Konnichiwa

[Because the older version of this blog has become unreachable, I am retrieving at least occasional posts from it that I see people trying to click on. This is one from September 2008.]

We’re home from nearly four excellent weeks in Japan. As assiduous readers of this blog will realise, my blogging software (iBlog) sits on my laptop, which spent the last weeks on our kitchen table at home. Hence my blog silence except an occasional comment posted from Internet cafes. Now I’m back to a slightly changed world: the ornamental plum tree on our nature strip is in bloom, my elder son has appeared in a small speaking role in a show on national television (he speaks in series 2, episode 4, at about 6 minutes and 30 seconds), a pile of mail has accumulated, the dog is fat and healthy, the corner shop has still not re-opened for business, and the state Labor Party is in deep trouble. And I’ve told you almost nothing of my holiday.

But I don’t intend to leave the trip totally unblogged, partly because I’m an addicted blogger, and partly because I am now convinced that people need to know how fabulous Japan is to visit (unless you’re allergic to seafood, of course). Inspired by franzy’s current-sentence-a day-project, I plan to put up a post a day, reporting on the day exactly a month before — as we left on 15 August, my first travel blog entry will go up on 15 September. I’m setting a time limit for myself, so I don’t get intimidated by the task. And in the couple of days between now and the 15th I’ll post about the books I read, of which there were many, since as it turned out we hardly went out at night at all. Um, so if you were hoping for graphic tales of the famous risqué nightlife, abandon that hope now. Tomorrow: Japan books # 1.