New Year

Went to Chiba on monday after i had recovered from the same thing that took masumi down on saturday. We had a peaceful new year, doing the usual. Went to the local shrine after midnight and drank sake with the locals. Went to bed and got up to have more sake for breakfast. New year in japan is tough on the liver...

In the afternoon we went into Tokyo to visit nishi arai taishi. The place is a complete madhouse for 24 hrs every new years day, more people than you can shake a bucket full of sticks at. It's fun in a 'crush of humanity' sort of way. So many people in such close vicinity used to drive me nuts but now i've been here for a while it's not so bad. Nothing compares to Tokyo trains in rush hour. If you can cope with that, you can cope with anything.

Last night we went out for sushi, sashimi and more sake at masago-san's. I spent a fair amount of time (drunkenly) trying to convince masumi's brother to take time off work to go and work in my Uncle brewery for a month. He didn't seem keen.

More vicarious dreaming no doubt; I've been wondering how i'm going to take enough time off, away from computers, to get my back fixed. It's really getting on my tits having back ache all the time. Three months off without pay, anyone?