遊び Play!

さて、昨日働きたけれども今日休みだ。初めてカメラを遊べる！大町に歩いて往復が２時間ぐらい。もちろん、自然公園で散歩を楽しんだ。田舎ようだ。少し写真を撮った。でも、月曜日に動植物園が閉まったからちょっと失望した。もう一度行くつもり。さらに、もうすぐ花が出る。楽しみ！もっと写真が左リンクに。練習が必要と思う！


Well, I worked yesterday but today was a day off. For the first time I was able to play with my camera! I walked to Omachi, about a 2 hour round trip - of course I also enjoyed walking in the nature observation park there. It felt like the countryside in many parts, rather nice. I took a few pictures．But, because the small animal and botanical garden was closed on Mondays, I was a bit disappointed - I'll have to go again. I'm also looking forward to taking flower photos soon. Should be fun! More photos to the left link (More practice needed, I think!).

新単語 New words

昨日仕事後で、受付と居酒屋に行った。彼女たちは私に日本語を話させたからありがたく思う。大体友だちと英語を喋べるだから、その日本語の練習が良かった！すごく楽しかった！日本語をできるのにまだ口がきけない。流暢の練習をできる。

Yesterday after work, I went out to an izakaya with the receptionists I'm friends with from work. They made me speak Japanese, so I was very grateful! Usually when I'm with my friends we chat in English, so this Japanese practice was good! It was a really fun evening! Even though I can speak some Japanese, I still get very tongue-tied. I could work on fluency practice.

とにかく、この新単語を思い出したい。
以前　いぜん　useful for talking about things you used to do
以外　いがい except
意外　いがい unexpected
冗談　じょうだん joke
人格　じんかく personality
失業　しつぎょう unemployment
リストラする to lose your job

New camera 新しいカメラ

昨日、ビクカメラで新しいディジタルカメラを買った。写真の質が向上させると良い。うれしい！遊びに楽しみ！

I bought a new digital camera yesterday, so hopefully the quality of my pictures will improve. I'm very very pleased with it, and looking forward to playing!

Read more - aaaggghhhhh!

Aaggghhhh! It seems that under my current template, I can have two options:

- either the ability to link photo albums and have the annoying 'Read more' at the bottom of my posts, or
- no photo albums and no 'Read more' comment...

I will keep trying... In the meantime, please ignore the 'Read more' at the bottom of my posts. There's nothing more to read!

佐原 Sawara

今週松、佐原市に行った。すごく美しくておもしろいだったよ。佐原が江戸の町だ。１９９６に政府が保存命令をした。毎日江戸の店とレストランが開く。この町が大好き。今年の秋祭にぜひ見に行きたい！
もっと写真が左のリンク有る。

This weekend, I went to Sawara City in Chiba. It was fantastically beautiful and interesting. Sawara is an old Edo city, to my mind more beautiful than any of the old parts of Kyoto or Kawagoe. It had a really nice feel to the place. The town of Sawara first developed in the 13th century, and through the centuries prospered more and more. In the 17th century, work finished on changing the flow of the Tone River, allowing rapid transportation to Tokyo of products such as rice, soy sauce, vegetables and arts and crafts.

The historic district has so many Edo town houses that are more than a century old and, with the help of the government, are kept in a good state of repair. After the Meiji Restoration, some Western style architecture was also introduced.

I love cities with water, and there are so many small rivers throughout Sawara. This really adds to the peaceful and relaxed feel of Sawara.

Sawara is famous for its Summer Gion and Autumn festivals, with absolutely huge 'dashi' floats (10 in summer and 14 in autumn). I really want to go back in Autumn, or even just when it gets warmer!

I stayed in a cheap but clean hotel (Hotel Hokei - OK?!), bit cold, but I would stay there again. Again I was pleased though that my Japanese has come on a bit, because when I got there I needed to call the owner to check-in because there was nobody around even after I'd waited for about 10 minutes. He and his wife (who I met in the morning) were friendly enough, although I got the impression they didn't get too many Western foreigners there, by the ultra-ultra-politeness! No English spoken.

More photos at the link to the left.

Read more...

Hooray! I've managed to get rid of the annoying 'Read more...' link at the bottom of every post, when there was nothing extra to read!

初夢 Hatsuyume - First dream

Hatsuyume means the first dream in the New Year, had on the night of January 1st. The old belief is well-known. It was believed that the first dream of the New Year would foretell your luck for the coming year.

