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We celebrated Ifan’s 8th birthday the Friday before the big event at Tokyo Disneyland. It was an early-ish start as we had decided to drive (as a result of our train adventures with the kids, who were very tired, the day before) and were aiming to beat the Friday morning rush hour traffic across Tokyo. We eventually left the house, after getting the kids up, at around 6 o’clock.

We got to a 7 Eleven near Disneyland at about 9.30 and stocked up on supplies. Miho had already bought two bottles of Bikkle, Ifan’s favourite drink, for a birthday surprise, and so it was snacks, sweets, and some altogether unsurprising drinks. To be continued when I have a moment…

I had arranged to meet James and Leigh for a drink in Shinjuku. I think it was the boys’ tongue-in-cheek way of saying “welcome back”: invite him out for a drink but make sure he has to go through Ikebukuro and Shinjuku before he gets it.

Ikebukuro train station, the second busiest train station in the world, is a construction of which even the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus would have been proud. And, to be frank, I think it makes a lot of sense for it to have opened its doors on April Fools Day all those years ago. I hadn’t been there for about 9 years and so, although nothing much seems to have changed, it took me a while to find my bearings again and finally work out where I was meant to be going. From Mizuhoudai, I had caught the Tobu Tojo Sen and so came out next to the JR lines. I needed the Yamanote Sen but couldn’t see any signs for it for a while. I eventually used my gut instinct and headed left. Within a few metres I saw the sign for tickets and, 150 en worse off (that’s about 75 pence folks!), I was within seconds on my way to…

…Shinjuku, the busiest train station in the world. My friend Leysh, who I showed around when he was over with Charlotte Church (because Sony was paying), recently confided with me that the one thing that stuck out in his mind as I showed him around Shinjuku was the single statement:”The population of Wales goes through this station EVERY DAY!” I confided in him that the one thing that stuck out in my mind as I showed him around Shinjuku was said as we perused at leisure in Kabukichou, Shinjuku’s red-light district.

Some guy, touting for trade, came up to Leysh as we were wandering up the street and said, “Sex? Shower? Show?” Leysh declined his kind offer and as we walked off he turned to me and said, “I would have said yes, if they weren’t in that order.” Pure genius!

Anyway, I digress. I had arranged to meet James at Shinjuku San-Chome in front of the koban at 6pm. I was there shortly after 6 and waited for 30 minutes before asking the police whether there was a public phone anywhere near. I found the phone the police man had described the location of, in front of the Sakuraya shop, and called James. I had forgotten that he wanted to meet at the intersection of Meiji-Dori and Shinjuku-Dori. Recognising the error of my ways I made haste to the new koban. We then went to a bar that sold Guinness and had USA v Tonga in some rugby game somewhere. It wasn’t the best game ever and so I took about 3 minutes of it on board and carried on without.

Much chatting with James about this and that. Really enjoyed! And then Leigh turned up. Much more chatting about this and that. Really enjoyed too! And then it was time to go home.

I got back to Mizuhoudai and it was snowing a little. A good night was had and my head knew about it in the morning!!

We had our first onsen (zero carbon foot-print, volcanically powered, super-duper, all singing, all dancing, hot spring) of the New Year yesterday. We must have been in those volcanically heated juices for well over an hour and Ifan loved every second of it. I’m told that Mika and Meu loved the experience too, but, as this is partitioned (due to it being naked) bathing, I wouldn’t be able to tell you for sure. Apparently, all Meu wanted to do was drink water from the water fountain, “because she was bored”. I suppose, for a yet-to-be-two-year-old, the excitement gleaned from a shiny water fountain takes precedence over such things as one’s first ever onsen. Especially one’s first ever solid hour’s worth of onsen!

