• Update: No tsunami in Sunami

    March 11, 2011  |  4  |  Category: Armageddon

    Hi all.
    Just a quick note to let you know that we’re all OK down south in Hiroshima prefecture.
    Unbelievable stuff happening up north though… I’m sure you’ve all seen it.
    More info later

  • The Joy of Tax

    March 08, 2011  |  0  |  Category: Daily life

    Had a great visit to the tax office the other day.
    And it’s not that often that you hear someone say that, now is it?
    Despite being a small provincial city with a population of only 100,000, Mihara has its very own tax office. At tax return time (ie now), the entire office staff is out in Read more...

  • Hay fever is back, and this time it’s angry

    March 04, 2011  |  1  |  Category: Daily life

    I’d never had hay fever before I came to Japan in the 1990s, and quite frankly could never understand what all the fuss was about. But Japanese pollen must be especially potent stuff, because it wasn’t long before my immune system gave up the fight and I joined the ranks of the sneezing, snuffling, bleary-eyed Read more...

  • Soccerpaths

    March 04, 2011  |  1  |  Category: Adventures, With pics

    On Tuesday the Sushi on a Stick household did a crazy thing: we drove seven hours to Osaka and back to see a soccer match.
    Would we have even contemplated anything like this back in Australia? I very much doubt it. But this is Japan and even after a year and a bit, we’re still up Read more...

  • Weekend wrap

    March 01, 2011  |  1  |  Category: Daily life, With pics

    For Ruby, the weekend started on Thursday, when she was sent home for two days because about a third of her class was away with flu. Such excitement! So much time to hang around and do nothing! Until we discovered that the school is planning to deduct two days from the holidays to compensate. We’re Read more...

  • Past the half-way mark

    February 28, 2011  |  1  |  Category: Daily life

    Here we are on the brink of March already, which means just ten months left in Japan.
    It’s funny how the simple act of getting past the half-way mark seems to change everything. When we first arrived we had two whole years stretching out ahead of us. It seemed like an eternity; there was plenty of Read more...

  • Culture fail

    February 20, 2011  |  1  |  Category: Daily life

    You know how I said last week there was no way I was going to miss the Naked Man festival?
    Guess what happened.
    It wasn’t my fault, honest. There I was all set to head up into the mountains for an evening of culture only to discover that Eleni was busy until late with drumming practice, Ruby Read more...

  • Annual jazzfest

    February 13, 2011  |  4  |  Category: Culture, The kids, With pics

    Avid readers of Sushi on a Stick may remember that the kids and I play in the local community brass band here in Mihara, also known as the Poporo Junior Swing Orchestra or PJO. This is the one where the kids get centre billing while the adults (or “supporters” as we are technically called) get Read more...

  • Visitor frenzy

    February 11, 2011  |  1  |  Category: Adventures, With pics

    A couple of weeks ago we had friends James and Caro and their daughters Clem and Floss for a six-day stay right here in Sunami Heights. Despite the fact that they’d just spent a week skiing in Nagano and were understandably tired, we determined to take them around as many of our haunts as possible. Read more...

  • Language

    February 07, 2011  |  5  |  Category: Daily life

    One of the great things about coming to Japan is that I don’t have to speak Japanese to the kids any more. Which probably sounds a bit odd, given that the whole family speaks Japanese. So let me provide some background.
    When the kids were born, we decided to try to raise them as bilingual, just Read more...

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