Week 3 in Japan

This week is our final week in Ibaraki. Although we didn't really do much I found more than enough things to take pictures of!

Today was a beautiful day! We were in the greenhouse spraying all the eggplant flowers so that they would pollinate properly (or I think that's what it does...) 

Boyfriend just enjoyed posing with the can... There's also a photo of him from a couple of days ago which would look thuggish if he wasn't in greenhouse at the time. 

Recently because of the cold my skin has been sore on my chin so today I wore a mask. It really helped a lot so I'm going to wear one every day. Additionally, being in the greenhouse with a mask made the air under my mask really steamy so I think it's even healed a bit since it's not so sensitive anymore. I'm glad I was able to figure that out... Now if only the spot on my chin would heal itself too... 

These are the tomato plants that we look after! At the moment all the tomatoes are green though... 

It's really easy for the tomatoes or the flowers to fall off the plant, if you brush past them with any action that could be considered the slightest bit hurried they will fall off... 

I'm pretty slow at working in this greenhouse because I really love tomatoes so I take a lot of time over them! Boyfriend thinks I'm strange because I talk to myself in this greenhouse but I'm talking to the tomatoes. I'm not sure if the understand English so I have to speak to them in Japanese.

Practice is practice right? 

Day off! Didn't go out because I have read in and nanowrimo to catch up on and Boyfriend has the new pokémon game. We're going for a bike ride later though!

Photos of me taken by Boyfriend with my phone's camera. I was actually surprised by how good they turned out! 

Also, that day Boyfriend became Finacé (I went to special trouble to copy and paste that é this one time). Doing farm work at the moment so the ring is now on a chain (you can't see it in this photo if you scroll down you can just about see it on some other pictures. It's with the St. Christopher my parents got me before I left). This picture was taken about 10 minutes afterwards. You can't really tell but the sun was setting and there was a river too....

Please ignore this news until we come back in May. We're also waiting until 27th to social media so please refrain from social media-ing until then. 27/11 is our 5th Anniversary (also, and more importantly Mother's birthday).

Continuing on!

Today we were doing something different! We got to help with the rice harvest! It was a lot of fun because we were doing a really boring task and then Fumiko said 'Go to the big greenhouse!' like there was a huge rush.

We got to ride in the back of the truck there and then ontop of the harvest in the back of the truck on the way back.

The harvest had been done by machine earlier so all we had to do was pick up the big bundles where they had been deposited and put them in the back of the truck as the truck drove slowly. I think we're doing that tomorrow as well if the weather is good.

It turned out that we had actually abandoned a job we were supposed to have finished in our haste and Grandmother had to clean up after us... I didn't even think of that so I felt bad but she didn't seem too upset...

Half a picture of Rin! Rin is actually called Lin and is from Taiwan, she's travelling in Japan for a year and will be in Inashiki one week longer than us. Her family are pretty worried about her travelling alone in Japan as a female but her Japanese is good and she works very hard so I think she'll be fine!

She's also called 'Kisama - chan' because when she first emailed Rika and Mitsuru she said 'I'm looking forward to meeting you!'' and used 'kisama' as the word for 'you'. This is perfectly correct and she used the correct kanji as well, unfortunately it's a pronoun usually used by 'rough' individuals and in anime subtitles I've sometimes seen it translated as 'bastard'. It's funny to find it at the end of a polite and formal email!

Today we also got to learn about how to clean a katana properly. It has to be done every 6 months. You use a special oil that they used back in the Kamakura era, you clean the oil off and then use a tool that's lollypop shaped with a round sponge at the end to add something like baby powder that absorbs the oil, wipe it off and oil it again. Then you can put it back in its case.

Mitsuru has two swords, one was much lighter than the other. Myself and Rin were really surprised at how heavy the full size one was because in movies they handle swords so quickly and they make them look light...

Apparently it's not a lie that a first rate sword (大業物/おおわざもの) can split a bullet in half with its edge, if you hit the side of the sword with a bullet it would do a lot of damage though because the side of the sword is quite weak.

Today we spread something over the ground in the large greenhouse. It was really rainy today so we could only do the large greenhouse because it has a covered area. 

