The Sweaty Oyabaka

I realise that I have been a bit quiet of late in the Blogosphere. I have been keeping my head down and and getting on with work. Over the last week or so, the temperatures have ranged between 35C and 40C. Too hot to do anything! I have discovered that I have ISBS (Instantaneous Sweaty Back Syndrome). As soon as I step from my home, place of work, or the train, valves in my back automatically open up and release a constant stream of sweat that tickles as it trickles down my back. Although I cannot be classed as obese, over the last week or so, I have noticed a definite contraction in my waistline - a result of sweating buckets of sweat every day and probably my regular visits to the swimming pool.

Anyway, the main purpose of this posting is to boast about Clara (again). I am often concerned that Clara will fall behind her peers in Scotland in terms of English ability. I often think her exposure to English is too limited as I am the only person she talks to in English on a regular basis. Therefore, to help her keep up, we try and buy her English DVDs eg. The Tweenies, Dora the Explorer, Tiny Planets etc. Yesterday, I decided it was time to sit down with her and coerce her into reading to me. I chose the Wizard of Oz but thought it was far too ambitious (43 pages with some challenging words) and I envisioned her trying to tackle the first couple of pages needing a great deal of help from Dad. Yuki and I were both amazed when she picked up the book and read it from cover to cover with a limited number of mistakes. Not bad for a 6 year old who has spent most of her childhood in Japan with a limited exposure to English! I hope I do not seem like I am boasting too much, but we were amazed that Clara could read so well. I'm not totally sure how she could do it but I guess it must be the result of frequent bedtime stories and her supply of DVDs which often encourage children to read the words on the screen. It goes to show that if parents spend just a small amount of time with their kids, these kids are able to take what is taught and then use this information to independently learn more. Clara was given the foundation and she has built on it. This experience has made me realise just how important it is to provide education to your own kids. If kids are taught at home, school can be a place for revision and reinforcement.

I will be asking my parents to bring some books with them when they visit Japan in October. Oyabaka in Japanese means a parent who boasts or talks up their childrens' achievements. Guilty as charged.

Bo Jangles and Budvar

Sorry for the delay in posting an update. As previously mentioned, it has been a busy period in Tokyo and free time has been at a premium. However, my schedule will become a lot clearer over the next couple of weeks so hopefully I will have more time to update the blog on a more regular basis.

Yesterday and today have been hot and humid and sleep is hard to come by at the moment. We're leaving the air conditioner switched on tonight so that should make the night a bit more bearable.Today was 35C! Temperatures should hover around the 30C level until the middle of September.I had a good day yesterday which means I have a hangover today. I bumped into a couple of Aizu JETs (Sean and Emily) in Shinjuku (Tokyo) yesterday by sheer chance which was a nice surprise. It turns out that Sean has finished work and returning to the USA for good. It was nice to have the unexpected chance to say goodbye. It was a big coincidence as the Tokyo agglomeration has a population of about 35,000,000 people (according to the United Nations website I have just looked at). This was not the biggest coincidental meeting I have had in Tokyo, however. A couple of years ago when I was at the famous Asakusa shrine in Tokyo, I bumped into an old friend called Ed Campbell who used to sit next to me in my geology class at Aberdeen University. That was freaky!!

Last night I went to my regular watering hole called Bo Jangles. The heat had driven me there and forced me to consume a quantity of cold beer. It was a slightly sad night as it was the last time I would be able to drink Budvar, my favourite lager. Budvar is no longer imported into Japan which means I need to select another brew from next week. As you can see from the beer menu, Bo Jangles has a good selection of world beer (with about 6 chosen by myself).

The picture above shows Akinori, the bar owner, and another customer whose name I do not know. The customer is a total piss head and spends most of his time asleep with his head on the counter. He occasionally tries to communicate with me but anything he utters is total gibberish. I can communicate fairly well in Japanese or English with the other customers, but have had no success deciphering what he is trying to say. I think most of the other customers have the same problem.

Anyway, that's all the updates I'm giving you for now. We've all joined the local gym so I may do a small blog on that in the near future. Cheers.

