Rafting and Canyoning in Minakami
This weekend was action packed to say the least. A group of us travelled to Minakami, north west of Tokyo, to do some white water rafting and canyoning. We almost didn't make it as there was an earthquake on Saturday morning which meant all the shinkansens had stopped and were delayed. We ended up getting on the wrong train and going hours out of our way AND I left my bag on the train with all my clothes in! Someone handed it in so I was able to pick it up on the way home - phew - only in Japan! We were staying in a lovely lodge nestled in the mountains, it was very strange to see all the ski slopes where I had been snowboarding now covered in grass. We were up early on the Sunday for rafting, although it has been rainy season the river was quite low so we did run aground on the rocks a few times and had to get out and push (too much for breakfast perhaps?!). Canyoning in the afternoon was adrenaline-filled to say the least. Canyoning is basically sliding down and jumping off rapids and waterfalls, the head first slides were the most hair-raising but luckily all our teeth were intact and I even managed a forward somersault off the last jump! We returned home exhausted but already planning our return to Minakami.
More pictures in the gallery.
Sakura
In Japan they don't celebrate Easter but springtime in Japan is when everything goes Cherry Blossom (Sakura) crazy. The cherry blossom is Japan's unofficial national flower. It has been celebrated for many centuries and takes a very prominent position in Japanese culture. Around late March the whole nation excitedly waits for the first buds to appear on cherry trees. The 'sakura-zensen, the 'cherry-blossom-front' works slowly northwards from the south islands until it finally reaches the northern tip of Hokkaido in May and the whole process is broadcast on television rather like a weather report showing different areas of the country as various shades of pink depending on the status of their cherry blossoms. Accompanying the front are hanami, the 'flower-viewing' parties celebrating these short-lived blooms. Everywhere in Tokyo is pink at the moment; even the Kit Kats have gone pink!
Hong Kong
During the Easter holidays I went to Hong Kong to visit my friend Ailsa (another Gateshead immigrant). It was fantastic, I guess I'd always imagined that Hong Kong would be fairly similar to Tokyo but it is very different indeed. Hong Kong is like a stretched city; all the buildings seem to be at least 20 storeys high - it reminded me of something from a graphic novel. Everyone speaks English which is very different to Tokyo and makes it a lot easy to get around but at the same time asects of Hong Kong like the little backstreets selling tradional Chinese food and wares and the heady smell of incense make it feel more like Asian city than Tokyo; it reminded me more of Bangkok in that way. While I was there I indulged in much shopping - they have Marks and Spencer! - and stocked up on some English food products (Bisto and custard powder) that I can't get here.
All over Hong Kong there are places offering reflexology and pedicures etc and my friend said I had to try the Shanghai pedicure which was quite an experience. I was settled down in a large leather arm chair, ginger tea in hand and feet soaking in a steaming, fragranced tub when this tiny Chinese man came in carrying a spot light and a roll of leather under his arm. Upon unfurling the leather I could see that it contained a variety of tools that looked suspiciously like scalpels; I suddenly began to feel very uneasy! He plucked one of my feet from it's blissful bath and held it up to the spot light whereupon he studied it carefully while making small gasping sounds - cue embarrassed, apologetic smiles. He then took one of the scalpels from its case and began scraping what seemed like layers and layers of skin from my foot - cue more embarrassed smiles. He repeated the process on my other foot before holding them both proudly up to the spot light while smiling and nodding enthusiastically at me. My feet were as smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom and I was about an inch shorter but I do highly recommend the Shanghai Pedicure.
During my stay in Hong Kong the Rugby 7s tournament was on which is where rugby union teams from all over the world compete in teams of 7s over three days. It was a brilliant event and the atmosphee in the stadium was fantastic. On the Saturday everyone in the South Stand dresses up; we were pirates but there were some other very interesting costumes such as the Smurfs and the Jamaican bob sled team!
