First Christmas in Tokyo!!!

 

I wasn't certain what to expect this year as far as Christmas went. Turns out the Japanese really enjoy certain aspects of the Christmas season. We saw lots of lights decorating the streets, Santas everywhere, but not a single Nativity. Atheists in America would be so pleased. A few homes also tried,some more sucessfully than others. One house had garland, a Santa and The Seven Dwarves! Some of the "christmas" traditions are funny, like eating KFC and "Christmas Cake"..a cake with strawberries on it....????  We strived for a little more traditional Christmas...

Christmas morning arrived, there was a stocking for each of us and a couple of gifts too!







                                              






Atsuko and I each got something to help us with the chilly weather!











                                  Gary got a tripod for the camera!





                                                   
                                                      
                                                 And I got a nice Lamb pillow!

                                                         



                                      Which Herschel immediately claimed as his trusty steed!

                                                  


Over the last month we have slowly accumulated the fixings for a decent Christmas dinner. Atsuko's house (unlike most Japanese homes), actually has a small oven so turkey was even on the menu! We found one at Costco, and in several different little shops we managed to find cranberry sauce,stuffing mix and even some canned yams. Dinner turned out rather nicely.

                                            
                                                      


Merry Christmas!!!

Our first Christmas in Tokyo turned out well! A bit lonely without our children but we had a nice day. I look forward to next year when, Lord willing, we will have our own home and a church in progress!

Climbing Mt. Takao...ufda!

The other day Gary and I inadvertantly climbed Mt. Takao. I say inadvertantly because we had somehow been led to believe that there is a beautiful view of Mt. Fuji from Mt. Takao and you can take a cable car up it and see it. Not only that, but there is a few days in December that if you go at sunset it looks like the sun sets directly into the caldera of Mt. Fuji.
                                What a great idea..that'll be really cool!
 Unfortunately, as we timed our arrival to coinside with sunset, we didn't realize that the cable car only takes people up about 1/4 of the way..the last 3/4's you have to hike!


Lazy cable car that doesn't go to the top!

 While on a regular day, arriving with plenty of time, a nice leisurely hike up the mountain would have been fun...instead it became a race against the sunset to get that famous "sun setting in the caldera" picture! Suffice it to say that if this was a movie and I had to make it to the top before the sun set to save the world..the world wouldn't have survived!

 I climbed and climbed as fast as I could - it's a nice paved trail up the mountain, but it is still uphill, up a mountain....I don't car how many elderly people I passed that were coming down the mountain!

 

                                                                                             
 Alas, I ran out of steam when I arrived at the mountain shrine and saw I was only 2/3's of the way there. The sun was setting, so I took a few pics and headed back down the mountain.

 

 

 

Shrine on Mt. Takao

 

 I really do want to go back another day in the Spring or Summer, during daytime when I can enjoy the view and the shops all along the way! There at least was some nice views of Tokyo!

 

In the end, we made it back down the mountain, all the shops were closed and I was left standing under the lamplight trying to catch my breath, but it was still an Adventure!!!!


Mis-adventure on Mt. Takao!

 

Bread!!!!!

Japan seems to be facinated with breads and pastries, and in true Japanese style they have made it into an artform! I tell you, if they keep going like this we're going to see alot more fat Japanese!  The word for bread in Japanese is Pan...it is the portuguese word for bread. Apparently in the 1500's the Japanese and Portuguese came into contact and there began some limited trade between the two cultures.
Following First Contact (that's for you Roxanne Hernandez) in 1543, the Japanese were at first rather wary of the newly arrived foreigners calling them barbarians; identifying the Europeans' manners as crude,having a lack of hygiene, and an inability to understand Japanese writing. A contemporary Japanese account relates:

"They eat with their fingers instead of with chopsticks such as we use. They show their feelings without any self-control. They cannot understand the meaning of written characters" (from Boxer, "Christian century").

Despite this the Portuguese were to make an impact on Japanese culinary life by introducing Bread, refined sugar and ...wait for it....Tempura!!! 

 

 

Coming back to present day and Pan. It's everywhere and it's delicious! It's presented in various forms...including one of my favorites the butter roll. You get a delicious dinner roll with butter already inside it! If you heat the rolls up, the butter melts inside into mouthwatering goodness!


