A bus, a very big lake and a very bad smell.

Another day in another place.

 Konichawa

Today we are leaving Japan and I am a little sad.  I do not think I will ever be here again.  Mme tells me to cheer up and she said leaving Japan is not the end of the world.  I know about the end of the world now and I am not worried.

Today, my very last day in Japan, was filled with new adventures.

Mme bought a bus ticket at the bus ticket office on Our Ship and early this morning we sat on the bus along with many other people from Our Ship and it took us far away from the port of Kushiro  to the mountains and the famous thermal lake.

I sat in the seat beside Mme, in the outside of the backpack and I looked out the bus window when Mme lifted me out of the backpack net. Homer-san stood at the front of the bus and told us many interesting facts about the world passing by the bus windows. It was very difficult to remember all his facts but I will tell you my facts.

My facts are stop facts.  A stop is a place where all the people leave the bus and do special things. Our first stop was a place where people could buy some food, visit the rest rooms and walk about and look at bridges and trees and buildings.  Mme looked at bridges and trees and buildings and I looked at them too.  I want to see everything. At this stop Mme asked Homer-san a question about the roofs on the houses.  I did not understand anything about this conversation.  Homer-san understood and he answered the question.

The bridge at our first stop.  We did not walk on this bridge.

The very best part of the day for this loyal, hard-working little Japanese dog, was the stop at Lake Mashu.  Everything was beautiful.  The sky was a beautiful blue. The far away mountain ranges with snow on the tops were beautiful. And Lake Mashu was very calm and very beautiful.  There were no very high buildings and today I think Lake Mashu is the most beautiful place in all of Japan.

Lake Mashu

Mt Iwo was the place of very bad smells. It is a real volcano.  There are many real volcanoes in Japan. Mt Iwo is not beautiful like the mountains around Lake Mashu.  There is a very bad smell which is the sulphur and lots of smelly steam which looks like smoke.  On the ground  there are very bright yellow patches of sulphur and there is a fence to keep people out and many signs telling people not to pass beyond the fence.  Mme sat me on the ground.  I was very frightened and I was very happy when she picked me up and put me back in my place in the backpack.

Sitting on the safe side of the fence at Mt Iwo.

Nearby was the meal stop at Kawayu.  There is a foot onsen at Kawayu and after the bus people ate their meal everyone sat in the bus and the driver took the bus on a short drive to the foot onsen.  All the bus people removed their shoes and socks, sat on the edge of the pool and put their feet in the water.  The water is very hot and people's legs were very pink when they lifted their feet out of the pool.

The water for the foot onsen comes from beneath the rocks. The water is very hot in this part of the onsen.  Look closely at the lady in the top of the photo,  the water is so hot she wants to lift her feet out immediately. 

I was a very tired, little dog after all the exciting stops and I fell asleep on the way back to Our Ship and I did not wake up until we were in our room.

Our Ship is leaving Kushiro and I will not see Japan again.

I sat on my window ledge and watched as Our Ship left Kushiro port.  I was very brave and did not cry, even though I was a very sad little Japanese dog because I was leaving my country.

Hakodate and very high places.

Another day in another place.

 Konichawa

Mme was right. The world did not end last night.    Mme likes to play tricks on me but the end of the world is a bad, bad trick to play on a trusting, loyal, little Japanese dog.

This morning we went out onto the deck as we arrived in Hakodate port and saw the hardworking, sturdy tugs that help Our Ship into the dock.  A bus was waiting to take us into the JR station and Mme stuffed me into her back pack and we went down to the lower deck and onto the dock, where Miss Julie and Miss Pam were waiting.

Sakura - a hard working tug.

Outside the Hakodate JR Station, Mme, Miss Julie and Miss Pam were greeted by two of the  Japanese school girls who waited to meet the passengers from Our Ship.  Two of the girls, Hinaro and Yuki,  walked with us to a cafe where we had breakfast.  They told us about their school and their families.  They are from wealthy families and their fathers are professional people.

And a man from the TV studio filmed our group.  It was very exciting although I could not see very well as I was sitting in the outside of the back pack.  I may be seen on Japanese television tonight.  I may be a TV star.  (Mme says no.  I was in the wrong place for the camera. Oh, now I am very disappointed.) When we left the TV man and his very big camera, it was time for breakfast and then a walk around the Fish Market.

