tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-257136482012-02-01T18:12:56.964+09:00Jo lives in a small town in southern Japan. She lives with her two children and Japanese husband and is learning more everyday about the world of Japanese agriculture and culture.Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.comBlogger7461100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-30035411410436195642012-02-01T15:50:00.003+09:002012-02-01T16:04:17.656+09:00

My husband had the day off on Tuesday so the big plan was to get the chicken house all fixed up and ready for some new occupants once the weather warms up. (Un)fortunately the chance to collect some wood came up and whenever free wood is offered we tend to drop everything and go and get it so the chicken house hasn't progressed at all. We have quite a good system going for our firewood now - we

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-4406974885161511142012-01-29T20:54:00.003+09:002012-01-29T21:13:51.981+09:00

Today was one of those beautiful winter days when you feel like spring is just around the corner - at least until you see the forecast which is for snow for the next three days! To take advantage of the beautiful weather I washed a couple of loads of washing and all the blankets, duvets, pillows, cushions etc. were put out for a bit of sun bathing. I like to use what we have rather than buy new

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-53481224271656358012012-01-28T16:19:00.003+09:002012-01-28T16:26:37.142+09:00

Warning: do not click on this link unless you have a few spare minutes... or want to avoid doing something that really needs doing for half an hour or so!I think I have posted about the great "Cool Math 4 Kids" site before, but if I haven't and you have children (or actually if there are any adults in the house that like logic kind of games) I really suggest you check out the games section - very

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-79749034008717146462012-01-27T19:26:00.002+09:002012-01-27T19:42:18.036+09:00

When we were in New Zealand I kept thinking how great it would be if Japan used round-abouts at some of their intersections. It would save so many traffic lights and improve a lot of the traffic flow (after the initial problems of people getting used to them.....). And then I got back to Japan and drove to work.... and remembered why there are no round-abouts here! The videos don't

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-80462287568673910762012-01-26T19:23:00.005+09:002012-01-26T19:46:46.998+09:00

I have a vague memory of buying a seedling of some kind of purple vegetable last year. Today I happened to glance under the butterfly net and discovered that it has grown perfectly! Not a caterpillar in sight, nice tight, big head and definitely purple! The only problem is that I can't actually remember what vegetable it is... I'm guessing it is cauliflower, but it could be broccoli. In the

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-2644407324351891092012-01-25T18:34:00.004+09:002012-01-25T18:48:43.223+09:00

Last year I wrote about school being canceled due to a typhoon that never actually arrived. Today we almost had the same kind of situation due to a "heavy snow" warning. It seems like the whole of Japan is having a really cold snap and last night a message was sent around from school via the area phone tree (as opposed to the class phone tree or the PTA phone tree) that there may be another

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-40807128482766355642012-01-19T11:22:00.003+09:002012-01-19T11:50:38.917+09:00

Before Christmas I gave you a sneak peak of one of my "projects". Now that Christmas is over I can show you the whole thing! This year we decided not to give Christmas presents, but when you have a 6 month old niece you really need to do something so I decided to make her a cloth book. There are some great ideas on the internet which I mixed in with some random ideas of my own and somehow

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-71220031629557298352012-01-18T14:43:00.002+09:002012-01-18T14:56:50.866+09:00

I think I have mentioned before that I am not really a big fan of weddings. Tom and I had a party here for friends when we got married (which we made all the food for) and in New Zealand my family put together a last minute garden wedding which we turned up to and enjoyed without doing anything... However... the main reason we were back in New Zealand this year was to attend my sister's wedding

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-36179177659363961292012-01-16T20:59:00.003+09:002012-01-16T21:02:54.850+09:00

One of the good things about the children growing up is that they remember things from previous trips to New Zealand. There were a few things that they really wanted to do again this time and I think we managed to fit most of them in. There is still a trip on my uncle's yacht that we missed, but I'm sure the weather will cooperate next time we are there! A few random things we did in the new

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-80016604501539178912012-01-16T20:34:00.002+09:002012-01-16T20:47:49.082+09:00

After a relaxing time with my mother's side of the family we headed to my father's in Christchurch and arrived just in time for a big earthquake - a great welcome! We had quite a few during our time there - but none as big as the first day. Christmas was great - very relaxed with people coming and going all day. We then collected my husband from the airport on the 26th and spent 4 days on the

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-47313109336735514092012-01-16T11:18:00.003+09:002012-01-16T11:40:19.430+09:00

I can see that I am never going to have time to do a detailed entry about our trip away, so I'll just post a few photos of the main things we did - looking back it is amazing how much we did over the 3 weeks. The first "stage" of our trip was to my uncle and aunt's wonderful house in Takamatua (just out of Akaroa on Banks Peninsula, Christchurch). We were so lucky to have Mum, Big Kev, Nanna,

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-15994078758880079862012-01-12T09:14:00.002+09:002012-01-12T09:21:14.112+09:00

My new "weather station" is informing me that it is 2 degrees outside (up from minus 2 when I woke up), but a cosy 20 degrees inside. I have to go to work in 20 minutes. I am not looking forward to it!We had a great 3 and-a-bit weeks away in New Zealand - after a few wintry days we really hit the summer weather and it was fantastic! I think one of the big pluses for me was that my family was

