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Neighbourhood cleanup
This morning (Sunday morning) the loudspeakers went off at 7:10 a.m. And that’s an important cultural difference right there: in Australia you’re not allowed to mow the lawn or make noise until 10 o’clock on a Sunday morning because people like to sleep in, but in the land where Nobody Sleeps In there’s no such Read more...
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Two months on
Yesterday was officially two months since the Big One, and now that the initial shock has worn off and the international emergency teams have gone home and the one-month-on television specials are out of the way and even the radiation levels are old news, the nation can finally get on with the job of bickering Read more...
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Theme park frenzy
They said we were crazy, they said it would never happen, but we did it: we finally made it to Universal Studios in Osaka.
I must say I had been dreading this trip because I had this mental image of battling through crowds and spending hours waiting in line for every ride, but in the end Read more... -
Bridge fetish
Hello all, long time no post.
It’s not as if there hasn’t been plenty happening in the Sushi on a Stick household of late, it’s just that I’ve been a little… well… lazy I guess.
But I’m back now with, er, renewed determination and vigour, and today I’d like to regale you with tales of our healthy Read more... -
Skool holidays
Just got back from our spur-of-the-moment holiday up in Kyoto and Nagoya, and what a big week it was.
It all began when our friend Miyuki, who lives in Nagoya, rang up to say that she had a spare room for a couple of nights at a swish hotel at Kyoto (foreign guests who’d cancelled their Read more... -
And now for something completely different
Just to prove that life goes on as usual, Eleni and I went skiing on Thursday.
Actually it wasn’t to prove anything at all; it was just a wonderful coincidence that both of us had a free day. In my case, the domestic translation industry had decided to have a little lie down for a moment, Read more... -
Too many questions
Twelve biblical days have elapsed since the Big One, and life is gradually returning to normal. Who am I kidding? Over 20,000 dead, 350,000 homeless and a nuclear reactor that still emits smoke can hardly be considered normal.
But there are finally signs of hope. The roads are being cleared and food and supplies are getting Read more... -
Utter chaos
It just goes from bad to worse.
After several days of saturation footage of roaring walls of water tossing boats in the air and tearing houses apart, the focus now turns to the humanitarian tragedy that’s emerging here in Japan.
Every night the television brings us scenes of unbelievable personal tragedy. A man goes from room to Read more... -
Day 4
I saw a funny thing on the telly last night: an ad. After blanket coverage of the earthquake and tsunami for three days on all channels, it seems the commercial networks have finally decided that it’s time to generate some revenue again with normal programming. In some ways this seems a bit crass, given the Read more...
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The Big One
I remember when I was in Tokyo in the 1990s there was endless talk of the when the Next Big One would hit, based on some vague theory about major earthquakes operating in 70-year cycles. Well it may be 20 years overdue, but it would appear that the Big One has finally arrived.
The first thing Read more...
Welcome to Sushi on a Stick
This blog is about the adventures of a family of Australian barbarians spending two years in the islands of southern Japan. Stay tuned for regular updates on the food, the culture, the earthquakes, the wacky festivals, the school system and more. Read more
- Adventures (20)
- Armageddon (7)
- Culture (31)
- Daily life (60)
- Food (6)
- Getting there (9)
- Misc (3)
- Parenting (2)
- School (24)
- Settling in (13)
- Technology (3)
- The kids (18)
- With pics (81)
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