Snow in Takasaki!

This is just a short, tidbit of exciting info i thought i'd write about cause let's face it, i'm a slackarse blogger but having already posted three blog entries this month, you could say i'm on a roll.
To give you an idea of just how cold i have been here, the other morning i awoke to another cold day in Takasaki, i looked out my window and low-and-behold, falling from the sky was a delicate sprinkling of snow! there was even a fairly decent covering of powdery white goodness on the ground (about 2mm tops...). so in my hysterical state, i ran and grabbed my camera and took a few shots there at my apartment window - it was so exciting.


Snow is pretty rare in my town. Takasaki is on a flat plain surrounded by snow capped mountain ranges. every now and again a strong wind blows the crisp mountain air and snow onto the town but there's never enough to make a winter wonderland, it's more like mountain dandruff. the snow had started to melt by midday but during the brief hours of that morning i felt like i was in an alpine ski-resort town.... well, maybe not quite.

Kelli comes to Tokyo

A few weeks ago, Kelli, one of my best friends from home came to Japan to spend two weeks living it up with her boyfriend, Brad. After a couple of crazy days skiing in Sapporo, sight seeing in Kyoto and shopping in Osaka she finally made her way to Tokyo on an early saturday afternoon. that same day i caught the late train from Takasaki and made my way through the wind and rain, to the Shinjuku Hilton where we FINALLY met up. i was so happy to see a familiar, beautiful face from home! a big hug was exchanged and after the initial excitment of seeing each other in the flesh we eventually headed out for dinner (tempura, the cousine of Tokyo - delicious but damn expensive) and shared stories of our goings-on over the past six months since my departure from Bris-vegas. it was great to get the low-down on all the dirty gossip from home - Girls if you're reading this i miss you all like crazy!
After our dinner we headed to Rappongi, Tokyo's infamous night club district (think Surfers paradise during schoolies except everyone is overage and mostly Japanese). we had a good laugh at some of the crazy people we saw, including ourselves, and made sure we got lots of photos with all of them, see here.

.... just like Patsy and Eddie. x

Yokohama and Enoshima Island

Another chapter of my holiday action was a fun filled couple of days and nights in Yokohama, an awesome city (Japan's 2nd largest) just an hour's train trip away from Tokyo and more interestingly, the birth place of my mother. i took the train from Takasaki, arrived in Yok's and met up with Sarah, who was already there with her sister Kylie and their friend Kirby, both of whom were visiting from Bris-vegas for a couple of days.

There was lots of cool stuff to do, the city isn't as bustling as Tokyo but its got its own laid back charm and being a port city it was great to just stroll on the walkways alongside the sea and breath some fresh ocean air into my lungs. our hostel was situated closeby to the Yokohama China Town, which i had previously been told was a must for our visit. so, on our first night we walked through the neon lit, restaurant-lined streets of China Town and soaked up all the city's atmosphere. we had a chinese dinner and afterwards continued our walk through the streets. to top the night off we suddenly happened across a small jazz joint named 'Wind Jammers' which i had seen listed in my Lonely Planet. since arriving in japan i hadn't seen any live jazz and was experiencing major withdrawl symptoms - so we went in, sat down right in front of the band and drank (unbeknownst to us) thoroughly over-priced cocktails all evening. the band played all the classic standards and my withdrawls were eased.


The next day consisted of some serious sight seeing. we ventured into the city centre and watched lots of street theatre, went to Cosmo World (a small theme park by the bay) and took the world's fifth fastest elevator (45km/h) to the top of Landmark Tower, Japan's tallest building to check out the amazing views. on our last day we took a train, crossed a 600m waywalk over the sea and arrived at a beautiful island named Enoshima. being the new year holiday season the island was packed with hundreds of japanese people who were there to pray and pay their respects at Enoshima's Shrine situated at the top of the mountain. it was beautiful and the ocean views from inside the island's lighthouse were spectacular, i was so happy to be close to the ocean again. there were loads of these giant sea eagles that nest on the island and when we were watching some fishermen below us on the rocks, the eagles all congregated in the skies above them, fighting the seagulls for any scaps the men caught and tossed away. they flew so fast and were right above our heads - it was amazing!

All the pretty pictures are here.

Happy holiday season festivities...

This blog is proving harder to maintain than i originally thought. well, as promised, here comes another one....

