Charlotte

Author Archives: Charlotte
- Farewell Japan
  
  Posted at 11:32 pm by Charlotte, on April 21, 2019
  Japan is a country with such a strong and unique culture we wondered how we would fare in our quest to get under its skin. Not speaking the language (despite James’s best efforts, he only mastered half of the simplest of the 3 alphabets which in total comprise 2100 characters) rendered us less able to communicate with locals than we managed in S America. However, we experienced such ubiquitous kindness, generosity and warmth that we learned in many circumstances that common language is not necessary for connection or effectiveness. We also experienced a culture where less structured religion opens the door for a more free yet intense sense of spirituality, and how a focus on respect creates an all encompassing atmosphere of calm and patience, (even in the crazy labyrinth of Tokyo station!).
  
  We also learned that Japan is a country where process is king, and woe betide any breach, or suggested variation. We christened the crossed-arms push-back expression ‘chop chop’, and were on the receiving end probably more often than we should have been. I’m a process girl at heart, but struggled to uphold various predetermined sequences of events when unforeseen circumstances indicated that a logical change to process should prevail.
  
  Inadvertently capturing the ‘chop chop’ whilst receiving the ‘chop chop’ for taking photos where we shouldn’t – oops!
  
  On a mostly more frivolous note, here are some of the things that we will sorely miss, and some that have found their way to our Japan 101.
  
  LOVE LOVE LOVE
  - Charlotte: Auto opening taxi doors (even the cars are polite!).
  - Everyone: Everything is even more on time than Switzerland.
  - James, Emily and Charlotte: Cleanliness – there is no rubbish ANYWHERE, spills are cleaned immediately, everything is immaculate. This attention to detail is a way of life.
    This lady is doing a daily sweep of the road outside her house
  - Charlotte and James: Bowing: we felt self conscious initially, but learned weirdly to love it as a way of showing respect and gratitude, although sometimes the stoop was quite a long way down for us giants.
  - James and Charlotte: No tipping (everyone does a great job because its expected of them and they expect it of themselves).
  - Bella: being the same height as most of the adults (fair do’s – especially when your younger sister has a few inches on you….)
  - James, Bella, Emily:Dog dresses. Nuff said?
  An outfit for every occasion!
  - James: The toilets – if you haven’t experienced them, ask James to give you a run-through of the various douching, drying, oscillation, and singing options offered. They provided him an excuse to spend EVEN MORE time in there – who knew that was even possible!
  - Charlotte: The baths……now we are talking. You set the temperature, and then they self fill (to the top – infinity style), sing you a song to indicate readiness, and then self-autofill to keep you brimming at your optimum temperature. The best ones are made of aromatic cedar wood, or filled with fresh Onsen spring water full of healing minerals. I could go on……
  - Bella: Onigiri triangles (especially Bella who would grab these fellas for breakfast when we were on the road). They beat a mayonnaisy M&S sandwich any day.
  Onigiri!
  - Emily: Everyone being so quiet and polite and respectful
  - Bella: cool house designs with all the triangle roofs
  - Emily: Everyone dresses neatly, there is no scruffiness
  - Everyone: Plastic food outside every restaurant (except the most high end Kaiseki!)
  - Charlotte: the trees. It was a treat to enjoy all the silver birch forests of Hokkaido, and the cedar forests off Keihoku
  - Charlotte: Queueing at the tube: the Japanese put the even the Brits to shame when it comes to queueing, and unbelievably no elbows appear or shovings ensue even when rush hour hits and the crowds are commensurate or worse than London. For the overground trains there are even queueing ‘lanes’ painted on the platform that fit the configuration of the various train types and are entirely adhered to.
  - Bella and Emily: Daisu and Adzuki. Millie and Bella miss them a LOT, and I suspect they might miss Millie and Bella and all their cuddles too!
  Adzuki and Daisu taking B&E out for an afternoon walk
  
  SEE YA LATER:
  - Everyone: Pillows with beaded bases that feel like sleeping on a bed of raw chickpeas
  - Everyone (especially Emily): Everything being even more on time than Switzerland….when we are running late!!!
  - James and Charlotte: Low tables, wash basins, kitchen surfaces, shop counters etc etc (back breakers…)
  - James and Charlotte: Sitting on the floor to eat at traditional restaurants. However atmospheric it may be, our appreciation only lasts about 10 minutes until the aching from inflexible hips fights the desire to be seated in cross-legged zenness.
  Happy memories of our first authentic Japanese Ramen!
  - Emily: All the tiny alleyways (she found them crowded rather than charming)
  - Bella: buying what you think is a chocolate croissant, and finding that its stuffed with sweetened mashed black beans (this happened more times than her sense of humour made allowance for).
  - Charlotte: Tokyo Station. I marvel at it. But it made me cry. Twice. And I’ll never go back until they make GPS work underground.
  - Everyone: individually packaged EVERYTHING. The packaging in Japan was beautiful, and incredibly effective, but an environmental disaster.
  - Bella and Emily: all the smelly fish (to be fair most of it wasn’t smelly, with the possible exception of the breakfast kipper-esk offerings)
  - Charlotte: the fact that there is zero flexibility in anything EVER! Now I’m not one to mess much with my food order or expect special favours, but we (mostly I) got the ‘chop chop’ a lot, and for things that I by and large thought were very reasonable requests, but which fell foul of preset policy or process, and where hierarchical obedience precluded the prevailing of common sense. An example: James and I walked into a cafe with about 20 tables in it. 2 of them were occupied. The tables were very small, and our wish was to have a coffee and work on our laptops for a while. We were not allowed to take 2 separate tables next to each other, despite the pervasive lack of existing customers, even though we offered to double up should there be a sudden rush of new clientele. It didn’t help when I suggested James and I walk out and walk in again separately, sit at separate tables, order separately and and pay separate bills….. WHAT?!?!? Rant over (and I won’t get started on women’s empowerment). I still LOVE Japan, but suspect I couldn’t live there for any significant time period.
  Now time for the next cultural cartwheel! I am drafting this on the plane to Kuala Lumpa where we touch town for a night, and then head to Medan in the north of Sumatra. From Medan we fly to the small island of Simeulu where we have signed up to volunteer with the community there for a few weeks. If things go well, we will head to the even more remote (in fact uninhabited) island of Bangkaru for a week in the middle to be on turtle patrol. Wish us luck, and don’t be alarmed if we don’t respond to any messages until mid-late May as WiFi will be patchy at best, and non-existent for some of this part of the trip.
  | 7 Comments
- Living, breathing, and cycling the Shimanami Kaido
  
  Posted at 12:17 am by Charlotte, on April 6, 2019
  
  Forgive me for the cheesy overture, but there have been a few moments on this trip where we have felt inordinately blessed to be experiencing something incredibly special that we would likely not have fitted in to a regular holiday. Cycling the Shimanami Kaido is high, if not top of that list.
  
