Bucket List: Shimoda

These last couple of weeks have been crazy. I feel like I’ve hardly had a chance to take a breather.

However last Friday I managed to check one of the items of my bucket list: Take my family to Shimoda.

Last time I was there I had seen a hotel that advertised that they allowed animals – perfect for taking Charlie to the beach.

We embarked on the 3-4 hour car journey from Tokyo down the Izu penisula with Charlie and Roxy in the back seat.

The hotel we were staying at was called Ernest House and was gorgeous on the outside; all white washed wood and decking with a cafe attached. Unfortnately being the bad blogger I am I forgot to take any pictures so you’ll have to cope with this one I found online.

Roxy and I shared one room with Charlie and mum had the other room. They were typical Japanese hotel rooms, an all in one plastic bathroom, comfyish twin beds and little else. Sparse but homely. In our room there was a large flat boxy like thing which was obviously meant for Charlie but of course he would be sharing a bed with one of us and mums room had an old school iMac in it. Overall rather impressed with the hotel.

After we had checked into our two rooms we headed on down to the beach to introduce Charlie to the sand and sea. Two things that were completely new to him.

Earnest hotel is located less that a 5 minute walk to Ohama beach one of the best beaches in Shimoda. It’s a decent size, the water stays shallow for ages and it’s dog friendly. While we were there it wasn’t busy at all infact the only people we saw were people walking their dogs and surfers attempting to catch some waves. All in all it was perfect for the dog.

Charlie couldn’t believe his luck, he loves to run something in Tokyo he hardly gets a chance to do properly but here he had the whole beach to explore.

He certainly wasn’t as keen on the sea.

We did try and drag him in which he certainly wasn’t happy about so we gave up on that and decided to leave him to get used to it on his own.

After a tiring afternoon on the beach we headed over to Cafe Mellow for some dinner. The food there was lovely. They had everything from fresh scallops to pizza, cheeseburgers to swordfish plus they were dog friendly as well and kindly provided Charlie with a bowl of water.

After a rather exciting day, a certain someone was definitely ready for bed so Roxy and I crawled under out sheets, attempted to brush out the sand and watched Chalet Girl – totally appropriate to watch skiing while on a beach holiday.

The next day we woke up to our breakfast basket outside our room. Once again I failed to take a picture of this but it really was amazing. If you have a look at the pictures on this guys blog you’ll get an idea of what the breakfast was like:

http://tomapasu.at.webry.info/201205/article_4.html

The first morning we had an egg sandwhich, strawberries, chocolate cake, fresh apple juice, coffee, yogurts and a banana. After opting not to take our breakfast onto the beach we ate it in our room before getting dressed and prepared for a full day on the beach. We decided to go and grab some things from Family Mart as food for the day then settled behind a rock for our day on the beach.

The day was spent, exploring caves, paddling in the sea, playing with Charlie, lying in the sun and generally having a detox from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo.

Charlie discovered his new found love for digging holes in sand. It was so funny to watch.

And so began the stupidest photos you’ve ever seen in your life.

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Unfortunately despite all of the smiles, we had all forgotten to put on suncream so ended up with some rather painful burns which made trying to sleep rather interesting that night. That combined with the dog being up at 4:30 and refusing to settle down led to an interesting drive home the next day.

Despite all of that though we all had an amazing time and if you are taking a dog to Shimoda I would definitely recommend Ernest House as they were amazing.

http://www.ernest-house.com/index_e.html

So one down, lots more to go lets hope they all turn out to be this fun!

Teenage Milestones

People tend to talk about milestones as the most important things to happen in your life and when you’re old and reviewing your life this may well be the case. I think however, that certain milestones that happen in your life tend to loose importance as bigger, seemingly more important ones, take over.

Today is the last day I will spend at my current job before taking a long break and heading of to university. Today also happened to be the day I confirmed which university I would be going to next year and it got me thinking that right here, right now these seem like milestones. Granted in 20 years I probably won’t remember this day and bigger better things may have happened but I feel that you should celebrate as you go.

If you’ve been following my blog for a long time, you may remember my first post 

I had not got the results I needed to get into university to study English Literature, I had completely bombed my last maths exam and I was feeling pretty depressed as all my friends left me in persuit of their own adventures. Fortunately thanks to my mum and a couple of other people I decided to make the most of a bad situation. I went for a job interview, reapplied to take that last maths exam and slowly realised that maybe this was for the best.

Fast forward several months and I still had yet to do any maths revision for my exam, was enjoying my job (I spend most of the day on the internet doing sodd all) and had decided that the only reason I had wanted to do English Literature was to please people so instead went down the route of what I’d always wanted to do, Broadcast journalism.

