Shop til I drop!

Spent the morning packing as tomorrow will be an early start off to the airport. Then met Breige for lunch at the grand hyatt. After that I went to the Oriental Bizarre and Kiddyland to spend the money I had left on pressies for everyone at home. just got back, and we are going out for a birthday meal for Matt tonight at Bourbon Street hich should be a good laugh. Determined not to have alot to drink as I dont want to be travelling with a hangover tomorrow - God knows where I would end up!!!

Probably wont have time to blog tomorrow - but i leave Tokyo Harita airport at 12.55, and get into Heathrow at 16.20 - a bit weird that!! I get back to edinburgh tomorrow at about 9pm. I will do a final round up blog in the next few days.

Well - its been a blast!!

sayonara!

ax

Shibuya

Yesterday I went to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. This is a really cool museum that tells you all about Edo and Tokyo (Edo is what Tokyo was called before it was Tokyo). It uses amazingly detailed modles that you can use binoculars to get a better look, as well as real objects, and there is also a replica of an original Edo bridge. There are rickshaws and lots of hands on artifacts, and it is really well labelled in English.

In the afternoon - I went to Shibuya - home of many of the wacky shops where the Japanses get their more affordable weird fashions. I pottered around looking for somewhere to have a spot of lunch and found myself outside an Irish pub - The Dubliners. It seemed like it was meant to be!! I went in and plonked myself down, ordered fish and chips with extra vinegar and wrote my postcards out. I felt very guilty about avoiding the Japanese cuisine but soon got over it!

After that I wandered down Aoyama dori towards Breiges apartment, about a 15 min walk. Thought I was lost until i saw some familiar landmarks.

Cooked dinner as Breige was knackered having been up all night with Niamh. But then the amazing Yoko arrived and gave her a restorative massage - she emerged 70 mins later a new woman! I wonder if Yoko wsould fit in my suitcase?

ax

Modelling and Onsens

To start the day we took Niamh to register for a modelling agency. Western babies are the most popular and in very high demand which I still think is pretty peculiar, but the Japanese love it! Erin and Ciara, Niamh cousins having been doing it for a while now, and it is a good way to mix with other kids. So we popped into Sugar and Spice, the agency so Niamh could get photos taken, and measured up. while we were there they asked Breige if she would be interested in doing some mother modelling herself....gee is the pope a Catholic?? Niamh was immediately forgotten about and Breige stepped into the limelight...wellno, not really but it was really funny.

After we dropped Niamh back at home, we went out to and Onsen village. An onsen is a hot natural spring bath and the village is basically a mall-like complex built around the baths.

Now what I wasnt expecting, and what I definitly got, was a whole lot of nakedness, and not an ounce of shame....

Breige had said you coul wear a towel into the onsen. What she didnt say was that this towel was what i would call a face flannel, about 10cm sqaure with no room for modesty. I would like to say that I kept eye contact at all times but that would be a downright lie.

In all seriousness, after about ten minutes freaking out and feeling like a tit - excuse the pun - I kind of got desensitised to all the bits and bobs as it where. The baths were lovely - we had a sauna, jacuzzi, and indoor hotbath and an outdoor hot bath, all very invigourating. I would highly recommend it, just be prepared to bare your flesh along with everyone else.

We also had a spot of sushi while we were there which was lovely - I stayed on the safe side - salmon and prown, not quite ready for the puffer fish , especially after the naked trauma.

When we got home Breige made a lovely dinner, we watched Lost and then hit the hay. Not sure what to do tomorrow, but if there are any museums I havent yet been to, i might go to some wile Bregie is at work.

Sayonara for now!

ax

Museum Madness

Ok - today Breige was at work so I decided to hit some serious museums. I got the subway (ginza line) to Uemo - a new area for me more northerly than I had been before. There is a massive park - Uemo park in which you can find about 6 museums and the Uemo Zoo.

The first place I went to was the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art. To be honest I wouldnt recommend it. Nothing is in English, and you have to paya different fee for each level. I didnt know this and just joined the queue in classic UK way. This 1700 yen ticket only let me into one exhibit, a collection of Chinese art owned by Mary Burke. It wsa totally mobbed - black with people as my granny would say. The only saving grace was the fact that I was at least a foot taller than everyone else so I could at least see it all - even though I didint really know what I was looking at as it was all in Japanese only.

