New blog

Blogspot has been saving all my pictures at full resolution so unfortunately Ive used up my 1G of free storage even though Im not yet even half way through my trip :( so the second half of this year abroad will have to be in a new blog - check out http://www.melissainsakai2011.blogspot.com/ soon for the rest of the boys trip and my adventures in 2011

The boys come to visit Kansai for Christmas.

My lovely brothers decided that me spending Christmas on my own wasnt very nice, so they took up the offer of a free tour guide, translator and futons to crash on, and came over to visit me for 2 and a half weeks over Christmas and New Years 2010-11 - this is the first half of their story.

Saturday 18 December
Arriving an hour and a half late but not complaining about the free upgrade the business class I met them at Kansai airport at 9am and we swung by the supermarket on the way home. Headed up to Namba for a spot of shopping around Shinsaibashi and Don Qihote on Dotomburi before walking to Shinsekai to spend the afternoon at Spa World and have kushi-katsu at Daruma for dinner

Sunday 19 December
Spent the morning building a gingerbread house before a few of my workmates arrived to have nabe for lunch and then a few more workmates (with kids in tow) arrived mid afternoon for the Christmas Party. Mark made a pretty convincing santa and we played Indian gift giving and took photos with santa - everyone had a fun afternoon. That evening we went up to North Osaka (Umeda) to check out the German Christmas Market and went up the top of the Sky Building to see the Floating Observatory and a beautiful night view of the city

Monday 20 to Wednesday 22 December
I had to go to work for a couple of days and had my end of year party on Wednesday so the boys went to Nara for the day on Monday (and got terrorised by deer wanting biscuits) and left for Kyoto on Tuesday to visit temples and shrines galore (and of course the monkey park)

Thursday 23 December
I was up early-ish on this public holiday for the Emporers Birthday to meet the boys in Kyoto at 9am. We explored the lines of torii gates running through the hills at Fushimi-Inari-taisha, walked (eyes-closed) between the love stones, went down into tainai-meguri and drank from the waterfall at Kiyomizu-dera, shopped in ninnen and sannen-zaka, stood in awe looking at the Buddhas in Sanjusangen-do and explored the amazing Kyoto station before coming back to Sakai mid afternoon. There were fireworks at Harvest Hill for the Emporers Birthday and went out for all-you-can-eat shabu-shabu with Tsuda-san and Pi-chan afterwards for dinner

Friday 24 December
In Huggins tradition, the 24th was pretty chilled and we spent the day exploring Sakai. Had tonpeiyaki for lunch with a few workmates and looked out over Sakai from the 21st floor of Sakai City Hall (with my English signboards all finished). Rented bikes for the boys and cycled down to Daisen Park and enjoyed the Japanese garden and saw the entrance of Nintoko-ryo's tumulus, found the old Sakai lighthouse, some stray cats and a Yosano Akiko statue. That night we went up to Namba and had okonomiyaki with Tim at Ponpocotei and a few drinks at Dublin Garden

Saturday 25 December
Santa came and gave us lots of Japanese snacks for the train ride tomorrow and we had deluxe pancakes (with bananas and strawberries, maple and chocolate syrup) for breakfast. Everyone pitched in to make a delicious lunch of apricot glazed pork, mashed kumara and veges and of course there was Japanese Christmas cake for dessert. Talked to the parents and Stuart and his family and had a nice relxing day inside seeing as it was snowing a little bit outside

Sorry about having to cut this blog post in half. Apparently I have used up my free 1G of space already (only 5 months into my year here...) so will have to figure out what to do now....

And before you know it it's mid December!

After getting back from Tokyo I caught a bit of a cold (no surprises there) and have had quite a bit to do the last month at work getting everything finished and out of work booking a lot of things for my brothers trip - crazy to think they will be here on Saturday morning!

