New hair

Here's a little before and after thing for you all, even though the before pic doesn't show how yellow my hair really was but whatever, and yes I know I look like an idiot in that pic. I was experimenting with how people take such good pics of themselves and it didn't go well. Anyway, because I got my hair permed before I left, my normal hair color was bleached so we had to redye my hair here. I was quite afraid because we used japanese hair dye that has no english instructions and despite what many women may think, they were not altogether self explanatory. We used ash brown color but while doing it, the little bits of dye that got on a towel turned the towel purple! I was terrified of the outcome, but I guess it didn't turn out too bad. Although, if you use any more chemicals on my hair I fear it may frizz into an afro and then fall out.
Tonight we may try ordering pizza from the Japanese Pizza Hut. To provide an example of how messed up Japanese ideas on pizza are I highly recommend checking out their site: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.pizzahut.jp/menu/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpizza%2Bhut%2Bjapan%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26pwst%3D1
Their obsession with mayonnaise is completely beyond me.

Random Weirdness of Japan

I've been meaning to write this entry, it's basically a list of strange things in Japan that don't really deserve a full blog entry but need mentioning:
1. The dress code that is generally accepted outlaws tank tops. At some stores, there are signs indicating you may not enter if you only have on a tank top, which I guess is understandable; however, it is the norm and almost expected that almost every girl can and will wear skirts and shorts that are so short there butt cheeks can hang out! I'm rather confused. So to throw things off, I will sometimes reveal my scandalous shoulders.....
2. Lots and lots of people ride bikes, which is fantastic! I took a pic outside the mall of all the bikes and it's like that everywhere. Unfortunately they all need some WD-40.
3. Everyone has paper covers on their books so no one can see what they are reading, so I take mine on the train and read it in plain sight. Everyone around me starts to crane their neck to see what it is because they just can't help themselves. Despite this need for privacy, it is a norm for people to look at dirty magazines in public and dirty photos are displayed in store windows commonly which really took me by surprise the first time!
4. They drive on the opposite side of the road and have steering wheels on the right side of the cars, so it's totally backwards for me. However, when walking on the sidewalk there is no general consensus as to what side you should walk on so you're constantly having that awkward confrontation with people where neither of you know which side to pick as you walk toward each other. I hate that.
5. Cabs are very very tidy here and the drivers have a button they can push that will open their back door and close it automatically so no one has to dirty themselves. The drivers wear little white gloves and oftentimes there are little tvs in the cabs showing commercials.
6. There are 2 types of soda you have access to at most restaurants: Coke and ginger-ale. If I'm lucky there is sprite. Diet coke hardly exists anywhere. In the many many vending machines on the streets with drinks in them you may find mountain dew and fanta orange soda and grape soda. At one store we go to I can buy A & W root beer for about $1 a can and that is my treasured treat.
7. At the many vending machines on the streets, there are a few that you can buy beer in!! I have no idea how they enforce the age restriction.
8. Almost everyone smokes here. Gross.
9. I get to see all the ads that celebrities are too proud to do in the U.S. Orlando Bloom does a hair styling product here and Tommy Lee Jones sponsors a coffee brand.
10. The signs that make absolutely no sense. There is one that plagues me that says "Good Coffee Smile" and that is just one of many I see every day and think, "what on earth does that mean?!!"
11. Decaf coffee does not really exist here. No decaf mochas for Katie that's for sure despite the fact that there is a starbucks at every other corner (not every corner like the U.S.) but if people in the U.S. think the idea of decaf coffee is demented, here they think it's worthy of putting you in an asylum.
12. We have to separate our garbage into burnables, non-burnables (basically recyclable bottles), and garbage (compost stuff) which definitely took getting used to for me. We have all these drawers in the kitchen to put the separate stuff into.
13. They don't put in regular commercials during tv shows. Instead mostly they will show the whole thing and then for the last 10 minutes of the hour they will show infomercials that are in Japanese for things like "Slender-Shaper" (or as they say it slenda-shapa) which is that thing you wrap around your stomach and it vibrates away your fat. Totally idiotic.
14. We get fox channels here that show reruns of Deadwood, Numbers, Bones, Law and Order SVU, The Practice, Cops, and some others. Unfortunately, what they tend to do is pick one episode of one of these shows and air it about 4 times a day for 3 days or so until you just can't stand it and then they won't show you any for a week or so, especially with Numbers. Grrrrr. My parents are hooked on Dexter and the network has really been jerking them around with the schedule on that one.
15. There are some things you cannot find here. It is impossible to find plain old grape jelly!! They have every other kind known to man but not grape, I don't know why. They have something called hotel cheese but that's about it for variety there. Shoe sizes go up to maybe an 8 if you're lucky, so I'm out of luck in that department. We've found refried beans at one store where they cost about $5 a can which kills me!!
I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of stuff so I'll end up doing another entry like this again sometime, but these are just a few of the things that plague me on a daily basis. I really wish I could put one of the infomercials on here for everyone to see.