                                 


Whether it's dinner rolls or Mexican Conchas (called Melon Bread here) the Japanese prepare them and then make them better! Fresher, tastier, it's amazing!

Never ones to just let bread be bread though...the whole "lets stuff the bread" is on a whole other level here. I have bought bread that was stuffed with curry, beef stew and even cheese fondue!

 

 

 

Last night Gary and I went out to dinner, the big perk of the restaurant we went to was it's Bread Buffet! All throughout the meal, fresh breads of many different selections were being brought out to the buffet table, piping hot and all you could eat!

 

Nom, Nom,Nom!!!!

Pepsi White

I've always read that in Japan Pepsi Co. likes to come up with different promotional  flavors and I've finally had an opportunity to try their latest Christmas flavor! It's called Pepsi White.



Pepsi White


I couldn't wait to give it a try, turns out it has a background pepsi flavor with  a tangerine twist. Kind of reminds me of Fresca if anyone remembers that old soda..but a more tangerine citrus flavor instead of grapefruit. I've just discovered that describing tastes is hard! Anyway, I don't drink soda often but it was fun, can't wait to see what their next promotional  flavor will be!

I'm excited because yesterday Atsuko took us out to see Kunitachi. Neat neighborhood with lots of Mom and Pop shops. We found one little store and it had canned yams and turkey stove top stuffing! Looks like Christmas dinner is shaping up!

I also found some really cute Pikachu Kameboko at the grocery store the other day and we ate it in Udon soup...very immature of me I know, but they were so cute! Like Gary said,"I chew you pikachu!"

 

 

Another great find at a grocery store here that will save me when I'm feeling like home food...

 

 

 

AND....I found a can of saurkraut!!!!

 

More proof God loves me!!!

 

 

 

 

Just because...

Nakano

 

So Gary and I decided to go check out another area of town (hmmm.. guess calling Tokyo a "town" is probably not the best adjective to use, anyway...) called Nakano. We had read that Nakano has a lot of young people and especially it's where Geeks like to hang out. One of the things Nakano is famous for is Nakano Broadway.. it's several levels of stores and shops with many different things. Hipster style clothing, games and geek collectables like action figures etc. I saw some really cool Iron Man helmets, anime action figurines and stuff like that. Anyway, it really was cool since I'm a bit of a Geek myself...  


Nakano Broadway

(That picture cracks me up as it looks like I'm photo shopped into it, but I wasn't!)

Anyway, Nakano had all sorts of interesting things to see including this Indian Shop, I had to take a picture for my India Crazy, friend Heather!  

Hi Heather!



 

We also ran into a Japanese Walmart here, it goes by the name Seiyo here and so far I'm not terribly impressed. Mostly they made Japanese products and added the Great Value seal on them.  I was hoping for a few more American items.. oh well, when in Japan...

On the way home we hit rush hour at the Train Station, apparently that's around 9 p.m.! Wow! people work really late here!
It was the most crowded train I've been on here so far. I became far CLOSER to the Japanese people than I planned! I somehow managed to take a video...don't mind all my "oh my! Can you believe how crowded this train is faces!" Oh and I wasn't really aiming so it's a little ...okay ALOT unprofessional!

Nakano was a very interesting area of town, LOTS of people, (Well there's LOTS of people EVERYWHERE here!), but a nice assortment of young and college age people as well as older folks. A possible area to plant a church? Maybe! 

 

Namazu, Catfish of Doom

 

As you drive around Tokyo, (and other areas of Japan I imagine), you will see signs like these over some of the roads:                    

 

Why in the world, I wondered, was there a big Catfish on that sign? Turns out that while Japanese no longer believe a Giant Catfish causes earthquakes they once did.

According to Japanese myth the cause of earthquakes is the giant catfish Namazu living buried in the underground. Legend has it that by moving his tail he could shake the entire earth and

unfortunately he loves to cause trouble and havoc.

Namazu can be controlled only by Kashima, which with help of a powerful capstone, pushes the fish against the underground and immobilized him. However, 

Kashima sometimes got tired or was distracted from his duty and Namazu could move a bit and cause an earthquake.

 

Kashima with the capstone

 

 

So just yesterday morning Gary told me he had found an earthquake warning app for our tablets...called Namazu by the way.

