Rebun Island - Hokkaido

It was Obon last week and in recent years it has been stupidly hot. So... I got onto Google and found the coolest, as in temperature, place in Japan. And that my friends, are two small islands at the very north of Hokkaido. Rebun and and Rishiri islands.

Rishiri Island

It was quite a trek to get there, we flew from Hanada to Wakkanai, then took a bus from the airport to the ferry terminal. And then a 2 hour ferry over to Rebun where we were picked up by the hotel shuttle.

Rebun is the older of the two islands and has some incredible hikes and views. It is known for it's unique alpine flowers, many of which can only be found on this island. Due to the strong westerly winds and sea air the plants and flowers have evolved over time. 

Alpine flowers on Rebun Island

It's interesting that on western side of the island there are virtually no trees, there is no way to drive down the western coast and all the vegetation is very low to the ground. In the winter the winds blow all the snow over to the east so that is where you find the trees as they live to have the blanket of snow over winter.

We hired a guide, who happened to be the same guide for both islands, she is bilingual and great, we learned so much from her and she had a car so she could drive us around the islands. This is an important thing to note. Getting around the islands is hard, very few buses, rental cars have to be booked ahead of time as they are bought over from the mainland and taxi's are few and far between. 

Hiring a guide not only gave us insider knowledge but also a way to get around. Our first day we headed to the south of the island in the morning for some hiking and flower viewing.

The Cat Rock on Rebun Island

Our guide also told us we were having exceptional weather, that the islands are usually very windy, we just had a pleasant sea breeze! It was still quite hot and ended up covered up because of the horseflies, long pants are recommended as there is poison ivy all over the place too and some of the paths, although well maintained, are quite narrow.

Rebun has several hike routes available so the guide can adjust your trip to your levels. She did say that one of the hikes advertised on the company she works for says the longest hike is 8 hours, but it is a hard hike and rarely is it done in that time frame, so keep that in mind if you are booking something. 

Another advantage of having a guide is them knowing where to go to eat. Neither island has an abundance of eateries, on Rebun we went to a place fun by the fisherman's association, you can't just walk in, you need to book. If you are a fish lover, you will be in heaven but your wallet will be crying! Both hubby and son love fish, I don't eat it at all. Their meals were ¥6000 each compared to my chicken bowl which was ¥1300. 

Lunch from Kaisendokoro Kafuka

We all got excited to see seals basking on the rocks. I recommend bringing binoculars with you, and you are more likely to have seal sightings in the cooler months, we just got lucky. There are also sea lions that visit and are caught as a meat source. Thee are no farms on the island and so the majority of food is imported from the mainland, making it expensive. Ebi-kun tried the sea lion bacon, is tasted way too fishy for my liking. But if you know Ebi-kun, he will try anything once!

Sea Lion Meat and Basking Seal

The hotel... I think the idea behind this hotel is a romantic European vibe. Being European, it gave off grandma vibes, way too many teddybears and dusty fake flower arrangements for my liking. The meals were set with 2 times to choose from to eat. I asked for a non fish meals but I managed to get one fishy dish in every meal. That aside, the food was good, the guys enjoyed copious amounts of fishy stuff. 

They put on a drone show, not actually with drones, a video shown on a big screen of a drone flying over the island, as after dinner entertainment. And on our second night they weirdly stopped everyone mid meal to tell us there was a lovely sunset, so we could leave and watch it if we liked. Most of the people piled out and headed to the back of the hotel which has views over the sea. And a number of staff offered to take photos of the guests. Then we all returned to our meals. Weird!

We did get to see meteor showers at night and apparently you can see the Northern Lights in the colder months.

View from the cape

There was a small store a few minutes walk from the hotel but the opening times are not like the big city! Everyone we met was really kind and friendly which is a refreshing change after the hustle and bustle of Tokyo. It was much more laid back and slower paced,

If you are a stay up late, lay in, in the mornings kinda person, this is not the place for you. Both islands the breakfasts are served early, in Rebun the choice was 7.00am or 7.30am and dinner was at 6.00pm And everything closes early. Which forced us to take things easy and unwind. 

Out of the two islands, Rebun was my favourite, it felt kind of European with the alpine flowers and scenery, you could almost be in Switzerland in some areas and Ireland in others.  Plus you can't beat the view of the volcano of Rishiri across the way!

INFO

If you want to see the reviews of all the places we visited on the island, I'm a Local Guide on Google and you can see my reviews here.

Our guide is from Hokkaido Guide Service and her instagram is here.

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Lilliput Speakeasy Bar in Tokyo

For my sons birthday, we had a short break in Tokyo with a books and food theme. The Lilliput speakeasy style bar is almost next door to the Book Hotel we were staying in.

On the main street, this looks like a regular bookshop that specialises in kids books but at night... the front door is locked and the only way is is through the unmarked door around the back. Look out for this light, it's the only thing that marks the entrance, it's small and easy to miss.

When you enter, you come into a small whisky bar with a great collection of records. There are only a few seats available here, all but one was taken when we arrived. We were led by the friendly bar tender into a second room which looks like it is used for events. It was set up with tables and chairs and looked like it might be good for a book club or that sort of thing.

Finally were led into the bookstore itself.

The bar when you enter

At the back of the bookstore is a counter, which I think might be used as a cafe during the day. We were shown to a table and given a menu and table snacks (the snacks you get to justify the seating charge!) 

