More Cherry Blossom

Saturday (19th) was Cherry Blossom picking. I mentioned a few weeks ago about Hanami, the festival where most people sit under Cherry Blossom and get drunk. Now the Cherry Blossom is starting to go many people collect it. With some members of the SNowboarding/Hanami crew Emi and I went to help pick Cherry Blossom. This consisted of spending 6 hours on the side of a hill/mountain with one person up a tree cutting off branches and the rest of us removing the flowers and putting them into bags. At the end of the day Emi and I had picked 9kg between us. Afterwards a gentleman arrived and collect it, later handing over some cash. This will be used for a Nomikai (party) in a few weeks time.

Next the Cherry blossom will be pickled to preserve it, then it can be used throughout the year. It is normal used at ceremonial events such as weddings where Cherry tea is part of the ritual.

Sunday Emi had to go to NOVA (English school) in Shibuya to organise some lessons. I went to Yodabashi Camera to buy a lead for the Walkman (to be discussed in a further post) and a mini tripod for my digital camera. Also I had a quick read of my Camera instruction book and discovered I have been using the wrong mod since I bought it! I'll have to carry the booklet aroud with me in future, I can't remember what all the modes do - am I getting old of something?

In the evening Emi booked our coach for Golden Week - we are going to Kyoto and Kobe. While at Kyoto I will meet Emi's Father... I am a little nervous. The worst part will probably be the greating, I'm sure I'll use the wrong term and end up looking like a fool!

Nothing too exciting

As title says weekend of the 12th/13th of April were not particularly exciting.
Saturday we went to Shinjuku. Shock of shocks - I perused HMV for 1 hour and walked out without buying a single thing, I think that must be a first! And no, I didn't steal anything.
I success was buying a book called "A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters", I recommend it to anyone with an interest in Japanese. Rather than teaching you how to write Kanji (Chinese Characters used in Japanese) it explains their history and what they are meant to symbolise. It is most interesting. Also if you remember all the Kanji in the book you have learnt all 1945 "everyday use" Kanji.
In the evening we watch "Million Dollar Baby" on DVD, was a reet good movie.
Sunday Emi went to her mother apartment to help out with the communal tidy up activity they have a few time a year. I on the other hand went with a chap from work in the UK to watch "Hitman", the movie based on the video game. I read some review before I went, people either loved it or hated it. I will say that it will not win any awards but it was a good way to spend 2 hours, full of lots of action. Also the bird in it was very pretty and they used any oportunity for her to walk around with her top off!
In the evening Emi and I went to Luke and Yoko's for dinner - Mexico style! It was very tasty and I had far to much to drink with work the next day.

Hanami!

Saturday (5th) was Hanami party. Basically when the Cherry Blossom comes out it is time to celebrate natural, either by having a party with some friends or drink beer all day until you are wasted.

One of the people that Emi and I went snowboarding with was holding an Hanami party so we went along. Started at around 12pm and we basically chatted, ate loads of different food and had a few beers until it was late. In the evening when it got cold we went inside and played darts (strangly popular in Japan) and some Wii games.

Ended up getting home really late as after being promised a lift to the train station at 8pm they didn't leave until 1am (they had to take us home as we missed the last train!).

On Sunday nothing much happened. Emi got her hair cut a little differently - she now has a fringe. I really like it but the fringe keeps getting in her eyes so she tends to bursh it out of the way.

My highlight of the Sunday was watching the Brahrain F1 was. in case you didn't see it it was a disaster for Lewis Hamilton who got a bad start and then ran into the back of his old team mate on lap 2. His cars aerodynamic parts were damaged enough that his fastest lap ending up being 2.5 seconds slower that the fasted of the race!

How to buy a car in Japan

I became the official owner of my S15 at 9:25am on Thursday morning, I thought I should share with you all the experience.

To start I will review the purchasing process in the UK:
*new owner completes part of V5 (Vehicle document) form. Both parties sign it and goes in the post. New owner drives off and receives new V5 in a few weeks.

Japanese method:
1) You need an Inkan. An Inkan is your official Hanko. A Hanko is a stamp with you family name on it (like people would use in the middle ages in England) and is used for all important paperwork in Japan instead of a signature. To be official it has to be registered at City Hall of residence. Once registered you need a certificate to prove it is your official Inkan.
2) You need proof of a parking space. Usually you will contact an agent and arrange a parking space. In Hon-Atsugi they cost from 50 to 300 quid a month (which given the cost of living in Japan is high and incomes are lower than in the UK is a lot). Once signed up you must get an official letter or certificate confirming your address and the car parking space address plus a map showing where the space is.
3) Go to the police station. Here you must complete a form with vehicle details and hand over the car parking space documents and your Inkan certificate. Cost is about 2000 Yen.
4) The police will check the parking space to confirm it exists and that the vehicle will fit in the space.
5) Return to Police station 3~5 days later to collect certificate from the police that shows your car has been approved for the parking space. Must handover 500 Yen to receive the certificate. Go to vehicle registration office with the owner.
6) Go to building 1 and pay 25 Yen (about 12p) for a set of forms. Go to building 2...
7) Man instructs you how to complete the form. The main form has to be completed in pencil, the reason soon becomes clear - even completing the form with instruction and an example form it is easy to make mistakes as it's so complicated!
8) Form is handed back with police parking document and Inkan certificate plus forms from previous owner - Shakenshyo (like an MOT and V5 certificate all in one), Inkan certificate and vehicle new/old owner information from.
9) Wait for form to be processed - this only took 3 minutes but take 30 minutes or more on a usual day. You received new Shakenshyo with new owners details, you now own the car!
10) Go to building 3 and complete another form (in black pen this time) so that the car tax can be paid.
11) Once form has been processed go to the payment window and hand over the money.
12) FINISHED!

