Hello and welcome to the 14^th episode of the recurring series, Year 2 in Kyoto…😊. I thought I’d make up for the large gap between the previous two episodes by bringing this one forward. Also, since the BIG explanatory meeting for our neighbours is on this Sunday, it seemed sensible to get this one to the presses early.

The past week has been much more relaxed, if a little bit like a saga where the protagonists are wandering around somewhat confused. We received an email post the meeting with the scrivener which said they hoped we were getting ourselves organised for the BIG meeting, including updating our minshuku policies which we will be handing out to our neighbours on the day. So we have been left wondering exactly how to update this document (which is the policy document for our guests, laying down ye olde rules of the house). We have sent a reply asking what exactly they want amended or what to add, but haven’t had a response, as yet.

We have also been trying to find a rubbish collector for our business (and us), to comply with the Hotel Licence application rules, but have had little success in this endeavour so far. The company recommended to us by our builder said his trucks would be too big for our street, so he recommended another company. That company also said their trucks would be too big…In the meantime Craig had met one of our neighbours from the next door flats, a very nice woman who just happened to speak very good English. We knew that there was a company collecting the rubbish from the flats, so we asked this neighbour if she knew who collected their rubbish.

A few days later she came back to us and said the rubbish company for the flats (from Osaka) was not interested in contracting with us direct, but would be happy for us to sub-contract through the owner of the flats. She thought this wasn’t a good idea (and so do we), so she gave us the number of the rubbish collection section in the Kyoto government, for us to enquire if they know of a collector which has small enough trucks. Sigh – more news on this in the fullness of time!

The above serves to illustrate yet again just how helpful most of the Japanese people are. The amount of effort this woman went to to help us out, making at least three phone calls, is amazing. Needless to say, we are in her debt and, along with the man who found out who the community chairman is for the group next to us and his friend that gave him the information, we will invite them for a meal in the near future.

Weather-wise it certainly has warmed up now, with most days in the high 20s or low 30s and then the occasional day of rain (rain that periodically stops, as the forecast says). It is still not overly humid yet, with the days after the day of “rain that periodically stops” being slightly humid. So, running errands and going out generally is most pleasant – of course, I take my parasol on these outings!

During this period we have had two major outings, one which was a follow-up from my last post and the other to retrace the walk from our home to Fushimi Inari, visit the temples we didn’t go into last time and to take photos of the path to create a walking guide for our guests (one day, when we can actually have guests as an official hotel…).

Last post I talked a little about Sakamoto Ryōma, who started out as a ronin (masterless samurai), then ended up as a samurai assisting a high ranking official in the Tokugawa shogunate. I discovered during my research that Sakamoto and his friend, Nakaoka Shintarō, who was with Sakamoto on the night that he was assassinated (and who died a few days later) are buried together at the Ryosen Gokoku jinja (shrine), which is close to our home. I had never been to this shrine, which is nearly directly behind the giant Ryozen Kannon, so I just had to go and see it.

As with some shrines which are very important, ie have connections to very important people, there will be a very large torii at the end of the road leading up to the shrine. So it is with this shrine – I had seen the torii many times before and had wondered which shrine it related to, so now I know!! The shrine itself is up a fairly steep road and it is one of those that very few foreigners actually go to, which means it is fairly quiet. Unlike most shrines, there is a fee to go into this one but it isn’t much. Next to the burial site is a bronze statue of the pair, which overlooks Kyoto. The view from there is very good and certainly rivals the view from Fushimi Inari.

I also spent some time after my last post checking the storyline of The Samurai, one of my favourite TV shows when I was young, because the main character on that was named Shintaro. What I found was that, while there are many similarities between the story of Shintaro in the TV program and that of both Sakamoto and Nakaoka, there isn’t any direct link to the story of the real Shintaro.

 TV Shintaro

The other main outing we undertook was the retracing of the trail to Fushimi Inari. Along the way there are two significant temples which I wanted to visit; Imakumano Kannonji and Sennyuji. Both of these, as it turned out, are also rarely visited by foreigners and, on the day, there were very few people there. They were both lovely places to visit and there was a tangible serenity within their surrounds.

Imakumano Kannonji is a sub-temple of Sennyuji and is one of the West Japan 33 Kannon Temple Pilgrimage sites. It was founded by Kobo Daishi (Kukai) in 820CE, when it is said he carved an image of the Kannon out of wood himself and then enshrined it in a hut there (although it is not known if this is actually true or not). There is a carved statue of the Kannon from this time still in existence on display. There is also a large bronze statue of Kobo Daishi in the lead up to the main temple area and, on the temple plateau, there is a bronze statue of Bokefuji Kannon who is prayed to by those who want to prevent senile dementia. Around the base of this statue are small figurines of elderly men and women, no doubt placed there for the same purpose. Emperor Goshirakawa was buried at the site in 1234.

Sennyuji was founded in the early Heian period (running from 794 to 1185). Located here are the official tombs of Emperor Shijo (1242) and many of the emperors who came after him, as well as Emperor Gohorikawa (immediate predecessor of Shijo). The main Buddha hall was rebuilt in 1668 by Tokugawa Ietsuna and has a painting of a dragon on the central panel of the ceiling. A beautiful place, with an interesting mix of architectural styles and I suspect a must see in Autumn.

After we finished the walk, we took the train back to Tofukuji station and took a different path home from the station, just to see a different area. On the way home, we came across a small shrine in the backstreets, called Takio Jinja. Apparently it used to be located over near the fabric district but was badly damaged during the Onin War, a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, and subsequently moved to this location. One very interesting part of this temple, is a large carved wooden dragon hanging from the ceiling of the worship hall.

Amazing what you can find in backstreets. One thing is certainly clear, buildings in Kyoto have a way of moving sites over time!!

That’s all for now – cheers!

The garden you have when you don’t have any land!!

Something Craig found out the front  while he was sweeping – and it’s not a bee…

Some interesting characters at Fushimi Inari. Kakkoii!!!

…and that’s your lot…for this post

Hello! Yes, it’s me again – you may remember me from some verbose wanderings that had been posted some time ago? Well, I know I have used this excuse before, but we really have been very busy; it has been the season of friends and family.

Taking up the story where I left off, we (Steven, Craig and myself) had just walked up to Fushimi Inari. After this, we caught a train to an area in Fushimi ward (suburb) where there are a number of sake (nihonshu) breweries. Getting off the train, you enter a long, covered arcade which has many interesting shops and eateries. At the end of this arcade, is another arcade to left which eventually becomes a shopping street, with older shops lining each side. It’s a really pleasant walk and worth going there just for that.

This street ends at a canal, with a street running along the canal. Each way on this street are many very old buildings, some in the machiya style. Many of the breweries are in lovely old wood and white plaster buildings. One presence you really notice here is the image of Sakamoto Ryōma, in paintings, photos and statues, who lived (and died) in the 1800s, who contributed to overthrowing the Tokugawa Shogunate and was a key figure in Japan’s modernisation. He was assassinated in 1867, at the age of 31, at an inn (Omiya Inn) which is in the Fushimi sake district.

The courtyard where the Omiya Inn used to be

The first brewery we came to was the Kizakura Kappa Country brewery which includes a small museum about nihonshu production, a restaurant/bar, a shop and a small art gallery and museum about the kappa, the mythical water creature I have previously talked about. It has a very nice courtyard area; perfect for enjoying lovely sunny days while drinking some nihonshu. I could have sat there for hours…😊.

