pm215

It's now well and truly heading into winter here, after a long drawn out warmer than usual autumn. That means that in the evening it's getting pretty cold, and since of course this building has no central heating the communal areas (kitchen, bathroom, etc) are freezing in the mornings.

I went to Takayama yesterday (on one of the tours the langugae school organises). This is a town up in Gifu prefecture, several hours drive north of here. It's got a well preserved old quarter dating from the Edo period. The local government building (jinya) from that period also remains intact and is well worth seeing as an example of a large traditional Japanese building which isn't either a temple or a castle. I was also pleased to find a tiny coffee shop (space for about six customers seated at the counter) which did good coffee and was much more personal and friendly than a larger place would have been. Anyway, if you happen to be vaguely in the area Takayama's well worth a day spent wandering around it.

It's Sunday today, which means I have less than a week left here -- my flight back to the UK leaves Saturday evening Japan time. All good things come to an end, I suppose. I'm not sure how much my Japanese has improved, but it's certainly been a good time.

Work are making noises about sending me to China again, incidentally.