7 December 2009

It was bitterly cold despite strong sunshine. Emily spent half an hour sitting in the park collecting pods from a sycamore tree, and it took a lot of encouragement to get her to move and use some energy up before lunch. Meeting Julia and Charlize at Arisugawa late afternoon, it was so cold that I wished I had a scarf and hat, and poor Emily's hands were red raw, not that she seems to notice, mind you.


I've been thinking for a long time about getting her off the bottle but I couldn't pluck up courage to try something new. In the supermarket I saw that they sold packs of 100ml cartons with a straw and decided to go for it. I gave her one for lunch and one for tea, thereby replacing her usual 200ml bottle before bed. It took a lot of work to get her to drink both of them, but she didn't bat an eyelid at bedtime when we went straight to tooth-brushing without the usual drink first. I repeated several times that she was not a baby but a big girl now and it was time to leave the teat behind. Seemed to do the trick.

6 December 2009

What a difference a few hours makes! After a poor night's sleep on a thin futon with a stone for a pillow and a snorer next to me, I was recompensed by the sight of Fuji, resplendent with snow, from our bedroom window. The scene of blue sky, sea, mountain and the odd boat, plus a fisherman on a jutting pier was extremely tranquil. We could even see the tardy moon still lingering above the mountain.

After a filling and varied breakfast we packed up and got out to make the most of the dry, clear morning. This time we took a good look around the shrine complex spread out up the hill, including a pool guarded by a dragon, where we washed some small coins in the holy water, to purify them and make them lucky. Apparently the five yen bronze coins with a hole in the middle are the most auspicious.

At the top of the island is a large area of garden that was set out by one Samuel Cocking, a British merchant, with the lighthouse cum observation tower at its heart. Up on the roof of the 60m structure, we had superb views all across Sagami Bay and across to Fuji.

It was so sunny that I feared we might burn, and was very sorry when we ran out of time and had to go back down. I was really missing Nick and Emily though, and wished I could magically transport them here to enjoy the views with me. Kit and I left the others browsing the shops and made our way back to Tokyo, using the cute little Enoden railway line that hugs the coast and trundles along just feet away from people's houses.

5 December 2009

After my Japanese class I went to meet my companions for another overnight trip away. It was my fourth this year: Nick is very good to me as few mothers would get that many opportunities for a complete break. This was supposed to be under the auspices of a TMG event, but as I had only had one respondent, Kit, when I sent out the message I had thought I would have to call it off. However, Kit asked if she could invite some mums from her son's school and so in the end there were five of us. There was me plus one other Brit, a Canadian, a Japanese, and Kit is American, so a good mix of nationalities.

There was a bit of confusion about which train we should take (my fault as I had researched it all and made an itinerary, but got confused by all the lines from Shinagawa that run to Ofuna), but eventually we piled onto one and before long were at Ofuna, where we stopped off for a quick lunch before taking the suspended Shonan monorail for the short second leg to Enoshima, our destination. As we travelled the forecasted rain began, and by the time we disembarked we needed to deploy umbrellas. We quickly walked across the long bridge onto the island, with our windward legs drenched by horizontal rain. Dumping our bags at the ryokan we then went to explore the souvenir shops along the island's only street. Some of the tat was acceptable though most very poor and overpriced. We carried on up the steps to look around the shrines that dot the hillside

then realised that if we wanted to see the caves over at the other side of the island we had better leg it as they were due to close soon. Luckily we just made it for last admission time and wandered around there for half an hour, having a good look at the stone-carved gods and enjoying the special festive display at the end of the second cave.

Now it was getting dark, so we went straight back to the sanctuary of the ryokan to strip off our wet clothes and settle in for the evening in our yukata. Dinner was served in our room on the low table; there was far too much for us to finish, and it was of a decent quality too. We all baulked at the creature in a shell except Carol, the Canadian, who gamely tried a nibble of the bitter and grotesque thing. Having tried something similar last year, I felt that I had earned my stripes and could be excused.

After our meal we trooped off to try the communal cave bath, which would have been better if there had been a ledge to sit on and maybe something to look at other than an empty fish tank! Our futons had been put out while we were bathing but we sat up for a couple of hours chatting, and drinking and snacking. It was too hot in the room for me, and when I poked my head out of the window to freshen up and see what the weather was doing now, I did see some stars twinkling through light cloud, but was also entranced by the beam from the lighthouse, which looked almost solid in the moist air as it swept round, cutting a swathe through the deep-blue night. The accompanying sound of gentle waves was very relaxing too. One by one we snuggled under our quilts and dropped off to sleep, despite the rock-hard pillows we had been given.

