Our MommyDaughter Adventure

The girls and I had our own little adventure yesterday. We drove to Kurihama flower park, in the southern part of the Penninsula. We took a previously undriven route that we thought would be a good shortcut, rather than drive the distance to the base and take the posted directions from there. We made it without incident to Kurihama, but, as expected, once we got to the immediate vicinity of the park I had a little difficulty finding it, being that the sign for the place is in Japanese. Yet after just two laps around the block we found it.

We made a steep climb around the flower field, whose beauty was unfortunately quite lacking right now. The place is known, however, for the field of poppies from mid May to June and cosmos, which we just missed, from mid Sept. to mid Oct. As we turned the corner 600 meters up we were greated by...



Godzilla!!!!

There's an amazing kids playground up there with, of course, Godzilla. The thing that makes this gigantic Godzilla even better is the fact that he basically deficates kids all day! See, Godzilla is actually a slide and you can guess where the 'bottom' of the slide is. It'd be even more awesome, I think, if the top of the slide was thr0ugh his ferocious mouth, but it's only at the belly. There's also an enormous structure featuring net climbing tubes and bridges and a long roller slide that is fun, but best when assisted by the plastic mats they sell. We unfortunately did not have a mat - ouch. we had a great time playing and took a different path down. To our dismay, after trecking up and down the hills of this path we hit a dead end when the path turned into a stairway. So, already tired and sore from all the uphill walking, we had to turn around and backtrack the entire trip back up then eventually down again. Stella was a trooper. Lacey laid back and enjoyed the scenery, which was beautiful by the way.

Pictures posted in Photo Journal
note: Stel took her turn as photographer so alot of these pictures are her art/vision

Bits and Pieces

Stella at a beach near our house. The tall, dark area almost directly above Stel's head is Fuji-san. (Click to view closer.)

In Japan, you can pay your bills at convenience stores.

I mentioned something before about the customer service. Wow, it's great. Mostly everywhere you go, one or more people will say "Ira-shai-mase" (welcome) as you enter, pretty loudly. Then, they will leave you alone until you are ready to buy whatever it is you want to buy. No pressure. They just leave it at 'welcome' until you are ready. But, at that point, they go all out. Packages are usually wrapped pretty nicely, especially in smaller stores and markets. There's alot of thanking and bowing. And it is not unusual for the girls to get gifts. Just today we bought some plants at a store and they grabbed a couple of fresh flowers and gave them to Stella and Lacey. Oh, and Stella got some kind of bag at another store. The other day Lacey was given two bibs at a department store. It's really cool.

I wish you could see the absolute cuteness of all the Japanese school children on their way to school in the morning dressed in their adorable uniforms. Mostly kids walk to school. We have seen kids that look no older than Stella walking down the street by themselves. There are, however, adults dressed in reflective green hats and vest, that stand all up and down the streets. I assume they are there to guide the children to and from school.

There are persimmons growing everywhere right now.

We unfortunately discovered a different kind
of very large spider on our porch today.

Lacey with her biggest fan, Yiying, who works at a Ramen shop just outside the Base gate that we go to, alot. She really loves Lacey. We just discovered that Yiying and the other two people that work here are not Japanese, but actually Chinese, so we have to bone up on our Chinese now too 'cause she only speaks a couple of English words. Check out their English menu. It's so great!

They have the best fried rice, ever.

We are so excited to be having our first visitors!

Trips' mom and brother are coming for Christmas!!

I'm really missing Huber's, and Hillcrest Ave., and PeeWee's House. Fall is my favorite season and I'm missing these things. There are a few decorations around and Stel will get to trick or treat onbase, but missing that feeling that's usually in the air. It was a bit cooler last weekend and we grabbed a chai tea latte from Starbucks onbase, that helped a little.

We got to vote already! Absentee ballots.

Congrats to Lesley and Robert on their crazy, good news.
Congrats to LeighLeigh on her baby girl

and to the Hoekstras on their baby girl.

WE MISS YOU GUYS.

That's all for now. Just had a couple of things in my head.

That's our neighborhood in the center. Photo taken from Shonan Village. Our house is at the left end (from your perspective). Click on the photo to see it larger.

We're Back

First, for those of you who have checked in several times to find the same 'ol post, I apologize and thank you for the interest. We are in our new home and my days mainly consist of tending to the girls and getting this house in liveable order. I'm not yet prepared with alot of photos, but once everything is decently in order, I will post some. So, for now, I'm gonna share with you some of the quirky, different things about having a home in Japan (including a couple of visual aids).

The genkan

Probably one of the most well known household practices is the custom of removing your shoes before entering the home. This custom is mainly based on cleanliness. [I'll let this webpage give further detail

http://www.tjf.or.jp/eng/content/japaneseculture/02kutsu.htm]

Because of this, homes have an area call a genkan, kind of like our foyer, just kind of. Shoes do not go beyond the genkan. This is something to get used to, especially when you are trying to get a baby and an almost 4 year old out the door in the morning and you've forgotten to grab diapers, for example, and you have to run in and have to remove your shoes to grab them.(I will be sticking to Uggs this fall/winter.) When we were moving in, yes, the delivery men took their shoes off ev-er-y time they went back and forth! And this practice extends to other areas. For example, while shopping, I started to step into a changing room and was stopped by the sales lady saying 'shoes, shoes, shoes'.

