Food glorious food

I am typing this on the plane on the way home from Japan. By the time I upload it I’ll be back at home of course but right now it is 10:50 AM UK time but my body thinks it is 8 PM back in Japan. I thought this would be a good time to do a round up or list some highlights of the holiday, or at least start one! I think this may go on for some time, writing up highlights of my holiday for my blog!

I shall start with food! My top 10 favourite dishes from my holiday in Japan!

1) Hakata ramen: This ramen is so different to any ramen I have tasted before. It is pork based and nothing is wasted in going into the soup for the ramen. I have not tasted anything so vital with meatiness since eating wild boar stew in the south of France. The Hakata ramen made me want to go out and perform a ceremony in thanks to the pig for giving up its life and energy for me to eat it in this ramen! Tasty does not do it justice. The noodles were slightly thinner than the ones I normally get in ramen in the UK and the onions in the ramen were wonderful so fresh and flavoursome!

2) Mount Aso beef stew. I ate this in a railway caff! Real honest hearty food cooked in front of us by the cheerful chef who also was in charge of the station shop! It was the seasonal special meal and came with fresh local salad which was also delicious! The beef again tasted fabulous like it had been running about on the fertile slopes of Mount Aso only that morning! The stew was thick and had seasonal mushrooms in it as well!


3) Japanese apples the size of pumpkins! I didn’t dare eat the really huge apples which literally are the size of a melon or a small squash. I did eat the ones that are about the size of a grape fruit! They were lovely fuji apples with the sweetness of red apples but the texture of a crisp green apple. They are expensive at about 70p - £1 each but well worth it. They are packages in their own protective sleeve which resembles an Elizabethan ruff! Due to the typhoon that hit just before we arrived there was a glut of applies in Japan that had fallen during the storm and needed to be eaten! So I helped out! Interestingly I caused real fascination for a young Japanese girl who watched me eat one of these large apples on the train. I must have appeared like a savage to her, biting into it. I noticed that apple is usually served sliced and most of the apples are just too large to bite into and eat comfortably!

4) Clam soup and Japanese red wine: When we arrived at Nagasaki we didn’t notice anywhere to eat near by. It turned out there were plenty of places a short walk away but we didn’t want to go exploring on our first night there and so decided to treat ourselves to a meal at the hotel restaurant. It receives very good reviews although a little pricey. The restaurant is a French Japanese fusion - very interesting. We had a fabulous 4 course meal but the highlights for me were the soup course - clam soup. I had not tried clam before but this soup was delicious! The little clams were still in their shells and the clattery shells were very pretty and the meat very tasty. As I was having beef as my main I opted to try a glass of Japanese red wine. I have to say it is one of the nicest red wines I have had in a long while; very easy to drink but full of flavour! Unfortunately I don’t know what its name was!

5) Chestnut cream cake and tea: I had these at the Glover Garden Tea Rooms in Nagasaki. I have not been able to eat much in the way of cakes or puddings over the last few months due to a stomach complaint and I am supposed to stick to a low fat diet, but I let this slip in order to try the sweet chestnut cake. It was beautiful. I savoured every last bite! The tea rooms were delightful the kind of establishment sadly dying out back in Britain.

6) TakoYaki Octopus balls in a boat: The sound delightful don’t they? They actually look great and taste even better! I had been watching the cook continually turning the doughy balls with octopus in the middle, to make sure they are evenly browned all over, for days when we were first in Hakata. It wasn’t until our return that I got to try them. A wonderful treat with the sweet sticky sauce all over them!

7) mystery udon at Tosu station: On our way to Kumamoto we had a half hour wait for our connecting train we had asked for extra time to change in case the station was hard to navigate. Of course being Japan it was totally smooth and easy to find our way around! But having the extra time meant that I could stand at the udon stand and try some mystery udon with a potato cake in it! I think i may have unwittingly asked for the breakfast udon either way it was delicious! I just wish that we had udon stands on our train station platforms at home! I’d eat there every night on my way home!

8) Mapo Dofu in Nagasaki China town: I had tried mapo dofu back home once but it had been an odd affair and Jase had told me it wasn’t at all like the real thing. So where better to try the real thing than Nagasaki China town! It was fantastic, so soft tofu with a rich meaty sauce that is both hot but delicately sweet. We have tracked down a recipe and I am going to try to make it at home!