On leaving the baths, Ifan and I sat down with a bottle of Grape Qoo (which was pleasantly refreshing) to watch some Japanese TV - the females of our party were still soaking their collective corns, one can assume. The programme that was on the telly was very Tarrant-esque: a woman given the challenge of eating a number of “exotic” (read “dodgy”) dishes. But, and it’s a very big “BUT”, this was no laver bread or bara bryth ye tender bellied people of the west, and it was not reflective of any vernacular Japanese cuisine I’ve been privy to either.

She (and a very fetching Japanese lady she was too) commenced the proceedings with a plate full of baked snake, then moved on to three steamed, medium-sized, yet whole pigs brains, and then there was the whole, extremely large, raw frog, which she had to cook herself by pulling it apart with chopsticks and then boiling it piece by piece (she ate the lot with a gusto). This little lot was topped with tiny chicks of a bird variety that was not chicken, goose, nor duck - it may have been quail but I very much doubt it. Anyway, this plate-full of about 10 cute little fellas all still had fluffy feathers adorning their now braised breasts.

Alas, she made no headway into these feathered friends but she did make plenty of “eee” sounds, a plethora of “yada”s and so on and so forth - if you know any Japanese women, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Shortly thereafter the females in our party came out with a rosy glow to join us. And then we went outside.

The coldest I have ever been was in Korea, which was nowhere near as cold as my mate Ian Parsons, former Camp Commander of the British Antarctic Survey, has undoubtedly been. But even on that occasion, for the sake of my ears, I forced myself to buy a really stoopid [sic] looking hat!

As mentioned, I’ve been in colder climes but there’s nothing I’ve found that compares to the ridiculous nature of Japanese houses in the winter. They’re b@$&@#d f- f- fr- freee-frreeezzin’!

Generally constructed using un-insulated timber (stud) walls, there is zero insulation in the roof cavity and they are built directly on an ice box of a concrete base, with single glazing and a solitary air con unit to heat umpteen cubic metres of cavity, they are anything but an eskimo’s wet dream.

And so, when considering emigrating with your family please do bear in mind that staying at your energy conscious in-law’s house, when jet lag has overtaken the family, may not be in your best interests. You may well find yourself spending the night drinking a steady flow of beer and going from partially heated room to partially heated room as quickly as possible so as to offset the rapidly approaching effects of hypothermia. And that my friends, from a Welshman who has just spent the last few years insulating, double-glazing, and fitting a brand new heating system to his house, is no word of a lie!!!

1. Haircut tomorrow (maybe?);
2. Beers with Leigh and James in Shinjuku in the evening;
3. Shiyakusho (city hall) to register the family in Saitama on Thurs;
4. Poss beers with Dave in the evening;
5. Tokyo Disneyland on Fri;
6. Ifan’s 8th birthday on Sat;
7. Poss meet Dave’s family on Sun;
8. Training in Iidabashi Mon to Fri 9-17hrs…

Let the good times roll!

We’re back, safe and sound, and loving it!

Driving from Narita to Miho’s sister’s house was weird. We went through Tokyo.

Past Ginza: I used to work there and met Leysh there too, when he was teaching Charlotte Church on her grand tour of the world, courtesy of Sony Corporation. Sony Corp supplies lovely cake if you get the chance, but alas not as good as a Buckingham Palace’s garden party.

Iidabashi: We got Ifan’s British passport from there many moons ago and I will start work/training there in just over a week.

The Imperial Palace: An idyllic haven in the chaos that is Tokyo Metropolitan - It’s the one place in Japan that foreigners take precedence over the locals, you see they (the locals) aren’t allowed in, but the average visitor off the street is. Most strange, especially when you what to take your half Japanese family to see it!!

Ikebukuro: Where I used to spend many a lazy afternoon. Indeed, it was there that I bought my dartboard!

Wako: Where Miho and I used to spend many a lazy evening. And where one day I was so annoyed with someone (can’t remember who) that in my rage I entered “the zone” and potted every ball on the pool table in front of a crowd of about 30 spectators just to get the hell out of the place.

