The View From My Window

 I came across a Facebook group with this title. It was started during the pandemic as a way for people to share where they are and what they see. Scrolling through this group shows people's views from all over the world. The stories that accompany the photos are just as interesting. One person showed the stairs from the apartment above them, not the most interesting view, but the story that went with it was about their upstairs neighbour who greeted them every day, and how they miss the neighbour who is in the hospital at the moment!

These are the views from my bedroom.

From the back window

I love seeing these azaleas in the morning. They are so bright and cheerful. I'm not a morning person; I don't wake up cheerful and happy to start the day, but opening my curtains to these beautiful flowers has really helped!

From the side window

From here I can see the mountains, so I say good morning to the mountain and ask that it doesn't fall on us!! Again, it's lovely to wake up and see all the green.  

I'm glad that my life is a bit slower than it used to be. I'm still busy, some days are crazy, but I'm getting more time to appreciate the things around me. It's still hard to be in this house, but I'm grateful to have a place to live.

This is the view when I walk into the kitchen/dining room in the morning!

On the table, moaning! I was late feeding them!!!

I've given up trying to keep them off! I use a lot of disinfectant!!

Today I had a close encounter with one of those hornets I was writing about yesterday! I was sitting on my bed, talking to a friend on the phone when I suddenly heard this buzzing sound. I turned and saw a massive hornet trying to get out of the window. I managed to open the window and send it out! I'm trying to figure how it got in! All the windows and doors are closed!!  Gave me a fright!!

Japanese Bugs

 I hate bugs of any kind and size. Even the ones that other people find cute or pretty, such as butterflies or ladybugs, make me shiver.

Japan has many kinds of bugs. For the boys growing up, summer was a time to go and catch things. The most popular are these massive beetles.

Two kinds of beetles are popular, rhinoceros beetles (kabutomushi) and stag beetles (kuwagata). These are sold as pets! 

There are fireflies, which I will admit are rather fascinating, and praying mantis, which I really don't like.

The ones that I really don't like and make me want to move out of Japan are the more dangerous ones.

One of them is the Japanese Giant Hornet (suzumibachi).  These are big, up to 4cm long, with a 6cm wingspan. Their venom is injected through a quarter-inch stinger! Up to 40 people are killed each year by these hornets! More than bear attacks and snake bites combined!

Another one that is poisonous but not as lethal is the Japanese Centipede (mukade). They can grow up to 20 cms long. They like dark, damp areas and are rather quick and nimble.

We have already had a run-in with a couple of centipedes. I found one in the bathroom the other day. It was dead, but still had me screaming for David to move the dead body!

Then Mikey told me that the other night, Steve (our white cat) came to Mikey's bed. By the low night light, Mikey could see something black in Steve's mouth.  Steve jumped on Mikey's bed and dropped a massive centipede on the pillow! Mikey jumped off the bed and saw the centipede dash away under the chairs! I have no idea how Mikey managed to sleep after that!

As the weather warms up, I am sure we will see a lot more of the different insects come out. I have no courage at all when it comes to these creepy crawlies! I try, I get the spray and tell myself I can deal with them but as soon as they move I run away, screaming and shouting for my Mommy. Makes everyone laugh!

At least the beautiful flowers in the garden make up for the insects!

According to Google, this is a Japanese rose

The photo isn't that good, but they are really beautiful flowers.

Today, we found a lily that has just bloomed. I hope there are more!

A pretty lily

Somethings Never Change

 I've come to realize that not having a schedule or being organized in my cleaning routine is a big problem. 

When we moved here, I was determined to keep this house clean. That flew out the window when I learned how cold this house is. The only warm place was my bed.

I don't have that excuse anymore, it's getting rather hot here, today's high will be 29C!!!!

But I'm still struggling with keeping the house clean and tidy. I know having nine cats doesn't help, that I have to constantly sweep and wipe the floors, especially now that they are shedding their winter coats. But two of the biggest problems I have have nothing to do with the cats! 

One is keeping the kitchen sink clean. I keep washing dishes, I get the others to do some as well but there always seems to be more, a lot more! I've always had this problem. I hate that dirty dishes get stacked in the sink. The fact that the sink in this house is massive doesn't help at all. More space, more dirty dishes. 

Another problem is the clean laundry that gets dumped in my room! I don't mind a few things, but the basket for clean laundry is spilling over onto the floor. The laundry then gets covered in dust and needs washing again!

