face.

Tuesday saw some more Buddhist ceremonies and then the coffin was opened for the final time. We placed paper cranes around his head, and then gradually covered his body with a selection of flowers. It felt like we were burying him, until only his face could be seen amongst the flowers. This really was a difficult time and to be fair, every last one of us was in quite a state.

I felt honored to be involved and supporting the proceedings. Once again, I was honored to be one of the men to carry Takashi's coffin to the hearse. He was slid in, and the mourners watched the formal hearse pull away. Once at the crematorium, the whole process was mercifully short. The coffin was brought into the cremation area, we looked at Takashi's face one last time, and then he was slid into the thundering roar of the furnace. One hour elapsed and the process was complete. The tray was pulled out to reveal bone shards. The hot fragments were placed on a stainless steel table and then bit by bit placed into a funeral urn by the mourners. Setsuko and Yuki used special chopsticks for the first bone. Clara and I were next and lifted a recognisable hip ball joint into the urn. Finally, after the family had performed this rite, the crematorium worker packed the rest of Takashi's bones into the urn.

Takashi's remains accompanied us all home and will remain in the house for 49 days until interment in the family grave, alongside his parents and sister. The remaining members of the family will now pay formal respects to Takashi at a predetermined number of intervals:

Interment at 49 days

Year 1 on 27th March

Year 3 on 27th March

Year 7 on 27th March

Year 13 on 27th March

Year 17 on 27th March

Year 23 on 27th March

Year 27 on 27th March

Year 33 on 27th March

Year 37 on 27th March

Year 50 on 27th March

I am not optimistic of being able to pay my respects to Takashi on the 50th anniversary of his death, but will do my best with all the other years. Now we are looking forward to the future once again, albeit without Takashi. Great times and a great man!

A difficult few days

Takashi was cremated today and we will all search for a new normality. I will try and post a some thoughts in a few days time regarding Takashi, the events of the last few days, and the plans for the future. Thanks to those who have left comments or have been in touch over the last few days.

RIP Takashi Myochin

Sadly Yuki's dad died early this morning after a long illness. Although we were prepared for this to happen, the confirmation of the inevitable is still a big shock to us all. The dynamics of our life in Japan will never be the same again. Although we are all heartbroken, we have a lot of happy memories. He was a man of many qualities and will be sorely missed by us all. Only 64.

The next few days will no doubt be filled by people visiting to pay their respects and also the wake and cremation service. I will take next week off work. The cherry blossoms are starting to come out in Japan - quite appropriate as the Japanese view the temporal nature of sakura as a metaphor for life itself. Thank you, Takashi.

Tsunami Alert

Japan has been on tsunami alert for most of the day as waves generated by the Chile earthquake are crossing the Pacific with the potential to cause damage or loss of life. Japan has a well organised Tsunami warning system and people in vulnerable areas have been told to move away from coastal areas towards higher ground.

As you can see from the picture, all TV programmes have been overlaid with a tsunami warning map showing vulnerable areas. So far, earthquake generated waves reaching Japan have been small, apparently because the Chile earthquake occurred in a shallow area of ocean.

Another week beckons - it is not a week I am looking forward to for a number of different reasons. On another note, I am starting to get itchy feet (no, not athletes foot!) and have been looking at www.JobsDB.com. Seems like a lot of jobs on offer across Asia and I think that sooner or later I will chance my arm and send off a few applications. I'm sure we will be in Japan for a while yet, but I think I will start to get the ball rolling.

The Hazelburn : Scottish Bar in Tokyo

I have had a few days off work recently and have been living quietly of late. As a result, on Saturday, I decided to venture in to Tokyo to buy an aircraft magazine at the foreign bookshop and follow that up with a few relaxing (if overpriced) beers. I like supping some beers while reading a newspaper or magazine, so I was looking forward to my time in central Tokyo.

After a couple of pints in The Dubliner's Bar, I headed off to The Hazelburn Bar which is conveniently close to Seibu-Shinjuku Station from where I can catch my train to Kumegawa. The counter of the bar was pleasingly quiet and I sat down with my newspaper and had a few pints. Although the quality of the pints was not great, and a lot of the beers they are supposed to sell were not on offer (just like the last time I dropped by), I enjoyed the time by myself and managed to ignore the blaring bagpipe music.

