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: