Today I finally met up with some classmates outside of school hours! Mai (from Vietnam) found a nice cafe near the train station, and invited Luca (Italy), Alice (Germany), Bo (China), Liam (America) and me. We chatted over food and drink for over two hours, and then everyone except Bo and Liam took the bus north to a little gelato stall I’d found on my quest for sourdough from last time. Mai left after that (she lives in another city and needed to start heading home), but Luca, Alice and I walked along the Oto River to the park where the cherry blossom festival had been held on my first weekend here.

The pink sakura petals are well and truly gone now, but the trees are lush and green instead, and the hanging garden which had been bare at festival time was blooming with pale purple wisteria. I think I’ll go back soon and take more photos with my good camera. There were lots of people there to see it. A marathon was taking place along the banks of the river, and for a bit of fun runners in inflatable dinosaur costumes were competing in a short sprint race too. On the pedestrian bridge there was a well-attended cultural dance event, and women in kimono were having their photographs taken on the castle grounds. It was a fine spring afternoon. I made Luca and Alice accompany me to Nitori to buy a pot, pan and soap dish, and then we caught the bus back south together. I’d spent the week eating lunch with Mai and Bo, sometimes joined by Liam, but I hadn’t talked with the two Europeans much at all until today. It was really great to get to know them. I started to feel in earnest like I was regenerating the social life I lost in the move.

I’m still enjoying my classes too. I forgot to mention this before, but they’re taught almost completely in Japanese – a little bit of English making its way in when the teachers are trying to translate a tricky word. I can sense it having an effect on the way I think: the Japanese-language mentality I’m in at school is starting to bleed into the rest of the day. It’s almost imperceptible at the moment, and maybe just lasts the walk back to my apartment, but it’s there.

I’m continuing to cook every night. I made soba noodles for the first time this week, fulfilling my goal to put down the frying pan for a bit. I also bought a bento recipe book on my phone and have started to prepare lunches from it. Bento boxes can get very intricate but the ones in this book are simple and hearty, perfect for beginners. Egg, which I don’t eat, is a side dish in virtually all of them. The folded layers of omelette in the various photographs reminded me of the slices of potato in a gratin, so I baked one. I’ll use that instead.

Runners in colourful dinosaur costumes sprinting along the bank of the Oto River in Okazaki.