Garbage

Jeff left a couple days ago for the States. He's not going anywhere that would make me jealous, though, out of consideration for me. Just work stuff. So, I'm here alone with the kids. We'll see in next week's post how I'm weathering it.

One major challenge I'll be facing is the garbage. Gomi, or garbage, in Yokohama is a serious business. We have to separate everything into plastic, paper, PET bottles, household (burnable) garbage, and "small metal objects." Everything goes into small, neatly-tied bundles, and is taken up to the locked garbage shed. This is D's job, to take it up. Unfortuantely, we've lost the key. Sometimes, the door to the shed is left unlocked, which is why we didn't notice that the key was missing for a little while. But then they started locking it again. Just call the landlord for a new one, right? All our dealings are supposed to go through the real estate agent. No one in that office speaks English. I think it's going to have to be Macky to the rescue again.

Thanksgiving was nice. We took the train to the Yokosuka base and had dinner with Bill & Keiko and another couple. Their place was nice, full of cool oriental furniture and art and a million rugs (to cover the fact that base apartments have linoleum floors - who thought that was a good idea???). WAY too much food, which we were sent home with. It was a little weird to eat all that western food, all the tradiitonal stuff - including that weird green-bean cassrole and fruit salad with coconut and marshmallows.

Our small (but awesome) fridge was stuffed with leftovers.




















Friday, Jeff took the day off, while the kids were at school. We went to Harajuku again, but went the opposite direction, to the famous Meiji Shrine. It was a beautiful, sunny day, with a bit of nip in the air.

This is the giant torii gate at the entrance.















Biggest mums I've ever seen:















More pretty flowers. I think they are wired together.















Wall o' sake casks. They are involved in offerings, I believe. Or monk parties.















This is where you rinse your hands and mouth of evil before you enter the shrine gounds proper.















This is the tree that is the reason we tell our kids broccoli looks like trees.





























I don't know why there were piles of vegetables in the square. Maybe a market, which they have at shrines sometimes. Anyway, they were packing up, and it was great to see the cooperation as they passed the produce from hand to hand, fire-brigade style.















For 500 yen, you can write a wish on one of these tablets, and the monks will petition the gods on your behalf in their morning prayers.















Just to remind you that these beautiful grounds are indeed in the middle of Tokyo.




















After school, we got the kids and headed for Wilson & Miki's place in Zushi. It was around rush hour, so one of the trains we took was packed. I don't know if you've heard about rush-hour trains in Japan. Passengers will keep pushing in until the doors can close. They call it being packed like sushi, instead of sardines, as we might say. Jeff and I thought it reminiscent of a mosh pit. The kids were squealing with glee? fear? Some people do this every day. Anyway, we took a lot of trains and buses to get to Wilson's. We kinda messed up the last one. We are used to the pay-at-the-front kind. On this one, you embarked from the back. I didn't realize until halfway through the trip that we were supposed to take a ticket when we got on, so the driver, when we paid at the front, would know where we started. I remembered screwing this up in Kamakura a few years ago. And the trip was a lot longer than we had anticipated, and we weren't really sure where we were going. We were relieved to finally get there. The whole trip, door to door, took us 2 1/2 hours.

When I walked in the door and said Hi! to a bunch of strangers, I was met with blank stares. Uh-oh, I thought. This is going to be a weird party. Once Wilson walked in a few minutes later and introduced me to a bunch of people, everyone was friendly. One wife was reaaaaaally friendly, having gone through a bottle of wine before we got there. She wanted to wrestle. I decided not to take the bait. Too easy.

The rest of the evening was drinking a lot of wine with a bunch of Navy guys, talking the way Navy guys talk. It was pretty fun, actually. Once most of the guests had departed and the babysitter was left in charge, Jeff, Wilson, Miki, Frank, and I wove our way to the karaoke bar down the street. I remember sake, a singing more songs than I ever had before. It was mostly just us and one young Japanese guy. I think I sang a duet with him. Wilson sang the most, and mostly in Japanese. Impressive.

Saturday was mostly just making our way home and D on a playdate with a kid from school. Apparently they went to a park. I was sleeping.




















We were all supposed to go to Macky's Buzz Attitude 5th Anniversary Saturday night, but the kids had been up past midnight, so I opted to stay home with them. Jeff needed a night out, anyway.