Typhoon

It has been a very busy and hectic couple of weeks. Work, work, and more work. Fortunately, Monday is a national holiday in Japan (Marine Day) which means I'll spend an extra day sitting around the house doing nothing. The reason that I will be sitting in the house is that typhoon Man-Yi is expected to hit Tokyo tonight and bring high winds and heavy rain.

The weather in Tokyo has been strangely cool so far and I am hoping that this will continue. Clara has now started swimming lessons at the local gym and Yuki and I will join at the end of the month. I can't wait to do some exercise again. The last exercise I did was in Shimogo in March so I will probably take it easy to begin with. I have also applied to do the 2008 Tokyo Marathon but I have only a 25% chance of being accepted as it is always oversubscribed. I am secretly hoping that my application will be rejected as I don't have any time to train for it.

Lake Kawaguchi

On Saturday morning (yesterday), we packed ourselves and all our accouterments into the car and headed off to Lake Kawaguchi for the night. We have all been busy recently and the thought of escaping Tokyo for a while was very appealing. The next two weeks will also prove to be hectic, but I am hoping all the positive energy accrued over this weekend will push me over the finish line.

Lake Kawaguchi is about 2 hours drive from Tokyo - well within my patience threshold. We were excited about leaving the rat race and the heat of Tokyo behind. Temperatures in Tokyo have hovered around 30C for the past week and the commute to and from work is not becoming any easier. Because of varying factors, Lake Kawaguchi is considerably cooler than Tokyo. Temperatures hovered around a very comfortable 22C.

We booked in to the Fit Resort Club at about 3pm on Saturday and got settled into our room. Clara was badgering me to go swimming so we went down to the pool soon after our arrival and had a pleasant swim. In the evening, we all headed to a nearby yakiniku restaurant where I ate the equivalent of two cows and drank the equivalent of two Olympic sized swimming pools of beer. Upon returning to our room, Clara was dispatched off to bed, while we all stayed up and chatted.

Clara woke me up this morning at about 7am and made me get organised for breakfast. By 9am, I was sufficiently fortified to be coerced back into the swimming pool by Clara. We were really lucky to have the whole pool to ourselves as all the other guests at the resort seemed to have disappeared. Clara and I really enjoyed our swim and were in the pool for nearly two hours. We had also brought our tennis racquets but did not have enough time to play on this visit. Next time.

After out departure from the resort, we drove around Lake Kawaguchi. We had a local speciality called Hoto for lunch and then Clara selected me to take the helm of a pink pedalo for 15 minutes. Clara started to cry when I started showing her my repertoire of pedalo tricks but I eventually managed to stem the flow of tears by reverting to conventional navigation and propulsion techniques. After I had regained Clara's trust and respect, she started calling me Captain.

I was hoping to get some pictures of Mount Fuji standing over Lake Kawaguchi but the weather did not cooperate. Despite that minor disappointment, we all had an excellent weekend which should give me a good boost for the coming week.

JBIC

After a great deal of delay and deliberation, I have finally accepted another teaching job. When we moved from Fukushima to Tokyo, my aim was to secure another investment bank job in a similar vein to my previous jobs at Citibank and Deutsche Bank. However, my next investment bank position has proved elusive and so I realised I would have to continue with teaching for the time being.

It appears that I have found a very good compromise. I am now working in the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) in Tokyo, close to the Imperial Palace. The job suits me down to the ground at the moment. I am teaching business English about 30 students who are recent graduates from the best universities in Japan. Some of the courses I am teaching include Finance and Market News, Negotiation Skills, and Business Case Studies.

The job so far has proved fascinating. Not only do I get to meet a group of highly intelligent people, but I am also able to learn a lot about JBIC and its role on the world stage. JBIC is involved in a number of projects in developing countries such as Nepal, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and the Philippines to name a few. I have been very interested to hear about the current projects in these countries and to have been involved in some frank discussions on how beneficial OCAs (Overseas Credit Agencies) are to developing nations.