After my first pint, I ordered the extortionately priced haggis with a certain amount of trepidation. The haggis itself was passable although the addition of sauerkraut was somewhat of a surprise.

Despite spending an inordinate amount of money on some below par pints and not so special food, I felt that I had got something out of my system and class the visit into town as a success.

Tokyo now appears to be warming up after what has felt like a longer than usual winter. Spring has been in the air recently and I will make an effort to enjoy the next couple of months before the sweltering and humid conditions return.

Leaving Scotland

My departure from Scotland was by no means smooth, with the exception of the ice on the runways at Aberdeen and Heathrow. I was supposed to leave Scotland early on the 6th January. However, with the snow and ice closing roads and disrupting rail services, it became increasingly clear that my departure would be delayed. After a couple of calls to British Airways, I moved back my flight by a day.

So, I travelled through on the train to Aberdeen a day later than planned, but still with the hope that I might actually manage to hop on a plane down to Heathrow. That wasn't to be, so I stayed in the Menzies Hotel next to the airport in Dyce for a night. Nice room and the bed was the same size as a football pitch.

My extra day in Inverness allowed me to revisit my Mum's mince and tatties, a staple food in our household when we were growing up. Although I wasn't so chuffed to be eating mince when I was a kid, I certainly do enjoy it nowadays. Very nice, especially with the freezing cold temperatures in Scotland.

I awoke on the morning of the 7th January and wondered if my attempts at travelling would be any more successful than the previous day. Things started to look up when I was allowed to board the train to Aberdeen. The busy train was full of passengers who should have travelled on previous days, rumbled out of Inverness and my hopes of making it to Aberdeen increased. I quite like long rail journeys as you have no other option but to sit still and relax with a newspaper or just watch the world flash by. I am sure that calendars for 2011 will not be short of spectacular winter scenes. The coast ringed by snow, snow covered fields, and beautiful blue sky made it a very pleasant trip indeed!The train rolled into Elgin, a bit behind schedule, but nothing too much to worry about. I had enjoyed two seats to myself since Inverness so I was a bit disappointed when another passenger sat down beside me...what a miserable sod I am! As my new travelling companion made himself comfy, the train driver announced that there were problems with the signals and that the train travelling in the opposite direction was delayed, therefore requiring our train to remain at Elgin for an additional 45 minutes or so....oh well.

I struck up a conversation with my new found passenger who it turned out was going to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for 3 days of medical training. Interesting. After a bit more digging, it turned out that Garry was a winchman on an RAF Sea King.VERY interesting! At this stage, Garry was still unawares that I have a particular interest in aviation and can hold my own with the best of them. Garry started talking about his interest in flight safety and that was when I pulled out of my bag an old book which I had decided to take back to Japan titled 'British Military Aircraft Accidents: The Last 25 years'. Although I was very fond of the book and have owned it since I was a teenager, it seemed clear that Garry was interested in the book himself as he was flicking through the pages with some interest. I decided to give him the book provided that he promised to leave it in the Sea King squadron room for the rest of Sea King crews to read. Quality! Just thinking about the Sea King crews in RAF Lossiemouth reading one of my books about aviation safety puts a big smile on my face. In return for my book, I was half-promised to be sent a newly published book about the work of RAF Search and Rescue squadrons...I'm not quite sure if it will ever materialise, but you never know.

Garry then proceeded to show my his recent pictures and videos of a trip to the Falkland Islands. RAF Search and Rescue crew have to do an annual 6 week rotation to the Falklands and Garry had recently returned from his stint in the South Atlantic. Great videos of low flying Hercules, Sea King winching practice, and photos on the Antonov 124 Ruslan picking up the retired Tornadoes for flight back to the UK. He was even there to see the new Eurofighter Typhoons arriving at RAF Mount Pleasant.

Further discussions involved how to pronounce place names on the Isle of Skye. Garry had flown around the island on a number of occasions but was not quite sure how to pronounce Sligachan or Skeabost. Although I understood why he would ask about Sligachan (it is a common place for the Sea King to land during rescue operations), I was a bit surprised that he was asking about Skeabost. It transpired that Garry has to organise the squadron 2010 Christmas party, and Skeabost Hotel is at the top of his list because the crew who have to remain on duty can land in the hotel grounds, eat their dinner and then fly off again. He asked me what I knew about the hotel and was surprised when I told him my cousin Janet was the manageress. I'm sure he'll be in touch with her soon.

