Alan and Akie

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

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

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

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

Congratulations to Alan and Akie!

Esslemont Academicals 1996

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

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

Some scenery.....and final holiday comments

Coming from the Isle of Skye, it should have not been a surprise to see some fairly changeable weather. However, it has been a while since I left, so I was given a reminder of the vagaries of island weather. In the course of my visits to Skye, I have experienced all 4 seasons in their extremes. I loved every minute of it!

The holiday was a complete success. I made progress with the sale of my flat in Edinburgh, saw a plethora of friends and family, ate and drank all items that had been causing me withdrawal symptoms in Japan, and was recharged by the scenery and weather.
I am pleased to be back in Japan and still have some time before I return to work. A lot of things have been happening recently so hopefully I will fill you in with the details soon. We also have a weekend away in the countryside to look forward to as Yuki's mum will shortly turn 60 years old. More updates in the near future.

Back to Japan

Running out of time to post some more Scottish blogs so will do a few more once I am safely back in Tokyo. I will return to Tokyo early on Sunday the 27th April.

Portree

This posting was originally supposed to show some of the magnificent scenery that I have come across during my time back in Scotland. Unfortunately, it seems to have been largely highjacked by my negative thoughts about Portree, the capital of the Isle of Skye.

Whilst the beauty of Skye amazed me, the apparent deterioration of Portree disappointed. Perhaps I am better placed to see the changes in Portree because I visit intermittently. Others might say I have just become out of touch. Anyway, whatever the case, Portree has become more of a town than a village. The small-town heart and camaraderie that once existed did not seem readily apparent anymore and I really did not enjoy retracing some of my steps. In one bar (The Camanachd), the place fell silent as soon as I entered. Soon after I had ordered my pint, one of the twats in the bar accused me of being in CID i.e. an undercover policeman. This combined with being hassled by some scum-bag who claimed he was a surgeon, led me to finish my pint half way through and escape into the relative safety of the town square.

The Camanachd Bar was then followed by The Isles. To be fair, it was not a bad couple of hours as I got talking to about 5 tourists who seemed to be having a lovely time on the island. However, I had been warned that The Isles has turned into a bit of a shit hole and was now a magnet for all sorts of low life. I guess I got lucky.

After chatting with a few people regarding present day Portree, it would seem the place is in decline. Feral youths seem to be roaming the streets, sometimes beating up people walking home at night, regularly breaking into businesses and homes, and trying car doors to see if they are unlocked. Whilst Portree has had problems in the past, these were generally self policed and people were quickly brought back into line. Today, this control seems to be absent.

To be fair, some things in Portree have improved, but overall, the place seems to be losing elements that made it special. Hopefully, by the time of my next visit, some action will have been taken to arrest the decline.

The Campbell Wedding

One of the many highlights of our trip to Scotland was seeing Graeme Campbell (Grambo), my friend from Aberdeen University, getting married. Not only was I looking forward to the nuptials and associated events, but I was also looking forward to meeting up with my other friends from university. I cannot believe that we all graduated 12 years ago......sorry for the cliche, but time flies (when you're having fun).

The choice of wedding present was slowly torturing me in the run up to the wedding. I always attempt to buy presents from my friend from Skye called Len who owns his own pottery called Crieff Ceramics. Unfortunately, I have been so busy that I never had the chance to drop by, say "Hi", and then buy one of his creations. He really needs to embrace the computer age and have some rudimentary means of viewing products and then ordering online.

As Crieff Ceramics was unachievable, I was faced with the dilemma of buying Grambo and Mandy vouchers from John Lewis or thinking of something else. I chose the 'thinking of something else' option and ended up buying a print from a local artist in Skye called Tommy MacKenzie. Although I do not like to brag, it turned out to be an inspired choice and seemed to go down very well with the married couple. Grambo is a bit of an outdoors type and loves nothing better than scrambling over Scottish mountains or rambling through Scottish glens. Therefore, the idea of buying a print from a Skye artist gathered momentum. Once in Tommy MacKenzie's studio, the dilemma was which picture to select. I settled on a print of the Old Man of Storr, a prominent Skye landmark about which Grambo jokingly wrote a poem on a dark winter Aberdeen evening in 1994. It is titled 'The Old Man of Storr' and reads ;

Oh ye big black rock
Standing tall you do not talk
From Portree you catch the eye
And unlike me you'll never die
Like MacLeod who once stood tall
I hope you will never fall
But big black rock I hope you stay
From dusk to dawn for eternity
I printed off a copy of the poem and stuck it on the back of picture with a small message from Yuki, Clara, and myself. Grambo appeared to be really happy with it and I hope it will grace the wall of their house for years to come.

Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of the picture that I gave to Grambo and Mandy so I have had to use a photograph that I took of the Old Man of Storr the week we arrived in Scotland. Beautiful!

When I arrived at the Newton Hotel in Nairn for the wedding reception and looked at the table plan, it became evident that the picture was even more appropriate. Grambo and Mandy had named each table after a Scottish mountain or region. I think one table was called Cairngorm, another Quirang. The top table where the bride and groom sat was called The Storr. When I saw that, I knew my wedding present was a masterstroke and that has left a smile on my face for the past week.

Needless to say, the whole day was fantastic. Mandy and Grambo seem to be the perfect match and perfect companions for each other. The food at the wedding reception was spot on, and I really enjoyed the Pimms which was served upon arrival at the hotel. I especially enjoyed seeing 'The Posse' again.BACK : Alan Thomson, Graeme Campbell (groom), Fergus Thomson.
FRONT : Graeme Glover (Best Man), Kane Davidson

The guys in the above photo are friends I made at Aberdeen University. We have all gone our separate ways, but when we meet up, the banter still flows and it becomes easy to see why we are all friends. The banter was extended when Alan and Gillian kindly gave me a lift down to Edinburgh on Sunday morning. Alan seemed to drive at 50mph the whole way, but we eventually arrived unscathed.

A great day and night which allowed me to reabsorb some Scottish culture and catch up with long lost friends. A fuller range of pictures will soon appear on Webshots.

Clara in Scotland

Clara has certainly been the star of the show during her 2 weeks in Scotland. She managed to do so many things during her time in the country and will no doubt take many great memories back to Japan with her. Indeed, these memories will surely be with her for the rest of her life.As you can see, one of the things Clara did was horse riding. She actually went riding a couple of times, accompanied by her grandparents and Sophie, the daughter of a colleague of Joep's. Clara and Sophie got on very well and I was really happy for Clara to have another friend to visit when she is next in Scotland.
After horse riding came ten pin bowling. I'm not a great fan of bowling so I decided that bowling with my eyes closed would provide a bit of excitement. Clara on the other hand decided to use the ramp to launch the balls down the bowling alley. The results of the bowling are as follows :
1. Pauline 2. Clara 3. Joep 4. Kane 5. Yuki
The biggest mystery of the day is how on earth my mother managed to come first!! She even managed 3 strikes!!!

Up next was ice skating. I wisely opted out of this activity and occupied myself with taking a few photos before retreating to the car to listen to the radio. This was probably the best decision I have made in a long time. All and sundry were crashing into each other and falling to the ice. When the skating had ended, Clara was complaining of sore ankles, Yuki was breathless, Mum was complaining that she was hot, and Joep had sworn that this was definitely the last time he would be seen on ice.

There is no doubt that Clara had a lovely time in Scotland. My parents had arranged a full schedule for her and had even made up a room in their house solely for her to use. There were no downsides to the time Clara spent in Scotland. Only good memories which will remain with her for many years to come. The problem is now we have to start planning for her next visit...........

Loch Ness, Skye, and Granny

Yuki, Clara and I drove to the Isle of Skye on Tuesday the 1st of April. It was a lovely drive but I was still a little tired as I had driven to Edinburgh the previous day in a large truck to empty my flat (which I am selling) of furniture. We stopped off at a number of places on the way to stretch our legs and take photos. The photo above shows Yuki and Clara in front of a fiberglass Nessie at the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre. On the drive past Loch Ness, Clara was adamant that she really did see the Loch Ness Monster - maybe she did......

The visit to Skye was only brief as we had the intention of seeing my Granny who is in an old folks' home. The island looked beautiful and made me feel nostalgic for the days when I used to live there. We stopped off at a couple of places to get a few photos but we needed to brave the strong wind. I actually enjoyed seeing Yuki and Clara being blown around and watching the expressions on their faces. It was great to see my Granny again, although I am always apprehensive as I wonder how fit she will be both mentally and physically. The day of our visit seemed to be a good day for her as she was lucid and managed to keep a conversation going. She was smiling a lot and seemed really interested in Clara. Clara in turn was gentle and kind to her Great Granny and fully realised that her Great Grandmother was quite frail. The icing on the cake was when Clara performed one of the dances that she has learnt in her dancing school in Tokyo.More adventures to follow........