On that note, the weather is still a bit up and down but there are now more lovely, sunny, warm days, then the occasional overcast or rainy day. When it rains, though, it really rains! It hasn’t been humid either, that is, until today. I hope we continue to get some more warm and not humid days before the walking puddle weather really sets in!!!

The next brewery we went into was the Gekkeikan brewery, which was established in Fushimi in 1637. At the brewery is the Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum, which shows the tools and process of sake production and has good English explanations. A tasting of three of the drinks produced by Gekkeikan is included in the price at the end of the self-guided tour, which is a clever precursor to entering the shop. Hard to resist buying something when you have drunk some of their produce (which is better than the Gekkeikan nihonshu you can buy in Australia). The entry fee was ¥300 and included a 180 mL bottle of Junmai Ginjo nihonshu, which was quite pleasant too!!

The next day we took Steven to the Kyoto Botanical Gardens, mainly because we had never been there before and the weather was going to be nice for a stroll around a very large garden. The timing wasn’t that great in terms of what was in flower, although the peonies were fabulous. The gardens also include a huge glasshouse of various types of plants, including tropical, arid and fruit bearing. I tried to get some fruit, but I just couldn’t reach…(japing). As you might imagine, given my love of flower photography, I took just a few photos that day!

On Steven’s last day we went to Tofukuji in part because he had never been there before and in part because they were having an open day for local residents – so it was free for us to get into the main garden area. It isn’t as spectacular there outside of blossom time and autumn, but it is still a very nice place to be. I intend to return when the lotus is in flower – it has one of the biggest lotus ponds in Kyoto. Later that day, Steven left to return home.

After Steven’s departure, we had time to get our house in order (literally) and do some catch-up shopping and other errands prior to my brother’s arrival. Colin was here for a week and, having not been here before, we took him to a selection of places that we had been to before, including Nijo-jo (which we hadn’t been to for a while), a return trip to the Fushimi brewery area (which we obviously really enjoyed the first time!) and a trip to Osaka to see the castle. He is currently in Tokyo, enjoying the very big city and the various sights.

 Colin’s best Uncle Fester impression!

The day after Colin left, we had a brief but enjoyable visit from Matt (another of our taiko friends from Adelaide). He is in Japan to visit his fiancé’s family and took time to stay with us for one night. Matt also very kindly brought with him a very significant present of goodies from Adelaide, which we were running short of here and which are hard to come by – my favourite Twinings tea bags, Massell stock cubes and a haul of cumin, which we use a lot of in our cooking! It was a large bag full of these things and, while I had told him any of these things would be wonderful when he asked, the sheer volume was completely unexpected and very, very gratefully received 😊.

This week is the first week of the third sumo basho of the year, so we  also got to discuss this with Matt, which we used to do when we saw him at taiko class, as a fellow enthusiast. The very good news is that Hakuho is back, so I am enjoying see him again. I’m not sure how much longer he will continue – he has broken nearly every top sumo record there is now, except the most consecutive championships record. I will be very sad to see him go, just as it was very sad to see Harumafuji go, especially in the way he did.

During this period, we have had some further issues with obtaining our hotel licence, which has further delayed the time we are going to actually finally get it. The first issue was that the scrivener had been unable to get hold of the chair of the community group we are in. We had no idea he was having trouble until, after two weeks of trying, we were told and asked to get a list of all the committee members (which we could have got much earlier if we had known). Anyway, after we obtained the list, the scrivener finally got hold of the chair and met with him. Apparently the meeting was a bit terse for a while, due to a misunderstanding, and the result was a list of questions/items we had to address.

When we received them, we nearly choked, because some of them were nearly unanswerable and really did smack of xenophobia. After we went back to the interpreter to ask for a copy of the original report in Japanese, so we could discuss it with Takako and formulate responses (and her comment on some of the questions/items was WTF?), the scrivener asked to meet with us and Takako to try to sort things out. We got the impression from the list that the chair did not like us and did not want us to get our licence.

So, yesterday we all got together and went through the list, exactly what happened at the meeting and our situation. It turns out that the chair was actually on our side and he wanted us to be prepared to answer some very tricky questions that may arise at the explanatory meeting which we have to have with our neighbours. We found out that another guest house in the area had recently had to close down because of numerous complaints from the neighbours in this area, and the issues he gave were those that had been directed at the other guest house.

We also found out that there is a good chance we won’t get our licence until at least mid July…☹. The final application cannot be submitted until we have had the explanatory meeting and agreement of the neighbours is received. Further, because our house is on the boundary with the next community group, we will also be having a second explanatory meeting with them. This will all be happening on Sunday, 3 June, because we have to give two weeks notice before the meetings. It all seems to have become the never ending story.

Such is life.

Cheers for now!

PS  I should also add that our other guests brought generous gifts from Adelaide with them – Jenny & Steven brought tea bags, Twisties, Favourites and Tim Tams 😁, and Colin brought a haul of coffee pods 😃. Thankyou everyone for your generosity and thoughtfulness.

Craig gets caught up in a matsuri while dropping off at the station

 Tasting at a bottle shop

School bus…

 An Australian in the Botanic Gardens

 !Stranger than fiction

Now, where was I up to? Oh, that’s right, it was the weekend of the kiln matsuri and, yes, we did visit all the other nearby potteries on the Sunday. Again there were some very interesting items; some expensive, some not so expensive. We bought a lovely vase from one pottery (for the tokonoma of one of our rooms), which cost ¥2,000 and they thanked us by giving us two lovely tea cups (Japanese style)😊.

The last place on the trail turned out to be the gymnasium at the local primary school, where there were stalls set up for all of the potteries, so we got to see all of the different styles together in one place. We also saw the lovely man from the pottery where they served us tea and mochi, and he rushed over to us to say hello then told the nearby people who we were, which was nice.

One of the potteries we went to had five kilns, ranging in size from very large down to almost an esky sized one. The pots/works they produced were a real mix of amazing through to fairly mundane and varied in price significantly. They were very friendly and allowed us to go into the room where all of the kilns were housed – yes, it was more like a warehouse than a room.

On the Monday, the first of our friends from taiko arrived. She had done the first week of the taiko workshop in Fukui and then stayed with us for four nights. She managed to fit a lot of sightseeing into those four days and we very much enjoyed her company – thanks Yve for staying with us and we look forward to seeing some of the art you produce in the future.

On one of the days Yve was here, we went down to the nearby shops to purchase some supplies. As we turned into one of the many deadend streets near the shops, we noticed an unusual car driving towards the end. It was one of the Google camera cars, obviously taking photos of this street. Naturally, we had to take some photos of it and are also now wondering if we will be in any of the photos for this street!! We are also hoping that it drove down our street, so that it might show up on Google maps in the near future.

During that week the weather was mostly very nice, so it gave me a chance to sit out on the back deck on a couple of days, which I have been wanting to do since we moved in – I had missed sitting outside enjoying the warmth and doing some nature watching. In the case of our new backyard, the stone wall provides not only a nice background but it is also home for numerous skinks, which range in size up to around 20 cms. There seem to be three different colours – a brass/gold colour, a greenish dark bronze and what I have dubbed the rainbow skink. A lovely way to spend some time relaxing!