4 December 2009

Nursery day, and it was imperative that I went to aerobics so that I could work off my stress about the lost purse. I really enjoyed it, and even managed to get the routines for once. Afterwards, I had lunch with Bettina and Jo at Jo's apartment. Having friends like them makes living away from home bearable, and I hate to think about either of them leaving, as will have to happen one day, of course.

Emily didn't nap at nursery again: normally not a problem, but as I was collecting her early to take her to a kids Christmas party at Credit Suisse, I really wished she was rested first. The staff at nursery went kawaii (cute) crazy when they saw her in her new party dress (courtesy of Gail). The tights I had bought were way too long and the wrinkles gravitated to her ankles so she ended up looking like Nora Batty, but she was pleased with her new black party shoes.

I tried to get her to sleep on the way there but she just got upset so I decided to go with the flow and hope for the best. Actually, she did very well under the circumstances. We sat and made some cards using stickers first: always popular with kids her age.

The buffet held plenty of opportunities to mess up her dress: mini hotdogs with ketchup, chocolate chip cookies clutched in hot hands, mini blueberry muffins. Amazingly we managed to keep it pristine though the cardy took a few hits. We paid a visit to Santa to collect a couple of gifts (mainly sugary treats that mysteriously disappeared on the way home, but the toy Saint Bernard dog was cute) and though feeling shy, she obliged me by thanking him, I'm glad to say. By 6pm I could tell she was flagging, though, and whisked her off home. Nick had been down to the party room some of the time though he had to participate in a conference call. His boss came in at the end and as always around him I felt tongue-tied so I just made a poor quip about him coming for the free beer.

3 December 2009

A day of shocking weather: wet, cold and becoming windy later. Emily was very fed up at being cooped up in the buggy behind the rain cover and her agitation made me go off the rails a bit again. I think it was probably mainly down to my stress about the purse situation though.

We did go out, however, as Bettina and I had offered to look after Isy so that Jo could go and visit Cooper in hospital. Given the weather we made a date to take the three kids to Ai-port jidokan. We were managing very well until just before Jo returned, when I took my eye off Isy for a short time and she fell down and scratched her forehead. I was mortified and felt I had failed my responsibility though Jo was kindly very dismissive about it.

After tea, Emily did a poo in the potty; she didn't tell me directly, but kept talking about toilet related matters and I knew she was due to do one, so I asked her if she wanted to go on the potty and she said yes. I got her on there not a moment too soon.

2 December 2009

The morning went well enough, with a good turnout at the TMG meeting I organised, having changed from the usual afternoon slot to see it it helped improve the attendance. Afterwards Emily and I had lunch with Nick, since we were close to his office.

On returning home, the day turned very bad: I realised that I had lost my purse, having last used it to swipe through the ticket barriers at the local station. I woke Emily early from her nap and set off to retrace my steps with a modicum of hope, tempered by my usual pessimism. My friend Julia had kindly called the station who said they didn't have it. There was no sign of it along the route we had walked, so I went to the closest Koban (police box) with a heavy heart, to report the loss. My purse had been more loaded than usual, having about Y100,000 (about 700 pounds) in it : Nick had given me some housekeeping, and as bad luck would have it, I had also been carrying Emily's modelling fee of Y30,000 which I had collected the day before. Oh, how I miss using my debit card for everything. Even in low-crime Japan that sort of cash would surely be enough to tempt a normally-honest finder. Even without the terrible loss of money, the inconvenience of replacing all the ID cards and licences will be a huge pain.


As if I needed any more negative events, I ran into the building janitor, a woman in her sixties. She seemed to be under the impression that I am pregnant, gesturing towards my top and saying 'mama'. At first I misheard and thought she was complimenting me on my clothing but it was hardly a special top and I realised that my fat belly was pressing the fabric out a bit so can see why she thought that. I have recently thought about going on a diet, despite my signal lack of success in the past with calorie-counting, and this decided for me. If I can just see the amount I am eating written down, it may shock me into cutting back.

1 December 2009

There was more beautiful ginkgo along the route to station. It seems to have suddenly turned gold in only a couple of days. At least the stinky nuts have all gone now.

Having Emily has softened my attitude towards Christmas a lot. Indeed, I have even been enjoying the festive songs playing in shops and cafes this last couple of weeks. There is a fair amount of decoration around, especially in Ginza shopping district, though not on the scale of home. Since we will be away in the lead up to the big day and will take our decorations down straight after, like the Japanese do, I decided that I would set the tree up at the start of the month. Emily was pleased to see it on her return from nursery, and 'helped' me put the tinsel and balls on. She was certainly happy to have the miniature chocolate from her advent calendar.