"twas the night before Christmas, 40 below..."

Hey there folks,
well the year runs on down like an old clock and thoughts turn to pressies and fat guys in suits. But I'm leaving my suit here and we are off to snowier climes. Next Saturday we are winging our way to sunny New Hampshire for what will prove to be, I am sure, a liver busting exercise in over-idulgence. Can't wait.
Highlights are looking to be some snowboarding (though i think I'm going to try those short, short skis out, snowboarding is so 1994), a stroll down to 'Philly to see Nics cuzzies and try out those cheese steak doodads (and a sprint up the Rocky steps if I have my way). Some good old fashioned family time and plenty of just plain old sitting.
I wish you all well, wherever you may find yourselves. Seasons cheer and all that carry-on. Certainly miss you all.
Have top times people. I'm off to Tokyo for a few days for work and then we hightail it outta here so won't be updating until well into the new year I suspect, until that time, adieu.

bits....

Not much to report on the home front. Nic has finally found gainful employment (woohoo) and as of today is working for "the man". She is working at Elementary schols here in town so its right close and all looks to be fine. ($uper!).
In other news I gave a speech yesterday to a bunch of folk from around the city. Not so unusual I guess, there was the usual questions about how long the bridges are between Sydney and Auckland and if I had a kangaroo for a pet, but still it was fun.
It got even better when, to show their appreciation for the natter the organiser dashed off while I had my recovery green tea when I had finished and then proudly presented me, fresh from the local butchers, with 2 kgs of seasoned chicken cartilage and some deep-fried pigs intestine (YUM!!!!). She told me not to eat it all at once. I told her I'd try.
Yours, making no promises,
berin.

In breaking news:
A letter addressed to the Mayor of our city has just come across my desk. It is a plaintive tale about two young chaps, Michael and Nicolai, who hail from sunny Ukraine. They have deep interest in Japanese culture it seems ("we tasted the sushi") and have even taken the time to congratulate the Mayor personally on Japans' observance of Labour Day (some habits die hard). These two chaps are keen members of their local recreation centre in Lugansk, Ukraine. In particular they seem to like nothing better than a belting good game of table tennis.....

Now when I first opened this letter I expected it to be coming to us from Nigeria via the Ukraine with some poor chaps tale of millions (billions?) of USD/Swiss Francs/Pounds Sterling/Superman #1's trapped in a development account that needed us to access it with our bank account details...(honestly, people, if you get ripped off by this you don't deserve money).

However poor old Nicolai and Michael are far more modest. What the have asked for is four (4) table tennis (I prefer to call it Ping Pong, it's got a better ring to it) paddle rubbers. Not the paddles themselves - they seem to have those a-plenty. It's the coverings they want. They have gone on to detail the best ones available and written their design numbers to help us out. What cracks me up is they have said that if four is too tough, then they'll be happy with two....

Yours, bemused,
berin.

but wait!! there's more of the shane...

So where were we troopers? Aaaaah yes. We had just wandered through the rainy, play-misty-for-me Thursday following our adventure in gluttony that was the nabe.

Well.

Friday was Miyajima day. Miyajima is pretty cool. You know that cliched-Japanese-red-gate-ceremonial-big-archway thing that you see on all the Japan brochures. Yeah. That one. Well, thats at Miyajima, an island shrine about 10 minutes by train and 10 minutes by ferry away from us here in the Hatsukaichi. And its right perty.
Unfortunately the shrine, built in 593, which is at waterlevel, was maced by one of the many typhoon we recently had and was surrounded by scaffolding. Still, there is plenty else to look at so all was well. The island even has "sacred" deer, basically all that means is they can shit anywhere they like. Just the same as at Nara, described a while ago on this here blog, there are the sweet young deer that wander around with wide eyes and look cute and get all the goodies from the hordes of tourists, then there are the old, cranky deer who ain't gettin' no love and resent that. Mightily. We steered (get it?) clear of those big ones.

There are very cool other things to see on Miyajima, inluding a 5-storied Pagoda with a tree inside. Thats right. A tree. The Pagoda is pretty big, what with its five stories and all, and on the inside, hanging, as it has since the 1400's is a bloody great tree. The idea is that when there is an earthquake or high winds, this hanging tree acts as a counter-weight to the movement of the shockwaves and results in the buidling moving not a jot.

Up there for thinking. Down there for dancing. Sloooow dancing.

Then there was the whacking great Senjokaku building, started in the 1500's, which I actually prefer to the shrine proper. It's all open and big and the floors are shiny from stockinged feet strolling over them for the last 500-odd years and theres no nails in the whole bloody thing. In summer we went over there with Dazza "Big Darren" Ede on his whirlwind "Eastern Lands-Greatest Hits" Tour and had a right nice lie down/nap with lots of the locals on the floor. Mmmmmmm. The Nap.

So we wandered on around and took it all in, including some grandiose Autumnal colours. They were just plain bonkers. Sure we get the odd splash of crimson and yelow in NZ during the Autumn months but this was just insane. Oranges, Pinks, Yellows, Reds, shades of all, I swear I saw a tree sporting a distinctly Puce hue, but just couldn't be sure. It was cool. It was really cool.
Then we decided to climb on the cable car and check this joint out from on high. Two cable car rides later we were well and truly on top of the world, surrounded by monkeys. Wild monkeys.

I don't really like monkeys I've decided. They are too damn freaky. the little ones are indeed cute but once they get a little longer in the tooth they just turn into red-faced, red-arsed, angry balls of screeching-rabies-laden fur. Although admittedly it is fun to ignore the signs and actually look them directly in the eye - from a distance - their mouths bare back, their eyes fly open and you can tell, in monkey talk, that they are just ITCHING to say...

"...are you....talking to me?....I don't see anybody else here....bananabananabananabanana...."

It's funny.

So we checked out the monkeys and the fine view from the lookout across the Seto Inland Sea and all its island-y beauty. At this point Nic strolled on home and Shane and I decided to tackle the rest of the hill and make it to the very tippity-top. So we braved the monkeys and wandered along a path, up and up and up and along a bit and up and up and round some corners. Before you knew it we came to another wee shrine-y building. And what do you think was in that?

For those of you who said " An iron pot of water that has been boiling continuously for over 1100 years".....Congratulations!!! You were right and it was crazy. The walls of this small building were caked in soot. The pot was doing well and it was true, it has had a fire burning under it for that long. Altogether now...

"Thats BONKERS!!!!"

Yup.

Then we were at the top and buying sweet, sweet beer from a woman who was over 70% by bodyweight wrinkles and we were taking in the view. It was right nice. Right nice indeed. We nattered, we supped, we decided to wander home.

Down, down, down, down the 2km pathway through the primeval forest, old Granddad Shane threw his knee out ninja-ing off a weir and spent the rest of the trip predicing the weather through his "old bones". The walk was real nice. We saw deer in the woods, waterfalls, rock pools, more of the Autumn colours. Yeah. It was fun.

So home we came and showered ourselves and then it was off to a local restaurant where Nic and I are making friends with the waiting staff. It was there that Shane was confronted by the awful truth he had been trying to hide for so long....with nary a qualm the waitress came along, looked at the Shane, lifted her hands to highlight her face and said....

"What a small face for such a long body...hmmmm, thats odd"

And walked away. Old Small Face didn't quite know what to say. We laughed and pointed at him.

Tooroo.
berin.

Mmmmmisty 

rock n' roll shane...

Thats right folks, we are reeling from the lightning visit of one Shane "I write the songs" Pienaar who decided to take in the sights of "The Japan" on the return leg of his book signing and baby kissing tour of Southern Africa and Olde London Towne. Having made it out of South Africa with nary an elephant gore and managing to avoid the hordes of mischevious (but well meaning) gangs of singing, dancing, Victorian pickpockets that I have heard infest London, he was right ready for some old fashioned Japanese hospitality. So we served it up right after we had met him following a five hour debacle of poor management and poorer communication at the Hiroshima train station.

This saw Nic and I standing, craning our necks to catch sight of The Shane for over four hours while a 30 second advertisement ran on a television next to us with some Japanese crooner who hasn't studied English pronunciation as hard as perhaps he could have belting out a frankly tawdry version of "Stand By Me" over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. The day really came to a peak when I decided to return home to check of Shane was asleep on our doorstep and got in the car, turned the key.......and nothing freaking happened. Yep. Dead battery. Yep. Pretty dead. Yep. Shoulda turned the lights off after that last tunnel. Damn me and my safety first attitude! Grrr. From now on I'm living on the edge baby, walking that tightrope. Nic developed a twitch from the Stand By Me and I developed a healthy disrespect for people who will take the time to stop in a car park building while you are standing there with the bonnet up on the car, holding jumper leads, and asking them for help who say

".....whats wrong?"

quickly followed by "...REALLY busy, nope, REALLY busy sorry, gotta go..."

