Posted via email from sarb’s posterous

Posted via email from sarb’s posterous

But that is just the start. Here is a list of events I’ll be running for MSF this year, culminating with the Berlin Marathon in September this year – my first marathon.

Steps to Berlin

March 24 – 10km for friends of MSF – Regent’s Park, London
April 11 – 10 mile race – Denbies Vineyard, Surrey
April 25 – Shakespeare Half-Marathon, Stratford-upon-Avon
June 5 – Otmoor Challenge (Trail Half-Marathon), Oxford
*July 25 – Dartmoor Mountain Half-Marathon (Trail), Dartmoor (TBC)
*August 2010 – Half-Marathon (TBC)
September 26 – The big one: The Berlin Marathon

I’m meeting all my entry costs, flights, accommodation etc – what you donate goes to MSF, not me. This site (http://www.justgiving.com/SarbJohal) is a great way for you to sponsor me and make sure that MSF receives the donations. It is very easy to use, and if you are UK tax payer this site makes it easy for MSF to claim back an extra 28% from your donation.

What you can do to help

It would be fantastic if you could sponsor me. Médecins Sans Frontières is an international humanitarian medical aid charity which is currently working in around 60 countries around the globe. Some of their recent efforts have been directed towards the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the ongoing unrest in Sudan and the so-called ‘neglected diseases’ such as Chagas. There’s information about MSF at the bottom of this email – please have a read or visit http://www.msf.org.uk/ourwork_where_work.aspx for more information. MSF’s YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73zMcdGfXGE) also gives a great overview of the organization.

Those of you who know me well also know that I’ve done quite a lot of work on psychosocial support after disaster events. In the case of Haiti, MSF’s emergency ward are still treating large numbers of patients but the nature of their injuries is gradually changing. Fewer people are appearing with wounds directly caused by the earthquake, but now the indirect consequences of the disaster are beginning to manifest themselves, with more children suffering from diarrhoea and more people coming forward with physical symptoms of mental trauma.

Feel free to get back in touch with any questions. If you’d like to come and support me on the day of any run, please let me know – it would be great to see you and hang out after the race. If you want to join me on a training run, that’d be great too.

Please do sponsor me – any amount will be gratefully received, and it will all help us raise money for a very deserving cause.

Lots going on otherwise. I now have a house in Wellington and well into the process of Kate and I buying a flat in London, though it is so much slower here in the UK compared to NZ. We’re trying to figure out whether we are going to India or not next month, but we’ve got a couple of things going on that might get in the way of that.

My running is going well after my injury in November. Still seeing a physiotherapist as it isn’t quite right yet with my hip and lower back, but just starting to build up my runs again. I’ve just done my first 10 mile run this weekend (it was about 18km), and have signed up for the Berlin Marathon in September. But more about that in my next post, coming up shortly.

Running through recent events – Kate and I spent a couple of nights away in the New Forest National Park over the new year weekend, staying at a country inn and going for a couple of nice long walks. The weather has been icy for 4 weeks pretty much non-stop in London – and much worse in other parts of the country. This weekend has been a welcome respite from the relentless ice and snow, but it looks like the temperature will drop again later this week.

Work has been interesting again – I have joined the Quality Framework team at the Department of Health, which is much more NHS facing role. All the action in the NHS over the next five years will be about delivering consistently high quality services in a fiscally challenging environment – it will really be the story of the entire public sector as a result of the events of recent time. The next few months should prove an interesting challenge, and I’m looking forward it.

I’m stepping up my running again after some more physiotherapy. Things are easing up in terms of pain, and my current physio seems confident that the problem is located more in more lower back than elsewhere. I have a challenging race next weekend in Portland, Devon. The last 10km I ran was completed in 54 minutes. The average time for a man in this race is 1 hour 24 minutes! And the elevation map of the course looks positively horrific.

The latest on the accommodation situation is that we are still out in Hayes, staying at my parents’ place – who are kindly let us stay with them while we try and figure out something more permanent. As I think I posted previously, I bought a house (!) in Wellington, and this is now going through the final stages of the purchase. We’re also in the preliminary stages of nailing down a flat to buy in Isleworth – more of a modern pad for when we’re in London, in a reasonably accessible and nice part of town. I thought we were there but we might have a last minute change of mind – we’ll see what the next day or two brings.

You’ll be able to tell that I’ve got a lot on at the moment. Apart from the running, not a whole heap of travel lined up – but we’re only just back from NZ really. We’ve a trip to Amsterdam booked in for the end of this month, and then probably India on March on some frequent flyer miles, if I can get the right dates. After that – I’m not really sure. Possibly back to NZ for a visit / work in August – maybe New York somewhere along the way.

And that was the news, for now.

I find myself sitting in bed in London this Christmas eve – very different to arriving in Whangarei at Kate’s parents’ house with my friend Rob, this time in 2008. Different side of the world, opposite season, and very urban compared to what is pretty rural in New Zealand.