Mme is checking her email at a special place in the Fish Market.  I am in the backpack at her feet.  Can you see me?

We visited two very high places today.

The famous fort and the trees without blossom

We can see a long, long way to the mountains with snow on the tops.  Can you see Our Ship?.  

 A bus outside the JR Station took us to the very high tower in the Goryokaku Park. Goryokaku Tower is a very, very high and we travelled at great speed in the elevator to the top.We could see such a long, long way in the distance, as well as down to the ground.  I am not so nervous now, when I look down to the ground way, way below. Now I know I cannot fall through the glass.

Down on the ground there is a  moat; in the days of the past this was a fort.  It was to keep out the gaijin, the Western men on ships, who were to bring many, many changes to Japan.  The fort did not work well. The Western men on their ships had new ideas for Japan and many changes happened at that time.  Now Goryokaku is a beautiful park with cherry blossom which we will not see.  We are too early.

Today I learned that it is possible to see a long, long way and I can be outside in a very high place. I do not have to be in a very high building.  It is wonderful to be outside, in the sunshine and looking far into the distance.  

The second very high place was a long way from Goryokaku.  We made two bus rides to reach this high place at the top of Mt Hakodate.  It was very exciting.  When we left the second bus we went to the rope-way station and walked into a big cabin. The doors closed and the cabin took us to the top of the mountain. It is very much like an elevator, but it is not inside a building, and you can look down and see the very small rope-way station below and the sea on both sides of the city and the Goryokaku Tower far, far away and Our Ship at the dock.  Our Ship was so far away I worried we would not get back in time before it left, but Mme told me everything was under control.

There was time to see other places while we waited for the bus and Mme and Miss Julie decided to find a cup of coffee - they say bad things about Japanese coffee - and they found the Russian Tea-house.  A Tea-house which has coffee. Mme and Miss Julie were very, very surprised to find the lady at the Russian Tea-house made very good coffee.

We all sat at the back of the Tea-house and Mme checked her email and I made two new friends. Proper Japanese dogs with pointy dog ears.  My ears are not proper Japanese dog ears.  They are very long and no matter how hard I try, I cannot make them stand up.

Sitting on the window ledge in the tea-house with my new friends.

We waited by a sign for the bus to take us back to Our Ship and an American lady and and an American man came along and asked Mme how much money was needed for the bus fare. The American lady saw me in Mme's backpack and asked was I a mascot.  I am not a mascot.  I am a very hard working, very loyal, little Japanese dog.  

We all travelled back to the JR Station in the bus and then Miss Julie was very helpful and offered to take some Japanese money out of the machine  and exchange it for some American money for our new friends.  I do not understand money at all.  Mme says I do not have to think about money, she is the one who thinks about the money. I just have to watch very carefully and be sure no-one steals her money.

I have had such an exciting day.  I have been to very high places and I have found new friends.  I am a very lucky little Japanese dog.

Otaru and Sapporo

Another day in another place.

 Konichawa

We were up very early this morning and standing out on the Promenade Deck watching as Otaru came into view.

Mme is excited and nostalgic about visiting Otaru. She first came here in 1972 (such a long time ago - she is very, very old) to see the Winter Olympics which were held in Sapporo, Japan.  Mme and five other Australian people stayed in a ryokan  in Otaru and took the train each day to Sapporo and then to an Olympic event.  It was a very important time for Japan, it was our very first Winter Olympics.

Today I travelled around  in the Capacious Black Bag, it is very dark and cramped but I could hear every word people say.  It is a long walk to the JR Station, along the way we walked past the steam clock, I could hear it whistle.

The Otaru Steam Clock - you cannot hear the sound in a photo but you can see the steam.

I could also hear the words Mme used when she found there was no one at the ticket office and she had to buy a train ticket at one of those (Sailor Words) vending machines.  We were on the train for less than one hour and I had one quick look out the window. There was snow on the mountains and many trees and many, many buildings.  Mme showed me the overpass she walked on one day in 1972 when a landslide blocked the train line and she had to take the bus to Otaru.  It was quite an adventure and I will ask her to tell me the big story one day when we are home in Australia.

The sun was shining in Sapporo and the very high building was just near the train station.  Mme spoke to some people from Our Ship and we walked about to find the door to the very high building. First we found the back door and then we found the elevator.

