A fairly delayed blog post re Japan.

Had a great time seeing Jul and Mayumi, and seeing the temples, shrines, parks, towers, etc. Plenty to see in Tokyo and plenty of tasty food.

day 1: a vist to a noodle restuarant followed by a trip to see the blossom. then home to bed as we’d been up for 30 hrs or so.

day 2: the temple and market at Asakusa. it’d rained all day and unfortunately the temple was covered for to repairs

day 3: tokyo tower and nearby temple. lovely day and there seemed to be an event of sorts going on. met up with jul in the afternoon in a park near the fish market. tried traditional green tea – no so tasty. walked back via Ginza.

day 4: early start to get the the fish market for the best action. arrived to find it deserted. apparently drunken tourists had trashed the place and it was closed for a month. went to the folk museum instead. then to yoyogi park to the main buddhist temple and then to Hirajuku for people watching.

day 5: yokohama. pleasant walk along the harbour. got burnt.

day 6: a bento lunch with jul in the national gardens and a spot of reading

day 7: beer museum and park near the imperial palace. trip to bic camera – impressive

day 8: made gyoza under the instruction of Mayumi. Epic taste. Visit to Ghibli museum which was good fun.

day 9: a bit ill. stayed in.

day 10: Kamakura. very nice small village by the sea. loads of surfers.

day 11: bit more ill. visit to docs, followed by stroll round the east imperial palace gardens.

day 12: back to kamakura to see bamboo grove and giant buddha

day 13: hmm, not sure

day 14: chillout day, walked around gotanda area

day 14 + 1: flight cancelled. ate roast chicken in yet another park. taste! afternoon reading on jul’s roof

day 14 + 2: still no flights. visited the national building. good views and guided tour.

day 14 + 3: still no flights. small aquarium near gotanda. good dophin show, but tanks seemed a bit small:-(

day 15 + 4: early phone call from Virgin. panic! rush to airport and flight miraculously took off!

fixing the bibs at the local noodle soup emporium

tourists

rice n pork n egg n cheese

standard procedure

raw beef third stomach?

a tasty drink

baggy trousers

walking in gotanda

warning about resin shoes

a halfwit

a blossom

jul

blossom outside the imperial palace

jul

on the metro

a golden buddha

some drummers

a blossom

one of the parks

a bit more park

Han in the park

japanese maple

a samuari

egg

one of the massive ravens

nice and frothy

a tree

good design

the wandering samuari

a bit of road

this chap spotted me i think

yokohama at night

chestnut rice

tea

an ant

a pond

bento

posing by the robot from Laputa

exercise

a heron

a bamboo shoot

a bamboo forest

me and han

the giant buddha

more trees

the hotel from lost in translation

enjoying the blossom

ramen!

still going bald

taste!

raining in asakusa

bamboo shoots

selecting from the menu

fish

“expert” photographer

tasting a dumpling

a japanese wedding

a deserted fish market

fish at the top of landmark tower

the closest we got to seeing mt fuji

cool dudes

a slackwit tourist

creating gyoza

mmmm tasty

gyoza and dip

airing the toes

kamakura beach

fountain

I’ve also uploaded more photos to picasaweb.google.com/decoyotis/Japan

Stepping out:

Studying the form:

According to the BBC:

On Planet Greece some civil servants get a bonus for turning up to work on time. Foresters get a bonus for working outdoors. At least they show up.

There are civil servants called ghost workers because they never go into the office, head to a second job and still claim a state salary. They can’t get sacked, because a civil service post is for life. Unless the incumbent decides to retire in his or her forties, with a pension.

And the government can continue paying for the afterlife. Unmarried and divorced daughters of civil servants are entitled to collect their dead parents pensions. Another lucrative sinecure is to belong to a state committee. The government has no idea how many there are.

It has been estimated that they have 10,000 employees and cost nearly £200m a year, and that includes the committee to manage a lake that dried up 80 years ago.

Last night as I was about to engage in a prolonged snuggle with my beloved I got a call from my old work, they had called the police and were unable to handle a mental health patient who was weilding a knife and marching round the property.

How, you may ask did I use my quite literally several years experience to ahem, “de-escalate” the situation?

Answer… I promised not to move his favourite chair in the kitchen inflatable combo , correctly identified it as the one on the back left of the table, describing in detail the small brown mark on the top at the back and again, promised not to move it. Inflatable Boat

Job done.

Just another ordinary day in the ordinary life of an underpaid mental health bank support worker/ community recovery worker/ community well being bank worker…

It’s a tough job, but somebo… (you know the rest)

In the beginning:

Halfway

Stop for triple coffee:

The end of the truckle:

Fried rind:

Finished:

Polystyrene tower destined for tip:

Six stare wood store added:

Breakfast the day after: toast, butter and marmalade:

Alternative breakfast: buckwheat groats.