Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Japan …. but with a wonderful twist. On February 14th, women buy men chocolate gifts. Not only for boyfriends & husbands, but also for male relatives and colleagues. ‘Honmei Choco’ is the gift to a romantic partner and ‘Girl Choco’ is the term used for chocolate to relatives & colleagues. ‘Tomo Choco’ is chocolate gifts to female friends.

But on White Day, on March 14th, all those recipients of chocolate gifts on Valentine’s Day are expected to return the favour …. but threefold. In quantity or cost!

My gift to Geoff; I consider this to be an investment for White Day. (And note to Geoff I will be photographing and blogging about your gift to me!)

New furniture

More correctly ‘new to us’. As well as buying furniture second hand and buying loads of stuff from IKEA, we visited a recycling centre in our ward office. An entire ‘showroom’ in the massive building that also houses an incinerator. Each person who visits is limited to only two pieces, but I don’t know if this is per visit, per month or altogether. It isn’t a cheap or a convenient option, since delivery costs are per item and it takes 3 weeks for delivery!

We bought a kitchen unit and this beautiful dressing table and chair. Like much Japanese furniture, it also incorporates a charging point for phone. hairdryer etc so we think it is reproduction rather than old.

• 

Olympics?

So will it or won’t it go ahead? You will have all read about the furore caused by ex Prime Minister Mori’s comments on women ….Japan is such a male chauvinistic society and it has been great to see the backlash against his views.

We went to Odaiba on Thursday (Public Holiday ‘National Foundation Day’) and saw so much activity around the beach area in preparation for the Olympics. Clearly the venue for some water sports

• 

• 

Ferris Wheel

Whilst in Odaiba, we treated ourselves to a trip on the Ferris Wheel. When it was opened in 1999 it was, at 115 metres, the tallest in the world. In 2021 it doesn’t even make the top 15! We walked over the Rainbow Bridge to Odaiba … it is lovely to see the rainbow colours continued onto the capsules on the Ferris Wheel.

• 

•