Still there...

Monday evening I met up with a bunch of mate's in a pub at Liverpool St. when they finished work. After lots of banter we then headed off to the local chinese for some grub. It was great to see the guys after so long.

Tuesday I met up with some more friends - Mary and Ruth Hand plus their husbands and their new children. Mary had one child when I went to Japan the first time but I had seen either Mary of Ruth before I went back to Japan. Now the child tally between them is 3! Things change fast.

Wednesday I returned to Northampton, had a bit of a read in the hotel and then went to The Mail Coach in town with a few friends. I had my usual there - Goat's cheese and roaster red pepper hamburger, yum yum! - and washed that down with some good old room temperature English beer.

Thursday I went to the Carpenters Arm's in Cranfield for lunch, meeting up with a few guys from work and also Mike who retired from work the year before. Again it was good to meet up with people that hadn't seen in a long time. In the afternoon I went over to my mate Nick's and made a nuisance of myself at his house. I also got a ride in his E30 M3 BMW than had a 2.5 engine, Bilstein dampers and Eibach anti-roll bars fit since my last ride. It was pretty close to my personal perfection, the ride and handling from the passenger seat was much improved. Also in the afternoon we headed over to my house and opened the garage - behold there was my AE86 Toyota Levin in all it glory. There doesn't appear to be any problem with rust and other than a bit of dust it looks even better than I remember it. I know it is sad but I gave it a kiss before I left - don't tell Emi!

Friday I spent the morning in work and was filled in the various things going on while I'm on the other side of the world and then was off to Heathrow to return to the second best country in the world. Met up with Mum at the airport, had a little bit of food and then the usual tearful farewell as I disappeared through security.

The flight itself was not the most pleasant as I had to travel economy for the first time in about 4 years - it is amazing what a different premium economy makes and business is just incredible by comparison (I have been spoilt in the past haven't I!) Also was also stuck with the same films, I was so desperate that I even managed to sit though 20 minutes of Speedracer. At least the food was tasty and I got loads of sleep.

Back in Japan I headed home to see Emi's big grin as I entered the apartment. I might have left my favorite country in the world but now I was with my favorite person in the world!

The Greatest country in world!

On Thursday 4th August I flew to the greatest country in the world: so Great that the word is used in the name and so important it is in the centre of nearly every world map - that's right I returned to Great Britain, land of the free and home of the brave...

I had a pleasant flight with ANA in premium ecconomy. The food was good but the movie selection pretty poor. However the highlight was watching the Japanese film "Half a Confession" (Japanese title "Han-ochi"). A respected police officer arrives at a police station and says he has murdered his wife, however he has only confessed having killed her 3 days earlier. He will not say why and the police try to cover up the story from the media. As the film progresses you learn little by little what happened, bringings a tear to the eye. One word of advice - make sure English subtitles are on!

Landed at Heathrow, headed off to work in cab to collect a pool car and then raced back down the M1 to Mum's. I was greated with a big smile, big hug, big kiss, big mug of tea and big plate of bangers and mash with gravy - good to be back!

Friday Mum, Bill (the man in mother's life) and I traveled to Gloucester in preparation for my cousins wedding. Note much to note other than the Premier Inn having a nice pub next door that did good food - rather than the usual dive they usually have in the vacinity.

Then Saturday afternoon we headed of to Cranham church all suited up. It is beautiful church to have a wedding in but unfortunately the sun gods weren't shinning down on us as it rained all day, as it had for the 2 or 3 days before!

The reception was in a marque in a neirbours field which would have been a big problem if it were not for the excellent preparation of everyone involved - gravel and matting had been put down. The glass of champagne upon getting undercover was gladly welcomed. After chatting with the extended family it was time for food. All I will say is it was probably the best wedding food I am every likely to taste, it was absolutely spot on. Onto the speeches - amusing without being vulga - and then disco time! I needed the prerequist 2 or 3 beers before I started tapping my right foot to the beat but after being forced on to the dance floor I did my (drunken) thing and sang along at the top of my voice.

