The Amazing Race...or something like it

Some days, living in Japan feels more like training for a show like “The Amazing Race” or “Survivor,” except that I’m the only competitor in the race. Today was one of those days.

Without a car, getting around in Japan can be tough.  Especially if the weather takes an unexpected turn for the worse, like it did last night.

Today was my first day at a new school, Sawa High School. I was determined to get there as early as possible because it was my first day and punctuality is highly valued in Japanese society. In Japan “on time” usually means 10 or 15 minutes before you are supposed to be somewhere. So this morning I told myself I would make it to my new school on time, even if it killed me, which I feel like it almost did.

Rewind to last night. I couldn’t sleep at all because out of nowhere (the weekend weather was warm and comfortable) it got really windy and cold.  The wind banged against my windows and doors, keeping me up for part of the night.  I knew that getting to school was going to be difficult.

My journey to Sawa began at about 7:00am. I had two options for getting to the train station: biking or walking. It was so windy outside that I thought the wind might blow me off my bike as I rode to the station. But there was no way I was going to walk the 25 or 30 minutes to get there in this weather... or so I thought.

JaLaLa Cat Cafe, Akihabara, Tokyo

I don’t know what gave it away first: the entrance
door handle shaped like a cat paw, or the sleeping
cat with a fluffy head rested against the main window. In any case, Neko JaLaLa Cat Café was easy to find.

The café is nestled in a quiet area away from the booming electronic stores on Akihabara’s main streets and it looks more like a small house than a café. But even so, there are plenty of reasons why this cat café deserves recognition.

This café provides humorous English (actually more like “Engrish”) bios of the cats. One bio emphasizes the size of a cat by saying something like, “He’s big like a cheeseburger, big like Tokyo Tower!”

JaLaLa is also unique because it has customized pillows, curtains, and even key chains that feature the cats. The pillows and curtains decorate the café  and the key chains are sold for about 500 yen near the front counter.  And that's not all!

The day I was there, customers were presented with a small souvenir on the way out, a JaLaLa calendar featuring…guess who?

While paying, I couldn’t help but to admire the huge cat sprawled across the front counter, sleeping in the same position as when I had arrived. The cat looked completely at ease as it rested, unknowingly attracting passerbys and drawing visitors into JaLaLa.

Food for Thought

I spotted this while walking home from school a few weeks ago.  It's painted on the ground in front of a small dog salon near my apartment.  I guess inspiration can be found anywhere.

Happy Girls’ Day!

On March 3rd families in Japan celebrate Hinamatsuri, the Japanese Doll Festival commonly referred to as 'Girls’ Day'.

Girls’ Day is a day for families to celebrate girls and wish them health and happiness. Families place fancy "hina" dolls on platforms covered in red carpet in their homes to celebrate this special day. These dolls represent the imperial court of the Heian period, including the Emperor, Empress, and other court members.

There is a tradition that says if the dolls are not put away immediately after Girls’ Day, then the girl who lives in the house won’t get married or will get married really late. Yikes!

I was lucky because my Japanese teacher prepared a few popular Hinamatsuri dishes for me on the Tuesday night before Girls' Day. She made "chirashizushi," which is basically a colorful sushi plate, including mushrooms, finely shredded omelet, shrimp, green vegetables, etc. I also tried "sakuramochi," which means "cherry blossom rice cake." The rice cake part was pale pink pale and it was filled with azuki bean paste, and covered in a salty leaf. Both were beautiful and delicious!

However, I have to admit that I was actually a little disappointed on Girls’ Day. I had been looking forward to eating Baskin Robbins' "Hinamatsuri special" with one of my friends that evening. Pictures of the special sundae that I had seen showed multiple scoops of ice cream topped with two doll-like candy figures of a boy and girl surrounded by candy flowers. When we got to Baskin Robbins on March 3rd, I was shocked and sad to discover that they were sold out.  Perhaps the girls who work there were afraid to keep the dolls out too late...and I don’t blame them.

http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/events/2010/02/11/hina-matsuri-japanese-dolls-from-the-tsuji-family/

“let’s enjoy this lovely cake with fresh fruits and whipped cream on it”

My latest obsession has been with a Japanese character named “Rilakkuma.” I talk about him so much that I feel like he deserves further explanation. “Rilakkuma” is a combination of the Japanese words “relax” and “bear.”  The character is a huge hit right now and I can see why.  Who doesn't like a cute bear whose favorite activities include sleeping, watching TV, soaking in hot springs and eating pancakes and custard pudding? 