Food

Lately Ive been able to get out with and try a few different restaurants around the area - so much food album on facebook is now bursting at the seams http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026477&id=220000480&l=00a42d4377. One of the guys at work treated me to a tompeiyaki lunch to say thanks for all my work with the Foreign Affiars Presentation and I went with some of the girls at work to a fancy Italian place (that does a very reasonably priced set pasta lunch)

Unsure whether to put this under "Food" or "Work" but I think it was more about the food! At the end of Nov I taught 20 Japanese people "Kiwi Cooking" Im not sure exactly what that means because they said no pav and no lamb (because its been done and its too expensive and they hold the class twice a year)... but I decided on a couscous and salmon salad, apricot pork and kumara mash and pineapple upside down cake for dessert. It was a bit of a mission with people working at different paces (and needing different amounts of help) but we got it all done in the time we had and it was pretty delicious. It was actually pretty nice to be back in a real kitchen with an oven and cook some real meat!

I also went out with Tsuda-san (my supervisor) and Pi-chan (her husband) for a couple of dinners of tonkatsu and yakiniku - theyre so lovely to me and have become like an older brother and sister.

And of course, we cant forget thanksgiving at this time of year. Enjoyed it at Mindys house - big thanks to all the chefs and helpers - it was a delicious way to spend a chilly Sunday afternoon

Work

Thanks to the season there hasnt been too much translating to do lately which is nice but there have been a lot of events going on and this is my first weekend that in a month that I wont have work on either Saturday and Sunday (because my brothers are here). But the events are much more fun that sitting at a desk doing translation work and because they"re out of work hours I earn time-in-lieu and have already taken 12 days holiday and not used any of my four weeks leave yet...

Dec 1 - Sister Cities End of Year Function

Sakai has two sister cities (Wellington, Berkely) and a Chinese Friendship City so we were all together for the International Salon in November and gathered again for an end of year party. It was at our big hotel (Rihga Royal) and a great chance to mingle, eat and drink and at the end everyone (all in suits) made a big circle and sung "If you're happy and you know it" in Japanese which was a hilarious way to end!

Dec 4 - English Rakugo and Incense Experience
On Saturday afternoon we put on an event aimed at the International Students in Sakai. Even though I had a cold I had to be genki and translate but it was a fun day. Someta Hayashiya gave us a taste of Rakugo (Japanese sit-down comedy) in English, we went to a small local incense making factory and then came back and made our own to take home - it was such a fun afternoon, hard to believe I can call it work!

Dec 12- Kids Christmas
Tim does some work on the side for Yamaha English School and they suddenly had someone pull out of a Christmas Party and asked him if he knew anyone. So last Sunday morning (after my football team's end of year drinks on Saturday night) I headed north for an hour to Takatsuki and spend the day playing sensei and Santa to a group of kids from the English school - tiring but fun!

Getting out and about

So most weekends lately Ive only had one day off work but have still made the most of it as theres a lot going on this time of year.


Dec 5 - Kobe Luminarie
Kohei was back from Thailand just for the weekend and Colleen had just finished sitting the JLPT so it seems like the perfect excuse to go and visit. I actually headed out early for morning cake set with Leina (originally from Hawaii, but now a CIR in Kobe who I had meet at the MOFA presentation in Tokyo). It was a beautiful day in Kobe so spent it wandering around town (as the ropeway is closed for maintenance over the winter season) did a bit of shopping and went out to the Hakatsuru Sake Brewery before meeting up with Colleen and Kohei for an izakaya-esque dinner including cheese fondue, the big drawcard Luminarie and of course more cake for dessert - when in Kobe! Luminarie has been held in Kobe every December since 1995 commemorating the Great Hanshin Earthquake of that year. The lights were donated by the Italian government and each one is hand painted! This is just a taster picture but if you want to see more, check out

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2028124&id=220000480&l=d306208c28

Dec 11 - Tennoji Zoo
Finally caught up with Satomi (who had struck up a conversation with me at Fuji-onsen when I was in Yamanashi-ken in September) and we headed to Shinsekai for the day. Had Kushi-katsu at Daruma for lunch and spent the afternoon at Tennoji Zoo (a little outdated but still had all the animals and was amazing value for only Y500 especially because they have Japan's only Kiwi). That night headed into Namba for my football team's end of year dinner at a fancy Italian restaurant (all you can eat and drink) and of course Indian Gift Giving styled Secret Santa- which was mental! My small kiwi espresso cups were very popular but I didnt have the heart to steal the rainbow pocky and edamame keitai strap off the girl who had bought them so ended up with a hilarious cork screw - dont have one of those anyway!

