In Japan, there is a process for everything and which everyone, without fail and seemingly without complaint, follows -- examples of such types of processes range from the manner in which everyone wraps up his or her umbrella before entering a store to taking out one's garbage where literally every other day of the week is designated for a different type of trash although the first and third Friday of the month is different from the second and fourth Friday. Seriously.
Today I experienced the process for buying a new cell phone. Contrary to popular belief, "cash is king" is not a respected and established philosophy in all parts of the world. In Japan for example, in order to sign up for a cell phone plan one must present a variety of documents and cards that together add up to be deemed sufficient by the powers that be, sort of like getting points for different forms of ID when first applying for a drivers license. Today, despite credit card in hand, I was sent away cell phone-less for lack of sufficient documents with a slap on the wrist of capitalism. In my case, in order to purchase said product and sign up for said service, I was required to complete the following process: step one - obtain visa from Japanese consulate in San Francisco; step two - register as an "alien" in the local city hall; step three - wait two weeks and pick up alien card; step four - bring alien card and credit card to cell phone provider and attempt to explain to non-English speaking representatives that I would please please please like to purchase an iphone; step five - pay. At least, I am hoping that this will be the last step!
Another process involves enrolling one's child in nursery school but I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say, it is no small task although we are happy to report that Chloe-chan did attend her first ever all-Japanese day care session yesterday. Yay Chloe!
We had the pleasure of witnessing a local festival (or matsuri) last weekend first from our own kitchen window as the procession passed by and then at the local shrine accompanied by many of our neighbors. As a ritual from Japan's shinto religion, the local shrine's deity is carried through the town accompanied by drum music and then returned to the shrine. Our neighbor Kyoshi explained that sometimes two different processions carrying different deities will cross paths and stage a battle. He said quite often the battles, although staged, are also real. Things are not what they seem, er actually maybe they are. The scene at the shrine was reminiscent of a fair with cotton candy and toys and games, although Japanese style of course so Nick enjoyed the yakitori (grilled meat on skewers) and takoyaki (octopus dumplngs) while I stuck with soba noodles and Chloe enjoyed an old-fashioned chocolate covered banana.
Finally, I've learned that beer promising to be "brewed for good times" and "a cheerful mind" may actually be malt liquor in disquise and will create a not so cheerful morning hangover.
Some pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/jessie.mussallem/TokyoWeekSan#slideshow/5395279389189104882
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
week ni
Week two in Tokyo has not disappointed. Among the highlights was our first ramen noodle shop experience. This type of dining is perfect for newly expatriated Americans who do not speak a lick of Japanese as it allows you to match pictures of the dish you want with a number, insert some yen into a machine outside and then take your ticket inside without ever having to even say konnichiwa. It's a bit like drive-thru except of course, you walk. Once inside, you sit around the kitchen bar room-style, and watch your food being prepared right in front of you. There's music pumping in the joint and a large TV in the corner playing various sorts of anime and music videos and the cooks in the center cook to the beats and collectively yell out (in rhythm) hello or goodbye (or maybe both, not entirely sure) as people come and go. It was definitely cool although I'm sure we broke more than one customary rule while enjoying our meal, such as feeding each other, sharing our beers and allowing Chloe to pick up her noodles with her fingers.
