April 27th Getting there!

So tomorrow is the BIG day when we sign our contract on our apartment and about $7,500 dollars later we walk out with a key to our new home! 

Yes, renting apartments here is very expensive. A 450 sq. ft. apartment will cost about $1800/mo. Why does it cost so much to move in? it costs so much because everyone gets a piece of the pie, the management company, the realtor, the owner gets a whole month rent as a gift, there is key change fees, and the guarantor company as well. And we get to do it all again in two years when the lease expires, even if we stay in the same place! For those of you who give to world missions you can now see how costly it is to send foreign missionaries so Thank You all for your faithfulness! The next step will be buying furniture and appliances, we've been checking some furniture stores etc. and getting some ideas. After being homeless for 6 months and living out of suitcases we are REALLY ready to get settled in our own place!
We went exploring our new neighborhood the other day, turns out that we managed to settle ourselves into what is known as College town and also we are within walking distance to the neighborhood where we want to plant the church! Since our initial target focus group will be college students (as they have the most free time and likelihood of speaking English) this is perfect. The neighborhood is great and we're going to love it there for sure!  There is a couple of grocery stores within walking/bicycle distance and the large Inokishira park is in walking distance too!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inokashira_Park  How cool is that?!
On our wanderings we stopped in a shoe store in Kichijoji to get Gary a pair of shoes . I found these crochet shoes in the men's section. Japanese men's shoes have a much wider selection of styles and colors than American shoe stores, it's pretty cool.

 

Yesterday, we stopped by Musashi Koganei on the way back to the house and we went to the food court in the mall to get something to eat for dinner. I decided I wanted a cheeseburger combo from the burger place but I also felt like a small bowl of fried rice from this one place that makes it really well. I pointed to a picture on the menu thinking I was ordering a small bowl of fried rice with a small soup. Boy was I surprised, the photo on the menu was definitely really small!

I must have looked confused because the young man at the counter showed me I was supposed to take the two large spoons and stir the egg into the rice so it would cook and make the rice. If you look closely at the pic you can see the recipient the rice is in is cast iron .. it was sizzling hot and cooking everything right there. It was actually pretty neat and the rice was delicious though I looked like a pig with two full meals! Gary helped me with the rice and we ate it all!

 

That's it for now. Today, I plan on staying home. We have tons of stuff to do tomorrow and my feet can't handle anymore walking , they need a break!

April 24th Import Goodies!

Gary and I have spent the last three days going to different areas in Tokyo, looking for a decent priced furniture store. The ones in the mall are artsy-fartsy and nice but very pricey and not much selection. Some of the larger outlet type stores have furniture but it's cheap and assemble it at home plywood stuff. We just need to find a nice mid-range decent but not too fancy store that delivers. Fortunately, we still have time as we don't move in until after Golden week which ends around May 5th. Also, the apartment is quite small so we need to do this in an organized manner to make the most with the space we have. We still haven't signed the contract but the realtor says it's ours so I'm going to take him at his word. Once there is an application put in the apartment is taken off the market so I know there is no one else seeing it. We should be signing sometime soon when we can coordinate Atsuko's day off, she's going in as translator for us and the owner.
However, in all our running around to different places we have found a few little import shops. There's one in particular called Kaldi Farm which imports food items for all over including some American stuff. There are several around the Tokyo metro area but they don't all have the same stuff so I check them out to see if I can find anything new. Yesterday I was really excited to find:

Gary is not a fan of Mac & Cheese but I love it! I love to fry up sausages and add them and some Worcestershire sauce and enjoy! It's comfort food and I  was so happy to find a couple of boxes!

The day before we were wandering Kichijoji and down a street called Nakamichi we found a small shop called Carnaval. I found some green Chili and a little later in a different Kaldi's, hidden amongst the regular salsa I found ONE jar of Green salsa! I have some corn tortillas frozen at the house and that means that I will be able to make some of my Green chili chicken Enchiladas! Yay!

 

Stupid little things like that really make a missionary's day!

 

Okay, on from food and on to feet!

 

The other day Atsuko gave me this, it's a foot peel that's supposed to make your feet all soft and new.

