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…

Hello and Happy New Year! Welcome to the Year of the Dog. Apparently this year is expected to bring prosperity, particularly to those who, like the dog, are proactive, work hard and communicate well. As the dog is full of energy, 2018 is supposed to offer plentiful opportunities for business and being sociable. Chart readers have warned that with these opportunities comes the risk of time-related pressures, stress, exhaustion and other health problems. They have also warned that this is particularly so for those born in the Year of the Dog, which Craig is, so, while I am hoping that these predictions come to fruition, I am also aware that we must keep a check on ourselves to make sure we take some time for R&R.

The Chinese zodiac cycle is very big here, having been adopted very early in the history of Japan when they adopted many Chinese practices and beliefs – Confucianism being another. When Buddhism arrived in Japan in the mid-6th century CE, the Japanese eagerly imported both the Buddhist teachings and the Zodiac calendar. The Zodiac calendar was officially adopted in 604 CE. The lunar calendar, however, was abandoned in 1872 in favour of the solar (Gregorian) calendar. So, while the Chinese still celebrate the new year based on the lunar calendar, the Japanese celebrate new year on 1^st January. Despite this many temples and shrines continue to use the lunar calendar for other important festivals and events.

What did we do on new year’s eve??? We had a nice dinner and a reasonable Prosecco (it is very hard to find much here in the way of Prosecco). We had decided to visit our local shrine (Toyokuni jinja) and the associated Buddhist temple (Hoko ji) to see in the new year and watch the bell being rung, so went up there at about 11:30. We watched tv before going up there, and again this year there was a show with five men who had to try not to laugh, while many and various people, situations and things were put before them trying to make them laugh. If they did laugh, they were called out and were whacked across their derrieres with a foam truncheon by men dressed in camouflage gear…!!?? It was hilarious again, if somewhat inappropriate at times.

 From last year

At 11:20 we went up to the shrine/temple complex, fully rugged up and prepared for a cold night. Luckily it was a clear night, no wind, so while cold it was not wet or blisteringly cold. I had hoped this year we would be able to take a turn at ringing the bell. It is a very large bell and more often than not, groups of four ring it together. Having Craig here, I thought it would be nice to literally ring in the new year. I had assumed that if we were there half an hour beforehand there would be a queue, but that it wouldn’t be too long. Wrong. When we arrived there were literally hundreds already queued, so we gave up on that idea and just watched the events.

The shrine lit up & me

During the day and near midnight

At around 11:50 the head monk came out to perform a ritual in front of the bell and then ring it once, after which the masses could have their turn. There was a slight hitch with the first attempt by the monk to ring the bell, ie it didn’t work. It seems the tree trunk which is used to hit the bell, which hangs by large chains from the belfry (think Japanese belfry), hadn’t been fully released from the bindings which hold it so that no-one can just go and ring it any time. A somewhat embarrassed looking assist fixed this hurriedly and then bell ringing proceedings began.

The monk starts proceedings

At midnight, as with last year, someone called out and everyone applauded. The sound of the bell and this quiet applause really is very peaceful and is a nice way to begin a new year. We stayed a little longer watching the many having their turn – some trying their hardest to hit the bell out of the belfry (or so it seemed), most getting it just right and some struggling to hit it hard enough to be heard – then we went over and joined the queue to pay our respects to kami at the shrine. There was a small group of fairly ‘lively’ young men in the queue ahead of us, and I did wonder at them coming to the shrine  in their ‘lively’ state (beers in hand), but they were just a bit noisy and otherwise didn’t bother anyone.

On to The House (soon to be The Minshuku Residence), the builders had a week off this week so not overly much has advanced. I was asked this week about my statement that the upstairs rooms had been wallpapered, yet the walls looked very mono-colour in the photos. Well, yes, that is absolutely true, the wallpaper we selected is a standard style of wallpaper in Japan, which is not patterned in the way wallpapers are in Australia. Rather, they are textured, appearing somewhat like material on the walls. Variations  are around the colour (many creams and whites and some other colours) and the type of texture pattern.

Wall (L) & tokonoma (R)

This is very traditional and we chose wallpaper for the guest rooms as it is fairly standard for traditional style rooms. We did ask about painting the rooms in our area, but we were told that painting here is very expensive and they considered that wallpaper made the walls stronger. We noticed that they do not do the flushing of the plasterboards, so perhaps that’s part of what adds to the cost of painting. All of the walls in our flat (apart from the wet room, of course) are wallpapered.

