Ride on the yokai train? I’d be too scared!

BAKE-DEN NI NOTTE Ride the “Transforming Train” YOKAI SUTORITTO E! To Yokai Street! The awesome artwork on the left is part of a promo for the Bake-den, a train service in Kyoto that occasionally features some spooky Japanese monsters, or yokai. Bakeru is a verb meaning  “to transform” (pronounced BA as in BARber;  KE as [...]

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The JET program, budget cuts and Return On Investment

Yokozo Japan! I studied Japanese at high school, but my first trip to Japan was as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, or JET, a huge international exchange program that now has 50,000 alumni around the world. I was a JET in Kawanishi (the town Miku Takeshita and her family come from ). [...]

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Enma Daio, Datsue-ba, and one great reason to die with your clothes on

Want to catch a glimpse of what your afterlife might be like if you don’t behave properly? Check out this great You Tube introduction to some scary supernatural types who make their home right in the centre of Tokyo, Shinjuku, in a temple called Taiso-ji (built in 1596). The big scary guy at the back [...]

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Science on the Move: South Africa

I’ve just found out that my great pal and co-presenter Graham Walker is back in South Africa this year with a mobile science show raising awareness about HIV/AIDS. At last week’s “Meet the Talent” session, I talked briefly of my experience in a science circus, mentioning that I’ve presented to a gazillion children over my [...]

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Snugglepot and Who-dlepie?

You know how sometimes you have a belief in something, a something so basic it helps you make sense of the world… Well don’t count on it. The awful truth… I’ve just had a tiny faith ripped away, a belief so set-in-concrete I took it for granted, something that needed no champion because it was [...]

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Holidays, with baby

I am horribly behind in lots of things, but right up-to-date in playing with Fergus, hugging Doug and having new adventures. How do you spell “hectic”? We’ve had a fabulous, if often stressful, month tripping to Geneva having Fergus’ Nonnie and Poppie come to stay leaving and cleaning our East London flat spending a week [...]

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Fergus loves travel!

Fergus loves travel! We went to Preston last week, a fab university town about three hours by train from London. It’s the first time we’ve been away overnight since Fergus was born, and he LOVED it. He was either incredibly awake (alert, looking, laughing, reaching out, trying new sounds) or incredibly asleep (he didn’t think [...]

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A+++: a trilogy, a speaking engagement, Amazon

The last couple of days have been AMAZING, and for so many reasons: 1) Takeshita Demons is becoming more real! Woo hoo! Takeshita Demons has a cover (thanks to everyone for your input: you picked a winner!) and its own ISBN! (978-1-84780-115-9, in case you were wondering)(Can I get this as a personalised bicycle plate?). [...]

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Runner up in travel writing comp

Wahey! I Googled myself today (was thinking of applying for an Emerging Writer grant with the Australian Society of Authors so was searching for any eligible writing credits)(as if I need an excuse to Google myself ) and discovered I am a runner up in the 2009 Independent on Sunday/Bradt Travel-Writing Competition. Stoked! Apparently that [...]

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