We left Vladivostok for Japan on a very windy day. We enjoyed the short time we had there exploring the city. We were blessed with good weather and it was quite warm for the time of year. The flight out was a bit bumpy due to the wind but we had separate window seats for a change so it was nice for us both to see our arrival in Japan with the sun glinting off the rice fields. We had a quick stop in Tokyo and transfered down to Fukuaka arriving about 8.15 pm. We were meeting our host at a station outside Fukuaka so had to take the underground train. It is quite interesting working out how to buy the tickets and which train to catch. We worked out we needed to use the 'grey' coloured line but couldn't find where it started. We resulted in asking an official looking chap who pointed out the orange line merged into the grey line, which of course made perfect sense as long as you were Japanese! We boarded the train and had a slight panic attack when the destinations flashed up in Japanese characters but then the display changed to normal characters so we could read them and see when we arrived. The Japanese were very polite and a young lad even offered me a seat - see grey hair does have its advantages!

So here we are in Itoshima in the small district of Shima Sakurai for the next two weeks helping to clear a wild Japanese garden and turn it into an English garden.

The house and garden are on a hillside that leads down to a beach a 5 minute walk away. The house had been previously unoccupied for over a year and the garden had become a jungle. The climate is hot and humid so the vegetation had taken over obliterating paths and garden terraces. Bamboo was running rife through out the garden. We are leveling the flat areas and clearing all the vegetation away as well as cutting back bushes and small trees that are hanging over pathways. It is hard, hot, sweaty work with lots of wildlife keeping us company. The spiders are very pretty and very large.

We have the weekend free so had a walk along the beach and along the road where there is a shrine in the sea created by two rocks linked by thick rope with Cormorants perched on ledges. It was raining but very warm with clouds rolling across the tops of the hills - it felt very Japanese!