New build smell

Our last day yesterday so we went to Asakusa, had wonderful food including some incredible wagyu, and did a bit of shopping.

Japan has been a revelation I’ll want to write about separately but suffice to say I’m deeply sad to be leaving this place.

Yesterday we went to Kamakura to see the Great Buddha, also saw a Great Butterfly, and went to the beach.

Spent Wednesday evening in Kabukicho - def worth a visit, especially if you’ve played the Like A Dragon games as it’s the inspiration for Kamurocho. Had drinks in the Golden Gai, met some lovely people, had far too much shochu.

There’s a Pokémon Center in the mall below it too which made me very happy

Had a very busy day on Wednesday. Went up the Tokyo Sky Tree which is just incredible views. You can book it online in advance. Tokyo: real big.

Some wandering around Tokyo yesterday - Nishiki fish market, Ginza and the crossing at Shibuya!

Last afternoon in Kyoto so we did the Philosopher’s Walk, then got the train up to Tokyo. Saw Mt Fuji out the window! Tokyo is really something else

Did the usual touristy bits in Kyoto yesterday - Nishiki Market, Kiomizu-dera, Fushimi Inari.

We’re staying in a ryokan (traditional inn) in Ohara outside Kyoto. It’s got an onsen (natural hot spring) which I love.

A brief stop-over in Kyoto yesterday on the way to our ryōkan! We saw Higashi Honganji temple and had the best ramen of my life

Yesterday we went to Nara and saw the bowing deer. They were very polite. It’s a gorgeous place. One of my favourite days so far.

Last night we went to Round One, a massive arcade (eight floors?) in Osaka. I was bad at the games I understood and worse at the rest. I regret to inform I did not, in fact, win the cuddly Piplup.

A few rare shots of Osaka that aren’t of food. This city has really grown on me.

We went to the castle today and that was lovely.

And now for my favourite part of the trip so far - retro game store Super Potato in Osaka

Yesterday we went to Ōkunoshima, an island off the Hiroshima coast famous for hundreds of very friendly wild rabbits. Definitely Lucy’s highlight of the trip so far. A stunning place.

We made it to Osaka last night - very excited to explore!

Arrived in Tadanoumi, did some exploring, ate okonomiyaki in a tiny restaurant and had a lovely chat with some locals. Definitely the hardest my Japanese has been worked since we got here, but we got there.

Today: rabbit island.

Left Nagoya today and heading towards Hiroshima - my first time on the Shinkansen!

Managed to get miso katsu on our last night in Nagoya and it did not disappoint

Things I ate in Japan, part one of many

We saw him also

I SAW HIM

Happy to report the Guinness in Japan is better than it is in England

We made it to Japan! First night mostly spent recovering from jetlag but we did have some wonderful monjayaki. Off to the F1 the next few days!

Lamb is traditional at Easter, and even more traditional is making stock the next day

People always say ‘yee haw’ but they never ask ‘haw yee?’

A lovely spicy Sunday

Yesterday’s mammoth cooking project

Hell yeah new Pope

God damn, they already got the garbage fake mobile games doing bug killers

Random silly thing I’m quite proud of is this Pi Zero graph thing I made to show how many Feud players are currently in matches

breathe in, breathe out, new Krazam

Upon the High Weald yesterday

Rolled credits on Yakuza 0. What a wonderful, brilliant, stupid, incredible game

game pretty

cool guys don’t look at explosions (except us)

Instagram ad targeting is not the one

A bit buggy but I now have Lua scripting inside Growl’s debug UI!

Two years with this wonderful human 🥰

Rude

Some lunchtime shader learning

I think this might be the most onion I’ve ever seen in one place

First Warlord’s Ruin clear!

Our game mentioned on Rock Paper Shotgun today - life goal unlocked

Walkies

The inventory screen is inspired

Really very impressed by the Pacific Drive demo

Was quite proud of my 900-ish day streak in Duolingo until I looked at this calendar

We have been climbing

Trying to explain mastodon to this guy

Also the little tribute to Super Mario Sunshine in the cassette levels made me cackle

Celeste 64 is just wonderful. They could have so easily made it into a throwaway gag but it’s a tough-as-nails retro 3D platformer with typically beautiful music.

Me when I start reading Perl documentation

Well, they got the name right.

Trying to see how far I can get with NieR Reincarnation before it gets pulled offline.

Jusant is just stunning

Rubs hands with glee oh boy

Had some lovely Japanese food. Shout out to the couple next for us who asked for spoons for miso soup

A very cosy kitten

My new profile photo is from a New Years’ Day walk near the farm my mum grew up on, which is still farmed by my uncle. This old house and the area around it are referred to as “Macaleese’s” after the family that used to live there nearly a century ago. It was used to store hay bales until the top floor collapsed. I love it.

We finally harvested our Lion’s mane! It became some rather nice crab cake-like things.

We got the modelling clay out the other weekend so I decided to make this lightly deranged toothbrush holder.

Our girl utterly transfixed by Cat TV today

Good morning!

Oh hey the fire worked

Some chonky carrots yesterday

Beware of cat burglars in the area

Last night I went to the launch of Amy Acre’s new collection, Mothersong. There were readings from Amy, Fran Locke, Cai Draper and Jess Murrain, and it was lovely.

We lost my wonderful Granny today at the age of 92. I’ve never known someone so warm, selfless, and caring. She died peacefully and surrounded by her loved ones, so it’s the best it could have been, but I am devastated. Love you forever Granny.

Rye’s summer with us came to an end last week and now she’s off to see her mum and dad in Australia! I’m going to miss this lil pudding so much. 🥹

Sleepy angel baby compilation

A glorious, if slightly muggy, day walking on the High Weald.

We went for a walk/forage on the Ridgeway today which was very muddy but gorgeous. We found:

• Jelly ears!
• Oysters!
• Gorse!
• Nettles!
• Wild garlic!
• Turkey tails!
• Ground ivy!

We went to a couple of cool exhibitions today - the ASMR one at the Design Museum and the one about Japanese silk braiding (Kumihimo) at Japan House.