Ni-hon for the holidays

We went to the states recently to see our families and wish them well for the holidays. It was a bit premature, but I have to work on Christmas day and the subsequent days so we did our "thang" early. It was strange being back in the states but comforting at the same time. Driving was still the biggest scare, but what we were really unprepared for was the bitter cold that faced us in Kansas City. Wow, we hadn't experienced weather like that in a while. Disappointingly we saw little snow, which was the one thing we wanted to see while home. The most fun of the trip to Kansas City was surprising Jennifer's parents. The discussion about how to best execute the plan was funny. At Joe's house on the day of the "arrival" we spent the afternoon coming up with the best strategy as how to reveal ourselves when Joe suggested we not reveal ourselves rather manifest ourselves. We ran drills and had it all planned an realized everything up with which we had come was a little weird, so we simply answered the door when mom and dad arrived. Of course dad knew, but at least he acted surprised. We had lots of nice dinners, conversation and old family reminiscing about KC. It was great to see Stephanie and Mark who both looked well despite Mark's allergy attacks and demanding job. Joe was a fantastic host with the aide of Allison whom we all met for the first time. It must have been overwhelming for her, something out of a cheesy holiday movie, but Allison was awesome.

After a short three days we whisked off to see my parents, sister, brother and nephews. The trip was again, too short, but great to see family. We visited with my dearest friends the Caminis' and had a wonerful dinner. One of the highlights was seeing my childhood friend Tom Prevas. It was unexpected and a real treat. The Caminis dinner did not disappoint as usual. My sister made us dinner several nights as well and getting some good ol' American home cooked meals was wonderful. We got the boys Guitar Hero for Christmas and it was awesome watching them play. They are getting so big.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and あけましておめでとうございます (akemashite omedetou gozaimasu) HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hong Kong

We went to Hong Kong for our Anniversary back in October. It was amazing! Great food, dim sum (we ate duck tongue!) There is still a lot of British influence, despite the city now belonging to the PRC. Everyone spoke English, so it was very easy for us to get by. It was without a doubt, the most international city I have ever visited. We had a running game of "guess the nationality", trying to guess where the other people in the restaurants and sites where from. Lots of Europeans, Australians and people from other Asian countries-not very many Americans.

Go to Hong Kong! Really!

Here are a bunch of photos from the trip.

Old Colonial Building-Now Hong Kong Parliament

Crazy long cable car ride up a beautiful mountain to the Po Lin Buddhist Monastery

The largest Buddha statue in the world. David feeling the zen under a replica of Sidartha's bohdi tree.

We're a long way from home! We comforted ourselves with a vegetarian lunch served in the monastery cafeteria. Supposedly this is what the monks eat. It was actually really good food. We could hear the monks chanting in the temple across the square, but it is requested that they not be photographed.

A day at the open air markets

City view from the very aptly named bar, Deck n' Beer.

Finally! A glimpse of a junk boat from our hotel window. Dave in front of the colonial train terminal, the last stop on the Orient Express. Hilarious!

A Mercedes truck delivering Coca Cola to McDonalds. Evidence that Capitalism is alive and well in Hong Kong.

着物 (kim-Oh! No!)

After we attended the tea gathering our friends Etsuko-san and Nakano-san took us around the Asakusa market area. We had been there before, but it was nice since we were armed this time with Japanese guides. The market is a jaunty array of every type of vendor imaginable; food, clothing, pet clothing, swords, and yes, much of it is simply junk, but it is is fun to get lost in the fray. We went to what is considered the best tenpura (yes, the spelling is correct) restaurants in the area, and it was fantastic. The Japanese do things simply. They have a few recipes that are wholly Japanese and within those few recipes they have prepared them over and over in every different way possible using the same few ingredients in different ratios until it is, in their eyes, perfected. Tenpura is one of those recipes and this place delivered big time. We have always thought that staying in the restaurant business must be difficult, and here even more so when the majority of the competition is offering the same fare, one must get 100% right every time.