Sunday morning, we were picked up by Takaki for an interesting day. We had been told it was a river barbeque/car show/flea market. We were very confused when, after a long ride, we pulled into a freeway rest stop (lemme tell you, they know how to do rest stops here. It's more like a mall food court and gift shop). There were a bunch of Chevy Blazers parked in one area of the parking lot, some people milling around, and a guy with a megaphone. The scene was just as strange as the Paul Rusch Festival, which was like Little Kentucky in Japan. This was like being in Tacoma or rural Cleveland. All the Blazers were sold to their owners by one man, called "Tony," and it was his gig. Kind of an Appreciation Day, like Robin's yearly barbeque for her clients. But in rest stop? With cars flying by every minute? What? No, turns out it's like a rave: you have to know the right convenience store to approach to ask for directions to the party itself. The guy with the megaphone was Tony, and he was giving directions.

After much traffic and wrong turns, we managed to get to the spot. It was by a river in Atsugi, just a blank spot down a hill, covered with smooth river rocks. You need a Blazer to get down there, as Takaki soon discovered.


















Luckily, there were all those Blazers around, with tow-gear.
































I'm not sure why, but this buy walked out into the river on chairs-as-stilts. It was kinda neat to see.



















Another example of teamwork: everyone fanning the flames with those plastic fans they hand out in train stations. They have ads on them. Very useful in the summer, too.















I was underwhelmed at first by the Costco hot dogs and sausages, but then the good stuff came out later. Best crab I've ever tasted.















This was the "flea market." A few clothes and shoes, and truck-related products.















A unique BBQ activity: rock balancing. Very Zen.



















It drew a crowd.



















M got into it, too.



















Someone was selling carved rocks. M insisted we buy one, "to remember the day." Just like his dad. One of the white ones is now in our bathroom. M also has a new rock collection (he threw out the dead bug collection to make room in the display box. Reminded me of my brother's rock collection when he was a kid). We also have a bag of big rocks outside the front door, so M can practice rock balancing.
















The pottywagon. The girls were occasionally ferried to a nearby portapotty, as there were no trees or shrubbery around, and any underbrush was covered with spiky burrs that stuck to everything.















Tony, the man in charge. He invited us to a more intimate BBQ later.




















An odd and interesting weekend it was. And now, some random pics.

Another great example of the animation of everything. This one is prevalent on the trains. I call them the meat mascots. Check out their ears.















Saw this in the CREATE store. It's like Walgreen's. I think they are photo albums.




















They tore down a block of apartments near our complex. The walls here are indeed made of plywood, I think.















A really small car















Karla arrives in a couple weeks! And then Val and her student, Katie. I'm so excited!

Ueno Zoo Weekend

It's just starting get a little chilly. I'd been drilling the locals for what the winters are like here. Some people say 'oh, it's freezing!' and others say 'it's not too cold and almost never snows.' I have gathered that it depends on where you lived before. Like, if you ask someone in Seattle what winters are like there and they came from California, they'll say that they are freezing and depressing. Having grown up in Cleveland, however, the winters in Seattle do not seem so bad. From what I've seen so far this fall, it is going to be milder than Seattle. The leaves have just begun to change, and I've seen many trees that still have fruits and flowers.



















In fact, I am sitting by my open patio door right now, and I'm not freezing. What makes people complain about the cold in Japan, I think, is because the houses have horrible insulation and lack central heating. Kerosene space heaters are popular. People buy electric rugs and these coffee tables with heaters under them. You put a comforter under the top of them and keep your legs toasty.













I don't think we will need one, however. When it gets a bit nippy at night, we run our installed heater in the living room and dining room and shut the door. Perfectly toasty. There are heaters installed upstairs, too, so the kids won't freeze at night. (Not that they really ever get cold; the amount of energy coursing through their little bodies could heat a small country.) The only room lacking a heater is our bedroom, but we have our lovely down comforter. We'll see how high our electric bill is next month and if it's worth pursuing more Japanese options.

I got a few emails from the States and Canada asking me if we survived the big earthquake. Truth be told, I didn't even know we'd had one until Val asked me and I googled it. It was a big one, up north in the Pacific, and there was general momentary panic as the state-of-the-art tsunami warning system went off (I talked to a woman living on the base in Yokosuka and her family was awoken by the loudspeakers squawking "seek higher ground!" They checked on the armed forces TV and radio stations, but there was nothing, so they went back to sleep. Apparently, though, many people bugged out and took hotel rooms in higher ground). In any event, the fears were groundless, as the biggest wave recorded was 40cm or so.