And then we found the restaurant and the man in charge of the restaurant showed  us to our very own table where we could look out the window towards the mountains and then down a long, long way to the streets below.

This is the view from our table.  Mme says there is a ski jump in the distance.  Can you see it?

And now we have a view of one of the very big streets in Sapporo.  And we are still sitting at the very same table!

Another new experience today for this little Japanese dog.  It was very exciting. The restaurant in the very high building is a revolving restaurant.  It turns very slowly in a circle.  I could not see it move at all at first but I kept watching another very high building outside and in the time Mme eats her meal it moves to a different place in the window.

How does this happen?

This is the hotel with the revolving restaurant - look up. It is the round section at the very top.

We could not spend any time looking about Sapporo as we had to be back on Our Ship by 5.30 pm or we would be left behind.  Mme had a plan if we were too late for the ship, but today she did not want to put it into practice.

Before we left Otaru railway station Mme took a photo.  She says it looks the same as it did in 1972. Is this possible?

On the way to Our Ship from the JR Station in Otaru, we walked down to the canal, greeted a pair of school-girls, Mme took a photo of an old man sketching alongside the canal and we walked over the very long, orange bridge and back to the dockside.  It was a long, long way.

The old man sketching along side the canal.  The seagull on the wall is watching him very, very closely.

The very long, orange bridge

Tomono Kawamura, Japanese concert pianist, is playing in the Frans Hals Lounge tonight.  I hinted to Mme that I would like to listen to her music but Mme told me we must have an early night as there is another full day of sight seeing in Hakodate tomorrow.

 I was very disappointed to miss the concert. My disappointment has made me not-so-very excited about visiting the port of Hakodate tomorrow.

Mme tells me to cheer up.  Missing the concert, she says, is not the end of the world.

The end of the world.  How terrible.  I won't sleep at all tonight, I need to be very ready to face such a terrible catastrophe.

I am very, very worried.

All at sea

Another day in another place.

 Konichawa

Yesterday we were all at sea - not once did we see land anywhere after we left Yokohama.

All I saw was sea and sky when I looked out my window yesterday and Mme spent most of her day looking about Our Ship with Miss Pam and Miss Julie.  Then she unpacked some of her shopping and discovered the socks she bought in Yokohama had sparkly bits on the feet.  This made her laugh a lot but I could not see why.  The sparkly bits were stuck on and when she put her shoes on they vanished.

I was very puzzled, I don't understand socks at all.

Mme laughed loudest when she took the socks out of the package.  I think the sparkly bits were a surprise to her.

Then she put the socks on and laughed even more.  She said they were for girls, not old ladies.

Last night Mme left me to keep guard over the room while she was away and when she came back I had a new friend to keep me company. It is a peacock. In Japan, peacocks are a symbol of compassionate watchfulness and kind-heartedness.

Peacocks are usually very colorful.  This one lost all its colour. I searched everywhere in the room for the peacock colour but it had vanished.

Today Our Ship is sailing between the very big island of Honshu and the not so big island of Hokkaido and it is possible to see land on both sides of the ship. It is dark blue and very far away on the Honshu side and on the Hokkaido side it is much closer. We could see the city of Hakodate, shining in the sun. The sun did not shine very often today.  There was more rain and more dark sky than sunshine.

Sometimes the sea was very, very dark.  

 Sometimes I saw a small ship .  This ship is going the opposite way.  This ship had many coloured boxes on its deck.

In the afternoon Mme took me up to the Exploration Lounge.  This is a very big room where people can sit and read their books in very comfortable chairs in front of big windows which look out over the sea.  Not everyone was reading, some people were sleeping.  Miss Pam is not happy about people sitting in these chairs and sleeping. She is most unhappy when she finds there is not a very comfortable chair where she can sit and read, because people are sleeping.  She says these people should sleep somewhere else.

Miss Pam is showing me the very beautiful, pale blue tanzanite ring she bought today from one of the shops in the jewellry arcade.

Later we went up to the Crow's Nest  which is the second highest deck on the ship. It is at the very front of the ship and when you look out the windows you can see ahead of Our Ship and out to the sides.

Mme went up there to read her Book Club Book.  The book is a story about a Japanese girl who married an American soldier and went to live in America at the end of the Second World War.  The War that ended very badly for the people living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. It was quiet up in the Crow's Nest and we did not have to share a chair.  We had a chair each. They are lovely chairs but not as big or as comfortable as the Reading Room chairs.