9) Omu rice: It is no delicacy it can be found in any cafe or izekaiya in Japan it is what it says - omelet covering rice and rich meaty stew. Cheap and cheerful and total comfort food!

10) Ginger ale kit kats! Yes the world’s finest invention it’s a kit kat but it tastes exactly like ginger ale! I could only eat a small amount due to my avoiding fatty foods but it tasted good!

I know it was top 10 but I do have an 11 again from Nagasaki where we tried manju - again I could only have a tiny bit due to it being very fatty pork in a soft bun but unlike the usual pork buns sold in convenience stores etc. this is an open bun and they are everywhere in Nagasaki! Very tasty but could only eat a bit!

I should also give an honourary mention to the mushroom burger from freshness burger that was in fact a large portobello type mushroom in a bun with all the usual gubbins. Very odd but very tasty!

So ends my food odyssey of Japan 2009!

Kumamoto wildlife

Today we visited Kumamoto castle and Suizenji Park. It was a beautiful sunny, warm day. There are pics of the castle on my flickr page and I'll blog about the castle later. At Suizenji Koen we cane across the heron type bird above (I think it is actually a grey egret) patiently watching the lake. He was most obliging for photos although he referred to move so we weren't able to get an action shots. It was only once we had moved on that a party of school children scared him away. The bird made a great racket about it too!

We had moved on to have a look at the cats below. We think the black cat captured here was the Mum. She was very friendly, she looks just like my cat Rookie. She miaowed a lot and came over to me for a big fuss. She was with a much smaller, shy, stripey cat who we guess was her kitten.
Close to the black cat and her kitten was the cat I photoed below. He was having a great time sharpening his claws on the tree, and looked very pleased with himself!
As ever Jase has also uploaded his pictures to flickr too.

Volcano

Today we visited Mt Aso, Japan's most active volcano and one of the worlds largest calderas. Except Aso-san is in fact 5 volcanoes surrounding the huge flat caldera caused by the last huge, super eruption. Above is the view of the active crater as you look down on it from one of the viewing platforms. The picture shows the poisonous steam and fumes which are emitted by the crater. But I am getting ahead of myself...

Our day started early we had left the hotel by 7:40 and were on the train to Aso by 8:30. Today's train was bright red on the outside and consisted of just 2 carriages. Everything in the train was totally immaculate as ever. I particularly liked the checked tie back curtains. Jase took the picture of me below on the train.
It is an hour's journey to Aso town which is situated in the flat caldera plain below the 5 peaks of Mt Aso. It seemed a bit of a one horse town, very quiet and laid back. Unfortunately some of the tourists who also wanted to get the bus to Mount Aso like us, were not so laid back. In fact one man of indeterminate nationality - (all I can say is he spoke English and German but was not English or America and I don't think he was German either,) was so rude! He was charging about the place, barking orders at the polite and helpful station staff as if they were his slaves and shouted continuously at the taxi driver who he had ordered to translate for him. The thought of having to go up to the volcano's edge with such an obnoxious and discourteous man was not an appealing one. His wife who appeared to be long suffering spent most of the time as we waited for the bus, running away from him and hiding! He would bellow her name and order her back to his side when he noticed she had sidled off.

We caught the bus soon after arriving at the train station. It took about 30 mins to drive up the side of the volcano on the bus, my ears popping all the way. I was able to get the following picture from the moving bus' open window, so I am very pleased with it given the circumstances!
At the Mt Aso centre we were informed that due to the wind direction and the nature of the poisonous gases the viewing platform for the crater was closed. The crater can be reached by road or by cable car. Both the road and the cable cars were shut. During the day the crater viewing area can close and open many times depending on the conditions so we decided to be patient and wait. The obnoxious man was far too impatient to wait and stormed off as soon as we got there, not to be seen again. After about an hour of waiting many people seemed to drift off, but Jase and I stayed. One of the guides from the centre came over to talk to me, she was doubtful if the crater would open any time soon. She was very helpful and seemed to enjoy talking to me she trying out her English me my basic Japanese

We had an early lunch of udon at the Mt Aso restaurant and after eating our meal an announcement came over the PA system saying that part of the crater viewing area was now open. Our patience had paid off, we had waited 2 and a half hours but within 10 minutes had caught the cable car and were looking into the boiling sulphurous lake in one of Aso - san's craters. As pictured below.