Mount Takao

So right now Mom, Dad, and me are all not terribly thrilled with my brilliant notions of entertainment. My idea of getting a taste of nature in Japan by visiting Mt. Takao in Tokyo was not so wonderful. Saturday the three of us ventured forth and rode the trains for a little over an hour to get to this place, but everyone in Tokyo and Yokohama I think had this idea too because the trains were so full we could only manage to find a seat for Mom since her knee bothers her these days. So after standing that whole time, we got to the mountain and figured out where we could get on the trail that was paved and as I had read was supposed to be easy enough for children to do. Hiking in Japan is a far cry from what I've experienced in Ohio and Washington. The entire way up, we were surrounded by a mob of people of all sorts, old, young, in high heels, and all decked out in hiking gear. After the first switchback, Dad turns to me and says, "I didn't realize we were going to be hiking, I'm not prepared for this!" and proceeds to be quite unhappy with the entire situation as we huffed and puffed up the mountainside switchbacks (I'm not sure what he thought we were going to do at a mountain, especially since mom told him to dress for hiking). At the halfway point, we almost turned back because of Mom's knee but since we had made it past the switchbacks, we kept going until we reached the temple near the top and got the view of Tokyo. We should have been able to see Mt. Fuji but it was too hazy to see that far. The views were beautiful though and the trees were starting to change. I just wish we could have escaped the people! My hips got to hurting on the hike down (the hike was about 100 minutes each way) and we had to stand most of the way on the trains back. Today we are crippled, especially mom and me with her arthritis and my tendonitis. Yippee. But I still got up and marched the 16 blocks out and back to take back Harry Potter 5 and Zodiac (not a great film) but I didn't want to give up HP. It was my first excursion out on my own. It was quite nice but mom and I are hobbling about the apartment like little old women. Dad made the mistake saying Mom looked like Grandma, I half expect to see him sleeping on the couch tonight, hehehe, just kidding.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mom is missing turkey and cranberry ice, which I must admit would be nice to have instead of octopus and eggs. Actually I believe we're feasting on leftover chili and grilled cheese. As long as tastes good, I'm happy. Today, Mom and I took an adventure to find the Suginami Anime Museum because it's too hard to get into the Ghibli Anime Museum, sadly. So we took a long train ride, switching in Tokyo and about an hour or so later we made it to Ogikobu station where we were supposed to take the north exit. Unfortunately, there is only a west and east exit! After a great deal of wandering, we caved in and asked directions from the police station, only to find out it was across the street and behind a building. The museum itself was a bit of a disappointment because it was almost all in Japanese but there were some neat pictures to look at from some animes I like and these cool things were out front which I took pics of to show we made it there. Most of the anime stuff it had in the special exhibit was a 40 year old anime I had never heard of and they usually have a theater that shows anime all the time, but it was broken. So we trodded back to the station and rode home, standing half the way because the trains are so full. Lots of people sleep on the trains which is interesting to watch because you can nitpick their toupees and things without them noticing. We're evil I know. And now we are watching yet another rerun of Sherlock Holmes and then Poirot at 6, since I subject mom to my horrendous movies and shows most of the time when dad doesn't make us watch Die Hard and things. I guess I don't really mind either way, just so long as there is peace in the apartment and we're all healthy. I hope everyone in the US is having a happy thanksgiving. Enjoy American food for me, I miss it!

Mysteries

Help!! I'm losing the skin on my fingers, palms of my hands, and the bottoms of my feet. I know I know, too much information but what the heck!?!??! I get here and get ill with a chest cold and then this happens. I'm blessed.
The other day mom and I visited the Yokohama Museum of Art. They had a big display of surrealist art which neither of us cared too much for. There was also a photography exhibit that was quite morbid but the most disturbing exhibit was of huge paintings with crucified licca dolls and things. It was beyond disturbing and weird. Shivers running down my spine.
This is something I've been meaning to write about. There are these fish in the bay that have apparently made their way to the US and become quite a problem. They are large carp that I caught a photo of and they leap out of the water for no apparent reason. Jump, jump, jump out of the water. As funny as it is to watch, they are also able to get out of the water, crawl across the ground, and get to another body of water. How creepy is this? I can see it in my mind, they jump out of the water and chase after you. AAAHHH!!!! Crazy fish!!

