I’ve been in Japan so long that it’s very easy to forget Canadian holidays, like Labour day or, even, Easter. For some reason, though, I remember when it’s Canada Day (July 1st). We don’t celebrate it over here, of course, but I enjoy knowing that on the other side of the globe, my friends and family are relaxing, hopefully with a six-pack of cold Canadian beer, and anticipating the evening festivities!
Our weekend in Matsuzaki was simply perfect. The weather was beautiful, and the scenery alluring for the quiet two-hour drive (by car). Our reception at the Toyosaki Hotel was delightful, and the room, food, and bath as awesome as we remembered from last year.
Our Room at the Toyosaki
We arrived in Matsuzaki at about 3 p.m., and had a chu-hi and a beer before walking around the town to enjoy the views and atmosphere.
Matsuzaki is a really nice fishing town, and with the sun low in the sky, we got some good light conditions for photos. I played with these in Photoshop a bit:
Getting back to the hotel with time to spare for dinner, we took a pre-dinner bath in the shared outdoor tub on the roof.
Outdoor bath
We took a very slow, scenic drive home in the rain on Sunday. Despite the rain, the views were lovely, and the weather mild. The perfect wind-down before getting wound up again for a new week!
While these hectic weeks and weekends have been keeping us busy, by Tuesday this week I had pretty much reached my limit! I decided then that this weekend I’d have to get away, even if only for a night. So this that’s what we’re doing this weekend.
I thought about Matsuzuki, a small fishing town on the west coast of the Izu peninsula. It’s a quaint, quiet little place, not too far from home, and we’ve both been there several times. Our favourite place to stay is the Toyosaki, a Japanese style hotel, who’s fish-market restaurant had some of the best fried fish I’ve ever eaten.
At less than 7,000 yen per person, the Toyosaki, is great value, and of course is usually packed full and nearly impossible to get a room on short notice; however, when I called on Tuesday night, there was, indeed, a room available. I eagerly booked us in for one night (tonight), and now we’re getting ready to sit in the sun before driving to the coast!
http://www.toyosaki-hotel.jp/
My totally awesome friend, Van, who has been in Japan as long as I have, is finally repatriating to the States. I will miss her terribly – I already realize there is no replacement for her; when I feel like not talking, it’s great, ’cause she does all the work. She’s a super-friendly Texan who is super-easy to be with.
In fact, she is such a good friend, that I agreed (blindly) to take all her books and try to sell them for her. Now, Van is a …collector. Perhaps even a pack-rat. A decade in Japan means much accumulation…
Today, I went through about five boxes of books, and catalogued (or inventoried) exactly 168 books (mostly Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb – who are the same person. When anyone can be that prolific, I have to admit, I’m a bit sceptical of the quality of writing!).
Anyway – actually, the highly detailed, yet intellectually un-demanding task, was oddly relaxing for me.
I entered the titles and authors in Excel, then sorted to alphabetize by author, then, finally, sent the list to Infinity Books Japan, who buys used books, by distance. I’ve used these guys before, and they’re great – just submit a list of the books you have, and wait for an estimate. But it had been a while, so when I cruised over to their website, and saw that they asked for our lists to include the ISBN, I thought, “WHAT??!!”.
Well, I sent the list anyway, sans ISBN. If they really do want it, I’ll just have to go through all the boxes again, and sort the actual books by author, then note the numbers. The up-side of this means that the books will be re-packed by author, which, I suppose, I ought to have done anyway!
As I mentioned, we’ve already selected and purchased our new motorcycles. One Sunday afternoon, I surfed the Goo Bike website, where I could compare bikes from different shops online. After selecting a few that we were interested in, I requested an estimate of actual cost (including repairs, paperwork, delivery, etc). The best (and one of the quickest) responses we had was from the small T-Rex chain based in Tokyo, and after a follow-up phone call from a woman working at the shop, we decided to buy both bikes, sight unseen, from T-Rex.
We are not even going to the shop to pick up the bikes; not wanting to drive unfamiliar bikes through the labyrinthine streets of Tokyo, we requested that they be delivered to our door, and we will probably receive them by July 4th.
Though the process got started quickly, the paperwork, parts-ordering, and delivery takes time. Takeuchi-san, our contact at T-Rex, has been great at keeping in touch with us at every step of the process, sending photos and letting us know at which stage each bike is at. This is great, and though I’m still driven by immediate gratification, I’ll consider this “practice” for becoming a bit more patient!
