Shopping in the Shade

Yesterday I made a special trip just to go to what is, so far, one of my favorite city shopping locations.  We originally discovered the Omotesandō area because that is where the single Japanese Wendy's is located.  I realized then that it would be a much nicer place for a day of  city shopping than the Ginza district.  For starters, one of the main streets is lined with large trees so you can walk in the shade on wide paved sidewalks.  (Ginza is a lot of plain concrete and exposure to the elements.)  Oddly enough, Omotesandō doesn't seem to get much press--it is very close to Shibuya and the Harajuku District which get much more attention. 

In addition to the Wendy's, there is a new Ben & Jerry's (also the only one in Japan, I think), a TGIFriday's and interesting looking pizza place I hope to try one day.  There are also many other restaurants and cafes around the area.  On an adjacent street there is an H&M (but I was very disappointed to find that they don't have a baby section--the one in Odaiba does), American Eagle Outfitters, Forever 21 (much nicer than the ones in the U.S), United Colors of Benetton, Gap and a Topshop.  Much of the rest of the shopping is very high-end, in fact, part of the reason I went was to check out a particular baby stroller but it turns out that stroller is extremely expensive in Japan.

I checked out what Wikipedia had to say about the area and was interested to learn that the architecture is a big draw.  Apparently a lot of the stores were designed by famous architects.  Wish I had known that before I went taking pictures---all I knew was that it was pretty, shady and very modern. ;)

shady street

the new Omotesando Hills mall, which I was not that
impressed with.  also note the Wendy's employees
luring people in for lunch

apparently I should've taken photos of Louis
Vuitton and Dior for the architecture but
oh, well....here's the Burberry

in line at Ben & Jerry's two hours after enjoying
a Frosty....you got a problem with that?

oh, American Eagle....I can't fit in your clothes right now
and you're more expensive here, but I still like you a lot

Pet Shop Girl

Today I went over to the Super Viva Home store for the first time.  I had always thought it was pretty much straight-up Home Depot, but it turns out to have a substantial Target/Walmart-like section, including a garden department and some furniture.

And....there was a pet department.  Several places around here have pet supplies, and there are puppies and kittens in the mall, but the Super Viva Home had a full pet store in it.  A wall full of aquariums, puppies, kittens, lizards, hamsters......but I quickly realized that there were a couple of surprises.

For example, Chad narrowly escaped coming home to a chicken clucking in the front yard.....he'd feel like he was right back in China, don't cha think?

you might think I'm crazy, but just imagine the fresh eggs

 The chicken would need a duck to keep it company.....

they seemed to be in the crate of their own volition

....and the chicken and duck would need a tortoise to keep them in line.....

he was either vain or getting ready to attack himself

....and a tortoise needs a hare.....

the bunny wasn't unusual....just cute

....but this guy is the last thing I need.  Matter of fact, if you're in the market for a frog, I can cut you a good deal.

I bet he's really lonely at night

Gaijin On Film

This is absolutely hilarious. And I'm sad to say that there are a few to which I can totally relate.

FYI, "gaijin" is a slightly derogatory word for "foreigner".

Rainbow Garden

Today I drove back out to the Ashikaga Flower Park to try to catch the last of the famous wisteria blooms.  I already did one post about the park at Christmas when we went to see the lights.  Today I caught just the last little bit of the wisteria, but they actually do different flower themes throughout the year.  So right now it is headed into the "Rainbow Garden" theme which includes a lot of roses, clematis and Japanese azaleas.  You can read more about the different themes here.

I almost called this post "Japan Shows Off" because the park is a really good example of how beautiful this country is......when you find a spot where they've laid off the concrete in favor of flower seeds.  :)

I had to get in a really awkward position to get this photo

the flower pyramids

see what I mean about showing off?

the last of the yellow wisteria

bridge over calm waters

small shrine in front of one of the wisteria vines

I found a tiny turtle.....there were lots of turtles in the ponds.....

.....and I ate vanilla and "wisteria" swirl ice cream, 
which mostly tasted like vanilla.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that they have a plant nursery onsite.  Which, for me, is pretty
 much like finding a crack dealer.  I managed to not go too crazy but I did buy a pelargonium.  I had never heard of it either, but I could tell from the picture on the tag that it was supposed to keep mosquitos away.  So I looked it up on my phone.  Sure enough, Wikipedia confirmed that it is believed to deter mosquitos.  It's closely related to a geranium, apparently.  If it really does seem to help with the mosquitos on my porch, I'll probably end up planting them all over my yard.  (In case you're wondering, I haven't found any citronella plants, but if I do, I'll be all over them.)