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-74376518902308578132011-12-13T20:59:00.002+09:002011-12-13T21:13:36.315+09:00

I keep forgetting to write about this....A few weeks ago I had to work all weekend so my husband took the children to a science fair that a group of teachers and high school students were running in our town. They spent a few hours there and the kids had a great time, coming home with bags and bags of experiments and free giveaways. It sounds like it was really well run with lots and lots to do

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-15589223419909660332011-12-13T20:47:00.003+09:002011-12-13T20:58:18.649+09:00

My children are counting down to our departure for New Zealand by the number of sleeps.... 2 more including tonight. I am counting down by the number of classes I still have to teach - 5 down today, 2 left for tomorrow. In other words we are almost off! As usual I have been leaving a few things to the last minute and as usual Japan is living up to its wonderful service in an attempt to keep me

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-38379893450899934042011-12-10T21:23:00.002+09:002011-12-10T21:39:55.303+09:00

Today we said goodbye to all our chickens. I literally shed a few tears doing it - and all I had to do was help get them into the crates. As soon as we walked into their yard they went crazy - even before we tried to catch them. They also only laid 5 eggs today - as opposed the 9 or 10 they usually lay. I guess they just sensed something was amiss.We made the decision to let them go for

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-55490269396232453142011-11-28T08:51:00.004+09:002011-11-28T09:16:15.090+09:00

I am not one of those wonderful mothers who can keep track of every little milestone that my children passes, so I am grateful to my children for keeping track of their own milestones! Yesterday my daughter lost her last baby tooth... according to her anyway! I really had no idea how many teeth have fallen out - I just knew it had been a lot. Apparently it was her 22nd tooth to fall out and

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-59986859757484797422011-11-23T19:29:00.003+09:002011-11-23T19:44:51.090+09:00

I've spent the last couple of days getting a bit obsessed with a project for my 5 month old niece (I would love to show your more than a sneak peak, but it will have to wait till after Christmas!) and so when it was obvious I wasn't about to jump up and make dinner tonight (it was a public holiday) the kids kindly decided they would do it. I sat at the table listening to their conversation and

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-37538002603486959892011-11-21T21:55:00.003+09:002011-11-21T22:10:42.455+09:00

At the moment I am trying to clean out the freezer before we head to New Zealand next month. As always there seems to be a lot of food in it that I have forgotten about and that needs to be used. One of the biggest items at the very bottom was a huge chunk of wild boar meat that we were very kindly (??) given by one of the neighbours. I decided to mince it all up and make some of it into a

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-20528179716793837172011-11-19T19:16:00.003+09:002011-11-19T20:20:51.246+09:00

There is a really twitty lady who is on TV a lot lately who is famous for getting people to throw out all the things they don't need and really get their houses into a state of complete organisation. Some of her suggestions like blindfolding soft toys when you throw them out so they don't know what is happening to them or saying thank you to the clothes you are about to throw out so that they

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-44692754522258407372011-11-18T18:23:00.003+09:002011-11-18T18:37:32.720+09:00

Most weeks I have a pretty set schedule - kindergarten classes, conversation school classes, primary school classes, piano and swimming for the kids etc. Monday and Thursday are my recovery days. The rest are pretty busy, but routine works well for me .And then I have weeks like this week where extra "jobs" mean shuffling everything around and I tend to get a bit off balance and end up napping

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-53430948984212783252011-11-17T19:21:00.004+09:002011-11-17T19:31:18.134+09:00

If you want to be a 100% organic farmer I think you have to have a smallish garden, have 24 hours a day to spend in the garden, or have plenty of nets! This year has been a really warm autumn so far so I decided to plant all my broccoli and cabbages under nets to try and prevent a few of the zillion caterpillars that appear at this time of year from completely eating everything. Unfortunately

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-17255055767351252182011-11-16T20:40:00.002+09:002011-11-16T20:56:01.301+09:00

I am determined to write a proper post about the great visit we had from our friends from Hong Kong, but I don't have time to do it justice right now so it will have to wait.In the meantime here is a photo of our latest visitor. The chickens were going a bit silly this afternoon so I went out to find this very "cute" little fellow wandering around. It is a raccoon dog and a very tame one.... it

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-21479822765706760822011-11-15T14:37:00.002+09:002011-11-15T14:46:05.697+09:00

This time next month we will be on a plane on our way back to New Zealand for the first time in 4 years and the first Kiwi Christmas for 15 years. This week has been ultra busy (and it is only Tuesday afternoon....) so I would have missed this milestone if it wasn't for my son... who is already driving me crazy with his countdown. I'm glad he is excited about the trip, but his "worries" are

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-31698673387701842242011-11-13T16:33:00.004+09:002011-11-13T16:47:46.286+09:00

This is really a post for me rather than for anyone else because this blog is kind of like a diary in terms of what I do in the garden as I have a terrible memory when it comes to when I do everything each year!Over the last two days I finally got around to planting this year's wheat - three different plots as that was all the space I could find to plant it in. The smallest patch is probably as

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-27630237183023278912011-11-13T16:11:00.003+09:002011-11-13T16:32:42.578+09:00

