House Party

Saturday night we kick started our Halloween festivities by attending a house party of a friend of a friends. When you say “house party” in Japan one might conjure up images of a small gathering including wine and nibblies in a tiny studio apartment. We rocked up expecting to meet 5 other people and be sat around a table discussing the state of our modern lives. Our eyes lit up when we got to the door to find at least 100 other pairs of shoes. Inside there were people wall to wall. We managed to squeeze our way through to find a sweet spot on the balcony. The details of the night get a little sketchy after this point. But I do recall telling the most convoluted bullshit story to some poor innocent J-girl who listened and nodded in all the right places. “I do miss my 4 horses I keep at home in England but my husband and I are loving Japan”, “yes, we met at law school”, “I know, we do look young to be able to afford such a huge mansion in the country but my parents are rich”, “yes, that's Naomi, she was my bridesmaid”, “yeah a beautiful coral taffeta dress”. We thought we had given away the game after we told her that Naomi doesn't speak much English, she’s Dutch. The girl instantly starts speaking to Naomi in Dutch. “aah, eer did I say Dutch? I meant Deutch”. I vaguely remember this cute J-boy that I fed some more bollocks to. “How old are you?”, “19? Really? Me too!” Apparently I was quite taken with him because the next day I found about 15 photos of us on my camera. Anyhow, the party was so cool I think I actually enjoyed my hang-over at work on Sunday. We will be continuing our Halloween stint at the biggest nite-club in Asia this Saturday night. I’m going all out with the costume and wearing some clip on cat ears. I can’t help being poverty stricken. It will be hot anyhow.

New BFF

Niall Gallen recently took poll position as my BFF (best friend forever) when he came to visit me last week. Moving to a foreign country, every man and his dog promise to come visit you, but Niall actually came up with the goods and it was wicked to see him! I thought that it was important that he experience some pure Japanese culture, so I took him shopping in Shibuya, Akihabara and Harajuku and to a traditional “British Pub” near my house.

Happy Birthday Sandy!

Wednesday was Sandy's birthday. So to celebrate the birthday of one of the coolest chicks in Japan, we headed to the local. In our cozy little local we met up with our newest family member, "Ohno". Ohno, is officially our Japanese father and our "in case of emergency contact" in Japan. The fact that he can't speak a lick of English may hinder the contacting part during the emergency but hopefully he'll have his handy translating side-kick with him. Sandy got the full treatment for her birthday and we got to experience true Japanese hospitality. We were given all the food and drink we could consume and then some. Then after that he took us to Karaoke where we received more food and drink and endless entertainment. Sandy got birthday cake and flowers and the works! Anyhow, as you can see in the following photographs, I think I'm turning Japanese. The similarity is uncanny, it's not entirely impossible that Ohno could be mistaken for my real father.

Tokyo living

It’s true. I am officially a Tokyo-ite. Last Saturday I moved into a brand spanking new apartment in Õji with two of the most fabulous girls in Japan and it is wicked. First things first, we found our local and it is dangerously close to our house. It’s a gorgeous little pub that holds 10 people when pushed to capacity. This pub is our new favourite place and in it we feel completely at home. It could be the fact that the décor is reminiscent of my nana’s living room or the lone old barman who wears a permanent cheeky grin or that we are always welcomed by our new best mate affectionately dubbed “Oji-san” meaning grandpa. He buys us drinks and shares his cigarettes with us, sings us songs and is currently organising a birthday party for Sandy. Our new local is also our new source of Japanese lessons. No one speaks English so we get to try out all our incredibly poor Japanese. It’s so exciting when they understand because most of the time they just look at us bemused.

I haven’t written for a while, and since I have the attention span of a goldfish I have forgotten what I have done in the last few weeks. And since I have been too busy to scratch myself, I forgot to report my encounter with the Prime Minister of Japan. Mr. Koizumi made a visit to my little town before the recent election, clearly because he had heard that I would be there. I witnessed his speech and it looked great, loaded with emotion, passion and vigor. Unfortunately for me it was in Japanese, so I have no idea what he was banging on about. But it looked interesting. I mostly just wanted to see if he really did look like Richard Gere as he believes he does. Rumour has it that he even dyes his hair grey for greater effect. I found these photos of the dashing duo on the internet so draw your own conclusions.

Taiko

I have always thought that I should have a hobby, but apart from boozing at the local, nothing has tickled my fancy… until now. I have recently discovered my recreation destiny. Taiko is a type of traditional Japanese drumming, historically used to summon the spirits for fortune, strength and harmony. I don't know about that bollocks, but they do sound amazing and it is the most powerful and moving sound that I have ever heard. The other day I was walking home when I heard thunderous beats coming from a nearby park. I was instantly drawn to it. When I got there, I saw a group of about 10 people with these massive drums. Taiko combines drumming with dance so just watching the amount of energy put into it made me tired. Anyhow, Taiko is probably one of the coolest things I have seen in Japan so far, so here is a link to hear the most energetic and powerful music I have ever heard . Taiko rocks.