If you look over the top of my chair to the right you can see the sea. I sat very quietly while Mme read her book, though I wanted to ask lots of questions.  I wanted to know where the crows built their nest because I couldn't see nests anywhere.

I am very excited about tomorrow!  Tomorrow is our first port day when Our Ship visits the port of Otaru. Mme and I are going on the train to Sapporo.  Mme says tomorrow will be a trip down Memory Lane for her.  This is not a lane you can walk along.  It's another one of those things like a miracle.  You can't see it but it happens.

Miss Julie and Miss Pam will stay in Otaru. Mme and I will be having a special lunch in a very high building, a hotel, in Sapporo.

Another high building!  I am very, very excited.

Settling in

Another day in another place

Konichawa

I like my new home on the ship.  I feel safe and the men who look after the room laugh and talk with me while they are cleaning and making the bed.

I have my very own window where I can sit and watch everyone who walks by on the deck outside. The really good thing is no-one knows I am sitting there.  I can watch all the  people and they will never know I am sitting on the inside window ledge watching them with my sharp, little black eyes.When you go outside you cannot see through the window.  It is something called one way vision glass.  I've been outside and  the window is painted white and you cannot see into our room. This is a very good thing, Mme is very untidy and throws her clothes and everything else all over the room.

I have a wonderful view from my window ledge

Nothing is allowed on my window ledge but me - it is my special place and I want my special place to be clean and neat and tidy.

I see everything that happens when I am sitting on the window ledge. I cannot hear what people are saying as they march around the deck; their faces are very serious, no-one is laughing. Promenade is the ship name for the deck outside our window. Walking around the promenade is a very important exercise; if people walk three and a half times around the promenade then they have walked a whole mile. Some people walk faster than others, some people use walking sticks and one man walks in the opposite direction  to everybody else.  Is he walking the right way and everyone else is wrong?

We should be half way to another place today but The Harbour Master kept the ship in last night and wouldn't let us leave. I thought the Captain must have been very naughty and behaved badly and the Harbour Master was cross and decided to punish him.

I was wrong.  The Captain made an announcement this morning and we have been kept in the harbour because it  was too dangerous for us to leave last night. I am pleased the Captain did not behave badly, we have 19 days on the ship and although I am very excited about this adventure I was nervous about having a Captain in charge of the ship who behaved badly.  Horrid things might happen to the ship if the Captain behaves badly!

We left at nine o'clock this morning and went under a very, very long, high bridge and out into the real Tokyo Bay, out into the very big, grey sea.

The very, very long, high bridge.  Will Our Ship fit under that bridge?

Now we are going under the bridge.  The top of Our Ship is very, very close to the bridge.

Now we are on the other side of the bridge.  And we did not hit it.  The Harbour Master will be very pleased.

Oh, what a great adventure this will be.  I am very, very excited.

Until next time.

Sayonara

Bu

Tall, tall buildings

Another day in another place

Konichawa

What excitement today.

Before we went up to the sky in the tall, tall building The Ladies had curry udon. Ms Julie is writing to a friend in Australia.  On her phone.  Phones are very clever.

I did not know a building could be so high, so high it is right up in the clouds.

Our room in the hotel in Kyoto was on the fourth floor and I thought it was very high and I was very, very nervous about falling off the balcony ledge and down into the narrow space between the buildings.  Of course Mme, who does her best not to let anything really bad happen to me, held me firmly so I wouldn't fall.

Today was different.  We were on the  69th floor of the Landmark Plaza Building and up there you can see a long, long way, all across the city of Yokohama. And most exciting of all I was allowed to sit on the inside of the window ledge and look at the view.  I couldn't fall anywhere because there was a thick glass window but when I first sat on the ledge I gasped and closed my eyes tight because it was such a long way down to the ground.  I was not so scared when I looked straight out to sea and after a few minutes I bravely looked down to the ground and my fear vanished and I was very, very excited.

See how high up we are.  Can you see Our Ship?  It is near the top of the photo.

What an adventure!  There was so much to see. When you have lived in the toy store you cannot even imagine The World is so big. All those tall buildings and we were in one of the tallest.

I could see Our Ship.  Can you see Our Ship?  It is in the very far distance behind the big pier which is made of wooden planks.  If you look carefully you can see the red brick warehouses, a place many tourists go to when they visit Yokohama.

