Sunday, September 23, 2012

Settling, eating and exploring


Greetings from rainy Tokyo!  I keep hoping that the rain will usher in Fall weather, but so far no such luck.  The other morning, I was lying in bed, listening to the rain and wondering what shoes I could wear for the walk to work, when it occurred to me that maybe it was time to buy rain boots.  So my first pair of rain boots in probably 30 years is now zooming across the ocean to me.

Besides the occasional rain, the last few weeks have involved settling, eating and exploring. 

Settling: I moved into my permanent housing last weekend!  I’m very happy to be here.  It’s a good space, and I am looking forward to decorating it.  Slipcovers for the sofa, chair and ottoman have been ordered (to protect them from the kitty and because they are not attractive).  Shower curtains for both bathrooms are also on the way.  I’ve already put much of the welcome kit down in my storage unit and dragged furniture all over the apartment.  I receive my stuff on Wednesday afternoon (WOOHOO!), at which point settling in will begin in earnest.

Eating: We’ve been doing a bunch of lunches, receptions and dinners so that my boss and I (who both arrived last month) can meet contacts.  And then there are the regular work receptions.  In one month, I’ve been to more receptions than I think I went to during my entire tour in Brazil.  Since I don’t have most of my kitchen stuff yet, it’s kind of nice to not have to cook hardly at all, and I appreciate the opportunity to visit a bunch of restaurants.  However, I’ll be lucky to not gain 20 pounds by the end of this!  Thankfully (for my weight and my feet), I hear that October will be a slow month before all of the pre-New Year’s and New Year’s receptions start.  The goal is to start exercising again and eat healthy for the month of October.  I should probably also invest in some salts for soaking my feet… 


Takahata Fudo temple
Takahata Fudo temple



Exploring: Last weekend I went with some colleagues and their families to a shrine sale (aka: flea market) at Takahata Fudo temple, which is about an hour away.  Because it was raining off and on, there weren’t a ton of vendors, but I still managed to buy an obi and a scroll for my office (which is in serious need of decorating) and take a lot of pictures of the lovely grounds. 



Takahata Fudo temple




An hour after returning home, I heard the drum from the festival at the shrine next door and quickly forgot about aching feet, grabbed my camera, and headed back out the door.  It was my first Japanese festival (of which I hear there are a ton).  It was a lot of fun.  There was food and drinks and games for the kids and people in their kimonos dancing around the drum (like Japanese line dancing). 


I was going to do some more exploring this weekend, but then I saw that it was going to rain – which cuts down on my picture-taking – so I decided to putter around the house.  My goal is to get everything put away before the majority of my worldly belongings arrive this week.

Happy Fall!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

First impressions


I have a plan to take at least one day each weekend to play tourist. So far, I’ve been to the major Shinto shrine in Tokyo (Meiji Jingu) and the major Buddhist temple in Tokyo (Senso-Ji), as well as a few other places of interest. I also had a work trip that involved my first Shinkansen (high-speed train) trip. We spent an afternoon in Nagoya, and then spent the night and the next day in Osaka. Osaka is quite different from Tokyo, but I’ll need to spend a bit more time there (and here) before I can write something about the differences. One amusing part of the trip was when we were waiting for the train and some young Japanese men tried to take a picture of us foreigners without our knowledge. (One guy just happened to pose for a picture where we were the only thing in the background.) I don’t know if it was because my boss is 6’5”, or because we were not Asian, but they seemed rather proud of themselves for having “discreetly” taken the picture.

Gate to Senso-Ji temple


First impressions of the weather: Hot and humid! My hair is constantly curly. My clothes feel damp when I put them on. Because of energy conservation efforts since shutting down the nuclear power plants, it is hot and humid everywhere. The embassy is following “cool biz” (light on the air conditioning, so people don’t have to wear a suit and tie all the time), which means that the embassy has been at about 77F with 55ish percent humidity since I arrived. On the positive side, I’m not constantly freezing in the office due to high a/c, so yeah!

Unfortunate weather observation: My body reacts to August in Tokyo the same way it does to the rainy season in Brazil. Lots of migraines. After three in my first week, I went to the med unit, and the doctor prescribed the same medication that worked for me in Brazil. That should take care of that.

Amusing weather observation: Some Chinese government people came to Tokyo for a multilateral meeting and were surprised by Tokyo’s blue sky. Remind me not to bid on Beijing in the future.

First impression of nature: Cicadas. Great big, noisy cicadas like I haven’t seen since Brazil. Have I mentioned that they’re big?

First impression of Japanese society: Order. When they’re told to stand behind the line (for shopping or protests or whatever), they stand behind the line. They form lines *everywhere*. Giant crowd of people waiting to get on an escalator? They wait in a long line. 

Second impression of Japanese society: Timeliness. A seminar is scheduled to start at 2pm? Everybody is in their seats and quiet at 1:58, and the seminar starts at 2:00. I suspect that the organizers would be humbly apologizing and offering gifts in recompense if the seminar started at 2:05. The average arrival time for the shinkansen: thirty-four seconds late. Average. Thirty-four seconds. WMATA should take lessons!