I don’t think a day has gone by at school in the past four months when I didn’t see something Rilakkuma-related (not including the picture of him saying “I love English!” on my bulletin board).  Rilakkuma has even made his way into my apartment.  So far, I own a Rilakkuma body pillow, pair of socks, toilet paper cover, keychain, lunch bag, stuffed animal, and notebook.  I think I’ve gone Rilakkuma crazy, but oddly enough I know I'm not alone.

I was grading papers at Tokai High School a few weeks ago and came across a paper that made me smile.  The topic was “What is your dream?” Most students wrote about their dreams to get into a good university or make it to the next level in high school, but one girl wrote: “My dream is to own many Rilakkuma goods,” to which I was tempted to respond, “Mine too!”



There is no such thing as owning too many Rilakkumas.

Walking (more like trudging) in a Winter Wonderland!

What: my trip to Hokkaido, Japan
When: February 9th-14th, 2010
Why: mainly to see the famous Yuki Matsuri (snow festival)
Where: Sapporo and Otaru, Hokkaido
How: 19 hour ferry!

source: http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/travel/japan_map.html

After having spent six days on vacation, two of those on a ferry boat and four of them on the coldest island in Japan, last Monday morning was definitely rough.  But I managed to make it to school just in time with omiyage in hand and many stories to share with my co-workers about my trip to Hokkaido, Japan’s northern most island.

February 9th: I left work early to pack my bags and make it to the Oarai port in time to meet my friends and catch the ferry to Tomakomai, Hokkaido.  At about 6p.m. we were off!  We spent 19 long hours on the ferry, but it wasn’t as bad as I had expected.  The massage chairs, ice cream vending machine, curry and rice lunch, and giant indoor public bath overlooking the water definitely helped pass the time and made the ride more enjoyable.

February 10th: We arrived in Tomokomai at around 1:30p.m.  It was absolutely freezing outside so I don't think anyone minded the two hour bus ride we then took from Tomokomai to Gakuen-mae Station (which is only a few stops away from Sapporo station).  After arriving at Gakuen-mae Station, we went to our hostel. I was a little nervous about this because when I imagine a hostel, I think of accommodations similar to those of some college dorm rooms: small, dirty, and cold.  I was so relieved to find the complete opposite at our hostel.  We stayed at the Sapporo International Youth Hostel, conveniently located about three minutes behind Gakuen-mae Station.  I shared a room with three friends and the four boys in our group shared a room across the hall.  The hostel had a washer and dryer, free internet, really nice showers, and a public bath too!

After dropping off our bags, we ventured out into the busy Sapporo nightlife in search of a good bowl of ramen and the amazing snow sculptures we had heard and seen so much about.  We had our first bowl of ramen at a small shop that a teacher of my friend recommended. The best part of this meal was our funny old waiter.  One of my friends is a really big guy.  When the ramen man saw him using a toothpick after his meal, he suggested that my friend use a chopstick instead...haha!

My favorite snow sculpture was the Rilakkuma one of course, but the Disneyland one was cool too.  In front of some of the more impressive sculptures, young girls entertained the crowds with their cute songs and dance moves.  At one point we had to stop at a convenience store to buy little heat pads for our shoes because our feet were so cold.  We ended the night at a local bar near our hotel.  It felt good to relax after such a long day.

February 11th: After grabbing a quick breakfast (I had a long doughnut-like thing with maple syrup swirled inside it), we explored some ice sculptures and even rode down a miny ice slide!  The ice sculptures were neat but would have looked even better if we saw them lit up at night.

Then we went to a different area with more snow sculptures and ice slides. Personally, I enjoyed the festival food at this place more than the attractions. My friends and I ate nikumaki (a rice ball wrapped in meat), fresh bananas on sticks that had been dipped in chocolate and rainbow sprinkles, and french fries.  Unfortunately, the line for one of my favorite Japanese foods, tayaki, was too long.  But the man I found wearing a tayaki hat definitely made up for that...

The Sapporo Beer Museum was next on our agenda.  The museum is made entirely out of bricks and looks like something you would find in a historical area on the east coast of the U.S.  After exploring the museum for a bit, we headed down to one of the lower floors where we tried three different types of Sapporo beer for only 400 yen! Score! We went to one of the beer gardens near the museum afterwards for some yakiniku (grilled meat) and vegetables. After this, the night was still young so we decided to stop at a karaoke place on our way home. We ended up at a haunted house themed karaoke bar that my friend and I had spotted earlier that day. The doors to the rooms in this place looked liked coffin doors . . . I love Japan.

February 12th: The boys wanted to go snowboarding and skiing on this day, so the girls and I decided to explore an area outside of Sapporo called Otaru. Someone told me that Otaru is also known as “the Venice of Japan.” Otaru is northwest of Sapporo; it took us about two hours to get there by train.  Otaru was MUCH colder than Sapporo and it snowed most of the time we were there.  At night it got so cold that my friends and I couldn’t even handle taking our hands out of our pockets to take pictures!

But before it got dark and unbearably cold, we enjoyed nice hot bowls of miso ramen with gyoza, some Otaru sweets, and bought matching key chains as mementos of our trip. 

The night was definitely the highlight of the day. We finally found the famous area we had been searching for all day: a long canal filled with small floating candles. The walkway next to the canal was equally amazing. Tons of tiny candles illuminated different designs that had been carved in the snow. The whole area was really unique and pretty-it kind of had a European feel to it that I loved.

After Otaru, we went out in Sapporo for the night and didn’t make it back to our hostel until around 5a.m., which is why our last day in Hokkaido started out with a late breakfast and a 30 minute back, neck, and shoulder massage…

February 13th: Since we had already shopped for omiyage and seen most of the things we wanted to see on our trip, we decided to take it easy on our last day in Sapporo. This meant waking up late, getting breakfast and then having a 30 minute massage at a place in Sapporo station.

After this, we took an elevator to the top of the Sapporo JR Tower. The tower is 568 feet tall with 38 stories.  The sky view of Hokkaido was great, especially since most of the buildings were topped with snow! The neatest part of the highest story was a little bathroom that was (purposely) built right next to one of the huge windows so that visitors can enjoy the view, even in the bathroom!

We considered lounging at a café until it was time to catch our ferry, but decided it was a better idea to try to see more since we were there. We took a short bus ride to a salmon museum that one of my friends had mentioned.  The journey to the museum from the bus stop where we got off was much more exciting than the museum itself.  We didn’t know that the museum was right next to our bus stop so we walked the opposite way.  After trudging through deep snow for about 30 minutes (looking absolutely ridiculous and getting stares from confused Japanese people) we finally arrived at the museum.  We didn’t stay there very long though and ended up buying hot oyaki and catching the train back to Sapporo after just a little while.  (side note: Oyaki is a small pancake-like dumpling that has some type of filling...mine had apple and cinnamon).  At Sapporo station our whole group had dinner together one last time at a ramen restaurant.  I tried cheese gyoza here for the first time, which I think is a Hokkaido specialty.

The ferry ride back wasn’t too bad, aside from the fact that the only available food was in the vending machines.  This wasn’t a problem though because we were told about it ahead of time and so we prepared ourselves accordingly.  By this I mean we stocked up on instant ramen and snacks from a convenience store near our hostel before heading out.  The ferry left at 1a.m. on Saturday and we slept until around 2p.m. on that day which helped pass most of the time.  Then we showered, talked for a while, used the massage chairs, and ate our instant ramen and vending machine ice creams cones.  The ferry arrived in Oarai at around 7:45 on Sunday night, which gave me just enough time to get home and get settled for school the next day.

The Yuki Matsuri was really cool, but I’ve decided this: next time I venture up north, it won’t be during the ridiculously cold winter season, a time when apparently people aren’t the only ones who require snow gear...

Relax Bearing in Cat Cafe #2!

Last weekend, Ben and I checked out a different cat cafe called Calico (how appropriate). He had been there before but it was my first time. This cafe was a 100x better than the first one we went to in Harajuku.  Here's why:

--> this cat cafe is two stories.
--> it houses 20 different cats, representing 17 different breeds!
--> there's a separate little room with huge glass windows and bar seats for people who want to eat while they cat watch.
--> you can actually feed the cats at Calico- this definitely made the experience more worthwhile.  Our little containers filled with shredded chicken created some intense competition!