So for the time being, I have found a job which is giving me a bit of satisfaction. Since our move to Tokyo, I have turned down a number of JHS and SHS jobs as I really was looking for a new challenge. I was beginning to wonder if something suitable would comes along, but my patience has been rewarded. The classes at JBIC can be extremely demanding and tiring, but they have proved rewarding.

The biggest issue I have at the moment is the commute from my apartment in Kumegawa to the bank in Takebashi. It takes about 1 hour door to door and involves me changing to the underground (Tozai Line) mid way through my journey. I had steeled myself for the commute, but I was still alarmed at the number of people who manage to squeeze into a railway carriage. It's truly an awful experience and is absolute torture to do on a daily basis. My guestimate is that about 500 people squeeze onto my carriage every morning. It is possible that the number is higher. Manners do not exist at rush hour in Tokyo. Everyone pushes and fights for the slightest bit of space. One middle aged woman elbowed me in the stomach as she tried to jostle me out of my position and away from my bag resting on a luggage rack. I was pretty shocked and taken aback at the time and ceded position. Next time it happens I have decided to push back and fight my corner. No quarter is asked for and none will be given. I can't imagine what the carriage will feel like when the temperatures rise into the 30s.

Sports Day

It is June already (!!!) and time for Clara's first Sports Day at Higashi Hagiyama Elementary School.

Of course, in true Japanese style, a lot of effort was put into organising the event and if an alien from outer space (as opposed to one from Scotland) had landed for a split second, he would have been suitably impressed. All the students were dressed perfectly and had equally impressive behaviour. The timetable of events ran to the minute. The events themselves were choreographed perfectly. The students cheered and jumped in unison when their team won an event.

However, for all the positive impressions, somehow it just did not feel right. Perhaps I'm just being my usual Calvinistic self but the fun element was hard to find. Anyway, arriving at the school on Saturday morning, I became slightly irked when I tried to park my mountain bike. One volunteer in charge of bicycle parking found it slightly unsettling that my mountain bike did not have a stand on it. Therefore, instead of it resting on a stand (for the purposes of conformity), I had to prop it against a wall. No big deal to most people I should think but it seemed to have caused a major international incident. I left my bike propped up against the wall whilst the qualified bicycle parkers called an emergency plenary meeting of the United Nations.

Clara did not seem to be very excited about Sports Day and she hardly mentioned it in the days before the event. She seemed disinterested about the whole event before, during, and after. I can totally understand her feelings. Sure the event was very well organised and visually impressive at times, but every aspect was controlled with military precision and nothing was left to chance. The result? No spontaneity and little in the way of fun for the students. Every student followed the rules of the group and expressions of individuality were nowhere to be found.

The real competition was occurring off the field. Dads turned up and joined the Who's Got the Biggest Zoom Lens Competition, mothers joined the Who's Got the Most Impressive Bento Box Competition, and other family members joined the Let's Grab the Best Seat at the Front Competition. The Let's Grab the Best Seat at the Front Competition involves people arriving at the school from about 5am with plastic matting to ensure they get a prime view of events from the edge of the sports field.

All the events on show were team events. We were treated to marching, dancing, relays, singing, and a display where teams of students made human pyramids up to a height of about 3m. I was sitting watching the pyramid building events with interest and some degree of trepidation. If the students at the top of the wobbling pyramid had fallen off, there would have been potential for serious injury. I did not agree that it was worth risking injury for the students just so that the parents could get some kicks and the school can demonstrate what a good team of students they were literally building. As I was watching, I was silently debating whether I would let Clara participate in similar demonstrations when she's older. My concerns on safety were proved justified when one girl about 11 years old fell from the second tier as they were dismantling the pyramid. She seemed to land on the base of her spine and was grimacing in pain for some time after.