.......so why'd ya stop in the first place busyboy? Huh? Huh?

Anywhoo, serving up the Japan to the Shane. Finally he emerged from the Bullet Train platform tired and hungry having run straight (smack!!) into the wall of Japanese inefficiency and been unable to get cash from an ATM over here, after having got it out in the middle of a game park in deepest, darkest Southern Africa. Hmmm. We dragged him home, threw his stinking self in a shower, rehydrated him somewhat, then strolled to the local Izakaya (long time readers will know what an Izakaya is, short term readers will remain confused). So there we were and what better way to get rid of jet-lag, than beer and deep fried fish spines YUM!!! Chock full o' calcium kids! So we wandered our way around some Japanese delicacies, had a good old catch up, nattered, drank some beer, ordered some sake, ordered some more, and finally strolled home to view photees of his sojourn to date.

I have since been presented with video evidence that I did not, in fact, manage to view said photos and instead decided, all by myself and in what I view as a very mature and well thought out manner to fall into, or at least very near, bed.

Next day, bright and early-ish we set off along the coast for some sightseeing, on the way we saw THE MOST ENORMOUS FLOATING SALVAGE CRANES YOU HAVE EVER SEEN. Unbeknowenst to us....we would meet again. Along the coast we went, laughing all the way, and then into the hills. Up, Up, Up into the hills to an enormous nearby dam where we did hire a pedal boat and cruise our way hither and yon. It was right nice. If a little inefficient. What with the peddling and all. Still, the autumn colours are on the turn and it was a nice chance to get out and commune with the trees and the rocks and the water and the like. Mmmmmm the nature.

That took an entire day. That is to say the traffic jam on the way home took most of a day to get through, but still there was some napping by the tired little soldiers and some Japanese fast food MOS burgers (thats Mountain Ocean Sun thanks, dur) for the din dins and that was day one.

Wednesday was Hiroshima day and the obligatory visit to the A-Bomb dome/Museum/Peace Park. No matter how many times I go - and I've been alot in the 3 months since I started work here, I still feel very lucky to live near Hiroshima. The park is very nice and while I think the museum could be done a shade better it still manages to shake you back a bit, not to reality, because it is almost impossible to understand what happened there as reality, what it does do is impose a long term view on things, on consequences, different frames of perspective and bigger, but very hazy pictures. Its a good thing to do. Take a step back. Yep. Good.
One of the things you have to get used to when you go to the Peace Park is hordes of Primary school kids who have been hard at work memorising some English to try out on the hordes of English speaking tourists at the Park. What happens turns into a very stylised dance almost, a cat and mouse like game whereby as your smiling reserves dwindle and their self confidence levels rise you manouvre yourself through the park, towards the museum, as they try and get up the gumption to ask you where you are from and if you could please point that out on a map. Don't get me wrong, I was teaching kids this age for 2 years and they are cute as buttons and when you see them wanting to use another language it brings a smile to your heart. It's just that when you are identified as someone who will answer their questions, they telepathically send out victory signals to their kith and kin, and as daylight gets blocked out by Power Rangers drink bottles, Pokemon t-shirts and Hello Kitty backpacks you can't help but wish you'd fixed your 1000 yard stare on and just damn well pretended to be Dutch. Or Chinese.
Still, we got lots of handmade bookmarks for our trouble and wandered through the museum, then took in some of downtown Hiroshima. We went for lunch at a nice wee cafe type place and in actual fact, thats where the day stalled. The beer there you see, was delicious, not only delicious but also cold. Cold and delicious, that hefty combination, the old one-two. So we sat there and watched the world go by (or at least lots of Japan) and then it was home for steaming, steaming Nabe.
Nabe is one of the the best autumn-y foods in the world. The big, big, fatty, fatty, fatty pants sumo wrestlers eat a version of it called Chanko Nabe. And thats all they eat. Although they do eat it six times a day. First you need lots and lots of beer.
Next:

One (1) enormous clay pot.
One (1) table top gas cooker ring.
More (more) beer.
Some (some) Chanko soup base - like a soy-y chicken soup.
Lots (lots) of thinly sliced pork.
Tons (tons) of veges - mushrooms, cabbage, spring onions that sort of stuff.
Lots (lots) of chicken meat balls.
Heaps (heaps) of tofu.

Bung it all in the pot, on the ring, on the table, sit around said table, drink beer until food is cooked, drink beer while eating, drink beer while more food is cooked, drink beer while clutching belly and moaning. Fin.

Ladies and gentlemen...I give you....the nabe.

Thursday dawned cold and rainy. We made an executive decision to do very little and I am pleased to say we stuck with that solid plan for most of the day. 3 O the Clock came around and we decided to go and adventure up Mt. Gokurakuji which at the time was swathed, cloaked even, in cloud. we strapped in, turned our brave faces on and drove up the hill. It was totally covered in cloud. It was a slow drive but at the top? Ooooooh misty. And what goes well with mist? Thats right. Deserted Japanese temples built in 1562. Oh and the 8 meter tall wooden Buddha just sitting there, in the mist, looking all serene like, and being the biggest wooden Buddha in all of Japan. It was snaaaa-aaa-zy. Then we strolled to the equally mist covered "Snake Pond" and , while not seeing any snakes, we sure did get our fill of pond and it was good. Sushi was had for lunch including Shane taking in the dreaded 'fugu' puffer fish sushi. I didn't have any because I was the only one who knew where the hospital was.

Right. thats enough. Go outside and do something constructive with your time dammit. I will report back soon.
Goodbye.

Oh. And a big old fashioned "You Go Girl" to Arch for continuing to send through some of the grandest updates from the very depths of South East Asia. Snazzy.

aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh crap.

like i said. aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh crap.

you want some funny?

I'll give you some funny.
Right now I'm listening to William Shatner in a song from his recently released 2nd album. He's doing a cover of Pulps' "Common People", that following a track from his first album, a cover of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds".

I am serious people.

He is a genius! And the passion? Golly. The passion. He should be an actor. Or open a shop. Get your hands on a track or two. Bloody Good.

Hi. It's been a while. Rainy today. Boo.

We had quite the morning yesterday, being the annual clothing drive we organise through work. We collected 300 boxes of clothes for aid agencies in Africa, it was cool fun. There are going to be some snappily dressed folk in the sub-Sahara next season I tell you what.
In other news I had a haircut last week (at last), nixed the mullet and moved on. They do a good line in "other stuff" when you get a haircut over here. I got me a cut-throat razor shave at the same time. Fun. Sharp. It got a little odd however when the chap shaved my forehead too. Yep. Shaved forehead. Pretty fun, but the stubble/regrowth is going to be a concern, then he massaged my nose through a hot towel for a minute or so.... Friendly folk around here. Yep. Friendly. Maybe too friendly. Who massages a nose?

I got some new pants the other day too, thanks to Nics new sewing machine, it's a Brother, every day, shes gotta hook a brother up and get sewing (hahahaha). It's pretty snazzy. And I got me some new pants so cool.

Right-o thats all folks. Shane arrives next Sunday - Woohoo!!

seeya

oh yeah...

...and we're OK after the earthquakes too.....i'm expecting locusts soon. nics out the back building a boat...

why thank you...

...for your concern. We are all well and good after the typhoon of last week, it managed to skirt by us and simply be windy as hell and rainy, as it got a little further north it decided to go completely bananas. So everything is swell. Nothing to report. Although all donations still gratefully accepted.
tata.
berin.

sake...

Gidday all,
I just got back from giving a speech on New Zealand and in particular the situation regarding governmental support for visually impaired people in New Zealand to a bunch of lovely visually impaired folk at one of the local community centres. It went well.

Until I was about to leave....

Then one of the more talkative chaps in the group was shaking my hand and he conspiratorially leant in and informed me that he was 80 years old; to which I replied "You don't look it at all", which incidentally is very, very similar (exactly the same) to "You can't see. At all". While I stood there stunned and trying to remember how a Hail Mary goes he nodded and said "I know, thats why I carry this big white stick". For future reference the local community centers floors are remarkably well built and there is little or no chance of them opening and swallowing you whole. Ever. At all. Crap.

Anywhoo, enough about me alienating the public and on to Nic doing it.

We had the Sake festival the weekend before last. It was sooper fun. It was up in the hills, about an hour away by train, and Nic and I set off nice and early to have a look around before the sampling was done. The city is called Saijo and they've been making sake since Jesus played for Jerusalem City Rovers and they've got it down pat. There are a bunch of breweries in town all making the good stuff from the lov-er-ly local rice and the lov-er-ly local water. On this particular day you can stroll around and enter the respective breweries where they give away their cheapest sake in little glasses and sell the good stuff for about 70 cents a glass. Needless to say Nic and I kept our 70 cents' deep in our pockets and drank the hooch. And it was yum. It's interesting how varied the flavours of Sake can be (almost like it was a wine!!) and how good even hooch can taste after a few...