I need to get back to the schedule I had a few years back. The one summer I pushed myself to get up early and do chores. I was doing that because it was so hot during the day, by 8 am it was already 30C. It felt good to have everywhere clean, the dishes washed and put away, laundry done, and rooms swept and wiped down. I could relax during the very hot time and have some energy to teach in the evenings.

Can I do that? Do I really have any choice?  Not if I want a clean house!

I was planning on tidying the sofa, but the cats look so comfortable.

Should I move the cats?

Finding Inspiration

 I've been wondering what to do about my English school. 

I've run an English conversation school for about 33 years. That's how I survived, paid the bills, and managed to save a bit.

Then COVID hit, and students quit. I hoped that after a while we would get new students, but that hasn't happened. The market is overrun by cram schools for kids.  Adults are busy trying to make ends meet, so they don't have the time or money to study English. 

I would love to retire, but I need money. There is so much that needs fixing in this house, and I really want to travel. 

Since moving here, I haven't felt inspired to do anything about our little school. 

Mikey is still teaching kids, and I have a couple of students, but not enough. 

A few things happened this week that have given me some inspiration to try and build up our student base again.

Once a month, Mikey and I teach a volunteer class at one of the community centers. 

This year, 21 adults want to take the lessons.

This shows that there is still an interest in learning English.

Then Hannah showed me a leaflet that was put through her door for an English school near where she lives.  

This shows that other schools are still out there collecting students.

Hannah said that making a leaflet is easy, so I've asked her to do one for me..

I don't think it will be easy to get students, but at least I have to try!

Another thing that inspired me was a video I watched of a lady who opened a small restaurant. The video follows her through the day as she prepares to open her store. 

Her story is rather amazing. She said that she always wanted to open a restaurant but never got around to it. Then her daughter's husband passed away at a young age, the daughter then got breast cancer, and one of the lady's older sisters suddenly passed away.

When these events happened, the lady realized that if she wanted to open a restaurant, she should do it now, as there are no guarantees for the future. So she jumped in and opened a small restaurant. A month later, her area was hit by COVID, and she lost all her customers overnight. A friend suggested making bento boxes instead, so that is what she did. Now her business is thriving, most of the income is from bentos, but she has a few tables in the restaurant as well.

I found her story to be very inspiring. She had a dream and invested in making it happen. I think that is where I've lost the plot. When we moved to the other city, I was determined to have the best English school there, and for a while, I did. But life happened and I lost the plot. Now I need to start again, learn from my mistakes and find a way forward.

I don't think it will be easy, but I am very determined to make a go of this!

Wish me luck!

Mikey teaching at our volunteer class

Definitely Not Cooking Rice

 The price of rice keeps going up. This is from a discount supermarket I go to.

That price is without tax

With tax, it's 4780 yen, about 25 pounds. This time last year, 5 kg was about 2000 yen, about 10 pounds.

This is crazy! We use a lot of rice. Even though I've been cooking more pasta or potatoes, we still have rice-based meals four times a week.

But after yesterday, no more rice for a while! My rice cooker broke! I asked Christopher to make lunch as Mikey and I were out in the morning doing a volunteer class. I planned on curry and rice, which is easy enough to do.

Came back at 12 o'clock to the lovely smell of curry simmering on the stove. I saw that the rice cooker had finished its cycle, opened it up, and found that the rice hadn't cooked.  The rice was warm but not cooked at all. We had curry with bread. It was okay, but not the same!

In the evening, I decided to try and cook the rice again, but had the same results. Also, I noticed that the rice cooker wasn't steaming and didn't get that hot! I ended up cooking the rice on the stovetop. I made a doria with the curry and rice. Doria is a Japanese type of gratin. Usually the rice is topped wth some kind of meat and then a white sauce is put on top. I layer the rice and curry and pour a cheese sauce over the top. It's nice and a good way to use up leftover curry. Also, because the curry soaked into the rice, it covered up the disaster that the rice had become!

I checked how to cook rice on the stove top, it's not that difficult but the only pot that I have is rather small and I'm wondering if I can cook enough rice in it. Also, with a rice cooker, the leftover rice is kept warm to use later. I guess any leftover rice will have to go in the fridge and be warmed up in the microwave later.

I would love to buy a new rice cooker, but all the money we have is going into the house. For me, getting air conditioners in before the summer is more important. I would love to buy 4 air conditioners, but even just one for the main room would help a lot!