Aberdeen Football Club

Being an Aberdeen fan in Inverness, it would have been a crime to have missed the chance to see The Dons play Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Aberdeen have never lost to ICT so I was keeping my fingers crossed that this run would continue. Not only did this run continue, but it continued in style. Aberdeen won 4-3, with the winning goal coming deep into injury time. Before the game began, I paid £6 for an Aberdeen scarf and then joined the rest of the Aberdeen fans in the away end. I really enjoyed being part of the crowd and was lucky to see a great game with the right result. In the newspaper the following day, it said that the game was one of the best of the season. Lucky me!!

The good run of results continued when Aberdeen beat Falkirk 2-1 on the 7th of April to book their place in the top half of the league for the final 5 games. C'mon The Dons!!

Good to be back

The journey was long and tiring, but we made it to Scotland on the 27th of March, after a short transit in Amsterdam. Our decision to avoid Heathrow Airport (because of some bad experiences in the past) proved a wise decision, as Terminal 5 had just opened and the airport was reportedly in chaos.

Yuki and I did not do much on Friday the 28th March as we were still tired after the journey from Japan. We just chilled out in my parents' house and visited the local supermarket to marvel in the opportunity to buy some of our favourite British products. Clara had a bit more energy and was taken horse riding by my parents.

Saturday the 29th of March was a lovely day and will live long in the memory. In the morning, we all went on a trip to the remote village of Cromarty which has some quaint old buildings and streets and also visited a fantastic beach in the village of Rosemarkie. The sun was shining but we were battered by a ferocious wind. The wind really blew away the cobwebs and we were all windswept but refreshed. I took the chance to get some pictures of the area and it was nice to see the snow capped hills in the distance.After a cup of tea in a nearby hotel, we briefly looked at the small harbour with its colourful boats, visited a local antiques shop, and then drove back to Inverness as I was planning to watch Aberdeen Football Club play Inverness Caledonian Thistle. The refreshing morning walk was a great reintroduction to Scotland and whetted my appetite for more outdoor adventures.When I return to Japan, I'll try and upload my pictures to webshots and then post a link for you all to be able to browse through my pictures from Scotland. More to follow....

To Scotland

We are all off to Scotland tomorrow (Thursday) and looking forward to our time away. Yuki and Clara will be in Scotland for 2 weeks while I will stay for 1 month.

We need to wake up at about 6am and our flight from Narita leaves at 12.10pm. After a 2 hour stop over in Amsterdam, we then fly to Aberdeen.

Highlights will include (in no particular order) :
1. The wedding of a friend from university.
2. Seeing my family and friends.
3. A return to the Isle of Skye.
4. Food and drink.
5. Decorating my flat.
6. A bit of camping / hill walking.

I plan to update my blog whilst in Scotland, so keep watching.

All the best.
Kane

V-E-R-N

It is Vernal Equinox Day in Japan, which means it is another national holiday. Got up at around 9.30am and then we went shopping in preparing of our trip to Scotland next week. Had a nice dinner with Yuki's parents and now I'm considering heading out for a couple of shandies as I am now in the mood. If I head out, it'll be the last time before our trip next week.

We had originally planned on visiting the graves of Yuki's deceased relations (very Japanese!) but it was pissing down so those plans fell by the wayside. Only 1 more day at work before the weekend so things are good. I'll do a quick update before we depart on Thursday.

Hina-Matsuri

We recently held a small party to celebrate Hina-matsuri (Girls' Day). This festival is intended to ensure a girl's future happiness and is principally aimed at daughters under the age of 20. A feature of this festival are the dolls which are supposed to represent an Emperor and Empress from ancient times. Japan has a dazzling array of festivals and celebrations throughout the year and I have come to enjoy them. It is nice to have something to celebrate on a regular basis and also interesting discover the history behind each event.

The dolls are supposed to absorb bad fortune or sickness, thus ensuring a happy and healthy life in the girl's future. I can't argue with that!

It turns out that Yuki's mother made the dolls. Many families have dolls which are passed down from generation to generation so it will be interesting to see whether Clara will use these dolls for her own future daughters. Well, that's the latest installment detailing my rock n' roll lifestyle complete.

Leap Year

No news, but it's not every year I get to blog on February 29th. We have a quiet weekend planned but will have a small party on Sunday night to celebrate Hina Matsuri. This is Girls' Day in Japan - more details to follow early next week.

After work, I visited the Imperial Palace to take some pictures of the grounds. Unfortunately, I forgot that the Palace is closed to visitors every Friday (and Monday). I guess I'll attempt another visit in the near future.

Clara is really starting to look forward to her trip to Scotland. I'm also looking forward to escaping from Tokyo as the daily commute is wearing me down. It's no fun being jammed against my fellow passengers for 2 hours of every day.

