いらっしゃいませ Welcome
I`m Anna, and this blog is about food, photography and living in Japan…..
Japan
When I first came to Japan 20 years ago I knew absolutely nothing about Japan and didn’t speak a word of Japanese. As an English teacher on the JET programme I was placed in Akita-ken right up in the north of Honshu (the main island) in a rural area. I imagined living among rice fields, pagodas, temples and traditional wooden Japanese houses. Instead it was small town Japan, a ramshackle mix of new builds and run down old buildings, tangled electric wires, bright signs and neon but at least there were lots of rice fields.
Despite my initial disappointment, I loved my time in Akita and made many lifelong friends, and Japan kind of got under my skin. However, after the maximum 3 years as a JET I left to go travelling in Asia and Australia. A year later the cheapest ticket back to the UK was with Japan Airlines and as a stopover was permitted I decided to call in on my way home, travel a bit and catch up with friends. Along the way I met my now Japanese husband, and 3 kids later I am forever connected to Japan.
We lived for 15 years in the UK but an invitation to run a guesthouse in northern Kyoto gave us the impetus to move back – something we’d considered while our children are small. So we cleared our house, gave away or sold most of our belongings and stored the remainder in a 1 x 2 metre space in my mum’s garage and made the move to Japan.
Food
I decided to make my profession in food whilst in Japan. I looked at what I spent my time doing – cook and take photos – and thought it best to focus on something I liked. I was clearly better at cooking than photography. Whenever there was an opportunity I was cooking, catering for events, cooking classes for my students or the local grandmothers, pop up cake stalls… However I didn’t think I had the
Making English shortbread
aptitude to become a professional cook. Back in London an introductory course to nutrition had me hooked and 3 courses and a degree later I became certified as a nutritional therapist, which I have combined with cooking and teaching about nutrition.
Here in Japan I run a small cookery school Anna’s Kitchen where I combine English conversation with baking, people here call it ‘Cookinglish’!
Photography
Japan is so photogenic; I loved capturing it when I can. And the food and presentation is something else, I am learning all the time.
Unless stated all photos are taken by me, either snapped on an iPhone or taken on a Nikon D5000 – which I confess I still don’t know how to use properly. I switch between auto, P, S, A and M function and see what comes up. Most photos are taken in snatched moments, ie 2 minutes before leaving for work as it is dark when I get home or at the weekends, and often have a child’s hand or other in the corner as they ‘help’ rearrange food shots.
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All in all being back in Japan is proving an incredibly rich and amazing experience although not without its challenges. I am finding the time limit on this chapter of my life means I focus on the positive, and try to appreciate and enjoy as much as I can before it ends….
Finally, I was featured in the Financial Times column Expat Lives in summer 2015. To read the article please see:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5a3eaf02-47f5-11e5-af2f-4d6e0e5eda22.html?siteedition=intl
Kando Journal & Kitchen 