So we wandered around and this'd and that'd until we were sure that we'd seen enough and could enter the Sake Festival proper. This entails a large fenced off park, with the ominous sign outside firmly stating in English (?) "Once it is exited, it must not be re-comeback in" telling us that once in, we were in for the long haul. So we paid our 1500 yen (NZ$20) and received our wee sake glasses and strode into the fun times. The area had 5 enormous tents set up, each with sake from different regions of Japan. There were 800 breweries represented with a few from each brewery. You wander up to the tent with your glass, look at the bottles behind the friendly pourer folk (this became more difficult during the day) and ask for the corresponding number, they pour it out, you wander back to your possie on the grass and have a natter, sup your sake, wander back, and repeat to fade.

We went into the Sake Festival site at 12:00, it had been up and running since 11:00 and in that 1 hour there were some folk that were determined to get every penny of their 1500 yen out of the place in one hour or less. These were the folk lying on the grass asleep with red, red, red, red faces, snoring softly, as they would throughout the afternoon. We had a grand time. There was music, Sake, deep fried chicken and some more Sake, and it was good. We wandered out at about 8pm whereupon Nic decided that she hadn't liked her dinner very much so decided to leave most of it at the station.....on the platform.....y'know?.....on the platform.....? Yeah.

So that was the sake festival. Twas good. Not long til Shane gets here (hoorah) and congratulations to Al on taking a big old step recently.

(runawayyoupoorfoolrunaway)

Right-o.

See ya.

i'm better...now.

Morning all.
I went drinking with the folk from the office on Wednesday night. It was actually my welcome party but has been postponed twice since I actually arrived by typhoon(s). Incidentallly there's another one on the way, should arrive tomorrow. Anywhoo, out we strolled to a wonderful Italian restaurant (It's name is Waku!! Waku!! - my Italian is a little rusty, but as far as I can recall from my days as a Ferrari Test Driver this means "Waku!! Waku!!). So off we strolled. We sat down and made small talk until the guy-who-was-late rushed on in (there's always one) and then they unleashed the floodgates of beer.
The do was whats known as a "nomi-houdai", nomi meaning "to drink" and houdai (actual dictionary definition) meaning "to run riot". Which means that you just don't stop. Particularly when the "running drink riot" is coupled with the wonderful Japanese tradition of pouring drinks for others. You wander around the table and have a chat with people and fill their drinks up. A simple tradition that gets a little more cheeky when it is revealed that if someone offers to fill your drink, you must drink a little of whats left in your glass beforehand AND if there is the slightest possibility that a nanolitre of boozy goodness can fit in your glass at any stage in the evening, it will be filled thus.
Now I can hear my mother SCREAMING all the way from here "Leave your glass full!!!", (Incidentally I can also hear her screaming "...best years of my life....and for what??..." but I ignore that one too) but this goes against the very grain of my existence. I really do TRY to leave the glass alone but all of a sudden I'm making a point and slamming down an empty vessel, only to have it filled again. Or my parched throat, mid-sentence, threatens to seize if not greased with a cooling, cooling, cooling brew. Its tough.
They also had Chilean wine produced by brother-in-law Rulo's new company so I insisted we all have a little bit of that too, just to support the family and all (looking forward to a proceed of the profits just quietly) and the same fill-y fill-y pattern followed. It was bloody good fun.
Then all of a sudden, dinner was over and it was time to wander down the road to a "snack" bar. Now don't go thinking that this is a nice place for a kebab or a pie before stumbling off into the darkness, no. These places are dodgy little bars tucked away 30 to a floor in old office buildings or purpose built warrens/fire traps. They generally seat about 8 people, invariably are run by old, old women and involve an awful lot of "thaaaaaaats riiiighhht..........oh god........ why....oh....why.... did we go to the snack bar......" the next day as you clutch your head and wait for salvation (or deliverance). So this place, we waited outside of for about half an hour until the "Mama-san" turned up - I don't know where she was- and then we went inside.
"Anything to drink?" she asked, when in fact what she should have asked was "Do you like Brandy?" because thats all she had. Brandy. Mmmmmmmmm delicious brandy. (Shudder). And what goes well with Brandy? More Brandy. And Karaoke. And some Brandy. And small dried fish. With Brandy.
I wandered out at god knows what time and strolled home. My boss, bless her cotton socks, stayed until 3am and sang Karaoke and drank Brandy. Then some cows came home and she had to leave.
Then it was yesterday morning and I think we've all been in that position so I won't describe it here.
That was my Wednesday night.
I had fun.
Thursday sucked.
We're going to a Sake festival tomorrow, but the typhoon may deal to that.
Stay fun folks.
ka kite.
berin.
PS - Happy Boithday to my wee nephew Zac. Get on in there.

this. is. cool.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3712998.stm

enjoy yer long summer days, aaarrrgghh. (pirate voice like, not falling off a cliff like)

So. Daylight savings starts today in the New Zealand eh? Well, well done indeed. Another winter lasted out. I am writing a piece for the City Journal at the moment on Guy Fawkes. Thats a pretty funny celebration to try and put into Japanese, although as Arch pointed out when he still lived here (sob) the story of Easter is going to be a doozy...

"See there's this enormous bunny right? And he hops around the place and gives kids sweeties right? And they are allowed to take it this time and this time only right? (apart from Halloween, however I am coming from an Antipodean-centric viewpoint and frankly if you aren't from and in the US at Halloween then you have no right to dress up and beg for candy and threaten violence if none is forthcoming. My views on this are well documented. Buy me a drink sometime and we'll talk.) And anyway, this bunny? the one with the candy, and the basket, and the ears...he represents Jesus....get it?"

Yep. Then I'm going to hit them with cricket dismissals.

On the downside at the moment our 'puter at home has been laid low by a virus. If you happen to meet a virus writer do the right thing and kick them in the nuts. Hard. Any tips on removing a backdoor.usirf that don't involve me bludgeoning the computer with a rolling pin will be gratefully accepted.
On the upside we drove into the mountains on the weekend and saw lots a perty this and that. Trees starting to turn for the Autumn, more crazy mossed over temples and statues, some lov-er-ly mist, and a 10 degree temperature drop from sea level. It was nifty. Skinny old roads though.

Work is still fun times and next weekend we have the Sake festival a couple of towns over with 800 breweries from all over Japan sampling their wares for the entry price of 1000 yen for an empty glass....for gods sake if your phone rings at an ungodly hour next weekend, for both our sakes - don't answer it!!

I'll let you know what happens.

out.

Berin and Nic.

peanut extra goes miles and miles

Back again. The interweb is down at home again. The chaps came around to install the "fibre-optics" (excuse the technical terminology) and then said it would be ANOTHER month until they could hook it up and until then we chould keep using the ADSL we have.....but as soon as they left the drive the interweb stopped working. Grrrrrrrrr. I am formulating some of my choicest vocabulary for the phone call i intend to make this afternoon.
Another typhoon is on its way, ho-hum, not as strong as the last one but still enough to completely cover Japan on the satellite photos. I have been assured it gets better in the Autumn months but there is some concern that the trees around have been so salt-sprayed by the 20 typhoons that have passed through this season that they will point blank refuse to be perty and red and yellow during that time and just go ahead and ruin everyones Autumn holidays.
Not a whole lot going on at present, busy, busy at work and looking forward to Shane gracing us with his presence in a month and a bit (WooHoo!!).
Right.
Love to all,
berin.

thank you, i'm here all week, don't forget to tip your waitresses...

Gidday folks.
Well. 29 eh? Golly. Knees are seizing a little. Think it might rain next Thursday (got a crick in my neck see, never lets me down).
'Twas a lov-er-ly time. Kind messages from around the globe, including this most humbling example, really set a spring in my shuffling gate and made for a grand day. In addition it was a four day weekend (Hurrah!!) and we finally got the interweb at home - goodtimes! It's a little slow but this weekend we get the BIG 100Mbps Interweb Hoover installed and then all will be well.
So Thursday night saw us sampling the delights of the Izakaya (read: booze barn with deep fried cheese) down the way and true to a prior agreement closing our eyes and pointing at the menu to sample some of the things written in the more obscure Kanji wot I can't read yet. The two aforementioned dishes turned up and we then enquired what they were. The waitress stood there for a minute mulling it over and then started rubbing her stomach and naming every organ known to man. The most common were "heart" and "stomach".....of a fish. Mmmmmmm.
Good eatin'. Especially the second one. 'Cos that wasn`t just the internal organs of a fish, it was the internal organs of a fish FERMENTED in sake and served at room temperature. Mmmmmmmmmmm. Room-temperature-fermented-fish-guts-steeped-in-rice-wine...Mmmmmmm.