Sunday morning I woke up feely rather good, I hadn't gone silly the night before despite the free beer. Just as well as at my age (28) hangover come all too easy. Over to Auntie Sylvia and Uncle Keiths and then on to a lovely pub in the middle of nowhere - litterally surrounded by fields and only accessed by 3 or 4 miles of rough country lanes. Good grub and company and then it was time for travel back to london.

"You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"

Saturday 30th August Emi was heading off to visit her mother.

Before she left we went to Salvatorie's pizzoria in Hon-Atsugi, one of a chain of resturants in Japan. Salvatorie grew up in Japan the son of an Italian father and Japanese mother. Unlike most pizza resturants/take away place in Japan he speciallises in Italian style pizza rather than your usual Pizza Hut/Dominos American style with lots of strong flavoured toppings. I do love a good Pizza Hut but it was nice to have something a littl more subtly flavoured. (Note: picture taken from the website!)

After Emi left I spend a few too many hours stealing cars, getting into gang shootouts and doing a bank job with a guy known as Packie (no, not in the rasist nick name for someone from Pakistan but short for an Irish chap called Patrick) - Yes I was playing Grand Theft Auto 4 again.

In the evening we rented The Italian Job, I thought it would be interesting film to watch as a climpse into UK culture.

Sunday morning was appartment tidy up time which I never enjoy but this was followed up with a reward for my trouble. I love ramen (noodles in soup) and Emi had discovered there was a ramen resturant just across the road from Hon-Atsugi station i.e. about 2 minutes walk from our apparetment! We headed off there for lunch and oy was it tasty! I recommend anyone visiting Japan to give it a try, particularly in one of the small ramen-only resturants rather than a normal type resturant.

In the afternoon we went shopping for some item required when my friends would come to visit - extra knifes and forks, extra set of bedding and a few other bits and pieces.

Photography day

Emi's mother is really into her photography. She knew I had a sporty car so she wanted to take some pictures of it. (BTW Emi's mothers name is Yoko-san or just Yoko in English, I'll use this from now on as it is easier to type. Emi's mother - If you are reading this I hope you are not offended!)
On Saturday 23rd August Emi and I headed off to Yoko-san's appartment, loaded up the car with photography equipment and mother and headed off. Yoko-san's had already done some research and had found an interesting spot for the pictures so we headed off there.
Problem no.1 was that it involved heading down a dirt track and it had rained heavily the night before. This meant that my newly washed car arrived at the scene with muddy wheels! However I was careful enough that the bodywork was still clean.
We spent the next 2 or 3 hours with Emi, Yoko-san and I taking pictures of the car from various places, angles and cameras. I was really enjoyable and I think it has re-ignited the small photography bug I inherited from my father but have never done anothing with, we will see. After the photo session we dropped Yoko-san and her equipment off and then headed home.
In the evening Emi and I went to Toho Cinema in Ebina to watch the new Batman film. People have being going on about how great it is and it will win lots of Oscars. I think the story is very good but the film editing is very poor and there are some superfluous scenes that could have been deleted. So it was good but could have been even better.
Sunday was nothing particularly interesting, just went to the new Mega Donkihote store in Hon-Atsugi and watched the F1 race in the evening.

Summer holiday part 3 - Friday-Monday

Friday through Sunday Emi and I went to Kamakochi. This is a place in the "Japanese Alps" in Nagano that is very popular for walkers and mountain climbers in the Summer.

We travelled there by 2 or 3 trains and finally a coach on the Friday.

After arriving we walked along the river that runs through the centre of the area. We started at the visitors centre, south down the river to the end of the area and then back again to find our hotel. On the Saturday walked up to the north part and then on the Sunday we walked back to the visitors centre and travelled home.

It was a really nice place to visit as you can see from the pictures. The views are nice as is the atmosphere. It feels very nice to be surrounded by nature when most of the time you live in a concrete jungle.

We had missjudged how long the walking would take so we ended up finishing early on Sunday so desided to travel Matsumoto and have a look around before getting the train home. The main attraction of Matusmoto is the castle that you can see in the pictures. You can travel up the castle and there is mini museum inside. However don't go on a busy day as it gets crowded inside very easily - the stairs are so narrow and steep that it takes people a long time to go up and down.

On the Monday we just relaxed to prepare for the return to work on Tuesday. Only thing I can remember doing is polishing my work shoes!