-
Happo-One Ijiruna
The day dawned bright and sunny as expected and so we headed for Happo. I’d almost forgotten that it was New Year’s Eve, but was quickly reminded when I saw the hundreds of people queueing for the gondola. Apparently this is just about the busiest day in the Japanese Snow Calendar and you could tell. […]
-
Snow Time Like The Present
Working at the weekend, combined with a natural laziness imbued during my days of general lethargy at university, has conspired to turn me from the county hockey player I was into the unfit programmer that I am. My shape hasn’t changed, but I still feel out of shape. I’m thankful, therefore, that I found snowboarding […]
-
White And Blue Christmas
I was sitting in McDonalds before listening to a weird techno and drum and bass Christmas medley and couldn’t help thinking Christmas isn’t going to be much fun this year. There’s 100x more snow and cold and generally wintry weather than England here (I found myself in the novel position of having to de-ice my […]
-
Holler At Me
Continuing the conversion of site components that’s been going on, I just finished up another new plugin for WordPress called Holler. It’s a contact form, one or two of which already exist, but is pretty flexible in what it allows you to do. I much prefer a contact form to having my email address publicly […]
-
Hottaimoijiruna
Much is often made of how foreigners mangle English in a variety of amusing ways, so it was funny to find Japanese people attempting to bridge the gap between the languages in some small way. This week, my teacher introduced me to ほったいもいじるな (Hottaimoijiruna), a site (mostly in Japanese) which seems like some kind of […]
-
Now Is The Winter Of My Discontent
Two and a half months ago I was complaining that I was too hot and didn’t have an air-conditioner. Then, you couldn’t blink without breaking into a sweat and I cursed every hot, muggy, sultry day and a job that made me wear a collar and tie. How naive we are when we’re young! In […]
-
Bounenkai
I just got back from a Bounenkai (literally, an “end of year party”) held for some of the teachers living in Gifu, which was lots of fun. It was nice to unwind after worrying about a test (which I swore I wouldn’t worry about) and not have to think that I should be studying. Most […]
-
Failure Is Not An Option
Last December I just managed to pass level 3 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, which is held once a year to measure someone’s Japanese ability. This year, I tried Level 2 and just got back from a really difficult exam. It’s multiple choice, but the options are always very similar and designed to trick […]
-
3rd Time Unlucky
Last year’s and this summer’s visits to Kyoto are still some of the highlights of my time here, so I was happy to have the chance to go again this weekend with Brenna, a friend from work. We travelled up on Wednesday after work and planning to stay in a cheap hostel to make an […]
-
Board Buying And Eye Spying
The weather’s been a bit rainy since I came back from Whistler, so I used that as an excuse to go and buy some snowboarding gear for the coming season. I got a board, boots and mitts. The sheer amount of choice kind of overwhelmed me to be honest, especially buying a pair of boots, […]
-
Really Long Haul
At least I think it’s the 27th. Being served breakfast at the equivalent of midnight is a bit weird, and even though the apartment clock says about 2pm, I’d swear it was 5 in the morning. One thing I am sure of is I’m never ever flying through the US again. I might fly to […]
-
Hello Goodbye
So this is my first entry for 2 months. This is partly due to laziness, but mostly due to the fact that I moved house and lost the internet again. I’ll probably write about that a bit more when I get a chance. The good news is that now I have a lovely fiber optic […]
-
The Ancient Capital
I live next door to the third largest Buddha in Japan, but despite living here for coming up on 17 months now, I still haven’t found the time to cross the street and see it. Instead, today I went 2 better and actually saw the biggest one up close in the city of Nara, which […]
-
T-Boned And Shaken
I was crossing a small side street this morning on the way to work, when a car pulled out of a blind side-road and hit my bike side-on. Neither of us were travelling too fast so it wasn’t a big collision, but I was knocked off and my bike was crushed pretty badly. Fortunately, apart […]
-
Dancing In The Street
Obon is a traditional Japanese festival at which time the spirits of your ancestors are said to return and visit you. It presents a rare opportunity for Japanese families to come together, as just about everybody in the whole country has a few days off at the same time. Apart from visiting graves and praying […]
-
Noh Way
Noh theatre is a traditional style of Japanese drama about as far removed from the modern-day TV stuff as you could imagine. It’s so old that it’s apparently akin to watching Chaucer, without having first rewritten it and drafted in Billie Piper. Like kabuki, even Japanese people don’t understand what’s going on half the time, […]
-
Bright Lights And Big Bangs
After Mum departs, I head out to watch more fireworks.