Size Matters in Breakfast

I've become addicted to a fruit that is in season right now called the Japanese Persimmon, of course I didn't know what it was for a while, we would just buy it and eat it because it tasted good. It actually comes from China but if you ever have the chance to try one, please do. They are delicious! I have them for breakfast a lot.
I had to write this about breakfast though because the Japanese tendency of making lots of things much smaller than Americans are used to has stretched into this realm. The bacon servings here are so small that it is just hilarious! I put up a pic to show some that mom made the other day. They are so cute. But the Japanese do make things much smaller for portion sizes. Mom and I went to Wendy's for the first time just to get a frosty and we ordered smalls. Well, from the pic, you can see they are really really small and they weren't filled up all the way and mom had a hole in her frosty so she was eating and it became hollow so there really wasn't much to speak of. We were debating how Americans would react if they starting using the sizing standards from Japan in the US. Outrage! Scandal! Smaller pants!

Christmas in Japan

I am shocked at the wave of Christmas that has swept through Japan in spite of the fact that Japan does not celebrate this particular holiday. It shows the power of consumerism. Some of it is quite silly. Old Christmas tunes are appearing over store radio systems despite the fact that they are in English. Lots of places have decorations that do everything except portray the classic Christmas spirit as so many Americans tend to envision it. Every time mom sees another display, I hear a groan and cluck of distaste at the sad imitation of our own Christmas decorations at home. These are 2 trees that are at the nearby mall. The crystal one had a flute player by it today and we actually found it to be somewhat tasteful. However, the other one is quite heinnous and mom insisted I take a picture of it because it was so ugly and horrible. It is hard to imagine Christmas approaching while we are here. I think mom misses a Christmas at home more than any of us. I can't help but be overly excited for Christmas in New Zealand.

5 o'clock Charlie

Meg will appreciate the reference in this post. Here is a pic of our latest attraction. It's our very own "5 o'clock Charlie" and every time we are in the apartment, he shows up. It's quite noisy, just a zooming airplane that does loops and dives all over the place right by the buildings. It just reminds me of the Mash episode with the one guy that shows up at the same time each day or whatever and misses his targets terribly. Mom is completely fascinated and terrified by him, convinced he will fly into our building but he's got 2 helicopters flying around him so I'm guessing he's being monitored. It does look like he may fly into the other buildings though....

Not fun

Ok, when I get sick, it can't just be a cold or something. For the past several days, I have been very very sick which is no fun when you can't get your hands on good medicines that you know will work. I've been taking the expectorant that was recommended and I am worshipping Benny, the restaurant owner we visit every Friday because he can go on military bases and get American medicines. The night before last night I spiked quite a fever (too high for our thermometer which only went up to about 101 degrees and could hardly breathe. I then proceeded to throw up about every hour that night which is no easy thing when you've only had a few bites of food the day before. We contemplated the hospital but pulled through until we could get to a doctor yesterday that is more English friendly. I think I frightened him a bit when he realized he'd have to touch these massive boobs to hear my chest, hehehe. He examines me, sighs, then says, well she is really congested. No kidding. But now I'm on 10 days of antibiotics, expectorants (Benny got us mucinex but we couldn't get it til yesterday), and a wonderful cough syrup with codeine in it. So last night was a good sleep and today I am coughing up a storm but feel better than I have all week. Maybe I can actually leave the apartment today! Poor mom has had to play house maid so now I need to do something nice for her. So that's what I've been up to lately.