The menu is pretty basic, not a lot of choice. Beer, wine, a handful of cocktails and a few bar snacks. It's not the place to come for a meal.

We enjoyed just chilling with a drink and reading in a bookshop as the novelty.

You are allowed to wander and look at the books, they are all Japanese kids books, which makes drinking beer and cocktails in there that little more weird! I do love looking at the illustrations in Japanese kids books and we had a bit of a trip down memory lane as we found some of Ebi-kun's old favourites.

We had our own books in our bag, so we just whipped them out and settled in for a relaxing hour or so.

If you fancy a drink but don't want the vibes of a bar, or you are an introvert and want a change of scenery but still be able to stick your nose in a book with a beer, then this is a perfect choice.

There were other people in there but everyone was respectful and quiet, almost like being in a library!

When you leave, take you tab to the counter at the back to pay, and leave through the secret back door.

INFO

Lilliput Bar, Jimbocho, Tokyo

Read about our stay in the Book Hotel

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Stay in a Book Hotel in Tokyo

It was Ebi-kuns birthday last week, so we had a short midweek break. He is a book nerd, always has been, he'd rather dig into a good book that play computer games or waste time mindlessly scrolling on the socials.

His other loves are football and food. having just wrapped up the men's World Cup, I figured we had had enough football and focused on food and books. 

My goal was to fill the two days with as much of each as possible...

He has also seen an art exhibit in Harajuku he fancied going to and in a previous conversation talked about going to the big Maruzen book store in Tokyo.

He had been asked to participate in something run at a university in the morning, so we met up in at Tokyo station, had lunch then hit the book store. I left him to it and headed to the 4th floor which is all English/foreign language books and stationery. 

Once we had our fill and bought some books we headed up to Jimbocho, which is otherwise known as book town. We have visited here before, its nice to have a mooch around, there are some lovely shops but its not really a foreign tourist destination unless you read Japanese. 

The Book Hotel is close to the metro exit and if you need supplies, there are 3 conbinis a few minutes walk away to choose from.

In the lobby there are sofas and walls of books, the check-in was quick and easy, the staff were lovely. You need a hotel room key to use the lift which is a safety feature I approve of.

We had picked the white manga room and well... it was all white and filled with manga of all descriptions. The light from behind the bookcase at the bottom left is one of the bed nooks, also has manga in there and lights and plugs so you can recharge your phone etc.

There are plenty of amenities, green tea and coffee, kettle fridge and manga, did I mention the manga yet! They are pretty much all in Japanese, we found two English language ones. My husband had booked the room and there was some confusion (not the hotels fault) about the beds so we ended up with an extra bed in the room, which is what you can see in the bottom right. I don't think the room s designed for a long stay, more over night for maybe a night or two. 

One thing visitors to Japan might not know, if yo look at the left side of the photo below, there is a line marked on the floor, this is where you take your shoes off, leave them on the side of the door. The black things you can see on the room side are the slippers provided by the hotel. This is common practice in Japanese hotels. If there is no physical line, just leave your shoes as close to the door as possible and change into the supplied slippers.

Up in the loft there was another double bed and yes, more manga. Ebi-kun bagged this bed, I ended up in the nook and hubby on the third bed. We all slept well!

Unusually for a Japanese hotel, there was no bath tub but instead a sauna and shower! Not that we needed it considering the weather in the middle of the summer in Japan, lol. It was nice to have though, maybe we will visit in the winter next time!

There were plenty of towels, night wear, bathrobes and toothbrushes etc. 

One of the little extra touches that I loved was the manga welcome guide, explaining what you can and can't do. They ask that you return the manga to the place you picked it up from, I think it was organised in someway but not sure how. 

Usually when we go to stay somewhere, the hotel is really just somewhere to sleep but this place forced us to slow down and spend time inside (the air-conditioned) room and actually chill and relax.

We did go out in the evening to eat and visit a bookish speakeasy - more on that soon. And I picked up pastries for breakfast, the hotel doesn't do food. The check out is 11am too so we had a lovely relaxing start to the day.

What do you think? Would you like to stay in a book hotel? Let me know below, or if you have stayed in one and have recommendations, we'd be up for trying more places!

INFO

To make a reservation of find out more, you can check out The Book Hotel here.

Next stop Lilliput bookshop speakeasy bar

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Book Review - Boater by Jo Bell

Sometimes, when I'm trying to choose my next book, I get totally overwhelmed by choice. That's what happened on this occasion, for some reason Boater was one of my recommended reads on Everand (formally Scribd). 

It's not my usual type of book but after spending so much time walking along the canal when I was back at moms and learning a little about the bridges nearby, it had me intrigued. 

This is the bridge in question, it allows the horse pulling the boat to cross the canal without being unhitched from the boat. Clever!

Boater by Jo Bell

Well friend, I have to say the book is a delight. It's the authors story of how she ended up living and working on the canals, her romantic entanglements all beautifully woven and intertwined with the history of the canals and their influence on the Industrial Revolution.

Having grown in around the area where a good chunk of the book is set, I was amazed at how little I knew of the canal history and importance. Of course, we would have covered this at school but no doubt what my dry and boring history teacher told us back then, went in one ear and out the other. 

I have to say, it has made me a little prouder of the area I grew up in as it often gets the brunt of jokes and it's definitely not one of the prettiest cities in the world and it's significance to world history I feel is very much downplayed. 

