Lost in Japan

In writing a post about travelling to Japan, it is so easy to slip in to clichés. I have just got home from my third trip there. Each visit has been short – a work trip with little recreational time. Each visit has been just long enough to be dazzled, confused and mesmerised by the place, but never long enough to really begin to know it.

I saw Lost in Translation some time before my first trip to Tokyo. It is one of my favourite films – the tale of romance between the characters of Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson was superbly portrayed. I was also amused by the images of Bill Murray as a traveller – although I had not been to Japan, I do travel a lot, and the sense of disorientation that Murray conveys in the early scenes had me both laughing and understanding.

And Japan is one place where the jet lag really gets me. I have no idea why. Unlike the movie, my wide awake scenes are not conducted in hotel bars consuming whisky, but rather in the hours before dawn, waking at 3am or so, and wondering what to do until breakfast.

This trip I went out for a run one morning to while away the hours. There was a huge park marked on the map – a magnet for me. Navigating the streets, I readily found it, only to discover it completely locked up. Surrounded by high fences, this park only opens from 9:00am til 4:00pm, and has turnstiles. Even if it had been open, I did not have 200 yen in the pocket of my running shorts…

Back to jogging the streets and the occasional bemused glance of early morning commuters. One of these trips I will get the hang of Tokyo.

But the highlight of the trip was undoubtedly the flight home. I discovered I was sitting next to two Japanese flautists on their way to Europe to give a concert. Neither Ayako or Chikako (pictured above) spoke much English, but they were equipped with a phrase book and electronic translating gadget, and we more than amused ourselves trying to understand each other.

Mind you, the phrase book really raises the question of the Japanese perception of the rest of the world. In working on how to convince Japan to give up whaling, I have thought about this quite a bit, and it remains a great challenge. But the book had some great ‘everyday phrases’, such as “I am crazy for you, can I kiss you?” and “I have been in love with you since I first saw you”. Who ever said the Japanese where shy and retiring! (And no, I was not subjected to these phrases, they were just in the book…)

Shane

Who said the Netherlands was boring?

Hopefully this story about a group of runners attacked by wasps won't put too many people of the joys of getting out there for a run in the forest...

That is one nasty incident, and I hope all involved are recovering well.

Shane

Seeing is Believing ...

... because as many of you know, I can now see properly out of my very own two eyes, rather than through glasses or contact lenses. But it is a strange experience. Most people ask me if it is good to be able to see now. And the fact is that it doesn't feel all that different. As I used to put my glasses or contact lenses on as soon as I got up in the morning, and then only take them off last thing at night, I always could see... Now I have to keep pinching myself, reminding myself that it is my very own eyes that are doing all the work, rather than a precription from the optometrist.

Of course I have been thinking about this for a long time; about 10 years to be exact. In the past when I have seriously considered it however, I always felt that the procedure was a little bit new still, and it was afterall my eyes. However when, late last year, a colleague at work had it done, and talked about the surgeon having been doing this for 25 years, I started to think that maybe he had had enough practice, and that the time had come...

All this of course has been influenced by the fact that about 3 years ago, my eyes started to rebel against wearing contact lenses. After bearing them every day for nearly 10 years my eyes had had enough. So, I've been wearing glasses pretty much constantly since. And you know what - it's really boring. I do actually have two pairs of glasses - my former and current pair if you see what I mean. But even so, it really was getting to feel like I needed to be able to change my look more regularly - except that it's not really possible when a pair of glasses (even with my very simple prescription) is about 400 euros a pop! In addition, I realised that it was limiting what clothes I wore, and what jewellery I chose. I used to chose different jewellery every day (as many of you know, I have a fair amount of it) but no, my glasses were impacting on my earring choice, and I just keep wearing the same pair of plane silver hoops.... for days on end ...!

