KYOTO by Shinkansen

KYOTO

Weekly Mansion

We're staying at a weekly mansion. It has been good, but a mansion? It is 50 square metres in size, large by Japanese standards. Our mansion is on the tenth floor of a high-rise apartment block, we have a nice view of the city and a clock beaming its' time though our paperdoors. Although the door is made of paper, the frame is made of wood, a danger for Mark's forehead. We were rather amused when we discovered we had 4 plastic forks, 4 spoons and 8 sets of chopsticks, but no dinner knives. We do, however, have one extremely sharp chopping knife. Ouch. Being foreigners we have the luxury of western beds with Japanese bedding. As I peer into my neighbour's mansion I see that they are setting up their futons for the night. A futon in a tatami room.


 

"Sumimasen"

"Sumimasen".. (said with a lilting tone) that is the most useful word I know. .. "excuse me". I have mastered that one and .."good morning". Yesterday I said good morning, ohayo gozaimus at 6pm. No wonder the lady passing gave me that querying look of foreigner awareness. As to be expected, landing in a foreign country without any language skills and little cultural knowledge is a testing experience on one's adaptability, patience and acting skills. Somehow though,I get the feeling that no one finds my acting skills very funny, especially my own children. Not to worry, we have managed to eat and eat well, we have a roof over our heads and we have found a way to get money out of the wall. Japan is a cash society, so being caught without money in a foreign land, with or without a credit card is not the best. Where would you go to get money? an ATM ..perhaps..yes..but not a bank ATM. It seems that the only place to get cash here in Japan is at the post office. Post-offices are also shut on Sundays.

Now that I have some money, it is time to go shopping. Shopping is becoming my favourite pastime. You know what they say, when in Rome do as the Romans do. As far as I can tell, Japanese love shopping. And why wouldn't you? There are so many cute things to buy.OK, as advised in Australia, I wont be buying any clothes over here or shoes. I must say, I have never felt so tall, I can see the top of men's heads in the train, not many baldies over here.



Shopping. What to buy?

Where can I start? Food..yes. it has taken a week or so to find something to eat for breakfast. What do the Japanese eat for breakfast? Still not quite sure. Can't see any breakfast cereal anywhere. Mm.. I feel like porridge.. but where is it?? No.. I think we will have to eat eggs on toast. Bread , 4 slices per loaf? Ha? better buy 4 packets of bread.. enough for one day.. ah .and now... I have to carry all this food on my back about a kilometre walk to our apartment. Everyone seems to be travelling by bike with their daily groceries in their front basket. That is pretty cute. Get fit travelling to and from the supermarket. When is my bike arriving??


We are still living out of our aeroplane luggage. We have the bare necessities, but that is it. Our air freight has arrived, all 100kg, but there is nowhere to put it in this apartment. So the relocation agent is holding it until we move to our permanent home next week. ..can't wait to move to our permanent apartment.

PS. I have worked out how to use the rice-cooker. It is fantastic! I must bring one home to Australia.

April in Japan

"They waited for you", was the first thing we heard when we arrived at Nagoya airport, hmm...pardon.. "sakura". They are still out, the 6th of April turned out to be a great day to arrive in Japan, so pretty, warm weather yet crisp mornings and fresh sea air. After boarding the flight from Singapore at Melbourne 4am time, it was no wonder that Oliver landed in Japan with a singapore airlines "spew" bag. (Can't take the country out of the girl) he is fine now and a good sport, no sleep and a suspicious mouthful in singapore is just too much for a 12 year old to bare. The next thing that hit me was the enormous nets all over the place. What are they, bird catching nets? "No, golf practice nets, they are every where, apparently golf costs about $250 to play, the national obsession.

I can't really get over how extremely polite everyone is, bowing left, right and centre. Apparently the shop assistants are saying "welcome", welcome here, welcome there. welcome everwhere.

Our temporary apartment is 15 minutes walk to Nagoya train station, the centre of town. We are walking everwhere and shopping for food, carrying everthing by hand. The locals all seem to get around by bike, with great big baskets on the front and back. Evertime you stop your car here in Nagoya it costs money to park, so a bicycle is a good option. Ours are due in from Australia in a month or so.

Better hit the train station now, got to pick up the kids from school.

ps. does anyone no how to use a Japanese rice cooker?