Tokyo 2011, Day 2

The next day we again had trouble leaving the room on time and got to the restaurateurs’ street less than an hour before we had to be at the theater. This street, which I forget the name of, is full of ceramic dinnerwear, pots and pans, and fake food made to look like real food which people buy to use or display at their restaurants. In Japan most restaurants have a visual menu outside the main door as well as the written menu inside. The visual menu is plastic food created to tempt the taste buds of passersby and look very realistic. My sister really wanted to buy a few pieces but when they’d gone during the week things had been closed. This time we found one store open in the first block and she got something and I picked up a keychain of a small crepe. (Trust me, you should not come to Japan without trying one of their crepes. Hm, my favorite is the strawberries and banana slices with cream and chocolate sauce topped with whipped cream and wrapped in a thin French-style crepe. Delicious)
Our next stop was the Japanese National Theater to see a traditional kabuki play. Unfortunately I have no pictures of that as cameras weren't allowed. The traditional theater of Japan, it is based on the acting, not the story. Coming from the Western idea that the acting complements the story, it was hard to see a play where the story complemented the acting, which was the real art. It was also impressive to see a “Living National Treasure” on stage as one of the actors. It was also hard to follow the story as the day only showed three parts of a ten part story, which is typical. Counting two twenty minute breaks, we were in the theater from a few minutes before it started at noon to 4:15 when the third part ended. It was a good experience and was interesting to see a number of Japanese patrons wore the basic kimono to the traditional theater. I felt a little under-dressed in my good jeans and nice shirt but other people were in less formal wear and no one commented on my outfit so I guess I wasn’t doing anything wrong. After a trip to a Christian bookstore where I finally found The Screwtape Letters and a good trip to Mcdonalds, in which we each tried the local sandwiches not offered in the States, we went back to the ryokan. They were going to stay another night and fly down to Okinawa that Monday but I had work the next day and gathered my things before saying ‘bye and taking the train back to my place. As usual, got started later than hoped as we took a while to finish our conversations and I got back to my place at ten but it was a good weekend and I had a lot of fun with my sisters.

Welcome, 2012

As 2011 comes to an end I look back on a good year. I saw a lot of things, did a lot of things and got more stories to tell my possible children or nieces and nephews (or just neighborhood children if those two possibilities never happen :) ). I’ve learned a lot of things and can now rather clearly see two paths my life can take. I can see myself still taking the path I saw myself on in high school or I can see myself on a rather different path I discovered this past year. I’m not sure yet which path I will pursue or which one I will eventually end up on. I may yet find another path to follow and who knows where God will lead me. All I know is that the world is a huge place and the possibilities are endless as long as we keep our minds open and see the world as it is, not as we think it should be. I know there are problems out there, threats that may harm my family, friends, and anyone reading this but I truly believe that, as the card my mom has somewhere with two bears comforting each other like friends says, this too shall pass. Another great sentiment (and probably a quote somewhere) is that after the rain comes a rainbow. May 2012 be full of more rainbows for you than thunderstorms and may you look back on it with more fond memories than sad ones.
May God bless us all in the new year. Welcome, 2012. Try to go easy on us. :)

Christmas in Minnesota

I made it to my home state last Monday, two hours before I left Japan that same day, thanks to time zone changes. It was good to be home, even if there was no snow. I had gotten little sleep on the way so I was a little out of it by the time I met my parents at the airport but it was late anyways. I had them stop at Walmart so I could pick up things I hadn't wanted to pack (like shower stuff I hadn't wanted to take through security and snacks) before heading back to our place. We headed out to IHOP for breakfast (hmm...) then went walking in the Mall of America. As usual, I went into Beadniks, a bead store there, and Barnes and Nobles and spent way too much at both but I rationalize that it will be a while until I'll be in a position to get the stuff in those techniques. (Let's ignore Amazon for now, okay?)

