Magnificent Japanese Alps

Relief from the city came in the magnificent 3000 metre high Japanese Alps. Not that I dislike the city, but at last we could be outside, hug a tree, park our car out the front, have a BBQ without upsetting the neighbours because of the fumes and flavours and best of all escape the humidity of the city. The temperature has been as low as 22C, just bliss. So here we are in the Japanese ski resort of Hakuba, there are not many foreigners around, so we overdo the konnichiwas and are warmly welcomed. We have leased a Japanese cottage in the forest owned by a Scottish expat who has been here for twenty years, he has furnished the house with western conveniences and Japanese characteristics. Oliver and Sophia fold out their futons each day and pretend to be locals. Our neighbours of a few days generously bestow veggies upon us; perfect specimens of okra, zucchini, lettuce, tomatoes, eggplant and corn. Their garden has not a single weed, the soil is chocolate brown, water is plentiful, running through the fibrous, rich temperate rain forest bed.

We head for the bilingual Evergreen outdoors company and book into rafting, downhill mountain biking, canyoning and a firefly canoe trip. We have adopted the" let's try it while we can approach".

ATSUI DESU NE

Hot isn't it.
Japan comes out in summer.

Firstly the heat, minimum of 28 C, max 38 C, same tomorrow and the rest of the week, it is 30 C at 5.30am! The ice-cream index has gone through the roof, shaved ice is recommended today,but last week it was a soft cream everyday. The wet season is over now, it is simply hot. 0% chance of needing an umbrella but 30% chance of heat stroke, the sweat index is graded at "drenched shirt", yesterday it was "body seeming to melt", tomorrow it is "if you expect a lot of experience to be wary heat stroke to be". I do love this Japanese weather bureau, I feel the weather even on the Internet, I hope you can feel it too, back in Australia, where it is now the middle of winter. I know back home in Melbourne this forecast would seem quite attractive, at least for a day or two of summer pool parties and surfing down at Point Roadnight. Is this what Queensland weather is like? But here there is little relief, only my new Japanese parasol and our 5 air conditioners. Even the shower sweats out the heat after use and seems to trap the temperature. To get to the beach is a difficult drive through the traffic, I have heard of one family who leave at 4am to have a swim, maybe we should join them. But so far we have had trouble getting under the water, it is so shallow, even the pools are shallow, give me a 1970's deep and cold Australian pool anytime soon...please! Yesterday we were invited to a public pool on the far northern outskirts of Nagoya. A tattoo free, no nappies (like that one), no running, no towel kind of pool. I am getting use to the hourly exercises that we do together, all of us at the pool. On the hour, everyone has to get out of the pool whilst the attendants check for something, but what?? Apparently, they are looking for bodies, I have heard that twice now. I guess it can happen there are so many people here. After we get out we commence our exercises, all of us, the same routine every time. I have even heard the same "exercise-music" on the radio too and Mark starts his day at work with the same set of moves. The pool was heated, aargh! The Japanese like their water warm, like in an onsen. Interestingly, this pool was cheap to enter 510Yen for and an adult, the pool is subsidized by the next door power plant, where energy is generated for the pool's heating by the burning of household rubbish, now that is another blog!

So far these summer holidays:
we have been to see the sumo wrestlers,

bought a pet rhinoceros beatle and found all sorts of mushi,

met a geisha and danced at a traditional festival with friends with whom we cannot converse,

took a taiko lesson and played a shamisen, a traditional 3 stringed Japanese instrument,

fell into a number of American tourist traps,

travelled to Tokyo, Osaka and next week to Nagano prefecture,

shopped at the latest and greatest kids shop in the world called Kiddyland,

bought and lit firecrackers, Oliver's newest passion,

spent hours watching the fireworks in the land of Toyota City.

and felt our first earthquake!

Never a dull day in Japan.

I sweat!

I perspire!

No ..... I sweat, I sweat, I sweat. I sweat like never before! This is the wet season and wet it is, it really is, sticky from head to toe, everything and everywhere is wet. The body, the curtains, the food, the washing outside trying to dry sweats, the shoes, the veggie patch sweats, the couch sweats. We all sweat together! Now we know why we have 5 air conditioners in our 100 m2 apartment. Of course, we shouldn't turn them on, but, we sweat. We haven't got a bill yet but when we get it, it will be OK, despite Japanese prices, because we wont be able to read it:) We are using our fair share of black balloons here. I don't think that that Australian advertisement would go down too well here in Nagoya. We are using so much electricity, we even went to an electricity museum to make ourselves feel good about contributing in this way to the Japanese economy, although the fact that it is partially nuclear energy provokes the idea of controlling heat in some other way, like getting in the fridge.
I sweat so much, I thought about doing what all the other expat families seem to have done. That is, get out of here for the summer. "Where are you going for the summer? You are staying here for the summer?" They ask in disbelief. I am starting to be convinced, perhaps we should get out of here, after all Mark is off to the Netherlands for a week so what are we doing here on the kids 9 week summer vacation? Let's go too, "Ikimasho ! "So off to the travel agent we go and guess what?
Everyone else is leaving the country all 127 million and we cannot get on a flight, so Nihon it is! Sweat or no sweat.

