2021 Student Summer Picnic!

Thank you to everyone (including those not pictured) who came to our student picnic at the weekend!

We had fun meeting up outdoors, drinking tea, eating Japanese snacks and talking about Japan-related (and non-Japan-related) things.

It was so good to see students in person after such a long time!

Although all my teaching is online now, I still plan to run occasional social events in Brighton for students. I’m looking forward to seeing you all again soon.

A Trip to Japanese Vegetable Farm Namayasai, or, Why I Had a Shungiku Omelette for Breakfast this Morning

Hi! This post was originally published 10 March 2017

Did you know there's a dedicated Japanese vegetable farm right here in Sussex?

I spent last Saturday with the Brighton Japan Club at Namayasai, near Lewes. Namayasai a Japanese vegetable farm owned by Robin and Ikuko, from Devon and Japan respectively.

Namayasai is a Natural Agriculture farm - a specific type of organic farming that uses no pesticides / herbicides / artificial fertilisers.

Robin started by giving us a tour of the farm, showing us their rainwater collection system, lots and lots of interesting plants, and compost toilet (I resisted the temptation to take a picture of the compost toilet).

We had a go at eating nettles, identified a nashi pear plant from its buds, spotted some daikon (sadly a bit frosted on top - the non-frosted ones were protected under a sheet so no photos of them):

...and even found some rhubarb!

As well as outdoor crops, the farm has a huge greenhouse filled with Japanese herbs and leafy vegetables.

Tour over, we had a quick stop for cake, and then it was time to do some actual work!

We mixed the compost and Robin told us we were going to plant 113 trays of seeds. That sounded like quite a lot to me, but he seemed confident we would get it all done.

Robin showed us how to plant the seeds with chopsticks (well it is a Japanese farm...)

We planted mitsuba (also known as "Japanese parsley" but more like shiso), shungiku (edible chrysanthemum) and daikon, amongst other things. The daikon seeds were bright orange, which was cool / surprising.

I can't remember what these guys were planting but it looked significantly more fiddly than what I was doing:

When we'd finished planting (yep, all 100-and-something trays), Robin sent us home with bags and bags of vegetables.

I spent the next four days eating massive amounts of green veg, which made me extremely happy.

It was a lot of fun - massive thanks to Robin for having us, and Tom at the Brighton Japan Club for organising!

As well as locally, Namayasai supplies lots of famous Japanese restaurants in London, and Robin and Ikuko also run a vegetable box scheme with collection points around Sussex which I now have my eye on.

They have lots of info about the veg box, the farm itself and work/volunteer opportunities on their website - please do check it out!

Originally posted 10 March 2017
Updated 31st March 2020

I quit my day job! (sort of...)

Don't worry mum - I haven't quit my day job. Not as such. I recently went from full time to 3 days a week though.

It's great.

One of my students mentioned this week in passing that I must be busy, working full time somewhere else, and also running Japanese courses. I realised that I haven't told a lot of my students that I no longer have a full time day job.

I now work three days a week in the offices of a community interpreting agency, here in sunny Brighton.

And I teach Japanese three nights a week, to lovely people with language-related goals and dreams. I get to share in my students' successes and triumphs, and hopefully help them through the tough bits too.

Life is more balanced now that I don't work elsewhere full time. I'm less "bad-busy" and more "good-busy".

And I get to feel part of two things - the interpreting charity, and my own little language school. That sense of community is really important to me.

Do you have a day job, and do something else on the side? If you have more than one job, how do you balance your time? I'd love to know what tips you can share. Let me know in the comments 😃

Afternoon Tea at Café an-an for World Vegan Day

2021 update: Cafe an-an has moved! Now at 94 Boundary Rd, Hove BN3 4EF. Make sure to pop in and chat some Japanese with Noriko-san while you buy your sweets. She's always very welcoming! The cafe’s opening hours are changeable, so check their Facebook or Instagram before making a trip.

I was a vegetarian for ten years…then, I moved to Japan. I lasted about two weeks as a vegetarian in Japan, before swiftly abandoning my principles in favour of late-night ramen and fish for breakfast.

That's not to say that being vegetarian - or even vegan - in Japan is impossible. It just wasn't for me.

But did you know that lots of wagashi (Japanese sweets) are naturally vegan?

I hadn't really thought about it, until I learned that Cafe an-an in Portslade was running an Afternoon Tea event for World Vegan Day on 1st November.

Here are some pictures of the tasty food I managed to take on the day - before I ate it all.

I got there super early, partly because I got the bus, and partly because I was trying to run on "Japan time", i.e., if you're not early, you're late.

Cafe an-an is run by the lovely Noriko-san, who you can see selling Japanese sweets at lots of events around Brighton.

I meant to get a picture with Noriko too, but she was very busy cooking! Next time...

Anyway, we arrived and were presented with this cute handwritten menu.

Today's reading practice for you! ↓

We started the Afternoon Tea with a little soy milk and pumpkin soup. Then chestnut rice, nasu dengaku (glazed aubergine), and ganmodoki (tofu fritters) with lotus root.

You can see from the picture how small the aubergine is. It's  a proper tiny Japanese one - sweet and delicious.

I haven't had aubergine that good in a long time...

Next, the sweet bit!Tsukimi dango ("moon-viewing dumplings"), and steamed chestnut yōkan (a jellied sweet made with agar) - that's the purple triangle below.

And pumpkin kintsuba - that's the orange slice that looks a bit like a piece of brie. 

Kintsuba is another type of Japanese sweet, popular with people who like their sweets a bit less sweet.

The last little course was i-no-ko mochi  ("baby boar rice cake"). Tasty, and of course it doesn't contain any boar...baby or otherwise.

And lastly, we had an awesome little maple leaf shaped sweet. Isn't it pretty?

Finally, my little rabbit manjuu (steamed bun) filled with anko (red bean paste).

He was almost too cute to eat, but I ate him head first.

I felt pretty sorry for the cute bunny. But at least he's vegan! Unlike me...

2021 update: Café an-an has moved! Now at 94 Boundary Rd, Hove BN3 4EF. Make sure to pop in and chat some Japanese with Noriko-san while you buy your sweets. She's always very welcoming! The cafe’s opening hours are changeable, so check their Facebook or Instagram before making a trip.

First published November 2017. Updated August 2021.