WoofMiaowCaw Rubbish Cage

A small new moment of Japanese quirkiness today.
We have all seen these neighbourhood rubbish cage thingies around the place, but have you ever wondered what they are called?
We were walking the dog this morning and for some reason the label caught Y's eye. The official name is apparently "wannyanka" which directly translated means "woof miaow caw", ostensibly because they protect the rubbish from dogs cats and crows.
Fantastic name that reflects the inconsistencies of life in Japan. Anal retentiveness of Olympic proportions meets absolute hilarity! Excellent!

To Bring Back the Blog, or not to Bring Back the Blog?

Hmmm. I've had a couple of years' foray into the sound bite worlds of twitter and Facebook and also that elusive thing called "real life", and have neglected the blogs while entertained in those pockets of existence.
Twitter is Twitter and it has it's place, and those who pooh pooh generally havent done it "right", and Facebook has been my lifeline to real friendships during phases of unavoidable obligations, but I miss the personal catharsis of blogging, whether it is to sound off and relieve a niggling stress point, or to sort something out in your own mind, or to simply provide a record of happy times. Of course you can do that on FB or twitter too, and more so on my more recently discovered platform: blipfoto, but those places seem much more like a playground with all the politics and melodrama of human relationships up for show, and the danger of tone of type misinterpretation is fraught!
Blogging seems a more personal and somehow more private form of release.
Despite its public nature. Maybe that's just me with head up my own bum though.
Anyway, I've found the blogger app for iPhone now, so I might give it another try. I've a lot of pent up frustrations at the moment though, so it might be a bit venty for a while. Maybe I shouldn't bother....
Who knows? Watch this space... Just testing, testing, one, two, three....
Here's a pic of my girlies at the weekend, just to see how that works, too.

Crap Blogger

Weechan brought this back from her adventure in the Botanic Gardens specially for me.
Cute!

Apple Store iPad madness in Ginza from our weekend in Tokyo last week. I so have to have one.
Still holding out though.

Cover photo for M's first album?

I'm sure I've been so crap lately that no-one ever looks at this any more anyway, but just in case....

The PTA stuff and work stuff and Facebook and Twitter addictions have led to major backlog on the blogging front, as it always seems much easier to do a quick real time status update than a full blog post. I still hold out the hope, maybe in the summer holidays hat I will catch up and get back into the rhythm soon, but in the meantime, I have found a new addiction to add to the above.

It's caled Blipfoto. The premise is that you upload one photo a day. And it has to have been taken on that day, so the result should be a true photo journal. I kind of like this having to choose one moment of your day to share. The restriction of it makes you think through what defined your day.

It is also a site used many real photography enthusiasts, and some of the images by others are truly stunning, and there is a general positive feel to the community. I joined after watching a friend's entries for a few months, in the hope that it might make me actually learn how to use my camera to better effect, and to get back to the basics of what this blog was meant to be about: a daily record of our family for my mum and sister in Scotland, and for M when she grows up and wants to look back.

Watch this space, but if you want to know what we're up to, please check out :

http://www.blipfoto.com/mairismum

http://www.blipfoto.com/JaxI

Or follow @jaxsensei on Twitter and you'll get updates on both of the above.

I try to keep Facebook for people I actually know.

I leave you with a few images that narrowly missed being blips.

Where this Came from I'll Never Know...

Weechan ( looking in the mirror after cleaning her teeth): "I think my face is getting whiter, maybe I'm getting the cold like Michael Jackson".

Dirty Housewife Exposes her White Bits

I have just hoovered my entire house and washed my floor by my good self for the first time in over a year and this has led me to want to say a few things.

1)
To the person, who when confronted with the suggestion that white flooring tiles would be a stylish way to finish off the simple modern look of my living room the size of a small aeroplane hanger said "Yes Jax, that is a great idea!": I know where you live and I am coming to find you, and show you what we do in Scotland to people who do bad things.

