Today I'm writing from the home of my friends Tom, Jen and Ruby in Tsukuba, north of Tokyo. It's holiday time as the company closes for 8 days between December 27 and January 4. Christmas was pretty low-key - it's not a holiday here, but it fell on a Monday which is my usual day off. On Christmas Eve we had a service and party at church pretty similar to last year's, but we had a dramatised reading of the Christmas story with songs interspersed throughout which really helped it come to life and put the words of the songs into context. My manager Risa-san came along and really enjoyed it, so that was great.

Well, this is nowhere near Tsukuba - this is Wakasawan, which I was given the opportunity to see in November by my friend Namiko's friend Kosuke-san. He was really generous in driving us and their friend Przemek up to the Japan Sea coast, an expensive trip in terms of petrol and tolls (the latter alone totalling at least 60 bucks), and he refused any offers of payment, claiming the tolls are cheap! He isn't rich, just generous. It was my first time to see the Japan Sea - it lies to the north of Japan's main island, Honshu (where I live) - between it, Russia and the Korean peninsula.

It was raining, but picturesque, despite. Here Namiko is doing what one is supposed to do from the mountain top - turn yourself upside down and take a look. And what do you see?...

Okay, not quite.

Not surprisingly you see something like this. One is supposed to see a ladder/stairway to heaven... maybe I'm a bit dull but I don't get it. Maybe the monkey does.

(Disclaimer: I lifted the monkey pic off the net ages ago and wouldn't have a clue where it came from, so I'm going to claim ignorance when it comes to copyright ...but there - at least I admit that it's not mine!)

If the Spamurai can take you to other dimensions and turn you upside down... it should be a snack to take you back in time. This is how we got up the mountain - as modelled by Przemek. He is the first native Pole I've ever met... maybe the first Pole I've met fullstop. He's from Gdansk - home of the largest brick Gothic cathedral in the world, where he attends mass and was married.

Funny sign.

A break in the rain meant time for photos.

Peace. Word to your mother.

This is now down on the beach near the start of the isthmus. (Never thought I'd be dropping that word into a sentence).

There were some very funky looking craft about.

How's the serenity?

More funky boats.

Okay, now I'm really just writing a caption for continuity.

I don't have a clue what these fruits are, but they're like little characters.

We went for some lunch in a place with a really nice view.

Chirashizushi and a simple soup. This type of sushi is made up of a bed of rice topped loosely with egg, sashimi (raw fish) and ikura (fish eggs). Delicious.

Great company! Don't you think Przemek looks a bit like Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings)?

We popped into a fish market. There were all sorts of sealife for sale, but these squid really stood out! They were about 50 bucks each. Check out the eyes!

Is this guy wanting you to approach him for a drink or just proud?

The crabs here are massive. They look so tasty, even in their shells - how does that work!? I've wondered that about Coke. When you see a vending machine and it looks like a giant red and white can, how does that make you want to drink black, bubbling liquid? My theory is that the pictures of the cans are always covered in drops of water and you buy the Coke subconsciously associating it with the water, not the Coke, because we all know that water quenches thirst far more effectively than Coke does. Perhaps this paragraph is strong evidence for the need to regulate blogs... sorry.

Okay, I think it's the colour. If you could eat the shell, I would.

Some more creatures on offer.

I'd love to see Rex Hunt try and kiss one of these suckers (or should I say biters) when still alive. Yikes.

Well, It's New Year's Eve and the end of 2006. What a blur! Last NYE I was asleep in Gifu city nursing a bad case of the runs (yes, you needed to know) with a whole range of experiences in between then and now. It's been a great year. I hope 2007 is a year of great things for you.

akemashite omedetou!

Dear (insert your name),

MERI KURISUMASU!

I'm sorry for my terrible slackness - not making the easy trek to the post office to send an actual card. And to my family especially, sorry yours will arrive in time for Easter instead. But I made this picture in thinking of you all. There's no snow here, but it's a nice idea. This winter has been pretty kind so far - kind to me anyway. Today we had a big feed after church - even turkey with cranberry! I was given a big bag of food to take home, so I will be enjoying the taste of winter Christmas for some time yet. It was great to hear a dramatised story of the birth of Jesus at church - an amazing thought that the infinite God of eternity would stoop so low as to be born as one of us into poverty, just to be near to us. I hope that that warms you as it did me today. My manager came along and enjoyed it a lot, so I'm stoked.

Anyway, God bless you... and yoi otoshi yo! (happy new year... or thereabouts)

Love, the spamurai.

IF YOU LEAVE ME, CAN I COME TOO?

The photos below document the changing of the leaves at the local Shinto shrine over the space of ten days. Of all the expensive tripping around I did in the month of November to see the Big Guy's annual autumn exhibition, some of the best and most stirring sights I saw were at this shrine along the road I walk to work 3 times a week! Only one famous temple in Kyoto had trees to top these ones (you'll see them soon)...