Sick Boy

I have been feeling pretty ropey over the last 10 days. Yuki thinks that I have a severe case of hay fever whereas I believe I have a persistent cold.

It has been difficult to speak as I have had a sore throat and bunged up nose which occasionally can be coaxed to give up some thick green material that the layman would term as 'snot'. I am hoping that it is indeed a cold. If it is hay fever, I can expect to suffer the same symptoms for 3 months of every year for the duration of my stay in Japan.

Hay fever is an especially severe problem in Tokyo for 2 reasons. Firstly, the pollution exacerbates peoples' sensitivity to pollen. Secondly, since World War Two, there has been a long and sustained programme of cedar afforestation. However, the expected demand for this timber did not materialise and these plantations have been left to grow and produce large brown clouds of pollen during February and March. These cedar plantations cause misery to millions of Tokyoites every year. The most common method of battling the pollen is to wear a surgical mask. I have not gone down this road yet, but may have to 'go native' if things get too bad.

Not only do these trees cause hay fever, but they are also responsible for soil erosion as they have shallow roots when compared to the natural growth trees which they have replaced. The cedar tree is certainly the curse of Japan.

Due to my cold / hay fever, I have done very little over the last 2 weeks and have stayed at home as much as possible. My condition seems to be improving so I think I will visit my local bar for a couple of beers later. As pollen levels are currently rising, I can only conclude that I have been suffering from a cold as my condition is improving.

The weather seems to be improving and we have had a lovely few days with blue skies. I intended to pay a visit to the Imperial Palace at lunchtime so that I could take some pictures of the plum blossom for the blog. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I guess that will give me an excuse to do another blog next week.

Tokyo Snow and Setsubun

We had planned on visiting the Isetan Department Store in central Tokyo, but were put off by the snow which had fallen overnight. Unlike Shimogo, Tokyo is vulnerable to paralysis and chaos once a slight dusting of snow accrues. The thought of attempting the train journey into Shinjuku convinced us all that it was best to remain at home.

Unfortunately, our house suffers from a problem which is common throughout Japan - a complete lack of insulation. We are spending a fortune keeping our house warm using a gas heater. It feels like the heat is almost immediately lost. In summer, the cool air generated by the air-conditioner is promptly lost for the same reason. I don't really understand the reasons why the majority of houses have been so poorly constructed, but it is possible the situation is starting to improve. People outside of Japan would be surprised at some of the primitive conditions faced by the Japanese, even in a megalopolis such as Tokyo.

Today was Setsubun, a day which is supposed to mark the end of winter and beginning of spring. Judging by the weather, some greater power had other ideas. During Setsubun, it is traditional to throw beans around each room to exorcise bad spirits or bad luck. A family member (me) has to wear an ogre mask while the other family members (Yuki and Clara) drive the evil apparition from the house in a hail of beans. Whilst this is going on, the brave ogre slayers shout, "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" This loosely translates into, "Demons out! Good luck in!"

Anyway, it is now February and I am starting to get excited about our forthcoming trip to Scotland at the end of March. Yuki and Clara will visit for about 2 weeks and I should be around for about 1 month. I will attempt to get the flat in Edinburgh organised for sale, although it promises to be a long and complicated process. Another highlight will be going to the wedding of Graeme Campbell, a friend from Aberdeen University.

School Performance

Clara's school had a show / open day on the 26th January. All the classes had to sing a number of songs, play musical instruments, and do a few dances. It was nice to see Clara going through the motions and good to see her interacting with her classmates. I always worry whether Clara will be fully accepted by the other children as she is half Scottish. Japan still seems to be light years behind other countries in the acceptance of foreigners and I have heard a few horror stories regarding the integration of children without 100% Japanese ethnicity. All seemed well.

After the show, we were invited to watch her teacher (Sakurai sensei) perform a lesson. The theme was bullying - a hot topic in Japan over the last year due to a number of headline grabbing suicides involving school kids. The pupils seemed to be genuinely interested and took their teacher seriously. Clara was lucky to get a good teacher this year. Hopefully her luck will hold out for next year.

Following class, the parents were then ushered back into the gymnasium to receive a lecture from a professor who apparently specialises in childcare. I politely tried to maintain the appearance of being awake which was not difficult as the gymnasium was freezing. Hypothermia was the only realistic alternative to the profs antics.