There are some exceptions to the above:
*If you buy from a dealer they will do all the vehicle registration forms for you and you do not have to be present
*Car tax is from April and payment due in May. If previous owner has paid for the tax then you do not have to pay it. It is for this reason that the vehicle registration place was quiet and it was so quick - no one wants to pay a years tax and then sell the car on!
*If the new owner lives in a different vehicle registration district the old number place has to be handed in to be destroyed and new ones with a new registration purchased. In my case both of us lived in Hon-Atsugi so I could keep the old registration.

It is quite a polaver but I guess it is good at detering vehicle thieft and there is no ambiguity with regards to car tax, speeding tickets etc during the change over period like in the UK as it is official recorded.

Total process from start to finish takes a minium of 4 days, in my case about 2 weeks due to timing. I planned to buy the car sooner but couldn't: Inkan requires official residence status, I can only get this if I have visa. Thanks to the wonderful HR people where I work I only got my visa completed 3 weeks ago when I should have had it before I left the UK...

Wedding party in a Rabbit suit

Saturday (29th) was Luke and Yoko's Wedding. Now you are thinking "Stuart said they were already married", well that is true. In the UK the legal marrage and the marrage "event" take place on the same day. In Japan you go to the city hall and fill out a form it get married and then have your wedding event at another time - spring or autumn when the scenary is pretty or summer when the weather is guranteed to be sunny. Emi and I attended the 2nd party for family, friends and colleagues - the main marrage part (at a shinto shrine) and the first party were attended by family and close friends only.
The 2nd party was held at a place called MacArthers Garage. General MacArther was general of the US army and put in charge of Japan post WW2 before handing the country back to Japanese rule. This place has an old American car inside, supposedly his original car. First thing I notice when we went inside was that the staff were dressed in rabbit and duck body suits, looked very amusing. Anyway at the end of the event I saw one hung up in the corner and could resist but put it on. Needless to say the tipsy Japanese were rolling around with laughter and I had quite a few pictures of me making rabbit poses.
After this is was on to a bar where a small group of us were to be found drinking until about 2:30am.
Sunday morning and I woke up with a massive hangover despite not feeling drunk the night before. I think I am getting old. The day was pretty uneventful as both Emi and I were feeling very tired so nothing really to report.
Monday Emi, Luke, Faith (Luke's sister), Paul (her boyfriend) and I went snowboarding in a place called Fujimi Panorama - Fujimi meaning "view of Fuji" as in Mt.Fuji. Well the weather wasn't clear enough to see Fuji but the views of the Japanese "Alps" were fantastic. The resort was very quiet as this was the last week of the season so few people for me to crash into. It was a little slushy in place but otherwise the runs were good. I was really struggling to start with, I thing the board setting were different to my previous times - don't laugh, I've been told it makes a massive difference.

BTW sorry about the poor spelling over the last two or three posts, I'm very lazy!

Sagamihara to Hon-Atsugi in 43minutes

On saturday (22nd) Emi wanted her bike from mother apartment so I went and rode it back. Emi estimated 3 hours but it took me only 43min - could have gone quicker but when crossing a bridge some old fogy wouldn't let me pass! Emi meanwhile packed more things to bring back to the apartment. After the bike ride I was so full of energy and the weather was so nice that I desided to go for a run. Unfortunately that last for 5 minutes before my legs and lungs packed up!
Sunday started off with F1 race and playing GT5 where I bought a Ferrari, Ooooh.
The highlight of the weekend was home made pizza! I got a recipy of my mate at work Nick who's brothers fiancie is Italian. The ingredience werr great but the exicution was lacking as I haven't got to grip with the funny Japanese Microwave/Oven/Grill combi things. Should be better next time though.
Only other thing of minor interest is I bought a CD by a group called "Shin-Ski of Martiangang", rolls off the tonge that! Check it out.

Monitor success story!

Well remember the broken monitor I was moaning about. I was worried when I recognised the battle scares on the box, I though they had sent it back with "no fault found". Thankfully I was wrong - in this throw-away society I was expecting a new monitor but they had actually fixed my old one! A quick check and all was well. No I can enjoy GT5 without a red dot!!!
Saturday afternoon it was off to Luke and Yoko's for a Yahoo Auction lesson - it is basically the Japanese version of eBay. Luke is a colleague from work I get along with well and Yoko is his wife. I also saw Miya for the first time, their 3 month old baby, quite qute she was too!
Sunday (16th) I bought Emi's White day present, a new electonic translator/dictionary. All Japanese have these - they sometimes use strange English worlds because they have learnt them from these sophisticated things. BTW White is like Valetines day in the UK, Men must by presents for girlfriends/wife and some chocolate for the office girls.
Other highlights of the weekend were NTT fixing my wireless internet router and watching the F1 race which I think was very good (although as I write this it was 3 weeks ago so could be wrong!)