And much has happened this year:

• I have moved from NZ back to London – not sure how long for, but I’m here for now
• Kate came too
• I had a month long Fellowship in Japan
• I ran workshops all over New Zealand and went back in November this year to run some more
• I wrote, produced and was the talent for an educational DVD that has distributed all over the emegency management sector in New Zealand
• I have started work at the Department of Health in the UK as the Swine Flu Vaccine Policy Coordinator, while maintaining my business in New Zealand
• I secured a promotion at the Department of Health to Policy Manager in the Quality Framework Team, starting in the New Year
• I have secured honorary positions at the School of Psychology, Massey University, NZ and the National Centre for Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan
• I attended a training course at Fordham University, New York
• I had a paper published in the New Zealand Medical Journal
• I bought a house in Wellington (subject to various conditions being met) and am looking to do the same in London
• I turned 40
• I took up running, with some gusto
• I played a lot of cricket, both in NZ and in the UK
• And best of all, Kate and I got engaged to be married.

Along the way, I have met some fantastic people, traveled all over New Zealand, to Japan, the USA, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France. I have renewed old friendships and rekindled connections with my family through being back in London. I think this has probably been one of the more eventful and satisfying years of my life. In fact, the decade started with my clinical training at University College London, which was one of the better decisions I have made in my life, as was my decision to go to New Zealand. But more reflections about the decade in another post. For now, I feel happy to be alive, to be sharing my life with wonderful people, satisfied with my achievements for the year and challenges for the next, and grateful for the privileges that my life has afforded me, compared to many, many others.

A whistle-stop trip back to Wellington and NZ for two weeks for a bit of work for Massey University and MCDEM, as well as catching up with my old Ministry of Health colleagues and H1N1-buster counterparts. The trip couldn’t have gone much better from a professional point of view – the workshops went well, though attendance could have been a little better. I’ve had a bit of input intosome research proposals – which we’ll wait to hear back about. It was also great to be valued again from a work perspective – something that I am sorely missing in London

From a personal point of view, it has been a brilliant trip too. Kate and I have had some fun in Wellington – though I was working much of the time. I got a good game of cricket in – we lost, but I bowled well and hit an unbeaten 19 coming in at No. 9 trying to hit 30 off 7 overs to win. We fell 9 short, but I did enjoy pulling a big 6 over deep square leg with Josh’s new bat. I completed by Triple Continent Challenge, running a 10km cross country race in England before I left (in hail, thunder and lightning), a 5km race in Santa Monica on the stopover to NZ (finished 7th in my age group, 41st out of 447 runners), and then a 5km race in Wellington.

Then finally, a lovely side-trip to Taupo, where I caught my first trout and had a great time with Kate’s family. There’s more – but I think we’re boarding soon, so I’d better shut up shop. Until LA.

So far so good – the instructors and knowledgable and great presenters, and the exercises have been fun and thought-provoking. The food is great and the campus is very pretty. If only I could run …

Last weekend, we went ring shopping in Hatton Garden. For those who don’t know, this is the Jeweler’s Quarter of London, and almost gave me a heart attack as soon as we stopped at the first shop. There were rings at over 10,000 pounds. That is about NZ$25,000. Way too rich for me. However, we did choose a magnificent, which I duly took out a mortgage for – and it will be ready to pick up in a couple of weekends time. I’m sure those of you who know me will see it in due course.

Thank you, lovely Kate – you’ve made me very happy

Will get it checked out before we’re off to Paris for the weekend on Oct 23rd.

I’m not sure how long I’ll stay in this job though – I have opportinities to move on to do things other than the repetitive briefing and correspondence work I have been managing over the past 3 months. I should be in a position to something more about that in the next week or so. Until then, more of the same next week.

People avoided eye-contact as a  rule, and even if you said ‘Hej’, or whatever, you tended to just get a puzzled look in return. Not really teeming with positive vibes. Of course, it is hard to make a rounded judgment after only 4 days. But we spent almost 500 pounds on a budget that included sandwiches for packed lunch and self-made porridge for breakfast. I only had 2 beers out, and a few coffees & hot chocolates with Kate, and we stayed in a twin bunk in an ex-prison cell. Hardly what I’d call extravagant.

We spent a lot of time in Gamla Stan, scene of the Royal place and Bloodbath Square. The Swedes seem to have a touch of the dark about them. We certainly noticed it.

So I have succumbed and bought myself a Garmin Forerunner 405 bells and whistles GPS watch with heart rate monitor on eBay. It’s pretty pricey, but I think I’ll get a lot of wear out of it to be honest, the way my running is going. Will be fun to have it with me when out and about hiking and traveling about over the next few months overseas too, without having to worry about racking up data costs if trying to track my path using the iPhone.

I’ll post about how I get on with it.