 

I decided to give it a try. I took out the little booties and put them on, they had a citrus based foot soak solution in them.

 

I left the booties on for 45 minutes and rinsed my feet and that was it. About 3 days later my feet did indeed peel. I'm not convinced that my feet resulted in anything miraculously softer though so I'm only giving this a 4 out of 10.  Figuring out foreign beauty stuff is a trip!

later all!

 

April 21st Catching up!

Not much has happened the last few days...thus no blog. Mostly stayed around the house, though Friday evening we took Atsuko over to the little Indian restaurant we found in Higashi Koganei..she really liked it and even asked the owner for his business card!
Yesterday we got off to a bit of a slow start , some days are like that! It's been rainy and chilly the past few days and that contributes to the staying home mostly stuff... not much fun walking in the rainy chilly stuff and waiting for buses and trains. We did finally drag ourselves off to Fuchu Station and environs yesterday afternoon. Had a few things to pick up at the Daiso store, I found a couple pair of socks; the washing machines here are rough on clothes and I think with all the walking my socks were starting to show the wear and tear. Socks are a big deal here, they come in countless colors, patterns and styles. I didn't get anything too crazy though!
Gary spent some time picking out an umbrella, I sat on a bench and rested while he and several other people meticulously picked through umbrellas, testing their strength and opening and closing them... I think he was getting a little frustrated because everyone was just as picky as he was and getting in his way! Ha! I sat on a nearby bench and just waited marveling at how another thing I thought was just his quirk turns out to be a countrywide  trait! We got some dinner at my little tonkatsu soup place that makes the good pork brothy soup and had some rice and karage (fried boneless chicken) on the side. Gary had a clear broth ramen and some gyoza and rice. It's a no smoking restaurant from opening until 5 p.m., after that people can smoke. Can't have the salary men get off work and not be able to smoke while they drink and eat with their coworkers. (Going out for drinks after work is obligatory in most jobs here).
Today I made a trip to the grocery store to pick up some stuff for dinner and a few basic items (eggs, milk, bread). I didn't ride the bike so I couldn't get too many things but I still ended up spending $45. Groceries are very expensive here, it can be as cheap to eat out (at the cheaper places) as it is to cook at home. Today since it's all chilly and wet outside, I made a nice potato, cheesy, soup with diced smoked sausage. It was tasty served with bread! I certainly can't complain about the weather here, my sister wrote that they got 22 inches of snow dumped on them  AND the electricity went out for 13 hours! Gotta love Wisconsin! UFDA!!!
One of the brothers in Vegas kindly sent us some of our Pastors' sermons so we enjoyed staying in and hearing some good preaching!
I guess this week maybe we'll try to find some furniture stores and start pricing stuff for when we finally get to move in after Golden Week which ends May 5th. Living in a 6 tatami room with 8 suitcases and two futons on the floor is a bit crowded so we are looking forward to getting moved!
That's the news for here! God Bless!

April 18th

Gary and I went exploring Mitaka where Lord willing our apartment is going to be. (I won't breathe a sigh of relief until after we sign the contract hopefully next week). Mitaka really is a very nice neighborhood and quite close to the area we are considering for our church... only one train station away! Here's a picture of part of the neighborhood.

Down this busy street there are many shops and restaurants. We found a nice 100 yen store with lots of inexpensive goodies for the house once we move in. It's funny because back in the '60's when my family lived here it was the 10 yen store! We walked up and down the streets and as it got dark we stopped for dinner and ate. Afterwards as we headed home I noticed this lone tree right outside of the train station  I thought it looked neat with the lights shining through the leaves.

 

That's about it for yesterday, not too terribly much happened but it was a nice day outside and we enjoyed exploring our new neighborhood!

