Great Start To The Day

 I got up early this morning. Well, early for a Saturday, 7am.

I did laundry and had breakfast. It took a long time to make toast and boil water as the breaker kept dropping. It looks like I'll have to get that changed before we put in air conditioners.

After messing with that, I was on a roll. Cleaned up, made cookies, put the rice on to cook, went shopping, came back and made a good lunch.  I managed to get some vegetables at a decent price, so I did a couple of different salads!  While I was cooking, I got Christopher to run the vacuum.

I was feeling very pleased with myself.

But after lunch, things went downhill rather fast.

It started with the most awful headache. I took some painkiller, which helped a bit.

I couldn't figure out why the medicine wasn't more effective. The past week, I've had headaches almost every day. My allergies are very bad; the medicine I take for that gives me headaches, plus my sinuses feel heavy. 

But today the painkiller didn't help that much. I tried closing my eyes for a bit, but woke up with my head still pounding.

Turns out the air pressure was very low, about 960 hPa. And now we have a thunderstorm, just writing this I've screamed a couple of times. The lightning is close, a bit scary!

I hope this passes soon. I know that Mama Cat and Fluffy will be hiding somewhere. 

Outside during the storm, you can't see the mountains

The storm has finished, and you can see the mountains again

A Challenge

 A friend sent me a challenge yesterday evening: find seven things to be grateful for in this house, but not the kids or cats!

I thought it would be easy. Seven isn't that many things to find, but it's proved to be a lot harder than I thought!

What I've come up with so far.

I'm actually very grateful to have this house. If we didn't own this house, we would be homeless.

The biggest problem in renting a place in Japan is finding someone who can act as a guarantor, usually two different people or your company. In the past, we always put my mother-in-law and her sister as our guarantors.  They have all passed away now, and I don't know of any other relatives we could ask. The few friends that I have are foreigners, which is allowed, but it would make the whole process more difficult. I think David could use the company he is working for as a guarantor, but I'm not sure!

Also, we have cats. Most rental places don't allow pets! Some older properties allow maybe one or two pets, but not nine cats. Rehoming the cats would be difficult; they would end up in a shelter, which is no life for an animal. Most shelters in this area are kill shelters, even the ones that aren't get to be overcrowded and can't offer a good quality of life to the animals they take in!

This house was always the safety net, if the worst comes to the worst, we can live here. But I never thought it would come to that!

At least we have a roof over our heads! 

Another thing I'm grateful for in being here is that I'm starting to appreciate nature more.

We moved in the dead of winter. The garden was dead and I really wondered if it would come to life again but as the year has moved on the whole area is slowly waking up. Everyday I'm seeing new plants and bushes come into bloom.

Today, there was a very noisy bird outside my window.

This guy was singing his or her heart out.

It flitted from tree to tree, really singing and calling out. I was reading in my room and this was such lovely background music.

A couple of Japanese ladies I follow on YouTube make videos about their slow life in the countryside. They are about my age and are spending time on hobbies and just slowing down to enjoy things more. I watch them to study Japanese, but also because they have such a positive outlook and are really enjoying their lives. I think the idea of a slow life is becoming more appealing for me. Living here is giving more chance to just breath and be!

So that is two out of seven things to be grateful for!

I feel that this house has the potential to be very nice but I need a lot of money to make it how I want it.

When I asked Hannah what was good about this house, she pointed out that the kitchen is very big. It is, but very badly designed.  Having money to redo the kitchen, bathroom, and toilets would go a long way toward feeling better here. 

I have my reading nook, I'm grateful for that space but at the moment it's Mikey's bedroom. 

Once he moves out I want to change the tatami room into a living room.

For me, the tatami room is a wasted space. It's there to be a guest room and for the Buddhist altar. But we don't have the Buddhist altar anymore more and not using one room because you might have guests once or twice a year is a waste. 

I would love to pull up the tatami and put down flooring, but that would be expensive, so I'm looking a putting a covering on the tatami, something that is easy to clean because of the cats. Then, having a nice sofa and moving the TV in there. Yet another project to save for!

Maybe I couldn't find 7 things to be grateful for but today at this moment I'm content to be here. 

The weather is warming up, and there are signs of spring everywhere. 

We aren't homeless or living in danchi (social housing, some are nice, but most are very old, and I've heard that the cockroaches outnumber the residents), which would be awful.

This place has potential, but it will take a lot of money and time to make it really nice. 

I have to stop thinking I'm too old to do things. I need to find a way to make more money and have the life I want.

So I'm grateful for my friend who helped to stop and think about things in a more favorable way. 

I'll see if I can find a few more things to be grateful for. 

Am I Prepared?

 After watching the awful news from Myanmar, I'm wondering how prepared we are as a family for a major disaster.