After lunch we walked around the streets some more and one of our friends casually mentioned that Jennifer should try on a kimono. Within the market area there are many vintage and recycled kimono shops, so we skimmed a few shops until Nakano-san emerged from behind a shelf with a beautiful garment. Before we could blink Jennifer was shoeless in front of mirror with Japanese women fluttering about her adorning her with this, that, and the other exclaiming how "suteiki" and "kawaii" she looked. Nakano-san and Etsuko-san were going around the store in a whirlwind returning to Jennifer in front of the mirror holding up other items such as, an obi, decorative ties, kerchiefs etc... next to the kimono and either exclaiming how beautiful it looked are crinkling their noses and going back into the whirlwind for another round. When all was said and done, Jennifer looked beautiful in the kimono. Most of the time westerners just look silly when they put on clothes like this. The idea sounds cool, but usually ends up looking oafish; some guy's big hairy legs protruding out of the bottom of an undersized robe that really just looks like an over elaborate bathrobe. This was far from the case with Jennifer.

Our friends promised to have their dancing teacher (Rui-sensei, who invited us to the tea ceremony) give Jennifer a lesson on wearing the kimono and with Nakano-san continually forcing the clerk at the shop to lower the price the whole ensemble was a steal that which we could not pass.

Rui-sensei met us a week later and spend about two hours showing us the correct way to wear each component. We both had to learn and I was taking notes the whole time. From start to finish, if one knows what one is doing, the process should take about forty minutes. It is complicated, and I am certain it will take the two of us well over two hours to complete the process on our own.

Tea for Two (hundred)

This past October we were invited to Asakusa (our favorite borough of Tokyo) for a tea ceremony. We actually went to what is called a tea gathering (chakai, 茶会); since it was not as intimate and there were hundreds of people. The invitation was extended to us as a thank you for escorting one of Nakano-san's friends (Rui) on base for pizza. Not sure sure how they are equivalent gestures, but I think we got the better end.

Rui is a Japanese dancing instructor and we therefore refer to her a "Rui-sensei". In the weeks preceding the event we filled our heads with hundreds of questions regarding etiquette. We were just told it was a formal event and to dress up. Our friends actually suggested Jennifer get a kimono for the event, but that is another blog update. Naturally our only knowledge of the Japanese tea ceremony were rooted in what we saw in Karate Kid II, we thought if Daniel-san could do it... Still there were questions, put yourselves in our shoes; someone tells you that you will be attending a Japanese tea ceremony; you cannot decline the invitation for fear of it being an insult. The image surrounding this event (to us gaijin) is one of solemn reverence that which cannot be broken. In reality this was not the case at all and the weeks of stressing over what to wear, how to act, sitting seiza for hours et cetera were for nothing.

The "gathering" was at an off-limits section of the Asakusa temple (the biggest one in Tokyo); so just starting out it felt special. We arrived (the only gaijin) with our group, Rui-sensei, Nakano-san, and Etsuko-san. EVERYONE was in full regalia, kimono, hakama, you name it. This made us at first feel a little out of place, but we noticed one family, the father in jeans, so we were good. We were scheduled to attend four teas. We were given tickets so that we could make reservations for each tea ceremony, kind of like the speed pass at Disney. Serving tea to hundreds of people forced each individual event to go quickly.

The first tea was nice, we sat in a small tatami floor hut, about 25 people and a trained expert in conducting the ceremony (the host) served us. There were all kinds of bows and verse to say, but we just got a spot in not at the front of the procession and mimicked the person next to us; it went swimmingly. It was much less formal and austere than we had expected. The mood was broken by one woman's attempt to swat a fly on the mat; everyone laughed including the host. Even sitting seiza was not bad.

The second tea was much different in style and flavor and we actually got to sit on little benches. The little snacks we were served tasted nothing like the looked. They look like little highly decorated cakes, but are in reality highly decorated mochi; Japanese pounded rice dough. Not horrible, just wasn't expecting it.