Dec 14 - Yassai Hossai Festival
I had written about it in my December / January edition of City Life (English newsletter I put out for the City Council, online at http://www.city.sakai.lg.jp/city/info/_kokusai/citylife/top.html) so figured I should make the effort to go and check it out and had an amazing time! It is held every year on December 14 and is associated with a legend of a fisherman who warmed up an image of the deiry Ebisu who had drifted ashore near Iwatsuta Shrine, by burning 108 bundles of firewood. After the fire had died down a bit and been spread out using huge bamboo pools the men hoist a man dressed as Ebisu on their shoulders and run through the embers cheering "Yassai Hossai" - check out my friends video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv9flaYWSb8 and afterwards the crowd is invited to give it a go - one of the best things about Japan is local festivals!

And just like that suddenly its mid December and getting colder here very quickly - the Christmas cards are all sent and next on the list is writing Japanese New Years cards, my brothers will be here in two sleeps for their first trip to Japan so looking forward to lots of adventures with them. Hope you all have a Happy Christmas with your families and an awesome New Years wth your friends! I doubt I'll have time for another blog post this year so will catch you in 2011

How to survive life as a Japanese public servant 101 - Making the most out of your Business Trips

Course Outline


So say youve got work in another city from Monday to Thursday. Work has paid for accommodation for 3 nights and given you a train ticket up there on Monday morning and back on Thursday night. This free online course will give you an example of how by taking just one day of daikyuu (time in lieu) on Friday, you can maximise your time in the capital of the land of the rising sun by changing your bullet train tickets to Saturday morning and Sunday night!


Day 1 - Saturday 13 November

Was on the 10am bullet train from Shin-Osaka to Tokyo, which still gave me enough time to have a decent breakfast and with a few discounted sweet breads and onigiri to eat on the train I had bought from the supermarket the night before I was off back to Tokyo for the third time in almost as many months. Don met me at Tokyo station and we headed down to Shinagawa to go to Kurazushi for lunch (kaiten sushi) there was a little bit of a wait but that just gave us a chance to catch up and we ended up with a counter seat and I chowed through 8 delicious plates of sushi. There were having a sale too so each plate was only Y90 instead of Y105 - yay! Sushi lunch for just over Y700 makes me very happy!

That afternoon was pretty chilled as Don had some free time so we wandered up to his place (in the dorm block where Kyle and Tom used to live) and around Meigaku, seeing as we were having a "for old times sake" evening we decided to train it out on the Tokyu Ikegami-sen to Ontakesan to wander around the main street and Jusco for a bit and even had okonomiyaki for dinner at Yocchans - its just a shame I was in Tokyo a week after Reich!

Later that night I caught up with a few friends from my Meigaku Sign Language Group for dinner and drinks at an izakaya and then 3 hours of karaoke so managed to sing pretty much everything we wanted although a lot of the Japanese songs I remember are quite old and they wanted me to sing lots in English too (so the two hours nomihoudai - lit. all you can drink - definitely helped) Takuya did sing Sakura by Kyogo Kawaguchi (check out this video of someone else singing it at karaoke - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TArkxLuBLUk) which I hadnt heard in years which was lovely. Ended up picking up some beers from the convenience store and having the ni-ji-kai at his house - hilarious 5 of us squeezing into his tiny Oimachi apartment but had some great chats well into the wee hours.

Day 2 - Sunday 14 November

After a pretty big Saturday night, Sunday morning was pretty chilled until I met Yosuke and Stefan for lunch in Shinjuku. I realise that this sounds normal enough but I think the circumstances coming together like this makes for an interesting story - so heres some background to my Sunday lunch date...