Wouldn't You Like To Be My Neighbor?

So if you happen to follow Chad on Facebook, you may remember that awhile back he posted about an older Japanese lady coming to our door and trying to tell us something.  Something that we didn't understand.  We thought she might be a new neighbor, mostly because she gave us a present of a box of tissues. (Tissues are popular giveaways and small gifts here.)

Well a few days later, one of our other neighbors came by and I answered the door.  This neighbor is a wife, about my age, with two adorable little children.  She, bless her heart, had written down in English exactly what she wanted to say and she read it off to me.  Turns out that the older neighbor lady was having some construction done on her yard and driveway and wanted us all to know that there would be some neighborhood disruption.  The tissues were offered as part of an apology.  I guess she had asked her younger next-door-neighbor to please go down there and try to explain to the Americans what was going on.  Sometimes I think our neighbors probably draw straws to see whose turn it is to come deal with us.

Anyway, I summoned up enough Japanese to tell her that it wasn't a problem.  I asked what times of day and if we would still be able to drive our car through and she said we would. 

A few days later, she came back with the actual construction foreman so he could bow and make his apologies and bring us a whole package of tissue boxes.  At this point I was starting to wonder if this construction really was going to be that disruptive.

They started on the 10th.

on the way to our house, going by the construction

leaving from out house, on the way out

the construction worker was behind the truck so I was
trying to not be seen

There has been a little bit of jackhammering, but this is three houses down from us so unless my windows are open I can't really hear it.  Sometimes we have to wait a minute for him to pull the truck back in so we can get our car through.  Chad and I keep joking that it's so annoying we are going to stop and ask for more tissues.  We are being completely facetious, of course.  Can you imagine getting elaborate bows, apologies and six boxes of tissues from an American neighbor or construction crew?

Peekaboo

betcha didn't know that frogs grow in Japanese roses

Holiday Catch-Up

I have missed blogging about a lot of Japanese holidays over the past few months so I'm going to try to correct that now. 

First off, I never blogged about Valentine's Day and White Day.  Basically here on Valentine's Day women give men chocolate, either because of a romantic involvement or out of obligation (like to a coworker).  It reminds me of elementary school when you had to take a valentine for the whole class.  I don't think it's quite as romantic a holiday here---it's really all giving chocolate out to all the men you know.  We were back in the US on Valentine's Day so Chad didn't get any chocolate at work.  White Day is on March 14th (one month later) and it's when the men return the favor by handing out a chocolate Valentine to all the women they know (and it's my understanding that they have to give larger presents, like jewelry, to their significant others).  Chad didn't give any chocolate out either--not very Japanese of us, I know.  Although we're really not sure how much of the chocolate-swapping goes on in his office.  Maybe we'll find out next year.  I did see all the elaborate chocolate confections in stores around this time---they get really serious about the chocolate here.

There was Girl's Day, also known as Hinamatsuri, or the Doll Festival.   It was March 3rd.  The day is to celebrate girls, and as far as I can tell, mainly involves grandparents buying expensive, ornate dolls for their grandaughters.  I saw a lot of these dolls in stores.

excuse the bad iPhone photo

Then there was Golden Week.  There are four holidays in one week at the beginning of May.  Most people take a couple of days off and make it a whole week vacation, although they also have to take their kids out of school if they are going away.  Not really sure how schools feel about that here.  Anyway, traffic is nuts, airports are nuts and trains are kinda nuts.  As I posted about earlier, we went to Kamakura to see the Daibatsu there and it was packed out.  I compared trips with another expat who went at a different time of year and yeah, so.....it was a madhouse because of Golden Week.

The Golden Week holidays are:

April 29th---Shōwa Day---To celebrate the events of the Shōwa Period of Japanese history (1926 to 1989).  A lot went down during that time period.  For starters, Japan went from being not such a great place to the lovely country we know and love today.

May 3rd---Constitution Memorial Day---To celebrate the postwar constitution going into effect.  And to reflect on the joys of democracy.

May 4th---Greenery Day---For this one, I really can't do any better than the interesting Wikipedia entry:

The present observation of Greenery Day as a national holiday in Japan stems from the celebration of the Emperor Shōwa's birthday on April 29 every year during the Shōwa era. In 1989, following the ascension of the current Emperor Akihito to the Chrysanthemum Throne, the name of the holiday was changed from "Birthday of the Emperor" to "Greenery Day". Officially, as its name suggests, it is a day to commune with nature and to be thankful for blessings. The day was renamed to "Greenery Day" to acknowledge the controversial wartime emperor's love for plants without directly mentioning his name. However, in practice it is seen as just another day that expands the Japanese Golden Week vacation.

