shines like the real thing

Evening chums.
Robson here (obviously). There was going to be a reunion post, but Jerome has just scarpered to go home and have a bath post-jacket potato and film night, so I'm left to blog on my own tonight! I've only been back in Japan for a week and a half, but in typical R&J style we've already crammed loads in!
Eg, the day I landed, I'm sitting on the limousine bus en route back into central Tokyo, when I receive a text with the words 'Fancy going on a rollercoaster today?' from Jerozzle. Never been a fan of jetlag or people who have it so agreed straight away, went home and unpacked, then headed to Korakuen for the afternoon. Jerome was a bit gutted, the big rollercoasters were actually closed (hahaha, sort of a public holiday day? but not quite.) So we ended up on a big wheel and carousel. Pictures:

Sorry to rub it in, but yeah the weather really is that good over here still!!! Bloody cold, but bright sunshine and clear skies most days! Now I've said that it'll probably chuck it down tomorrow though......

Anyway, PART TWO

So as we've turned into mad Japanese-style tourists, we decided to do a trip to Nikko on Monday just gone, it's a town about 100 miles North of Toks, and home to a World Heritage site and a big mountain whose name I can't remember, lake and waterfall 2000m above sea level!!! We met at our usual spot, armed with food for the journey, and in my case, suitably-ish dressed for the weather. Jerome however, turned up in a pair of shorts with tights and ballet pumps. Always a good move for sub-zero temperatures. 

After a 2 hour train ride up t'North, we hopped on a bus up the mountain, and went to see the Lake! I do know the name of this one, it's Chuzenji. There's bus tours and stuff that you can do, but tbh we were so cold, we had a look at the important bits and came back down the mountain. 

MONKEHS

After that, we headed to the World Heritage site, to have a look around the temples. SO many! All very beautiful, and important for various different historical figures. Again probably best to let the pictures say it all!

We managed to do all this and still be back in Tokyo in time for dinner! So the New Year's been kicked off where we left off on the trips front, but this term we're both having the homework and tests piled on a bit...... rubbish. Obviously we'll still be up to our usual tricks, no presentations or reports will be stopping us! Yokohama is planned for this weekend, then next week Sarah (remember we visited her, Chris and Jack in Osaka?) is coming to Tokyo!! Massively excited, got so much planned for her to see, can't wait! xxx

too many nuts in the judicial fruit cake?

Christmas is a coming and the bells begin to ring. The holly's in the window, and the birds begin to sing. Now don't take time to worry, and don't take time to fret, just watch Robson and Jerome's festive forecast.....









BLOOPERS









Merry Christmas!
xxx

Robson and Jerome's island adventure!

It’s blog catch-up time! Rianna/ Jerome here. What can you expect from my latest blog post? I will be telling you all about our trip to the island of Enoshima and our visit to ye olde Kamakura, and providing photographic evidence of course.

Enoshima is a little island about an hour or so out of Tokyo on the train. Wrapped up warm (I even wore a wolly hat) we got off the train and it was really sunny. The hat came off. Waking over the bridge to the island felt a little bit like L.A, with the palm trees, the sun, and the sea, but we were constantly reminded that we are in Japan- with the Japanese people, and Mt. Fuji on our right.

Mount Fuji, baby.

The island is littered with temples and shrines and that, pretty kijun (standard) stuff. We got corn on the cob from a bloke in a hut and walked the jaggy cliff path to the ‘CAVES’. I had never been in a CAVE before at this point, so was very excited. Robson is claustrophobic. She was basically on my back as we went round, holding candles to light our way. But I was very proud of her, we got through not one, but TWO caves!

After getting our fill of island related fun, we hopped onto the Enoden train to Kamakura. Kamakura is a small city full of old temples and shrines. The one thing we wanted to see most was a MASSIVE BUDDHA. Seriously, this thing is HUUUUUUUUGE. We even went inside it. In Kamakura we had a nice luncheon, BLT sandwiches which we dismantled and ate the innards of (there was mashed potato in the sandwich- mashed potato I say!!).

We caught the sunset and went for a wander on the beach back down on the opposite shore to Enoshima island. It had become pretty windy, so walking along the beach was treacherous! Sand + eyes = mega discomfort.
Windswept, we had a lovely meal at a seafront restaurant. Hopped on the train back, and got stopped by the police at Shinjuku station and asked to produce ID. Apparently we looked suspicious.
We finished off the night with a rendition of Whitney’s ‘I have nothing’ and went our separate ways, still windswept and smelling of the seaside.

Thanks Robson for a great day out! :) xxxx

now I ain't saying she a golddigger...