Especially good luck is to dream of Mount Fuji, a hawk, or an aubergine... An aubergine?! The superstition is memorised in the words 'Ichi-Fuji, Ni-Taka, San-Nasubi' (一富士二鷹三茄子) One - Fuji, Two - Hawk, Three - aubergine.

One theory for this being lucky is because Mount Fuji is the highest and most revered mountain in Japan, a hawk is a clever and strong bird, and the word for aubergine 'nasu' with a different kanji 成す also suggests achieving something great.

Ahem. My hatsuyume? I dreamt that I got some rice stuck behind my back teeth... Now what do you read into that for my coming luck this year?!

People's Visit to the Palace for the New Year Greeting

An early start this morning to get to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to wave to the Emperor and his family!

I knew it was going to be busy, and that theoretically to be close to the front, I would have to get there at least an hour before the gates opened at 9:30am. Got there at 9am instead because that still meant getting up at the crack of dawn.

Again the queues were amazing. The atmosphere was great, they gave out Japanese flags to everyone, and I felt quite patriotic! People didn't mind queueing, because it was a nice opportunity to see the Emperor (behind bullet-proof glass). The Inner Garden of the Imperial Palace is only open twice a year to wave to the Emperor - once on his birthday (23rd December) and then again on 2nd January. It was very efficiently organised, routes were clearly laid out, they did bag security and body pat-downs before you went in, and then you joined the latest queue.

There were probably more older Japanese people there than younger people, quite a few families, and quite a few right-wing nationalist groups too. But the atmosphere was friendly and it was definitely worth getting up early for!

The Emperor and Empress appeared at 10:10am (the first appearance of 5 that day), along with the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, and other members of the Imperial Family. They waved to the crowd who all waved, waved their flags and cheered. Then the Emperor gace his New's Greeting, and then lots more waving and cheering! More pictures to the left.

御神籤 Good Year's Fortune (Literally, God Lottery)

At the beginning of the New Year, I bought a traditional omikuji (literally means God Lottery).

Mine was 'Best Fortune', or should that just be best of luck?

Click the picture to read the English - I liked 'The person you are are waiting will come but late'?!!!

浅草の大晦日２００８ New Year's Eve in Asakusa 2008

面白い。。。　日本の大晦日がイギリスの大晦日にすごく違う！気持ちが静かで安全だ。良いよ！
昨晩友だちと（ヨシコ）浅草の浅草寺に行った。楽しかった！浅草に１６時着いて晩御飯を食べた。１９時３０分だ。どうしよう？０時浅草寺を計画した。まず、明治神宮に行った。開けましておめでとうございます！！！

Very interesting! New Year's Eve in Japan is totally different to New Year's Eve in Britain! The feeling is quieter and safer, that's good!

New Year's Eve is traditionally spent with family - probably about 1% of the population go out. Of course, it probably depends on where you go for New Year - from what I understand near Tokyo Tower or Shibuya Crossing is much more similar to a Western New Year, but I got to celebrate a more traditional Japanese New Year which was great! We got to Asakusa at about 4pm - after eating, we thought what to do? We (my friend Yoshiko and I) had planned to celebrate New Year at Sensouji (Sensoji Temple). More pictures at the side (coming).

First, we went to Meiji Jingu Shrine/Park. It was very busy, and had a nice atmosphere. Some people were buying good luck charms for things that they thought important eg health, safe driving, wealth, lucky in love etc... I wanted to know if these charms had an expiry date on them - did they run out at the end of the year? I don' t think Yoshiko knew, but I don't think she was willing to risk it either - better to buy these things at the start of a new year...

Later we ate soba, a traditional meal on New Year's Eve. Soba noodles are made of buckwheat, and dipped in a soy flavoured sauce. Delicious! It being New Year's Eve however, it was very crowded, and we were seated next to an elderly couple who were completely trashed, and insisted on giving Yoshiko instructions on how to convey Japanese culture to a foreigner who couldn't possibly understand... I've never seen anyone put away noodles so fast so that we could leave! Unfortunately, because by this stage they were so slurred, I couldn't catch what they were saying very well, it was difficult to help...! Very funny actually!

Many coffee shops closed early, but we found somewhere to have a hot drink and relax until 11 when we went to Sensouji. Already the queues were huge, and the police were closing off roads. We ended up queuing just inside Kaminarimon ( Thunder Gate) at 11pm. Amazing the queue had started so early. Again I was struck by the fact that there seem to be two national hobbies in Japan - shopping and queueing...)

