Have been back at work for the last couple of weeks, and so haven't really had much of interest to write about!
We got paid yesterday, so now I don't have to worry about not spoending my last few hundred yen any more! Our bank has just undergone a facelift - Sanwa bank has merged with another, and become UFJ (United Financial of Japan). In England when banks merge, you usually get a cash bonus or share options. Not here. Here it is yet another excuse to close down all the cash machines, and closed they were for three days until yesterday, which coincided nicely with the arrival of my wages! There would be an uproar in England if the cash machines were shut down, but although the Japanese like shops, karaoke boxes, and just about everything else to be open round the clock, the lack of 24 hour cash machines doesn't seem to be an issue.
On Monday it was a national holiday (a working day for us!) for the Coming of Age festival. All the young people in the area who have turned 20 in the last year go to a special ceremony.�@It is a chance to dress up, and we saw lots of girls walking round in the most gorgeous kimono - all different colours, with fancy obi sashes, and ornaments in their hair. Fancy kimono like these are only worn on occasions such as graduations and weddings, so it was a wonderful sight to see. Unfortunately I didn't pluck up the nerve to ask if I could take any photos of them!
Work has been very busy recently - I think a lot of people must have made New Year's resolutions to stick at their English lessons!
We had cable tv installed today, so that we can have English news and live English football for James. I was up til 4am translating the contract last night, to ensure we weren't signing our lives away! But all went smoothly and the installation was much quicker and made a lot less mess than when we had it installed in Leeds last year!
That's all for now!
Nic.