Injuries seem to happen a lot throughout students lives in Japanese schools. Training is taken to the extreme where pain is seen as a requirement, not as something you might experience occasionally through extreme effort. The theory is that if there's no pain, your're not training hard enough. The result of this extreme punishment are young bodies which have experienced a large number of injuries from an early age. I have a friend who works in a high school who has stated that it is not too uncommon for students to be turned down from some physical jobs because of injuries sustained at school. I also think this is another reason why Japan punches below its weight in international sporting competitions.I was pretty happy for the event to end and get back home to do things that might actually be descirbed as fun. However, my return home was delayed as it turned out that the Bicycle Police had moved my bike somewhere less offensive. After a couple of minutes, I found it entangled with other bikes at the foot of a stairway. We all got home eventually and discovered that Clara had some fairly uncomfortable sunburn on her legs as she and her classmates had been made to sit through all the events without any shade against the beating sun. Overall, I feel that the day was of more harm to Clara than good.

At least it will be another year before I have to witness another display of automatons being told exactly how to perform and how to have fun.

My next blog will perhaps be about my new working life in Tokyo. Commuting in packed and sweaty trains during the height of the summer fills me with dread.

Toilet Time

When people think of Japan, they think of Bullet Trains, advanced mobile phones, quality cars, and cutting edge flat screen TVs. Of course, all these products are amazing and worthy of the praise heaped upon them. However, when people visit Japan for the first time, the biggest impression for many is that of the modern Japanese toilet. Japan is unrivalled in the field of toilet technology. Even Madonna recently stated that one of the things she likes most about Japan is the heated toilet seats. For a fuller history of the Japanese toilet, please click on this link.

Traditional Japanese toilets are little more than holes in the ground. However, over the past few decades, Western style toilets have become more and more common and are replacing their Japanese counterparts. As with most things adopted from the West, Japan has reinvented the Western toilet and tailored it to their own needs.

I must admit that I was initially taken aback by the complexity of the Japanised Western style toilet. Our current model has a wall mounted control unit with 18 different buttons which covers the basic range of toilet functions, from bidet to blow drying. If you are really feeling ambitious, you can open the control panel cover to access the other buttons, bringing the number of buttons to use up to 33. It goes without saying that the toilet opens, closes, and flushes automatically using inbuilt sensors.

Toilets made by Toto, the largest Japanese toilet manufacturer, have recently been in the news for catching fire. However, you'll be glad to know that my buttocks are unburnt and I am in no need of a trip to the plastic surgeon.

Recent developments in the world of Japanese toilets include memory card slots that enable you to play your favourite music whilst going about your business. Anyway, for those readers in the US and Europe, don't be surprised to find yourself sitting on a Toto toilet soon as they have ambitious plans to explore new markets.

Tokyo Life

As promised, here are some details about where we are living in Tokyo. We are now living about 30 minutes from the centre of Tokyo (on the semi express train). The area is called Higashimurayama and our local station is called Kumegawa. It's a great area to live in. There are lots of shops, supermarkets, restaurants, bars, parks, and other open spaces.

City living is still a bit of a shock to the system after living in the middle of nowhere for nearly 4 years. It's great to be able to do such simple things as shopping at any time of day and to have so many different ways to spend my time. It's fantastic to be able to choose what I want to do. I do miss a lot of things about Shimogo though and I'm lucky to have had the chance to see the two sides of Japan.

Unfortunately, I haven't slept well since our move which I think is due to the background noise of the local area. In Shimogo you could hear a pin drop, but in Tokyo, there's always a car driving past or people walking nearby. I'm sure I'll get used to the noise soon. I remember I had the same problem when I first lived in Tokyo (about 11 years ago). I used to be woken up by the musical bin lorry outside my tiny apartment, but after a few months, it ceased to bother me.

A particular annoyance at the moment is the noise caused by the local elections which are going on all round Japan. Every candidate seems to drive in a circuit around the local area in vans weighed down by massive speakers. All the candidates seem to do is repeat their names over and over again. It must be difficult for them to tell people their manifesto as they are constantly on the move. The candidate who has driven past our house the most is called Ishibashi. I think I've heard his name repeated at least 100 times today. Annoying, so he will not get my vote (if I were allowed to vote).

I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you this drawing showing a banner erected by General Douglas MacArthur's Japanese supporters in 1950. This banner was to display their support for him in a possible US presidential election race.

