Married and Moved to Japan

Japan Rocked by Huge Aftershock

2011-04-08T10:48:00.000+09:00

Just when everyone thought the aftershocks were getting smaller, the earth decided to shift violently. It's been nearly 4 weeks since the 9.0 earthquake and people have felt hundreds of aftershocks. On Japan's Meteorology website they say that the country has felt the following aftershocks since the 9.0 quake:
4 (7 or greater magnitude) earthquakes
66 (6 or greater magnitude) earthquakes
394 (5 or greater magnitude) earthquakes
They don't list 4 or 3's but you can imagine there's been 600 or 700.

The daily trend has typically been aftershocks diminishing in size until today (or last night for the Japanese). At 11:32pm, Japan time, they felt a 7+ magnitude earthquake which triggered a tsunami. It may be hard to understand how big different magnitudes feel if you're unfamiliar with earthquakes so I'd like to point out that a 7+ is big, really big. It's obviously not similar to the 9.0 because that size is only felt once every thousand years, but a 7 is big. Let us not forget that a 7.0 leveled Haiti in 2010 and a 7.3 leveled Kobe, Japan in 1995.

My husband and I are in New York now watching all of this on the news and just sick about it. The city we lived in lost power, as much of the country did, but our friends are posting updates via their cell phones saying they're 'okay'. 'Okay' means they're not physically hurt but they aren't okay in any other sense. They're on edge, stressed, worried, and unable to have a good sleep. We felt traumatized after experiencing aftershocks for one week. My heart goes out to our friends and their families that are still in Japan trying to be strong and stay calm.

Occurred at (JST)	Latitude (degree)	Longitude (degree)	Depth	Magnitude	Region Name
23:32 JST 07 Apr 2011	38.2N	142.0E	40 km	7.4	Miyagi-ken Oki

This may be my last blog until next hockey season so I just wanted to thank everyone that followed our story, cheered on the FreeBlades, and helped us get home safe.

Fast Forward One Week

2011-03-19T06:52:00.005+09:00

One week and hundreds of aftershocks later, my husband and I have left Japan. Our city was out of food, gasoline, and beginning to do rolling black outs to save power. His hockey playoff games were canceled so the coach and general manger said we were free to fly home. The hockey team's travel agent found us seats Thursday morning from a small airport in Misawa (45-60 min North) to Tokyo and we were able to find reasonable priced flights from Tokyo to New York City. Ordinarily people would take the bullet train to Tokyo but it's not running after the quakes and tsunami.

Brad with the boats thrown by the tsunami in Hachinohe

At this point our van had a half tank of gas left so the the team's trainer brought us to the airport and then drove the van back to where the team was staying so they could continue to use what was left of the gas we had. The first flight out of Misawa was a domestic flight. They were very helpful and accommodating. We checked 5 bags without any extra fees and before take off I was eating a small snack and the stewardess brought me apple juice and napkins. JAL's service was outstanding; I can't say the same for our next flight with Continental.

The Tokyo Narita airport was very crowded. The check-in lines had hundreds of people queued and there was people sleeping along the walls with their bags. Continental tried to charge us for multiple extra bags because of Brad's hockey equipment. After 10 minutes of consulting the rule book and talking to the manager they agreed to only charge us for 1 extra bag and told us it was a special exception. In the most sarcastic voice, thanks Continental.

On the plane I sat next to another American evacuating. She lived 45 minutes south of Tokyo and was told she needed to either go south or get out of Japan as a precaution with the winds blowing down from the Nuclear Plant. The city of Tokyo was told to keep windows shut and stay indoors that day also due to the winds carrying potentially dangerous particles. All of this information made me thankful we were getting out when we were.

9.0 Magnitude Earthquake

2011-03-15T14:08:00.006+09:00

Where do I begin?

On Friday morning I was getting excited. All the wives were taking the Shinkansen down to Koriyama the following day to cheer on the Tohoku FreeBlades. I packed a little bit and hung around the apartment. At 2:00 I got the energy to go the gym. I hadn't showered yet and my hair was greasy, but who cares- I was going to work out.

At 2:45 I was close to being finished with my workout and doing my sit-ups when I felt the floor start to rock. I sat up and made eye contact with the woman at the front desk. I made a hand motion indicating we are getting an earthquake. They all start small so she hadn't noticed it yet. Five seconds later everyone in the gym was noticing the shaking. It was loud and scary so we all ran outside. After the shaking stopped we all went back into the gym to get our coats and keys. The power was out. I thought that was odd.