On Thursday, as part of Jeff's Japan Orientation class assignment, he took the afternoon off work for a "field trip." He was to learn to use the trains and busses and go somewhere. This assignment was rather too late for Jeff, as he had pretty much figured out the system awhile ago, but he decided to use the time to visit the other nearby base in Negishi, where I joined him. Pretty unexciting, as most military bases are, but it is situated near an old racecourse, which looked pretty cool.















Also, they had a library full of books and movies in English, and that made me very happy. We rented the original Shogun miniseries, which I was excited about. I remember seeing it when it first aired in 1980, shocked at the beheading scene and Richard Chamberlain being urinated on. One just didn't see such things on television. At least at age 9. I also rented Lost in Translation, which is still great and even funnier now that I live here.

Also, as a result of the orientation classes, he was permitted to get his Japanese driver's license, which he has successfully done. I'm scared of the first trip or two.

Over the weekend, we decided to celebrate our 3-monthiversary by going to Tokyo for the weekend, specifically Ueno Park and staying at the New Sanno.

Ueno Park. We ate our station-bought bento boxes here before we went to the zoo.















The Ueno Zoo is cool. It was very reasonably priced, at 600 yen per adult and kids under 12 FREE. The first exhibit was the Giant Panda. This was exciting, because we have tried to see pandas at 2 different zoos (Thailand and San Diego), and were thwarted by pandas being on vacation in China or resting periods or whatever. Jeff was especially excited because he had wanted to see a real, live panda since he was a kid writing reports on them. The legendary polite queue of visitors who took their pictures and moved on so the next group could do so was nowhere in evidence as the people flocked en masse to the window to catch a glimpse and a photo. Luckily there are digital cameras you can hold over the heads of the spectators and click off as many shots as you like.

















Here is a lovely five-tiered pagoda in the park




















As for the rest of the exhibits, they were a real treat. I don't know how many times I've come away from a zoo visit disappointed, because the animals were sleeping in a nook somewhere, hiding behind a tree, or far away across a huge, safe trench. Not this zoo. The only thing separating you from the animals is a fence or a couple inches of glass, and they are right there in front of you.















This guy was so obliging. He walked back and forth in front of the window so everyone could see him, played with his wives, and rolled around on his back like a giant kitten. Jeff started to get the feeling that the animals were trained to be photogenic.



















Lions' lunch. I haven't seen this so much in evidence before. The kids were slightly appalled. Whose bone is that?



















Anyway, I took a lot of pictures, and the more animals we saw, the more Jeff became convinced that the animals were actors. It became almost comical as a gorilla would walk over to one window and pose, then walk over to the other window and sit down and pose again, making sure everyone could get a good shot.



















Our own little primates


















Biggest elephants I'd ever seen!














M comparing the size of his brain to that of the pacyderms'














Picturesque crane. I may paint this one.














Jeff's favorite bird: Cock-o-the-Rock. It looked to me like a giant cheese puff to which someone had glued googly-eyes.



















Regal Emperor Penguins


















Cool, fierce-looking bird



















Baboon on Monkey Island. I had fun watching them for awhile. They looked like they were having such a good time chasing each other and swinging around with ease. I saw one jump up and down on the suspension bridge, just like a kid.















I forget what these monkeys are called, but they were cute.



















Mom and baby capybaras. I've always thought they resembled giant guinea pigs.












Tapirs













Bunny!



















More penguins












M&D donated a few yen to the penguin cause.



















Partridge, sans Family.
















Polar bears! The kids were convinced they were robots, from the way they repeated the same head swings and mouth-openings as they paced back and forth.














One small way this zoo didn't measure up to others I've known: the peacocks are caged instead of roaming around the park. Didn't hear their usual creepy cries, either. I'm not sure if that's preferable or not.


















Seal love. Actually, I think they were fighting. Same thing.



















A highlight for me. A very photogenic tiger, once I got the flash off and it sat still for me. So pretty.
















Sadly, since we had gotten such a late start, the park closed at 5 with half of the zoo still unexplored. D panicked when I explained that the music they were playing through the speakers meant that the zoo was shutting for the day, especially when Auld Lang Sine, Japan's official closing-time song (don't ask me why) began. D was convinced that if we didn't hurry, we'd be locked in and have to spend the night there. Due to the inexpensiveness of the zoo and the myriad features of the park (including an art museum that was having a Dali exhibit), we decided that we would come back the next day, too, instead of going to Harajuku to see the denizens dressed up in their costumes. (I have to do this sometime.)

