So this is our final day in Japan, and it’s been really quite boring. I woke up at 10 and have been cleaning this flat, and it’s now 7pm and we stopped once for lunch and once to say goodbye to the teacher in charge of us at Junten. The flat of course now looks fantastic and we are pretty proud of it, but it’s sad to think my final memories of Japan will be scrubbing the toilet.

So anyway, my plans. I fly back tomorrow from Narita Airport at 11.40. The interesting stuff you guys want to know is that I will be getting back to Sheffield between 1am and 2am on August 21st. I expect a large party. Or else. Anyway, I will see you all in about 36 hours. See you!

I’ll delete this post and write a big long one when I get the chance!

A while back, I went to some random park near the school with the first year students. I had actually forgotten about going altogether, but I do remember that it was quite a beautiful place. Well, today I decided to go to the famous Rikugien park, expecting some brand new experience, and quite by chance it was the same place I’d been to back in April. So that was lucky.

I think I made it clear in that update that this place was a breathtakingly beautiful place. This bridge connects the mainland to the island in the middle of the lake, but it’s barred off. I imagine that is to stop the crows attacking you for trespassing.

These are the other two islands, although I think it’s clear why there is no bridge to them. I do like the idea of some crazy old man selling up his home and moving out to one of them though. It would have added a certain “Oh no is the crazy island man going to bite me” element to the park, which I feel all parks need.

This is how the crazy island man would have traveled between the islands. However, this boat in the crow territory, which of course means that he would have had to forge some deal with the crows, in order for them to allow passage for him to retrieve his boat. I would imagine the politics would have quickly broken down and war would have broken out. This is the tragic story of Crazy Island Man.

Ok, I’ll stop with the island man now.

So yes, it was a very attractive place. However, the thing that topped that was the wildlife. There was just so much, and not entirely made up of the insect variety. Firstly the Cicadas. A Cicada is a big insect that comes out everywhere in Japan at this time of year and makes this odd screeching sound. The Japanese love it because it reminds them it’s summertime, just incase they forget in the unbearable heat. As for me, every time I hear it I want to die a little, but it does wake you up in a much more effective way than coffee ever could. That is, if you sleep in the park. Like Crazy Island Ma…sorry…

Also flying around, in the middle of the day, were bats! They were flying really close to me and reasonably slowly, however none of them were slow enough to allow me to get a decent photo. After a while my wits caught up with me, and I screamed “Oh No! Vampire Bats!” and fled. Yes, I may have overreacted slightly but on the other hand I am not a vampire now so maybe it was for the best.

On my way around the lake I was also lucky enough to get a couple of shots of some butterflies. Here’s the best one, not because it really adds much to this account but because butterflies are really hard to take pictures of. Fiendishly hard.

However, all the butterflies, islands and crows in the entire world could even come close to the sheer awesome-ness of the next animal…

Turtles! Loads of them! They were all milling about waiting for people to chuck bread at them, although one boy was throwing crisps at them. I’m not sure if turtles eat crisps but it’s the thought that counts. Also swimming around were lots of huge fish. “Now Mike, if you managed to get cute turtles and a big fish in one photograph, you would be the best photographer ever!”

Hah!

I’ll be taking my award now. I really can’t get over how awesome the nature in this park was. I was going to post a picture of the crows to finish this update with, however nobody likes crows as they are mean and they steal food from innocent bystanders, so I shall take this opportunity to post one final turtle picture!

Wow, nearly half a month since I last wrote an update, and I started so well in July, too. Nevermind, I apologize for the wait (again) but I’ve been feeling pretty under the weather for the last few days. Whilst we are talking about the weather, the humidity of rainy season seems to be waning somewhat, which is good because if it had continued like it did through the end of last month I might have just started a fight with a few weathermen. I hear they have the power to change the temperature.

Anyhow, the day of the speech was sadly not nearly as pleasant as this one. It was absolutely baking it down, we’re talking middle thirties at 8.30 in the morning. Add to that the boiling heat, the fact that everyone was wearing a suit and the fact I’d had to wake up at 7am, and you can probably imagine exactly how comfortable the morning was. Still, I was alert and awake, as I was about to get on stage and read out a load of Japanese to children I had just spent ten months refusing to speak Japanese to. (That’s part of my job!)

It may look like a smile but that is pure fear on my face. The fact that neither of us fainted before going on stage was quite amazing, although quite a few students can’t really make the same claim. Yes, the kids had to stand outside for about ninety minutes in the baking heat, which caused at least three students (and probably more I didn’t see) to collapse and have to be carried into the school. This isn’t really a farewell speech so much as an endurance test. I was only on the podium in the sunlight for about two minutes, but it was so bright I could barely see.

The school photographer managed to get a big microphone to cover my face in every photo he took. I’m pretty sure at photography school they teach you on day one a few tricks such as “Try not to have too many subjects, try to balance your colours, and whatever you do, never try to take a picture through a microphone!” I don’t know, and I don’t want to sound bitter, but the only way I could put up with him standing right under my nose taking photos was that they would be good and I could post them here. Here’s the best one;

Despite what it looks like, this is not me screaming “You have the power“, despite how much I would have liked to. No, this is me asking the students to stop clapping so I could finish my speech. That’s how much they liked me. Actually, that’s how hard it was to tell when my speech was going to end. Whatever.

The speech itself was a great success. I got a few laughs, and the kids seemed to understand everything I said. I made one horrible pronunciation mistake which the American exchange student ridiculed me for later, until I pointed out I never had to trudge into that building at 8am again, at which point he went strangely quiet, aside from a few sobs.

After the speeches were over, it was time to leave. Of course there was absolutely no way we were going to get away with just leaving, as the students descended upon us for photographs. Here’s the best one I could get hold of, the rest are in printed form. When I get back to England I will make one final post with those photos scanned in. (Don’t worry, I plan to write a few more before then!)

Thus ends another (far too) sunny day in Japan. I have another update planned for tomorrow (I hope) and then one for the day after. After that I’m going to be pushed as I have a lot to do, and I only have another 16 days in Japan. Eeeeek.