After a pleasant journey chatting to Garry, assisted by a couple of tins of Tennent's Lager from the Lidl supermarket next to Elgin Station, I alighted the train at Dyce and went to book in to the Menzies Hotel. I was under the impression that the hotel would pick me up from the station, but that service only starts from 6pm. As there were no taxis to meet the train at Dyce (why would there be!! [sarcasm alert]), I carried over 30kg of luggage through the snow and down the road to the hotel. By the time I had arrived, my feet were sodden and I thought I would also end up spending a few days in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Once in my nice room, I sprawled out on the bed for a bit before hitting the hotel bar for a couple of beers. The bar was full of roughnecks (rig workers) and I felt a bit out of place....I think they noticed I was the odd one out as I got a couple of quizzical looks. They all seemed to be having a good time - either enjoying being back on land after a tough few weeks on the rigs or enjoying a final few beers before heading out to the rigs in the North Sea.

After my beers, I got a taxi into Aberdeen for a few beers with Garry. I met up with him in Ma Cameron's, an old haunt from my university days. It felt strange to be back in Aberdeen, the scene of many happy days during my time at Aberdeen University, but happy memories were aroused with my every step. The taxi journey was a particular pleasure. The driver was a friendly sort so we engaged in some football chat - it turns out he is a Celtic fan. Driving towards the center of Aberdeen, the sights became more familiar, especially when we drove around Mount Hooly roundabout. We passed Spring Gardens Halls of Residence and I managed to catch sight of my old bedroom and kitchen - I found myself wondering what the students living there now were like. Probably just like I used to be...

Some things had changed. Blandford Supplies near the Blue Lamp pub had closed down and the university union had also shut. Apart from those two changes, most other things were very similar and Garry and I enjoyed a couple of pints in Ma Cameron's before heading to get some Italian food in the Castlegate at the head of King Street (right below the flat where Willie, Hank and Grambo stayed for a couple of years). Following the food, we made a short crossing of the square to the Tilted Wig pub where the remainder of the night would be spent. Great fun chatting to the various characters inside - that's something that I miss about Scotland.

At the end of the evening, I said my farewells to Garry and flagged down another taxi to return me to the Menzies Hotel in Dyce for a shorter than planned sleep. I woke up in the morning and went to reception to check out and take the complementary hotel bus to the airport. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised when the dipstick at reception accused me of not paying my hotel bill. He seemed non-plussed when I informed him I had paid my bill in cash the night before. He then accused me of never having stayed in the hotel and that I was being classed as a no show!!! He wanted my credit card details so that he could charge me for the room - by this stage I began to suspect that he was trying to scam me and so I decided to leave and get on the hotel bus. According to the bus driver, lots of people have complained about the receptionist (called DJ) and my mother added my name to the list of complainees when she called the hotel later that day. The whole episode was bizarre and I cannot but think that he was trying to scam me.

I was lucky to make it onto my flight from Aberdeen - it turned out that my flight was the only one to make it to Heathrow that day, despite it being delayed by a couple of hours. Once at Heathrow, the travel nightmare continued as I was told that I had missed my flight and would need to queue for a couple of hours to make alternative flight arrangements. However, eagle-eyed Joep noticed that my original flight had not yet left and that the gate had in fact reopened!! I told this to some BA ground staff (not the most capable of people it transpired) who told me that I would still have to stand in line for another couple of hours. This would guarantee that I would miss my plane. Fortunately, my conversation was overheard by a supervisor who got onto her radio and checked whether the information I had received form my dad was correct or not. After having this information confirmed, I was ushered through the security gates and into the departure lounge. The whole journey was still hanging by a thread but progress was being made. My main concern at this stage was that my case would be lost in the confusion - not uncommon at Heathrow by all accounts.

I hung around the airport and spent an extravagant amount of money on coffee and sandwiches until we were finally allowed to board the aircraft. Great! I just wanted the journey to be over as soon as possible and to enjoy the final few days of my holiday back in Tokyo. However, due to the ice on the runway and on the wings of the aircraft, we had to sit inside the sweltering plane for a further 5 hours of misery. The delay was caused by a shortage of deicing liquid to remove ice from the wings of the plane. Due to the delay, the flight crew had to be changed as they would breach their maximum permitted cockpit time had they flown to Tokyo. The stress of delay and the heat in the aircraft led to a few on the female passengers loosing their cool shedding a few tears.

