So sad

After the happiness of yesterday's Royal Wedding, it was back to earth with a bump when I read Selena's post about the animals left abandoned in the Fukushima no go zone. Have a look  here for a video that will break your heart.

So many animals who are loved pets had to be abandoned when their families evacuated. As much as I complain about Roomie's dog, Su (not least when he left me a "message" in the hallway this evening), the thought of us having to leave him to fend for himself is heartbreaking.

So, please, check this out and spread the word.

There's only one way to spend this evening... (Updated)

Look how excited I am!

Yup, I'm ready for the Royal Wedding.

How about you? Are you watching?

For the record- I thought the dress was totally perfect.
The kisses were lovely, although CNN's commentator's scoring system was hilarious.
 The Queen's yellow hat rocked, although Victoria Beckham's rocked a little more.
I wasn't quite sure what Princess Eugenie had come as (some kind of milk maid?).
My Japanese Roomie learned what a conga looks like.
We ordered a pizza during the sermon, because we were hungry and cucumber sandwiches weren't going to cut it. Also, Roomie was rapidly losing interest in the whole occasion because I insisted on watching it in English.
I love the image of a Royal Family buffet, and would have loved it even more if Camilla had been busted doing a late night Asda run to stock up on mimi quiches and sausage rolls for it.

And now I have to tuck away my little Union Jack, ready for the next time I come over all "Proud to be British, although, as my Dad will tell you, technically I'm Irish because my parents are, but I was born in England so I get to choose".

The Final Creme Egg

It was calling me from the kitchen, and I had to respond. So I brought it into the living room, and wondered how long I could wait until I ate it. Possibly in the early hours of the morning, when the calories don't count. Or something.

I was determined to resist. It was the last one. And what would I do once I had eaten it? There would be no more until the care packages start next spring.

I needed a picture to remember the good times. But I was in my pajamas. And no one needs to see a picture of me in my pajamas. So I sat to one side of the camera and snapped. It was more difficult than it looks, partly because it's hard to hold a Creme Egg still and partly because I was trying to stay out of the picture (Seriously, pajama pictures are for a different kind of blog.).

So here it is. The last Creme Egg.

 How long do you reckon I can hold out before I eat it?

While buying some tuna....

I went to the supermarket today. I was out of tinned tuna. I hate being out of tinned tuna, having it in the cupboard makes me feel like it's OK if I don't go to the supermarket because you can always make a tuna sandwich, right?

Except my story isn't about tinned tuna. It's about what happened while I paid for the tuna.

The woman ahead of me in the queue had a small, quite rambunctious girl with her. I'd say she was about three (the girl, not the woman, just to be clear) and she was climbing all over the packing area while her Mum tried to juggle paying for her groceries and controlling her small child.

Her daughter eventually stopped climbing and came over, which was when she spotted me.

 "ママ！見て！怖い！！！" which translates as, "Mum! Look! Scary!!!"

She stood staring at me with her big eyes round as a plate and her cute little pigtails sticking out either side of her head. And then she kept repeating over and over again how scary I was. I think she said something about me having green eyes, which isn't true, they're blue, but either way her poor mother was mortified.

The Japanese word for scary (kowai) is quite similar to the word for cute (kawai) and a little bit similar to the word for beautiful (kirei). So the mother proceeded to pretend that her daughter was saying "cute" and beautiful". "キレイですよ！　キレイね！” (Beautiful, right? Beautiful.) Obviously, her teeth were clenched and she had an air of someone who wished her child came with a mute button.

This went on the whole time I was paying and packing my groceries, and while I considered talking to the little girl, I decided just to look at the floor and leave quietly. I didn't want to freak the little girl out anymore by speaking. I learned the hard way that speaking to a child who is totally freaked out is the best way to make them cry, loudly, and I didn't think that would help.

As I scuttled away, I heard the mother trying to explain that I was the same as a Japanese person, just a different colour. Just as I left I heard the little girl say "はい。かわいですね。” (Yes, cute, right.)