It is odd that our apartment in Tokyo is much bigger than our previous apartment in Shimogo. Tokyo is the one of the world's most densely populated cities where you would expect living areas to be small as space is scarce. Conversely, the Japanese countryside is in decline and there is an abundance of available space for housing. Therefore, I never really understood why most apartments I saw in the countryside were tiny. My theory is that apartment designs are fairly standard in Japan and are used both for rural and urban areas. It doesn't really make sense to use the same housing dimensions for both the countryside and city. If the Japanese nation want to preserve some sort of rural population, it would be common sense not to force people into living in rabbit hutches when there is no obvious need to do so. If the quality of life was better in the countryside, perhaps less people would want to leave. Here endith the lesson.
Here is a picture of our living room and our balcony. The living room is about the same size as our old apartment in Shimogo. It's nice to be able to sit on a sofa instead of the floor.

The balcony will be used for beer drinking during the summer. Clara loves her new room, even if it is a bit on the small side. She makes me knock on the door every time I want to enter. Yuki is really happy that she has a large kitchen to work in and is over the moon that our bath is double the size of the one we had in Shimogo. Our living conditions have certainly taken a turn for the better. Of course the natural environment is nothing compared to Shimogo, but the general balance of things does seem to be better.
We have basically finished organising the apartment. The last piece of the puzzle fell into place today when our telephone was finally installed. We have no plans for the weekend, but if we do anything interesting, I'll let you know.

I'll try and do another update soon, perhaps about our new space age toilet. Until then.

Primary School

Clara had her entrance ceremony for primary school on Friday the 6th of April. Her new school is called Higashi Hagiyama Elementary School and her class teacher is called Kumiko Sakurai. Sakurai sensei seems to be very nice and she smiled at all her new students right through the ceremony. Some of the other teachers looked quite harsh, so Clara has been lucky.

Class sizes in Japan can be up to 40 students. However, as the total number of new students at Clara's school amounted to 83, they had to be divided into 3 classes. Clara is now student number 19 in class 1-3. Every student has a number. I'm much happier that Clara is in a class with 28 students rather than in a class of 40, for obvious reasons.It was excellent to see the cherry blossoms all around the school building and a great photo opportunity.

One thing that I didn't like was some minor criticism directed at Clara's new teacher from some of the other parents. They were complaining that she was speaking too quietly. She was obviously nervous having 28 new students in front of her and over 30 parents looking on. I just thought that the first day of class was when the teacher deserved a bit of support, as opposed to some fairly audible criticism. Parent power is really strong in Japan - too strong.Anyway, I am optimistic that Clara will be happy in her new school and make lots of friends. The boy who sits beside her seems to be a real character so it will be interesting to see how they get on. I'm expecting a lot of interesting stories from Clara.

For the next 2 weeks, Clara will attend school from 8am to 11am. We are worried about her walking to and from school alone but I guess that's all part of growing up. Good luck Clara! Please follow this link if you wish to see more pictures of Clara's first day at school.

I will try and do a new blog soon to tell you about our apartment in Tokyo.

Cherry Blossom

This photo shows the street outside our flat. The street looks a lot nicer at this time of year because the cherry trees are in full bloom. We are lucky enough to have cherry trees outside our balcony.

Before I came to Japan, I did not really understand the fuss about cherry blossom season. However, after living here a few years, I find myself also getting excited about this time of year.

At cherry blossom time, even the drabbest of streets can look pretty. Japanese people love to have hanami parties and various festivals are held around the country. When the TV weather forecast is given, there are also special maps which show the advance of the cherry blossom front from Okinawa in the south to Hokkaido in the north.

Unfortunately, at any one location, the blossom only lasts for about 1 week. After that, the petals fall like large snowflakes and the streets become drab once again.

On Friday, we all attended the opening ceremony at Clara's new primary school. The school grounds had an abundance of cherry trees and they added a bit of colour to her first day at school. More on this in my next posting.