Japan is home to many natural disasters, with earthquakes and typhoons being the most common.

In my way of thinking, typhoons are easier to cope with. Weather reporting has become very accurate. Typhoons are watched from when they first form, there are tracking simulations so you know if your are going to be in the path of one. As soon as I'm aware of a possible typhoon, I make sure that our yard is clean so there is little chance of debris flying and causing problems. Here, the neighbour's houses are far away, in the last house we were living on top of each other. As much as I was worried about the typhoons, I was more worried that something from our yard would cause damage to the neighbour's house or car! I make sure we have enough water, filling the bathtub to have water for the toilet, to wash with, or for the cats, and for us I would buy bottled water and fill as many flasks as we had. Also, checking that we had food that didn't need to be cooked, and whatever medicines we needed.  These preparations take a couple of days. The hardest part is convincing everyone else that we need to do this. My way of thinking is that if we are prepared and nothing happens, it's okay, but if we aren't prepared and we get hit then it would be awful! Especially if we lose power!

Earthquakes are something else altogether. They hit without warning. Apparently, we had one last night, about an M1, so very slight. I didn't feel it! 

My fear is the megathrust quake that could happen because of the Nankai Trough off the Pacific Coast of Japan. This subduction zone fault line moves about every 100 to 150 years. The last big one was in 1944, then 1946.  Each time, the quake was M8.1. 

People who study earthquakes have said that the possibility of a megathrust in the next thirty years is very high. Last year, an advisory was sent out after there was a large earthquake near the Nankai Trough. The advisory was to let people in the area that would be affected to prepare. Not only are these quakes very large, but because they occur at sea, the possible tsunami would be devastating. One news report I saw said that a tsunami caused by the Nankai Trough could be worse than the March 11, 2011, tsunami.

So, what to do? Panic? I've talked to each one of my kids, and they all say if it happens, it happens, nothing we can do about it! Which is true, sitting around worrying about something you can't control is a waste of time and energy! 

But at the same time, there are things that I feel are important. We live at the foot of a mountain that might be inaccessible if there is a large earthquake, so having three or four days' worth of food is a sensible thing to do. We should be able to take care of ourselves until rescued. Alongside that, a good first aid kit would help, with things like bandages, alcohol, and some kind of painkiller inside.  Any important documents should be copied and kept at hand.

Making a plan of how to contact each other and a meeting point is a good idea. Also, what to do with the cats?

The only big earthquake I've experienced was in 2016. The two big quakes were both at night when we were at home, but after that we talked about where to meet if we were out and decided that the best was to go to Hannah's school. I think we need a new plan!!!!!

These things are always in the back of my mind, but after the Myanmar disaster and the fact that there have been many earthquakes recently I think I should take some action!

There are disaster kits that you can buy, but I always feel they are very expensive. They seem to become more expensive after a major disaster as well. Most items are available at local supermarkets and 100 yen shops. That's where I'm going to start.

The big question is what to do with the cats!  We have enough carrier boxes for them but I'm not sure we could take them all with us if we have to evacuate to a shelter! 

Also, I've seen several apps for disasters. I'm wondering if it's worth downloading them. I'll have a look. I know on the Line app we use there is a disaster mode that allows you to contact people to let them know you are safe.

Another thing that I think is important is my own health and mobility. I was talking to one lady who used to go for long walks, even in the summer heat. She said that her fear was not being able to help herself or others if there was a disaster. I think getting healthy and keeping my mobility would help with that.

Any other ideas?

Totally unrelated photo, just because the cats look cute!

Sam and Steve

Cutting Down On Food Waste

 On thing that drives me crazy is throwing away food, either because something was bought and not used or because I made too much.

Both David and I do food shopping. That's alright but we don't always communicate with each other. For example, at the moment we have too many carrots, there were some in the fridge, David bought some and so did I. So I'm thinking how to use all these carrots before they rot!

Another bad habit of mine is making too much. At the moment there are four people here, on some days only three of us eat lunch or dinner here but I'm still cooking for 5!  On Sunday I made a Japanese meal, oyako donburi (chicken and egg on rice), miso soup and salad. The donburi and rice were finished in one meal but there was a large pot of soup and a dish of salad left over, the problem was I didn't want to use rice the next day, I'm trying to cut down on our rice consumption. So Monday's lunch was a mix of Japanese and Western cuisine.

I made pork patties with chopped green peppers, french fries, salad from the day before and miso soup. Sounds strange but actually worked out!

Monday's mixed lunch

 The pork patties are made from the thin sliced pork I buy. I chopped it into very small pieces, chopped some green peppers, seasoned with salt and pepper and used potato starch to pull the meat together. One good thing about this recipe is that it's very versitile, by changing the seasoning I can make it more Japanese style. It's also very quick to make!