The guide we had spoken to earlier saw us get off the cable car as she drove back down the volcano in a car, she waved happily at us, obviously pleased that the earlier bleak outlook had been proved wrong!

Jase took some really great pictures which you can look at on his flickr page as usual and there are more of my pics on flickr too.

Although the wind had died down slightly and the fumes had eased you could really taste the sulphur and the conditions were rated as dangerous for anyone with chest or heart conditions. I did cough quite a lot and by the time we left could feel my lungs tickling slightly like when you are recovering form a cold or flu! It was also pretty chilly at the top of the volcano in spite of all the steam! Once we were down in Aso town again it was lovely and warm though!

Aso-san isn't always as gentle as today and dotted around the crater viewing areas are little shelters and hides for you to seek refuge in if Aso-san decides to start hurling rocks down on you!

After our spell at the crater we went back to Aso town and I tried a local speciality of beef made from brown cows, a bit like highland cows. The beef is shredded and served in a thick stew with rice and seasonal salad or veggies. It was delicious. I took some pictures of these tasty cows which are on my flickr page. To think I was vegetarian for over 3 years!

We were back at the hotel in Kumamoto by 7pm although it felt a lot later. All in all it has been a very satisfying day. I have waited 35 years to see an active volcano up close and I have now. All I can say is I now want to see lava flows so I think it will have to be a trip to Hawaii - maybe a bit sooner than another 35 years!

Tomorrow we shall visit the castle and a large park in Kumamoto.

Castle At Night

Castle At Night
Originally uploaded by JasonGDoig

As promised a picture of Kummoto castle from our bedroom window. Jase took this at about 7 pm at night. We really are lucky with such a great view. We plan to visit the castle on Thursday and also a large park which has a miniature mount Fuji in it. Should be fun! But first we have Aso-san Japan's most active volcano to explore. Fingers crossed the poisonous fumes don't close the viewing platform!

Kumamoto

We got to kumamoto yesterday (Monday 19th October) in the afternoon. We had to change trains at Tosu which went smoothly. There was a little udon noodle stall on the platform at Tosu and I had fabulous udon with some kind of potato and spring onion cake floating in it as well as the usual meat, fish, veggies and noodles of course. It was totally delicious.

Our hotel at Kumamoto is just north of the castle but our room faces south right on to the castle. It must be the best view in Kumamoto! I'll have to keep you waiting for a photo as I am waiting for Jase to upload his pictures on to Flickr.

We ate last night at an izakia called Wara Wara, they are a chain of Japanese pubs where you order all kinds of food that all go well with beer! I had Kirin Ichiban last night a fresh lager but very tasty. We ordered lots of small dishes my favourites were the scallops, pork and onions, and chicken skewers. Really good grub!

This morning we decided to walk to the bus/tram station and buy a day pass for the tram and then go to the JR station so I could get us tickets for Aso tomorrow and Hakata on Friday. We thought buying the day pass would be easy. It has been very simple to get day passes everywhere else. Not today. It took us ages to find the ticket office. When we did find it the poor ticket sales girl was totally nonplussed by my requests in basic Japanese. She knew I wanted a ticket but wasn't sure where for and when we said for Kumamoto she still looked very concerned. We had to apologise and leave.

We were both totally stressed out. We walked to the tram stop but there was nothing there about tickets We walked back up to the station and as a last resort popped into a hotel there to see if someone spoke English. We found a lovely receptionist who actually volunteered to come with us to the station ticket office and translate for us. We aren't even staying at the hotel and she was so helpful. It turns out that the initial confusion was caused by the plethora of day passes available some for just Kumamoto city some for the whole prefecture, some just for buses some for just trams and some for both! We got our day passes and thanked the incredibly helpful hotel receptionist profusely!

There were no problems getting our train tickets to Mount Aso or back to Hakata on Friday.

Tomorrow we will set off before 8 for our day trip to Aso-san. I can't wait!