Shimogo Nursery School Graduation

I suppose that one of the reasons we stayed in Shimogo so long was for the benefit of Clara. Yuki and I realised that Shimogo was the best place for her to develop in her most formative years. Shimogo has benefited Clara immensely and the care and attention given to her at nursery school has been incredible. Her time at Shimogo Nursery School could not have been bettered at any nursery school in Scotland. She has learnt so much and has had the perfect preparation for primary school. It's ironic that my best and worst memories of Shimogo are both related to Shimogo Nursery School.The worst memory was in February 2006, on a Monday afternoon. I was sitting in the Board of Education when a message came across the town PA system in Japanese. I didn't understand the message, but when I looked at the faces of my colleagues who also had children at the nursery school, I knew something was terribly wrong. It turned out that some of the students had been buried by snow which had slid off the school roof. My colleagues and I rushed down to the nursery school to help dig out the kids. The first came out unconscious and was resuscitated. The second came out about 2 minutes later and died. I didn't mention it on my blog at the time because it was just too raw to write about. Snow related accidents are common throughout rural Japan.Because the excellence of the nursey school was pivotal for us staying in Shimogo for as long as we did, it was fitting that one of our last jobs was to attend the graduation ceremony. I knew that the the ceremony marked the end of our time in Shimogo and was therefore expecting it to be the most emotional time for us during our protracted farewells.

Clara seemed composed and confident throughout the whole affair, but cracked when she was had to say goodbye to her teacher in the school foyer. That set Yuki and I off.

However, as I have said in the previous post, we are sure to visit Shimogo many times in the future and Clara will be able to maintain the friendships she has made.

The Big Move

We were slowly building up for our move to Tokyo over a long period of time. Unessential items were slowly migrated to our new flat in Tokyo and other non essential items were gradually being boxed up or thrown away. Initially I thought that we had little to take with us to Tokyo but it turned out that we had much more than we realised.

Clara was a star. She rarely complained when we packed or threw away her clothes or toys. She proved very useful to have around and revelled in the cleaning duties. A perfect little helper!

On the afternoon of our move, it slowly became busier outside our flat as neighbours and friends realised that the time of our departure was close. That made us feel like we had truly became part of the local community and made our departure a bit special.

In the end, all our belongings managed to fit inside the truck, but there was no margin for error. Clara seemed unperturbed by all the activity and played with her friends right up to the very last minute.In between the packing, Yuki and I had to attend Clara's nursery school graduation ceremony. I knew this would be the most difficult event for us to attend and it proved to be quite emotional for us all. More on this in the next posting.

Goodbye Parties

Hello all. I'm sorry that it has been a long time since I have updated the blog. It took a long time to arrange our internet connection in Tokyo. A very frustrating experience, especially when you consider we are now living in the world's largest city where many things are cutting edge and super efficient.

Here are a couple of pictures from a couple of the goodbye parties in Shimogo. I went to quite a few parties in my final 2 weeks but only took the camera to a couple of them.

Many people went out of their way to make our last few weeks in Shimogo memorable. A great way to end our stay in Shimogo and say goodbye to all the people who have become good friends. Happy memories. Things ended on a high as I realised that I wasn't saying my final farewells. I am certain to visit Shimogo many times in the future for skiing, cycling, and partying.

Patience

Hi All

Sorry but you'll have to wait a bit longer for the next update. Our home PC should be up and running by Monday or Tuesday. Updates will be about :
Shimogo goodbye parties
Clara's graduation
Moving from Shimogo to Tokyo

Bye
Kane

Graduation Time

It is graduation time in Japan and is really does not feel like 1 year since my last graduation ceremony at Shimogo JHS. I think that graduation ceremonies in Japanese schools are carbon copies of each other with only small details that differ.

Most students took their high school entrance examinations on the 8th March. Graduation from JHS was yesterday (13th March) and the results of the high school entrance examinations were published today. All the students at Arakai JHS managed to pass their entrance examinations for the high schools of their choice. I'm not surprised that they all passed as they hardly ever made mistakes in class. A clever group of students. Many of the students visited school today to confirm their success at the entrance examinations. Then they all did a tour of the staff room and thanked all the teachers individually for the care and education they received over the last 3 years. They all looked happy and there was a distinct air of triumph and satisfaction within the staff room today.

