Gary's Boring Blog

Ostrich Meat

Last night, I went out for compulsory drinks with the people in my department at work. We had ostrich, which was a first for me. It was minced, made into small meatball-things and then put into nabe, which is a kind of broth with meat and veg. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was decent - a little like good quality hamburger meat. I can now add ostrich to the list of odd animals I have eaten, which currently includes snake and horse (raw, no less - I must have been drunk when I agreed to that).

Ostrich?(LINK)

We had a somewhat interesting conversation about the differences between ostriches and emus. In Japanese, ostrich is dachou, and emu is gachou, and most of my younger colleagues thought that they were basically the same animal. The older guys could not believe this, and wondered what they had been taught in school! For their benefit, and the benefit of any other confused readers, I have found some info on emus and ostriches. Both are apparently ratites!

Can't accuse GBB of lacking educational content, now, can you!

Emu?(LINK)

You know what they say about men with big feet...

...yep, they should never live in Japan, because they won't be able to find shoes to fit!

A while back, a workman came to fix something at our house while I was at work. One of my pairs of shoes was in the entranceway (genkan). The old fella could not get over the size of them. "What are these, canoes?", he asked Megumi. "Wow, is your husband a giant or something?" was another of his exclamations. "No, he's just British", was her reply.

Last week, the soles of my favourite, most comfortable work shoes split. This was not good news, as I know the next time I will go shopping in the UK will be in August. I told Megumi that I would have to venture to one of those "Big and Tall" shops in Tokyo to find new shoes (and pay around twice the price I would pay at home). "Mmm, we don't have much money at the moment, do we?" she asked. "No, not really, but I can't go to work in my football boots, can I?" was my lightning-fast reply.

Being the kind and lovely lady she is, Megumi decided to try and take my shoes to a shoe repairer, to see if they could fit new soles to my work canoes. I was not there, but the conversation went something like this:

MG: The soles have split on these shoes. Could you fix them, or replace the soles?

SB: Blimey, look at the size of those. Hey, Takeshi, look at these. We should tie a rope to them and send them to Niigata to help the poor folks up there transport food over the snow.
Oh, sorry, you said you wanted them repaired...? Nope, sorry, TOOOO big. Try taking them back the the shop you bought them at.

MG:Yes, we would if we could. But they were bought in the UK. Is there no way you can fix them?

SB: Mmm, the UK, huh? Might cost more to fly there and fix them than it would to buy a new pair, eh? Well, we could replace the soles, I suppose, but because they are so bloody big, it wouldn't be cheap. Just over 10,000yen ($100) to you, madam.

MG: I think that's about what they cost to buy new. It seems a little pricey. Is there no other cheaper way to just repair the split parts of the soles?

SB: Well, since you're so insistent, I suppose we could just take out the split part of the soles, and attach new sections to the original sole. Yep, OK, we can do that for 2,800yen, just for you (and your gargantuan husband).

MG=Megumi
SB=Shop Bloke

So, I have newly patched-up shoes, and they stick really well to the carpet at work. I have almost tripped headlong into people about 3 times, although I'm sure I'll get used to this new stickiness...

Trying to Help

Today is 5 months since Rosie died. We will light a few candles tonight, as we do each month.

As anyone who knows us, or was reading in July or August knows, we would have done anything we could to have helped our little girl. Having lost Rosie, we are a little more sensitive to the suffering of others than we were before, especially of small children.

In Japan, organ donation is not allowed for severely ill children under 15 years old by law. This became news last month, when a Japanese child received multiple organs in an operation in the U.S. His parents were fortunate enough to be able to raise the funds to pay for the operation, which cost over $1 million.

Rina-chan is a similar case. She has a weak heart. Organ donation would probably save her life, but she needs to go to the U.S. for the operation. Her parents are trying to raise the $1 million needed for the operation, but are only two-thirds of the way to their target. Rina-chan comes from Tokushima, which is where Megumi comes from, and where Rosie is buried.

