Gomenasai

Well, as the title of this post states "Gomenasai"...or sorry for those of you who don't understand any Japanese...I am have been fairly busy with work, and organising things for my trip that I've let the blogosphere slide....

Well, hopefully I am back on track now...

Waiting on the date

After my trek through the snow in London all I could do then was wait.

Or so I thought.

The kind chaps at AEON informed me that I could go ahead a book my flight, as long as I remembered to run the flight itinery past them beforehand. Now I have travelled with JAL (Japanese Airlines), Virgin Atlantic and BA in the past, and they were great bar the latter.

There were also some carriers I wanted to avoid. Namely Air China, Aeroflot (Russia's carrier) and AirItalia. So I hunted high and low for a resonably priced ticket and in the end decided that a return was the best option as it was cheaper.

I found a good range on www.netflights.com and in the end discovered an excellent deal with Cathay Pacific. My itinery was okayed by AEON and my details are -

London to Hong Kong on 2nd April @ 12:35

Arrive at Hong Kong on 3rd April @ 07:10

Hong Kong to Narita on 3rd April @ 9:25 arriving at 14:55.



The good things about the Economy class seating onboard Cathay Pacific are 1. Legroom (32 inches) 2. New "Clam" seating (meaning seats are fixed and won't recline backward. The seat slides down) 3. A 9inch TV Monitor to whitter away all those hours!!!

For a more detailed synopsis and a rather groovy "virtual tour" visit the website.

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_INTL/whatonboard/previewthenewseats

And then today (Thursday) my passport was returned, VISA and all!!!!!

Fingers crossed......

Volcano!

Major news networks reported yesterday that Mount Asama (pictured here), 145 km north of Tokyo, has erupted spewing smoke 2km into the air.

Residents living close to the mountain have been advised to be cautious, and chunks of rock from the eruption have been found up to 1 km away.

A huge eruption occured in 1783 and killed around 1500 people.

A trip to a snow covered London to get my VISA....

The Snow was about 6 inches deep!

The rare sight of a Bus !

Bravely I battled the elements....he he..




Green Park

The Japanese Embassy

So I awoke this morning to find reports on the News that London had been covered by the worst snow fall in nearly 20 years. Sadly for me, this was also the day I had intended to venture into the capital to get my VISA sorted out.

As you can see from the photos above, I made it. The bus journey up took about 2 and a half hours, which was pretty good, and I was lucky that the Victoria Line had been unaffected and the Embassy was based near Green Park tube station. For those not au fait with the London Underground system, this is one stop from Victoria.

As I slid and slipped down the street toward the embassy, the usually busy London streets were almost free of traffic. I was only in the embassy for around 20 minutes, then spent some time in the nearby Green Park.

Waiting

So, after what seems like an eternity of waiting , I had a phone call from Lars (one of the recruiters for AEON) who informed me that my Certificate of Eligibilty had returned from Japan.

What this means for the uniniated, is that I can now travel up to the Japanese embassy in London and get my VISA put into my passport!!!!

This makes my return to Japan official!!!

In the mean time I have been busy fitting study into every night. Even if it is just 10 minutes where I will refresh a line of Hiragana, or an hour spent learning from my Minna No Nihongo textbooks, this has become part of my routine.

But the dream is becoming a reality. April 4th approaches. Closer and closer, like the whisper of a long coveted promise.

The Security Robot

Everyone recognises the iconic image above. Paul Verhoevan's distopian classic, about a cop killed in the line of duty then re-assembled as the ultimate cop/cyborg remains, in my eyes, a Science-fiction classic.

Combine the idea of the security-bot with the Japanese love and fascination of anything robotic, and you arrive at the T-34.

Although not as cool, or human-looking as Murphy, the T-34 moves at 6mph on small wheels and is controlled in real time via a series of images sent to a mobile phone. However, you are more likely to laugh than scream in terror at the sight of this dinky machine.

http://www.techdigest.tv/2009/01/video_tmsuk_t-3.html

But how can this R2D2 of security robots defend himself, or detain potential criminals ? Well, the T-34 is equipped with a Net throwing device that can entrap the unsuspecting bad-guy. TAKE THAT!!!

Today is....

During my previous time in Japan, I discovered that the Japanese have many National "days". Whereas the UK, has to deal with the relatively dull No-Smoking Day, the Japanese celebrate days such as "Ocean Day" and tomorrow (January 11th) is "Salt Day".

Yes, you read correctly, tomorrow is Salt Day in Japan. Named as such from back in the 1500's, when a Japanese warlord heard his enemy was low on salt and magnanimously sent him some, salt in those days being a valuable commodity.

Below is a list of some of the "Days" that litter the Japanese calender...

Jan. 7th - Nail Clipping Day

Jan. 15 — Strawberry Day. Like many special calendar days, Strawberry Day was derived by playing with Japanese sounds. Strawberry growers chose the 15th day of the first month to celebrate their favorite fruit because the Japanese word for strawberry, ichigo, can also represent the numbers one and five. Days that follow with similar word/sound links are designated with an asterisk

Feb. 1 — Odor Day. Sponsored by companies that wish for an odor-free world.

Feb. 20 - Allergy Day.

March 3 — Ear Day.

March 8 — International Wives Day. Note that there is no "International Husbands Day."

March 9 — This is a trifecta of holidays, with Escalator Day, Barbie Doll Day and Thank You Day all celebrated at once.

March. 15 - Shoe Day.

April 4 — Yoyo Day.

April 10 — Wife Day.

April 11 — Guts Pose Day. "Guts pose" is a Japanese-English term that refers to a gesture of victory.

April 15 — Helicopter Day.

May 3 — Garbage Day

June 1 — Gum Day.

June 4 — Bug Day
.
June 17 — Belt Day.

Aug. 7 — Nose Day

Oct. 18 — Frozen Food Day.

Nov. 1 — Dog Day. Meanwhile, Cat Day is Feb. 22.

Nov. 3 — Godzilla Day. Godzilla has earned this honor for all the times he's outright flattened Japan. Oddly, this is also Japanese Culture Day.

Nov. 8 — Cutting Tool Day. Cheese Day, is dead ahead, on Nov. 11.

Nov. 10 — Toilet Day.

The entire calendar — in Japanese — is at www.jidousha-shunjuhsha.co.jp/calendar.html

Taken from Japan Times (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20090110td.html)