Accosted by random strangers

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On Sunday I attempted my first 10km run. I don't think I mentioned it on the blog before, but I got accepted in the Tokyo marathon lottery, so come the end of February I'll be attempting my second full marathon! I've lost most of my Edinburgh marathon fitness, so I'm trying hard to get back into some longer runs here.

So, in an attempt to avoid too much mountain running, I parked part way down the mountain, run/walked back up to my house, then did a big loop back down to the village via another longer road (about 5km), then in the village there is a route on the flat (yay!). Anyway, as I was running down the mountain this car pulls over near me. At first I thought the car was turning into a side road, but when I passed it, the woman driver started to crawl along beside me! I stopped and she wound her window down. She was in her later 30s, maybe 40s and she had an old man (I guess her elderly father maybe) in the back of the car. At first I think she was checking if I wanted a lift down the hill. I explained as best as I could that I was training, and had voluntarily elected to run in the rain down a steep mountain with no paths......I thought that would be an end to it, but she was keen to chat and ask me lots of questions - some I understood, many I didn't! Then she asked if I could come to dinner with her and her friend that evening. I had plans, so I said no, but she gave me her number and asked me to call her to arrange another time.

This is very typical Japan - random strangers will think nothing of inviting you out. Many of them are really keen for a chance to practice English as there are very few foreigners in these parts. I've since called her back for a very difficult phone conversation where I may or may not have arranged a dinner. Luckily she got her friend Noriko to call me just now and this lady speaks a bit more English, so I'm meeting them next Sunday and going to Noriko's house for dinner. I've got a busy weekend that weekend (I'm up in the mountains north of Nagano City on Saturday pretending to be a Ninja at the Ninja experience village....as you do)....so Sunday I'll be knackered, but I am still loath to turn these random opportunities down, as you never know what will happen. Anyway, I'll let you know what happens....I don't think they are female psycho killers or anything!! (Or am I walking into a typicl Japanese horror movie??).

Karate is going well (I still suck, but I enjoy it, and I keep the karate-sensei busy constantly re-arranging my bad posture). In December I'll take my first test - so I'm busy trying to learn the Heian Eight set of moves. I've added a photo from my dojo. I think my lovely (very patient) karate-sensei Kinoshita looks like a Japanese Charlie Brown.

Latest food experiment - tonight I tried cooking Udon soup with root vegetables. I had this at my farmer friend's house at the weekend and it was great, so I tried to recreate it tonight. Kind of a success - the stock wasn't bad. One of the curious ingredients I included is something called Konnyaku....made from the Devil's tongue plant (the root is like a potato I think), the root is ground down into powder, and then moulded into a really odd jelly like block. It is virtually tasteless and has hardly any calories; so many people use it as a diet food as it is really filling. It has a pretty grim texture though and I'm not a huge fan. You see rows and rows of it in the supermarket, so I guess it is very popular.

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