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/

Japan Meteorology Agency

I walked to my car and an aftershock started. I tried calling Brad but the cell phone wasn't working. At this point I started freaking out. I wanted to get back home to check on Lee-Anne and her 2 kids. I started driving and quickly saw that all the traffic lights were out. I knew this was going to be bad, but had no clue a tsunami was about to strike. I took back roads back to our apartments to avoid traffic lights. I ran to Lee-Anne's door to find them on their way out. The aftershocks kept coming and we were scared to be inside. It was cold out so we took refuge inside our van. Another young mother was also outside so we invited her and her kids into the van too.

After an hour of waiting in the car our cell phones started working. Cole got through to Lee-Anne and then I spoke to Brad. They were safe in Koriyama. The team was just about to start hockey practice. Brad was already on the ice so he ran outside. All the lights were shattering and cement was crumbling and crashing down from the arena walls.

Pieces of the wall falling were the size of shoes

on youtube: Video of Tsunami Damage

Blogger.com Stats

2011-03-10T17:41:00.000+09:00

I was bored; jumping around the admin settings on my blog and discovered there's statistics. Since May 2010 blogger.com has recorded how many times per day my posts are viewed, which posts, and the audience viewing them (just their country). It also shows the referring sites, meaning whether someone clicked a link via a Google search for a topic I've discussed or clicked a link they found on facebook.com.

I found all of this really intriguing. I wish there was stats when I first began so that I had a complete picture of what people were interested in reading.

I was shocked to discover people in countries outside of Japan, the United States, and Canada were reading my blog. Those are the top 3 (in that order) followed by South Korea, United Kingdom, Russia, Brazil, Australia, and Malaysia.

12 Earthquakes Today...

2011-03-09T14:07:00.004+09:00

During lunch Hachinohe shook due to a 7.2 earthquake. The epicenter was off the coast so our city felt a '5'. I think it was the longest and strongest quake I've ever felt. I had just gotten out of the shower so I started to panic because I wanted to get dressed in case I had to run outside. Luckily there's no damage reported on the news and we're okay.

In the two hours following our apartment shook 5 more times! The aftershocks weren't nearly as scary as the initial one. Later in the afternoon and evening we had 6 more small earthquakes. This day has been crazy.

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/

Japan Meteorology Agency

Free Blades Are In The Finals!

2011-03-07T09:44:00.000+09:00

Sunday afternoon was a very exciting game. The Free Blades played amazing and won 4-1. The fans were the louder than I've ever heard them here. At the final buzzer all the player's families were relieved and very happy. I think every Japanese wife had a few happy tears.

The next games are in Koriyama on Saturday and Sunday (12, 13). The wives are invited again and I can't wait! I'm so happy for the guys!

Brad is growing a playoff beard

Oprah who?

2011-03-06T10:14:00.002+09:00

Saturday morning all the wives took the Shinkansen train down to Koriyama. I was reading a book from Oprah's Book Club and they asked what I was reading. I said just a book... an Oprah book, do you know Oprah- she's black, has a TV show, rich, friends with President Obama. Only one wife knew who Oprah was! I was shocked. I just assume young Japanese people know about Western culture but not in this case.

Later in the afternoon one of the wives was still thinking about our Oprah conversation. She pulled Lee-Anne and I aside and said "so the right word to use is n**er, right? Or n*gro?" We tried not to laugh and quickly corrected her. We said those are very bad words and just use the term 'black'; it's almost more acceptable than saying African American.

At 3:00 we watched game 4 of the playoffs. It was very exciting. The FreeBlades won 4-1 and Brad had a goal and 2 assists. They also named him MVP of the game.

Sunday afternoon is game 5- Go Lets!

Packing and Playoffs

2011-03-04T22:03:00.002+09:00

Asia's hockey season is quickly coming to a close and that means I'm outta here! I love Japan but miss 'home'; whatever home means... Canada, US, one of those.

Brad's team is down one game and play again this weekend. Games 4 and 5 are on Saturday and Sunday. I'll be in Koriyama cheering them on with all the wives. The team is funding our trip down to make up for the fact these are 'home' games but not being played in Hachinohe.

