English Etiquette.

I thought I'd have a go a teaching some of our fine British rules on etiquette. Drinking tea involves perfect positioning of the little finger.........










.......and the penalty for getting it wrong!!!!!!!!

A touch of the past......

More from the southern island of Japan. It takes 1 hour 30 min. to fly from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) to the beach resort of MIYAZAKI. Here you will find palm trees and red sunsets.

Stevie Wonder

Entertaining the guests at the Sheraton Grande Ocean Resort......

The food......

A banquet fit for a king!





Now that's what I call a dessert tray!!!!




Ohhh yes!!! TIME FOR SOME FUN!!!! I've always wanted to try this!!!!!
I had a few helpings of blowfish. I couldn't tell if my mouth was tingling (a sure sign of poisoning) because I had already had something very spicy. I spent the rest of the night playing Russian Roulette with blowfish. I felt rough in the morning......

The hard life........

Well.....I hope you're enjoying the weather in the UK...... HA HA HA !!!

G7 World Summit Centre

Today is conference day! Last night we took a plane to one of the southern Islands in Japan. The conference is being held in the World Summit Centre.

A Very Local Sunday

I spent today going around the local markets looking for new foods and spices, to see what I could throw together on my one hob. Just by looking around, you can see the respect that people have for each other. It's the feeling of community that's unfortunately lost in vast areas of the UK.

Anyway, let's see what I can put together......

Saturday in Kawagoe

Back to that shopping district. From a cultural point of view, this is a place where you can loose yourself completely for hours in the pursuit of local and designer goods. If you take a turn down a side street (past the likes of 7 Eleven – America’s cultural contribution) strangely enough, you will find yourself in the peace and tranquillity of a tradition Japanese garden. Another one of those ‘things we take for granted’ are bins. Strange but true, from what I’ve seen so far, you have to be quite alert to find one, and even if you do, it may not be for general rubbish……..

Mobile phone are another one of those things you have to get use to around here. I’ve seen whole train carriages full of people tinkering about on them. You might as well bin your British phone if you come here because it’s all 3G. Not GSM at all. In fact I paid a visit to a phone shop, and they were quite surprised to see a Vodafone SIM chip. Vodafone is very popular here, and surfing the net and watching TV on your phone is commonplace. Nokia phones are non-existent here as the market is dominated by the home-grown companies like Samsung and Panasonic.

Kiss your VISA cards goodbye here too…… If it says VISA in a shop and VISA on your credit card…..it wont work!!!!!! The people around hear haven’t heard of Barclays!!! If you put your card into an ATM with VISA on it……. That’s the last you’ll see of it this side of eternity.

…..and why is it no matter where you go, this type of shop follows you. The 100 Yen Shop.

Day 5 - Recovery.......

# ......I want to wake up...in a city....that never sleeps, and I'm king of the hill, top of the heap! #- (Frank Sinatra -New York New York)

Tokyo really is the city that never sleeps! I got back home quite late and the train was as packed as rush hour.

Today will be a quiet one....... authough I showed the lab some of the moves from last night. Hmmmm........ and there are big plans for my official welcoming party. They have hired a hall. I think I'm scared now.



Oh....and you can't get Duracell batteries here for love or money! I bought some co-op 'AA' batteries for the digital camera and after 2 pictures they were dead. The next lot died after the initial 'power up' It's lucky.... someone - (Margaret) bought me a phrase book that included the words - somats - which means poor quality.
okane o haraimodoshite kure-masen ka? - can I have a refund?
and honto which means 'really?' in a sarcastic tone. Now.....let's put what I've learnt to use. Let's see now, where is the co-op.........


Not such a quiet night after all. Went to a traditional Japanese restaurant (with an automatic wooden sliding door) with an old friend from Sussex Uni. The food was very good and in similar way to Italian and Spanish food, you order lots of different dishes.

As you can see, I’m stuffing my face with Sushi and having warm Sake.

It was rather interesting to watch the chef fishing in the fish tank in front of me before giving the fish its last rights. (I thought the fish were just there for decoration….oh well) It’s just strange to see your food swimming around one minute, and on you plate the next.

Day 4 - Latin Dance Fever

Tonight I'm off to a place in Kawagoe (3 stops on the Tobu Tojo train line from where I live in Tsurugashima) for some Latin dance lessons. This should be mildly entertaining. Ha ha.....

I think I slept through my first earthquake last night. Hmmm.... That's not a good sign. I don't want to be kippin' if the BIG ONE comes!!!


Just look what I found in Kawagoe !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(personal note to Eleonora - ha ha ha 6 mins. away by train!!! 6 mins. ha ha ha ha !!!! WHO'S THE DADDY NOW !!!!!!! EAT IT GIRL EAT IT!!!!!)


















My hostess for the night was Misuzu (below right) who is one of my new housemates. It was nice to make new friends who don't know you inside out already......(Eleonora- I'm looking at you ....... Valentina......need I say anymore!!!)
















The Latin dance lesson was actually in downtown Tokyo....A city with a very expensive electricity bill!! It started off with the typical moves and progress to some really advanced stuff. By the end of the night, I was spinning girls off their feet. (UNFORTUNATELY I MEAN LITERALLY). It's not my fault. I wanted to know what it was like to spin someone round 4 times.......

The night ended in reggae dancing lessons. OH MY GOSH! THE STUFF WE WERE TAUGHT! I NEED TO GO TO CHURCH!

Oh yes, and there was a drink called Kamikaze (see below). Never again..........

Day 3 - The not so instant......instant noodle

Shopping for food..........er.......... I just picked the items with the brightest colours and as for cooking instructions....they went straight out of the window. Anyway the view from my window is amazing..










If you look to the right of the pylon you can see Mount. Fuji

Day 2 - The On Switch........

Right…now if any of you highly intelligent people could tell me where the ‘on switch’ is for the heater…… hurry up though, it’s getting cold!

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Lunch time on campus – oh yes!

1st - go to a display cabinet, which contains all the dishes (made of plastic – yes plastic food!!)

2nd - memorise the name of the dish you want (written in Japanese characters)

3rd – go to a payment booth and find the same name (you need to give yourself some time for this. It isn’t easy, so go 15mins. before you feel hungry !?!?

4th – pay for the meal using the machine and take your receipt to the catering staff who will then cook it.







And take a look at this …… found it lurking in the bathroom. The scalebar is right, honest! (note to Eleonora – this little friend is in the post to you…. 1st class…naturally.)

Day 1

Well........ Slightly tired after the flight, the first thing was to work out where I was going.

Looking at the cities going past on the train, it was clear that there was a lot of culture to be explored, but the one thing that stood out the most was the vibrant colours everywhere. It's as if you're hit in the face with everything.

The people are very kind and all want to help you.

As you can see, a great view from the flight....

The inflight entertainment was more than enough to keep you awake for 11 hours. Touch screen tv, live video footage infront and below the plane and every movie under the sun......

I'm living in the International Halls. It's very nice but...... look at the kitchen!! It's as wide as the door!! You're looking at 1 hob, a sink and a fridge.