Toilets & Bathrooms

The bathrooms in Japan are just that, rooms for bathing. Therefore, the toilet is typically in a completely separate room from the bath, sometimes nowhere even close to it. Ours is a little westernized, I suppose, 'cause even though our toilet is in its own room, that room is still in the bathroom (see the pic). And the toilets, wow. They refer to these things as Super Toilets, and that they are. Most have a button for a bidet, a button for female cleanliness, and a button for a seat warmer. Sometimes, epecially in public, you will happen upon a Super Toilet with a button that plays music and a button for making noises, perhaps a faux flushing sound, to cover up your own embarrassing noises. Some have automatic lids that lift on there own when it senses someone near. We had alot of problems when we first ran into one of these, at a McDonalds of all places. As if all the buttons didn't freak Stel out enough, when she walked into that stall and the seat lifted on its own, it was over!! I also should mention that I realized this happened right after she had watched the movie Monster House. We had problems leaving the base for awhile after that because she would not use the restrooms anywhere offbase. She's gotten used to the look of the Super Toilet now, but still asks before using whether it is 'automatic'. Also, since the toilet room is separate, there is sometimes a little hand washing area above. Neither of our Super Toilets are working right now, so things have just been business as usual around here. These aforementioned toilets are the modern/western ones. In alot of public places you will still find the squatters.

Instead of a shower, we have a shower room. The Japanese bath differently too. The shower is for rinsing and cleaning, the tub is for soaking and relaxation. [Again, see link for further explanation.]http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2002.html I'm lovin' this set up. It makes bathing the kids very efficient. Stel still has bucked the system and still uses the bath for her cleaning purposes. I suppose none of us really do it the Japanese way, but the set up is great. And, as mentioned in the article, we can start a hot bath from the kitchen. We still just walk in there and turn the knobs though.

Last interesting note on toilets and baths, instead of the shower being on the second floor of a two floor home, as with western houses, here (as per usual) it is the opposite and the bathing area is on the first floor with another toilet (what we think of as the guest toilet) upstairs.

Appliances

They're small. Real small. Small.

But we are lucky to have them. Ovens are a rarity. Homes typically just have burners and a fish broiler.

Above: Stove, washer/dryer, and our Japanese fridge

Left: My two dishwashers.

Side note: The Japanese hang their clothes outside to dry. You will see that everywhere you turn. And at the stores, there's an enormous plethora of clothes hanging options.

Garbage

Japan is a crowded place, with a shortage on space. No room for landfills. So, in order to manage the refuse of the great quantity of people who inhabit this island nation, there are very strict garbage collection policies. All garbage is to be sorted into categories. There's burnable trash, nonburnable trash, and recyclable trash (which is then divided into sub categories). It has taken alot of effort and we are still getting accustomed to the system. We peel labels off of bottles, tear the little plastic window out of spaghetti boxes, and rinse clean anything that has contained food.

Each day has it's own type of garbage, which is taken out, in the correct type of bag might I add, and placed in these green netted boxes that are in every neighborhood. If your trash is not right, the will slap a big yellow sticker on it and leave it there for all to see. And our trash would stand out like a sore thumb around here. There are 3 other American households in the neighborhood, but I'm sure it wouldn't take long to solve the mystery.

This is the most expensive garbage can I will ever buy. Even with this very helpful item, things still pile up awaiting the proper day. Luckily, there are places onbase that we can take recyclables on any day of the week.

Here are two articles I found that give a little insight. Our situations are not so extreme. But, when we were moving in, many of the neighbors made sure that we were aware of the policies. It was a hot topic and made us feel a bit exposed.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2002/04/27/rgarbage_ed3_.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/international/asia/12garbage.html

I am very proud to report that our garbage is yet to be yellow stickered and left. And it is a very rewarding feeling to be doing so much recycling.

Insects

There are some crazy ones here. And from what we hear, there will be some crazy ones in our house at some point. This little lady (not so little) has made her home on our side porch. We are told, thankfully, that she prefers the outdoors. I have noticed these kinds of spiders everywhere lately. And the handsome guy below is just one of several praying manti we've seen on our front porch. Unfortunately, we have had the infamous Japanese hornets hanging out at our neighbor's house, making a flight path right over our barbeque porch. These suckers, well, suck. They are big and aggressive, so I've read, have painful, venemous, nonbarbed stingers and work together. They have kept us from using our porch for the time being. The neighbor is in search of an exterminator, so hopefully it won't be an ongoing problem. And also, unfortunately, we've also had a roach or two, which is really common. Our friends told us a good trick we've used once. Instead of squashing any bugs and having to clean the mess, we have a specific plastic tupperware container that we use to trap them, then, we turn 'em into popsicles! We throw the container in the freezer to kill them and toss them out after.

Our Housing Agents

I want to mention our Housing Agents, Takakita-san and his English speaking employee, Miho-san. They are really great and incredibly prompt when we have any issues in the house. I actually only mentioned the hornets to Miho-san and asked her opinion on them and before we knew it, her boss, Takakita-san, had come over to speak with the neighbors about it for us.

Another side note: Customer service is just awesome here. Very attentive and appreciative but, there is never any pressure.

Well, I think that's it for now.

Shortley, I will be posting on the photo journal site, some photos from a walk we took today of our hill and some cool things we discovered around our area - so please check it soon.

If you are reading my posts, I invite you to leave comments. It's always great to read some words from people back home.

Until next time...