I packed my over night bag and packed up some of our apartment. I hope the the Free Blades win and go onto the finals, because if they don't, Brad and I need to be packed and ready to leave in one week. Thankfully we don't have very much to pack, just the clothes we brought, some toiletries, and our electronics. The catch though is we brought 4 suitcases and 2 carry-ons to Japan and only want to leave with 2 duffel bags. We're leaving Tokyo and starting our honeymoon. We don't want to lug our stuff around so the solution is to ship some items home. We're also bringing some items to a 2nd hand store and selling others on an online yard sale (run by the Americans living in Misawa).

Bringing Baby Showers to Japan

2011-03-01T14:17:00.000+09:00

For the hockey wives monthly ladies lunch I suggested we throw Lee-Anne a baby shower. The Japanese women looked at me and said "what is baby shower?". I explained it was a party, usually all women, where you play silly games, socialize, and 'shower' the mother with presents. The hockey wives loved this idea and we started planning Lee-Anne's shower.

Ever since I met Lee-Anne in September I've been thinking about how she deserves a baby shower and it was now all coming together. I didn't know this until the day of the party, but it was Lee-Anne's first shower. This is her second child so I just assumed friends and family threw her a shower for her first baby. With that in mind I was so happy we were able to make the party happen.

A lot of people have baby showers before the baby is born so that the mother can get everything she needs ahead of time but December and January were too busy with visitors and schedules so we selected February 27th. Hitomi found the restaurant, Miki and Mayo planned/created the decorations, and I made the party favors and organized the games.

Bottles Up Game: Racing to finish bottles

Everyone said they had a wonderful time and looked like they had fun playing the games. There are 2 more wives with babies so I hope we can do something special for them too. Every mother deserves a baby shower : )

The party favors were face cloths cupcakes with a lollipop cherry. The cupcake wrappers allowed me to personalize a 'thank you' to the guests.

Tohoku Free Blades: Ready for Play Offs!

2011-02-28T15:34:00.000+09:00

On Saturday and Sunday Janine and I walked around Tokyo in the mornings and went to hockey games in the evenings. Saturday morning we walked around the Asakusa area and then the Imperial Palace East Gardens. We were lucky and saw a few early blooming cherry blossoms while visiting the gardens.

Sunday morning we went to Harajuku and Shibuya. Janine said she really liked these areas and the shopping they had. She was also excited because while in the Harajuku area we went to the Meiji Shrine and caught a few weddings.

The hockey games we went to were the last 2 of the regular season. The Free Blades won both (3-1) (6-5) placing them 3rd for the league. Go Lets!

Fast forward one week and the Asia Hockey League Playoffs have started. The top 4 teams are playing a best of 5 series. Currently Brad is on the Northern Island of Hokkaido playing the Cranes team. The series is tied 1-1 and Brad has scored 2 goals. Their next game is Tuesday in Hokkaido then they travel south to Koriyama to play games 4 and 5, if necessary. I'll be going to games 4 and 5 with all of the hockey wives. We're excited to watch the games, and see our husbands. : ) On Saturday their road trip will have been 8 days long.

Akihabara Can be Obscene

2011-02-27T21:35:00.001+09:00

On Friday morning Janine and I traveled to Tokyo via the Shinkansen. We went to our hotel, checked in, and ventured out into Shinjuku (neighborhood our hotel was in). It was a goal of mine to have Janine taste as many different Japanese dishes as possible so for lunch we were looking for traditional ramen.

We came upon a small Ramen shop in a quiet alley. After briefly scanned the menu, it was only 6 items, we walked inside and placed our order with the vending machine. Ordering 'fast food' on a vending machine is normal. It spits out your order on a ticket and you hand it to the waiter or chef.

You place your order with this machine. It has pictures and prices on each button.

After we placed our orders we found 2 bar stools beside each other. The restaurant was filled (only 16 seats) with business men slurping their lunches. Once seated and we began our meals we were shocked to see a crowd of businessmen waiting at the door to get a seat and eat lunch. I was confused why they didn't go to another ramen shop. Was this one special? We still don't know the answer, we just tried to eat as fast as we could using our chopsticks and gave up our seats to the next happy customer.