In the end, I made it back to Tokyo with the added bonus that my case was the first to hit the carrousel at Narita Airport. My time spent in Scotland was great and enjoyed meeting up with the family and friends. Great to see Mark, my parents and grandmother again, really enjoyed meeting Neil a few times for beers, and loved the winter scenery!!!

[Note: Sorry this post is a bit rough and ready. I haven't proof read it yet and I will want to tidy a few things up. Hopefully I will be able to tidy it up later in the week].

The Weather

Since just before my arrival in Scotland and right up until my departure, Scotland was gripped by some of the worst wintery conditions in living memory. In fact, judging by the continuing news reports, problems were still occurring until very recently.For the most part, despite some travel problems, I think most people welcomed a white Christmas and took pleasure in seeing their surroundings blanketed with snow. I certainly did not mind the snow at all and enjoyed seeing a change to the Scottish landscape. Driving, although a little dangerous at times, was fun and allowed me to implement some of my winter driving skills I acquired living in rural Japan.

The most interesting thing for me is how Scotland reacted to the snow in comparison to rural Japan. By comparison to the Minami-Aizu area where I used to live, the snow Scotland received was paltry. However, this small amount of snow closed roads, airports, and cancelled train services. The chaos in Scotland was total. Although it is fair to say that rural Japan can expect a goodly amount of snow each year, and is therefore much better equipped and prepared for this certainty, I still don't think Scotland can get away scot free (no pun intended) for the way the country descended into chaos.At the end of the day though, with many services in Britain, it is all about saving money and profit. The idea of public service solely for the sake of public service seems to have been lost and replaced with the need for cuts and the desire for someone to make a profit. Of course, this has led to the disintegration of many important national institutions and the removal of safety nets for many of the British public. The safety net for many drivers seems to have been removed with the privatisation of road maintenance services, small hospitals are now being closed or downsized (Portree Hospital), and post offices are disappearing which are an important source of contact for many in rural communities. The list goes on. It certainly seems that Big Brother is watching you in Britain these days - the problem is he is no longer taking care of you.

Perversely, I actually enjoyed the travel problems during my time in Scotland, if not the problems I encountered when trying to leave the country (more on this in the next posting). Snow in Scotland always reminds me of happy childhood Christmases, throwing snowballs with friends, and sitting huddled around a small gas fire whilst Skye was suffering another power cut. My most recent visit to will not be forgotten anytime soon.

New Year on Skye

My brother (Mark) and I spent a couple of nights in Portree over New Year and booked ourselves into the Royal Hotel. We were both looking forward to our time in Skye but were realistic as to what we would find.Sure enough, with a couple of exceptions, the craic was difficult to find. We therefore had to improvise and create our own fun.....

We managed to visit our granny who was in reasonable form and seemed pleased to see us. The rest of our time was spent in the pub or hotel, away from the snow and ice. On the evening of the 30th December, Mark and I had a few pints in the Tongadale Hotel and then met up with a few of the Skye lads in the Merchant Bar. Although it was a brief meeting, the guys seemed in fine spirits. After a few more pints in some of the less salubrious Portree establishments, it was off to bed in preparation for Hogmanay (New Year's Eve).

Hogmanay saw a late start for the Davidson boys, and the majority of the day was spent fortifying ourselves for the evening festivities. Late afternoon saw a brief visit to the Pier Hotel for some pints and tabloid newspapers. The Pier Hotel was then followed by the Royal Hotel public bar for some more beer, newspapers, and the delights of the bar menu. I had a reasonable steak pie and chips while Mark once again opted for fish & chips.

We then went to a few other pubs before we went to the Skye Gathering Hall for the New Year's dance. Both Mark and I were hoping for a good crowd of locals to attend the dance, but we were sorely disappointed to see that the vast majority of people were tourists. They seemed to enjoy themselves, but Mark and I were hoping for something a bit more. We headed to the bar for some triple spiced rums and coke, saw in the bells in the hall, and then returned to the Royal Hotel which was also holding a dance. This dance seemed to be a bit better than the one up the Gathering Hall and was even attended by a few of the Portree locals.