Prompted initially by a desire for strong coffee, we ventured out a couple of times on the trains with the babies (albeit sans American-sized stroller) to Shibuya and to Ginza. Shibuya is famous for its crowds, its stores and its intersections, which include about six different directions of pedestrian crossing. It puts Times Square to shame. The first time there, Chloe spent most of the day sitting on Nick’s shoulders, grasping onto his hair as tightly as she could. By the second time though, our little ham was dancing in the streets to the music pouring out of the stores, entertaining the Japanese passersby. Ginza is the high fashion shopping area and they have every high end store imaginable. Dangerous. On the weekends they close the streets there to traffic so it is pleasant to walk around. We went sake tasting with the babies in tow. Chloe ate a dried squid bon bon. Then she ate another one. Not satisfied with the seafood-jerky I decided to try out the "food court" of one of the huge department stores. After realizing we weren't in the perfume department and that the food was just that nicely packaged, we bought a couple of sticky rice-filled seaweed snacks and a couple of unidentified fritters. Chloe enjoyed eating the rice while sitting on Nick's shoulders. Nick did not really enjoy getting a rice shower. The food court, however, does not have a seating area. Also suspiciously absent are garbage cans. The entire city seems devoid of such useful devices. I'm beginning to think this is how the Japanese stay so slim. Who wants to grab a bite to eat if you have to put the trash into your back pocket? Another explanation might be that the Japanese abhor eating on the go. They also disapprove of drinking on the go, which means the to-go Starbucks cup is strikingly absent, as is the darling of Nick's heart, the "roadie", which usually contains something a bit stronger than coffee. At the food court, which was so jam-packed you could barely navigate your way through it even if you do not stand out as a big group of Americans with babies strapped to your backs, I noticed a lot of women touching the babies’ feet as they passed; I decided it must be a good luck thing. Finally, on our way out I saw three teenage girls dressed entirely like Little Bo Peep. All that was missing was the sheep.
So far things are going great. We're of course, still figuring stuff out, including all the buttons in the house, although a friendly neighbor provided us with a couple of manuals in English. Nick managed to go out to Ikea, buy a bunch of stuff from the house and schedule a delivery within 48 hours. I managed to set up an Amazon account here in Japan and order some Halloween costumes for the girls, and Nick managed to purchase a wireless router and install it despite it being entirely in Japanese. Everything only took us about six times longer than it normally would have with a couple of snags (next I have to figure out how to return something to Amazon. ugh.)
http://picasaweb.google.com/jessie.mussallem/TokyoWeekNITwo#slideshow/5392237915667190354
For now, sayounara!
Prompted initially by a desire for strong coffee, we ventured out a couple of times on the trains with the babies (albeit sans American-sized stroller) to Shibuya and to Ginza. Shibuya is famous for its crowds, its stores and its intersections, which include about six different directions of pedestrian crossing. It puts Times Square to shame. The first time there, Chloe spent most of the day sitting on Nick’s shoulders, grasping onto his hair as tightly as she could. By the second time though, our little ham was dancing in the streets to the music pouring out of the stores, entertaining the Japanese passersby. Ginza is the high fashion shopping area and they have every high end store imaginable. Dangerous. On the weekends they close the streets there to traffic so it is pleasant to walk around. We went sake tasting with the babies in tow. Chloe ate a dried squid bon bon. Then she ate another one. Not satisfied with the seafood-jerky I decided to try out the "food court" of one of the huge department stores. After realizing we weren't in the perfume department and that the food was just that nicely packaged, we bought a couple of sticky rice-filled seaweed snacks and a couple of unidentified fritters. Chloe enjoyed eating the rice while sitting on Nick's shoulders. Nick did not really enjoy getting a rice shower. The food court, however, does not have a seating area. Also suspiciously absent are garbage cans. The entire city seems devoid of such useful devices. I'm beginning to think this is how the Japanese stay so slim. Who wants to grab a bite to eat if you have to put the trash into your back pocket? Another explanation might be that the Japanese abhor eating on the go. They also disapprove of drinking on the go, which means the to-go Starbucks cup is strikingly absent, as is the darling of Nick's heart, the "roadie", which usually contains something a bit stronger than coffee. At the food court, which was so jam-packed you could barely navigate your way through it even if you do not stand out as a big group of Americans with babies strapped to your backs, I noticed a lot of women touching the babies’ feet as they passed; I decided it must be a good luck thing. Finally, on our way out I saw three teenage girls dressed entirely like Little Bo Peep. All that was missing was the sheep.
So far things are going great. We're of course, still figuring stuff out, including all the buttons in the house, although a friendly neighbor provided us with a couple of manuals in English. Nick managed to go out to Ikea, buy a bunch of stuff from the house and schedule a delivery within 48 hours. I managed to set up an Amazon account here in Japan and order some Halloween costumes for the girls, and Nick managed to purchase a wireless router and install it despite it being entirely in Japanese. Everything only took us about six times longer than it normally would have with a couple of snags (next I have to figure out how to return something to Amazon. ugh.)
http://picasaweb.google.com/jessie.mussallem/TokyoWeekNITwo#slideshow/5392237915667190354
For now, sayounara!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
New Home In A Far Away Land
Dear friends and family,
We arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday September 29th 2009 after a crazy summer that included me working full-time in Manhattan and Nick working full-time in Tokyo (with a brief stint in Cluj Romania). We're looking forward to establishing some semblance of a normal family life and routine even if our surroundings are anything but "normal" for an American family of four.
