Greetings!

Well, the Easter bunny forgot to stop by Japan and we certainly didn't get the ANZAC day holiday here, but finally, it's our turn for holidays! It's Golden Week!

Golden week is a string of public holidays, that if you're lucky enough, mean a full week off. Wayne has a lovely nine day weekend, while I have a three day weekend, a two day work week and then a four day weekend. Can't really complain.

So now it's Sunday night and I'm having fun playing. Playing on the computer that is. One thing that I've set up is a free e-card greeting service. I'm feeling like my images are being neglected and not seeing the light of day, so now hopefully, people will use them and they can have a new life. If you go to the "Send a Free Greeting Card" box on the side it will take you to the site. They are still just images that you can send with a message at them moment, but maybe in the future I'll build on them.

Another thing I've set up is a map to see where visitors are coming from. Don't be shy, click on the litte "View my Guestmap" and say hello!

The rest of Golden Week (part one and two for me) is looking busy. We have a bbq party to go to tomorrow. I think a couple of newbie gaijin are going to be there and their friends wanted them to meet us.

Then on Thursday (my part two) I'm getting rid of Wayne for the day. He's heading off to Kyoto with a friend to watch a Kendo competition, an eighth-dan Iaido grading and to visit a temple that has something to do with horse-mounted archery. Wayne's really looking forward to it as it's a day that involves three different ways of hurting or killing people. I worry about him some days...... Wayne's friend was terribly concerned about taking him away from me for a day and invited me to join them in Kyoto. He had a good laugh when I asked him to "please" take him away so I can get some things done in the apartment. You see the weather is heating up and it's time to change over from winter to summer. Our lovely kotatsu will go away until the next season, fans will replace our heaters and summer clothes the winter ones. In a small apartment, everything can't be out at once and it is quite a job to pull everything out and put it away again. It's easier to do all this without Wayne getting in the way, though he will have a bit of lifting work to do before and after his trip.

The rest of the time off will be taken up with seeing friends, doing some work and going to the gym. Before I know it, I'll be back at school again!

The Career Woman's Disease

I had a rather stressful and scary week. Something I can write about now that everything has been cleared and is all ok. It ended with my first trip to a "Ladies Clinic" in Japan. Don't worry, I'm not going to get too personal in this post.

To put a not so long, but rather stressful story short - what was causing pain and a lump in my breast was in fact a slightly raised rib bone. It may have always been like that and I'd never noticed it, or it may have lifted slightly from the sternum due to overdoing it in they gym. Whatever the situation, where they had been no pain before, suddenly there was and where one breast had a "lump" the other didn't. Scary stuff.

I tried to keep quiet about it. I prefer the "ignore it and it will go away" mentality, but the stress was making me sick and once I told Wayne he insisted that I had it checked immediately.

I wasn't sure where to have such a check done in Japan, so I consulted a book that I have borrowed from a friend; Being A Broad in Japan: Everything a Western woman needs to survive and thrive. Sorry Mel, you will get it back soon, I'm just finding it a really interesting read. The index quickly told me where to go to have things checked out and what to expect. Yes.... what to expect.....

The book warned me that

"..in Japan, it is not uncommon for a childless woman in her late twenties or
older who is suffering from gynaecological problems to be told that she has "The
Career Woman's Disease" and that she should get pregnant as soon as
possible...."

Luckily I wasn't hassled by the lovely, friendly doctor about my "childlessness", but interestingly enough, on top of the usual very personal questions a doctor of that type needs to ask, I was questioned, not only about my marital status but the nurses wanted to know for exactly how long I'd been married. I can't see exactly how that was affecting my breast.

Some older Japanese still have a antiquated view on the woman's role in society. Earlier this year, the Japanese health minister, Hakuo Yanagisawa, on the topic of Japan's low birth rate was quoted as saying;

"Because the number of baby making machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask
for is for them to do their best per head."

So maybe all I need to do now is ask my husband to turn on his "baby making machine" (pardon the pun) and all will be fine with my breast again.

