You may recall, in an earlier post, me mentioning a chime type music that played at 5 pm every day including weekends. In my locked-up-quarantine state I fancily imagined this as an ice cream van even though that made no sense. So on my first day of freedom I made sure I was outside before 5 pm and raced around the corner from where I thought the music was emitting, Nothing. I have since learned that it to tell children that it is time to make their way home. However, it also is a useful check that the sound system is working in case the government wanted to make an announcement.

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I received another piece of post … but Geoff didn’t. Was it my medical card? He took it into work for someone to translate it. The HR guy was rather embarrassed as it is to inform me of all the benefits available to me as an OAP. He suggested that Geoff didn’t tell me, but of course he revelled in the telling! I still don’t know what these benefits are but I did see that I could save 150 JPY – the princely sum of £1.08 (11.24 HKD) on an admission to the aquarium

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The shops have massive displays of the above. I thought they must be something sweet that is eaten over this holiday period, so I bought a simple one. Showing great restraint, I thought I would wait until Geoff returned from work so that we could share it. I tried googling it and eventually discovered that they are Kagami Mochi, a New Year decoration. One guy said that it was like eating candle wax whilst another comment was to grate it, gently heat it and then add something, sweet or savoury, to flavour it. I don’t think I will bother!

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It is very chilly these days and Geoff feels the cold. As a good caring wife I decided to buy him a fleece blanket. I thought the picture on the packaging was showing me the size so I bought it. Hmmm, it is a pad for tatami, a flooring in traditional Japanese homes.

Earthquakes

I experienced my first earthquake last Thursday; I was stretched out (it’s a hard life!) on the settee and experienced a gentle shaking. It feels like a rite of passage so I was excited. Particularly since it was a little one that didn’t cause any damage.

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The bump hat is hanging up in Geoff’s office along with an earthquake kit. His office is on 25th floor and as far as I know it doesn’t contain a parachute!

Cheese Hunt

Decent cheese in Japan is like hen’s teeth. Sliced Kraft cheese in plastic, parmesan and a bit of mozzarella is as good as it gets. So we decided to take a trip to an expat area and see what we could find …. after all, it is Christmas. For a start it was so odd to hear people speaking English in the streets.

And we found cheese; huge quantities of it, Also turkeys so expat housing in this area of Tokyo must have western ovens.

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And, my Welsh friends, Calon Wen! Nearly £9.50 for 200g!! We used to eat too much cheese, especially in the UK, but it will be an occasional treat from now on.

Honesty

Japan feels such a safe country … just look at the photographs below

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The first photograph shows some designer bags, from the shop behind, on the pavement edge in Ginza, The Bond Street of Tokyo. There wasn’t a sales assistant hovering! In contrast, but in a similar vein, I have photographed backpacks belonging to some roadmen. They are much further down the street and across the road from where their bags were not visible.