During the week we went for a walk to get out of the flat for a while and stretch our legs. I thought it would be nice to go to Yasaka shrine to see what post new year activities were happening and walk through some of the lovely Gion streets. We went via the small back streets near Kiyomizudera, which are lined with old shops. It’s a lovely walk unless the crowds are at their peak. That day it was a bit crowded, but not too bad. Mostly it seemed it was Japanese people enjoying the new year’s holidays. When we got to Maruyama park there were many stalls set up near the entrance to Yasaka jinja, which continued into the shrine area itself. They were mainly selling food and omikuji – telling your fortune for the coming year. Many of the fortune telling paper strips are folded up inside small ceramic animals – mostly the zodiac animals. This year, of course, the majority are dogs.

My last year’s omikuji (I’m a boar/pig and Year of Rooster)

Yesterday was a big day for us, we went to pick up our new car! Our salesman was excited to see us and as always was the nicest car salesman I have ever encountered. We are particularly difficult for him, having limited Japanese but, as ever, he did his best to communicate with us. I have noticed an increasing trend, particularly in the younger people we have encountered, to use Google translate to assist in the process. Now, I have to say that while Google translate may be fairly accurate in some languages, it is not that good at translating Japanese to English (and vice versa). None-the-less, we can mostly work out what they are trying to say via this method.

With Masaki-san, he is keen to learn, so we did a further translation for him so he could learn some of the correct English terms related to cars. It took a while to go through everything, but he wanted to make sure we understood everything, despite the fact that, in terms of the car, we already knew most of the things inside the car, such as the lights and windscreen wipers. Importantly, he was very helpful in setting up the GPS and went through how the audio worked and the tv…we had to have the tv option so we would have a screen for the reversing cameras. He insisted he take photos for us, and also wanted some for his records too. Also, we again got gift items as we were leaving, this time many more. Once more they were very practical things, such as laundry detergents and ziplock bags. We also got an engimono – a lucky charm generally made of ceramic, this one in the shape of this year’s animal, ie dog.

Craig drove us back to The House, where we are parking it, with little incident, despite the somewhat notorious Japanese habits of speeding (speed is rarely policed here, so if it says 50km/h, you can expect you will be the slowest car on the road if you drive at 50) and running red lights (they seem to be treated as recommendations rather than absolutes – never start driving or walking as soon as the light goes green unless the road is clear), amongst other things. At The House we had a quick look, since it was their first day back at work, and found them installing the air-cons in the guest rooms. Our area had also had some further work done.

Our bedroom (top) & kitchen awaiting installation with in-floor storage now installed

Well, so that’s our start to this very big year for us, a lot is still ahead, particularly in the next two months, getting everything set in place. We are REALLY looking forward to moving onto our new home!!!

More to come…

Cheers

Me with friends…

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.

As I sit here, rubbing my hands together to warm them up so I can start typing, I am reflecting on what I have to cover in this post. We haven’t been doing overly much recently, in terms of touristy things, because it has been very cold and money is pretty tight at the moment. On that point, if anyone has some influence somewhere in relation to the exchange rate of the $AUD vs ¥JPY, then please activate it now!!!! We don’t have much to bring over but we need as much of it as possible…ok, I know, I know the likelihood of being able to change the minds of hardened gamblers is minimal!

It really has been very cold, so much so that there has been a lot of snow falling over the last week or so, and not just in Hokkaido. All along the coast of the Japan Sea there have been quite heavy falls and they even had some in Fukuoka!!! We have only had one fall of snow-rain, and it was more rain than snow. The TV stations have been talking about why it has been so cold so early in the season, too. Even with my gloves on outside, there have been a few days when my fingers were still cold while walking.

There were two queries following my last post which I thought I would talk about this time; what are crow-nets and do we celebrate xmas here? To the first query, you may or may not have seen my response, so I thought it might make it clearer if I added some photos. In terms of crow vital statistics, I found the following: Total length: 540-600mm Wing length: 316-400mm Tail length: 205-255mm. So, yes, they area big but, as I indicated in my reply to the query, they aren’t overly aggressive (luckily!). The first crow-net photo shows the rubbish outside our building, with net appropriately tucked in. The second shows what can happen if you don’t tuck the net under the rubbish properly. You can imagine what would happen without any net at all…

In terms of xmas, I should point out that I have never been an overly keen xmas celebrator – Craig and I don’t exchange gifts and we rarely have sent out cards, in the past. We have always made a point of catching up with family on, or around xmas day, and I do like tinsel, so I take the opportunity to decorate with lights and tinsel. We also have a black xmas tree, which is currently on it’s way to Japan (black looks good with purple, green and silver tinsel…). I’m not sure what we’ll do this year, we haven’t really made any specific plans, except to order a matcha cake which we will pick up on the 24^th. It looked really nice in the brochure, and I thought that a green cake seemed somehow suitable for xmas. I will, however, be celebrating Winter Solstice and New Year.