Good evening. or lunchtime, depending on where you're reading this.
Robson and Jerome here. The collective. The royal 'we'.
We are sitting in my (Robson's) room, attempting to scrub our moustaches off and wash the pots from tonight's dinner. And WHAT a dinner it was.
On the menu from chef Jerome tonight:
Tortillas with chicken, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, you name it its in there
Homemade chips, just nicely crisp.
Angel delight, with chocolate coins broken up in there and strawberries dipped in.

We are now finding it difficult to walk, let alone emulate our gangster heroes, or try on outfits for the coming festivities! Expect a blog shortly (probably after Jerome's gone home, when I get my act together with photos) about our recent mini-hol to Enoshima and Kamakura, by the beach, depending on whether we can catch one Mr Harry Stanley on skype - we'd like to take this opportunity to wish him a very happy 89th birthday!!!!!! Congrats Parold, prezzie coming in just over a week now!

Anyway this week's festivities include another visit to the ballet - The Nutcracker, our Christmas dinner and Christmas day, and a masquerade ball!!! Excited doesn't cover it!

Signing off for now, Jerome's still got pigtails in and I've got her mobile counterbalancing my chains hanging down my back.

occasionally, we scare ourselves.

xxx

festive cheer with the Robson Family...

Merry (early) Christmas!!!

what a way to make a living.

Oh my god. I want to cry. I've just written a HUGE long post about this weekend, and lost it!!!!!! ARGH.

I'll start again, shall I?
This weekend (Saturday morning, 7am to be precise) I set off on a trip to the Japanese countryside, to do a homestay weekend, living with a family and learning traditional practises! The whole thing was amazing, the students who organised it were fantastic, and the other people on the trip were so lovely too, so lots of new friends there! Sadly Jerome didn't come on this, as it was only really for Waseda students. Next time!

So we set off bright and early, took us about 4 hours to get up there, to a tiny village called Ten-ei (天栄）in the countryside North of Tokyo. When we got there, loads of activities had been organised for us, like field ploughing and ornament making for day 1, then wood cutting, bean crushing, onigiri making (those triangle shaped rice things, not my cup of tea but anyway), and then a ramble around the nearby woods. All very delightful, and topped off with a night staying with a family!

We were separated into groups of 4 to stay with the families (there were about 20 of us in total), and I was put with Clare, a friend from SOAS in London who'd also come to Waseda, and two Japanese students - Daisuke and Mao. Think me and Clare were put together because we both said we were vegetarian..... this caused quite a stir in the Japanese countryside as you can imagine, at least half an hour of chat (in Japanese) was dedicated to establishing exactly what we do and do not eat! Even weirder chats soon ensued, apparently Susan Boyle is a very famous figure in rural Japan!!!!! I couldn't stop laughing when they mentioned old SuBo (might have been a bit delirious from the cold) but they were pretty serious!! Anyway they made us a huge meal with about 578 courses, after which we were encouraged to go to the public baths....... neither Clare or I fancied this much, so we sat it out (after much attempted persuasion) and took ourselves off to bed. Now in the Japanese countryside, they don't do central heating. So at night, our heating consisted of an electric blanket, a duvet, and not much else (all this on a flat futon on the floor). However, the ever prepared Robson ended up being nice and warm, one pair of woolly pjs, one heat tech top, two thick pairs of socks and one cashmere jumper later!!! Kept the electric blankets turned up full blast as well, even though the fam reckoned we'd be best to turn them down...... ever prepared, but still not partic economical....

Anyway the following day dawned with rain, so we donned our fetching all in one waterproof get-ups from the day before, and chirpily trotted off to do some wood cutting! The rest of the day was taken up with more activities, and after a bit of an emotional farewell we returned to Tokyo, getting home by 11pm so not too bad! Going to leave you with some snaps of the weekend, there are so many tales and anecdotes still but I'll save those for when I see everyone in person!

Nearby scenery

Left to right: Caitlin, Me, Ashleigh, Clare

You want me to do what?

hahahaa

Making 'ornaments'

Robson goes back to her East Anglia roots..

quite literally means 'dream team'. On the wellies. 

An 'ornament' I made, wasn't supposed to be a heart but I thought it was better!

Ropes? We made these!

Villagers who taught us to make ropes and bash beans

Our bedroom!!

Breakfast. Yes dinner was even bigger!!

Robson chops wood

or attempts to

Daisuke shows us how it's done!

Clare and I looking delightful

Group photo!

If I ever see another onigiri.....

The family!

Back row: Dad, Daughter, Daisuke, Mao

Front row: Mum, Me, Clare

Robson and Jerome's festive celebrations begin tomorrow, we're off to see Cinderella at the National Ballet so will take pics obviously, SO much planned for this month we've hardly got time for uni!! Merry December!