Let's Talk Some Trash...

I'm baaaack. Whew! That was a long hiatus. Enough time for me to get the house mostly in order, and get the kids started in school. Today was their first day, and today the cable and internet were hooked up! I really feel human again - almost as good as alphabetizing my spices.

So, what's been the single thing that has consistently taken up several hours of my life over the past week since moving in? Any guesses? Not learning Japanese, not figuring out how to buy bread, not filling up my gas tank, not finding my way around the city. Nope, none of those things - it's been TRASH!! Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I was "green" when green was still just a color, not a way of life. So, pulling out recyclables is a standard operating procedure for me. Japan, however, is a small country with a lot of people, a lot of people generate a lot of trash, so the Japanese have applied serious regulations to undesired material removal. According to the "Rules for Disposal and Removal of Waste and Recyclable Materials", Mondays and Thursdays, I can throw out combustible material; Tuesdays is for non-combustible material; Saturdays is for recyclables - newspapers, corrugated cardboard. I thought that would include bottles and cans, but I was wrong - those are considered non-combustibles (Tuesday). Sound straightforward? Wait - there's more. PET bottles - water bottles and what not - paper around bottle must be removed, bottle crushed and TAKEN to a participating store. Are you still with me? Batteries need to be put aside and taken to ANOTHER participating store. Milk, juice cartons? Clean them out and cut them as per the diagram. Tie your newspapers, magazines, and mail inserts with rope. It's enough to make my head swim, and has been the topic of conversation at dinner parties, as well as a source of unexpected stress.

As you can imagine, I had a lot of unnecessary items moving in, and I've been wanting to become more samurai in my ways - so I called an agency that comes to your house and picks up your trash for what I thought would be a nominal fee. (Applaud here for the extraordinary patience the woman on the other end of the phone line had for my awkward Japanese explanation of how much trash I had, and where I lived) Their brochure advertised only $5.00 to pick up a TV, how expensive could it be? They wanted $300 to take away about 8 bags of garbage, that's how expensive!! I gave them $50 and they took away two bags and a lamp. So, I've been separating my trash like a good neighbor, and furtively lurking around at night dragging my garbage laden bags, dropping them off at different disposal locations, and hoping that no one will find out that it's ME who is depositing too much trash on this beautiful island country.

It's good to be back! Ja Mata....

Technical Difficulties

Sorry to have been gone so long! We're still without cable or internet access in the new home. Borrowing a friend's right now. 8k USD, you'd think I could get some internet access, wouldn't you? All is going well, and I promise to be back as soon as possible. Lot's of new adventures, trials and tribulations, so keep checking in with us!

Ja Mata...

Gimme a Break!! - please????

Well, we're in... In our new (to us) house. The house that is not yet a home. The house that has already caused me to swear under my breath at my old self (the one that was prepping for the move a short few weeks ago) about WHY, oh WHY did I bring so much stuff to Japan? Did I not know that things are smaller in Japan? The house itself brags several hundred square feet in the living area and my bedroom. That's it, though. The kitchen doesn't nearly fit all of my food, much less all of my cooking utensils. Most of that is my old self's fault, though. I fancied myself a great chef over the past several months in Monterey, and began purchasing things that I had never used before, and probably will not use for several more years. I used those daggone heavy pistachio green, and Tiffany blue dutch ovens for the two times that I actually made osso bucco, though! One has to go. Same for my pressure cookers - why do I need two of them? Roasters, etc. Frankly they don't even fit into my miniature sized oven. Should have saved all of my "Easy bake"-ware from when I was a kid - they would have been more useful. All my visions of serving a traditional American-style homecooked Thanksgiving have gone out the window. I'll have to improvise.

The movers were great - they unloaded and unpacked all of our stuff in 5 hours! That was two days ago, and the house is still a wreck. I did get my spices alphabatized and put away this morning, so I'm starting to feel human again. We spent our first night there last night, and fortunately we all had a great night's sleep in our own beds and linens again. I dreamed that elves came in and organized everything and woke up to the same old mess. Damn elves are slacking off.

