Kings of Convenience September 24, 2008

Living in Germany was a switch for me, in that I had to learn to do my grocery shopping in the early evening or Saturday, and my banking on Thursday nights. Which meant we basically spent Sundays whiling away the hours at outdoor cafes eating Vollkorn bread and drinking coffee and blended juices. In many ways it was a good thing. Especially the eating and sitting part.

However, I am now in a land where 24-hour convenience is the key to success, many people work six days a week, you regularly see kids in their school uniforms on Saturdays and Sundays (!), and the grocery is open every single day (even holidays!) until 11pm. This is a new phenomena for my European husband, but he has quickly grown to embrace the mentality (except for the kiddies in school on the weekend, gah!) – though we are both disappointed by the lack of outdoor cafes and brunching opportunities. Plenty of places to sit in the park on Sunday mornings for people watching, but it isn’t quite the same without the bread basket and scrambled eggs.

Another new experience for us is the convenience store. Yes, we have convenience stores in the United States, and in Spain and Germany there are Tobacco Kiosks and the like…but the Japanese convenience store is a different ballgame. Each store is open 24-hours, 7 days a week, and they are EVERYWHERE. Terribly convenient. By the way, 7-11 is now owned by the Japanese. No Slurpees, though.

Inside the stores you can find a variety of food, sushi boxes and snacky items, some produce, bevvies (there are many in the cooler, and even a “cooler” for hot drinks, but I don’t know what one would call that – a “heater” maybe?), and at the checkout, an area for hot snacks including french fries, corndogs (yes!), and a water filled hot box with all sorts of wet and soggy looking Japanese “Oden.” We have yet to venture into that area of Japanese cuisine. Yesterday, the nice clerk at the Family Mart on our corner pointed at the box of “treats” encouraging me to try one because they were on sale. I’m just not quite there yet.

Our favorite in this hot, hot weather is the abundance of ice cream. The ice cream in this country is very, very yummy. Which is surprising considering that 80 – 90% of the population is considered to be lactose intolerant. I like this one called Crunky. Besides the cool-name, it tastes like Nestle Crunch. It is calcium for the baby, you see. Jordi likes these vanilla ice cream balls in rice gluten paste. He is assimilating very well…

But the ultimate feature of convenience at the convenience store?

This is where I pay the bills!

When we get our monthly utility bills, I meander down to any convenience store (we have two within a one-minute walk) and they scan the barcode on the bill to get the price. I pay in cash, and the cashier stamps everything with official red seals. Much better than checks, and preferable to automatic withdrawal, because you are much more cognizant of how much cash you are blowing by leaving the A/C on all day…

Not that this is going to make me turn it off just yet. It is really hot here. And I am a human convection oven right now.

Seriously, thank God for these people and their 24-hour ice cream.

13 Cars !?!?! September 22, 2008

So primarily, this blog is supposed to update people on our lives here in Tokyo…but when I see things like this, I can’t resist putting them out there for others to read, just in case they missed it.

John McCain and his scary cyber-wife Cindy own 13 cars. 13!!!!! Barack and Michelle have just one. And it is a hybrid! Though it is worth noting that he bought the hybrid after getting flak for driving a gas guzzling SUV. To be fair, I’m certain both of these candidates do their fair share to leave a huge carbon footprint with all of their traveling and energy use. But 13 cars? Please.

I know some of you reside more on the right side of the political spectrum, in red-state country, and don’t necessarily agree with my political viewpoints (though our common DNA means you still check in on us occasionally!). Worry not – I already have checked into registering our new baby girl as the newest member of Young Democrats of America. And I am actively searching for a stuffed donkey plush toy to be her cuddle item at night…

Our first quake! September 21, 2008

This morning, at 7:21 am, I woke up, positive my husband had decided to grab a hold of the headboard and shake the bed back and forth to be a pain and wake me up.

But when I sleepily accused him of this horrific crime, he responded with: “Huh? What are you talking about? It must be an earthquake.”

Never having experienced an earthquake before, I was sure he was just continuing his joke; payback for me waking him up at least twice a night to go to the bathroom. Eight months pregnant=small bladder.

But after a few minutes of his protesting, he proved me wrong by showing me this website:
http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/3/21073000391.html

It shows all the seismic activity for Japan, and is updated almost immediately following any shake-up. This one wasn’t a biggie, just 4.8 on the Richter scale, and 3 on the Japanese Seismic Scale, and the graphic looks much more intimidating than the quake actually was. What I remember of it anyway.

