Holiday in Nikko 日光の休み

Yesterday, I got back from Nikko after a very enjoyable 3 day break. The countryside around Nikko is so beautiful, and there's lots of wildlife too, I saw many birds and butterflies, snakes, squirrels and monkeys. I'm looking forward to my next trip there!

The first day I spent looking around the temple area of Nikko, and had a delicious yuba (tofu skin) and soba (buckwheat noodle) soup lunch. The 2nd day I spent walking in the countryside, had a few short conversations with Japanese walkers, and one couple very kindly gave me some grilled chicken to have with my lunch! Although the temperature reached 32-33C that day, it didn't feel too bad in the shade of the forests. And I bought a bottle of frozen green tea from the convenience store which lasted cold all day in my shoulder coolbag, as well as keeping my salad and rice ball chilled!

Photos and commentary in English are in the two links to the right (Nikko and Tobu World Square).

昨日日光から帰った、3日間の楽しかった休みです。日光の自然がすごく美しい。次の泊まりを楽しみしている。写真と注釈が右のリンクに有る。日光と東武ワールドスクウェアの写真がある。

Wander around Nippori 日暮里の散歩

Went for a long-intended bit of a wander around Nippori today. It's a nice old area of Tokyo with lots of old houses and temples, along with a Swiss chalet serving lunchtime sandwiches... Which is where I took the picture of the butterfly! More photos to the right link.

今日、日暮里に散歩に行った。この町は古い東京です。沢山の古い家とお寺が有って、スイスシャレーまでもがある。。。スイスシャレーにサンドを買える。その場所喋喋の写真を撮った。もう少し写真が右のリンクにある。

A couple of musings

Firstly, after my long mountain walk yesterday, and hundreds and hundreds of steps, I can no longer walk without pain! Particularly going down stairs. And I won't be sleeping in my loft tonight, it was hard enough getting down the ladder this morning, and I've seized up even more now!

Then, just now I went to the supermarket to get a few things. It's been a pretty good day today weather-wise, but when I left the supermarket the heavens had already opened. Well, it is the rainy season, after all! And, given I didn't have far to go, it was actually rather a nice reminder that I live in a sub-tropical country! And speaking of the rain, I was reminded of something that I noticed when first coming here on holiday... People cycle with umbrellas here - not something I've seen anywhere else. One of my students asked me the other week what British cyclists did when it rained, if we didn't carry umbrellas... We just get wet of course!

Ikea Meatballs

After visiting Koishikawa Korakuen, I went to Ikea for delicious meatballs for lunch. As you can see they are exactly the same as Ikea meatballs everywhere. But I bet you don't get ice cold green tea to drink with yours in England!

I also bought these poppy giant wall stickers for my flat, which I'm rather pleased with...

Koishikawa Korakuen 小石川後楽園

Today I went to Koishikawa Korakuen, which is a garden near Iidabashi in Tokyo. Beautiful! More photos to the link at the right.

鋸山 Nokogiri Mountain

Well, a long time ago when I first started this blog and went to Ushiku Daibutsu, I cam across Mountaincat's post on Nokogiryama. Ever since then, I've been meaning to go to Nokogiri, and finally did so today!

Wanted to get there before the coachloads, so got up at 5am and got a train around 5:45 which, after a few changes, got me to Hamakanaya Station just before 8:30. The ropeway is just a 10 minute walk away from the station.

It was well worth the early start, and despite the rainy season having started here last week, the weather luckily stayed dry! Even though it felt very early, I really appreciated the beuatiful scenery as I got about 1 hour or so from Nokogiri. I saw ducks paddling in the corner of a rice field, and even two llamas in a field surprisingly!

The tourist leaflet that I got says that the great Buddha statue was well known all over Japan. It does say 'was well known'... Certainly very few people I've spoken knew about it before the documentary on NHK the other week... It was a really beautiful area, and very green, really nice!

More photos to the right link.

ILOHAS twistable pet bottle

Coca Cola has recently launched a new brand of water ILOHAS in a lightweight PET bottle. The idea is that once you've finished drinking the bottle can be twisted into a much much smaller size (about 40% less than other PET bottles apparently). This makes it more environmentally friendly - see short video clip:



However, there's a problem... I used to buy my water bottles and then refill and reuse them a few times. These lightweight bottles can't really be refilled, because they squash too easily. Until the novelty wears off, these are so much fun to twist that I'm going to get through way more than an extra 40%...!

