Robson and Jerome: The Tokyo Chronicles

Mum, this one's for you.

2011-02-21T08:33:00.000+00:00

This blog post is the result of more than two week's worth of my dear mama's incessant nagging. Blasted wench. (Love you mum) (lots) (and miss you) (you're not a wench really) (post me a decent kebab?).

Hello hello hello. Rianna here! I'm 'taking tokyo' singlehandedly at the moment, as some time ago Robson went back to Blighty for Spring hols. What have I been doing with all this time I hear you ask? Well, allow me to enlighten you my dear blog peepers.

After reports/ exams/ general nastiness, I took a few days to myself as well-deserved (?) rest.

On a literary note, things are getting very exciting in my anthology of Sherlock Holmes tales, he sure knows how to solve a mystery that one.

Recently I went to see some Plum Blossom with my mate Yuki. Very nice, very pleasant, very pretty and so on and so forth. Photo evidence?

See? Told you it was nice and that.

Went to see Foals with my buddy Alice. AMAZING. Real horrorshow.
Think some members of the audience confused the event for a Slayer concert though, things got out of hand FAST. No one stopped us dancing though. Also, only in Japan would you see people wearing a face mask to a gig. Weird.

NEWSFLASH: Going to see Friendly Fires with Maja this Friday...more dancing.

Crazy weather in Tokyo recently. It's warm. It's wet. It's snowing. Snowing?? Yeah that's right. It snowed. Hard.

I'd also like to announce the birth of 'Cooking Club', of which the first rule is not to talk about it. Thanks for your cooperation. This week's menu consists of chilli con carne and stuffed pepper. Very good, very good indeed.

Thought of the day for all you thinkers;

'Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men'

Cheers for that one, Lord Acton.

det här ār inget sätt att säg adjö

2011-01-28T10:43:00.000+00:00

Evening all. Robson here.
Thought I'd better check in, and just alert everyone that the blog will be changing a bit as of tomorrow.... I'm heading home for two months, Jerome is staying on in Japan though so the duo will be having separate adventures for a while! We'll both keep blogging in the two months obvs, but don't expect to see joint day trips around Japan! Jerome might post some photos of hijinks in Tokyo, I might post photos of mucking out stables, but rest assured it doesn't stop here!
So it's 7.35pm, I've had my dinner, had a shower, and set the alarm for 5.45am (no typos there, probably is before sunrise) all ready to fly tomorrow. Pretty excited!!!! Squeezing four months' worth of stuff into one suitcase was trickier than it sounds, keep your fingers crossed the case doesn't split in transit!!
Anyway, sayonara for now, next time I blog I'll be on home turf!

do it like the man'dem

2011-01-24T10:45:00.000+00:00

Wow where to start with this weekend?!!
We've had a fantastic time, all began when Sarah showed up on Friday morning. Sadly I had two exams on friday (yeah both alright thanks) so couldn't meet up with The King as soon as she arrived, but whizzed down to TakaD's ice rink as soon as I was out to meet Jerome, King, and some of the usual suspects - Lin, Dunja, Mirja, Mash. As predicted, I was a disgrace to Nottingham, Torville and Dean would be more than ashamed. Hobbled round 2 laps, then sat down to start catch up of the century with Sazzle.
So after we'd embarrased ourselves (actually Jeroz was pretty good, reckoned she'd never done it before but I wasn't having any of it, she looked like a pro!) we headed to Shibuya, and took Sarah to some famous shops, and then to our fave pizza spot for dinner (name still secret).
We arranged to meet at 10 the next day to clamber up Tokyo tower, Jerome and I still hadn't been, probs the only place we haven't been in Tokyo! So woke up the next morning bright-ish and early, Sarah came round to mine, as her guesthouse was only down the round, and we set off to the tower. Anyway we arrive bang on time, miracle. Called Jerome, to find she was still in bed! Useless. So we hiked up there, took the obligatory pics, terrified Sarah on a see through window and came back down...... Manic up there, so took us bloody ages to get back down, knew we'd never make it to Shinjuku before Jerome had to teach a lesson so took ourselves for lunch at Le Pain Quotidien - YES there is one in Tokyo, literally MADE MY LIFE. Pictures.

Can you see Mt Fuji in that last one? Maybe not. Fiddled the colours but still not fab. It's there, promise.
OH. Here's us:

I love this girl.

A monkey much more agile than I am.

Lunch. YUM.

So yeah. Did that, went to Shinjuku to find the third muskateer. Tracked her down in Starbucks with student, so we went for a wander round shops, got a couple of bits, then we all went to Harajuku. Ended up a bit late to go to Meiji Jingu (big shrine) so we just did a bit more shopping - LaForet had their massive sale on, so obvs I made a beeline for the HL section, picked up a dress so happy! Then we went for dinner, and had the BEST food and even better cocktails!!! Spent 3 times as much dollar on drinks as food, completely worth it. Made a few friends, swapped mad stories, came away a bit merry! Too merry to remember about photos anyway so this is all we've got:

Jerome's photography talents are WASTED. Mario who? Inez and Jerome?