  Shimanami Kaido is a 79 KM expressway, designed with cyclists in mind. The majority of the route offers bespoke bike paths: super safe and swathed in clean sea air.
  
  It was in fact SO safe that Bella decreed hands to be entirely superfluous!
  
  Look no hands!
  
  This spectacular road-and-bridge network connects Japan’s main island of Honshu with Shikoku (4th largest) and along the way you pass over 6 of the smaller islands scattered across the Seto inland sea.
  
  The vistas were sublime, and there were seemingly unlimited opportunities to stop or detour along the way to investigate lighthouses, shrines or natural wonders.
  
  Such blue seas
  
  Incredible foliage
  
  Fun times were had investigating interesting roadside diversions:
  
  Cookie and Honey enjoyed their VIP seats!
  
  Well marked trails made navigation (and the countdown!) remarkably easy
  
  Even better, our timing allowed us to enjoy Sakura (flowering of the cherry blossoms) all along the way. A few ecstatic moments freewheeling down spiralling paths from the high bridges through showers of petals was hard to beat as a sensation of joy, beauty and freedom.
  
  Incredible blossoms are everywhere – not just the famous promenades of Tokyo and Kyoto
  
  As you breeze across the magnificent bridges (seven of them), a labyrinth of islands unfolds below. A procession of trawlers, tugs and speedboats glides in and out of the channels. The islands are an appealing mix of natural beauty and industrial might. We passed dozens of shipyards building or repairing vessels on a vast scale.
  
  And it was great to cruise past the daily life, homes and shrines of the local people:
  
  As for the bridges, their exquisite state of the art forms make them an attraction in their own right.
  
  Tatara is one of the world’s longest cable-stayed bridges — its elegant 220-meter-high steel towers represent the folded wings of a crane.
  
  At 4,045 meters long, Kurushima Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the world.
  
  Overall we experienced smooth cycling, except for Bella’s puncture on day 2 (saved by the most efficient and polite rescue service EVER) and Milly’s accident on day 4 (bike spun out from under her resulting in a bash on the road followed by double elbow/wrist x-ray action – thankfully no fractures).
  
  The bikes weren’t the best…. When we were testing out what was available for hire, the only bike which had a frame remotely big enough for James to ride wasn’t quite set up for success. There was a hilarious moment when we saw him using Google translate to explain that “this bike has a seat that sticks upwards and it hurts my testicles” and the 3 of us girls got uncontrollable giggles.
  
  There were plenty of eclectic and fun drinks stops
  
  Eccentric dog eyebrows an unexpected bonus!
  
  On the accommodation front, we stayed in ryokans all the way, each both special and challenging in their own right. Frankly the bedding for me is tough regardless: prolapsed disks and sleeping on glorified rollmats is not a great combo. What IS lovely though is the family ‘camping’ style arrangement of us all sharing a room, with easy access hugathons.
  
  My favourite ryokan had a cederwood bath with locally grown lemons floating in it – lush!
  
  And they all had pumps and spanners for pre-ride tune ups
  
  Gastronomy was taken to a whole new level. Dinners followed a pattern, all very fancy, with some adding uber-elaborate features involving such delicacies as fish heads or raw whelks. Basic dinner consists of a tray of various pickles, followed by delicious sashimi, followed by a cooked fish course, followed by some kind of meat course, followed by a rice dish, followed by miso soup, followed by desert (usually (thankfully by this time!) a tiny portion of tasty fruit).
  
  Kids meals came cutely presented, disguising some of their very own scary fishy fare
  
  And we did it all over again at breakfast…..
  
  when even I reached fish saturation point……
  
  And in spite of all my eating principles, we tended to stop off at 7/11 for ‘second breakfast’ which involved some combo of pastry and chocolate!
  
  Luckily we also discovered Hawaiian Blue Shaved Ice which took the edge off our pescatarian overload:
  
  Ikuchijima Setoda island was famous for growing lemons and offered lots of lemony fun for all:
  
  Sour lemons
  
  Sweet lemons!
  
  The girls were a bit ‘templed out’ by the time we arrived at Ikuchijima island, and I had managed to load up their Kindles with such unputdownable pony stories that when James and I went out exploring, they stayed behind at the Ryokan enjoying a read in their sun-warmed bedroom balcony/conservatory. We fortuitously stumbled across the Kosanji Temple which was a relief since it turned out to be one of the most stunning temples we’ve yet explored. Built in 1936 by Buddhist priest Koso Kosanji in memory of his mother, this wonderland of temples, pagodas and natural beauty took more than 30 years to complete. Each building is modelled on famous temple buildings in Kyoto, Nikko and elsewhere, so visiting is like taking a stroll through Japanese history.
  
  Crowning the crest of the hill above Kosanji Temple was the ‘Hill of Hope’ sculptural garden. Designed and created over a period of 16 years by Itto Kuetani (a sculptor who is active in Italy), its filled with marble monuments that represent “Familial Ties” and is dedicated to a peaceful world that is filled with hope for the future. This felt like the perfect place to give thanks for the blessings of our trip, and make a few wishes for our own future.
  
  Final ferry crossing to get back to the mainland
  
  The end of the line – literally!
  