One of the benefits of living in a family that grows a lot of rice is that there is a lot of straw around to make into compost. One of the disadvantages of living in a family that grows rice is that there is a LOT of straw around to make into compost and it is hard to know when to stop....Until last year we had been making the compost at the edge of one of the rice fields, but we always ended up

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-26633413679822684492011-11-07T20:22:00.004+09:002011-11-07T20:31:49.188+09:00

Some of you may remember this post from earlier in the year: Bring back the beesDespite not being able to do much hand pollination, the feijoa trees have produced a little more fruit than last year, but still not fantastic. They also seem to be dropping their fruit a few days too earlier, so it is still a bit too hard and sour to really enjoy. A few days on the bench and it is better, but I'm

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-72785260609868772412011-11-06T17:37:00.003+09:002011-11-06T18:52:53.409+09:00

Saturday is my husband's turn to cook and usually this means we have a big pot of curry, or perhaps spaghetti. I'm not complaining about the lack of variety - a day off from cooking is a great thing! Recently he has also discovered the ease of making Japanese "hotpot" and I would have to say that I love it. For anyone new to "nabe" it basically means boiling up a flavoured stock, adding

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-25289366767795904822011-11-06T08:34:00.002+09:002011-11-06T08:47:36.436+09:00

When I went to bed on Friday night I had my Saturday planned. Gardening, gardening and more gardening. First I was going to put up the nets for the peas, then weed the area for the wheat, dig up that area, plant the wheat, then finally make a frame to start making some mulch with all the rice stalks that are lying around at the moment. Then came Saturday morning... rain, rain and more rain...

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-15334126136844064622011-10-29T19:29:00.003+09:002011-10-29T19:56:35.063+09:00

Today was the annual Halloween party at the English school I teach at once a week. To be honest I am not a great big fan of Halloween - it isn't really something we do in New Zealand.... but it seems to be a good excuse for a party here in Japan. Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos of the actual party, but did remember to snap a few before my daughter and I headed off this morning.We had

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-27284557072357806602011-10-20T22:18:00.002+09:002011-10-20T22:24:25.665+09:00

We are going back to New Zealand in December this year and are planning a short trip around the top of the south island. I am finally getting around to making some bookings and discovering (as I knew was going to happen) that traveling between December 27th and 31st limits the places that are available to stay at! At the moment our basic plan is to stay at Hanmer, Nelson, Blenheim and Kaikoura

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-88892119526022898952011-10-20T19:28:00.003+09:002011-10-20T19:53:59.170+09:00

This morning my only "work" away from home was to teach at school from 8:15 to 8:30am then my next "job" was to pick the children up from school at 3:40pm and take them to piano. So I had a lot more time at home than I usually do so decided I needed to make myself a list of all the things that I needed to get done rather than just wandering around wondering what to do and then actually getting

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-86650375601306542482011-10-16T19:43:00.003+09:002011-10-16T20:01:35.658+09:00

I have to admit that I am always keen to try to plant something new, but seeing the entire process through to proper harvest is not always my strong point...resulting in lots of lost produce. This year I have improved a little and spent most of today finishing drying some of the things that we have harvested recently (or in the case of the wheat... harvested months ago, but finally removing

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-70580922123823468512011-10-13T18:14:00.004+09:002011-10-13T18:25:11.970+09:00

When I first came to Japan my first stop when I arrived home from work each afternoon was my washing machine - which was just outside my front door. As well as being a brand new washing machine that was very capable of washing clothes, it also doubled as a mail box for any parcels that wouldn't slip into my tiny letter box. Care packages from New Zealand were always a huge highlight of my

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-90964653017114240122011-10-07T08:56:00.003+09:002011-10-07T09:17:23.414+09:00

I'm having yet another one of those "if I can just get through this week then life will be quieter" kind of weeks that turns into months... sorry about the lack of updating lately. Usually it is a sign of activity rather than in-activity.....A quick update for all those who wished Emily a happy birthday on Tuesday - she is now officially 11 and for some reason has decided that 11 is the age to

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-39589788976182757772011-09-16T18:24:00.002+09:002011-09-16T18:37:48.183+09:00

Today I had to go to Oita from 9am and then teach in Yamaga and knew I wouldn't get home till about 5:30pm. The world cup rugby is on in New Zealand at the moment so we have signed up for a free 16 day trial of sky sport and then if New Zealand is still going strong we will sign up for long enough to watch them through to the final. From 5pm tonight there was the New Zealand vs Japan match.

