7 August 2009

Not entirely unexpectedly, Emily bawled when I left her at the nursery this time. I knew it was too good to be true. She was sobbing 'Mummy' and it was like a knife in my guts. I almost wanted to say that I had changed my mind as I felt so guilty. After all, it isn't even for the noble reason of needing to go back to work (yet). After painfully extricating myself, I did just make it back to Tamachi for my aerobics class. I was already drenched in sweat by the time I got there, and there was not enough aircon in the gym so I was dripping by the end of it. However, it did take my mind off Emily and I really enjoyed it. A quick revision session in Starbucks afterwards had me panicking about resuming my Japanese lessons tomorrow.

The nursery provides a little book to record her activities each visit, and they also take a photo and paste it in. It is a lovely record of her early years that we can treasure, though it gives me a pang to read about her doing things without me being there.

Just as we arrived home, a storm came over the city. Last year it felt like we had one nearly every evening in August but this was only the second one this summer. Emily and I stood out at the front of the apartment and watched the show, though it was only sheet lightning and distant rumbling, so we were obviously not that close to the centre. Nick will have been pleased as he has been bemoaning the lack of Thor's wrath most nights.

6 August 2009

After another bad night. I resolved to take the financial hit and go to the doctors. It was very cloudy so for some reason I was stupid enough to put on a pair of jeans. Of course, within ten minutes I was dripping with sweat as it was still high 20s and extremely muggy. You'd really think I would know better by now!

After a half hour dive into the jidokan to placate Emily, we went to the clinic. I got the requisite antibiotics, but what with the consultation fee it set us back more than a hundred quid. Sharp intake of breath. Well worth it though, as I began to feel an improvement only a few hours after the first tablet. While I was there I also asked the doc about a niggling ache in my calf. He asked me to lie on the couch so he could feel the muscle, and Emily immediately started wailing. She had shown definite signs of nervousness around him but that was unexpected.

Later, we met Bettina and Jo for another visit to Nandemo. Neither of them had been before, but it seems a good venue as we can all reach it in the same amount of time. The kids ran riot for an hour in a state of high excitement, while we caught up on a week's natter.

They are both going home soon so we will be without our regular playdate for a few weeks. We finished up at the Starbucks at the station, where we took over all the comfy chairs and the children tormented the salarymen/women who had dropped in there for a quiet drink and read, with their squealing.

5 August 2009

I saw a woman on the subway with a T- shirt that said 'the enemy of love is not hate it is not different'! I doubt it was a deliberate misquote, so it must be a poor translation dictionary that the designer used, to change 'indifference' to 'not different'. I was also musing on how I dislike and fail to understand the widespread trend for mini-skirts here, but the flipside is that women rarely wear revealing tops. It is refreshing to be able to walk down a street and not have your vision assailed by a pair of massive mammaries barely restrained by a tiny vest top, or too much midriff on display. Not a muffin-top to be seen!

It was overcast but steamy, so I wanted to stay indoors. Emily and I revisited Nandemo jidokan after nearly a year. I'm not sure why we haven't been for so long as it only took half an hour to get there and it had plenty for her to play with. There was a huge box full of trains, several slides, and two Rody ponies that she liked bouncing on.





We moved on to have lunch with Nick, whose office is only 10 minutes walk away. Emily was extremely vocal and charming the world-weary office workers, as always.

4 August 2009

As soon as I could, I went to a drugstore and tried to ask the pharmacist for something to treat the cystitis. I wasn't sure I made it clear enough, despite my demonstrations of needing to go to the toilet. She eventually said I should go to a doctor, but I bought the product she had pointed out at first anyway. Note to self - ask for Cymalon from home!


Afterwards I took Emily to the park as it wouldn't be fair to keep her at home and I could just about cope with the symptoms. She was as bright as a button, talking a lot and running around. After lunch I had to cut her nap short so we could get to the nursery for her first afternoon. As soon as we entered the building, where we have visited briefly twice, she went quiet and clingy. How could she know I was going to leave her there on her own?! We went into the play area together and I stayed until she began playing with some toys, then sneaked away with everything crossed.

I didn't want to go far off in case they called me, so I did a bit of shopping around nearby Ginza. Now armed with the right Japanese to ask at a drugstore, thanks to Nick, I obtained another box of sachets. I am not hopeful though, and can see myself ending up needing antibiotics from a doctor. At a bit of a loose end, I called Jill and arranged to meet her for a drink and chat. On returning to nursery Ui I heard Emily say 'Mummy coming', so they had obviously been telling her that. She surprised me by not crying, as she often has when I pick her up at Pokke, and the staff said she had only cried briefly when she realised I had gone.