Not that good actually.

Still, the rest of the menu is choc-full of old time favorites including beer and more beer so the night came along swimmingly. Birthday day came along with an early morning phone call from Ma and Pa. Hey Guys! Real Early! Still, nice to natter. Then Nic and I put on our glad rags and wandered into Hiroshima for an explore. We got off the train at a random station, pointed ourselves towards downtown and followed our noses. It was bloody good fun. We stumbled across a Sewing Machine shop and foolishly decided that such an establishment couldn't possibly be run by rabid axe murderers and went in.

The axe murderers were just finishing off their lunch.

And we disturbed them. And they REALLY wanted to show us their wares. And their hound sat in the middle of the room coralled 5ft high by sewing machines and growled and barked at us. Loudly. And axe murderer-y. ((shudder)). We made it out by pointing at someone outside who looked slower than us and bolting for the door. 'Twas a close run thing. So there was more strolling and discovering and such and before long it came time for South American Birthday Food. Thats right ladies and gents, we found a restaurant that sells Piscola and Pisco Sours. So we parked up at the bar and toasted this and that and before you knew it it was time to come home and fall over. So we did.

Now I'm at work. We had a belter of an earthquake earlier on today, about 10:30 so I think it woke Nic up. Nothing to report since then however. Right. Work.

Thnaks again for all of your wishes folks.

Love, B+N.

Oooooh winter must be on its way....

Thats right folks, turn your collars up to the wind and bury your hands in your pockets, it looks like winter is on its merry way forth.

Wanna know how I know?

They've turned the heated toilet seats on at work. Granted, a little early, mayhap a little presumptuous, what with the weather being still 30 odd degrees outside but still, they've cranked them right up and that way they'll stay. Don't get me wrong. A heated toilet seat is a joy, a companion to welcome you during the cold winter months when its rainy and sleety outside and you have to leave the warmth of your bed and stagger to the bathroom with your hair in disarray and your breath freezing solid and falling to the ground in front of you. You hover...the water looks so cooooooold...the rain on the window looks so cooooooold....you take the plunge...and it's like sitting on a sunbeam, supported by a ray of happiness.

Oh yes. They're good. They're very good. It's just that it's still pretty warm in these parts and sitting on a warm seat on a warm day can get to be a little hot. And a little uncomfortable.

Eeeeew.

Anyway.

We had a Sausage Sizzle last weekend. It was choice. It was the 220th-day-of-the-year-prayin'-for-a-good-harvest festival and we here at the International Division of City Hall decided to bring NZ to the masses. So we had a sausage sizzle. 150 bangers, 60 onions, 5 litres of tomato sauce, 2 litres of mustard, 48 cans of beer and 150 cans of orange juice. Thank-you very much. We sold out in 5 hours. Not too bad. Most of the beer was consumed by us - it's hot work cooking snags in the Japanese sun - and the locals took to the sausage sizzle like white on rice. I saw one chap who just didn't get the idea at all however and was trying to eat his super heated sausage and onions with his fingers while employing the bread simply as a plate...but apart from this obvious dunce it was a roaring success. A bunch of the JET teachers around the place came and helped out and a grand day was had by all, especially after the free sake rolled on out. Mmmmmmm. Free Sake. We were playing NZ music, selling Dutch beer, sizzling Japanese sausages and having a ball. You guys should come next year. they were bloody good sausies.
Hooroo.
b

Right-o who pissed off Mother Nature?

Every now and then, just when we think we have it made and are actually pretty tough, good ole' Mother Nature comes along....quietly...up behind us...tip-toeing aaaaaallllll the way....and she carries a big spade....
And so we stand there looking at our buildings and our bea-uti-ful roads and our petro-chemical haze and we pat each other on the back and cackle and generally agree that yep, we've come a long way and yep, we're doing alright and yep, no worries.

And then WHACK!! A spade to the funny bone. WHACK!! Another as we stumble to the ground. WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!..........WHACK!.......WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! Then she leaves us, battered and bruised on the ground wondering what in the hell just happened, clutching our bleeding shins and apologising profusely. As she wanders away she knows she'll be back soon enough, you'll see her next week sometime down at the Warehouse looking for a bigger spade...maybe a shovel...

This happened yesterday.

In fact it started the day before with a couple of rollicking earthquakes within an hour or two of each other. They registered 5-6 on the Japanese scale and "BIG" on the Berin scale. No damage but some swinging lights and funny sounds coming from the house, or more specifically, its foundations. Still, we slept soundly and that was that.

The walk to work yesterday was normal enough, it started spitting as I arrived and continued to do so throughout the morning. There was another earthquake and everyone got back to work. Then, just about lunchtime, someone decided to go a trampling on Mother Natures vegetable patch...and that got her mad... It was typhoon time.

Crrrrriiiiikey it blew. Shortly after she put the Wind-o-Meter to 11 I was looking out of the 7th floor of the Town Hall here and saw two transformers explode in big, red, sparky explosions. I braced my shins for the spade strike. Across the road from work 7 out of 10 cars had their rear windows implode, the power cut off, people were evacuated from the windward side of the building because windows from the 2nd to the 7th floor were shattering, trees were uprooted, rooftiles flew off houses by the roof load, an oyster bed structure from the harbour broke free and drifted up the inlet beside work, destroying a barge which had about 60 44-gallon drum sized polystyrene floats, these then either choked the inlet or became airborne, flying across the intersection near the harbour and making desperate bids for freedom (this morning there were 12 corralled in an area about 500 meters from the water). And still it ratcheted itself up. the international definition of a typhoon is winds at 30 meters/second, the peak yesterday was 60.1 meters/second. Thats TWICE THE TYPHOON FOR THE SAME LOW LOW PRICE. Do the maths. Mathletes. Powerlines fell down, signs flew off shops, the traffic lights were out, stop signs and the like were torn off or just plain fell over, a boat broke free in the inlet and wandered around, luckily there were a whole bunch of polystyrene floats scattered around or it could have done itself some real damage on the concrete walls.

Nic hunkered down at home taking a blankie and some pillows into the bathroom where there are the least windows, and had herself a nap. Good on her I say. It blew and it blew and it blew and it blew and then at about 4-ish we all sort of looked at each other and realised that it was quiet. At about 4:30 I was looking out the window (again) and saw about 300 seagulls launch themselves from their hiding place and swoop off, that was pretty cool.

Man. Windy. We had no power until about 10:30 last night so we drank Chilean red and played crib by candlelight. Thank you Mother Nature, 'twas a lovely evening. I hope you fellas are all tops.

Special thanks to Arch for his grand posts from the depths of South East Asia, keep it up sunshine. To Kate for her photos recently of her and Andrew cavorting in front of huge cutout slices of the dictionary defined "Scotland" and thanks to Mike for updating his site. I still haven't looked at it as we don't have the internet at home yet and I like my job too much to access your filth from work.

Right. Tata. Good.

are you ready??? jazzerjetics starts...now!!!

We`re back!!
Thanks again for feeding the fish and getting the mail in.
Well now Hiroshima eh? Busy. Been pretty busy here lately.
First off thanks to Shane for opening his home (and his fridge) for the wee get-together last week when I was at the end of my whistlestop tour of the NZ. 'Twas lov-er-ly to see folk for even such a short time and talk-the-talk-and-walk-the-walk.

BACK IN NEW ZEALAND YOU SAY??

Why yes. Briefly. I enjoyed 7 fun-filled days in that jewel of the lower North Island.....Sunny Masterton!! Masterton? Yes Jenny, fun filled Masterton for 6 nights, seven days of Howling gales! Squalling rains!! Really Really *#$&ing cold weather!!! But still, it was fun. Translating my way around Mayoral speeches, trips to timber mills, marae, Te Papa, as well as the worlds biggest Paua shell factory opened my eyes a wee bit to what this jobbie is all about. And I`m excited.

I'm also out of time. Thats right folks, the lights have come back on signalling the end of lunch time and so it's back on into it. We don't have the internet at home as yet but soon, yes sooooon we will be placing a 100Mbps vacuum cleaner on the mainframe so look out for us then.

Adieu,
B.

just hang on man...

Yep. 
 
We are packing and sorting for our imminent move to Hiroshima on the 24th. We will be logging off from the mainframe for a wee while but we will be back. Oh yes. We will be back.....
 
See you sooooon
b+n
 
 

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey...

