A Fresh Start

Ah, relaxing at home... it's a good feeling. Outside it's cold and wild, but in here, it's toasty warm. Tom's been working on some new songs for his second album. I've been knitting. I finally made something for myself, a nice blue scarf with a bit of a fancy knit in it. It's really pretty, and not itchy in the slightest. I'm going to unravel the alpaca scarf that was such a mistake, and turn it into something else. It's nice to amuse ourselves with little homely tasks, and after our big trip to Hakuba, we're enjoying being home more than usual.

We finished work on Christmas Eve at 11:10, and did nothing in particular for most of the day on Christmas. I made a couple of phone calls, and we went and had a couple of glasses of wine and nibbles with our lovely friends Kate and Adamo. The next morning we were on the train by 8:30am. We took the local and rapid trains up to Hakuba. It took 10 hours there and 8 hours back. The train rides were beautiful, particularly in the snow storms around Lake Biwa/Hikone, and across the mountain plains of Nagano toward Matsumoto. But it was too long to be on the train for three days of being there, and we were very tired, stiff and cranky for most of the time. It was sad to admit, but I can't take up snowboarding seriously. I just don't have the perseverance, patience or physical resilience to take up that kind of sport. I'm too old. Not really such an uplifting thought for most, but I'm not phased by it. I'm not too old for most things. Just too old to throw myself gleefully down mountains. It's too much like hard work, and I'd rather just go for a walk, look at some cultural properties, or eat some nice food. It's fair enough. I'm not only too old. I'm old enough. Old enough to know when to give up! So, after two days of snowboarding, I gave it a rest on the third day.

I'm really glad I got the opportunity to go up the snow. I realise that not many people from the kind of socio-economic background we're from get to go up the snow. It's really expensive, and it takes a lot of practice to get to be a good skier or snowboarder. I enjoyed being out amongst the trees, and looking at the mountains. When it gets below zero, the moisture comes out of the air, and it doesn't seem to penetrate the clothes the same way. It's nice, and it's conducive to getting a bit of exercise. If I was a toff, I'd be totally into it.

On the way back we dropped in on Matsumoto. The castle was nice, but it was closed for the New Year on our way past. I should have gone on the way up, but I didn't know it was going to do that oh-so-Japanese-thing of closing for three days either side of 1 January. The city itself was a sweet little hamlet, and there is a Yayoi Kusama Museum. I think I might try and make it back to Matsumoto when we come over to Eastern Japan at the end of our time in Japan.

Hakuba and Matsumoto

So, over the next few weeks, we'll begin moving into our new house!

It's, as our friend John so eloquently put it, "on the border between nerdy town and sexy town" in Nihonbashi. Nihonbashi has a main street that is known as "Den Den Town" ("Den" being short for "Denki" which means "electricial energy") - other than Akihabara in Tokyo, Den Den Town is the biggest conglomeration of electrical retailers probably anywhere on earth. It is also filled with purveyors of smutty comics, maid cafés, and little record stores. It's a good neighbourhood for us two, I think.

However, we've been paying rent on two houses for the last month, and it's stretched us right to the limit of our finances, between the snow holiday and the new house, I'm extremely poor. The new house isn't furnished, so I am going to have to find about ¥50000 for furniture next pay, unless we can find a few Sayonara Sales that are offering washers, hoovers, and fridges on the cheap. However, I'm still on target to get the new computer in February, and because the new house is cheaper, we will eventually end up saving money. Nice. Also, the new house is going to be much more convenient than this one for work and for play, and so I expect that we will start getting out and about more. I'm very optimistic about it.

Last night, we went down to Sumiyoshi Shrine and celebrated the New Year in Japanese fashion. Rather than the austere gathering of serious worshippers that I was expecting to find, I was surprised by a group of ridiculously dressed youths, ambling about the shrine en masse. There were stalls bunched up down every walk-way, selling okonomiyaki, takoyaki, sweet bean snacks, toy guns (there were about 5 stalls with the toy guns - I didn't understand it), games of skill (like shooting cans or knocking down pins with a baseball), fake jewelry and what-not... it was like being at The Royal Hobart Show!

Laugh! I almost did...

Japan Guide entry regarding Japanese New Years

The idea of Japanese New Years (Oshogatsu) is quite different to the Australian version. In Japan, New Years Eve is spent cleaning your house, eating a special mochi soup called "ozoni" and buckwheat noodles, and visiting either the shrine or the temple (depending on your favourite flavour), and putting energy into prayer for a good year. The old year and the new year are seen as being totally separate, and one should make preparations on the 31st to ensure that the start of the year is free of worry and stress. It's lovely. I prefer it to the home-brain-surgery-drunkenness version back in Australia. And so, here is my moment to look forward and to look back. Last year we achieved a lot. We started the year by being thrown out of Uncle John's house, we spent those lovely couple of months with Emma and Adrian, we drove back to Tassie, stayed with Sal in her lovely house in South Hobart, moved to Japan, adjusted to our new lives, travelled quite extensively (Himeji, Akame Shiju Hattaki, Matsumoto, Hakuba, Tokyo, Nagoya, Nara, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Okayama) and we're still in a good position to do some more travelling. We're moving forward with our wedding plans, and I'm sure the end product will suit us just beautifully. We'll soon get our new contract at ECC, 2009 is upon us, and I'm thinking this might be a good year.

Goodbye Year of the Rat. Hello Year of the Oxen. Let's get the good times rolling!