April 17th

Yesterday was another WINDY day...I guess being an island the wind just swirls all around it! We ended up with a total of 5 earthquake alarms yesterday too... they were all small ( between 4 and 6) off the coastline of Yokahama mostly and not very noticeable by the time they got to us in Fuchu though so that's good. Better a bunch of small quakes to release the tension than one big one anyway! (I hope that's what it'll do)
Washed laundry to take advantage of the sun and wind, story of my life! lol! Later I rode the bike to the grocery store. Gary was feeling Southern so I made him some fried porkchops, mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner! The meat here is absolutely gorgeous, nicer than Stateside and definitely different from when we were in Mexico and guys would be going to market with half a steer thrown over their back.                   

 

Yes, I have to admit having beautiful meat is nice!  The trade off though is that I could get the best, least expensive,fruits and veggies in Mexico! Most Mercados look like this.

 

Japan has a much more limited fruit and veggie selection and the prices on them is very high.

 

Gary has been working with the lawyer to set up a date next week for us to sign the contract on the apartment. They've asked Atsuko to come and act as translator so we need to pick a day that is convenient for her work schedule. Good news though as everything is moving forward!

That's all for today!

April 16th

The earthquake alarm sounded twice this morning, but we didn't feel anything...yay!
Heard from the realtor today, looks like we didn't pass the paperwork test for the house we wanted but we did pass the test for the smaller apartment. If all works out we should be able to move in early May! The house would have been nice for the oven and space but the neighborhood for the apartment is much nicer and the apartment is quite nice too. Keep praying everything goes through smoothly!
Time for the happy chicken dance! 

So yesterday was Atsuko's day off so we decided to go out! We went to Kichijoji again to check out the area and get some dinner. She had wanted to take us to a grilled Unagi (eel) restaurant but turns out we were in the wrong neighborhood so we went looking for something else. We almost made it into a yakiniku place but there was no seating :-(  I've really been wanting to go to a grill meat at your table place so was a little disappointed but someday we'll get there! So we kept looking! The weather outside was quite pleasant and we enjoyed seeing all the people that were out enjoying the evening. Finally we decided on an interesting restaurant with a varied menu. Atsuko had a sashimi, rice, miso soup and cold soba meal. Gary had grilled fish, clam rice, miso soup and seaweed salad.

I had a steaming bubbly hot breaded chicken hotpot in a delicious broth.! It had chicken, eggplant, sweet potato, green leafy thing, scallion and carrot. It also had a nice serving of grated daikon radish on top which gave it a fresh oomph! It was served with rice and pickled goodies, and miso soup.  Wonderful!

 

Afterwards we had a desert, I chose a Raspberry, banana, parfait thingy. It had chocolate pudding, and whipped cream and a tasty mochi custard or something. The only thing I didn't care for was the red beans on the bottom...I know they're sweet and considered a desert but I'm not a fan of beans in my parfait. Otherwise it was quite good!

April 15th

Off to a late start blogging today as I woke up, checked the news and have been catching up on the bombing in Boston. This world is so messed up, makes one realize just how great the need is for Jesus.
Started yesterday off with running some errands , to the post office ,then the 7-11 and then I took a bus to the second hand store. I needed to pick up a plastic storage box as a handle on one of our suitcases broke off so I wanted to transfer it's contents into a storage container instead. I found a nice one for 500Y and since I was there I looked at the purses and found a couple that I liked at good prices. 

I've never been a big purse person...carrying a purse in some of the cities I've lived in was just an invitation to get mugged so I stopped carrying them except occasionally. It's different here, and since I tend to need to carry things with me (umbrella, jacket, etc.) and I buy things, it's easier to put them in a bag than to carry them.  I took a bus back to the house and transferred everything from the suitcase to the container, now I'll have to find out what is involved and how much it'll cost in getting the suitcase taken away by the garbage people. As in everything in Japan, it'll involve going to a special office, getting a form for garbage removal, pay the fee etc.
Later we headed to Kokubunji by bus, we wandered the area a bit and looked around. Didn't buy anything just did some window shopping and exploring. We did stop for dinner at this neat restaurant and had one of the neatest meals I've had yet here. We started with a very tasty
      grilled beef/scallion appetizer. The flavor of the beef was so beefy and delicious!

 

The green tea that was served was quite good as well, smooth and not bitter. Then our main dish arrived!