Gidday folks.
We had Jon and Melody come visit us last week. It was choice. they arrived on the Friday night at 5 and, guided by the Archs directions managed to board the `Hurricane` train and get on in to Kyoto Station where the aforementoned Arch met them and escorted them back to his place while Tom, Kerryn, Nic and I set record time - 2 hours flat - from our neck o` the woods to Archs. We met the weary travellers at Archs nearby Okonomiyake joint (Okonomiyaki is like a cabbage pancake - finely chopped cabbage with egg and a little flour that you pour onto a griddle at your table and cover with meats and veges before flipping it and letting the goodness griddle. `course it`s real hot so you have to drink a lot of beer. Just like if you were an iron worker. Keep reaching for that rainbow.)
So we drank and yarned and it was bloody good to see them. We strolled back to Archs shoebox apartment and nattered and made an awful lot of noise and finally sank into sleep about 2ish. Next morning, at the crack of 9:30 we were out the door and on our way to the Kyoto to have a gander at some of the most "Japanese-y" sights Kyoto had to offer, we hit Fushimi Inari , Sanjusangendo , a little known house just behind that one of which the ceiling was built using the floor upon which 384 people committed ritual suicide a few hundred years ago. You can still see a couple of hand prints and a dudes face print and a body outline from where they fell.....eeeeeeew. Finally we hit Kiyomizudera before dragging our sorry selves home and sitting for a bit. Then we went to Karaoke. For 3 hours. We butchered songs well into the morning time and then all 7 of us plus young Kate Simkiss up from down the line and the lovely Bri-Bri-What-A-Guy hunkered down in the tiny, tiny apartment, with the temperature outside being a balmy 28 or so degrees. And the the air conditioner stopped working. That was bad.
We arose on the Sunday and tooled around acheiving very little before Jon, Melody, Nic and I jumped in the car and headed to Uji (Byodoin). Thats a very nifty place. We then trundled home, went to conveyer-belt-sushi for dinner, drank singularly too much and went to bed.
Monday dawned with Nic and I grinning as we were on holiday and it was off to Nagoya for a temple market....
Till next time...
tata.

windy windy i go to kindy....

(title kindly on loan from the collection of Darren "call me darren" Ede.)

Crikey. Windy though.
Much light is made around this time of year by members of the expat community in regards to the Japanese fascination with typhoons. I have been living here this time for 2 years now and have been warned of an impending typhoon probably 20 times. In all of these instances it started raining, people lashed their potplants, grandmothers and houses to the ground and looked skyward....anxiously. Then the sun would come out, a bird would sing and life would go on.

That was until Monday.

The first sign that something maybe amiss was a BBC weather report on Sunday night that went a little something like;

".....thanks Carly for the sport, now looking at the weather; all looks clear and fine wherever you are on earth, apart from the SUPERTYPHOON approaching Japan really, really fast. And now back to Ted in the Newsroom...."

"SuperTyphoon?" I thought "Hmmmmm......"

Monday dawned bright and early and I looked outside for signs of so-called supertyphoon, our neighbours grandmother was strapped to the ground beside our window and obscured the view somewhat but it certainly didn`t look too typhoon-y. Then I received a text message from Arch that his school had been cancelled because of the "typhoon". Hmmmmmmmm.

So I stroll off to work, things eerily quiet, no birds about- thought that was a little odd- usually theres a couple of VW Beetle-sized crows sitting on the side of the road, staring at you with their big, black eyes, feathers looking none the worse for wear after their morning commute from HELL, just waaaaaaaiiiiting, waaaaaaaiiiting for you to make one slip up....

Anywhoo, they weren`t there this morning. So I get to work and the TV is on in the office and there are some mighty images of pounding waves and shaky boats and trains stopped at stations (an odd picture that they would show for maybe four or five minutes at a time. Some guy, holding his ear peice in, standing on a train platform with a train behind him going;

".......nooooooope still hasn`t moved.....pretty windy though......thats the typhoon y`know...........nooooope, still hasn`t moved........... nooooooooooope...... ........noooot yeeeeeeeet........ nooooope; from Nagoya Station, I`m BlahBlahBlah BlahBlahBlah.")

Then a siren went off. Then a stern looking guy came on the TV and said "Look out for the typhoon". And all hell broke loose. Suffice it to stay I dashed out of there fairly quick, went home, looked at the stuff on our balcony, decided we could live without it, closed the door and started playing Playstation. And then it arrived.

Windy. Ooooooh Crikey. Windy. We had an NZ flag flying proudly off our balcony. We HAD an NZ flag flying proudly off our balcony. There was wind, there was rain, there was wind and rain. Not any thunder and lightening though - I like my `forces of nature extravaganzas` to be more about the thinder and lightening. Still, a bunch of rain and wind which served to stir things up. It really started going bonkers at about 11am, then died away by about 4pm, leaving little permanent damage but certainly something to talk about beside the water cooler.

It was fun, and the next day!!! Ohhhh, the heat blasted out of the air by the rain, the air crystal clear, what with all the crap washed out by the rain and the wind. Twas lov-er-ly. Now its back to being reeeeeeeaaaaaalllllly hot.

Jon and Melody arrive on Friday - Hoorah!!

See ya folks.

...and so after the grandmother...

...we had a wee rest beside the river and watched the world go by for a bit. Then we saddled up old shanks` pony and strolled up the hill to this temple.

Woah.

In Japan you can`t throw a sumo dude without hitting a temple. there are billions of the things. After a while (and it does pain me to say this), many of them sort of blend into one. That and their surroundings prove to be less than the cliched "temple-vibe" that you really want. Sure, it might well be a few hundred years old, but what with the enormous 6 lane roadway just outside it can sometimes be a little tough to get into that whole Zen-y-one-hand-clapping-in-the-bush-with-a-tree-falling-and-no-one-around type mindset...

This place was a little different. It was quiet. It was at beside a waterfall. It was cool, offering respite from the early summer heat. It was deserted. It was almost in ruins (after a typhoon a while back). It was one big room with no walls (queue CLASSIC phone prank) looking out over a wooded valley, an impressive river and Kyoto, waaaaaaayy off in the distance. There were some friendly monks. On the way up the hill, in the quiet like, there was an enormous 500 year old iron bell, you ring the bell 3 times and then have a bit of a pray. It was a very impressive feeling, almost seeing the deep sound waves of the bell washing over the valley and river below. Zen-y. Oooooh Zen-y.

We sat and looked out at the view, listened to the waterfall and enjoyed the scent of the room, that has absorbed maybe 500 years worth of incense. On the wall, of this open air temple, not in a protective case or anything, just sort of hanging there, was a writing done by the guy who founded the temple. He wrote it in that same room. In 1540. Then he hung it on the wall. And it`s still there. That was cool.

It was a very temple-y place and we could certainly see you sitting there and getting into some very `Zen` states. It was quite a rejuvenating experience.

We nattered to the Monk dude and his bonkers-cute 1 year old kid and sat and looked at the view and chilled on out, then decided to trek our way back to the real world below. It was back for a slap up feed of Udon noodles, then we were making plans to head on home when lo!! we stumbled upon a Kimono factory. Surprisingly enough Nic made us go.

They didn`t make the acual fabric there, but they did dye it, hand-paint it and make it into kimono. (Can someone say "Crap! That must be expensive"?). We didn`t see prices, but I think if you had to ask, you couldn`t afford it. The painting was the most bonkers part. There was a small room with these two chaps in it with the fabric of the Kimono in a large wodden scaffold type arrangement, in one continuous loop, thread through several rollers, allowing the painter guy access to maybe 2-3 meters of fabric at anyone time. he would hand paint the agreed upon scene, in parts, on the fabric then feed that along as he finished. Get it? steady hand though. You`d be wanting a steady hand.

Kimono are still worn, mostly for ceremonies by the younger generation and young women will generally have at least one. There is a "coming-of-age" day every year where all the 20 years olds get dressed up in traditional outfits and have a good pray. Kimono are still, by-and-large worn for weddings (although the bride and groom will generally change into 3 different outfits during the day, including traditional kimono and Western style wedding attire). There are people who are trained and certified in the art of dressing you in kimono properly, and these will be at the wedding...for a price. You do see mainly older women wearing kimono out and about, but even if a younger women wears one, no-one bats an eyelid. (Except for the foreigners, who run after them, their cameras wildly laying to rest another stereotype). Their prices can vary from crazy cheap, sort of crappy ones to small African nation GDP type prices. Nic tried one on the other day that was one of her workmates that was worth over NZD 20,000. Yes. Twenty Thousand Dollars. Looking after them is pretty pricey too. You can`t dryclean them. You have to take it completely apart - well over 20 pieces - (Quick unpick anyone?) and then wash each piece seperately and then put it back together. Again, this can be done by someone else...at a price. Kimono are also seasonal. This is more governed by colours and shades than cut. Woe betide anyone who wears a Spring kimono in summer...