An awkward game of charades

I'm giggling to myself as I write this even though I feel like crap. Every year around this time of the fall, I get this horrendous disease that starts as a barky cough and ends up lasting at least a month because it gets into my chest and becomes a secondary infection. It never fails. So, last year, the good nurses and doctors at Whistler (Denison's medical team, I use these terms somewhat loosely, I love the counseling center but the actual health center is somewhat lacking as their solution to all problems is, you must be pregnant or here have some antibiotics) BUT ANYWAY, they recommended that at the first signs of this illness, I bombard it with Mucinex. Now, being the genius that I am, I figured perhaps I wouldn't become ill in Japan and didn't bring Mucinex. So, yesterday I came down with a cough and this morning sure enough I feel as though someone is sitting on my chest. The disease is in full swing and we have no expectorants, oh crap. So mom looks up some different active expectorant ingredients, we make a list and head down to the local store to check out the drug section. Unfortunately all of them are completely in Japanese and no one would come near us in this store because they knew we only spoke English. We had to go to Yokohama station to find new cables for our computers to watch DVDs, so we took the subway there and found a more professional looking pharmacy. Here's where things get interesting. I felt so floopy and cruddy by then that I was determined not to leave this place without some form of medication. Unfortunately, the two young men working there spoke about one or two words of english between the two of them. So mom and I go over to the cough and cold section and look confused for about 5 minutes until one of the guys comes up and says something in Japanese. I asked if he spoke english, he says not really. Great, here we go. Picture if you will.....first, I say 'expectorant,' no comprende, hmmmmm. Now I try to motion chest cough, this is not going well. Lots of hand waving, gesturing, and trying to portray the words "phlegm in my chest that needs to be broken up," I can't help but laugh at it. In the end, he calls someone, speaks to them in a lot of Japanese, and hands us a box. We thank him and get in line. Then a young woman who works there appears and she doesn't speak english either, but she has a cell phone with a translator, YIPPEE!!! I spell expectorant and she gets down two boxes and we begin another game of charades where she tries to portray that one has a decongestant while the other doesn't. Very odd. Somehow, mom got it. Now, I'm medicated (after asking the lady downstairs to translate the box and instructions and she even had to consult someone on the translation of the word phlegm) and hoping this will be effective enough. I have no dignity, but at least I have a sense of humor, heeheehee.....cough cough....

Fear of the Toilet

Absurd, I know, who's afraid of the big bad toilet? ME!! I'm sorry but I don't want my toilet to have any intelligence but the ones here do and it creeps me out. When you sit on the toilets in our apartment they make a whirring sound like they are preparing for something. I don't want my toilet thinking about what I'm doing!! Then they have all these buttons you can push for cleaning yourself, I'll take care of that, thank you! Gross, I know, to much information but my god, when you're paranoid about toilets it really invades your life. It's hilarious but at the same time, I think, please give me a normal toilet that doesn't sense anything when I'm using it!! The toilets will turn on us, have we learned nothing from films like the Terminator movies?!?!? Attack of the toilets, geez I would hate to think of their ammunition, ewww. Apparently mom and dad have the most advanced toilet in our building, which is saying something (it's the one on the top, mine's on the bottom and do you see all the instructions in the lid?!?). I haven't even brought myself to use that one yet. So you have the realm of super technology, and then you have primitive toilets, the far opposite end of the spectrum. When you go to a public restroom, these are your options, space age toilet or living in the woods toilet. It's basically a toilet in the ground that you squat over. I'm sorry, but that's quite a leap from one to the other and I'm not comfortable with either one. SAVE ME! I dunno, everyone raves about these robotic toilets, maybe I'll grow to love them just as my parents and this entire country do but until then, I get to experience a great deal of tension surrounding these technological fiends.

The Nightlife

I think I have found one of my favorite activities here, walking around my neighborhood at night. That is only because my neighborhood is Chinatown and the only times it really comes alive is the lunch hour and at night because all the lights come on. All the stores are open to the streets, people are cooking things in stands on the sidewalks, and there are lots of cats that grace the stoops of restaurants for their dinners. There are so many things to see and smell (not always good mind you but still fun), and sometimes you'll hear drums in the school that is down the street from us where they are doing performances. I really do like it, even though it is extremely foreign. In the daytime it's really funny because you'll be walking along these drab little shops and restaurants and out of nowhere, just sort of stuck in between the buildings, are these enormous colorful temples. I had to play the tourist this once (lol) and stop and take a photo of one. It's just funny how they sneak up on you and disappear just as quickly.

Sushi

After seeking refuge at Benny's restaurant last night (a place owned and visited by many westerners), we ventured forth to Shinagawa for sushi. First we visited a food festival where lots of people were shouting about their stuff in words we don't understand. Then we took the subway to Yokohama station where we took the train to Shinagawa. It was quite crowded on the way back and I had to laugh because I was taller than a majority of the people in the train. We visited 2 temples before going to the sushi restaurant where my parents are well known because they go there every other saturday. I enjoyed 2 cucumber rolls, and I tried shrimp and crab (both cooked) which were not bad. They gave us complimentary bowls of soup which I actually kind of liked, they sort of tasted like artichokes even though they were full of seaweed. Now it's time to relax. I wanted to join Netflix so we could rent movies online (now that they have the instant view thing) but apparently they don't allow that for people in Japan so I've been searching for movies to watch online somehow, not easy. I am proud of myself though for eating sushi, even if it was cooked. One baby step at a time....