So the next morning, again feeling a bit worse for wear, we decide we should have a bit of a lie in....... so didn't meet up until lunch. Jerome couldn't join us on Sunday, she's had 2 exams today so it was nose to the grindstone in Oyama.

Anyway Robson and Sarah 'The Danger' King then headed to Daiba, had a wander, shopped, went on the wheel, standard trip really. Purikura'd. Need to take pics of them though to get them on here.... later. That night Sazzle had to catch her bus back to Osaka (wah), so we went for a final meal, met up with Sam-well and turned him into a cocktail lover, he was definitely a fan, it's not everyday you discuss which Sex and the City/Friends character you are over a Cosmo in Shinjuku is it?

There's a worrying theme with the pics.

Does this sum it up? We made origami out of 10,000Y bills. Equiv to about £80. Oops?

Miss you already Sarah, mega excited for your birthday in May!!

Day Tripper

2011-01-20T10:52:00.000+00:00

Hello! Long time no blog for me!! Rianna here.
So we've suddenly found ourselves in a new year, 2011 would you believe it. Why is it going so quickly already?! Had a good Christmas/ New year with friends and skype...and am now back in the thick of it with exams/ presentations/ reports. Negative excellent. However, the new series of Shameless IS most excellent. Definitely helps me study. The exposure to the Manc accent improves my Japanese, obviously. Hand in hand, those.

Right. So last Sunday we popped over to Yokohama for the day. It was chilly, but really a beautiful day. Only takes 30 mins to get there from central Tokyo, and it was nice to get some sea air!
But before we ventured to the seafront, we headed into Chinatown for a nose around and for CRISPEH DUCK. Nice.
Note; the street venders sell rather delectable spring rolls, even if they are the greasiest things ever.

So, when we had exhausted Chinatown, we popped to the seafront with a hot choc in hand and had a walk round there. Watched some people ice skate for a bit, then after browsing a shopping mall in converted warehouse, we went to find the BIG WHEEL.

We frolicked in the fun fair until the sun went down, then went inside to crack out some moves on Dance Dance Revolution. We're terrible. So bad. There was a middle aged man there who obviously practices every day and was taking it far too seriously. But he was really quite impressive.
Few more fun fair rides after that, including a Carousel.

Picture time!

shines like the real thing

2011-01-13T14:38:00.001+00:00

Evening chums.
Robson here (obviously). There was going to be a reunion post, but Jerome has just scarpered to go home and have a bath post-jacket potato and film night, so I'm left to blog on my own tonight! I've only been back in Japan for a week and a half, but in typical R&J style we've already crammed loads in!
Eg, the day I landed, I'm sitting on the limousine bus en route back into central Tokyo, when I receive a text with the words 'Fancy going on a rollercoaster today?' from Jerozzle. Never been a fan of jetlag or people who have it so agreed straight away, went home and unpacked, then headed to Korakuen for the afternoon. Jerome was a bit gutted, the big rollercoasters were actually closed (hahaha, sort of a public holiday day? but not quite.) So we ended up on a big wheel and carousel. Pictures:

Sorry to rub it in, but yeah the weather really is that good over here still!!! Bloody cold, but bright sunshine and clear skies most days! Now I've said that it'll probably chuck it down tomorrow though......

Anyway, PART TWO

So as we've turned into mad Japanese-style tourists, we decided to do a trip to Nikko on Monday just gone, it's a town about 100 miles North of Toks, and home to a World Heritage site and a big mountain whose name I can't remember, lake and waterfall 2000m above sea level!!! We met at our usual spot, armed with food for the journey, and in my case, suitably-ish dressed for the weather. Jerome however, turned up in a pair of shorts with tights and ballet pumps. Always a good move for sub-zero temperatures.

After a 2 hour train ride up t'North, we hopped on a bus up the mountain, and went to see the Lake! I do know the name of this one, it's Chuzenji. There's bus tours and stuff that you can do, but tbh we were so cold, we had a look at the important bits and came back down the mountain.

MONKEHS

After that, we headed to the World Heritage site, to have a look around the temples. SO many! All very beautiful, and important for various different historical figures. Again probably best to let the pictures say it all!

