Adventures in Isahaya

The End

2006-05-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

It's long past time for me to put in my final thoughts and say that I won't write in this blog anymore. Our time in Japan is through. It has been for some time. At this point, the next year long assignment has gone to someone else and didn't fall at a convenient time for us, anyway. We are well into the throes of re-establishing our lives in America and it would be very difficult to uproot again.

I miss Japan. I miss many aspects of it. I miss how child friendly it was. I miss lunches at Orange Spice (egg salad with edamame followed by iced coffee and chocolate cake). I miss playgroups at the Mom clinic. I miss the flower arranging class I had just found. I miss learning a new language, however slowly. I miss the toys. I miss Amazon.jp. I miss the vegetables and fruits (Roo misses nashi). I (will) miss the bidet.

I don't miss the smoking. I don't miss the tiny roads. I don't miss not getting what I wanted or expected at a restaurant. I don't miss taking hours to get 5 things at the grocery store. I don't miss not being able to read things. I don't miss having salesmen come to my door all the time. I don't miss our (relatively) crappy apartment. I don't miss sleeping on a futon. I don't miss Roo hating the bidet. I don't miss not being close to anything that felt 'big city'.

I had to work a lot harder to get a substantial "don't miss" list. I wax nostalgic most of the time. It was a lot rosier now that I'm not there dealing with things day-to-day. It was a lot easier after the 12th month that it was in that first month. I would love to, and vow to, go back someday and visit. I want to see how it's changed. I want to stumble around in Japanese again. I want to enjoy the food and see if anyone I knew is still around.

I don't know if I won't post when I get nostalgic, or if I'll remember things and want to write them down because I didn't the first time. For now, though, this chapter is ended.

Whirlwind Tour

2006-05-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

Having A come visit for our last weeks was probably the best thing ever. In addition to my onsen partner, it allowed me an excuse to revisit all of the places I'd really enjoyed (that were within driving distance).

My top picks (in no particular order):
Nagasaki arcade
Atomic Bomb Museum/Park
Arita
99 Islands
Huis Ten Bosch
Nagasaki Bio Park
Shimabara Castle
Oura Cathedral/Glover Gardens
Time in Isahaya (Bridge, Orange Spice)
Unzen spa

I saw pieces of each that I'd just glossed over before. It was nice to get another chance to just look and enjoy and see someone else's perspective. I highly recommend it.

Last goodbyes

2006-02-22T17:09:00.000-08:00

In our last few days, I had goodbye gifts to give out. I toodled around town giving small tokens (ours were Texas themed hand towels) to the people that we had spent the most time with - Gym, swimming teachers, friends.

My last stop was the coffee shop down the street. Roo and I had been going there every week (at least once) for probably 10 months at that point. It was a big part of our lives. The food was great - especially the egg salad sandwich. The staff were very friendly. In the last months, we had even begun to converse a little bit. I knew I had to give them something.

Chrys and I had some desserts - mmm, chocolate parfait - and coffee. Roo picked at her scones, as usual. When we got up to leave, I took the small bag with the towels to the kitchen. They seemed amazed and very touched. As we checked out, they brought over a gift wrapped bag and told me it was a present for me. As we left, I shed many tears as did they. As we got to the car, one of the women ran out to say "arigatou" because she had missed us inside. I cried harder, especially when I looked up to see her standing on the ledge with red eyes.

I miss that shop. The gift was two little mugs with their store logo. I haven't been able to bring myself to use them just yet. I cry just thinking about not being able to go there.

Nevertheless, my most heartwrenching goodbye was as we went to drive away from our hotel on the last morning. The valet started frantically waving as we pulled out. I stopped and saw Emi (Ayaka's mom) in the rearview mirror. I got out of the car and she was near frantic. She brought a small doll for Roo. She said it was a twin doll and that Ayaka had the mate. Roo named hers Ayaka-doll. We hugged and said goodbye yet again. I promised her that somehow, we would meet up again. I hope I can fulfill that.

First Goodbyes

2006-02-22T17:02:00.000-08:00

On December 8, we went to our last Gym Rompers class. A big deal was made about the fact that it was Roo and my last class. Photos were taken, including one of the whole group. More Japanese songs were sung for us. Goodbyes were said. It was pretty easy to get through, even though I knew I'd never see most of them again. I think it was partly, or mostly, due to the fact that our departure was still so far away. It made it easier somehow.

On December 15, we went to the Christmas concert. It was beautiful. Lights, music, songs, games for the kids, Santa. Roo had a great time. We were given some presents. My favorite was the photo that was taken at our last class by the leader. She had matted it and decorated it in a lovely stand up that I will display for a very long time. Roo's favorite was a bag full of Kitty things from Ayaka-chan. She even got some gifts from Santa. More goodbyes were said, but it was still easy to say. After all, we were two weeks away.

Onsen

2005-12-20T04:39:00.000-08:00

To you and me, that means hot spa. Oh delight!

One of my bestest friends from school is here visiting and I decided that her first weekend needed to be at a hot spa. One, I was looking for the dose of courage that she would provide to go nude into the spas. Two, I was looking for a night by myself with her so we could talk girly things in peace without having to worry about Roo. I got both and it was delightful.

First, there was the trip there. Unzen is a beautiful little town buried in the mountains around Mount Unzen-Fugen (the volcano nearby). Well, turns out that, in the middle of December, there's snow in them thar hills. Yeah...snow. Lots and lots of snow. Turns out, too, that it's bad to ignore the signs suggesting snow chains even if the first one seemed a bit immature. We did two tries up the hill, failed both times, and found another route that had little to no snow. It took us about 3 hours to get there, but we did it.

There was lots of snow in Unzen that night. It was beautiful to see the snow and the steam from the "hells" in the night lights.

Having skipped lunch, we opted for an early dinner (5p). They were a bit surprised, but able to work us in. Dinner was amazing. Skillets for cooking mushroom and beef. A small pot with tofu, veggies and other delectables cooking as the soup boiled. Plates and plates of sushi. Tempura. We ate far too much, but not a bit was bad.

Then, we changed into our yukata robes and were off to the public baths. We sort of banked on the fact that everyone else would be at dinner and it turns out we were right. We had the bath to ourselves. We showered (like good public bath goers) and then hopped in. It got warmer as the water circulated and we ended up getting too warm and leaving after only a few minutes. We showered again (per custom) and went to our room. Dessert was waiting for us - almost creme brulee and so tasty. Then, we crashed. Yeah, it was early - we were exhausted from the angst of the drive.

The next morning, we woke early and had some of the cake they had left in our fridge. Then, we had our breakfast in the 1st floor restaurant. It started with a fish (still bony...not my thing) that we threw on a grill and ended with the egg and bean sprout mixture that had gone on when the fish was done. In between there was miso (yum), rice, and salad with goma dressing (double yum). It was traditionally Japanese and made me very happy that I usually opted for the Western menu.

After that, was our private bath time. We found what we thought was our bath, only to be stopped by someone asking if we were ok. I showed him our room key and he escorted us to a HUGE outdoor spa. It was lava rocks and open air and COLD (well, the trip to the shower and from shower to bath was), but so beautiful. It was so amazing to be all toasty warm in the bath and have the cool outdoor air on our faces. The snow was just that extra touch of WOW! that made it all so worthwhile. We had just enough time to get back to our room, dress and check out.

On the drive back, we stopped at a noodle house and had amazing udon. It was a great taste of Japan for both of us.

Japanese porcelain

2005-12-14T03:49:00.000-08:00

The Japanese are an interesting bunch. They don't appear to really get sets of china. Well, they never entertain or feed more than their immediate family at home so I suppose it makes sense that they don't need settings for more than 4 or 5.

The other interesting thing is that they seem to collect cups. They find one or two that they like and then find one or two more. I don't see many matched sets of cups or other items. Mostly, it is a collection of items that are all very beautiful and sometimes coordinate (based on the tastes of the buyer), but aren't identical as they would be in the US.

It's kind of a freeing concept when you're shopping in Japan. You don't need to remember exactly what pattern you bought before. You just find something in the right color scheme and it will look very nice in your "set".

Beijing, China (Days 3 & 4)

2005-12-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

Day 3, I woke to another wonderful breakfast. Being up earlier than my travel companions, I got to enjoy the view from my hotel room. I watched the sun rise on the Forbidden City. It was just beautiful.

After they were up, we decided to head out silk shopping. I asked the porter to get us a cab to the Beijing Silk Store (a store listed in our travel book). Well, apparently he didn't know that so he sent us to Xiushui. This wasn't a bad deal, just unexpected, and would not enable us to walk back to the hotel as I'd hoped. Oh well...

Xiushui (Silk Street) is an interesting place. It's jam packed with little stalls. The proprietor of each yelling "hey lady, I give you good price, you want ?, I give you morning price, you friend, etc" It's deafening after a while and certainly overwhelming. Turns out, they don't like you to help others haggle, either. You get dragged away to other shops while your friend struggles with her purchase. Oh well, I stuck to my own haggling and came away with a jacket, a pants outfit for RC, and about 15m of silk to make skirts with. I also got a cheap (<$8) pearl and jade necklace that I'll restring to make it look nicer. The prices weren't great, but certainly cheaper than I would have paid in the US. Most people carried about the same stuff and deals were to be had by going from shop to shop pricing things out. It was fun, but exhausting after a couple of hours.

Once we exhausted our shopping, we had to find a cab to the Hard Rock Cafe. I wanted shirts to add to the collection. I had the address in English from the web site. A nice woman at information wrote it in kanji for us and we got there. Lunch was typical fare, but I got my shirt.

Back to the hotel to unload and then a quick stop out to the Beijing Zoo to see the pandas. They had 3 and it was dinner time so we got to watch them gorge themselves on their bamboo. They were pretty cute to watch. It was brutally cold so we didn't stop to wander the rest of the zoo, but got another cab back to the hotel.

Interesting note on the cabs in Beijing - it only cost us 20-30 RMB to get anywhere from our hotel ($2-$4). Secondarily, if it hadn't been for the little post card map I found in the hotel stationary pouch, we might still be stuck at Xiushui. No one had any idea where our hotel was, must less by "Novotel" or "Peace Hotel." Each drive would pore over the map and eventually get us there, but it took many viewings of the map.

Furthermore, driving there seems to be at your own risk. They often use the white lines as guidance for the center of the car. It's worse than NYC or Boston and I detest both of those from a driving perspective.

We opted for the hotel buffet again and then had massages at the spa. I have very sensitive skin and (as Chrys has always worried) didn't enjoy most of the massage. I liked the face, head, neck. The lower back I could have done without as that was feeling very sensitive that night. It wasn't expensive and a good way to test it out. I did feel relaxed so she must have worked out any kinks despite my tensing up at the pressure in some locations. I've had a Swedish Massage recommended as my next experience. After packing and shower, I was out for the night.

The guide picked us up at 6:30 the next morning (just last enough to allow a quick pass at the breakfast buffet). We got the airport and through customs without incident. We flew to Dalian. We circled Dalian. We were rerouted to Tsentsing (or something). We waited for a couple of hours. We flew back to Dalian and observed the multiple inches of snow they were still shoveling in certain areas. We finally got to Fukuoka 4 hours late and, after I got searched by customs, drove home.

Have you seen Dodgeball, the movie?

2005-12-07T23:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm pretty sure it's based (at least in part) on reality. We had the good(?) fortune to catch it on TV when we were in Nagasaki one night. It's hilarious!

They are just as into it and driven as the guys in the movie. They do slo-mo plays and everything. I'm pretty sure some of the moves were stolen from the movie (or vice versa).

If we hadn't been afraid of waking RC, we probably would have been rolling on the floor laughing.

Beijing, China (Days 1 & 2)

2005-12-06T04:43:00.000-08:00

For a four day tour, we spent two days at the aiport and in planes so the advertising leaves a bit to be desired. Getting into China from Japan is a two step process. We flew from Fukuoka to Dalian. In Dalian, we went through immigration. It was pretty painless. We got there pretty late and all of the shops were closed. They opened them for us and we got to start ogling silks and get ideas for omiyage on the way home. After about an hour, we went on to Beijing where we went through customs. We met the tour guide just outside baggage claim and were on our way to the hotel (a 40+ minute drive in the evening traffic).

Now, the funny thing - we were 4 Americans (3 adults and a baby) on a Japanese tour. We were the ONLY people on the tour. Our guide was a Chinese woman that had been studying Japanese for 4 years. She spoke a little English. It was pretty darned entertaining.

We had a late dinner at the hotel - the seafood buffet was delicious and the sweet and sour pork to die for. They had made to order crepes and other fabulous desserts. Decadent stuff. The gift shop showed lots of promise. Tons of items - very reasonably priced. We got a peek of what we'd be in for on our shopping expeditions and were thrilled.

We woke early on day 2. Breakfast at the hotel was amazing. They had made to order crepes again for breakfast, omelettes to order, fresh french toast and waffles, fruits, pastries, dumplings (oh, YUM!), fried rice with raisins (OMG, delicious!) and a bounty of other delights that I ran out of room before I got to taste.

At 8am, we met our tour guide and we were off to Tienamen Square.

Let me digress a bit: It was cold. Not just chilly, but bone chilling, wind piercing your jacket, want to keep moving so you don't freeze in your spot cold. I was, stupidly, unprepared for this. I was warm enough, but very sorry I didn't at least bring a sweater to layer with and maybe my muffler. Oh well...

At Tienamen Square, we stared amazed at the line of people waiting to see Mao. Apparently in the winter, you only have to wait about an hour to get in and can view him for about 10 minutes. We decided to skip in favor of something less windy than standing in the middle of a paved square. The architecture around the square was amazing. The square itself is just huge. You feel very small just standing there. Everywhere were vendors offering to sell hats and gloves to the unprepared - I staunchly resisted, despite their zeal, and the temptation of the furred cap like the national guards wear.

Once done admiring the square, we took the underground tunnel to the other side of the street. This was MOST appreciated considering our route into Tienamen Square consisted or walking across a 6 lane street with no light and no crosswalk. Apparently honking means "I'm not stopping for you, stupid tourist" and we took care.

Across the square is the Gate of Heavenly Peace that leads into what the Japanese call the Kokyuu Museum. Turns out, that's the Forbidden City - delight! We began our walk through, admiring the emperor's road (the center lane of the path through the city, most often paved with very large stones covered with intricately carved dragons), and the father and mother lions (father stands on a ball, mother soothes a baby with her nail) that are a commmon theme. The architecture and grandeur is just astonishing. The carvings and paintings are detailed and eye catching. There is symbolism everywhere. It's truly amazing. It stretches on forever, too. The guide estimated it would take us 3 hours and I think we were there for 4. I could have spent many more just wandering from building to building and admiring the detail. Maybe I'll go back in the spring some day so I can enjoy it more. Near the end, we stopped at the requisite Starbucks to warm up and admired the art display in the gift shop.

Upon leaving the city, we drove to the Friendship Store. This is a total tourist trap. Upstairs, though, we were served a marvelous array of items for lunch. It was more than we could possibly eat, but each item was delicious. There were a variety of things from which to choose and most I have no idea what they were. The downstairs is gift central. They certainly have selection cornered. It was quite overwhelming to look through everything.

After the Friendship Store, we drove on to the Great Wall. We ended up at the Badaling section (which is the most reconstructed, and least authentic area). The drive there takes you through many of the mountains so you get to see many other pieces, though. It's remarkable to watch it spread and unfold before you. The wall itself - it's hard to describe the feeling just looking at it. It's immense. We opted for the lesser traveled left side of Badaling at a friend's suggestion. It was quite steep. I got past the 3rd tower and decided to head back. Given the number of people selling "I climbed the Great Wall" memorabilia at that point, I think it was a common turnaround point. Much of that stretch felt almost straight up and the rest looked worse. It was cold - did I mention there was snow on the wall? So neat to see. I was feeling wussy and wanted to give my travel companion a chance to climb - she'd stayed in the shop with the baby. Nevertheless, the view was astounding. You could see so much from even the distance I ascended to.

Once done at the Wall, we went to a tea tasting. I came home with lychee and rose teas that I will combine for delicious, self-sweetened cups of decadence. They are naturally caffeine free which I am really looking forward to in this caffeine rich society. Oh, my free gift was this little clay guy that you use to see if your tea water is hot enough. If you ever have tea with me, ask me to check the water. It's crude, but SO freaking funny.

After tea, it was off to learn about how silk is made. Fascinating stuff. I opted not to buy the silk comforters. (Though I regretted this last night as I lay freezing while Roo went to sleep. A $60 warm twin comforter with a delicious silk cover would have been delightful in there.) I picked up a dress for me and one for Roo, though. They had wonderful things, and I still can't get over how cheap it all is. We had to rush out of the shop as we were late for dinner.

Dinner - I cannot say enough about dinner. Beef that melted in your mouth and could be cut with a chopstick. Peking duck with plum sauce and rice flour wraps. Broccoli seasoned with something - sesame, maybe. I wasn't too keen on the spare ribs as they were pretty fatty, but everything else was just amazing. We ate it all, much to the disappointment of our tour guide. She feared it wasn't enough as the Chinese try to leave something when they are satisfied - being indulgent Americans, we couldn't leave a drop of such delicious stuff behind.

Then it was back to the hotel for blissful sleep. It was a long day, we were stuffed full and exhausted. Sleep came easy.

Tokyo Day 4 (the trip home)

2005-12-01T04:50:00.000-08:00

We started the day by locating Japan Sword. Owl has wanted a sword since we came to Japan. I saw and mentioned the entry in the book and on the night before the last day, he finally figured out how to get us there. Unfortunately for him, they're closed on Sundays so all we could do was admire the outside of the building.

Then, we wandered to Roppongi. This is another high rent district - home of IBM Japan, Sony and a few others. The Sony building sits next to a Bentley dealer and no one, except us, batted an eye at the Ferrari driving around on Sunday morning. We found a bookstore that had a weird selection of English books intermixed with their Japanese titles. It made browsing quite an experience. Roo and I looked in another Mikimoto - never too early to teach quality. Chrys led us to the obscure and out of the way Hard Rock Tokyo (in case you haven't figured it out, we're collecting).

We stopped back at Shinjuku to go to the Takashimaya Times Square and Tokyu Hands. That was an interesting store - everything from toys to magic to nice gifts to stuff to rewire your house. I found some nice orgami paper to practice the "buhds" that Roo so often demands and a neat book with some more complicated designs (like origami kimonos - how cute is that?) It was crazy crowded and we decided it was time to head back and get ourselves some quiet.

Back to the hotel to veg for a bit, then the bus (that took almost 2 hours instead of the promised 1 - yikes!) and the plane home. Quite a worthwhile experience, but I'm peopled and noised out. The quiet of Isahaya was quite welcome.

Tokyo Day 3 (random wanderings)

2005-12-01T04:33:00.000-08:00

We began day 3 with a trip to U(y)eno station. We stopped to collect our next HRC gear and wander around the shops at the station since it was nearing lunch time.

Then, we went to the zoo. It wasn't a great zoo, but they had pandas. More specifically, they had Ling Ling. I know I've seen her in the news so it was pretty cool to get there and realize that I was looking at something I'd heard about and never realized I might ever see. She was sleeping, but boy did Roo know what she was looking at. We heard about the "pannas" for the rest of the day.

We walked around the Ueno park for a bit, but didn't feel like museum hopping with the (over)active toddler so it was back to the trains.

After that, we stopped in Ginza. This is Tokyo's 5th Avenue. Mikimoto Pearl, Apple, Tasaki Pearl, Burberry, Dolce - they all have homes here. It's totally overstimulating and overpriced. The neat part is that, during the day, the road is closed and this HUGE area is a pedestrian mall. It was really nice to wander back and forth and only worry about crossing streets on the short blocks.