NOVEMBER 12

This was a sunny day... the colours were vivid, but weren't quite going primary just yet. But the gradations are really nice.

NOVEMBER 14

This day was overcast, but some nice orange hues were showing.

NOVEMBER 15

This day was perfect. The signs below announce that it's shichigosan matsuri, or the time to bring your 3/5/7 year old child to be blessed. I explained this on the blog at the time, but I'll reiterate... most are actually 2/4/6 year olds, because in the past a newborn was described as being 1, hence a 1 year old child was said to be 2... etc.

I believe the names chiselled into the stone fence are individuals/families/businesses who have contributed to the shrine. The supermarket across the tracks from me is among the rollcall.

The torii, or gate thing, marks the entrance to a sacred precinct. Naturally, you're supposed to walk through it, not around. Kazuya says many evil spirits hang around torii. Like I said, he loves to try and spook me! The famous one on the water that you saw back in Hiroshima's Miyajima Island is so big because boats had to go through it. In the old days, the whole island was treated as sacred and commoners weren't allowed there. You had to enter the island by taking your boat through the gate, or else you would defile it.

I felt like a creep hovering around this family, taking shots of trees, waiting for the right time to ask for a photo. There was no one else around, so I was more than a little conspicuous!

Some of these little outfits are super pricey, so I'd be miffed if some stranger was able to just come and snap my kids for free after I'd shelled out all that money, let alone raised them for 2/4/6 years. But it had to be done... you can see why, right? kawaii! ... cute.

"Mummy, who's the strange man taking my picture... and ... why are you letting him?"

NOVEMBER 22

A week later... another beaut day, but with a touch of winter... no mixing colours required, just reds and yellows straight from the tube!

The exhibition ended a week or so later - the walls of the gallery are pretty bare now. Fallen ... just like his other masterpiece.

Well, I'm going to bed. There's ice forming outside my front door, but it's nowhere near as cold as last winter. No snow has fallen here yet. No complaints from me! But the first snow will be exciting. Anyway... night.

You may recall from a previous post I reported nicking off into neighbouring Arima Onsen for a cuppa with a couple of ladies one morning before work. I now provide you with photographic evidence. When I say ladies, they were a geisha and a maiko, no less! Above is the maiko, who I'm guessing would be 20 or 21, as she said she's been an apprentice for 2 years - they usually start at age 19 these days.

I stumbled upon them by complete accident. My aim in going to Arima was to see more autumn colours. From the station, the river forks into 2 as you walk uphill, so I opted for the side I hadn't yet explored, which leads you to Zuihoji Park. Once inside after a little while I came upon a long striped curtain - the side of a pavilion in which tea was being served. I popped my head over the top and saw a geisha! Needless to say I eventually paid my money and went inside to be served tea... expensive for a cup of tea and a sweet, but definitely worth it!

This just seemed to be for show. The tea I drank may well have come from an electric urn! It came from behind a screen anyway.

After I finished sipping and munching I asked for photos and the fact that I was foreign became more obvious. So, we got chatting. An old lady that was collecting the entrance fee was the intermediary - I think generally you don't converse directly to geisha/maikosan. Perhaps she was the maiko's minder - the obaasan (mother figure) of her okiya (house). Maiko become geisha when they either marry or get a sponsor - a rich patron who sets them up on their own.

I really don't know if these ladies were traditional to that degree, but the old lady was insistent that I was speaking to genuine Arima geishasan. I apologised for my ignorance and said that I thought only Kyoto had geisha. They replied that there are about 20 places in Japan that have them. The apprentice was wearing a wig, which differs from what I've read. In Kyoto they style and adorn their own hair and start using a wig only once they become geisha. They are definitely more accessible than their Old Capital counterparts, that's for sure. The old lady asked if I was single and I nodded enthusiastically "hai hai! shinguru!" I said, which is Japanese English for single. I'm pretty sure she was just teasing. Darn. I said that I'd actually met the maiko before, at Arima's summer dance festival. They were surprised I'd been to Arima before and was back again so soon, and so I fessed up that I live within walking distance (a long, hard walk, but nevertheless...), but I said yes, I really like Arima.

I said that I had to go to work and quickly made my way back down to the station, pretty stoked with myself. Perfect weather, perfect timing for the trees, perfect encounter. On days like this it makes any nasty experiences here all seem worth it.

Once inside the train I again saw a poster about which I'd previously been thinking "that looks cool, I should check that out". I then realised it was what I'd just been to. Happy with that!

Arima's history is loooonnnggg. It's Japan's oldest onsen, or hot spring town. The Emperor Jomei enjoyed a September to December bathing holiday here in the year 631! I would have enjoyed views of autumn similar to those he did.

In 1097 a "flood" struck the onsen and the spa collapsed. The source of the spring lay hidden for 95 years until a monk came and restored it, according to legend, obeying a dream he'd had...

The Japanese take their baths very seriously!