AKEMASHITE OMENDETO GOZAIMASU!!! (happy new year) i hope everyone had happy, eventful Christmas and New Years celebations, i know i did. it all started on Christmas day. the company i work for organised a Christmas party for the weekend. we loaded 120 school children onto a bus and headed to the snowy Karuizawa Mountain ski resort where over the course of the Christmas weekend we held our party. what i had originally thought would be an enjoyable, somewhat relaxing camp turned out to be a hell of a lot of work!! i think i managed to fit in about 2 hours sleep, that combined with two full days of entertaining the kids and hosting numerous activities and games proved quite exhausting and when i returned home to Takasaki the Monday after, i was shattered and even a little homesick .... hey, it was my first and only bout since arriving in Japan over 6 months ago so cut me some slack, ok! i was surprised at how much i was missing mum's Christmas dinner and the whole Thomson family-Christmas day ritual which i knew was happening without me for the first time. despite this, i soldiered on through the weekend. it wasn't all bad though, actually it was great to spend Christms day with a huge group of excited kids (some of the youngest being only 4 years old) and to reminisce about what the day meant to me when i was that age. there were lots of games like Pass the Parcel, decoration making, and even a pinyata full of chocolatey goodness (this was my favourite activity for obvious reasons). there was beautiful, thick snow outside the windows and our hotel was really lush. on the last day everyone gathered around the Christmas tree and myself, Sarah and Megan handed out hoards of presents to all the kids - needless to say their excitment was insurmountable. Japanese don't really celebrate Christmas day although you wouldn't know it, they go all out with lavish decorations and tacky 80s Christmas music everywhere you go but the day itself is usually just like any other, so for the kids, to be receiving presents was a big treat.

My real Christmas day happened on the 27th. some friends of mine who live in an apartment block together organised a Christmas dinner for a big group of us foreigners. there was chicken (couldn't find any turkey), mashed potatoes, pumpkin, delicious gravey and tastey apple crumble with vanilla icecream (mmmm, thanks Megan!). the meal was perfect, i was full and having slept the entire previous day, managed to curb any lingering homesickness, thankfully it hasn't returned but next time i'll be prepared!!

New years eve was spent in bustling Tokyo city. a small group of us headed to Shinjuku to a club called The Wire Bar which isn't dissimilar to The Press Club in Brisbane. there, after paying a cheap 2000yen entry fee, we each received complimentary candy-parcels and indulged in free sake which was flowing all night (ouch!). the Djs played really cool music and i danced my arse off to the likes of such dancefloor classics as "Fire in the Disco" and Talking Heads "Psycho Killer". needless to say i was trashed by the time we left but it was a great night out and well worth the 3 hour train trip back to Takasaki the next morning. we got back at 8am (ouch again! it was the sake....)

check out the photos here.

Kuragano and the tea ceremony

On sunday just past i went on a guided walking tour of Kuragano with my friends Sarah, Megan and Kevin. Kuragano is a nearby town with lots of historic shrines and tombs situated amidst quaint japanese suburbia, which provided a surprisingly harmonious contrast. our guides were informative locals and did a good job filling us in on all the interesting historic landmarks. i was glad to have had them with us as i probably wouldn't have looked twice at some of the highlights. for instance, we came across a small hill which rose dramatically from the centre of a harvested rice patty. the hill, we discovered, was actually a gigantic tomb built for a prominant local leader at a time when the Kuragano area was at its economic height. apparantly, these kinds of tombs are dotted throughout japan in the thousands and were a common practise for prosperous communities as a sign of respect and show of stature for deceased dignitaries. the tomb was covered in autumn tinged trees and on closer look the colours were amazing. Australian trees have nothing in comparison to the vibracy of these colours: bight red, yellow and orange - beautiful!

After treking around the town for a while our guides took us to a small house where we were treated to a traditional japanese tea ceremony. it was a sort of awkward yet beautiful ceremony. awkward in that i had never felt like such an ignornant, inelegant foreigner in all my life; and beautiful because it was a truely japanese experience. a tea ceremony is a refined, highly ritualised, reflective procedure of specialised movements and behaviour. we somehow bumbled our way into the small, austere room, knelt on the tatami mats (which made our legs very sore!!) and watched it all unfold. our tea master was dressed in a kimono and was very friendly and welcoming. she explained the rituals of pouring and receiving the tea and even allowed us to take turns making the tea.
i had a really enjoyable, relaxing day and when i got home that evening, felt very content and refreshed. for all the pretty photos (and there are lots), look here.

Another Party Weekend....

My blog updating is already getting slack! will try to fill you in on last weekend's events and then hopefully will post a another blog entry this week about the weekend just past (went to a traditional japanese tea ceremony). eventually i should have everything up to scratch.

phew... last weekend was another riotous party weekend (i swear there is more to japan than just drinking!). i headed over to Isesaki, a neighbouring town about 30 mins drive from Takasaki, to my friend Anthony's house for a party. there was a lovely bunch of gaijins sitting around watching the K1 fighting championships on tv. i discovered that K1 fighting is basically a real-life version of Street Fighter (the videogame) minus the crazy outfits. when the match finally ended (i didn't catch the winner) we moved on to a Brazilian night club and danced the night away to RnB and bad 90's techno. the club itself was packed with japanese and brazilian patrons and was decked out with fancy disco lighting and even (cue drum roll) a bubble dispensing machine on the ceiling.

Bubbles on the dancefloor!!