We managed to do all this and still be back in Tokyo in time for dinner! So the New Year's been kicked off where we left off on the trips front, but this term we're both having the homework and tests piled on a bit...... rubbish. Obviously we'll still be up to our usual tricks, no presentations or reports will be stopping us! Yokohama is planned for this weekend, then next week Sarah (remember we visited her, Chris and Jack in Osaka?) is coming to Tokyo!! Massively excited, got so much planned for her to see, can't wait! xxx

too many nuts in the judicial fruit cake?

2010-12-18T15:35:00.000+00:00

Christmas is a coming and the bells begin to ring. The holly's in the window, and the birds begin to sing. Now don't take time to worry, and don't take time to fret, just watch Robson and Jerome's festive forecast.....

BLOOPERS

Merry Christmas!
xxx

Robson and Jerome's island adventure!

2010-12-16T13:30:00.000+00:00

It’s blog catch-up time! Rianna/ Jerome here. What can you expect from my latest blog post? I will be telling you all about our trip to the island of Enoshima and our visit to ye olde Kamakura, and providing photographic evidence of course.

Enoshima is a little island about an hour or so out of Tokyo on the train. Wrapped up warm (I even wore a wolly hat) we got off the train and it was really sunny. The hat came off. Waking over the bridge to the island felt a little bit like L.A, with the palm trees, the sun, and the sea, but we were constantly reminded that we are in Japan- with the Japanese people, and Mt. Fuji on our right.

Mount Fuji, baby.

The island is littered with temples and shrines and that, pretty kijun (standard) stuff. We got corn on the cob from a bloke in a hut and walked the jaggy cliff path to the ‘CAVES’. I had never been in a CAVE before at this point, so was very excited. Robson is claustrophobic. She was basically on my back as we went round, holding candles to light our way. But I was very proud of her, we got through not one, but TWO caves!

After getting our fill of island related fun, we hopped onto the Enoden train to Kamakura. Kamakura is a small city full of old temples and shrines. The one thing we wanted to see most was a MASSIVE BUDDHA. Seriously, this thing is HUUUUUUUUGE. We even went inside it. In Kamakura we had a nice luncheon, BLT sandwiches which we dismantled and ate the innards of (there was mashed potato in the sandwich- mashed potato I say!!).

We caught the sunset and went for a wander on the beach back down on the opposite shore to Enoshima island. It had become pretty windy, so walking along the beach was treacherous! Sand + eyes = mega discomfort.
Windswept, we had a lovely meal at a seafront restaurant. Hopped on the train back, and got stopped by the police at Shinjuku station and asked to produce ID. Apparently we looked suspicious.
We finished off the night with a rendition of Whitney’s ‘I have nothing’ and went our separate ways, still windswept and smelling of the seaside.

Thanks Robson for a great day out! :) xxxx

now I ain't saying she a golddigger...

2010-12-15T13:50:00.000+00:00

Good evening. or lunchtime, depending on where you're reading this.
Robson and Jerome here. The collective. The royal 'we'.
We are sitting in my (Robson's) room, attempting to scrub our moustaches off and wash the pots from tonight's dinner. And WHAT a dinner it was.
On the menu from chef Jerome tonight:
Tortillas with chicken, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, you name it its in there
Homemade chips, just nicely crisp.
Angel delight, with chocolate coins broken up in there and strawberries dipped in.

We are now finding it difficult to walk, let alone emulate our gangster heroes, or try on outfits for the coming festivities! Expect a blog shortly (probably after Jerome's gone home, when I get my act together with photos) about our recent mini-hol to Enoshima and Kamakura, by the beach, depending on whether we can catch one Mr Harry Stanley on skype - we'd like to take this opportunity to wish him a very happy 89th birthday!!!!!! Congrats Parold, prezzie coming in just over a week now!

Anyway this week's festivities include another visit to the ballet - The Nutcracker, our Christmas dinner and Christmas day, and a masquerade ball!!! Excited doesn't cover it!

Signing off for now, Jerome's still got pigtails in and I've got her mobile counterbalancing my chains hanging down my back.

occasionally, we scare ourselves.

xxx

festive cheer with the Robson Family...

2010-12-15T03:05:00.000+00:00

Merry (early) Christmas!!!

what a way to make a living.

2010-12-02T13:17:00.000+00:00

Oh my god. I want to cry. I've just written a HUGE long post about this weekend, and lost it!!!!!! ARGH.

I'll start again, shall I?
This weekend (Saturday morning, 7am to be precise) I set off on a trip to the Japanese countryside, to do a homestay weekend, living with a family and learning traditional practises! The whole thing was amazing, the students who organised it were fantastic, and the other people on the trip were so lovely too, so lots of new friends there! Sadly Jerome didn't come on this, as it was only really for Waseda students. Next time!