So I think we won't be eating rice anytime soon. I'm thinking of trying to make flat breads. I haven't tried that in ages.

Hannah made herself a pizza on Sunday. She even made the base. Looked really good!

Hannah's homemade pizza. 

She had it with hamburgers and salad.

I think I'll have to try that!

Can I make bread? I haven't done that for years, I guess a little experiment over the weekend is in order!

Suffering!

 It's just allergies, but I feel awful!

I woke up at 3 a.m. with my eyes burning and a runny nose. Then, I started sneezing, which went on for almost two hours without a break. 

Of course, this happened on the busiest day of the week for me! Mikey and I do a volunteer class once a month; today was the first class for this year.  So I took my allergy medicine, made sure I had eye drops and a pack of tissues, and went to teach!

The class was full, 21 people came!  For me, it's difficult to teach such a big class but Mikey was in his element. He had them laughing and using English! I enjoy watching Mikey work like that, he really knows how to motivate people, helping them to relax and enjoy the class.

Fortunately, my evening class was canceled, so I can rest a bit and try to get over these allergies. 

I shouldn't complain as this is the first time this year that it's been so bad!  I'm a bit miffed as the weather is really nice and I want to get in the garden. All the weeds I pulled up a couple of weeks ago have returned and bought their friends with them! 

One good thing is that the blueberry bushes are in bloom, so I hope I can get some fruit!

Blueberry bushes in bloom

Idiots Who Visit Japan

Why do people come to Japan?

A lot of tourists come for the traditional culture, the history, or the food. All good reasons to visit Japan, or any other country. To experience something completely different from what you are used to.

I've seen on news programmes and YouTube videos people coming from China to shop, and they really do shop. One report that went viral a few months ago was about Chinese tourists in one of the theme parks here buying out the store without regard for other customers. 

But the reports that make me angry are the idiots who come to Japan with no regard for others, who think it's okay to act as if Japan is their own backdrop to make videos. 

Some of these videos have gone viral, the guy dancing on a train and trying to get some poor high school girl to join in, or the girl doing pull-ups on a tori gate. I get that they are trying to get views but surely there are better ways to do this.

Do these "influencers" have any idea what they are really doing? 

Japanese people are naturally insular, to the point of being xenophobic; we really don't need to show them that foreigners are ignorant and disrespectful.  We should be encouraging international exchange, not reinforcing the idea that foreigners are weird, scary, and should be avoided at all costs!

Japan needs tourists; the country needs the money the tourists bring in.  Unfortunately, tourism is now a dirty word. It's synonymous with overcrowding, disrespect for the country, and bad behavior. I know that the majority of people who visit Japan are well-behaved and try to follow the rules of etiquette and use common sense when visiting the country. But it only takes a few idiots to do things such as scribbling graffiti on national monuments or throwing trash on the ground for the media to paint all foreigners as bad and unwelcome in the country.

As a long-time resident, 34 years now, I feel that the surge of anti-foreigner sentiment is becoming scary. I live in the countryside where there are very few foreigners, so I haven't experienced any real prejudice beyond kids pointing at me! But some of my online friends who live in the bigger cities are saying that it's getting to be a bit scary now. One lady was traveling with her young kids on a train in Tokyo,  in the middle of the day, so not crowded. She was standing next to her kids when a man knocked into her. She thought it was an accident until he actually punched her. Another lady was in a convenience store and was punched by a middle-aged man. She was minding her own business when he came up and punched her. These are just two incidents, but from what I've seen, there are a lot of incidents involving foreigners, especially women, and a lot of this is because of idiots who show no respect for Japan.

When I'm out, especially in the city, I keep to myself, I try to follow the unspoken rules, and blend into the background. But somebody seeing me doesn't know if I'm a tourist or not. The mass media paint all foreigners with the same brush. We are here to destroy Japan!!  

It's sad. It makes me angry when I and other long-time residents, who work and pay taxes, are lumped in with idiots who come here and misbehave. 

I've seen headlines from other countries dealing with over-tourism.  I don't know if there is an answer to this problem. 

One idea is to show case other areas of Japan so tourists are spread out more and not crowding Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. That would deal with the overcrowding but what to do about people who have no respect for the country they are visiting, not just Japan but other countries as well. Can we educate idiots?

Any one who is reading this, if you are thinking of traveling abroad please remember that you represent your country. your actions, both good and bad will reflect on the people who have decided to call the country your are visiting home, so please give a thought to them!