 

 Tempura, delicious flavored rice, cold soba noodles with the dipping sauce that you add the wasabi and onions to, the Japanese egg omelet with grated daikon radish, delicious fish, salad, and of course the tsukemono pickle and radish to eat with the rice. The green powder in the bowl in the foreground
is a salty something that you dip the tempura into.  I wasn't sure what it was or what to do with it but I asked the waitress and she explained it to me. Delicious! After you finish dipping the soba noodles and eating them you had hot water to the leftover sauce and drink it like a soup...very tasty! They had the tastiest little pickled plums on the table that I loved! I was so happy to find them for sale at the cash register! They are salty and sweet at the same time and delicious!

 

The restaurant will definitely be on my return list as the prices were reasonable, the presentation beautiful and food excellent!
After dinner we caught the bus back to the house. We walked through the little streets to the house past the section of old abandoned houses in the midst of an otherwise nice and modern neighborhood. It's kind of like a glimpse into the past!

And that was my day! Today we are heading back to Kichioji to check it out some more. Still waiting to hear from the realtor...patience...patience.

April 14th

So yesterday we headed to Ochanomizu, it's a bit far from where we are but then again most destinations in Tokyo are a bit far because the city is so huge! Certain areas of Tokyo have canals running through them , Ochanomizu is one of them.

 

One of the first things we noticed was all of the musical instrument stores lining one of the streets. Guitars, saxophones, pianos etc. so I guess this is where we'll look when we start buying equipment for the church.

 

 We also ran across this interesting building in our wandering.

If you look closely you can see the stained glass windows. It's called the Tokyo Marudori building but I can't find any data on it. It currently houses several restaurants though Gary and I wondered if it hadn't originally been a church as the stained glass depict a large angel in one and a chariot with winged horses and a man in another.

 

 Not far from here is the Japanese Orthodox cathedral. We didn't get to see it yesterday but I hope to visit it in the future.

 

 

The Holy Resurrection Cathedral (commonly known as Nikorai-do after the founder St. Nicolas of Japan)was built in the 1800's.

More fascinating information for you history buffs here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Orthodox_Church

 

(yes, I know Wikipedia is not an authorized source but it jives with everything else I've read and is in an easy to read format)

Anyway, I'm going to have to dig around and see if I can find some information on the Marudori domed building as it's peaked my curiosity. That's it for now...I have errands to run!

Have a great day!

 

April 13th

Hello World!!! Nothing new to report today on the house hunting, we're waiting to hear from the guarantor company for the paperwork on the new house we looked at yesterday. When the call comes in we won't answer it, rather let our Realtor know and he will call them on our behalf since he can speak Japanese etc. We were content to stay at home today anyway and recover a little from all our running around yesterday. I know we walked miles and miles yesterday and Gary's knee needed a break as did my poor feet! So I took care of business around here...a couple loads of laundry as usual,  and made a candy care package for Hopie and Gary Jr. When I went back Stateside in January I brought them a big selection of Japanese candy to try and they really loved this one!

Apparently, it's like cotton candy but as you eat it there's pop rocks inside so it starts exploding in your mouth too. Anyway, they will be happy to get their treat AND I found a new flavor in a green package...I don't know what flavor it is so they will have to let me know. (I'm not a big candy person myself unless it's chocolate!)  I also filled out a couple of postcards for a second grader at an elementary school in Wisconsin. His class is doing a special geography project and my sister sent me his address.  (If any of my foreign readers would like to help by sending him a postcard as well just let me know and I'll send you his school address)
After I finished doing that I headed to the post office on the bike, however I forgot it was Saturday and the post office was closed so I'll have to try again on Monday.
Then I headed  to the grocery store. I had taken all our empty plastic bottles with me as they have to be recycled. I pass my Suica card in front of a machine and then a little conveyor belt starts and I individually place the plastic bottles in the machine and it smashes them -at least that's what it sounds like. I get points on my Suica card for each bottle. The Suica card is a rechargeable card that is used here for buses, trains, convenience store purchases and some restaurants even. It makes travel around the city much easier as you just swipe your card when you board transport and when you get off it discounts the fare from the card so you don't have to dig around for money. Besides, it has a cute little penguin on it!