So we set off bright and early, took us about 4 hours to get up there, to a tiny village called Ten-ei (天栄）in the countryside North of Tokyo. When we got there, loads of activities had been organised for us, like field ploughing and ornament making for day 1, then wood cutting, bean crushing, onigiri making (those triangle shaped rice things, not my cup of tea but anyway), and then a ramble around the nearby woods. All very delightful, and topped off with a night staying with a family!

We were separated into groups of 4 to stay with the families (there were about 20 of us in total), and I was put with Clare, a friend from SOAS in London who'd also come to Waseda, and two Japanese students - Daisuke and Mao. Think me and Clare were put together because we both said we were vegetarian..... this caused quite a stir in the Japanese countryside as you can imagine, at least half an hour of chat (in Japanese) was dedicated to establishing exactly what we do and do not eat! Even weirder chats soon ensued, apparently Susan Boyle is a very famous figure in rural Japan!!!!! I couldn't stop laughing when they mentioned old SuBo (might have been a bit delirious from the cold) but they were pretty serious!! Anyway they made us a huge meal with about 578 courses, after which we were encouraged to go to the public baths....... neither Clare or I fancied this much, so we sat it out (after much attempted persuasion) and took ourselves off to bed. Now in the Japanese countryside, they don't do central heating. So at night, our heating consisted of an electric blanket, a duvet, and not much else (all this on a flat futon on the floor). However, the ever prepared Robson ended up being nice and warm, one pair of woolly pjs, one heat tech top, two thick pairs of socks and one cashmere jumper later!!! Kept the electric blankets turned up full blast as well, even though the fam reckoned we'd be best to turn them down...... ever prepared, but still not partic economical....

Anyway the following day dawned with rain, so we donned our fetching all in one waterproof get-ups from the day before, and chirpily trotted off to do some wood cutting! The rest of the day was taken up with more activities, and after a bit of an emotional farewell we returned to Tokyo, getting home by 11pm so not too bad! Going to leave you with some snaps of the weekend, there are so many tales and anecdotes still but I'll save those for when I see everyone in person!

Nearby scenery

Left to right: Caitlin, Me, Ashleigh, Clare

You want me to do what?

hahahaa

Making 'ornaments'

Robson goes back to her East Anglia roots..

quite literally means 'dream team'. On the wellies.

An 'ornament' I made, wasn't supposed to be a heart but I thought it was better!

Ropes? We made these!

Villagers who taught us to make ropes and bash beans

Our bedroom!!

Breakfast. Yes dinner was even bigger!!

Robson chops wood

or attempts to

Daisuke shows us how it's done!

Clare and I looking delightful

Group photo!

If I ever see another onigiri.....

The family!

Back row: Dad, Daughter, Daisuke, Mao

Front row: Mum, Me, Clare

Robson and Jerome's festive celebrations begin tomorrow, we're off to see Cinderella at the National Ballet so will take pics obviously, SO much planned for this month we've hardly got time for uni!! Merry December!

doncamatic

2010-11-25T13:12:00.000+00:00

Just a quick mid-week post to update you all on what's occurrin over here!

I started my new job at Paul Smith on Monday! It's really good, the people are all so lovely, very friendly, and it's been fantastic for my Japanese already. I work from 12 until 8.30pm, so it's quite a long time but it does pass very quickly, as I seem to spend most of my time either chatting to the girls about clothes and makeup, to the boys about British music, or to customers about the clothes and British fashion! On tuesday night they all kindly took me out for a welcome party, we went to an izakaya and had loads of great food and cocktails, so nice!

Tuesday was also a very important day. Let me set the scene.
Lanvin and H&M have done a collaboration. I really hope you all know what I'm talking about, if not, have a look at the pieces here.
So 10am, Jerome and I met up at Harajuku station and headed down to the H&M store, only to find that you were given allotted times on a wristband!! It's so they could only have 30 people in at a time, and each time slot was 10 mins. Ours was 12.15 to 12.25, but obviously I started work at 12, so bit of a problem. Jerome however, was brilliant, and whilst I went into Paul Smith, she trotted off back to H&M, elbows out, and grabbed The Dress. This dress I had been talking about for weeks, it's amazing. Perfect colour, almost the Selfridges pantone, raw edges, exposed black zip, big black waistband, perfectly comfy yet looks like it shouldn't be.... and surprisingly a lot of fabric! Anyway, here's the pics, see what you think! I think the expression on my face says it all......

It's the homestay trip this weekend as well, had the orientation tonight and a meal with the others going, looks like it's going to be good!!

The Boy Who Lived...

