Bills, Bills, Bills

Paying utility bills in Japan is a little different.  When you get a bill it has a bar code on it.  To pay it you go to the 7-Eleven (which are everywhere) and give it to the cashier.  She/he will scan it with a bar code reader and then you just give him/her the cash (I don't think 7-Elevens take debit/credit cards here, some places are cash only).  Then he/she will tear off the stub and stamp it "paid" with the date.  I don't know for sure that you can only do this at 7-Eleven (as opposed to the other convenience stores) but I would bet on it.  Somehow 7-Eleven cornered the market on bill-paying, I think.  Although there isn't any kind of fee they charge, they just get the benefit of your being forced to go in their store.

We keep being told that all of our bills should be automatically deducted from our checking account but they still keep showing up in the mailbox.  I can't read them, except I can usually tell from the logo whether it's electricity, phone, etc.  And I can make out the amount.  So basically anything that shows up with a bar code I go pay.  Sometimes they send you "pre-notices" of a bill that isn't actually the bill but those don't have bar codes.

unpaid, with bar code

paid and stamped

Update: You can pay bills at other convenience stores.  Some of the bills even have the logos of the stores you can pay them at on the back.

The Paper & Cardboard Mystery

So the handouts I was given about recycling the garbage clearly read that paper and cardboard (including newspapers and magazines) are collected on the 4th Wednesday of the month.  I missed the first two 4th Wednesdays because I just flaked out ......or so I thought. 

Yesterday was the third 4th Wednesday and I was determined to get rid of our paper and cardboard or die trying.  I stalked the garbage spot at the curb all Tuesday afternoon (because the bins and nets actually go out the night before and as soon as they're there it's on) to no avail.  So I set the alarm and shuffled out there early Wednesday morning.  Nothing.  Then I laid in wait for my next-door neighbor......when she got home I pounced and quizzed her about how the heck one gets rid of one's paper around here! 

Turns out, the handout is a lie in regards to paper and cardboard.  They are not collected at all except occasionally by high-school students coming door-to-door (why they do this I have no idea).  What you have to do is take it to the local community center and dump it in a designated location.  My neighbor, who like most Japanese folk is so kind and helpful, loaded me up in her car and took me over to the community center and showed me exactly where to put my paper and cardboard.  And get this, you can do it any time.  Let me tell you, no one has ever been so excited about the prospect of taking out their trash.

Today I drove over there and finally got rid of our paper and cardboard.....I took some photos to commemorate.

what three months of paper and cardboard looks like

the section of the community center for recycling

  mystery solved

Baking Japan

(Sorry, this is going to be one of my more boring posts, but I do have a couple of readers who are on their way to expat with us soon and I know they'll be fascinated...)

Since I have some extra time on my hands I wanted to do more baking while we are here.  Unfortunately, as I shopped, I found that baking supplies are one of the hardest things to locate/translate here.  Most baking supply packages don't have handy pictures of the item or what you do with it.  You have be be able to read it.  Boo.

But after almost three months (!) my baking cabinet is finally in order.  (As for what I'm making with all of this, I'm thinking of starting a "recipes" page soon....maybe.) I had to resort to ordering several things but thanks to the wonderful blog Surviving in Japan I knew about the Foreign Buyer's Club and Tengu Natural Foods.  Both of these websites ship imported foods from right here in Japan.  Below is an idea of what is available here and what isn't.

What I Found Easily

• butter, eggs and whole/low-fat milk, of course (but unsalted/fake butter and fake eggs I don't know about)
• white and brown sugar
• spices (except for onion powder, garlic powder and ground cumin, oddly)
• flour (although it is really hard to translate and I suspect it's all rice flour, so I just gave up and ordered some all-purpose)
• vegetable and olive oil
• vanilla
• baking chocolate
• sea salt
• lemon juice
• the only fresh herbs readily available are basil, parsley, mint, oregano, chives and rosemary
• fruits, but some things come and go
• yogurt

What I Had to Hunt/Get at the Imported Foods Store/Excessively Run Through Google Translator

• cocoa
• baking powder
• cornstarch
• cornmeal
• shortening
• powdered sugar (although I found it AFTER I ordered it)
• shredded coconut (saw it, didn't buy it....ick...)
• ready-made frosting (As for ready-to-bake cookies, pie crusts, etc.......forget it.  Scratch, baby.)

What I Had to Order/Come Up with a Substitute

• wheat flour
• chocolate chips
• oats
• baking soda
• stock/broth
• vinegars (other than rice)
• buttermilk and/or heavy creams
• bread crumbs (I can't find panko--aka japanese bread crumbs--it's here somewhere but it's hiding from me....fortunately it's easy to make)

TA-DA!  (hey...I'm a housewife...this is what I do now... ;)

oh, and the giant bucket in the photo is rice.  because this
is Japan and rice doesn't come in bags smaller than 10 lbs.