My challenge for this month is to really cut our food bill! I picked up a few vegetables, tin of tuna and a pack of shredded cheese yesterday at one of the cheaper supermarkets, just 15 items came to 3000 yen ( about £15), I actually checked the reciept as it seemed a lot for so few things!  I don't buy anything fancy, not even fruit, unless it's on sale, but 3000 yen for a few staple items is ridiculous!  So it looks like menu planning, making shopping lists and sticking to a tighter budget!  

How are you dealing with high grocery prices?

Any tips or ideas?

Let me know in the comments!!!!

Five Months

 April marks five months since we moved to this house!

I still don't like it much. It's still far too cold, even with the weather warming up outside, the house is still cold and dark. 

Also. we've been finding a lot of probelms. The kitchen sink constantly stinks, smells like damp laundry. I've cleaned out the sink and poured liters of bleach down the drain but the smell comes back. I have no idea why this is happening. The cupboards underneath smell strange as well, I've cleaned them and put baking soda inside but there is still a strange smell. I need more storage in the kitchen, a built in pantry would be wonderful but the space is so badly designed that there's no space. I've thought about buying a tall stand alone cupboard but the room is already dark and putting something like that would make it feel cramped and darker. I dream of having the kitchen riped out and a new one installed but that would take money that we don't have!

Another problem is the bathroom, it's too big, with a massive window and an external door. It's always cold, even running the water for ages before getting into the shower doesn't warm up the area. I have a small heater in the changing area, which helps, a bit, but the electric bill is sky high!

In my bedroom and David's the floor feels spongy. I wonder if the foundation is okay, we need a profesional to come and look at it but again costs money! 

The only time I've felt happy in the past five months are on the days I get to go out! I don't feel like I'm going home, just to "that house!".  It's sad that I don't feel like I have a home, just a place to survive in!

The garden is nice and could be made a lot nicer but as I said in my last post the weather has not been cooperating! I hope we can get some done this month. I'm not sure how accurate the monthly forecast is but it looks like it will get a bit warmer over the next couple of weeks. I have to get some done! I'm determined to grow some vegetables.

A few of the trees still in bloom.

March

 I was hoping that March would be a good month.

I was hoping the weather would be nice, not so cold!

But March came in like a lion, a very wet, cold lion! And it's leaving like a soggy, cold lion.

We had a few days of lovely weather, it actually got very warm for about a week, up to low 20Cs. Now it's back to cold weather, I'm sitting with the heater blasting at the moment!

I really wanted to clear part of this garden and get planting. Unfortunately our schedules and the weather didn't match up. On the nice days, everyone had work, on the rainy days we had free time!  We did a bit, but not enough.  

I'm getting used to going to the other city to teach. I only have to go two or three times a week. I'm hoping that we can get more students in April!  We need the money! I know that is a bad motivation, I should be thinking about how we can help people with their English study, helping kids in school, or adults who need English for work. But we are broke! So a few new students would really help!

The highlight of March was Hannah's graduation!

She worked very hard during the past four years to graduate. She got the top mark on her thesis. She learned a lot about herself and what she can do. The course she took was in education, focusing on elementary school education and special needs education. She is now a licensed teacher for elementary school and special needs school.  During the teacher training, she realized that being an elementary school teacher wasn't for her. In Japan elementary school teachers are moved from grade to grade, so one year you might be teaching first grade, the next year sixth grade. The changes are made during the two-week spring break, and teachers have about a week to prepare for the new school year. It's really hard on the teachers! Also, the curriculum is constantly being revised, and new subjects are being added. Plus, the demands made on the teachers' time are ridiculous; most teachers arrive at school at 7:30 am and don't leave until 8 or 9pm. In addition to working all day teachers have to work as social workers, which they aren't trained for. When Hannah saw the reality of this, she decided that, for her, doing another 3 years of study to get a junior high school license would be best. Her graduate course is divided into two parts, one is graduate study plus university study to get a license to be a junior high school English teacher. She is already researching her thesis! April 2nd is her entrance ceremony!  I think she's really excited about this course. She thinks part of it will be studying English literature. I think I would enjoy that course!

Hannah's graduation

April, I wonder what this month will bring?!

I'm hoping for warm weather. A chance to get the garden sorted and to do some spring cleaning. 

We will see!

New Start

 Hannah just sent me her schedule for next week! Her Entrance Ceremony for graduate school will be on April 2nd! A lot earlier than I thought it would be!

I've often wondered why April is the start of the school year, also the start for many people leaving university and starting work! I had all these poetic ideas. 