I didn't get much time for sight seeing (shopping and rugby being the priorities!) but I will definitely be back in Hong Kong before long to see what else it has to offer.
Half Term
I was on half term last week and flew up to the north island of Japan, Hokkaido to do some snowboarding. Hokkaido is so far north that it has heavy snowfall for over half the year! We were staying in a hotel that had ski lift up to the top of the mountain from just outside. It snowed all week and the scenery was breathtaking. My snowboarding had improved by the end of the week but am still a beginner and came home with quite a few 'trophy bruises'. The snow was so powdery in the mornings that if you fell you sunk practically up to your neck and it was a struggle to get out again - cue strange snow-covered-yeti-like appearance! We also visited the town of Sapporo for the Snow Festival which was quite spectacular - giant sculptures made out of snow - some pictures of which are in the gallery. I don't know how they managed to make them so large - some upto 2 storeys high and with loads of detail. My favourite was one showing scenes from the new Narnia film. We also visited a bar where everything was made from ice! The whole structure was made from ice bricks, there was ice chairs and glasses (ices?!) were cubes of ice with hollowed centres - very cool!
We arrived home late on Saturday but there is no rest for the wicked we had to be up early on the Sunday morning to support some of our friends who were running in the Tokyo marathon (crazy I know!). They had a glorious sunny day and all did amazingly but I must give a special mention to Gareth who completed the course in 4 hours 24 minutes! He was running to raise money for Bowel Cancer UK so if anyone would like to make a donation of sponsorship please visit: www.justgiving.com/garethrichards1
Am off to a Burns pizza night tonight - that's Robert Burns not Mr Burns from The Simpsons (I think!) so will sign off for now
:-)
Kamakura
I recently visited a coastal area about 50km south of Tokyo called Kamakura. This small but beautiful town used to be the capital of Japan during the 12th century and is jam packed with temples and shrines. I began the day by visiting Engaku-ji Temple also know as the 'Temple of Spirit' which was built to honour the Zen principles and in memory of Japanese and Mongolian soldiers who died during conflict between the two countries. The temple is actually a collection of shrines including one that houses the tooth of Buddha! I then moved on to the Tokeji Temple which used to be a convent where women could go and after 3 years they would be formally acknowledged as divorced - apparently this was an attractive option in many cases and the Temple had to expand in the 16th century to accomodate more women!
After a short hike through the hills I arrived at Kamakura's most famous attraction a giant bronze Buddha which was cast in 1252. The Buddha used to be housed in a temple but this was swept away by a tsunami in 1498 leaving the 121 ton statue open to the elements. He has had several repairs done over the years and now even has a giant pair of shoes also on display!
I ended the day by visiting the beautiful Hasedera temple which houses a magnificent statue of Hase Kannon the eleven headed Goddess of mercy. Each of the eleven heads has a different expression signifying that the deity listens to the wishes of all types of people.
As the sun was setting over the bay I bid a fond farewell to Kamakura feeling very enlightened and at peace :-)
P.S. See more photos of my day in the gallery
Happy New Year
Apologies for the delay in wishing everyone a Happy New Year but it has been a very busy one so far! I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with everyone over the Christmas holidays and must give a special mention to Year 6 at Clover Hill who put on an amazing nativity and it was great to see them all. I arrived back in Tokyo for New Year which an extravaganza of lights and fireworks and then went off to the Norikura mountains to snowboard for a few days. Norikura is where we went our residentail trip back in September but it was so different to see it all covered in snow. My snowboarding is improving but I can still only turn in one direction so end up going in circles! I am going up to the North island of Hokkaido in half term though for another week and hopefully will have cracked it by the end.
I had an audition for the British Embassy choir last week and managed to get a place so was really pleased and looking forward to the first concert in May.
Hoping all is well where you are.