It was an interesting process and a good chance for Nic to get fired up and add to her burgeoning collection of fabric that "...will come in handy..." Although I did get a swell pair of shorts whipped up for me for the summer months so I`ll just shut the hell up.

Thats enough for today - I hope you enjoyed it. Rainy season started this morning, so hooray for that, hot, humid AND a downpour Wooohooo!! On a better note, I ordered a new cellphone. It`s 3G and perty. I get it on Thursday...

Have fun.

berin and nic

we went to kyoto a while back...

...and stayed with Arch, which was nice. We swent to a place by the name of Arashiyama, about an hour and a half drive from Archs place, through downtown Kyoto, off page 26 of our map, back on and just to the left a little. It was fun.

The Friday night saw Nic and I driving down in seemingly record time, after having encountered roadworks on the expressway. They had closed one lane of the two lane highway, at 4:00 in the afternoon on a Friday to fix two (2) potholes on the entire stretch of road. So Nic and I took turns making up new cusses to describe the enormous traffic jam and passed the time quite nicely.

Following a slap up feed at a restaurant just down the way from Archs it was back to his place for lots and lots of beer and a marathon game of Risk on the `puter. I called it quits at about 2:30 and left my poor defenseless troops to the savages that are Nic and Arch, and they battled it out towards world domination until Nic wasted Arch at about 3:30-4:00. She kept her victory dance limited to a couple of laps around the tiny apartment and let me slumber. Archs tears however kept me awake for hours.

So. Next day, fortified by German potatoes and egg-y wegg-ys we headed for this Arashiyama joint. First off we decided to go see monkeys. Up a hill. A very steep hill. It`s getting pretty summer-y here in Japan-towne and we are not getting any younger. `Twas a hot, steamy cliff climb to go see these monkeys.

The only advice we had was "Don`t look at the monkeys". How do you step around a monkey and make sure you are not standing on its` rabies infected tail without looking at it? You can`t. There were some hissing, stary old monkeys that day. But the little ones? Cute as buttons. Ooooja Boooja Boooo. OOooooja Boooja Boooja Boo. Oooja Boo. They were pretty damn cute. There must have been 50 odd monkeys just sort of "being" on this hillside. You stroll in and out of them, always steeling yourself for flight from the rabies infected pointy, pointy teeth and there undoubtedly rabies infected grabby, grabby fingers. If you want to feed them then it`s you that goes into a cage and feeds them as they hang at all sorts of odd angles from the side of the cage with their arms thrust out. Most of them are love-er-ly and calmly take your proffered apple slices (there was choice between apples and peanuts, and while peanuts it could be argued would have helped to keep them "regular", I went for apples - it was a hot day and what would you prefer? Drrrrrrryyyy old dryyyyyyy peanuts that would drrrryyyyy you out with the drrrryyyy drrrryyyyness or sweet, thirst quenching apple? There. I thouught so.)and then there are the angry, old "I`m not as cute as I once was and I ain`t getting no suger" grabby, grabby fellas, who frankly scared the crap out of me and had me looking over my shoulder once we left the cage to make sure they weren`t going to mug me for my sweeeet, thirst quenching aaaaapppples.

So we played with the monkeys for a bit, then strolled down the mountainside and decided to stick to the river, with its cooling, cooling water and stroll along a pathway up into a valley, just to see what happened. We wandered along for maybe half an hour, enjoying some good old fashioned nattering and came across a handdrawn map on a sign. It said that there was a temple some ways along the path, and us being the adventurous type decided to go. The map showed that there would be a hill, some twists and turns, a pathside cafe, a grandmother (the sign said "grandmother") and then the temple.

Along we strolled. We climbed the hill, rounded some twists and turns, passed a pathside cafe and lo!!!! around a corner, seated, more reclined actually, beside the path was a woman who looked to be about a thousand years old. It was grandmother. She was cute. She also sold ice cool drinks to parched dry strollers at frankly outrageous prices. We fell for it. She lknew we would. She didn`t even have to try.

Temple comes soon. Out.

pWoOpWooPwOopwOop....

Grand news from his side of the mighty, mighty Pacific. As it transpires I have secured a job as a Coordinator for International Relations in the City Hall of a sunny city by the name of Hatsukaichi, just 20 short minutes train ride away from Hiroshima. Looking to start in early-mid August and very excited about it we are. A move, new faces, new places, a new apartment (fingers crossed for water pressure) and all that goes with a stroll to a new locale.
My thanks to those whose thoughts have gone out in the seemingly endless waiting-to-hear-so-for-gods-sake-don`t-bloody-well-ask-me-again time since the interview back in Feb/March.
OOOOOOOOOooooooh very, very excited. (and a shade nervous). Will let you know more when we do.
Out.
Berin and Nic.

PS - Feel free to leave comments on the page...cheaper than a letter! shorter than an e-mail! Perfect for my lazy, lazy, lazy friends.

PPS - Jon and Melody - Looking forward to seeing you real soon.

Oooh. And wedding photos...

Yep. Shindig photos are up on the interweb for perusal. There are about 40-odd at the moment, but as we trawl through the 400 that we have we may selectively release more. If you have cable or broadband internet we can arrange for print-quality ones to be sent through to you en masse if you wish. Otherwise...who knows. Get in touch.

Right-o

www.photobucket.com

Username: wedding1.0
Password: berinnic

We are nothing if not original....

The family...

Yeah, so there we were, 11 years after I had lived with this family, having last seen them on a Bullet Train platform in March 1993. Since that time I had generally saved calling them for those times when I was really, really, really drunk and the time zones were juuuuuuuuuuuuust right. This fell away after a while as I forgot an awful lot of my Japanese - what with not using it and all, it gets pretty rusty, pretty quickly -. Now, after kick starting the language again, I am looking forward to keeping in touch with them a whole bunch more.

The Grandad, who was the head of a country-wide Buddhist sect with 100 or so Temples under him, died in 1996, causing Grandma to move in with my host-mother. Grandma is still around, still shuffling around the house, hunched over a shade, weighing about 45 kgs, maybe 30kgs of that taken up with a big old grin and some super laughing eyes that don`t quit. In spite of the phone conversation of a few weeks ago, she maintained that she remembered me when she saw me again and formed a solid liking of Nic, which was nice.

Grandma shuffles. Everywhere. I remember on maybe my 3rd or 4th night in Japan as a wee 16 year old, sleeping in a room next door to an enooooormous Buddhist shrine, still sort of thinking what the hell I was actually doing there, I woke up at maybe 4:00 in the morning to Grandma bobbing in and out of my field of vision at the end of the bed, muttering to herself, wearing odd socks, digging around in a pile of detritus that had been shuffled aside for my arrival.

It scared me.

Upon seeing me awake, she muttered a cheery hello and went back to her digging. After some moments, when I managed to extricate my fingernails from the ceiling she made a successful "hahah!!" type sound and held up what seemed to be a bog-standard plastic bag from the local supermarket. It was empty, but apparently exactly what she was looking
for. She looked over at me, winked, held the bag high over her head and shuffled out of the room, muttering to herself. She went straight to the fridge and raided it, filling the bag with loot before disappearing off into the night, back to their apartment, ready to make Grandads breakfast when he woke at the crack of 10:00.

I liked her from that moment on.

On this trip back, she piped up at the table one night while we were supping ales and she was cackling into her fish porridge that she knew some English.....and then one of the weirdest things that has ever happened to me took place....

...this 93 year old Japanese great-Grandmother started belting out "God Save Our King". Word-for-word. Start to finish. When she stopped, her face broke into her trademark grin "I learnt that when I was six" she said, "Haven`t sung it since". That's, (Paul - Check-it) 87 years ago people.

Grandad was a regal old fella. You could tell by looking at him that he had some pretty lofty connections "...on the other side..." as it were. He smelt comfortingly of cigarettes and incense. He was a conscientious objector during the war. He told me that he had stated the war wasn`t right, there was no way Japan was going to win it and he didn`t agree with it. If you know anything of Japanese society during the Second World War, you know that conscientious objectors simply didn`t exist, or at least not for long. He was in prison with about 100 other men during the length of the war, and he saw them all shot. The officers in charge of the prison were a little wary of shooting a Buddhist priest of his standing and so just sort of overlooked him. Fascinating chap. He gave me a leather bound copy of Moby Dick when I was over here, saying that he had bought it to teach himself english. In the end he admitted that he read it with the aid of a dictionary. He told me he thought Great Expectations was better. He was cool.

When he passed on my host mother (Mama-san) became head of the sect and is now, after some consolidation, in charge of 80 Buddhist temples throughout the country. She was looking super well and cried when she saw me (aaaaaaaaaawwwwwww) (out of affection people). She complained that she has become a grandmother since I left, but she still manages to be a Buddhist minister and and Aerobics instructor every Saturday afternoon...