The stuff smelt like marmite and now everything I wore today smells like marmite... I'm also a marmite hater. 

Finally we come to today's photos!

Okay, so that last one is actually from yesterday. The first photo is of mushrooms I found in the large greenhouse. They're really cute and wobbly! If you poke them they wobble around and I accidentally poked a few of the caps off of them. The second photo shows a field that was completely dry two days ago, it's now flooded. Today was really rainy and wet.... We walked to the post office today and my trousers were all damp when we got back.

Finally, the photos of photos are some of the photographs in our room. They're pictures of Grandmother and Grandfather when Grandfather recieved his Order of the Sacred Heart. Fiance did some research and found out it was a government medal given for recognition of research into business, e-commerce, industry etc. I don't have the vocabulary to ask about it and even if I did, would it be weird to ask about it? It's not like it came up in conversation but I guess the pictures are in our room.

More big news! Yesterday I finally caught up with Nanowrimo! I've actually been behind schedule since I took Novermber 9th and 10th off which was pretty much our first two days in Ibaraki. It's strange to think that was so long ago and now I've only just caught up with that.... I actually don't like my novel very much at the moment. The one I wrote for 2011 was much better written and more compelling, I ran out of steam pretty early for this one but I'm almost at the end so I feel as though I can't give up now! A lot of the times I've felt like giving up so that I would have more time in the day to do other things but Finace has stopped me giving up completely and now I've nearly finished! It's pretty exciting!

See you next week! This Saturday we're leaving Ibaraki and heading to Hiroshima so hopefully the pictures will be more intriguing! As last week, if you want updates as I post them please follow me on G+! 

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Week 2 in Japan

So, unlike last week nothing has really happened! We've had a few drinking parties to meet friends of the family here but otherwise we've been working on the farm cutting eggplant and boring things like this!

Yesterday (13/11) we went to Sawarda after work. I didn't really understand what we were doing there ( all we were told was 'we're going for a drive!' ) but in the end it was pretty fun! The area we went to was full of old looking buildings.

The leaflet says that Sawarda was recognised officially as a distinct area 300 years ago by the Tokugawa Shogunate, the new merchant class then self governed the area. Most of the buildings along the Ono river (which you can see in the picture) were storehouses which then took goods to Tokyo/Edo by boat. The area grew really prosperous which led to 'Sawara Culture' of trying to outdo Tokyo/Edo culturally.

One of the places we visited was the house of Inoh Tadataka who wanted to measure the size of the earth. He created the first accurate map of Japan by travelling on foot for 15 years around the country. He started from his house and the monument here translates to 'From this first step'.

Tadataka's house was really dark and plain, the person that took us, and the person who owns the farm said that when he was younger he lived in a house like that and he really hated it because it was so dark. 

This was only a small part of Sawara, if I can muster the energy on my next day off I'd like to go back again and see the rest!

Also, fun fact:

Hokkaido was called Ezochi in the Edo period!

江戸時代に北海道は 蝦夷地と言う。

This is the view from the smaller greenhouse around lunchtime. I thought it was warm in the UK! It's snowing in Hokkaido and amazingly sunny here. 

That's what I said but it's pretty cold here in the evening since we're in a traditional Japanese house. We're still going to bed early because it's warmer to do that! Also, it's nice getting 8 hours sleep! Since I haven't done that since university it's strange...

Day off in Sawara! Not much going on but there's lots of nice views and it's very sunny today! Boyfriend thought it would be cold so we're both wearing lots of layers! 

The above are Google 'Auto-Awesome' photos. We visited the shrine and walked around there. There was lots of empty coffee cans which we picked up and put in the bin. Later on I wanted to walk back to the farm from the station but we only got so far before one of the friends of the family pulled over and offered us a lift! Boyfriend thinks that this was our thanks from the god of the shrine. Probably not but it was pretty good luck for him! (I still wanted to walk)

Attempt to take photo of food. I don't think I'll do it again... It was yummy and looking at it now makes me hungry. We went to Denny's for lunch although despite what you might expect I don't think they sold a single hamburger! We've been eating lots of Japanese food so it was nice to have something we recognised from the menu! Saying that, all the food had a Japanese twist. This is my dessert (not a main meal) and the ice cream is green tea flavour and it has sweet red beans from Hokkaido as the side topping.