 

 

 He set it all up, picked out an alarm ring and I told him it was good but knowing me I'd probably forget what it was for and just stare at the tablet wondering why it was being noisy!

 

Sure enough, yesterday evening while sitting in the dining room, Gary's tablet starts making the alarm sound and I just stared at it wondering why it was making that noise!

 

Fortunately, after the alarm sounded, a voice started talking in English to us warning that an earthquake was coming and sure enough about 30 seconds later we started to feel it. It was a pretty good shaker, and lasted a couple of minutes but it only generated a mild tsunami up the coast and there was  minimal damage or injuries.

Thank you Jesus!

 

 

 

                                                                  

I think he's turning Japanese...I really think so!

Many of you know that my husband is half Japanese. Since coming to Japan a little over a month ago I've started to discover how very Japanese he really is. Many of what I thought were just his "quirks" or personal habits are suddenly making sense!
I don't know if it's his upbringing or genetic memory of some sort but I keep being surprised by all sorts of things that have turned out to not be him, rather they are apparently societal in the Japanese culture. For example, his fascination with globes...

                   
  He has always loved globes... in the States you may occasionally find a globe in a store.. but they aren't really the big sellers. In Japan I'm always seeing globes for sale, all sorts of globes. Big, little, plastic light up ones, different colored globes, it's amazing really.

Another really popular thing here that hubby has always found very important and almost obsessed about are clocks. He LIKES clocks!



 Alarm clocks, wall clocks, digital or LED.. knowing what time it is at all times is very important. Apparently the Japanese think so as well, nice LARGE selections of clocks here.

 

 Then there are the lightbulbs ... the kids and I would always joke about how Daddy could spend hours in the lightbulb section of the store! I never understood that, I hate that section, it's boring right?! Apparently, not. Here there are whole stores devoted just to lighting fixtures and bulbs etc.!  I am going to do my best to never go into one of those stores with him, I'll never get out!

 

 

Now, I can kind of understand  those things, they are useful objects anyway, what I don't get is his and Japans interest in hourglasses?!

 

Besides a passing, "Oh, isn't that cute", hourglasses (unless they are a 3 minute egg timer or you're playing Boggle) aren't really all that useful in modern life! And yet, I see them everywhere here!

 

Apparently some of these genetic memories are pretty strong, even my youngest son has demonstrated some of the old genetic memory it seems.  His fascination with the Crane Games in the States is suddenly explained when we walked into an Arcade in Japan and 75% of the Arcade is Crane Games! My husband and I just looked at each other and cracked up laughing remembering how many quarters our son begged us for so he could play the Crane Game! And the ones here actually give out some really good prizes!

                                    

 

Also, ever since he was little our son liked his little polished wooden spoon... yup, LOTS of little wooden spoons here.

 

 

 

 

 These are just a few of things I can think of off the top of my head.   Gary keeps telling me, "See?!"  (as in , "it isn't just me!")   It's been a very interesting and enlightening month, because some of the discoveries we made weren't just "things" there were even similarities in thought processes and habits.

As Spock would say:
                               

 

                                             

                                 

Machida!

Gary and I decided to take an  exploratory trip out to Machida the other day, I will admit that the fact that the supposedly largest 100 yen store in Japan is there might have factored in to our picking that destination! To be fair though it hadn't been explored yet so it wasn't all 100 yen store!
The trip took at least an hour by train as there was a bus, and a couple of train changes involved.  We were surprised by the number of foreigners in the area, maybe it's because there is a Costco there but I'm still not sure why there were so many. (comparatively speaking anyway).
After thinking we were traveling into the countryside we suddenly came out into quite a nice city, with malls and shops and lights etc!I even found a box of instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal at one little shop ! yay! It's been so cold here lately I'll enjoy some instant hot oatmeal for breakfast!

We found the 100 yen store , it was indeed quite large and we wandered around inside it for quite some time, bought a few things and then headed home!

 

A couple of days later Atsuko said she wanted to go to Costco, turns out the nearest one was in Machido so we found ourselves back in the same area. This time by car the trip only took about 25 minutes...nice! Going to Costco was just like being back in the States, same set up and at the end of the shopping there was inexpensive and delicious PIZZA!


