Tozanso

Recently we got a new TV. In Japan, you have to pay to get rid of some electrical appliances, so parents often donate things if they are moving away (which happens a lot as their businesses move them around). One family is going to Hong Kong, which has a PAL system as they were under UK control. Japan uses NTSC so they were giving away their huge, lovely TV. We managed to get that, and we went to collect it and lots of other bits and pieces of furniture and appliances that other people were taking. I never fail to be amazed when I see the places some of the international business families live. They are just beautiful, and huge. So much for everything in Japan being small!

Another family wanted to get rid of a large, top of the range telescope that they had. They offered it directly to the school to see if it could be of any use. The we knew about it was an email that went out to the science department and the head of values, offering the telescope. Nobody could understand why the values department had been included, not least Adam, the HOD. It came out later that when the message came in there was a teacher called Larry in the room, who is very dry and very witty. The Japanese office staff often have no idea when he is being serious. They asked him who he thought they should offer the telescope to. He said the Science department. They said great, anyone else? He said maybe the values department, who teach RE, because they might want to look to the heavens and try to find God.

This week has been excursion week for the Middle and High schools. Each grade goes to a different location in Japan for 3 days, from Fuji to Hiroshima and all over the place. This year I went to Tozanso, in the foothills of Mt Fuji. It is only about an hour and a half from Tokyo, which is good as most of my grade group are only 10 years old. We went to Showa-Kinen park, a really gorgeous, huge park with loads of physical stuff for the kids to tire themselves out on. This grade last year were a bit of a nightmare, but this lot were fantastic, so well-behaved and interested in everything, really nice kids. The next place we went was a cave, where they were asking me lots of geology questions and getting spooked out in the dark. There was a tiny little Shinto shrine in the depths of the cave, because Shinto worships nature.

We stayed at a YMCA, and had a campfire with lots of singing and smores (marshmallows toasted on the fire then squished between two chocolate digestives - the sickliest thing I have ever eaten), and then went for offuro - traditional Japanese bath. I love offuro and Onsen (the natural hot spring version). You wash and shower to get clean, and then soak in this huge hot bath, relax and chat. It is a really soothing experience, and great for getting warm on cold days or after skiing etc. When we told the kids lights out, they did it. We didn't have to knock on doors or police them at all, very different from last year - so relaxing!

The next morning the sun was out and the weather was clear first thing, and we had the most fantastic view of Fuji from the site. It clouded over a little before I got my camera, but I think it is still a great sight. Last year I was even closer in Yamanakoko, and didn't see a thing. We went for a hike with the girls to a Buddhist temple about 2 miles away. There were different parts to the temple complex.

The first was a small garden halfway up the hill, which had an entrance way with huge statues of the gos of wind and thunder, complete with massive models of traditional Japanese sandals for them to wear when they make storms. That part was a temple dedicated to healthy feet, and people go there to pray for friends and relatives with feet or leg problems, or take their children's shoes to be blessed. Next we walked up the rest of the way to the main temple at the top, which is very important to Buddhists, as it contains relics of Buddha. It has been dedicated for World Peace. We weren't feeling very peaceful though, because all the way up the hill were Chinese and Korean tourists, who were photographing and videoing our group. They seemed really excited to see western children, and they weren't even trying to be sneaky about it, just walking up and pointing cameras at us all as we walked, or as we stood in a group; all the time. The kids were starting to get a bit freaked out, particularly by one man with a video camera. Eventually one of the other teachers had to go up and tell him to stop, because he just wasn't taking the hint. I felt sorry for his wife - she looked very embarrassed, but she didn't seem to be trying to stop him.

We took a different path down the mountain, down some very steep concrete steps through a garden walk. When I say we, I actually mean the rest of the group. I stepped on a half step edge (taking a photo so not looking where I was going, but still hadn't noticed the big concrete lumps before when I was looking!), lost my footing and went down most of the first flight in mid-air. I could feel myself slipping, and could see there was nothing to hang on to, so I just relaxed and let myself go. I know from experience it hurts a lot less if you are not tense. Still, I did not expect to actually flip over and fall so far. As I fell my legs came over the top of me and slammed into a step below. I landed flat on my back, fortunately with my bag under my head, or it could have been a lot nastier. I took a lot of skin off both wrists, elbows, one knee and had a big dent just above an ankle which immediately went purple. My main concern as I fell was that I would take some of the kids out who were below me, but I stopped just at the legs of the first one (good job I had stopped to take a photo and fallen a bit behind). I can't say for sure whether I was more concerned that they would be hurt, or that it would hurt me even more if they landed on top of me. Probably both. The others said later I was funny when I landed, because the first thing I did was pull down my top to cover my stomach up, then I asked the girl next to me if she was alright, then I flopped again and said "I'll just stay here for a few minutes". I realised when I tried to get up that I could put very little weight on my ankle, and not bend it up towards me at all. I was fine on steps and flat, but slopes were a problem, which was unfortunate as we were on a mountain, and a good 40 minutes walk from the cabins. I hobbled back, and some of the kids were still going slower than me! This is the photo I took the instant before I fell.

We had lunch, but I had gone pale and felt sick, and my foot was swelling, so I was sent back to my cabin with ice and pillows and told to elevate it and rest. I was supposed to be leading an afternoon activity, but there was no way I could run around with the kids. They did a scavenger hunt in my time slot instead. The best part was just as we got back for lunch from the hike, I had a text from Will saying that Sister Egawa had asked if we were ok, and he had said we were all great, no emergencies, no dramas. He tempted fate, so I blame Will.

In the end I went to the hospital with Priya, nothing was broken but it was nasty - I was on crutches for a day or two and I am still seeing the physio and have painful lumps in odd places. I am supposed to rest it but there is so much to do!

The rest of the trip passed pretty much without incident. I couldn't walk around very well and the activity for the last day was a visit to a park of preserved Japanese houses of all different kinds - a bit like the Black Country Museum but Japanese. I sat on a bench by the entrance for three hours. I got a lot of knitting done, many sudoku puzzles and made a good start on a new book, so it wasn't a total loss! This was the only house I could see from where I sat. After that we drove home, and I had to hobble past all the kids from the other grades all asking me what I had done. They were all very sweet, helping with my bags and things. I couldn't help wondering how many of the kids at my last school would have done that and how many would have just pointed and laughed!