Hello there – tis me again, sitting at the keyboard fully rugged up on a rather dull day. It is very overcast today and quite dark inside. We even had a little rain this morning. This is in complete contrast to many of the recent days which have been glorious, clear and sunny though quite cold, being winter as it is. We haven’t had any more snow as yet but there may be some on the horizon.

I’m finding winter a lot easier to cope with this year, in part because our house is very well set up for winter, with the double glazing making a huge difference. In addition, the underfloor heating which we have on timer to start late in the afternoon and turn off when we go to bed, along with the air conditioner which we have on overnight (set at 17C), means the temperature inside stays fairly constant. The kids have told us they are quite satisfied with their new living conditions.

Now that we have some money I have also made some clothing purchases which are more suitable for this climate than what I had previously. Uniqlo has a range of items called Tech Warm which are extensive and aren’t overly expensive. I am living in the Ultra Warm tops and have one pair of their jeans I wear on really cold days when we go out. I also bought a new puffy jacket the other day just to wear at home. It was ¥2,500 down from ¥9,500!!! (I do love a bargain) On xmas day I also found a pair of locally made pants at the market we went to, composed of Japanese design material and which are fleecy lined. One other good recent purchase is a fleecy cover for the futon, which you sleep directly on – it is very warm and not cold when you first get into bed 😊. Of course, heated toilet seats are indispensable, so much so that it is a real shock when we are out and find one that is not heated (a rarity, thankfully!).

A picture of sartorial elegance I’m not – but warm!

I am now attending gym twice a week – three times a week would be better, but it is a bit of a hike to get there. At the moment I am doing about half an hour of stretching before each class, and do I need it having not done much since I’ve been here. I am going to a Zumba class and a ballet class, both 1 hour. The Zumba class is fantastic fun, with great music and lots of different styles of dancing. I knew it was going to be good when the very first song was September, by Earth, Wind and Fire, one of my favourites. The instructor is full of energy and really enjoys herself, and she changes between routines from the more funky to Latin, to Bollywood style to hip hop,…I love it.

I am going to a different ballet class from the first one I tried. This one is a little less intense and the teacher actually spends time telling people how to do the exercises, which is good for those who are new to ballet. Most of the class is barre work, with around 15 minutes of centre work. Much better for me trying to get back into the swing (as it were). I have bought a pair of shoes and may even go back to the other class down the track, but for now, this is good.

During this period we received an email from a new business which is targeting the growing vegan market by making bulk falafel, pita bread and hummus. Not sure how they got our email address, but I’m glad they did. We ordered a free product test kit, which was good and we are thinking of buying some to make available for our guests to buy as either lunch or dinner. They are also opening a restaurant fairly close to us, which will also give our guests another option for dinner.

There have been a lot of celebrations happening at temples and shrines for the new year in the last two weeks and we decided to go to one of them after Takako told us it would be a good one to go to. It was at the Kyoto Ebisu shrine, which is in the Gion area. We weren’t sure what it was going to involve, but when we got there we found the street outside the shrine lined with stalls of all sorts (more food than anything else).

Inside the shrine people were lined up to pray for good luck for the year and to buy branches of lucky bamboo grass, called Fuku-Zasa, which has been blessed in a special ritual by a shrine ‘maiden’. They then buy more lucky charms and talismans, which they attach to the bamboo branch. These charms come in all kinds of designs, but two of the most common we saw were treasure boats (for wealth) and red sea bream (for future success). We considered buying one, until we found out that the bamboo was ¥3,000 alone. So, we wandered around the stalls, bought a couple of things and then I prayed for good luck for the business at the shrine before we left.

The ‘maiden’ is dancing behind, with musicians at the back

Our purchases – a good luck charm of Ebisu and another shikishi (painted by a Buddhist monk)

Recently, we discovered there are some Costco stores here in Japan, with one in Kyoto prefecture. We decided it would be a good idea to join as a business to buy some of the necessaries in bulk, so went on an excursion to the store last week, with Takako in tow. The store is located about halfway between Kyoto and Osaka and took us about 30 minutes by car to get there. We thought we should go to see what they had the first time, but in future we can order and have items delivered for free.

I had never been to a Costco before and had no idea how huge it would be, luckily I wore my walking shoes because a full tour of the store was like a half marathon, but with a giant trolley. There weren’t as many things available as we had hoped for, nonetheless we managed to spend a large chunk of money and we are now well stocked up with toilet and kitchen paper, along with various other useful items. I also found a huge bag of frozen blueberries and a bag of frozen avocado…had never seen this before but, given how hard it is to get good avocados here, I’m hoping this is a good way to buy them!!

…and, speaking of avocados, we attended another vegan event yesterday, this time a special one-off vegan menu was being served at a mexican style restaurant which specialises in burritos. The place would normally hold up to 14 people, but over 20 people turned up for lunch, so some were standing inside, while others had to wait outside. Luckily it was one of those glorious sunny days, so it wasn’t too uncomfortable outside. We arrived just in time to get the last two seats, thank goodness. Most of the people there were foreigners, and most knew each other. It reinforced for us just how large the foreign vegan/vegetarian contingent is here. The food was good and while we had only met one person who was there before, it is good to get ourselves and our business name out there. We suggested to the people running the restaurant that it might be a good thing to continue with some vegan options on the menu in future. Fingers crossed!

Well, that’s all for now.

Cheers!!!

 Couldn’t resist this one!

Who knew Tanuki might need glasses? Must check ours!

 Sunbaking in winter…

There are 32 rows holding 1,200 dolls in this temple

 Just an interesting building

It was a coat? Which one? 

Apparently this mascot (supposedly an otter) was sacked for doing inappropriate things…