I’m also traveling quite a lot by my legs as I’m really liking running at the moment. And my capacity to do so seems to be improving nicely. I’m able to knock off 10km pretty easily and have run about 38km over the past 5 days, including a recovery day with no running. I have developed bits of my calf muscles I have never had before. And my knees are perfectly fine. Running is also proving really effective in countering my post-40 slowing metabolism and as stress relief for the slightly unsatisfying work conditions I find myself in. Never thought I’d say it, but I think I’m hooked. Trying to make the running thing a habit, and I think it’s working.

A day out of the office though tomorrow. Gives me small relief from the swine flu vaccinefest.

It has been some time between posts, hasn’t it? That usually means that time has been at a premium. What with Kate arriving in London and setting up our lives here, that has certainly been true.

What can I catch you up with briefly  before I make a better stab at keeping the blog up to date?

• The new job has been somewhat underwhelming. The title of Swine Flu Vaccine Policy Coordinator at the Department of Health in the UK seems to indicate some kind of policy development might be involved. Truth be told there has been scant trace of that – it has been mainly reactive briefing and correspondence duties so far. If it continues for much longer, I don’t know how long I will stick it.
• London life and how much energy it takes, with travel and trying to do interesting things has been revealed again to me again, somewhat shockingly. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to take it, especially if the job doesn’t pick up.
• I joined a cricket club and had a few lovely games of 20 over cricket at the end of the season. Missing thr old crew back in Wellington, though it was nice to be playing and bowling on grass wickets again
• Joined the Serpentine Running Club, and regularly managing 6-7km runs, and the odd long one thrown in too – including a 10.5km run tonight. Also ran my first 5km official event, which was a trail run in the middle of a hot day – clocked 23:58, which I was very happy with. I’ve also dropped down to 78kg – which is the least I’ve weighed since I was a about 30 – I’m also very pleased with that too. The aim is to try to do a few more 5km events, a 10km event before the end of the year, and then start a training programme for a half marathon in the spring.
• Kate and I have managed a bit of travel – as well as a day-trip to Calais and a weekend in Amsterdam (where Kate ended up in A&E – but that is another story), we also got down to Avebury, Bristol, Lewes and Seaford, St Albans, and Bournemouth. In the new few weeks, we have Stockholm and Paris lined up, as well as possibly Brussels, and a trip back to NZ  via a weekend in LA for me to do some work.
• I now have a Visiting Researcher role at the National Institute of Mental Health, where I did my JSPS Fellowship earlier this year.

That’s enough I think – live blogs start again forthwith.

Will post more with pics and background from the last few days and weeks over the weekend.

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks in the USA. First, visiting my old school friend Saideep and his lovely family in Philadelphia, and then a ‘Mental Health in Complex Emergencies’ certificate training course for 9 days full-time (plus a weekend off) at Fordham University in New York City. The highlight has to be the last three days where I have taken a specialist module called Training Others, with Dr Nancy Baron – a very experienced and incredibly competent international trainer. I’ve really appreciated her critical but caring approach and learned a lot over the past few days – both personally and professionally. A definite highlight of my professional development so far in my various careers.

Met some great people too – especially my room-mate (dorm accommodation at Fordham), Niroshan – a retired Sri-Lankan Army Major and Drew, a teacher and clinical social worker in NYC. It was great fun to hang out with Drew and his girlfriend, Erin at the weekend, watching a Minor League Baseball game out in Coney Island, Brooklyn, and then hanging out over 4th July weekend. But now, I’m at the airport preparing to head back to London. I arrive at 10am on the 9th of July, and Kate arrives at 10pm – she’ll be in the air right now en-route to London and about to land in Singapore.

More later.

Missing Wellington already (but it is nice to be warm).

I’m writing this on the A380 in economy class from Singapore to London. To be honest, the 777-200ER from Auckland to London was looking pretty tired and a little dated, and was very full. I didn’t sleep much, but about as much as  I needed to get through the next day. Killed 6 hours at the airport by lounge-hopping and going for a swim at the rooftop swimming pool in Terminal 1 at Changi Airport. However, the A380 is a different beast altogether. The flight is still pretty full, but I think it feels quite roomy. I am on the main deck but might try and go for a look around in a short while, perhaps to the upper deck economy section. I’ve been pretty lucky to get 45D, and though i have a sleepy infant in the bassinet just next to me – they seem very quiet and haven’t heard a squeak from them …yet.

We’re about 3 hours into the flight and I have watched Watchmen, which for an unfilmable graphic novel I thought they did a brilliant job. The soundtrack was very good too, though it was a little spooky when they played ‘All along the Watchtower’ at a key point in the movie. Kate and I have watched all 4 seasons of Battlestar Galactica over the last 3 months. If you’ve watched it, you’ll know how key that particular song becomes as the series unfolds. It has become a bit of a fixation of ours – although the BSG franchise seems to favour the Bob Dylan version, and Watchmen uses Jimmy Hendrix. Still, when I heard the first few riffs, I sat up bolt upright and expected to see Saul Tigh grimacing one-eyed into the camera, muttering, ‘…it’s coming from the SHIP!’