It was a short subway trip to the New Sanno Hotel. The Sanno is a hotel for military personnel, and it's quite nice. It has a wonderful and inexpensive gift shop, an mini exchange, a 'general store,' a few restaurants, and, most importantly, a pool.















There were other American kids there, which I think M&D really enjoyed. They haven't spoken to another American kid since we've been here, I don't think. I think this is really starting to get to D, who is craving some real conversation with a native English speaker. I have heard that their school may be getting a pack of 4 American brothers soon, though. I hope so, for their sake.

Another feature of the Sanno is their sumptuous Sunday brunch. Jeff was told that they serve pretty much everything you can think of, and I have to say that the statement was accurate. The dreamlike haze of the photos is due to my crappy ketai (cellphone) camera, but I thought it appropriate.








































































Those shiny bits on the kiwi were not just refelections; they were silver sparkles!

The boys especially enjoyed the dessert table. Shocker.





































Unfortunately, Sunday was a very rainy day, so we bagged the plans to go back to Ueno. But there are sufficient reasons for a return trip in the near future. I'm thinking that it would be a fun diversion while Jeff is out of town (for almost 2 weeks, ugh. Stay tuned for insane babbling in the next couple posts).

One last note: I finally sang karaoke in Japan last night. We had our final Japanese class of this session, and they threw us a party in which they stuffed us full of sushi. All the volunteer teachers were there, we took pictures, and presents were given to those with perfect attendance (not me, I skipped for Halloween). They were there things you hang on your door from Dec 31 - Jan 7 - the bad luck week at the end of the year. It's supposed to protect your house, I guess.

Anyway, after, Jason actually took me up on my beer suggestion. Alex had laundry to do (lame), and I was happy that J wasn't going to be weird about going out with just me, a married woman and a mom of his students. He took me to a tiny bar near Horizon and we had a couple beers and listened to the middle aged men sing Japanese love songs. I knew it wouldn't be long until the little karaoke song-selecting machine was urged on me, the novel gaijin woman. They couldn't figure out how to find Patsy Cline (is she standard karoke fare in Japan like she is in the US?), so I settled for Kim Carnes' Bette Davis Eyes before it got too drawn out. Not my finest performance, but I got the obligatory claps and Jason still wants to perform at the Blue Corn with me, so it couldn't have been too bad.

Speaking of the Blue Corn, I'll be there tonight, since Helen actually has the day off tomorrow, and this will be my last night out for awhile. Jeff leaves Monday. We are having Thanksgiving tomorrow at the Frenches', and on Friday at the Steigers' (this is an overnighter). And here I thought that Thanksgiving would be a non-event here. Just like Halloween, I am surprised.

Casino Royale, Music, and Trees

First of all, I must say that I am very excited about the new James Bond movie. I don't know about you guys, but I had grown tired of 007 and his lame double-intendres. He had gotten mired in his own cliches, and it seems the industry agreed, because now we have a new Bond, a Bond to break all the rules of Bondness, because he was there before the cliches were formed. The movie goes back to the beginning, to the first Bond story, when he became a double-O agent (which means he needs two kills). The guy playing Bond is less cute, more Sean Connery, but younger and with a nice bod. I've read that this movie has fewer gadgets and stupid puns, and I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Maybe it will be my first big-screen adventure in Japan - a movie in the theater costs around $15, so I haven't been in any rush.
Here's the official movie site (a well-done site it is, too): http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/casinoroyale/site/

So, what have I done in the last week, hmmm

Pretty uneventful. Saturday afternoon/eve was the Opening Ceremony of the Second Campus of Horizon Japanese International School that D so wanted to go to. Pretty boring speeches, at least what I could understand of them. They were ostensibly in English, but I think the Turkish founder of the school was reading his phonetically. Some (Turkish again?) ambassador made a speech, too, but her mic kept cutting in and out and it was almost impossible to hear between the technical difficulties and the accent. She did have a fabulous hairdo, tho. Madame Abe, the First Lady, did not in fact show up, no surprise. There 3 songs perfromed by a troupe of upper-class kids in kimono or traditional Turkish costumes, very cute. A Japanese song, a Turkish song of irritating refrain and way too many verses, and the American song: "The Other Day/I Met a Bear."

