The real "Afternoon Tea"

My mother came and went. She's still in Japan, but she's staying with my grandparents in Tokyo, where all the other bazillion of my Japanese relatives live. We had a wonderful four days together, going on a delicious Hokkaido gourmet tour of Sapporo and Otaru cities. Due to that, today was supposed to be a "salad day" for me, but I've already failed by munching on a chocolate pie thing from Hakodate. Damn Japan and its omiyage (souvenir) culture.

I held an "Afternoon Tea" cooking class last Saturday. My International Exchange Section holds International Cooking classes during the year for non-Japanese people living in the city to introduce locals dishes from their home countries. As it was our first time, I held a British-themed class by giving presentations on U.K. through trusty Powerpoint slides, then teaching them to make super easy scones via frying pans and enjoying "cream tea" (ovens are not readily available here). We handed out questionnaires for the participants to fill in after we had finished, and it was quite amusing to read about the images of the U.K. that filled up their little Japanese minds. Overall the comments of the class were positive, but some said things along the lines of "It was a shame that we used tea bags", and "I had hoped to learn more on the details of brewing tea". I don't mean to crush their bigged up images of Britain, but I don't think I know of any English person who actually goes to the trouble of brewing tea through tea leaves in a tea pot. I can imagine the dear Japanese old ladies' (a large majority who took part in the class were women in their 40s onwards) looks of horror if they do have the chance to visit England - in place of their admired after, dainty Victorian ladies in corsets sipping Earl Grey from their delicately decorated china cups fat, they would see dirty builder men with their jeans sagging around their arse, holding giant mugs with the PG tips teabag tag dangling at the side.

It's funny though; I myself have developed a "dreamt up image" of England by living in Japan for a little over 2 years and having not paid a visit back yet. I've always loved tea, and I drank tons of it back home, but I always had it in a big mug with a tea bag, adding milk and sugar or honey. In Japan I still prepare it by the teabag method, but I found that I drink it straight more than often (though I later realised that teabags sold in Japan are perhaps not as strong as those in the UK), and I even bought a teapot, tea leaves and a strainer, though most of the tea leaves I got were herbal teas. I also find myself craving over pretty cups and saucers and adoring over the thought of a tea party. Then again, I've been and still am a big fan of British history, the Victorian age, 'Alice in Wonderland' and the Gothic Lolita genre, and dressing like a doll in black and having Afternoon Tea was something I'd wanted to do before I moved to Japan.
Still, it's funny how living abroad and away from your home country can change and influence the way you see it. Without realising it, my brain is not so much washed but sprinkled by Japan's ideals of England, and by viewing the bad points of Japan I'm seeing more and more good points of U.K. Though I never hated England; I always loved it and always will, as is the same with Japan. Both countries have their positives and negatives, as do any country, and both have very strong places in my heart.

Speaking of last week, Halloween was fantastic. It consisted of great company, great food and a great party at my friend's house, before we all hit the town as noisy, tipsy (not quite drunk yet) "gaijin" in our crazy costumes, high-fiving either bewildered or "YES! FOREIGNERS!" Japanese randomers that we passed. Drinking persisted along with a lot of dancing, of which I much approved of. The Halloween Event at the club we went to was brill. I've been to the same event 3 years running and it always surprises me that Japanese people can actually go "that far" if they want to.

I'm helping out a Halloween event again tomorrow in my friend's town, for the locals and mostly the kids. There's going to be a Haunted house, of which I've been asked to play Sadako in 'The Ring' room due to my Asian looks and long black hair. The flame of my actress soul came alight at the sound of that. 
I'm determined to have the children, and mostly the parents terrified.