2010-11-19T15:30:00.000+00:00

Greetings. As supreme champion of 'Harry Potter Scene It' in my local area, it is my pleasure to tell you all about mine and Robson's trip to the cinema tonight to see the new Potter film -

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Before we headed to the cinema, we dressed up as characters from the books/ films. I was Bellatrix Lestrange and Robson was Alecto Carrow- both female Death Eaters. I have to say, it was rather liberating walking the streets of Tokyo being somewhat feared as opposed to seku harra-ed. Looking like this (photos to follow) we went for some food, and then partook in a wee bit of Purikura. Allow me to explain to those readers who may be unfamiliar with 'Purikura'. It is a nugget of Japanese popular culture, which involves its participants (usually female) having their pictures taken in a booth, the principle aim being to look cute, pretty and sweet. You can then write nice things about you and your friends all over the picture with the help of computer design. So, off we trot to the Purikura booth dressed as Death Eaters and scrawling slogans such as 'Die Potter' and 'Avada Kedavra' onto our pictures.

Tonight was our first trip to a Japanese cinema. We had excellent seats, however the snacks of the people around us were slightly nauseating. When the music started, you know the music, we were both so excited! Me slightly more so I think...but Alecto got into it too. The film was brilliant, as expected it deviated slightly from the book, but overall we both enjoyed it greatly. It was very dark, even scary in some parts. The highlight of the film for me was the animation during Hermione's story of the Hallows, but we both loved the scenes shot in London- where we have both lived for two years. It was lovely to see Piccadilly Circus and Shaftesbury Avenue, even if it was only in a Harry Potter film.

Cannot wait for the next and final installment now! But I can't help thinking I'll be a bit sad when it's all over...

I'll leave you with some photos of us as Death Eaters...try not to be too intimidated.

on the hunt for undesirable No.1

2010-11-19T08:59:00.002+00:00

they looked up and saw a star

2010-11-16T11:41:00.000+00:00

Evening!

Just thought I'd write a quick post about the weekend, I'm in between a fabulous meal of jacket potato, cheese and beans, (yes I did make it myself) and am about to settle down to a Potter film with chocolate...

This weekend was one of the best we've had I reckon! On friday, I had a lovely night out in Ikebukuro, a few cocktails and a meal with Uno, Masa, and some new Japanese friends of Uno's. I'd never been to the bar before but anywhere that plays both Katy Perry and Eminem in Japan is a hit with me. Anyway, on Saturday I had a rare lie in, then went down to Omotesando about lunch time for some christmas shopping, very successful but obviously can't reveal here what was bought! A bit later Jerome met me in Starbucks, I'd gone there to get some homework done, and we ended up sitting there the whole afternoon, eating them out of festive foods and gingerbread lattes. Yum yum. Then we adjourned back to IkeB and got ourselves some more christmas cards to send, and tickets for Potter on friday!!!!!! SO excited!! Of course we're dressing up, but we'll leave you to guess at which characters until the pictures go up....... On Sunday, I was very excitable as I knew that Sara and Annabel were arriving, and had booked us somewhere for dinner on Sunday night. Had a chilled day, usual gym, homework, spot of revision for these mid term tests, that sort of thing. I chose a restaurant near Tokyo station, there's a fantastic bar next door as well so after a few cocktails we headed off for our meal - BIG success, vegetables and 'real' food! I have to say though, the friendly faces from home were more welcome even than the food, as well as the bag of goodies they brought with them! Bakes beans, green and black's choc, Selfridges mince pies, ADVENT CALENDARS (two, obvs) and my beloved navy Pinko coat.... my Mum knows me too well!!
I then had a wee interview on Monday morning (more info when I find out what it entails.... not being deliberately elusive!) and afterwards went to meet Sara and Annabel in Ebisu for lunch and shopping for work stuff with them! Jerome had a day in uni planned but unfortunately wasn't well at all on Monday, thankfully she's had the day off today for more recuperation, finger's crossed she'll be on the mend in time for Potter on friday!
I'll leave you with a few pics of Tokyo getting into the festive spirit.... yes that is both a tree and a man made out of plastic bottles, and also my amazing dinner I had!!
Ttfn, Robson xxx

Is it? ...It is, isn't it? Yeah...it's me!

2010-11-12T11:42:00.002+00:00

Yes yes, do try to calm down people. It aint Robson! Shock horror. An update, then?
Sooooo what have I been doing in the last however long it's been? Robson's updated re. all hallows eve and the Van Gogh exhibition, but fear not! I have a few things to add!