Apart from the interminable sitting and listening to speeches I couldn't hear anyway, it was pleasant, because the food was spectacular. A huge Turkish buffet, with dishes that had chickpeas, yogurt, exotic spices, and my favorite, dolmades (stuffed grape leaves). There was also one of those great big cylinders of lamb like at gyro shops, off of which they serves slices of meat with pita.

There were a lot of Turkish people there. There is apparently a big Turkish presence in Japan, and some came in from Turkey, too.

I had invited Jason and Alex (2 of M&D's teachers) out to the Blue Corn to see some music (Mooney and His Lucky Rhythm). I'd been trying to get them out of this wariness-of-fraternizing-with-the-moms rut for some time, so I was almost surprised when they said they were interested. A couple hours later, I met them at Kikuna station to be their guide, and another teacher joined us, Kristin (kindergarten - actually had lived in Seattle, Queen Anne, for a time). I got them to the Blue Corn (woohoo! with such confidence of no wrong trains or turns), and we were joined by another teacher (Cynthia, preschool) and her Japanese fiancee with whom she was fighting. Then Yuko, the school secretary and her sig other showed up. So somehow I was resposible for bringing this whole Horizon group to the Blue Corn. I should've gotten a discount.

Mooney was fabulous, of course, in a very Leon Redbone kind of way, as was his washboard player. The sound was more intimate than at the street fair, as the BC has apartments above it and has to keep it down and over early. I think everyone liked it, or if they didn't, they are deaf.



















Michael and Shingo showed up, and I gave Shingo the CD of the 3 songs I picked to do at the Xmas Eve party. Jason overheard and immediately offered to play guitar in my 'backup band.' (We are planning to have our first rehearsal on Sunday, just a couple beers and a quick run-through of one song in the living room. He is also doing his best to put me at ease, since I said that I have awful stage fright and this endeavor is actually quite scary to me.) I was glad to see the teachers outside of school, loosened upa bit. I made an announcement at the beginning of the evening that 'what happens outside of school, stays outside of school.' Jasan and Alex were almost frisky, tho the girls were more subdued. Maybe that was only in comparison to Helen & I, who were spanking each other with wooden rice paddles left over form the 'spoon' song. I talked to Mooney for a bit, who, it turns out, not only understood my Leon Redbone reference, but I think said he opened up for him years ago. He said he was hard to see, since he had a hat, glasses, and a full beard, and was rather shy.

Anyway, Helen left early because she wasn't feeling well, and I stuck around with Michael & Shingo for awhile, incuding a trip to the bar next door so Michael could ogle the bartender. I did not drink my glass of red there or finish my third decanter at the BC, because it seemed that 2 was sufficient and I wanted to be not useless on Sunday.

Sunday we walked to Mitsuike Koen to have a combini picnic. It was a very blustery day, and I think I was the only one dressed for it. It was, however, quite sunny as well, so Jeff and I sat in the sun while the kids ran around and went on the big roller-slide.

Here's sme pictures of things we see when we walk to Mitsuike Koen. Mostly it's trees, because, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Japan has fantastic trees.































































































































































Last night was my last full Japanese class of this session (I'm pretty sure I'll sign up for more). The conversation teacher (they are volunteers and we seldom have the same one twice in a row) was moving way too fast for most of us, but I managed to pick up a bit about how to form imperative verbs (sumimasen, chotto borupen o kashite kudasai = excuse me, may I pleaese borrow a pen for a sec?). My favorite hiragana teacher was there, and I will miss her. She is always prepared with handouts and a plan, and she's adorable. Next week, after a half-class, they are throwing us a little party. Then, nothing til January, sigh. I think the classes are really helping.

D took the Che Guevara doll to school for Show-n-Tell today (M traded it to him for a Stitch doll D found on the ground a couple weeks ago). I wonder what Mr. Barbut will say about that. Does he know who he is? I'm sure D will not be explaining.

Here's a random photo of a car at our local gas station. I thought it looked a little out of place in Baba. Maybe in Shinjuku.