With full bellies we got on the subway and went to Akihabara which people also refer to as "Electric Town". I've been to Tokyo 6 times and only visited this area once so I thought we should join a tour group. We were going to use Hato Bus Tours but it was unavailable on our day so I printed out a map and a list of places we could see. In essence I made our own private walking tour. Unfortunately my map stunk and we got turned around upon exiting the subway. My mistake was quickly fixed by a cheap cab ride in the right direction.

We visited a Don Quijote store, a Maid Cafe, the canned Oden area, Mandarake store, and Radio Market. Don Quijote is best explained as a Walmart and Spencer's Gifts combined into one. It's huge and sells you functional items and over 18 items... The first thing we saw in the store was a gum ball machine with polyester underwear for five dollars!

Within Don Quijote is a Maid Cafe. I've been dying to learn more about these places. I thought we could just go in, order an expensive coffee, and take pictures of the staff that are dressed in french maid costumes. Nope, I was wrong. You have to pay a $7 table fee to sit (each person), then you can order off the 'menu' which had food, Polaroid pictures with the maids for $5, or games you can play with your maid. Janine and I decided, is wasn't worth it so we went to the next place, Mandarake.

Before coming across Mandarake we walked past the canned oden area. Only in Akihabara can you get this specific kind of soup out of a drink vending machine. I read it's considered popular amongst nerds. We were still full from lunch so we took a picture and continued walking.

Mandarake considers itself the largest manga (comic) and anime (cartoon) shop in the world. It's 8 floors, each with a different selection of weird stuff. We started on the top, a floor of toys. It was all retro toys that people must collect because the star wars figurines from the 80s weren't originally $90. They also have a floor of adult comics, DVDs, posters, and anything else manga or anime you can imagine.

On our way back towards the train station we walked through Radio Market. After WWII this area of narrow alleys sold black market electronic goods. Today the stalls sell electronic pieces and parts that are at a reduced price. For example they sell fuses, or wiring, or light bulbs, or security cameras. There's a lot of variety.

That was the end to our trip through Akihabara. It was eventful and definitely interesting...

Hachinohe Enburi Parade

2011-02-25T15:40:00.000+09:00

Thursday morning Brad went to work and Janine and I went to a Festival/Parade.

Each February our city has a 4 day festival to pray for a good rice harvest. We went last year and I thought Janine would enjoy it. There's groups made up of adults and children each dressed in costume. At the end of the parade all the groups stop when they hear fireworks and immediately begin their routines. Each group does the same dances but the costumes are slightly different or the number of dancers is different.

Obviously the kids are the highlight because they are so darn cute! I wish I had a better camera so I could zoom closer.

After the performance, Janine and I went to a sushi train restaurant and then back to the apartments. There we met up with Brad and the 3 of us went to the Hachinohe Indoor Fish Market. For dinner we went to the all you can eat Yakiniku resturant and then walked around downtown.

We crammed a lot into this day because Nene's trip was short and Friday morning we were catching the bullet train down to Tokyo.

Janine Came to Visit!

2011-02-24T21:18:00.003+09:00

Last Wednesday Janine arrived in Tokyo (as did Taylor Swift but we didn't see her : ) ).

Janine's plane landed in the afternoon and she followed the directions I provided her. They told her how to get from her plane, through customs, onto 2 trains, and arrive in our city. She was to call us aboard the bullet train to tell us what time she was arriving in Hachinohe. I told her the train would have an easy-to-use pay phone but her train only had new calling card phones. Oops... After 3 tries she gave up and decided to just call us from the station when she arrived. Meanwhile Brad and I were watching TV and kept asking each other why hasn't Janine called. We started to worry but thankfully we got the call at 8pm and were shocked to hear she was already off the train and waiting for us. We rushed to the station (just a 10 minute drive) and apologized for the inconvenience. The remainder of the evening we just chatted and relaxed at home.

Side note- Janine would've called us in Tokyo station between her 1st and 2nd train but they wasn't enough time. When Janine asked the woman selling her the train tickets how long her connection time was she replied "12 minutes" when Janine asked how long it would take to get from one track to the next she replied "12 minutes" with a big grin. Upon seeing what Nene thought was her second train she noticed people lined up to board and wasn't completely sure if it was really her train. Scared, she cut in front of the line and ran on. She asked the steward directly in front of her if she was in the right place. Simultaneously the train door shut behind her and the train started moving. The steward looked up grinning and said "yes". Thank god.

