Life in Japan

This weekend I celebrated my eleventh month in Japan.  I love it more with every month that passes and they seem to be passing at a quicker pace.

Here are some of the reasons I love it here -

Mt Fuji...is remarkably close to where I live.  Two hours of car time and I am there breathing in its awesomeness.  I have been twice and as you can see my photo taking ability has really improved in the six months in between.

Spring

Autumn

The Food
I came to Japan not really digging seafood all that much but I've come to realise that it is all about the quality. the small shrimp you can see are a specialty in my region.

A dish from a Japanese wedding that I was honoured to attend.

But I am also jumping aboard the oden train - the brown stewed potatoes and eggs are the special oden recipe for my region as well.  It looks gross but tastes delish!

The Flora
I've never been a plant and flower person but I have done a giant 180.  The plant life here is simply spectacular.

This thing is the size of a baby's head.

Size of your pinky nail.

Water
It is everywhere and being from Australia means I am REALLY not used to that.  I love hearing the trickling water and even the rainy season.

Older Japanese gentlemen fishing (to escape their wives).

Fukontaka Falls

My Village
It's sweetness incarnate and oh so very pretty.

Of course there is also the people and my students but they are entitled to their privacy and as such won't be posted. Japan is a wonderful place and I hope you've enjoyed seeing a little of it :)

Kathy Charles' John Belushi is Dead - Film Adaptation?

Variety and Dark Horizons report that "Because of Winn-Dixie" producers Joan Singleton and Ralph S. Singleton have acquired the film right to Kathy Charles' debut novel John Belushi is Dead (aka Hollywood Ending in Australia).

This novel was one of my favourites of 2009 and I am thrilled that a story outside of the paranormal realm might find itself on the silver screen.  Fingers crossed that it wiggles its way through the gamut of production, filming and reease with no problems!

Synopsis -

Pink-haired Hilda and oddball loner Benji are not your typical teenagers. Instead of going to parties or hanging out at the mall, they comb the city streets and suburban culs-de-sac of Los Angeles for sites of celebrity murder and suicide. Bound by their interest in the macabre, Hilda and Benji neglect their schoolwork and their social lives in favor of prowling the most notorious crime scenes in Hollywood history and collecting odd mementos of celebrity death.

Hilda and Benji’s morbid pastime takes an unexpected turn when they meet Hank, the elderly, reclusive tenant of a dilapidated Echo Park apartment where a silent movie star once stabbed himself to death with a pair of scissors. Hilda feels a strange connection with Hank and comes to care deeply for her paranoid new friend as they watch old movies together and chat the sweltering afternoons away. But when Hank’s downstairs neighbor Jake, a handsome screenwriter, inserts himself into the equation and begins to hint at Hank’s terrible secrets, Hilda must decide what it is she’s come to Echo Park searching for . . . and whether her fascination with death is worth missing out on life. Goodreads

Congrats to Kathy, it is fantastic to see further Australian YA work being adapted for the screen.

Kathy's website www.kathycharles.com
Adele's review of Hollywood Ending / John Belushi is Dead