For the first 20minutes we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would probably celebrate New Year in a queue just outside Kaminarimon. Then the queue moved a bit. By the time it reached midnight, we were actually probably only about 100m from the temple itself. It was difficult to tell when it was actually New Year, because apart from a guy next to us counting down (was his watch accurate?!) and it got a bit noisier, very little happened... Whilst I always found it rather strange in Britain to wish a complete stranger a Happy New Year, it had become normal! But then we quickly moved towards the temple to make New Year prayers.

The police were preventing people from moving too quickly, the placards all say 'Slowly Please' amongst other things, and the loud speakers were giving all sorts of cautionary advice including to be careful when praying... It is traditional to toss some money into the large offertory box, but because it's crowded at New Year, they were warning that people might toss the money from a long way... Beware of low-flying coins was the message...

After tossing our offertory money and making our wish/praying we went to buy an 'Omikuji", a fortune ticket. Of course, had I got a bad luck fortune I would have been very British and said that it was all superstition... However, I was lucky and got a 'Best Fortune' slip, which of course spills over to all my family and friends, so I'm quite ready to want to believe it!!! Yoshiko got a good fortune slip. At this time again you queue for ages, actually not so bad by this time. It was absolutely freezing at this time of night, and for the last half hour I had been shivering violently from the cold with my teeth chattering! I was prepared and wearing about four layers, but even so...! When you get to the front you put your money in the slot, pick up the tin can of sticks and shake it to get your fortune ticket. As I say, mine was Best Fortune!!! Read the number (in kanji), open the drawer with that number, and take your fortune. (If you get a bad fortune, you tie it on a tree anyway, which is supposed to expel the bad feeling from your life... And then you buy a new one?!) Anyway, I got mine first time around and it reflects on all my family and friends which has got to be good!

Happy New Year Everyone!

類似のリス Squirrel tendencies

二日間冷凍者の料理を作っていった。健康な食べること！

For two days, I have been cooking for the freezer. It's now packed with ready to defrost food for lunch! Healthy eating!

Tracking Santa on Google Earth

Happy Christmas Eve!

Some of my Christmas decorations in my room!

Track Santa

Happy Christmas Eve!

Go to this website on Christmas Eve your time and you can follow Father Christmas' route as he delivers presents to children all over the world:

http://www.noradsanta.org/

As I write this post, he is currently in Anadyr, Russia.

By magically slowing down time, he is able to deliver presents all over the world :)

Now he is in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskry, Russia.

秋の横町 Autumnal Lane

This lane is near my house, so I see it every day. I love the tree at the end - it looks more spectacular in real life! The colours in the photo are a bit dulled compared to what it really looked like yesterday. The orange fruit on the persimmon tree in the foreground looked really bright.

クリスマスツリーのイルミネーション Christmas Tree illuminations

昨日百円の品でこのクリスマススリーを作った！

I made this Christmas tree yesterday out of 100 yen stuff!

ダイソーギガ船橋 Daiso Giga Funabashi

大体百円店が１階だけだ。この店は７階がある！床面積をことごとくダイソーだ。新宿のトキュハンヅのようだが全部が安い！

Usually 100 yen shops (50p shops) are only one floor. This shop is 7 floors! All of the floor space is used by Daiso. It's like Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku, but everything is cheap!

Matsuyabashi Shopping Street

Yesterday, I went to Matsuyabashi shopping street in Osaka. It's a very old shopping street that sells wholesale, but also opens its shops to the public. It seemed to be predominantly Christmas shops, doll shops and toy shops. As the shops sell to other shops and restaurants, the Christmas shops were sadly rather tacky...! It was a very interesting street though.

Random bits and bobs

Well, I'm about at the end of my time here, and so this post is a mixture of things that I noticed and didn't write down... I've added lots more photos to the link at the left too.