Last week we met up with Takako again, to help her complete the application form for her to attend the food sanitation course and we then took her to see The House. I thought it would be a good thing to show her how far along we are with preparations, so she would feel reassured that we are getting close to realisation of the minshuku. We also assumed she’d be interested to see where she would be working in the future. The staircase was fully completed, so we were able to take her upstairs to see all the rooms, which was nice.

  upstairs hallway

Other progress at The House includes the building of the front and side porches and the ramp to the front porch – not quite complete yet but it is now easier to get into the house, and our area is being lined. Out the back there was a bit of a drainage problem – we’re not sure if the water coming from the base of the stone wall is from a spring or a leak from somewhere – so they are putting a drain around the edge of the yard to re-route the water.

We also had a visit from the Toyota car salesman to get some more information from us and copies of some documents for an application to be submitted to the Kyoto Police to prove we have a carparking space for our car when we collect it. You are not allowed to buy a car in Japan unless you have a permanent parking space within 2kms of your residence. Luckily The House is 1.7kms from our flat, and the plans include a carport, so the salesman didn’t think we would have any problems. He had actually been to the site and taken some photos to attach to the application, along with a copy of the drawing of our house showing the carport which we gave him. Apparently the police will actually go to the site and check for themselves, anyway!!

We also tried to get our Japanese licences last week – I say tried, because we went all the way to the licence centre, which took around 1 ¼ hours by train and on foot, the latter being a ½ hour walk from the station. When we got there, we found out that we would have to ring to make an appointment, but you can only ring between 4 – 5pm. So, we had to turn around and retrace our steps back home.

It also turned out that no-one spoke English and the person on the phone wouldn’t just make an appointment for us, she insisted on going through the whole process and all the things we would have to bring with us. As you may be able to imagine this was a long call, with me trying to understand what she was saying and me trying to say we already had all the things prepared. In the end, she said we could have an appointment at 10am on 16 January!!! I have no idea why we have to wait so long, but it means that it is a good thing Craig got an international licence before he left Adelaide…

On a bright note, it was our wedding anniversary on the 15^th – 26 years since we exchanged vows and this year Craig was here with me, unlike last year on our 25^th anniversary. We are now very happy that in Australia, all people of legal age have finally been given the opportunity to do the same; the right to marry in Australia is no longer determined by sex or gender.

Hallelujah

Some very interesting gates we saw out walking

A tree with a long nose?

The colour lingers…

 “You know I’m gorgeous”

New year, new name!

Welcome to Year 2 – to open the minshuku and beyond…Ok, so that doesn’t work that well but it is a very new adventure for us, opening a business in which we have invested so much (and I don’t just mean money). We did have a small catering service business for a short while many years ago and I had a maths tutoring business for a few years while I was at uni. This, however, is on a very different scale. We have both been very service oriented all our working lives, so it was fairly natural for us to chose to have a business in the service industry. We also both love cooking for others and Kyoto – et voila!

 (Vegan Japanese curry with udon)

So, to The House. On our way up to see where things were up to, we were wondering how soon the scaffolding and curtain would be coming down, Craig even suggested we should contact our builder so we could be there for the unveiling (as it were). When we rounded the curve of our road, there it was, The House in all its unveiled glory!! While we had missed the moment, we were still very excited to see it fully for the first time. It really did reveal just how big it is, and even though it is still a worksite, we could start to get a real feel for how it will look when it is finished.

Inside the staircase was underway, which was also very exciting, especially as it will enable me to actually go upstairs (not upladder) to see how it looks without relying on photos that Craig has taken. Why haven’t I made the journey upladder more than once???? Two reasons; one is that the ladder was somewhat bouncy when climbing up that high, and secondly, I thought that two of us up there would be one too many in the way of the workers. They have been very accommodating of our visits but I felt that Craig could get the necessary photos and then we could get out of their hair.

Back to the staircase – it is being built out of beautiful timber and will definitely enhance the atrium area. Underneath we are going to have a small garden; there is a small window on the bottom righthand side of the frontage of the building to let in light for the garden. The other end of the atrium has the reception and office area, with its little pitched roof. Totemo kawaii (very cute)!