First taste of snowboarding
Yesterday I went snowboarding for the first time and absolutely loved it! We went to a place called Kagura which took just over an hour on the shinkansen, we were on the slopes by 8.30am. One of the other teachers from school taught us the basics and by lunchtime we were on the proper slopes. It is so tiring and I did spend a lot of time on my bum! If you have ever seen the wildlife programmes where the polar bears slide down the snow head first, there were moments yesterday when I'm sure I looked just like that! By the end of the day I was starting to be able to turn so can't wait to get back, I went and bought a board today and have 3 more trips booked already! Although saying all this positive stuff, I am omitting one tiny detail...I am incapable of getting off the ski lift! I can get on no problem but when it came to getting off I just kept falling and once even dragged the lift attendant down with me; the poor man, the next time I went up he saw me coming (a look of horror crossed his face) and he immediately leapt in to action, signalling to the others that they should stop the lift! I'll get it eventually - you can't be good at everything!
Hakone
Last weekend I visited a beautiful place called Hakone. It is about 70km south of Tokyo and the vibrant Autumn colours were in full swing; the reds and yellows of the trees were quite startling. I went to an amazing open air sculpture park which had lots of Henry Moore's work and a large Picasso exhibition. There was also a 30ft tower made soley from coloured glass chunks, you could climb to the top and the view was great. I also got chance to bathe my feet in natural spring water and give them a massage on the smooth pebbles in the base of the bath. I then went by the very cute Tozan or 'toy train' up into the mountains where I proceded on a cable car even further. Whilst riding in the cable car I was marveling at the lovely views we then rounded the top of a small peak and here on the other side in all its magnificence was Fuji, I actually gasped it was so breathtaking! I can see why the Japanese call the mountain 'Fuji-san' as a sign of respect. The cable car then continued down to a lake where I boarded what I can only describe as a galleon (equip with fake pirates!) As the sun set I was spirited away to the other side of the lake with Fuji in the background and the red torii gates leading to the Hakone shrine right on the banks of the lake. More pictures in the gallery.
A superb day!
Advent
Tokyo is in full swing for the build up to Christmas. It was quite a shock because everywhere you looked up until November 1st there were pumpkins and other Hallowe'en emblems then overnight Christmas arrived. The weather seemed to change overnight too and it has become very cold which is quite a relief after the sweltering temperatures of the summer. At school we are preparing for the Christmas Fair and concert next Friday. We have a staff choir so the karaoke skills will come in very handy on that night...or not! We visited a restaurant last night that has an amazing panoramic view of the Tokyo skyline; Tokyo Tower which is based on the Eiffel Tower really stands out as it is covered in fairy lights. We break up on the 14th so I will be back in the UK that weekend for a couple of weeks and then I am back in Tokyo for New Year celebrations and a snowboarding trip.
Looking forward to catching up with everyone soon
Anna x
Bali
Two friends and I spent our half term on the Indonesian island of Bali. It was a very beautiful place that I would recommend highly. We were staying in the beach resort of Sanur which was fairly quiet but the beach was gorgeous - long white sands stretching for miles punctuated by raised wooden platforms that looked like mini temples that you could lie on and soak up the extremely hot sun. Much of our time was spent by the pool and enjoying the massages offered by the spa at our hotel but we also visited some amazing places. We enjoyed sunset at Tanah Lot which is a temple right on the coast sat on an outcrop of rock. Another temple that we visited was Ulu Watu where we were treated to a traditional performance of the story of Rama and Sita by traditional Balinese dancers - it reminded me of doing a similar dance with my Year 4 class back home. We also rode horse through the surf on Kuta beach, had fresh seafood by candlelight on the beach and visited the rice paddy fields - a fantastic week. There are more pictures in the gallery.