New Day

I've been in Japan for just over a year now, this time around. That time has just flown by. I wouldn't say that it took me long to settle in, but it did seem to take me a year to fine-tune my life here to get it running how I want it. When things don't run how I like them or if I'm upset or tired, I comfort eat. This now finds me at the heaviest I've ever been in my life and running on the lowest energy, while trying to to the most amount of stuff. I remember a friend years ago saying to me, "Melanie, you need to be three people to do everything you are doing."

My reply, "If I was three people, there would need to be nine of me to do everything because I would find three times more things to do."

Anyway, I digress.

I feel like I've had my year of excuses and indulgences and what a great year it was, but now it's time to get back into shape, get fit and healthy and full of energy again.

I'm fortunate enough to be married to health professional. For those of you who don't know Wayne, he's a sports massage therapist (in Australia his clients included Olympic divers), acupuncturist and personal trainer as well as a very enthusiastic martial artist. In the early days of our relationship I received far more massages than I do, the occasional acupuncture treatment and a less than frequent fitness session. I think I may now be more likened to the broken car the mechanic has in his garage at home.....

That's all about to change.

In the past when Wayne has tried to train me it has ended up in arguments. He goes into "instructor" mode, but I don't switch into "instructee" mode, but rather stay in the girlfriend/wife role. I hate him telling me what to do and have more than a few times yelled at him and stormed off.

Wanting to get fit and healthy again though, we are determined to try again, but with a slightly different tack. He's going to write me programs and I'm going to go off on my own to do them. He has been writing a fitness blog for a little while now, so I've asked to be his guinea pig. Today is the day we begin.

In the next few days, he will be measuring, weighing and photographing me so that we can watch the progress, but I'm not quite ready to put those up on the Internet as yet. If you want to watch my progress or see the program and philosophy behind it, check it out here.

In the meantime - wish me luck!

Going Home

I’ve just returned from another whirlwind trip to Australia. It was actually my third one in a year, none were planned, but for various reasons I needed to go. This time, I had to interview for some more outsourcers and a new manager for my card business, ki creations.

I was in Brisbane for six and a half days this time. As always, it wasn’t enough time to catch up with everyone and certainly not to spend as much time as I’d like with those that I did. Each moment however was precious. It was great to be able to drop back into friends’ lives, even if it was only for a few hours. There seemed to be a great sense of momentum in everyone’s lives at the moment and I was able to see new apartments, houses and pictures of property and hear of family and travel plans.

The strange think about going “home” was that it highlighted the fact that I’m not really sure where “home” is now. I have dear friends in both Japan and Australia and really enjoy different aspects of the lifestyles of both. I love the lack of aggression, the service, friendliness and politeness in Japan as well as the history and sense of design. I also love my job here. Back in Australia, I love the freedom, the diversity and openness of people. I like the landscape, especially the Queensland beaches.

People say that home is where the heart is. I haven’t seen Wayne for a week and right now, as I’m writing this on the express train from the airport, I feel that more than ever. He is my home.

Happy White Day (for tomorrow)

It's white day in Japan tomorrow. Here, on Valentine's Day usually only women give chocolates to men. White Day is the day to return the favour. As I got a number of sweet little presents from students on Valentine's Day, and today is my last day at school before the holidays, I'm running around trying to find students that I need to give chocolate to.

I thought it was time for another Pocky commercial. Poor Pocky hasn't had any votes on my poll.. Vote for Pocky!

One Year!

As of today, we've been married for year! Yah us!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, I'm another year older. And boy, what a year the last one was! This time one year ago I has having a delightful day of pampering thanks to my fabulous female friends, in amidst of crazy wedding and moving plans, all to happen a few days later.

For about the last ten or so years though, I get a bit down before my birthday. I seem to do this stock take of my life and look at where I am in relation to where I thought I'd be at that age. While I'm loving life over here, this year I got really down about the things I don't own or have yet. No house, no car (we have a company car), no kids... you know.. all that stuff. I felt like I had very little to show for my 34 years on this earth. Then I talked to a couple of very good friends of mine who cheered me up; Chris, who lives back in Oz now and who despite the physical distance is so close in my heart, then to the the other Mel, who was always a good friend but has become so much closer in the last year and I'm not sure what I'd do without her friendship and support over here. It made me realise that while those material possessions would be great, it is my dear friends, my wonderful husband and my family who are important. The material stuff will come, but right now, I'm happy with what I have.