I thought that because April is the beginning of the growing season, when new shoots are coming up, cherry blossoms are still in bloom, the weather is getting warmer, and it feels as if the whole earth is coming alive again after winter's slumber. People want to get out and start new things, so beginning school at that time feels more natural.  

I loved that school started in April when my kids were in school, especially from junior high school, as I had to get up early to make obento. It was easier to get up early as the mornings grew warmer and lighter. By the time the mornings were cold again, I was already in the habit of waking up!

So why April?

Money, of course!

The early educational institutes were temple or shrine-run schools that accepted students year-round. After the Meiji Restoration (1868 to 1889), schools moved to having students enter in September.

The shift to April came in 1886. This was when the government fixed the financial year; one reason was to do with rice farmers. They harvest the rice in autumn, figure out their finances during the winter and are ready to pay tax in spring. Having the fiscal year end in March and start again in April made it easier for them.

This made it more difficult to fund and manage schools that had a different schedule. The government ordered "higher normal schools", a kind of historical teaching college, to change to April start. This trend then spread to other schools!

So, April 2nd will start Hannah's new adventure!

Starting university in 2021

Graduating in 2025

Just This And That

 I have a hard time thinking of catchy titles for my posts! I know what I want to write, but thinking of a title is hard. That's why this post is Just This And That!

Yesterday, I had to buy allergy medicine. I asked David, but he wasn't sure which one I use. I could have looked online and sent him a photo, but I decided to go out! Sounds so simple, just a 5-minute drive to the drug store, get the medicine, and be home to make lunch!

I got distracted! 

March and April are moving months.  Some companies still move staff from place to place every year or so. This means packing up everything and moving. As I know from experience moving time is a great chance to get rid of things that aren't used or not needed.  People buy furniture that fits in one house but maybe not right for the next place.  If stuff is old, then you have to pay to have it taken to the trash place, but if it's still in good shape, then recyle shops will take it. You might even get a bit of money!

So this time of year recyle shops are full. 

On the way to the drug store is a big recyle shop, I'm still looking for good storage for the kitchen. David and I went in to have a look round, there were some nice things but nothing that would fit in my kitchen. David suggested going to another shop, again lots of nice things but not what I wanted!

We then realised that it was almost midday! And I sill hadn't bought the allergy medicine. Two hours of just wandering around!  

We went to a store that sells groceries as well as medicine, we needed a few things.  Managed to get what we needed, by that time I was really dizzy. I hadn't eaten since about 6am, I think my blood sugar dropped very low. I left David to pay and went to the car!

One thing that made me sad was that there were no cherry blossoms. I thought they had all been blown down by the awful storm we had on Wednesday and Thursday. Today we went shopping in the opposite direction, into the countryside. There were a lot of cherry blossoms! I was happy to see them.

Lots of lovely cherry blossoms

But at the same time, the tree pollen is very bad.

Pollen from the trees

What looks like smoke is actually pollen. No wonder I'm sneezing and my eyes are burning!!

Natural Disasters

 Japan is a country of natural disasters.

There are many earthquakes almost every day; most are too small to feel, but sometimes there are bigger ones. Then there are volcanoes that are active; they just smolder away, occasionally erupting, so we don't forget about them. Of course, some earthquakes trigger tsunamis!

Then there are the weather disasters, typhoons, which used to be at the end of August and September but are getting earlier and earlier. Rains that cause floods and landslides are getting more common. And thunderstorms that shake the house are more normal than they used to be. Last week we had tornado warnings for this area!

I was always grateful that out of all the natural disasters Japan has, wild fires are few and far between. I actually don't remember any in the past 30 years, although I'm sure there have been some.

The summers here are very humid, and I think this stops wildfires from forming. That's just my theory! But between February and April, the land is a bit drier, and the possibility of wildfires is higher. This year has seen quite a few fires!

I was shocked at the size of one wildfire. Thousands of firefighters were bought in to tackle the blaze. Many people had to be evacuated. There was one death reported. 

Another country that I don't associate with wildfires is Korea, but they are battling a massive fire at the moment, too. That fire killed at least 26 people, destroyed homes, and even a 1000-year-old temple.  

I'm saddened by these disasters. Life is hard enough for most people but having to recover from such disasters is hard.  As I wrote on the blog about March 11th earthquake and tsunami, I don't know how people recover from these disasters. 

This post has gotten a bit heavy. Sorry, but these news stories were on my mind.

Just to finish on a lighter note, this was our dinner last night!

Butadon (pork meat) and miso soup

We were eating when David asked what I had written on my blog (he saw me writing earlier). I told them, David and Christopher, about the mouse in the miso soup. Let's just say they both checked their soup very carefully. Me? I was wondering if I had any toy mice lying around....ideas!!!!