In terms of the weather, the maximum temperature is now varying between 18C and 30C, with some lovely sunny days, some cloudy and some quite wet days, where it basically rains all day. The really good news is that I have been able to wear a t-shirt and sandals for the first time this year 😊.

The day after Yve left us, another two friends who had been attending the Fukui taiko workshop arrived. The day after they arrived, two other people from Fukui came to visit Kyoto for the day. One of these people was Nicole, who is one of the teachers from the taiko group we used to play with in Adelaide and who had been taking the workshop in Fukui. The other person who came with her was a lovely, funny woman from the UK. They came up to see our new abode and then we took all four out for a walk along the foothills to see the old shopping area and the temples along the way.

It is amazing how many temples and shrines there are along the length of the Higashiyama foothills and into the Fushimi area. You can literally walk in either the north or south direction from our house and find a temple or shrine within five to ten minutes. There are walks mapped out which are available from tourist centres, although they do charge for some of them.

Ironically, at one point we could hear a taiko drum being played, so had to go see where it was and who was playing. It was just a single, large drum inside a building which housed some Buddhist murals and I suspect the man was playing occasionally to attract attention to the building. We tried to get Nicole to play a piece but she said she was taiko’d out and, honestly, I couldn’t blame her!!

The next day we took Steven and Jenny (our friends) to see Mt Hiei (known as the mother mountain) which is near Kyoto, although in the next prefecture over. Enryakuji temple is near the top of the mountain and is where the Tendai sect of Buddhism was founded in 788 CE. It has an interesting history and, at its peak, Enryakuji had around 3,000 sub-temples and a powerful army of warrior monks who often engaged in power struggles with other monasteries and political leaders. That is until the warlord Nobunaga laid siege to the mountain in 1571 and slaughtered all those living on the mountain, then razed the temple complex. Today, the complex consists of around 100 buildings and it really is a beautiful setting.

After this big adventure, they did their own thing for the next two days, including more antiques shopping at the Kitano Tenmangu shrine – both ended up with many finds and were happy with their purchases! On the Thursday, Jenny departed Kyoto, to go stay with her son and his family here in Japan. The next day we took Steven on a walk from our house on one of the above mentioned walks, through to Fushimi Inari. We had never done this walk, but we had seen a signpost near our house and were itching to try it out.

The walk was great, taking us through lush green areas, pass a couple of temples we have never been to and up the hill to enter the Fushimi Inari area from fairly high up on the mountain. The last part of the walk was very steep, but in some ways was easier than climbing the multitude stairs that form the Fushimi Inari trail. Also, there were very few people taking this walk, so it was much quieter, without the push and shove that can be the case when walking the lower part of the Fushimi Inari trail.

We plan to do this walk again by ourselves, so we can take suitable photos to create a walking sheet with directions for our guests. We also want to take time to go into the temples along the way, since they are close – in the neighbourhood, so to speak!

After we left Fushimi Inari we went to an area within the Fushimi ward where there are some sake breweries, but I am going to leave that until my next blog…stay tuned!!!

On a final note, we are still waiting, waiting, waiting for our hotel licence…(sigh). Maybe there will be more news on that front next time I sit down in front of this keyboard. We had hoped for a 1 May start, however, we keep finding out about further new requirements before we can get our licence – the latest being that we have to contract a commercial garbage collection company and provide their name to the authorities, even though we haven’t got our licence and so can’t officially open yet. We are hoping it won’t be too expensive to have collections, especially when we just don’t need them. There is no doubt they are putting as many obstacles as possible in the path of those applying for a licence for a minpaku listed on Airbnb.

So, that’s it for now – as always with fingers crossed…

Cheers!!

Peonies, wisteria, rhododendrons and the bamboo is popping!!!

 It’s a crane fly (not a huge mosquito)

 !

 Inoshishi (me)

 quack, quack, quack at Sherry Bar

Well, it seems that as much as I haven’t really planned this, I have now fallen into a bi-weekly posting routine. I suspect that, in the long term, this will continue unless there is something really newsworthy that I just have to report, like say we finally get our hotel licence, or we have our first full house (once we actually have our licence, of course).

So, what has happened in the last two weeks??? We continue to make progress in other areas, which is still important to reflect on. Firstly, though, what’s with the weather? Heatwaves in Adelaide in April and here, in Kyoto, the weather is bouncing around – warm, sunny and lovely one day, cool and cloudy the next, then windy with reasonably heavy rain. No thunderstorms yet, but I wait patiently (although, if it’s going to rain, why can’t we have some thunder and lightning, just to ramp things up a bit?).

The blossom is well and truly over. Lyndie and Tim were lucky to be here just as it came, and went. While the bloom seemed very quick this year, it was apparently much more intense, ie there were more blossoms on the trees than the average. It may well be the combination of the early warmth, then the wind and rain that brought this about. So, we are now into the azalea bloom, with the many hundreds of plants gradually coming into flower. There are also many grape hyacinth, tulips and daffodils around the streets, mainly in pots.

Our friends left Kyoto for other cities and then home last week, giving us time to reflect on how well we can cope with timing arrivals and departures, cleaning between stays, and, of course, how the breakfasts went, both in timing and in quality. We have realised that we will have to have a dryer in our laundry once business picks up (and when we can afford it…), however, other than that the actual cleaning wasn’t overly onerous.

In terms of food, we were reasonably happy with what we served up, but there is always room for improvement and we will also need to change our offerings as we move through the seasons and the available produce changes. We are going to make time to sit down with Takako in the near future and ‘workshop’ what we can cook and design some different daily menus. Any foods that we can prepare, or at least partially prepare the afternoon or night before certainly make life easier.

We have decided that, unless it is absolutely essential to serve earlier (such as for early train journeys), breakfast will be served between 8:00 and 9:00am. Craig also put together some ‘takeout’ breakfasts to take on those early train rides, which was appreciated. In the next two weeks we have some friends arriving from the Fukui taiko workshops to stay with us, which we are looking forward to. This will give us more pre-official opening practice time.

Progress has definitely been made on the unpacking/arranging/re-arranging front, with all boxes now unpacked!!! Yes, even the guilty secret storage room is now just storage room number 2. The cardboard room (aka guest room 2), is still the cardboard room, but we hope to have the empties collected in the next week. Our spare room is now more like a large walk in wardrobe, but at least there everything is out and I now have more choice in what to wear 😊.

On Friday, as we were returning from an outing, we noticed some men putting some banners along the roads in our area, which had ‘kiln matsuri’ written on them (in Japanese, of course). Yesterday, when we went out to do some shopping we noticed people wandering around the streets and so decided to wander around ourselves. I think I have mentioned before our neighbourhood is home to some Kiyomizu-yaki kilns. All pottery made in Kyoto is referred to as Kyo-yaki or Kiyomizu-yaki, more commonly the latter.

It turns out that we have 14 potteries located within 5 minutes walk of our home and yesterday we visited seven of them. One is located nearly directly across the road from us, and another sits atop the wall that lines our backyard. In fact, the two kilns (one electric and one gas) of the latter pottery are located right above our yard. Each of the potteries produces different works in terms of patterns and colours, although there are some dominant themes, such as the indigo designs. We actually saw some items decorated in the willow pattern yesterday.

It was fantastic going into each of the workshops and seeing the greenware, as well as the finished product. I must say, though, that these places are fairly rudimentary in terms of comfort for those working there. Many had bare floors and didn’t seem to have much in the way of heating or cooling. I have also noticed that there are lots of broken pottery pieces lying around these premises, including the pottery across the road from us. The other day when I was doing some weeding in the backyard it was like an archaeological dig and I now have a ‘finds’ area.