I don’t think this A380 is talking to me quite yet, though it has managed to keep the door to Singapore Airlines open. After the flight from Auckland to Singapore, I had decided to stick to Air NZ pretty much exclusively. However, if prices were considerably different, or Singapore airlines manages to smarten up the 777 Singapore – Auckland leg, they could be back in the game.

It looks like New Zealand authorities are beginning to pick up their first cases of community based transmission of Influenza A (H1 N1), and some of those cases are in Wellington. So, it looks like scrupulous hand-washing and hygiene practices for me to keep myself well before I go to the UK – though cases are increasing rapidly there too.

I still have relatively little idea as to the exact role I will be going into when I arrive in the UK, after my course in New York. I am slightly disappointed in the level of communication I am receiving from the Department of Health over there. I am now technically jobless and don’t know what I’ll be doing after I arrive in London – and from Tuesday, Kate is in the same boat. I’m sure it will all come out in the wash, but the uncertainty is a challenge that adds to the turmoil of the move.

Is it really happening?

Took an old TV and excess clothes to the recycling station at the city dump.

Is it really happening?

Putting our clinical papers and books into the storage locker.

Is it really happening?

Pulling out the suitcase and trying to see how much might fit in it.

Is it really happening?

Emailing London to try and sort out a job and meeting people again for perhaps the first time in years.

Is it really happening?

My mum asking what Kate likes for breakfast.

Is it really happening?

Mailing people to arrange to say goodbye.

It is really happening.

I had a surprise in store. As the shabad are sung in the Gurdwara, there is a now a big projector screen on which a computer projects the shabad lyrics in both pubjabi, gurmurkhi and english scripts. Quite amazing. It was nice to catch up with people and I definitely want to be back there at least one more Sunday before I go to London. The rest of the weekend was in in Waikanae with Kate and her father Tim – and a cold night it was too. Winter really has hit New Zealand over the last week, blowing autumn aside with a cold blast up from the antarctic.

I’m still unsure as to what work I will have when I get to the UK. At the moment, it looks like nothing. I hope I’ll be able to sort something out over the next 6 weeks or so which is when i will be available for work. And Kate is in the same position. I have two weeks left at work in NZ, then off to the UK briefly before the course in New York, and then … uncertainty. We’ll have to ride that out for a few weeks yet. Until then, packing, making the most of what Wellington has to offer, and getting to the finale of Battlestar Galactica. It’ll be good to have certainty in that at least.

The Centre have been good at keeping in touch with me ever since I did a few business start-up courses with them (free) back in 2006. I’m on my way to a lunchtime meeting with them to discuss strategies for maintaining and growing the business while I am offshore.

Times certainly are a-changing.

Kate arranged for us to go to the Shearer’s Quarters which was very pleasant but unfortunately had a preponderance of flies that kept appearing out of nowhere. I think this must be a recurring problem as a can of fly spray was readily to hand. We must have seen 200-300 of the blighters over the two days we were there. But it didn’t detract from a lovely weekend, chugging up to Woodville to see Kate’s ancestral home, Mount Bruce, and even a guest appearance by the Tui Girls who were on location at the Tui Brewery for a photoshoot. Even though the weather was miserable throughout, I enjoyed the weekend immensely, especially making friends with a Kokako who insisted on flying right up to my face, clinging on to the wire and whispering ‘ko-ka-ko’ when we went to that aviary.

The exciting bit was when I overheated in the magnificent bath and passed out on the floor when I got out. To be on the safe side, Kate and I went over to ED at Wairarapa Hospital (fortunately just down the road), as I was a little disoriented when I came round a few seconds after passing out. For a second or so, I actually thought I’d been to sleep, but couldn’t remember going to bed. They gave my blood pressure and pulse a work-up and also hooked me up to an ECG and I checked out fine. They even shaved bits of my chest so they could get a good read on the pads that fed into the ECG machine. It now itches like crazy and I look like a mangy cat.

An odd way to get a health check-up on the eve of my 40th birthday, but there it is.

I’ve been working on this for a few days now and I have managed to get myself enrolled on the course, and this afternoon have also secured funding for me to attend from London. I am just so totally happy that this is going to come off. It’s thrown a few other complications into the ring – for example, I’ve now changed my leaving date from Wellington to go to London to 19 June. But overall, it’s a great opportunity and I’m, very pleased I can make it work financially too.

Now, I just need the stars to come into alignment concerning that supposed job I have in London …

I’ll try deleting that post and see what happens. I also have one particular post that seems to be a complete spam magnet. Anyone else get that on their self-hosted WP blog?

It has been more than a little hectic since I came back to NZ from Japan. When I left Tokyo for Wellington via Kansai and Auckland, Influenza A (H1N1) was really considered a threat only if you were traveling from Mexico or North America. Now, this is in danger of movingto Phase 6 Pandemic Alert, called by the WHO. I note though that Stephen McKernan, our Direct-General at the Ministry of Health here and the Minister of Health for the UK, Alan Johnson made calls at the World Health Assembly yesterday for pandemic phase changes now to take severity into account as well as how widespread the disease had become. The argument is that at this stage, the non-seasonal H1N1 virus does not seem to cause particularly severe symptoms (for most people). To divert production capacity from seasonal influenza vaccine production at this stage may put more people at risk than those who would be protected by a new non-seasonal flu vaccine now that the winter flu season in the southern hemisphere is well under way.