  And a gorgeous sunset drink to celebrate the achievement
  
  | 5 Comments
- Our home in Keihoku
  
  Posted at 5:07 am by Charlotte, on April 1, 2019
  
  ‘Satoyama’ is a broadly used Japanese term which can imply sustainable living in harmony with nature, artisan’s philosophy and skills when working with natural products, or more literally the border zone between mountain foothills and flat arable lands.
  
  We discovered in abundance all aspects of Satoyama whilst staying at Tokuheiran in Keihoku, as well as the most incredibly warm, funny and nurturing homestay hosts Hideo and Yukako.
  
  Our traditional home for nearly 2 weeks
  
  Multi-talented Yukako (who formerly worked in a Michelin starred restaurant) had prepared a fabulous hotpot for us to enjoy on our first night which also served as a fond farewell dinner for Simon. It was a ‘cook-your-own’ affair with oodles of fresh vegetables to add to rich stock, tasty meaty bits, eggs and udons.
  
  Sleeping was tatami style in our most traditional setting yet, with original hand-painted screens to separate sleeping areas, and family shrines located in corners of each room to watch over us.
  
  The resident dogs were a huge highlight of our stay.
  
  Adzuki (meaning red bean) is the golden retriever and Daizu (meaning soy bean) is the Bernese Mountain dog
  
  Adzuki was so keen she practically took herself on the walks
  
  She loved the river, and it was hard to get her out…..
  
  …..especially when she disappeared down the pipes!
  
  Daizu has a sad story with a happy ending. All the major towns here in Japan have pet shops where dogs from puppy mills are sold (unless they grow too big unsold in which case they are culled). These puppies (and kittens) are taken away from their mothers, packed in boxes, shipped to auction centers, then to pet stores. Daizu was rescued from a pet shop by Hideo and Yukako with various dislocations to his hips, so he has an awkward but cute ‘swinging’ gait.
  
  He is now cared for and loved like a prince…
  
  ….although occasionally he is a bit reluctant to walk, we think because he is in pain, but we encouraged him because its good to move!
  
  Not sure I can come up with a caption that adds anything to this cuteness!
  
  can’t forget little Gon (which means mischief) on the left here. She is the matriarch of the pack.
  
  The girls were so great with the dogs, and showed such responsibility that when Yukako and Hideo had an early morning appointment, they entrusted the morning walk and feeding to Bella and Emily who managed it perfectly.
  
  Not only that they hugely impressively made it out of bed for the 7:30 daily morning walk, even when we had a Spring snow overnight!
  
  Our first Sunday (while James and Simon were sleeping off whiskey hangovers on a boy’s jaunt to Osaka), Yukako, Bella, Milly and I took to the skies. Literally! When Yukako suggested that we go paragliding with her we immediately said yes without really considering what we had signed up to!
  
  Carrying harness packs up to the launch site
  
  We had chilly waits for sleet storms to pass and the right (dry) updrafts to make our flights possible and safe.
  
  Here we are sporting slightly nervous pre-flight smiles!
  
  Take off instructions were simple: keep running (until you are definitely in the air), and don’t look down.
  
  The launch site
  
  I found myself flying through the air before I had time to panic, and the girls bravely launched themselves like lemmings after me.
  
  Bella and Emily high above the hills. Such beautiful muted colours.
  
  Selfie time!
  
  The post landing high lasted all afternoon
  
  Daily life at Keihoku took a lovely relaxed cadence. While the girls did school in the mornings, James and I practiced yoga with Yukako, and took advantage of the quiet time to plan and book the final ‘trimester’ of our trip.
  
  Apart from when it was actually snowing (!), afternoons were spent exploring the glorious countryside around us by foot or by bike. The topography consisted of long ridges of wooded hills segregated by stunning valleys hosting fast flowing rivers and bordered by paddy fields.
  
  Japan is so beautifully neat we even passed a lady cleaning the road outside her property.
  
  Morning runs by the river were a treat
  
  As the end of our first week coincided with the last day of term, we bid a sad farewell to Rob for the Easter holidays.
  
  It was a ‘family’ celebration sendoff with Yukako and Hideo joining us, fuelled by more delicious hotpot, and washed down with a sake tasting (Rob have you forgiven James for that yet?)
  
  To round out a fab night, Rob joined the girls for a midnight feast and a sleepover – coolest teacher in the world!
  
  I wouldn’t change a thing about our stay in Keihoku, including the ‘stink bugs’ because whilst they triggered some hysterical shrieking, they were equally hysterical in a humorous way. So stink bugs stink, really stink. They would show up in the most unexpected places at extremely odd times. The way to avoid them releasing their odour was to trap them on some masking tape and seal it up (we added the ‘stamp-on-them’ step for reasons of humane stink bug extermination.
  
  Another highlight of our week was a rainy walk that Hideo guided us on to Takimata waterfall.
  
  Hideo shared so many fun details and facts with us like about this moss which is rather cutely called foxes tails….
  
  ……and how foresters would put ‘belts’ of chopsticks around the trees so they would grow with a decorative bumpy relief
  
  We passed by a cave where a Shogun’s nephew had lived in hiding for 2 years
  
  And we enjoyed a series of shrines and statues erected by a local landowner as a way give back to society and avoid passing his wealth to his children (the local tradition being for children to find their own path not inherit an easy life).
  
  Adzuki kindly shared much aroma-de-wet-dog with us in the car on the way home.
  
  Another rainy day outing took us to the very charming local thatched village…..
  
  …. and we stopped for a traditional meal on the way home.
  
  We also visited an indigo factory, design studio and museum which was interesting, but frankly also very smelly – who knew?
  
  Bella and Emily enjoyed a local craft house creating their own stained glass pennants.
  
  Sashimi night was a triumph. Yukako showed us how to slice the freshest fish, to mix the perfect sushi rice, and how to create our own handrolls with the crispiest seaweed you could imagine. I didn’t know it was possible to overeat so glutinously and gloriously on sushi, but we did that night!
  