I`ll write more about the family soon, including some about the craaaazy Buddhist ceremony Nic and I were allowed to go and witness with them.

We`re off to Kyoto this weekend to bludge off Archs hospitality once again. Yippee!!!

Be well people.
Berin and Nic.

Ooooh now that was fun

Hey folks,
Well, well, well.
After 11 years and one marriage I returned recently to Kurume, where I was an innocent exchange student for one year at the tender age of 16. With Nic in tow, we embarked on a bundle of new adventures that went a little something like this...
Trained on in to the Bullet Train station in Nagoya - about half an hour away and found our lov-er-ly seats, departing at about 9:30 on Saturday. Whisked along at unbeleeeeeeeiveable speeds we reached Kurume by way of Fukuoka at 2:30ish and were greeted by my erstwhile host brother and his brood, as well as that of his sister. So we piled in the car and set off for a whistlestop tour of my old home town.

Didn`t remember a thing.

The place is bonkers. Completely different from when I left it...and heres why...

Ever played Sim City?

Sim City is a strangely addictive computer game whereby you are the mayor of a city and have to guide its development from a fledgling village type affair to a sprawling metropolis, all the while keeping your economy, population satisfaction, pollution etc in check. Go get it. It`s good. Now in Sim City, if you want to replace, say, a bunch of houses with say, an airport, you demolish them --click-- and throw in an airport --click--. It`s as simple as that. Now expand that out to the real world and lo!! Kurume.

Over the past 10 years the city has been sectioning of portions of maybe 20 square blocks, turfing everyone out, no matter how much the howl, or how long their family has been there, and then demolishing the lot. They straighten the roads, fix the sewers, plant some trees and throw in some parks on the vast, vast, vast empty lots then they divide them up again according to what the individual families had, minus a percentage of land used for new, wider roads and the like, and invite the people back. BONKERS!! All the while - bearing in mind this takes 2-3 years to complete, the city is paying for these people to live elsewhere, and also pays compensation for any land lost in the developments. BONKERS!! Apparently a lot of people don`t move back. WOW I thought. No wonder everything looks so.......new. For and against arguements are blindingly obvious, particularly following the haphazard (re)construction of Japanese cities following the war. I just thought you`d find it interesting.

Morgan - I reckon you should get some Hou.singNZ folk over there for a look see. It`d make your job infinitely easier I reckon.

Right. More about the family later. Tara!

Gidday.

How are we all?
Things here are well. Mooching happily along, a public holiday tomorrow, so there`s a chance right there for some concerted thank-you card organising. Crikey.

Elope.

We are now proud owners of NZD1000 tickets to Fukuoka on the Bullet Train. Wooohooo!!! Strutting along at 300-odd kph for a few hours this coming Saturday. The erstwhile host family has been notified, the outrageously expensive tickets purchased, and the oooooh-fun-times-a-big-old-adventure feeling has been kicked into at least 2nd gear. It sure is going to be swell fun. A little odd though. I have thought about what it would be like to get on back there and see folk for the past 11 years, I have even dreamed of it a few times - usually with the soundtrack from that Tegal ad running in the background - "...the old hometown looked the same....as I stepped out from the train..."

Mmmmm The Grand Poulet....

I spent a year there as an impressionable 16 year old living in just a swell family, Mum (46), her boyfriend (23), a brother a year older than I and a sister I didn`t know existed until she walked through the door after I had arrived. Dad had been thrown out by the Mum (a Buddhist Minister, Aerobics instructor and Barmaid) 6 months before I arrived and the day before I got there the dog ran away and hasn`t been seen since. It was a fairly a-typical Japanese experience in many ways. It was one that taught me an awful lot and it will be super to be able to get back there and natter with them again, while also introducing Nic to some people that played quite a large role in "me".

Fukuoka is a pretty city too. Should be nice to see the sea. I`ll let you know how it comes along.

Tata.

Done and Done.

Yesterday, on my way home, I saw a guy walking his cat. On a leash. The cat looked veeeeeeeeery aaaaaaaangry. Things are back to normal here in Japan-Towne.

And what a busy time it was, what with the whole wedding shindig and all. Came off without a hitch don`t you know? Enormous amounts of thanks to those who came from far and wide to drink our beer and wine to excess and dance, dance, dance the night away. Your time in economy class and the taking of leave from hither and yon in order to join us has been noted and you will be mentioned in dispatches. Special mention goes to Mssrs Oliver Reeve and Flight Lef-tenant Jeremy Jones, who travelled from Old `Blighty, lover-ly to see you fellas again, Mr Jarrod Blaine Ward danced in from Kansas City, MO all the way over there in the USA; he even managed to enter the country without demanding a regime change, which I thought was nice. My big sis` Pru travelled seemingly for eternity from sunny Chile, Ma and Pa came in from New Hampshire, Kate Archbold took time out from slicing and dicing household pets in `Stralia to come on over and perform questionable acts with Kodak products (go get `em tiger). Suz the bridesmaid and Ashley also wandered over the ditch, as did Nics` cousin Kerry and sooper it was to see them, Tom, Kerryn and Arch, our NZ support crew here in the Japan also graced us with their presents (sic). Goodness Gracious. Just bunches of folk from all quarters came along and boy oh boy was it neat.

On a more sombre note, there were people that due to me screwing up alot failed to receive invites. I do apologise. Alot. You were missed.

On with the reflections.

Fast though. Fast. Fast.

"It`s your day" they say....Bollocks! My, My, My, and this has been confirmed scrupulously through (drunken) conversations with other married folk at the ceremony. The day goes by exceptionally fast. We estimate the entire day took about an hour and a half, give or take 8-10 seconds. Hellish-ly fun and very meaningful obviously, but crikey! Fast. Blurry.

My thanks go out to my "chaps" wedding party, a cast, seemingly, of thousands - Jon, Morgan, Arch, Paul and Darren, who, apart from Darren "Things To Do" Ede, whisked me away on the morning of the do to the Wellsford Golf Course, up there in the country side, for a nerve calming and nervous energy sapping round of golf replete with natters, catch-ups, good times and the odd fine putt. `Twas a joy.

Then, all of a bloody sudden there I was, with a screaming horde of nearest and dearest, waiting at some sort of alter for my Nic-O-La to make her grandiose entrance. Lo. What a gown! And the Bridesmaids! All of it whipped up by Nic, some here in Japan over the last 4-5 months and some the day before. Crikey.

Then it was into the ceremony - not the vows and such that we actually chose, it seems our little people are not as efficient as perhaps they could be - but still the sentiment was certainly there. And then it was done, off to Bastion Point for the photees (they look real perty), back for a nanoseconds mingling, in for the din-dins and speeches - special thanks to MC Paul Barron, as well as Morgan, Barry, Paw, Marg (thanks for the headlice story though, the more things change...), then it was more of the din-dins, up for the dancing and the shenanigans, here, there, around, then the lights started flashing and we were out.

Bloody Good Fun. Fast though. Fast.

Then it was off to Whangapoua for some good old fashioned sitting. My goodness. After all the shenanigans of organising, attending, catching up, confirming, re-confirming, meeting and all that palava (sp?) it certainly was grand to go there and sit. Juuuuuuuust sit. Oooooh the sitting. That was good. The sit. We had 5 days up there, then back to the Auckland for a few days then all of a sudden we were walking through the rice paddies to get home, a mere 23 hours after leaving Auckland, having taken 2 planes, 1 bus, 2 trains and finally saddling up Shanks` pony for the final burst.

Since then it has been many, many bursts of laughter of the fact that we are married and a slow return to some semblance of normalcy. Work has started again, the sun is shining, and life is good. We are off to Fukuoka on the Bullet Train in a couple of weeks to see my host family of 11 years ago. Looking forward to that immensely. I called them last night and the Grandma was the only one home. She asked who I was and I explained that 11 years ago I was the one who came and blah, blah, blah this was met by a wonderful bout of cackling and the explanation that she was 95 years old, couldn`t remember what happened last week so how could she possibly be expected to remember someone who came 11 years ago. It should be fun.

Our thanks to all involved in our super wedding day. You all helped make it one that, although particularly quick, will be remembered and talked about in hushed whispers for many moons to come.

Much love.

Berin and Nic (McKenzie)

No really, not much at all....

Well, the last post proved prophetic, it is still starting off at about 0 degrees everyday, rising to about 6. More snow, and increasing feelings of "aaaaaaaaaah-hurry-up-and-get-warm-already".

We spent last weekend at Minokamo with Tom and Kerryn, Arch was up from Kyoto, so it was a super catch up with singularly too many Pina Coladas (to try and instill some sort of "sunny tropical carry-on vibe" - it worked.) and beer. Some long, spirited natters and some concerted ignoring of the falling snow made for a top, top weekend. Nic and I moseyed into Nagoya on the Saturday, searching for wedding shoes, while the Cosmic Wheels made some noise. I managed to find a pair of jandels - for soon it will be warm - but Nic returned home shoeless....the search continues.