• People stand on the right side of the escalator in Osaka and the left in the rest of Japan. Apparently it's because of the Expo in 1970 when Osaka was trying to become more international...
• As I've often raved, throughout Japan trains and buses are incredibly punctual. My journey to the school north of Kobe takes just under 2 hours door to door, including waiting time. However the waiting time is at the start of the journey, never between the train and the bus. There was a 6 minute connection time between the train and the bus, and a 3-4 minute walk. I don't believe there is another country in the world (and certainly not Britain!) where you would be happy that you would make that connection!
• I always felt safe where I was living, but the area by the station wasn't the most salubrious! Lots of dodgy bars and clubs! For example, next to the 24 hour supermarket there was a sign depicting a smiley nurse with not a lot on for an establishment on the 7th floor of the next building. I don't think it was a hospital...
• Food is good and cheap in Osaka as per its reputation. Not necessarily better than anywhere else in the country, but the combination of price, quality and variety is good.
• I often saw groups of old people sitting outside their houses in the late afternoon, so that they could watch the world go by.
• There was a stretch of main road near my flat, where the old people gathered, that had been planted with beautiful smelling roses and night jasmine. It was lovely coming past there.
• Along the same stretch of road, there was a dear dog that I used to talk to and ruffle up. He was obviously well-loved, but needed a good groom.
• My local supermarket here sold delicious brown rice bread. However, take care... Brown rice bread catches fire very easily... I took my eye off it for a second the other afternoon and flames were coming out my cooker. Don't panic, don't panic! Luckily, I sorted it out before the smoke alarm had a chance to kick in. I really didn't want to be that foreigner who burnt the toast...
• Osaka has some really interesting areas, and is very well-placed for visiting the rest of Kansai. It also has a big airport close by which means that it's easy to get to the rest of Japan. Who knows, maybe I'll move to Osaka sometime?!
• Why don't any of the subway lines start at number 1? Did they start numbering later in the sequence in case they extend the line?
  

Probably more things that I've forgotten...

Organic Building, Shinsaibashi

A rather interesting office building... Plant pots are built into the surface wall.

Weihnachtsmarkt at Umeda Wondersquare

Today was the opening day of the German Christmas Market in Umeda, Osaka. The German Consulate are hosting it. It was a lovely atmosphere, and I'm sure I'll go back!

It was funny to listen to the opening speeches in Japanese and German. Some of the stalls were being run by Germans. With some of the Japanese owners even, I wasn't sure if they weren't in fact Japanese-German.

More photos at the left link.

CosmoTower, Osaka Bay WTCコズモタワー、大阪

It was a beautiful clear evening, with a full moon, so I decided to have a wander around the Osaka Bay area. I went up to the 55th floor of the Osaka World Trade Centre CosmoTower, and took this picture. And then I went down to the 51st floor which I had all to myself and phoned Mum and Dad. Phone call with a view!

On the way down from the 55th floor, the elevator was glass - strange feeling!

嵐山と嵯峨野 Arashiyama and Sagano

今日嵐山に行った。紅葉がすごく美しい。もっと写真が左リンクにある。

Today I went to Arashiyama. The autumn colours were absolutely beautiful. More photos at the left link.

Many of the pictures are of the landscape garden at Tenryuju Temple. The garden is known as the Sougenchi Garden, and is one of the oldest in Japan, retaining the same form as when it was designed by Musou Soseki in the 14th century. It was the first Special Historical Scenic Area named by the Japanese government, and was designated by the UN as a World Cultural Heritage site in 1994.

Sanda Shopping Mall

Just trying to show that this mall is in the middle of nowhere, but it doesn't give an indication of size, because there is not only a big 4 storey shopping mall, but also an outlet mall behind...

Not such a smart dog...

Really, it doesn't sound like such a smart dog if it meows...

早起き Getting up early

ああ、早起きがたいへんだよ！土日が早初めと長道程、だからちょっと疲れた！でも、三田の道程がとても美しい。仕事に行くがお休みのようだ！毎日山に葉がますます美しいなっている。

Oh, I'm telling you, it's tough getting up early! It's an early start and a long journey on Saturdays and Sundays, so I'm getting somewhat tired! But the trip to Sanda is absolutely beautiful, I might be going to work but it feels like a holiday! Every day, the autumn colours are becoming more and more beautiful in the mountains.

神戸 Kobe

今朝、神戸に行って、餃子レストランに定食をたべた。もっと写真が左リンクに有る。

This morning I went to Kobe and had a set lunch at a gyoza restaurant. More photos at the left link.

淀川 Yodo River

町に歩いて、日本語の試験本を買った。これは淀川。

I walked into town and bought a Japanese test book. This is Yodo River.

京都 Kyoto

今日、京都に行って錦市場と銀閣寺を見て哲学の道を歩いた。美しかった！
写真が左リンクに有る。

I went to Kyoto today, and looked round the food market at Nishiki, went to the Silver Pavilion, and walked along the Philosopher's Path. It was beautiful! More photos at the left link.

