Happy New Year !

Well the Festive season came and went quicker than I expected. I had all of my work Christmas parties over the weekend of the sixteenth and seventeenth of December. Heaps of fun. The kids had a ball, especially getting their present from probably the youngest Santa they have ever seen. They kept trying to pull off my beard. There was actually a couple of the younger kids who didn’t realize it was me. Very funny watching the expressions on their faces.

As mentioned earlier, I went snowboarding in Nagano for 5 nights over Christmas. A good holiday overall. Conditions were not the best. This is a very mild winter by Japanese standards so the snow hasn’t really been falling. The hotel I stayed in was quite good. Nice and comfortable. A six hour night bus trip turned into about ten hours with toilet and food stops every hour. My luck, I sat next to the biggest guy on the bus and also the only person to snore. I snowboarded for three days and on the fourth day went to a monkey sanctuary. This is a sight that has to be seen to be believed. Upwards of 100 monkeys in their natural environment, bathing, cleaning each other and fighting. They have no fear at all of humans and walk right around your legs like you are not even there. Here is a link to a live cam site of the monkey onsen.

http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/livecam/monkey/index.htm

Arrived back in Maizuru on the 27^th and relaxed for a few days. Took part in another traditional Japanese activity of preparing Mochi for new years celebrations. Mochi are generally small sweets made mostly from rice that has been pounded into a tough pulp. Steamed rice is put in a large tree trunk that has large bowl carved into the top, and then beaten with a large wooden sledgehammer. Lots of fun but very tired later that day.

New years eve I caught a Shinkansen (bullet train) up to Tokyo to see a good friend. This was my first visit to Tokyo and also my first time on the Shinkansen. These trains are unbelievable. Average speed is about 270 km/h with a top speed of 300. Such a smooth trip. Tokyo wasn’t as busy as expected because a lot of people go back to their home towns over the new year period. New years eve over here is nothing like it is in Australia. Apart from the fact Japanese aren’t raging alcoholics like us Aussies, new years day is a family day so people don’t hit the town to the extent we do. New years day, my friend and I went up Tokyo tower for a look across Tokyo city. A huge city to say the least. 28 million people live in Tokyo city alone. We stopped at a large temple at the bottom of Tokyo tower to join the crowds in making their new years wishes and spent the rest of the day sightseeing in close town called Asukusa. This town had a real European winter feel, small winding lanes, lots of restaurants, coffee shops and people rugged up to escape the chill. Definately a place I will revisit next time I’m in Tokyo.

A few days ago, I went snowboarding again. This time it was only a two day trip two hours away and I drove instead of catching a bus. I went with another young English teacher who lives here in the same town. The worst snow conditions I have ever seen. It was so bad that we started a list of everything that was going wrong on the holiday. This in fact turned out to be funnier the bigger the list got. We turned a woeful holiday into something we can look back on and laugh about. Conditions were beyond terrible. Hardly any snow at all. We ended up heading down the same run about 15 times in a row. On the way there we got lost and the scheduled two hours became five. Oh well. A must after a hard days skiing, we stopped into a great onsen on the way back to Maizuru. This was after we walked into a hospital/rehab clinic with a towel and a change of clothes, thinking it was the onsen we were after. The looks we got I will never forget. It looked more like a hotel than a hospital. Our onsen was about a kilometre further down the highway.

Walking into a rehab clinic with a towel and a change of clothes, thinking it was actually an onsen.......... Priceless.

Winter and festive food. One of the most frequent meals I have been eaten over the past month or so is Nabe. It is essentially a hot-pot dish of meat, poultry or seafood, seasonal vegetables, tofu and Udon noodles with varying soup bases. A really warming and filling dish. On the dessert front, I have been indulging in a lot of Anko soup. It is made of boiled, mashed Azuki beans that have been made into a paste and have been sweetend with sugar or honey. Mochi is usually added to this soup for a more filling meal. Still eating a lot of seafood even though it is so cold.

Take care everyone,

Tim.