The next museum was alot more like it - Tokyo National Museum - everything Japanese over the ages - really interesting and very English friendly. Inside the one complex are several different building housing different subjects and collections. That ate up a couple of hours and was very tranquil and pleasant.

The third anf final museum of the day was the National Science Museum - again very English friendly and the exhibits were amazing - especially the bit where you can do loads of scientific experiments hands on! I elbowed the kids out of the way and got stuck in.

After that I found the crazy market -Amerogokogkogkgokogokgo or something. It is a warren of side streets teeming with stalls selling all sorts from the sublime to the ridiculous. Massive octopus tentacles, hersy sweets, puppies, louis vutton bags... I stopped there for a bowl of ramen noodles after some cunnign sign language on my part and inexhaustive patience on the waitress' part. After that I had pineapple on a stick and wandered about a bit more before getting the subway back.

Just been to the supermarket to get some dinner for me and the Godfreys - feel right at home! Not sure what tomorrow has in store. Gonna put my feet up, have a cup of Tetley and read Belfast Confidential till the troops get home.

Tarra for now!

ax

Geisha Girl

Monday - strolled around Harajuku with Breige and Niamh and had lunch in a noodle bar - everyone was slurping louder than me even though I tried really hard. Yummy miso ramen nami!!! Niamh wanted some too but she had her bottle instead. Then we went to be made up as a Geisha. Well i got made up - Breige and Niamh watched and laughed from the sidelines - Breige did it before last year with her mum.

It took about two hours to get made up - make up wig and costume. The kimono was beautiful, handmade and painted, silk. I wore fifteen seperate peices and was bound so tightly I could barely breathe. Then they took the studio shots and after that we went out into a wee Japanese garden out the back. While walking through the street to get to the garden some tourists stopped to take my photo! It was a great laugh - I was most upset to see that my teeth were bright yellow next to the white face paint!! No wonde Geisha laugh with their hand covering their mouths!

We were hoping to follow that up with going to see Memoirs of a Geisha here but it isnt on anymore! So we made Matthew a nice birthday dinner - or rather Breige did. I babysat Niamh when Breige went out to the shops and she was still alive when Breige got back so I would call that a success!

ax

Mardi Gras

After taking yesterday off to recuperate, and finialise our Mardi Gras costumes, today we went all out. We started to get ready at about 12pm, with a glass of rose champers - the only way to get ready as every woman knows!

Breige of course looked amazing - true mardi gras queen, just as well she won or we would never have heard the last of it! I went down more of a drag queen look - more is more and all that, but sure is was all for the laughs!

Matt was playing in the headlining band, that were on at 7, the placed was truly rocking. It was a great atmosphere with mardi gras beads being thrown everywhere, free booze and food and lots of people made a good effort to dress up. Although as i mentioned Breige and her partner in crime Kevin claimed the grand prize - a night in a suite at one of tokyos top hotels. Not bad for a nights work!

A long day and it is still only 9.45!!

Tomorrow is geisha day!!

ax

Babies and the blues

After spending the morning strolling around Ginza and drooling in the apple store (got told off for taking photos - industrial espionage?)I met breige for coffe and then her sister Mary. Mary took me to lunch at the American Club after which we went to pick up her twins, Erin and Ciara. Niamh and them went swimming in the afternoon and we played hide and seek.

Came back to Breiges for some dinner, a quick change and then out to The Fiddler, the venue for Matts first gig in about a year. It was excellent, he did really well, the band were amazing - three Japanese fellas geting down with the blues... Matt will be playing with the same band at Mardi Gras on Sunday. Steve, who Matt was replacing, is from South Missisippi, and speaks with a southern drawl, even in Japanese.

Matt played five songs and then a further 3 later on. The crowd were really appreciative and welcoming and the venue nice and cosy.

Once Matt had finished he wanted to wind down so we went to their favourite watering hole, Geronimos.