Another concern is the rapid increase in the number of cases being reported amongst high-school students the Kansai region of Japan. We can be pretty sure that this is the tip of the iceberg as many of those with mild symptoms will not have ben tested, and even though schools may have been closed, many students are still mixing together in local karaoke clubs.

I’ve been working hard here, including getting a briefing here at the Ministry of Health just two hours after getting off my flights from Japan. I have spent a little time working in the National Health Coordination Centre and contributed to providing occupational health advice for working in this setting. We now have 100-plus people rostered into this facility. I have also worked to provide psychosocial support guidance for those people affected by quaratine procedures.

The scenarios that every fears are probably one of the following: that H5N1 combines with Non-seasonal A H1N1 to produce a highly pathogenic flu strain with some resistance to tamiflu, or that Seasonal A H1N1 combines with the Non-seasonal A H1N1 virus. Although Non-seasonal A H1N1 is treatable with Tamiflu, seasonal A H1N1 is resistant.

In the meantime, the initial scramble to respond is over, at least in NZ. We’re now planning carefully to understand how we might best respond to various possible scenarios. I imagine most other national and international health organisations are doing the same.

It has to be considered somewhat ironic, that an event I have been assisting the NZ Government to prepare for, for the last three years, threatens to unfold while I am isolated by a blizzard in a small lakeside village in Hokkaido – Shikotsu-ko.

Although the snow eased off overnight, a good few inches fell in the hour or two it took me to get from Sapporo, out to here. I was aware of the Mexican cases before I left Sapporo yesterday, but you can imagine my surprise when I woke this morning and flicked on Japanese TV, only to see my boss, Steve Brazier, and the NZ  Minister of Health holding a press conference. I couldn’t figure out what had happened, apart from Steve was dressed quite casually, I guess it had happened yesterday.

I managed to communicate to the absolutely delightful older Japanese woman who is running this hostel that I needed to use the internet, and she obliged me very happily. I found out about the 22 returning students from Mexico to NZ and how 2 people were hospitalised and the remaining few were in quarantine at home. I also heard that the possible death toll had risen from 60 to 81. I also remembered that the last pandemic in 1968 was thought to account for 1 million lives lost. The good news is that the current swine flu strain appears to be responding well to treatment by Tamiflu or Relenza, but not older drugs. The Japanese Government seem to have put in place some quite stringent screening at airport targeted towards people arriving from the Americas right now, but involving heat-screening scanners too, from what I can gather.

I guess there’s not a lot I can do right now. I’ll wait out my time here in Shikotsu and return to Tokyo on Wednesday to find out what is going on. I’m glad I ran all those psychosocial workshops before I left NZ and most regions in NZ have people who understand what to do to put in place best-practice psychosocial interventions.

I arrived in Tokyo on April 6, and I can scarcely believe it when I look at the calender and see that it is already April 24th. Where did the time go? I can’t believe my time here has whizzed by so completely. My mind is flicking forward to all the things I have to do when I get back to Wellington on May 1st, and in preparation to leave for London again on June 10.

But, lingering for a moment just on my last few days here, I have found my time at the National Institute of Mental Health to be very helpful and productive. It is both inspiring and reassuring to see that both NZ and Japan are using the IASC Guidlines to shape our work concerning psychosocial interventions in disasters. Dr Kim and Dr Suzuki have been great in letting me take their time, in explaining all the various different research and training they’re involved in. It’s been an absolute pleasure. Dr Yamada and Inagaki have been the perfect hosts, even taking me out to a Yakitori bar in a few minutes on my last night here in this part of Tokyo.

Tomorrow, I head out to Sapporo through Haneda Airport, for a night in that city, staying in a spa capsule hotel. Should be ‘an experience’. Saturday night in Sapporo should prove to be interesting too. After that, a few days rest and recharge in Shikotsu kohan, a small tourist village by a lake, framed by mountains and volcanoes, in a National Park, south of Sapporo.But it’s going to be cold, with temperatures around freezing at night, and around 10 degrees during the day.

I probably won’t have net access for a few days after tonight, but I’ll be back in Tokyo for one more night on April 29 before heading back to NZ. I’m sure time will continue to fly, but I’ll do my best to slow the clock and enjoy every last moment.

For now, this feels like home – Tokyo, that is. What with all the traveling over the last month or so, I have almost spent as much time in this hotel in Kokubunji as I have in my own bed.

It’s often said that the people in Osaka can be said to exhibit a certain ‘joie de vivre’ and humour that is not present in other cities. And that has certainly been true in both this visit and my previous time here. It is interesting how many times i have been referred to as, ‘Monsieur’ in shops and cafes, and how many French as well as English themed cafes there are in Kansai, as I certainly noticed this in Kobe too.