Bridging the culture one loud kid at a time.

Running in circles

The Half marathon is coming up next month, so I really need to get my skates on. Well, sneakers to be precise, but, anyway, I have to get training. Or I'll end up being offered a lift by a passing car again, and I'm not sure it'd be as funny a second time.

So, today, I cycled to the local sports stadium to join my friend's running club. After a full day working, and a 5k cycle, I was already a bit tired, but I gave it a good go. I managed about 7k before my hurty knee started up.

My left knee has been a bit, well, hurty, lately. It's fine usually, but if I run for any length of time, it starts to hurt. Even if I rest it for a week or so, the same thing happens the next time I run.

I've sprayed litres of muscle spray in it, to the point of smelling really quite bad. Actually, the only reason this post got written is because I didn't want to subject my Roommates to the over powering aroma of Salonpas.

I bought some glucosamine tablets, because the old people on TV seem so pleased with the results. Especially the lady who can zoom up the stairs now. So, I thought, why not? I gave them a whirl, but I keep forgetting to take them, so I guess it might take a while for the effects to be felt.

I bought a knee support too, but I keep forgetting to use that too. Which makes me wonder if, once I've cured the hurty knee, I shouldn't think about doing something for my memory.

There's no pulling, and it's fine when I walk around, so I can't think what might be the problem. Apart from being too dopey to use the things I bought to make it better...

Any tips on fixing a hurty knee?

Food Glorious food?

So, for this month's challenge (and yes, I know it's the 13th already, but I've busy having a love affair with my new job, cut me some slack, people) I was asked to introduce some strange Japanese foods. As in, foods that are completely normal here but odd for anyone who's not. So, here are a couple.

Jakoten is basically smushed up fish that is then deep fried. It has a strange grey colour and doesn't really look like it should taste in any way good, because when does grey food ever taste good? If you can get past its appearance (because it's what's inside that counts) you'll find a delicious tasty snack. I always eat it as it is, but I've been told it's good with udon noodles. It's pretty popular in these here parts because it gets mentioned in Soseki's "Botchan", a 19th Century novel based in Matsuyama. The main character buys his jakoten from the station, so that's the most famous shop, but you can find it anywhere. I once watched the fish being smushed by a professional fish smusher, and it kind of put me off jakoten for a while. But as long as you stay away from the actual smushing process, you'll be fine.

As Jakoten isn't very photogenic, I took a picture of the bag it came in, just to improve it's media image a little.

I told you it wasn't very photogenic.

 Sakura mochi is very popular in this season, because of the cherry blossom reference. It's made from smushed up rice, has sweet bean jam in the middle, and is wrapped in a vine leaf. It's one of my favourite Japanese sweets, and I eat more than I probably should. They always seem to come in packs of four, which is good when I buy them for work where there are four of us in the office, but bad when I buy them for home, because there are three of us and the dog thinks the last one is for him. It never is.

So, which one do you think you would eat?

The New Job. I like it so much I'm posting about it again.

No, really. I've been working there a whole two days, and it's really fun.

Ok, so it might be like when you meet someone, and they become your new favourite person, ever, in the history of the world and you don't mind getting up early and it's so fun, until it's not anymore. They turn out to be totally self absorbed and mean, and actually quite dull. And your new BFF becomes your sworn enemy, and you feel foolish for even thinking it could have been different. Yeah, it might turn out to be like that.

But, right now, me and the new job are in our honeymoon period.

And that's all I have to say about that at this time.

The New Job

It warrants capitals, I have decided, because the New Job is a nice one. At least it is from what I can tell so far.

I had to go in for a meeting on Thursday, and met the other members of the department. It was all very relaxed, apart from the part where I had to introduce myself and couldn't think of anything to say. I managed my name and where I was from, but didn't manage any interesting information. So I guess my new colleagues will assume I'm a bit nice but dim. Which is actually close to the truth.