At two of the potteries there was someone who could speak some English, and combined with our small Japanese vocabulary, we were able to learn some more about their wares. At the first of these two I had looked at the final product and was then looking at the greenware and, noticing my interest, they got one of the partially finished bowls and a fully fired version and put them together for us to look at. They said that these bowls were fired twice, and they used iron oxides to make some of the colour.

After this they sat us down and served us tea and mochi, which was very nice!! A lot of the product that they produced appeared much more hand made than some of the other potteries. It was very nice work and I really did like it. We told the owners who we were (ie the new people in the area who have built the minshuku, which they knew about) and they were very welcoming and very nice.

After this I wanted to find the pottery that backs onto us and ended up not only finding them, but spending over an hour there. They were lovely people and it just happened that a near neighbour was nearby who spoke very good English and was interested in talking to us, so we were able to have quite a lengthy conversation with them all. At one point I asked where the actual kiln was and the next thing we were taken on a full tour of the pottery. It is a very large complex, and they make both moulded and hand thrown products. We also found out that the male owner sometimes plays in a Beatles cover band (as John Lennon) and he has said we have to see them play next time they perform.

They also said they would like to eat at our restaurant (a misunderstanding about the restaurant licence and what we are going to be serving) – so, we have sort of promised to cook for them one day! Perhaps we will make a  brunch or lunch for them. The English speaking neighbour was also keen to try out our food. All in all, it was an excellent way to meet some of our neighbours and learn more about our area. We are considering going to visit the other seven potteries today.

It seems there is always something new and interesting to discover here!!!

Cheers for now

Just a building near our backyard

A plant that is in our back yard – not sure what it is

…and what is this???

I’m trying to sleep!!!

Hello everyone! Here I am again, finally finding time to sit down, think about what we have been doing and imparting the more interesting/entertaining/important activities and issues we have undertaken and encountered.

Firstly, some good news regarding a couple of issues we had last posting time: we found the legs for my beloved coffee table and we found the missing eggshell china cup from the tea set my mother gave me 😊. This, as you can imagine, made me very happy. The trunk on the elephant, however, is still broken/badly repaired, no matter how much I wish for it to be otherwise.

The weather has now definitely moved into spring mode, with most days now above 20C. As a result, the blossom has opened fully and, as of today, it is definitely looking like it is going to be finished in the next few days. We took a walk down Kiyamachi dori today and it was literally snowing blossom petals, quite heavily at times when the wind picked up. So, I suspect there will be many disappointed people who arrive in Kyoto in the coming weeks hoping for blossom viewing.

On the home front, we have been working our way through the multitude boxes of ‘personal effects’ and struggling to find places for everything. It has been a process of arranging, then rearranging, then rearranging again. Unfortunately, the cupboards don’t get any bigger but we are getting most things in there – we just have to be careful when opening some doors…actually, it’s more like hoping the shelves and drawers don’t buckle under the weight.

We are down to two boxes of glassware in our spare room and the guilty secret storeroom/cupboard upstairs, which may remain a guilty secret for a while yet. We now also have another area which should be an empty guest room (no. 2) but is actually currently disposed as a cardboard room, full of empty boxes and boxes full of wrapping paper. The amount of paper that was used to wrap our items is mindboggling. A significant amount of the time we are spending emptying boxes is spent on the process of unwrapping then trying to flatten the paper and put it in some of the empty boxes. A substantial amount of the weight of our items in transport would just have been paper.

In terms of our minshuku, there is no further news on the hotel licence front, however, we have officially received our restaurant licence. So, we continue to wait. In the meantime, we currently have some friends staying here, who are very kindly acting as guinea pigs as we put into practice what we are hoping to do when we are fully functioning. The first day that Lyndie and Tim were here we didn’t have any furniture in the dining room, so we ad-libbed by using our outdoor furniture to seat them for breakfast.

Later that day, we had the delivery of the first phase of the dining room furniture (which basically means that’s all we could afford at the time…). We are very happy with how it looks and hope we can add to it in the near future. A few days later our pleated curtains (I would call them blinds, but our builder has called them pleated curtains) and standard curtains arrived. Gradually it is all coming together and it is looking better and better. Craig has also been busy putting up picture hooks so we can further decorate the spaces we have with various paintings/prints/items. Unfortunately the hardware store ran out of hooks, so we have to wait until they replenish their stocks to finish this.

We are now awaiting the inbuilt seating bench in the dining room so we can remove the two outdoors chairs and have enough seating for up to five people in the dining room without the use of stand-in furniture!! The process of preparing and serving breakfast has been a change for us, because we are more used to preparing and serving dinners for people, but it just means we are doing some of the prep work the afternoon before. Craig is enjoying making use of all the Japanese cookbooks we have – he is much more a ‘to the recipe’ cook than I am, so it suits him well. Having a rice cooker certainly makes things easier in the morning, rather than having to do it manually.

We started with Lyndie and Tim staying with us and now we have another friend staying here, so it is three for breakfast, which isn’t that much more work just more ingredients!! It has been very helpful for us, and in a way it is a good thing that we are easing into the daily process of serving guests rather than full tilt into the peak season. We are very much enjoying the company of other people, especially such nice people, and are very grateful for their indulgence! Next month we have more friends from Adelaide coming to stay, after they have attended the taiko workshop in Fukui, which we are looking forward to.

In terms of our ability to completely finish the fitout of the minshuku, we are still awaiting the sale of our flat, but unfortunately we still haven’t had any serious bites. We remain hopeful…At the moment we have enough in place for our current needs and we will add to what we have as needed and as money allows. We are getting somewhat used to the just-in-time way things are panning out for us.

Before I sign off, I just want to acknowledge the passing of Stephen Hawking, which I omitted last time. If there ever was a role model of perseverance against the odds, he is it. A great mind, with the ability to communicate his understanding to those of us who are not physicists and all through a range of technologies he was connected to. Vale Stephen.

Cheers for now

 ?

 ?

 just a nice wall

 my new car…;-)

 happy easter!

 another new friend

Serena enjoys the window sill

Australia, Vegan Minshuku Sanbiki Neko here. The Addams’ furniture has landed…I repeat, the furniture has landed.

Hello and welcome to Episode #9. Yet another largish gap between episodes, and again I did intend to get to it earlier but we have had a lot of things sort of dropped on us at the last minute in the last two weeks. As you will realise from the message above, one of those things was the sudden release and delivery of our goods and chattels. We received an email last Tuesday (13/3) to say they expected Customs to release our items the next day, and assuming this to be the case, they wanted payment for the extra work on the Wednesday and the delivery would be on Thursday morning (15/3).

As you can imagine, we went into overdrive to respond, organise the money transfer and prepare things here for the delivery. We also had an appointment on the Wednesday afternoon, which we had to prepare for (more about that later). The other issue was that we had arranged to have our (very delayed) one month car service on the Thursday morning, and we also had to pick up some lights we had ordered on that day!