The poster presentation Mitsu and Masatoshi put together (which I contributed to) went well at the Japanese Suicide Prevention Association Conference yesterday. I got some interesting questions about more broad issues such as the importance of spirituality to mental well-being, and how the NZ government thought about this or tried to promote this. A further conversation this morning made me realise what a tricky topic this is in japan, after the Allies insisted on a complete separation of religious activity and Government in forming the new constitution for Japan after the Second World War.

I met a lot of interesting and friendly people at the reception party and endured a lot of no-doubt impressive formal speeches, as is the Japanese way. I also made a few interesting connections which I will follow-up on when I get back to Tokyo on Tuesday. In the meantime, I’ll attend lunch at the conference today, and then wait for my friends Maki and Yas come to pick me up at 1.30. I met them as they put me up on the homestay programme last time I was in Osaka. We have kept in touch and they have invited me to go and stay with them again tonight. Last time, they took me to an onsen, the biggest sushi conveyor belt place I have ever seen, and an impressive temple. I wonder what they have in store for me this time?

Tomorrow: Kyoto.

This area of town also houses the WHO Knowledge Centre, which I am visiting later this afternoon before I head to Osaka and the Suicide Prevention Conference which is happening there over the next couple of days. I also visited Dr Kato and Dr Osawa at the Hyogo Institute for Traumatic Stress in HAT yesterday, as well the Disaster Reduction Museum – which is one of the better museums I have ever been to. But the initial sound a light show really is quite shocking – not something to go an watch if you’re of a nervous disposition. I found my heart racing just a few seconds in to it.

So far, I’ve been impressed by the quality of work and thinking I have seen, and the candour with which people have talked to me. Some have seen a little mystified as to why I wanted to meet with them, but the clouds seem to disappear once I mention the JSPS Fellowship. I’m not sure what that is about.

Its a bright sunny day here, so I think I might source a bit of sushi and sashimi from the super market next door and go for a walk by the water’s edge.

Speaking of active, I’m not doing nearly enough exercise. In fact,I’m not sure where to. I don’t seem to stay near any parks or open space, so unless I get up before dawn, there doesn’t seem to be any way of doing much in the way of running until I get to Hokkaido. What with my sedentary lifestyle here (apart from tramping the streets gawking at everything), and my rushing around NZ  running workshops last month, I’ve noticed I’ve started to pack a little weight on. Will need to sort that out when I’m back in Wellington and nip that in the bud pronto.

Happy, yes. But need more active.

Although I don’t feel quite the level of culture shock I have felt at other times (though I may have underestimated this), the vast array of stimuli have left my senses reeling. There is such a bewildering range of things to do, or experiences, that it takes quite a lot of effort to keep on top of things. I’m having to think quite carefully about pacing myself. I was pretty drained when I flew over from NZ, and I want o be able to return in a relaxed frame, not shredded out by attempting to do too much here.

Yesterday, I spent a good 6 hours in Shinjuku Gyoen at a hanami party (cherry blossom viewing), organised by my friend Ryoji. He’s a talented and thoroughly nice chap who is also the Editor of Japan Close-Up magazine – please take a peek.  It was a fun day from 10-4pm, just hanging out and chatting, and walking around the magnificent park, taking in all the flowers, and all the people. All the people! There must have been hundreds of thousands of people in the park – it was just delightful – all enjoying a lovely sunny spring day in Tokyo. Japanese toddlers are so cute, I want to scoop them up and take them home. There. I sound like a broody American forty-something spinster on a kidnap scouting mission. Exactly the voice I was hoping to channel in this blog post.

A few people went on to the Hub English Bar for drinks, but they looked set for a big mission of drinking, and I just didn’t fancy it. I had a drink and carried on chatting for a while until about 6pm, when I headed out. After first going in 2006, and again in 2007, I returned to the Northern Observatory of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building for Gotham-esque views over night time Tokyo. I still haven’t made it to the Tokyo Tower actually. Must make some time to do that in my final week here.

Another Japanese curry later (I’m addicted – a veggie one this time. It’s hard to get enough veggies in japan), and I was on my way home to flop out. I’ve bought a couple of bits and pieces today, but pretty much taking it easy until I head to Takao at about 2pm.

Let me catch you up briefly in reverse order. Friday was melting in the heat of the lab all day while peer reviewing some protocols and papers on some of the suicide prevention work being coordinated and implemented here in Japan. Friday night was a very fun evening. After buying my Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets from Tokyo to Kobe and back from Kyoto to Tokyo, me and my colleagues went to a Korean BBQ place in Kokubunji. I tried all sorts of delicious cuts of beef from parts of a cow that I’d rather not know about if I’m honest. And also some very drinkable Korean Rice Wine, kind of milky in appearance and sweet in taste. Very drinkable and fortunately only 6% alcohol. i liked it so much, I took a bottle for my contribution to the hanami party. Tasted just as good second time around. The team members were playful and friendly and called my ‘Sarb-chan’ instead of ‘Sarb-san’. ‘Chan’ is far more affectionate and I was touched. We made speeches, I gave presents and we ate and got tiddly and laughed. I could do that night again and again.