Of course, when the proper time did arrive to awake this morning, my husband choose to whack me on the head with a pillow (I’m sure if I were not pregnant, I would have gotten the full body tackle and bed jumping treatment).

New-clear September 19, 2008

That is how they had to write the word on the Tele-prompter at the Republican National Convention so Sarah Palin would pronounce it correctly. Just like Bush, in her Charles Gibson interview (which came after the RNC!) she very edjucatedly (yes, I know that is spelled incorrectly) said “Noo-Ku-Lar.”

Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtRWaoEw0uU

I know it is not a marker for whether a person would be a good leader or not (though Palin has plenty of strikes against her already, in my book – regardless of her phonetic ignorance) but c’mon.

I bet she mixes up “your” and “you’re” as well.

Maybe even “to,” “too,” and “two!”

I can’t write my own name… September 18, 2008

So yesterday was a big day for us, as our Gaijin Cards (Foreign Registration Card, without which you can do nothing in Japan) were finally ready.  After picking them up, we headed straight for the bank so we could set up an account (money has been hanging out in the tupperware container until now!), and then take our new bank cards to get cell phones.

Contrary to popular belief, everyone here does NOT speak English, and though it would be handy if they did…they don’t.  As much as I complain about this language being way too hard to make a stab at, I’m sure they have the same feelings about my language…and I have a feeling they make much more of an attempt than I do here in Japan when they move to the USA.  But their alphabets (3!) look so confusing…

At the bank, things went fairly smoothly…we were planning on setting up a joint account, as married people often do…but that is not legal here in Japan.  So we had to set up two accounts, even though I do not currently make any money.  We’ve always been the type of couple who believe in keeping our cash together, so we had to take a few moments to figure what gets taken from which account…but all it all evens out in the end, I suppose.  I just don’t like it too much…more for the extra effort it involves rather than the divisiveness I think keeping “my money” and “your money” can create.  Therefore, we don’t call the accounts “my account” and “your account,” rather we named them after the color of our ATM cards.  Yes, there were 32 different colors to pick from (!) and while my husband was able to pick his within a few seconds of deliberation, I took a bit longer waffling between the distinct shades of “Green Tea” and “Grasshopper.”  Both green.  But each shade definitely had its own message it was sending, and we all know the importance of that.  Right.

When filling out the form, the nice bank guy, whose English was actually better than expected, seemed puzzled when we didn’t know how to write our names in Katakana, which is the Japanese phonetic alphabet (I think!).  So, he had to write our names out for us.  My name looks like this:

Once we had our bank accounts, we went to the cell phone store to get that taken care of.  We tried to get the cheapest models, which were actually phones designed for children…but our justification was that they were very durable, they had some GPS tracking device on them, and they were…the cheapest ones.  We aren’t particularly heavy texters or callers on our moblie phones, just to each other, so we really didn’t care about the bells and whistles.  My phone was the “Peanuts” version, it is worth noting, however.

We processed the contracts, everything was well and good, and we even got to pick out our own phone numbers, which was cool.  But when it came time for us to turn on the phones, it turned out that the menus were not available in English, which quite simply would not work…so we had to go to the next highest model in the cheapskate line of mobiles, and ended up with a green phone and a gray phone to match our new bank cards.  Kismet, I tell you.  We were so happy to be real people again, with a proper bank account, or accounts, rather, cell phones, and ID cards.

When we got home, I decided to try to charge one of the phones, and we realized that the charger she had sold us (you have to buy it separately!!!!), was the wrong one…

Which is irritating.

Because now, I have to schlep back to the store and attempt to explain what happened…

Though I think our saleswoman will remember us.  How many grown adults does she have come in, try to purchase Snoopy phones, fail, and then match their phones to their ATM cards?  I am thinking not many.

That, and I imagine most of her customers are able to write their own name.

We are like toddlers in this country.  Pointing, head-shaking, babbling overgrown toddlers.