  I never know that Othello is a Japanese game, but turns out it is, so it was fun to rediscover it with that local connection.
  
  On our last morning the shintu monk arrived to perform an annual blessing of the small shrine in our kitchen – thank goodness we’d done the washing up!
  
  Our farewells were very sad and very heartfelt:
  
  Thank you to Hideo and Yukako for sharing your home, your dogs, your food, your humour, your yoga, for pulling me and my car out of the ditch, and for sending on all the things we left behind. You are amazing and we hope you will visit us in London one day.
  
  And a few last doggy tributes to see of this post:
  
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- Kicking back in Kyoto
  
  Posted at 8:37 am by Charlotte, on March 22, 2019
  
  Kyoto is a dream of a city. Its now entirely obvious why everyone raves about it. Just walking the little streets provides constant fascination whether you are in the famous Gion district, or a regular residential area. Culture is everywhere in the form of shrines, temples, art galleries, and simply our observations of the people around us. The receptionists in our hotel (rare plug to The Gozan!) were hands down the most proactive thoughtful and friendly staff we could have hoped to come across which made for a lovely warm welcome. And we did some GOOOOOD eating.
  
  We began by pondering the meaning of life on the 2km Philosopher’s Walk which is a pedestrian path that follows a meandering canal lined with cherry trees, maples and camellia from Nanzenji Temple to Ginkakuji. The route is so-named because the influential 20th-century Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitaro is thought to have used it for daily meditation.
  
  We didn’t reach enlightenment (or even an essential alignment), but we did reach Ginkakuji, or the silver Temple, which gave us our first taste of the spectacular settings surrounding the spiritual treasures of Kyoto. The ornate yet natural gardens successfully evoked the deep tranquility that they were designed for.
  
  In particular the lush moss carpet in the wooded hills behind the temple transported me to the kind of soft mental images conjured up by reading children’s storybooks. I’m sure there is a pixie hiding there somewhere!
  
  Our next wood walk took us through the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. It was fairly crowded with tourists, but looking up through the tall stems swishing in the breeze was still a serene experience.
  
  We took the long route home past more bamboos, a friendly heron, a busy bridge and some charming local boats.
  
  A phenomenon which we were starting to observe in all the prime locations of Kyoto is the local women (as well as a few tourists) dressing up in gorgeous kimonos, sporting fab hairdos, and strolling with their partner or groups of girlfriends, taking in the scenery, and posing for photographs by the budding cherry trees.
  
  As for us, we got around the place in our usual travlar garb, and hopped on busses, trams and trains with more ease than the lovely ladies in their tight fitting dresses and unforgiving wooden flip-flops.
  
  Walking around Gion, Kyoto’s most famous Geisha district, at 9pm was a slightly surreal experience as we found it totally deserted other than the occasional ‘heavy’ loitering on street corners. Si went back to wander ‘latenight’ which was apparently a totally different experience, (one for another blog)! No fully authenticated Geisha sightings to report, but some definite Maiko action, and we think we saw a ‘granny Geisha’ (but she looked a bit rough).
  
  Nijo Castle was a must on our list, as one of Kyoto’s most popular and impressive sights. Though its walls witnessed the incredible power that that the Shoguns wielded over the Emperors throughout the Edo period, the audio tour totally failed to bring it to life. It consisted of an entirely bland list of room descriptions, and at best a hint that ‘this is where the Shogun would address his subjects who sat on a lower level floor’. We wanted to know that they talked about? Who else lived in the castle? Where were the women? How did they demonstrate their power to important visitors and defend the castle? What did they do for entertainment? How did they survive the perpetual cold of winter (our shoeless feet were entirely numb after an hour)? We might have to watch The Last Samurai to fill in some gaps!
  
  Midweek munchies brought us skipping to Nishiki food market. We walked in ravenous and staggered out bursting having nibbled our way along 200m of delicious delicacies, terrifying crustaceans, exploding crackers, prodigious pickles, and tasty tempura.
  
  Our only disappointments were the octopus balls which were sadly soggy. We barely missed a sample opportunity, but did manage to walk past the spit-roasted sparrows without tasting them (no regrets) and the whole red octopi stuffed with quails eggs which apparently look better than they taste apparently (some regrets).
  
  And here is the Golden Temple which speaks for itself!
  
  I got lucky landing my coin in the Buddha’s bowl – can’t wait for that wish to come true!
  
  On our way out we stopped in the gorgeous sunshine to enjoy a frothy matcha tea and gold-leaf sweet treat in the temple cafe. Our entry ticket was an art work in itself!
  
  Fushimi Inari, or the ‘Fox Shrine’ is famous for its thousands of vermilion Torii gates which straddle a network of trails behind the its main buildings. These paths lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters high and belongs to the shrine grounds. Inari is the Shinto god of rice, and foxes are thought to be Inari’s messengers, resulting in many fox statues across the site.
  
  We started our 2 hour hike at sunset which resulted in some gorgeous light, and fewer tourists as we climbed higher, which allowed me (finally) to snap my one ‘glory’ shot of the gorgeous gates with no punters piling through them!
  
  We stopped at the highpoint to take in the view and the sunset (and a few Asahis/Appletisers)
  
  Our darkened descent was lit by beautiful golden lanterns, and a full moon:
  
  We nearly didn’t go into the National Museum of Modern art as it was entirely filled an expensive textile exhibition which we presumed was an overpriced bunch of old cloth. How wrong we were…… 3 floors of modern textiles that floored us with their striking beauty! No photos allowed (except of the corner below), but if you are in town or the exhibition goes on tour then go – its a total winner!
  
  Every corner you turn in Kyoto there is a shrine and/or a graveyard. These are all perfectly ordered (as is everything here), and very attractive with their Tohba (long narrow wooden slabs) set standing upright on or next to the graves. The Tohba are usually inscribed with Sanskrit as well as Chinese Characters. Fresh tablets are usually set at least once per year by family members. The Japanese believe that their ancestors return to this world on certain occasions each year, and the Tohba help guide the spirits to the graves.
  