I was also surprised to hear my village mentioned in the book, which is hysterical because it is not important or significant other than it being the source of the River Trent. Every year in the scouts we had to go and clean out and tidy the area around the source.

I listened to the audio version of the book, which is narrated by the author herself and she does a fabulous job. I usually cringe when authors read their own work as it is so badly done, but not this one.

By the end of the book, I felt that I too had travelled the UK on the narrowboat (mot a barge) with Jo, enjoying tea, biscuits and bacon butties. And I do wonder if I could adopt to a life on the water. At sea, that is a hard no, but even walking along the canal there is a lovely sense of peace even when you are just a stones through from a housing estate.

I also like the idea of just living with the bare essentials, clutter and accumulated 'stuff' drives me potty. But it also looks like a tonne of hard work, she doesn't go into much detail about how things like toilet situation works or doing your daily shop. So I did leave with even more questions!

If you are looking for an easy read, with spoonful of history, a cupful friendship topped off with a dollop of wit, then this is a great choice.

Boater - By Jo Bell Available here (aff link)

If I were to move back and took to a. life on the water, this is obviously this is the boat for me... Spotted on the canal near Congleton.

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Beaten but not down...

I often get asked when is the best time to visit Japan, and my answer is always the same. Anytime except the summer. June brings the rainy season, the rain isn't like the monsoons of India but it brings the humidity and it is that combined with the intense heat that makes summer in Japan unbearable.

And yes, it's definitely getting worse. When Ebi-kun was a kid, there was always a posse of kids hanging out on the street having water fights and other summer high jinks. There are still kids living on the street but it is too hot for them to be outside.

This week, most of the week it was 38℃ with a 'feels like' temp of 44℃. It's brutal out there!

We used to do a lot of ice cooking and ice digging but these days I think I'd move it to the bath rather than the yard. I miss those days or squeals and laughter as the kids played as I worked.

Anyway, all of this to say that I am very grumpy because it too darn hot! I lived in Jerusalem for a time and it was hot there but the heat was dry, whole different ball game!  And because my daily walks have been scuppered I've taken to the treadmill, but I have to say, it's really not that much fun.

When I bought it I had this bright idea of using it as a walking desk, convinced I could MacGyver a set up... which I did, it lasted all of 2 minutes before I almost fell off, narrowly avoiding a serious injury. Thankfully none of this was caught on camera so you can just use your imagination!

After retelling the tale to Ebi-kun he went into fits of laughter "What were you thinking, with your lack of co-ordination?" He managed to squeak between guffaws. 

Ok, he has a point!

So the treadmill moved upstairs and my walking is down to a minimum. <sigh>

It is one of the drawbacks of working from home I suppose, at least I don't have to do the train commute anymore, squashed in the Takasaki - Tokyo train with hundreds of sweaty salarymen, also not my idea of fun!

I usually escape back to the UK for a chunk of the summer, but not this year. I'm in the process of organising the Celebration of Life for my mom in September, so I'll be flying back then - assuming the war in the Middle East hasn't taken a turn for the worse. 

I haven't quite got back into the habit of updating daily but I do have to say, it's so refreshing to just sit down and write again without the pressure of SEO and all that tech nonsense. 

Having Ebi-kun at home for the summer is great too, not only for the company, he is a joy to chat with. But he also loves cooking, last night we had carbonara, made from scratch, including the pasta. Top notch, giving myself a pat on the back for getting the kid in the kitchen from a young age!

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quince

To bring you up to speed, this year has so far been a roller-coaster. 

My mom, who had COPD took a turn for the worse in February, so I dropped everything and took the next flight back to the UK. I ended up staying for 2 months, helping my brother sort out care options and getting the house in order, decluttering, sorting paperwork and whatnot. As well as keeping up with my work. Which fortunately, I can do from anywhere. 

Oh yes, and a few days after I landed, that orange idiot in America declared war on Iran which meant flying back through the Middle East - my usual route was a hard no and all the flight prices shot up.

In the end I had to leave because I had a medical appointment and needed a top up of prescription pills which I couldn't get in the UK.

Not long after mom passed away, in her sleep, peacefully, for that I'm grateful for. She had had enough and just wanted to 'pop off' (her words), she wasn't going to get better so it was for the best. But still hard.

She hadn't wanted a funeral so that side of things was fairly quick and easy to deal with, I'll be going back in September - assuming I can due to the war. And we'll have a celebration of life then. 

My original plans had been to go over in June for my brothers wedding but that all got scuppered. My youngest brother is a bit of a Viking hippy, love the earth type of guy. He is looking for land to buy to start his own farm and homestead. 

I didn't want to buy a gift that was just going to clutter up the house, and decided on a couple of trees so he could plant them on his land when he gets it. I know he has a few fruit trees already and didn't want to get them something they already had. So I had to put my thinking hat on.

I decided weird was the way to go. He loves learning about plants and so when I stumbled upon the medlar tree I knew I had a winner.  The other one I found was quince, which you can make a great jelly from to go with cheese, always a winner in my books.

I ordered the trees and then painted some quince fruit to make into a card, I tried medlar fruit but well, if you read the line from Shakespeare below you'll understand why it wasn't really suitable for a wedding hard! Lol.

For thousands of years quince has been a symbol of love, marriage and fertility. It was a favourite of the Greek goddess Aphrodite! The ancient Greeks gave quinces to newly weds as a wish for happiness and prosperity. Clearly a better gift than an airfryer!