With another on the way…

Affordable cheese!!! September 15, 2008

And even better than its ¥158 sticker price (approx. $1.58), like many things in this country – it looks like this:

Love being pregnant? September 13, 2008

I’ve heard women say that they just loved being pregnant…I wouldn’t say that I love it, it is just something that is always there – like having knees or fingernails (mine are super scary strong right now, by the way, due to loads of extra vitamins!).  Of course, my fingernails don’t wake me up in the middle of the night with a ferocious kick to the ribs like the baby, but still…you get the point.

It’s been a pretty easy ride, compared to others I have known, but I have reached the point where I am a bit tired of lugging the belly around, and will be very happy when delivery day comes…not only because I will finally meet our daughter, little cone-headed creature that she will likely be – but also because I will have my body (sort of) back, and be able to sleep on my tummy once again.  My husband will also be happy to gain back his half of the bed.  I hear that many women grow disenchanted with pregnancy near the end, so I know I am not alone in this…I feel very fortunate that I’m not working and I can basically indulge in as many naps as I like during the day, as well as being able to attend maternity groups where there are women from all over Tokyo in the same situation…that’s nice.

I haven’t said much about the clinic where the baby will be born, I realize.  It is just a 15-minute walk from our apartment, which is very handy.  The doctor has pretty strong English, but I can’t seem to remember his name in Japanese, I just know it means “in the bamboo” so privately I call him Dr. Bamboo – though I will need to learn his name at some point.  I think it starts with a T.

The clinic does not do pain relief (the epidural is farily uncommon in Japan) so we will be going au naturelle if things go smoothly.  I’m not too worried about this, because I have friends, sisters, and aunts who have all assured me that it hurts, but is doable.  Not having the option of medication actually makes the decision easier, like when you start a 10-mile race, and you know you have no choice but to make it 10 miles…unlike when you say you are going to do a 10-mile run, but you know if you really want to, you can stop after 5 and take a break.  I just hope it is more of a 10-mile race versus a Marathon…

The baby is doing well, she’s a bit advanced it seems.  Since 20 weeks, she has measured a bit over a week large for her due date, causing the doctor to speculate that she may arrive early.  I still have 7 weeks to go until I hit 40 weeks, but she is already weighing in at 4 pounds!  I’m a bit scared that we will have some sort of a gigantic super-baby, at which point I may consider hunting down an anaesthesiologist after all.  Also interesting to note is that the Japanese medical field recommends gaining 10 pounds less than their American and European counterparts.  Recommended weight gain: 15-25 pounds, not 25-35.  While in Germany and in the US, I was near the bottom of the scale, here I am allowed only 1 more kilo (2.2 pounds) before the birth.  Now, I know most women lose a couple of pounds in the last month of pregnancy, so I’m not too worried about this, but again, I was on the low end of the weight gaining spectrum anyway (due to the stress coming from moving to a new continent, and a bizarre stomach virus at 24 weeks that kept me on bananas and rice for 12 days).  The sweet Japanese midwife said: “We know that American women have larger bodies than the women here (!), but you don’t want to get too fat…this can cause complications during birth. Like the baby may have trouble getting out.” !?!?!?!?!?!?

I’ve seen some Japanese pregnant ladies around, and yes, they are really tiny.  They have no hips, so I am not sure how they get the babies out in the first place, so I can see her point about weight gain in relation to them…but I’m pretty sure an extra kilo or two won’t get in the way in my case.  My Irish-German-Polish peasant genetics surely ensure that the baby will have enough hip space to find her way into the world.

I need a snack.  And then, we are off to the Akachan Hanpo (Babies R Us in Japan) to scope out strollers.  Hope they have a sturdy enough frame for our chunky American-European offspring!  Hee.

Internet! YAY! September 6, 2008

We have our wireless installed, which has improved our quality of life immensely. And not just because I can catch up on episodes of “The Hills.”

I’ve been doing the stay-at-home thing for the past week, which I imagine will be much more interesting once the baby arrives – or if it ever gets cool enough to venture outside after 10am. I’m sure some of my overheating tendencies are on the part of lugging another person around on the inside, but it is also really hot and ridiculously humid. Trying to ride the metro last week nearly induced respiratory attacks for me and the husband…though perhaps the Japanese are better suited, because they seemed to be doing all right with the heat. In fact, when I go on my morning walk in the park, I am the ONLY one baring my shoulders. And note that at 7:30am when I am out there, it is already a cool 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29.5 degrees Celsius)… They seem to enjoy sweating or something, because most people seem to jog around in long sleeved shirts. And the other ladies that are walking briskly are often completely covered…though I’ve heard this is also to keep themselves from getting suntanned, which here is not considered all too pretty.

