Pottery at Mariko On the weekend Marissa-sensei and I went for a drive to Mariko (about 25 minutes away) to an artisans village. There are many crafts on display, woodworking, weaving, puppet making, glass work and most importantly (for my story anyway) pottery! Marissa had told me that you could take workshops there but we werent sure how to do it, however, we found a friendly Japanese man who spoke a little English (we think he was the manager there) and he helped us to sign up for pottery lessons. So, feeling just like Demi Moore in Ghost we began to make our very own Japanese rice bowls, and its really not as easy as i thought it would be! But I did manage to produce a bowl and am excited about picking up the finished ... read more

May 3rd- 7th is a series of holidays in Japan, starting with a National Holiday for the Emperor who liked gardens and the environment on Wednesday and Children's Day (also Boys Day) on Friday. Thursday is literally a holiday called 'in between day'!!! No nonsense about that! Boys Day is where the big fish (carp) kites originated- families that have sons hang them outside for good luck, strength and long life. Hiedi and I took this oppurtunity to see a bit more of Japan and so on Wednesday jumped in the car and went driving. Our initial plan was to head for Fuji, which we did, with the glorious mountain providing great vision on the way. We decided that we would like to see the Safari park and waterfalls near the mountain and so began looking ... read more

My first karaoke experience in Japan was on Friday night, we went to Shidax which is a huge place right in the middle of the city, with Blake (from the Pub School) his girlfriend Meagan, and two of his friends. Shidax is amazing, with at least 5 floors and hundreds of rooms and a Moulin Rouge theme. You book a room for a certain amount of time, we had two hours and then order drinks over a phone in your room. The song books are in the room and you just punch the number into the computer and away you go!! The photos are shockers and the singing wasnt much better but it was fun!!!... read more

On Saturday night we went out with Daisuke, the snake man to a club called Boom Boom Bash in the city. He picked us up in his huge Landcruiser and we went to the club. We met some of his friends who spoke limited English, but we got express free entry to this club. It was really different, they had a few dj's and this thing called 'show case' where professional dancers come on and dance. Kind of like time warp, but more, and better dancers. They also had a couple of singers. We were one of only 4 non asians in the room so im sure we stuck out like dogs balls, but it was really interesting to see some of the fashions etc. that the girls had on. The only downer was the smokiness ... read more

While all you aussies were enjoying your easter weekend, gorging on chocolate, not working on friday and monday, holidaying at the beach and being rained out at oakbank or the clare races Marissa and I caught the shinkansen to a touristy town called Kamakura a couple of hours away for a Saturday trip. The sun was shining, the birds were singing the octopus was hot and the beach was cold. All in all what a lovely (and long) day!! Also a few random photos from driving around on Sunday ... read more