Medlar trees on the other hand...

Are gloriously old trees that refuse to do things the normal way. (Which seems fitting if you know my brother). Their fruit has to go through a process known as 'bletting' before it becomes sweet enough to eat. And the old romantic William Shakespeare preferred to call it open arse fruit! Make of that as you will.

So yes, keeping it weird and in the family. Nothing new there.

We also decided that we'd get a tree for mom and bury her ashes under it, perhaps a cherry blossom as they were always in bloom for her birthday. I think she would have liked that.

Stay creative!

Jo xx

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Here's to the rule breakers!

Well Hello!
It has been a while...

I know personal blogging isn't as cool as it used to be and I have my work blog still going over at jojoebi.com but you know, I miss old school blogging.

Where I didn't have to worry about SEO and AI and all that nonsense. I used to be such a prolific blogger, often blogging daily or at least several times a week but then all the techie crap came and sucked the fun out of it.

So I was thinking, maybe I'll just pick up here again, waffle like I did back in the beginning and forget all the annoying 'rules'.

This blog started out as "A bit of this and a bit of that" because I just wanted to share what I was up to and not niche down or be in a labelled box - yes, my punk vibe still going strong. So, I'm going back to that. I'll write when I feel like it and about whatever comes up. 

If you fancy coming along for the ride, all the better. If you are reading and still blogging, let me know in the comments so I can come and check yours out too. I do miss the old blogging community. I really wish Google hadn't done away with Google reader, I feel that was the downfall of the simple blog culture.

Here is a very brief update for anyone who used to read and stumbled back...

• Ebi-kun was homeschooled for junior high the went to a hybrid school in Japan called N-school for high school
• He is now studying for a degree in dietetics in Hungary and loving it, he wants to be a football dietician.
• I set up the 193 Little Adventures Club and create a new printable pack for a different country every month. I love it, it's so much fun and I have learned a lot!
• I still run a version of Wonder Moms although the current iteration is more about accountability and staying on task, we have a small and tight knit community and I really enjoy hanging out with the group. 
• I lost my mom in the spring, she had been very ill so it wasn't unexpected but still really hard when you are the other side of the world. She didn't want a funeral so we are having a celebration of life in the autumn. I'm not really looking forward to going back tbh. We also lost ji-chan last year and baa-chan is in the hospital, also very poorly. All in all, not a great time.
• I fell off the sewing wagon, I still have a cupboard full of fabric and a lovely machine but sort of lost my mojo, maybe I need a fun project to get going again.
• Last year I went on an epic adventure with my bestie Di, who had won money for a holiday on a radio competition. We visited Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, there was a lot of laughing, exploring and silliness, it was very much needed.
• My little brother got married in the summer, I couldn't make it back but I did enjoy researching and finding his present, I'll share that in the next post.

That's it for now. I have to go and face the awful heat as I need to print some bits out and we no lonbger have a printer. Hey-ho it's off to the conbini I go...

And I will leave you with one of Japan's great mysteries, what kind of animal is this... ?

Stay creative!

Jo xx

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Have you landed in the right place?

This is just quick update, in case you landed here accidentally.

This was my original blog started in 2007 and I have kept it (but not really updated it) because there are a lot of useful posts hidden in the depths.

Where you can find me now - on a regular basis is blogging at jojoebi.com. Where I'm still blogging about Montessori and helping kids learn at home but also expanded to helping moms get more done, bringing my productivity coach know-how to the blog.

If you have got kids in the 4-10 year old age range then 193 Little Adventures might be of interest to you, this is my passion project, helping kids to learn about the world.

If you want to connect, @jojoebi on Insta is for the productivity, time saving side of things and @193_little_adventures for the kids stuff. If you do follow, shoot me a message and say hello!

To get free access to the 193 Little Adventures Curiosity Files (new printable added each week) CLICK HERE

Where we are with our homeschool journey

Term time starts in April here, we took August off so this is where we are this September:

• ⭐️ Core subjects (Grade 3 Junior High): Maths, Japanese, and Science using Study Sapuri (in Japanese). He also uses Khan Academy for maths because he doesn't like the Japanese math teacher.
• ⭐️ English: He reads daily, works through a workbook together with me, and is doing a creative writing class on Outschool this term.
• ⭐️ French: After 300 days of Spanish, he decided to switch to French! He does daily lessons on Duolingo. Once he has the basics down, we will look for a conversation class.
• ⭐️ Humanities (High School): He is about halfway through those, so he will continue with them in Japanese using Study Sapuri.
• ⭐️ Game Theory: He has gotten really interested in this over the last couple of months. After researching it, we signed him up for a course on Coursera to go deeper (research in Japanese, course in English).
• ⭐️ Culinary Arts: Still a favourite! He is working through all the chefs on MasterClass and experimenting a lot in the kitchen (mostly English).
• ⭐️ PE: Aikido twice a week, climbing 3 times a week, plus home training to build muscle for climbing.
• ⭐️ Coding & Robotics: Lego Mindstorms EV3 with Zkai, alongside live lectures and classes debating various topics (Japanese).
• ⭐️ Occasional classes: With JUNEC (Japanese).
• ⭐️ Art: I signed up for an art course on Domestika and he has been joining in.