There was only one problem with this cat cafe: it was kinda hard to pay...

I wonder which one will be next?

poncho or umbrella...doshio?

You would think that after living here for almost six months I would be used to the weather, but I'm not.  For some reason the rain always catches me off guard.

It was sprinkling when I walked to Japanese class today, so I stopped at a convenience store to buy an umbrella.  I've learned not to take chances when it's drizzling outside and I have a long walk ahead of me.  I've owned five umbrellas since I moved to Japan (three are in good condition and two have died due to heavy winds) but today I bought a poncho.  I thought this was a good idea for a change and it was, even though when I put it on, about a quarter of my arms were still exposed and I couldn't get it to button in the front.  I guess it's the Japanese version of "one size fits all." 

After class, it was raining pretty hard so my Japanese teacher gave me an umbrella because clearly my poncho wasn't going to do me any good.  Why didn't I just buy an umbrella earlier?  Oh well, now I have one more to add to the collection.

"I'll have an iced tea with my cats, please"

Last Sunday, my friend Ben and I FINALLY found the cat café in Tokyo that we’ve been trying to locate for a while (It’s on the 5th floor of a building that’s hidden down a tiny alley in Harajuku -no wonder why we couldn’t find it for so long!)

The café, called Chamamo, was much smaller than I had imagined, but totally cool nonetheless. In this particular café there were nine cats “on staff”. It cost 1200 yen (about $12) to get one drink and spend one hour in the café. Before entering, we were instructed to wash our hands and change into slippers that the café provides.

The girl who works there introduced us to some of the cats (one of them is named “Lunch”). She told us we could pet the cats and play with them, but we weren’t allowed to pick them up.

The cats at Chamamo even have space to roam around in the ceiling.  Skinny pieces of criss-crossed wood decorated with leaves are situated about three feet under the actual ceiling so the cats can climb around up there if they want.

Ben and I wrote in the guest book we found on a table in the café. We found entries from people all over the world, like Germany and Taiwan. Our entries were among only a few written in English. The best part of the guest book was scoping out the different sketches of cats that visitors had drawn.

Before heading out, we groomed ourselves with the lint roller they provide at the front desk. Ben said that at a different cat café you can actually feed the cats-that’s where I’m going next.

You know it's influenza season in Japan when . . .

not only is everyone wearing face masks, but they also dispose of them on the streets. I can’t help noticing them on the sidewalks as I walk to and from work.  This kind of litter is far from what I’m used to seeing in California.

It's also interesting to observe the variety of masks.  I’ve seen a Lilo and Stitch mask, a cheetah print one, and even one with a cat nose and whiskers on it (which I immediately sent home to dad, of course).

Some are small, covering just the mouth and nose while others are larger, extending from under the chin to right under the eyes. Some have thick elastic straps to go around the ears while others have thin straps.  I even saw one mask with extra padding to cover the exposed areas on the sides of your nose…talk about ultimate protection, right?

I’ve tried wearing masks a few times but haven’t been able to keep them on for more than an hour or so. I guess it’s one of those things that takes some time to get used to. Some people don’t even take them off to smoke a cigarette or get something to eat. They simply pull the mask down under their chin until they’re ready for it again.

I’m not really sure whether or not these masks actually prevent influenza or keep people from spreading it, but I do know this: if I ever spot a Relax Bear mask, I’m buying it.

"Break me off a piece of that kit-kat bar!"

I'll gladly break myself off a piece of any kit-kat bar I find in Japan, even though I've never been a huge kit-kat lover.  What's so special about a plain chocolate wafer, right?  Wrong.  I've found that Japan's kit-kats are far from plain.  Actually, they do sell the plain ones but why would anyone buy a plain kit-kat when they could get a wasabi one?

Pictured: royal milk tea, strawberry, orange, ramune (sports drink), ginger ale, wasabi

Not Pictured: vegetable, green tea, banana, chocolate pudding, white chocolate, watermelon, grape, cherry blossom, caramel, maple syrup, kiwifruit, aloe and yogurt, vanilla bean, blueberry, mixed fruit, kinako (soybean flour), strawberry cake...

Autumn in Japan

                                                                         

Happy X'mas!!