Norikura
Hello everyone
I have just returned for 4 days back in the mountains with my class and 2 other year 5 classes. We had a great time and managed not to lose anyone. The bus journey took about 5 hours but the scenery towards the end was amazing. The lodges we were staying had traditional Japanese rooms with tatami (staw matting) floors, rice paper shutters and futons to sleep on. The week included lots of team building activities, mountain biking and an adventure race. For the adventure race the children had to do a tyrolean traverse where they are harnessed up and have to zip wire across a river, they also took part in rappelling which is a bit like abseiling. The lodge had a climbing wall for our free use and a river running through the rounds which provided perfect oppurtunities for getting very wet and building dams! All in all the week was exhausting but very enjoyable. On the way home we got our first glimpse of Fiji - it completely dominated the horizon and is so stereotypically shaped like a volcano - very cool! Check out the pictures of our trip in the gallery.
I have a busy week at school ahead with 2 parents evenings and a class assembly on Thursday so I will sign off for now.
Anna x
Hakuba
Hello all, I have just returned from my first trip out of the city and it was brilliant! A group of us left school on Friday and went to Tokyo station where we caught the shinkansen (bullet train) to Nagano. We hadn't booked tickets but managed to get first class ones which was a very welcome treat on a Friday evening. The trains are quite stunning and extremely fast; they can travel upto 361mph. We completed our journey on a bus for about an hour and were greeted at the other end by the owner of our hotel who kindly took us for a delicious meal at a tiny lodge restaurant which we had to ourselves. After a good nights sleep the view that we awoke to was quite breath taking. We were in a small place nestled in the mountains called Hakuba which was the location for the Winter Olympic skiing in 1998. We were there for the Jam Off music festival where we enjoyed a range of sets, local food and a bouncy castle! The atmosphere was very chilled out and the setting next to a mountain river, that was the clearest water I have ever seen, was perfect. Luckily I was off my crutches so could go exploring and managed to traverse the rushing river - almost completely unscathed! The whole landscape will be totally different in a few months when the ski season starts - I can't wait to see it then and hope to learn to snowboard! I am off to another mountainous area called Norikura on Tuesday with all of Year 5 so I hope it's as problem free as this weekend!
Karaoke on crutches
Hi all, I have had an interesting week this week which has culminated in me being on crutches with a brace round my leg - oh dear! The teachers and some of the parents play netball on a Wednesday night so I went along and within few minutes had fallen badly on my ankle - it felt ok after a while so I played on for another hour or so but by the time I got home my foot was the size of a grapefruit! So I had my first taste of needing medical care out here and it was very efficient I had an English speaking doctor who took 3 x-rays and told me that it wasn't broken - thank goodness! I have to go back in a week to see if I can come off the crutches - it is so frustrating moving round on them - I never appreciated how much I need both legs! In other news school has been going really well, the class has really settled. We had our PTA welcome evening the other night at a very posh restaurant; it was a chance for us to get to know all the parents and mingle but unfortunately due to my injury I just had to sit in a corner and enjoy the delicious food!
We are still enjoying all that Tokyo has to offer and went to Karaoke again last night but this time it was the same one in the movie 'Lost in Translation' so we had a great view - didn't improve the singing though! We are going on our first trip out of the city next weekend as there is a music festival in a place west of Tokyo in the mountains called Hakuba (www.evergreen-hakuba.com) and we are getting there on the 'shinkansen' (bullet train) which I am really looking forward to.
The weather is still swelteringly hot here and the rains seemed to have passed over for now so the air conditioning is coming into its own!
I hope all is well with everyone back home
Anna x
1st week at school
Hi all, had a very busy and tiring first week at. We started on Monday morning when the children came in with their parents to meet me and their new classroom. I only have 13 children in my class: 3 girls and 10 boys. They are mostly American or British and one Australian. We have done lots of 'getting-to-know-each-other' activities and they have also had their specialist lessons of Japanese, French, PE and Music. There 2 other new teachers with me in Year 5 so it has been quite hectic trying to get our heads round all the planning and timetabling but am sure within a few weeks everything will be running smoothly. We have a 4 day residential trip to the Japanese Alps in 3 weeks to look forward to! The weather has beeen a bit cooler this week so have been able to switch the air conditioning off a bit. We had a huge thunder storm one evening which lit up the whole sky. I got my 'gaijin' (foreigner!) card yesterday so am no longer an illegal alien in Japan - woo hoo!