I think that is it! Looks like a lot, but some of these are just once or twice a month. He is enjoying being able to pick and mix whatever he wants to study and learn at his own pace.

Ebi-kun is happy. I would say the only downside is that he doesn't see his friends so much now—we knew this would happen and unfortunately, there are not many homeschoolers his age around.

We have developed a routine: he does the bulk of his studying in the morning while I work. We stop for lunch, and after eating, we watch a TED talk or Masterclass. Then we go bouldering, do something together, or he works on a project. In the evening, he meets online with his mates to play games and hang out—normal teenage boy stuff!

And that is it.

I've been missing the blog, so I plan to pop by more often. I miss just sitting down first thing and banging out a blog post! TBH my work blog is a lot of work—I have to consider keywords, SEO, the right titles, and all that jazz, which really sucks the fun out of things!

So over here it will just be my rambles and rants, like the good old days!

If you are reading, please drop me a comment, I'd love to re-connect with my old followers.

Keep being wonderful,
Jo

Homeschool Update...

To be honest, I haven't got much to update about!

So last time I talked about filling the forms in at city hall. That is about it really. We haven't heard anything else, which does have me a tad worried—you know how much the Japanese love red tape and bureaucracy!

Ebi-kun told his class teacher that he was going to homeschool for junior high. At first, sensei was OK: "If that's what you want to do." But then a few days later he said to Ebi-kun that he didn't think it was "allowed" and that he had to go to school. Hubby has explained all the rules to Ebi-kun in Japanese so that he can answer all these types of questions which no doubt will come up in the future.

Last week the 6th graders were going for a tour of the junior high. Any kids that are not going to that school were allowed to go home instead. There are a handful of students that will go to private JH schools and of course, Ebi-kun. I had to go and pick him up, so whilst the rest of the kids are touring the school, we went for ice cream #homeschoollife!

We then popped to the supermarket so he could pick up the ingredients to cook dinner. I'm telling you, I'm loving this already!

The other thing that has come up: Ebi-kun currently goes to football school once a week and wanted to continue, but there is no JH age class. On Saturday he had a make-up class, so afterwards I suggested we do a very un-Japanese thing and ask if they can let him join a class next year (the year starts April).

We had a long chat with the coaches and explained what was happening and why he couldn't join the JH team. We had to explain a bit about homeschooling and they were absolutely lovely about it.

They suggested he join a class for the next couple of weeks which is a higher level than the one he is in now to see if he likes that kind of training, and they would talk to the head coach to see about him being allowed to join a class or if there is enough interest to start a JH class.

They said that they really wanted to support us and would try and work something out.

Ebi-kun was chuffed to bits, so it's fingers crossed now that they are good to their word and do work something out.

Ebi-kun will keep doing his aikido and he has been trying the bouldering club out too, so I think if we can keep the football in the mix he should have enough to keep him busy out of the house (and me!).

I will keep you posted on what happens next—it's very much a see-how-it-goes type of adventure!

If you are homeschooling too, let me know!

Jo

The trouble with blogging these days...

The trouble with blogging these days...

I was talking to my biz coach the other day and she made a point of saying how much she loved my writing style and wanted to know why I don't write more.

I started with the same ole same ole excuses and lack of time yadda yadda yadda but then I though some more about it.

It isn't down to lack of time at all, if anything since Ebi-kun has been at school, I have more time! When to think back when I was most prolific with my blogging, that was when I was the most busy. So what really changed?

The business of blogging I think is a big factor.

You see when I started, I knew nothing about SEO (Seacrh Engline Optimization) or keywords, the important of alt text on images and the layout that coverts the best or any of that stuff. And to be brutely honest, I had zero interest in it either.

I was blogging initially for me and my family (this was pre-Facebook days, do you remember them?)

I wrote because I enjoyed it, it was a creative outlet. I didn't worry about the terrible grammar (confessin alert, I would type and hit publish, without even reading it through...!)

I didn't worry about how professional I sounded or if I was using the latest terminolgy and jargon. I just wrote whatever came to mind and that was that.

Totally random unicorn chocolate photos because... why not?

Being a multipotenialite meant that there was never a clear niche for this blog, it was always a general, this is my life and what I'm up to right now kind of thing. It was called A Bit Of This And A Bit Of That when I first started. No planning, not deciding on what will go out in Q1, Q2 or anything like that.

It was very much me, just writing.

Then when I started My Organized Chaos (now jojoebi) I discovered I hadn't been doing things properly and the following I had gained totally organically was a bit of a happy accident!

I started following the advice of the "gurus" on when and how to post, keyword research, optimised blog titles, SEO and all of that and you know what, it sucked the fun out of writing.

Combine that with how easy it is to write a quick update on what's going on over on Facebook and well, this blog took quite a beating.

I have had coaches in the past who told me to to move this blog over to the new site, my gut has always been against the idea, and my brain was screaming WHAT? 3000 POSTS, ARE YOU INSANE? Needless to say, we are still here and I'm happy with that.

So thanks to my current coach I was able to nail what it was that was holiding me back. This blog has never been about the money, it was always a creative outlet and connecting with like minded folk.

I want to get back to that just sitting down and rambling, spur of the moments kind of posts, those ones where you have a flash of inspiration in the bath and you just have to get out and share, even if you're dripping all over the keyboard.

I miss the days of the conversations and connections through the comments section, I feel like facebook spolied much of that. I feel like I'm on Facebook waaaay to much and the connections are not truely there, especially with the constant algorithm changes. I still love my groups but I do feel in the last 6 months or so I have drifted away.