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-44666354454161994622011-09-15T09:29:00.002+09:002011-09-15T09:51:24.569+09:00

There are three main myths about the Japanese countryside that see a large number of people opting for countryside life as they get older in age. Unfortunately these myths are just that... myths!1. The countryside is a peaceful place to live. I agree... in the winter! I saw a programme on TV where they measured the level of noise in the countryside vs a big city. Guess what? The countryside

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-4020476406434412272011-09-11T09:00:00.002+09:002011-09-11T11:29:25.097+09:00

I have two children who are 10 and 9 years old. Most of my life now seems to revolve around picking them up, dropping them off, feeding them etc. Because we live in the middle of rice paddies there is no real option for me to avoid a lot of these things and make them more independent outside the house. They can't wander to the local shops, jump on their bike to visit a friend or catch the bus

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-77763037704902839672011-09-10T21:04:00.002+09:002011-09-10T21:25:52.683+09:00

On the final day of our trip we stopped off at the castle ruins in Taketa. It was my second visit to the city and I have mixed memories of my first visit there. I can't remember if I've told this story on this blog before, so if I have just skip to the next entry! My first visit there was 15 years ago when I first arrived in Japan. The city had a programme you could join where you could do a

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-31994120474670780692011-09-10T20:34:00.003+09:002011-09-10T21:03:16.877+09:00

No trip away in Japan would be complete without a trip to a flower garden. Unfortunately the problem with flower gardens is that they have often just finished flowering or are just about to come into flower. We ended up at the "Higotai Park" which literally means "Globe Thistle Park" and although there were some parts of the garden that were in flower most of it was pretty bare. The globe

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-2572450882936585992011-09-10T17:17:00.002+09:002011-09-10T17:34:08.606+09:00

My father-in-law is the sort of person that researches everything for months (or years) before he plants anything new and because he does this it is very rare for him to fail at any agricultural venture he tries. On the other hand.... I tend to see a plant on sale, some seeds that look interesting, a tree that I haven't imagined growing before and snap them up, throw them into the garden and

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-38579181739613902942011-09-08T08:48:00.004+09:002011-09-08T09:17:22.261+09:00

One of the best things about going on a road trip where nothing is really planned is that you can take as many wrong roads as you like and in doing so you can find some pretty amazing places. On the second night of our trip we were staying in a cabin in a camp ground and needed to go somewhere for dinner so we studied the area a little and decided on a pretty standard restaurant a few kilometers

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-35241234081363658292011-09-08T08:00:00.003+09:002011-09-08T08:21:46.402+09:00

The order of our trip away with Mum is probably getting a little bit higgledy piggledy, but I think the next thing we did after the cool ravine was go to the opposite extreme and go and look into the craters of an active volcano - Mt. Aso (which I've just discovered is the largest active volcano in Japan - glad it has some claim to fame!). It was good for the kids to be able to see the volcano

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-29192213458734832382011-09-07T20:02:00.003+09:002011-09-07T20:15:40.544+09:00

One of the main reasons the chickens love getting let out in the late afternoon is so they can have a dirt bath. They seem to have favorite parts of the garden to hang out in depending on the level of weeds, recent rain and position of the sun and until now they have bathed in groups of 2 or 3. However, recently they all seem to want to go to the same place at the same time - in front of the

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-39864657678719682872011-09-05T22:06:00.002+09:002011-09-05T22:20:00.242+09:00

After over a month and a half I finally got into the garden for the morning. When it gets to this stage I have to put blinkers on and work out a line of attack which leaves me feeling like I actually achieved something rather than pottering here and there and not actually clearing very much. I'm looking forward to making some more raised beds in the future to make this a bit easier. I have to

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-78490436657997168662011-09-04T21:51:00.002+09:002011-09-04T22:13:12.566+09:00

I've given up with the "Three day trip away - Part ???" titles - too difficult to find things when I am searching in the future! The one place I wanted to go on our trip away was Kikuchi Ravine. My daughter's teacher had recommended it and like the gold mine it sounded like a cool area so we built it into our flexible schedule and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves wandering

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-77047185844727772582011-09-04T21:07:00.002+09:002011-09-04T21:32:03.036+09:00

Our final stop on the first day of our trip away was a chance for us to do a bit of study while also having a nice, relaxing evening. We stayed at a couple's house who is also involved in the "Green Tourism" organisation and so effectively we were doing a homestay at their house. The wife is an amazing cook so as soon as we arrived we were fed and fed and fed some more (oops no photos... too

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-41263712359710041002011-09-04T20:21:00.003+09:002011-09-04T20:58:53.034+09:00

As I have mentioned before I am not really much of a "tourist attraction" lover and find a lot of the Japanese attractions even less attractive. But, when it is 35 degrees outside and very humid and only 14 degrees inside I am more likely to be tempted to at least go and see what the attraction is all about. We had a few hours to spare before we checked into our accommodation for the night so

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-67648573246211598492011-09-04T20:04:00.002+09:002011-09-04T20:14:06.977+09:00

I love the fact that we have a large deck where we can sit, hang washing, the kids can waveboard and generally enjoy outdoor life. Unfortunately having a deck also means that you need to take care of it... which lately we haven't done enough of. It has been a couple of years since it has been painted and is in desperate need of a really good clean before it can be painted again. Unfortunately

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-91269954421745217202011-09-01T21:55:00.003+09:002011-09-01T22:29:58.473+09:00

Next stop on our mystery tour was the The Kokonoe "Yume" Otsurihashi suspension footbridge. It is famous for being the longest and highest of its type in the world.... whatever that type is! For engineering geeks click here for the technical information! The children had already been there before and weren't particularly keen to wander again, but the bribe of an ice cream got them to keep us

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-46502775178801975202011-09-01T21:05:00.005+09:002011-09-01T21:54:24.364+09:00