I hope everyone is looking forward to getting back to school on Monday!
Anna x
Safe as Houses
Hello all, had a very busy week at school doing training activities and trying to sort my classroom the way I want so am very grateful the weekend is here. Had a slight incident earlier in the week when IKEA (they get everywhere - just need to find Primark now!) came to deliver the furniture I'd ordered. I have a video entry system into my apartment building and, lets just say, I haven't quite worked out how to use it yet as all the buttons are in Japanese (naturally) so when I saw the IKEA men appear on the screen I didn't know which button to press and when I did press one it started to make a siren sound (aaggghh!) I managed to make it stop and ran down to reception to let them in. They were very polite, lugged all my furniture up the three floors to my apartment and left with a bow. I then went upstairs to help Andy - who also lives in my building - with his stuff and when I came back down 2 minutes later there was a police man outside my door! The siren button is linked to the police station and he had come to see if I was ok! I was very apologetic and managed to convey to him that it was a "mis-take" nevertheles he took my name and I will probably be appearing on the top 5 nuisances in Japan very soon! Nice to know I'm safe though.
Football
Hello from very hot Tokyo (it was 40C on Wednesday!) I went to my first Tokyo FC football match yesterday and it was a really great night. They were playing Kashiwa Reysol who were in yellow and who only took up a small area of the stadium but they sure knew how to support - they had huge flags and drums and man co-ordinating the singing, swaying and drumming from the front with a megaphone - quite a sight. I don't know that much about football but apparently the standard wasn't that high but football is very big over here - Gary Linekar even played for a Japanese team when he retired! Unfortunately Tokyo FC lost 0-1 on a penalty but I enjoyed it anyway! Athalf time there was a massive fireworks display just outside which was amazing - August is "Firework season" here so there's been lots of displays but this one was a spectacular surprise treat. Maybe I'll get a season ticket...
Found in Translation
Hello everyone
I arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday morning and it has been a total whirlwind experience so far with lots of excitement and very little sleep! Am suffering quite a lot with jet lag so I feel very tired in the day but wide awake when it's sleep time! I haven't had too much of a culture shock yet although Japan is very different and being here has made me realise how important it will be to learn the language - a man came to read my water meter on the first day and we just couldn't communicate which was very frustrating. I have been trying to learn a few key phrases each day and use them as much as possible but most of the signs etc are written in Kanji - the Japanese symbols so I think a lot more studying will be required!
Probably the most exciting event so far was the earthquake this morning at about 4.30am - the whole room was shaking and it was a little (okay a lot) scary! I wasn't sure at which point I should go to the door frame but luckily it stopped and I was just drifting back to sleep when a slight after shock jolted the room again. Apparently it was quite a big one at its epicentre on the west coast - 5.3 on the richter scale - but was only a 3.0 by the time it got to us.
No internet at my apartment yet but will update properly soon including pictures and A-Z of Tokyo info.
Miss you all
Anna x
"Don't forget your toothbrush!"
D-day has almost arrived and the days are flying by very quickly! I started off being more excited than nervous then they became about equal and now I think the nerves have taken over! I will be flying out to Narita airport in Tokyo on Monday. The flight takes 12 hours and the time difference is 8 hours ahead so I will arrive at 9am local time; just right for an action packed day so I hope I get some sleep on the flight! The British School in Tokyo (www.bst.ac.jp), where I will be teaching, is an independent school across 2 sites that was set up in 1979 to cater for the ex-pat community of Tokyo. All the staff and pupils are English speaking which is a bit of a relief as I have been trying to learn Japanese with limited success!
I will be keeping this site regularly updated with the highs and lows of my adventure and if anyone has any questions please ask away.
Sayonara for now
Anna