Hachinohe Station

Obligations Of Omiyage

2011-02-16T17:05:00.002+09:00

Omiyage is a new term I learned last week. It's used to describe the boxes of cakes and confections sold at the airport, train stations, markets, and events (ie sumo tournament). I occasionally glance at them but they are overpriced so I continue on my way.

There was a funny omiyage that I got a kick out of shown below. Sabrina bought them to bring back to her friends in NYC. It's cookies that look like seagull poop. Our city has a celebrated shrine dedicated to the black tailed seagull so Hachinohe thought it appropriate to sell poop cookies for people to remember their visit.

I have since gone back to our market and picked a box of these up for my family. They are just too ridiculous to not share! That's my reasoning for my purchase, but a lot of people are guilted into buying omiyage. Our friends Oliver and Lindsay are teachers and every time they take a trip, especially if they have to take a day off from work, they are expected to bring presents back for their co-workers. If you are a Japanese teacher you may take one vacation a year and don't mind bringing back candies for your co-workers, but Oliver and Lindsay moved to Japan to travel and experience the culture, meaning they are taking a lot of side-trips. Every time they have gone somewhere they've had to spend around $75 on their co-workers. I'm not sure if they will give up on this tradition or fear the unknown stigma attached to that kind of behavior and will just see it through. My guess would be that if they didn't bring back omiyage, everyone would be too polite to say anything.

All Japan Ice Hockey Championship

2011-02-13T22:30:00.003+09:00

This weekend Brad was in Nikko for the Annual All Japan Tournament. This winter marked the 78th championship! Who knew competitive ice hockey has been played in Japan since the 1930's? Not me!

Teams from all over the country may enter and can be High-school, college, or even your beer league team. There were 29 competing groups this year and the 4 professional teams got a 'bye' into the quarter-finals. On Friday the FreeBlades played a University and nearly lost but Cole clinched the win for them scoring a goal with only 5 seconds left. The following day they played a professional team, the Oji Eagles. The FreeBlades beat them in overtime making it to the final game.

On Sunday afternoon they played the Nippon Paper Cranes. I got to watch at home because it was on our basic cable package. Half-way through the 2nd period it was tied 2-2 but the Cranes pulled ahead and won in regulation time. I was really mad and yelling at the TV but it didn't seem to change the score or Ref-ing. : )

Lovely Day for Laundry

2011-02-09T10:08:00.000+09:00

Brad laughs at me when I say it looks like it's going to be a great day for laundry. Laundry loads in our house (and pretty much all other Japanese homes) depends on the weather. If it's above freezing I can hang clothes outside so our apartment doesn't get too humid. If it's below freezing I can only do 1-2 loads because we won't have anywhere to hang the wet clothes.

We haven't purchased a dryer for 2 reasons. One- the team won't buy it for our 'fully furnished apartment' and Two-they are small and inefficient anyways. I think a Japanese dryer can fit 2 pairs of jeans and it takes 2 hours for them to dry. Stupid- right?

The entire first week of February we were blessed with above normal temperatures. It was 10C or about 50F every day. So what did I do in my mornings? Laundry! : )

Super Bowl Monday

2011-02-07T19:09:00.001+09:00

Brad had Saturday and Sunday off this week; that is unheard of in hockey. There's no league games because the best Japanese and Korean players are at the Asian Winter Games in Kyrgyzstan. There are hockey teams from almost every Asian country, even Thailand has a team! North Korea is present as well.

With the convenient days off we made plans to hang out with our friends in Misawa. Brad and I had never been out in Misawa before so we were excited. We started our evening going out to dinner with Oliver, Lindsay, and Bruce at Mike's Tex Mex. It's the first Mexican Restaurant I've been to in Japan. I thought the food was pretty good. Afterward we met up with Teresa and Vang. They spent the day snowboarding and needed extra time to get ready. Poor Vang dislocated his shoulder and still came out with us; such a good sport!

We went to Our Place, Peekaboo, and Wish. I liked the first venue, Our Place. It was well lit and they had a lot of country music. Peekaboo and Wish were dance clubs and not our scene but we had an awesome time at them, so much so we stayed out later than we expected.