I then watched the movie Hotel Rwanda. Wow, that really put my life into a bit more perspective. What happened to the Rwandans was atrocious. Here I am living in this incredibly safe country, in a sweet little apartment, with a job I love, great friends scattered around the world and a fabulous husband. I feel so lucky to have been born into this life and for the choices I have made that have brought me here.

So my birthday has been a good one so far. Last night some girls that I teach privately threw me a party. They hung a banner which read "MERANI" and had made me cards and decorated the room. You can see one of the cards here. That's me in the red dress. I've received a couple of great presents and have a cool weekend ahead of me.

Wayne and I are going away. We're pretty serious about saving money at the moment (for those material things), so we decided to catch the cheaper train to Osaka, pack light and then stay in a love hotel. I'm pretty excited. In total, I've lived in Japan for 4 years, and never been to a love hotel! In all of Japan, Osaka is famous for the strangest themed rooms. I really want to photograph one for the book. Personally, I'm hoping for the Hello Kitty S&M room, or otherwise maybe a bumper car room.... anyway, once we get back I'll let you know where we ended up with a G-rated account of course...

Oops......

Well, I haven't been to the gym for a while. Two months actually. The time went by so quickly. First, I went away for Christmas. When I came back, I was sore from skiing and then visitors arrived. Then they left and the next day, another visitor arrived. Then she left and Wayne and I madly tried to make the apartment more user-friendly. Then I started school. A number of times I planned to go to the gym, but it was so cold riding on my bike that I thought I'd go home and wait for Wayne to get back with the car. By the time he got home, I was warm and settled in the apartment that I really didn't want to go out again. Then I got sick. Then I had more visitors. Then I got sick again.

Finally yesterday, I was ready to go back. Ready and eager. As I hadn't been to the gym for two months, I hadn't paid my January or February fees. I knew I'd have to pay both and was prepared for that.

Well, I arrived and the staff scanned my card. I got a shy look from the receptionist who asked me to wait. She ran and got someone. That women then looked at the computer and got someone else. They disappeared into a room together. I was asked to wait some more. The first women shyly said "So you haven't been here for a while....?". I agreed.

The second women came back to tell me the news. My membership had been cancelled! As I had been so slack and not been for two months, they cancelled my membership, ok, as I hadn't PAID for two months, they cancelled my membership. Bugger! I was told that I could sign up again, but would need to fill in all of the forms once more. Mmm.... problem there... I can't read Japanese and last time Natsuki helped me sign up. I asked if they had my old forms on file, which they did, so luckily I was able to just copy everything off them.

As with most things in Japan, it took time, but finally, I was once more a member, with a new card and everything. The funny thing is, it ended up costing me much less, about 10,000 yen (about $100) to have my membership cancelled and renewed than what I was going to pay for those two months.

I also have a private shoe locker at the gym which I pay for. In Japan, gyms will only allow you to wear "indoor shoes" and I was sick of carrying them to work and then to the gym each time I went. I told the receptionist that I also needed to pay for it. She asked me if I wanted to have my locker from the same day my new membership started (this coming Friday). I told her that actually, my shoes were still in there. She gave me a cute, sly smile and said "We'll start it from Friday" then in a whisper - "Don't worry, your shoes are still in there".

I now can't wait to get back to the gym this Friday. The weather is warming up and I'm feeling the need to get moving again and to work off that winter insulation I've been growing ;)

Happy Valentine's Day

Quote for the day from the hard copy of Japanzine, also found on-line here.

"News in Brief....

Husband Unaware He's Been Receiving Giri-Choco from Wife for
23 Years"

Hehehe..... you'll get it if you've ever lived here during Valentines Day....

For those of you who haven't, giri means obligation and well, choco is short for chocolate. Unlike the romantic intentions of Valentine's Day in other countries, in Japan, chocolate is given not only to a loved one, but also co-workers, teachers and friends or to anyone you feel obliged to. On this day, chocolate is usually only given by females to males. The girls and women receive gifts on White Day, which is March 14th.

I scored a nice little chocolate stash today, mostly homemade from students.

Here's a video for one of my favourite Japanese chocolate snacks, Pocky. I thought it was fitting for today.