There is great enjoyment in finding our old treasures again. I heard an incredibly loud screeching coming from upstairs, and thought one of the kids had found an old radio and were trying to tune in a distant station. I climbed the stairs to find this image of David. He had found my old violin, taken it out, and was playing away on it. He constantly amazes me. He must have seen an image of someone playing a violin at some point. He was actually holding it and doing everything correctly. I recalled that the screeching noise was much how I continued to sound even after several years of lessons. Hope his musical skills far surpass mine!

I'll be off the net for a few days until we get internet set up in the new place. Blog at you later..

Ja Mata!

Harajuku Boyz

We'll fit in just fine here. If you've heard Gwen Stefani's song "Harajuku Girls", then you have an idea of the trendy fashion that blesses these enviable streets. Anna Sui, Christian Dior, Fendi, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, they're all here with flair. Well, that's NOT where we were today. We chose the less pricey, more dicey other side of the Harajuku tracks, and were well rewarded for our choice!

Yoyogi Park, especially on Sundays, is where you'll find teens (and adults) in cosplay - short for "costume play" and refers to a subculture where dressing up as manga, anime, and Japanese movie characters, etc. is a means of expression. Looks no different from how I WANTED to dress in the 80s. We were there more for the plethora of bands that I had heard would be there. As soon as we hopped out of the car (yes, I drove there -got pulled over by a policeman for making an illegal U-turn - whipped out my stumbling Japanese, and he decided it was worth too much trouble to haul me in. You could see it in his eyes as he several times said, "U-turn, no good" while using the international crossed arm signal for "no-good". Ok, got it!!) Chris and David ran to the sound of screaming guitars, and screeching vocals. I caught up and found both boys, just like in the states, right in front of the band, dancing their little booties off, and the crowd snapping pictures and cheering them on like crazy. If I thought they garnered attention whenever we attended county fairs and local events in the U.S. - they're taking it to a new level here. There were a few news/documentary cameras rolling, too. Never know where their images will show up next. Band members let them talk on the mikes and strum their guitars. The boys were in heaven. As we continued to walk around the park, stopping to dance and listen to other bands, people - Japanese and English speakers - would stop us and tell me what "party animal" kids I had. Uh, gee great - that kind of scares me. Sigh...

This one band in particular took a liking to the boys...Kind of hard to see here, but the lead singer is tall and HOT!!

Ja Mata!

Tower Envy

After a nice little nap and thunder storm, the boys and I ventured out for some driving practice. After a few random turns off of Roppongi Dori, we ran smack into the Tokyo Tower. What better way to run off some extra energy than to take a trip up to one of Tokyo's most popular attractions? Did you know there was even a Tokyo Tower? This is as close to the Eiffel Tower as I will get for awhile, I imagine. According to the Tokyo Tower brochure - I might as well forego even wanting to see the Eiffel Tower - it would just pale in comparison, apparently. Read this excerpt from my brochure and you'll see why: "333m - Height of the Tokyo Tower. Since its opening in 1958, the Tokyo Tower has been the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is 320 m high." Actually according to the official website, the Eiffel Tower is 312m high. "The Tokyo Tower weighs about 4,000 tons. It is much lighter than the Eiffel Tower, which weighs 7,000 tons, a result of remarkable advances in steel manufacturing and construction technology." It also functions as a support for an antenna that broadcasts both digital radio and digital TV signals. So clearly there's no reason to visit the Eiffel Tower now - well maybe to see the view. Do you think if Tom Cruise had proposed to Katie Holmes here, it would have garnered the same amount of attention? Actually, it was a pretty neat adventure and I'm glad we stumbled upon it.

Japan's love affair with anime and mascots is very real, and sometimes a bit disturbing. Tokyo Tower adopted twin bother mascots called the Noppon Brothers. The older one wears blue overalls, and the younger one pictured here, wears red. They have published hobbies such as "meeting people" and "sunbathing". I'm not quite sure what the creators were going for, but the obvious image kind of smacks you in the face (not literally). However, mature adults that we all are, we continue to pretend that we don't notice that the brothers look like pepto bismol private parts, and let our children have their picture taken with the strange creatures. It could just be me, though. What do you guys think? Pencils? Coneheads? Oh yes, and the older one (in blue) also always has a bandaid on his "forehead" - WHAT??!! I just gotta shake my head sometimes.

Ja Mata!