Yosuke was my sempai (senior, year level above me) in my swim team at university over here. He was paired up with Stefan as a buddy (all international students were assigned 1-2 Japanese students who volunteered to help us settle in to university and Tokyo Life). Last time I saw Stefan was when I went to see him in Hamburg in 2007 and now hes living in Yokohama with a Japanese wife (who he meet in Australia) and teaching at a kindergarten. The three of us were having lunch at a Mexican place in Tokyo, the last time we shared a meal would have been over 5 years ago, and a lot has changed since then with Stefan being married, Yosuke engaged (to Tintin - another exchange student at the same time as us - who is at home in the Philippines) and me also doing long-distance with Stuart so the conversation was quite a bit different to last time but had a great long lunch chatting with these guys!

After lunch I headed to Shoko's (who was one of my buddies from my Meigaku days) place to drop my bag as I was going to crash there for the night. We went for a walk around Ginza at night to check out the pretty Christmas lights and had homemade nabe with her Mum and had a nice chilled night just catching up

Day 3 - Monday 15 November

Seeing as I was spending the night in Tsukiji I think it only made sense to go to the fish markets the next morning seeing as I was walking distance. Enjoyed it but was glad I went with Shoko and her Mum otherwise I wouldnt really have had any idea of where to go, wandered around for a bit (I didnt know tuna was such a big fish!) and took a couple of pictures without getting in the way - didnt bother lining up for the sushi breakfast and went for a dango on the way home instead as we both had work to get to.

Caught my train out to Chiba and was there by 9 but my hotel wouldnt let me check in until 2pm so I gave them my bag and just chilled in the lobby attempting to do some study in the morning before my conference started in the afternoon as there wasnt much else to do out at Kaihin Makuhari. Was nice when everyone started arriving around 1-ish and we I had a chance to catch up with Jen (the other Wellington CIR) and Sammy (French-Canadian) who I hadnt seen since the Tokyo Orientation over three months ago. The welcome keynote session was okay but wish we had more time for socialising as everyone was staying at different hotels etc so it was a bit hard. The night was really yucky out but I didnt really want to just stay in my hotel room on my own, so instead headed out to spend the evening at Ikea, and spent a couple of hours wandering around in the warmth looking at furniture (luckily theres not a store close to my house!), taking pictures, and even had dinner there ;)

Day 4 - Tuesday 16 November

Our only full day of conference (the other two were just a morning and afternoon to allow everyone to get there and back within three days) was a little full on with one lecture / workshop after another and as first years we all the compulsory ones were decided for us. The morning sessions were on translating and interpretting and then enjoyed lunch with Jen, Rory (her boyfriend) and Sophie (another 1st year CIR from NZ - Christchurch based in Sendai) at a place that did a nice cheap set lunch with free rice and drink refills for Y600. Afternoon sessions were on answering the phone in the workplace and life after JET (interesting that that was compulsory for first years...)

Skipped out on the last session and enjoyed the sunset looking out towards Tokyo from Makuhari Beach and then continued the thirs wheel romantic evening with Jen and Rory and made the most of my second night in the area by going to Disney Sea - seeing as it was only a few train stops away and they have a special "after 6" deal for the evenings which is only Y3100 (NZD$50) so why not. Using the single rider lines (available on three of the biggest rides) we managed to get on everything we wanted and even catch the Christmas fireworks, have some milk tea flavoured popcorn, and do a bit of shopping before the park closed at 10pm

Day 5 - Wednesday 17 November

The final two sessions of the conference were a little more discussion based which I liked, and I got a few more ideas about event and lesson planning. Said goodbye to the few people I knew - checked out of my hotel in Chiba (left) and into my hotel in Tokyo (right) before heading into the Tokyo office for a few hours to practise the presentation for tomorrow

After we'd done as much rehearsal as we could handle for one night, we had dinner at an izakaya and then I went to visit Junyas work (as thats the only way I can see him these days as our schedules are opposite) to get some study done over a pint and a dessert

Day 6 - Thursday 18 November

Finally the day of the presentation was here. I enjoyed my third hotel breakfast in a row, killed some time in the lobby (between checkout and the time I had to meet everyone - that has seemed to happen a bit on this trip...) and then headed off the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Gaimusho). Background - the presentation was 10 minutes, with a powerpoint, in English to a bunch of representatives from all the Embassies in Tokyo about our area as part of the Regional Promotion Seminar and there were booths with samples of local goods etc afterwards too. I went to watch the last round in September and they were torn over a Japanese person presenting it (in Japanese English) or a CIR presenting it (but not a native of the area) so we decided to take a bit of a risk and did a conversation-style presentation between a workmate and I - which thankfully went down really well.