Certainly the highlight of the evening was nominating Mark to take part in some Scottish country dancing. I will let the video speak for itself....He obviously remembers nothing from the mandatory dancing classes each Portree High School student had to endure every winter in the chilly school gym.

The night in Portree concluded with Mark being hosed down with the hotel fire hose. The following morning (not too early), we returned to Inverness with a few stories to tell about our latest visit to Skye.

60th Birthday

The main reason for my trip to Scotland was for Joep's 60th birthday celebration. I arrived in Inverness at about 9pm on the 27th December - just in time for the big event. Of course, the weather at that time was not great and I could easily have been delayed at some point in the journey. However, the journey went smoothly and I was even lucky enough to receive an upgrade on the flight between Tokyo and London. Just as I was about to get on the plane from Narita Airport, a British Airways staff member pulled me aside and said she had a message for me. Interesting........the next thing I knew, I was holding a new boarding pass for my new seat. Lucky me! This was the second time in a row I have received an upgrade from British Airways - I wonder what the secret is?

The rest of the journey to Scotland was uneventful and I arrived in Aberdeen on schedule. Meeting me at Aberdeen Airport was my brother, Mark, and a surprise guest at Joep's 60th birthday party. The surprise guest was one of Joep's old friends called Jenze. Via the powers of the internet, it was easy to track Jenze down (he was in Benin in Africa!!) and he turned out to be the star guest at the party. Joep was really pleased to see Jenze and I suspect that they will meet up again soon in Holland to renew their shared interest of yachting. After arriving at the house, I had a quick shower and then Mark and I went out for a few pints....the boys don't change.

In total, there were about 35 people at the birthday party. Despite the numbers, the house had plenty of space to accommodate all the guests and there was a mountain of food and a lake of alcohol left over at the end of the night. The EU would have been proud!

One point of interest at the party was the chanchanko jacket (and matching bonnet) which is traditionally given in Japan when someone turns 60. The present was kindly given by Tomo, the local doctor in Shimogo Town. I have tried to google chanchanko, but there seems to be little background information on the internet. I would be interested to know how this tradition originated but have not had much luck so far. UPDATE: Shaney has kindly provided a link for information regarding the chanchanko.

It was a great party which managed to reunite people with a common background - the Isle of Skye. Most people at the party still live there, or have done so at one point or the other. I managed to speak to the majority of people, although I do regret not being able to speak to all those who were in attendance. Perhaps I will be able to achieve a clean sweep at Mum's 60th birthday...

A great start to my holiday and there were plenty more adventures to come. Happy 60th Birthday, Joep!!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all. I have had a good visit to Scotland and will return to Japan on Wednesday. Updates and photos to follow soon.

To Scotland

I am looking forward to flying to Scotland tomorrow. My flight leaves just after 11am so I will need to leave the house around 7am. The holiday will start off on a high note with my Dad's 60th birthday party (on 28th December) and then we have the New Year celebrations to look forward to.

And to think all my plans might have been ruined if the strike had not been prevented by the High Court.

I am looking forward to going to Skye for a few days, walking around a supermarket, meeting with family and friends, and sampling some fine ales. Brilliant!

I'll be in Scotland for 10 days so if anyone is in the vicinity of Skye or Inverness, please get in touch.

Brown Jug

I went to Brown Jug a couple of weeks ago. Brown Jug is in an area of Tokyo called Ebisu and is owned by Kiyoshi Ambe and his wife. I have known Ambe-san for quite some time as he visits Scotland every year to indulge in his passion of whisky drinking.

I always intend to go to Brown Jug more frequently but only seem to visit once a year. I guess I visit so infrequently as it is a fair old journey from my home in Kumegawa. The last train home from central Tokyo is around midnight so if I want to have a long night out, I'd have to make it an all nighter and get the first train home at 5am.

In the picture, Ambe-san is behind the bar and the other guy is an irritating customer I remember suffering a few years ago. It was a good evening and I had a few pleasant chats with the other customers in the bar. We'll probably invite Ambe-san and his wife to the house sometime in March for one of his favourite roast dinners.

Odaiba - Part 2

As mentioned, the primary reason of our visit to Odaiba was to see Shimogo Town Yosakoi group perform. Clara had a couple of old friends in the Shimogo group and was excited to meet them again. Likewise, Yuki and I knew we would also see old old faces from the time we spent in Shimogo.