Christmas in Japan vs. Christmas in America:

--> a Japanese snowman is made out of two snowballs instead of three (see picture below).
--> Christmas presents in Japan are placed near beds, not under a tree.
--> Christmas stockings aren't common in Japan.
--> many Japanese students spell "Christmas" or "xmas" like this: x'mas
--> most of the students and teachers I've talked to aren't familiar with candy canes and can't figure out why they're shaped the way they are.
--> I keep seeing skinny santa clauses (big surprise)
--> Japanese people usually send New Year's cards to family and friends, not Christmas cards.
--> Fancy Christmas cakes are an essential part of a Japanese Christmas.
--> In Japan, Christmas is usually a holiday for couples, not families.
--> for some reason, EVERYONE seems to know and love Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You"

Lighto Speed!

Take California Disneyland, add some cutesy cell phone straps, replace all the English with Japanese and you pretty much have Tokyo Disneyland.  The best part of being at Tokyo Disneyland was checking out all the different Mickey hats and eventually buying my own (Christmas 2009 edition, of course).  I love how Japan makes it so easy to be fashionable, even when it's almost freezing outside.

I guess there was a bright side to having to attend today's work conference.  It was in a really remote area about two hours away from from the city where I live, Hitachi.  My teacher friend and I spotted these on the way there, and stopped to take some photos.

"High toe! High toe! High toe!"

Today I went to the girls' soccer practice after school.  Their practice "field" is a small sandyish area by the beach.  It's kinda cool because when the sun goes down and it starts to get dark and cold, you can hear the waves. 

But the best part of practice today was finally figuring out what the girls shout when they're doing laps (I've been to about 3 practices and haven't managed to figure it out).  Basically, they line up in 2 lines and do laps around the field, taking turns shouting "High toe!  High toe!  High toe!" 

High toe?  It reminded me of my soccer days when the coach used to shout "On your toes!  On your toes!"  I thought maybe they were saying the same thing but it didn't translate correctly.  Last practice, when it was my turn in line, I even shouted "High Toe!  High Toe!  High toe!" 

I was completely wrong.

Today I finally asked a girl to explain what they mean when they shout "High toe."  I could tell she was confused.  She looked at me and said "Fighto."  They say "Fight."

The end of practice is always interesting too.  The girls all line up on the sideline, but instead of doing sprints (which is what lining up on the sideline at the end of soccer practice usually meant at my high school) they shout "arigato gozaimashita" (thank you very much) and then bow to the field.

Rainy Day in Tokai

So today has been rainy and FREEZING but luckily I had a really good day at Tokai and an equally successful Japanese lesson to make up for it.  This morning I got to school early because I took the train instead of carpooling with my English teacher.  We left for the train station at 7a.m. which means I was supposed to get up at 5:30 but of course I woke up around 6:15.  I hopped in the shower, knowing that I wouldn't have time to dry my hair.  That was my first huge mistake-I didn't realize how ridiculously cold it was going to be.

I got to school early and pretended to look busy while really pondering how I was going to survive the freezing teachers room all day.  I forgot to grab my jacket on the way out of my apartment this morning (huge mistake #2).  But luckily, I was wearing "heat tech" under my blouse.  "Heat tech" is a brand of under-armor type clothing that just came out at Uniqlo (popular clothing store in Japan).  I went to Uniqlo about a week ago and was blown away by the crowd of women that surrounded the heat tech section, while the other aisles in the store were pretty much empty.  I patiently waited and finally managed to grab a pair of dark gray pants (size L of course) and a light gray long-sleeved shirt.  Mission accomplished.

Unfortunately, my heat tech wasn't going to save me today, so I made a hot cup of tea to warm my hands.  It was seriously unbearable.  I was then told that tomorrow is examination day for the students, so there would be no English club activity after school and all of my classes would be cancelled except for one!  Then one of the English teacher's FINALLY closed the windows and turned on the heaters.  My day was starting to look up.

A few hours later, I had class with the same teacher.  I was prepared for the worst because I know many of the classes at Tokai are low level, but I was completely shocked when I started to give my self-introduction.  The students were attentive and quiet, they asked questions, and were totally into my worksheet.  After this, we played a game [one side of the room starts by passing around an envelope filled with questions and the other side of the class starts by passing around a stuffed animal.  I play music while they pass, and when I stop the music, whoever is holding the questions has to pick one and ask whoever is holding the stuffed animal] and they absolutely loved it.  Some students even stayed after class to talk to me.  I was so relieved.

