Chateaux en Irlande

I went home for Golden Week (the week-long string of Japanese public holidays in April/May), and it ended up being just the tonic. I completely relaxed, despite a hectic social schedule, and came back to Japan refreshed and over the anxiety that the quake and constant aftershocks had created in me. We've had about 10 significant aftershocks since GW and none of them has ruffled my feathers, not even the one where the early-warning alarm went off in the middle of the night: I didn't open my eyes!

I had so much fun back in Ireland. The weather was amazing and the long days made me feel energized and eager to fit as much in to my flying visit as possible. In the end, the holiday took on an unintentional castle /stately home theme; certainly something you don't get much of over here in Tokyo.

We celebrated my Mam's 70th birthday at Clontarf Castle. It was a great meal with even better company. It was one of the best family events in recent memory for me and just thinking back to it now brings a smile to my face.










I also walked down memory lane with my friend and took of a tour of Dublin Castle in the city centre, a place where we had both been tour guide many moons before. It was weird going back and the old place looked a little rough around the edges, but it holds many precious memories.







On one of the really fine late-spring days I took a spin into Wicklow with my sister to visit Avondale House and take a seemingly never ending trek - it got a little Blair Witch Project at one point - around the forest and river running through the grounds.











It's a cliche, but I do forget how unbelievably green the little island is.





Ireland had it's Sunday best on that day, so we even managed a late-afternoon stroll along Brittas Bay. It was great to see the sea, and our beaches really aren't all that bad on the days when you're not being attacked by driving wind and horizontal sheets of grey rain.





One final little fun photo from my trip: so we have this infamous childhood photo of me and my two siblings dressed in matching onesies from some time in the mid-80s.


We had great notions of recreating the photo in the present day, but it all went a bit pear-shaped because we never got round to buying the adult-sized onesies and had to unceremoniously snap a shot on my last night in the country. We got the positioning all arseways on the first attempt, and I was so tired from all the parties and travelling and whatnot that I could barely keep my head up. But the spirit is there, even if I am doing a convincing impression of the brown Jamie Lee Curtis.




Like I said, fun, fun times.

Moreover, in other catalog- shopping related news...

You know that when these guys were starting out modeling, they thought they would be on the catwalks of Milan or Paris... Not waist deep in some mosquito infested swamp with a Marks and Spencer shopping bag on their head. The fate of the catalog model is truly a cruel one.

Remote control condom (not what you think)

It's been ages since I've taken a look at the catalog shopping in the japanese bullet trains. In the interim, they've really outdone themselves. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the remote control condom! (This idea actually appeals to the clean freak in me.)

Lunch on high

Sunday was easily the most beautiful day of the year so far. The weather was perfect and it made the calamities of late seem a whole world away. I had some shopping to do in Ginza, so I stopped for lunch on the 42nd floor of a skyscraper in Shiodome, the next neighbourhood over.


As it was completely unplanned, I had to go Nigel No-mates, bit it would certainly be a great place to go back with friends. It's a bit swanky,

but the lunchtime buffet is not at all exxy and the view cannot be beat.






You can see here how much progess has been made on the Tokyo Sky Tree. It should be finished very soon.


I couldn't capture a good photo, but this helicopter came really close.


Some women beside me even gasped. I guess we're all still a bit on edge.

The coolest thing was that I could see my apartment.


It took me a few minutes to get my bearings, but once I could find the river, it wasn't hard. As an anti-stalker measure, I won't tell you exactly where it is, but you can see my building in the lower left-hand quadrant of the photo.

Kyoto cleanse

I was in Kyoto for work last weekend. Unusually, there was enough time in the schedule for me to get up early and do a little sightseeing. To be honest, I haven't been a big fan of Kyoto for many years: it holds bad associations for me - fights, forced smiles in photos, bitter silences... But I think the bad juju must be gone, because I really enjoyed myself walking through the narrow streets under a clear blue sky .

We Japanese love our towers. This a the candle-like one beside the station.


Most of the shrines and temples are spread out throughout the city, at least a bus-ride away. I only had time to walk to Higashi Honganji near my hotel. But it was colourfully serene.







In the courtyard, I spied the last of Kyoto's cherry blossoms. They have to give way to the fresh green leaves.


I even made it to the renowned original shop of the Inoda Coffee House chain. This is a Kyoto institution. (Irish readers, think Bewleys back when it was a bit classy.) It's all dark corners, mirrored elegance and eccentric, bow-tied wait staff - they don't always let you order what you want, and sometimes tell you it'd be too filling or that you look like you'd be more in the mood for something else! And, of course, they serve great coffee.

Bloomin' Marvellous

I know I said I wouldn't do blossom watch this year because it made me feel the passing of time too much. Well, you know what, with the recent disaster I feel very privileged to be having time still pass for me at all, so get ready for a cherry petal overload.

The blossom season turned out to be a pretty brilliant one in Tokyo. They stayed out for almost two weeks. And the poor flowers really didn't have it easy - they got battered by gales, rained on a couple of times, endured a fair dose of radiation, and got shaken by hundreds of aftershocks. Yet they pulled out all the stops to give us a bit of cheer.







For Japanese people, cherry blossom is all about rolling out the plastic mats, sitting under some big ol' trees and getting drunk with some friends. There's a lot to be said for that as a national custom.



Taking a boat out a lake is another popular way to get a good view of the trees.




I'm lucky enough to have a 10-minute walk from work along a road called 'Sakura-dori'. It makes the daily trudge a lot more pleasant.



This is a little cherry-unrelated, but it just struck me as a particularly Japanese scene.





I enjoyed hanging out with some friends, making good conversation, drinking a cool beer and eating some nice food as cherry blossoms fell gently around us. But I also really enjoyed getting up really early to take some walks around the city's famous viewing spots before most other people were up.












Getting up early to do some blossom watching before the crowds is a great chance to see some fellow eccentrics at their best. To wit: some grannies stretching for some serious power walking. (We are right in the centre of the city here, not at the foot of Mount Everest???)


Or this kind woman who didn't want to disturb her neighbours as she learned to play the trombone. Squeaky scales was an unusual accompaniment to my early-morning walk, but not that bad.

You can enjoy cherry blossom viewing as much in the late night as in the early morning. By evening, people are usually pretty wasted so the night time tends to be quite a different vibe. This year, though, the power saving means the trees weren't lit up. We had to really on the moon instead. It made it all much more atmospheric.