3 August 2009

In the morning we sought sanctuary from the humidity at Appi, with Jill and Sophia. Later, Emily returned to Kspace after missing the last 10 week term. Just as before, she was really nervous around the male staff. At first, we were the only ones in the class, and that must have made it even more daunting, though she had a happy reunion with their character, Kokomo. After a while a few other mums and tots joined us, but it was a fairly muted affair for all that.


In the evening we had a visit from Gary and Claire, the Taiwanese couple from Nick's MBA course in Durham. They were in Tokyo for a short holiday and had asked if they could drop round to see us. Unforunately Nick couldn't get out of work early, so they came at 9.30 and stayed until after eleven. It was nice to see them and be reminded of our happy time in the North East.


Overnight I was plagued by a sudden and severe attack of cystitis. It seemed to come from nowhere, though I am not surprised as I know I ought to drink more water, and often delay going to the loo if I am busy with Emily or on the move. I lost a couple of hours sleep to it and wasn't sure how I would deal with it in the morning, not having any sachets of remedy to hand.

2 August 2009

What a terrible night. Emily was extremely disturbed and as I was lying next to her I woke at every whimper or change of position. Around 1am she got very upset and even Nick woke up from his sleep-deprived stupor. We couldn't figure out what was wrong, and she pushed us away rather than wanting to be held. In the end we administered some medicine and adjusted her clothing in case she was too cold under the fan blast (in the mountains people don't tend to have aircon but it was still 27C so we needed the fan). Even after that she was disturbed right through to dawn. There was a Velux skylight directly above our heads, and as there was only a thin white blind to cover it (why bother?!) the morning light fell fully on us. Emily got very fretful again after that and eventually woke for good at 6.30. I felt like death warmed up as I don't think I had a full hour's sleep at any point in the night.

Breakfast was the usual Japanese version of continental, with a small salad, asparagus wrapped in bacon, fruit and yogurt, and some chunks of soft white bread. The accompanying homemade jams were tasty. Jam is the area's meibutsu (speciality: every part of Japan has one and tourists always buy shedloads of the local produce for their families and friends). We were also served a small glass of a red concoction which was made by brewing red shiso (perilla) leaves with water and vinegar. It was surprisingly good, and no doubt has claims to health benefits. Emily was fascinated by the host grinding the coffee on a little device with a wheel.

After we'd packed up we wandered in the garden briefly. The owner said that we could pick some of the huge blueberries they had growing there. We got the our first glimpse of Mount Asama through trees and swirling cloud. We hitched a lift back to Miyota station and took the little train to Naka Karuizawa, where we planned to pick up a bus to the lava fields called Onioshidashien (quite a mouthful even when you know how to pronounce it!). With nearly an hour to wait we realised that we were stranded in a backwater with nowhere to have a coffee, so we just strolled up the street to keep Emily from being too bored at the bus stop.

The bus ride took over half an hour, but luckily it wasn't busy so we bagged the back seat and Emily could stand up and look out of the rear window. When we arrived at the lava field in light rain we found a rather rundown facility with damp and ugly concrete bridges over the road to an equally drab cafe and restaurant that had seen better days. As it was nearing Emily's lunchtime we had to go inside though, especially as it was drizzling. She declined the sachet of food I'd brought in no uncertain terms, but seemed happy to pick at soba noodles and some of Nick's pork.

Afterwards we loaded her up in the carrier for a nap, while we strolled around the walking course that was laid out among the lava stacks.

The area was not at all bleak because among the rocks were plenty of young trees and shrubs. From time to time the clouds parted to reveal parts of Asama-yama's summit far above.

The path brought us back around to the famous shrine among the lava, where people were sounding the huge bell hanging there.

Emily woke just as Nick was pressing a coin into a crack in a boulder as an offering to the shrine.

Soon we were back on the bus bound for Karuizawa, but again we had the back seat so Emily didn't get too fed up. Back in the town she spotted that there was a boy in the passenger seat of the car behind and was waving to him and holding up Mickey Mouse to show him.

We jumped off the bus halfway along the main street and walked towards the station, looking for somewhere to get a bite to eat. There seems to be some strange obsession with German sausages in Karuizawa as there were several speciality restaurants serving them. It came on to rain just as we found a place that was mentioned in the guide book, Krastanie. Though mid-afternoon we were just in time to order lunch; we ended up with far more food than we'd really intended, and failed in our main objective to get Emily to have some of our food though she did try some of the mozzarella pesto salad. She was agitating to get down, and the staff thoughtfully brought out a wire and bead frame for her so that we could finish the meal in peace.