At my most recent visit to my other school, Hisawa JHS, there was a school event held in honour of the soon to graduate 3rd grade students. The 1st and 2nd grade students, and teachers took part in a couple of plays and sang a few songs to wish the departing students luck in their future endeavors. There was also a slide show documenting the 3 years that the students spent at school and video messages made by all the students and teachers.

I took part in singing a couple of songs which are popular around graduation time. One song was called Okuru Kotoba and the other was called Nagori Yuki. I practiced hard for my part in these songs but my singing was really disastrous! I listened to the songs many times on CD but when it was time to sing on stage, the accompanying guitar sounded completely different and it was impossible for me to sing the words in the correct time to the music.

Because I have been in Arakai JHS for nearly 2 weeks, it meant that I missed the Hisawa JHS ceremony. It was a shame not to see them graduate but I don't have the same attachment to the students as I had at Shimogo JHS.

Anyway, yesterday was graduation day at both the schools I work at. I went to the ceremony at Arakai JHS and prepared myself for the flood of tears which is obligatory at graduation time. I was trying to decide whether I would wear my kilt with all its accoutrements or whether I would wear a suit and tie for the event. In the end, I opted for the suit. I'm sure the kilt would have been a big hit but I really did not want any attention and tried to blend into the background as much as possible.

As expected, the ceremony was quite moving but the British stiff upper lip came into play and I think I was the only person (out of about 150 people) who managed not to shed a tear. It was touch and go, but I managed to keep the Ice Man facade throughout. I was called an Ice Man by a previous teacher at Shimogo JHS because I have managed to keep a solid composure at previous graduation ceremonies. I don't think it was meant as a compliment.......but I liked it anyway.

Anyway, the sequence of events was much the same as last year at Shimogo JHS. At the start of the ceremony, everyone stood and sang the Kimigayo (the Japanese National Anthem) to the sound of snow sliding off the gymnasium roof. We have had as much snow over the past few days as we've had over the course of the whole winter. It seems like that anyway.

After the Kimigayo, the students were onto the stage in alphabetical order to receive their graduation certificates from the Principal of the school. Some of the students looked shell shocked and bewildered that they would no longer be students at the school. Their home room teacher called out their names when from the class attendance book when it was their turn to go up onto the stage. When the last student was called, the teacher closed the book for the last time.

Perhaps the most moving part of the ceremony was when the 3rd grade student president (Naoki) made a speech on behalf of his fellow students. He found it really hard to compose himself and cried a lot. This set off everyone else which meant that there were 78 students, 20 teachers and about 100 parents all blubbing at the same time. I very nearly joined in but took some photographs to distract myself.

The tears soon changed to smiles as the students left school for the last time. Another great bunch of students that I have had the pleasure of meeting in my time in rural Japan. I can't overemphasise how great the students have been during my time here.

In the evening, there was the graduation party which all the parents and teachers attended. It was a pretty good evening although I've felt really tired today and even managed a quick nap at my desk. I think I drank a lot of beer but am not sure exactly how much. It's really hard to tell how much you are drinking at Japanese parties because you drink from really small glasses that are constantly refilled by the people around you. Japanese parties can be really fun and a bit crazy at times. Various performances are arranged and that usually means people making complete fools of themselves in front of a large audience. I was coerced into wearing a pink bunny rabbit costume! No comments on this please!

I have been cycling a few times recently and I was hoping to cycle a bit more before our move to Tokyo. Any further thoughts of cycling have been clearly annihilated by the heavy snow which has fallen over the past few days. We plan to move on the 24th March, immediately after Clara's graduation ceremony at nursery school. Only 10 more days in Shimogo. Our move will create plenty of challenges for us, but it is time to move on.

I plan to join a gym in Tokyo called Rondo which is about 5 minutes walk from the flat. I'm aiming to do a lot of swimming and climbing as I am keen to get fit again. I'm thinking about doing the Tokyo Marathon next year but that all depends on the ratio of time spent in the gym and pub. There is also a nearby cycling route although it can't be as nice as the places I used to cycle to in Shimogo.

We have LOTS of parties to attend over the next 10 days. I'll try and do another post or two before we leave Shimogo.