Christmas game

In this game, the players wore a blindfold and had to stick the red nose on Rudolph the reindeer. Well done Keita who was the nearest; he won a special prize from London.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a wonderful day.

How's the weather?

Early morning was a bit nippy, by 9am it was mild and now it's warmed up. We are experiencing unseasonably warm weather in Tokyo. Meanwhile, the UK is experiencing Arctic-like conditions.

Crazy party game

We played some games at the Christmas party. One of the games was rather crazy! We had to pass a ball to each other without using our hands; it was very intimate.

They are not a couple! The ball was passed by holding it below our chin and against our neck.

Christmas party photos

Some people are missing from the photo because they were late - sorry. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Cheers everybody!

Are they playing cards or is it another magic trick?

Christmas magic

This year's Christmas party proved to be a great success! Thank you everybody who attended. We were treated to a magic show by resident magician, Hiroyuki and his delectable assistant, Aya. Here they are preparing prior to the party.

One of the tricks was performed using an iPhone!

Christmas in Bath

Ai has written about Christmas in the city of Bath, UK.
http://bath-diary.blogspot.com/

プレゼント

Christmas is a time for giving as we say in England. English people enjoy exchanging presents at this time of year. In Japan, people seem to regularly give presents; it is an essential part of the culture. This time of year is no exception. The presents may not be for Christmas but for the end of the year. Japanese people are very generous about presenting gifts for various occasions; more than English people!

Thank you to Michiko and Chisato for these lovely presents!

ケーキ

During my breaktime today, I went for a walk down the town and I heard something calling my name. As I homed in, I discovered these three little darlings waiting to be devoured. They went down nicely with a bottle of Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout. うまい！

Slaughtered

While my friend was visiting Japan, he took this intriguing photo. Does anyone know what the animals are?

Click to enlarge the photo

I cut this from the original photo



Not an everyday site in the city but perhaps not unsusual in rural locations where this was snapped.

Bless this house

An interesting part of Japanese culture is the blessing of land before building on it. I once witnessed a Shinto ceremony of blessing a building plot prior to a new house being built. I had never seen anything like it before. In England, a ceremony is usually held for important new public buildings whereby a VIP is invited to lay the first brick or stone. There is also an official opening ceremony whereby a VIP may cut a ribbon to "open" the building.

Chocoholic

I love chocolate. I usually eat some chocolate everyday. Sometimes, I call myself a chocoholic.

The suffix -holic can be applied to words to describe a person who enjoys something excessively. Here are some common examples which you can hear in everyday conversation.

Workaholic: "Mr Sato is such a workaholic; he spends 80 hours a week at the office."

Shopaholic: "Haruna goes shopping in Shibuya every weekend; she is a real shopaholic."

Alcoholic: "Mr Kimura is suffering from gout. It's not surprising because he's an alcoholic."

Chocoholic: "My teacher eats a bar of chocolate every day; he's a chocoholic!"

日本酒

In English, there are two ways to express 日本酒 (nihonshu): Rice wine or sake, pronounced /sʌ:kɪ:/ or /sækɪ/. Sake is not a popular drink in England and is difficult to buy. We can usually find sake in restaurants serving east Asian or south-east Asian cuisine. Sake in such restaurants is not always from Japan despite using the Japanese word sake 「酒」。 In fact, the first time I drank sake was in a Thai restaurant and the sake was from California!

I took these photos in May 2007. Can you guess where?

The barrels in the left photo look like wine barrels but I am not sure of the contents.

The staff are alive

Japan is full of the English language. Almost everywhere we go, we can see English signs and messages. There is so much English that getting around major places is generally quite easy; many foreigners really appreciate this.

However, sometimes the English we see is rather quirky and confusing.

I am glad they are not dead!

Christmas music

I have made a selection of Christmas music for the office. The selection is rather eclectic but they are definitely all Christmas songs. The genres differ widely so I hope there is something for everyone. The Christmas spirit has definitely arrived at London Bridge English!

Beer

The other day, Rumiko gave me a present from Iwaki: Two bottles of beer. It's great beer; I recommend it. Unfortunately, I can't find this beer in any shops around here. If you see it, please tell me.

Thank you Rumiko!

Ai and Toshi

Recently, I went to London for a few days. While I was there, I met Ai and Toshi for lunch. After lunch, we went for a stroll around some very famous sights. The weather was rather cold so we stopped for afternoon tea before Ai and Toshi went back to Bath, where they are living for a year.

http://bath-diary.blogspot.com/