Nagasaki Chinatown Street

Chinatown Street 2
Originally uploaded by JasonGDoig

As promised here is a brief entry about our trip to Nagasaki china town on Sunday night. It is a very vibrant but compact area of Nagasaki full of shops and Chinese restaurants. I bought myself a lovely chinese bracelet and silk purse, and a couple of presents.

We had a lovely meal of mapodofu which is soft tofu and mince meat in a beautiful dark sweet but spicy sauce. I am going to try to reproduce it when we get home, found a good recipe on the internet.

Cofee and caterpillars

Jase took some great pictures today, I like the one of me above and usually I don't like pictures of me. But Jase also took lots of pictures of birds of prey hovering above us and a procession which went past our hotel. You can see them all on Flickr.

The rest of the pictures on my blog today I took!
I have become a big fan of Tully's coffee in Japan. I even have a loyalty card! I should get my free coffee by the end of our trip. Above is a picture of my coffee and Jason's Mango Tango Swirkle as well as my sweet chestnut bun and Jase's apple pie.

We walked around the harbour this morning and I took a picture of the boat below. There was a big event going on, for school children, something like a sports day. Since being in Nagasaki we have noticed a lot of large parties of school children and near the peace park yesterday there was a large gathering of children again doing sport and some kind of environmental event. Japanese children are certainly kept busy!
Also on our walk this morning I took a few pictures of a caterpillar on a flower and this one although not composed very well is actually my favourite.
We did a lot of walking today and climbed Hollander Slope which is just a steep hill bordered by large European style villas. The area was part of the European quarter.

This afternoon we watched a TV programme showing how sumo wrestlers exercise and train every day. It was eye watering stuff involving doing the splits and carrying another sumo wrestler around on your back! After all these exercises the wrestler is then expected to eat the equivalent of about 4 full meals all at once!

I have been making a few very short videos of our stay mainly when I want to capture a sound of some sort. When I get back home I shall upload them.

Tonight we went to China Town. I'll post pictures and tell you about it tomorrow once we have got to Kumamoto. The journey to Kumamoto should take about 3 hours and again I bought the tickets successfully using my basic Japanese.

Nagasaki peace park

Today Jase and I went to the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb museum and peace park. It's a hard subject to write about. When we visited Hiroshima last year we visited the museum and peace park. The museum at Nagasaki was no less shocking, bewildering and saddening for having already visited Hiroshima, in fact it made it more moving.

The museum has a few exhibits which can be touched (they are clearly designed for visually impaired people but any one can touch.) It is still fairly rare for me to find tactile displays in British museums. No matter how much I see to touch something does make it incredibly real for me. (As I am sure it does for those with full vision.) There was a roof tile which had been transformed by the heat of the blast from smooth to a rough surface like a cats tongue. There was also a cider bottle which had been melted and reformed as it cooled into a strange mangled and smooth shape but still kept it's hollowness. It looked like it was made of toffee.

The peace park is beautiful and you leave the museum and parks with an overwhelming feeling of how pointless and futile war of any kind is and yet most of the human race is inextricably caught up in the web of destructiveness.
Just outside the Peace Park we met another cat, this one was rather friendly and happy for his picture to be taken. I think she may be a female so I shall call her Nora Neko (neko being Japanese for cat.)
I took more pictures which you can see at my flickr page here

Glover Hill, Nagasaki

Above is a picture of me taken outside one of the fine Victorian houses built by the first British expats in Nagasaki after Japan opened her borders during the mid 19th Century.

We got to Nagaski and our hotel there just after 2pm having caught the Kamome train at 12 from Fukuoka. We spent the morning in Fukuoka walking along the canal and drinking coffee. The train journey to Nagasaki was a good one with very striking scenery particularly of the cliffs and the sea. It was reminiscent of Cornwall in places.

Our hotel is at the foot of Glover Hill as explained above the Victorian expat enclave. Glover himself was the first Brit to arrive - he introduced the first steam train, asphalt road and brewery to Japan. The present day Japanese brewery Kirin is the successor of this first brewery and the Kirin dog is based on one of Glover's dog.

Glover was Scottish which means that the gardens have saltires flying and bag pipe music playing at certain points around the park. You can see more of the gardens and houses at my flickr page here
Glover Hill and its views across Nagasaki harbour are apparently the 3rd most romantic settings in Japan. It certainly was stunning and very relaxing. Above is a view from the hill across the harbour. Puccini made Glover Hill famous after staying there and setting Madam Butterfly in Nagasaki and Glover House.