There are some very enjoyable things about the wet season though.

The tropical climate brings out the most incredible flowers and insects. The grandiflora magnolia are magnificent, the hydrangeas, the butterflies, dragonflies, bumblebees and bugs surprising and that is just around here in our Japanese neighbourhood. We are growing kiwi fruit, sunflowers, tomatoes, vivid hibiscus. How can we bring our balcony plants and pet insects and crustaceans home?

Did you know that I have no idea who, if anyone is reading this blog? Today I received a post card from someone who does not have a computer, yet managed to read the blog and has encouraged me to sit up and write again. Writing this blog has been great fun and a way to say hi indirectly to my family and friends back home, as well as to keep a diary for ourselves. If anyone would like to know when I blog, go to post a comment and scroll down to subscribe by email. Thank you for reading it:)

PS. I went to the one hairdresser in town who does blonde. The word was that he also does orange by mistake, I went, I had no other choice and guess what? He does blonde!:) Fortunately I do not look like this local octopus.

TOKYO

Our car finally arrived last Friday. We have been waiting for it for 9 weeks now and in the mean time have been learning a good skill called "patience", otherwise known as "chotto matte kudasai" or "just a moment please!" Did you know that the true meaning of frustration cannot be experienced in Australia? Did you know that the word wakarimasen means, "I don't know" and "I don't understand" and not to mention that saying "no" should be avoided, so saying "yes" when you mean "no" is a better option, confused? We certainly are, sometimes we just get ourselves out of a muddle by a laugh and a smile, that seems to work extremely well no matter what we think we are talking about.

Mark managed the drive with our brand new car into Tokyo really well, despite being confronted by torrential rain and signs like this:

At 3.45am on Saturday morning our alarm went off for an early morning trip to Tsukiji Fish Market. With a mix of tourists and locals we queued in the wee hours to see the tuna auctions, some ending a night on the town. It was well worth it, again it felt like we were spying on an ancient art, perhaps we shouldn't have been there,  peering in on this Japanese tradition, serious men with tapping fingers, curved to indicate price. Then on to sashimi breakfast and the fish market proper where we were appalled to find whale meat on the menu.

Tokyo thrilled me with its' energetic buzz, millions (35 million) of people passing by going about their daily lives. The excitement of this constant stimulation was infectious, it was hard to decide how to spend our three days.We opted for Shinjiku, the Science and Electricity Museums and for the first time in my life, Disneyland. I cannot wait to go back, next time I might spend a day or two at Ginza, the consumer capital of the world?

Care to join me?

Mark had to hurry back to Nagoya by Shinkansen for work, so brother Ross who is visiting from Hobart, Oliver, Sophia and I had a dry and leisurely drive home to Nagoya:)

Gaijin

Anyone reading this who is under the age of 18 or male may now wish to leave this blog site.

Something weird arrived in the post addressed to me today, I cannot read it so I am curious as to exactly what it is. An envelope with a cartoon picture of two young women looking at each other with a knowing look in their eye, as if to say. "Let's go there together".  At first it seemed that I had been invited to join the secret society of Japanese fish grilling or perhaps ikebana. I had been hoping to have a few such lessons so that I could improve my knowledge of 1. how to cook a decent meal in this country and 2. to expand my knowledge of floral arrangements. Upon opening the letter, I am now convinced that indeed I have joined the secret society of women, I have the membership card to prove it. They seem to have my birth date wrong though, I was born on the 27/07, but not in the year 1939 as they seem to think. I would love to post a photo of the booklet here but fear that someone reading my blog may take the cartoons of female anatomy the wrong way. As far as I can tell from the pictures, there are 7 steps to being a woman in this country, all revolving around DNA. I have a  membership card now and appreciate that as an alien in this city, someone is really looking out for me.

FYI, Did you know that as registered aliens, we are the recipients of a monthly cash benefit for our children? We receive 13000 yen per month for each child.

Life is starting to settle down here now. For a moment the other day, I forgot I was in Japan. A beautiful still and sunny morning, 3 aeroplanes flying over head, not a cloud in the sky. The house is equipped, we have a washing pole, finally found a plug in Nagoya so that we can wash the dishes. (Please refer back to the kitchen sink plug on a previous blog) Still a bit challenged by shopping for food, still trying to find a strong coffee, although managed to get a drive through Starbucks coffee served with ice.  I am really suprised to find so many American chains here Starbucks, Maccas, KFC, Mr. Donuts, 7/11, and how to find someone in Japan? Directions via convenience stores. "I'll meet you at Family Mart," or "turn right at McDonalds and left at 7/11".

It is good to be an alien for a change. Not being able to communicate with people is a challenge, but to be in this predicament for a short time is a good experience for us. We are the foreigners now, perhaps we can appreciate life for foreigners in our own country of Australia and appreciate the difficulties that they must have. Simple things, such as installing a Japanese wireless system at home or when is a chemist a drugstore and when is a chemist a chemist and where is a chemist? How do you say that in Japanese? How do you ask for dencorub in Japanese?

