styling in muji, shinjuku: moral capitalism | the rise of psychopharmacology

Several people commented on how well-rested I looked on my return to SML today. Knut even remarked that I looked 5 years younger.

Clearly I needed the break!

I managed to maintain my vacation zen for most of the day, though there was a bit of “why are you sending me this email?”, “we do what as a process?”, “why must we complicate everything?”, “why am I here?” – questions which, given my new role, I need to keep very much top of mind!

Also I think the holiday has given me the gift of realising that I don’t need to do All The Things All The Time (okay, I knew that already). And sometimes it is really okay to not be so driven to achieve perfection in everything. Maybe I should just let go of some of my insecurity, maybe. Maybe I am not a terrible failure of a person if I suck at stuff, maybe.

books + drugs: best shop ever?

I’ve spent the last two weeks diligently avoiding my work email, it will be interesting to see what the mailbox looks like when I return tomorrow.

Today was pretty excellent in very sedate kind of way – short 3km run, making of chicken stock, a beef and guinness pie, a strawberry cake and a whole bunch of holiday laundry.

Need to try to sustain the holiday chill for as long as I can – this will be particularly challenging when sitting right beside the very crazy, ultra-high-energy and super-intense Bobs. But I’ll see what I can do.

I’m really very glad that I had the foresight to take an annual leave day tomorrow. It just wouldn’t do to work a five day week straight back from holiday.

There is a whole bunch of tidying, cooking, decluttering (we’re very motivated to achieve both the minimalist holiday and  Japanese aesthetic), thinking and running (so much running) to be achieved!

I do actually regret not taking my running gear on holiday – I probably would have gotten in at least 4 outdoor runs. I think that number would have been worth squeezing my shoes into the suitcase. As it was I was quite envious when I saw people out and about – next time for sure. 

This time off has definitely given me a renewed sense of purpose with running – and a whole lot of other things.

view from a nap

I’m pretty sure the kitties are very happy to see us home.

(And another day missed! I have much renewed admiration for those who can post every day while on holiday).

Tonight we went to the baseball! We saw The Giants play the Swallows in the Tokyo Dome. Don had organised tickets a good while ago – mad baseball fan that he is.

The venue was amazing, the food options incredible AND my beloved (best drink ever) lemon sour was available! 

I can’t even describe the atmosphere – it was crazy! Lots of songs and waving towels and umbrellas. Honestly, I have never seen anything quite like it.

Completely perfect way to end an excellent trip.

(ACK! Missed another post – clearly too much holiday!)
In just a smidge over 48 hours we’ll have landed in Sydney. 

This has been a brilliant holiday and it will be quite strange to get back to the real world. What do you mean I have to cook my own food and tidy my own Palace(OfLove)?

I do feel extremely relaxed and refreshed – hopefully I can coast on that feeling for quite some time. I have Monday off so that will help quite a lot!

Also will spend some time when I get back bombarding you with photos – once we disentangle what we actually did and when!

This morning we visited Yūshūkan military and war museum. 
It was incredibly interesting to see how WW2 is dealt with. Understandably, it was quite a bit different to what Don and I are accustomed to¹.

There were some very moving exhibits, particularly the thousands of photographs of the war dead displayed just before the exit. I’d not seen this done before and it was very effective.

xxx

¹ Though to be honest, Don and I were brought up with somewhat different perspectives on the war.

I adore the idea of a Room to Consider the Building – from National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (momat). 

It is a building well worth considering. I was utterly crazy for the floors in particular:

Great collection. Must write a proper post, but am once again completely knackered.

xxx

We had a wee earthquake tonight. They happen every day, but this was the first we’ve noticed. Felt rather like standing while on a gently rocking train.

We generally don’t do the tour thing when on holidays, preferring to make our own way about on foot and discover things on our own.

When I read about the lovely James’ bike tour in Tokyo I registered interest, as in “that’s a pretty cool thing to do”, but thought nothing else of it.

Now that we’re all into cycling and were headed for Japan, I thought it might be worthwhile to give the cycling tour a crack. We chose Route E Toyko Hills and back streets (which comes with a warning that you must be experienced in cycling and/or physically fit) and today was the day!

There were five of us on the tour, all Australian. Don and I (of course), and hard-core adventure types. A couple (from Melbourne) who were about to embark on a two day hike in the mountains and a dude (Brisbane surgeon bunking off from a conference) who’d recently been on a 14 day bike tour in the Swiss Alps – all uphill. Yipes! No pressure.

I was delighted to be assigned a pink bike.

princess bikely

All up we rode about 36km and saw a bunch of Interesting Things. We rode on winding back streets, “normal” streets and very busy 6 lane main roads! Our tour guide Yuki was utterly brilliant, and our companions good value. 

Cycling in Japan is such a joy – everyone rides (seriously there are bikes everywhere) and the motorists actually share the road, which is a completely novel concept.

I was definitely the worst rider of the bunch, but was well pleased to discover that I could easily stay the distance, did not disgrace myself and only had to hop off and run-push (for about 5m) twice at the top of rather steep hills. I really do need to master those uphill gear changes!

Such a fun time – one of the highlights of our trip!

And it does make me think that maybe we can possibly manage a multi-day New Zealand cycling tour for our significant birthdays in a couple of years (if we get that stamina happening). 

spotted on the way to dinner – secret room under an overpass with umbrellas & helmet

We brought the garmin with us because we thought it would be neat to track our daily wanderings.

We’ve only taken it out twice. The first time I forgot to turn it on. The second time it worked a treat to record our wee mountain climb in Kyoto, but was painful to pause and restart when we hopped off and on trains.

Despite not having the correct mechanisms for measurement I’m pretty confident that we walked well over 10km today – possibly pushing 15km.

I’m utterly exhausted and will definitely be asleep before 9:30pm. I’ve walked more on this vacation than I have cumulatively all year (which is only very slight hyperbole).

In Actioning the Items news, I did manage to buy that notebook!