Craig tells me that the upstairs area is nearly completely lined, ceilings and walls. So the rooms are starting to look like, well, rooms. Knowing the colours and textures that are going to go in there, I am very excited to see them finished. I think they will look very simple and elegant. I hope the guests will think that too!!!!

In terms of gaining the requisite approvals and, in particular, the licence to be able to cook and serve meals to our guests, as you may recall we were having some issues around having to find someone to fill the Food Hygiene Sanitation Manager role – someone who is fluent in Japanese and can speak some English and who is happy to work part-time. Tough call, but we think we found just the right person!!! She is an outgoing Japanese woman who has lived in New Zealand in the past, and she has an interest in cooking, nutrition and tourism. The perfect fit. The relief is palpable…

The weather here remains very cold, with night time temperatures being in the mid to low single digit range, but still above zero – not for long. As I suspected, it appears that we may get some early snow, as early as next week. The forecast is for snow-rain (my name for it) next Tuesday. Going out in the cold, even in snow-rain, isn’t too bad as long as you are fully puffed up 😊 and as long as it isn’t windy. The wind can cut right through you…brrrrrrrr.

On the manshon front, this month we are the official crownet monitors, which involves us bringing in the net once the garbos have been and collected our rubbish. Not a very prestigious appointment but they obviously consider it a very important duty, so much so that a roster has been created – one month for each flat, on a rotating basis – and a special sign made which is now hanging on our front door so everyone knows who to blame if it is not done.

The kids are definitely enjoying the cooler weather, with the two boys playing chasey either with each other or with one of the small toys we have bought for them. Zowie has also discovered the magnets on the fridge, which provide a lot of amusement for him, sliding them around on the fridge. Serena, meanwhile, just looks on with disdain at all their antics.

The autumnal colour continues to hold, but not for much longer, and unfortunately I have been unwell for the last few days (yes, a second viral infection in quick succession – hopefully, this is it for the year…) and so haven’t been able to get out and find more places to photograph in their technicolour overlay. The first photo here is the hillside just behind where The House is. The last photo shows a view north up the Kamogawa to the hills, with the sun highlighting a beautifully coloured strip of the hills. The photo unfortunately doesn’t quite capture fully the splendour of the scene.

On a final note, in the theme of interesting facts about Japan and Kyoto, specifically, apparently there is a ‘cursing industry’ in Kyoto. It seems the people in Kyoto have always regarded unfortunate events like natural disasters or epidemics or defeat in political power games as something of a curse and hence the need for practitioners who are able to remove said curses, or place them elsewhere, as necessary.

I think I mentioned that the Kitano Tenmangu shrine was founded to assuage the curse of Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), the scholar-politician who fell out of favour with the emperor and died in exile. The nobles back then treasured yin-yang practitioners who used ‘jujutsu’, or the art of cursing, and obviously made use of their services.

There are many advertisements online here offering to put a curse on someone, including the Nippon Jujutsu (Japan Cursing Association), which has its headquarters in Kyoto. A local paper has written an article on the practice and noted that one of the practitioners of this organisation said that the nature of requested curses was changing. “Around 20 years ago, most of the requests came from women who wanted to get back at their husbands’ lovers. But now, they’re more and more becoming men who hate their boss.”!!!!! (Wouldn’t you want a curse on the recalcitrant husband???). Times change…

Well, that’s it for now.

Cheers

 (Ginko leaves line a path)

(xmas rabbits, squirrels and…ferrets …??)

Hi all and welcome to this special anniversary edition!!! Yes, as of yesterday, I have been here in Kyoto for one year. It’s funny that it feels perfectly natural being here, despite the weather being very different to what I’m used to and living day to day in a very small space. Not that our house in Adelaide was that big, but it was a lot bigger than this two bedroom flat where our bedroom doubles as our lounge area and the second bedroom as our official office! I am covering two weeks in this post, having got slightly behind due to certain circumstances (being a little unwell for a while and having some visitors stay with us)

I am definitely looking forward to having more space, even though most of our new home will be for the use of guests. Turning to The Very Nearly House – or as I am calling it now, The House. Yes, it has been upgraded because it now has a front door. The scaffolding is still up (or was a few days ago), but there is a door there, covered as it is for protection. The main focus of the work at the moment still seems to be ‘upladder’ and the outside, eg there are now dividers and a handrail on the balcony.