And to be perfectly honest, since the last post, not much of note has happened.

I certainly hope you fellas are getting into some sort of adventures, have fun.

Lots of love,

Berin.

Oh. And Shane....

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Nic says that was pretty mean...I'm inclined to agree.
Still, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Spring!!-ish

Thats right people.
False spring!!!! Hoorah!!
Oh, for sure next week it`ll be freezing again, but for the moment...the air smells sweet, the wind is warming, the sun shines through the petrochemical haze....and if I had a tail, man!! It`d be wriggling hither and thither like crazy.

Ooooh yeah.

So.

I had an interview in Auckland last week, thanks to Morgan and Jane Reeve (v.2.0) for their hospitality, beer and farm bacon, mmmmmm farm bacon. I really don`t know how it went, I wouldn`t hold your breath (unless your underwater), still, a good experience and nice to get home for a fleeting visit and finalise a little bit o` this, and a little bit o` that for this knees-up-hoolie-bash in April. Came back last Saturday, met at the airport by the ever smiling Tom and Nic, on their way back from Snowboarding, they swung 60 odd kms out of their way and picked me up from the airport. Which was nice.

Sunday saw us at Lord of the Rings. Golly. It`s very, very, very good. Although Frodos` big, blue, moist, trembling, filled with-hope/despair/love/hate/dust eyes got a bot too much airtime for my liking. Still. Crikey. Good. Some one should send a DVD copy of the trilogy to George Lucas et al to show them how to make a trilogy these days.

Good o. Off snowboarding tomorrow hopefully.

Have fun.
Berin.

Poor timing....

So there we were, ready to hit the skifield again this weekend after just a whole bunch of snow fell last week and what happens? I catch me a cold. Bugger it.
Still, thankful enough it isn`t Chicken Flu which people are terrified about over here at the moment. The menu has been getting shorter and shorter recently, with beef off the menu following BSE in the States, eggs getting a sideways look after some dude got arrested for selling tens of thousands of eggs that had been refrigerated for 6 months...eeeeewwww, and now chickens are sneezing and getting thrown in incinerators by the billion. It really is a good time to be a pig farmer...Mmmmm bacon.

So no snowboarding this weekend- Nic and Tom were all set to go on Saturday but the roads were closed because of heavy snowfall - which surely bodes well for this coming weekend.
Things are settling back in after coming back from our winter holidays in the NZ, January almost over eh? It`ll be April　before you know it...
Over and Out.
Berin and Nic.

More of that holiday carry-on...

So after a thoroughly relaxing knees-up in Christchurch, it was back to Auckland for some more dashing about doing this and doing that for the April hoolie-bash. That out of the way (and not a moment too soon) it was off to Whangapoua for the some concerted sitting. and barbequeing. and drinking of the beer. and sitting. Ooooh willikers it was swell. Crap-o weather on the 29th going up there followed by a week of the bluest of the blue skies and sweet no wind weather. Ooooooh Crikey. There was beach cricket, daily swims, inordinate amounts of barbequed meats, Shane and Al plaited flax to make a net for beach volley-ball, strolls hither and yon, some reeeeeaaaallll relaaaaaaaxed sitting, barbequed meats, hand crafted loaves of bread (few fishes however) from the Paul, good times, good beer, good meats barbequed well, natters, sunburn, sand here and there, sand castles, digging tunnels in the sand, barbequing meats, swimming in the briny.....Boy oh boy. Good times did abound. And the nature!!! By Crikey, more of the nature than you could shake a stick at...Oft was the time I just stood there and looked around and ended up giggling like a schoolgirl at just how sweet the NZ is...

All too soon it was time to come on back to the Japan, a last BBQ extravaganza at Ari and Donnas` on the Sunday night topped it all off and then it was off to the airport at god-knows-what-time-but-it-really-was-too-early on the Monday.

Thats when we learned a lesson.

Excess baggage charges can add up veeeewy, veeewy quickwy....

NZD460 later we got on the plane and headed out. We negotiated trains, planes and RVR`s on our way back and settled into some particularly cold weather. Nice to be back though, and we trekked away snowboarding on the Wednesday, leaving the strange situation of having been sitting on the beach in the Coromandel sunshine on Sunday afternoon and snowboarding in the Japan Alps on Wednesday morning. It was a nice day, and felt good to be back on the board after almost a year off.
We went again last weekend with Tom and are planning shooting back up next weekend and many more after that also- wOopWooP. Snowboarding is nifty.
So that was our holiday in NZ. Thanks to all that took part, my favorite part was the pies. and the beer. Have some fun out there people.
Berin Age 28.

Dice...

So I bought a packet of 12 die right? I`m sick of them disappearing. They are all fine looking die....apart from one. It has two "2"`s and no "3". Who makes a dice with two "2"`s? Odd.

Wow. New Zealand totally rules...

Here we are, back again.
Writing a little late, seeing as we arrived home last Monday, but still, we have been exceptionally busy fitting ourselves back into our social schedules. Oh. That and sitting around doing very, very little....

So...How was your holiday??

Rad.

We arrived in the NZ on the 21st of December, Nic arriving a few hours ahead of me, as I flew through Singapore (mental note - throttle travel agent - three flights for NZ left while I was enduring my 5 hour stopover in Singapore Airport. Grrrr. Grrrrrrr.) Still, a nice enough airport to be trapped screaming for five hours. I took advantage of the showers (SNG$8.00), inadvertantly leaving my trusty cap there. Grrr Grrrr Grrrrr. That cap has seen me through and through for the last five years since Nic bought it for herself anf I promptly appropriated it. It will be sorely missed. Still, I have high hopes for my new cap, given to me by Darren "call me Darren" Ede by way of a Chrissy present after he heard of my capless plight. Thanks big fella.
Anywhoo, the Singapore Airport also had free massage chairs. Mmmmmmm. Free massage chairs. The recommended maximum time to spend in the chairs was 15 minutes, I threw capless caution to the wind and rode the lightning for a full 45 - talk about living dangerously. Some base-jumpers saw what I was doing and stood there agog, yeeep, live on the edge baby- otherwise your taking up too much space....

Anyway - NZ. Nic had commandered Dazza's car and come to the airport accompanied by Mr P. Barron, Mathlete. Breathing in the grassy smells of Auckland airport we wandered to the formerly humble abode of Jon Smith (not his real name). His house looked very nice indeed, including his x-rated shower, which I took advantage of before sitting on the back deck drinking the Summer Ales kindly provided by "Little" Shane (one of the Merry Men), and the Monteiths Brewing Company. Mmmmmmmmmm. Summer Ale. Beer with flavour.

Who should we also see there? Recent arrival from Japan, one Michael Knight, formerly of both Knight Industries and Access Technology. Lovely to see him unwind like a coiled serpent in the NZ sunshine.

The next two days were taken up by organisation of wedding hooha. Running hither and yon, stopping only for pies, L&P, Mandarin MiZone and pies. Things seemed to come together well and Nic and I are still sort of looking at each other waiting for someting to hit the fan as the organisation of this shindig has been quite, quite painless thus far.

Speaking of the hoolibash- invites are being sent out presently - better late than never people.

A fine catch up party back at the Browning Street followed, with an enormous bonfire and some top shelf barbeque action. The evening peaked with Paul "I Teach the Young" Barron toasting one and all with a Jon and Berin special; the processed cheese martini (one part gin, one part vodka, garnish with processed cheese).

Then it was off to Christchurch to see Nics folks and extended rowdy clan for Chrissy. Some bumpy jiggling coming over the hills followed by quite the thumpy landing saw us in the ChCh on the evening of the 23rd. A right nice place to relax down there. The sheep, the wiiiiiide open spaces and the canterbury weather/scenery combo took care of any lingering Japanese winter blues we may have been experiencing. Last minute Christmas shopping was accomplished fairly painlessly the following day and then, following an outrageously hot Thai dinner, it was a couple of drinks then off to bed-y bies and eyes shut tight waiting for the jolly man in the red sut to arrive. Yippee!!! Next morning, up at the crack of 10:30, some grand pressie opening, then the set-up for the arrival of some of the Ede clan. A good old K1W1 chrissy lunch followed, washed down with lashings of petanque on the lawn and seconds and thirds and the ubiquitous Summer Ale. The weather was grand, the food was excellent, the company jovial - it really was a top day. Marred only by the breaking of the nose of my polystyrene rubber-band-launched stealth fighter on its third test flight. that was soon doctered and it was promptly sent off into the trees to be lost. A grand Xmas all round. More later.

Hope all are well, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!