I do find it really difficult when ‘life’ gets in the way of ‘things I want to do’. Today is a prime example, with a necessary visit to the hospital and lesson planning for my English classes tonight preventing me from doing the things that I really want to do, such as read The Big Issue Japan as a part of my Japanese-reading-improvement campaign.

At least I’m fortunate in that I have the self discipline to not spend more than a few minutes a day looking at sites like that of the Extreme Ironing Bureau, which whilst amusing, leaves me feeling frustrated at the time I’ve ‘lost’ to them.

My fourth X-ray in the space of 8 days showed positive results though – a mere case of inflammation of the muscle in the knee join, as opposed to some serious injury. Overuse was the cause. I’ve been told to take it easy for a bit. Something tells me I might not be walking after that 100km hike…

I’ve bought a knee-support thing with built-in magnets. I’ve always been sceptical as to the pain-relieving properties of such devices, but as you know, I’m in the mood for challenging my beliefs. Being one of the best on the market it was pretty damn expensive, but has a full money-back guarantee, so I can’t lose out. Will keep you posted.

Yesterday I was taken to the most fabulous shoe shop in the whole of Japan, Kutsu no Hikari, specialising in shoes size 30cm and over. They had some 34cm trainers in there – they looked so funny, like, no, it is not possible for anyone to have feet that are that big!

The big-shoe shop – Kutsu no Hikari, is a a pretty small place, located on the west side of the Yamanote line tracks about 500m south of Okachimachi station. You can’t miss it if you just take the south exit and follow the lines towards Akihabara.

They have a second larger branch in Shinjuku, and branches elsewhere too – check out the website / online store.

No longer can I complain about not being able to get shoes to fit me in Japan.

Anyhows, time for me to skidaddle.

xxx