Shichi-Go-San

Today, one of my teachers and I went to watch the Hitachi Second girls' soccer team play.  On the way to the game, my teacher asked me if I would mind making a stop on the way there. She told me that today is Shichi-Go-San, a festival day in Japan for three and seven year-old girls and three and five year-old boys held annually on November 15th.  The festival was packed with proud parents and beautiful children dressed in traditional Japanese attire.  I thought the girls looked the cutest.  They wore tiny colorful kimonos, hair pieces, makeup, and some held little matching purses to complete their ensemble!  Small booths lined the outside area of the temple.  They were filled with toys and candy for the children.  It was a beautiful day too, which made the celebration even better.

September Days in Tokyo

During Silver Week (Japanese holiday from September 19th-23rd) my ALT friend Ben and I decided to go to Tokyo for a few days.  We met on Sunday, but I actually arrived Saturday afternoon and met with some friends from Sophia University, who I tutored in Santa Clara last summer (see picture).  After roaming around their campus, we went out for dinner, drinks, and karaoke-always a good time!  I met Ben on Sunday afternoon.  After grabbing some dinner and getting settled at our hotel, the adventures began!



1) Tokyo Tower was the first stop. Built in 1958, it's 1,091 feet tall, the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower! We skipped the long line for the elevators and decided to walk instead (well, not really-we actually waited in the line for maybe 20 minutes because we thought it was the line for people who wanted to walk, but it wasn’t bad because the whole time we could smell fresh crepes from a small stand that was near the line). We finally managed to find the stairs and up we went. We made it to the first observation deck (about 600 steps). Our reward was a laminated wallet-size card that says “Certificate” at the top with a little blurb about our accomplishment and a funny little animation in the corner. Score…I guess. I wanted to do the climb during the day because I thought the view would be better but I was actually really happy we decided to go at night. The view from the observation deck was amazing and so was seeing the tower lit up. After we made our way back down, we headed to the Blue Note in Roppongi for dinner. I hadn’t heard of this place until Ben mentioned it but I was so glad we checked it out! It’s a small venue where we got a nice table off to the side and watched C.O.E.D. (Chronicles of Every Diva), a Jazz group from Los Angeles.

2) After grabbing some delicious chocolate chip scones and fruit muffins from a small café near our hotel (the Oak Hotel) the next morning, we headed to Shinjuku. Here, we explored the Meiji shrine. The entrance is through a 36-foot torrii (gate), the largest in the country, built from 1,600-year-old Japanese cypress trees imported from Taiwan. After passing through the torrii, we moseyed around the Inner Garden and eventually found the shrine. The whole area was really quiet and peaceful, nothing like the busy Takeshita Dori street we explored after.  I had a maiko appointment at a studio in Harajuku at 2:00p.m. and we didn’t want to be late, so after seeing the shrine (and watching 2 wedding processions there!) we stopped by the Softbank store (the store has a bunch of English-speaking staff and Ben had some questions about his phone so I decided to speak to someone too, just to clarify my plan. I’m not sure if that was the best idea because I discovered that my bill for the first month was about $192.00. Yikes!:/)

This is how my maiko appointment went:

 First, I chose a kimono. There were 60 to choose from, each made up of different colors and designs!  I chose a black one with pink flowers outlined in gold. Next, I selected three poses for the photo session. I chose two standing poses [one with a fan and one with an umbrella] and one sitting pose. Then I changed into a thin, white robe and the intense makeup session began! After tying my hair back, the man and woman who worked at the studio began applying a Vaseline-like base all over my face and shoulders. Next, my face and shoulders were painted white with a huge, thick brush. Then came the white powder, which gave the paint a finished look. Next came the eyes-the man applied black liquid eyeliner to my lids, attached fake eyelashes on top, and smeared a little dab of red paint under my eyes. The red lipstick was the finishing touch. My eyes had been closed for about 10 minutes at this point.  When the man moved away from me and I saw myself in the mirror, I was totally shocked but definitely amused!

Melt

One of my students recommended this song. . .