Tokyo Metro etiquette posters

The range so far of etiquette posters on Tokyo Metro... Click on each poster to see a close-up.

Packed like sardines 鮨詰め

昨日新単語を習った。英語で「The train was packed like a tin of sardines」と言う。日本語で「電車は鮨詰めだった」と言う。

I learnt a new word yesterday 鮨詰め (すしづめ）。 It's what people say in Japanese to describe people packed like sardines! It means that people are packed together like the rice grains in sushi!

Junk mail

毎日ジャンクメールが来る。問題ない。。。マンションの下にジャンクメールの箱が有る。さらに時々良いジャンクメールが来る。例えば時々ティシューとかバスソルトが来る。いいですね！

Every day people get junk mail in Japan. Still, no problem - my apartment block has a junk mail box underneath the mailboxes. And sometimes I get good junk mail. For example sometimes I get packets of tissues or bath salts. Nice, eh?!

Free iPhones for Students

A university in Tokyo is giving out iPhones...

http://www.japantoday.com/mobile/view/tokyo-university-gives-away-iphones-to-nab-truants-via-gps

水街道の坂野家とバラ庭 Sakanoke and Rose Garden, Mizukaidou, Ibaraki

Yesterday I went to a beautiful old house (Sakanoke) and rose garden with a student and her family. The house was getting on to be 300 years old. Unlike many old houses, I understand it hasn't had to be rebuilt due to earthquake or fire. It was absolutely stunning inside, I didn't manage to take any photos I was pleased with but am intending to go back there sometime in the next few weeks if I get the chance.

http://www.city.joso.lg.jp/modules/section066/content/index.php?id=23

A few doors down was an absolutely huge private rose garden, with wonderful borrowed scenery of incredible mirrored rice fields as far as the eye could see. The garden itself was made up of smaller gardens and winding natural paths. It was a really enjoyable afternoon!

http://home2.netpalace.jp/RoseGardenSakano/profile/profile.cgi

More photos to the left link.

日本のマスクのメーカーは生産を増える Japanese mask makers boost production

今回、記事は日本のマスクメーカー付いてです。文法をチェックした後で改訂する。

This time, the article is about Japanese mask manufacturers. I'll update it when I've had the grammar checked...

Japanese mask makers are increasing production to respond to the growing demand caused by the swine flu outbreak.

Nisshinbo Holdings will quadruple its output of masks. The company reports a surge in orders from government offices and firms since the weekend.

Unicharm is also increasing production. On Tuesday alone, the company received as many orders as it does during an entire week in winter.

Unicharm's output usually drops by over 80 percent at this time of year after the cold and hay fever seasons end. But the firm now intends to raise production to nearly 100 percent of capacity.

From NHK World English 29 April 2009.


豚インフルエンザの勃発ために増えれた要求が有る。だから日本のマスクメーカーが生産を増える。

ニッシンボホルディングズはマスクの算出の4倍を増えよう。その会社は週末以来政治の会社とほかの会社から注文の当然増大を報告した。

ユーニチャルムも生産を増えれている。火曜日一日だけ会社は注文量が冬の一周間分と同じくらいだった。

大体、風邪と花粉症のシーズンの終わりの後でユーニチャルムの算出は80パーセント以上を下げする。しかし、その会社は生産がほとんど100パーセントに増えるつもり。

もう一度最後の記事を書いた

I've written the last news article again.

東京の中央に有った19世紀のオフィスビルは元の図と材料で再建された。再生された建物は博物館として使用される。

三菱地所が所有する建物は月曜日にメディアに開かれた。

三菱一号館ビルまたはナンバーワンビルは1894年にとしての丸ノ内の商業地域の最初のオフィス空間として完成された。

英国の建築家のコンダー、ジョザイアさんが元の煉瓦の建物をデザインした。その建物は三階と地下が有った。1968年に取り壊された。

建物の再建は約230万個の煉瓦を使ってで約2年間かかった。外側は元の建物の青写真と写真に忠実に修復された。

新しい場所は三菱一号館博物館と呼ばれ場所三階建てで約20部屋が有る。そこで美術品、主に19世紀の西洋のスタイルの絵が展示をされる。

一階にカフェもある。

来年の4月に建物が公開される。

やった！

珍しいね

An extraordinary bus stop, eh?!