Because it was the school holidays while Mum was here we felt the need to take the kids away for a few days on an "adventure". It wasn't a wilderness adventure, but more an adventure into the unknown and unplanned - which for two control freaks like myself and my mother is a real adventure! We had accomodation booked for two nights in different places, we had the car navigation system and we

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-38572684596382673402011-09-01T10:37:00.004+09:002011-09-01T10:57:54.447+09:00

Because Mum was here in August this year she was "lucky" enough to come to the Bon-Dancing events. For anyone new to Japanese traditions this is an event where everyone gets together to dance around and around and around and around to give the ancestors who have been back visiting over the past few days a safe passage home. This year we went to two quite different gatherings - the first our

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-49479627410425202252011-09-01T09:53:00.003+09:002011-09-01T10:24:03.526+09:00

One thing I really like about the fact that my children are now "growing up" is that I don't need to take bags and bags of things with us whenever we go on outings. They often throw a change of clothes into the car "just in case", but they get them ready themselves and I don't have to do anything. Unfortunately as adults we don't often prepare ourselves in the same way though.... and perhaps we

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-55970249996426309002011-09-01T09:15:00.003+09:002011-09-01T09:53:04.963+09:00

While my father was here earlier this year we visited an incredible private garden. The children had a day off at a field trip so I took the opportunity to take my mother there and unlike last time I went and unlike at the temple in the last post this time the highlight was being able to talk to the couple who have actually made the garden. My children often complain that I talk with

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-87204567873259766772011-09-01T08:15:00.003+09:002011-09-01T09:12:50.481+09:00

It is 8:15am. First load of washing on the line, second in the washing machine. First cup of tea drunk. And best of all... silence! For the first time in about a month and a half I have the house completely to myself until 3:30pm. Chances are I will waste away most of the day, but it is nice to be able to do that without anyone else watching me do it... of course I love my children, but....

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-64486965124616049492011-08-31T08:42:00.003+09:002011-08-31T08:48:19.604+09:00

My brother just sent me the following message on skype: Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog! Blog!

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-81189162957387991852011-08-08T22:16:00.003+09:002011-08-08T22:31:10.381+09:00

I am weeks behind on my posts... I think I'll try to get some more up in the next few days, but no promises! Mum arrived last week, the kids are on holidays and I am not really on holiday.... in other words the usual routines are all off kilter and although we have been doing lots of things I just don't seem to have the same time slots to write posts. Anyway... one of our latest activities

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-35540969758792980102011-07-27T13:01:00.002+09:002011-07-27T13:17:42.466+09:00

Despite it being the school holidays my daughter is supposed to be at school this morning..... studying (don't get me started on this!). However fortunately for her she is not at school, but is on a very big boat for a 5 day trip to Okinawa. It takes about 24 hours to get there and although they sleep on the boat each night they will go for day trips to different places in Okinawa - swimming,

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-78618003898586289862011-07-23T20:15:00.002+09:002011-07-23T20:34:09.150+09:00

One thing I am often surprised about is the lack of fundraising in Japan. In New Zealand if you are involved in sports you usually spend quite a lot of time raising money to help pay for trips away etc. I can remember doing raffles, making zillions of pizzas, baking cakes to sell to teachers , selling chocolate etc. etc. Schools had work days where you used to clean windows, mow lawns, wash

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-3001669147361596762011-07-19T12:29:00.002+09:002011-07-19T12:40:11.755+09:00

It is 12:30pm on a Tuesday. The children have been home all day. The sun is almost shining outside and there is no wind. It is not a public holiday (that was yesterday). The reason they are home is that there is a typhoon hanging around somewhere over Shikoku and so last night we got a phone call at 9pm to say that school today was canceled -just in case the typhoon hits here. So far it

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-74513035156804666872011-07-14T20:21:00.004+09:002011-07-14T20:46:42.221+09:00

I think I may have written about this somewhere before, but I can't find it so I'll just write it again.... When I first came to this town there were three junior high schools which I rotated around each week. 3 years ago these three schools merged and a brand new school was built on a completely new site. This is becoming a very common thing here in Japan and although I really enjoyed the

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-55947858776375409902011-07-13T20:49:00.002+09:002011-07-13T20:58:44.500+09:00

I am a pretty stubborn person, but my husband is even worse sometimes. Every night we seem to have a battle about him falling asleep on the sofa rather than finding his way to bed to sleep properly. The major problem is that he snores - loudly! Tonight he made his way to beside the fire place and refused to move into a different room because he wants to watch the soccer at 3am. Great

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-36853245603434491372011-07-10T20:38:00.002+09:002011-07-10T20:47:41.858+09:00

And then to top it all off the "live" broadcast that I could actually see stopped in the last 10 minutes because the game had gone into exciting overtime and it obviously hadn't planned for that. So the final 10 minutes was spent yelling at the family to be quiet so I could try and work out what was actually going on while listening to the radio - it doesn't help that I haven't really kept up

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-39687489881577511102011-07-10T18:26:00.003+09:002011-07-10T18:33:29.370+09:00

