1985/7 Japan

11 February 1986 

Hi there

I’m VERY tired so this will have to be brief. I’ve been back in Kyoto and back at work for four days. I have found an extra two hours teaching so I am up to eleven hours per week now. I MUST get it up to twenty hours at least before March when I leave the bakery. Mr Morimoto goes back to being a tour guide in April and tells me there will be loads of work available then at his school. But I still have to get some cash together for my trip to Hong Kong early in April so that I can get my visa renewed. Please could you send me my old passport – the one I sent home from England last year – as I might need to use that. Thanks.

The Snow Festival was wonderful. Well worth braving the cold for. In fact, it wasn’t as cold as I had anticipated and as the Youth Hostel was heated it actually FELT warmer than in Kyoto. There were three festival sites – each crammed with both snow and ice sculptures. The snow sculptures were huge and very impressive. Two storeys high kind of huge. With amazing perspective and detail. But it was the ice sculptures I loved most. Smaller in size and beautifully made. Depicting cranes in flight and kabuki characters and stalking tigers, etc. Because they were transparent the light shining on and through them was lovely. They looked like giant glass ornaments lining the streets.

I took loads of photos, but am terrified they will all be awful as it is difficult to photograph snaw and I’ve no idea how to capture the beauty of ice. Also took lots of kids hurtling down ice-slides. Going so fast though that I’m convinced they will all be out of focus. I get my film back on Thursday. So… Spent one day at a lake south of Sapporo where it was VERY cold, but rather beautiful. Lots of snow and trees and mountains. Icicles hanging from the buildings. Summer holiday boats shaped like Daffy duck and Mickey mouse looking out of place and out of sorts half covered by snow.

I took in a movie while in Sapporo and went mad in Maruzen, a bookstore that caters to foreigners. I spent $55!! on books. Almost without batting an eyelid. The SMALLEST note here, ¥1000, is equivalent to +$5. But one tends to spend them as one would R1 or $1. Frightening when you convert back.

I’m going to close now. I want to take a shower and get to bed. It’s another early start tomorrow.

Take care. I’ll speak to you on the 15th.

Lotsaluv
Gail

PS ¥5000 enclosed as promised. Sorry needed the ¥s.