So for the future...

Expect more of this, free form waffle, hopefully it will be a bit more amusing and exciting to read! I will be documenting our homeschool journey too, although now there will be less hands on stuff from me.

And of course the random comings and goings of life in Japan and our adventures.

I did contemplate remving everything and going for a total minamilist look but my inner entrepreneur called me bat-shit crazy for even thinking that, because at the end of the day, I still need to be making money!

The moms that I help over on jojoebi and The Kaizen Revolution, came from here initially so there still needs to be some kind of connection.

I'm looking forward to not doing keyword research, not going SEO crazy and not worrying about if I'm doing it it right or wrong. Just going with the flow!

I hope you enjoy it to!

I'll be seeing you again soon,

Jo

Create Every Week #4 - Blow Fish Party

I admit it, I have been slacking off on the creativity side but I did have a play around the other day with this.

I am hoping to up my "kawaii illustrations" game so I decided to combine different expressions with blowfish (fugu as it is known in Japan).

I'll probably paint it with water colours but upload and clean it up a bit so I can play around with digital painting too.

I have been using this book: Kawaii: How to draw really cute stuff as a reference book. Which I'm really enjoying, Ebi-kun too. It has step-by-step instructions for drawing all kinds of things from people to transport to buildings, and how to kawaiify them.

Obviously in Japan everything is kawaii, they have a knack of making everything cute—which other nation would come up with a cute poop emoji? I rest my case.
All the prefectures have their own cute mascots, we have a pigeon. I know right, of all the creatures they pick a bloody pigeon!

But it doesn't stop there: supermarkets, hospitals, schools, even prisons have mascots too—it's a HUGE business. One thing that surprised me when I first came over to Japan was seeing full-grown men with cute mascot pens, keychains, and the suchlike. After being here so long it all seems perfectly normal.

So... what have you been creating this week?

Instant Pot: Italian Bean Stew and Dumplings

Instant Pot Convert Here!

I bought an instant pot last November, mainly because we eat a lot of stews, soups and casseroles over the winter and standing over the stove is not my idea of a barrel of laughs.

Initially, I was going to go for a Crock Pot but when I started reading reviews I kept seeing Instant Pot pop up, so I did some more digging.

It seemed to be the bee's knees so I ordered one.

I have never owned or used any kind of pressure cooker so I was a bit worried about blowing up the kitchen, so far so good!

Quick disclaimer: I often use affiliate links in my post and on my site, this means that I get a small percentage of the same if you choose to buy through my link, at no cost to you.

I feel like my biggest gripe with the Instant Pot - which I love incidentally, is more to do with the wild claims of food bloggers. When I was trawling Pinterest for recipes and reviews I saw all these amazing claims "Rice cooked in 5 minutes", "Whole roast chicken in 30 minutes" and the such like.

Now these claims are not wrong but what they don't mention is that you have to add in the time it takes for the pot to come to pressure, 5-10 minutes and then the time it takes to release afterwards. As a pressure cooker newbie, I was clueless about this and was sucked in by the super fast cooking times.

Due to my ignorance, for the first few weeks, my cooking times were well off and I was having trouble getting a meal to come together, now I pretty much prepare the Instant Pot portion of the meal in advance so I don't have to think about it!

I got the Instant Pot DUO80 8 Qt 7-in-1 Multi- Use Programmable Pressure Cooker I haven't yet tried the yoghurt function, need to get onto that!

For those in Japan, I ordered this one here - please note that it has an earth on the plug, luckily we have an earthed socket next to the oven so it all plugged in fine but I know other people have had to buy an adapter to make it work for them. Voltage wise it works fine.

Now we have that out of the way... onto the recipe!

Stufato Di Fagioli Con Polpettine Di Pane

Or in other words, Italian bean Stew With Bread Dumplings

This is meat free but still very filling, it's like a hug in a bowl! Perfect for wintery evenings and was pretty quick to throw together. It got a great 9/10 from the family, so this is going on the winners list and into my evernote file of fall back recipes.

I adapted the recipe from Gino's D'Campo's Italian Escape book, mom got it me for Christmas, purely because she fancies Gino!

Serves 4

For the bean stew

2 TBSP Olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 pinches dried red chilli flakes
1 TSP fresh chopped rosemary
2 x 400g chopped tomatoes + 1/2 can of water
1 x 400g tinned borlotti beans, drained and rinsed*
1 x 400g tinned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and pepper

*For those in Japan I get my beans from Yamaya International Liquor store - if you haven't discovered this store yet, go and hunt it out, it's a gem!

For the dumplings

200g ciabatta bread*
200ml milk
1 egg beaten
2 TSP fresh chopped rosemary (recipe called for parsley)
1 TBSP flour
Olive oil

*I didn't have any ciabatta so I dug some random bread leftovers, a couple of homemade buns and the end of a french stick, out of the freezer. Let them defrost and added the milk, I needed a bit more than the recipe stated but that might have been down to the type of bread.

• Put the olive oil in the instant pot and set to saute.
• Add the onion and cook for a couple of minutes.
• Add the chilli pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
• Throw in the rest of the ingredients, give a good stir.
• Change the setting from saute to soup.

Takes 11 minutes cooking time but remember to add the coming up and releasing the pressure!