May 5th---Children's Day---To celebrate children.  Historically this is also known as "Boy's Day" because families with sons fly koi banners and decorate with samurai dolls.  The samurai dolls are also very expensive.  Our Japanese teacher made the mistake of bringing us an advertisement of these samurai dolls which also had very elaborate samurai costumes for boys.  Chad really wanted one for himself.  But they are, no kidding, about $1000.  I don't think so.

At one point around this time, Chad called home to tell me about some enormous koi banners hanging about a mile from our house.  So I waddled on down there to get the photo below.  According to what Wikipedia says about the banners, these indicate that this particular family has at least two sons.  And that they are really into the koi banners.

There were a couple of other holidays in there that I didn't hear much about at all, although they are listed as public holidays.  Maybe I'll save those for next year. :)

The Great Outdoors

Since this is the time of year in which we first arrived in Japan, many things are reminding me of that time.  Things such as the deafening sound of a bajillion happy frogs in a rainstorm, the state of my yard, and the merchandise being offered in stores.

One thing I did not know before I moved here is how much Japanese people love to camp and cook out.  And they have the cutest, tiniest camping paraphernalia here.  In Aeon there is currently a display (the exact same one that was there last year) of camping equipment complete with mannequins.

they look like they're having a good time, don't they?

the telescope is a nice touch

In the first photo, see if you can find the teeny tiny grill. 

Don't see it?  Here.

This is pretty much the only style of grill available here.  Charcoal only, from what I've seen.  I actually finally bought us one yesterday (after eyeing them for a year) but I got the deluxe model that is twice as wide and has a tray attachment for small food.  But it's still a teeny tiny grill.  Hopefully we'll get around to actually using it.

Update 6/22/12: I saw big American-style grills at Costco recently.  But the Japanese people weren't paying them that much attention.  You can also get other large camping equipment (i.e. tents) at Costco in early summer.

I also purchased another thing that I have been eyeing for a year.  The company sends some dudes to mow our yard twice a year, but it just hasn't been quite enough.  By the end of last summer my front yard was a mosquito-infested jungle.  So I bought a lawn mower.  Not just any lawn mower, but a Japanese lawn mower.  It may be the most awesomely ridiculous and adorable thing I have ever purchased.

In the photo above are the two styles of lawn mowers available here.  One is old-school manual, but another expat got one of those with her house and reported that it wasn't that great.   So I bought the yellow electric one (approximately $175).  It's child-sized.  And it plugs in.  Like a vacuum.  It's awesome.   (It really bothers Chad when I talk about it like that so if anyone else out there thinks I'm a moron, YES, I realize it has a blade in it.  It's the same as the manual mower, but with a tiny little motor in it.)

yes, I scalped it a little

And you have to squeeze the handle to make it cut--because it's a toy--so I think it would be really hard to cut off an appendage.  I think the biggest problem I'll have is keeping the cord out of the way--because it's a vacuum cleaner.  In fact, I'm probably going to call it the yard vacuum, because "lawn mower" is pushing it a little.

The only bad part about it? 

It terrifies my frogs.

he's not too alarmed, because he's up high, but his friends on
the ground were freaking out

Our 1st Japanniversary

Exactly one year ago today I was more exhausted than I'd ever been in my life.  I'd been living out of two suitcases for weeks.  I was freaking out a little and wondering if I could handle five years in this strange new place.  I was about to spend several jetlagged nights watching subtitled American movies at 3am.  I thought my house smelled funny (when it has been shut up awhile it has an odor which always reminds me of those first nights here).  I'd never seen such liberal use of concrete.  I hoped I could easily and quickly find a toaster, bathroom rugs and a toothbrush holder (I did).   Throwing out the garbage correctly was a major accomplishment.  So was doing laundry.  I had no idea that a rice paddy full of frogs could be so LOUD.  I had no idea how much I was going to miss central-heating-and-air-conditioning.  And I had no idea how cold it could get in the winter.  I didn't know how much I would grow to miss real American hotdogs.  Or decent sour cream.   I didn't think there was any way I'd ever be able to pass the Japanese driver's exam. Heck, I doubted I'd ever be able to find my way back to my own house. I also didn't think I'd ever be able to get myself into Tokyo on the train alone (I can).  Much less be able to navigate the Tokyo subway system (I can....more or less).  I didn't know how really nice, quiet and thoughtful most Japanese people are.  I probably could not have managed a full, coherent conversation in Japanese.  I thought I'd shrivel up and die from lack of Internet. I was about to go to Starbucks and McDonald's a lot.  I had a pretty good idea how nice it would be not to have a traditional 9-5 job.  I had no idea how to say "Yes, I'm expecting a baby." in Japanese.