大日学校

This is the shopping mall that houses the Osaka Dainichi school. As you can see, the mall goes off the edge of the photo on both sides. It was very big, but actually smaller than the mall in Kobe Kita.

Wow!

Gosh, I'm working in a HUGE shopping centre!

First journey to Sanda

Today is my first day at work here. Sanda is the school north of Kobe, and a bit of a trek. Much of the journey was through whacking great tunnels - the Japanese attitude to building train lines is that if there's a mountain in the way, it's best to bore a hole through it...

In the respite between tunnels, the trees on the mountainside were starting to change colour, should be beautiful soon. At the foot of the mountains were rice fields. And of course, although the countryside, lots of houses still!

This being my first day at a far school, I left plenty of time. Good job as I just missed the half-hourly bus. Bit of a difference from Tokyo! Sanda seems to be a decent-sized town with a department store. I'm working at a school in an out-of-town shopping centre.

Now on the bus...

道頓堀 Doutombori

道頓堀が大阪の有名なレストラン通り。お昼においしお好み焼きを食べた！

Doutombori is Osaka's famous restaurant street. I had delicious okonomiyaki for lunch!

大阪のアパート Osaka flat

これは大阪アパートだ！私のアパートが４階に有る。ドアから梅田スカイビルを見れる。

This is my flat in Osaka! I'm on the 4th floor. I can see the Umeda Sky Building (two towers with a hole in the middle) from my door.

大阪の旅 Osaka trip

さて、今日新幹線で大阪に行っている。晴れから、ちょうどに富士山を見た！

Well now, today I'm on my way to Osaka by shinkansen. Because it's fine, I just saw Mount Fuji!

吉報 Good news!

先週にわかに、一月間大阪に働く機会があった。すごいね！もちろん、この機会をとらえた！だから、来月に、大阪に働く。週4日間制で働いて、3日間の休暇をとる。楽しみ！！！

Last week, completely out of the blue, an opportunity came up to work in Osaka for a month. How fantastically lucky is that?! Naturally I jumped at the chance, so in November I'll be working in Osaka! I'll work a four day week, with 3 days off. I'm really looking forward to this!!!

及ばずながら頑張ります！ I'll do my best!

この間勉強から忙しいだ。だから、ブログに書けない。成功を確信している時、また始める。でも、今試験前に余りの一か月半が有る。今、全部がまだ難しいから、練習の試験に及第点だけ取れる。

I'm really busy at the moment with study, so I can't write the blog. When I feel confident of passing, I'll start again. But now I only have 1.5 months left until the exam and, because everything is still difficult, at the moment I can only just reach the passmark...

子供の新聞 Newspaper for children

さいきん、友だちが子供の新聞をくれた。意味は振り仮名がある。そうかと言って新聞を読みなのにJLPT3が成功してない。でも、子供の新聞やマンガや勉強を読んで楽しい。 これまでは一週で新聞の扉しか読まない！

Recently, a friend gave me a children's newspaper. This means that it is written in kanji with the furigana (Japanese reading) alongside. That said, even though I'm doing lots of reading, it won't help me pass the JLPT3. But it's enjoyable!　So far, I'm only reading the front page each week!

エッシャーの展示、佐倉市 Escher Exhibition, Sakura

日曜日に佐倉の美術館に行きエッシャーの展示に見た。楽しかった。

Went to Sakura to see an Escher exhibition - very enjoyable!

新H&M New H&M store

ああ、ヤッダア！今日新銀座H&M店を見たかったけどすごく長列があった。じゃあ、祝日だよ！

Youch, no chance! I wanted to look at the new H&M shop in Ginza, but there was a VERY long queue. Well, I suppose it is a public holiday, of course!

御宿、月の砂漠 Onjuku, Desert of the Moon

(The camel statues are Onjuku's symbol. They were built in 1969 to commemorate a children's song composed in 1923. They are called 'Desert of the Moon' 月の砂漠

In 1609, a ship en-route from Mexico to the Philippines got shipwrecked and the crew was rescued by the village. This led to Onjuku now being twinned with Acapulco.)










今日早起きだって御宿に行った。

御宿に0830着いてビーチに歩いた。電車で二時半間くらいだった。早くて疲れたけど気持ちがよかった！仕事がない、うれしい！

でも、御宿がまあまあと思った。。。千葉県の海岸は銚子のほうがいいと思う。あちらにきれいで荒海がある。
されでも、御宿でサーファーとか波を見れたからリラックスさせられた。

I got up early today and went to Onjuku. I got there at 0830 and walked to the beach. It took about 2 and a half hours by train including changes. Although it was early, it was a nice feeling to be up and out. No work today, it's good!

