A Sad Day For Kokura

He went missing for a while, then I found the grim evidence....

I think he knew I was leaving, and rather than fly free into the world without his Scouse companion, sacrificed himself as a nutrient for my plants. Cheers, Stuart, you were good company....even though you moved about twice during the whole year.

Stupid Japanese Dogs

And again...this time spotted tied up outside Nishijin station, Fukuoka.

Nagasaki Lantern Festival-February 2007.

"Stupid Dogs" opinion strengthened by further photographic evidence.

Involunatry Surrender To The Chick Flick Cliche...

I have just watched a film based on a book I read about a year ago, "The Jane Austen Book Club"by Karen Joy Fowler. At the time, I read it and remember being slightly disappointed by the lack of events. Maybe I just didn't think hard enough about the characters lives in relation to Austen's heroines, I don't know...but I seem to remember having a stack of other books to read at the time, so I let it go.

HOWEVERRRRRrrrr, tonight I got home, (Friday), needed something to watch while eating dinner and keeping my mind off booze, so I clicked on it out of curiosity and ended up watching the whole thing, from start to finish.

At first I was angry that it was set in America and featured Starbucks portable flasks. Also, all of the characters are shoelace-skinny and don blindingly white teeth and shiny, healthy hair. However, I found myself grinning like an idiot when the happy ending kicked in and everyone lived happily ever after.

Everybody knows nothing REALLY ends like that outside the perimeters of a TV screen-in real life, disappointment is the only thing you can ever really be sure of, and, even if people do manage to bag their love interest, the 'interesting' element slowly fades away, as they come home one day and catch their ideal person in their pants with a playstation joypad balanced on a can of beer two centientres from the TV screen. Girl films, eh? I fall for them every time. That reminds me, must watch Bridget Jones when I get back to UK...

Snow in Kitakyushu

Today I had to get up early for (what I thought was my last ever at this place, but later turned out to be penultimate...grrr!) seika I have every three weeks in some small countryside town. I have to be at the station for 8:50am (not early by general standards, but I think of myself as a martyr if I have to get up before eight).

One bowl-sized coffee later, I glanced out of my balcony door and noticed I couldn't see beyond the rail, as there was a thick flurry of SNOW dancing around outside. I love snow, so that really picked up my day. So, I swapped my flimsy dolly shoes for my trusty old friends, Mr Doc and Mr Marten and went outside to build a snowman.

Unfortunately, I remembered that I'm actually 24 and had to go to work, but I did get to enjoy the snow on the way. My gloves got soaked and my hands seemed to disappear with the numbness, but it was BEAUTIFUL!!! Check out these photos I took on the way, they remind me of Narnia, especially the one of Kokura castle with the long path flanked by old style lampposts. There is nothing quite like snow, I'm glad I got to see some this year.

Just something I wanted to share with somebody.

I can honestly say that the two half hour lessons I just taught had absolutely no educational value whatsoever. Got to go, have to be back in work for the afternoon shift.

Goodbye Gifts.

Today, I did my last ever seika at a kindergarten not far from here at which i teach on Tuesday's. It's not THAT hard a day, and even better with no seika, but at first, I have to say, I wasn't too fond of the place at all. However, now things seem easier (for many reasons), I felt bad today when I taught my last seika there, and regretted every time I ever moaned about the kindergarten.
I teach the older kids mainly, those who are about to leave kindergarten to go to Elementary school, or who are in their second year of kindergarten, (five and six year old). When we finish seika, we usually go into a little room and get given some green tea and a lunchbox (bento) by the head teachers before starting lessons. However, the teachers asked my partner teacher and I to go into the main hall as the students had something arranged.
We went in and most of the second and final year kindergarten kids were sitting in lines (eeek!) and they said "Thank you very much", and some of them stood up and gave us a big bunch of flowers each, a book of drawings the kids had done of us, and paper mache models of traditional girls day Japanese dolls. I was really touched, but even moreso by the kids on the way out who were told to say goodbye to us. Some of the little shy ones approached, staring at the floor and, not knowing what to say, just threw their arms around my waist and scuttled away again.

PAPER MACHE HINA DOLLS, PICTURE BOOK AND FLOWERS.

One of my fellow teachers who was sent to watch me that day said they would have been crying had the same thing happened to them. Hey, ho! No need to be sad- just look at these pictures they drew of me (cast thine eyes downwards). The fact that I wore mostly black for the whole year but they all drew me in rainbow jumpers and with orange hair makes me happier than anything.

(Top left) One of my regular students, Chito's, effort. (Right) I love the pink flying loaf of bread.


Happy or mentally unstable? I hope the colours signify all the joy I spread...hahahaaaaa, (Left).
Note: crazed expression and police cars...surely the way I'll go! (Right).

Girls Day and Boys Day, Japan.

"Hina matsuri" or "Doll's Festival" is held on March 3rd. l dedicated to little girls and people pray for their happiness and healthy growth. It's also sometimes called "Momo no sekku" or "Peach Festival" because the blossoms are due to bloom around the same time (the cherry blossom festils "hanami" come later in the month and is the best chance to party in Japan all year). For the oys, the Japanese have "Boy's day" or "Kodomo no hi" on May 5th, and, instead of dolls, people hang up windsocks with pictures of coi carp painted on them. Unfortunately, Boys day is a holiday but Hina Matsuri isn't, which means I will miss that particular day off work:(

Most families with girls and kindergartens and even public spaces, such as shopping centres, put up tiered displays called "hina-ningyo" (special dolls for Hinamatsuri) and dedicate peach blossoms to them. They are usually arranged on a five or seven-tiered stand covered with a red carpet. At the top are the Emperor and Empress. The next step contains three court ladies (sannin-kanjo), followed by five musicians (gonin-bayashi), two ministers (udaijin and sadaijin), and three servants ending the bottom row in a five-tiered display. There are also small pieces of furniture, small meal dishes, and other little items.

Before I knew what these displays were for, I was in Toys R' Us and saw all of these (I'm sorry to say...) mostly tacky and plastic-looking dispays, ( kind of plastic stairs with dolls on each one), saw the 500 quid or more price tags and wondered what they were. Now I know they're for the little girls, it seems like a nice gesture, really. Take that, doll festival cynics!