In the future I think I’m going to make a video/blog post about university as I realise that more and more people make decisions not based on what they want but because they don’t want to disappoint people. This isn’t the way it should be.

We’re now in January, my exam was weeks away, I was panic revising and had just extended my contract to 29th of March, I had applied to my chosen universities and made sure this time I hedged my bets with results. The exam came and went, I knew I’d done better than last time but also knew I could’ve revised a lot more than I eventually did.

Time ticked away until before I knew it March was here.

March meant results time – had I got into uni, had I done better this time.

To put things into perspective my maths results so far had been as followed:

C1-A, C2-A, C3-B, D1-B,S1-B C4- U (if you don’t understand this don’t worry)

It was that final C4 exam that I was resitting. I only needed 6 more UMS marks to get a B

My phone rang, it was mum she told me that I’d gotten a U again. Yeah all that revision I’d done clearly had made no difference. Bugger.

However about 10 minutes later I got the email with all my results for Maths on it.

I’D GOTTEN A B! I don’t think I’d ever been as happy like ever. Woohoo.

I was into Nottingham Trent – one of the, if not the best place to study Broadcast Journalism.

And since then everything seems to be going right, I’m into uni, have earned some money from working, met some amazing people and tomorrow I’m off for a skiing holiday in France and then to England to see some friends.

I’ll be sure to keep you informed of my adventures over the next couple of weeks but I thought these milestones in my life even if they are just important to my teenage self needed documenting. I’d love to hear in the comments what you consider your most recent milestones to be and a big thank you to all the positive feedback on my last post.

Japan Bucket List

Following on from my last post, it has been slowly dawning on me that I’m only going to be living in Tokyo for a couple more months and that in the past 5 years I really haven’t made the most of the amazing city that it is.

Hence the creation of the Japan bucket list; obviously some are a lot more achievable that others due to time and cost but I do hope to cross most of them off before I go.

1. Visit Tokyo Skytree

I still can’t believe I haven’t been to the top of the tallest tower in the world, especially as it’s less than an hour away by train. This is a definite must.

2.Take my family to Shimoda

After my graduation trip last year I’ve been promising to take my family to Shimoda, especially as I know Charlie (our dog) will absolutely love it. Fortunately I’ve got the ball rolling on this one and we’re going for a couple of days in April.

3. Watch a sumo match.

Again, something else I haven’t been to yet. Even my mums been!

4.Visit a cat cafe

Anyone who knows me is aware of my love of cats, especially ones who want to be cuddled. I’m determined to make some love me!

5.Go to the pokemon centre

With my first Gameboy colour came my love for pokemon, I wouldn’t go as far to say I was a fan but as Japan is the hive for all things pokemon this is definitely worth a visit.

6.Go for a day-long bike trip.

There are some absolutely beautiful parts of Tokyo which are just perfect to go for a bike around. I’ve been doing some research and found a couple of routes I think I’d quite like to do. Obviously this needs to be done while it’s still cool otherwise I would die a slow and horrible death in the scorching humidity that is summer in Tokyo.

7. Visit all of the stops on the Yamanote line

I will happily admit that one summer day I spent my morning on the Yamanote line in the air conditioning and rode it all the way around. Yet I didn’t actually get off of the train. The next time I do it I’d like to try and visit all the different places and document my adventures.

This is where I’ve got so far. If you’ve got any suggestions I’d love to here them and I’ll check back in with this in a month and see how many I’ve done and add some more.

8 Reasons you know you’ve lived in Japan too long.

I have now been living in central Tokyo for 5 and a half years. I arrived at the ripe old age of 13 in August of 2007 so it’s safe to say Tokyo is where I grew up. Although I’ve still got memories of biking to the swimming pool in Reinach, Switzerland and playing Harry Potter in the playground in Kent, England, the majority of my memories are based here.

Anyway tangent over I’ve noticed as of late several things I do which have been engrained in my brain from living here and I thought I’d share them with you.

1. You Stand in front of a toilet waiting for it to open automatically. 

This happens all too often, especially as my house has toilets that pretty much do everything for you.

A side confession though I have never used the bum washing water, I just can’t bring myself to do it. 

Similar to this, waiting for taxi doors to open is another thing I’ve fallen for outside of Japan.

The typical control panel for a Japanese toilet

2.  You bow every time you say thank you, hello or goodbye.

This is most notable when I’m not in Japan, it’s become a habit to just nod my head all the time. People outside of Japan probably just think I’ve got some sort of back problem.

3. You forget to tip at restaurants. 

Tipping in Japan is seen as a big no no. Therefore I’ve grown up in a world where whenever I pay for something I don’t have to tip. This has meant many occasion in England scrabbling around for a 2 pound coin just as we’re leaving in a desperate attempt to show that I’m not rude, just not used to tipping.