Playing kid and feeling too old for this sh*t

I went to Parents' Day at the kids' school yesterday. They actually let parents spend the whole day in their kids' classrooms, observing. They would never do that at their old school. I had to divide my time between the two, obviously, so I went to these classes for D:

-Morning Meeting (journaling)
-Language Arts
reading, writing sentences, and drawing pictures about Ranger Dockett, a park ranger in Central Park, NYC
-Snack Time (and recess)
-Math
math triangles (like 2, 4, and 6 in the angles) and an index card math story game - really cool. Each kid had an index card or two with a sentence on it, like "The next number is 5 less than the number of kids in the class," and the kid with the right card would say "My number is 9. The next number is the sum of 7 and 13." "My number is 20. The next number is the number of days in the week minus 2" and so on until it would come full-circle to the first kid. They practice all the time until they can do it quickly. It was pretty neat.

and these for M:

-Science
taught by a kinda cute Turkish guy, about the states of matter, molecules, and atoms. It was in the science lab, and I noticed that everything was labeled in Turkish. M doodled a lot during explanations, but liked throwing ice cubes in the boiling water. The idea of atoms was illustrated by tearing bits of paper in half over and over until the smallest possible piece was achieved. All 8 kids were competing to see how small they could get the pieces, and continued to say 'look at this one!' far after the teacher had moved on
-Math
taught by a different Turkish guy, mainly about data, with terms like Mean, Median, Range, Max, Min, and so on, with bar graphs and multi-step equations to figure out the above-mentioned data. The data collected was about the number of letters in everybody's names. A bunch of kids decided to change their numbers on the board by using their full names, and then M beat them all by using his whole name. In both Math & Science, the teacher seemed content to let the kids compete over the smallest and the longest far longer than necessary
-Library
this was independent reading while Alex Salzmann, the 4th grade teacher and my fellow Tuesday Japanese-classmate, went over reading and writing progress with the parents. We discussed M's writing not reflecting his intelligence because he lacks focus when writing and would rather be chatting or doing something more interesting, tho he does seem to enjoy writing about himself and is improving overall. Alex also took the opportunity to apologize for not coming to our party because he was reticent about partying around his student. He also mentioned something about he & Jason (the music teacher and my other fellow classmate) going out to an izakaya for beers with a mom and then her kid talking about it to some other kids (duh, I think that was me), and how that may not be a good thing. I can understand about the fraternizing/tarnishing authority-relationship thing with the party, but I don't see the big deal with the beer thing. Whatever.
-Music
this was singing folk songs and doing some theory with Jason Curry. We did "Dust in the Wind" and an Australian folk song with "Waltzing Matilda" in the chorus. I was hoping for some of the Sound of Music ones, because we watched the movie the other night. The theory stuff was about notation, the proper writing of treble and bass clefs and the grand staff. I wish I had been taught music-writing in school. I asked him after class about "Waltzing Matilda" because I know a Pogues song that mentions the same song, that is also Australian. Both songs talk about "Waltzing Matilda." I wanted to know if there is an actual song of that title. Turns out that he wanted to use that Pogues one in class, but as it's about fighting the Turks in WWI, it might not have gone over well in a Turk-run school. Anyway, the actual "Waltzing Matilda" is a an old folk song and he is going to find more info on it for me.

Wow, that was longer than I intended. Maybe you didn't want to know all that about a day in the life of an International School student, but too bad, there it is.

Anyway, when I got home, there was a slip in the mailslot. I could figure out that it was a missed package delivery for D, and something about 1,000 yen, but that was as far as I could go. I took it to Japanese class, hoping someone there could inform me how to retrieve said package. Turns out that the person who sent it didn't pay enough postage and I owe 1,000 yen. Rude. It was also from someone in Japan, and that confused me, because who would be sending D something? I thought it would be a bday present from the States. So I have to call and tell them when to redeliver, but my Japanese skills aren't really up to it. Our helpful sensei tried to call with her cellphone, but that line had closed. You can call the land-line number 24 hours, but not the cell-line. I don't know how that makes sense. I tried doing it online, but yeah, it's in kanji. I'm going to bring it to school this afternoon and maybe a nice mom can help me.

Jeff figured out that it's probably the wrought-iron snake that he somehow made a deal for at the Paul Rusch festival a few weeks ago. See, when M made his leaf with the blacksmith, D had to have something, too, naturally, so he picked out a small snake from the table of wares. Later, he realized he had lost it through a hole in the cheap bag they put it in, and that precipitated the whole meltdown before we left. Jeff met a woman who had one of the blacksmith's snakes at home, but larger, and would sell it to him and mail it. Must be pretty big to cost 1000 yen to mail, because she doesn't live that far away.