The third tea become the last because of time, and because of this the ceremony went longer than the others to fill the remaining time. The ceremony was in a beautiful tatami room over looking the temple garden. We were given zabuton cushions on which to kneel, I made the grave mistake of overcompensating the effectiveness of the cushion and plopped down on it. After about 15 minutes my feet began to tingle. The ceremony seemed to be moving at a snail's pace and with each passing minute the numbness in my feet crept higher on my legs. I kept looking at Jennifer, whom sitting seiza for so long seemed to have no negative effects; was she Japanese in a previous life? I was dying, sweating bullets to cope with the discomfort and finding every excuse to shift my position as subtly as possible. How could anyone do this for long and show no outward signs of what I had been feeling. There was a small child there and when the ceremony finally ended the host made a comment about how it was good for children to sit still through something like this to learn discipline. I was internally humiliated. To tell the truth I don't even remember how the tea tasted.

The day was not wasted on us (or me), it was an experience we shall never forget and it was, fanatstic to do it. Maybe I am growing up.

Yokohama Turns 150 (to the rest of the world)

The port of Yokohama is actually much older than 150 years, but this past summer the city celebrated its 150th year as an international port. Those of you who have followed our story from the beginning may remember us mentioning U.S. Naval Officer Matthew Perry (brother to more popular Oliver Hazard Perry) making arrangements with Japan to open up to U.S. trade. The trade began in the port of Yokohama and marked the beginning of Japan opening to the world and it's "modernization".

This summer in Yokohama there were several carnival style attractions celebrating, or not, the opening. We made a day of the celebration with our friends Etsuko san, Nakano san and her husband. There were several sponsors, so the attractions ended up being quite unique and diverse. Nissan had a display of its cars of the future featuring PIVO a pod looking thing that swiveled around making the vehicle have no distinct front or back. It ran fully electrical and in the video they showed about it there will eventually be little charging strips embedded in the road so that while driving over them, they give you little boosts of recharge. It seemed very cool, but a little to good to be true (at least in the near future). They also had a replica of the Nissan "TAMA" a car from the '50s that was fully electric and could go about 60 mph! What have auto manufacturers been doing this whole time?

There were lots of other "green-themed" exhibits; one with a cool video montage on a hyper-fancy HD screen sponsored by the NFL, of all organizations, showing clips of different country sides, bodies of water and rural peoples throughout the world. We weren't sure if it was some sort of guilt trip for our modern 21st century ways or a plug for NFL Sunday ticket on cable. The irony of the whole thing was that after all the "green" buzz that was being thrown at us we emerged onto a courtyard faced with a gigantic mechanical spider call LA MACHINE! It was designed and built by some French engineering company with no purpose whatsoever. It required about eight, what they called "pilots" to operate it. As its spindly exo-skeletal legs extended and retracted for about twenty minutes, LA MACHINE's engine billowed out clouds of black exhaust while spaying the audience with mists of water from either it's mouth or rear. Totally weird.

Spending the day with our friends was, as always, wonderful. Nakano san and Etsuko san seem to know the best places to take us. We had a fantastic lunch looking over the harbor where we had egg plant ice cream. Dinner was great too, The restaurant had an outdoor patio and for a more romantic setting for two you could take your meal on a bed; we did see some double dates happening.

Sumo

We went to Tokyo for the September Sumo tournament this past weekend. It was our first expereince going to see this spectacle live and boy was it fantastic. We have all seen sumo pictures and possibly even a match on TV. These do the real thing no justice. We were lucky enough to get tickets to the last day of the fifteen day tournament. The last day is supposedly the best because of the intensity of the matches and the main event occurs when the Yokozuna wrestles. The Yokozuna is like the heavy weight (if there is such a distinction is sumo) champ. There are acutally different classes of wrestlers, but they are not broken down by weight, it is by skill level and number of wins that determines your rank.

The first part of the day most people spend outside of the stadium watching the wrestlers enter. It is intense and one can see the different level of wrestler by the amount of cheering they get and by their entourage. They wear very elaborate kimonos as they enter and carry huge lunch bags with containers of chanko-nabe a soup with just about everything in it that they eat with rice, a lot of rice. Incidentally there are a bunch of sumo wreslter (ret) that have opened shops around the stadium were visitors can experience the sumo cuisine first hand; we did of course. Chanko-nabe is awesome! It is wonderful comfort food that stands up to any chicken noodle soup I have ever had. If that is what sumo wrestlers eat every day, sign me up.