I am having a very interesting experience right now.... I really wanted to watch the final of the netball world championships between New Zealand and Australia. Only I live in Japan and they have never even heard of the sport. I don't trust most of the streaming sites, but yesterday discovered that the semi-final was live on the radio (http://www.radiosport.co.nz/ListenLive/ ) I figured that

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-68800105369960129122011-07-08T19:27:00.003+09:002011-07-08T19:59:31.278+09:00

For Heather and Connie... here is the marrow and ginger jam recipe. It comes from a great New Zealand book called "The Cooks Garden" by 3 New Zealand sisters: Mary Browne, Helen Leach and Nancy Tichborne. The book seems to be out of print, but there does seem to be a "More from the Cook's Garden" book that is more available that I don't have... hint, hint Mum!Anyway, back to the recipe for

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-12038474279789714172011-07-07T20:44:00.003+09:002011-07-07T20:53:40.016+09:00

Most of my days start with a stint at either a school or kindergarten doing some teaching then a few hours at home followed by another class or two in the afternoon or running the kids to piano, swimming etc. When I am really busy my time management skills are incredible, but when I have some "free" time I tend to waste a lot of time doing nothing in particular. There are always too many things

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-2272613755419283332011-07-07T20:34:00.002+09:002011-07-07T20:42:37.252+09:00

Japan is often called the "land of the rising sun" but, if there weren't so many bugs I think I would put a chair in our driveway and sit there every night with a glass of wine or a cup of coffee and watch the setting sun.......

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-69828937510706479782011-07-05T14:30:00.003+09:002011-07-05T14:34:34.539+09:00

Japanese style green peppers (piman) have now officially joined the tomatoes, cucumbers and beans on the list of "we must cook every day or the fridge will explode" list of vegetables...... Favorite recipes most welcomed...... Have I mentioned that I don't actually like green peppers on this blog before..... but that they grow like wildfire here so I always feel I should plant a couple, or

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-89103349395575585922011-07-03T21:31:00.002+09:002011-07-03T21:40:23.979+09:00

My style of gardening is definitely in line with the theories of natural selection. I figure if the vegetable seeds from the year before happen to come up somewhere in the garden this year they really want to grow there and therefore should be encouraged, not pulled out. Unfortunately this often leads to very jumbled patches of garden... this is my latest creation - my asparagus patch in the

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-35364002412696697512011-07-01T21:29:00.004+09:002011-07-01T21:51:37.862+09:00

One of the biggest problems with renovating is the huge mess that it involves. Painters or builders traipsing through the house, the need to be there continuously while they are there and then the dust/mess that it always creates. Sometimes it hardly seems worth the bother. Unless you live in Japan...... where renovating is easy! I didn't get around to taking any photos of the "before" doors

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-40822694617542725142011-06-28T22:22:00.004+09:002011-06-28T22:36:20.722+09:00

I have some wonderful words of advice for you all today.1. If you are going to have children in Japan and you intend to make them birthday cakes DO NOT have them in the summer..... it makes icing cakes a huge challenge! This rule also goes for husbands... if you have the choice between a husband who has a birthday in the winter vs the summer then go with the winter one.....2. If your husband's

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-17603003714918146422011-06-26T17:27:00.003+09:002011-06-26T17:37:49.292+09:00

I don't know if other schools do this, but every year each class at our school has a "recreation" day where the children, parents and teacher get together and do something. Although it is completely up to the parents as to what to do the standard seems to be play dodgeball, eat, then go home. Today it was my son's class's turn and despite there only being 12 children in his class the

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-42360160252608580612011-06-24T14:49:00.003+09:002011-06-24T14:59:23.443+09:00

Yesterday I taught 3 hours at school and after 15 minutes I was already conscious of the sweat starting to drip down my stomach and back. No fans, no air-conditioning, extreme heat. The windows were open though so we survived. Today I taught in a town about an hour away and again sweated like crazy, but the wind coming in the windows made life bearable, almost pleasant. We don't have

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-23734156856069510822011-06-23T14:38:00.003+09:002011-06-23T14:50:41.458+09:00

Yesterday I hung the washing out and went to work at 8am. I came home at 9am and brought the washing in from the rain. The sun came out so I put the washing out again then went to a work at a different place at 10am. I came home at lunch time and brought the washing in from the pouring rain again..... only to hang it out again 20 minutes later and leave it there till it was finally dry at 5pm.

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-74859655476436914222011-06-22T09:26:00.002+09:002011-06-22T09:34:02.176+09:00

Most people know that Japan is the leader in crazy inventions. I usually manage to avoid buying them, but this time the kids forced me into it. Well actually while Dad was here we found a pair of "cleaning slippers" that he bought to take home to my sister and of course the kids saw them and HAD to have a pair too. I was weak and gave in.... hoping that they would actually use them and clean

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-35537206412248420672011-06-19T18:40:00.003+09:002011-06-19T18:51:10.715+09:00

Today I went where no one has been for at least 12 years. After another day in the very wet rain, shivering in the very cold wind and wallowing the very deep mud I made the executive decision to ..... open the door which goes directly from outside into our Japanese style-put water wherever you like, tiled bathroom. I went in with my dirty feet. I went in with all my wet clothes still on. I

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-70736724361498368762011-06-18T20:35:00.002+09:002011-06-18T21:01:44.225+09:00

In the beginning I really liked watching the whole rice planting process. I used to try to explain it and document it for those who like me were interested in the whole process. Three years ago I finally got my feet muddy and actually had to help IN the rice fields. For the next two years I found it quite refreshing to wander around in the mud popping in extra rice plants here and there (okay,

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-21748345931799248132011-06-14T21:46:00.003+09:002011-06-14T21:59:57.851+09:00

Last year I can remember getting very excited when I saw my feijoa trees flowering like this. The year before they had flowered a bit and we had got our first fruit - about 5 in total. Unfortunately despite all the flowers we still only got about 5 feijoas in total last time too. I know there is a shortage of bees at the moment and I am fairly sure that is the reason for the failure to fruit.