Thursday morning, I worked at my hotel before heading into the city to enjoy the geekzone that is Akihabara. I’d forgotten just how much a sense of being battered around the head with a Playstation playing some death splatter game on full volume you get when you spend too much time in that place. Although it was fun to people watch and gadget browse, I had to keep ducking into small quiet alleys in order not to smash the speakers that were playing the same short jingle again and again and again and again and AGAIN.  I bought a Casio Exilim EX-V8 camera. It’s a discontinued model, but it has a great movie mode and an internal optical 7x zoom which you can also use in movie mode. The price was a bargain, so I couldn’t say no. Took some finding though.

Wednesday night was baseball night at the Tokyo Dome where I met Ryoji. We watched the Fighters take apart the Marines, before the Marines fought back in a close homerun heavy match which finished 8-7 to the fighters. Here’s a little taste of the atmosphere from the game – which was really entertaining.

Fighter v Marines

I’m going to try and catch a game in Koshien Park when I am based in Kobe from Monday to Thursday. That could be a bit of a challenge though. Tokyo is pretty cushy for foreigners as there are far more English sings than there used to be. I’ve heard its not like that in Kobe or Osaka. We’ll see. But I’d better memorise the Kanji for ‘Male Toilet’ pretty quickly.

Right. I’m off to …. well, just seat here peacefully for a wee while.

“Maori?” he muttered – more to himself than to me.

“No – but, it’s complicated,” I offered.

He then proceeded to chat to me about New Zealand and gave me a vast array of facts ranging from Maori words and phrases to how NZ is governed and the history of suffrage. It was more of a recital than a conversation, and I found it difficult (a) to get a word in edgeways, and (b) to keep a straight face. He eventually ran out of puff some 15 minutes later and then said he originally approached me as he thought I was a Black American and he wanted to do some English conversation practice while listening to my accent. Maybe that’s why he didn’t let me talk.

With several bows, which I mirrored, he was off. I paused and smiled to myself.I have been approached for English conversation practice by Japanese in the street before, but never quite like this, or had my identity mistaken in quite this way before either. I told one of  my Japanese colleagues this story during  today – they’d never heard of a Westerner being approached in the street like this.

I’m sure I’m not his only victim though. Remarkable memory, though his skills in reciprocal conversation could do with a little polishing.

I have a desk based in a lab – the smell reminds me of times I’ve worked in hospitals in the past, and indeed the campus contains the old hospital that used to look after war veterans in Tokyo. I have been kitted out with swipe card and key, and it’s been made clear that they expect to see me on some days, and not on others as I sample some of the culture that Japan has to offer. The whole team was very friendly and approachable, and when I knocked off at 6pm, about half were still there working. I took a walk around the campus with a couple of the team members in the afternoon and enjoyed the sensation of walking under cherry trees, just as the wind caught  some of the blossom and whiled it around us, as we were shaken through our own little cherry blossom snow-globe.

The way home was the most bizarre part of the day, as I got on the train and found my way back to my hotel, I just glided into the throng at the stations and, just merged in. The thing is, the culture shock I experienced the first time I came to Japan just isn’t there anymore. Things are still interesting and amusing and enlightening in equal measure. It is just that they down seem outlandish or otherworldly any more. Part of me misses this – I enjoyed being shocked out of my comfort zone. But another, possibly greater part of me is simply thrilled to feel like I fit in. Of course, I am still gaijin and people look askance at me in shops and in the street. And my Japanese is nothing more than rudimentary. Yet, when I sat down for a Japanese curry on my own tonight and they wheeled out the English menu for me, I had already chosen what I wanted from the regular menu – and pretty much knew what it was too.

I’ve bopped around a bit since dinner, but have already started lusting after objects Japanese. So far, I already want a new digital camera, am continuing to eye up the little Sony netbook, and have come across a great deal to get a spanky new pair of glasses. And that was only being in the department store close to me in outer suburbia for 20 minutes. God knows what I’m going to be like when I get to central Tokyo.

I contacted my acquaintance Ryoji, whom I met on the Young Core Leaders of Civil Society Programme in 2007. I am catching a Seibu Lions baseball game with him tomorrow evening which should be fun. I don’t think it will be anywhere near a sell-out, but I’m looking forward to my first chance to get out and about a bit. On Thursday, I think I’ll work at the hotel in the morning and then head into Akihabara – Electric Town, where all the geeks hang out. There, I shall satisfy my lust for objects shiny. Friday, it’s back to the office, and then on saturday, I’ll be meeting up with Ryoji again for a henari party – cherry blossom viewing. But tomorrow, it will be up with everyone else to join the commuting throngs to work.

One interesting change from a year ago is the JR station English-language announcer at Narita Airport now has an English accent. A touch bizarre and out of content. I suddenly thought I was back on the London underground. Really.