I really like watching Yosakoi and it seems a great activity for people of all ages to participate in. Good exercise and a great opportunity for local groups to socialise. I also imagine that these groups play an important role in returning some local pride to rural communities under threat.

I have to say that the Shimogo performance was excellent! The dance moves were choreographed to perfection (in my humble opinion), the costumes were vibrant and traditional, and the taiko drum sounded threatening. All the constituent pieces fitted together well and truly managed to communicate the Aizu spirit. Fantastic!

I really enjoyed meeting some of my old students again. They seemed pleased to see me and were happy to exchange a few words. I was taken aback to discover that some of my old students are now in their early 20s!

A nice trip down memory lane and reassuring to know that although we are gone from Shimogo, we are not yet forgotten.

Odaiba - Part 1

Last week we went to Odaiba, primarily to watch the Shimogo Town Yosakoi dance group perform. However, we had some time to kill before the performance started so we walked around Odaiba for some sightseeing.

Odaiba is a pretty impressive place which I need to visit again. After travelling in to Tokyo, we had to take the Yurikome Line across Rainbow Bridge to reach Odaiba. I thought I had made a mistake when the train passed by Rainbow Bridge and felt a pang of disappointment that we would not be passing over. However, the train line corkscrewed around and we promptly crossed over the water. The bridge is composed of two railway tracks, a walkway, and several roads at different levels. The walkway is obviously popular with foreigners as we must have seen 20 or 30 non-Japanese people walking the span of the bridge. Of more particular note for Clara and I was the road which was adjacent to the railway line we were crossing over. Clara and I started waving at people walking or in cars who were crossing the bridge. Much to the amusement of our fellow passengers, we garnered a lot of attention from people at various distances from the train. The best moment was when Clara and I waved at a man driving what looked like an open top Caterham 7. We got a lot of waves from the guy as he blasted past our train and into the distance. A few minutes later, as we were coming to the end of the bridge, we saw the Caterham stopped at traffic lights some way off. Clara and I started to wave again and received some enthusiastic waving in return from the jolly driver who must have been keeping his eyes on the approaching train. Our fellow passengers on the train found the antics highly amusing.

As we had some time before the Shimogo Town performance, we walked around the Palette Town shopping centre and exhibition centre. There seems to be quite a strong automotive theme in this area as Toyota had a number of their products on display which people could sit in and ask salesmen for information. Of greater interest to me were a number of racing cars in display. There was a Toyota F1 car and a Lexus track car.

After looking at the Toyota, Lexus, and F1 merchandise shop, we decided to retire for some refreshments as we still had over an hour before the performance. We stumbled across an Italian Cafe Bar which was full of F1 memorabilia and contained an interesting selection of cars. The bar had a number of leather sofas and armchairs and I could picture myself getting comfortable for the day and quaffing a few beers to while away the hours surrounded by some impressive automotive relics. I really want to return sometime and just chill and sup the Italian beers. There is also a nice terrace outside the bar which would be great on a summer day.....next year perhaps....

Japan v Scotland - Yokohama Stadium

We had a great time at the football game yesterday (Saturday 10th October), despite the final score. I assumed the role of proud ex-pat Scot and wore the kilt to the game. The kilt often gets a lot of attention when I have cause to wear it in Japan and therefore sometimes I avoid it so that I can blend in to the background a bit more. However, the overwhelming opinion of my Facebook friends clearly required a bit of kilt wearing action and I was happy to oblige.

It was quite a long journey to Yokohama Stadium and we had to take 3 different trains, each of them progressively busier than the last. The kilt was obviously a point of interest for many of my fellow travelers as they were sneaking frequent looks and mentioning it in conversation.

The journey to Yokohama was generally uneventful until we got on our last train. A couple of meters from us were 4 members of the Tartan Army who had obviously travelled all the way from Scotland for the game. They were generally a genial bunch, if however slightly pissed up. Yuki and I really enjoyed listening to their thick Scottish accents but I was glad that the other passengers on the train had no chance to understand some of their jokes. Not for the faint hearted! Yuki and I got off at a different stop and I exchanged pleasantries with them as we got off the train.