So, we decided to send a little bit of cash to try and help Rina reach that financial goal and get better. All of Megumi's family have also contributed.

Gambare Rina-chan!

Save Rina (LINK - Japanese)

Giving Blood in Japan

As I wrote a while back, I feel like a bit of a hypocrite asking readers of this page to give blood, when I have never done so myself. I vowed to donate blood as regularly as I could.

However, as some readers noted, this may not be possible in Japan. Well, I checked a couple of weeks ago, and the deal is that Japanese hospitals don't want my blood because I'm British!

It's not quite that simple obviously. The rules at the blood donation centre state that no-one who has lived in certain countries for more than 6 months since 1980 can give blood in Japan. Top of the list of 'banned' countries is the UK. The reason is that we may have CJD, or Mad Cow Disease. Apparently, CJD does not show up in blood tests, so there is the risk if you are British, or lived in Britain or some other European countries as a student or whatever, you may be carrying the disease, and then pass it on to a Japanese recipient of your blood.

It all sounds fairly sensible, I suppose. The main question I had was, if the blood of ALL Brits, plus the French, Germans and some other nations is contaminated, then how are blood transfusions in those countries dealt with? Are they importing 'clean', 'pure' Japanese blood?

Nearly Men Again

In freezing cold, wet conditions the Saitama Jets advanced to the semi-finals of the All-Japan ALT Soccer Champion of Champions tournament, before being beaten by winners Niigata.

Well done to the whole squad for giving everything they had, and thanks to all the supporters who braved the weather to cheer us on. Sorry we couldn't get to play in the final, and here's to better luck next year.

Muscly Men In Tights

We went to see the Leningrad State Ballet over the New Year break. It was our first time to watch ballet, and it was pretty good.

It was a special holiday show. and they did a kind of Tchaikovsky's Greatest Hits - the best scenes from the Nutcracker Suite, Swan Lake, and Sleeping Beauty. Megumi liked Swan Lake the best - I preferred the Nutcracker, but it was all impressive.

LOTS of people were sleeping all around us - the warmth and the comfy seats must have done it, rather than the quality of the entertainment.

Offcial site is here (LINK).

New Year etc

Well, it's now 2005. Thanks to all those who sent words of encouragement and congratulations over the Christmas and New Year period. The holidays were tough, especially New Year. We didn't do anything special, just stayed home and watched crappy Japanese TV for a while before lighting a couple of candles for Rosie and saying a few prayers. There were some tears.

By and large, we are dong well, and looking forward to all the good things that the coming year will bring, rather than focusing on the upset of last year.

We will never forget 2004.
It was a sad year in many ways. But it was also full of joy, the year that our little girl got bigger and taught us how to be parents. Most of Rosie's time with us was in 2004, so we can't just 'wipe the slate clean' and forget the whole year. We have lots of pictures and video to remember Rosie by, and one day we may even be able to look at them without crying : )

She is looking after us, so we're hoping and praying that the two of us, our new baby, and our extended families will have good luck and good health this year and for many years to come.

Snowy Saitama!

Obviously those in the Tokyo area will have realised this, but for the benefit of those not in the vicinity, we have had a fair bit of snow in the past few days, which is not particularly common. With the typhoons and earthquakes, it has been a year of unusual weather for Japan.*

Megumi models her Star Wars Hoth Parka from The Empire Strikes Back

*a few inches of snow is nothing compared to what the people of Sri Lanka, Indonesia etc are going through. I know you have all seen the news, and there is nothing I can write here which can illuminate things any further, so just to say that we went to the shrine today, and some of our prayers were for the victims and the survivors.

Christmas Pics

Sorry, they are a little bit late, but here are some pictures of Christmas day at Dave and Amy's. Thanks for being such great hosts, DNA.

Amy, Steve, Alfie and me.

Mr and Mrs G

Megumi and a non-plussed Alfie!

Alfie meets Santa (obviously!)