Asakadai: Where Miho, Miki and I rented our first ever house together. Alas, it wasn’t long before we experienced our first ever eviction together too. It was supposedly for playing darts at 10pm, or at least that’s what he told the real estate agent. I think it was more to do with me being a foriegner because he kept on telling me, when he had finished banging on our wall for half an hour that “when you live in Japan, you should follow Japanese rules”. I explained the situation to all my Japanese friends and they were gob-smacked at what the idiot was saying. You see there is no rule in Japan that says, “All people should be silent at 10pm because their shortarsed neighbour’s wife has to be up at 5am to support the family because the husband chooses to be of an artistic inclination” All it really meant was that he wasn’t getting any from his wife and so he had to try and take it out on someone else. And take it out he tried to do… the fact that our idiot of a neighbour was about a foot shorter than me and 20 years my senior didn’t seem to worry him, he knew that the collar of my shirt needed some extra creases put in it. This assumption on his part resulted in me putting a No 3 wristlock on him. Shockwaves of pain later (and yet trying not to show it), he came upon a realisation that my shirt collar was quite fine without the extra creases. This must have come as a complete shock to him as it must have appeared that I had indeed been living as a Japanese for quite some time and some of it had surprisingly rubbed off on my uncultured self. Suffice to say, the estate agent was telling us to leave within a week and Yamato-shi was beckoning for the next big adventure in my life.

Let the new adventures begin!!

Tickets booked: leaving UK on 9 Jan, arriving Japan on 10 Jan!

Will hopefully be back in the UK for one month in August…

Can’t wait to get on with life in Japan again!!

Does this sound familiar? I’ve worked in a number of these. I aim to prevent my companies going down that route…

I discovered Rescue Time tonight. Productivity central here I come! It’ll come in right handy when I’m teaching over the net in Japan… Turned out nice again…

Met Takumasa Ono today at the bazaar in Japanese school.  I fancy that he should paint the view from St Mary Hill for me one day.  I wonder if he does sunsets…!?  I do believe his website could do with some TLC though…

Visa got…  Happy days here we come!

Went to bed at about 00.30; up at about 04.15; got changed, prepped kids, loaded car, left for London at 05.20; had a break in a service station from 06.45 to 07.15 and then set off to find a car park in Hammersmith; car park found 9.15; into the tube and arrived at the Japan Embassy at about 09.50; much screaming from Meu, stressed scribbling from Miho, and general misbehaviour from Ifan and Mika later, Miho remembered that she had left some documents in the car; Martyn 15 mins from Green Park to Hammersmith, 5 mins walk to the car park, pick up the documents, packet of crisps and an apple juice later, back to the tube, 15 mins from Hammersmith to Green Park and then back to the Embassy at 11.45 - just in time for same day passports to be issued!! My visa application is next… We have to be back at the Embassy between 15.30 and 16.30 to pick the passports up…

A trip to the post office to pick up a special delivery envelope for my visa embelished passport to be sent to me later… we take a stressed tour of London for the kids to see Westminster, London Eye, etc etc… Mika stroked a Blues and Royals Cavalry horse who was guarding Whitehall I think. Some Chinese guy wanting to take a photo of said blues and royals horse, soldier and Mika and Ifan. Neither Mika or Ifan wanted this to happen by the looks on their faces but, like the true professionals that they are, they were obliging and the photo was snapped… we quickly left that melee!

We picked up the passports and then went to Harrods, two belts bought, Gucci one for Miho and Burberry one for Caroline, we went on to buy some sweets; back to the car and then the homeward stretch. 19.14, dad phones and asks if we are home yet - we’ve been in the car for little more than 4 minutes… Two hours getting out of London, two hours in the biggest traffic jam I have ever seen (due to a horrific crash) to get past Reading, we arrive home at about 00.30…

Ho hum, at least that little, yet important step back to Japan is done and dusted!!

Can’t wait to receive my passport with visa in the post some time next week!!