Extra Protein In Miso Soup

 I came across an article the other day about a very popular chain restaurant in Japan. This restaurant has over 2000 stores throughout Japan.  The main dish is gyudon, beef cooked in a mildly sweet sauce, flavored by soy sauce and mirin (Japanese sweet sake), served over a bowl of rice. It's a simple dish that is very comforting! 

gyudon and miso soup, I think this is from Hannah's university cafe.

The article was about an incident that happened in January. Apparently, a customer ordered a breakfast set that included miso soup. When the meal arrived, the customer noticed a dead mouse in the soup. Not exactly the best way to start the day.  The customer altered the staff and posted a negative comment on the store's web page. The customer also informed the headquarters of the company and the city's health department!

The company removed the negative comment and didn't say anything about the incident until now! The company apologized and said that the store was closed for a few days to check for cracks where mice might come in! The staff were told to check for unwanted things in the food!  

The image that many people have of Japan is one of a very clean country. Which is true in many ways, there is litter in the streets but not to the extent I've seen in England. Where we live, there is a small problem of people throwing trash on the fields, but not too bad. 

But hygiene in Japan is another thing altogether, at least in my experience.

The incident with the mouse in the miso soup is disgusting, but one factor that was offered as a reason is staff shortages in those types of restaurants; in some places, one staff member is doing the job of two or three people, therefore, rushing to get things done and not noticing things!

One of the worst incidents I've experienced was not in food service but in health care. 

One dentist that I used was short-staffed. There was no receptionist, so when you went in, you called out hello, and the doctor or nurse would acknowledge you. After you were in the chair they would ask your name and get your file. Because of this system, the door between the waiting room and the treatment room was open.  As usual in Japan, the dental chairs were lined up,  with no privacy. At the end of the waiting room was a toilet stall, and the sink was outside. One time when I was waiting, the dental nurse excused herself to the patient she was working on. Went to the toilet, with her latex gloves on, rinsed her hands in cold water, still wearing her gloves, shook off the excess water and went back to the patient, putting her fingers in his mouth. I walked out! I was so disgusted. I never went back to that dentist.

After this incident, I became very aware of the lack of hygiene standards in Japan.

Until the pandemic, food cooked on site in supermarkets, usually fried foods, were displayed without any coverings. A few times I've told staff that the food needed to be removed because somebody had sneezed or coughed over it. The staff would look at me as if I were crazy!

I've read stories of food poisoning because staff at restaurants used the same cutting board for vegetables after chopping meat on it! At home, I'm very particular about this practice. I have three boards and never use the same one for meat and vegetables. My boards get bleached, after which I pour boiling water over them.

I feel so sorry for the customer who was served a dead mouse. I'm glad that he or she reported it, I hope that something can come from it, that restaurants can start to think more about staffing and training staff. 

The dentist that I wrote about is still open; that is scary. I should have reported him but this was many years ago, before phones with cameras so it would of been my word against his!

Coloring And Japanese Number Puzzles

 I thought that having a lot to read would keep me occupied while I waited for Mikey, but there is only so much I can read in one sitting.  I love reading and can easily get through one or two books a week, but I felt I needed something different to do. 

I thought about knitting or crocheting, but wool is difficult to find; there's a knitting boom at the moment!

So what else can I do as I sit and wait while Mikey teaches?  No wi-fi at the community center, so I can't do anything online. I thought about downloading videos from YouTube, but my headphones are broken. 

A stroll through Diaso, the 100 yen shop, gave me a couple of ideas! 

One is coloring. There are these lovely books for adult coloring. I chose one that seemed easy to do, just pictures of flowers. I was amazed at how absorbing it is. I haven't really colored since I was in elementary school and thought the idea of coloring rather childish.  But making the pictures come to life is a lot harder and requires more concentration than I thought it would.  I only do a few minutes at a time because my back starts to hurt but I'm really enjoying it.

The other book I found was a Japanese number puzzle book. Actually, this was Christopher's idea!  You have to figure out where the numbers go to complete a grid. The catch is not repeating the numbers in the small grid and not repeating them horizontally or vertically on the page. Rather challenging but fun, I was rather surprised the other day, I got so into it that 45 minutes passed without me realizing!

My coloring and puzzle book

Also, I try to walk around the gym if it isn't being used, I can do up to 3000 steps, it takes two or three times to get that many. It helps with my knee and hip, if I'm just sitting for the whole 3 or 4 hours I get very stiff!

I'm on the look out for more portable hobbies, but am very happy with what I'm doing now!

Cherry Blossoms

 According to the Japan Weather Association, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom where we live. Today is the start of the full bloom and the start of Hanami, cherry blossom viewing.