The next day we went to Khan's Mongolian Barbecue for supper (yummy)and Thursday we went to the neighborhood deli. That's about when I realized how short this trip was and how little I would manage to get done of what I'd planned. Anyways, Friday I stayed home and worked on my projects while the parents went out and I didn't leave again until church on Saturday. This morning there were two church services before gifts and a quiet afternoon. It's nice to be home and not have the deadlines and red tape I need to deal with, even if my body thinks it's time to suddenly be wide awake after midnight when I just want to sleep. Oh well, that's the joy of changing time zones.
It's been awesome to be home and see some of my favorite places and people for a holiday designed for family get togethers and memories. I hope you all have an amazing holiday season and the best of luck in the New Year. I hope 2012 is your best year yet and I'll see you next year. :)

Tokyo 2011, Day 1

Last weekend both of my sisters came up to see me. They’d spent much of the week in Tokyo seeing the sights and on Friday afternoon we met in Kamakura and I took them to my new place where we would all sleep for the night before going up to Tokyo for the next two days. After I gave them the (rather short since there’s not a lot there) tour of my apartment, we tried to go to CoCo’s, a curry franchise (the food is the bottom picture and it tastes better than it looks), for supper. A favorite of the locals and the Americans around here, the place was full and the night was cold so we went to a ramen shop down the street. Honestly, I’d never had the ramen there, I’m not much for most soups, but I’d heard rave reviews from those I work with and my sister’s wanted to get the “Japanese experience”. I don’t blame them since one of them was only going to be in Japan for less than a month and I loved the shrimp fried rice the ramen shop sold so we went to eat there. I finally tried some of the ramen there, as we sampled each other’s meals, and it was good but we all agreed that the shrimp fried rice I ordered was the best choice of the three. After that I led them to a bar not far from my place and got us a chuhi to share. They didn’t feel much like drinking alcohol so I only ordered one and drank most of it (they were rather tired and didn’t want the alcohol to make it worse) but I wanted them to try it. The chuhi is a drink I have only found in Japan and can be bought like a soda in a can at any convenience store but around my place, it’s the favorite drink. A mix of club soda, flavored syrup, and a shot or two of strong liquor, depending on how strong it’s ordered, the drink seems like soda and sneaks up on a person. It tastes like a soda and a lot of people drink two or three before it starts to react with them and for some people that is too many. It’s not unusual for people to try it, decide the chuhi tastes good but is weak, and chug another one or two before the effects quickly overtake the person who’s never tried it before. A lot of Americans get very drunk their first night trying chuhis but I only ordered a regular which we each tried/shared so we didn’t really feel it. After they’d tried the chuhi it was time to get back to my warm room to catch up and get some sleep. The next morning we were planning to see my work and be on the train to Tokyo by ten in the morning.
Um, yeah, we left my place late, had breakfast at Cinnabon, and I gave them a tour of my workplace. We got lunch at a convenience store before boarding the train about noon for the two hour train ride up to Shinagawa Station where they had stored their suitcases for the night. On the way we went through a “learn your strengths” list my sister had found in a book and I realized how long it’s been since I had a good debate on psychology, especially about analyzing ourselves and each other. Each one of us has studied psychology with different aims in mind and it made for a very good conversation. My oldest sister is a drama teacher who works with children and young adults as well as doing some acting on the side so she’s studied psychology from a viewpoint of how people learn and how to teach children while my middle sister is in graduate school to be a Christian counselor to actually help people deal with any issues they may have. I just study psychology because it helps me understand people. (If you know me, you probably know I’m a very blunt person and like to know why people do what they do.) Psychology also helps me develop characters for the stories I write but I never intend to use psychology beyond that, except to play devil’s advocate with my friends. Three different perspectives on one topic and the ride just flew by.
After we (okay, my middle sister) navigated us through the Tokyo train system to the place we were staying, we dropped our stuff and went back on the train for the origami museum. We got there less than an hour before it closed at six p.m. and explored some. I’d never realized the intricate folding that could be done to make paper dolls that looked like the real ceramic court dolls sold in Japan or boats full of soldiers or full landscapes of places or crabs. We sat in front of a master folder who folded things like dragon heads and a traditional new years decoration and a puppy and a few other things before we got to pick one to keep and look around the store. I picked the dragon head and also bought some beginner origami books to add to my list of techniques I intend to learn but have yet to get around to before we left. After dark already, we decided to go to Ahkiabara, the area known as electric town. There we could buy just about anything with a current in it and we saw things like usb ports that looked like pieces of sushi, a screen that worked like an etch-a-sketch, antennas and gps gadgets for cars, and a shop that sold robots and parts to make them. By the time we left the neon town behind we were pretty hungry and finally found a sushi place to eat. In an area that didn’t see too many Americans, the patrons at the restaurant and the workers were very helpful. We finally ordered two plates of sushi to share and they brought out some pickled radish pieces for us to try for free. All was very good and we were ready to go back to the ryokan we were staying at. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese hotel with shared restrooms and the traditional shower/tub facilities. In Japan the tradition is that you shower outside the tub and then relax in the tub that is usually a one person Jacuzzi. Quite nice with the carefully manicured ground you could see through a small window by the tub after a long week at work.