Mikimoto appears to be Japan's Tiffany's. I'm struck with the same desire I have when I go to Tiffany's. I don't want to buy any of it because it's not really that unique or striking, but I want to own the little box. It's hard to describe. Fortunately, I inherited a Mikimoto box from my grandmother (who knows which set of pearls belongs in it) so I don't get overwhelmed by the need for another. The pearls are REALLY pretty, but I don't know enough to know the difference between their strand for $700 and my friend's in Vermont for $200 so I just browse.

After that, it was off to Apple for more browsing and to let Roo test all of their "ipahs". Oh, that girl loves her iPods. I'm sure Santa will get that request long before he's ready for it.

We also stopped in at Hakuhinkan Toy Park. It's 5 floors of chaos and toys on display. Roo was in heaven. We let her play for a bit on the Legos outside (until they took them in as the road was opening), then she wandered all of the displays inside - Popo, trains, robots. They had a little of everything and in seemingly every price range. (Fyoire, there were no Pullips, though...color me surprised.)

We had dinner at the Lion Beer Hall. It was an interesting place. We were seated in a small room off to the side and on the second floor so I don't think we got the whole experience. It was pretty funny to be in a Japanese Beer Hall, though.

Finishing that, we figured out how to get a ticket that transferred across subways and we headed back to crash at the hotel.

For all my complaining

2005-11-30T06:17:00.000-08:00

about having to learn to use a squatter, I must confess that I no longer get the public restroom heebie jeebies.

Oh, and I have amazing thigh strength and calf flexibility. You squat practically to the ground with your heels flat and then stand up with nothing to hold on to...amazing stuff.

Now, if I could just remember to take my stupid hand towel into the bathroom so I can dry my hands after washing them without leaving the telltale prints on the front of my jeans...

Reflections on a year ago

2005-11-30T06:08:00.001-08:00

We interrupt your stroll through our Tokyo trip for some random diatribe on how far I think we've come. Yeah...back patting ahead.

When we were in Haneda last weekend, I couldn't help but think of being stranded there all day in October 2004.

We were miserable. We didn't know enough to order things so we were making do with what we could buy in a box. This stuff is not enough to sustain you. I kept smelling curry, but didn't have the confidence to go in and try to order it, much less get it to go since I had to sit and wait for flight information that might show up at any minute.

We got to Isahaya late at night. They didn't have our car reservation. We had no idea where our hotel was. We could barely communicate. It was not a step in the right direction.

Now, we order pretty fearlessly. We have favorites. We (Chrys and I) can read some of the menus and find enough that we like. We know enough to usually get what we want. We know enough to know what should be there to order. We know enough to find what it is the other wants.

We put the GPS screen down because it gets in the way of seeing when the car is warmed up enough to turn on the heater. It's more of a nuisance than a navigational necessity. We have short cuts to things. We have favored back routes that are barely wide enough for one car, but we pass people on them anyway.

We're comfortable in our environment. It didn't happen overnight, but we've come a long way. We venture out to new things without worrying that we can't speak much (still) of the language. We can speak enough to communicate essentials and we will be a force to reckon with at Charades or Pictionary for everything else!

It's all (mostly) good. Figures that it's just about time for us to go.

Japanese hotels

2005-11-30T06:08:00.000-08:00

Japanese hotels are awesome. Heck, traveling in Japan is an experience in and of itself.

First of all, most Japanese do not take their luggage with them. They take a small bag with necessities (if that) and ship their luggage (Kuro Neko) so that it's waiting for them when they arrive at the hotel. This allows for easy, and fast, transport from the airport to the hotel, even on a crowded train. Taking luggage means that you should probably use the buses since they can store your luggage below.

At the hotel, you only needed to to bring your comb (often, not even this), your deodorant and any non-normal toiletries (for me, this is my contact stuff). Everything else - toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, soap (liquid and bar) - is provided for you. Most Japanese hotels have a communal set up for the liquids so they limit waste. More western hotels have small containers that get thrown away when you go.

Every room has slippers in it for wandering your room and the hotel without shoes. They also provide yukata robes or Japanese style pajamas for nighttime wear. Those things are comfy, too.

There is usually a water pot in the room for boiling water. There are cups and green tea near the pot - sometimes it's not free so you do need to be careful. The gift shops usually have soba/ramen, etc, that you could also prepare in your room with the pot.

We've usually chosen western rooms, but that's because we use futons at home and want the beds when we're out. Sometimes, I'm not sure this has been the best choice, as the beds weren't that great, but it's what we've done.

Rates are per person, regardless of the number of people. At around $100 per person, this adds up pretty quickly. Of course, this usually means that if you are a single person, you get a single room that barely holds it's one bed. Doubles get two small (not quite full, but a bit bigger than a twin) beds. Our triples have had three beds - which usually means they cram an extra bed into a double room and it gets a bit hard to walk around. Nevertheless, they are consistent.

Tokyo Day 2 (Ghibli)

2005-11-28T05:36:00.000-08:00

We started this morning with the best breakfast buffet we've had in Japan. It had a great balance of Japanese and Western foods, but far more variety than we've seen so far. There was enough to satisfy us for the 3 mornings and not make us wonder what we were missing upstairs in the other restaurant.

We walked down to Shinjuku again. This time, we got to the other side of the station and walked around the more crowded area. Our hotel was in the skyscraper zone - it was like being in NYC, but less crowded. The other side of the station was definitely more Japanese in feel - neon lights, lots of noisy displays, lots of electronics. I realize you can get the latter in NYC, but it's not as ... sensory overload as it is here. We wandered a few more displays and stores and then decided to try to find the Toy Museum in another area (that was on the way to Mitaka, our 2p destination).

Well, turns out the Toy Museum is closed on Fridays. Nevertheless, we found a burger joint (Freshness Burger) that had cute Roo sized burgers - she downed two of 'em, but they were easier for her to hold. It was the best burger I've had in Japan.

After that, we headed back to the Broadway mall at the end of the arcade. We were searching for a store called Mandarake. Once we found one piece, it was like a snowball. There are about 12 stores scattered throughout the rundown mall. Each store has a theme - there are manga, dolls, art, action figs, other toys, etc. I found a couple of Christmas gifts in the art store and it was suddenly time to head to Ghibli.

The Ghibli Museum is ... amazing. I'm not a die hard fan. I've seen only a handful of his movies. That didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying the museum.

You enter through the park, but it's right by the street. They allow pictures only outside and on the roof of the buildings (yeah, it's techically outside, but they clarify). Once inside, they hand you a 'ticket' that has a strip of film in it - 3 cells. They date stamp it at the movie theater if you choose to go there; otherwise, it's just for posterity.

The first room is animation styles. There are cases with spinning drawings on wheels that spin to animate them. There are actually a couple of different types: one vertical and one horizontal. There's a case of models that spin with a strobe light to animate. There's a case with just the models so you can really get a good look at them. There are panorama boxes. There's a reel of film with multiple vantage points so you can see different parts of the loop at different times. Highly educational.

Upstairs, there's a room designed to look like Miyazaki's study. There are drawings covering the walls, a set up of his desk, sketch and photo books to flip through, boxes of used pencils in every color imaginable. There's a room with paints, the dry powders that get mixed to pain the cels. There's even a camera that moves up and down over a cel to show how it's shot and zoomed, etc. I'm sure if I were a true Ghibli geek, I would have gotten more out of these rooms. They were spectacular, to be sure, but Roo and I stayed in the center of the room to bypass the lines and missed much of the detail stuff - poring over books of drawings, etc.

The temporary exhibit is on Heidi (30th anniversary, maybe). They had cow bells that Roo loved to play with. There was an amazing diorama of the house on the hill with a little train going through the village down below. There were some fake goats in the middle of the room. At this point, Roo was getting bored so a lot of this was a blur.

The shop is cool. I could have spent a ton of time in there, battling crowds, just to see the obscure merchadise that they sold. Suffice it to say that I got enough and we took off. At the book store, we scored a book with pictures of the inside of the museum. It'll be available for anyone wanting to live vicariously.

We let Roo run off some energy on the huge Neko bus. She collected tons of soot sprites into the holes outside. She didn't climb it, despite watching the other kids. She loved bouncing inside. Did I mention that the soot sprites were inside and they were supposed to throw them out? Yeah, she loved being inside and getting those out. She talked about the neko bus for the rest of our visit. Yes, we brought home a stuffed one.

On the roof is the robot from Castle in the Sky (if I got the movie wrong, sue me). Roo was in love. We eventually did make it down from the roof. I consider this a miracle.

Back inside, we made our final stop at the movie theater. It was a 15 minute original about the Kitten (koneko) bus. If Roo didn't love the Neko bus before, this sealed it. I think she got more out of it than just about anyone. She worried about the kitten bus when it was scared and got crazy excited when it flew - yeah, that means yelling out in the movie theater just a bit, but she was mostly quiet and this show was mostly kids. The coolest things for me were the Neko trains and the Neko cruise ship. It was amazing to see the concept taken to the next level.

We got back to the hotel and crashed. It was quite a day. Tons of fun and a very worthwhile stop if you can get tickets.

Tokyo Day 1 (Thanksgiving)

2005-11-28T05:23:00.000-08:00

We got up early and caught our flight. There wasn't anything too strange, except for the fact that they couldn't get Owl's frequent flyer number to match up with his ticket. They worked it out eventually and he should get his credit. (Mental note that they only use the first half of his last name.)

We got to Tokyo just before lunch and stopped for the YUMMY panini sandwiches in the airport. Those have got to be the greatest reason to go to Haneda. Even with the evil switching to Narita for international flights...you still have time to buy a sandwich at the Live Cafe.

I braved the machine for the bus tickets and managed to get one straight to our hotel. OK, it wasn't that big a challenge since there is an English button on it.

At the hotel, we got upgraded to the business floors - hooray for lots of Hilton stays this year. The guy registering me asked for my checkout time which caught me off guard. I guess I should get used to that until my VIP expires.

After we settled in, we wandered over to Shinjuku station. We browsed the Bic Camera store and Roo had a great time taking pictures with the plastic faux cameras. It was a big game to look at one and then search to trade and it kept her occupied while Chrys and I drooled - LOVE the Cybershot digicam with the flipping screen to make self-portraits easier. We wandered a few other shops, but nothing exciting, really. We just tried to get a lay of the land - walking time, sites between, etc.

On the way back to the hotel, Roo spotted a bookstore and we ended up with an "Anman" (Anpanman) book - how she figured out who he is, I don't know - and a couple of new music books to learn more Japanese songs. That kept her occupied at the hotel.

Craving something approximating a real turkey dinner and not wanting to sacrifice ourselves to KFC for the second year in a row, we headed for the "Thankgiving Dinner" at the hotel restaurant. It was a really nice buffet. They did have some sort of roast turkey brick and some brussel sprouts. They had stuffing (that smelled like pate, but somehow tasted pretty decent) that Roo couldn't get enough of. We picked and snacked. It wasn't the same as home, but it was a good sight better than fast food. The desserts were excellent - chocolate mousse, fruit tarts - and they even had a pecan tart that almost satisfied my pie craving.

After gorging ourselves, we enjoyed the tree in the lobby for a bit and headed back to just unwind and relax. It was a happy day.

Mikan

2005-11-21T06:10:00.000-08:00

Supposedly these are just mandarin oranges. Maybe I've never had a mandarin orange that wasn't canned (and subsequently added to orange jello by my father) because I've never tasted anything like them.

First of all, they are insanely easy to peel. The rind strips off like brittle paper. Most of the time, it comes off in small chunks about the size of my finger tip. Since they're small, they peel quickly. It takes no more than a quick nip of my finger nail to penetrate the skin, either. Furthermore, the rind leaves little to no residue on the fruit. It always frustrates me when I have to drag out a paring knife to nick an orange, only to have to keep peeling forever to get all of the little chunks off of the fruit. Really kills the experience.

They're seedless. Yeah, you can get seedless oranges pretty easily these days.

They're incredibly sweet. Not the so sweet they make your mouth pucker, either. They are sweet enough to satisfy my "jonesin' for some sugar" moments, though.

They're small so they're a great snack size. If you're hungry, you grab a couple. Otherwise, you won't spoil a meal by munching on one.

I need to figure out how to get a branch home to graft onto a tree in Chrys' dad's back yard. Yeah...that's the ticket.

Saga Balloon Fiesta

2005-11-21T05:41:00.000-08:00

On 11/3, Roo, Owl and I ventured out for the Saga International Balloon Fiesta. I had never been to a balloon festival and this one only being an hour or so away by train seemed like a great place to start.

We took the express train and that turned out to be the best idea. We missed traffic and expressway closings and actually got to the festival with plenty of time to wander the "Carnival" balloons. These were the fun shapes that aren't competitive. They let us down on the field and we got to walk up and talk to the operators. There were a couple of American teams, even. They were giving out stickers and cards for the balloons and Roo collected a few. We got to see a couple be inflated - they lay them down and blow air into them with a fan, then they fire to heat it and it just rises up very quickly - it's an amazing process. They were land bound, but had to keep firing periodically to keep the balloons aloft. This was deemed "hot" and "scewy" so we tried to stay away when they were firing. Nevertheless, Roo still talks about the "fi-ah" and grabs the little commemorative booklet to flip through. Her favorites were the Honda robot balloon (Asimo was peeking out one side with his feet on the other), the "el-pant", and the "oc-puss".

There were a couple that just had the air blowing into them on the ground so you could walk inside to see them, but the lines were too long so we settled for running our hands along the outside.

We wandered through the rest of the festival, enjoying the matsuri foods (fresh yakisoba - YUM). Roo got to play in the jumping area for a bit. She did the ball pit and the simple bouncer. She loved jumping all around, and falling...adored the falling. I think we'll spend some time in the inflated area at the mall when we get home.

At 3pm, the day's competition started. This one was a self-paced launch, travel 3-6km and then touch down at your predetermined location. The self-paced launch was spectacular. The field went from bare to covered in people to covered in inflating balloons, to individual balloons picking up, to bare again in the space of 45 minutes. They must have launched close to a hundred balloons in that time. From the ones we watched that morning and afternoon, it takes about 15 minutes from the truck pulling up at the site to the balloon ready to be airborne. The launch and flight was just indescribable. I could get terribly addicted to watching them. They were beautiful. Roo loved waving at the ones that flew overhead and ooohing at the colors as they lifted off. Truly spectacular - I went through the entire camera card, which Chrys still teases me about.

After that, it was time to grab the train home. We took an earlier one from the balloon festival than we'd planned and it was packed so we were very happy to have not put it off. We missed only the night flights that only occur on weekends, but, hey, we have to have something to make us go to another one someday, right?

Chinese consulate?

2005-11-20T22:57:00.000-08:00

Why on earth was I there, you ask? Ohhh...it's because I'm going to China and I needed a tourist visa to get there. They were very friendly, despite my poor performance in any language they spoke. They didn't even charge me any extra for rushing it so I could get it before we leave for Tokyo - woohoo!

I've had several encounters with the travel agent at this point. This last one was solo (no tutor to help translate), but it resulted in me going to China (with the other American family and their toddler). I'll be leaving Chrys here (since he has no interest in going) to watch Roo (so I don't have to try to travel alone and keep her occupied).

I'll be in transit two days (going and coming) and there two days. The first day is booked up with a tour that visits Tienamen Square, a museum (I wish I could figure out which one), the Great Wall and ends with Peking Duck dinner. My second day, I plan to see the Forgotten City, do some silk shopping, and if there's time, visit the pandas at the zoo. The pandas may get a higher priority if we don't get to see them in Tokyo.

I am CRAZY excited. I have my visa. I'll have my tickets next Monday. I have the city guide and the Mandarin phrase book (just in case of emergency). I have 4 days to myself?!

Peace Park

2005-11-20T22:48:00.000-08:00

After we were done at the Chinese Consulate today, RC and I drove to the Peace Park. It sits on the grounds of the former Urakami prison that was devastated by the atomic bomb. There are some remnants of walls that they've preserved, but mostly it's been transformed.

It was a beautiful area to walk around. There are many, many statues there, donated by various countries in support of peace. We saw the one donated by Nagasaki's sister city in the US - St. Paul, MN - and quite a few others. Most of them are mother and child sculptures.

The highlight of the park is the Peace Statue at the end. He's 10m high and just breathtaking to view up close. Honestly, though, the view I loved was from the peace fountains with the water on either side and him in the middle. You don't get as much feel for his size, but it's an amazing picture.

We also walked over to Urakami Cathedral. It's also been rebuilt, though they do have some original walls, the belfry and a small statue garden that remain from the original. They were cleaning the inside so we could only peek through windows, but the stained glass was amazing to behold. I would love to get back and wander around inside a bit.

51 weeks later

2005-11-20T03:32:00.000-08:00

We finally found 99 (ish) islands. We've apparently been quite close on a couple of occasions, but never been headed the right direction to see the signs guiding us the last bit. Better late than never...

Apparently 99 is the number used in Japanese culture to mean "a lot". There are actually 208 islands in the bay around Sasebo. Kujukushima is no less beautiful for the discrepancy, though.

We took the Pearl Queen cruise through the islands after a quick, Italian lunch. The boat itself was quite something to behold. It had two enclosed decks with wooden floors and tables on the perimeter to allow for easy viewing. Having lost our place thanks to my bladder, we ended up on the upper of 2 open decks. Honestly, I liked our place as we got to see more of the island and not just the sides. (At one point, Roo got cold and the best place to stand was on the first deck by a window - horrible viewpoint, but thankfully only 10 minutes from the end so we didn't miss anything.)

The islands are pretty spread out. There appeared to be a few types of rock making up each. Some were mostly bare, others were dense with foliage. Various shapes and sizes - one that looked like a sleeping lion. The 50 minute ride took us through the major ones and even into an inlet on one of the larger ones. The view was spectacular.

On some of the islands, we spotted a few fisherman - it's supposed to be great. We frequently saw large structures of pipe and net that are used to catch the oysters for eating. We also saw large black globes that we think supported nets below the water that we came to find out were used for harvesting pearl oysters. We got to watch some men harvesting in one of the pearl oyster areas (not that that helped me find any loose pearls - this may prove fruitless).

Once back on land, we saw the grill set ups similar to what I saw in Hasami. Here, you could buy a kilo (they estimated 15) of oysters for 600 yen and then grill them yourself. It's all about location, baby.

We didn't stop in on the aquarium, IMAX movie about Australia or nearby zoo and botanical gardens, though. Roo was getting impatient and we decided to head out.

Hasami Matsuri (and the rest of that day)

2005-11-20T03:21:00.000-08:00

Chrys gave me a day off (11/13) to go wander on my own. With the lack of break in my day for her nap, I've been burning out a bit quicker. It was much needed and greatly appreciated.

I stopped first at the Isahaya flea market that was near the library. I didn't see anything overwhelming. There were some beautiful obi in one bin, lots of toys and stuffed animals and more clothing than you could shake a stick at. I almost got a couple of pairs of pants for RC, but decided she would live without them. The flea markets amuse me - food and tons of tarps with every variety of thing on them. It's a Japanese garage sale and there is rarely any rhyme or reason to what's out. Bargaining is anticipated and everyone is out to get you to look at their stuff. For me, their gimmick was showing off their Engrish skills - always a great treat, guaranteed to make me smile.

After leaving, I headed up to Hasami. I got there a bit late for lunch and seem to have missed the bulk of the purpose. At noon, their "restaurant" opened. It seems that you go up and get food that comes on porcelain plates. Whatever plate or set you get is yours to take home. There didn't seem to be much opportunity for careful selection, either, so it was kind of a random guess to see which you'd end up with. They had a few sinks set up on the perimeter so you could wash to take home. It was a really neat concept, but I'm not sorry I missed the random porcelain draw. I could have still gotten a coffee cup under the same system, but I wasn't that cold, yet, despite the damp day.

