My year in 2009

After finishing 2009, I feel I had a good year after all. I can’t think of many bad things.

Some of the good things were as follows. First, my parents and my younger sister came to visit us in Spring. Then, we had nice a summer holiday in the U.K. and Japan. We spent a happy time with both family and friends. And in October we moved to a big house in Sharqan. Now we are enjoying the big space, garden and easy access to our nice friends!

Some of the bad things were as follows. Just before moving in here, I found my yoga place that I used to go to in Sharqan has closed down. Also the Japanese food shop in Ajman just moved to Dubai at the end of 2009. I was very disappointed about that.

Chris’s parents managed to come before Christmas and are staying with us now. So for me, the year 2009 was a very warm year because we spent quite a long time with Chris and my parents and both relatives, which was very nice and I think the most important thing for us.

My hometown- Moji, Japan

My hometown is called Moji. It is in the north part of Kyushu island in Japan. There is a bridge called Kanmon-kyo connecting Kyushu and Honshu. It has a population of about 95,000 people.
Moji used to be famous for one of the biggest international ports in Japan. However, after World War II, this port became less popular. About 20 years ago, the former mayor decided to repair old buildings and make a new sightseeing spot called Moji-ko Retro. This project is succeeding. Our hometown started to attract lots of tourists. Last spring, the old styled, new diesel-train started to run as well. Already 180,000 people within 6 months rode on this slowest train in Japan.
Our hometown faces the sea, and we have lot of fresh fish markets. Especially Fugu (blow fish) which is a delicacy here and is most expensive fish in Japan.
Also, we have a very famous shrine under the Kanmon-bridge called Mekari-jinjya. Every lunar New Year’s day at dawn, 3 Shinto-priests go to the sea to cut seaweed, and give it to the gods. Even though it is a very cold and very early morning ceremony, many people come to see them every year.