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-17598886441446007792011-06-13T21:03:00.003+09:002011-06-13T21:16:57.537+09:00

I think I have a problem when it comes to frogs. Despite their noise being overpowering at night (and during the day if you want a nap), I find them incredibly cute! Today my son and I were picking some cucumbers when I spotted this little fellow taking a break on the cucumber vines. I told my son to keep watch while I raced to get the camera - getting back just in time to snap a couple of

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-32644859002768045132011-06-12T16:14:00.006+09:002011-06-12T16:28:53.883+09:00

There are days when I drive around in Japan and think how sad it is that they have managed to make almost every natural river into a concrete spillway. The concrete sides seem stupidly high and ruin the beautiful scenery which is everywhere here. Of course that is when I am driving around on sunny days.... unlike today! Today I am very grateful for the huge amounts of concrete that have been

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-27531616742227885562011-06-10T14:36:00.005+09:002011-06-10T14:55:33.114+09:00

You may remember that last year we harvested our first ever wheat . The volume wasn't huge so in the end we didn't bother milling any of it into flour, but the majority of it was planted out again for this year's harvest. I planted a much bigger patch than last year and it has been growing very nicely - well as nicely as wheat can grow. The best thing is that it takes up quite a lot of space

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-22325919784717453552011-06-09T11:40:00.003+09:002011-06-09T12:03:49.524+09:00

I don't usually use this blog as a space for "complaining", but have just had an interesting experience at the hospital which I thought I would share. The only time I have really been to the doctor here in Japan is when the children were born and then of course what seemed like every second week for various things for the children when they were small. We have a good hospital in our town, but

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-77052722238236177492011-06-08T20:49:00.004+09:002011-06-08T21:25:36.957+09:00

I can't count the number of times I have driven past the sign in Hiji which points towards "The Big Cycad" and almost laughed. To be honest I really didn't even know what a Cycad was - it sounded like something from outerspace to me and the urge to go and see a big one had never really got to a point where I was tempted to turn off and get out of the car. But we had a day to spare while Dad was

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-41532348518660633292011-06-05T21:44:00.003+09:002011-06-05T21:56:00.488+09:00

A quick break from catching up on Dad's trip to introduce the art of Japanese ironing. I know that by posting these photos it will be revealed to all that I am not the perfect Japanese housewife in that I don't iron my husband's shirts... he doesn't even bother asking me anymore! This is a typical Japanese ironing board. It sits about 15cm off the ground and therefore involves a bit of

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-90656575206032677842011-06-04T20:09:00.003+09:002011-06-04T20:40:01.358+09:00

There is a small island called Himeshima or Princess Island about 3km off the coast here which we visited while Dad was here. It wasn't officially my first visit there, but the first time in over 10 years and the first time finding my own way around. Not that it is particularly difficult! The total circumference of the entire island is only 17km and there is basically only one road! We took

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-5809743645241351912011-06-03T20:25:00.004+09:002011-06-03T20:47:49.939+09:00

The same day we discovered the amazing garden in the last post we also drove past a sign that said in English "Hell and Heaven". We had half an hour to spare and so followed the signs not having any idea at all what we were about to discover. It turned out that it was a pretty strange place in the middle of nowhere. The sign outside (also in English for a change) let us know that Hell and

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-55222268526697088312011-06-02T20:53:00.003+09:002011-06-02T21:06:18.005+09:00

Sometimes you stumble across things that just make you open your mouth in awe. This garden was one of them. While my father was here we had a day where I had no classes, but no real plans so we set off randomly in the direction of a small town called Ajimu where our only real plan was to check out a private garden that I had seen very briefly on T.V. that morning. Thanks to the car navigation

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-45696443309536456992011-06-01T20:31:00.004+09:002011-06-01T20:57:34.466+09:00

We are very lucky in that my New Zealand family often comes to visit. It is always great to have them come and stay and it is a great excuse to explore a few new places each time they come. My father came for two weeks in May and we managed quite a few new places - I'll try to introduce some of them over the next few days. Most of them were places that we drive past often, but have just never

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-43475963797848627712011-05-29T16:50:00.003+09:002011-05-29T16:59:14.629+09:00

Looking at my previous post about my wonderful garden is making me depressed! Just after I took all those photos some horrible bugs came into the garden and basically ate EVERYTHING they could in one night. Peas, beans, lettuce, radishes, sunflowers, peppers - everything! Mind you, if the bugs hadn't come first I would have been depressed because we have just had about 4 days of VERY solid