They also had oysters (kaki). It's oyster season here. Apparenly the waters of Omura Bay produce excellent ones in the winter months. At this festival, you could pick up a plate of raw for 1000円. Then you got to head over to the grills that were set up in the middle of the field and cook them yourself (with the provided gloves). It was quite popular.

Once I left there, I headed to my favorite shop in Arita. I had seen "the" plate there a couple of days prior and didn't want it to escape again. She still had it and I bought it. She pointed out the name on the back so I think it's signed by the designer, which is neat. It's also decorated on the back (just a few scattered sakura blossoms) which I didn't know about. I think it's a bit smaller than the one I saw at the festival, but it's no less gorgeous. She chided me about the size of my smile, but I didn't care. I am very excited about finding it a home on my wall in Austin.

Oura Cathedral

2005-11-20T03:06:00.000-08:00

The next morning, we set out to find a Catholic mass. We stopped first at Oura Cathedral, not knowing a better place to start. (Given that I'm Catholic, and it was a Catholic Cathedral, this post gets a little ...preachy... because of what I felt as I visited. Consider yourself warned.)

Outside the cathedral is a small garden. It's very serene and peaceful. It had a plaque that gave us chills to read. It really drove home for me the dedication of the Japanese Christians. To have silently believed and hoped for so many years and so many generations that someone would come back and help them rebuild their community. To maintain faith when all around them were tortured, or worse, for believing. To not give up hope and dedication when they lost their support infrastructure. Any of us that believe in anything should be so dedicated to our cause.

"On Feb 10, 1865, the French Missioner Fr. Berivard Petitiean (later first Bishop of Nagasaki) dedicated the Oura Cathedral a month later on March 17, about 14 residents of Urakami visited the church and approached Fr. Petitiean, one whispered, "Our heart is one with yours. Where is the statue of Santa-Maria?"
Thus did these people reveal the faith that they had treasured and transmitted through 300 years of fierce persecution, this declaration of faith by the Japanese Christians, unexampled in all of history, has now the acclaim of the entire world.
The profoundly moving moment of Discovery has been recreated by a Christian artist of Nagasaki on this relief, which commemorates the 100th anniversary of the event.
March 17, 1965"

Then, we continued up to the Cathedral. It's a smaller church, like any of its time. The stained glass is very detailed and pervasive. The altar was golden and ornately decorated and carved. We weren't comfortable taking pictures inside and much of it was blocked off so we could only wander through the pews and take a moment to reflect.

Obviously, with so much blocked off, they weren't holding mass. When we left, though, we found the newly built Oura Catholic Church across the road. It was comforting to be there. Even though we didn't understand the words, the ceremony was the same. That sameness and comfort - I guess that's what brings me back to the Catholic Church despite having issues with so many of the beliefs they preach. The priest knew the English to offer us the host and smiled when he said it. It was just a nice experience given how long we've been away.

Glover Garden

2005-11-20T00:52:00.000-08:00

Chrys booked a night for us at the ANA hotel in Glover Hill for our anniversary. It was just he, Roo and I for the night. It was beautiful.

We got there mid-day on Saturday and went straight to Glover Gardens. Roo was fascinated early on by the moving sidewalks and escalators used to make access to the gardens a bit better. It sits on some pretty steep hills and would be quite a walk.

One of our first stops was a huge koi pond. I spotted a bin with food bags that you could buy so we did. It was a ton of food, especially when someone feeds it one chunk at a time. It kept her there watching various fish for quite a while. The koi looked very healthy and there were a couple that had to have been more than 24" long. Those were just beautiful. A few solid colors, but mostly the easier to find orange and white mottled.

From the top of the hills near the koi ponds, you could see the Nagasaki skyline. It was breathtaking. There were a few flowers in bloom, a few ready to pop open very soon and a few that were on the way to their winter dormant states. I'm sure the gardens are beautiful in the spring, but I didn't think on that too long and just enjoyed them as we saw them.

The homes were all very European in design, but stood out with their Japanese tiled rooves. It made for an interesting mix of designs that was quite stunning. The interiors were entirely European, though - carpeted floors, ornate wooden chairs, full dining suites and beds (not futons).

There was much use of water - water falls, ponds, water sculptures, fountains. They were each unique and had some symbolism hidden in them. One had hidden signs of Christianity - put in during the times of persecution. One was a tribute to Puccini for his opera - Madame Butterfly - that was set in Nagasaki's Glover Gardens.

Glover started many companies that still thrive (under different names) in Japan today. Many of his industries were acquired by Mitsubishi. His brewing company still exists today, as Kirin. He was quite the icon in Nagasaki - very successful, very wealthy, very generous.

Once through the gardens, we walked through a display of floats from the Kunchi festival that had just been held in Nagasaki. It's held in one of the shrines in the center of town. The boats are huge and have at least a dozen men manning them. (Roo and I watched a bit of it on television since we didn't have tickets to get close enough to view them at the shrine.) They have to walk them up (and eventually down) the stairs to the shrine and then dance them around in the center for the judges. The boats are loaded with musicians or dancers. It was amazing to watch and see the exertion on their faces as they rolled this boat back and forth, around in circles - very quickly. There are other floats (for lack of a better word) that are carried by a single man that we also got to see on display.

Arita shrine festival

2005-11-13T23:27:00.000-08:00

During the week after our anniversary, Roo and I ventured up to Arita to paint a mug for Chrys. (We've already given it to him so I can spill the beans.) We happened to be in for quite a treat as it was festival day.

When we stopped in for lunch - the Chinese place was actually open that day - the parade started right outside the door. Most of the acts were school kids and drums. Roo was captivated for all of 10-15 minutes before she was ready to go. It was really neat to watch these itty bitty kids playing these huge drums. We caught the beginning of some adults doing it, too. These drums are as big as Roo and they require the whole body to play. The wooden sticks are about 2" in diameter and about 12" long. It takes the whole upper body, abs, arms, back to swing with enough force to make the drum really reverberate. It's really impressive to watch the men do it. They work up quite a sweat and you can see every muscle twinge as they play.

When Roo was bored there, we drove to the other area of town. Here there were dancers with small ceramic plates (dipping dish size for those familiar with Japanese place settings, 3-4" for everyone else) that they hit together in time to music. Roo adored these! We could walk alongside them and they were doting on her and showing her how they played. One woman let Roo hold her dishes, but Roo almost dropped them so it didn't last long. The men and women had different dances and there were even subtle differences in the dances of the different groups, but that may have just been artistic interpretation. The music was piped over speakers that lined the streets.

The shop owners would periodically give one of the dancers an envelope which earned that shop a special dance and a piece of paper to display in the window. I can only assume it was money to be given at the shrine. Some shop owners would invite the dancers inside for a quick bite to eat, sake and beer. They would run in, eat amazingly quickly, and be back outside often in time to dance the next round of music on the speakers - it was playing in a loop with maybe 30s between loops.

All of the dancers wore kimonos. The women only groups wore the full dress kimonos. The men wore the shorter kimonos and often the women in those groups did as well. Footwear were the two-toed socks with rubber soles that would withstand the pavement. The colors and varieties of garb, alone, made the trip worthwhile.

In another area, there were some floats being carried by teams of 2-10 men. We just drove past these so I didn't get a good chance to really check them out, but they were quite ornate and eye-catching. They reminded me of the decorations we saw at Glover Gardens (not the boats, but the smaller ones). I imagine they are all to honor Budda at the shrine so some similarties in design across towns makes sense.

African Safari

2005-11-01T06:31:00.000-08:00

Yeah...I should title this one "Things They'd Never Do in the US in a Million Years" or "My Day with the Lion Cub". I mean, we did other things, but did I mention that I got to hold a 2 month old lion cub named Momo-kun? No, well, I'll get to that...repeatedly.

This was another park where we showed up at 9am for the opening and were the third group there. I must say, though, that it's awesome to get someplace early and really have it pay off.

We began by opting for the bus tour through the safari area. 1) They give you food to feed the animals. 2) They give you tongs for holding the food. 3) The insurance on the rental car is pretty good, but I really don't feel like explaining HUGE claw marks.

We fed lions and tigers and bears - oh my! And elephants and giraffes and elk and more that I am certain I'm forgetting. We were actually mere inches from the teeth of big cats and dropping hunks of raw meat into their mouths. Now, we were pretty safely behind metal bars in the jungle bus (omg, the jungle bus...so cute. It's actually shaped like an animal and you get to ride around in it.) Nevertheless, I got to hear lions roar 10 feet away and hear a tiger meow (yeah...it's bigger than a meow, but you get the point) as it walked up and took the food. I even heard it purr - I mean, I'd heard that tigers were the only big cats that could purr, but WHOA! they purr. We saw cheetahs (and a zebra in the same section...hmmm...I'm pretty sure I've seen that on the Discovery Channel and it's not family friendly.), but didn't get to feed them. They wouldn't come up to the bus, even. Each animal type was in it's own section of the park. Each section was double fenced and had an armed guard in a little hut between the fences. There were also jeeps near any animals on the road so the buses and cars knew to look out for them (and to bail out any cars that might get in trouble).

Once the bus tour was over (about an hour), we went to the main park. I got to hold a lion cub. Seriously, that was first on my list. See that idiotic grin on my face? I walked around all day just giddy that I got to hold a lion. I have this overwhelming fascination with white tigers. They are beautiful and graceful and if I could be Siegfried and Roy, baby, I'm there. Now, they weren't offering the chance to hold white tigers, but a big cat is a big cat. They had 2 - one 7 months old and one 2 months. They were doing pictures with the 2 month old. The shots are totally posed. While cute, artificially nursed and incredibly soft, these are still wild animals. They have no attention span. The trainer held him until we were settled. She then coached me on how to prop him up and put him in my lap. There was no reaching to take him. He liked to look up at my face (no, stop that, he was NOT eyeing my jugular. I looked right at him. Well, yeah, that hid my jugular. I'm not *that* stupid.) between shots. He mewed. He was just adorable. Roo got to pet him. Owl held him (incorrectly) and he got upset. They took him away, but not until he'd nipped the trainer a bit too hard. Still...I got to hold a lion cub. So cool!

We walked through the rest of the park. Roo got to feed caged squirrel monkeys and seemed to enjoy that much more than her last experience at the Bio Park. They tickled her hands and she laughed. There were some little ride on vehicles that she played with and a trained dog show that kept her attention for 10-15 minutes.

All in all, a very good time. I got to hold a lion cub. We got to feed big animals. Roo got a stuffed tiger that's as big as she is. She will have NO appreciation for how rare these animals are and no memory of what she's experienced here. Thank goodness for photos.

Harmonyland

2005-11-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

We spent Roo's birthday at Harmonyland in Oita prefecture. It's owned by Sanrio and is basically a low-scale Disney-esque theme park. Their main draw is Hello Kitty which happens to be one of Roo's favorite things in the world right now.

We drove to Oita the night before. It was not quite three hours door to door. The drive was all expressway and quite pleasant. The hotel was right on the water and our room had a great view. It wasn't luxurious, but it did the job and then a bit. Dinner that night was included and it was a terrific coursed meal. It's been a long time since I had one of those. Everything was very good and they brought out a little origami kit and took Roo's pic for her birthday.

They also had a rock bottom hot spa in the basement, but I never managed to get down to use it. It's a shame, too, because Beppu is supposed to be home to some great spas. I will use one before I leave...somehow. I'm shooting for a shared family one that we can just experiment with without the "everybody get naked and bathe together" atmosphere that the Japanese have. I've never really been that modest, but that one gets me for some reason - sad. I'm also partly afraid of doing some piece of it incorrectly and offending someone in my ignorance. I need to just get over it.

The next morning, the park opened at 9am and we got there not long after that. We were maybe the 10th car in the lot. Once inside, they had not one, but two Kittys doing a meet and greet. I think the other character was USA*HA*NA. Roo was in love. She ran up and got her picture taken with all of them. They all got hugs and they loved playing with her curls. They are much more playful than Disney, or American Disney, at least. They walked up to me, Owl and Chrys to give us hugs and wave. Of course, this may have been because we were the only people left in that area after a minute or two.

We moved to Kitty's Castle, walking past a couple of cars to pose in (and stopping to take pictures because Roo loves to go "voom"). Once there, we bought the rose to give to Kitty for her birthday. The castle was cute - various Kitty shaped objects and tons of pink. Roo especially loved the video phone "w(r)inging hud(heard) it". At the end, she gave her rose to Kitty, got a purse and we all got our picture taken with the birthday plaque.

There were a few rides for kids her age. I think there were only one or two that she couldn't do. It was a very age-appropriate theme park. They seem to be divided that way here. If you want roller coasters, you go and get nothing but coasters. If you want theme and kiddy stuff, you'll get it.

We watched the parade - Noah's Ark - and they did lots of Happy Birthday singing in addition to bubbles, bicycles and floats. Have I mentioned that it was Kitty's birthday celebration weekend? Yeah...the birthday song was piped over all of the loud speakers. Roo knows the tune by heart and she loves the camera I got her that plays it.

After that, I figured out how to get Roo the badge declaring that it was her birthday. That made her eligible to get up on stage at the Birthday Party show. Off we went to the show, got her card to get on stage and on stage we went. They sang, gave her a little paper picture frame and she got to meet yet another kitty. Tons of "おめでとう" (omedetou, basically a birthday greeting, often preceded by tanjoubi) being yelled. She got a kick out of it.

After that, we went back to the hotel, to dinner at the BBQ place and a missed cake. The Japanese try so hard to be kid friendly, but you can still pick out those that don't have kids. Of course, I'm still trying to figure out how the hotel knew it was her birthday to celebrate all of this stuff.

Watching rice grow

2005-10-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

It's been very interesting to watch the process of growing rice these last months. We caught the tail end of it last year with little appreciation for the process.

Back in May, I guess, they started filling the paddies with water. The rice comes started in big palettes. There are maybe 100 seedlings per palette (could be more, we didn't get to get right up to them). Everyone in our area seems to have some sort of machine to put them in the ground. On television, we saw a tractor attachment that stuck them into the ground at regular intervals. Here, where the fields are pretty small, most had a little manual machine that they pulled or pushed around. It accepts a full palette from the top, snags a single seedling and pushes it into the ground in pre-determined intervals.

From there, they kept the paddies filled and over the coming months we got to watch the small seedlings grow into lush fields of rice. They were really breathtaking in the late summer and early fall - lush green and waving in the wind. I frequently saw farmers out with sprayers so I'm guessing none of this is organic.

Then, about 2 weeks ago, they drained and began cutting. They have another machine that goes through the field and cuts down the rice leaving bundles where there used to be stalks. Once they have the bundles it's left to dry.

The drying methods vary. Most people seem to have a suspended bar that the bunches get put over like thatched roofing (bar through the middle of the bundle). Some people cover those in plastic to keep the rain out, but I would worry about mold since they already have moisture that needs to come out. Some people piles the bundles in small teepee shapes in their field. Some leave it lying out, but I would guess they have to turn it to get both sides dried.

Once dried, it's removed from the stalk and the bags of rice can be drive to these neat coin op machines by the side of the road that will husk the rice for you. There was a lot of traffic at those machines that usually sit dormant.

The bare stalks are then burned in the fields. That makes for a BIG fire and tons of nasty smelling smoke - not so great when you're on the 11th floor. Roo loved the fires, but I couldn't stand the quantity of smoke. I'm glad that part, at least, is over.

Right now, I <3 exfoliating products

2005-10-19T04:10:00.000-07:00

Normally, I detest them more than once a week, but right now, I use them daily with a large smile on my face. It's not that Japan is dry or my skin is faring poorly. Nope...it's those bloody mosquitoes back again. Needing to clean is a great excuse to scratch them to death, whether I'm supposed to or not.

The other night, we left the window open because it was a beautiful night. We turned off the A/C and were ready to enjoy the cool night air. Apparently Chrys woke up to them buzzing his ear around 1:30am. They didn't phase me until I was partly awake with Roo at 5:30am. By then, the damage was done.

Let me tell you, they had quite the feast and we have the battle wounds to show for it. We've taken, again, to squishing any that we can lay hands upon and praying for this to end soon.

My biggest question, though, is what on earth are they doing on the 11th floor? Aren't they supposed to fly just above ground level?

Need to rethink this driving thing

2005-10-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

I am not having much luck with driving here. In the US, I consider myself a pretty decent driver. I've been in a couple of wrecks, but they were in my teens and deemed "normal" by my dad. I've had 2 instances of over/under compensating in snow that resulted in some minor damage to 2 cars (paint, no body). I've put a hole in a tire on road junk. Nothing major, though.

Here...I just suck. I've blown two tires. I blame this on the curbs here being very sharp (squares, in fact). One, I pulled in to a parking lot too tight and just nicked the edge. The second I had to dodge two old men standing in the street when I rounded a corner (granted a bit too quickly, but I want to know what they were doing in the middle of the street).

I've also turned too tight and caught the tiniest bit of body on a mid-calf high planter. It mucked up the hub cap, but I'm not the first to do that. Turns out, it scraped some paint off of the underside of the body that the rental folks had to point out for us to find.

Today, I had to dodge some guy that came from a few cars back to make the unprotected turn into the same lane I was turning in to. He was making the right (here, that's across traffic) and I the left. I saw him coming at me (quickly...as he wasn't the first car in line) and pulled tighter. I ended up bouncing the passenger side of the car into a (roughly) window high railing that lines the street. The damage isn't visibly that bad, but it shook me up. Chrys says I kept us safe and shouldn't kick myself, but that's not helping much. For the rental company to stay happy, we had to fill out a police report and Chrys was nice enough to take care of that for me.

Yeah...I think I just need to turn in my keys some days. On the other hand, I rarely see a car here that doesn't have some damage on it so it may be some sort of karmic imbalance in the country. Or maybe the roads are just too small for a car and that's why all the crazy folks stick to scooters...too bad I can't get 4 people in one of those things.

Girls' Time in Fukuoka

2005-10-10T04:48:00.000-07:00

After we returned from Nagoya, Chrys had to report to Tokyo for a few days of work. I decided to take Roo to Fukuoka and wander to some of the things the "boys" weren't interested in.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Canal City. It was very nice. Canal City turned out to be a huge shopping complex (that I got lost in constantly - go me and my lack of direction). They have everything from Stage to Cinema, Disney to Dolce. It's neat and we spent quite a bit of our time just looking around. They also had a large indoor play area that I was quite thankful for when most things around (like the museum I wanted to visit) were closed for the typhoon.

We spent one day wandering down by Tenjin station. It's a large shopping area near the hub of the bus and subway activity. Part of it is a large arcade that they've built under the station. I had HUGE problems with this. I have horrid sense of direction and underground with no clear landmarks is a recipe for disaster. I ended up in an offshoot of the arcade and couldn't figure out how to get back so I found my way to ground level and an exit. Turns out I was about 3 blocks from the main street (which is above the arcade). That'll teach me.

We actually made it to the museum (Hakata Folk Museum) after the hurricane...err, typhoon...blew through. It was a fun little museum. They had dioramas of their major festival (during Golden Week), telephones with local dialect (apparently quite entertaining if you're Japanese), and some paper mache masks/head pieces to try on. I put RC in one of the headpieces and caught a picture. There was a free section that showcased how they weave the local fabrics and a room with samples of local crafts in various stages of completion. Then, we went to the little shop where RC played with a wooden toy (that we had to take home) of a daruma that falls down a ladder and I checked out the Hakata dolls. We ended up with a 3 piece set of little girls with different toys in their hand. They were far more affordable than most of the ceramic dolls I've seen and more age appropriate to the one I really buy them for so I couldn't resist.