Funny, I always think "I don't have much to write this week."

Last Saturday, we went to Michael and Shingo's house for Michael's birthday. It started out pretty sedate, but it went really late. In fact, some people never went to bed. They have a lovely small house filled with all sorts of cool Oriental antiques. We drank a lot of wine and ate food and talked. Jeff got a lot of language help, and I talked a lot. Helen saved us all by bringing a GameBoy and a Nintendo DS and some games for the kids to play upstairs. We also brought a laptop and some movies. We barely saw the kids all night.

All of the guests besides us and Helen were Japanese, but their English gets better the more they drink. Somehow I've gotten signed up to perform at the Blue Corn Xmas Party open-mic thing. Jeff (bass), Shingo (piano), and I are going to do some jazz standards, and Rika (concertina) & I are going to do something Edith Piaf. I have to come up with the songs. This week.

I was flabbergasted to find out that this was Michael's 60th birthday. Holy crap, he parties more than I do and looks like a million yen. Shingo never slept and he's 40 something. I drink one night and I'm a wreck the next day. Anyway, here's some pics.

Rika of the concertina and her husband Teru:















Tad, who apparently doesn't talk much, and Takara. He's 14 and we were feeding him white wine spritzers. He left pretty early. Takara means 'treasure,' so Michael calls him schatz, which means pretty much the same thing in German. I called him that, too, because I learned everyone's name at once at the beginning of the night and couldn't remember many of them:















Takara, Hiroki, and Helen. I kept wanting to call Hiroki kinoko, which is "mushroom" and easier to remember, especially since there was also a Hiroshi there:















Helen and me:















Helen and Hiroshi. Hiroshi hasn't come out at work and is nervous about it. We had a long talk in which I told him to be not afraid and this is your only life and other drunken pep-talk:















Akihiko. Excellent in English and a total smartass. I liked him, of course:















Jeff, me, Helen:















Me, sometime in the morning after I had given up trying to talk Japanese gay cultural history with Shingo and listening to piano concertos by some Japanese woman:















Sometime later in the morning, after I had already relocated to a futon upstairs. Michael was taking a brief nap while M played Helen's DS. This was Michael's third night in a row of bday partying:















Shingo giving Macky directions in the morning to their house (they live in the same area). Macky was on his way home from partying in Harajuku:















"When they pry it from my cold, dead hand":
















Saturday is D's birthday. I've been told that birthday parties are not the norm in Japan, perhaps due to the size of the dwellings. I'm OK with that, because a lot of the kids don't live nearby and it sounds like a hassle. He'll have a little to-do at school on Friday, with gift bags for all his buddies (I found out about this tradition from what the kids brought home from a few celebrations at school already. Man, the Japanese are serious about the gift-giving thing). Saturday, late afternoon, there is an Opening Ceremony for the 2nd Campus of Horizon International School. I thought it would sound boring, but D wants to go, because his friends will be there. He doesn't usually get to see his freinds on his actual birthday, because it's a national holiday in the US (lucky guy always has his bday off). So I RSVP'd, but I hope not too late. Jeff is excited to meet the kids and moms I've mentioned. Also, The First Lady of Japan, the wife of Abe, the new Prime Minister, is supposed to be there. How exciting!

Jeff commits seppuku over Halloween embarassment

Halloween in Japan was, uh, different than we expected.

Last week was weird, because the kids had Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday off. Only in Japan. Anyway, after the first 2 days inside with the little monsters, I knew we had to get out of the house on Thursday, so we walked to Mitsuike Park. You know, that one with all the cool slides and a temple? Happily, map in hand, I got us there no problem. We saw some lovely trees on the way, and a five-legged spider:



















Also, this time, I remembered to bring a bunch of those bread crusts that I cut off of the kids' sandwiches everyday (don't laugh - I would never do this in the US; the bread here sucks and the crusts taste like paper bags). We were expecting to have the place pretty much to ourselves, because the day off was peculiar to their school, but it was swarming with groups of little kids in color-coded hats on field trips. Anyway, we fed the koi, which was much more entertaining than we had anticipated. Koi are seen by most westerners as ornamental and zen creatures, serenely and decoratively swimming in ponds. Well. These guys are huge and aggressive, swarming to the shores where the people are. When you throw in a bit of bread, a feeding frenzy ensues. They race for the bread, fighting each other and any nearby ducks for every morsel. Jeff thinks they're creepy.



