4.You rely heavily on public transport and expect it to be on time.

There are several problems that public transport outside of Japan present. For example getting on a bus in Tokyo means you pay a flat rate for every bus stop, you get on the bus deposit your 210/200 yen and can sit on the bus for as long as you like. I remember one summer my sister and I were staying at my aunts house and were in town doing some shopping. When we got on the bus home we were asked which stop we wanted to go to. Of course we had no idea, which led to attempting to explain to the bus driver whereabouts my aunts house was located. Fortunately he was very forgiving.

Also, in Japan if you stand at a bus stop the bus will stop for you. I didn’t realise that in London you have to hail the bus (similar to hailing a cab) which led to a lot of time standing in the cold wondering why no buses were stopping.

Taxis: The number of times I’ve been late and have had to jump in a cab to get where I need to be on time. In Tokyo taxis are pretty much everywhere and you’re normally not waiting more than 5 minutes before a free one pops along. I can imagine I will be very late to a lot of places when this no longer becomes available.

A common site in Tokyo

5.You become used to being the only Caucasian. 

Being white in Japan does mean you will stick out, especially with blonde hair and being very pale. However you soon become accustomed to people staring at you for longer than normal and it almost rubs off. Now when ever I see a foreigner ‘gaijin’ (calling people gaijin another clear sign) around my age in Tokyo I assume I must somehow know them, either through a friend or maybe just know what school they go to. This means that whenever I go back to Europe I become convinced that I must know people simply because they’re not asian which is a very odd experience.

6. When attempting to speak foreign languages you can only think of the Japanese translation

After living in Switzerland for four years I had a relatively good grasp on basic French and German however now whenever I need to call on either of those languages Japanese comes to the forfrount and you should see the odd looks you get when you say ‘arigatou gozaimasu’ to a french cashier rather than ‘merci’

7.You can’t believe how rubbish vending machines are outside of Japan

On a typical day in Tokyo you will probably see at least 50 vending machines. If their availability weren’t enough you expect them to supply both hot and cold drinks as well as see ones for all manner of other things; cigarettes, bananas, newspapers, hair products. Outside of Japan you wonder how people manage without having the option to buy a beverage every 100 meters.

It’s not unusual to see several vending machines in a row

8. Earthquakes are more of an annoyance than scary

Other than the really scary Tohoku earthquake on 11th March 2011 (view my video about that here) earthquakes are no longer a scary experience, sometimes they’re even quite fun. Most of the time you hardly feel them and often when you do you just lie there hoping it’s not big as that would mean you getting out of bed or hiding under the table. I understand that for people who aren’t used to the ground moving underneath them that the idea can be terrifying but living in Japan you become so used to them it’s almost weird not to feel one for a while.

So this has been my list of things. If you want a shorter, more general list visit here, for people outside of Japan this probably won’t make much sense. I’ll also be sure to post about the things that do annoy me about Japan as that’s quite a list as well.

Let me know if you’ve had any experiences where you’ve not lived in  your home country and so have picked up some odd traits.

Reasons Cycling in Japan Sucks

After a particularly annoying couple of days biking to and from work I’ve decided to take my frustrations out here.

Biking in Tokyo is certainly a unique experience, for one thing they allow cyclist to cycle on the pavements (explained here in more detail) as well as the road, there appear to be no set in stone laws/rules on cycling or parking throughout Tokyo and we seem to to be considered by both drivers, pedestrians and other cyclists as the scum of the road.

Drivers: 

• Seem to forget that you’re a) not a car b) nor are you able to fit through cm wide gaps

The number of times I’ve been honked at for trying not to get killed or forced to stop all of a sudden due to some taxi arse pulling over right in front of me.

• A lot of roads have 2 lanes per side, one which is permanently full of parked vehicles.
  

As you can see from this google maps screen shot the two outer roads are full of parked cars, parked trucks and thats not even getting started on the number of people with trolleys unloading and delivering various goods. As a cyclist it’s expected for you to cycle between this land and the one with the moving traffic, meaning keeping an eye out for doors opening, people aimlessly wandering all while not getting in the way of the moving vehicles trying to overtake. Not one for the feint hearted that’s for sure.

Pedestrians:

• They seem to think that bikes do not count as a moving vehicle 

The number of times that someone has just walked out into the middle of the road causing me to either swerve or brake to narrowly avoid missing them. Then they have the cheek to glare at me! Trust me some of them deserve to get hit.

• People glued to their phones or hogging the whole pavement

I know I’m probably guilty of this two but so many people are just not aware of their surroundings which make riding on the pavement particularly slow and painful. For the most part to avoid this I cycle on the roads but their are sometimes, when you don’t want to have to cross over to avoid oncoming traffic, that this is impossible and therefore you’re reliant on weaving your way in and out of the various waddlers.