RC ended up entranced by a play kitchen at the Sanrio store (complete with lying on the floor describing the box contents to me) so she'll get that for her birthday. We squeezed in some driving time around town and a quick trip to Toys R Us for more toy shopping. All in all, it was a good time and I'm thrilled I got to enjoy it.

Nagoya

2005-10-10T04:35:00.000-07:00

Our view from the Westin was Nagoya Castle. It was breathtaking all lit in the evening. We took a few pictures, but they may be blurry because of the dark environment and/or the window. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, though.

We awoke the next morning, had breakfast at the included buffet, checked out (leaving our luggage for now) and set out for the castle. We started the wrong way and realized that the grounds were quite large and this was more castle than we had been in before. We turned around and eventually made it to the entrance.

The grounds were ... impressive. There were many buildings and gardens and open fields. It was far more expansive than Shimabara Castle, even though there is quite a bit at Shimabara. Their focus was on these Golden Dolphins that adorned the roof. There were replicas and models everywhere for you to take your picture with. We never quite figured out what the whole deal was, but apparently they are hard to keep track of - burned down with the building, stolen before the unveiling, etc. I think they may be viewed as something to do with fertility. Nevertheless, revered they are. We walked around the grounds, looked in a few of the buildings, and left.

We hit the subways and used them to get around for the rest of the day. We got pretty good at going through them. I'm sure it will make our experience in Tokyo more enjoyable. One thing that impressed me...they are obviously pretty old, but so much cleaner than anything I've ridden in the US. There weren't stains or strange smells, just visual wear and tear. Drastically different mentality.

We journeyed to Hard Rock and had lunch, collecting more shirts for each of us. We've decided to likely continue this trend throughout Japan. It's fun and something (not so) novel for us. They gave Roo a cute little bear with her lunch and she's very attached to him.

After that, we wandered for a bit. Chrys and Owl found the Apple store while I walked to a Noritake store. None of us found anything and we all ended up back at the Apple store to gawk at the new stuff. Noritake has a series of dishes themed around My Neighbor Totoro that are cute, though.

We went back to Nagoya station and walked to the Noritake Gardens (their headquarters). Most of the buildings there were closed by 5pm so I didn't get to paint my own Noritake, but the gardens were beautiful and cruising through the outlet was fun, even if I didn't stop to buy anything. It's quite a complex they have.

After that, it was back to the train, to the airport, to home and some eagerly awaited beds.

Planes, Trains and MagLevs (aka, World Expo - Aichi)

2005-09-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

Behold the power of travel agents. They are wonderful here in Japan. They get you good prices and make wonderful things happen - like last minute trips to the World Expo...

The circumstances probably weren't ideal, but they worked out beautifully. We took a late flight to Nagoya and stayed in the airport that night. Now, when I say "in" the airport, I mean it. Our hotel was connected to the arrival lounge. It was very easy for some weary folk to get in and get settled.

The next morning, we woke up, checked out, and walked across the lobby to the train station. We got our tickets to a central station (not Nagoya station, but one stop shy) that would allow us to hop to the World Expo express train. We ditched the luggage in a locker. The express train was CRAZY crowded and we ended up standing for most of the ride. It was pretty long, too. We got to the expo and decided to wait 30 minutes for the mag lev train instead of 30 minutes for the bus. The 30 minutes was closer to 60, but we got to take a 6 minute ride on a mag lev. It was very quiet and pretty smooth - much nicer than a normal train ride where you have to hold on for dear life to not fall into the other passengers.

When we got to the Expo, Chrys worked on sun screen while I bought our tickets. Then, we headed for the line to get in - UGH! That was the longest line all day, I think. Maybe it was the anticipation of what we could see, but not get to. Maybe it was the heat. Maybe it was the fact that Ryanne was screaming until she passed out from exhaustion. I would have killed for a lightweight sling at that point, but instead I had her stretched out in my arms. Silly me.

Once through security (bag search, metal detector, xray), we stopped just to look around. There were people everywhere. It's probably the largest crowd we've encountered yet. We pulled out our maps and decided to walk towards Toyota's pavilion. They had the robot show that we had been told was a don't miss - as if we would with an "obot" obsessed daughter.

It was pretty easy to find and pretty close the entrance. We were in the process of trying to figure out when and where we'd have to be to get tickets when someone walked up to us and asked if we spoke English. He introduced himself and showed us his Toyota badge. He asked if we'd seen his show. We said we were very interested, but hadn't gotten tickets. He asked us to follow him. We ended up seated (poorly, but seated) in the show that started about 5 minutes after we walked in the door.

It was... Amazing! They had walking robots which is something that I have a fascination with, thanks to Chrys. They played horns. Chrys thinks it wasn't really them playing; I believe they are capable, but agree that it might have been recorded for the show. They also had some rolling robots that played horns and drums. They played "When the Saints Go Marching In," which was somewhat bittersweet for me in the aftermath of Katrina. Then, there were the acrobats on ropes from the ceiling, and the concept cars. Oh, the concept cars. They are mostly upright for slow motion and recline as your speed increases. The light ropes on the sides allow for color customization. They were beautiful. Then the walker that you ride. They brought out only one and...whoa. I just wish we could have ridden it - well, that Chrys and Roo could so I could take pictures. Roo was mightily impressed with it all and we had a chorus of "ooos" at appropriate times. Mostly, she sat there staring and taking it all in. She didn't get bored, remarkably, and it was a 30 minute show. (I think. I lost track of time, myself.)

After leaving that, we didn't really know what to do with ourselves. We hadn't expected to see the one thing on our "must hit" list within 10 minutes of entering the park. Given that, we wandered. We had an "American" lunch outside their pavilion, but the line was too long to go in. We went to the kids play area where there were more robots for Roo to touch and pose with. She had a great time with that. We visited a couple of the country pavilions that had short lines - Norway (where they showcased daily life of 4 citizens, a Stokke Kinder Zeat, the Baby Bjorn, and a few other random items), Ireland (pictures, big Celtic cross replicas and a band of Japanese playing Celtic music), Cuba (just Chrys and Roo went in, but he said it was beaches and Latin music), and others that I don't remember. Mostly, we walked around, amazed at the size of the thing, and avoiding the 6 hour lines at the Hitachi pavilion. Part of me wishes we could have seen more, but I still don't know what we would have seen so I'm ok being ignorant. I did go back and wait in the line to get in to buy souvenirs for various people. There wasn't a line to get in, but it was very crowded so you grabbed what you could when you saw it. Going back for something was pretty out of the question. The line to check out was over 30 minutes and my poor feet didn't like that much at the end of the long day.

When we left, we took the bus back to the train station. The train took us back to our luggage and then to Nagoya station. We caught a cab to our hotel for that night - the Westin Nagoya Castle. The view was amazing. More on day two in another post.

I know why Japanese women wear heels, but...

2005-09-18T08:49:00.000-07:00

I have come, over the course of my time here, to decide that 3" heels would actually make using the squatter a bit easier. For those of us that have lost much of the ability to squat with flat feet, that little tilt would offer so much more stability when Western toilets just aren't available. I'm sure there are a host of fashion reasons, too, but I'm trying to look for practical ones.

Given that, I still don't understand why a 3" stiletto is the shoe of choice for some place like Disneyland or the World Expo. Western toilets abound. There is no practical need for the shoes. They're going to be walking...miles...and those things just aren't that good for your feet.

I'm sure they become accustomed to it after a long while. Maybe they're even looking at me in my tennis shoes and beat up Birkenstocks wondering how I'm comfortable in something so unflattering. At the end of the day, though, when my feet are dying despite my tennis shoes, I just have to wonder how these women can walk by me in towering heels and not just collapse. Maybe I just don't have the personal fortitude to pull it off. Even so, I'm not sure I'd want to.

Ack! They changed my trash sacks

2005-09-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

Months of buying the clear ones with the green writing, as deciphered by previous dwellers, gone. I had even figured out the obscures ones - like the one for pots and pans, broken mirrors, and batteries. All ... gone.

I went to the store the other day and now they're all clear with colored writing. No more bright yellow PET bags. No more blue writing for cans. There was still green writing, but no pictures of lettuce and fish heads to tell me it's for burnables (what most of our trash is).

Alas, this story does have a happy ending. I was able to read the label that said もえるごみ(combustible trash) and get the clear bags with red writing. They've got handles on them now. Maybe they're not so bad.

Quite the dilemma

2005-09-17T23:37:00.000-07:00

So, you're living in a country halfway around the world from your real house. You know you won't be going back there for at least a year. Where would you put your house keys? Someplace safe, right?

Yeah...that's the million dollar question. Unfortunately, you really only start to think about it *right* before you go.

Painting ceramics

2005-09-11T03:11:00.000-07:00

I'm not an artist. I can learn how to copy things, but I've never considered myself terribly creative. That's not to say that I don't have original thoughts...I'm just not terribly creative at representing them most days.

I've talked about Arita before, too. I've wanted to go back and see what the ceramic shops offered when it's not flooded with people for Golden Week.

That said, I talked to Mrs. K about wanting to head up there and she said she'd love to come with me. We started up there about 10am, parked at the Daiso (100円 shop) and started walking.

We started down the main street toward the train station. There were surprisingly few shops along that road, now that it wasn't covered in tents. Nevertheless, I found a few small gifts and a new pincushion in one at the corner.

Then we went back down the road toward the main entry. That proved to hold a wealth of shops that we never touched during Golden Week. Most of them are pretty small and very crowded with similar items, even from shop to shop. What amused us most was seeing the same item in multiple shops - as we went down the road it got more and more expensive.

The first biggish shop that we came across, we were greeted downstairs and invited up to a second floor gallery of sorts. This had the nicer pieces that were sold singly instead of the large groups of what I now assume were 'seconds' (not that I can find anything wrong with any of them). We noticed a bucket on the corner of one of the tables that had bare ceramics in it and inquired about painting. She managed to tell us that she allowed customers to paint them and showed us prices. Have I mentioned yet that we had both kids with us? Yeah, they loved running around the gallery while we tried to drink coffee. We didn't stay to paint.

When we got to the end of that street, we turned back for lunch. After tuna pizza (yeah...don't ask), we headed back out with our map and started looking for the 'rest' of the stores in the town. We walked for what seemed like forever before we ended up in another cluster of them. This was after reassurance from several shop owners that we were on the right path. Turns out there are a LOT of shops once you walk past empty stores to the 'rest' of town and we could barely scrape the surface before it was almost dinner time and we were ready to go home.

The next weekend, the husbands watched the kids and we journeyed to Arita solo. Our first stop was the little shop. We painted - I a mug, Mrs. K a tea cup. My first side ended with a pretty abysmal looking (in my opinion) cat, but I am pleased with the second side. The owner gave me a cup for inspiration and I sort of copied the design. It's not identical, but it looks cool. The cup's a gift - the person that gets it will now know the story behind it. Mrs. K painted these cool wavy flowers/grains on hers - I was impressed.

There was some discussion about how to get the cups after they were fired. The owner offered to send them to us and we insisted we'd come back. It's only 45 minutes from Isahaya, after all. She wanted my number, convinced I spoke better Japanese - HA! I managed to get her to tell me that they'd be ready in September - just so I knew when to expect the call.

We wandered more through the part of town that we got too tired for before. We found many more interesting shops. We see many that look more like galleries and they're always closed on Sunday. Hopefully we can catch a week day when they're open. I saw the plate I passed by back in May, but it was MUCH larger and about 10x the price so I left it there. Hopefully I can track it down again in November (when they have another festival with great bargains and less crowd).

I got the call a couple of weeks ago that the cups were ready. Not quite September, but pretty close. We were very busy and didn't manage to get back there until today.

The cups look neat. They shrink quite a bit (I think the owner said 10%, but it looks like more). We decided we needed to try it again.

This time I started with some Maple leaf looking things on a tea cup. I decided to get elaborate on the next side, but I won't spoil the surprise. Yeah, this one's a gift, too. Mrs. K did butterflies and another cup that I didn't get as much chance to look at as I was tied up in what turned out to be a very time consuming second side. I managed to get that she'll have more plates available in October. Why I want those is yet another secret - mean, aren't I? We also noticed how relaxing it was to sit there with cups, paint, coffee and quiet. It's an amazing experience.

We wandered more through the further parts of town. I found a contender for the plate that goes home - just in case I don't find the blue sakura again. Of course, I'll have to remember which shop it was at and hope they're open. We stopped for cake at a little shop - delicious. There, we flipped through a book on the various painters in Arita. I commented on how silly it was to pay 2500円 for a book with horrible maps that was just a big ad for smaller galleries. Of course, now I want the book so I can track down some of those galleries, despite the bad maps. The book inspired us to new locations, though, so off driving we went.

This time, we ended up at a large gallery that had many artists' wares and many steps of grandeur. They even had Royal Doulton stuff there. The gallery had something we'd wished for whilst we painted in more blue, too - a painting table and *colors*. We may have to do some painting there, now. The colors enticed us to sway from our loyal place.

Finally, we gave up and headed home, despite seeing many new, exciting looking shops on our way. I don't know that we'll ever see all, or even most of this town, but we're going to really try. Worst part, to me, is that we've done all of this and haven't even touched the pottery town in Nagasaki Prefect. Who knows what we'd uncover there.

Oh, and since we have to go back to pick up these cups, we'll probably paint again. Chrys wants a coffee cup - seems his current favorite has developed a crack. I know he'll break it someday, but I'll do it anyway and enjoy every minute. Anyone else? Choices are coffee cup, tea cup (Japanese, no handle) and sometimes plates - slightly more variety if we end up at the color place, I think. I promise nothing of quality, not even specific designs, but it'll be one of a kind and full of love and guaranteed to make me relax.

Care package

2005-08-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Kity offered to send me a care package. I struggled for a while with what to put in it, and we eventually canned the prospect. We've been remarkably fortunate. We find quite a bit here and, what we don't, we can manage to stuff in our luggage on our few trips home. What doesn't fit into those two categories is missed, but we're almost home and can get it all in abundance.

We've brought back taco seasoning and learned that we can make pretty decent tortillas with a few hours on a weekend. Yeah, we miss more complicated Mexican food, but it's good enough for now. If we get really desperate, we can actually get an Old El Paso (I think) Taco Kit (complete with sticker translating the instructions into Japanese) at the store. This last trip, I couldn't find any Wolf brand chili so we haven't had a makeshift chili cheese burrito in a while.

Turns out, I can bake a decent lasagne in a convection oven. The pasta is imported, mostly from Italy. I can usually get some button mushrooms if I go to the right store. Black olives are pitted; green ones aren't - we don't buy green anymore.

Both of those require shredded cheese. Here, it's simply called "mixed cheese." I have no idea what it is. It's not mozzerella. It's not cheddar. It's not bad, but I certainly wouldn't call it good. I'll be glad for some variety when we get home.

Chrys makes really good cheese blintzes. It took tracking down a source of cottage cheese, but turns out that what I can get here is amazing and very easy to cook with. I'm guessing that the lack of baking in the home (and corresponding abundance of bakeries) means that ingredients shouldn't require mixers - quite nice.

Spaghetti is no problem. I prefer to make my own sauce for that as the others are in small jars or local (very sweet). Turns out, I can make decent meatballs, too. What Chrys wouldn't give for an italian sausage, though.

Deli meats don't really exist - I can get ham and salami. Nor does much beyond white bread, though it's REALLY good white bread. I can occasionally find a loaf of wheat, but not reliably. Chrys wants some rye, corned beef/pastrami, and a can of saurkraut.

Alcohol...is horrible. I bought a local brand of white wine and it was insanely sweet. I tried a bottle of red and it was so dry that my lips puckered. We caved last night and bought a bottle of Gallo Chardonnay - we've stooped that low. I bought Chrys a bottle of local rum - it was strong and not in a good way. We used it as wound cleaner or in splashes in Coke so you couldn't really taste it. When we came back this last time, we splurged in the Duty Free and came back with a bottle of Bacardi - ahhh.

I can get donuts. They were really good at first. I didn't know how I'd go back and not miss them. These days, they're getting old. Same goes for McDonald's - it's better here, but I'll be done with it by December.

The store down the street started carrying bagels a few months ago. They even have cream cheese. They're not bad, but they're just not the same for some reason. They come in plain, blueberry and (really, really cinamonny) cinnamon raisin. We're looking forward to some variety in those and the cream cheese flavors.

I can get Oreos and Coke at the store and they're really better here, anyway. I'll stash what I can in a box for the movers. Ditto Pocky and various other Japanese snacks, i.e., Pretz, sesame crackers.

I'm rationing the butterfingers that a friend at work brought for me. We're working our way through the last of our Code Red. I brought back some chocolate chips (since the one thing they don't seem to bake is cookies), but have yet to do anything with them.

Now...here's the meat of it. I'll bring back Pocky. If I can, I'll stash some Oreos and Coke in my luggage, too. The first person that shows up with a chili cheese burrito and a hot Krispy Kreme original gets half the Pocky. The other half goes to the person that brings a good bottle of red wine (Merlot?) and a block of sharp cheddar. (Alternate trades can be negotiated if, for some reason, the idea of a chocolate coated bread stick doesn't appeal to you. If that's the case, I will postpone judgement on your sanity because I'm really desperate for the CCB. I have a fun one in mind for Kity, especially.) Anyone? Anyone?

It's.a.bug

2005-08-14T04:02:00.000-07:00

I'll be the first to admit it - I am totally not a bug person. Most of them I will just dodge and let them go on their merry way. If they get too eager, or enter my house, they're going to get squashed. This is especially true of spiders, but goes for any bug.

Given that, I don't get people that voluntarily buy bugs to keep as pets. At home, it's tarantulas. Here, it's the Hercules Beetle.

Ryanne and I were cruising through the toy section at Jusco one day. I look over and see the little bug boxes. I'm familiar with seeing them (with aforementioned tarantulas) in pet stores at home. Here, I figured they would be empty, especially in the toy section. I mean, they're great toys for catching bugs outside to look at and release. Imagine my surprise, when one of those beetles snaps at the side of the container when I approach! It took everything I had to not squeal as I jumped back. Bugs are not toys. What are they doing in my toy section?

These things sell for crazy prices. The bigger the better. Many people appear to raise them to fight.

Kids are also obsessed with the video game. They flock to these games in the arcades. They're kid sized and easy for them to reach. They get to fight these beetles in the game and get cards for scoring well. Some days, you can't get past the arcade because of the group lined up to play.

It's insane. I just want to yell, "It's a bug. Just a bug," but I think that would make me an even bigger freak than I am already perceived as being.

At least you know it's fresh

2005-08-11T07:02:00.000-07:00

I think it's a tuna. They have one about once a week. They'll have the carcass and the head on display, cleaned. They're laid out across a couple of carts in the fish section, which happens to be right next to the dairy section. The meat is all packaged up and ready for people to take home. Sometimes they use the carcass as a little display shelf and have the packages sitting on it. Sometimes there are samples (raw, of course) and soy sauce for dipping.

What *really* gets me, though, is when you walk through and there's pieces that have been knocked loose from the carcass all over the floor, all mushed up. Blech!

Chotto

2005-08-11T01:47:00.000-07:00

Turns out that those little cards/envelopes that everyone in America uses for RSVP'ing to wedding invitations are too small to be sent through the Japanese postal system. Of course, this was the first time I've had anyone actually check to see if they're big enough - gotta love their manuals that tell them everything they need to know. Fortunately, when she discovers that it's too small (chotto) the nice lady will give you an envelope that you can address and stuff your envelope in. Now, I feel silly for spending the effort to get that $0.37 stamp off.