On the morning we were expecting the truck at about 9:30 and we were concerned that the truck may not fit down our street. We had asked Crown three times to check that the truck would fit, but had not had an answer – so when they rang us to let us know that the money transfer was going through, Craig asked the man if it would be ok and he said he had told the movers to check it. Anyway, 9:30 passed with no truck, then 10:00, then we got a call saying they were at our flat!!!! For some reason they had chosen our flat address as the delivery address. Craig indicated their mistake and we became more concerned…

I went down to the closest intersection to our house which has roads with names (have I mentioned we live on a road with no name – connected to a road with no name??? There’s a song in that…) and waited, and waited. Thinking they must have got lost, I went back to our house where Craig said they were now on their way; they had had to ring the main office to confirm the correct address. As I was about to go back to the corner, a young guy walked up the road – he was one of the removalists and he was checking where our house was. I walked back with him and he confirmed our fears that the truck wouldn’t be able to drive up our street.

So the truck pulled up on the adjoining street and then we again waited, wondering if the delivery would have to be aborted. After some time (20 mins?) the leader of the removal crew came up to us and said they would do the delivery from the where they were. Then it started – I had to check off the items as they arrived and direct the removalists to where they should be put (at this point there were five people – we assume they called in help), while Craig went off to run the other errands. Now, I knew we had a lot of stuff, but the reality of 101 items arriving in fairly quick succession and trying to work out where they would fit was somewhat daunting. The good news was that it was a lovely day – warm and sunny.

Since then, our time has been divided between going out to get supplies and unpacking. We are struggling to work out where to put everything, however, it is very nice to have a couch to sit on and have the potential to decorate, when we finish unpacking. The couch does take up a lot of room, but it is comfortable and the kids are very happy to have it back – they have all taken up their previous positions on it. A couple of slight issues have arisen: we haven’t found the legs for my beloved coffee table yet; the trunk has been broken (and dodgily repaired by someone) on the concrete elephant; and it appears one of the eggshell china cups has disappeared from a tea set my mother gave me many years ago.

Moving back in time, we had the meeting for our neighbours on Saturday, 10/3, which morphed from an explanatory meeting where we were going to tell them how we are going to manage our minshuku (mainly in relation to noise and rubbish), to reassure them that we won’t be ruining their peace and creating a lot of mess, to one where we met most of the neighbours and our builder showed them through the minshuku areas. This change in plans happened on the Wednesday prior to the meeting, when our builder, his office assistant and the translator came to visit us because there seemed to be a bit of misunderstanding about exactly what our role was in this whole process (not caused by us). So, all of the work we had done to prepare, including writing up a flyer and distributing it, went by the wayside.

On the day, around twenty people turned up and it seemed to go well. We got very positive feedback about the minshuku facilities, so much so that we had a few enquiries about whether it would be ok for family members to stay here when they come to visit!! Interestingly, a few builders turned up (we aren’t sure whether they had just seen the sign outside or they had heard about it because they are doing some work on some houses nearby) and, according to Takako (our employee), they were checking things and touching things and commenting about how they might use the same finishes in their work!!!

After the meeting, we sat with Takako to finalise our application for the restaurant licence. Takako has been fantastic in helping us with this – she is very proactive, and has taken it upon herself to actually go to the health management department to check about some things and to make sure we are on the right track in the way we have been completing the forms. She was keen to get the application in, so we arranged to meet her on the Monday morning to put the application in.

On the Monday we went there and found the person who was in charge of our area was the same woman we had met previously and who was somewhat “difficult”. This time, however, she was really nice and very helpful. Takako told us afterward that she had called before going there to speak to her to let her know we were coming, because of what we had told her about our previous experience. The woman said she could come to check our kitchen facilities on the Wednesday (14/3), and we could give her one other document she needed at that time.

It was at this point we realised we would have to have a fridge in the kitchen for the inspection, which meant we had to go straight from that meeting to Yodobashi (a large electrical and other goods shop) to buy a fridge. We had the credit card we got through Toyota, so we were able to get it immediately. We were unsure at that stage what the repayments were for the card, but we really had no choice. As it turns out, the credit card only gives credit for two months, ie you have to pay the full amount in the second month after any purchases. Two hours later, we emerged with the items we needed bought along with a contract for connection to high speed optic fibre and internet connection!!? The service people took it upon themselves to see if would need it – which, of course, we do.

Interestingly, while many electrical appliances here are quite inexpensive, there are a few which are not and a fridge is one of them, being around 30% more than something fairly equivalent in Australia. We picked a Toshiba Vegeta fridge in part because it has a very large vegetable storage drawer and in part because it was at the lower end of the price scale. We also needed a water boiler and two lights, so got them all in the one place, although, as I mentioned earlier, we had to wait for the lights to come in. The fridge and boiler were delivered the next day, so we were able to have the inspection on the Wednesday, as planned.

On the Wednesday we made sure everything was clean and sparkling (of course) and the woman arrived (by bike) at the arranged time. Takako was running a bit late, so we showed her the kitchen, which she ticked off very fast and said it was very clean. She was the nicest person, it is hard to believe she was so “difficult” the first time we met. Having finished so fast, we asked her if she would like to see the rest of the facilities, which she was keen to do. She was very impressed and said it looked very nice. Interestingly, she bowed before one of the ukiyo-e (Japanese prints) we had in the large room. When Takako arrived she spoke with her for a little while and we were told we would receive confirmation of the approval of our restaurant licence next week!!! 😊

Another hurdle cleared, with two more major hurdles to go – the hotel licence and the sale of our flat (for those inclined, any positive thoughts in that direction would be most appreciated!!).

One thing I haven’t really mentioned in this post, or the last, is the weather. It is definitely feeling like spring now. We are having some days of low 20s, interspersed with some cooler and wet weather, but overall it is much better for me now. Walking in the warm sunshine (and interestingly, when I say warm now, even 15 feels warm to me) is such a pleasure. I look forward to the first day I can wear a t-shirt, which won’t be too long now. One other thing about the weather warming up like it has, the cherry blossom is very close to opening here, with the blossom season officially being called in Tokyo yesterday – it has warmed up there a bit faster than here.

(the one on the right is a magnolia)

Well, that’s it for now – cheers!

We allowed the kids to explore a bit after the difficult day of the delivery. Zowie got to the top of the stairs, then chickened out…

Is it time yet?

My new friend

…and the best laid plans…

I had planned to write this next post on the weekend, however, we had some unexpected work we had to attend to – making preparations for the community meeting we have to have as part of our hotel application, trying to decipher a form we have to complete parts of and preparing multitudinous attachment documents. Apparently the procedure to apply for a hotel licence has recently become more complex, mainly due to citizen complaints about minpaku(s).

You may remember that a minpaku is where private lodging space is rented out to tourists, generally through AirBnB. This may be in the form of a room or rooms in a family home, a whole flat or small building/house. The majority of difficulties have occurred where the minpaku does not have any owner/manager on-site, and I think this is reflected in other areas world wide. The renters can be loud, or dispose of rubbish inappropriately or cause other issues for neighbours.

So the new procedure includes neighbourhood consultation, even though we are applying to run a ‘supervised’ facility. It also includes consulting with all schools within 500 metres, because there will be strangers coming into the area. We had thought our builder would run the community meeting, however, it has been handed over to us. So we had to create and distribute flyers advertising the event on the weekend, and will have to take the details of attendees and run the meeting.