When we reached the station in Yokohama, we walked about 15 minutes to the stadium through large crowds of Japanese fans. There were no other signs of Scotland fans and it seemed that there would only be a handful of Scots at the game. However, as we got closer to the stadium, the sight of kilts became more common and I realised that there was a fairly respectable contingent of my countrymen at the game. We all enjoyed the game despite it ending in defeat for the Scots. I decided to make an addition effort to mark myself as a Scot by consuming as many cans of lager as possible throughout the occasion and I managed to put away a good few before full time. Clara was angry with me for much of the game as I was joining in the Scottish chants and created a few of my own when a Japanese the irritating Japanese fan in front of me decided to contribute. Each time he opened his mouth, I would drown him out, which has resulted in me gaining a rather hoarse voice. Although the final score was not a big surprise as Scotland were essentially playing their B team, I was surprised to see so many Japanese people in the Scotland end wearing Scottish tops and scarves. I can only assume many of them have lived in Scotland before and decided to support Scotland instead.

A a great day out and a rare chance to have an excuse to be drunk and with a tad faux bellicose. Looking forward to the next time Scotland come calling.

National Museum of Nature and Science

Continuing on our new vein of pro-activity, Yuki, Clara, and I visited the Ueno area of Tokyo to explore the National Museum of Nature and Science. Once again, the weather was not great and there were some heavy showers. However, the inclement weather proved useful in scaring away the crowds and allowed us to explore the museum relatively unmolested.

The smell on this day was not quite as pleasant as the smell of the previous week at Roppongi Hills. Because of the heavy rain, the smell of dog shit hung in the air as we walked though Ueno Park. Not a pleasant smell but it was certainly preferable to the heavy crowds that would have been around if the weather had been better.The museum was pretty interesting and I liked the fact that many of the scientific texts and instruments displayed originated from Britain. The best part of the visit was just watching Clara running around soaking up as much information as possible. Towards the end of our visit, I was starting to tire of the rain-forest exhibition and so started mimicking the bird calls being played though the hidden speakers. Clara did not seem to be impressed with my bird calls but none of the other people around seemed to notice.

Another pleasant day out and a good chance for some mental stimulation for us all.

Roppongi Hills

At the end of September, we all went to Roppongi Hills, a new area of Tokyo which is supposed to represent a new age of urban living. The building at Roppongi Hills are supposed to integrate both business and non-business life into one nice and easy to swallow package. It is certainly impressive but the one drawback that most people will have is finding the money to live there.

We decided to go there to admire the views from the top floor and to walk around the Mori Art Museum. As soon as we arrived, it was obviously the place is not typical Tokyo. There was a lot of wide open space and there were no cars or bicycles to avoid as we walked around. Tokyo can sometimes feel a bit claustrophobic at times so I quite enjoyed the spacious open areas of Roppongi Hills and the opportunity to amble around without constantly having to change my tack. As you can see, Clara was pretty interested and was snapping away at every opportunity.

One odd thing for me was the smell of hamburgers wafting around the lower levels - actually quite a pleasant smell which reminded me of queuing at Abdul's snack van for a cheap hamburger laced with vinegary sauce in Somerled Square, Portree.

We headed straight up to the 54th floor to sample the views from Mori Tower. As it was raining earlier in the day, the crowds were light and it was a nice change not to have to queue anywhere. The views from the top were impressive and the sprawl of Tokyo spread into the far distance.We visited to Mori Art Museum and also the aquarium, but they both disappointed. The views from the top were certainly the highlight of the visit. After descending (alarmingly quickly) in the express lift, we sat outside and watched the world go by for half an hour. Clara and Yuki ate some Hokkaido ice cream while I chilled out with a nice cold Sapporo beer. After that, it was time to head home for a relaxing night at home. It was good to do something different on the weekend as I am often guilty of hanging around the house and achieving very little before Monday morning comes around again.

It did come back

My lost iPhone actually did come back. It was handed in to a lost & found office in central Tokyo a couple of weeks ago. Japan is quite famous for the regularity in which lost items find their way back to the original owner. I would not make the mistake of making a sweeping statement saying that Japanese people are more honest than others, as in many ways they are not. However, when it comes to getting lost property back, I'd rather lose my phone in Japan than in Scotland. Now I have a spare iPhone which might prove handy next time I fall asleep in a taxi and lose all my worldly goods.