Dear X,

Life is good as always in Tokyo; if somewhat nerve racking....

We had another blizzard on Thursday. It was quite fun though, as it was all very pretty. Since Thursday was a national holiday (coming of Age day), I was able to stage a lie-in protest at mother nature, and so decided not to get up until 4pm. Since it was damn cold outside, and I didn't feel like studying, I was back in bed by 8pm. Here's a little news cutting:

"A heavy snowfall blanketed Tokyo for the third time in a week Thursday, killing one person in a related accident, but it also brought welcome snow to the site of the upcoming Winter Olympics. The Meteorological Agency predicted as much as 16 to 24 inches of snow for areas around Tokyo, with about 14 inches expected for central Tokyo areas. Some 830 cases of snow-related traffic accidents were reported in the Tokyo area, killing one and injuring about 90. Another 100 people were injured by slipping on icy roads or falling from roofs as they tried to clear away snow."

My lie-in protest obviously worked, because when I got up (early) on Friday at 9 am, it had finally stopped snowing, and it was bright and sunny. It was all rather odd, because there was just sooooo much snow. The locals say they've never seen Tokyo like this, so I suppose I'm lucky to be here now. Trains were working perfectly, naturally, and so there was nothing to do, but to go to class. (Actually, since I live 2 minutes by foot from the university, there would have been no reason for me not to go; trains or no trains) Well, Friday morning was not nice at all. We had endless tremors, one every half an hour or so, all morning. One of them was quite big, and our Sensei felt the need to tell us about evacuation procedures, and we were told that should it get any stronger we would have to end the class to take cover under our desks, or even leave the building. As it turned our, they didn't get any stronger.... Well, from that night on, I have (with most of my fellow classmates) taken the decision to go to bed, with nice thick pyjamas. The thought of lying naked in rubble, in the snow, waiting for rescuers to find us, was not a pleasant one. I'm fine now, of course, but Friday we did all get a bit worked-up.

Enough gloom and doom... Saturday there was a class visit to see Kabuki (traditional Japanese drama, and dance). We had good seats, and the tickets were subsidised by the university. It lasted for 4 and a half hours, which is a damn long-time to stay seated in one place, but it was really very good (as if I would have stayed for that long, if it wasn't any good!). We had a live English commentary in an ear-piece, which was a big help. For a start the spoken Japanese which is used is a little odd, to say the least, but moreover, the "action" is minimalist, and little movements have a lot of meaning. For instance, when one of the actors raised his foot, it signals to the audience that he is going up stairs; so the ear-piece was a god-send. Jakuemon VIII (an actor) performed, which was great, because he has being awarded the title of "Living National Treasure". What a fab title to be given!!! I really got a lot out of the performance, and consider myself v. lucky to have been.

Sunday I spent laboriously reading a text, which was for today, but we didn't have time to read it in class. I know that not having done it in class doesn't diminish the worth of having read it, but at the time I was more than a little annoyed that the text, which had taken me 5 hours to read, was being skipped. Oh well, life goes on. Today I got to spend the entire afternoon learning vocab (fun, fun, fun), so hopefully Friday's test will be OK...