Firstly, a while back (I forget when), we went to Asakusa for the day. It's a slice of old Tokyo, and is a really nice place, if not a little run down. Best of all it has a building whose roof is adorned with a giant Golden Turd. Spot the turd in the photos that follow, I know you all want to see it!
We wandered down Nakamise Dori, which was somewhat of a challenge as it seemed that everyone in Tokyo had heard we were going to Asakusa for the day and turned up. Also, it was raining. HARD. Some Typhoon or something. As we made our way further down the street, occasionally getting distracted by souvenir shops, Asakusa Kannon Temple loomed into view. It's a lovely temple, and apparently Tokyo's oldest. To one side of the temple, we saw the even more beautiful Gojuno-to - a pagoda.
Having had our fill of the traditional stuff, we moved on to look round a bit more- having a peep at Japan's oldest funfair, Hanayashiki. We didn't go in, it was way too wet for that. You won't see me in a full body rain poncho on a merry-go-round anytime soon. On the way back down the aforementioned Nakamise Dori, we stopped to admire a man making some sweetie looking treats. We bought some. MISTAKE. They were filled with some sweet bean paste. We thought it would be chocolate. Bleugh. We had to take a handful of free taster rice crackers just to get rid of the taste. Photos? I think so...

CAUTION; not filled with chocolate.

TURD

So so so what next? Well, I went up a mountain! A small group from my dorm got the train out of Tokyo to Mount Takao. It was the first time I'd been properly out of the city and into something slightly like the countryside. First impressions when I got off the train; the air was cleaner, the spiders were bigger and greater in numbers. The climb up was hard work, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. We kept stopping for snacks and to take in the view. There were some beautiful temples too. And of course, the red leaves for which the Japanese Autumn is famous for. Perhaps I'll let some photos tell the tale?

Also had my first trip to Kabuki-cho in Shinjuku recently, it's a mental place. Went out with 'the girls' and had a laugh. For the benefit mostly of my Mum, I'll introduce the ladies...Pay attention, mother, I'll only say it once more!!

From left; Nermeen (Egypt), Melanie (England), Dunja (Croatia), Lin (Finland), Mirja (Finland)

Hope you got that Mum, there will be a test later.

So this is where I leave you. Be back soon! (ish)

continued, read the one below first!

2010-11-11T12:39:00.000+00:00

Last Saturday was also a typical Robson and Jerome outing, we went to the National Art Museum, managed to catch the Van Gogh exhibition we hadn't been able to see in London, well worth the wait! I also got us some snacks for the day..... you know what's coming.. We've got a few more to try but these were definitely the best, we're becoming quite the macaroon connoisseurs! We were a bit gutted that nothing happened on Bonfire night, but suppose it is quite a british tradition.... oh well. Bigger and better next year!

Yes you would be right if you thought we wandered a cemetery - apparently Jerome had heard it was 'a very nice one', so we thought we'd take a look.....

So this week I've been really busy with tests and presentations, all seemed to have gone ok so quite pleased. Mainly excited though because Sara and Annabel are arriving tonight!!! They land in Tokyo from Hong Kong late tonight, so I can't wait to catch up with them tomorrow! They're also bringing me my favourite coat, and some skin stuff I've run out of, and apparently some food? How does my Mum know exactly what I need out here?! Amazing. Hoping to show them some new areas, and new restaurants they haven't been to before.

All sorts planned for the next few weeks, so watch this space, lots more to come!

Robson xxx

I keep thinking of a million other things I should blog about...... but I think if you've read this far you've done pretty well.....

you better slow that mustang down....

2010-11-11T12:25:00.000+00:00

Evening all!

First of all, I'd like to apologise for the recent reticence on the blog, it's been a busy couple of weeks, perhaps we can surmise from Jerome's writers' block that it's been particularly hectic up in Oyama? I'm sure she'll fill you in on that score when she gets chance!

So what's been going on since we last updated you? The week after Halloween was quite quiet, mainly some nice dinners and chilled nights in, and a similar story at the weekend. I had both wednesday and friday off for Waseda holidays, and as I don't go in on mondays anyway, it was a bit of a doss week, fantastic!! Haha did give me a chance to catch up with some much needed homework, you'll be relieved to know everything's up to date there, all still going well.

On Wednesday, Uno, August (aka Juno), Micah and I thought we'd make the most of our day off to have a look at a quite traditional area - lots of temples and stuff. And right next to a river, very scenic, we'll definitely be back! Here's some snaps from the day......

Sorry to rub it in but it really is fantastic weather over here - bright blue skies right now, about 19 C, just so nice!

Anyway, I'd planned to go for dinner on Sunday with our french friend Axel (previously mentioned on here!), and as we were both beautifying ourselves for the occasion, I heard quite the commotion outside, banging shouting and singing! So I quickly called Axel, and we both ran outside with our cameras to see what was going on - and so glad we did!! It was the finale of the Waseda Festival that had been going on all weekend! So many funny performances, have a look at the video below!

This is male cheerleaders at their best..... only in Japan right?
This is also from the festival, it's fun to stay at the.....

Haha!! Fantastic.

to be continued......

I said what what?