Down below is a very big, very high wheel.  It is the Cosmo Clock 21.  At night it is dressed in bright, beautiful colours.  The colours change while you watch.

We didn't go to the red brick warehouses because the wind was blowing so hard and Mme and Miss Julie were nervous about being blown out into the sea.  Many, many other people were walking along the streets.  I had to really screw up my eyes and concentrate to see them. Tiny, tiny people. They were not afraid of being blown into the sea.

Mme tells me it is not the sea.  The right name is Tokyo Bay, it is a very small sea.  I want to know why it is not Yokohama Bay.  Tokyo is far away and Yokohama is very close. Mme tells me to stop asking questions and not to be a pest and pushes me back inside the CBB.

How will I find out about this big, wonderful world if I don't ask questions?

Until next time.

Sayonara

Bu

Faster than a speeding Bullet train

Another day in another place

Konichawa

Now I know what a packing day is; it means all the drawers and cupboards in our room are opened and closed many times.

How can some-one need so many things?

They all pile up on the bed, and then they are squashed into a big grey case and all the leftovers are called bad names and they are pushed into a very old red and blue back-pack. Last of all is the Capacious Black Bag, all the very important things like the passport and money go in there.

And my special place is in the CBB - I sit near the top where I can hear everything and sometimes I get to sit outside and have a quick look about.

Mme and I wait for the faster-than-a speeding-bullet train, it will arrive any minute now and speed us to Yokohama and The Ship.

I was allowed to sit outside at Kyoto station for a minute or so while we waited for the faster than a speeding bullet train. I do not know how fast a bullet speeds at but the train speeds along at just under 300 kph. Very fast.

We had a window seat and after Mme finished the bento box I was able to sit by the window and look out at the scenery passing by in a blur.

This is the bento box, here in Japan we like everything to be specially packaged and to look beautiful.

And suddenly there it was!  Fuji-san!  And we were sitting on the left side of the train, the place for the best view. Many of the passengers were not even looking.  How could they not look at something so beautiful?  Sitting in their seats, most of them asleep.  It must be very tiring working as a business man in Japan when you have to sleep on the train in the middle of the day, speeding to Tokyo at almost 300 kmh.

Here is Fuji-san, beyond the wide river bed and the bridge with many spans. Fuji-san is very beautiful.

We left the shinkansen at Shin-Yokohama and our ticket allowed us to take another train to Kannai Station. Mme made the mistake of  getting off the train at the Yokohama station where all the ordinary, really slow trains stop and it took a long time to find the right person who could tell us where we had to go to find the right train.

We had to look for the question.  The question is like the miracle, you can't always see it.  You can't see it until you are standing in front of it.  It is a big biscuit coloured question mark, stuck onto a glass window and it means you can go into this space and ask questions about where you want to go. If you are very, very lucky and ask the right questions, you will find some-one who will give you the right answers.

It was a long, long day of train travel and I was beginning to think we would never find the ship before dark.  There was a short, very unhappy time where Mme was using words that would make a sailor blush, when she discovered she had to haul her case down a very long, steep set of stairs.  Lucky for us a helpful young Japanese schoolboy came to us and stopped all the bad language by carrying the case down the stairs.

I hope we don't have to take any more trains tomorrow.  It is very stressful for a hard-working and very loyal little dog and I worry we will be really lost and when that happens I will not feel so adventurous.

I will want to go back to the toy store and be with my friends.

Until next time.

Sayonara

Bu

A Big Day Out

Another day in another place

Konichawa

Tonight I am one very tired little dog.

Mme has carried me around today in the outside pocket of her small blue backpack.  I can see and hear everything and she checks often to see I haven't fallen out.

What a big, big world it is out there.

I have been on trains today and in big stores and I have much to tell you about.

I have to share the stories with Mme and because She is the One who must be Obeyed I have to tell the small stories; Mme tells the big important ones, that's how it goes she says.

My little head is spinning tonight.  In between the many, many steps walked today, the train ticket buying and the late afternoon in the famous bamboo grove, we went to the electronic store.

We are having a rest by the lake at the Inari Shrine.  We walked many, many steps to find the lake;  the lake is big and the water is very green.

