Konichiwa!

Hi there!

I am sitting in Matt and Jess’s (my sister and husband check out www.mattandjess.blogspot.com for their adventures in Japan) awesome little place looking out the window onto the real Japan :) It’s really beautiful where they live, right near an awesome garden. It’s very peaceful and surprisingly quiet since I arrive. Their house is small but so lovely. Its very new and has lots of mod cons (to me anyway!) like an awesome temp selection controlled heated bath (which I used last night for my 43 degree soak!)

My flight was ok, an overnighter which has pro's and con's. Was sitting next to a old Japanese man and it was a bit uncomfortable as I was trying to be really aware not to end up leaning on him!

Leaving home was weird; I have been to the international airport so many times for friends, church and others that I felt like I was there for someone else not me! I was in the end, able to get my head around this thought "yeah ok, I am going on a holiday to Japan to see my sister" but sitting on the plane I was still not able to fully comprehend this thought "I am relocating for a year and not going to be seeing my family and friends for ages!". That thought might take a long time to get used to, so for now I will deal with one country at a time ... starting with Japan!

Since arriving in Japan, jess and I caught the train to Ichikawa which is her town and then a taxi to her house. It took about 1.5 hours. The trains were ok this day as it was Saturday as they were surprisingly quiet, in relation to the people but not the trains themselves! Everything has a sing song when ever anything happens. The doors are closing and it’s not just a beep or ding, it’s like a whole song and dance! What’s more, they have sounds to allude to thing that aren't there e.g. birds singing (which I fell for at the train station). I stopped, and jess was like "what is it Mel?". I said, "I am just looking for the little bird up there" (i have an interest in animals and at times like to talk to them!) Moving on, I felt a bit silly.

Driving in the taxi, the man didn’t even help us with the bags. Thought we were silly gaijin (foreigners), then jess prattled off in Japanese (its so cool!) and he began to change his tune. That is he got out of the car to shut the boot after we lugged all the stuff out! Nice. The roads are so small and are unmarked. It’s like a rabbit warren and you just need to know where you are going! Crazy driving and no seatbelts! (Though they have the strap there for them so it is kind of just teasing!)

I got to matt and jess’s and had a shower, only to find I couldn't open my bags! My lovely cousin Cas had done lots of my packing while I raced around like a crazy person and I did not over see how the combo locks worked. Anyway, Matt broke into them by listening out for the clicks in the numbers (nice and secure hey!) and the numbers were actually different to those we had programmed! Go figure. Anyway, matt the Houdini saved the day.

Then it was off on the bikes to a lunch thing. All they have is bikes for transport and I truly love doing active things like riding, so yeah it was great! It was cold, 7 degrees. Its weird coz its cold but the sun is out and there is no rain. So just cold. (I have a weirdness that rises in me when we put the heater on during the day, as I can hear mum saying 'you can’t have the heater on in the day when the suns out! Put on another jumper’ Maybe this is true in Perth, but not here!’ Sorry mum x

So it’s cold, I have the whole kit, you know gloves, jacket, scarf and hopefully soon a beanie as my ears sting on the bikes as we ride! We went to Jessica’s seni's house for the graduation of her cram school students. They were to practice their English by teaching me how to do Takoyaki (its a weird kind of ball shaped pancake tasting thing that you make in a special communal pan with lots of dipped holes). It was fun with three rooms of people, about 25 in total. They were so cute and lovely. I ate fermented bean curd, go me!

Not so much of a highlight on my first day was getting groped by a Japanese man while riding my bike. I got off to go around a corner and he just grabbed my butt. I yelled out, "how bout you don't grab my ass" (sorry kids don't repeat). Jess was going to have a go at him but we were all so shocked and it was a bit of a kafuffle of a situation as we were lost and trying to turn around and not get hit by cars and he walked off. Apparently it is a real problem here. Hmm, pretty dodgy. Next time I will just kick them where it hurts! (Maybe)

We watched the bright red sun set next to Mount Fugi at 4.30pm and it was dark at 5pm. It was a magnificent sight! I enjoyed a hot (nearly passed out it was so hot) bath and then lay it bed for a while. Well, a long while as jess returned from the shops with tea and I was sleeping still. Like a great sister she rugged me up and left we to sleep! I feel very refreshed now!

I do not know what today holds, as matt and jess are still Zzzzzzzzzzzzing but I am sure it will be fun! It is New Years Eve which is exciting, however in Japan, this is more of time to be indoor with family, than to party hard. I think we have a dinner planned with some neighbors. So, Happy New Year to you, I pray you have safe celebrations tonight and that 2007 is a great year for you all!

Will keep you updated, and will post some pics when Houdini matt, who is also very skilled at computers gives me a lesson. :)

Much love to you all

Melissa