We were doing directions in my Japanese class yesterday (Massugu itte kudasai), and the teacher handed out a map for us to write some route descriptions about. It was a map of the West End of Edinburgh, and was centred on the street where I was born. The teacher also did a simple tea ceremony which was good, I think she comes from Nara and used a whisk similar to this one - a wonderful thing when seen up close. I hadn't held one before. She had her father's tea bowl - he was a government official in Nara and it had been presented to him, so I expect it was quite special, but you really can't tell with tea bowls!