This weekend I finally got round to bubble wrapping my house. Most of the big windows are now covered and I hope it adds a bit more insulation to my living room and bedroom. It will also give me something to do during the long winter evenings - when I get bored of Japanese TV I can pop my windows to my hearts content. I had a nice surprise Saturday afternoon. I'd just settled down to lunch when I heard some kid's voices outside my window. I figured it might be the kids who live the other side of the rice paddy as I sometimes give them sweets if I seem them around the village. I ignored them for a bit, but then I heard tapping at my door. It turned out to be four little ... read more

The first snows arrived this week, and although it was exciting to see my car covered in a dusting of snow, and the surrounding mountain peaks all white, I was glad they only lasted the morning - I expect in a few weeks we'll have tons, and I still need to get out marathon training this weekend. Luckily I got my snow tires fitted last week - although they don't look that different to me. I'm not sure what I was expecting - maybe some kind of hard core, range-rover style treads....but I'll trust that whatever they've given me will do the trick on the icy, windy mountain roads when the heavy duty snow sets in. I taught my first Christmas lesson at elementary this week and had great fun with it. I wore a santa ... read more

After a gruelling 10 mile marathon training run this morning I took advantage of the unusually sunny weather to visit Tenryukyo valley. This is an area about 30 minutes drive from my house. I go there some Saturdays to help out with a kids club, but I'd not had much chance to explore the national park there. There is a short hike you can follow that takes you to a beautiful suspension bridge, with spectacular views of the river valley. Next spring/summer I hope to take one of the boat trips they run down this river. The trees in this area are looking beautiful in their autumn shades - a feast for my camera!... read more

I've been a bit lax of late in updating my blog, what with teacher conferences and lesson planning, so I will remedy this forthwith. I haven't, you'll be pleased to hear, been abducted by the mad Buddhist cult members I met last month. A call bar on my mobile seems to have done the trick so far. I don't think they know where I live... Anyhow, the first snows have started to hit northern Nagano this week. I'm grateful I live in the southern part of the prefecture, where the snows come a little later. The last couple of weeks the temperature has started to plummet and next week I think it is set to fall below zero. My kitchen and bathroom are like a fridge in the mornings. One of the elementary teachers was chatting ... read more

This weekend I headed up to northern Nagano to the Togakushi Ninja village, in a beautiful area up in the mountains (http://www.ninjamura.com/english). I drove up the night before with two other friends from Iida and stayed at a friend's house near to Nagano City. She is an excellent cook, so we had a lovely home cooked meal in the evening, before an early night to prepare for our ninja day. We got to dress up in ninja costumes (The main reason I went!) and competed against other teachers on various ninja assault courses. It was a brilliant day out ....apart from when I got a bit cocky on one of the water courses and managed to make an arse of myself by partly falling in, soaking my ninja costume in front of everyone, wailing rather too ... read more