For those interested in the outcome of our Nagoya Bay hermit crabs; we started with 8, spent AU$60 on a tank and set-up, spent the next day fearing for the lives of our newly named pets, and watched in disbelief as the harmless crustaceans new home turned into a "Tank of Terror". These Japanese hermit crabs are really aggressive, the big ones ate the medium ones, slowly ripping off their claws, consuming them limb by limb-ouch! We now have two enormous hermit crabs, Nugget and Samantha and two minute ones Mini max and ????, obviously not worth their trouble to eat.

So, we continue our adventure as gaijin in Japan, we are trying to pick up a little bit of the language and learn as much as we can about this fascinating culture. But for the time being we can only peer in and imagine the real Japan.

uchi suweeto uchi

Now that we have left our weekly mansion, we realize that in fact we were living in the red-light district of Nagoya. Subtle as it was to a foreigner with no hiragana or kanji skills, a picture tells a thousand words. Our eyes were only for sakura and sushi in those first few days, delaying our realization of place for sometime longer. Should I post a photo to prove it? Argh. no.. I don't think I will. The yen started to drop when we realized that the surrounding hotels were charging for a room by the hour or extra for an overnight stay, then the routine of men, regular cars and regular days became apparrent. Should I send Mark down for a closer look? The district was hardly seedy, as if this was an accepted pastime and so as we have since learned, most Japanese would not even blink or think it strange that a family of four with a 12 year old boy and 10 year old girl should be accomodated in this part of town. The major give away and concern for our children were the explicit photos posted behind our apartment block. "Let's walk the other way today".

As much as we savoured the experience of weekly mansion living in the red light district of Nagoya, we were overjoyed to move on to our more permanent mansion at Higashiyama Koen. By contrast we are now dodging BMWs, Black Mercedes and Bentleys. Are we still in Japan?

Our permanent apartment is walking distance to the zoo, guess what is the star attraction? Yes, koalas! No wonder we feel so at home here, instead of samurai, kimonos, chopsticks or onsen we are surrounded by koalas, including the mascot of the local baseball team called Doala. To make it even more homely the local parks are growing eucalyptus to feed the zoo's start attraction, so an early morning walk past trickling creek, bamboo fields, cherry and  peach trees is concluded in a heavily sculptured eucalyptus plantation.

Our home is just up the hill from the train station, a four minute walk. It is very convenient, only a 17 minute subway trip to the centre of town, trains come every 3 minutes. Are we being spoilt? Yes we are! There is truly something to be said for this life-style. Walking everywhere, a quick drop into the supermarket to buy some fish for dinner, it is convenient and safe enough for the children to get themselves home from school. We also see children as young as 5 years old travelling on the train by themselves. People live so close together, so a friendly social network is formed, it would be hard to be alone here or even lonely. People are considerate of others and are quiet in their flats, hence no singing practise yet! For a visitor this seems like a near-perfect lifestyle. Are we experiencing life through rose-colored glasses? By all accounts working life in Japan is extremely challenging. We are meeting Japanese employees who work for 12 hours every weekday and then again for some period of time on the weekend. They have few annual leave days, it seems that they "live to work" and vice versa, "work to live". No wonder the Japanese are masters at sleeping on the train. 

Our apartment in this affluent area, though small by Australian standards is large by Japanese standards. We have 2.5 verandahs, 3 bedrooms and an open tatami room. We have a brand new renovated kitchen and the highlight of modern Japanese living; a self-heating, auto-filling bath, a tub that continues to keep the water warm, complete with call button when in need of a soda (oops hanging around Japanese/Americans is wearing off on me)

We feel very fortunate for our year in Japan. Arigato Gozaimus!

Golden Week

Golden Week

A welcome break from a new school and relief from Mark's killer commute came in the form of Golden Week. Golden week is a string of public holidays over 7 days which includes Children's Day (guess who made the most of that!) We were warned not to travel, although everyone else we know did. Having only just moved to our permanent abode we decided to stay put and enjoy the simple things in life, like sushi :) We set up a veggie patch and bought a washing pole. We ventured out on what felt like a wild goose chase to find a beach, and ended up with thousands of others, just out of Nagoya looking for something, but what? A Japanese lady slipped me a ticket, whispering 'secreto' ....ooo. Now this is getting exciting! Trying not to stand out with my secreto ticket we joined the throngs of happy Japanese wading through the shallows to find a smorgasbord of shells and infantile fish. The Japanese were collecting kilos and kilos of a small pippi like shells. Although tempted, our recent experience of eating sandy seafood from the Coorong was enough to make our teeth grind on the spot, so instead we emerged home with 8 petto hermit crabboes, for a tanko, not for the potto.

We ventured off to Inuyama in search of the monkeys. With the development of my acting skills (not my Japanese) we were directed cross country, over wooded peaks and past a shinto shrine with ancient cemetery to the Japan Monkey Park. But where were the monkeys? Guess who didn't get passed the amusement rides and never saw the monkeys? With the kids practising a bit of Japanese independence, Mark and I had a peaceful time looking at all 700 monkeys (note: the poor lonely gorilla would be welcome at Melbourne Zoo-I'm sure) Our own monkeys had a lovely time too spinning, running, queuing and riding on as many amusement rides as they could.