There are also cats all over the place. Pretty tame ones, too, that let you pet them. Last time, we had seen a woman feeding some in a gazebo, so this may have something to do with their tame natures.

Friday, we had our first (and maybe last) party. There was much food, like sukiyaki, chili, Thai ginger fish, grilled meat, candy, and various American snacks, courtesy of the Navy commissary. We had a pretty decent turnout, including some sleepover guests: a group from Kyoto (whose names mostly escape me, because by the time they showed up, I was already drunk and I was barely coherent in the morning before they left. I remember "Martin" and "Apache"). It was an international affair, Austria, the Czech Republic, the US being represented, though it was mostly a Japanese crowd.

Mercy and Erika, the first arrivals















Michael and Shingo















Jeff & Ichan (sp?) grilling















Martin and Anna, from Austria (NOT a couple)













Us















James, in from Seattle


















Macky, of course















Nori-chan playing a Japanese hand-game with D















Tomoi















Why parties in Japan leave cleaner floors















Martin, Yu, Jeff, Zukyan



















Toru















Zukyan














Jeff & I went to bed at 4am, but it apparently went on for awhile after that, because our neighbor came over at 5 to politely remind the guests on the balcony to keep it down.

I was a wreck the next day, probably thanks to the sake Shingo kept pouring me. Sadly, this made me unfit to attend Macky's Halloween Buzz party, but the kids and Jeff went.

Tomoi?


















Rick (I'm guessing) and Toru






































Sunday, we received a Halloween/kids' birthday care package from Aunt Karla, full of candy, Halloween & Day of the Dead decorations, Nickelodeon DVDs, and bottles of Tapatio hot sauce (thank you, Karla!).










































M made peanut butter and blood sandwiches with the 'edible fake blood' packets in the package.














Turns out it meant more 'non-toxic' than truly edible. We carved pumpkins that night, too. They had to be hauled all the way from the base in Yokosuka, because the only pumpkins they have in the local stores are small, green, and tasty ones called kabocha. It was strange to not go to the pumpkin patch this year, or to see piles of big, orange pumpkins outside of Safeway all month.

















Halloween proper rolled around, but unfortunately D was sick and couldn't go to school for the festivities (same as last year - we think he may be allergic to Halloween). He and I laid around and watched movies all day, just as we had the day before (he was sick Monday, too). D isn't good at being alone. I felt really bad for him that he was missing the fun at school AND there wouldn't be any trick or treating in the evening, because this is Japan. I was also disappointed that I didn't get to join the decoration committee or see the costume parade because I was home with D. M wore his ninja costume to school, and had a little candy to show us at the end of the day, which he generously shared with D. There was supposed to be class-to-class trick-or-treating, but that turned into one t-or-t at the office and some activities like a pinata. So, not as big a haul as expected. Oh, well.

I decided to skip Japanese class so I could spend Halloween evening with the family, with pumpkin-themed dinner (hoto with pumpkin) and a viewing of Monster House. While I was making dinner, I had D and Jeff take out the garbage. They came running back in a panic. Here is Jeff's telling in an email to a coworker back in the States:

Everyone told me they don’t [trick or treat in Japan]. Even talked about how the Japanese kids in Yokosuka come on the base to trick or treat. So imagine my surprise when me and D (the youngest) go to take of the trash and we see about 20 kids in costume running from door to door in our condo complex! FUCK! D doesn’t have on a costume and we have bought NO candy. Had I known we would have swamped them with candy. Worse than that, the moms and neighbors see us and wave us over. The kids costumes were awesome. The moms buried us in carefully made goodie bags. They send M off to the neighbors' doors and he comes running back, dumps out his bag, and goes back for more. Later the kids proclaim they love Japan – this is the best Halloween ever!! Meanwhile, I dig up all our snacks, candy left over from Friday’s party, and Sandi’s personal stash so I can shamefully step out to pass out one to each kid – and I run out with three left! I go back in and steal candy from M. 10 minutes later, the door bell rings and a junior high-age girls hands me two more bags of treats. Apparently this was isolated to our complex but God Damn did we get trumped on our own holiday! I later committed seppuku (harakiri) in the living room and tried to wash away the shame with sake. It still hurts. Next year I will hand out backpacks full of candy to the kids in the neighborhood and run a haunted house in the bicycle parking garage. PS In 8 years at our house in Seattle we only had 5 trick or treaters!! Figures.

































Next year...