We just had time to get back to the station for the shinkansen back to Tokyo. After the very disturbed night the last thing I felt like doing was going for a run, but I forced myself as I had missed two Sundays already. Actually it went OK under the circumstances, and thankfully began to rain in the last third, just as I was getting overheated.

1 August 2009

Another weekend, another getaway! This time to Karuizawa, which we mainly chose because we could get there in just over an hour from Tokyo using the shinkansen, and because it is in the mountains and therefore likely to be cooler. Given the short journey time and the fact that it was over Emily's lunchtime, the trip was easy. By the time we'd eaten our packed lunch together we were halfway there, and she didn't even get as far as roaming up and down the aisles.

When we arrived the mountains were wreathed in low cloud, but it was certainly several degrees cooler than Tokyo and the air felt cleaner somehow, though Karuizawa is a busy place. It is one of the principle resorts for city-dwellers, with hundreds of holiday homes tucked away in the woods all around town, from glorified chalets through to the almost palatial (and ugly). The place was 'discovered' by an Englishman in the late 1800s and there is a strong British theme; there is more mock-Tudor here than in the average Essex town. The main drag is a good mile long with lots of nice little shops, boutiques and cafes; without Emily in tow I would gladly have spent an hour or two browsing in them.

We got some gen from the Information office at the station and then boarded a bus for a twenty minute ride up into the hills to Shiraito no Taki (White Thread Waterfall). We joined the dozens of tourists going to view the horseshoe falls that have about a 10 feet drop but are a couple of hundred feet round.

Having taken the falls in, with plenty of time to kill before a bus back, and a sleepy Emily to lull, we walked off along a hiking route which quickly took us away from the throng. Most people were probably put off continuing along the path by a set of vertiginous stairs that had me wavering a bit, but once we'd puffed up more than 120 of them at about a one in two angle, we found that it levelled off into a pleasant ramble among the trees, with just insects and birds and a rare person or two to accompany us. I almost felt that we could be back at home as there was little to say that we were in Japan - further down there had been a lot of dwarf bamboo undergrowth but up above it was mainly ferns under broadleaved trees. We walked for twenty minutes or more and Emily woke soon after we had turned back.

She wanted to get out of the carrier and walk, of course, and she seemed to enjoy strolling along with us, picking up the odd twig and larch cone. We had spotted several huge caterpillars that were almost fluorescent yellowy-green, but luckily Emily didn't see any as I was worried that they might be poisonous.

As we approached the waterfall again it came on to rain, and within minutes it was torrential and thundery. There was still half an hour to wait for the next bus so all we could do was huddle in a makeshift shelter next to a food stall where they were doing a roaring trade in fish speared on sticks and cooked over charcoal.

Back in Karuizawa we got off at the top end of the main street and soon found a nice cafe where we could top up with coffee and a cake and wait for the rain to stop before returning to the station. Emily got quite a long way down the road under her own steam but we had to prevent her from running into half the shops along the way. We picked up the local train to make the final short journey to Miyota where we were staying. The line skirts round the base of the local volcano, Asama-yama, whose 2500 metre peak was unfortunately not visible. At Miyota we were collected by the pension owner who drove us up the hills another 10 minutes to their lovely wooden lodge, Pension White Cloud Blue Sky. It turned out that he was a former salaryman who had had enough of the rat race and downshifted: probably a common story up here, given the proliferation of pensions and B&Bs.

Our room was small but adequate for one night. I quickly laid out our futons before it was time for dinner. Emily joined us, though she had her own food, which she picked at. Of course she preferred to try ours, though most of it wasn't really suitable for her. We just about made it through the meal without her spoiling it by getting upset. When they saw Emily, the only other guests, a young couple, must have realised that they were not going to have a tranquil or romantic weekend away.

We took Emily up to bed and gave her a bottle of milk, having no en-suite in which to bathe her first. But after I had put her in her sleeping bag and turned out the lights she was awake and moving around for a good half hour. I lay there quietly with her listening to her recitation of her favourite words. 'I love goki' featured heavily. Finally she gave in and I was able to creep out and join Nick for a while in the small lounge area. We had a bottle of Japanese wine which tasted more like white grape juice but was apparently 12%, and watched some truly inane Saturday night TV before tiptoeing back into the room for a nice early night.