At each seminar there are five towns / regions represented - the other 4 were Mie, Kobe, Yamagata and Sendai. Luckily most of the other stands had CIRs there as well (bar Sendai but thats okay because I had caught up with Sophie at the conference) so I had a great time meeting some other people from around the country and enjoying whatever wine or sake was left at the end of the session - great vibe and made more  contacts in 3 hours than I had at 3 days of conference!











Day 7 - Friday 19 November


This was probably the busiest day of the whole trip, but I had taken a day off so its only fair to want to make the most of it right! Met up with Rory and Jen again (they were making the most of the conference by spending the weekend in Tokyo too) and went for a wander through Meiji-jinju. There were lots of gorgeous kids dressed up for the 7-5-3 festival and some random vegetables around for a Harvest Festival they would be having a few days later

Went for a wander down Takeshita-doori, its much less crowded in the mornings than in the afternoon and celebrated my presentation going well with lunch at Sweets Paradise - 70 minutes of all you can eat for Y1480 - salad, curry, spaghetti, udon, ice-cream, shaved ice and of course as the name suggests lots of sweets, about 30 different styles of cake and a chocolate fountain! Paradise! Time afterwards for a bit of shopping and of course purikura (sticker pictures!) before heading back up to Meigaku

Turns out today was Meigaku's advent service and Don was going to be conducting the choir for one of their songs so he invited me along - its was a great chance to get back up to the school (and into the chapel as Id never been before) to enjoy some Christmas songs (in Japanese of course) and also catch the tree lighting ceremony afterwards - nothing better to put you in the festive mood!

After that I met Shinobu at Ikebukuro Station and we headed out to Nerima to spend the night with Kayo and her new (2 month old) baby Sho-chan. Had a great night out there just hanging out with two wonderful girls who came all the way to NZ to visit for a week in November 2005 - brilliant to catch up and just relax spent the night looking through wedding and baby pictures - super cute!

Day 8 - Saturday 20 November

Knowing that I was heading back home tomorrow Saturday was a little bit more chilled but spent a wonderful afternoon / early evening out in Sakuragicho with Kiyomi. Havent seen her since I was in Japan last time on a whirlwind visit on the way to Michaelas wedding in 2008 so it was great to catch up. Did a bit of window shopping while enjoying the numerous Christmas trees in the malls and looking into planning her New Years trip to London/Edinburgh before heading outside and across to Akarenga for a very civilised tea and cake

After saying goodbye to Kiyomi (Im sure we wont leave it so long next time) I had an Ethiopian Curry and a drink with Joel in Nishi-Waseda with Joel and walked back to Higashi-Shinjuku where I was staying with Nigel and his girlfriend - who were lovely enough to let me stay Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and even made homemade gratin the first night for me after my presentation! Thats one thing that definitely helps you make the most out of your business trips by having amazing people that you can stay with / catch up with - and Im very lucky to have a lot of those people in Tokyo *warm fuzzies*

Day 9 - Sunday 21 November


Before I had to catch my shinkansen back to Osaka at 5pm, there was time to catch up with one more person - Sarah (who I went to primary school with in Palmerston North) is living in Japan with her fiancee at the moment, the last time we caught up was on my way through Sydney heading home from my OE in Nov 2007. Had okonomiyaki for lunch in Shibuya, did some shopping, wandered to Harajuku for crepes, more shopping and a coffee was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Course Summary

Of course having people in a city definitely helps to have a futon to crash on, or someone to have a coffee with but Im sure it is possible if you dont know anyone in the city where your business trip is too. Book into a youth hostel for a few nights and youre sure to meet a few like minded people who are just trying to make the most out of every day too - and you never know, they might just become life long friends. If you liked this please keep an eye out for the next edition in this online series "How to survive life as a Japanese public servant 101 - Making the most of your Public Holidays > Long Weekends" coming in February 2011.