And then there is the smog... Not that it seems like there is smog in Amsterdam - on the days were there isn't any cloud cover (of which luckily we have had quite a lot this summer) there is no obvious pollution. But we are afterall living in northern Europe, and I found that every day I had to keep cleaning my glasses - over - and over - and over again! Actually I wondered for a while whether my eyes were deteriorating, because I felt like I was looking through a film, but no, every time I cleaned my glasses I realised the film was on the lenses but not the eyes.

So I took the plunge.

And from the initial phone call to the surgery was about 3 weeks. I had no idea it would be so quick, but having decided to do it I was very pleased and excited that it all happenned so fast. I was lucky to have "thick corneas" which meant that I could have the quick healing version of the surgery. For those of you interested in the finer details - the thicker cornea meant that they could lift a flap of cornea, then do the laser treatment under that, and then put the flap back over - which massively aids healing. Anyone who has ever cut their knees knows that an open wound heals more slowly than when there is a flap of skin sitting directly over the cut. And so it is with eyes too.

It is now 3 weeks after the surgery and I have finished all the drops that I had to take (16 times a day in the first week!) and I have had two check ups, with another in a few days. The after surgery care is really very impressive - first check up the day following treatment, 2nd check up a week following, 3rd check up 3 weeks following and so it goes on for 12 months. And all included in the one price, which also included the two pre surgery consultations as well. Plus they guarantee the work, so if it doesn't quite work the first time, they will do it again. Not that I would want to, but apparently my cornea is thick enough to do it 15 times ....

And in case you are wondering, it was 2000 euros for both eyes, which if you think about the cost of glasses and multiply that by a lifetime, doesn't seem to be that much.

So now I don't have to carry multiple sets of glasses, contact lenses and assorted related paraphenelia whenever I travel. I can wear all my jewellery again (and yes I have bought some more) and its really a lot of fun.

I just have to keep reminding myself that it's because my very own eyes are doing the seeing.

And I'd recommend it to anyone.

Nicky

Not quite a day at the races...

So here it is - the first entry in our blog. Triathlon will undoubtedly become a bit of a regular feature in this blog, since it is a big part of my life. Today the race was at Leiderdorp, not far south of Amsterdam. An Olympic distance race (1.5km swim, 40km ride, 10km run), the weather was good, and I have fond memories of this race venue - my first triathlon in the Netherlands was here two years ago, and that day I placed fourth in the sprint distance. Unfortunately today was not so sucessful - I got off to a great start in the swim, clear water in front of me, and settling in to third place. The beauty of triathlon swimming in the Netherlands is that the swim is often in canals - a dead straight line, so no problems navigating the open water swim, which is handy for me - I am sure I always swim further than the rest of the competitors :( You can see the photo - a typical scene from a race here.

All sounds good, right? Well, it was until I getting out of the water. As I stood up, my leg caught on something in the water. No idea what it was, but it hurt! Staggered out of the water, hobbled in to transition, grabbed the bike, rode a few kilometres, but today was not my day. Every turn of the pedals brought a wince of pain and a distinct lack of power. Feeling a little dejected, I turned around and limped back to the race headquarters. Straight to First Aid, but I forgot ice is not a big thing here. I was handed a luke warm ice pack - unlikely to do much for my rapidly swelling quadricep!

Plan B - leave the venue, head for the train station, buy something frozen for the leg. At the supermarket, the only frozen stuff are ice creams. Bad mental image - frozen Magnum all over my leg. Probably amusing for the others on the train though. In the end, bought some sought of yoghurt drink, and sat on the train home with it held to my leg. Maybe not frozen, but at least cooling.

This is only the second race in my 15 years of triathlon that I have failed to finish. Then there is the one I failed to start this season - a race at Noordwijkerhout (don't ask me how to pronounce it!). Our friend Kate offered to drive me to the race - how could you knock back an offer like that. Only problem was thar the motorway was closed for maintenance. Not being locals, it took us a while to find the alternate route, arriving just in time to watch the swimmers hit the water!

Anyway, back to the training track, start working on my next race in two weeks time - and hopefully a more fulfilling day...
Shane