I have now moved physically to a new house in Hayama (near Kamakura) - it's a new house that an Australian friend has bought, and I have the hachi-jo tatami room downstairs (8 tatami mat-size), complete with tokonoma (alcove for a small shrine) with a knobbly bit of wood, oshiire (big cupboard for futon with sliding doors), fusuma (sliding doors), shouji window (latticed paper), and mud walls (don't know the name). From the garden we have a view of Sagami Bay, the island of Enoshima, and on a clear day the sun sets behind Fuji-san, the Hakone mountains and the Izu hills. Down at the harbour is La Chaya bar, right on the water, where there is live jazz every Saturday night. At the other end of the beach is Morito Jinja (a shrine on the end of a small peninsula), next to which my Japanese friend has a lovely house. He also keeps a yacht at Enoshima, which we go out on every now and then - probably more now that I have become his neighbour. These two friends have already introduced me to many more of theirs - so things are looking good.Tonight I'm going to the pub to meet a couple of colleagues; tomorrow I'm meeting a friend in Yokohama; Sunday there's a birthday party in a sake restaurant in Roppongi, Tokyo; and on Monday (seijin no hi - 'Coming of Age Day') I'm going to see Swan Lake by the Leningrad State Ballet. And on Wednesday I will attend my first council meeting of the oldest learned society in Japan, as a new councillor. Sugoi! (amazing).
Photo of the hatsunohide (first sunrise) of 2007 of the rocks off the end of Morito Jinja, Hayama, from the 'Endeavour'.
Courtesy of MS
