Wow!

Hello and welcome to the Rawon Japan Podcast, probably the best way of learning about light in Japan without actually being in Japan.

I'm your host Chris Broder, we're joined as always by Festive Man himself, Mr Pete Donaldson Pete. How you doing in this wonderful Christmas season?

I'm doing well. I've had a lovely, very relaxing Christmas period, so I've had a lovely time.

And I'm giving me another couple of days and I'll be right ahead and get started again.

But this is very much the kind of like Normans land between Christmas and New Year that everyone talks about.

But the year has kind of been like that, we've all been waiting to do something, so it kind of feels very familiar to me.

I quite like, I think my favourite part of Christmas is that kind of period between the 25th Christmas day, all the way around sort of December 31st.

I hate New Year's Eve, I don't know why, something about New Year's Eve.

I think I had too many traumatic experiences in a room singing old landside with people, I don't do it.

But this week is my favourite week, but more importantly, what did you get for Christmas, Pete? What if Father Christmas bring you this fine year?

Got lots of bits and bobs to be quite frank. What are my favourite? In the US office, Michael Scott at one point has this kind of cat, the boxes.

And I'm a big fan of the office, and so my partner bought me a William Shakespeare boxing kind of little hand puppet.

It is a lot of fun, it is quite simply a lot of fun. It's one of the things that is very simple, but the way that it expresses itself a little figurine, I find it endlessly charming.

So I've spent most of my time just playing with a little William Shakespeare that boxes. The big present though, it hasn't actually arrived yet, I must admit.

But I've kind of ruined it for myself and my partner bought me, basically a couple of weeks ago, we were with some friends and I said,

I like Japan, I love Japan, but I never want to be one of those blocs who owns a sword.

Little flip and comment, didn't mean anything by it. I just said, look, I didn't want to be a sword guy.

I've got so many different midlife crises, things neck-beard fedora tendencies anywhere. I didn't need a sword.

But my partner's obviously, of course she had already bought me a sword online, so that's not arrived yet, so maybe she'll lock my head off with it very soon.

But it's all just a bit of fun. I love the way it's a beautiful sword.

I love the way that's what she went for, knowing that you love Japanese culture, that is the one thing she decided to go for.

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