On the way up to the Glover Hill gardens is a street with touristy shops and stalls. Along this street we saw lots of cats. Below is a picture of "Colin" (I named him this time following Jase's earlier theme with Dave the cat) He was enjoying himself in the afternoon sun. On our way back to the hotel at around 5 we went past more cats being made a fuss of by the local shop workers.
Tonight we treated ourselves to a 5 course meal in the hotel's French restaurant. The clam soup we had was divine!

Jorogumo (spider) island

I am really pleased that I was able to get the photo above of the jorogumo spider because I only have a little point and shoot digital camera. I had to put my camera on to the taking photo's of pets setting which I found rather amusing!

I took the photo on a long thin island which links one side of the lake in Ohori Koen (park) to the other. The path is over hung with trees and smaller bushes which is the perfect habitat for the joro gumo to spin her meter long webs. It was quite perilous sometimes picking our way through and below the webs! They didn't seem to bother the locals though and the gardens were full of school children painting and sketching the park and its wildlife. There is an art gallery at one end of the park which probably explains the emphasis on art.

The park was very relaxing, Jase got to use his camera and when he was setting up his tripod or changing lenses I read my book. Below is a picture I took of some flowers by the lake side.

After spending all morning at the park we had lunch in a little udon cafe where no one spoke English. We managed fine. Jase had his favourite katsu kare with udon this combination seemed to amuse the waitress no end. I had an udon set which was udon in a pork based broth and some fried and shredded onions and beef with rice. It was delicious hearty food and very cheap too. If we had been sitting at the window then we would have had a view not dissimilar to the one below, over the lake.
After our late lunch we went to the station to buy our tickets for Nagasaki for tomorrow. Again I ordered them in Japanese and it all went very smoothly. We popped into Yodobashi Camera for a quick look at telescopes for my Dad but the selection in Tokyo seemed slightly better. I love Yodobashi Camera it sells everything electrical or gadgety including accessories and in all kinds of colours and styles.

This evening we have been watching some Japanese TV. Columbo is about to start but we have been watching a programme involving animals in a TV studio running through a maze of dominoes the animals used included a Capybara, a duck, ferret, dog, cat and some kind of sloth. They also had a tiger cub being bottle fed in the studio and a man being lowered into a cage with a bull in it. Japanese TV baffles and amuses all at once!

The journey to Nagasaki tomorrow should only take a couple of hours but it will be a busy day tomorrow so may not blog for a while.

Nat On Lake

Nat On Lake
Originally uploaded by JasonGDoig

Jase has taken quite a few pics today from Ohori Park. Here is a link to them. This one is of me naturally!

Hallowe'en

Above is a picture of the dancing Hallowe'en fountains at Canal City. When I took the pictures last night they were dancing to Peter Gunn. Below is a picture of some pumpkins festooned about Canal City, and more dancing fountains.

We had a fairly lazy day yesterday, I wasn't feeling too well so we just went for an explore of Fukuoka in the morning. Below Tenjin station is a huge cavernous shopping mall that went on for ever and ever! After wandering round it I don't think I ever want to see another shopping centre in my life! It made Westfield look small.

Fukuoka is a very modern city with touches of its historical past just around the corner. We saw a shrine and garden opposite the large station and there are many water ways to cross.

Last night we went out for dinner at an Indian restaurant. Like all the shops and restaurants here it was decked out for Hallowe'en with a Pumpkin King greeting customers on entering the restaurant. I had the special set menu which meant getting baji, mushroom curry, garlic nan, rice and salad. It also included a pumpkin shaped piece of Indian pudding made of carrot, almonds and paneer which I have forgotten the name of but was delicious. (I saw this traditional pudding being made on celeb masterchef earlier this year.

We also explored Canal City a little more and found a fabulous shop called FrancFrancFranc which sold fabulous home wares in bright colours. A great place to get presents for people back home from!

Today we are going to a park and the Fukuoka tower. Jase is hoping to take some good pics.

Below is a picture of me from Tuesday enjoying a relaxing trip on the nozomi shinkansen!

Totoro

Totoro
Originally uploaded by JasonGDoig

I bought for Jase today a Totoro, (for those unfamiliar with the film, it's the one on the right.) I got myself a Cat Bus (on the left.)