2010-11-03T03:23:00.000+00:00

Another little snippet from Halloween..........

tick tock tick tock

2010-11-03T03:21:00.000+00:00

Well Jerome was supposed to blog about our day out on Saturday, and also about Halloween, but it is now Wednesday, and she's off mountain climbing right now, so I imagine she'll do a stellar mid week post for you all on that, thought I'd help her out on the Halloween front.....

We went out on Saturday night to a delightful little bar/Irish pub called The Black Sheep. Our friend Lin from Jerome's uni works there, and suggested there might be something of a party going on, so we got dressed up, and all headed out (all being the rest of the gang from Jerome's halls) to Ikebukuro. I had travelled to the halls in my full get up on three trains, you can imagine a sweet-laden and blue haired Robson attracted quite some attention. Had to stay on the phone to Jerome for most of the journey!! Anyway we arrived in one piece despite the typhoon (a mere sprinkling of rain), the party was amazing, bands were really good, and generally a successful night! I think it's best if I leave the rest to the pictures.......

I'm off to get ready now, going to the old geisha district and then the Imperial gardens with some friends from Waseda, photos up later of course!!

Robson xxx

Robson's song of the day... on a bright, cold morning in Tokyo!

2010-10-27T03:00:00.001+01:00

Song of the day - Jerome.

2010-10-24T07:26:00.003+01:00

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues
アップロード者 fredozydeco. - インディペンデントウエブ動画。

you were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar when i met you

2010-10-24T06:37:00.000+01:00

Morning. Robson here.

We are both feeling somewhat delicate this morning. I'll start at the beginning.

Yesterday, we went to Ebisu for the afternoon, and had a lovely time. Such a nice place, lots of cafes and fantastic shops, including a Benugo!!! and also my favourite shop ever..... those who know me know what it is, but I'm not saying on the blog in case everyone else catches on. Top secret! As soon as we arrived, we headed to Ebisu Garden Place, and seated ourselves in Benugo to settle down to lunch! Went down quite a treat after our recent exploits in Ikebukuro's questionable establishments.

I expect you're jealous already. Anyway after lunch we wandered round the area, had a look in the shops, and OH MY GOD THERE IS AN EARTHQUAKE GOING ON RIGHT NOW AS I'M TYPING!!!!!! It is definitely not my imagination or that bloody nomihoudai from last night, the room was shaking. I think it's stopped? Jesus H.

Back to the blog..... we spotted loads of restaurants we liked the look of, definitely going back there! An Indian, Thai, and lots of others that looked really good! Jerome think's she's got an aversion to Japanese food so we're steering clear of that in future, can't say I think it'll be any loss either.

Here's a selection of typical Robson and Jerome (also now known as Jerobson or Robome) photos:

This is a restaurant inside, we didn't go in but looks quite nice. At the back of Ebisu Garden Place.

Good old self timer. hahahaaa...

This is the indian restaurant, I'm not sure the picture does it justice but it was busy, menu looked really good so we'll try that soon! I hope it lives up to the one in Harajuku...

The main area as you leave the station as it was starting to get dark. This was only about 5pm, gets dark so early here.

So that was the day time. We'd then planned to go out with some friends from Ocha, for Mirja's birthday! The plan was nomihoudai (aka all you can drink) then onto kareoke. We got back to Jerome's halls, where we met up with Dunja, Mirja and Zuza, and set off to the izakaya, en route collecting Lin as well (why do I have your phone charm on my phone? It's a flashing corona bottle..)

The izakaya was really good, much better than some others we've been to. Food highlights were lots of seafood which we cooked ourselves on table top barbeque style things. Here is Jerome getting friendly with a prawn.

Amazing. Slightly less amazing though were the drinks. Should have guessed with it being nomihoudai that we weren't likely to be presented with Cloudy Bay or even a Pinot Grigio, but we were not prepared for what we had.

Jerome believed one barrel to be 'plum wine'. It was definitely not plum wine, apparently it was some shochu-based drink (closer to sake, it was also revolting) but in trooper Robome style we necked half a pint each of it. We had a few more unidentifiable drinks for the next 2 hours, then proceeded to head to kareoke down the road. When we got there, Jerome decides she isn't feeling too clever, so we had a sit down and an attempt at sobering up (remember Jerome is something of a lightweight) but it soon became clear that 1 - we were not sobering up any time soon and 2, that Jerome was feeling much worse than she'd first let on. We decided it was best to get her home, so Lin and I (thank you again!) took Jerome back to her room. I won't embarrass Jerome with the details on here, just ask me for the full story later but suffice to say I did have to physically put her in her pjs and into bed. Neither will I embarrass her with the hour at which we went to bed...

