Dec 27th 2025年12月27日

🐈‍⬛ …….

👉 Miro-chan is the sharpest one of the bunch who roam Misako-san’s house in Yokohama. To be honest, I enjoy them all, if they want your company or not.

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A cat’s bigger relative is the lion, so we now go over to our lion correspondent down on the coast……….猫（ライオン）の親戚が報告します：

👉”…… I used to have a quiet life guarding this shrine. It’s got a bit battered by sea winds in it’s time, but it’s still there….

…along with my neighbouring Buddha….

But look down there! All these humans came and started to stack these boats up. It wasn’t like that in the old days….

And they spend half their time in or out of the water. I mean the’re not fish are they?…..”

👉 “……You should try being a poodle, mate. I mean, I knew that foreigner was taking my picture, but he didn’t ask me did he? only my owner….so I turned away didn’t I?…

…..all these humans do is leave their junk around. I mean, that was a perfectly good post van once….

Not to mention the postbox…..I suppose it’s all texting these days…

👉 Mind you, they respect a good designer when they see one…Here’s an Alec Issigonis I saw the other day……lovely job…

worth a second pic if you ask me…..

👉 But come on. It’s Christmas. Never had that in my day though. It’s all this western influence. Mind you, some do it well. Like that choir in Rikkyo. They know how to do a Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. Sounded great under maestro Shaw-san. And didn’t all those students get so excited?…”

👉 “……At least I managed to compliment the violinist who played in the Wexford Carol. That was lovely – In all the choir was accompanied by three guitars, violin and flute, plus the organ…

Needless to say I couldn’t get a word in….🤣

Here’s the view outside: Rikkyo University chapel, Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

👉 I even found myself singing “Adeste Fideles” in Japanese. Lucky I know the harmony off by heart, so I could concentrate on the words….

👉 Look mate, you poodles just spend your time being poodled around. We cats choose our own spots…. Mugi-chan, that’s me. My owners actually live next door, but I like it here. Better company.

We arrange ourselves tastefully around Misako-san’s living room according to seniority and availability of sunlight…

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👉 Christmas was actually pretty yummy, because Misako-san’s husband provided this outrageous creamy stawberry cake….

Christmas Eve, Hoshikawa – all guests present….

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👉 Now I didn’t put those hiking boots into my suitcase (max 23kg!) for nothing. With the help of my hosts’ walking book ….

…..and google maps, I find myself on my third day in Japan in the hills near a town called Zushi, (no, not Sushi) about an hour south of Yokohama….In the distance you can see Enoshima Island, which is beside Kamakura (The place with the really big Buddha)

The camelias were still making a brave show. Amazing flowers these…

👉 One thing I like about walking through the woods in Japan is seeing strange birds. Ok, this guy looks like a pigeon, but with that subtle brown shaded plumage he comes under the name of “Streptopelia orientalis” or Oriental turtle dove…..lovely !

👉 So much for my bla bla about sunny days here. The rain decended at about 2pm, just as I had reached the Zushi marina. As luck would have it I spotted a modest little eating joint. Out of the rain, into the Ramen. Wow!

This was a new one. Two different types of seaweed with a pickled plum in the middle. It was delicious, though I had a few problems with the consistency…sort of slimy 🤣

👉 Later on, as I was waiting at the bus stop I turned to a lady standing beside me >

“Can I use a Suica card * on this bus?” I asked. (*travel card)

Although I had spoken a sentence of correct Japanese, she instantly deflected my question to her daughter (a teenager). This is a typical reaction I get here. The parents seem to asume that their children are better at English. However, I was having none of this and continued

” I can speak a little Japanese you know”.

The mother then relaxed a bit and asked me what I was doing here just before Christmas of all times. Fair question. But they would probably would never understand that one of the reasons I was there was to flee a European christmas 😉and….to play the ‘cello.🎶.

I tracked down ‘cellist Aki.san at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan – the Metropolitan Festival Hall, where she was playing in the Fauré Requiem.

The place was packed ……

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The (Waseda University) student choir was incredibly disciplined, most of them singing from memory I noticed! And thanks to the excellent acoustics I could hear every word.

Nightime rendezvous in Ueno Park…..the handover…..😅

👉 Ueno to Yokohama on the Keihin-Tohoku Line takes about an hour, but it’s a straight run. You just have to hold on to your cello ….

The next day Tomoko booked a rehearsal studio in Tennocho….

👉 With time for that all-important FOOD slot on the schedule……..You know, sometimes I feel I could just eat my way through Japan 😋 with a spot of chamber music now and again.

p.s don’t be conned by the signs in English – they are just there for show. You see that word “Royal” ? ….Well I dunno what that was about. Like this train which I saw yesterday….

No idea. Better not to ask. Just go with the flow. With or without the Royals.

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Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

See you またね 😉

nigelwruddock@gmail.com

https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/

The End

終わり🍱