  Talking of Chinese characters we spent a focused but fun afternoon trying out calligraphy. Our wonderful teacher Chifumi explained how the characters are unique, and build from common stems eg the symbol for ‘bird’ combined with the symbol for ‘mouth’ means ‘singing’.
  
  See the looks of abject horror when Chifumi explained that Japanese school children are required to learn 2000 characters (vs our 26).
  
  A basic calligraphy kit contains a solid ink block (you make your own ink by rubbing this in water), a small and a big brush, and a heavy weight to hold your paper still. You have to hold the brush in the air to make the strokes (rather than resting your wrist or elbow) which requires a very steady hand! You also have to make sure to draw on the correct side of the paper.
  
  Specialist brushes can be made of feathers or wolf hair.
  
  Here we are practicing for our final masterpieces. Bella chose the symbol for ‘happiness’, Emily ‘beautiful’, and mine (rather clichedly) was ‘love’.
  
  Some final observations and highlights from our wonderful experience in Kyoto:
  
  Runs by the river afforded wonderful views of the ramshackle yet neat old wooden houses that back onto the banks.
  
  All the wiring in Kyoto is above ground (due to the frequent earthquakes) which results in messy photographs!
  
  Gion has some classy bars with mean whiskey menus. Here is a very sharp barman who chiselled a meteorite of ice by hand before dousing it in the golden nectar.
  
  Cheers! And cant’t wait to come back with the Lewis-Bank’s week after next – bring it on AGAIN!
  
  | 5 Comments
- Chilling with Ryo and Tash
  
  Posted at 12:10 am by Charlotte, on March 15, 2019
  
  What a lovely relaxed vibe this weekend while we got to catch up with old friends Ryo and Tash, to meet their gorgeous children Skyla and Otto, to enjoy some great food, wonderful company, fabulous shrines, and bonus time to celebrate Tash’s birthday!
  
  We pretty much went everywhere by ‘mooch’ which felt incredibly refreshing after the heaving metros and hectic stations of Tokyo. It felt properly ‘weekendy’!
  
  Milly adored baby Otto, and took every opportunity to have a lovely cuddle with him or to take charge of feeding and pushing.
  
  Ryo did an amazing job at introducing us to some as-yet untried Japanese food types. Teppanaki was already a firm favourite, but it turns out even better when cooked by Bella! We also made our own Okonomiyaki which are Japanese savoury pancakes (also known as Japanese pizza in the US). They are made with flour, eggs, shredded cabbage, some kind of meat (or not!) and topped with whatever condiments the kids agree to. Delicious!
  
  We visited several Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples, some super local that we stumbled across, and in contrast, The Hase-dera Temple which was on an incredibly impressive scale. It is home to the largest wooden statue in Japan (of Kannon the Goddess of mercy) and was carved from a single giant tree that, legend has it, was once growing in Nara around 721 CE.
  
  All were beautiful in their own way, immaculately cared for, and nestled within spectacular gardens. Blossoms are just starting to come out!
  
  Hase-dera has a special garden in dedication to dead or unborn children who are carried to heaven without passing through judgement. It is full of statuettes know as mizuko jizo that represent these infants. Here are Emily and Skyla pouring water over one’s head to quench its thirst:
  
  Over the course of the weekend, our girls revelled in some company of their own generation:
  
  To celebrate Tash’s birthday we enjoyed by far my favourite Onsen (Japanese baths) experience to date. First Tash and I took care of Otto (plus coffee and cake!) while the boys went in, and then we handed over the snuggly baby, and took our turn in the womens side. There were several different baths set in rocks each with different mineral properties and temperatures. It was a very natural outdoor experience where the pools were sheltered within beautiful gardens, with naked nymphlike women draped around enjoying the serenity, or chatting with their friends and family. Tash kindly filled in some gaps in my Onsen etiquette knowledge eg no towelling off – its better to leave the minerals on your skin to sink in.
  
  And James finally finished off Otto:
  
  Huge thanks to Ryo and Tash for hosting us, and for pitching the perfect places and pace for our sunny weekend together.
  
  | 4 Comments
- Senor Jones drops in to the Land of the Rising Sun
  
  Posted at 1:18 am by Charlotte, on March 12, 2019
  
  After a heroic 5:30am landing, and successful navigation of the monorail, metro and labyrinth that is Tokyo central station, we were thrilled to welcome Simon to Japan (which involved flying leap-hugs from the girls). After fuelling him with a few rounds of expresso while the girls finished school, we then hit our fave conveyor / Ipad sushi joint to get the foodfest rolling. Si quickly navigated to pole position as ‘bravest eater’, staking his claim on day 1 with full consumption of this opening platter which raised the stakes with mini-critters (bottom right) and peaked with raw-‘cheval’ (middle left).
  
  We took Simon on an open top bus tour of the city during the early afternoon, which turned out to be not the best jetlag cure, despite extreme cold and the wind chill factor. Our circuit didn’t appear to take in many of the more impressive prestigious Tokyo tourist sites, but made a big deal when we took a slip road onto the inner-city highway (we struggled to see the appeal of the multi-lanes and traffic, especially given our direct exposure to the fumes!). The audio overview was so tedious and overlaid by such soporific music that Simon eventually hit a wall and nodded off.
  
  So we took him to the Ninja Cafe! Where he woke up. Whilst unapologetically a themed restaurant, tonnes of locals go to the Ninja Cafe (as well as hordes of tourists) because the food is genuinely very good (as well as flamboyantly presented), and the experience manages to transcend its inherent naffness. Getting to our ‘food cave’ involved a prolonged ninja walk over a hidden trap door, down darkened corridors and through secret entrances. Sashimi arrived peaking through billowing dry ice, and soup was prepared at the table by dropping 300 degree stones into cold stock, and adding vegetables once it boiled. The tricks continued after dinner when we were treated to a private Ninja magic show that genuinely blew all our minds (jet-lagged or not). The only bummer (literally) was that it was a sit-on-the-floor job, and a few of us are generally too creaky to find that comfortable.
  
  Cool view snapped on the way home!
  