Unfortunately the wifi isn't happy with me uploading my own pictures at the moment so for now this pic of Jase's will have to do. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post some pics of the Hallowe'en finery at Canal City and the orange dancing fountains!

Hallowe'en

Just a very quick update. We didn't have very good wifi yesterday but back now. We got to Fukuoka on the bullet train with no problems. We took the fastest one available the nozomi.

Our hotel is part of a huge shopping and leisure centre called Canal City. After arriving at 4.30 at the hotel we were unpacking in our room, which over looks the shopping centre, and down on to hanging gardens and fountains, we were suprised to suddenly hear Dancing Queen being blasted out of a PA system. It turns out that on the hour every hour up until 10 at night music is played to make the fountains dance. A sight to behold.

Everything at Canal City is festooned in pumpkins and Halowe'en decorations. The Japanese clearly love all things orange spooky and sparkly at this time of year. I'm loving it!

Quiet Monday

Just a quick blog entry today. Today is a public holiday in Japan known as Sports Day. We were up early again and in breakfast before 7:30. Not as sunny yesterday but still fair and warm. The pictures on my blog today are from the hotel's 400 year old garden. Above is a view of some rocks - the garden has many from all over Japan - water fall and jolly red bridge.

Below are pictures of some of the Koi in the ponds within the garden.

This morning we went to Tokyo station to buy bullet train tickets for our trip down to Fukuoka tomorrow. I had prepared what to ask for and had even written out the key parts of what I wanted to book in hirigana on a piece of paper. Luckily my Japanese was good enough to be understood by the ticket officer and we got our tickets for tomorrow and out return journey. I did show the ticket officer my hirigana page wich he thought very sweet I could tell!

After Tokyo station we went to Shinjuku to look around another big electronics super store and a separtment store so I could buy a back pack - I left my small day one at home! We then had lunch in First Kitchen burger bar. I had a new burger with bacon and egg and a lovely teriyaki sauce and instead of fries I had a salad which was nice.

As we are off to Fukuoka tomorrow we are taking this afternoon easy not doing much at all.

PS you can check out Jase's pictures from today on Flickr here

Tokyo wildlife

Lots of pictures for my blog today! We were up very early at around 6:00am. The morning was perfectly clear and cloudless, totally sparkling. We got a great view of Fuji-San from the 40th floor where we have breakfast. We then went for a walk in the hotel gardens again and saw Dave the cat sunbathing. We spent ages watching the Koi carp - some are huge and the very dark blue ones (which I think are ghost Koi) were fascinating to observe, very stealthy. I wonder if Dave the cat ever dips his paw in after one?

We also saw these things that at first looked like tiny orange humming birds because their wings moved so fast, but they were in fact Japanese Hawk moths! They have very fat bodies and beat their wings fast as they suck nectar out of flowers which they hover over. We also saw a very large spider known as a jorogumo it has long stripey legs and has a web which can be made up to a meter across!

By 10:00am this morning we were on our way to Hama-rikyu gardens, which are a fine example of Edo period gardens. The gardens run along side the river of which there is a view below.

The gardens are beautiful full of birds and butterflies. There were some huge crows as well as woodland birds and water fowl. I saw a bright yellow butterfly but Jase managed to spot orange and bright blue ones. There were also a couple of tiger striped cats lurking in the bushes of the park. I wonder if every garden in Japan must have a cat?

We climbed the hill in the picture below and got a great view of the garden tea house.Here is a picture of me on top of the hill with the tea house behind me. As you can see the weather was glorious. About 22C and totally cloudless sky. Not perfect conditions for Jase taking photos though!
Here is my picture of the tea house and sky scraper. The red and white pointy building that looks like the Eiffel Tower is in fact the Tokyo Tower which was built in the 1950s and based on the Eiffel Tower. All tall thin objects in Japan are painted red and white!
In the lake there were many birds and I got a shot here of one airing its wings!

On my previous trip to Tokyo Jase took a picture of the building below with a giant sphere in the middle of it. Jase's picture is taken much closer but it was good to see it today from afar. After having some lunch, I had omu hyashi which is a rich beef and mushroom stew served with rice wrapped in an omelet. Great comfort food. I also tried a half of Yebisu which was a mix of larger and dark beer. It was very nice.