19th century office building in Tokyo rebuilt

I was studying this afternoon, and had a go at translating this news article from NHK (published on 27 April) about a reconstruction of the first office building in the Marunouchi business district of Tokyo. As I can no longer get it on the internet, I've copied out the English text... I'm sure the grammar in Japanese version is very dodgy...!

Here is the museum website with a picture http://mimt.jp/english.html Mitsubishi Estate is the largest real estate company in Japan, and would appear to own much of Tokyo and a fair bit of the rest of Japan too, as well as having fully bought out Rockefeller Group in New York in 1989.

In fact, as people who live in Tokyo will know, the whole are is being rebuilt/restored. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080522f3.html

ここに博物館のサイトと絵です。http://mimt.jp/japanese.html

A nineteenth century office building in central Tokyo has been reconstructed using portions of the original plans and materials. The reborn structure will function as a museum.

The building, owned by Mitsubishi Estate, was opened to the media on Monday.

The Mitsubishi Ichigokan, or Number One, building was completed in 1894 as the first office space in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo.

British architect Josaih Conder designed the original brick structure with 3 floors and a basement. It was demolished in 1968.

It took about 2 years to reconstruct the building using about 2.3 million bricks. The exterior was faithfully reconstructed based on blueprints and photographs of the original structure.

The new space, to be called the Mitcubishi Ichigokan Museum, has about 20 rooms spread over 3 floors where art works - mainly 19th-century Western paintings - are due to be displayed.

There will also be a cafe on the first floor.

The building is to open to the public in April of next year.

東京に19世紀のオフィスビルが再建された

東京の中央に19世紀のオフィスビルは最初の図と材料で再建されたことがある。再生の建物は博物館として作用する。

建物は所有の三菱私有月曜日にメディアに開く。

三菱いちごかんビルかナンバーワンビルは１８９４に東京の丸の内の商業地域の最初のオフィス空間として終わられた。

英国の建築家コンダー、ジョサイアさんが最初の煉瓦の建物をデザインした。その建物は三階と地階が有った。1968に取り壊された。

建物の再建は230万煉瓦ぐらいで２年間ぐらいをかかった。外側は最初の建物の青写真と写真で忠実に修繕された。

新空間は三菱いちごかん博物館と言わせる。その空間は三階で20部屋ぐらいが有る。あちらで美術品、主に19の世紀の西洋スタイルの絵が展示をするはずです。

一階にカフェも有るはずです。

来年の４月に建物が人民ために開くはずです。

Food to make your mouth water

This is really just to say that recently I've been spending more time cooking because it's been a holiday, and so haven't added anything to this blog. However, if you're interested in seeing a little of what I've been up to over the last couple of weeks, have a look at my other blog (only in English) Food to make your mouth water!

日本語の授業

さいきん、また本当の日本語の授業を始まる。まだ一週一回に友だちと勉強するがもう少し練習が必要の感じだ。この授業に文法を勉強しない、会話だけを有る。今日の授業で日本語で英語の新聞の記事を説明しなかればならなかった。難しかったが楽しかった！

そしてから、一緒に電車にのって、話をした。その時にたとえば電車でとか喫茶店でとか居酒屋でとか皆さんは私に集中するらしいかもしれない！だから、その時にいつもあわてる！もうすぐはっきりに考えてあわてずに喋りたい！

Recently, I've started proper Japanese lessons again. I'm still studying once a week with a friend, but I feel that I need a bit more practice. In these lessons I don't study grammar, just focus on conversation. In today's lesson, I had to explain an English news article in Japanese. A touch tricky, but fun!

After that, we took the train together and talked. At those times, for example on the train, in a coffee shop, a bar and so on, I feel that everybody is paying attention to my Japanese! So I usually get a bit lost for words. Soon, I hope that I'll get over this block and be able to think clearly and talk without panicking!

Hooray!! I've finally managed to get rid of the 'Read more' caption on my posts!

Narita Drum Festival continued

This video shows some of the drumming groups around the town, before the parade started.


This video shows scenes from the parade, including the wrestling drummers (from 58s to 1min36) and the Okinawan style drummers (at the end).


This video shows scenes from the last half of the parade including the final steel drum group (from 18s to the end). If you like these steel drummers, then you're absolutely going to love the steel drumming performance on Mountaincat's blog - I especially appreciated the music from 'My Neighbour Totoro' from 5 minutes until the end!


This final video shows a very lively and happy group of drumming teenagers - absolutely fantastic!

Still photos at the left link...