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-68054496846199553102011-05-08T19:44:00.002+09:002011-05-08T19:53:17.141+09:00

Here are a few photos of the vege garden (click on the photo to see it a bit larger...). At the moment it all feels very under control - zillions of peas coming on, the wheat growing tall, sweetpeas and lupins in bloom, first broad beans on the table tonight along with asparagus and snap peas, celery almost getting to the end of its life, tomato, cucumber, green pepper, chili, eggplant, beans

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-57466680788473447022011-05-06T20:51:00.004+09:002011-05-06T21:29:42.394+09:00

Yesterday was the last of a string of holidays, but the only day that both my husband and I weren't working and that we could spend the whole day with the kids. It also just happened to be "children's day" so we decided to throw our bikes on the back of the car and head to a cycling road in Yabakei - about an hour drive from here. It is a beautiful area and they have converted an old railway

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-64651669118167229802011-04-28T22:10:00.003+09:002011-04-29T21:51:07.414+09:00

For anyone who has been following this blog for a long time you may remember a post I wrote way back in 2008 about a kitchen door that I was "not allowed" to use for about 10 years as it would bring our family bad luck. Three years on and although we haven't won the lottery yet we don't seem to have had an excess of bad luck either. Last week I decided to take another risk and get us out of jail

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-88924763830754696522011-04-28T21:27:00.003+09:002011-04-28T21:45:04.971+09:00

There have been a couple of time recently when I have found myself thinking that I have been living here far too long. The first was when I was at the tax office the other day and spent close to 2 hours waiting for them to make a zillion phone calls confirming different things, finding the correct forms to use etc. When I first arrived in Japan this would have driven me crazy, but the other day

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-74374970818939553942011-04-25T08:06:00.003+09:002011-04-25T09:12:54.660+09:00

Sometimes I think Easter Bunny is a mind reader. Like many international families we struggle a bit with keeping up the English reading and writing side of things here in Japan. I find it hard to motivate the kids when there are so many other things that they want/need to be doing. So when it comes to "Western" traditions that can only be done in English (no - Santa, the tooth fairy and Easter

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-764898827665089402011-04-13T20:32:00.003+09:002011-04-13T20:42:58.354+09:00

Today the children only had to go to school till 11:20am - entrance ceremony for first graders... any excuse for a half day! I had to teach till after 11 and couldn't get to school in time to pick them up so they convinced me that they wanted to walk home and that I should walk from our place, meet them in the middle and then walk back home with them. Great idea, beautiful weather, big hill! I

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-75523778706468567232011-04-12T21:30:00.002+09:002011-04-12T21:38:28.919+09:00

A break from my photos today to introduce a blog that a lot of you will already be familiar with, but if you are not then I really suggest you have a look at. It is a blog by an amazing man called Jason Kelly who has started a wonderful project called "socks for Japan". Basically he is collecting new socks with letters attached and distributing them to people who are homeless etc. after the

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-42313810106823423792011-04-10T20:01:00.005+09:002011-04-11T17:24:07.899+09:00

I have a very bad habit of not cleaning out my computer files and backing them up. The screen saver on my computer is "my pictures" and due to my cluttered filing system there are photos there from as far back as 2006. I am sometimes surprised by the photos which the screen saver randomly flicks up at me - great reminders of the past. Today I discovered a photo of my "top garden" that I had

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-20472510185190629652011-04-09T22:49:00.004+09:002011-04-10T19:38:16.961+09:00

Today was one of those "it doesn't get much better than this" kind of days. I think it was the official peak in the cherry blossoms here and the weather was absolutely perfect for viewing them. Well it would have been if we had gone to a place where there were thousands of cherry blossoms. Instead we headed to the park with friends and sat around chatting while the kids played and played and

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-49399906579884444672011-04-09T22:09:00.003+09:002011-04-09T22:36:11.176+09:00

So much for a few pictures every day! I've spent the last couple of days trying to get rid of some of the weeds in the garden and as a result ended up falling asleep on the sofa at about 9:30pm last night and not waking up till 6:30am....hence the lack of photos yesterday!Spring has definitely arrived here and although a lot of the blossom has already finished I discovered a lot of new "life" in

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-14714003259344321402011-04-07T22:15:00.004+09:002011-04-09T22:38:32.412+09:00

I have been so bad about writing blog entries lately that I've decided to stop writing for a bit and just give you a few photos every day to show you what has been going on here. Firstly a few random ones from Aussie. 40 kids, 2 weeks, 2 slight concussions, a broken finger, one kid left on a bus - all in all not too bad as far as "holidays" go! We had pretty much perfect weather and I think

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25713648.post-25313199273319802762011-03-25T05:06:00.002+09:002011-03-25T05:13:37.919+09:00

We have made it safely to Australia and are currently in Noosa. Apart from a few minor incidents (leaving kids on buses, almost getting kicked out of zoos etc....) everything is going well and I am getting some nice quiet evening times to relax away from the 40 kids who are with us. Unfortunately that all changes when we head away on Sunday to an outdoor education facility where it will be

Jo Tomookahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03671659320538901131noreply@blogger.com1