I haven't been to a hanami picnic in many years. When the kids were little, we would try to go somewhere with a picnic to see the cherry blossoms and enjoy a nice family time. Most years, we found it difficult to find a place to set up a picnic, and when we did, the time would sometimes be ruined by drunken elderly gentlemen!  After a few years, we gave up. My idea of sitting under the cherry trees, enjoying a quiet family time, versus the reality of having someone come up and yell at me, "Hello, hello," or just acting obnoxious because they were drunk, left me with a bad taste in my mouth for cherry blossom viewing. 

The last place we lived arranged a cherry blossom party every other year (until the pandemic). That was nice. The community leader would order obentos, and even if you couldn't attend, the obento would be delivered to you! We went a few times! It was a good chance to meet the neighbors!

For me, seeing the cherry blossoms means that it really is spring! 

This year we've had a few false starts to spring. A few days of lovely warm weather followed by winter temperatures again.  Today it's nice and warm, the high will be 24 °C, which is very warm for this time of year!  It's usually in the mid-teens!

I've been trying to get out in the garden, just pulling weeds and sweeping up dead leaves. I can't do much but at least 15 minutes everyday, it all helps! 

We have a few trees that are still blossoming. Not sure what, this is part of the learning curve!

beautiful camillias

Maybe azaleas, but I think it's too early!

Some other blossoms

being watched by the cats

The tape on the screen is to stop the cats from opening it. We will have to find a better way to fix this problem, but for now, it's alright!

Japanese Are So Polite

 Or are they?

The idea that the Japanese are very polite often comes up on some of my Facebook groups. Tourists who spend a few weeks here see Japan and the Japanese as examples of how societies should work. There's this idea that all Japanese have wonderful manners, that services in hotels, restaurants and shops are always top notch and that Japan is a country where nothing bad ever happens!

I will admit that I've seen more polite behavior than impolite behavior. In most stores, you are greeted by staff shouting "Irrasshimase", which basically means "Welcome".  At checkout out you are asked if you need a bag or if you have a store card. The tone of language is usually formal and polite, and the staff will smile, even if you are the last customer of the day and all they want to do is go home. This is standard and part of the training for the staff. In my 34 years here, I've never been shouted at by staff or told to hurry up because the store is closing.  In restaurants the wait staff are polite and are willing to answer questions, they are clean, not chewing gum or leaning on the table, both of which I experienced in England!

But what about other people?  People who aren't being paid to put up with customers.  That's a whole other story.

In the news over the past few years, there have been more and more stories of kasuhara, customer harassment. Customers who refuse to leave the store even though it's closed. Resorting to violence and threatening to sue individual staff members. I thought this was just in the bigger cities, but I've noticed that even here in the countryside, staff name badges now just say "Staff". Japan has the philosophy that the customer is king, unfortunately, a lot of customers interpret that as meaning "I can do what I want". It's sad to see how bad this has gotten. I'm sure there have been isolated incidents for many years, but it's gotten to the point that in any city, there is enough of this happening to fill up a news segment!

The other thing I hear a lot on Facebook is how well-mannered kids are in Japan.  Again, there is some truth in that, but I've taught some very bad-mannered kids, and I've also encountered some kids and parents who could do with a crash course in manners.

One thing that I've noticed is that kids don't line up their shoes properly in the entrance. In Japan, shoes aren't worn in the house. My husband told me that as a child he was always told to place his shoes together facing the door, so they are easy to step into when leaving. This is especially true when visiting someone. When I first started teaching, all the kids did this, but over the years, fewer and fewer kids were taught this manner. They would race in and leave their shoes thrown about. I would tell them to go and line up their shoes properly. It's a small thing, but it shows that manners in younger kids are getting worse. In my English school, one of the first English words I would teach was please and thank you. If I offered the kids something, they had to say thank you, in English is best (because it's an English class), but even in Japanese, and repeating the English is alright.  Small things like that really help. 

I think that Japan as a whole is a very polite society. It's built into the language, using different forms depending on the hierarchy. I think being bowed to, and smiled at when you are out shopping or in a restaurant is nice and makes life a bit less stressful. But the Japanese are not perfect and painting all Japanese with the same paint brush can lead to disappointment. Japan is a wonderful country, full of exquisite places to visit. The people on the whole are nice and polite, but there will always be someone who got out of bed on the wrong side and couldn't be bothered.

I've had my run-in with very bad-mannered people. I was elbowed in the stomach when I was pregnant with David by an old lady who wanted to get on the bus before me. The driver came to my rescue and told her off!

I've had kids stand in front of my table and just stare at me because I'm a foreigner, their parents not bothering to tell them that they are being rude.

I've even had kids from the local junior high school outside my house at 3am yelling "Gai jin!" (impolite word for foreigner). 

So, yes, things happen, but on a day-to-day basis, things aren't that bad here.

