Nutz: Chasing a Noodle

I used to be indecisive... now I'm not so sure. 

Japan Day 2 Eve - Sukiyaki

Ok, this is my second blog of the day. It's gone midnight here and we have just returned from our evening with Sayaka's family. Present at the meal along with Sayaka, Mark and myself were Sayaka's Mum, Dad, Brother, Sister-in-Law, Nephew (3 1/2) and Niece (< 1 year):

The evening was very pleasant and lots of laughs were had - I did my best to remember my five Japanese phrases. Mark was kept busy doing his excellent translation between Japanese and English. Our meal was Sukayiki (see photos 1 and 2). To quote from Wikipedia, "It consists of thinly sliced beef and/or tofu slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar and mirin. Before being eaten, the ingredients are usually dipped in a small bowl of raw, beaten eggs". Photo 3 shows Masaki adding the thinly sliced beef to the pot.

To wash it down, we drank beer and sake (see photo 4 of Sayaka's Dad with sake bottles). Photograph 5 shows Mark giving a cuddle to Sayaka's little niece (Hana). Sayaka's Dad spent much of the evening walking backwards and forwards cuddling Hana and trying to get her to drop off to sleep. However, at one point I found myself wondering whether it would be Hana or Sayaka's Dad himself that would fall asleep first (he has a reputation for drinking and dozing and his eyes were drooping). Photograph 6 shows Sayaka's little nephew (3 year old, who speaks Japanese AND English, by the way) opening the box of desserts - waffles filled with various flavours from chocolate coffee through to strawberries and cream and mango and orange with cream. Very delicious indeed.

After stuffing our faces (gee, I put that so eloquently) , Mark received an invite from two of his English speaking friends, Esdras and Yuzo, who invited us out for a quick drink. It was nice to meet them both, as they will be on my table for tomorrow's party.

Ok, holy crap, I've just been shown a photo of a large black spider on Nonchan's phone... I recognised the carpet immediately - it is the same carpet that is underneath my futon (mattress on the floor). Apparently it was there earlier and she took a photo before putting it outside - Sayaka and Mark have just said that it is the first spider that they've EVER found inside the house. What a way to start your count - I hope it doesn't have a twin brother!

Right, that's it from me. Tomorrow evening is Mark's big day where he has to stand up and give his speech to 40 people, in old Japanese, at their big celebration party. He is rather nervous, to say the least. I will be sitting on a table near the front, with Nonchan, Esdras and Yuzo and one other Japanese girl. I will be taking lots of photographs and will endeavour to post a few on here.

As usual, feel free to leave your comments below...
NN

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Japan Day 2 - The Loos Of Nagano

Hajimemashite, ("pleased to meet you" in Japanese. And no, the 'shite' bit doesn't sound like you think it does; you rude person!)

Well, I've awoken from my afternoon nap. I just opened the double doors into the lounge and sent Sayaka's best friend, Nonchan, flying 15 feet into the air with surprise. She was obviously asleep on the couch. Not any more, she isn't.

I'm doing this blog now as I am unlikely to have time to do it later on this evening. This is due to the fact that we will shortly be heading over for dinner with Sayaka's family - dinner and alcohol. I'm told that there will be 8 of us there, including me, so I'm feeling quite nervous. I only know about 4 Japanese phrases and none of them is "no thanks, I'm not really a big drinker".

This morning we left our accommodation in Tokyo and jumped on the bullet train (blurred photo 1) to Nagano; a journey which took us about an hour and a half. We were met at the station by Nonchan who drove us back to Sayaka and Mark's place. Whilst Sayaka was busy preparing a delicious spaghetti lunch, I had a quick inspection of their flat and found the toilet to be most interesting (stay with me on this one!) See photo 2. The toilet seat is pre-warmed and it has lots of cool buttons down the side, which Mark told me are especially nice for your botty if you've consumed a troublesome curry the night before. I might have to test some of the buttons out at some point, but am slightly fearful that one of them might suck me down the toilet, never to be seen again! So, if you don't see a 'day 3' on this blog, you'll know what has happened.

After lunch, we went into Nagano's main retail area so that I could get a new suit ("ooh, suits you!") for Mark and Sayaka's party tomorrow. I've chosen one and paid for it and they are altering the trousers ready for pickup tomorrow morning.

Mark is feeling nervous about his speech tomorrow - he's having to learn and recite a whole load of words in old-japanese. I know how nerve-wracking it can be to deliver a speech in a language that I understand (fairly well), let alone doing one in a language that I don't.

Oh, and I've been introduced to Fred; think 'common garden spider' but about four times the size. He is sitting in a web just above the front door steps (see photo 3) and I hope he remains there for the entire duration of my trip. If he's tempted inside the house to say hello, then I may have to stand on the chair and scream like a girl!

Au revoir (sorry, I don't know the Japanese for 'goodbye' yet, so this'll have to do!). I'm off to peel Nonchan off the ceiling.

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Japan Day 1 - Tokyo

Day 1 began at Tokyo Narita airport. The 12 hour flight went ok and I actually managed to grab about four hours sleep. More importantly, though, the raspberry and white chocolate cupcakes that Mo had given me to take for Mark were still intact (and I hadn't eaten any)!

I met up with Mark and we took an hour's train to central Tokyo, where we then found our accommodation for the night. Our first stop after that was for lunch (see photo 1). We ate Tonkatsu - breaded pork with cabbage, miso soup, rice and mayonnaise dip. Very tasty indeed.

We wandered around for a while after that, before I had to go for a nap as I was feeling really quite jet lagged. After a couple of hours rest, we went back out. First stop - the largest electrical store in Tokyo (see photo 2). Nine floors of electrical goods as far as the eye can see - very impressive. If you need a computer mouse, this is the place to come - check out photo 3: an entire aisle dedicated to the little (non-fluffy) hand-held vermin device.

Last stop of the day was for food at a 24 hour Sushi restaurant at Sushizanmai. As we walked in, all the staff gave a big cheerful Japanese welcome from behind the huge bar - I felt like some kind of movie star - someone must have told them I was coming. My feeling of self-importance lasted only a minute, however, as it became obvious that they gave the same greeting to everyone who came in to eat. For dinner we consumed various types of tuna (photo 4), red snapper, flounder's fin, scallop, eel and tamagoyaki (a kind of sweetened egg roll). Part way through the meal, the staff all stopped what they were doing and one of them held up a huge crab (still moving). He announced that they were going to sell the legs for 1000 yen (about £6.50) each (yes, the crab quickly became legless). We didn't partake but I did get a photo (see photo 5).

I will finish on a final thought. Whilst walking around Tokyo today, I have noticed that a lot of the Japanese ladies seem very bow legged. I had an idea - if they were to strap coconut shells to their knees and pin a couple of maracas to their arms, they could provide percussion entertainment as they walk along.

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