-
X-Position Expose
An outing to the Japanese Expo, taking in some of the major pavilions.
-
Kyoto Revisited
My second visit to Kyoto, this time with Mum, taking in the Golden Temple and Gion.
-
Arrival In Megacity
Arriving in Tokyo to meet Mum and Jan, I was happy to find they’d brought British food!
-
Family Ties
Preparations for Mum’s arrival in Japan.
-
Big Babies
A gaijin day out to the Nagoya Sumo Tournament, where we see large men with better acceleration than me slap each other silly.
-
Not Dead
An interruption of service to the Internet necessitates some explanation.
-
Ghost Town
A bike ride out of town goes further than planned and takes us to an almost-abandoned theme park.
-
Meeting With The Mob
In which we meet a gentle old man in a park who turns out to be a retired mafioso.
-
Castle Day
A day trip with Jo-Anne to see what castles we could see.
-
Beer On Sticks
The regular Sunday sojourn to Ogiya for beer and yakitori with Nova teachers.
-
Evangelism And Equestrianism
Another religious encounter, though again a lack of hard-sell. And the strangest pamphlet ever.
-
Self-Congratulations
In which I am able to find my keys using only the power of Japanese, but then fail to order dinner in the same tongue.
-
Two Certainties In Life
In which I am hit up for taxes, and lose yet another set of keys. Sigh.
-
Great Balls Of Fire
Cormorant fishing is a tradition in Gifu, so a bunch of Gaijin headed out to see what it was like.
-
The B’s Knees
A birthday to remember, with karaoke, burgers and awesome music.
-
One Year Older, Still An Idiot
In which I celebrate a birthday in Japan by failing to have the correct change for public transport.
-
Italian Whine (And Port)
Nagoya Port and Italia Mura, a mildly amusing diversion for the day.
-
Swings And Roundabout Routes
A day gone wrong turns out alright.
-
Floats And Stalls
As festival season draws to a close, I take a look at the largest and most local one, Ogaki, right outside my branch.
-
Biwako And Hikonejou
A day trip out to Biwa Lake and Hikone Castle.
-
Fuji, Queues, Running, Scared
I can’t get enough of themeparks, and this one even has a view of Mt. Fuji. On a clear day.
-
X-Valid 0.98
Another point release for X-Valid.
-
Festival Fever
I managed to get along to another festival today, making two in a week. The Ibigawa Town festival was in large respects similar to the Tarui festival I saw on Tuesday, having several large floats on which kabuki was performed by children, but it was still worth seeing. Ibigawa is only a small town and […]
-
Moveable Priests
Festival time again in Japan and we head out to see a local town festival.
-
Flower Power
A flower festival in Gifu, with the simultaneously least blue and most blue blue rose I’ve ever seen.
-
Not Addicted
A misspent day, spent misspending hard earned coins on pointless gaming. Fun though.
-
Forward Planning, Sitting Pretty
Getting the best spot for a cherry blossom party involves some serious forward planning.
-
Sakura
The return of cherry blossoms signals the return of cherry blossom parties.
-
Strike Night
Keen to get out of the apartment, a bunch of us go bowling.
-
It’s Not All Work, Work, Work, But…
Now that the novelty has for the most part worn off, life here during weekdays is often similar to life elsewhere.
-
Photos
Some photos have been posted by friends of university life.
-
Hard Rockin’
Another birthday/leaving party in Nagoya.
-
Sliding Doors
In which I celebrate a year in Japan by forgetting how to open a door
-
Howdy!
Technology and travel stories from a global roaming, kangaroo loving, sake drinking gaijin pom.
Check out my projects and my resume, take a look at some code on Github and feel free to contact me.