However, I did feel that Onjuku wasn't anything special... Within Chiba, I think Choushi is better - more wild and beautiful. Still, watching the surfers and the waves made me feel relaxed...

東京の丸の内の牛 A few cows from the Cow Parade, Marunouchi, Tokyo

Just a few cows from the Cow Parade that's in the Marunouchi area of Tokyo this week (see link to the side). 左リンクを見て下さい。

おはよ！ 'Morning!

さて、約束したから今日日記に書く。今日が休みだ、確か少し勉強をするつもりだ。
今週が会合で満ちて。明日は社長が学科を観察する、そして木金曜日で朝会合がある、めんどくさい！

Well, I did say that I would write more in the blog! Today I have a day off so I'm going to do a bit of study. This week is full of meetings - tomorrow I have a lesson observation and then Thursday and Friday a couple of morning meetings, which is going to be a bit tiring...

Update 最新

Right... It's been way way too long since I posted on this blog properly, so just to let you know that I'm going to start again! これから日本語の勉強新たに始める！ほんとに！(このポストは日本語が終わった、ごめんね！　Apologies, that's it for the Japanese in this post, I have too much to write!)

I had a fantastic time in England with my family in August. It was very relaxing, but as usual, because it was so nice to see everyone, the time went by much too quickly. I also spent a couple of days in London so managed to see a few friends who live in or near London.

To my shame though, I've been far too lax with the blog, and yes, also with the study... It was a mixture of getting side-tracked with the holiday, bogged down with work when I got back, a little run-down, and discovering I could watch Australian soap operas on mobile youtube (should I really admit to that one...!) I've signed up to do the level 3 exam in December, but really am not very confident that I'll pass. I really need to knuckle down to studying again!

I'm now planning a new trip - I want to go back to Okinawa again for some sun and cycling, so probably planning to go there in December again. Probably the Yaeyama Islands again just because they're easiest to get to by plane and ferry and Ishigaki is cheap to stay on as a base. I have a real draw towards Okinawa, even more than the initial draw towards Japan. I think it's because it's so laid-back and unspoilt in many of the places that I've been. It's just a pity that it's too hot most of the year to live there! Planning a trip like this though makes me aware of how much my Japanese has improved over the last few years - still not that good, but it does at least enable me to Google for events, places, restaurants, hotels etc in Japanese - thereby actually getting useful results. But boy, can it mean sometimes that internet browsing takes a lot of time!

When I think about it, I do a lot of internet shopping (including booking hotels) these days in Japanese. When I get to the stage of not having more than a little smug grin at things actually arriving, I will know that my Japanese really has come on!

Talking of lengthy internet browsing in Japanese... I remember my last trip to Okinawa... My hairdresser lived in Naha for a couple of years and had a restaurant recommendation, I know... talking to my hairdresser... Actually, he is the first hairdresser to get me over my fear of hairdressers - I no longer feel that I'm sitting in an electric chair! Anyway, he recommended a restaurant on the outskirts of Naha City, it sounded really nice as it had a garden and the dishes sounded really nice too. But of course, he only knew the name of the restaurant, and it's impossible to search for a restaurant in Japan in English. Moreover, not only are there are many kanji for the same pronunciation, Okinawan Japanese has different pronunciation, so it took some considerable time to find the address of this restaurant on the internet. But, of course, once done, my phone's GPS could take over so that the friend that I went with and I could easily track it down...

Next time I go back to Naha City itself I want to go to this tree house restaurant in Naha that I found whilst 'stumbling'...
http://damncoolpics.blogspot.com/2008/05/tree-house-restaurant.html
In fact there are so many places I want to try or go back to...!

My study of Japanese Doraemon-style is coming on a treat - it's the one thing that I didn't give up over the holiday - but I am very aware that kiddy comic book Japanese somehow just isn't polite enough... I've also been watching Japanese films - not sure how much it really helps my Japanese, but I do get really into them and at least get the gist and feel as if I've understood it by the end...

Next time, more Japanese... ... ...

東京のさる Wild Tokyo monkey

http://www.japantoday.com/mobile/view/wild-monkey-leads-tokyo-police-on-city-chase