A recent complicating factor in the whole minpaku saga has been a case of an American staying in a minpaku in Osaka who met up with a young Japanese woman he had been corresponding with on social media. He then proceeded to murder her, dismember her and distribute her body parts around different areas, including in the ward (suburb) next to ours, in Kyoto prefecture. We knew something was up when five police helicopters started circling over the hills very near to our house about a week ago. They continued this for over an hour. Evidently her legs were found there.

In relation to the Customs hold-up of our personal effects, we are still waiting to hear the final outcome. We received a seven and a half page list of the offending items, which included an estimated value assigned by the people from Crown. So, we didn’t have to do it ourselves, although we had to go through it to see if we agreed with their estimated values. I’m not sure on what basis they did this, but for the most part the values were reasonable. So we did agree and asked them to proceed. This was a week ago, so when we hadn’t heard anything as of Monday we sent an email to enquire about the outcome – and they told us that Customs have now sent our effects to be checked by quarantine…When will it end and why didn’t they start that earlier?

On a lighter note, we actually took some time out during this period to participate in a guided tour around the Nishijin district, which is the famous textiles area in Kyoto. A series of ten tours had been organised by the Kyoto government as trial to see if they were popular enough to continue on an ongoing basis, and for a fee. A friend of ours here, Sara, was one of the tour guides and she contacted us to see if we would be interested.

  Sara

Nishijin weaving originated in the Heian period, over 1,200 years ago, and the district is where the very spectacular textiles for kimono and obi have traditionally been created. The tour included a factory with old hand operated looms where they still make many Noh costumes and a museum named the Orinasu-kan which has displays of some restored Noh costumes, some wedding kimono and other examples of the traditional textiles. We also walked around the district looking at the machiya and the temples and shrines built by the people of the Nishijin district. It was a very nice distraction, especially as I love textiles, particularly Japanese textiles. I bought an antique obi many (many) years ago and still have it (well, Customs currently has it; not that I’m fixated) and I hope to have it displayed here eventually.

One thing we noticed as we walked around, is that the plum blossom is opening everywhere now – mainly the very intense pink and dark pink/purple varieties. So, it won’t be too long until the cherry blossom starts. They have said it is going to be early this year, so will be in bloom by the end of this month. Definitely something to look forward to.

(The last two photos are of a Buddhist temple where you go to get rid of pain or suffering, hence the symbolism of the pliers for removing things)

We continue to enjoy living in our new home, with different things really standing out. The heated floor is a particular favourite, both with us and the kids. It is set to come on a 4:30 at the moment, and the kids certainly are aware of this and take their positions to enjoy the warmth at around that time. Another thing that is very apparent is the difference the double glazing makes in keeping the inside space warmer.

(Ziggy also tried out the bathroom basin)

One other thing that has become apparent – there is a local ginger cat which seems to have this block as part of it’s territory. Initially, it just sat outside the back fence and looked in, but on about the third day of this behaviour we suddenly heard cat growling noises and found the ginger cat on our back deck, right outside our back sliding doors. Ziggy was not impressed. Serena has also had her turn at facing off, as it has been coming here every day, generally in the morning. Zowie hasn’t shown overly much interest. I think he is happy to not be involved in the kinds of spats he used to have when he was an outdoor cat in Adelaide.

On a final note, I came across an article in one of the Japanese papers we read about the love of mascots that pervades Japan. Mascots are known as yuru-kyara (“loose” or “relaxed” characters), and are ubiquitous in Japan. They are used to promote everything from soap, food and train lines, to regions of Japan and even prisons. They come in every conceivable shape and size, including some very bizarre creations, such as Jimmy Hattori, a ninja with a large pink condom on his head…

In some areas there are perhaps too many, so much so that in Osaka they have proposed a cull of some of the local yuru-kyara. This has spurred a public outcry and intense debate over which mascots should have their lives spared. Competition between yuru-kyara is fierce. While some mascots may be approved and promoted, their livelihoods depends on their popularity. It’s a challenge to win the public’s heart by finding the perfect balance between cute and memorable.

 Funassyi – a pear…

 Katakkuri chan – a prison mascot

This is why some yuru-kyara creators have started making characters kimo-kawaii (gross-cute). The strategy seems to work, as both media and tourists alike can’t get enough of these gross-cute characters, such as Meron-kuma a bear with a melon head:

One mascot, however, became very well known for all the wrong reasons:

For my money, a ninja with a condom on his head beats them all!!!

Cheers for now 😊

Photo for our website of the large guest room

Attached to the outside wall of a house nearby

Hello all!!! Yes tis me again, after a very long hiatus. I am writing to you sitting at the (sort of) counter in our new home! Yes, we are in and this is the main reason I haven’t written to you in three weeks, what with packing, moving, unpacking and cleaning. There is one other reason I didn’t write two weeks ago, which actually occurred during that week, and which I will get back to in a short while.

Back to the (sort of) counter; the base structure is in place, however, the benchtop is yet to be installed. We know that the structure was built in the last week, or so, before handover and so the templating will have occurred after that time. Craig tells me it used to take around two weeks from templating to instalment when he was working at Adelaide Marble (they did benchtops…). In lieu of the actual benchtop, we have borrowed the top of our desk, which is somewhat smaller, to act as a partial benchtop.

Today we went to Nitori to buy some stools using the gift vouchers we got as another gift from the car dealer (arriving unexpectedly in the mail) along with some accumulated points on our Nitori pointo kado (point card). Yes, money is pretty tight at the moment – the other day we had just over ¥500 left in our bank account – but thankfully we had some money ready to transfer in Australia, so we are still able to eat 😊. We got caught out by a very high fee we weren’t expecting for the registration of our new home (trap for new home building novices). Luckily we had just enough money in the bank to pay that bill.

Returning to the other reason I didn’t write a post two weeks ago; frankly, I just didn’t feel up to it because during that week we found out that Customs were holding up our goods and chattels from Australia. This is because they believe that the kitchenware, cookware and glasses we have shipped over here are not our personal items and not for personal use but rather for commercial use in our minshuku. If they deem any items to be for commercial use we will have to pay a 30% import duty on the total value of the items.

To make that assessment, they have asked for a complete itemised list, including how old (whether new or not and actual age) and giving each item or set a value. So, Crown (the movers) have to unpack the identified boxes/cartons, list everything (with photos, it seems), and then we have to provide the other information. Given that all of the items are at least five years old, it is going to be very difficult to assign a value. I’m not sure if they will want purchase price, replacement value, or depreciated value. The other issue is that we are going to have to pay a significant amount of money to Crown for this ‘extra’ service – the boxes were minimally described as they were packed because many of their staff were off sick the day our items were packed for shipping.

A conundrum and in part I think it comes from the fact that we have a lot of the above items. We tried to explain that we used to do a lot of cooking and entertaining, some being quite large gatherings, but that wasn’t enough. Part of the problem seems to be a difference in life styles between here and in Australia. People tend to eat out a lot here and are not overly big on home entertaining.

As a result, not only do we have a (sort of) counter, but we also have very little in the way of furniture. We only have what we were using in the (quite small) flat. So, we sit on the floor in our tiled lounge area on the zaisu (legless Japanese chairs) we used in our tatami bedroom (because the tv was in there – no antenna socket elsewhere to use) to watch tv, eat our meals, etc – that is, up until today! Now we can eat at the (sort of) counter.