I also found this at the drugstore... These are Sailor Moon branded sanitary towels? I've since been informed that it's not uncommon for girls who grew up in the 90s to call their menstrual days 'Sailor Moon's visiting day' so rather than this being a random campaign it's a company picking up on trends. Still a little strange... The towels have little moons and starts printed on them and they come in different sizes and with or without wings! They're actually a full range.

In other news Dia from The TaxPayers' Alliance will be on BBC Question Time this week so you should watch it and be amazed at the TPA's awesome stance on everything. I'm also physically incapable of staying away from the new website now that it's launched.... So far I have not logged into the admin console but I now have a page in my notepad called 'Things to add to the website to make it more awesome!'

Also. Finally hit 25,000 words on my novel for National Novel Writing Month. I took 2 days in a row off so I'm actually behind but I'm slowly catching up to where I should be.

As last week, if you want updates as I post them please follow me on G+ unless you only want to see my pretty photos (none this week!) which you can find on Tumblr (along with other pretty reblogged things) .

See you next week! 

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A Week in Japan

I've actually been updating Google Plus with everything but I didn't realise that you can't go back and change which circles can see which.

So. Boyfriend and I are on a 6 month tour of Japan with a working holiday visa. You can read some of his updates from before the trip here. He's also been keeping a video diary on his facebook page with some 1 minute videos from places we've been, I'll ask if he can put them on youtube so we can have everything together!

JOURNEY

The flight from Heathrow to Narita was about 10 hours and 30 minutes. Here are updates from the journey!

Somehow we made it into Japan and navigated around the airport to the post office in the other terminal so we could pick up pocket WiFi. As you can tell by this update, it's working!

Here's a picture of a giraffe Heathrow side. Boyfriend kindly got in the picture to fill the weird gap. You can ignore him, focus on the giraffe. It was cool.

Boyfriend and I have a habit of pulling funny faces in the camera. It might just be my habit that I've dragged him into actually. I feel that I look strange when I smile? I don't know.

The flight attendant really liked the earmuff/headphones Mother bought me before we left. She thought I made them myself. I'm not that cool...

I emailed work people to say I got here safely and got a load of replies about potatoes! It's going to be a month or two before I see any of those though... Maybe I'll just ship them one to keep them satisfied?

3 DAYS IN TOKYO

When we got to Narita we took the Express Train into Tokyo, at the moment you can get a discount if you're foreign and you show your passport. We didn't know that but one of the station attendants told us it was cheaper if we bought it at the desk and they gave us a pamphlet explaining it. It's only going from the airport though, not the other way around!

Food, food, food from Japan.

First is Melon Soda which I think is pretty normal but each time I bring some back from the Japan Centre or flick through pictures people go 'What on earth is that?!' Mostly because it's radioactive green? It tastes good though!

Second are Sweet Potato sweets and cake that were being sold at a stall in the underground. I might have mentioned that went I left the UK more than one person demanded Japanese potatoes as a present, not believing that they were really a thing. It's a little early to buy presents for home but here is the proof that such things exist!

The theme is 'Pretty Things From Today'.

The green pictures are from Kyu Shiba Rikyu Gardens which is a national garden that has been recreated to resemble what it looking like during Edo Tokyo. I don't remember who the garden belonged to but it was a high ranking person in the Tokugawa Shogunate.

I'm proud of those photos because I played with the setting available on my phone camera and I think the result is pretty nice! I didn't even edit these photos because I just like looking at them and thinking: "Hey! I did pretty well with those!"

The last photo is from a brand called 'Gelato Pique' which I like. They mostly do home ware and AMAZING pajamas that I would never wear because they're too fuzzy / soft / easily stain-able. They're pajamas and not loungewear which makes them unsuited to someone who doesn't get dressed on Saturdays.

In the bottom corner of that photo you can see the 'Gelato Pique Cafe' where we had coffee today. It was a really sweet / cute place! Even the staff uniforms were put together and neat (by the way, in the main store the staff wear their own brand to work = pajamas). The cafe and the store were facing each other and I was amazed at how much the two stores were alike in theme and atmosphere yet sold completely different goods. 