Okinawa 2011

Last weekend I flew out of Haneda Airport to visit my sister and her husband in Okinawa, a large island on the Ryukyu island chain below mainland Japan. I left my place early as I wasn’t sure how long my route would take but the train system got me to the airport an hour before the plane took off. Taking the flight in the afternoon was an amazing idea as I got some awesome photos of clouds and the islands below surrounded by coral.

My sister picked me up in the airport and drove me back to her place. Once her husband got off work we went to a small restaurant down the street from them to talk over lunch. I had an awesome taco pizza appetizer, great curry fried rice, and tried pineapple wine. After that we went back to their place and laughed at their two playful cats while talking and catching up.

The next morning we had a leisurely breakfast before heading out to a local native town. Called Murasaki Mura it was a historical village designed to educate visitors on Okinawan culture years ago. As none of us were quite in a crafty mood that day, we just wandered the grounds and looked at all the crafts we could do. Scared that my batteries were low on my camera, I didn’t take too many pictures there, but I did get a picture of my sister with a green goya, which is considered a native vegetable and she was excited to see it still on the vine. (The green and yellow vegetable to the right is a riper goya.) I also got a picture of a karate studio of a practicing dojo. (Interesting fact is that karate originated in the Ryukan kingdom which became Okinawa Prefecture.)

After making our way through the village we went to a place called Sea Seed where they get coral seeds and grow coral to plant in the sea when it’s big enough to survive. They use a number of aquariums to educate the public while growing the coral and I got a lot of pictures a well as being able to hold a live starfish. After that we walked out on a stone bridge to a stone platform before going to the nearby sea salt factory.

With my time in Okinawa coming to a close, we ate at Freshness Burger before going to a Halloween picnic at my sister’s church. There we met up with a Japanese friend of my sister’s who brought us some kimonos to try on and we got pictures

Okinawa is an awesome place and I'm hoping to return there soon. For those of you interested in visiting there, here is a travel guide. I you want to see more pictures from my trip, visit my Flickr page and enjoy. I hope you enjoy the pictures as I had a blast taking them!

Renting in Japan

Moving, moving, moving. It’s all I’ve been doing for over a month now. Renting a place in Japan while working for my company a rather long process. Once I reached a certain position and had been in a certain amount of time, I’m allowed to move out of the housing provided for me and into my own place. The usual process for a Japanese person getting a place is that they go to a few housing agents to look at places, since most agencies rent different places and very few listings are held by more than one agency. Once they found a place they like, they negotiate on price and appliances, such as if the tenant wants an oven or larger refrigerator or a washer, and sign a tentative contract to sign at a later day. They need to sign at a later date because the tenant has to pay what equates to five month’s rent in cash when they sign the lease. The tenant pays the first month’s rent, a security deposit, the agent’s fee, and renter’s insurance. Together with taxes, that comes to about five month’s rent in cash. Youch, that can take a few days to gather. My company adds some paperwork that took nearly a week to get back to me and a few meetings with American housing specialists. All in all my moving process took about a month and then another week to finally move all my things into my new place. These are pictures of my new place. The first one is my small hallway between the guest room and my bedroom, the next is the guestroom before I put all my craft things in it, and the third picture is of the loft above the guest bedroom. My kitchen/livingroom area is also a rather large room but already a mess from moving in when I took these pictures. Now I just have to slowly furnish and organize all my things. Umm, yeah… that could take a while. :)

The Wildlife Dome in Cairns, Australia

How many of you know what a bandicoot, frogmouth, or wallaby is? They’re all animals native to Australia and I got to see some when I went to the Cairns Wildlife Dome on top of a hotel and casino in Cairns, Australia last time I was there. The Dome is a mini-zoo with galahs and other birds flying around our heads and habitats for other animals that we could walk through. It’s a bad picture but as you can see I also got to hold a koala (which has bristly fur instead of the soft teddy bear fur most stuffed recreations have) and I got to see some kookaburras, a bettong, and a few sleeping wallabies (which look like small kangaroos when awake). Here is more on the animals at the Dome and here are more pictures I took in the Dome. I hope you enjoy the pictures and I highly recommend a stop at the Dome if you get to go near Cairns, Australia.