Tired now...

What a night and what a morning! I think I've now done all I can. I've changed passwords twice (the second time after clearing out spyware), done three spyware scans, cancelled credit cards, increased the security on my internet banking, reported the issue and rung suppliers about the credit card issues.

Luckily the person never got any money from me, BUT I had to pay Paypal extra fees because of all this! Not happy about that at all!

It's quite ironic actually, as yesterday I gave myself a "sorting out my life" day. I figured out where every single cent I owned was. I sorted out Superannuation and checked on where the money was being invested, I checked investment account balances. The lot! So if there was ever a day when I was going to notice someone trying to take ten Euro from me, it was yesterday.

I'm quite worn out by all of this now. I'm picking up my parents in about 8 hours and still have to get out futons, finish cleaning the kitchen, do some remaining business stuff, but really all I want to do is eat McDonalds (I can't believe how much of a comfort food it has become since I've been in Japan), have a good stiff glass of vodka (none in the house right now, but the sake is looking tempting) and go to sleep. I can tell you though, I'm going to watch my accounts like a hawk now!

**** And the winner is.....
Mel! (the other Mel) - with a total of 670 critical objects. I don't feel so bad now.

Hopefully all accounts should be back up and running in a week.

195

195. 195. 195!

That's how many "Critical Objects" were found on my computer! Damn the stupid Microsoft Defender for not picking up a single one!

I feel violated (by someone hacking into my account - not by the spyware). I'm upset, I feel physically ill and I've had little sleep. I feel stupid for not having better protection on my computer. I feel stupid for trusting the protection I had. And I feel angry.

I'm also feel so glad that I have a wonderful husband who didn't get angry when I woke him up in the middle of the night asking how I check for spyware on my computer. He didn't get angry and he could tell me what to do straight away. He understood when I came to bed half an hour later upset and wide awake and sat up with me while I went over all my "What ifs". He's such a wonderful boy.

I know highly recommend everyone to download the free software through Google - AdAware. Do a scan on your computer. Check who's watching. Don't let these bastards get to you.

Bad case of the "what if"s

Since my last post I have just changed all my passwords and tried to get to sleep. Tried. As I was finally drifting off I thought, "What if the suspect email I got and clicked on the link managed to somehow install spyware on my computer. What if the minimal amount they tried to take from one account was a way of getting me to freak out and change my passwords. What if when I just changed all my passwords, they have been watching and now have not one but ALL of my passwords! What if!!!"

I now have two spyware scans running and in the last few minutes, they've already found 75 "Critical Objects"!! You're not paranoid if someone really is watching! I have firewalls, I have the bloody useless Windows Defender, I have virus protection and yet I have now 94 Critical Objects! That's 19 more found in the time it took me to write two sentences!

I really want to sleep now, but too scared that someone is watching.....

Bastards!

You think it'll never happen to you.... Well I always did... I was careful with passwords, careful where I access my accounts on-line, but it has happened. Someone is trying to get into a number of my accounts!

I was first barred from my eBay account the other day as someone had tried to use my credit card details so that card was cancelled. Today, I got an email that almost looked legit from Paypal asking for all my details. Almost. I had a good look at it and picked the mistake and reported it. Now my account has restricted access because in the last hour someone has tried to withdraw money from it! Bastards!

I now have to go through everything, change access details, the lot! What a pain. I'm just glad that three financial institutions I use have picked this up quickly. But someone has tried to hack into three of my accounts!!!

Scary! Very scary!

** Update
Not only a bastard, but maybe a complete idiot! Whoever has hacked into my account has tried to purchase credit for a phone account, so I have their phone number!

I'd like your opinion... do I call the number? Wayne says I shouldn't (he's worried about legal implications), but I'm pretty fired up and annoyed right now.. I'm thinking I should...

Yummmmm...

One great thing about visitors is the care packages!

The fabulous Christine brough with her; Darrell Lea Chocolate Bullets, flat bread and..... HOT CROSS BUNS! Ahh... I love Hot Cross Buns! Wayne and I just had some for breakfast with a lovely hot cup of "Cha Cha Chai" from T-licious.

I may have a cold, but I'm in food heaven!