 (prep’d for shoji)  (covered door)

On Friday we had a meeting with our builder and architect, to make some final selections re colours and finishes. The architect brought with him a little model of our new abode, which was very cute and included the carport with a car in it! He took pleasure in showing the inside levels – the roof came off and the second floor lifted out. The roof even had the large pendant light fittings that are going to be in the atrium area attached to the underneath 😊.

While there, I mentioned that we had seen a light fitting we liked which we would love to have over the breakfast counter. They had planned two downlights there as it turned out, but I really don’t like downlights (the glare), so I was glad I mentioned it. It turned out our builder knew the manager (or owner?) of the shop we saw the light fitting in, so he called him and said we would be there the next day to buy it. He also said his friend would give us a discount and that he (the builder) would pick it up for us! (service never ends here). So yesterday we went to the shop and bought the light fitting – it was already on special when we went in and then he reduced the price even further. Lucky, really, as our budget is getting very tight at the moment.

(similar to this)

Moving backwards in time, two weeks ago we went to visit Arashiyama, where the bamboo grove is, to see how the autumn colour was going there (no, we’re not obsessed – well, maybe a little bit). It was a lovely sunny day, so the blue of the sky offset the oranges, reds and yellows beautifully. We did our best with photographs, along with the hundreds of others doing the same…

   (artist at work)

In the second week we went to a market outside Heian shrine, tasted a lot of nihonshu, then continued up to the Philosopher’s Path (feeling a little warmer inside!). More autumn colour, although this day was less sunny and very, very cold – the wind-chill made it feel even colder. There were even more people there that day and it was very hard trying to get your own shots while trying to avoid photobombing others. Still it was a very nice and very long walk (also very few toilets, with very many people queueing ☹).

Following this excursion, we had a friend of Craig’s and a friend of hers come to stay with us for a night. This took up some time, both in preparing for their stay, including rearranging our official office to make room for two beds, then taking them to a few places and clearing up after. It was very nice to have someone here again. When they arrived they indicated a few places they wanted to go, and we were able to work out two itineraries to encompass their wishes.

Two of the places they wanted to see were Fushimi-Inari and Kiyomizu-dera. So, we took them to Tofukuji which is on the way to Fushimi-Inari, to see the autumn colours, then Fushimi-Inari and after we went to Kiyomizu-dera then out to dinner. They had travelled from Tokyo to Kyoto on the shinkansen in the morning, so we didn’t have much time to do all of this! At Tofukuji, there were hundreds of people there taking in the colour spectacle, so it was hard moving around, let alone take photos. Interestingly, most of them were Japanese, not foreign tourists. On the other hand, Fushimi-Inari was much quieter than normal, so they were able to get some shots with no people in them!!!

We returned home for a brief pit-stop, then went up to Kiyomizu-dera. By this time it was fairly dark so the lights were on around the area, which made for a very ethereal experience. Of course, there were many people there but not as many as during the day, so it made it easier to get around. As we hadn’t been there at night before it was a new experience for us too. After that we had an enjoyable, warming Indian dinner. Yum.

So, my first year here ends with lots of colour and very cold weather, along with some good company. I managed to catch a cold during this period, which was the first time I have actually caught anything viral here. I wasn’t too bad, but it did stop me visiting The House this week. The most difficult thing here has been finding our way through the bureaucratic maze in a foreign language. It still amazes me that in such an advanced country, as Japan is, that so little is accessible on-line, eg there is no company register on-line. It really is a paper-based society still, along with the fact it is also very much a cash-based economy. Many places still do not accept payment by credit card and there is definitely no mention of paywave here. I find it absolutely incredible that you have to buy certificates of company registration every six months to provide proof of the status of the company for many transactions and, on top of that, to pay for the certificate you have to go to a separate part of the Legal Affairs office to first purchase some stamps, which you then have to take to the counter to collect your certificate, where you have to lick the stamps and apply them to another form for payment!!

Anyway, it has certainly been a learning experience, with each day a new adventure. The surroundings are beautiful, on the whole, and it is rare not to find yet another hidden secret or amazing place as you wander around here. We often take slightly different routes to places we know, choosing the small back streets because you never know what you will find next.

One other thing I forgot to mention – yesterday, on the day of my anniversary here, Hakuho won the last sumo basho of the year, a day early! A very nice way to celebrate my year here (apart from the 2004 Bottle of Rockford Basket Press…)

Cheers for now

  (another artist at work…) (???)