After dancing all night we decided to continue our raging into the following day. we (myself, Gemma and Anthony) boarded a train and headed to the Ashikaga Wine Festival, what a day it turned out to be!! i have never seen so many drunken people congregated in one area, it was hilarious. we met up with a small group of friends and sat on the hillside with our wine bottles counting the passouts. in less than a minute i tallied about 20 dozing drunks dotted precariously around the place. it was a beautiful sunny day and the vineyard where the festival was held was perched high up on the mountain side so all around us were thick green pine forests and a picturesque view of Ashikaga town. my bottle of japanese white wine was sweet and fruity and after polishing it off (along with various, generous samplings of other bottles) i began to feel slightly drunk. i remember having indepth conversatons about reggae music to a complete stranger, suducing helpless German men and participating in a heartfelt, group rendition of Dirty Dancing classics whilst lining up for the shuttle bus back to the train station..... enough said.

gradually on my way to getting pissed at the wine fest....

Then, on tuesday night i headed back to yea ol' faithful Odessa for Gemma's final farewell party - gem, if you're reading this i miss you, promise i'll see you when i eventually do the trip back home!

some of the party people at Odessa

There are lots more photos to see here. about 2 weeks ago i bought a brand-spankin new digital camera inTokyo and i've been going snap happy with it! it's my precious.

enjoy the read. x

Party Weekend

Well, as the title suggests i was up to lots of mischief this weekend!! firstly there was a birthday party for Kevin who turned 25. Kevin hails from Canada and works for NOVA, he's been in Japan for about 6 months and has romantically attached himself to my workmate Sarah. Kevin is also one of my favourite people in Takasaki and even though he likes comics and 'Transformers: the movie'.... i still love him.
The party consisted of mainly gaijin(foreigner) NOVA workers and was situated in a nice restaurant where we had to kneel on the floor and as a result receive severe leg cramps! there was much debating over the best and worst movies/actors of all time and general NOVA gossip oh, and of course... beer.

the gaijins!

birthday boy

me and my workmates (L-R) Sarah and Megan

On Saturday night, i attended another social get-together for Gemma's farewell party. Gemma is an awesome girl from Tasmania who is a "top chick with great tits". she also works for NOVA and is based in the nearby town, Maebashi. i'm sorry that i didn't get to spend more time with her because she is alot of fun and a very intelligent, kind hearted person. i think she was happy to have all her friends come out to say bon voyage.

gemma, sarah and I at Odessa

after the restaurant, the party relocated to Odessa which is our local gaijin watering hole. it's a small club/bar which is run by a loony irishman named Andy with his beautiful wife, Kaori. there, we stayed and boogied into the wee small hours of the morning.

all in all a good weekend. for more photos, check out my photo gallery here.

A Brief Overview....

Well, i guess i started this blog a little late, i've been here almost four months and it's hard to fathom how the time has flown. Japan is an amazing place and i am in love with every inch of it! still can't believe how lucky i've been to find myself in this amazing place.... did i mention this country is an amazing place?!

To start, i suppose i'd best try and fill you in (in brief) on all my goings-on for the past few months. the most recent highlights have been trips to Kyoto, Osaka, and of course Tokyo cities. Tokyo is really BIG! most of the people you speak to about it will tell you the same thing, "it's the type of city that's great to visit but after about a day or two you need to get the hell out before your head explodes...." well, that's fairly accurate. i didn't really mind it though, i loved the highrises plastered with excessive advertising and neon lights, the fashion, shopping, nite-clubs and hoards of people - i had to laugh at myself and how i once thought Sydney was a big
city.

Harajuku with Callie (a friend of Sarah's from Bisbane who was visiting).

Tokyo scenery

Kyoto was more my kinda town - low key with alot of history and an awesome club scene to boot! myself along with Sarah and Megan (my two work colleagues and dear friends) saw lots of gorgeous shrines and conquered all the major tourist attractions. we hired some bikes for a day from our hostel and rode like crazy, soaking up all the interesting sights and sounds along the way. highlights for me on this trip were 1. riding my bike through Gion (famous geisha district); and 2. seeing a pair of geisha girls - i read somewhere that there are only about 1000 geisha remaining in the whole of Japan, 500 of which are presumed to be living in and around Kyoto, so we were very lucky to see them.

Another great place we visited recently was Nikko, a beautiful town situated in magestic, green mountains 2.5 hours drive from Takasaki (my town). there were heaps of amazing temples and shrines surrounded by prehistoric looking forests, i felt like i had taken a step back into ancient japan. also, you know the famous phrase, See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil? well, the original '3 monkeys' is found carved onto one of the temples in Nikko... pretty cool, huh? Mum and Dad, this town is a MUST for your trip!

Pretty pillars in Nikko (with Callie)

A towering pagoda in Nikko.

'The' 3 monkeys!

I told you this entry would be brief and that's all my fingers will allow me to type right now, so i hope you enjoy the read and the snaps. i also hope that everyone is healthy and happy back home. i hear Brisbane is all blues skies and sunny perfection - that thought will keep me warm at night, when winter sets in and i'm lying in bed and the temperature is starting to drop below zero.... love you all.

em x

Oh, the technology!

This is a complete spur-of-the-moment, knee-jerk reaction to a bout of blog browsing i did on the net. Mum and Dad, this is also my way of keeping you regularly updated on my Japanese adventure provided that i don't get slack (i never was good at maintaining journals). this time will be different, i promise.
i love and miss you all. x