  On Wednesday morning we hit teamLab’s Borderless, which had been vociferously recommended to us by so many friends. team-Lab is an art collective interdisciplinary group of ultra technologists whose collaborative practice seeks to navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, design and the natural world (and yes I did copy that off their website!). Various specialists such as artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians ands and architects delivered this experience which aims to explore a new relationship between humans and nature. More below if you get off on the bollocks……
  
  …..otherwise just take a look at the amazing photos below that don’t even 5% give justice to what it was like to explore the cavernous rooms and corridors which made up the Borderless experience….
  
  Afterwards we stopped in at the Toyota exhibition to check out the future of motor vehicles – pretty spacey!
  
  Nighttime brought a trip to the 52nd floor of the Hyatt for cocktails, sunset and twinkling lights. It didn’t disappoint!
  
  We went on a private tour of the fish market the following morning (who thought that was a good idea after a night on the cocktails?!?!). There was an incredible array of dried fish, live fish, whole fish, sliced sashimi, sea urchin, oysters, uncountable grades of tuna, snappers, crabs legs and the essential pickles to serve them with.
  
  There were also various literally terrifying giant shell-fish each about the size of my head. Go on – take a good look (if not a bite).
  
  We learned that the local children charge up on calcium by eating lots of tiny small whole dried fish (milk is not really a thing here). However intrepid they have proved themselves to be, Bella and Emily proved unwilling to go THAT local……
  
  By lunch time, Yuki, our impeccable guide took us through several dark smelly alleys to this pristine gem of a sushi restaurant where we watched a master at work, and ate by far the best tuna that we are ever likely to get our chopsticks round.
  
  And then as we navigated our way out of the market, watched this dude hacking out the eye from a tuna head.
  
  The next morning progressed at an altogether more peaceful pace, starting with ‘stretch yoga’, and next an impromptu drop in to Akasaka Palace which we happened to pass by, intriguingly hidden behind high walls. It turned out to be beautiful, but on discovering its architectural style we slightly wondered what we were doing wandering round the ‘Versailles of Tokyo’ rather than exploring somewhere a bit more traditionally authentic!
  
  Taking advantage of a babysitting night, Si, James and I explored the tiny twisty alleys of Shinjuku Omiode Yokocho and squeezed ourselves into a few of the slimline bars serving beer, whiskey, yakatori and other delicacies.
  
  Talking of delicacies, after a few beers, the fearless Simon tucked into some juicy gizzard, but drew the line at James’ rejected intestines. Speaking as the member of the party that stuck to vegetables on my sticks, they were all tasty, and thankfully I kept my head despite devouring a few mashrooms! And in case you are wondering, no one got stuck into the womb.
  
  On our way to a few more late night drinkeries, we popped into this huge slot-machine metropolis. The incessant din of hundreds of machines all screeching and clashing at top volume was literally unbearable. I lasted long enough to be asked (via the universal Japanese arm-cross) not to take a photo, and I think Simon was back out the door before even me! James obviously stayed for a game. His head seems impervious to repetitive irritating noises (as illustrated by his calm execution of general fatherhood duties!).
  
  Our final afternoon in Tokyo was spent in a vast VR gaming studio, with more than 30 games to choose from. For me the experience was far worse even than the day 1 Tokyo Thunder Dolphin rollercoaster. I barely lasted 2 minutes in the ‘flying-bicycle-castle-mission experience’ before I had to make it go away by closing my eyes and asking to have the headset removed from me. I then sat on the floor for nearly an hour (until the floor stopped moving…..). The girls and James obviously loved it! Below is evidence of them enjoying the white water rafting, the cycle-flying, and walking the plank (200M in the air!) to rescue a small kitten at the end of it.
  
  James took it up a level to do some kind of 18+ horror experience where he was strapped to a chair in a hospital surrounded by people decapitating themselves (and others), general guts flying around and avatars trying to disembowel him. Apparently this falls into the category of fun!
  
  We then took the bullet train out of town to spend the weekend with Ryo (an old schoolfriend of James’s) and his lovely family Tash, Skyla, and Otto.
  
  | 7 Comments
- Back in the city – Tokyo heights!
  
  Posted at 12:14 pm by Charlotte, on March 8, 2019
  There was a veritable aura of anticipation as we pulled into Tokyo by uber-efficient bullet train. The height of the buildings, the vibrant colours of the omnipresent street signs and numerous indications of multi-level living were immediately evident. We checked into an apart-hotel in the bustling district of Akasaka.
  
  View from our aparthotel room – photo accredited to Bella
  
  Everything in our room was on a Japanese scale: lets say ‘compact’ or ‘small but perfectly formed’. There were tables and benches for school/meals, which converted at night to the girls beds, plus a ‘dinky’ kitchen (fine for steaming goyza snacks, but less functional for Shrove Tuesday shenanigans) and and an open plan bed space for James and I.
  
  B & E washing up (sink too small for Mum and Dad (honest)……)
  
  Pancake efforts:
  
  Bella flips!
  
  Happy days
  
  Not the best, but still a pancake!
  
  To make the most of our ‘weekend-day’ arrival, our inaugural outing was a high adrenaline blast at the Tokyo Dome (planned by James….. presumably that goes without saying). We launched the day riding a vast rollercoaster which frankly made me slightly regret my breakfast. I yoga-breathed my way through the ordeal. The others all claimed to love it, although their facial expressions in the obligatory rip-off mid-ride action photo seem to tell a different story! We rounded out the terror with a visit to the haunted house which was a walk around (one-way-no-backing-out) tour based on the story of a girl who was mutilated on her face from using a moth poison infused powder puff, after which she was buried alive. Apparently it was suitable for ages 6+, but the rising 9 yo and the unshakable 10 yo with their faces buried inside my t-shirt were both decidedly jittery all the way round.
  
  Wandering to find lunch!
  
