Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! We have enjoyed opening our lovely presents. Bob and Tom were excited about their new gifts and have been playing with them all morning. We are now off to go for a walk in the park followed by a good old xmas tradition - seeing a James Bond movie! Christmas dinner will be eaten this evening with our good friend Tatsuya who will be introduced to the joys of brussels sprouts and stuffing, followed by christmas pudding.

We are off to Vietnam tomorrow for a week - woo hoo! I will be writing about it all when we get back.

Love to all. x

The quest for brussels sprouts

Our quest for brussels sprouts has been successful - albeit frozen ones. It looks like Christmas day is on its way to being a success!

Happy Birthday Mr Akihoto

The Emperor's birthday is on 23rd December and every year it is celebrated with a public ceremony at the Imperial Palace where the gates are opened to the public. The Emperor and other members of the family appear on a palace balcony where the birthday boy gives a speech and everyone waves their flags! We decided to trot along and experience it all. Although there were a lot of people, it was very organised and we got to wave our flags and see the Imperial family.

Everyone was given a paper flag to wave.

Neil looking slightly incongruous as the English 'gent' with his Japanese flags.

As the Imperial family came out onto the balcony, everyone waved their flags in a civilised manner.

The Emperor kept his speech short and sweet.

Back in Tokyo

I arrived back in Tokyo yesterday morning, feeling a bit worse-for-wear and with a stinking cold. It was great to be back though, and the first thing I did after a cup of tea, was to get the xmas tree out. We decided to get a fake one this year and embraced the fakeness by getting a shiny white and silver one from Don Quixote. I decorated it in silver baubles, but when we woke up this morning, all the baubles were off the tree and had become new toys for Bob and Tom......

By the way.....

.....I am currently in the UK, hence the lack of posts! I will be returning to Tokyo on 20th December, where the shenanigans will begin again. Looking forward to seeing my hubby and cats, and eating a full English xmas dinner in Tokyo!