We decided to create this blog as a vehicle to stay in touch with all of you despite the time difference and the distance. We'll try to keep it updated with posts and with links to photos.
So far we are doing quite well. We love our house — everything is electronic so you can prepare a hot bath upstairs from a panel in the kitchen downstairs (which I did by accident yesterday) and I’m sure Chloe will just love getting potty trained on a toilet that has a gazillion buttons. We also love the neighborhood. There is a big park nearby complete with a bike path, a skate park, an outdoor pool, soccer and baseball fields, and a children’s playground, among other things.
There is also a university nearby so there are tons of young people, tons of families, take-out joints, bars, and people biking everywhere. I love that people bike holding umbrellas in the rain, people bike with a baby in the front and a toddler in the back, people bike to the grocery store, to work, to bars, to restaurants, their kids to school and, best of all, no one locks up their bikes. I have not seen one lock anywhere.
We’ve started our Japanese lessons, which I am quickly realizing may be crucial as we have been blindly guessing about everything from the control panels in our own house (the toilet flush is not the button that power washes your bum) to items at the grocery store (bean paste did not go over well with Chloe as peanut butter). We’re also eagerly awaiting for our furniture to arrive (last night Nick discovered that one cannot open a bottle of wine with a wooden chopstick).
All in all, we are doing great. We miss all of you and we’d just love for everyone to come visit. We have a guest bedroom and lots of space. In the meantime, please call or write. We’re 16 hours ahead of Cali, 14 ahead of Illinois and 13 ahead of New York. That’s right, we’re in the future :)
Here is a link to some pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/jessie.mussallem/FromBklynToTokyoViaCali#slideshow/5389686005153998674
Lots of love,
Jessie, Nick, Chloe & Tessa
We arrived in Tokyo on Tuesday September 29th 2009 after a crazy summer that included me working full-time in Manhattan and Nick working full-time in Tokyo (with a brief stint in Cluj Romania). We're looking forward to establishing some semblance of a normal family life and routine even if our surroundings are anything but "normal" for an American family of four.
We decided to create this blog as a vehicle to stay in touch with all of you despite the time difference and the distance. We'll try to keep it updated with posts and with links to photos.
So far we are doing quite well. We love our house — everything is electronic so you can prepare a hot bath upstairs from a panel in the kitchen downstairs (which I did by accident yesterday) and I’m sure Chloe will just love getting potty trained on a toilet that has a gazillion buttons. We also love the neighborhood. There is a big park nearby complete with a bike path, a skate park, an outdoor pool, soccer and baseball fields, and a children’s playground, among other things.
There is also a university nearby so there are tons of young people, tons of families, take-out joints, bars, and people biking everywhere. I love that people bike holding umbrellas in the rain, people bike with a baby in the front and a toddler in the back, people bike to the grocery store, to work, to bars, to restaurants, their kids to school and, best of all, no one locks up their bikes. I have not seen one lock anywhere.
We’ve started our Japanese lessons, which I am quickly realizing may be crucial as we have been blindly guessing about everything from the control panels in our own house (the toilet flush is not the button that power washes your bum) to items at the grocery store (bean paste did not go over well with Chloe as peanut butter). We’re also eagerly awaiting for our furniture to arrive (last night Nick discovered that one cannot open a bottle of wine with a wooden chopstick).
All in all, we are doing great. We miss all of you and we’d just love for everyone to come visit. We have a guest bedroom and lots of space. In the meantime, please call or write. We’re 16 hours ahead of Cali, 14 ahead of Illinois and 13 ahead of New York. That’s right, we’re in the future :)
Here is a link to some pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/jessie.mussallem/FromBklynToTokyoViaCali#slideshow/5389686005153998674
Lots of love,
Jessie, Nick, Chloe & Tessa
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