Greetings dear readers, tis me here on possibly the coldest day so far this season – expected maximum of 5C – and it has been snowing; not snow-rain, just snow. It is currently (2:30pm) 4C (note: this was written yesterday, but took a while to load up). We actually had to go out today, so experienced it close up, as it were. Despite the cold, the flurries of snow were quite pleasant – it sort of softens the world when it snows. We have had a couple of days here where, if you look out the window you might think it is warm. Clear skies and plenty of sun, so much so that it was a bit warmer than it has been and we didn’t need to wear any gloves when we went outside!!!!

This episode covers the xmas period, which of course is not a public holiday here so everything is pretty much as normal for a Monday. So, what did we do? On xmas eve we went out to do some shopping because we had to collect our xmas cake and have some supplies for the next few days. In the evening we did something very traditional for us at xmas, we watched Love Actually. This movie is our guilty secret and pleasure. We know it isn’t exactly the best movie ever made, but it makes us smile every time.

On xmas day, we decided to go up to look at The House, with the hope that the metal decoration and the timbers had been added to the façade – sort of a xmas present for us. It was a warmer day than we had been having (above 10 rather than below), so was pleasant walking up there. Lo, and behold, as we came around the bend there they were. Although the scaffolding was still up, none-the-less it was wonderful to see and this too made us smile. Inside, when we went upstairs, we discovered the rooms had been wallpapered and the bases had been put in the tokonoma in each room. It looked great, and was an unexpected surprise.

In the evening we had some very delicious mushroom pasta and watched another of our traditional favourites – The Nightmare Before Christmas. Now, for me, this is the best xmas movie ever made, despite it being a cartoon. I am a fan of most of Tim Burton’s work and this, in particular, seems as if it was made with me in mind; a xmas movie with halloween themes and a musical to boot! We also had some of our matcha cake – which was very enjoyable. All in all, a very nice day had by all.

Prior to xmas we contacted a real estate agent to start the process of selling our flat (we really need the money!!). He is one of the real estate agents we had used to help us find a suitable piece of land here to build our minshuku. While it was another agent who ultimately found the right piece of land for us, we actually liked this agent to deal with and were disappointed when we didn’t buy through him, because he put in so much effort for us and we got along so well with him. So when we told him we had found the block we also indicated to him we would contract him to sell our flat. In fact he also helped us find the builder we are using for The House.

After our initial meeting with him, he went away to consider how much we might be able to get for this place (a little less than we had hoped for, but more than enough for our needs) and when he emailed back with this he suggested to meet up at The House, so he could see it. So, today, on this very cold and snowy day, we met him up there to look around and sign a contract with him for the sale of the flat. I think he was very pleased with what he saw and it turns out he knows the site supervisor, who turned up while we were there. He told us that after completing our house, our builders were going to be working on the new office for the company he works for!! We also got to see the façade of The House without the scaff, so that was good too.

The other major outing we had during this period was to sign up for the insurance cover for our car. We had to go to Fushimi-Inari to do this because our builder’s wife is an insurance agent (as it happens) and she arranged for another of the agents who specialises in car insurance to organise this for us. One of the issues we had was that we were going to have real trouble getting insurance unless we could fully understand the insurance policy and they won’t sell you a policy unless you know what it says. Given that my brain wants to shut down reading a policy in English, doing so in Japanese would have been monumentally tedious since we would have had to spend quite some time translating it. Hence, we got assistance from the woman who is acting as translator in our meetings with the builder. Interestingly, when we got there, the agent told us that the monthly premium had been reduced from the original quote, by around $AUS10, and we wouldn’t have to make the first payment until 27 February, even though we will be covered from 6 January!!

After the meeting, we decided to take a walk up to Fushimi Inari Taisha jinja (the one with all the vermillion torii gates). We thought (naively) that there wouldn’t be so many people there at this time of the year and so would be a nice quiet walk. When we were here in 2014, buying the flat, we went up there on xmas day and there were very few people – it seems this is not the case any more. Anyway, while we have taken a number of people there to see the gates this year, we have only taken them to the ‘halfway’ point and we wanted to do the entire 4km climb around the mountain. I say ‘halfway’ because I am not sure it is…

This is what we thought

This is more the reality

I don’t know how many stairs you climb going up and down again, but I do know that it is medium level exercise getting up to the ‘halfway’ point, unless you are quite fit, and consequently many people stop there, not continuing up to the top which is actually harder. So, what happens is that gradually, as you continue up, there are fewer and fewer people, which means it is quite peaceful along the upper parts of the trail. We noted that the number of torii continues to grow, with a number of new gates dated for this year (the gates have the name of the company/people who buy them and the date they are installed written on them).

For your continuing Kyoto education, I can tell you that the Inari shrine at Fushimi is not the only Inari shrine in Japan, but it is the head Inari shrine. It was established here in 711, and in 2011 they celebrated the 1300^th year of it having been there. The torii trail is not just a string of torii around the mountain, there are also many smaller shrines dotted along the way as well as the large shrine at the base. In terms of the torii, there are said to be around 10,000 lining the trail. The vermillion really stands out against the green of the trees along the trail. It is a lovely walk and a good place for some quiet contemplation (once you get past the crowded areas).

After our climb/walk, we went home for lunch and then went to buy a new year’s decoration for the door and I also wanted to get a small pot of the decorative kale that are everywhere at this time of the year, in front of houses and businesses. They are actually ornamental kale plants (Brassica oleracea) and they apparently love the cold weather. In fact, they don’t develop their full colours unless they get a good chill from a frost. I really like the look of the plants as well as the colours– quite cheerful at this time of the year.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll talk to you all again next year!

Cheers and have a very Happy New Year’s Eve.

Breaking news!!!!! We have had our first booking enquiry from a country other than Australia. Fingers crossed it goes ahead.