Happy New Year! (Well - I'm early for Chinese NY, at least...)
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: There'll Be Some Changes Made
Hello hello,

Sorry it's been so insanely long since I blogged, but there it is.

I see my last update was December 16th, the day before my family arrived in Japan for Christmas. They came for a whole three weeks, which ended up being far far longer than I would have imagined. But I think I showed them a good time, and that's the main thing.

Soon after they arrived we went to visit a friend of theirs in Tsuchiura, which you probably won't have heard of, since it is a small town with hardly any redeeming features. None, actually. We faffed around doing precious little there for a few days, and then came back to Tokyo (THANK GOD) and got ready for Christmas.

Amid the barely-happening shopping, we went to see the Kabuki, which was a triumph, all told. We got to see Bando Tamasaburo (the most famous onnagata working today - and the best) and the whole spectacle was just wonderful. Next time round, though, I hope to be a little closer than the VERY back row...

Christmas day itself was kinda surreal - we had been to mass (...) and ended up going to the beautiful Meiji Shrine (to the emperor that ushered Japan into the modern world) in Yoyogi before going to Shibuya for a look around and dinner. I was really nervous about finding somewhere to eat, since I KNEW that the one question that everyone would ask them when they went home was "what did you do on Christmas day?!" and I absolutely refused to allow them to go to McDonalds, considering how bad that would've made me look. Thankfully we found a nice Italian restaurant, and all was ok again.

Admittedly, they ate a lot of McDonalds when they were here, primarily because they often refused to even try Japanese food... :S

On St Stephens Day we headed for Kyoto on the Bullet Train. Kyoto was just marvellous, and I loved it there. We stayed in a traditional Japanese inn one night, complete with very posh Japanese food (bleurgh even for me) and saw as many of the temples, shrines and sights as we could cram in. Definitely somewhere not to be missed!!

New Year's Eve was spent in pachinko (slot) parlour, with the Hawaiian's brother and cousin, since Dad had a bad cold and stayed in bed. At 11.45 we headed for Starbucks, opting to start the year as we mean to go on.... Perhaps the most surreal New Year of my life!!

After their last few days visiting various other parts of Tokyo and the surrounding area, my tour group departed on the 7th, and while I was sad to see them go it was also a relief! But it was a good holiday, all in all.

Immediately after their departure, a variety of very "interesting" things happened, but I'm far too discreet and mysterious to reveal any details herewith. If you wanna know, you're just gonna have to email me - my name at gmail dot com (new fabulous address) to find out more!!

Apart from all the scandalous activity, I also saw a load of cool movies (from A Home at the End of the World to Raise the Red Lantern to In the Mood for Love and Zatoichi, again....) and I have begun, belatedly, watching Desperate Housewives, which is hilarious.

I'm hopefully going to be partially involved in a Noh Opera version of the Scottish play (very exciting, but can't reveal anything about it yet) and yesterday I was completely blown away by the awesome wonderful fabulous "Alegria" by Cirque du Soleil. Talk about full circle - I first heard the cd for this show nearly 10 years ago in a drama class with Marina Donnelly - little did I dream that I'd ever see the show, and certainly not in Tokyo!

Alas, things will be changing here soon - my Japanese classes end temporarily in a week's time (until the beginning of APRIL) and several of my friends will be going home to their respective countries. As a result, we are having lots of "must do this before leaving Japan" experiences - everything from visiting Tokyo's amazing futuristic landscape built on islands and shit to bowling to eating in extremely cool Japanese-style bars... That said, there are a variety of new interesting people who will doubtless feature in future episodes, including a half-Brazilian flamenco dancer obsessed with Riverdance, a Japanese boy called Kenji who worships Mariah and X-tina, a hysterically acerbic French scientist called Franck, his boyfriend Yoshi, and many more besides :-)

But this Chinese New Year brings in the Year of the Rooster - a special year for all of us born in 1981 as it's a new beginning of a new cycle of 12 years, and who knows what they're going to bring. (Blah Blah Blah I sound like a Hallmark card...)

Happy Birthday to Theodora, Hannah, Emily, Roise and Aidan - hope you all got lovely presents!!

Please please email me and tell me your news!!