 

Anyway, I turned in the bottles and then shopped for groceries. I was feeling like American for dinner so I got us a couple of nice little steaks, some potatoes and salad fixings. The meat here is very tender and even pan fried you can cut it with a butter knife!

 

Last night on our way home we found an interesting little shop that sold these. We weren't sure what they were but they looked and smelled good so we bought some. They came with some shredded cabbage and a Worcestershire based sauce (Japan is in LOVE with Worcestershire sauce and mayonnaise) but we ate them solo with some Ponzu sauce for dipping.

 

 

Turns out they are like pork and cabbage stuffed thingies, fried really crisp in Panko crumbs. Very tasty and filling!

 

 

 The weather was beautiful and all my clothes dried quickly today!

Well there you have it...my big day at home! Hope you all had a great day!

 

April 11 & 12 Koenji, Higashi Koganei, and Shinjuku

So things were busy the last two days. Some of it was the usual stuff, laundry etc. and some of it was the other usual stuff.. house hunting with some other stuff in between. Yesterday, our realtor couldn't meet with us but we set up an appointment to see a couple of houses today. Later in the afternoon we headed to Koenji to meet a guy from Craigslist that had a nice electric nabe/sukiyaki/yakiniku grill for sell cheap. Turns out he's a Canadian guy who has been here 5 years and is getting ready to head back to Canada. He may have other things to sell as his departure approaches in May. Since you have to pay here to have anything hauled away by the garbage company, foreigners try to sell cheaply or give away a lot of things before they leave back to their home countries. Craigslist always has some good deals on it, they are often listed as Sayonara sells. Anyway, I got a nice item for $15 instead of the $80 it was selling for in a store! Yay!
After the meetup we decided to explore Koenji a bit as it looked interesting and it was an area that we hadn't stopped at to look around yet. It was an area with a lot of Shotengai (a street which has a concentration of shops and restaurants which is usually located near a train station) so it was fun to walk around. We found our favorite tempura shop and stopped for dinner. I had to take a picture of the shop mascot as it always makes me laugh as it looks like an Asian Hitler! I know that's terrible... but don't you think so too?!

 

Today, we got up early and headed to Higashi Koganei to meet with our Realtor. He showed us a couple of nice houses that we really liked. The one house even has an oven which is very rare here in Japan! We told him we would like to try to get that house so he is putting in the paperwork  for us. We still have the paperwork trying to go through on the other apartment but our realtor says it's good to have options in case one doesn't go through. I'd really like to get the house if we can, it's MUCH larger than the apartment at the same price pretty much. The apartment is nice and definitely in a busier area ,(less residential) and more posh so if we don't get the house it's okay but the space in the house would be nice for guests etc.  I took some pictures around Higashi Koganei...seems like it's quite an old neighborhood with lots of mom and pop shops.

 

We stopped for lunch at this little Indian restaurant. the naan and curry were really good! We had mutton curry and chicken curry. (If you look close you can see Gary's reflection in the window)

 

The naan was the size of a ukulele and delicious!

 

 

 

After lunch we headed to Shinjuku as I needed to pick up some postcards and there is a good bookstore there! Shinjuku is a very upscale place, lots of business men and high finance but also lots of young people hanging out at the stores and malls. I couldn't help but take a picture of the Docomo clock tower, I think the clouds in this picture look really cool!

 

 

And a close up!

 

As you can see by the clock tower it was almost 5:30 pm so time to head back to Fuchu! The Shinjuku train station was very busy!

 

 

Shinjuku is a bit far from Fuchu and the trains were full so it was a bit of a long trip back standing the whole way (no train dancing today!). To make it even more fun there was a really cute baby with a really stinky diaper !

 

We disembarked the train in Musashi Koganei and did a little quick shopping at a grocery store there. I was so happy....I found Graham Crackers!!!!! I have inherited my Mom's love of graham crackers and milk and this is the first time I've seen them here! After finishing up at the grocery store we caught our bus back to Fuchu and a hot shower and soak in the tub later I'm feeling relaxed!