Don’t get me started on trying to cycle through these. It’s pretty much impossible.

Other Cyclists:

• Lack of road knowledge and courtesy

Most people who cycle in Japan don’t drive therefore have little to no road knowledge. This means you’ll often see cyclists cycling up the wrong side of the road, running red lights, asking for trouble. This gives us a bad name and for this I begrudge them.

• Multi tasking cyclists

Ask anyone who lives here and they’ll tell you about a time they’ve seen someone biking with; an umbrella, talking on their phone, smoking or maybe even all of them at once.

An oji-chan with her umbrella

So there’s my rant about cycling in Japan for today, trust me there are likely to be more. A lot more.

*All images courtesy of Google

Wasting gigabytes.

I don’t know about you but having a smart phone means I take photos of almost anything I find interesting/funny/think other people would like and then half the time I never end up sharing them with anyone. So my phone is filled with these fairly rubbish photos that I refuse to get rid of in case one day they “come in handy. ” Well today’s the day. I shall share with you some of the more recent random photos I have on my phone.

Enjoy.

Suki last night, chilling like a boss.

This was taped to the fridge at work.

My most recent purchase Review here

Out walking Charlie in the morning.

Brain food for lunch – tuna, salad, broccoli and courgette

Attending a lecture on a book about the Japanese Earthquake at Temple University

Suki among the crockery

Charlie exploring an igloo

My ‘healthy’ breakfast

Butter corn mmmmmm

Homemade chocolate fondue

Another of Sukis favourite places to sleep

Charlie investigating a pair of shoes that were just randomly in the park

And finally my face this morning

As you can tell I spend the majority of my time eating, stalking the cat and walking the dog. That and spending too much time on the internet. Let me know if you like my new blog design. I know the backgrounds a little off but I’m working on it.

I hope everyone has a great weekend

A stint on the radio

Today (Wednesday) I’ve been asked to appear on a radio show based in Tokyo. In reality that sounds a lot more glamorous than it actually is. I know a lady who has her own half an hour weekly slot on an internet radio system designed to help Japanese natives improve their English. Each week she sets a different topic on which she talks about a current news story, interviews someone and then teaches her listeners some English idioms. I’ve been on twice before with the subjects ‘Shopping’ and ‘Music and Television’ and today’s topic is ‘Food and Health’

I get the questions she’s going to ask me sent before hand so I can prepare my answers. This weeks questions/ my answers are

What English food do you like? Fish and chips

What English food do you miss in Japan? English Chinese Takeaway

What Japanese food do you like? Ramen

What Japanese food will you take back to England with you? Haichu

Do you always eat healthy food? No

Do you eat a lot of vegetables? I try to

Do you eat lots of fruit? I try to

What foods do you try to avoid and why? Microwave meals – they’re full of chemicals

How does your diet compare when you are in England? Pretty much the same as my mum cooks

Health

What kind of exercise do you do? Walk the dog/cycle to work

How often do you exercise? Everyday

Are you a member of a health spa or gym? I have a gym in my apartment building which I never use

What sports or types of exercise are popular in England/Japan? Football is popular in both and baseball is more popular in Japan

What sport would you like to try? Handball

What sport(s) would you never try and why? Gymnastics/

anything involving running – I suck at running and have zero flexibility

I’ll leave this for now but will add to this blog post once I’ve finished the show

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Ok so the show’s all finished and it may or may not be 2 days later. So I decieded (in a moment of madness) to bike to nakano sakaue.

It was a tad further than I expected (6km) and ended up taking about 45 minutes. I was freaking knackered by the time I got there and at one point thought I was never going to make it in time. Fortunately due to Google maps I found my way relatively easily and got there about 10 minutes early.

Once there I popped into family mart and got myself a protein yoghurty drinky thing (once again my ability to describe has gone out of the window) I figured a 45 minute bike ride was as good a workout as anything.

I headed up to the 5th floor and helped Davina set up everything. It really isn’t glamorous at all, it’s basically a tiny room with a green screen at one end for the videos they create and then a tiny table with a PC for the streaming, a mac for the sample music, two microphones and a couple of chairs.

The show went surprisingly quickly and I got to answer all of the questions she had sent me. The funny thing is because it’s a show for Japanese speakers learning English you have to talk quite slowly and annunciate everything which at times means it can be hard to hold back the giggles. We ended up at one point having a 2 minute conversation about the mushiness of bananas.

Then it was time for me to head back home, fortunately it only took me half an hour as it was pretty much straight down the main road but man my legs hurt when I got home.