I had no idea what an everyday adventure I was going to have!

Down South

This week is Golden Week (a big holiday extravaganza that I will hopefully post more about later) and since Chad doesn't have to work, we booked a trip to Yokohama.  Yokohama is on the southern coast of Japan, not too far from southwestern Tokyo.  We stayed in the Minato Mirai area, which is basically a tourist trap (malls, restaurants, arcades, ferris wheel, museums, etc.) right on Tokyo Bay.

Worth mentioning is that Yokohama was where a lot of foreigners first entered Japan in the 1800's after the country opened itself up to outsiders again.  So it has a long history of foreign influence---much more so than other parts of the country.  And of course, Yokohama was where a lot of the WWII action went down.

We pretty much just walked around, ate (Cold Stone Creamery, El Torito Mexican, and whatever other American food we could find) and shopped for a router because we forgot our travel router and the world crashes down around us when we don't have WiFi in our hotel room.

the giant Cosmo Clock 21 (at one time the tallest ferris wheel in the world)
and the amusement park area along the bay

looking the other direction, arcades and pleasure boats, hotels in the background

the Nippon Maru, (a retired sailor training ship) sitting in the bay at night

nighttime view of Yokohama from our hotel room

On Sunday we took the trains out to the Kamakura area, mainly to see the Kamakura Daibatsu (enormous Buddha statue) at the  Buddhist Temple Kōtoku-in.  I was surprised to find that the area around the temple was another tourist trap and also a beach town.  There were surf shops, ice-cream parlors and souvenir shops everywhere.  We even sniffed out a burger joint for lunch.  There were also a bajillion people, which Chad was very happy about because he looooves being in crowds of tourists.

you can see Chad standing in the middle of the street
here---all those poor people have no idea that he's on
the verge of a murderous rampage.....

As I said, the "beach town" aspect of the area around the temple was a little bit of a surprise. Initially we thought we should have stayed in a hotel there so we could enjoy the water too, but on closer inspection the beach was pretty nasty. Not polluted, because Japanese people don't litter, but just small and slimy with ocean goop. It seemed to be mostly a beach for surfing.

windsurfers

Anyway, the Diabatsu was pretty cool to see, but we didn't go inside of it (for an extra fee) as we had heard that it wasn't really worth it.  History tells that the statue was built in the 1200's and had a building around it that washed away in a tsunami (as did subsequent rebuilds) so in the 1400's people just gave up and let Buddha sit in the open air.

O ye who treated the Narrow Way
By Tophet-flare to Judgment Day,
Be gentle when "the heathen" pray
To Buddha at Kamakura!

To him the Way, the Law, apart,
Whom Maya held beneath her heart,
Ananda's Lord, the Bodhisat,

The Buddha of Kamakura.

For though he neither burns nor sees,
Nor hears ye thank your Deities,
Ye have not sinned with such as these,
His children at Kamakura,

Yet spare us still the Western joke
When joss-sticks turn to scented smoke
The little sins of little folk
That worship at Kamakura —

The grey-robed, gay-sashed butterflies
That flit beneath the Master's eyes.
He is beyond the Mysteries
But loves them at Kamakura.

And whoso will, from Pride released,
Contemning neither creed nor priest,
May feel the Soul of all the East
About him at Kamakura.

Yea, every tale Ananda heard,
Of birth as fish or beast or bird,
While yet in lives the Master stirred,
The warm wind brings Kamakura.

Till drowsy eyelids seem to see
A-flower 'neath her golden htee
The Shwe-Dagon flare easterly
From Burmah to Kamakura,

And down the loaded air there comes
The thunder of Thibetan drums,
And droned — "Om mane padme hums" —
A world's-width from Kamakura.

Yet Brahmans rule Benares still,
Buddh-Gaya's ruins pit the hill,
And beef-fed zealots threaten ill
To Buddha and Kamakura.

A tourist-show, a legend told,
A rusting bulk of bronze and gold,
So much, and scarce so much, ye hold
The meaning of Kamakura?

But when the morning prayer is prayed,
Think, ere ye pass to strife and trade,
Is God in human image made
No nearer than Kamakura?

---Rudyard Kipling