While at Costco we found a turkey! Atsuko has a small oven and she thinks it'll fit, we'll see. If it doesn't' I'll just cut it up and roast it like that instead of roasting it whole.  So Christmas dinner is on!  I even found a can of cranberry sauce! yay!

 

Since Christmas dinner is a go, I went to our local 100 yen shop yesterday and picked up a tree which Atsuko and I decorated last night!

                                 

It was nice to do a little Christmas stuff, it's hard not to be a Christmas scrooge without the kids , so doing a little Christmas-y stuff anyway, lifts the spirits!

                                

                                                 

One Month!

So Gary and I have officially been here for one month! It's hard to believe, in some ways it feels like we've been here longer in that we already feel pretty comfortable in the city, getting around etc. It doesn't feel TOO foreign actually. That could just be because we've lived in other countries before too, I don't know. We've accomplished a lot on getting the feel of some of Tokyo...this city is HUGE and it will take us a LONG time to see all of it, if we ever manage that even! There are still areas of Mexico City we didn't see after living there for 7 years.. though we covered most of it!  We have 2 months left on our tourist visas and we are working on trying to change our residency status from tourist to resident. We hope to do that from Japan and avoid a trip back Stateside to finish the paperwork, hope we can do that as I'm anxious to get an apartment and get started on Church stuff!
Anyway, we had to run some errands the other day, we got a bit turned around in one of the subway stations (trust me, this is easy to do!) but we eventually made our way to our appointment. Afterwards, since we were near that side of town we stopped to do a little more exploring in Shibuya during the daytime this time. It was every bit as busy!

 

                                        I did manage to run into an old friend! 

Mr. Peanut and I!

 
We were getting hungry so started looking for a place to get a bite to eat.. we ran across a couple of interesting places, including this one...

 

Yeah, we DIDN'T eat there!

 

 

Then we found Che Guevarra advertising this... hmmmm.

 

It's probably some special communist powder stuff.

 

 

Yesterday, Gary and I were at a convenience store and I saw a tasty looking treat. it looked like a pocky stick thing, which I love!

 

 

But then I noticed the cute little cartoon puppy on the package and a little seal with a doggy picture on it...SO ClOSE! Even Japanese doggy snacks are Cute!

 

BTW, if you just happen to go into a public toilet equipped for the Disabled, and if you just happen to push a button thinking it's to Flush, it MIGHT turn out to be a button to call for help instead and you might suddenly have a lady talking to you in Japanese and IF you get nervous and don't answer.. they might just send a security person to see if you need help...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sun is out...quick wash the laundry!!!

It's been rainy and cloudy the last few days and since today is sunny and breezy I'm working on catching up on laundry! I know you all probably think that missionary life is all glamorous etc. but the truth is really much more ordinary than glamorous!
Granted, figuring out how to do the "ordinary" is often times much more of an adventure than back home! Grocery shopping is an adventure, I try to figure out what I'm buying by looking at pictures and sometimes I manage to be right , other times it's a surprise! Especially here in Japan where even the alphabets (yes, all three of them) are incomprehensible! I'm working out figuring out Hiragana, but that still leaves Katakana and Kanji. To top it off Kanji has over 2,000 characters and each character can have more than one meaning! AND Kanji is not technically an alphabet... it's more like communicating via pictures as each character doesn't represent a sound like an alphabet letter, they represent an idea or concept. Very tricky, especially since they will often use all three types of alphabet in a single word...
Speaking of similarities the language is the same way. Words with different meanings depending on where you place the accent while pronouncing the word. For example, the word Shujin means HUSBAND as in my sweet Hubby.

 

 

 

Shujin and me

 

HOWEVER, depending on where I place the accent it also means... PRISONER!

 

Shujin

 

 

And, as any of you who know me and my language skills know, I am FAMOUS for placing accents in the wrong places!  I will DEFINITELY be introducing my husband as my prisoner!  He says its the same thing anyway...

 

This and That!

 

 

Well we went to the Chofu Cultural Center the other day, saw an ad in the English language newspaper saying there would be free immigration help there. We had a few questions so thought we'd check it out. We were met by some very friendly people, and a nice lady who acted as interpreter for us with a lawyer. Our lawyer wasn't certain on how to answer our questions so he went to the trouble to call another lawyer (a veteran lawyer with LOTS of experience he said) and scheduled us an appointment for Wed. at this "veterans" office, and even said he was going to try to meet us there. Very nice people! I really hope we can get all the paperwork done soon so we can get our own place and a church building and get to work! There was a very nice view from the Cultural Center!

