Seasons Greetings to Oliver, Emma and all you blog followers who wait in hope of an update.
Here in Bristol, Oliver and Emma's home city, we are having a white Yuletide which is reminding me of my visit to Tokyo in February.
So, as some say in Bristol.
Have a good 'un.
Love Oliver's Mum
We want blogs ! We want blogs !
C'mon ya lazy gets, keep telling us exciting things that make us want to visit.
ve vont to ze voto of best gadget for equivilent of von pound !
When you get out of the shower in the morning and reach up to get a towel and out falls a roach (it won't let me post the c--k bit of the c--kroach), bouncing ON YOUR FACE before running away, you start to think jumping spiders really are OK...
Jumping? Spiders?!
Garlic? Bread?!
That's it then, I can never go to Japan. I shall never know the perfect beauty of the cherry blossom at the moment of its fall.
Really? Jumping spiders? Shouldn't be allowed!
Hello lovelies. Love the new (to me) pics! Wow think we are getting a more clement summer than you though. I say that with no smugness (honestly) and an even fuller appreciation for hair straighteners.
I have the most AMAZING box of vegetables here to plant out! THANK YOU!!! In fact going to go and nematode the garden right now so I can plant out before hen party shenanigans begin at 12. :-)
How was Fujisan? Look forward to more pictures.
Loads of love xxxxx
Surley you mean a "nearside turn through red"
Hey boy, hey girl, superstar DJ's ( digital jotters ) , here we go !
Just when we thought it was going a tad quiet on the Eastern front, up pops some info about funny flavoured wafers, allowing us all to relax, safe in the knowledge that you have not yet become the special sashimi of the day...
As you've been good enough to pretend you still care, allow me to do the same by advising of the most exciting developments over 'ere, being
a) The sun has put his hat on and come out to play - the last couple of days have been glorious and the the park based strolling, duck feeding and picnics make it hard to believe how soon ago we were sledging and slipping. Global warming might be royalling rodgering the Earth, but at least it has the good grace to go out in style..
b) Leeds are in a play-off place , having won their seventh straight home game. Inevitably this is just another false new dawn and even if they hold on they'll loose in the final, but hey, deep down we know we're no Donny Rovers....
c) A Manga based exhibition is opening at Tate Modern, so I'm looking forward to making some posters of your faces and asking the hoards of Japanese if they've seen you.
d) That's probably it actually, but hopefully something of equal magnitude will have arisen by your next post, eagerly anticipated sometime around June...
Stay smelly and post some pictures of products with funny names please
Yes. Boat trip, onsen theme park, ninja restaurant, Kamakura, Toto super space, fire engine museum, 100 yen shop, Shitamachi museum, open-air architecture museum, whacky pictograms, shinkansen, FOOD - specially okonomoyaki, korean barbecue, nabe, hot-pot....all OISHI! Others - your landlord, Kappabshi Street, Fuji, Em's building, sumo wrestlers in Narita, everything in Kyoto..... hmmm this is not so much highlights as a summary of 3 weeks. Well, it was all great! How do I put a pic on your blog????
Have you
a) both fallen into a volcano ?
b) been swalled by a particulary fancy vending machine?
c) been deported for having fabulous hair?
d) lost all your combined 40 digits in a spate of samouri sword related incidents?
e) forgotten about this website and your obligation to update it in order to make us jealous?
Sort it ouwt !
Can't imagine Tokyo is going to cope with the invasion of the Newberys but hope attack by first wave tomorrow (Friday) goes smoothly. Reinforcements bearing PG tips will arrive Sunday.
They eat cats? Great blog guys. Oli and Blueberries do Japan!
jane stayed with us a t xmas and David came the day after xmas day , Rob was also absent withb his family in hereas was Sue and family. Joe is of course in NZ. Happy new year . to you both. , You certainly picked the shrine I think it is the one tht all the supporters of the former war time regime go to papay their respects and therewas qite a forore when a former PM chose to go.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\n\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Well, having just delved into your latest additions I am getting excited about our visit, and particularly about the food though I think I'll bring some muesli and PG tips to get through the breakfast ordeal. We could bring you some yeast and flour....
Am left wondering what Emma's favourite biscuits are.
Was wondering what you did if you had 109 bad thoughts on NYE and the bell only struck 108 times but that doesn't seem to have affected you anyway.
Also,well done with glossary - I am planning to spend a day or so getting my head round it!
Hope you have a great 2009.
D
...isn't it difficult when there's a language barrier? I will keep reporting on things as an ordinary Briton in Japan rather than a BBC man.
But in the interest of fairness:
All Japanese fits the 46 (+18+20?) syllables in the language. No English style mucking about with odd pronounciation.
a as in cat
i as in bead
u as in woof
e as in egg
o as in oli lord of beards
n is the only consonant that can operate alone or with a vowel. All the others follow the above vowels (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko; ga, gi, gu, ge, go etc) or yo, yu, ya (kya, kyu, kyo etc)
g is always hard
no l, substitute r instead
no v, substitute b instead
no q, substitute k instead
Nothing is silent.
So, when the Japanese fit foreign words to their language they have to adapt them rather than aping the pronounciation as we would do. For example, o-ri-ba instead of Oliver; nyu-be-ri for Newbery. saying things out loud following the above rules should make it all make sense. Ka-do, ca (r in the english) d (+o because we cannot operate d without a folowing vowel), card. Similiar process for Ku-ri-su-ma-su (say it out loud)...
That's not perfect but it should help. If all else fails, try a quick wikipedia or google search for Japanese words.
Oliver
Either put in a glossary or stop using japanese words.
What is ka-do or even kado?
I think the glossary would be a good idea.