Inside the stadium one will not find anything like going to a sporting event in the States, there are no jumbotrons (or Megatron); in its place is the roof of a Shinto Shrine (sumo originated as a Shinto ritual) that is suspended over the cerimonial wrestling ring. The ring platform is made of clay and the circle is outlined by rice bags. The "box" seats as we know them are square platforms with four zabuton (it is like a futon without the "fu") on which the spectators sit (shoes off). There are no vendors that run around and shout, if you want tea, there is an alley in the first floor were venders go to a tea shop of your choice and bring a tray to your seat with a porclain pot and cups. There are also walk-up stands that sell sake, beer and other event foods.

The matches are intense, especially when the higher ranking wrestlers begin. They enter ther ring and toss salt ceramonially to purify the ring. They then conduct three or four stare-offs where the two wrestlers step up to the lines and get in a football style stance and stare one another down until one goes back to the salt trough and tosses more; until finnally the matches starts and is usually over within seconds. The last (main event) match did not dissappoint. The current Yokozuna, Asashoryu, is a mongolina and has one of the best records of any yokozuna. he does this Hulk Hogan-esque muscle flex before he goes on and th crow seems to love it. Asashoryu actually lost his match, but the rule it when someone beats the yokozuna they have to immediatly defend their win with a re-match. The second match Asashoryu destoyed the guy. I didn't think it was possible for men that big to go flying, I guess they must really trust each other, because they can throw each other pretty far. After the Yokozua wins everyone throws their zabuton into the ring.

It was great and we are going again in January, so we will get better pictures, this one was taken by our phones.

KAMUI

Back in July I went to a chanbara show in Tokyo. It was put on by a group of five professionals who are without a doubt the premier action sword performers in the world. They take what I have been doing in KENGEKITAI and raise it to unimaginably extreme heights. They are called KAMUI (pronounced KAH-MOO-EE), and there leader is a man named Tetsuro Shimaguchi (picture shown). He was the master mind behind the sword action scenes in Kill Bill Vol.1, he also performed in it as Miki, one of the Crazy 88s. His magnum opus in the film was the final scene between Uma Thruman and Lucy Lui called Sword Fight in the Snowy Garden. KAMUI's live performance was amazing; and all of this introduction was unknown to me at the time. My friend Nakano san simply invited me to go see a professional chanbara show by a group of her close friends. I had no idea she was close friends with such people. After the show we met the members of KAMUI, who were all very humble after putting on such a display.

This past week Nakano san told me KAMUI invited me to practice with them, I naturally accepted and headed to Tokyo for a lesson in humility. I was like a small boy going to meet one of his favorite professional athletes only I am thirty one. I have been learning/performing chanbara for ten months now; I would not say I am any sort of expert, but I have definitely seen improvement. Friday night made me feel like I had picked up a toy sword and should not have. The studio of the greatest sword performance group in the world was tiny, it was amazing to think they were capable of such skill while practicing in such a small space. They practiced as if their lives depended on it. Their leader, one would never have expected such modesty, was practicing with a broken, taped wooden sword, and when that became unusable he switched to an old taiko drum stick. It goes to show that the attitude and skill level make so much more than the equipment.

It was humbling for me, but I learned so much about why these guys have dedicated their lives to this art. Tetsuro is a nationally certified Kubuki actor and Nanaougi-ryu dancer and uses his background to incorporate these touches into his choreography to make something totally unique. We had dinner together afterward with Tetsuro and one of the other members, Takashi Fukuda. It was an amazing time and the first time for me that I saw someone order a cup of hot milk for dinner. I hope to get another opportunity to practice with them, and I wish everyone could see them in action, it is truly out of this world.

http://www.k-kamui.com/e/

Blue Eyed Samurai

A quick note to let everyone know, KENGEKITAI will be performing again on 20 September. Photos from the event to come, but the big news is the new website. I did all of the art, design and programming for the site so please check it out. www.kengekitai.com

It is my first attempt at a website, I will streamline it as I learn more; your feedback is welcome.

Extra! Extra!

