So that was an awfully long time without a post wasn't it. In fact it was one of the longest spans without a post since I started a regular posting schedule.
Rest assured I had no intention of ever letting things get quite this far out of hand but, ah well, the damage is done now and I hope to resume a regular posting schedule starting again from this week.
As for the why? Well there is no clear cut excuse so much as a combination of factors. Busyness at work, computer problems, the summer heat, social commitments, issues with my new librarian job, factors arising from the departure of current JET's and the arrival of new ones and the fact that I recently started Japanese lessons.
However, undoubtedly the biggest factor is the fact that, well, recently I haven't been doing much.
Well, that's not strictly true. I've been doing absolutely loads. What i mean is recently i haven't been doing much worth blogging about. I had a great time at Suma Beach Party, for example, but I doubt that you all want to read about me getting wasted and sunburnt.
However, all this has changed. Summer looms and with it time off work, lots of free time at work to type blogs up in and opportunities to resume my adventures. Coming up this summer you can expect;
My trip to Tokyo
Photos from the Kobe Oshaberi Book project
Festival reports
NINJA TOWN!!!!!!
More thoughts, feelings and reflections
A "my first year in Japan" reflections piece
and possibly, just possibly me in a yukata
And now that I have whetted your appetite let's begin Mummyboon Year 2 with some miscellaneous pictures.
This glorious monstrosity was glimpsed in Kitano. Initially I had absolutely no idea what on earth it was and just snapped some photos out of curiosity. However I have since been informed that it is a tour bus/boat of Kobe. It takes tourists on a tour of the city and actually takes them INTO the harbour, as in onto the water. Mountains and harbours in one day sounds like one hell of a tour and something I want to take my parents on when they arrive.
This guy is a monk who stands in the Santica shopping centre all day and chants. Well, he at least does it in the early mornings. No idea what branch of Buddhism he is affiliated with as, well, all he does is chant. Oh and sometimes he plays a pipe. i love these little intrusions of the historical Japan into modern Japan. It really is a country where past and future intermingle like no other.
Apparently this guy is a gaijin but he looks pretty Nihonjin-esque to me.
Anyway, more posts tomorrow (a loooooooooooooong one) and I hope you all join me for Mummyboon Year 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Posts
