The Honeymoon Is Over

If you read a lot of expat-in-Japan blogs like I do, you will likely run across some posts about the "stages" a person goes through during their expatriation.  They always start with a "honeymoon" period that eventually descends into a negative "Japan-is-terrible" state of mind.  I always took this idea with a grain of salt but unfortunately I am finding that it might be true....lately I seem to be out of the honeymoon stage and squarely in the "Blech, everything here sucks." stage. 

This is part of the reason that I've neglected the blog a little bit lately---the unhappy stage apparently induces writer's block.  But I am going to do better and get back to writing and I will be positive!  After I finish venting in this post, that is. ;)

Some of the contributing factors to my mood are:

1) The dreary, dreary, winter weather.  Winter really makes you realize how much more concrete there is here.  I am looking forward to seeing my flowers and frogs again.  The cold here is different from the cold in South Carolina too--here it is a dry, biting, windy, bright sunshine cold whereas in SC it was more a damp, overcast cold.  Our drafty Japanese house with it's million little heaters is also getting a little old.

2) As some of you already know, we are expecting a baby on September 3rd!  I have been in the first trimester for the past few months which, interestingly enough, coincides with my descent into the Japanese blues.  Therefore I am optimistically chalking most some of my mood up to hormones.  One of my biggest problems lately has been with food and smells---a lot of Japanese stuff turns my stomach.  (You can go reread this post now with a whole new insight.)  While I never loved Japanese food, I was fairly tolerant of it before.  Now, though, even the smell of it is repulsive.  Some days I swear this whole country smells like fish and cabbage....  I also mainly crave specific American restaurant food which I can't get here.

The good news is that all those other blogs confirm that this stage is temporary and everyone passes through it to a happier, or at least neutral, frame of mind.  We are also trying to plan trips to Yokohama/Kamakura and Kyoto this summer, these are both supposed to be beautiful places so hopefully that will perk me up.  Not to mention the excitment of a baby on the way!  Look for some future posts about my experiences being pregnant here (all positive so far) and our plans for how the entire process is going to go down. :)

The Throwing of the Beans

On the Japanese calendar, February 4th is the first day of spring.  This is just on the calendar, mind you---weather-wise, spring is nowhere in sight.  On February 3rd there is a really popular tradition that involves ridding your house of bad luck/spirits and welcoming the good spirits in.  (I know we just did this at New Year's, but apparently the luck has run out by now.)

To conduct the ritual properly the leader of the household (typically Dad, if there is one) puts on a devil mask and the rest of the household (typically the children, especially if they are small) chase him out of the house and yard while throwing soybeans at him.  You also have to chant "Oni wa soto, fuka wa uchi..." which means "Demons/bad luck go away, good luck come in the house."

Seriously, this is a really popular tradition.  I hear that in nursery and elementary schools, the teacher will put on the devil mask and let the kids throw beans and chase her around.  There are also big festivals (called Yoroi Matsuri) where dudes dress up as demons, parade down the street and people throw beans and whatnot.

Our Japanese teacher thoughtfully provided us with a devil mask and some soybean packets so we could conduct the ritual, but unfortunately I forgot on the 3rd (I was involved in a book) and didn't do it.  I doubt I would have been able to convince Chad to put on the mask and run around with me anyway.

supplies

The Sweet Potato Truck

Several weeks back, while Chad was still home for Christmas vacation, we heard a song on a loudspeaker coming from outside the house.  I wasn't too alarmed by this because I hear stuff from loudspeakers outside pretty regularly.  There is an elementary school nearby and sometimes I can hear them calling the children in from recess during the day over a loudspeaker (or I assume that's what they're doing).  There's also a truck that comes by about once a month to collect junk (small appliances, old bikes, TVs etc.) and it has a loudspeaker that continuously lists the stuff they will take as it drives around the neighborhood.

But this was something new and Chad went to check it out but couldn't figure out what it was.  Later, he asked our teacher and she finally figured out that it was the sweet potato truck.  Apparently this is similar to an ice cream truck but instead of ice cream in the summertime, it sells hot sweet potatos in the wintertime.  Our teacher described the feeling a Japanese person gets when they hear the sweet potato truck coming down the street and it was very similar to what hearing the ice cream truck does to an American.

Had I paid more attention to the song I probably could've figured it out because there is also a sweet potato cart in the supermarket that has hot sweet potatos for sale.  The supermarket cart continuously sings "Yakiimo, yakiimo, yakiimo desu!"  which is not the same song that the truck sings but I could've recognized "yakiimo" as meaning sweet potato.  I did get a couple of sweet potatos off the cart a long time ago and they were OK....more yellow than orange and not as strong tasting as American ones.

I don't have a picture of the truck, but here's the supermarket cart