There is a Manga cartoon called My Darling is a Gaijin, that tells the tail of a marriage between a Japanese woman and an American Man and cultural hurdles they experience. It is so popular it is played on the trains that have small video screens above the doors. A Japanese woman wrote the cartoon based on her own real situation being married to an American. The story is now being produced into a feature length film and Jennifer and I were recently on set as extras in the "Gainjin" party scene. A friend asked if we wanted to do it (she works with the production agency) and we said yes.

We went to Tokyo for a filming session that was supposed to go from 2pm-4am. So we geared up, and went in. There were international people from all over, but we were suprisingly amoung the only Americans. The only critieria for being in the scence was to not, as it was put to me, "look like a Japanese". There were some people who made a living here out of being an extra and it was to easy to ask when they were going to realize that if they hadn't moved beyond an extra by this time it was time to find new work. The director was an extreme looking skinny Japanese guy shouting what he wanted (it was very Lost in Translation). We were told to act natural just don't speak Japanese and some Frenchie was all, "Can we speak French or does it have to be English only?" He asked in English.

We actually got to leave after a few hours and still got paid the same, so we win! It was a fun experience and Jennifer was in front of the camera for almost the entire scence so when the movie (sorry, "film") comes out it seems like it will be subtitled in English, so we will let everyone know.

Hachi

This movie is opening here in Japan today. We wrote about this story back in May when we saw the statue of the famous dog at Shibuya Station.


When I first heard about the movie I thought it was really strange that the story had been relocated to Rhode Island (RI has a commuter rail now? Wow, I have been gone a long time!) and starred Richard Gere-what? But the Japanese people we've talked to don't seem to mind. They love Richard Gere because he once came on a talk show here and brought the show's host a gift which nobody had ever done. So anyway, it's a big deal in Japan.
Wonder if The Cove will be as big of a hit here?

Razzleberry-Tastes So Nice!

Razzleberry is a new frozen yogurt chain in Tokyo. They've been marketing pretty heavily, especially to women. All of the toppings are named after gems, and as this youtube post says, the sizes are "cute, sexy,or glamorous" It's just like Pinkberry in the states, but more Japanese, more kawaii. Dave and I went to the one in Shibuya last week and we still can't get this damn song out of our heads. They just keep playing it over and over, I think we heard it 5 times while we were eating our fro-yo. We've both been walking around for days singing it.
This video is kind of crappy, but we didn't have our camera with us to take our own pics.

Dobuita Street Festival Pics

Here are a few pictures of David's Kengekitai performance at the Dobuita Street Festival on July 19th.
Tough Guy:

Unfair Fight (come on Dave, give her a break, this girl is half your size!):

Action Shot:

The Samurai Jig:

Off With His Head:
The giant hamburger backdrop kind of takes away from the drama a bit. Yokosuka is known for its "Navy Burger", I guess just because of the US Navy being here. I am not really sure what makes a hamburger a "Navy Burger", but every restaurant on Dobuita St. was selling their own version that day. (It seemed to be the main point of the festival.) They just looked like really enormous hamburgers. I guess the size is what's supposed to make them American. Ugh, I hate that stereotype!
Also from that day:

Yeah, they freaking love him here. Even people who do not speak English know the phrase "Yes We Can."

Old and New

July 19th was the Dobuita Street Festival here in Yokosuka. Dobuita is one block away from the navy base in an area called "the Honch". This is a strange area, and what typifies all the old stereotypes of sailors and the navy. There are Irish bars, taco stands, army navy shops and places that sell "hip hop wear". There are dubious massage parlors and countless chu-hai bars. The area is thick with young sailors on Friday and Saturday nights, and in fact the base sends personnel to patrol the area and haul troublemakers back to base. You can always tell when a ship has just pulled in or is getting underway the next morning by the rowdiness of the crowd in the Honch.

However, this is all completely tame compared to the Honch of the 1950's and 60's. The following four pictures, show on the left an old and right current appreance, are courtesy of graz-web.com







We actually ate at a restaurant next to the AMPM after the festival. David probably would have hung out here in "Sub Alley" back in the 50's!

Odaiba

A few weeks ago we went to Odaiba-a manmade island in the middle of Tokyo Bay. It was originally constructed in the 1800's as a part of a battery of islands meant to keep out American and European fleets. Now it's basically a playground for Tokyo.