I start teaching tomorrow, and will have one class with 47 students in it so it's really in at the deep end. I also have a class at 8.30am three times a week. Which is the time I usually wake up. Yes, I know that's late, but when you work in the evening, it's better to sleep in a bit. But now, the 8.30am lesson time will mean an alarm ringing at 6.30. I'm sure my roommate, who isn't working at the moment, will love me and my alarms. I say alarms because I have two, just in case I don't wake up for the first one. I'm a belt and braces kind of a gal.

So, we'll see how I go. I'm excited to be doing something new in a new environment. My main worry is how to fill my evenings. I'm used to having a couple of hours between work and sleep, so I can see me heading off to bed around 8, thinking it's getting late. Like an old dear.

Well, wish me luck for this week. Here's hoping I make a good impression and don't fall over in class or leave my flies open or something.

Strawberry picking

With all the Easter chocolate, I needed to get some vitamins in. And how better to do that than a spot of strawberry picking?

In the countryside near Matsuyama, there are a few places to go strawberry picking, and I thought it was a good sign when the man running the farm had strawberry stuck in his teeth when we arrived. No better endorsement than a farmer that'll eat his own produce.

Is your mouth watering yet? And let me tell you, these strawberries are every bit as sweet as they look. No cream needed.

A Day out at the castle

As I didn't end up taking a trip this spring holiday, I decided to do a bit of sightseeing right here in Matsuyama. Well, if I'm honest, I needed to move away from the Creme Eggs before I fell into some kind of sugar-induced trance.

I love Matsuyama Castle, and don't get up there nearly enough, despite seeing it from the kitchen window every day. I used to run up the hill when I was training to climb Mout Fuji a few years ago, and trust me when I tell you, it's quite a hill to run up, although, in retrospect, practicing running down would have been more beneficial.

Today I opted for the chair lift, purely for entertainment purposes. When I say chair lift, it's literally a plastic chair on a stick. No seat belt or, indeed, any safety measures whatsoever. Randomly, it also has a sunroof.

See, literally a plastic chair. With a sunroof, don't forget the sunroof.

Since the last time I took the chairlift, there has been a new addition. The sign says welcome to Matsuyama castle. Home of the creepy dolls.

Ok, I made the last bit up, but, seriously, I can't be alone in finding them a bit weird.

But the shock of seeing weird, creepy dolls on an eternal journey up and down the castle hill on the chairlift was worth it for the amazing scenery. So much pink and white. And a lot of people having a picnic in the sun. Including some drunken old ladies, reaching in the cooler for another beer to go with their bento.

FYI This is not a cherry blossom, it's (I think) a camelia. I just wanted to prove there are some other flowers in Japan.

Obviously, any trip to a tourist site would be incomplete without being accosted by an old lady wanting to know where I'm from and why I was there in the first place. I think I unwittingly encouraged her by looking in her direction while I waited for her and her husband to get out of the way for this picture.

At least it's a nice picture. 

Being a bit lazy today.

A friend sent me some Easter chocolate yesterday. I got a bit too excited and ate loads of it already.So much so, I am in a kind of chocolate haze. The hilarious post I had planned out in my head has kind of disappeared in said haze, so here are some pointless facts in the absence of a proper post.

• East Japan and West Japan have different voltages in their electric power. One area uses 50Khz and one uses 60Khz, but I can't remember which way round it goes. So my insistence in walking around in the dark, trying to save power thinking Yonden would send it to Tohoku, was pointless. Unless you happen to find me walking into tables and doorframes in the dark funny. So, OK, not totally pointless.

• The person initially responsible for bringing Canadian tuna to Japanese sushi chefs had absolutely nothing to do with fish. He was a Mr Okazaki, who worked in the cargo section of JAL. He wasn't that fussed about fsh in itself, but needed to make his section more profitable. At that time, Japan didn't ship much fresh produce into the country, but Mr Okazaki wanted to change that. And he did. I thought that was pretty cool.

• Maltesers have produced a new Malteaster for the Easter season. I got one in the post yesterday, and my friend told me it was rather special. It was, indeed, rather special.

Um, I'm all out of facts. I think I need another Creme Egg.