We then went to Akihabara "Electric Town" where Jase looked at camera gear, TVs, video games, electronic components and all things electronics! I bought a small magnifying glass in a purple case. My back was beginning to ache a bit so we came home around 5ish. All in all a very good and relaxing day!

Totally Tokyo

We got to Japan OK, a really smooth flight the food on the flight was great - I had salmon for starter and then Japanese vegetable curry followed by a great blackberry sponge! I got a few hours sleep on the plane but not as much as I'd have liked. Jase just watched lots of films. I don't know why but I can never concentrate on films when on a plane.

We got to Tokyo at 8:45 am JST and as usual got the coach to our hotel. We have a lovely room at the hotel, very spacious with a separate dressing area with a dressing table which is a real luxury for me as our bedroom is so small at home we don't have room for a dressing table!

Jase's ritual when arriving in Japan is to go to Ginza Lion at Aoyama Ichome to have a katsu kare. I tried out my very basic Japanese asking for a table for two in a no smoking area. It all went rather well! Those familiar with Japan will know that outside many restaurants there are displayed very life like plastic replicas of the food sold. So below is a picture of the display outside Ginza Lion.

After having lunch we took the metro to Shibuya and went shopping. We went to HMV and I got a Ayaka CD which cost an absolute fortune. CDs sure aren't cheap over here! I had forgotten just how crazy Tokyo's main shopping areas are. There are people everywhere weaving about as music is being blasted from street speakers and shops that meshes into a cacophony of consumerism! We went to Tokyo Hands, which is a store that sells loads of stuff but particularly craft and DIY stuff. On the ground floor it has a section devoted to Hallowe'en costumes. My favourite involved a hot pink velvet pumpkin head and hat. It looked totally weird and cool at the same time!

After shopping we went to back to the hotel to get something to drink, I had my usual soya latte whilst Jase had a "Mango Tango Swirkle" Yep we didn't know what he would get either! It turned out to be a fruit crush made up of fresh mango and ice. Very refreshing. We drank it in the hotel gardens looking up the steps pictured below.
A hotel cat joined us for a while. he is quite feral and so wouldn't come close to us for a fuss. Instead he stalked around us, miaowing at us and flashing his half of a tail. I wondered aloud to Jase what the cat's name was and that it should be something Japanese. Jase suggested "Dave the Japanese cat." Very silly name indeed and not at all Japanese but below is a picture of "Dave" I know my Dad likes to see my pictures of cats from around the world!

Right now Jase is snoring next to me although he claims he is not going to sleep because it will make his jet lag worse! I'll wake him up in a minute.

Japan here we come!

Tonight is my last night in the UK for just under 3 weeks. Tomorrow we fly to Japan. We spend a long weekend in Tokyo, the neon capital of consumerism, gadgets and Japan before heading down to the southern island of Kyushu were we will visit Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Kumamoto. I am particularly looking forward to eating lots of fabulous food, trying out my incredibly basic Japanese, visiting mount Aso and just chilling out!

It's 18 months since we were last in Japan you can check out my blog entries from our last trip here.

I will try to keep my blog going while I am away and as Emily (work colleague) has requested I will post lots of pictures of food as well as other things! Japan is one of those places where no one thinks you are odd if you take pictures of food!

Meet the ancestors

I was very interested to see this news item about the discovery of a fossil skeleton in Africa of one of our earliest ancestors, clearly not a chimp but older than the famous human skeleton of Lucy which was found in the 1970s. I was particularly interested by this story, as I've just read Chris Stringer's Homo Britanicus: The incredible story of human life in the British Isles. The book was fascinating and engagingly written. It was totally absorbing to think about the British Isles as a kind of tropical paradise with lions and elephants wandering through Kent. Some how it's easier to imagine an ice age Britain as a desolate tundra or stark ice field. I was particularly intrigued by the fact that at some points in the distant past the British Isles were covered in lush forests and many animals but no humans although there were plenty of humans in mainland Europe. If I had a time machine I'd go back to that deserted Britain of virgin forest and wild creatures. True paradise.

I'd like to read Stringers book The Complete World of Human Evolution as well particularly in light of this new find in Ethiopia.