The quest

2005-08-07T06:54:00.000-07:00

Reflecting, I supposed it's silly to expect a culture that typically refrains from catering to large groups in their own homes would make it easy to find a set of anything greater than 5 pair. Nevertheless, that's what I did.

I needed two sets of chopsticks. I wanted more than 5 pair. I have searched high and low for a set that I like. It hasn't been easy. I want them to look good with my kitchen at home. I wanted them to be square tipped. I wanted them to match.

Last Saturday, I finally came across 2 styles that I liked at the Jusco in Omura. They had 4 of one and 5 of the other. I decided that Jusco, being a chain, had to have roughly the same products at all of their stores. I bought them, and decided to drive to a couple of other Juscos and just pick up the rest that I needed.

Last Sunday, Jusco #1 in Nagasaki didn't have any of them. In fact, they have an incredibly small selection of chopsticks, in general.

Yesterday, Jusco #2 in Nagasaki taught me that I should do my kitchen in red. This was the second store that I found the same styles that I picked in the right numbers, but in reds.

Today, we went back to Jusco in Omura. They were still sold out of the ones I wanted. In fact, their chopstick selection was SO picked over that I decided I was nuts to even be looking for more. I decided they must be seasonal and I had bought at the end of the season, etc.

After that, we drove up to Sasebo to the big Jusco. Eureka! They have enough to finish one set and 4 more of the other. I was relieved. I was close enough. I was happy.

Having driven all the way up to Sasebo, we decided to wander around. Our last exploration was around Christmastime and we didn't really know what we were looking at. We stumbled across yet another Jusco in the arcade. We didn't know it was there. They had the remaining pairs of chopsticks. My quest was complete.

Now, you may be asking yourself why this is such a big deal. Chopsticks are, what, $5 for a pack of a billion. Well, these are *nice* chopsticks. They are wood. They are meant to be used and reused. They aren't painted so they won't chip like the set we have right now. They are amazing. They're also about 800円 per pair. That's not something to be trifled with when you're buying in quantity. (It was actually pretty funny. When I bought the last ones I needed in the arcade, the woman that rang me up had to do a double take because she was pretty sure there was no way that little could cost that much. She actually declared them expensive and asked if they were a gift. These aren't even the most expensive they have, much less the most expensive I've seen. Somebody other than me has to be buying these things. I guess when they're lumped in with a pile of china for someone you don't notice, though.)

Japanese medical care

2005-07-27T04:51:00.000-07:00

I had another appointment today. The fracture is gone. I still have to take it easy for another month (no kicking, specifically), but the doctor was twisting my toe all around so I know it's pretty safe to use it. I can bend it now, but it's a little stiff.

I was talking to the new American mom that just moved here (more on them later, I'm sure). She broke her toe a few years ago and says they looked at it, declared it broken and sent her on her way. Hers will require surgery to really fix it someday. It made me really reflect on how excellently I've been treated for this *relatively* simple problem.

I had 3 visits in a month. At each of them, they saw me, took an x-ray and I spoke (if only briefly) to the doctor. At the first one, I was given anti-inflammatory bandages to wrap around the toe 2x per day. The next one was just in and out. The third was in, twisting the toe, and out. The x-rays were doubles - top and side - of my toe. All of that...and I shelled out about $150, total. I'm pretty sure there's no way you could get that kind of care if you were uninsured in the states.

I caught a Yukata

2005-07-25T04:45:00.000-07:00

Not that it's difficult since you can buy them at just about any store right now. Plus, they're on sale since it's time for the winter ones to roll out and it's after 7/25 (some festival that I didn't catch the name of, but lots of girls were wandering around town in their kimonos).

Roo loves her new "dwess". My tutor helped me get her all dressed up for the camera. I now know how to tie the belt, and to make sure I put right over left when wrapping it. I picked up a purse for her (Hello Kitty) when I got my Yukata.

Roo's is bright and colorful and the sleeves are pretty long, as is customary for a "single" girl. I got mine a few days later and it's black and white with a red obi. I hope the colors are muted enough to be suitable for a married woman. I have no idea where we'll wear them - here or at home. Hopefully we'll get some fun use out of them, though.

No change

2005-07-15T04:43:00.000-07:00

I'm a little confused as to how that and "ii desu (it's good)" go together in the same prognosis when discussing a broken bone. Of course, that is the big problem with a language barrier.

Toe's still broken. I have another check in two weeks. Offically told not to do anymore karate...sigh...No belt test for me.

Tokyo Disney Resort

2005-07-14T06:11:00.000-07:00

We had SO.MUCH.FUN. Honestly, I love Disney so you could have put me in any park and I would have loved it. Nevertheless, it was truly a blast. Roo loved the rides. We loved the different park (Tokyo Disney Sea). The classics were...classic.

Flights were nothing special. Roo got really excited about going on an "ehpain" and that and the "buckle" kept her occupied for most of the trip up there. We had to focus on the buckle light and waiting for it to turn off for the last taxi, but she did great.

At the airport, we confirmed that the last bus directly to TDL left at 7pm. It was after 8pm. Chrys talked to the information folks and got wonderful directions that didn't involve tons of trains and connections. We took a bus to Urayasu Brighton Hotel, walked across the street to the Shinurayasu Station, caught the train to Mai Hama (thank goodness the lady wrote down the kanji for that one) and that left us at the TDL gateway. Quick monorail ride to our hotel and we were set. We got to introduce Chrys to the trains, didn't have to fret over which route. It was excellent. I got to wow Chrys with my train station maneuvering skills (not an easy task when the price guide is all kanji...see above note about the nice lady). It was a bit more expensive than the direct bus, but fun to do anyway. Oh, and they charge for the monorail access...hmph.

The next morning, we did our included buffet breakfast. Lots of Japanese foods...couldn't do it. They had dried apricots - haven't had those in FOREVER - Yum! Roo enjoyed the animal shaped breakfast rolls (elephant, bear, dog - elephant lost his nose first, the other two lost ears and the top of the head, respectively).

We wandered over to get tickets and opted for the 2 day pass. Quick debate and we picked Disney Sea first day and then Disney Land the next. I didn't see anything that would have let us swap back and forth, but this worked out great.

Disney Sea was not, as I expected, any kind of water park. It was basically another DisneyLand. We had lunch at the New York Deli - Reuben wasn't bad...small, but tasty. Roo didn't get to do many rides, but we collected her stickers for the scavenger hunt type thing and I got her award and medal while she watched the night water show. She liked the "neckuhs" she got. Chrys and Owl did a couple of things in the Island part (Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) while Roo slept on my shoulder (after wasting 2 hours trying unsuccessfully to get her to sleep at the hotel). It sprinkled, then rained. We have very nice Disney umbrellas now. At night, one of the dopey rides (Aqua something) looked fun and it turned out to be a pretty cool control system that felt semi-random (yes, we're geeks). Roo met Dale (as in Chip and Dale) and talked about him all day. He got kisses and she loved hugging him. We had Indian curry for dinner and that was tasty. Roo even seemed to like the spice. We pretty much closed the park down (10pm) and crashed at the hotel.

DisneyLand was...DisneyLand. I don't remember anything that was really specific to Tokyo. I did find it amusing that Cinderella, Belle, Alice, etc were (ahem) imports to get the right skin color. Roo loved FantasyLand and ToonTown. She rode most of the rides in FantasyLand and we got lots of "oooooo pwetty"s. We had to ride the "hohseys" twice (plus the one at Disney Sea). She really liked Dale's house at ToonTown, but was disappointed that she couldn't open the little doors in the tree. We stopped at almost every car setup "voom voom" so she could sit and pretend drive. She didn't freak out at the Haunted House or the Pirates of the Caribbean. In fact, she laughed out loud and danced at "Grim Grinning Ghosts". Chrys took her on Buzz Lightyear's ride and says she liked playing with the joystick to spin the car. Seemed a general trend - Alice's Tea Party, the Roger Rabbit ride - the more she spun, the happier she was. While they went to Buzz, I got some nice shopping time and got most of our souvenirs and omiyage in a 30 minute power shopping spree.

One interesting thing is that they didn't seem to have a generic Tokyo Disney t-shirt. They had Mickey Mouse and generic character shirts with no identification that you got them at TDL. The park shirts were by land. The DL ones had land specific collages (I guess) on the fronts. The DS ones had Mickey drawn in some style that symbolized the land (they were actually pretty darn cool). Each have a bunch of writing on the back talking about the stuff in that land. I guess you buy the one for the land you liked best or collect the set (not a cheap option). I got Roo FantasyLand because it was pink and girlie and she spent the most time on rides in there. It's a little big, but should fit when we go home - bragging rights, and all.

Our hotel, Hilton Tokyo Bay, was delightful. They had Lego tables in the lobby and a big play area with Duplo tubs that kept Roo entertained while we checked in, etc. The food was good. The service was excellent. They even had a little Disney stuff shop that opened early enough for us to stop by on our last morning and pick up a few items I forgot. (Now, if they'll just credit the right number of nights to my HHonors account, I'll be all happy.)

Rainy season

2005-07-06T05:58:00.000-07:00

People have been telling us for weeks that rainy season was going to start any day now. Well, it finally hit last week, I guess. It's rained every day since. Usually it's just the morning or afternoon and the rest of the day is just cloudy and pretty cool.

Honestly, I'm pretty happy to finally have the rain. The days leading up to it were filled with 'it's 71 degrees out and the dew point is 73' yucky grade weather.

On the other hand, rainy days make for stir crazy toddlers. I'll also be pretty happy to be able to retreat to the pool or park. Although, we don't go to the pool every day like I'd thought. It's 350円 per day, or I can buy a pack of 11 for 3500円. Now, those aren't good on the weekends, when it's 510円. That gets pricey fast. *sigh* It will be nice to get back to $20 for the whole summer.

Eel

2005-07-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

Yoshihara-san (my tutor) too Fyoire and I out for an Isahaya specialty, eel. Apparently, this restaurant has been open for over 100 years. They serve only eel. It's about $25 a head.

We sat on a raised tatami platform. There were pillows for kneeling on and a low table. It was certainly the most Japanese atmosphere I've experienced so far.

On a far wall, there were rows of little bins. It was explained that those were for storing shoes when diners went to the upstairs section. We actually got to watch some businessmen go up there toward the end of our meal.

The eel was cooked in a pretty sweet sauce. It might have been grilled. The flavor was excellent. Again, it was the texture that got me. I am not accustomed to having bones in my fish, even the tiniest ones. I couldn't really share the food with Roo because I'm certain they wouldn't have agreed with her. Of course, Yoshihara-san put some of the sauce on Roo's rice and it made Roo gag so I didn't even bother trying to find a non-bony piece of the eel. The first and last pieces that were bone free were delicious. The rice, the vegetables - all very worthwhile. The bones...oh man, I can't take much of that. I hope that knowing what's coming makes it easier to take, but being caught off guard made the meal a little awkward. Fyoire and I both got our food down, though. (Lucky for us, Yoshihara-san took us for cake and coffee afterward and that helped settle the bones.)

Of course, the ultimate question is...will I take others there. Since it's traditional Japanese fare and an Isahaya specialty, no less, I guess the answer is yes, with a caveat. I will warn them that the eel is good, but bony. If they think they can take the bones, I'll stomach another meal. Maybe I'll get used to it if I keep trying it.

Sushi delivered

2005-07-04T18:11:00.000-07:00

Fyoire wanted to try sushi while she was here. I had been looking for someone to try out a conveyor belt place. The biggest problem was that I had no idea where one was. I had heard them called 100¥ places so I kept my eye out for signs. As we drove past one with Yoshihara-san, I asked if that was a sushi place...then I realized that I could read the sign すし 100円皿 (literally, Sushi 100 yen plate)

We ended up going there. Sure enough, they had a large conveyor belt that went around two chefs in the middle. Well, it only went around one of them and the other half was empty and controlled by little corner gates that allowed the stuff he made to get onto the other belt when there was a space.

I knew most of what I ate: maguro (tuna), salmon, ebi (baby shrimp), pineapple, cucumber roll. Some of it, I knew after I ate it: natto (fermented soybean paste - like peanut butter, only thicker and not sweet - almost gagged). Some of it I still haven't identified: a translucent milky white...bit chewy, but good. Owl had some tempura shrimp rolls and some chicken wings. Fyoire mostly ate cucumber. Roo didn't want much to do with any of it. Green tea bags were on the table and the mounted spigot dispensed hot water for brewing.

You pay by the number of plates you eat. Each plate is a different color and each color is a certain price. When we were done, they came and counted empty plates to get our total. The total wasn't bad, especially considering it was all very fresh and the atmosphere was fun! I can't wait to go back again.

Bio Park

2005-07-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

The Nagasaki Bio Park is probably the coolest zoo I've ever been to. To be honest, though, it's not so much a zoo as an animal habitat. The animals are each in a well tended environment. They appear very well cared for. For the most part, they seem uncontained. There were very few cages or rooms. Most of them were in large open spaces and some had free roam of the park.

We went with some friends. We started the trip on the train; our first ride. Roo wasn't terribly interested in having to stay out of the way and sit still, but was infinitely happier than when strapped into the back seat of the car. Then there was a bus ride from Huis Ten Bosch to the Bio Park.

Roo loved the llamas, but there was SO much more to the park.

One of the most interesting aspects of the park is feeding the animals. Each area has food that is suitable for the animals nearby. The capsules are 100¥ each. We fed all of them, some repeatedly.

Roo enjoyed feeding anything she could be some distance from without being too far like the giraffe and hippo. She liked getting right up to the lemurs, kangaroos and kapybara and having them eat out of her hand; they were very gentle. She wasn't terribly fond of the squirrel monkeys that would swoop in and grab the food right from her hands. She also wasn't particularly interested in the animals that she could only throw food to...maybe that's because she can't throw very far.

Owl and I really liked the lemurs. They were like friendly cats with hands. They were very gentle, and would crawl on your shoulders and take food from your hands to eat. It was an amazing experience.

Well, that's settled

2005-06-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

Kicking bag: 1
Big Toe: 0

The big toe lost a point for the long wait (2 -3 hours without an appointment) at the health clinic, but gained a point for being a clean break that's not on a joint.

On the plus side, I am now certain that I know where the clinic is. I have my little ID card. I can get through an exam and X-ray speaking little Japanese.

On the minus side, I have a broken toe - the only one that people seem to care about if it breaks. It's my right big toe, just above the joint. It's my first broken bone - ever. I have to go back in 2 weeks to make sure it hasn't moved out of position. I have to keep my weight off of it for a month. The doctor showed me how to walk funny with my toe held up to accomplish this. At least it's not crutches...we all know I'm WAY too stubborn for those to be an option. He gave me little anti-inflammatory bandages to wrap around it twice a day. I may pair them with some loose tape to keep them on and the toe semi-set. He offered me pain medicine. Honestly, the pain's not so bad that Tylenol can't take it out and I somehow managed to convey that I was still breastfeeding which made him retract his offer.

Speaking of stubborn, I'm still going to Tokyo Disneyland in a week. Chrys says he may rent me a wheelchair which excites me because that gets you moved ahead in the line in America. I'm also still planning on going to karate twice a week, but I won't contact anything with my foot and I won't do anything that requires me to move around much since it's hard to move well and keep your weight off of your toe. Hopefully it won't affect my belt test too much, but we'll see.

Japanese snacks

2005-06-26T05:33:00.000-07:00

There is one thing that I am going to miss horribly about Japan - snack food.

You cannot beat a good box of Men's Pocky. Dark chocolate, pretzel stick...it's goodness in foil. Of course, that's only one of a dozen really great flavors of Pocky and we haven't touched the non-Glico brands.

Then there's Pretz. Pretzel sticks with flavoring. The current favorite is Maple & Butter.

Sesame crackers, potato sticks, bakeries everywhere, fresh fruit galore (always in season)...I could thrive on snacks alone, I'm sure of it.

Then there's onigiri. Yummy stuff (mostly) wrapped in rice and seaweed. A couple of them make a great meal.

I haven't managed a personal relationship with azuki beans or chestnut paste, even though I'm sure they're better for me. Rice crackers, I can take or leave. Nevertheless, the 'snack' options here never cease to amaze me and leave me waiting for my stomach to growl...just the tiniest bit.

Request time

2005-06-25T07:34:00.000-07:00

It's that time. We're over 50% of our way through our tenure and it's time to start collecting stuff to bring back for people. This is your big chance. What do you want from Japan for Christmas? I'm not Santa, but I'll see what I can do.

Somebody's butt's getting kicked

2005-06-25T04:39:00.000-07:00

...and it may well be mine.

I started karate a couple of months ago. My tutor helped me find a dojo in one of the prep schools that holds classes twice a week, in the evenings. The classes are pretty informal, mostly for sport. Most of the kids are less than 10 years old. Better yet, one of the sensei is an American so I'm not completely lost.

The classes are free since I'm an adult. I had to buy a dogi (my uniform), but that was only about $200. It and my belt are embroidered with my name...in kana. They're so cool.

The first few classes hurt...a lot. I am slowly getting better. The movements are feeling more natural. My knees don't scream near as much. My flexibility is improving (though I started out better than the other adults in my class). I can do a few more situps and pushups than I could before (though my sensei was laughing at me tonight when I could barely do a cruch for the last few situps).

I don't get picked on as much as the kids do. The Japanese sensei doesn't bother with me much and the American one likes to talk to me quietly. I was pretty amused when the Japanese one swatted my leg on Wednesday to tell me I had it in the wrong place. Were I 20 years younger, I would have had it yanked out from under me so I consider myself lucky.

They spar pretty regularly in class. I did my first bit this week - against a black belt - and it went pretty well. I punched and didn't contact; she contacted (gently) and apologized profusely.

When I started, they told me I would be lucky to get a colored belt by the end of the year. I am just fine with that.

Last week, my Japanese sensei explained that he wanted me to be at least a brown belt by the end of the year. I think he must have lost his mind. Mike, the American sensei, says I can do it. I have much less faith, but I'm certainly willing to try.

Hydrangea season

2005-06-22T04:50:00.000-07:00

As the azaleas started to taper off, we began seeing hydrangeas everywhere.

There are two varieties: one has a full cap of flowers and the other has a perimeter of large petals with smaller flowers in the middle. I see more of the full cap variety around here.

They come in an amazing array of colors. As I take Chrys to work, I drive past a bunch of them. The ones at the top of the hill are a rich royal blue. As we continue, they go through lighter blues, purples, pinks. At the bottom, they are the palest shade of lavender and pink - almost white. It's amazing.

I can't wait to see the next array of flowers. Japan's flora just keeps astounding me.

Gone so soon?

2005-06-17T04:29:00.000-07:00

Fyoire left us in all too short a time. Nevertheless, we did a lot in the time she was here. I think she saw a decent part of our piece of Japan and that's something most foreigners won't get to. We spent a couple of days in the Hamanomachi arcade and did venture to the Hypocenter Park. We spent some time in Omura. We also took random drives around town to see bridges and other points of interest. She shopped for all of her friends and her new doll.

We shopped for lots of fabric and she learned how to iron and use a sewing machine so she could make her first dragon. She got him probably 85% done while she was here and he was impressive to behold.

I miss my playmate terribly. She has grown into an amazing young woman and everything I could ask for in a younger sister. She is fun to talk to and lots of fun to pal around with. I think of her as a friend. I am very lucky to know her.

I cannot wait for Roo to grow up and get to know her aunt. She will be a great influence and lots of fun to boot.

Fukuoka Revisited

2005-06-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

We decided that Fyoire should get a trip to the beach, too. She apparently had great fun explaining her vacation-within-a-vacations to her friends. She spent quite a few hours on the beach on Saturday and Sunday, despite the rain. She brought back sand for us to clean and use in her dragon so he'll have even more of Japan in him.