There are several museums including the science museum which had a Terminator exhibit. The Japanese love Arnold Schwarzenegger. They call him Schwar-chan. (the suffix chan is usually added to children's names, or by close girlfriends, but it can also be a sign of affection.)

There was a huge shopping center that was designed to look like Caeser's Palace. A shopping mall in Japan designed to look like a casino in the US which is designed to look like an ancient Roman building? Awesome!

But the BEST part was going to Cat Livin. We paid a few hundred yen and got to tour several rooms that were set up as cat playgrounds. Cats were walking around everywhere and you could sit and watch and pet them for as long as you wanted. It was great. The Japanese are obviously so limited on space, so pets are coveted. Cats are really expensive here to buy, and unlike in the US, they are accepted into far fewer rental homes than dogs.

I am told that there are dog rental stores too, where you can pop in and pick out a puppy to take for a walk. We're headed there next....

R & R

It has been a while (once again) and it would be great to say it is because we are so busy whisking off to all corners of Japan for more great experiences to bring to our family on the home front, but truth be told we have been a little lazy just trying to stay cool and dry. The rainy season has come to a close (although it is raining all week here) and the summer humidity has kicked in along with the sweltering heat. To get away from it all we decided to take a trip to Hawaii. It was actually quite inexpensive and nice to briefly be back in the States.

We toyed with the idea of going to Hokkaido or Okinawa to escape tsuyu, but found it surprisingly less expensive to go to Hawaii. It was a nice five day respite from work. We stayed in Waikiki and did all the cheesy tourist stuff like eat at Dukes' and kiosk shop through the International Market. The beach was fun and the water was amazing. We went to the North Shore to Sunset beach to escape the crowds of Waikiki, it was great, we were amoung maybe five other groups on the entire beach. The water much rougher but the isolation gave it a fantastic private tropical island feel. The best part is we almost got homesick for Japan and quickly lost those feelings when we discovered every restaurant had Japanese menus and throngs of Japanese tourists milling about. We sort felt compelled to assist in anyway since the Japanese have been such wonderful hosts to us in their country, so when we had the opportunity to speak Japanese we did. A woman was very surprised to hear Jennifer speak Japanese to her in a store, and we received very appreciative thank yous. When we went to find O-miyage (obligation souvenirs) for our friends here, Jennifer zeroed in the same store all the Japanese tourists were using. I was beginning to feel like I missed something, how had Jennifer become so intuned with our new home. When I finnally had an opportunity to use my newly aquired Japanese language skills and culture, I geared up went over to two nice Japanese girls on the beach and asked if they could take our photo, "すみません写真ください" they replied, " Sure, no problem." They were Americans.

We are back now and ready to take on more of Japan.

Yum

Ice cream from our favorite ice cream shop here. On the left is Black Sesame Ice cream with a pretzel garnish. On the right is Salt Ice Cream and Pink Peppercorn. Sounds crazy, but so good!

Japan:10 Best Things

Okay, continuing from our last post...

Ten things we LOVE about Japan

1o. Bowing This is a really nice custom. There are times when a handshake would be weird, but a bow is perfect and polite. After a transaction at a store or restaurant, the employee and customer bow to one another. I also find it useful in the car, in place of a wave.

9. Coffee and French Bakeries Everyone knows the Japanese love tea, but what I didn't realize how much they love coffee. There are amazing coffee shops on every corner. A common in menu item is "American Style Weak Coffee". There are a plethora of french bakeries here offering very authentic pastries and bread. French pastry without the french attitude-Heaven!

8. Karaoke Seriously, I'm not kidding. But only Japanese style. I will never do karaoke in the states, but if you ever come to visit us, you're singing. (Dave does a great rendition of Bobby McGee.)

7. Eating Out This is also on our "hate" list. But the great thing about eating out here is there are restaurants everywhere. Of course lots of Japanese food, but pretty much any other ethnic food you'd want. Everyone always says how expensive Japan is, and some things are, but eating out is pretty cheap for the most part. And we haven't had a bad meal yet.