Despite the issues above (and a few other minor issues, such as no curtains yet, etc), it is wonderful being in here. We have so much more space in our area and we have a backyard – small, I concede, but we will be able to use it and grow things. The kids have settled in here reasonably well – nothing like they were after the very big move from Australia, which did traumatise them somewhat. They have more room to run around and play and eventually we will be able to put them outside. The weather has ever so slightly warmed up, so it may be fairly soon. Apparently it has been the coldest winter in 30 years. Just in time for me to experience it.

Last post I mentioned Setsubun. One of the rituals undertaken on Setsubun is mamemaki (throwing of roasted soybeans) to ward off evil and bring in good luck. It is usually performed by the toshiotoko of the household (the male who was born in the corresponding animal year on the Chinese zodiac), or else the male head of the household (traditional…). Roasted soybeans are thrown either out of the door or at a member of the family wearing an Oni (demon) mask, while the people say “Demons out! Luck in!” (Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!).

As it happens Craig is a dog, so we actually had a toshiotoko to perform the mamemaki. We had decided to do this at both the flat and our new home. On the Saturday of Setsubun we came up here to the Very Nearly Minshuku (as it was then) to undertake the rituals, however, when we got here no-one was here, so we couldn’t get in (yes, we should have thought of the fact that they may not work on Setsubun). Not to be put off, we winged it, with Craig throwing the beans from the front verandah at me while I was running around on the road with the mask on. It was fun! I can only imagine what the neighbours thought…

During the interim period between posts, we have had Valentine’s Day, with the associated chocolate buying frenzy that occurs. I decided to take Craig to the Salon du Chocolat at iSetan, so he could experience first hand just how truly mesmerised people could be by chocolate (although he already had some idea about the power of chocolate through some of our friends…you know who you are 😊). There quite a few different stalls this year, but it seemed there was a lot of very similar product, with French, Belgian, Swiss and Japanese all ending up looking very much alike.

On a final note, sadly we continue to find lonely gloves and mittens strewn around as we walk to various destinations. This time we were particularly taken with two mittens and also a fairly bedraggled, but paired up couple. We figured the paired up couple at least had each other, despite their run down state, and we have taken photos of the mittens in the hope they may find their true glove match. The first mitten is a spiritual type, praying singlehandedly at a local shrine. The second was a little sheepish, at first, but we managed to take this photo once we reassured her we weren’t trying to pull the wool over her eyes and that we thought suitable glove partners would flock to her looking for new pastures. All you need is glove…

Cheers for now!!!

Hello dear readers and welcome to the end of the first month of 2018 – already! The good news for me is that this means winter will soon be over here. In fact, it is Setsubun on Saturday (3 February), which is officially the end of winter here and I’m hoping that the weather sees fit to comply. The name basically means seasonal division, so Setsubun is the last day of the season, however it seems to be exclusively used for Spring’s Eve.

It has been very cold here since my last posting, with most days having an expected maximum under 5C and sub-zero night temperatures. One day the expected maximum was 1C!! Now, I don’t know about you but for me, I find it very hard to think of 1C as a maximum. We have also actually had four days running where there was snow falling, on and off.

(Zowie mesmerised by the snow)

At this stage we haven’t had falls anywhere near as heavy as the mid-January fall of last year, which was 15cm. Craig was beginning to think I had made it up, but I pointed out I had a lot of pictorial evidence. The heaviest fall we had last week was around 2cm – not even close. For my part, I think that if it’s going to be really cold surely we can get some snow as visual compensation. Interestingly, it again seems the snow is falling all around us, and fairly heavy falls at that (including Tokyo), just not much here.

As it happens, one of the days we went up to see The Very Nearly Minshuku (name upgrade) was the morning after the 2cm snowfall, so some of the photos below show our back deck post the snowfall. Things are really moving along now, hence the name upgrade. The big surprise on the first day we visited was the installation of the carport had occurred. Our car will soon have it’s very own parking space! Yesterday, when we went up there, preparations were in place for a concrete pour under the carport cover, which is due to happen on Friday, so we were told.

 Carport at left

The next thing we noticed was ‘the monolith’ (to which our letterbox and intercom will be attached) had been coated and was being dried (by means of a hairdryer and an upright blow heater!!!). I call it ‘the monolith’, because it reminds me of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, having just sort of appeared there. Finishing off the front of the building is the ramp and verandah, which, as of yesterday, was having the roofing material attached. While we were there watching the two men attaching the roofing material, one slipped and nearly fell down…luckily he didn’t, but you could see it had put the wind up him.

Other new items of interest outside were the side fence between the front of the building and our residence entrance and all the outside lights having been attached. We didn’t get a shot of the fence because the main carpenter was building a cover for the water heaters, etc, just in front of it, however, Craig was able to check that he could walk through the gate without ducking!

Yesterday when we arrived we also found that all the cardboard and plastic sheet coverings had been pulled off the floors, which were being cleaned. The wooden floors and tatami tiles look amazing. The hallways, upstairs and down, have wood edging either side of the tatami tiles which looks really good, while the dining/common room has plain wooden flooring. The wood is truly beautiful and we are going to have to make sure we look after it, given it will be a high traffic area. Yet to come are the tatami mats.

The walls of the commercial kitchen have been lined with metal sheets and it is now awaiting the installation of benches, shelves, worktops and sinks. The sheets are coated white, so with the lights on it is very bright in there. Yes, a good thing in an environment of sharp knives and hot cooking pots, etc. I should also mention that all doors are now installed too. The sliding door into the laundry, which is across the hallway from the dining room, is a vertically slatted sliding door and is soft closing!

In our area we could see more of the kitchen installation and the lights were all uncovered. The bathroom now has a vanity unit and the ceiling heater has been installed and we also now have a toilet (with a heated seat 😊). It’s interesting being in our area and seeing just how neutral the colours are. With the pale cream papered walls, so much bare wood and the neutral tiles, it is quite a change for me. From the start we decided to stick to a more traditional style for the minshuku area, and we also wanted a traditional style bedroom for ourselves, so this has been carried through by our architect and ourselves with the choice of materials.

Of course, the furniture we are bringing across here is mostly mid-century modern, which I think will look really good against these colours and materials. So it will be a blend with a very strong emphasis on timber. It’s going to be very interesting fitting everything in – a challenge I’m looking forward to. Apart from the commercial kitchen fit-out, most of the remaining work is internal cabinetry and landscaping. The fire inspection is on the 5^th February, so we are hoping we may be able to move in before the 15^th.

Recently Craig and I have been saddened as we walked around various areas, to see neglected, lonely single gloves lying around on the sides of roads and footpaths. It really has been heart-rending for us, especially at this time of year when you normally see gloves out together, hand in glove, happily keeping warm and snug. As a result, we have decided to take up the gauntlet and create a Lonely Gloves dating service to help them find a new glove partner. The service will be open to all glove types; wool, cotton, synthetic – even leather. Whether they want a matched opposite or another of the same hand, matching or different colours, we will cater to all who are genuine and not just in it for a one hand gesture. We hope to find suitable glove matches for all those seeking their mate, one they can be smitten with…

Finally, it is a very exciting day today, as a fairly rare event occurs in the skies above tonight. We are to have a  super blue, blood moon tonight. This means that we are having a full lunar eclipse and it is the second full moon in the month, and a supermoon to boot. I hope the skies will be clear so we can see it!!!

Cheers for now

It’s so cold that this display model has had 2 scarves put on her…

Even bikes are made with bamboo here!

How many is too many???

 ??? Do they hurt?

