10 January 2009

My long-awaited Japanese classes began. Although I feel that I have been picking up quite a bit here and there, I need regular structured learning with other people, where I can actually practise talking. The class had about 12 students, from countries as diverse as Sweden, India and Tunisia. I was the only Brit, but befriended an American woman and sat next to her. The class was a lot more full-on than the one I used to attend in Durham; back then I was by far the oldest and the others were mainly university students who were not very serious about learning Japanese as they had no real use for it. By contrast, those in my new course are all here on the ground and need to improve their language skills to make their life here easier. The Durham cohort was primarily British, and therefore very backward in speaking loud and clear in front of their classmates; other nationalities don't seem to be so reticent. When I first had to stand up and introduce myself I flushed red and actually apologised for being shy. For the first half an hour I felt as though I was out of my depth as the Japanese teacher freely mixed her own language with English and it was hard to follow. By the end of the two hours though, I felt a lot more confident that I was in the right level course and that I could hold my own among my fellow students.

After the excitement of Thursday, Emily hardly walked on her own at all on Friday. Returning home from class, Nick told me that Emily had taken a dozen or so steps, so I was relieved. I was hoping that she would 'perform' for him. After lunch we went to Hamamatsucho as we didn't have enough time left to go further afield. We went to Takeshiba Pier as we wanted to enquire about the jetfoil service to Oshima island, then braved the ice cold blast to go up to view the harbour area. We'll have to go again when it's warmer, to take in the interesting view of boats, cranes etc.

Our other objective was a visit to Kyu Shiba Rikyu garden, back near Hamamatsucho station. We'd been there once before many months ago, before Emily could even crawl. It is a small but attractive oasis among ugly buildings and rail lines. Inside the entrance was a sort of stable containing fully-fledged peonies, some almost the size of dinner plates.
They also had the triangular supports for pine trees that we'd seen at Korakuen.

As they weren't there last time, I can only assume that they are protection against breakage from the weight of snow. If only we had a bit of snow! The last two days it has felt cold enough but the precipitation has only been rain. We were almost the only visitors there and let Emily have free rein on the grassy banks. There were dozens of ducks on the small lake, sharing the water with the many ubiquitous huge carp. For the first time, Nick and I each took one of Emily's hands and walked along the path with her between us. If only we could get that momentous photo of the special moment. We both felt that events like this should be shared with family, and were guilty and sad.