Birthday party!It really has been a brilliant week for parties and I've really enjoyed myself. Last night I had my birthday party at my favourite bar in Shimogo. We had the whole bar to ourselves which was brilliant. My friends Will and Paul came down to Shimogo from Fukushima-city and Nihonmatsu and we enjoyed a long night of 'all you can eat + drink'.


I got some lovely presents, including this wonderful calligraphy (shuji) set from Yui, his family and Takashi. It's great because this is my new hobby. Shuji is very beautiful but extremely difficult, and Yui is a teacher so is showing me how. I'll show you some of my attempts when I get better! Here is a present I was given by a couple in Shimogo who do particularly beautiful shuji. It is my name in Kanji written in a more artistic style. I'd love to give this a go when I get better!

Another great surprise was Taikey coming to the party for a while! I came home to find him hiding under my kotatsu (low table) and got a big surprise! I think he really enjoyed himself and he's so much fun to have around. I find it really nice that Japanese children are used to being around adults a lot more than British children and are always welcome to come along.

Me, Taikey and Kane

It's been a great week!