you better slow that mustang down....

Evening all!

First of all, I'd like to apologise for the recent reticence on the blog, it's been a busy couple of weeks, perhaps we can surmise from Jerome's writers' block that it's been particularly hectic up in Oyama? I'm sure  she'll fill you in on that score when she gets chance!

So what's been going on since we last updated you? The week after Halloween was quite quiet, mainly some nice dinners and chilled nights in, and a similar story at the weekend. I had both wednesday and friday off for Waseda holidays, and as I don't go in on mondays anyway, it was a bit of a doss week, fantastic!! Haha did give me a chance to catch up with some much needed homework, you'll be relieved to know everything's up to date there, all still going well.

On Wednesday, Uno, August (aka Juno), Micah and I thought we'd make the most of our day off to have a look at a quite traditional area - lots of temples and stuff. And right next to a river, very scenic, we'll definitely be back! Here's some snaps from the day......

Sorry to rub it in but it really is fantastic weather over here - bright blue skies right now, about 19 C, just so nice!

Anyway, I'd planned to go for dinner on Sunday with our french friend Axel (previously mentioned on here!), and as we were both beautifying ourselves for the occasion, I heard quite the commotion outside, banging shouting and singing! So I quickly called Axel, and we both ran outside with our cameras to see what was going on - and so glad we did!! It was the finale of the Waseda Festival that had been going on all weekend! So many funny performances, have a look at the video below!

This is male cheerleaders at their best..... only in Japan right?
This is also from the festival, it's fun to stay at the.....

Haha!! Fantastic.

to be continued......

I said what what?

Another little snippet from Halloween..........

tick tock tick tock

Well Jerome was supposed to blog about our day out on Saturday, and also about Halloween, but it is now Wednesday, and she's off mountain climbing right now, so I imagine she'll do a stellar mid week post for you all on that, thought I'd help her out on the Halloween front.....

We went out on Saturday night to a delightful little bar/Irish pub called The Black Sheep. Our friend Lin from Jerome's uni works there, and suggested there might be something of a party going on, so we got dressed up, and all headed out (all being the rest of the gang from Jerome's halls) to Ikebukuro. I had travelled to the halls in my full get up on three trains, you can imagine a sweet-laden and blue haired Robson attracted quite some attention. Had to stay on the phone to Jerome for most of the journey!! Anyway we arrived in one piece despite the typhoon (a mere sprinkling of rain), the party was amazing, bands were really good, and generally a successful night! I think it's best if I leave the rest to the pictures.......

I'm off to get ready now, going to the old geisha district and then the Imperial gardens with some friends from Waseda, photos up later of course!!

Robson xxx

Robson's song of the day... on a bright, cold morning in Tokyo!

Song of the day - Jerome.

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues
アップロード者 fredozydeco. - インディペンデントウエブ動画。

you were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar when i met you

Morning. Robson here.

We are both feeling somewhat delicate this morning. I'll start at the beginning.

Yesterday, we went to Ebisu for the afternoon, and had a lovely time. Such a nice place, lots of cafes and fantastic shops, including a Benugo!!! and also my favourite shop ever..... those who know me know what it is, but I'm not saying on the blog in case everyone else catches on. Top secret! As soon as we arrived, we headed to Ebisu Garden Place, and seated ourselves in Benugo to settle down to lunch! Went down quite a treat after our recent exploits in Ikebukuro's questionable establishments. 

I expect you're jealous already. Anyway after lunch we wandered round the area, had a look in the shops, and OH MY GOD THERE IS AN EARTHQUAKE GOING ON RIGHT NOW AS I'M TYPING!!!!!! It is definitely not my imagination or that bloody nomihoudai from last night, the room was shaking. I think it's stopped? Jesus H.

Back to the blog..... we spotted loads of restaurants we liked the look of, definitely going back there! An Indian, Thai, and lots of others that looked really good! Jerome think's she's got an aversion to Japanese food so we're steering clear of that in future, can't say I think it'll be any loss either. 

Here's a selection of typical Robson and Jerome (also now known as Jerobson or Robome) photos:

 This is a restaurant inside, we didn't go in but looks quite nice. At the back of Ebisu Garden Place.

Good old self timer. hahahaaa...

This is the indian restaurant, I'm not sure the picture does it justice but it was busy, menu looked really good so we'll try that soon! I hope it lives up to the one in Harajuku...

The main area as you leave the station as it was starting to get dark. This was only about 5pm, gets dark so early here.

So that was the day time. We'd then planned to go out with some friends from Ocha, for Mirja's birthday! The plan was nomihoudai (aka all you can drink) then onto kareoke. We got back to Jerome's halls, where we met up with Dunja, Mirja and Zuza, and set off to the izakaya, en route collecting Lin as well (why do I have your phone charm on my phone? It's a flashing corona bottle..)

The izakaya was really good, much better than some others we've been to. Food highlights were lots of seafood which we cooked ourselves on table top barbeque style things. Here is Jerome getting friendly with a prawn.

Amazing. Slightly less amazing though were the drinks. Should have guessed with it being nomihoudai that we weren't likely to be presented with Cloudy Bay or even a Pinot Grigio, but we were not prepared for what we had. 

Jerome believed one barrel to be 'plum wine'. It was definitely not plum wine, apparently it was some shochu-based drink (closer to sake, it was also revolting) but in trooper Robome style we necked half a pint each of it. We had a few more unidentifiable drinks for the next 2 hours, then proceeded to head to kareoke down the road. When we got there, Jerome decides she isn't feeling too clever, so we had a sit down and an attempt at sobering up (remember Jerome is something of a lightweight) but it soon became clear that 1 - we were not sobering up any time soon and 2, that Jerome was feeling much worse than she'd first let on. We decided it was best to get her home, so Lin and I (thank you again!) took Jerome back to her room. I won't embarrass Jerome with the details on here, just ask me for the full story later but suffice to say I did have to physically put her in her pjs and into bed. Neither will I embarrass her with the hour at which we went to bed...

Woke up this morning feeling really rough, splitting headache, stiff neck (two to a futon is not comfy) and the realisation that I was still in the halls that I'm not technically supposed to even go through the door of.... oops. Smuggled me out in the morning and headed to the supermarket, J pop covers of T Rex didn't help our heads and I am now in my pjs once again at 2.25pm, and do not plan on getting dressed for the rest of the day. Even the woman in the supermarket was alarmed at the state of us, she came running over with cups of some white milk/soy concotion, shouting 'it is good for your health! please drink!' No joke. Thank god I had my sunglasses with me for the journey home. 

Now to rustle up some lunch, where's Dad's cheese on toast when you need it? 

Update: I definitely didn't imagine the earthquake, both Micah and Axel also felt it. Phew. 

Song of the day