Wednesday 9 February 2011

February morality poster

I'm heading back to England tomorrow for three weeks - woo hoo!
February's morality poster is quite fitting as it shows a lady dragging a suitcase. The googly eyed man behind her is not too pleased with the situation,as you can see, although I feel that she is getting some sort of sick pleasure from making him wait - look at the expression on her face!

Monday 7 February 2011

Shinjuku Park

I am rather embarrassed to say that I have never been to Shinjuku Park, one of the biggest parks in Tokyo, and meant to be the best viewing spot for cherry blossom. On sunday, Neil and I headed there for a mooch around and we loved it! It had a very serene atmosphere and there were lots of people out and about enjoying the day.The first signs of spring were in the air as the daffodils had started blooming (apparently the first day of spring in Tokyo is officially 3rd feb!), but the grass was deceptively dry and brown, almost as if we were in the middle of a heatwave. The fact is, it hasn't rained properly here for weeks, so everything is actually looking very dry.
There was one plum blossom tree blooming in the park (this is when plum blossom comes out) and everyone wanted to photograph it. I felt quite insignificant next to these blokes with their zoom lenses.....

Sunday 6 February 2011

Earthquake

Yesterday I felt the ground move, literally! We had a small earthquake. I was sitting at the desk and felt my chair wobbling around, Neil was down the hall and didn't feel a thing!

Friday 4 February 2011

Ski wednesday

On wednesday I went skiing for the day, as you do in Tokyo! I went with three lovely friends and we took the bullet train an hour and half out of Tokyo to a resort called Gala, where we were met by piles of snow and beautiful mountainous scenery.We came straight off the train and into the resort where we were able to rent gear and skis, and then straight onto the gondola that took us up to the main lifts. I was pretty nervous as this was only my second time skiing, but it went well and there were only a few tumbles on my way down.
I always love how the rental gear at ski resorts is designed to make you look as stupid as possible. My lovely ensemble was no exception and I spent the day looking like a I was channeling the garbage man/road sweeper look....... Note how everyone else looks v cool in their gear and I look like the "special" friend they've taken out for the day. Ho hum.......
The views were stunning - this was taken on one of the many coffee breaks we had.