I was very,very afraid I might be left in the electronic store. It is far, far bigger than the toy store where I lived before I became an adventurer and everywhere I looked were rows and rows of shelves with all the things people seem to need for their computers and their phones.  Every where I looked, rows and rows - I was dizzy just looking at them.

The lovely lady at the hotel who  comes out from the back room when the girls and boys at reception can't understand Mme's question - which is every day, Mme should learn some Japanese - knew exactly where Mme should go to buy all the pesky bits and pieces she needs to make the photos happen.

We found our way after  few false starts and more questions at the information desk inside this huge, huge store.  I don't know exactly what a miracle is but when we came out of the store is seemed the miracle was wrapped in the parcel sitting beside me in the backpack.

I have to say Mme doesn't give up too easily, she gets really worked up about not always getting the answer she is looking for but today it was a team effort.  First we had to find a person who worked in the store and who might speak/understand English.  Not so easy, so many customers and not so many  young men wearing white and black jackets and helping the customers. And not so many of those who understood English, sign language and an old lady with a phone who stood pointing at the phone, pointing at all the packets on hooks on the wall, shaking her head and insisting she wants something else.  And the numbers two and three. These numbers were very important, just as well team man number two arrived.

Without him we might still be in the store.  The two men, Mme, and me, bouncing around in the backpack, walked back and forth all over this store for a long time and what a team we made.  Mme knew she wanted three things to make the photos work; Team Man No.1 worked hard at understanding what the three things were, Team Man No. 2 was the technical expert - he knew, without even knowing what Mme was saying, exactly what she needed.  What a clever young man!

And so we left the store with the miracle in the backpack, climbed the steps up to the street and set off on the last train journey of the day.

Mme makes a mistake!  We get off one stop too early and have to wait for a train to take us to the next station where we can walk to the Bamboo Grove.

As for these photos, I have yet to see any.  Whatever they are, they had better be something special, we spent so much time getting all this done today.

I think they will be special, at least some of them,because they are photos of me!  Shinobu, the little hard-working, loyal, adventurous Japanese dog.


Until next time,

Sayonara

Bu

Hello. I am Shinobu

Another day in another place....

Konichawa

My name is Shinobu.

Let me tell you my story.  I am an adopted little Japanese dog from another country.  Until Thursday morning I was in a big store in Kyoto with millions of other toys; an old lady came along, lifted me off the shelf, talked kindly to me and then put me down.  I was sad.  Sad because she walked away to those nasty, blue pigs, even took their photo! And then she talked to that silly, vain creature that repeats everything you say to it. But!  She came back and took me out of the TR'us store. I was so happy.

Those nasty blue pigs!

Now I have an important job to do; I am to look after Mme each day for this very important personage, Sebastien.  Mme is very forgetful and loses things and I have to work hard to look after her.  I am a very loyal, hardworking and respectful little Japanese dog and I shall do my very best at everything I am asked to do.

I am going on a long journey with Mme and I am very excited.  I learn English every day, but I am clever and Mme  is pleased that I learn and understand and remember every word she says; some words are very strange and when she is lost and tired she repeats some very short words, very often.

My first glimpse of the world outside the TR'us store was in the beautiful park outside the Kyoto Imperial Palace.  I sat on a seat and watched cyclists riding by, they ride in a straight line and the gravel moves to the side and it makes an easy ride if every one keeps to the same line.

Hello everyone! My name is Shinobu, it is a long name. I would like my friends to call me Bu.

The trees in the park are beautiful and I cannot believe how I am so lucky to have found Mme. The sky was big and blue and the wind was making the pine trees sigh.

We walked along the river, a long walk.  Boys were playing soccer and small boys and girls were running and laughing with their mothers and fathers. Big people were riding by on their bicycles and business men in suits were walking home from work.

We rode back to Kyoto Station on the bus, Mme was complaining about her sore feet. I had to stay in the hotel room while Mme went out to eat. Another good thing about me, I never need to eat.

Mme is going to learn to use her phone camera now the other camera is dead.  It looks ugly, it's lens won't close and tomorrow we have to shop for gadget things for the camera.

Until next time

Sayonara

Bu

Head hunting

Mme Chendolle has not truly applied herself to the task of finding a suitable assistant for Sebastien.

It's not that she isn't taking this assistant search  very seriously but there have been a number of distractions along the way today; sight seeing has been her number one priority starting at 8 am when she sat waiting in the opulent lobby of the Hotel New Miyako with its shiny expanse of marble floor and the understated elegance of the reception surrounds.