  Lunch was utterly thrilling in an entirely different way. Think Yo Sushi on steroids. Not only does grabbable sushi circulate on the lower conveyor belt, but you can create personal orders on your bespoke iPad, and the upper belt whooshes your freshly made dishes to the precise spot in front of you for you to pick up and eat. It wasn’t exactly a social experience, but 40 minutes of concentrated gluttonous/tech fuelled joy!
  
  Around our perusal of the famous hectic Shibuya crossing, we stumbled across the statue of Hachikō, a Japanese Akita dog remembered for his remarkable loyalty to his owner, Hidesaburō Ueno, for whom he continued to wait at the train station for over nine years following Ueno’s death. This story inspired us to pick Haatchi for our Friday night movie which we all managed to find heartwarming despite wincing somewhat at the the constant Richard Gere eye ‘crinkling’.
  
  Our original Sunday plans had to be ditched for an alternative rainy day programme. The incredible Panasonic RiSuPia centre saved the day. We got sidetracked downstairs for a while by an exhibit of all the Olympics torches from the past 12 Games, and some other inspiring preludes to Tokyo 2020. Upstairs in the Quest Gallery, I was literally blown away by how principles of science and maths were made engaging through games and incredibly clear explanations.
  
  Explaining binomial distribution to Bella suddenly became fun!
  
  I got a lot further with explaining the principles of equilibrium than I ever did in the playground with a simple see-saw.
  
  And I learned at thing or 2 myself about cycloids….
  
  The next floor up got a lot more digital/interactive, and we all had fun manipulating electromagnets, playing ‘prime-number’ air hockey, and even (to my amazement) getting obsessed by moving lines around a graph by shifting the x and y values. Kudos and gratitude to Panasonic!
  
  Sunday happened to be the Hina-matsuri festival, when Japanese families pray for the health and growth of their daughters. Bella, Emily and I celebrated at the Keio Plaza Hotel where 6800 handmade silk hanging dolls, said to trap evil spirits and bring girls good luck, were showcased in the main lobby. The decorations have various symbolic meanings. Monkeys have the ability to ward off calamities, mandarin ducks reflect love between spouses, and pillows represent children who sleep well and grow healthily.
  
  It is also traditional to eat lurid sweet rice crackers…….apparently!
  
  Wednesday and Thursday this week delivered a social whirlwind beginning with meeting an old Google pal, James, who hosted us for lunch on the 43rd floor of the Mori building in the Google Tokyo Japan engineers cafe (eng always gets the best food!). The evening hailed delicious Thai food and a drop in from Justin (Emily’s friend Winnie’s dad) who was in town on business. We shared a quiet beer together before he embraced a full on Japanese client dinner/Suntory binge/Karaoke experience. And Thursday brought torrential rain and a wonderful meet up with Robin who was in my section at HBS. We hadn’t seen each other for 15 years, and she valiantly toured us round the Meiji Shrine where we admired the architecture, the trees, and the spirituality of the place, and took the opportunity to write our wishes on wooden plaques.
  
  Mori tower which contains the Google building
  
  Prawn crackers and a sinking a Singa with Justin
  
  Meiji Shrine with Robin:
  
  That afternoon, my usual ‘look at that fascinating lamppost over there’ diversion tactic failed on route back to our hotel, so we ended up in an 8th floor cat cafe. I have to say the cats were a lot happier/freer than I expected and it was genuinely a good experience for us, and I think not too horrific for the cats!
  
  Tokyo has the most amazing set of museums, and most school mornings this week were spent taking advantage of them. Some highlights included:
  
  Monday: Science Museum with plenty of good engine action
  
  Tues: Lego Discovery Centre (after-school to be fair)
  
  Weds: Samurai Museum (with dress up!)
  
  Fri: Robot museum (plus a bit of space action)
  
  And on the subject of school, the girls achieved number 1 in the global Mathletics Hall of fame this week – way to go!
  
  To wrap up for today, some further reflections on Tokyo
  - Everyone is extraordinarily compliant here. Literally no one jay walks. Pointless rule following is enforced ubiquitously even when your daughter is trapped on a Lego-land ride under a faulty safety bar. If you miss your appointed dinner time, you don’t eat. If you ask to swap out the corn soup for miso on the kids menu it really stresses out the waiting staff.
  - Fruit is exorbitantly expensive. These (12!) special white strawberries are on sale for 16200 yen, equivalent to a whopping £112! And your basic orange and apple combo is 5400 yen, an eye-watering £37. Its all marvellously tasty though, so we haven’t eliminated fruit from our diet, we’ve just started splitting apples in 4, and nibbling them like rabbits!
  - It is incredibly safe here. People
    Imperial Palace from the running ‘loop’
    
    leave their running kit bags on the grass outside the Imperial Palace running loop with no fear of theft. Parents let their 10 yo kids roam the city alone. The supermarkets let you pay for your own groceries without analogous security mechanisms like the UK self-checkout weighing stations.
  - It is not at all progressive on the gender equality front. I could rant here, but I’ll save it for over a beer sometime. And all the men wear a uniform of black suits, white shirts…….and ties.
  - It is not at all multicultural. In contrast to walking around London, Tokyo is full of similarly coloured/featured Japanese vs the melting pot that we are used to at home and acknowledged in most S American countries. This is the result of very strict immigration laws. Even nationals are required to come home to live after any 7 year period abroad or they lose their Japanese status.
  - Quality is ubiquitous. Everyone does a good job, of every job, even in service industries, because they take pride in their work, and it is expected rather than because they are pursuing tips. The few tips I have proffered have been (politely) refused.
  - Gardens everywhere are gorgeous, well tended like pampered children.
  - Onsens really work (especially the ones that smell of sulphur). I went with achingly stiff limbs after a rather over-zealous yoga session, and got out of the water feeling genuinely renewed.
  | 4 Comments
- Hitting the slopes of Hirafu
  
  Posted at 11:12 pm by Charlotte, on February 28, 2019
  Do click ‘Hitting the slopes of Hirafu’ above to read this blog on the website rather than from your email – that way the photos will render correctly and the video will play better.
  
