General updateyness and some more pics :)

I found this amusing as before I left my dad said something like "that's the last time you'll see a British car for a while" I thought he was right until I came here, and these Minis are EVERYWHERE! There are a few of the new Minis too.

Erm, not exactly sure when I took this, I think it was late one night after Karoeke but I'm not sure :)

One of many buildings in the centre of Nishio City. Nishio's busyish, but nothing on the scale of Tokyo

I'm sure I already mentioned that Japan is vending machine mad. Well I just found this the other day, it's a vending machine that sells... eggs.

This is just a simple Japanese shelf edge, stuffed to the brim with all manner of goods, as they usually are.

I don't know why I took a picture of this, except maybe to illustrate that everything comes in cute packaging!

Now you've seen the toilet of the future. Needless to say I've found out what all these buttons do. Sometimes by accident.... But that' a future story.

More vending machines...

Well, I'm really starting to feel a lot more comfortable with life here in Nishio. I think the main thing that has helped me feel more at home, is developing my language skills a bit more. Don't get me wrong, I'm still terrible and can barely say a few words. And I only stand a very basic number of characters, probably no more than 20. But then I haven't really had the opportunity to sit down and learn them properly, and have just picked this up mainly from my environment. When I get the time and sit down and learn in properly, it'll come a lot faster.

But compared with two weeks ago, when I knew exactly 0 characters, and about two phrases... I knew how to say my name and that was all. Now I can ask where things are, talk about my nationality, ask about interests, find people, book my meals, express my delight with Japanese food etc.... Now most of this is done in a very poor way, and a Japanese teacher would probably be quite shocked, and an A-Level teacher would certainly be unimpressed. But what I am slowly realising is, it really doesn't matter. Being able to speak even broken Japanese is better than not being able to speak Japanese at all, or pointing and grunting. I personally get a real kick if something I say or suggest is understood, beyond simple personal greetings. For example the other day I couldn't fins Rie-san, who I was supposed to be meeting at the hospital. I cheerfully asked one of the staff "Rie-san wa doku desuka?" meaning- "where's Rie?" I was dead chuffed when he understood exactly what I said, smiled then replied in Enlgish "Ford Floor" (meaning fourth floor). I'm starting to figure out the Kanji for days of the week, as well as a few kanji numbers... Completely different to the arabic numbers that are widely used across the western world, although they are still quite comon and easy to find. With the language here, just like the work, you get back what you put in.




Some other funny things have happened this week. As can only be expected, there has been some fascination with certain biological features of mine, that aren't exactly common here, Red hair, freckles and Blue eyes. It's not well known that no Japanese have blue eyes at all, it just doesn't exist in the genetics. (except the native Ainu, and there aren't many of them) So that's attracted attention. A nice old man in the Ward commented quite nicely on how "pretty" I was, I naturally blushed girlishly and returned the compliment. Yesterday a lovelly old lady in the rehab centre started stroking my arm, murmering to herself "what are these?" Unfortunately I couldn't really explain, in Japanese at all so I just acted out sunbeams hitting my arms, and I think she got the idea. Or she might just have been thinking "strange people, these British". Finally and most amusingly, I have been asked on three seperate occasions, what my real hair colour is. I'm not joking! Today in the X-Ray Room, my colleague asked me if my hair dye was expensive. He didn't believe me when I told him it was natural, so I just showed him my beautiful leg hair, his face was a picture I'll tell you! It's so nice being in a country where having hair this colour is seen as something exotic and special by almost everyone who's mentioned it. It actually does quite a lot fo self onfidence. At home I more often than not get abuse, and of course school wasn't exactly great at times either! and our society seems to have this really irritating and irrational negative obsession with it. Of course you have to run with the jokes, but it doesn't change the fact that it makes me uncomfortable. It would be like a bunch of people laughing at a person with dark skin and saying it's the colour of chocolate. And if that happened the people involved would probably be sacked, but not with red hair...From speaking to the Canadians, they said they weren't familiar with that behaviour at all, and that red hair was viewed in the same vein as blonde over there. It's strange that I'd never really noticed it that much before I came here. So I guess Britain is just a bad place to grow up ginger.




Anyway this is not supposed to be a rant about hair. Let's talk about FOOD!! We found the most amazing Sushi restaurant yesterday, when you sat down, to your side there was the standard conveyor belt containg various Sushi dishes, that you can lift off an eat. But the real special feature of this restaurant was that above the conveyor built there was a mini train line, and then above that there was a little touch screen. On the touch screen you go through the menus and pick the food you want to eat, then a few minutes later a little bullet train, comes along the tracks making all the authentic sounds of an actual train, with your food on the back!!!!! You take your food off and the train heads back to the kitchen, to be loaded up for the next customer. It really was the restaurant of the future. But I imagine it'll be years and years before we see anything like this at home. I've left some short videos on my youtube channel www.youtube.com/dryan5 .

On a historical note, the controversial tomb/shrine of Hideki Tojo (Imperial Japan's Wartime leader) is only 15 mins away from here by train. It's on top of a mountain and not often visited (unsurprisingly, it's the equivelant of a shrine for Hitler). But considering I'm in a country that despite the admirable place it holds in the modern world, has a very dark past. I should really visit this, especially as it is way off the tourist trail. When I get a proper free weekend, I will definately go.


Well anyway, lot's more has happened too but if I wrote all about that too the post would be very long and boring. And I know most people have things they need to be getting on with, so please enjoy some of these photos too.