6. Public Transit The train system is quick, reliable and far reaching. It's great not having to rely on the car.

5. Safety Japan is one of the safest industrialized nations in the world. Tokyo is the largest city in the world. The Tokyo murder rate for 2005 was 1.4 per 100k people. By contrast NYC's rate was 7.37, Philly: 23.26 and Baltimore: 41.89. (via cityrating.com)

4. Unexpected Beauty This part of the country is full of urban sprawl, so it's hard to notice some of these little things at first, but around every corner in our neighborhood is a little garden or small well tended park. The plantings have been planned so there is always something blooming. Right now there are hydrangeas here-beautiful!

3. Fashion The clothes are beautiful for both men and women.

2. People The people are wonderful. They are generous, polite and accomodating. Most are fiercely proud of their culture, and in our experience, very excited to share it with us. People often go out of their way to help when we're confused. No one has ever really been rude just indifferent, which is just fine by me. The little kids do stare at us though. The children are so cute, some schools wear matching yellow hats and backpacks-they look adorable walking down the street!

1. Drink Machines No joke. There are more varieties of beverages here than I have ever seen. They're on every corner and some offer hot and cold beverages-even soup. Most have several varieties of iced coffee, so you can grab a caffeine fix in between the gourmet coffee shops. Some machines vend beer, sake and mixed cocktails. It's crazy, and so Japanese.

Japan's 10 Worst

Wow, it's been a long time since we last posted. We didn't even get a chance to properly commemerate our 6 month-iversary of coming to Japan! I thought I'd mark the occasion here by posting a little about our impression of this crazy country now that we're six months into this adventure"

What we Hate about Japan:

10. Taking off your shoes I know it's more hygenic to take your shoes off in the home, but it seems much less so at a restaurant. To make it worse, you never know which restaurants or venues you will have to remove your shoes, so sometimes I forget and wear sandals or whatever and then get caught. I've begun carrying arond a pair of creepy little ped-like socks so that I can slip them on if I need to. (There are entire stores dedicated to these) For me, when I dress up I have to remember that my outfit will look completely different once I take off my heels, and my pant hems are dragging on the floor. Dave has weird ninja split toe socks which everyone wears. I think they're creepy too.

9. Snakes and Pests Hasn't been bad in the house, but we've seen some creepy things outside.

8. Humidity It is very, very humid here, even when it's not hot it affects you. The Japanese seem completely unaffected. They don't sweat and wear long sleeves and jackets while we're in shorts and mopping our brows.

7. Eating Out At more casual restaurants, the waiters come to your table right away and expect you to already know your entire order. We've often been rushed into a "point and pray" at the menu before we really had a chance to open it, let alone try and decipher anything. I think this is because these more casual restaurants often specialize in a certain kind of food, and of course there are the plastic food models in the window.

6. Base I am so grateful that we have the base nearby. I think I would go a little crazy if I didn't have access to small doses of America now and then. However, the base here is very crowded, and we usually leave with headaches.

5.Cash A lot of places here do not accept credit or debit cards. American cards will only work in limited ATMS, so going out requires some planning.

4. Trash Trash here is sorted into 6 different categories. A different category is picked up every day Mon-Thur with the others picked up less regularly. Trash can only be put out between 6am-8am. And we thought Washington was bad.

3. Driving Our driving instructor wasn't lying. The motorcycles and scooters are crazy, weaving in and out of traffic. The lanes are narrow, but cars will just stop in the middle of the lane, put on their blinkers and go into a store.

2. House Ventilation/Insulation We love our house, but it was bone chillingly cold in the winter and now it is impossible to manage any kind of cross breeze. The washer and dryer are in the bathroom too. Yuck.

1. Being Gaijin We're learning a little Japanese, but ALL Japanese people know English. It's embarassing and kind of disheartening sometimes. Often when we think we've learned some tidbit about Japanese language or etiquette, it seems we use it in the wrong way, or observe someone else doing something totally different. This culture can be baffling. The Japanese, like the rest of the world have certain stereotypes about Americans which can be hard to combat. Yes, we will eat fish. No, not all of us are outgoing. No, we're not all overweight probably because, No, most of us do not eat cheeseburgers every day.

photos above are of Dave's creepy socks, steamy humid window and complicated trash rules