Dumplings...

• Chop the bread into small cubes.
• Warm the milk then pour over the bread, I needed to add a bit more milk, maybe due to the fact it wasn't ciabatta. 
• Leave to soak for 10 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Stir in the rosemary, egg and flour. The recipe called for lemon zest too but I didn't have any so skipped that bit completely.
• It should make a sticky type dough.
• Heat the oil in a frying pan, scoop the dough into walnut sized balls and cook until golden all over.

The Start Of Our Homeschool Journey In Japan

The Start Of Our Homeschool Journey In Japan

I have a BIG announcement... 

Yes, we are going to start homeschooling full time. Ebi-kun will finish Elementary school in March and so we will start our homeschool journey.

For some of you, this won't be a surprise, it is something we have been considering all along but now it's crunch time and we have to jump one way or the other.

We did look at one of the local school which although it is government run, the system they use is slightly different and we thought it would be a compromise. He took the entrance test and didn't get in (only 2 kids from his elementary school did pass the test and then there is an interview). So that made our mind up for us.

To answer the most glaring question first... WHY?

As you know, I am passionate about Montessori and deeply believe that the "follow the child" or child-led learning as it is also known is the best way for a child to learn.

When a child follows their passions and intrinsic motivation - the planes of development as Montessori called them, the child learns at a much deeper level, gets a much better understanding of the subject matter and doesn't get bored by the education process.

Also when a child follows an area of interest it brings in subject areas from many different places. For example, Ebi-kun is interested in food, which is what started the whole Ebi-kun Eats thing but it is so much more than just trying new foods.

He is interested in flavour combinations, he will often try different flavours together to see if they work. He loves to find out the history of a type of food, how it is made and he is an avid ingredients reader.

He will follow a recipe to the tee for the first try but then will experiment by adding things in and taking things out, cooking it in a different way. It's a big science experiment.

So although cooking is the main subject it also brings in maths, chemistry, food safety, history, culture... and he is also learning to take notes in a scientific way, to explore and push boundaries, to ask questions and see where the answers lead him.

This is a very different approach to learning how to make cupcakes in a classroom.

This goes for any other subject he decides to deep dive into. Japanese history is something he is very much interested in now. He is a voracious reader and when he finds an interesting fact in a book he will take that and explore it further.

This is the way I believe education should be, following our passions and exploring them to a deeper level.

I am 100% sure that there are things that both you and I learned at school that have never ever used. Osmosis - has that ever been used in my life, nope. Trigonometry is the one that is usually banded about because unless you follow the path or maths and engineering, there is very little chance you will have need of it.

That said, I do believe a foundation in the basics is important, Maths, English, Japanese so these will be none negotiables. The rest he can choose to study as he likes.

The other reason is that Japanese Junior High works extremely well on the Victorian schooling system, the schools were set up initially to prepare kids to work in the factories. Kids learned that everything had to be done a specific way, to do as your told, when you are told and by the time you had finished, you were ready to join the workforce.

That is all very good and well if you want to go 'into the system' but I don't believe it is a healthy system, the stupidly long hours, lack of time to spend with family and the whole "hammer the nail down that sticks up ethic" If you don't fit the mold, they will make you fit the mold.

As a square peg myself this really, really doesn't sit well with me.

We all have a place in this world, no matter who we are, what we do and what our quirks are, we should be accepted for who we are.

This thing of making everyone equal and the same is totally against everything I believe and stand for, I couldn't put my child through that system. Some people might be OK with it. I am not.

So that is the WHY and now onto the HOW...

Obviously, Ebi-kun has been part of the conversation. His main concern is friends or lack of but we think we can work this out. He will still go to aikido, he's interested in joining the bouldering club, we are looking into volunteering places to join and there are plenty of classes he can join both on and offline.

His biggest complaint about school is that he is bored because the pace is too slow. He does his homework in class (this year the sensei is OK with that) and doesn't get to study the things he is interested in. He is excited to be homeschooling and not to wear a uniform!

We already use Khan Academy and I have looked into other online courses. He is also signed up for this Japanese site Study Sapuri which covers the everything up to university entrance exams. So we will probably use this for maths and Japanese and social studies.

We will also consider juku (cram school) or tutor if he needs it for help on the Japanese side of things.

The Legalities...

Full disclaimer here! I am not a lawyer in any shape or form and we are finding our way through this by ourselves, just taking it as it comes. My husband is 'The Research Type' so he and Google have become very good friends! But I wanted to share our journey to help anyone else who decided to take the same path.

In Japan, the law states that a child has a legal right to education until they are of age to graduate Junior High School (roughly 16 depending on their birthday). The law does not specify how or where the education needs to take place.

It is possible to be registered with the local Junior High, this seems to depend on the headmaster/BOE from what I can gather. The child is registered and will get a graduation certificate but doesn't need to attend the school.

I have read that some schools allow the child to join the club activities or specific classes but Ebi-kun was adamant he wasn't up for that.

Today we went down to the town hall and filled in a form in the Education Committee Section ( 区域外就学・指定校変更届け  ) stating what our plans were and why. It took about 10 minutes, seemed fairly straightforward. At this point we don't know what happens next, I will update with another post when we know!

We are expecting an interview somewhere along the line and maybe a yearly update but at this point, who knows!