This place is bizarre. The smallest bar in the world with four people behind the bar and it is jam packed. There is a large drum above the bar and if anyone hits it, they bar everyone in the bar a shot. I thought this would be the kind of thing that happens in a blue moon, but it happened 4 times last night. More money than sense? you said it! If you look up, you can see ties everywhere. basically if you go in wearing a tie they will snip it off. I saw two fellas in ties and touted on them immediately but they got warnings, maybe there have been fights before?

Speaking of fights, I was assured that fights never never happened then when we were trying to get a taxi ( this is the easiest place on earth to get a taxi by the way) A fight was brewing betweena westerner and a Japanese ghetto type. All I saw was a lot of pushing and posturing and obviously there was a girl in the middle of it.

In bed by 4, and now we are off into Harajuku to look at outfits for the mardi gras. i am going as a flapper (not slapper...) so need a wee wig, and Breige, well we dont know what breige is going as yet...she has left it to the last minute as usual.

ax

Hahahahahahaha

Went to the Punchline comedy club last night. It is a monthly night held in a Pizza Express. A little surreal but then you get your dinner included - yum yum - laughs and food, my kind of place!! There were four comedians on - one acted as compere - Dave Johns, a geordie - one was an ozzie, Jim Jeffries - one was an American who lived in Tokyo a bit of a newcomer - and the last was the Irish guy from Kings of Comedy called Andrew Maxwell.

The ozzies humour was filthy to say the least, even for my taste!! The geordie was very good, picked on people in the audience. When we arrived early we picked seats up near the front, second row safge in the knowledge that others would be the front row and we would be safe from comedic attack. Unfortunalty this backfired as noone took the bait and sat in front of us making us the front row by default. Luckily we arent German. A fella when asked where he was from refused to answer, eventually the comic got it our of him that he was from Germany and sold machines. That was it for the rest of the night. He got it frokm both barrells from all the comedians for the rest of the night. I got asked were I was from too. I had tried the old avoiding eye contact trick which always worked at the Edinburgh Festival but it just made me more of a target. Luckily Helmut took the heat off me!!

There was also a heckler, from Tasmania, who was shot down pretty quick and was left a quivering humiliated wreck.

The Irish fella, Andrew maxwell was really good, seemed dead comfortable and talked about loads of different subjects, pee, jay-walking in Tokyo, rumpapungi, Germany (poor Helmut!). He was actually much better than I remember on that Channel 4 show.

Today after a bit of a liein I went over to Ginza where all the designer shops are, as well as the apple store. Seriously, I could live there. I stroked everything, tried the new 16gb nano, played on the imacs, used the internet for a bit and reluctantly left. Think I might go back too...

After that I met Breige for a coffee, then met MAry, her sister and she took me to lunch at the American Club near Breiges work. Then we picked up her twins Erin and Ciara - two little angels and much bigger than the last time I had seen them -m proper little people. Spent the rest of the day with them at Marys apartment.

Tonight Matt has a gig that we are all going to at the Fiddler. He is a bit nervous but I am really lookig forward to a great show! Will post the review tomorrow!

take care hope you are all well,

ax

Skiing

Headed off early doors to catch the bullet train to Gala Yuzawa for a day on piste. I wont mention the fact that we missed our first train, we will glaze over that... I was fairly sure of my sking abilities having spent a week in Bulgaria when I was 17. Yes I know that was 12 years ago but I was positive it would be like riding a bike. Well as it turns out , it isn't. My two friends who i trusted implicitly decided in their infinite wisdom to take me down a blue run first "to test my abilities". The results of the test were a resounding D-. After half an hour recovering from near death experiences and failing thigh muscles I decided I would give it another go. There was a moment where I thought I would call it a day, but no, I thought the show must go on as I was making everyone else look so good - I couldnt let them down.

So I found a friendly little green run littered with beginner snowboarders and stuck to that for the rest of the day. Matt and Breige were content to race each other in a very competitive manner down runs of all colours. It was a great day - knackering but great fun, in the end!

So we are taking a little break before we head out to the comedy club Punchline were we will see three comedians - one being Andrew Maxwell (King of Comedy on C4 for you reality TV show fans!!!)

Later dudes!

ax