Shinkansen


Third impression of Japanese society: Perfectionism. Food/drinks are carefully packaged so that you may enjoy them in their original, perfect state when you reach your destination. You can find the best cream puffs EVER in Shibuya. They don’t put the cream in the puff until you place your order, and the cream is so light and delicious!! Shaved ice outside Senso-Ji temple is truly shaved, so it just melts in your mouth. No crunching. I haven’t tried the macarons in Midtown yet, but they look amazing.

More food: When I was in Brazil, I loved Schweppes Citrus, but we don’t have it in the States. However, in Japan they have Schweppes British Lemon Tonic, which seems to be the same thing. I’m so happy!

I’ve already discovered that, while there are plenty of challenges (e.g. I can't read a thing!), in many ways, it is very easy to live here. The 100 Yen stores (dollar stores) are amazing and full of tons of useful stuff. There are vending machines with drinks (water, tea, coffee (hot or cold), soda, etc) EVERYWHERE – on the streets or in the subway. I’ve counted four Starbucks and two Tully’s within a ten-minute walk of the housing compound. There’s also a Frijoles, which is remarkably similar to Chipotles, and if I walk just a bit farther, there’s a Cold Stone Creamery (where they sang a little song while mixing my ice cream, which naturally makes it taste MUCH better), Outback Steakhouse, TGI Friday’s, etc. And those are just the American restaurants.  There are tons and tons of other restaurants. There is an excellent pho place not far away. In the opposite direction, there's a Wendy’s, where - only in Japan! - you can spend $20 on a Foie Gras Burger. I’ll let you try it and tell me how it tastes. 

Takeshita Street in Harajuku - All things girly and a huge dollar store


There are many more things, but I’ll save them for another day. Next Monday is a holiday (Respect for the Aged Day), and I’ll finally have access to my permanent housing, so that’ll be nice. I’m sure the cat will be THRILLED to move again.  

Sunday, September 2, 2012

GO GO SWALLOWS (pt 2)

This is Japan, so of course there are already videos of the cheers on YouTube!  

Here is the Yakult Swallows song for when they score.

And here is most of the Chunichi Dragons cheer that I like, but after the point where they start to speed up and then go into the actual song.  You can also hear the banging together of the bats that I was talking about (although you see a little of it with the Swallows video).  If I find a better video, I'll repost.

Happy Labor Day!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

GO GO SWALLOWS!


Last night, some friends and I went to a baseball game at the famous Meiji Jingu Stadium.  Apparently, it’s the second oldest baseball stadium in Japan and one of the few remaining stadiums in the world that Babe Ruth has played in.  It was so much fun! 


The game was the Yakult Swallows (home team) vs the Chunichi Dragons.  The Dragons’ mascot is a koala.  I don’t understand.  The English version of Wikipedia didn’t tell me anything.  One friend hypothesized that it’s because koalas are cute and cuddly, and dragons are not.  If anybody knows the true reason, please share!

Mascots watching the fireworks
In the middle of the game, they stopped for some fireworks.  I love fireworks!  A few minutes after the fireworks, the fastest moving DOWNPOUR I’ve ever seen came sweeping over the big screen and across the stadium.  Ten minutes later, the rain was gone, and we were back to baseball.  Final result: Swallows won, 6-2!

Just some random observations:

* On my way to the gate where I could buy last-minute tickets, I passed by what I think is the Swallows’ clubhouse.  A Swallows player who appears to be African American came strolling into the stadium.  What was funny about this was seeing all of the little old Japanese ladies who were frantically trying to snap a picture of him with their cell phones.  I was very close to being elbowed out of the way.  Those little old ladies are not only genki; they’re also tech-savvy!

* There was a wide variety of food, with prices not really any more expensive than you would see outside the stadium.  You can also bring in food and beverages, which means that the 5-minute walk from the subway is lined with people/restaurants selling drinks and food. 

* In Japan, not only do you have people carrying around beer, soda and ice cream to sell, you also have beer on tap – i.e. girls walk around with a small tank (backpack-sized) of beer on their back.

* We sat in the outfield, which is cheaper and has no assigned seats.  By the time we arrived, seat availability and chance had us sitting with the Dragons, but either side would be fun.  Both sides had a few trumpet players, a guy who swings a giant flag, and a guy on a ladder leading the whole section in cheers and songs for their team.  Everybody was singing/cheering and banging these small plastic baseball bats together in rhythm (like drumsticks).  My favorite Dragons cheer was the one that started out with everybody singing long tones – rather 3rd Encounters-esque.

Dragons fans
* Whenever the Swallows score (and again at the end when they won) the fans all sing a song while waving small plastic umbrellas.  It’s very fun looking.  Next time, I’ll try to get to the game really early so that I can sit on that side and get a video of it.

Swallows fans celebrating their win