I’m getting used to looking different than everyone else; it really isn’t that strange to be the minority, and in some ways is a bit easier than life in Germany where we “blended.” The Japanese are very forgiving of our lack of communicative ability. The experience I find most bizarre is not being able to read a single thing…I want to call up some of the first graders I taught in years past and let them know I understand a little better now.

Being illiterate affects everything you do…we rely heavily on pictures to help us, and often open containers and sniff if we are not quite sure we are purchasing the correct cleaning fluid. I spent about 10 minutes yesterday trying to figure out if I was buying margarine or mayonnaise in a squeezy tube – the picture on the front showed the pale yellow product squirted on bread, so you can see my confusion. Unfortunately, the tube was sealed so I had to be a risk-taker. Thankfully, it was margarine…mayo on an English muffin for breakfast would have been a bit gross.

That being said, the task of learning Japanese is looking to be just too great of an obstacle for us. The language has no connection to any of the languages we know or have studied, and the three different alphabets are enough to make attempting anything beyond pleasantries and social necessities a fearsome task.

Like I said, for a while, I have lots of time on my hands to use my deductive abilities to find the products I need. Plus, a picture speaks a thousand words…and sniffing is worth at least 150.

Movies or Cheese? September 3, 2008

We’d always heard that Tokyo was an expensive city, in fact, maybe the most expensive city in the world. This fact was repeated to us many times when we would tell others of our plans to move to Japan. Since we are only on one salary, due to the imminent arrival of our bundle of joy in November, we had concerns about this as well. How much would groceries be compared to Berlin (where they are uber-cheap!)? What about utilities? Internet? Mobile phones? It was enough to keep us up at night – that, and my increasingly restless sleeping pattern (as a stomach sleeper, I am struggling a bit with the belly).

Here’s the rundown:

Groceries: a bit more expensive, especially if you are looking to buy favorite items from the Western world (cereal is approx $4.98 for a teeny weeny box!!!). The fruit is different, but still yummy, and a bit pricier, yes…about 2 bucks for one big juicy peach. We’re now on these pear-apple hybrid things, which are also very tasty – but come at $5.80 for about 8 of them. And then there is the cheese. In the grocery store, the cheese stands alone. It seems to be an impossiblity for the two or so years we are here. One tiny package of Emmenthaler, Cheddar, or Mozzarella is about $7.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we eat, or rather, ate, a lot of cheese. Sadness.

Utilities: no idea yet…get back to you on that. But, it is SO hot here, that we are continuously running the air conditioners (which are very cool and quiet, and work more as a thermostat than those giant window units I am accustomed to).

Internet: about $45.00 a month for wireless – and we will get it on SATURDAY!!!! Yay!!!!! What did housewives do before Internet? Seriously.

Mobile Phones: we have attempted to get these twice, but are not having any luck until we get our Gaijin cards – foreigner’s registration card. But it looks like it should run about $50.00 a month.

All pretty doable. We were feeling pretty good…until we decided to go to the movies.

We managed to find the cinema, get in line, and decipher which movies were to be shown in the original language. In the case of our chosen flick “Hancock,” English! But as we stood in line, we saw something that looked like a price list…and it appeared to us that our tickets would cost approximately 1,800 yen apiece. Which is about $18 – per ticket. Or $36!!! We didn’t believe this could be, but true enough, when we asked for our tickets, the price was 3,600 yen. Of course, we paid, because we wanted to have the Japanese cinema experience…and also because it was really hot outside, and it meant 2 hours of good AC.

The movie was pretty decent, and had some really funny laugh-out-loud moments – except that my husband and I were really the only ones laughing out loud…guess that Will Smith’s humor doesn’t really translate into subtitles. In general, it is probably best to dub funny movies, and subtitle the serious ones.

So, two things that my husband and I love – movies and cheese. Not part of our new life here in Tokyo. But I bet with some creative thinking we can come up with reasonable substitutes…

Internet pirated movies will do for the cinema experience. They do have popcorn here, so that won’t be a problem.

But the cheese…there really is no substitute for that.

My birthday is in a month…maybe I will get a hunk of Gouda with a candle in it…