We returned to Clara's classroom to collect her and her friend Kiri. Clara's hands were like little blocks of ice. The whole school was freezing and I was a bit concerned to be honest. From my experiences in Japanese schools, heaters are used only at certain times and in specific months. Because the open day was on a Saturday, I suspect that heater use was prohibited. It would not matter if there was a mini Ice Age in July, the kids would have to make do without any additional heat source. This moronic rule following used to really annoy me. The most pleasing aspect of our visit to Higashi Hagiyama Elementary School was that the students paid me very little attention. I was worried that the presence of a foreigner would be a major event, but it turned out not to be the case. The kids seemed totally unfazed to my presence and this bodes well for Japan becoming a more racially tolerant society in future.

Hon Kawagoe

Today is a national holiday in Japan called Coming of Age Day. All young people who turn 20 years old during the year celebrate on this day. Turning 20 years old is regarded as the start of adulthood in Japan. Because we had time to kill, we all took the train to the end of the line to a station called Hon Kawagoe. Near the station, there are some temples and other old buildings. It seems to be a fairly popular tourist destination and the temple was busy with people who were apparently still performing their New Year rituals.

There were lots of stalls selling traditional snacks and trinkets. The picture at the top shows daruma - traditional Japanese dolls which are used for making wishes. As can be seen from the picture, each daruma has no eyes. When you make a wish you colour the right eye black. If your wish subsequently comes true later in the year, you then colour the left eye black. If you look at the picture of the daruma in the fire on my New Year blog, it appears that whatever wish was made did not come true in 2007 as the left eye was still uncoloured.

The next picture shows lucky cats or maneki neko. Cats which hold up their right hand are supposed to attract money while cats holding up the left hand are supposed to attract customers. We also visited Toki-no-Kane, a famous belltower which is about 400 years old. I took some photos of the area but because blogger does not seem to accept pictures in portrait, I have had to steal an image from the internet. I am also still unable to include links in my postings....arghh!!

Baked Beans

Ok, I admit that this might not be the most exciting posting in the world, but I feel compelled to write about this major and life changing event.

Yesterday, we went shopping to a supermarket called Tsurukamelando (つるかめらんど). It turns out that this supermarket is affiliated in some way to Tesco Supermarket in the UK. We have visited previously and I was happy enough to be able to buy digestive biscuits and a couple of even more mundane items. However, I always wished that they stocked baked beans. Baked beans are perhaps one of the things I miss most from the UK.

As you can see, my wish has come true. We picked up a few cans and will be visiting again soon for another consignment. Last night was like a scene from the film 'Blazing Saddles'.

Happy New Year - 2008

New Year passed relatively well and we continued to eat, drink, and be merry. I 'saw the bells in' in our apartment in Tokyo and then headed to my local bar (Bo Jangles) to continue the celebrations. The craic was good and all the customers were in party mood. I was left alone in the bar at around 2am when all the customers headed to the local shrine to pay their respects. I turned down their invitation to join them and relaxed in the empty bar drinking my beer. I staggered home at about 3.30am and tried to mentally prepare myself to be woken up at 9.30am so we could all join Yuki's parents for a special New Years brunch.

Everyone filed to the family shrine (in a spare room) to light incense and pay their respects to the family ancestors. I thought that it was a nice way to include those who have passed away in our thoughts during this special occasion. I suppose religion does have its benefits after all.... The photo is an example of a typical family shrine, although perhaps on the large side.

Once we all returned downstairs, we all sat at the large kotatsu table and had a short toast in Japanese and English. The Japanese family members all tucked into an expensive array of assorted seafood whilst I experienced the delight of a good old ham salad. I have never liked seafood so I was quite happy with what I was given. Sometimes I feel a bit of a liability at family dinner times as an extra dish usually needs to be prepared for myself. I have come to the conclusion that I will never come to like seafood - a big shame in Japan.

The early afternoon on New Years Day passed quietly and then I met up with an old Japanese friend to continue the celebrations. We headed to Yasaka Shrine, near my apartment, and I was able to watch the natives perform their rituals. We queued for about 30 minutes and then made a small cash donation, rang the temple bell, and clapped our hands twice to ostensibly pray. I was wondering whether the people who made the effort to visit the shrine actually had some religious beliefs or were there because it is 'the thing to do' at New Year.

Outside the shrine, there was a small bonfire that seemed to be burning the old fittings from 2007. I guess it's a kind of 'out with the old and in with the new' scenario. If anyone can enlighten me further, it would be appreciated.

Once we left the shrine, we found the only bar that was open and continued to enjoy ourselves.

So now it is 2008 and the year promises to hold many challenges. Hopefully I'll be able to regain some blogging momentum and produce a few more stories from my time in Japan. Happy 2008!!