It was a very busy day!

 

 

April 10th Despots and Sukiya!

There has been a lot of noise in the news regarding crazy North Korean leader Kim what's his name and all of his threats. Some news outlets  felt today would be a decisive day for a missile launch but today was a quiet day and no missiles were tossed our way. Yay! Japan does have missile interceptors in place etc. and the U.S. is on alert as well so I don't worry about it too much.
                           Hopefully, crazy dude will settle down and behave himself!

Had a nice day, looked at apartments online and made some appointments to see them tomorrow. The one we liked had complicated paperwork so we're looking at some with easier requirements. We have some good possibilities lined up for tomorrow though so hopefully one of them will workout for us.
                       This evening Gary and I went to Fuchu station and ate dinner at Sukiya.

                                                     This is what the inside looks like.

 It's an inexpensive fast food type place with tasty gyudon and donburi as well as Japanese curry dishes. Gyudon is beef and onions cooked with special sauce served on top of a bowl of rice.  Donburi is a Japanese "rice bowl dish" consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice. Anyway, I got a nice braised pork belly over rice with a Miso soup on the side.

 Gary got a beef gyudon set meal that looked like this without the egg and he also had a nice piece of fish on the side.

 

Gary isn't a big fan of Sukiya but it is fast and cheap and filling and for an occasional quick meal it's okay.After that we  ran a few errands at the 100 yen store and then headed back to the house. It's bedtime now! I'll check in tomorrow and let you know how the apartment hunting goes!

 Good Night!

April 9th Tokyo Tower!

Today was our realtor's day off so we had a day off of apartment hunting, (apparently, he is recommending we have a couple apartment choices in case we don't pass the paperwork test for one we have a backup plan). Anyway, a Pastor friend and his wife were in town from South Korea today so we met up with them for a little fellowship and sight seeing!  We know Bobby and Trish Montoya from way back in the '80's and every few years or so our paths cross in unexpected places! They are currently missionaries in South Korea and had business here in Tokyo so it was nice to connect up again!   
 


We met up and headed to a noodle shop for some lunch and then we walked over to Tokyo Tower.
Outside of the Tower entrance many carp banners were flying. These are in preparation for the celebration of Boys day. Technically it's now Children's Day but everyone still celebrates Girls Day on March 3rd with dolls and special food and Boys Day on May 5th with Carp Banners (because they are a strong fish) and special foods. Usually the largest banner is flown for the Father and smaller carp banners for the sons in the family.

 

A couple of facts about Tokyo Tower:

 

 

 

333mHeight of the Tower. Since its opening in 1958, the Tokyo Tower has been the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is 320 m high.

 

140 drums Paint used for the Tower was 28,000 liters, equal to 140 drums. The Tower is painted orange and white according to the Civil Aeronautic Law.

24 broadcast waves This is the number of broadcast waves that Tokyo Tower is transmitting. Among them, 14 are analog waves and 10 are digital waves, which show that most broadcast stations in Tokyo are transmitting their waves from the Tower.

176 lights One hundred and seventy-six floodlights installed in various parts light up the Tower. The Tower is illuminated with an orange light in winter and white incandescent light in summer, delighting visitors and passers-by.

When we entered the Tower we took an elevator to the first Observation deck. The view was amazing! Then Gary, Bobby and Trish rode the elevator up even higher to the upper observation deck. I declined as I really don't like heights or elevators and heights plus elevators even less! They all agreed when they came back down that it's just as well I didn't go up because they could feel the tower swaying in the wind! EEEEK!!!! However I sent the camera up with Gary and he got more pics!    We went back downstairs and went to some of the shops and had some coffee. I'll definitely want to return on another day as the tower also has an aquarium, wax museum, and an amusement park that we didn't get a chance to see today. By the time we left the tower it was dark outside and the Tower was lit up and beautiful!   We even got dramatic and took one with flowers as we walked away!       I also saw some cute little street lamps!   And then the day was done! Bobby and Trish headed back to their hotel and we boarded the train for the trip back to our place. It was very nice to be able to meet up with them and enjoy a day out!