Now ,the ommuter train from Tokyo Central to Kokubunji out west is something else. At times, it was the classic not-being-able-to-breathe-as-jammed-in-so-tight like you see in movies about Japan. I forget it gets like that at about 7pm. I was pleased to pop out of the carriage like a bar of soap after almost two hours traveling. Sorting myself out to go to bed pretty soon as I speak. Might just pop down to the Family Mart for supplies.

All starts tomorrow. I’ll keep things up to date as I can and post pics too.

Movies. Well, Rhys Darby is quite good in ‘Yes Man’, especially when dressed as a Spartan from 300. The film itself is reasonable for it’s genre. I started to watch Revolutionary Road, but as I had said goodbye to Kate this morning for 25 days, I decided I wasn’t really in the mood for it. So, Dean Spanly it is instead for now.  UPDATE – Dean Spanly – what an unexpected, moving and well-made film. Truly unique, and the trailers just don’t give you any clue as to what is in store. Which is a good thing.  can only wholeheartedly recommend it. Just lovely.

Technology wise, I’ve packed my Powerbook and iPhone for this trip, though it will only be functioning as an iPod Touch when in Japan as it won’t work with their phone systems. For this trip, the Eee PC will stay at home. I might pick up a couple of bits of pieces of gadgetry in Japan depending on funds and what looks good. At the moment I’m looking mostly at updating my digital camera, and perhaps a little Sony Vaio P. Though I should really be saving right now.

Back to the movie. Will probably update once I’ve commuted across Tokyo from Narita to Kokubunji out in West Tokyo on the JR Chou line.

But I was also in London to sit the FastStream Assessment Centre – the testing and assessment process  for people wanting to join the accelerated path to the Senior Civil Service. Last year, around 18,000 people started the application process for about 250 jobs. I was one of the lucky few to get through. I was also able to defer the decision to take up my position for a year. But now that year is up, and I’ve decided to go.

It has not been an easy decision at all. Wellington has fast become my favourite city in the world, and I intend to return. But there was more than just that to consider. The opportunity is a great one, and after much negotiation, it seems likely that I will join the Department of Health in London. Kate will also be coming with me – not immediately, but shortly thereafter once a few things have been sorted here. We’ll spend time with my folks and my friends and living a life in London that includes travel to Europe to see my sister and sights, and all those things we’ll share together. We’ll see what life brings us, and play it by ear to a certain extent.

As the year we have spent together in Wellington has sped by, it became apparent that another opportunity like this, at this place in our lives may not come by again. So we have grasped it. We still have links here. Kate is a NZer, and they (we) have strong homing instincts. I am a resident here, and I have good friends, strong links with the Ministry of Health (NZ) and an honorary position at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research at Massey University in Wellington. I suspect we’ll be back shortly. More of that in another post.

I booked my ticket today. I leave on June 10. Comments welcome.

I’ve ponied up a little extra to sit in the RA Vance stand this morning, but I’ve an annoying old man sat behind me who insists on drumming his feet on the plastic chair beside me. And because all the chairs are connected, this jiggles me too. Arse.

I’ve finished my cricket season now with a late flurry of wickets and runs. I managed 5-24 in a rain affected penultimate game, which was the best return for our team of the season. And in the last game, my batting finally came right and I managed 53 not out coming in at number 8. That included some reasonable defence at the beginning as we collapsed even further from 71/6 to 73/9. But I hit 2 x 6 and 8 x 4 to put on 50 for the final wicket – my timng was finally clicking. John picked up 3 runs in that partership of about 10 overs, but he is really difficult to get out. Pity it took me ’til the last game to get my batting right.

But, things didn’t work out as I expected. I got a call back from Vodafone on Friday while I was watching the NZ v India 2nd ODI indicating that the repair agents – MobilefoneRepair.com – saying they had assessed my phone as liquid damaged and it was going to cost over $1000 to repair. I decided that I wasn’t going to have that conversation right then, and took it up with Vodafoine again on Monday morning in person. They reiterated that the iPhone had been assessed as liquid damaged and as such was not covered by the warranty. Of course, I disputed this but I was told in a friendly but firm tone I needed to take this up with the repair agents.

So I did. The repair agents explained that they had detected corrosion on the dock connector and that they would send me photos of the damage and refer the case to their head engineer. So, I waited for the photos to arrive. And waited. Until I got a phone call today informing me that they had referred the case to Apple who decided that they would cover the replacement under warranty.

I’m not sure why the change of heart, but I’m stoked. I argued that whatever damage they detected was not due to any contamination with liquid but would have been caused by exposure to whatever moisture might be picked up through carrying it around in a pocket all day, and no more so than that.

Anyway – the replacement is due back in a day or two. I’ve noticed my twitter usage decreased markedly without access to my iPhone and Twitterfon. A few days off probably wasn’t too much of a bad thing. But I’m glad to be getting it back before too long and that this case has been successfully resolved. Count me as a satisfied customer. Eventually.