Today, it rained all day so apart from a run to the grocery store...(actually a walk with an umbrella) I stayed inside. I was feeling like eating something American today so I bought a few little steaks, made some broccoli with cheese sauce and some potatoes. My local grocery store really doesn't have much in the way of vegetables. I haven't seen any canned veggies, other than tomatoes, and corn. The frozen veggie section only had broccoli and corn and a mixed veggie bag. The fresh produce only carries what's in season..at the moment I think it's leeks and squash! I'm going to have to check out a few different stores, I've never been a big veggie eater anyway, but I do like canned greenbeans on occasion, and calabacitas...(zucchini ..green or yellow).
Anyway, the dinner turned out tasty and I set a plate aside for Atsuko too. Later we can have some leftover Oden soup later that Atsuko made last night..it was delicious
 and full of so many goodies that I have no idea how to say or spell!
Followed the Packer game online today...very disappointing! Nice to be able to stay in touch with people and on top of events back home... how times have changed since the first time we went to Mexico and were lucky to get an occasional letter from the outside world!  Now I can stay in touch with my daughter in Panama or my children or family in the States on a daily basis...how spoiled we are!

Buttons, Buttons Everywhere!

We are currently staying in Atsuko's family home, it is a very comfortable  older traditional style Japanese home. I find the house fascinating because even though it is an older home there are electronic buttons everywhere and for everything.  Every room is sealed off from the other rooms and you only heat the room you're in... very smart and handy. You enter a room, push a button and turn on the heater in that room. When you go into the kitchen/dining area where most of the daily hanging out goes on, you push a button and the FLOOR heats up! You can comfortably remove your slippers and lay your feet on a toasty warm floor! Since I have always suffered from cold feet, I especially enjoy this! In the kitchen there is an alarm that beeps on the refrigerator if you don't close the door tightly. By the kitchen sink there is a button to turn the hot water heater on or off as well as a button to set the exact water temperature for the shower and the bath tub waters. (yes, there are two different faucets for those). Speaking of baths and showers, I have been totally converted to the Japanese bath style. First you take a shower and get completely clean and then you hop into a deep tub (up to your shoulders deep) and SOAK! It's SOOOO relaxing... I love it!  And since the water temperature on the heater is set for the temperature you want it you just turn on the faucet and out comes the water at your preferred temperature..no fiddling with the hot and cold trying to find that right mix!
 It is all very logical and convenient!

Shibuya!

Yesterday was Atsuko's day off and we all decided to drive to Shibuya! Shibuya is probably pretty much Toyo central. It really reminds me of what I imagine New York's Time Square to be like.
Lots of lights, people, traffic and shops! Just crossing the street is amazing!

 

The lights were so bright that even though it was night time it looked like it was day time!

 

We explored the little side streets and by ways... in one alleyway we found this!

 I'm beginning to feel like Where's Waldo with this jacket of mine that keeps turning up in all  the pictures!

 

                                              

 

                                                       
                                                                                                             Sumo dudes!

                                                                    Life size Spidey!

                    Picture taking Japanese style!

 

 

Anyway we saw a lot of the area.. the massive amount of people everywhere you turn is mindboggling. I haven't seen this since Mexico City and Mexico City didn't throw in all the lights and noise!

 

 

I know there are lots of videos in this post but pictures really just can't describe enough the organized chaos of this part of town!

 

But, Atsuko's day off is over, and today we're back in Fuchu. I have laundry to wash, and errands to run!

 

 Till next time!

 

 

 

 

 

Shinjuku!

So yesterday we explored the Shinjuku area...it's more central Tokyo and has skyscrapers and lots of traffic! In the midst of all this though we managed to find a Christian Bookstore! Very Nice!
Then we found something I was VERY excited about!

 

 

We also found a very nice bookstore that has an extensive English book selection! Any of you who know me realize what a big deal that is for me!

Here's a few pics from he area!

                                                              (yes, it was cold!)

 

(anime guy floating over Gary's head!)