Boyfriend was excited about visiting the Pokemon Centre today which was a lot of fun but when we were in Shibuya I realised I had a few things on my map to do in the area.

We only managed one in the end; the One Piece store on the 6th floor of the Parco building. They had some REALLY cool stuff but in the end I settled for a photo booth sticker with Matthew. We were TERRIBLE in the photo booth, as it was printing it cycled through the photos of people who had done it before us and it was obvious we didn't know what we were doing....

Here's a picture of Boyfriend with Luffy and Chopper. Why is he in the picture and not me? He's not supposed to be in the picture at all, that's why. He photo bombed and got kinda into the posing so I felt that I had to include him as well....

Yesterday we went to 'Sunshine City' in Ikebukuro. One of the things on my 'to-do' list was visit J-World which is where there are lots of Shonnen Jump related activities.

We went on a weekday so the rides weren't all open but there was still lots to do. There were quite a few people there because there are prizes and special goods that you can only buy here and themed goods in the cafe that are only available for a limited time.

The crowds were 90% female! I think there were 2 unaccompanied Japanese males and some foreign males but the majority of the males were accompanied by a girlfriend!

FIRST WEEK IN IBARAKI

So now we're doing our first WWOOF on a farm in Ikabaraki on Itabashi Farm. I'm super happy because I can speak lots of Japanese and I finally get to experience living in a Japanese style house. It's pretty cold!
I'll update about that next week. We're going to be here for 3 weeks so I have to save something for later!

We work 0830 to 1130 and then 1330 to 1600 Monday to Saturday. It's pretty easy work and it goes quickly! There are two other WWOOFers here apart from ourselves although one is leaving tomorrow and everyone is very friendly!

Today we are in Inashiki. It took us 2 hours to get here from Tokyo. The work sounds like it will be relaxing and give us lots of free time. We've only been here for half a day but it's going well so far!

***

Sunday was our 'day off' even though we haven't had any 'days on' yet! We went to Narita for no particular reason. There's a famous old shopping street called Omotesando which we spent most of our time walking up and down.

There was also a festival going on although most of the activities started in the evening during the day there was a 'Yuzu-chara' festival which included lots of mascots from different places. I really liked Sanomaru from Sano in Tochigi.

The festival was held on the save day as 3-5-7 Day where all the 3/5/7 year olds get dressed up and blessed at the temple so there were plenty of little people running around. We walked through the temple and through the 'peace gardens' at the back. We did a lot of walking! We were really tired afterwards!

Yesterday we visited a sake brewery. I was trying to follow the Japanese conversation rather than the explanations so I don't remember much of it but the smell was amazing! The sake is made from water and a special variety of rice that is difficult to grow.

The water is drawn from the well in the photo and the rice is grown in the fields behind the brewery. The process takes a long time but I've forgotten how long, I think it's a minimum of 8 months but the fermentation is the longest part. The room the culture is added to the rice and fermentation happens in is kept at 30 degrees.

The other photo is the final stage in brewing. The liquid has to be kept constantly in motion or it would explode over the size of the container the same way bread does when you proof it (or my bread does because I forget about it and leave it for too long). Now there's a machine to do this but I took the photo as a check was taking place, before machinery this had to be done by hand 24 hours a day.

Please excuse the pretty terrible photos; I didn't have much time to adjust my camera settings!

OTHER PHOTOS

These photos have yet to go on G+ because I've nicked them from Boyfriend today. They're photos of me because my family has complained that I'm not in any of the photos. Two from our day out last Sunday and one from today because Tobi is leaving today to go on other adventures so starting tomorrow it's just myself, Boyfriend and Rin. Possibly more on Rin next week?

I've now realised that there aren't any dates on these posts. Can you live with that? From now on I'll try harder to be better at this blogging thing. I guess I'll just learn a little at a time!

So if you want updates as I post them please follow me on G+ (which I am using specifically because nobody uses it and who wants all this on facebook?) unless you only want to see my pretty photos (which I haven't posted here) which you can find on Tumblr (along with other pretty reblogged things) .

See you next week!

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