under another sun

Up in the dark at 5:30 in Makinohara. Having packed discovered that Toby and Romy were up, Hiroko had cooked us breakfast and made tea, Hitome had arrived thinking she was going to drive us to the station. Bade a sleepy but fond farewell to Hiroko, who had been wonderfully hospitable as usual and to Hitome, who Lorraine invited to stay with us in Brighton. And of course Toby who it is always hard to say goodbye to. We were driven to Kakegawa station by Eitero, who seems to have become as fond of us as we have of him. He returned last night laden with gifts for example. He is mad for cars and we saw him driving two of them. He has a curious hunched stance when driving, and frequently opts for the no hands steering wheel technique. This morning he showed us clips of Lorraine, Romy and Hiroko singing last night in the karaoke bar. Lorraine cringing at her rendition of a Mumford & Sons tune. Kakegawa statino smelled strangely of drains, but Romy helped us with the tickets, and Eita...

A terrible night, where I developed a very rapid pulse, sweating with a temperature and a stomach like fire. Woke Lorraine up after several hours of this feeling rather panicked. Poor girl. She smoothed me down and eventually I got some fitful sleep. I can only think something I ate had not agreed with me at all. Still shaky and weak in the morning, but as the day pressed on I began to feel much improved. A lake breakfast, and Hitomi brought little Hana around. Hana is very cute and two years old, and seemed a bit dubious about dogs. followed by an early lunch at an eel restaurant, where we had our own private room. Hitomi brought little Hana, and there were also an elderly couple who had babysat Romy when she was little, and their daughter who had spent time in Canada. We all sat down to a healthy eel based snack. A deliciously eel inflected miso, a hearty bowl of rice layered on top with strips of cooked eel fillets and some salty salad pickles. After this surprisingly filling ...

Taking Hitomi for a ruby In the evening off to Park Lane to meet the lovely Hitomi who has been touring around Europe on business. She looked very businesslike when I met her, and I think her work is going well. After I left work, I went into Harrods to get her a little present. Not been in there for ages. It is a fantastic place. I want to go back just to look at everything properly. Then I walked around the Shepherds Market an area I didn't know. Then I sat in the lobby bar of the Intercontinental with a large gin and tonic (which went straight to my head) fiddling with some ideas, and scarfing the free nuts and crisps. Called First Matie when I was waiting to let her know I intended to steal one of her ideas. She was in Annie's when I called, and she told me that I owed her a beer. Hitomi came shortly after, and I decided to take her out to Shepherds Market. Trying to think of a typically English night out - so I took her for a curry (aka, in rhyming slang, a Ruby, short for...

Cat plague Hitomi is coming to London next week on business, and I got a note today asking me if I will meet her for breakfast. Hitomi is angelic. She met me at Narita airport and guided me through Tokyo into my seat the bullet train. Be good to see her in blighty. A day spent doing housework - and sleeping. Saw Lorraine briefly this evening, while her parents were at a show. Mostly though, I was plagued by a feline confidence trickster. It snuck into my house three times, and roamed about as if it owned the place, even scampering up the stairs to check out my bath before I could shoo it out. It managed to climb onto the ledge and peer at me pleadingly while I was in the kitchen. Then it took up residence in my back garden in the rain and mewed outside my door pitifully. After many hours of this, I was completely taken in and was considering giving it some tuna, and calling it Chaplin, because it looked so pathetic, when I heard someone calling a cat, and it promptly melted away. Below...

Mr Suzuki takes us into the mountains After making a dozen or so calls in the last two days to confirm details, Mr Suzuki came to collect us today in his luxurious car. He proudly showed us the onboard sat nav and the computer which he can bark instructions at. He only has to say "it's cold" and the car starts to warm itself up for him. It also has cameras which show you outside the car, especially useful when reverse parking. The computer screen predicts where your car will go too. Knowing nothing about cars I found this impressive. A long drive calling initially at Mr Suzuki`s house. He is the president of a successful plastic modelling kit company. Pressed for space it seems even quite wealthy Japanese live in modest spaces. We met his wife again briefly. There is some ambiguity in Mr S`s life between his "classmate" who he clearly adores, and his wife who apparently rules him with a rod of iron. He is about 60 and is very kind and unbelievably eager to pleas...

Touchdown in Japan Set off at the crack of dawn from Edgware. The journey to Heathrow very simple but the airport itself a wretched and Dantesque spectacle. Queues hundreds of people long, of stressed out, crying and anxious people desperately trying to get home or away for Christmas. Fortunately, having checked in online, I managed to battle through in only 45 minutes. On the other side of security things much calmer and I did a spot of shopping, and settled into the bar drinking a brace of stiff pre-flight gin and tonics, and having a few last minute chats on my mobile. Boarding was only delayed by twenty minutes. Curiously the G&Ts had worked a powerful magic, and I felt curiously chilled out. I had booked premium economy this time and the extra leg room suddenly took away the horror of claustrophobia. Curiously I had what was almost an enjoyable flight after being so stressed about it for weeks. Dozing a fair bit. I pulled open the window at one point and as I did so I saw ...

Countdown to Japan Late to work, Bob called me on the train to cancel our night out tonight. Late to work again, stuck on a crawling tube train I felt utterly solitary, despite being in the centre of the city. Slogged all morning, then snuck off for a late lunchtime swim. Afterwards more chugging through copy, and racing the clock. Felt increasingly tetchy as the day progressed. And after hours grew positively irritable waiting for a few chumps to indulge in some windbaggery about Friday's pitch before I could escape. On the upside, thinking lots about Japan now. What a truly amazing life I lead, being able to fly off to Japan -- and, what's more, I will know people there when I arrive. Romy has also cleverly arranged for me to be met at the airport by a woman called Hitomi who will guide me to the bullet train. Hitomi has also asked if we can have a lunch together. This seems like a unimpeachably sound idea to me. Not everyone can claim to have a lunch date within a couple of...