Now, if you are reading this, there are a lot of stories where parents have run into resistance and struggled to get the BOE on side if your child has dual nationality, you can play the foreigner card and basically, from what I understand the BOE will leave you to your own devices as the law is only directed at Japanese kids.

I'm hoping that we won't need to go down that route but it's a backup plan just in case.

What About My Business?

I have always built my business with the idea that it fits with the family so that won't change. Iw ill work alongside Ebi-kuns study. I will have to cut the hours back a bit, be more productive in some areas. Generally speaking, nothing will change.

I have decided to retired a couple of my services and concentrate more on the passive income. I am keeping The Kaizen Revolution going so that will be my main focus.

Homeschooling will give us a lot more freedom, we don't have to stick to school holidays for starters, so we can explore more, hopefully, travel more and not necessarily in school holiday time, although we are still tied to my husbands work schedule!

That is where we are at right now.

Graduation is towards the end of March so the adventure will officially start then but I will update here when we have any new information!

Create Every Week - Week #3

We had SNOW!

I know for many people that isn't very exciting but I LOVE the snow and we don't get it very often here.

I wasn't the only one who was stupidly excited about it, admitedly the rest of the lcoals were under the age of 13 hahaaha


Although I had planned to do some drawing this week I couldn't resist grabbing my camera and heading out in the snow and not only the snow, we had a misty morning out too - it was stunning.

I love the snow for so many reasons, being a winter babe probably has something to do with it but I also love...

I love the chance to be the first to walk across an untouched path of snow, it is the one of the times when you can truely be The First.

I love the way that it changes the scenery, making the usual boring and mundane look mysterious and intresting.

I love how it changes the sounds, everything seems quieter and sounds are more intense.

I love the smell, that fresh, clean air that your lungs just can't get enough of.

I love the patterns that nature brings us with the snow, the way that the wind blows it or the way that it covers cabbages in the field making them look like mini mountains.

I love how it changes the energy, kids squeal with excitement, adulats remembering the days they went sledging or the best snowman they ever made.

I love that it is a free creative tool that, when just right you can build amazing sculptures or igloos or snow trolls!

I love the chaos that it brings becuae it makes you appreciaite everything when it's running normally.

I also love that I work from home and don't have to commute in the chaos :D

So here are a few, unedited shots from my 2 and half hour walk! I mamnaged to get my 10K steps in before 10am!

18 for 2018 - family bucket list

We decided as a family to put together a bucket list for 2018.

It had to contain a stretch goal, something the cost nothing, something fun, something to challenge us and something taht we could do every month. They were the general rules anyway!

It too a while to come up with 18 but we finally did it, this is sperate from my create every week misssion!

If you prefer to read about the whole list, I wrote about it over HERE or you can sit back and watch the short video...

Let me know if you are doing something similar!

So far we have tried 2 new cafes, one is just a 10 minute walk up the road and we had no idea it was there. It's a great find as they also have a foot spa! I can see me spending a lot more time over there...

They also have a small shop where they sell oils, herbs and handmade goods, absolute gem of a find! The menu is limited but tasty.

The second new cafe is about 3km away, also very nice, everything sourced locally when they can. Bit of an odd menu but we all enjoyed it! No doubt we will be going back soon! I could probabaly bike over alough it means going along the scary main road, so to be honest, I probably won't!

That brings us onto pancakes, I tried THIS recipe, well I based it on that recipe, I made some tweaks. You have to cook them on a very low temperature otherwise they are still soggy in the middle!

I want to try them again, when I am sure I have it right I'll share my tweaked, Japan friendly version!

And the fun family photo - mision complete, New Years skiing in Niigata. The first day I wasn't feeling too good, the scond day was lovely, great snow, great weather!

Then day three was a right off, the weather was terrible, most of the lifts were closed so we gave up and came home early but at least we got a decent photo!

Create Every Week - Week #2

Create Every Week

This year I wanted to challenge myself to be more creative just for me, I do a lot of creative things for work but sometimes it feels like everything is work focused and less on having fun and just enjoying the process.

I know a lot of people do the drawing or painting challenges but I really don't restrict myself to any specific medium, more just to go with the flow and see what captures my attention in the moment.

Week #2 - Photography

I love taking pictures but it is a long time since I did any kind of formal training and I'd love to get out of the habit of putting my DSLR on auto!

I have a Pentax K-50 and it's bright PINK! I went with Pentax because that is what my old camera was and we used them in college, so it's a bit like an updated, snazzier version of an old friend!

Ebi-kun is still off school so we went for a walk, both taking our cameras and just enjoyed the time outside. Not having a focus or theme, just pictures of whatever.

These are my three favourite shots of the day...

I'm not sure what this plant is but they grow in abundance in the neglected rice paddies, they looked so delegate against the winter sky...

..

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Next up were chestnuts, there were found surrounding a little shrine which was guarded by foxes - statues, not the real thing, I don't actually live in a Miyazaki movie.

The colour of the chestnuts grabbed my attention, I love that rich brown colour, always reminds me of autumn and delicious food.

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The final one today is taken through the wooden grill at the little fox shrine, the grill actually framing what was inside.

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The fox shrine is actually an Inari Shinto shrine to worship the god Inari. There are almost 3000 of these shrines dotted around Japan, I am better this is one of the smallest! Most of these shrines have a pair of foxes gardening the gate.

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So that wraps up week #1 if you are joining in let me know what you are up to! I'm hoping this challenge will keep me a bit more consistent with my posting too!