As a foreigner I try to be polite, I don't want to stick out. But at the same time I have no problem saying something if I see people being rude!

One last thing I would like to point out is from Hannah's graduation last week. Children here go through graduation from kindergarten. The ceremonies are basically the same. One thing that is taught is how to receive your diploma. You walk up to the table, and you bow to the teachers and guests. You stand in front of the table, bow to the headteacher, who bows back, you receive your diploma, right hand first, then left hand and bow again. It's all very formal but very beautiful to watch. There is something in this ceremony that teaches the kids the importance of the educational institute and the importance of the education they have received!

Hannah receiving her diploma

Doing A Little Bit In The Garden

 Actually, very little!

I took a before photo, but the after photo looks the same!!

Before

After

Maybe the after photo looks a bit better.

I really wanted to get as many of those weeds out as possible. But after about 20 minutes of bending and crouching, my knee gave out, and my back was screaming at me to stop! I hoped to go tomorrow, but it looks like rain. Good excuse!

While I was out, David made lunch!

He makes his own karage, Japanese fried chicken. He also cooked up some green peppers with tinned tomatoes and served them with avocado! Very nice lunch!

Nice lunch

After lunch, I went upstairs in our storage place. I realized this week that I have very few T-shirts, so I went hunting for the ones I had put in storage! Managed to find a few but after looking at them I think I might have to buy a couple of new ones for summer!

We just had a surprise visit from one of Hisao's friends!  

Why, when people turn up, is the house a mess, not too bad, but not as clean as I would like! I guess that's a hint!! I should clean up more!  

Husband's friend with his wife and their friend!

We sat and talked for a few minutes. That was a nice surprise!

Vernal Equinox Day

 Yesterday was a national holiday in Japan. 

It was Vernal Equinox Day, the day when the night and day are the same length. 

The holiday goes back to ancient times, when the spring equinox was tied to agricultural rituals and crop planting. Later, when Buddhism had a strong influence on society, the day became associated with Higan, a week-long period where people honored their ancestors, usually visiting graves to clean them and offer flowers and incense. The Vernal Equinox became a national holiday in 1948 when Japan secularized a lot of its holidays after World War 2.  For most people, it's a chance to get back to nature.  Where we live, the weather suddenly changed yesterday, from freezing and snow to warm breezes! David said that on the news the last effort of winter to hold on is usually called "General Winter's last march", kind of poetic!

When my kids were little, we watched one of Winne the Pooh's movies, I have no idea which one, but the story centered around having a party on the first day of spring. I thought this was such a lovely idea that for many years we would have a party on this day.  Schools finish for the year at the end of March, so this party was also to celebrate another year in school finished.  Just before starting school in April, we would have another little party to get the new school year off to a good start!

I really miss those days!  When cooking up a few treats made the kids excited, it was so simple! 

I guess this season of graduating and moving on has made me a bit nostalgic for the past!

The photo is from Christopher's birthday. But this would be how we would have parties, lots of good food, and usually a video to watch together. 

Christophers birthday

I'll have to look at my photos to see if I have any from our spring parties!

Wasting time

 Yesterday I was exhausted from my trip to the city for Hannah's graduation. I knew I was going to be tired so I planned a nothing day. I did a few things, but not much. I went to bed at 11pm, thinking I could get a good sleep then today I could do all these chores that are niggling at me. But the cats decided not to cooperate! 

Steve and Alfie were practicing for Britain's Got Talent, and they decided that the acoustics outside my door were the best. 

Steve and Alfie!

And I think Fred and Frodo were preparing for a mixed martial arts competition!

Frodo

And Fred

So this morning I was tired and had no energy to do anything! Another day of resting!

I know that I could of pushed myself to do things but I would end up feeling ill and being rather grumpy!

So two wasted days.

I've also been thinking about the amount of time I spend on social media. I did a quick search, and the average time is two and a half hours a day. I don't think I'm that bad, but I do know that sometimes I start scrolling through Instagram and find that half an hour has gone without me realizing it. 

The other two sites that get me are YouTube and Pinterest. They are so easy to get lost in them. So many interesting ideas, so much information and so much misinformation!  

I'm trying to be more aware of how I spend my time. There are things that I have to do, chores, teaching, and hopefully gardening, if the weather decides to cooperate!  There are things I want to do, reading, studying, baking, and trying some new hobbies. I should focus on those things instead of mindless scrolling through other people's lives. I've realized that I watch a lot of videos of how people are living in Japan. A few ladies who are a similar age to me, living slow lives. They are Japanese, so I watch with subtitles but also try to listen to what they are saying. I can justify it as a way to study Japanese. Other videos are foreigners living in Japan. The foreigner videos seem to have similar themes, setting up an apartment or shopping! I was watching one last night, halfway through I was wondering why am I watching this, I go shopping in Japan every week!! 