We went and got yummy pizza again. We also ate Chinese food...ohhhh Chinese food.

The restaurant was buffet style. They had these neat little tray like plates that had 6 smallish compartments for you to sample bunches of things without them comingling. Beef sauteed with avocado, sweet and sour pork, spring rolls, fried rice, dumplings and frozen strawberry Fanta - "who could ask for anything more?" I don't think I ate anything that didn't taste good. We even sampled what we decided were rose and jasmine teas. (and Fyoire snagged one of each to take back to a friend...sssshhhh) I now must eat more Chinese food here - tis that good.

We stopped by Japanese outlets - Marinoa City. It was a pretty typical outlet-like mall. We got Fyoire an Engrish shirt (Life Requires Gentleness...) and I snagged another one as a gift for Kyosuke. I got to try on some new slings at Babies R Us (they actually had a sling department). Unfortunately, Roo wasn't too keen on the net one that I wanted for summer so we came home empty handed. There was even an import shop that had some Doritos, Cherry/Vanilla Coke, etc. We got lime and pineapple haichuu there.

It was a nice, relaxed trip. I look forward to our next visit since we still have MUCH to explore there.

Mitsui Greenland

2005-06-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we made a trip to Mitsui Greenland with Fyoire. She had never been to an amusement park before - GASP! - so we had to remedy that. This one came well recommended from friends.

In our quest to go places where there have been pretty major earthquakes, we were off to Kumamoto (we actually felt a few shocks from that one that shook the doors and woke Chrys and I up, but didn't bother anyone else). We drove down to the Shimabara Peninsula, took the Ariake Ferry to the other side of the bay and we were off. Roo loved the ride on the ferry - wind, water, jellyfish - oh my!

We got there around 12:30, checked in to the Hotel Blanca. They let us into our room immediately and it was pretty nice - 4 beds, deep Japanese bath, A/C. They also gave us our tickets to the garden area of the park (no rides). We walked out the door, past the foot spa (ahhh) and into the park. I love on site hotels!

From there, we got our wristbands and we were off to the rides. The wristbands were cool barcode things. All we had to do was flash them at the entrance, they scanned and we were waved on. Awesome system, since only those that want to ride have to buy bands/tickets and it's much cheaper to just get simple admission tickets.

There wasn't much for Roo to do, even though they had a long list of things that were ok for the under 2 crowd. We didn't seem to stumble across any interesting ones. She did get to go on the 'horseys' (carousel) and that made her day.

Fyoire and I, on the other hand, rode every roller coaster in that park. Some twice. Sooooo freaking cool. I need more roller coaster friendly people to visit me so I can go back - any takers? - Did I mention, yet, that there were NO lines for anything?! Chrys took pictures and hung out with Roo and Owl (since Chrys and Owl don't really like roller coasters).

Chrys and Fyoire went on the giant slide. I'm told that was great fun. I can do coasters just fine. I'm packed into a box with no control and I like it. However, put me on a cart on a slide and I'm going to be a BIG wuss.

After many hours in the park, we stopped at the foot spa. It was a little cool for our tastes, but nice after a long walk. That night we had dinner that Chrys cooked on an open grill embedded in the table (I think it's called Shabu Shabu). It was fun and tasted great. Beef, veggies, great sauce. Mmm mmm...

Then we slept - hard. Got up the next morning for breakfast at the hotel - nice Japanese/Western combo buffet - and went on our way.

Shimabara (now with Fyoire)

2005-06-03T06:28:00.000-07:00

Ok...so I never actually talked about our first trip to Shimabara. I took Fyoire down there so I'll cover that.

We went to the Castle. It's a neat walking tour. The primary display is all relics of Christian persecution from the area. It's kind of neat to look at. I wish I could read more of the signage to understand all of it. They also have a really neat display of Samurai armor that's great fun to walk through. Another floor has pictures of various Japanese castles around the ceiling.

There are 4 or 5 buildings on the grounds. The main castle is 5 floors, I think. The top is an observation deck that's kind of neat to look from. There's another that has antique household and farming goods. One with statues, including prototypes of the Peace Statue that's in the Nagasaki Peace Park. One has more current things in it, but we didn't fo there this time. There's also a small temple and another little 2 room tatami house that's behind the castle.

After we finished there, we went to the arcade. It's nothing too special. We stopped at the foot bath, though. Bliss! We happily soaked our feet in water that was so hot our skin turned bright red in an instant. Roo kept trying to put her feet in, too, only to pull them back with a wince as soon as the tender bottoms hit the surface of the water. It was delightful. Our feet felt fresh and happy for the rest of the day despite the walking we did. I want to do that over and over again.

We also drank from the springs in the arcade where the water is cool. It was delicious and crisp with a slight aftertaste (maybe the sulfur). Roo wanted LOTS of that.

Then it was time to come home, where we learned that it takes twice as long to get back as to get there - oops! Too bad Roo didn't sleep that round.

Tagalong

2005-05-31T03:14:00.000-07:00

On our return trip, we got to bring someone back. Fyoire tagged along with us. We snuck her into the business class lounge in Tokyo. She convinced me to try the cinnamon raisin cookies - num! Sadly, they didn't have onigiri like the SFO lounge so I didn't get to tag bunches of those to feed to Roo on the plane as I had before.

We bought duty free booze for the first time so Chrys could have good rum instead of the SUPER strong Japanese stuff. This way, maybe I'll actually drink some of it, too. Duty free Godiva, too - num, again.

On the plane, she snuck up to see us. We snuck food to her, she wasn't impressed with the leftovers. I gloated over the lobster I had just eaten. Then I felt bad. I almost stole Chrys' to feed to her, but they took it. During snack time, I snagged a few extra baby packs of peanut M&Ms (like 3 per pack) and some Fran to give to her later. Movies sucked, same stuff as headed out there - Alexander (blech), Phantom of the Opera (pretty decent), Bonnie and Clyde (from like 1960, what??!), Shall We Dance? (not bad), Cell Phone 2 (maybe?, it was Japanese and subtitled and stupid horror just like the American stuff) and some other stuff I'd seen or didn't care about.

We Kuro Neko'ed luggage for the first time from Haneda. That way, we were sure Kuro Neko was open and we didn't risk having to cram it into our little car, which can barely hold the luggage for the 3 (4) of us, much less an extra. (Side note, it only took two days to show up - not bad!)

We met one of Chrys' co-workers in Haneda, on his weekly trip from his family there to work in Isahaya.

Already ready to come back

2005-05-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

Chrys and I were talking about the trip to the US. While we're excited about getting to go home and see family, we're really looking forward to coming back to Japan. Neither of us could really think of anything we NEEDed to eat or do in the US. We decided we weren't really looking forward to anything other than seeing family. I guess we've finally found our niche. We're comfortable with things. I am keeping busy during the day, which keeps me happier, and me being happier seems to help him out some.

Of course, there's also the fact that Fyoire, Chrys' sister, will be coming back with us. I think we're both really looking forward to that. We've discussed all of the things to do with her, and not to do with her, and what can be done when and under what time constraints. I think we'll keep her busy enough, but only time will tell. Hopefully she has some idea of things she wants to see, but being 18, she may not.

Bottom line is that this trip, and longest time in Japan without a trip home that follows it, seem to come at a good time. We are no longer dreading the return, but embracing it and the peace of not having to travel and wreck our schedules. We're in a good place for the time being.

Golden Week (Part 2)

2005-05-07T06:29:00.000-07:00

We spent the second 3 day stretch of Golden Week mostly relaxing. Lots of trips to the park, wandering used book stores, trolling arcades. We did take the advice of our tutor, though, and wander up to Arita/Hasami on the last day (5/5). She said they had great deals on Japanese ceramics, especially in the afternoon. Given that I want a nice set of rice bowls to use at home, it seemed like a good thing to take advantage of. Japanese ceramics are truly a wonder...light, durable. I wanted some to take home and what better than rice bowls to commemorate our visit.

We started with Arita, the farthest away. We used our new tollroad friend to get us up to Saga prefecture and then took the fork toward Arita. We stopped at their ceramic park and saw lots of nice stuff in the shops. It was all regular price and very pricey so we got back in the car and kept driving. In central Arita, we found what I'd been looking for. There were tents lining the streets and they were full of porcelains. After stumbling onto some parking, we started walking. There was a ton of really beautiful Japanese pottery - meaning that it was heavily decorated in mostly reds and blues and not my style. I did see one piece, a decorative plate, that I should have bought despite the overwhelming price tag - $250, supposedly half off of the normal $500. (It was probably 16"-24" in diameter. It was mostly blues with some silver metallics. It was a sakura tree in full bloom. Gorgeous! I'm having severe frugality induced remorse over leaving it behind. Oh well...) I left empty handed.

We went back to the fork and turned toward Hasami. At their ceramics park, we found more tents. They were full of more ceramics at even better prices. We walked (and walked and walked...it was huge) around and saw lots of cute designs that I knew wouldn't last in our kitchen. They were too cute to keep using for years. They were sold out of an intricate sakura design on a white bowl that I would have loved, but I kept on. As the vendors began to close, I settled on a nice set of plain white bowls. They actually had 10 of them once I dug into a couple of bins. The best part...they cost 100¥ each. Yup, that's about $10 for a set of simple, handcrafted, but elegant, ceramic bowls that will last me for a very long time and look wonderful with my existing china.

I even know just the set of chopstick holders to go with them. Guess I have a reason to go back to Arita (to look for that wonderful plate) after all.

Golden Week (Part 1)

2005-05-02T05:39:00.000-07:00

First of all, pictures are linked in the title (for this post and the previous one).

On Friday, we drove up to Fukuoka. Yup, the place with all of the earthquakes. We decided to brave it, but that was the first question we got when we mentioned that we were going there.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this trip is that it marked our first use of the toll roads here. They are quite expensive. I think it was around $40 to get to Fukuoka (about a 2 hour car ride). The speed limit on most stretches was 80km/h, but most people go 90-100km/h. They are empty, though. Given that it was a holiday weekend, we were prepared for the worst. Thankfully, though, there was little traffic and smooth sailing the whole way. We are in love!

We stayed at the JAL Seahawk Resort on the beach. It was an amazing hotel - very nice. It was also really close to the Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) which was our primary reason for going.

We got there on Friday night. We wandered around Hawkstown, braving the post-game crowds. We looked through the Toys R Us, and it looked a lot like home. They even had imported Nacho Cheese Doritos - YUM! That night, we had dinner at the HRC and got our HRC Fukuoka shirts. Ryanne even got her first HRC shirt, aptly labeled such. The food was typical poor quality American HRC fare, and we loved every bite of it.

On Saturday, we went to the Fukuoka Tower and looked around the area. On our way up, they had a special card written in English explaining that we'd have to come down via the stairs if there was an earthquake. We had lunch at a great brick oven pizza place. We spent the afternoon on the beach, even though it was a little cool. Roo loved being in the water and was having a great time playing chicken with the waves.

Sunday, we went to Marine World and Roo got to see lots of fish and watch the dolphin shows. It was a good time. There was an amazing amount of damage in that area, though. Whole segments of side walk had been lifted 3+ feet in the air. They had much of the grounds and walkways blocked off. There was obvious damage on the foot bridge from the boat that took us across the bay. The sidewalks had mats over every joint to try to prevent tripping. We knew the quake was severe, but it was something else to see the damage firsthand. After many hours with the fish, Roo pooped out and we made our way home.

Farewells

2005-04-26T06:13:00.000-07:00

We had to say some goodbyes this weekend. The other company family that was living in Isahaya returned to the US (via Australia) on Sunday.

We spent a glorious afternoon at the park saying good bye. We had lunch in the azalea park and the blooms were wonderful. It was a short hike (about 300m) up the hill to the park. The blooms were delightful and covered the hillside. We had to wait for a space big enough for all of us to clear to have lunch.

The kids ran around and played. RC and I shared some onigiri (delicious). After some nice chatting and wonderful picnic food, we came back down.

Chrys and Owl ended up playing with the boomerang in the field. They were doing pretty well with it. They pitched it into the bushes a few times but always got it back. Roo had the best time running...and running...and running. She talked with a couple of other babies.

We came home to find a box of goodies on our doorstep. We had been warned of the delivery by the "Sayonara Fairy." Lots of useful things (the bags were the right ones, D) and some stuff we'd never tried before. There were also some bonus packs of mac 'n' cheese powder - yum! We had missed that.

We will certainly miss having the I's around. They were great help getting us going here and for that, we owe them so much. There was a little bit of envy that they get to go home and we weren't yet 50% of the way through, but our time will come. We've much more to explore just fewer people to explore with.

Azalea Festival

2005-04-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we went to the Isahaya Azalea festival. It runs for most of the month of April down at the Isahaya Bridge Park. It wasn't a big thing. Many of the vendors were the same as the Fire Festival (more on that later). The guy hocking Anpanman waffles even recognized us, I think.

There was a little flea market/garage sale on one side of the street. Mostly junk by the time we got there (11am or so). All of it was cheap, but so cluttered that I didn't have the patience to go digging.

In the back, there were vendors of pottery, tools and plants. My attempts to get Chrys to buy a Japanese maple for the back porch (1000?, how could we go wrong?) were unsuccessful. (He claims to not want to get attached to a plant he may not be able to get back to the US). I avoided buying another bonsai (this time a sakura, as opposed to my beautiful plum that I thought was a sakura).

On the other, there were the flowers and water and it was just breathtaking. Azalea bushes blooming in shades of pink and purple and had taken over one side of the park. They were quite a sight to behold.

We had a nice walk, enjoyed some beautiful weather, ate crepes stuffed with fruit (strawberries for me, bananas for Chrys) and chocolate for lunch. I couldn't have asked for a nicer outing with my family.

Tutor

2005-04-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

I had my first tutoring lesson last week. It was fun. It went by quickly. She speaks Japanese very quickly so I did lots of "Please repeat that". I got two new key words out of it, though. "O namai" (sp? I'm too lazy to get my dictionary right now.) which is name and "ikutsu" which is another way of asking age. Both have already helped me answer questions in the park - yay!

She also had me read a lot of kana. I stink at this, still. I'm getting better (I decoded Prius the other day on the Toyota sign), but it's a long road. I was reading fruit and vegetable names since I told her I needed things to help at the grocery store. I don't really remember any of what I read, which stinks. It's all in repetition for me. I don't have the book so I can't keep going back to it. I'll get there eventually, though. I did learn that "kobansha" just means squash/pumpkin so I have to stop calling the acorn squash (hehe...learned what it was, too, I guess) just "kobansha", not that I remember the word for acorn. D'oh!

She also walked me through how to tell people where I live, where I'm from, when I got here and when I'll leave. I don't remember much of those, but I wrote it down. I'll probably have to get her to go through them again.

Someday, I do realize that I'll want to have a conversation without just listening for key words. I'm SO far from that right now, though, that it seems like a ridiculous idea. Right now, I'll settle for a couple of new key words and the 'right' response to them. It can get me in trouble. If I know the response correctly, they assume I know more than I do. Oh well...there's always "wakarimasen" to bail me out.

Those are sakura...

2005-04-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

Yeah...turns out the gorgeous, purple, sweet smelling blossoms at Shimabara Castle weren't sakura. Nearest guess is that they were plum blossoms. Amazingly enough, they are still noteworthy. Nevertheless, on to the main attraction.

We have watched closely over the past few weeks. We've been waiting, like everyone else, for that perfect time. Waiting for the sakura to bloom, to reach their peak. They've baited us, bare trees in the park for so long. Spindly branches with little appeal. One didn't even really notice they were there. Then, there were the first tiny buds and now...

The trees are literally everywhere. They just pop and take over whatever you are looking at. The blooms are wonderful, delicate beauties. The color is white, but pink, but burgundy depending on the angle. The scent is not overwhelming, but if you find a grove in which to spread your tarp and sit, you will be wrapped up in the warm, subtle scent of cherry. If you stick your nose in a cluster of flowers, you will swear there is nothing better.

It's a shame they are so short lived, but maybe that makes one appreciate them that much more. If you want to enjoy them, you have to take the time when they are ready. They don't fit in your schedule. They come when they want (this year's were apparently late) and leave before you can ever have a chance to tire of them.

Tonight, partly following Japanese tradition, we took our tarp to the park and spread it out under the trees. There, we had a simple picnic dinner purchased from the store down the street. We just enjoyed the smells and view and small petals already beginning to flutter to the ground between our bites. We skipped the traditional Japanese sake or beer in favor of Mountain Dew. It was glorious.

We've decided that we'll continue to picnic in the park when the weather will allow. I think I'll always remember the first picnic under the sakura canopy. I don't think any of the others will be so beautiful, but I'm sure we'll still enjoy them.

Mount Unzen Disaster

2005-04-09T04:10:00.000-07:00

Turns out we're only about 50km from a volcano. It's pretty. We called it Mount Snowy Top all winter (when the clouds let us see it).

Back in the early 90s, it erupted. Naturally, it caused quite the stir. The pyroclastic flow was surprisingly slow so they were able to get most of the people in its path evacuated. They lost homes and buildings, but those can be rebuilt.

Well, apparently pyroclastic flow shouldn't be slow. Volcanologists from around the globe came to check it out. They went up the mountain to look. Chrys has been told it was about 95% of them, the best in the world. They studied it and were surprised. They couldn't figure it out. Apparently Mother Nature took the hint while they were up there looking around and sped things up. Next thing you know, 95% of the world's volcanologists aren't around anymore and they're calling up the last 5% to come study what happened. Hmmmm...

In Japan, this warrants the label "disaster" and the dedication of a museum. The museum is in the path of the flow from the last eruption. If I understand correctly, it's built on 'reclaimed land' that resulted from the lava flow into the ocean. You can look up the mountain from the museum and see the walls they erected to direct the flow to that very spot. Hmmmm, again...

They've got interesting information about volcanoes, in general. They've got a HUGE pop-up book on volcanoes. They've got a strip of devastated land down the center with lights that depict the flow rate of the lava - this 'erupts' every 10 minutes or so. They've got another area with various lava destroyed debris. I believe the center strip and the area with debris are actual pieces of land that were isolated and "preserved." (They seem to be big on showing what the actual land looked like before they restored it - Unzen, bomb museum. Interesting.) They have a movie showing the eruption with moving floors, but Roo couldn't go in because she didn't meet the height requirement. They have an outside area with pieces of a redirected stream/river and some of the lava rocks for viewing - very pretty.

Return of the Lantern Festival

2005-04-09T04:01:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness we went back. Turns out, it got WAY better than what we saw (and much more crowded).

Lanterns had taken over Hamanomachi. There were small lanterns at the extreme ends that were handmade (likely by local school children). There were gorgeous ornate hanging lanterns throughout the rest of the street. Then, there were the fabric lantern sculptures - fish, people, animals, trees. They were huge and just amazing to behold. It was a festival of light. I had no idea such things were made.

There was even a little parade that went through. They had an emperor and empress (I'm guessing here...) and a bunch of children with cymbals and gongs and lanterns. Roo loved waving at everyone as they walked back and many of them were, of course, thrilled to wave back.

We walked through the arcade, up to one of the temples, though Nagasaki's Chinatown (where we got our own paper lantern to take home) and back down another street past Meganebashi (spectacles bridge).

Election time

2005-04-09T03:56:00.000-07:00

Isahaya is coming up on, at least, a mayoral election. When we came back from Boston, there were large wooden grids up in various places about town. They had two segments: one with 6 entries, one with 60 (I think). They have 4月10日 written on them.

