The apologetic January post

I apologise for not keeping up with this. My poor excuses are a mixture of being less enthused by exciting new things in Japan as I become increasingly acclimatised but also because I’ve been trying to pursue other goals, such as running more often, reading more and keeping in better touch with people at home.

December didn’t get a look in on here. There wasn’t an awful lot of exciting new territory to write about in Japan and much of the month was overshadowed by mounting distress about my trip home, due to the chaos that occurred across Britain because of snow, which eventually caused my flight to be cancelled. Needless to say I made it home, a day late but so much more grateful to be back. It was great to see people once again but a shame I didn’t get to see everyone. I enjoyed the homeliness of cosy centrally heated pubs more than ever and really appreciated a greater variety of beer, far more fresh fruit and veg and the ability to speak English to anyone I wanted. The family spent Xmas day around my sister's for the first time, which was a welcome change for everyone. The food was fab (Thanks once again Anne).

January went off to a good start in London and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get back into the swing of things in the capital. On returning to Japan, I’ve been blessed with extremely sunny but rather chilly weather, which I’ve really enjoyed. This month I visited my first Japanese castle (a small local one that Will and I had to ourselves) and the first visit of a helicopter to my school (a truly surreal experience). I had a fabulous night out seeing the Mystery Jets DJ and even had a brief chance to catch up with Blaine. I enjoyed attending a German party this weekend, in Chiba shi, where we were all serenaded by the charming Herr Alex Zeck. But on the whole January has been a fairly frugal, as I’m really trying to save for my trip to China. I’ve also bought some flights to Kyushu, where I intend to travel to Hiroshima from, just before I leave for China. Travelling around Japan isn’t cheap and so this really isn’t conducive to my saving but I don’t feel I can leave Japan without seeing Hiroshima.

I promise I will keep you better updated for the following final months.