Last night we went to Roy’s Bar & Grill in the Mori Tower, Roppongi Hills, to celebrate my Dad’s birthday.  It was the first time I had been there and I would definitely go back.  It’s more expensive than the restaurants we normally eat in but the food and service were excellent.  And they worked really hard to make the experience memorable for my Dad.

Table Setting at Restaurant

Today, for the first time since I got back from Copenhagen, the sun decided to shine.  My house guests suggested that we take a walk round the Imperial Palace before it started to rain again.  It was really hot and humid outside but the beauty of the gardens helped me cope with the weather.  Part of the gardens appear to be a sanctury for all sorts of insects so I will probably complain about the bites on my arms for the next day or two.

Imperial Palace East Garden

Ninomaru Garden, Imperial Palace

I spent the day wandering around Kamakura with my current house guests.  As they had a guide book I ended up seeing places I had never been to before.  One of these, the Kaikōzan Hase-dera, is certainly worth visiting - even in the rain.

Gardens at Hase-dera

Flowers in Rain

Japanese Garden at Hase-dera

I rang Marty when I arrived at the airport yesterday morning.  One of the first things he said was “please don’t shout but the apartment is a mess”.  And he really wasn’t joking.  The reason I am writing in my blog is to try to avoid looking at the mess.  I got up early planning to clean but I am fed up cleaning already.  I have visitors arriving on Sunday so I can’t avoid the mess for long.

It’s hard to believe that I have only been away for a couple of weeks as every room is horrible.  From here I can see the dirty towels thrown around the bathroom floor.  The handrail, for the hand towel, has fallen off and is lying on the floor.  The wooden floor in the hall is covered in dust and hair.  And I can smell the overly ripe bananas that he has left out on the kitchen counter. I don’t want to go back into the kitchen as every dish is dirty and there are quite a few used teabags on the work surfaces.

I noticed that Marty has also been blogging.  Wish he had done some cleaning instead.

Today I made my first visit to a dentist in Japan.  I have had a lot of pain in an erupting wisdom tooth since the middle of last week.  This happened to the same tooth a couple of years ago.  I went to see a dentist in Northern Ireland and at that time I was told the tooth was fine and that it was normal for this to cause a lot of pain.

This morning I woke at around 5.30am with a fever and decided that I would need to go and see someone about the tooth.  I had no idea where to go so I did a quick search for “English speaking dentists in Tokyo”.  Luckily for me one of the top results was a surgery in the building Marty works in.  Going to the dentist can be quite a traumatic experience.  I have never really understand what dentists do to make people feel so uncomfortable.  Today I didn’t feel nervous but that was mainly because the fever made me feel sick and I was in quite a lot of pain - I didn’t really think anyone could make me feel worse.

I turned up without an appointment just after the surgery opened.  I was told that I would have to wait for an hour.  I was thrilled with this.  When I had the problems in Northern Ireland I found it really hard to get an appointment at the dentist.  Even though it was considered an emergency, because of the pain, I still had to wait for two days until a dentist could fit me in in their lunch break.

I was impressed with the surgery.  It was really clean and peaceful.  The dentist made me feel comfortable and took time to explain everything that was going to happen.  It seemed more efficient than any dentist I have been to in Northern Ireland.  The dentist who analysed my x-ray and looked at the tooth didn’t do any of the mundane things like taking the x-ray or cleaning my gums.  He had a dental technician to do this for him.

Although the visit went well it turns out that I have a problem with my tooth.  The dentist wanted to schedule surgery to remove it at the start of next week but I will be in Europe as I am going to YAPC::Europe.  It’s haven’t felt well in days and it’s possible that I am going to feel awful throughout my whole European trip but I don’t want to cancel.

Summer has arrived.  Tonight for this first time this year I have been serenaded by the cicadas.  I don’t like the summer and I am finding it difficult to cope with the heat.  I find it hard to stop myself getting ill because I’m not eating and drinking enough.  The heat makes me lose my appetite and no matter how much I drink it doesn’t seem to be enough.  I started to feel weak and debilatated during the week and realised that I really need to eat more.  I keep thinking that I’ve eaten enough but fruit and salad don’t contain enough calories to be the only thing I eat.  I have added kanpyo maki to my diet but I am not eating enough of this to make up the calories I need.

To fix this problem I have tried to make sure that any food I buy is food that I really like eating.  This does mean that the grocery bill is increasing but at least I should be healthier.  On the plus side I’m losing weight.

Marty and I have started to look for a new apartment.  We still have months to do this but we really don’t know much about the different residential areas of the city.  I really like the area we live in and we do have a nice apartment but I think it might be an idea to try to experience life in a different part of the city. 

Yesterday we went and looked at a new apartment complex in Minami-Senju.  The area wasn’t anywhere near as nice as the one we currently live in but the apartment was stunning.  It would cost around the same to rent as our current apartment but it had two extra rooms.  It was also in one of those buildings that looks more like a hotel than an apartment block with water fountains outside, a marble lobby with red leather sofas and a reception desk.  The complex also has a gym and a Japanese style spa.  We also liked the fact that the apartment was brand new with a beautiful kitchen and bathroom.  And it had a view over the city and of Mt. Fuji. 

We were told that this would probably be fully rented by the time we would be moving but it has shown us that we could have a much nicer apartment.  Next week we are thinking about taking a look at the area around Hikarigaoka Station.

This is something about the heat and humidity that makes me want to sleep.  I found it really hard to get up today and yesterday afternoon I managed to fall asleep after I had carried the shopping home.  Usually it takes me about 15 minutes to get back from that shop but yesterday it took half and hour and I was out of breath when I got here.

I have been told that summer hasn’t arrived in Tokyo yet as the rainy season isn’t over.  I’m really not looking forward to summer as along with the heat it will bring bugs. 

I am writing this post using Internet Explorer on a Windows machine.  My MacBook has died - Marty thinks that the hard disc has gone - and the latest Firefox updates have broken Firefox on my PC. 

I realised that my infection was affecting my mood when I found myself yelling at the screen, “come on Lewis, get out of the gravel, your granny could qualify better than that!”.

Marty came to my rescue with a cold compress for my swollen face, steam and olbas oil to help clear my sinuses, hot tea and dark chocolate for some chemicals they contain, and paracetamol for my fever.