On Sunday (4/3, for anyone keeping track), there were people out plastering posters on the grids. They ended up with 3 posters on the 6 grid side and not filling 4 slots on the other side. Interesting to note...there are 4 women running for whatever the 50 something people are running for.

Then we noticed the vans. Everywhere we go, even the "privacy" of our own apartment, we are bombarded by people yelling at us. They are campaigning. Chrys reasons that with a dense population, driving around in a minivan with a loudspeaker on top is pretty darn cost efficient. I've gotten stuck driving behind a couple, and it makes me want to rip my ears off. They are loud. They are obnoxious. They start between 7 and 8 am and drive around into the wee hours of the night. Today, they have all been even louder than before (their amps must go to 11).

All in all, though, I will confess that one week of loud vans and posters organized on grids is MUCH better than 9 months of annoying television ads and posters everywhere.

Shaky shaky

2005-04-01T05:02:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to feel like this is all I write about, but they shake me up a bit so it's best just to get it out there. Smallish one up by Fukuoka, just felt a little swaying here. So why am I all shaken up? Stupid seismic area and small island...

The problem with an international company

2005-03-28T04:45:00.000-08:00

When we first got here, Chrys was telling me that Wal-Mart was trying to get into the Japanese market. He had learned that apparently they had to buy an existing company to move in. The government had blocked them from moving themselves in as Wal-Mart and putting up mega stores.

After a couple of trips to the local Seiyu, I started wondering if what he had heard/read was older. I recognized the Great Value brand on a few things there and they had lots of signs with smileys and "Rollback". We reasoned that it wasn't just Wal-Mart that did that, but I was very suspicious. Chrys asked around at work, I guess, and found out that Wal-Mart did, indeed, own Seiyu.

The rest of the background - Easter isn't a huge holiday in Japan. It translates simply as resurrection day and is a major religious holiday, but no celebration takes over the stores. There are no egg hunts, no bunny candies, no special displays at any of my regular haunts.

Today I dropped by Seiyu. Apparently Wal-Mart hasn't fully researched the Japanese culture. They had Easter stuff. Granted, it wasn't the overwhelming aisles that greeted me in the US, but they had more than anyone else. Bunny dolls, cheap Easter themed toys, baskets, stuffed animals (ducks, lambs, etc) - some said Happy Easter; some said Welcome Spring. The Welcome Spring are appropriate here as Spring Day (3/21) was a national holiday. All of this stuff is now 50% off. They have TONS of it. It left me hoping that I would find Cadbury eggs when I went down to the grocery store, but I was disappointed. Alas, we will get no Easter candy this year. Oh well...better for our waists, I'm sure.

So much for stability

2005-03-21T23:11:00.000-08:00

Another quake. Still in Fukuoka (about 100km from here). Barely felt this one and the trembling only lasted for a few seconds (instead of the almost 30 the last one did). I figured it was just a more intense aftershock since we've felt a couple of those, but the weather agency says it was a quake.

Aftershocks, quakes, watching the walls shake. Yeah...I'm ready to be done with this now.

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

2005-03-19T17:57:00.000-08:00

So, we came back at a great time, apparently. There we were, standing around in the apartment. Owl was getting ready to go get lunch. Chrys was playing with Roo. I was standing in the hallway trying to get Owl to get going.

All of a sudden, the whole apartment starts shaking. Chrys and Owl say "Could you stop doing that?" to each other as I say to both of them, "Stop whatever that is." Then, Chrys looks at me and says "earthquake," but I think I was already on my way to a doorway. It passed quickly, but shook us up quite a bit.

Chrys keeps talking about how cool it was. I'm still shaking like a leaf. Owl is en route to lunch. The cats are all hiding and a bit freaked. We lost a bowl, but we're all fine.

So...those of you that always write me and ask, "Were you affected by...", the answer to this one is "yes".

Packaging

2005-03-06T06:17:00.000-08:00

Packaging here is something of an enigma to me. It seems to come in two forms - that which is extremely easy to open and that which requires something just short of an act of a higher power to open.

The easy open stuff is usually a plastic baggie object that has a self-seal flap that can be opened and sealed multiple times. Sometimes, it's a paper wrapper (usually around a bread object of some sort) that is very easy to tear.

*Side note: the bread objects in paper wrappers seem to always come packaged with their own dessicant. They usually have expiration dates that aren't too far off, but they still need dessicant. I will give them that they stay soft, but it's still a little weird. Imagine buying a pack of Little Debbie and dessicant falling out...weird.* The plastic baggies are around paper goods, pens, most any little item you buy that comes wrapped in paper board with a blister pack in the US. Things I'm used to having a hard time getting open are easy here.

The 'going to have to blow it up to open it' packaging is mostly foil something. It's shiny...that's really as far as I get. Sometimes it's plastic. However, unlike foil bags in the US, you cannot just get a good grip and pull the bag open. No, for those, I was VERY happy that B gave us a pair of scissors when we first moved it. Eating would have been very difficult without them. Foods packaged like this - cereal, chips - pretty much anything that you're either too tired or too hungry to want to futz with. Yeah, I'm a bit confused.

Whatever happened with the snow

2005-03-06T05:35:00.000-08:00

After waking up to a dusting today and quite a few flurries, only to have it disappear by noon, I realized that I never talked about what happened after the snowfall.

It snowed for about 48 hours. It stuck for a morning and we got, maybe, a centimeter of accumulation and it was gone just after lunch.

There wasn't enough to play in, really. I did manage to make a rather feeble snowball with which to assault my daughter. She thought that was pretty funny, albeit cold. Beyond that, though, there wasn't even enough to make a meager snowman.

They got more in the hills, but we're not in the hills.

We've gotten 2 more snowfalls since then (counting this morning), but it's just made it cold and nasty like the rain. It's not "fun" snow like I remember from school in upstate New York. No snowmen, no snow angels, no snowball fights. Roo needs a serious snow.

So, hey New England...we're coming! Save some of that stuff for us!

Headed "home"

2005-03-06T05:18:00.000-08:00

We're having a really hard time defining "home" these days. It's not Isahaya and our apartment here. Sadly, it's not really our house in Texas as we haven't spent a considerable amount of time there in the last year. It's not my hometown as there's no future for us there right now. I guess, "home" is just America.

This week, we're going "home". We're going to Boston for a wedding, but when we tell people we're leaving we say we're going home. I think that pretty accurately describes our situation for now.

Anyway, we started planning for our trip. At this point, any planning includes what we are going to eat and do. We have a lot of cravings that have to be satiated in a very short period of time.

These days, there are 3 must-haves - Mountain Dew Code Red, Taco Bell Chili Cheese Burrito (they don't sell these in Phoenix...we were SO jipped at Christmas) and Cinnabon Mochalatta Chill.

Getting that list led me to think about what else I'm looking forward to going home to. There are quite a few things that I've managed to do without, but it will be nice to have access to again

Decaf anything - All of the flavor, none of the tummy ache
98% lean ground beef - All of the flavor, none of the grease to drain from the pan *yuck*
Pam - All of the non-stick goodness without the fat of butter
My oven - not that my microwave isn't great, but I'm not exactly sure how to bake a lasagne or cheesecake in there just yet
Tortillas - I tried making my own and it wasn't so great (couldn't find shortening too easily). When I have some time again, we'll see if take 2 gets it off my list.
Pizza - the kind without corn or mayonnaise on it
Mexican food - enough said
Friends and loved ones - I'm making a few new ones in Japan, but it doesn't make me miss the ones at home any less.

I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind pretty easily. Don't get me wrong, there are things I will miss about being here. When it comes time to say sayonara, I'll make sure I note what they are. For now, though, there's no place like "home".

Arcades

2005-03-02T05:39:00.000-08:00

Not the kind where you blow your mind (and all of your quarters), though. I'll cover stuff like that someday, I'm sure.

I have worked on various posts about the different arcades that we visit, but I never end up finishing. I'm just going to jump in a with a general post about arcades and try to get some specifics about the various ones we've been to before I run out of time.

Arcades seem to be Japan's 'mall' environment. They come in all different sizes, ages, decor and upkeep. It's amazing how much deviation there can be in an open air market environment, but I suppose few malls look alike. Most of the lengths are covered from facade to facade so that patrons can walk regardless of the weather. The cross streets usually aren't covered so you are exposed when you get there. They are closed to vehicle traffic usually from 10am to 7:30pm (bigger ones run later). There are also shops on many of the cross streets that one can wander to. I have found everything from department stores to small produce stands to yarn stores in the arcades. Most of the places are small shops that specialize in one thing - fish, honorariums (we were marvelling at the beautiful little cabinets and vases when I saw one with a lid and realized they were urns and memorial displays), produce, yarn, gifts (these are even sometimes sub-specialties, with china, kitchen gifts, clothes, etc in different shops). Some are void of people, some are packed regardless of the day. Pretty much every town has one, but some are easy to find and others are buried away from the main roads.

Omura's is one that's not easily visible from the main street. We stumbled across it after a forced left trying to explore the rest of the town. Theirs is probably the most run down that we've visited. They have many vacant stores and what is there isn't all that interesting. They do have a really nice yarn store that I'd love to blow a few thousand yen at.

I've talked about Isahaya's and Sasebo's at length so I'll spare you more details.

Nagasaki's arcade is enormous. It's called Hama-no-machi. There are side streets, large and small, multiple T's where the arcade goes off in all directions, it crosses main streets - it's madness. I still don't think we've explored most of it, but I've seen many of the same things multiple times and come at them from different directions. Turns out it's right next to the Holiday Inn we stayed at when we first got here. I've been told that there are yarn stores and fabric stores on the sides streets, but I haven't stumbled across them, yet. It will require much more exploration, I'm sure, before we get bored with it. It is nicely decorated and well kept. We've been there with no crowd and with so many people you can't walk.

Shimabara's was another small one without much in it. Like Omura, it's pretty sparse and many stores were shuttered. They did have a large department store and a HUGE Daiso (100 yen store), though. I don't think we visited much else there.

Medical differences

2005-02-24T05:40:00.000-08:00

There is an interesting perspective on vaccination tactics here in Japan. It's one I'd like to see adopted by the US some day. It has to do with the flu vaccine.

In the US, we vaccinate the "at risk" groups. This means that most of the shots are reserved for the elderly and infants. Those whose health would be most at risk should they contract the flu. These are also the groups that I believe are more likely to suffer adverse effects from the shots. With an immune system so delicately balanced, playing with it even for its benefit, is risky business.

In Japan, they looked at what group was most at risk for contracting the disease. This would be the kids in school. Those that contact dozens of other people every day and do it in the least sanitary manners that one can fathom. Japan vaccinates school age children. I don't know how old they go, but they start at the youngest in school.

Big difference, right? The US avoids those most likely to get the disease and tries to protect those it would hurt the worst. Japan tries to actually prevent the disease from spreading at all.

What happens? Japan sees fewer cases of the flu. I haven't read anything about flu pandemics in the local papers. I haven't seen any news about how worried they are about outbreaks. From what I understand, few people in Japan actually get the flu because those most likely to carry it don't get sick.

Interesting how lots of research on both parts has gotten such drastically different answers. I must confess a slight fondness for a society that just doesn't want to deal with the disease vs. one that wants to protect the weak when it gets out of control. Of course, Japan has been doing chicken pox vaccines for two decades and the US only started that in the last decade (I think). Wonder how long it will be until we catch on to some of the other vaccination practices? Seems a trade of best practices from both sides might be a good idea - we can give them dentistry and they can give us vaccinations...seems fair to me.

Protecting the future

2005-02-23T22:09:00.000-08:00

I've read several articles about the declining birth rate in Japan. Basically, women are waiting until later and later in life to get married and have kids. The problem is that within a relatively short period of time, the number of elderly will outweigh the number of workers. At this point, the burden of a socialist health care system is so extreme can it can trigger economic collapse.

Thus, the Japanese are trying to figure out ways to encourage more women to marry earlier and have children. While, this is certainly necessary, I'm a bit puzzled. Shouldn't there also be a great deal of focus on protecting the ones that already exist.

What on earth am I talking about?, you wonder as I step on my soapbox.

I am generally appalled at the number of kids I see in situations that just make me cringe. While I am never one to tell someone how to parent, that doesn't stop me from physically wincing when I see someone doing something I consider really stupid. It's especially bad when there's an easy remedy that is readily available.

"What on earth am I talking about?," you wonder as you try to coax me off my soapbox.

Car seats. This isn't rocket science. Car seats protect kids. The leading cause of injury in kids is car accidents. Car seats keep them safer. Why is it then that I see FAR more kids sitting in a lap, playing in the floor, even driving?!?!?! in mom's lap here than I have in the US? The US certainly isn't burdened with a birth rate problem, but we are really pushing the protection of our kids via car seats.

The other thing we realized is that seats alone don't make it safe. They have to be in the right place. It kills me to see parents riding around with infant carriers rear facing in the front seat. Especially since, like the US, most of these cars do have passenger air bags.

Granted, I rode in my grandmother's lap in the back seat with her "hand belt" a lot as a kid. It wasn't a big deal. I also distinctly remember flying to the front of the car and bashing my head on the gear shift when my dad slammed on the brakes one day. I remember the huge goose egg on my head. These days I realize how lucky I am that's all I had and why my dad was pretty shaken up by it. It wasn't safe for me to ride like that. My dad knew it. It was what was done when laws weren't enforced.

This is what really gets me, though. That's where Japan is today. They have laws. No one pays attention to them. No one enforces them. For a technologically advanced society, that seems really backwards.

EZ Bake Oven and Valentine's Day

2005-02-13T04:52:00.000-08:00

Ask anyone and they'll tell you that Valentine's Day is for baking, chocolate and booze. What's that? You thought it had to do with love, chocolate and flowers? Well, at least you got the chocolate right.

In Japan, Valentine's Day is for the men. It's a day for women to dote on their men. Yeah...all for the men. That explains the abundance of boxers and beer without a slinky nighty to be found. Wait a sec...that last one doesn't make sense at all! :) Anyway, I guess it also explains the proliferation of items used for baking available in the store. After all, a woman's place is in the kitchen, right? (Not to worry women-friends, March 14 is just around the corner - more on that when it nears.)

Anyway...I wanted to do my part and fully embrace the Japanese culture and traditions. This meant I needed to figure out my oven. Not wanting to ruin the item I got for Chrys, I decided I needed a test vehicle to make sure I knew how this thing worked. Luckily, Blue stepped in with the answer.

How on earth did a cartoon tell me what to bake? Well, Roo and I were watching one of her videos the other day and Spatula and Bowl wanted to make banana cake. The mom in me screams, "Watch, someday she's going to look at me and want to bake what Blue did. I gotta figure out if this recipe is any good." Voila! I decided to bake "banana cake" so I don't forget to do it and get in trouble later.

I baked banana cake. In my microwave. I mean, in my oven. Wait...I'm confused. Oh well. Chrys took pictures.

I baked banana cake. It tastes and looks a lot like banana bread. It's good. I have two loaves because I figured I was lucky to find a bread pan - I sure wasn't going to try to hold out for a big one. We have a loaf that's going to work with Chrys as a gift.

Tomorrow, I'll play with what I've learned to bake a treat for Chrys, in true Japanese style. This one's out of a box because I actually found Betty Crocker-esque things at the store. If it goes as well as the 'cake' did, I may bake more often. It will certainly open up my recipe box a bit more and that would be nice.

ATM

2005-02-12T20:11:00.000-08:00

ATMs here are a different beast. The first one we tried, at the post office, dispensed only 10,000¥ ($100) notes. This struck me as a little odd. There are smaller monetary options so why would you get $100, especially if you're just withdrawing $100? I figured that was bound to cause problems the way it does in the US. It doesn't. I guess that comes from being a cash dominant society. If the US was strictly cash based, maybe $100s wouldn't carry the stigma they do now.

Secondarily, we can't get a second ATM card for our bank account. This means that Chrys gets one or I get one. The good news (?) is that they still have a passbook system on the accounts. (Remember passbooks? My first savings account when I was 7 had one, but nothing since.) The passbook can also be used in the ATM. It's a little weird. Somehow, though, the ATM knows the last line printed and keeps a nice, sequential listing of the transactions. It even updates the book if you're missing transactions that were done with the card or ACH.

Lastly, it took some learning to figure out how to not get just 1000¥ notes from the bank machines. You have to hit the number of 10,000¥ notes you want, then the symbol for the 10,000 multiplier (万). Then you can enter the number of 1000¥ notes you want. Then you hit 円 (another symbol for yen) and it then will spit out appropriate denominations.

Basically, some nice features and some weird ones for those of us not used to dealing with much cash. The only other thing I need to remember is not to use the machine on weekends - then I get charged an extra 105¥, which stinks. Oh well, it all seems to work.

Happy New Year!

2005-02-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year. As it turns out, that's also the first day of the Nagasaki Lantern Festival. Not knowing that it didn't really start until the day of the New Year (What?!?! A celebration that doesn't begin 3 months before the actual calendar date? Hmph...), we took our second trip out to Hama-no-machi arcade in Nagasaki hoping to see some lanterns.

We weren't disappointed. There were many lanterns hung and they were beautiful. More startling were the empty plugs so we will go back to look again. The lanterns ranged from simple red balls reading Nagasaki (something, maybe Lantern Festival) which hung all along the perimeter of the arcade to large ornate dragons that spanned the width of the arcade. It was daylight so they weren't lit. Maybe our next trip will have to be in the evening so we can enjoy the light. Roo oohed and aahed at them and I was just star struck.

There were lanterns all over the city as we drove to the arcade, too. I can't wait to see how many are up after the actual date. Apparently the festival lasts until the end of the month so we have plenty of time to go look around. Who knows, maybe there's a better place for viewing than the arcade. I can't imagine anything more densely populated with the lanterns, though, so maybe we'll just settle for that.

30 Going on 13

2005-02-04T05:49:00.000-08:00

No, I didn't make some crazy wish with a Japanese fortune teller to be a kid again. Heck, I'm not even 30...

Remember, though, when you were a kid and you would add o's and u's to the ends of words and pretend that you could speak Italian or Spanish (or any other foreign language)? Chrys and I are endlessly amused that it seems to actually work for us over here.

Say acetaminophen and get a blank stare. Acetaminofino, though, and they'll nod and take headache medicine.

"Take out" = funny look. "Take out-o" = food in a bag.

There are others, but I can't seem to remember them right now.

I'm not sure this rule is 100%, but at least I'm not alone...

I drove by a shop today. The sign said ゴフロ (gofuro). I'm betting "golf-o" would be close enough.

SNOW!!

2005-01-31T02:26:00.000-08:00

It's snowing in Isahaya tonight. Quite unexpectedly, it seems. We are told they get snow, but there was none in today's forecast. Nevertheless, there was some around lunch that I missed and more as I picked Chrys up from work. At this point it's varying between so white you can barely see outside to still snowing, but not obviously so.

Chrys was told that if there's snow on the road, no one drives. I guess they don't have snow removal equipment. I wouldn't know where they stored it if they did. Apparently, though, once the road is black, you go in regardless of how much is elsewhere. That leaves me a little concerned about black ice, but we'll see how it looks in the morning.

Right now, though, it's sticking to the cars, but not the ground or road just yet. It's pretty cool. I love snow, as long as I don't have to shovel my car out of it.

Did I mention we have covered parking?

Sakura

2005-01-29T05:44:00.000-08:00

Suddenly I understand a society's infatuation with cherry blossoms. We saw our first today at Shimabara Castle (more on that later, I promise).

Not only are they gorgeous, but the smell is intoxicating. There were only buds on a few trees, but the scent was overwhelming. There was one point on the path that I stopped and it just washed over me. It's rich, sweet...indescribable, and like nothing I've smelled before.