…and welcome back to the action. It has been pretty busy here while you’ve been away, so I’ll try to bring you up to date as much as I can. So, get yourself a caffeinated beverage and settle in…

It has been two weeks since I last blogged and we have had quite a few appointments during that time, so have been somewhat busy – so much so that I didn’t even do my nails for two weeks!!! That has now been remedied, because they were looking pretty shabby.

Weather-wise, we have had two quite different weeks; the first being cold and at times wet, the second being like a mini ‘heatwave’. Now, when I say ‘heatwave’ I mean it has been not as cold, with a few days above 10C (!) and the other days being sunny, so felt a bit warmer. This, however, is changing in the coming week, with some snow forecast tomorrow and the forecast maxima of 6C and less. The other night they said that a large very cold air mass was moving towards us and that the temperature in Siberia was -67C at the time as a result of this air mass…

Now to our main activities other than the usual shopping, housework (flatwork??), etc. After the high of collecting our new car it actually sat there for around a week before we got to take it out for a drive. Before that we had an appointment with the real estate agent we have chosen to sell our flat, our accountant and our builder and architect.

As I said a couple of posts previously, the real estate agent is one of the agents we were using to assist us in our search for a building/block of land to buy for our future minshuku. He really is such a nice and helpful person and it is always a pleasure to deal with him. He had contacted us post new year to say he wanted to come around to take a few photos and check a few things, such as measurements. It was funny watching him – he walked around talking to himself as he did what he needed to do.

The next day we went to our accountant to get information about taking on an employee and what we needed to do in terms of bureaucratic processes – we just knew there would have to be something, as there would be in Australia, and we suspected it would involve lots of forms. I had done some electronic oracle searching and had found a couple of employment forms to be completed, but I felt sure there would be more.

As it turned out, the law around employment here is regulated by one legislative Act and there don’t appear to be any awards or other non-government rules governing employment. So, as far as we can work out, there are no minimum hours or rules around other employment issues such as minimum breaks, etc. There is a minimum wage, but that is very low – wages here, overall, are very low and, in fact, the government is pushing employers to actually give the workers a decent pay rise this year, to help the economy overall. Without the significant tourism here, the economy would be continuing down the stagflation/deflation line it has been on for quite some time now and would be contracting.

At the end of the first week, we met our builder and architect at The House to talk about the handover and to make a few decisions in situ. It was a very cold day and our appointment with them was at 10:00, by which time it had jumped marginally above 0C. I was fully puffed up and had some thermal leggings under my pants but after about 10 minutes outside talking to the relevant parties I was really beginning to feel the cold. Still, it was good to see how much progress was being made, although we found out that we are probably not going to be able to move in until 15 Feb.

(l-r: builder, architect, translator, site supervisor, one of the concreters)

We were also told that the approval for the hotel licence is likely to take longer than they originally thought – possibly up to six weeks – because everyone is rushing to get their approvals through before 1 April when new rules come into effect. As a result, we have made the decision to push the opening date back one month to the 1^st of April. Disappointing but luckily the bookings we already had are in April.

Late in that week we also received an email form our real estate agent saying someone wanted to come and look at the flat on the following Monday, which was exciting even though ultimately it turned out that it was a young couple with two small children and this flat was a little small for their needs. What it did mean was that we had to do a full clean and tidy on the Sunday to make it spotless and look somewhat less crowded. We have been collecting boxes to use when we move, so we had to find a way to hide them…

After the inspection, we went up to collect our car to take it out to get petrol and we took the opportunity to go to a home centre and a large supermarket that is well out of walking distance. What we discovered in this process was that, while the GPS in the car had been set to English, not everything was in English and it was quite a complex process to set a destination and make it actually work. Once we got through that (imagine quite a bit of swearing and hair tearing…), it worked pretty well. Similarly, getting petrol was a complicated process (imagine more swearing and hair tearing, but in a more subtle way because it was in public view). After all this, we brought the car back to our flat and parked in the carpark across the road, because the following day we were off to get our licences (finally)!!!!

It took around 45 minutes to get there by car, in part because it was during a peak traffic period and because we avoided the toll road as we don’t yet have the necessary card to use on the tollway. Interestingly, according to the GPS, it would only have saved us around 5 minutes travelling time, so not really worth the cost anyway.

Our appointment was at 10:00, and we arrived around 10 minutes early (as we have a wont to do 😊). We were given some forms to fill out (surprisingly – not) and then we had to give them all the paperwork we had prepared, along with the forms and a photo each. The first surprise was that, despite having to wait one month for our appointment, there was no-one there who could speak any English and the second surprise was that the residence certificate that we each had to get from the local ward office was ok for Craig but not for me because it did not have the official stamp on it. They told us that we would have to go to the nearest ward office to get a replacement one before I could have my application processed – this was despite the fact that I had shown them my residence card (which they took a copy of) that has all my details on it, including a photograph. Thank goodness we had the car because it only took us around 30 minutes to go and get the replacement certificate, otherwise either we would have had to walk or catch a taxi.

Having jumped through the first set of hoops we had to wait for a while (20 minutes?) after which we were called back to the counter and handed another form to complete. We duly filled out this form then had to go to a machine and create a PIN, then go to another counter to pay some money, then have an eye test, then go to another counter and pay some more money, then have a photo taken (even though we had brought our own – one of which was used to attach to the first form we completed) then wait…and wait. 1 hour and 40 minutes later we were called and handed our fully completed licences! We finally left Police HQ (where the licence centre is) at just before 2pm!!! Not surprisingly, I got a bit restive and so took some photos (only a few, we were in Police HQ after all), including a selfie, which is only the second time I can remember having done so. Anyway, we now have official Japanese driver’s licences and thankfully the only test we had to take was an eye test. Also, in total, we paid ¥4,300 each for two years (around $AUD45)!

 (yes, I tried to rush and failed)

On Thursday, we had a meeting with our future employee, Takako, to discuss her employment conditions and to get her to complete a personal details form. On the same day we went to get our licences, she attended the Food Hygiene Manager’s course and successfully completed the test. She was happy with our employment proposal and so she will be working for us in the near future.

On Friday, we had to go to Aeon Mall to get provisions for The Kids, after which we went up to see the latest at The House. The round trip was around 8km, so a good walk and it was a lovely day. At The House, we found a lot has happened, with the front verandah and ramp nearly finished, most of the wallpapering upstairs and down nearly finished, the back and side decks well underway and…our kitchen mostly completed!!!!!!

To Say we were thrilled, is somewhat of an understatement. It also made us wonder why we can’t move in sooner, given there really is not that much more now to do. The commercial kitchen still has to be done, along with the tatami flooring, the light fittings and a few built-ins but otherwise the inside is getting very close now. I know, I’m just very, very keen to move in. Later that day, we had an appointment to organise the insurance for The House, contents and cover for our guests.

On a final note, yesterday we received an unexpected delivery by courier. It was an envelope in which there was ¥10,000 in gift vouchers (just over $AUD100) from Toyota, as a contract completion gift. A very nice surprise 😊.

Cheers for now

PS – the second form we had to complete at the driver’s licence centre had a number of questions about your health, such as do you take medication, have you blacked out in the last two years, etc. My favourite question asked if you had had a period of at least three consecutive days in the last two years where you had alcohol in your system continuously, ie had you been on a bender for at least three days!!!

 bagels as handles…

…because you want to buy antique bread…