So I'm going to be more mindful of how I spend my time. Try to get things done when I don't have to travel to the other city for lessons. We've been in this house since December, and it still doesn't feel like home. As we settle in I'm finding more problems, more things that need to be seen to or fixed. And a lot more cleaning, things that were missed the first time round!  So a lot of work, no more wasting time!!!

Hannah's Graduation

 Yesterday was Hannah's graduation!

Christopher and I traveled to the city by train and then made a mad dash for the bus! I got to practice my speed walking!!

Unfortunately, the weather was bad, very cold, rainy, and windy; it actually snowed later on! 

The bus we got said that the stop was in front of the venue. The bus company's idea of in front of something and mine were very different! I was expecting to see the building and just walk through a parking lot. Instead, we got off at a busy street that was more residential than city buildings. Christopher had his phone, but it was difficult to read the map as the rain was very heavy then. We were dashing from shelter to shelter, trying to figure out which way to go. I was worried about being late. According to the map, it was a six-minute walk from the stop.  I often wonder how they figure out how many minutes it takes to walk from one place to another. I don't think they use a 62-year-old woman with a bad knee as a model for walking speed. It took us more like 15 minutes to get to the building. 

I thought Hannah would already be there, but she was still on a shuttle bus from her university. 

She arrived a few minutes after us. I didn't recognize her at first. With her hair and make-up done and wearing a hakama she looked very different. And very beautiful!

Selfies from Hannah

Hannah's hakama

with me feeling very proud

with Christopher

ribbon on the back of her hair

Waiting to go in

outside the hall

The ceremony started at 10:30. The graduates sat at the front of the auditorium. Parents and guests sat behind.

The banner is the name of the university and the year of graduation

On the left are university staff, on the right (blocked by the lady's head) are special guests.

First they read out how many students were graduating from each department. Then, a representative student was called to collect their diploma.

This is the student who represented Hannah's course.

This took a long time.

Then came the speeches. I tried to focus and understand what was being said, but I was sleepy, rather warm, and comfortable. I kind of dozed off!! I have the excuse that I can't catch all the Japanese, as it tends to be rather formal, but I wonder what excuses other people had?! I noticed a lot of people dozing off during the speeches.

After the main ceremony, Hannah's course and another course were asked to stay behind to receive their diplomas and licenses. Hannah now has a license to teach in elementary school and at a special needs school.

Hannah getting her diploma

With two of her teachers

The sign says about the graduation

I had called Mikey while I was waiting for Hannah to finish. He was kind enough to come and pick us up, which really helped.

We took Hannah to the kimono shop so she could change out of the hakama.  Of course, things didn't go as planned. The building where you change is separate from the kimono shop. You have to take off your shoes to go in. After Hannah changed, she called me. Somebody had taken Hannah's boots by mistake. Staff knew who went into the building at the same time as Hannah, so they could call her. A few minutes later, the girl came back and exchanged boots.  We thought it was rather funny!

After that, we had a quick lunch. Nothing fancy, but we enjoyed it. Hannah said it was nice to eat something that she didn't have to cook. I felt the same way.

At lunch

Nice and simple

After that we dropped Hannah off at her apartment and we made our way back to teach.

The weather got really bad. The rain had turned to snow, and was really coming down! The video doesn't show how bad it was!

We got to the city in time to start our classes. 

We didn't get back home until 10:30 at night, long day!

The course that Hannah graduated from had a party/dinner in the evening.

Hannah sent me loads of photos. I think it was a nice way to say goodbye to friends who had been together for four years!

From her class

With her teacher

selfies again

It was a nice day! Exhausting but wonderful. Happy and sad. On these days like this, I really miss Hisao!

I'm very proud of Hannah. The past four years have seen her grow up so much!  When she started it was at the time of the pandemic. For the first year, most of her classes were online. We didn't know if she would have a real university experience, if all four years would be online or not.  But as we got over the pandemic and things went back to normal, she started having classes and meetings at university. She did her one-month teacher's training. During that time, she realized that as much as she enjoys teaching elementary school children, the workload, the attitude of both parents and kids, and the way new subjects are added to the curriculum, that job wasn't for her. She decided to go to graduate school and get her license to teach at junior high school.  She has managed to work part-time, usually two different jobs at the same time to make money for everything!

In April, she will start her graduate course. She is already thinking about her thesis!  

I'm hoping the next three years will be good for her and she can go on to become an English teacher in junior high school.

I got lucky as my student today canceled her class, so I could rest a bit! I'm glad, as I was so tired last night! According to my fit app I did over 5000 steps yesterday! Good but exhausting!