Chrys said it was almost as good as smelling cassia (and that's saying a LOT for him). Even Roo was in love with them and smelled and 'oooooed' repeatedly. Simply amazing.

Now, I cannot WAIT for spring when they will be everywhere. I think I must plan all of the places to visit during those weeks so I can enjoy the sweet high from these flowers. It's a shame they are open for such a short time. No wonder there are celebrations to mark their arrival.

I hope I can find them (and get them to grow) in Texas because I want about a dozen in my yard!

My first word

2005-01-27T02:42:00.000-08:00

My Japanese language skills leave MUCH to be desired. At this point, I am best able to tell people "Nihongo ga wakarimasen" (I don't understand Japanese). At that point they laugh, say something else and I shake my head. Some will still try to communicate with me. Others just politely bow and walk away. I find that the language CDs got me familiar with some words. I can fake my way through an order at a restaurant because I know to listen for tabemasu and nomimasu (eat and drink). I can count to 10, maybe even 99. I am far from conversational, though.

To that end, we're working on hiring a tutor. The first one is not available anymore so I need to find some time during the day to go downstairs and talk to the woman there that had offered to teach us. Hopefully she's still willing and able and I can finally understand what they're yelling when I walk into the market.

The written stuff is hard. There are 2 'alphabets' that are commonly used for phonetic spellings. In addition there are some thousand kanji. The problem I have with the phonetics is that even if I can sound out a word, it's in Japanese and I still have no idea what it means. Santa gave me a Japanese-English dictionary that has romaji in it that I put to use for those, when I remember. Before that, I had a few words in the back of my pocket helpful situation book and some random words in my kana crossword book (how I learned most of those 'letters' in the first place). I also had my translator and my cell phone, but those like me to enter the symbols and that can be very time consuming when you don't quite understand the order they're in on the keypad.

Nevertheless, I read and understood my first word on the fly the other day. Well, honestly it's probably my third word - I know the kanji for Nagasaki and Isahaya, but I'm not counting those. It was on an LED sign - ガソリン.

This is important for many reasons. 1) I actually bothered to look at a sign, even though I figured I wouldn't know what it said. 2) I took the time in my brain - which was painful, I assure you - to work it out as I sat at the stop light. 3) I figured it out in time to point it out to other people in the car - which meant it couldn't have taken THAT long for me to get it.

It made me feel good, as silly as the word is. It fueled me want to learn more and get better. It pumped me up to read signs and try to decipher them, knowing I have a book with the romaji once I get close enough. This illiterate has made progress and now wants more. It's amazing what the smallest sense of victory can do for your drive.

Oh, yeah...what does the kana mean, you ask? Gasorin. ;)

This is safer?

2005-01-24T20:59:00.000-08:00

Japan (at the very least our little part of it) has some brand spanking new laws about not talking on your cell while you drive. In general, I like this law. I liked it when I found about it in New York. I wish Texas would implement it because it seems whenever someone does something stupid while I'm driving in Austin, they're on a cell. Here, I'm not sure they're getting the desired result.

Granted, I don't see very many people talking as they drive. That much is goodness. However, there are times that I'm driving down the road and the person in front of me will suddenly slam on his/her brakes and pull over. I use "pull over" very loosely because when you're using a 1.5 lane road as 2 lanes, there's not a lot of room to really pull over. I end up swerving around and very frequently see the person putting a cell phone up to his/her ear. I'm at a bit of a loss as to which is really more dangerous - talking while you drive or stopping suddenly to take a call.

I guess I'll just stick with driving carefully, down the middle of the road whenever possible, and trying to get out of here before I hit someone. Maybe the AP will carry updated statistics on Japanese driving safety once they get that all settled out.

Reflection of the people?

2005-01-21T04:41:00.000-08:00

Maybe I'm just a crazy American - well, of course I'm a crazy American, but we'll just end that train of thought right there.

Anyway...I'm used to advertisements trying to depict who I'd like to be and how their product can get me there. I mean, diet pills = hot skinny girls, Swiffer = happy mom with gorgeous floors, listerine/toothpaste = white shining (with a pretty CGI sparkle) teeth. The correlation is that all of them have supposedly average looking fellow country...uhm, people, yeah. Granted I don't buy into the 'average looking' part, but that's part of it - I mean, I'll look physically better if my floors are clean, no?

Well, I'm perplexed. Here I am in another country, but probably 75% of the people staring back at me in ads (especially printed ones) are Caucasian. Now, maybe I'm just in a small town, but I'm pretty sure 75% of the population here isn't Caucasian.

Maybe the mentality is different. I mean, I've heard it was popular (post-WWII) to have plastic surgery to round the eyes. Maybe some of the people here would prefer to be sold products by a Caucasian (have I used that enough, can I just say white guy?) Maybe "we" are more pushy so they feel more compelled to buy the product. ;) Maybe I'm some sort of weird backwards racist that can't understand why a people would prefer to be sold products by someone other than their own race. I mean, I don't think less of a product offered by an African American so maybe I should just look at it that way. Nevertheless, it goes against my conditioning.

One thing that is interesting, though, is that the ads, regardless of the race, are usually focused on the face of the person holding the object near his/her mouth. Sometimes it's just a face. I find it very easy to forget what those ads are about, but the image of the face lingers on. I can still clearly picture the girl on the poster in McD's (Asian, maybe for the Red Cross) and the guy (white) selling me a little wooden car...wait, no, he wanted me to buy a real one, but probably couldn't get that up by his mouth. Interesting technique...even if it's not what I'm used to.

I can cook!

2005-01-16T03:21:00.000-08:00

I had a cookbook with that title when I was younger (7-12, I guess) and I used to get the biggest kick out of getting my dad to help me make stuff in it. I've never been big on cooking. It was always a huge hassle. I think I just picked stuff that was too complicated.

Turns out, I really enjoy cooking. I cook pretty much every night and it's fun. At this point, I have a pretty well stocked Japanese kitchen. I've played with deep frying (something other than chicken and catfish), a wok and my steamer. It's all pretty cool to use. I use lots of sake, mirin (sweet cooking sake), soy sauce, garlic and onion. I've even used green peppers (and, mom, you were right...I hit 27 and BOOM, they're good. I still say the ones here - which are MUCH smaller - are sweeter and taste better, though, so we'll see what I think of them once I get back to the US.)

We eat Japanese about 75% of the time, I would guess. It's easier to find those ingredients, obviously, and much better for us. We're losing weight, which we all like. I think we'll end up keeping many of the Japanese recipes in the 'rotation' once we get home just because they're tasty, easy to prepare and (did I mention?) healthier.

I'm still not to the point of being comfortable enough to cook without a recipe by my side, but I'm certainly getting more confidence in the kitchen. I'm starting to experiment a bit more. I'm even risking more complicated recipes and adding little notes to my cookbook on things they don't mention, but I've learned after doing the recipe a couple of times - reminders to myself for the next time.

At this point, I have only one problem. Anyone know how to make my hands NOT smell like onion and garlic all the time? :)

Brought to you by Coca-Cola

2005-01-12T05:02:00.000-08:00

Well, not really, but my blog is one of the few things in Japan that might not be bottled by Coke. Coca Cola definitely dominates the vending machine industry. I'd say 75% of the machines I see are Coca Cola. They also bottle everything - water, soda, tea (green and not).

But the big thing is how great Coke here tastes. I can only guess it's the whole sugar not corn syrup thing that I keep harping on. Whatever it is - whoah - it's going to really stink to leave this stuff behind. Oh, and out of the fountain...that's bliss, baby.

Chrys has apparently been researching so that we can make our own Coke once we get home. We all bought bottles while we were there for Christmas and came the unanimous conclusion that it just didn't taste right, or even good. Given that, I guess we're bottling our own, living with the stuff that not quite right (but now better than Coke) from Whole Foods, or permanently giving up Coke in favor of Mt. Dew.

Holiday Cards

2005-01-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

I finished our holiday cards the night before we got on a plane for the US. It was important to me to get them done and out since I've been pretty lax in the past few years (not that I haven't had plenty going on, but I've still felt bad). I learned a few things about holiday cards in this process.

1) Finding Christmas cards here is not easy. If you do, they're pretty big and ornate (and likely pop-up) and cost big bucks ($2-$5) for 1 card.

2) Finding New Year cards is much easier, but you still can only buy them in packs of 10-15. These run in the neighborhood of $5 per pack.

3) It's very easy to find blank cards and supplies to stamp, paint, print your own.

4) The stamping, painting supplies are relatively inexpensive for the number of cards you can make.

5) The stamping, painting process looks easy on the back of the package, but is actually pretty time consuming.

I ended up buying a package of 100 blank cards and using about 70 of them. I bought 2 stencils and 2 packs of painting stamper things. The stencils had the same design - 4 chicks. I picked that because there are 4 of us. They are chicks because it was either that or roosters - I'm guessing 2005 is the year of the rooster. Contrary to what some think, they don't say our names. The first two say "Happy" - it apparently takes 2 symbols to do that and that "Happy" only works in front of "New Year". The next two say "New" and "Year" respectively.

The painting things were little pads with paint stuff on them. They were about 1cm in diameter and some were more moist than others. This made for a challenge as some of them you had to beat on the page to get any paint on the card and some you barely had to touch to the paper and you'd get a flood of paint. They're now in the hands of my little sis and hopefully she'll have some fun with them.

The painting process wasn't hard. I made it harder. I decided to do multiple colors on the cards (like the silly sample on the stencil pack). It was pretty quick once you got into the rhythm, but insanely dull. Chrys helped me out so we had cards with 2 color themes. I liked it that way.

Note for next year, though - figure out how to order the neat picture cards that say Happy New Year. Barring that, buy supplies early and start cards early so you don't get overwhelmed. Barring that, just try to get them done before we leave the country, again.

I heart my toilet seat

2005-01-06T04:25:00.000-08:00

Somehow we left Isahaya during the fall and came back in the throes of winter. I'm not impressed. It has, however, brought on a new fondness for the heater function of my toilet seat. I've also garnered a special appreciation for the bidet functions once a month or so. I even figured out that I can control the temperature of the water...mostly because I'm sure it was just shy of boiling when first I used it this time.

Roo's not so impressed with it. In fact, I think she's scared of the water ever since she sprayed it up her back. This doesn't stop her from turning it on every time she sits up there. It also doesn't prevent her from lifting the door to the temperature knobs and playing with those - which I'm sure is WHY the water was so hot.

Nevertheless, this may be a temporary romance. Looking through the stores, these seats seem to cost anywhere from 30,000¥ to 70,000¥. Chrys fears he may be strapped with me wanting one once we get to the states. I'm not sure I can justify that much cash just to avoid that little squeal when I sit down on a cold john, though.

Something new

2005-01-06T04:20:00.000-08:00

Owl and I have decided that we need to try to do something new every day. Nothing major, just something different.

Yesterday we decided to drive to New Town/Nishii-Isahaya. It appeared to be mostly a bedroom community/residential area. I did see a free-standing Kuro Neko (the Japanese UPS), though. Some day, we'll have to see if they'll box and ship stuff for me or if I have to keep doing it myself at the post office.

Today, we just went to a new store. It wasn't very big, but it had some awesome produce. I got a HUGE bunch (a dozen, maybe) of bananas (Roo's new favorite food) for 198¥, which is about what I pay for 4-6 of them at San-ai. I also got a small package of strawberries for 298¥, about half what I paid the day before at the M-dot store. We liked the look of their spinach and their potatoes were larger than we'd seen before. I suppose I should wonder what's become of me that I get this excited about good produce, but I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

Black Friday, err, Saturday

2005-01-05T04:20:00.000-08:00

When we went shopping on the Friday after the American Thanksgiving, we didn't expect a crowd and we weren't disappointed. What we didn't expect to see when grabbing lunch at Jusco on our way back from the airport was a HUGE crowd. This was the Sunday after New Year's and the store was crazy with people and SALES!

Apparently New Year's Day is the big sale day in Japan. They had practically everything there on sale. The highlight were bags that contained many items for some even price. I looked at one that had 6 items of clothing (for a toddler) that could mix and match into various outfits for 5000¥. That struck me as a pretty good price, but I refrained from buying. (Even though I think I know what Roo's size is right now, she has tons of clothes and I have no idea when I should expect her to be in the next Japanese size so I can't pre-buy for the next year.) There was a bag of various Legos for 3000¥. They even had bags of clothing for adults that were less than 10000¥. Interesting concept.

Anyway, Chrys and I pondered on this disparity in economic trends. While Christmas isn't a big holiday in Japan - even though they give gifts, no one gets the day off - New Year's is huge - most things were closed through Monday, if not later. It's also an interesting concept to have your biggest shopping days be the first days of the year which puts you in a nice position to assess what is necessary for the rest of the year to achieve success. In America, many retail companies can't give a good prediction of their year to year trends until after Black Friday, at which point it's really too late to clean up if things aren't looking good. Conceptually, the Japanese way makes more sense to me and it certainly seems more in line with their way of thinking. Wonder if the American economy will ever succeed in making the New Year enough of a holiday to warrant that switch in shopper mentality. Probably not in my lifetime.

There and back again

2005-01-05T04:10:00.000-08:00

We survived the journey back to the US and to Japan once again. We had heard that the trip east was easier than west and, now, we have to agree. We barely suffered from jet lag and it only took us about 2 days to be completely adjusted to the time change in the states. Headed west, though, we're headed into day 5 of being home and we're still screwy.

Our New Year's Celebration was uneventful. Somewhere during our journey, one of the flight attendants turned off the screen she had been watching across the aisle from me and said "Happy New Year" after explaining that we had just crossed the International Date Line. No ball dropping, no big celebration. Just the anticipation of more sleep.

We brought a few more comforts from home with us this time. More toiletries since we'd used up some of our stash. Mom got me some spices. Chrys brought Code Red and Wolf chili - hopefully I can muster up some decent tasting tortillas and something close enough to cheddar cheese to satisfy his Chilito craving. (Trivia tidbit for those Taco Bell lovers - You can't get a Chili Cheese Burrito in the state of Arizona, or at least the city of Phoenix.) We also snagged a few medications we figured we might want - NyQuil, DayQuil, Robitussin. Hopefully we won't have to put them to use, but at least we've got them if we need them again.

Oh...and Owl got his visa. There was some initial panic on our part since we didn't understand what all of the dates meant, but he's cleared to live here for a year. He had to spend some time getting processed by immigration when we landed in Tokyo, but we were assured it wasn't a big deal and they didn't send him home so we won't worry.

Sasebo

2004-12-17T05:04:00.000-08:00

We've wandered up to Sasebo twice now. Neither time did we actually located 99 islands, which was the whole reason for our trip. Near as we can tell, we keep ending up too far south to find the islands. Not that there are many signs to help us. The only sign we've found is 17km from the islands and long before the hairy interchange with the Nagasaki Expressway (a toll road we are too cheap and too chicken to get on right now).

I want to go to 99 islands mainly because I've read that it's the richest pearl producing region in the country and dadgummit, I'm going home with a collection of Asiatic pearls if it kills me. Well, I'll likely stop short of death, but when Winklette tells me I need to bring home pearls, I'm going to listen. I have found pearls in various jewelry shops, but that whole 'too cheap' thing comes in to play. I'd love a strand of silver, burgundy or caramel pearls, but I'm not paying over 100,000¥ for it. Maybe that's the price I should be looking for, but I figure I have some time to really look around and make sure I'm not getting bent over. Sadly, I had hoped to send pearls to the women on my Christmas list this year, but it obviously didn't work out. Maybe next year, ladies.

We've found some interesting stuff, though. They have a Jusco, too. It's bigger and FAR more crowded and I'll stick with the one in Omura - thank you very much. Maybe it's because we were there in the middle of the day. Maybe it's because we were determined to finish our Christmas shopping in one fell swoop and not doing well. Maybe we just don't like crowds, despite our love of malling during the holidays. It was a mess...

They also have what I've read is the largest arcade (open air mall) in Japan. It stretches 7 blocks. It was great! There were the usual department stores, jewelry stands, 100¥ shops, farm stands, etc. There were also a toy shop packed full of great toys from TV shows and movies that are as old as we are and as new as my daughter. They had a garden area in a park in the middle with trees, plants and bonsai. There was even a Starbucks that yielded a white chocolate mocha that tasted just like they do at home. It was a great way to start the Christmas shopping season. Maybe we'll end up back there one day when we have less mission to get shopping and more time just to wander and enjoy.

Japan does the Wiggles

2004-12-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

Ok...I've never really watched the Wiggles. I have seen pictures, though, and know that they do concerts and stuff. I also know they have a TV show where they do songs and dance and whatnot. Well, last weekend, Chrys stumbled across the Domokun show.

We've seen Domokun images. Mostly they're used in tasteless clips about acts of stupidity in various forms. I figured he had his own show. I didn't realize it was basically a song and dance act for the kids.

He dances around and sings "Domo" which seems to be the slang for thank you. He has friends that sing and dance with him. It's just weird. It's how I picture a Wiggles concert being, having little clue what really goes on there.

Roo was entranced... *sigh*

Who delivers a package at 22:00?

2004-12-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

Seriously...I could think of absolutely NO reason for my doorbell to ring at 10pm. Imagine my surprise to see a delivery man with my package from Amazon.jp. According to their page it was delivered by Nittsu so I guess they deliver at 10pm (really, it was like 10 of, but still). Now, I understand that it might have been important, but it wasn't THAT important. I could have waited until the morning. Not only that, but our doorbell is LOUD and consequently Roo woke up in a screaming terror fit. Took over an hour to get her back to sleep. I need a sign, in Japanese, that says "Please knock, baby sleeping." Yeah...that's the ticket.

Oy vey (or "How I really feel about being here")

2004-12-15T21:01:00.001-08:00

So last night I was talking to a friend online and he (jokingly) asked who [Chrys] was. I told him that last I knew he was the man I married and the reason I was stuck in Japan. He latched on to the stuck and must have missed the part about me only feeling that way sometimes and how most days were good. Fast forward to Chrys' manager deciding to chat and make sure we were ok and I was sufficiently embarrassed.

Honestly, no matter where I am, I have those days where I feel stuck. Especially when every day is about the same. I don't like routine that much. I am definitely a person that likes to live by the moment, but have something routine to fall back on. That's not easy. It leaves me with the 'stuck' feeling sometimes when I am in or establishing the routine so I can take the time for the adventures and not have everything fall apart.

I try very hard to look at this as an adventure. That said, I don't expect an adventure every day. Most days, my expectations are beaten and something mundane turns out complicated and, thus, something of an adventure. When you're in a strange place, almost anything can be an adventure. Most anything is new and different. It's kind of nice. I don't expect that trend to continue as I figure more and more things out. Someday, it won't be hard to find ingredients in the grocery store or a place to park. Someday, I might even be able to figure out what floor something is on without having to wander the whole place.

Now, it does get old not being able to speak the language or read 99% of the signs. I'd love to know what the cashier at the store is saying to me. Simple stuff, really. Chrys is working on this. There is money for Japanese classes for the two of us in the budget. Unfortunately, we can't both take the same class because someone has to watch Roo. Plus, the classes have to be pretty nearby since we have only one car. We have a lead on a private tutor and we're just trying to get that approved.

Despite that, we have determined to make the best of the situation. We have talked and all agree that we probably won't come back to Japan once our stint is up. It's a nice place. Hopefully we can see what we want to see and not need/want to come back. We are pretty private people and don't make friends quickly, especially when we can't talk to them so that won't be an issue. Heck, we've already gotten so much more than most people. Many of our friends envy us. However, we want to go other places. All the more reason to take advantage of being here on someone else's nickel and enjoy, but we're not going to put down roots.

It's temporary. We're a little stuck, but it won't last and we certainly don't let it keep us down. No worries.