2)
I think I have just, in one morning, burned off all the calories I would have used had I actually gone to the gym I have been paying the ¥10,000 monthly subscription for for the past 6 months.

3)
To Mika Tanaka, who has been doing this job for me once a week for the past year, with the excuse that I am a working mother who also is the commandant for the PTA and couldn't possibly do it myself I'm so busy (!?): remind me to pay you a million yen a week, it would be worth it, despite the fact that you unreasonably demanded 2 weeks off at the only time of the year when I have parties and actually need the house to be clean. (Please no-one actually tell her I said this)

4)
To the person who invented that white stuff that looks like polystyrene fire lighters but actually removes grime without even touching it: may you find your reward in heaven where you will be serviced eternally by women who had to wash their own white floors for entire marriages before they died.

5)
To Mairi and Yasu: may you enjoy the rest of the meals of your lives, which will be served outside on the balcony from now on, in all weathers and seasons, where you will not be able to dirty my floor.

6)
To my employers: thank you for making it possible for me to justify not washing my own floor every week.

7)
If that is the amount of dirt and yuch that came of my white floor that gets washed once a week , god knows how disgusting the floors are downstairs, which thankfully are not are not white, therefore I can't see the dirt, therefore obviously I don't have to wash them.

8)
To Mr Dyson: there were amazing attachments in the bag that I hadn't even known existed. See point 4). It was almost as good as my Watashi no Heya Lucky Bag.



OK, now I've got all that off my chest, I'll wish you a happy new year, and express my intent to speak less shite on facebook and twitter in 2010, and try and update the blogs instead, since the intent was for my daughter to have a record of her early years, and 2009 was a bit of a blank.

Oh well...best laid plans....

And no-one come round for a while to dirty my floor.

Bonfire NIght

We did Bonfire Night on November 6th. I think everyone had a good time... Here are some pics.



Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Dear Santa

or Fi, or Yasu, whoever is looking

I have of course been a good girl.

Most of the time.

Nigella lawson’s measuring spoons

http://www.johnlewis.com/230223352/Product.aspx

serving hands

http://www.johnlewis.com/230335005/Product.aspx

8 of these

http://www.johnlewis.com/230797941/Product.aspx

http://www.amazon.co.uk/THERMOTHERAPY-Cherry-Warming-Cooling-Pillow/dp/B0027MDO8Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=drugstore&qid=1259327542&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B002GRX110/ref=s9_newr_gw_tr03?pf_rd_m=AN1VRQENFRJN5&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1A2ZX88G9JENYQ5WDJPZ&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=463376776&pf_rd_i=489986

http://www.astonmartin.com/thecars/db9

The convertible please

http://www.amazon.co.jp/Vitantonio-ビタントニオ-VSW-400-ワッフル-ホットサンドベーカー/dp/B0002ZL9LW/ref=s

http://www.amazon.co.jp/Vitantonio-%E3%83%93%E3%82%BF%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%83%8B%E3%82%AA-PVWH-4000-PN-%E3%83%91%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8B%E3%83%97%E3%83%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88-2%E6%9E%9A%E7%B5%84/dp/B002M77MQO/ref=pd_bxgy_k_img_b

good cook books

wine

an umbrella stand

tights (mainly black)

a pressure cooker

The Wedding

My brother-in-law got married on October 24th, which is surprising only in that I have thought for 6 months that he was getting married on October 25th, and only found out just in time to change all the hairdressing appointments!
It was very bizarrely Japanese, but in a lovely place, with really lovely food.

Good luck for the future, Uncle Y and new Auntie M!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Sports Day 09

And this was the scene at Sports Day this year. Mairi was a bit disappointed that there were no actual races this year. She was looking forward to winning her race for the 3rd year running - no pun intended.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Ballet Sneak Preview

We had the posed photos for the programme taken the other week. Here are a few scary make-up shots of the prima herself.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.