5th Visitors - CH Iva and Philippe 3rd - 13th April 2010

Iva and Philippe arrived bright and early on the 3rd (Saturday). It was so lovely to see them both again. We took the train back to Tokyo, dropped their bags off, had a cup of tea and then straight out to see the sites. We first took them to Meguro to see the beautiful Sakura (cherry blossom), we hadn't been there before either and it really was a lovely sight, lots of Sakura and lots of Japanese Sakura parties going on too. (this is where they put down blue plastic, and eat lots of yummy food and drink lots of beer and sake, looked like fun). Saturday night we met up with an old friend of ours and had a lovely meal (I will make that into another blog item). By the end of the night poor Philippe was so tired he could hardly keep his eves open, cant say I blamed him, it had been a long day.

Sunday we took them over to Harajuku, Omotesando, Shibuya. Monday, Asakusa and Ginza, and Tuesday they did a bike tour with our lovely friend Yukiko san. Unfortunately Philippe caught a cold and wasn't on top form but he did really well just a few early nights needed. Wednesday they left on a tour, Mt Fuji, Kyoto, Nara.... at this point I think poor Iva got a cold too :-(

Our new guests arrived on the Thursday so when Iva and Philippe returned on the Saturday to Tokyo they booked into a hotel (very nice I was told, but was it as good as Hotel Cunningham??) :-) I think Iva was quite sick so they took it easy and had a few days shopping in this great city. However Iva totally agreed with me on the "anyone over 5ft and bigger than a size 0 is fat over here"... very hard to find clothes and shoes when you are a typical westerner. (there is always bag shopping though) ;-)

Monday it rained, and rained and rained... and it was freezing... not good. But in the evening we met at the Blue Note Club and had a great evening with friends watching Robert Cray!! wow he was great!! Hopefully a great ending to the Tokyo experience.

See you in 3 months Iva... xx

Who said John Lennon was dead???

The kids are away for a long weekend skiing and slalom racing with our lovely Japanese friends (and 40 other Japanese ski club members) so Gra and I thought we would enjoy our only free weekend in Japan with a trip to "Abbey Road". http://www.abbeyroad.ne.jp/ this is club in Roppongi which has a fantastic Beetles tribute band.

Well what can I say.... WOW!! springs to mind. The band is totally serious, can really play the instruments and OK they are Japanese so they don't really look like the originals but they do their best and it really doesn't matter as they are just fantastic!! (I actually think the "Japanese Ringo" is a lot better looking than the original :-) )


Due to Gra playing golf all day and the traffic being a nightmare we were late (yes us late!!) but we managed to get there for the start of the second set. "George" started singing and I actually had a tear in my eye as his voice was just so beautiful, his accent near perfect, WOW! I soon realised his voice although being amazing was nothing compared to "John" OMG it was so powerful, I was memorised the way he sang, the way he played the guitar, just the way he was, totally amazing. "Ringo and Paul" were very very good too and the more beer I drank the more "Paul" really looked like Paul McCartney :-) he had the moves all down too.

They played 5 sets in all, each one lasting about 30 minutes, I was disappointed every time one ended and we had to wait for the next one (about 30 mins) but was just enough time to get another drink or some food and have a chat before they were out again.

It was a really treat, we left buzzing and laughing. Such a great night.

4th Visitor - Penny, UK, 26th Feb - 5th March 2010

I have known Penny for many many years... we worked together at Micro Focus in Newbury and then she was one of my bridesmaids. She normally visits us once a year in Fribourg so this year she thought she would come and visit us in Tokyo.

Pen arrived early Friday morning, it was so nice to see her again and very strange to see her all the way over here. She is the first person to travel here alone and it is a long flight so I think she did really well. Of course I was there to meet her from the airport, I love meeting people, I get so excited.

While she was here we did all the normal sites as well as watching Gra do the Marathon in the pouring rain, it was great for me and the kids to have her with us for that. On the Wednesday Me, Penny and Mia went off for a yoga course which was fun and Thursday we went to the hot baths which was great and so relaxing, good for Pen to be all clean and relaxed before her trip back.

She was only here for 1 week but we managed to do something new everyday. It was fantastic to see her, thanks for coming over Penny. xx

Tokyo Marathon 2010

more to come...

Testing the health system again...

Well the first cherry blossoms are out and Tokyo is warming up, lovely! We are still having such a great time here..... apart from unfortunately a spanner has been thrown in the works... I have been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)... :-(

A lot of my close friends will know that I have unfortunately had some health troubles over the last few years. It started with my left arm about 2 years ago. I went to the doctor and had numerous tests including a MRI, blood tests etc, nothing was found apart from an iron deficiency. I was treated for that and I did feel slightly better for a short while but then came back so I started having massages (hard life) :-) ,that helped a bit but not enough so I went to a chiropractor and that really helped.

Then we moved to Japan......

I was OK for a while but then that niggling pain came back, followed by sleepless nights where I was in absolute agony, I went straight to a chiropractor in Tokyo and it eased a bit but after 6 sessions it hadn't eased enough so he sent me to the hospital for an x-ray and injection to help the shoulder (steroid). The x-ray came back as "Frozen Shoulder" and there isn't much you can do there, different exercises and the steroid injection. Great I thought!! all over now!!! no such luck.... it came back but this time worse than before and my hands started to swell and then my right foot and then my hip... not a happy bunny!!! so I tried acupuncture (at this point I would have tried anything even cutting my left arm off) :-) and was amazed that it helped, this then made me curious about acupuncture so I bought a great book and started reading up. There were lots of case studies in the book and one of the patients had arthritis, I kept thinking, "I have that symptom, and that one, and that one..." it was strange but I thought "I can't have that I am way too young" :-) ;-)

I decided the only thing to do was to book myself in for a full medical to find out what was wrong once and for all. (plus poor Gra was getting a wee bit pi**ed off with my winging) :-)

When talking to the doctor I mentioned I thought it may be arthritis and he said he would add that test to the other blood tests I would be having. 2 days later he called to say unfortunately my tests had come back and I have RA. http://www.nras.org.uk/ (and a shoulder impingement which needs more steroid injections). After the initial shock (about the RA) and being scared, miserable, tired and emotional I have now come to realise I have 2 options. 1. wallow in self pity 2. get on with it. I have fortunately chosen no 2. Gra has been an absolute saint, (as expected) and my family (and the few friends I have told) have also been just fantastic. THANK YOU!! I have an appointment with a rheumatologist on the 24th March where I will find out the next steps but for now I am just enjoying our last few months in this beautiful city.