Following that was her first journey on the Nozomi, the sleek white train that flashed along the tracks at just under 300 kph on its way to Hiroshima.  Then a ferry ride across the water to the island of Miyajima, which as everyone who knows anything about the islands of Japan, is really the island of Itsukashima and home to the splendid Itsukushima Shinto Shrine of world renown.

It was on the island of Miyajima that Mme came closest to appointing a side kick for Sebastien but after much thought decided that a deer with big brown eyes, antlers and and not much else was not going to be acceptable; even if it could sit, though not in the strictly normal sense of the word.

While some little Japanese boy or girl might find the deer a cuddly, lovable toy to carry around, there is something grotesque about a creature which is more or less a decapitated head and both Sebastien and the unbelievably vain Princess Agnes might balk at the idea  of sharing space with someone who might be seen as an example of what might come their way if they didn't take good care.

Mme placed the lovely soft brown head with its big round eyes and beautiful antlers back on the shelf with its friends, went out into the street and was then seen disappearing into a cafe which specialised in okonomiyaki, made Hiroshima-style.

After arriving back in Hiroshima, seriously heavy rain began to fall; Mme's camera, which had been behaving erratically threw its last tantrum and quit being the faithful photo maker.   All these less than desirable events threw  Mme right off track and all thoughts of an assistant for Sebastien vanished into thin, blue air.

Ah well, there's always tomorrow.

C'est la vie Sebastien.

Another day, another disaster...

And so Sebastien's prophecy came to pass!

He was left behind in the last minute, mad flurry of activity at the Trash Palace, along with the lovely Princess Agnes!

Sebastien's rage knew no bounds and his disappointment was felt in waves which washed all the way to Japan.  And poor Princess Agnes  is no doubt still crying into her jewellery box despite Sebastien cuffing her over her monkey ears and telling her off in low-life French, of which happily, she understands not one word.

The upshot of a lengthy and bitter long distance, international telepathic conference was the idea, that Mme Chendolle, who has totally ruined his life, the only printable part of the conference, has been ordered to find an assistant.

Strict rules apply to the choice of applicant; the main one being the successful PA must in no way overshadow Sebastien. And so the search will be on at first light tomorrow morning.

Another day down on the farm...

The last day down on the farm... you won't see those words again for a while.

Bonjour,  Je suis Sebastien.

I want to start on the right note - a French introduction - so you will all understand I am a Made in France dog.

How did I get to take up space on this blog.  Because I am off on a very, very big holiday and I'm going a long way away.  Not to France you understand. And because Madame Chendolle owes me a big favour and she made a promise which she had better keep or there will be big trouble.

This afternoon, providing Madame Chendolle - she who must be obeyed and who is paying the fare that gets me to where I am going - remembers to pick me up and take me with her, I will be on my first real airplane flight.  When I came out here to Australia it was by sea and stuffed into a box with lots of fellow travellers and we didn't see  daylight for weeks.  I hated it.

She tells me I will be stuffed into the carry on baggage and there is talk of having a travel companion. Agnes!! A stuffed monkey, a positive little princess who thinks only of how she looks and what is in her jewellry box.

Anyway more about Princess Agnes later - if she makes it to the backpack. I'm not allowed to say too much here; Madam is under a lot of stress today.  Panicking because she couldn't find the airline tickets this morning.  What a performance!  

You will hear all the small stuff from me.  I may just be a stuffed dog but I have big ears and hear everything.  

I've been told it might not be easy getting online especially when we are all at sea.  So I will be dictating each days' adventure and when we get a decent internet connection then you will hear all the gossip.


Au revoir
Sebastien

The big news of the day from down at the farm

Another day down on the farm...

But the last for a while in the old format.

The farm dog is having some time off and Sebastien, the French dog will be taking over this blog.

He will have more to say about it in the next day or so - in fact he will have more than enough to say about everything as any readers will soon find out!.

Sebastien is accompanying me on my holiday and as he considers he has special rights, there has been a lot of dissent ( mostly on my part) about the idea of him having his own Facebook Page.

Over my dead body was my response.

Sebastien growled a lot.   I did an equivalent amount of muttering.

I relented and said he could take over this blog on a temporary basis.  After all, he comes up with the ideas and I have to do the work.

He will introduce himself in the next post.