Though the bikes are old, and we haven’t seen them in person, we are confident that they’ll be beautiful. Here are the photos on which we based our bike-buying decisions:
Brian’s Honda VRX:
VRX
My Kawasaki Estrella:
P.S. See – I’m already fulfilling my promise of more blogging!
We haven’t been blogging as frequently as perhaps we should. My mother certainly noticed the lack of updates! I figured that, since I haven’t been doing anything exciting, and don’t have any commentary about Japan or biking, I just had nothing to say.
However, I realized yesterday that we rely on our own blog as a sort of journal (a web log, if you will 
), to which we can refer to refresh our memories, and to see how we spent various past holidays and occasions.
So, though we may not always have too much to say, we will certainly try to blog more!
Yesterday, despite pouring rain, we went for a longish run. Actually, it was only about 11km, but that’s long for us! The rain, rather than being a dissuasion, kept us cool at the same time as keeping other folks off the road!
After a quick search, I found a site that lets you map your run; not surprisingly, the name of the website is Map My Run .com (http://www.mapmyrun.com). I quickly mapped out our run, so here it is:
Oh – I named this run “To the Pigs!” because the end of our route takes us to a semi-dead end, where, if you hike for five seconds off the road, you can find some caged boars behind a small house. The guy living there probably traps the boars, then keeps them on standby for dinner:-(
The whirlwind weeks have not passed; even as we move into Rainy Season (梅雨 －Tsuyu), work and play feel more like typhoon season!
But somewhere in there, I managed to find two decent (if old) motorcycles online. I chose a classic-looking Kawasaki Estrella, while Brian went for a Honda VRX. We hope to get the bikes by July.
I’m back to working out at Curves with my friend, Van…however, she has decided to return to her native home in the States next month. I’ll have to enjoy her company as much as I can while I can.
So – I’m going out for dinner with her tonight.
Brian and I went out last night for dinner at our favourite local yaki-tori shop – they have the best kimchi I’ve ever tasted, and also some of the best chu-hai (great alcoholic beverage)!
Ah, and of course…the Japanese Test (level 2) is just around the corner. All those months ago, when I said I’d start studying for the test…Well, I didn’t start studying, and I’m just now going over some of the kanji. The test is in two weeks, on July 5th. I don’t think I’ll be passing this year, but will sit it again in December!
Coke is more popular (and more prevalent) here than Pepsi – but both soft drink makers come out with some interesting ideas for marketing their product.
This time, it’s Coke, which is selling a green tea flavour, non-calorie, and with added catechins version of their trademark beverage. I just happened to see it at a local convenience store yesterday on the way to a friend’s place:
Edit: The Taste – This coke tasted very much like any generic diet cola, not green tea flavoury at all:-(
For a couple of years now we have both been thinking about (finally) getting our Japanese motorcycle licence – especially after our varied experience renting bikes every time we travel in other parts of South East Asia.
After some research (and some impetus from a friend), we decided to get our licence the Japanese way – by going to school! Because we already have a Japanese driver’s licence, getting the motorcycle licence did not require too much extra effort. We basically had to do seventeen hours of training, of which about three hours was on a simulator, and one hour was a lecture on road safety – fairly standard requirements in Japan.
We entered a school just here in Susono, and got a good great private lessons, and a dose of Japanese practise along with the riding practise!
We were both really enjoying the lessons, although it took me longer (several extra hours of lessons) to master the Honda CB400, but when I did, it was awesome. Brian passed his test more than a week ago (ahead of me), but finally came time for me to take my test on Saturday. Though I felt nervous, one of my most awesome instructors told me not to worry at all, that I would pass. And I did pass! It was especially helpful that the test was at the school, doing the same course I’d been practising, and on the very same bike on which I’d been practising, for the past month. Getting on that bike for my final test was like meeting up with an old friend.
So, today I took my “Graduation Certificate” from the school to our nearest Licencing Centre. There, I wait in line a little, wait in a classroom a little, and wait a little more, but soon I had my official Japanese Motorcycle Licence.
Below is my licence. Circled is the classification “futsu jidou nirin” – usual (up to 400cc)* motorcycle!
I really, really liked the Susono Chuo driving school – private one-one instruction, friendly (and super awesome) instructors, with a solid program.
Next step? This school will begin offering “oo-gata” bike licences (bikes bigger than 400cc) from the end of July…
*In Japan, motorbike licences come in several classes: 50 -124cc, 125-399cc, and then 400cc and up.
