When I moved to Japan for the first time (around 8 years ago) as an English teacher, I never had an inkan (or hanko), probably because I had no use for one, and my company took care of all the important things (such as renting my apartment, utilities, etc). This time, when I moved to Okinawa, my company advised me that I would be required to get an inkan, and have it registered with the city hall in order to do things like buying a car (pretty much a must if you live in Okinawa as the public transport situation consists of buses).

Anyway, an inkan is a stamp/seal of your name used instead of your signature on documents. My company ordered one for me and I just had to collect it from the shop when it was ready. This was handy, but it meant I didn't really get any say on the font, or the way it looked.

My inkan just says my surname in katakana ブレナン (bu-re-na-n)

What my seal looks like

Of course I had to get this adorable Hello Kitty inkan case to store it in

It has it's own little ink pot stuck to the inside of the case so your inkan is ready to use whenever you need it!

This weekend we decided to go in search of some Thai food. We used to live down the road from what I still think is the tastiest Thai i've ever eaten and I really miss it.
Although Jai Thai in Chatan wasn't as amazing as our beloved Thaila Thai, it was still delicious and they had a huge selection of Vegetarian, which was great for Helen!

Vegetarian Spring Rolls. These were amazing and contained some sort of curried rice and veg.

Green curry with faux meat.

Griff's Kids plate. He loves going to any restaurant that has a special kids meal

A few weeks after we settled into our house we decided to plant some vegetables to see what would happen. Our soil is really muddy and clay-like, so I wasn't sure, but actually everything we've planted is thriving and now they all have flowers, or vegetables already growing! These are now about 2 months old. This weekend Griff and I got down in the garden and weeded (it was starting to get very overgrown), so now we can see our vegetable plants without trying to spot them through the weeds.

The pumpkin vine is getting ready to flower

The eggplant

The watermelon. It already has a flower, but not sure how it will go because the plant is still so tiny.

2 capsicums on the tree, with more flowers ready to bloom

The tomato tree

Basil

Griff love's this cat character at the moment.

This guy was making some sort of delicious custard filled parfait fish shaped pastry

There were lots of food stalls at Maruyama Park for the Hanami

This is a famous weeping cherry blossom in the centre of Maruyama Park.

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