Woke up this morning feeling really rough, splitting headache, stiff neck (two to a futon is not comfy) and the realisation that I was still in the halls that I'm not technically supposed to even go through the door of.... oops. Smuggled me out in the morning and headed to the supermarket, J pop covers of T Rex didn't help our heads and I am now in my pjs once again at 2.25pm, and do not plan on getting dressed for the rest of the day. Even the woman in the supermarket was alarmed at the state of us, she came running over with cups of some white milk/soy concotion, shouting 'it is good for your health! please drink!' No joke. Thank god I had my sunglasses with me for the journey home.

Now to rustle up some lunch, where's Dad's cheese on toast when you need it?

Update: I definitely didn't imagine the earthquake, both Micah and Axel also felt it. Phew.

Song of the day

2010-10-23T02:42:00.000+01:00

you walked into my house last night

2010-10-22T00:59:00.000+01:00

Morning everyone! Robson here, it's 8.27am on a dreary morning in Tokyo. I'm currently trying to write some more of this presentation I have to give on tuesday, however the lovely Sally reminded me of my blog duties last night and I do think this is more important right now!
So whats been occurin since we last updated you? This week has been quite busy on the homework front, but some more life sorting has been done. Earlier in the week we were just hanging about in Shibuya, bit of shopping, bit of restaurant-ing, nothing very exciting to report.. we bumped into our friend Alex though in Shibuya, why do we keep doing this here?! Who was out for a trip round with his Japanese host family. Had a nice chat to them! On tuesday I also went for lunch with my friend Axel, slightly questionable noodle bar but again, a nice chat!
On Wednesday (I don't have classes until 1pm) I went to register for the gym! Off I trotted, eager as anything, ended up getting there before it opened....and was then told that I had to trek to the opposite side of the OTHER campus to have a sticker put on the back of my student id card. As I said, I was quite eager this particular morning so thought I'd jog it, as I was in my running kit (yes the lycra get up, Redmile residents are familiar with this). Had a handbag and a brolly with me, but that didn't pose too much of a problem. However, a newly acquired stalker did. I won't go into all the details because the encounter was unfortunately quite long, ask me about it later. Anyway the rest of the day was a success, sticker received, gym registered for. I was the only girl in the gym. Kijun.
Yesterday I had a day off, for the anniversary of the founding of the university I think? Had a bit of a lie in, did some homework ready for today, and then went shopping down a very wet and cold Omotesando (big road, lots of shops, home to a big Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Bulgari, RL, Gucci, just loads) and ended up with a couple of tops from.........Gap. Pretty nice ones though! Met up with Jerome in the evening, we went to Ikebukuro. We keep mentioning the names of these places, but don't really explain them properly, do we? IkeB is sort of half way in between Jerome's and mine. There's a big Seibu department store, and an area with shops, restaurants etc, but its not massively exciting. Just handy as somewhere to meet and get some food if we can't be bothered to go a bit further. So last night, found this little Japanese restaurant that looked ok (not Dipper Dan's, as Mum feared, don't worry). Turned out to be a bit weird, thank god we were brought an english menu, we almost ended up with a hot pot of 'Giblets' into which we were supposed to chuck veg and noodles. Didn't fancy that, or fried Whale for that matter, so asked for some safer options of chicken on skewers. Literally one skewer arrived, so we ordered fishcakes as well (not great, we decided very 'Japanese tasting') and some noodle dish with veg. It was alright, but we probs won't be going back.......
This weekend we've got a few plans, it's Jerome's doss day today so not sure what she's up to, she finishes at 12, I've got TV news class at 10.40, then double grammar after lunch (3 hours worth!!) so will finish at 4.15 today. Tomorrow we are probably going to a BBQ in the day, then out for our friend Miria's birthday tomorrow night. We really want to look at Ebisu, supposed to be really nice, so will probably head there on Sunday for the day. Expect photos from all this! We're getting our Halloween costumes up and running too, and thinking about doing our own Bonfire night celebrations! (How would you cook jacket potatoes and beans on a hob though? Would making a bonfire in Japan be offensive? -Probably.) Right, not long til I need to get ready so will leave you with a pic or two, more exciting news coming soon, promise!!!

silence is golden

2010-10-18T02:38:00.000+01:00

Morning.

Robson here, just thought I'd apologise for our recent reticence with the old blog. Since our Osaka trip, its all been a bit hectic in the boring land of 'sorting stuff', but sadly not too much else has gone on this week that we can actually tell you about (there was one pretty big event, but we're keeping schtum on that until more news..... cryptic). Jerome hasn't been very well this week, however today she's soldiering on and going into uni until 5, I'm getting my Big List done today. Won't bore you with the details but involves banks, gyms, an elusive city hall and an electronic dictionary. Lovely.

Anyway really not that much to report, I'll leave you with some pics of saturday's day out to our new fave area.....guess where it is?

p.s. I'm listening to Eagle Eye Cherry. So 90s. MC Hammer pants today? I think so!