  Getting to Hirafu was a cacophony of cancelled trains (too much snow, so a mixed blessing when heading to a ski resort), and stressful travel moments. Eventually we politely pushed our way onto a local ‘stop-at-every-lamppost’ chugger, and stood like sardines clutching our bags as we passed by the most spectacular scenery including some huge waves crashing onto a beach of snow just a few meters from the train window.
  
  The resort of Hirafu has been referred to as the ‘Aspen’ of Japan. This description manifested to be partly true. The town is peppered with Michelin starred restaurants and Montclere clothing stores, but the slopes are sparsely serviced by various lift types and quality ranging from perfectly decent gondolas, to the ‘pizza box’ – a ‘single’ chair lift with no safety barriers that swings violently from side to side as it hoiks you to the top of the volcano whilst you are buffeted by 30mph winds carrying icy snow ready to slash and burn any piece of flesh that you may inadvertently have left exposed. The clientele ranges from posers dripping with diamonds that barely make it out of the spa to the slopes right through to the most hardcore powder hounds EVER who make us feel like softcore part-timers who can barely stand up on a set of skiis!
  
  It is cold. Very cold. The weather comes from Siberia which results in so much fresh powder every day that its hard to moan about anything really. After I had bought the local corner shop out of hand and foot warmers all has been well on the temperature front! The sun rarely comes out fully. The weather ranges from full on blizzard to a kind of ethereal light as the sun fights its way through the clouds which cling to the volcano sides. There are no animals or birds around so those moments when you find yourself alone on the slopes are eerily beautiful in their quietness. In contrast, on the groomed slopes there are constant loudspeaker announcements which echo with distortion and remind me of sci-fi movies where the ‘evil administration’ is constantly broadcasting to the nation.
  
  It is absurdly beautiful. The mountains are cloaked with silver birch trees, adorned with delicate deposits of snow.
  
  Skiing here couldn’t be more different to Europe. I haven’t encountered a patch of ice in 2 weeks on the slopes. Runs are generally quite short, as the skiing is on a series of volcanoes that aren’t particularly high, but since mostly we ski down through the trees, or hike to various peaks to ski off piste that slows us down a fair bit (especially when we take in a few tree ‘hugs’ on the way down). There is a system of ‘gates’ which lead to ungroomed off-piste avalanche controlled areas which is where we spend most of our time to make the most of the abundant powder. We are learning a whole new lingo eg ‘its completely tracked out man’ which means that a handful of people have gotten to a particular patch before you and left their ski or board trails to mess with your smooth turns and perfect lines. And the lift helpers are SOOO polite! They take your skis from you to pop into the gondola storage slots, and you can frequently then get into a courtesy bowing ‘duel’ as you pay your respects and thank each other. I usually concede defeat when the gondola doors are about to shut to take my skis up the mountain without me.
  
  James and I joined various workshops to try to get to grips with the powder and the trees, and can now more or less get down anything in the resort. The girls have come on hugely and one if not both of them will have overtaken us in both skill and speed by the end of this part of our adventure. They are already tough to keep up with. They tend to nip off-piste into the woods if you lose concentration for a second. Blink and you miss them! Sometimes they pop back out (usually over some kind of drop off or jump), and otherwise you just catch up with them a the bottom of the slope. They have also taken to ‘surfing’ the gondolas (‘look no hands’) which I suspect has something to do with all the Aussie instructors they have been hanging out with.
  
  Home has been an apartment with a fabulous view of Mount Yotei, which occasionally we can even see when the wind is blowing in the right direction and the sun comes out. Half term brought lots of cosy movie nights, and the slopes have delivered lots of ramen at lunch time which generally goes down well!
  
  A very rare (winter) view of Mount Yotei at sunset (mostly at least half of it is swathed in cloud)
  
  We’ve taken Saturday’s ‘off’ to give the legs and the lift-passes a rest. Week one we took the train to nearby town Otaru for their snow festival. In contrast to the huge scale snow festival we visited in Sapporo, this one was on a truly local scale which lent a much more intimate atmosphere while still being breathtakingly stunning. The light installations were set all along a canal, and many featured lanterns with delicate flowers set into them, or intricate calligraphy painted on sheets of ice.
  
  Week 2 we went to the local climbing wall, reminded ourselves how to belay the girls, and sent them up and down some fairly epic walls and overhangs. Mission accomplished – they slept well that night!
  
  Other than that its been mostly skiing and chilling. Other than sampling plenty of the Hokkaido cuisine (king crab legs, soup curry, hot pot, uni (sea urchin gonads!), and rice bowls), our cultural explorations also took us to watch an amazing drumming group perform in the town centre. Turn your volume up – it will be worth it:
  
  King crab legs – delectable!
  
  Urchin gonads – a bit more challenging!
  
  Stop press:
  - It stopped snowing about a week ago!
  - The resort emptied apart from the foreigners
  - We switched out our big fat powder skiis for carvers and hit the ‘groomers’
  - Bella and Emily are now both faster than both of us
  Oh yes, forgot to mention that James grew a beard, and got on a board. Both short-lived thankfully!!
  
  The board
  
  The beard!
  
  2 more days here then we hit Tokyo for some city vibes – get ready!
  | 8 Comments
- Sapporo Snow Festival
  
  Posted at 8:29 am by Charlotte, on February 8, 2019
  
  Our next destination was the snow festival of Sapporo. Since spring school term started this week, James and I spent the morning running errands, and we enjoyed getting out to explore as a family in the afternoons.
  
  There were 3 main sites to the festival: the snow site, the ice site, and the family site. All were beautifully managed and mannered, and peppered with delicious street food to delight the senses further whilst admiring the beautiful frozen art works.
  
  Highlights from the snow site:
  
  And we couldn’t forget this little chappie!
  
  Highlights from the ice site:
  
  Highlights from the family site:
  
  James’s errands mostly involved getting replacement cables and electronics. He decided to wait till Tokyo for a haircut, but I braved Sapporo for a wax. The Japanese wax service was as precise and intricately performed as the Latin American ones had been flamboyant and fast. It took over 2 hours(!) for a leg wax…..

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