On Sunday we went to brunch and devoured everything in sight. After saying goodbye to Teresa we drove back to Hachinohe for some much needed rest. Thankfully the Super Bowl wasn't on that night so we didn't have to stay up late. Instead we went to bed early and woke up Monday morning to watch the Super Bowl. The 14 hour time difference worked out well in this case.

Ueno Zoo

2011-02-04T09:58:00.000+09:00

On Sunday Joe and Sabrina were departing, but not until the early evening so we got in a little more sightseeing. Sabrina wanted to check out the Ueno Zoo. I hadn't been before so I was excited. It's right within the city and just packed full of animals.

Unfortunately the Zoo's Giant Panda, Ling Ling passed away in April 2008 due to heart failure and the zoo was renovating the panda area during our visit. Two new pandas are suppose to arrive this month from China. They are just on a lease and meant to breed at the zoo.

I think my favorite animals were the large birds. They had condors and very large eagles. One bird was really freaky looking. It was almost as tall as an ostrich and had crazy feathers. Check it out:

After the Zoo I said bye to Joe and Sabrina because they were heading to Tokyo Station to visit a garden then they were off to the airport. Brad and I had a great time with them and hope they had a fun vacation.

Tokyo Cruise

2011-02-03T09:24:00.001+09:00

On Saturday Joe got a massage and then we went on a Tokyo Bay Cruise. I haven't had a massage in Japan because I've heard they stink. Our friend Bruce, and now Joe have reported that the masseuse has you keep your shirt on, weird, and then they also place a towel over you. So they massage through your shirt and towel, thus chafing your skin. No thanks. I'll get my massages elsewhere.

Once Joe got back to the hotel it was around 1pm and we had plans to go to Brad's hockey game at 3pm so we thought we could squeeze in a mini cruise to Palette Town. We took the train to Daimon Station and walked to the Hinode Pier. We had lunch and waited for the ferry that would take us to Palette Town, home to what was the largest Ferris Wheel in 1999. It stands 115 meters tall and takes 16 minutes for a ride. We would've taken a ride but then we would have had to wait one hour for the next ferry and we were short on time. So we just enjoyed the boat ride and took a lot of pictures.

We were a little late to the Hockey game but that was okay. The only mishap was since we arrived late, our team's will call had packed up so we accidentally took will call tickets that belonged to people on the other team. They gave them to us so it was really their problem, not ours.

The FreeBlades wore special jerseys this weekend that were green and the super fans had on green shirts that read "Save Our Verdy". We later learned that they were in support of the Tokyo Verdy football (soccer) team. The Hockey Team's owner Xebio Sports, is now also heavily sponsoring the Tokyo Verdy. News articles reported that the Tokyo Verdy were having money troubles when the economy was suffering so Xebio has bailed them out.

The FreeBlades lost which put a small damper on Brad's Birthday celebrations. After the team dinner all the Canadians, and Americans, went out for a drink. We went to The Hub, an English Bar chain in Japan. There's 2 in the Shinjuku neighborhood which confused the heck out of us when Joe, Sabrina, and I were at one and everyone else was outside the other.

Christmas Cards in February?!

2011-02-02T11:27:00.002+09:00

I'm still blogging about our trip to Tokyo but I had to mention we just got a Christmas card in the mail on February 1st! It was addressed perfectly and somehow it was routed to Jamaica then correctly sent to Japan. It was completely opened when it made it to our mailbox and wasn't re-taped shut. Completely open doesn't even describe the condition of the envelope, the whole top half was actually missing.

As if this wasn't enough, 2 hours later a Christmas package was delivered! This one didn't make a detour to Jamaica but it took a month to get to us from Canada. What is happening to the mail system? Is the weather really messing it up that much?? Customs also completely opened this package but had the decency to reseal it and add a sticker telling us they opened it.

Tokyo Sky Tree

2011-01-30T14:01:00.001+09:00

On Friday morning Sabrina and Joe took a trip out to Mt Fuji while I went to get a physical. As part of the Canadian Permanent Visa application, applicants need to get a medical exam. They must be performed by an approved doctor and there are only 7 in Japan. Three of which are in Tokyo so I needed to get this done on this trip. It went very smoothly and the people were very friendly. The hospital staff were nice as well as the other patients going through the same tests (all for different country's visas).

In the afternoon Sabrina, Joe, and I met back up at our hotel then set out to explore. We saw 2 different areas (both I have described in this blog before so I won't repeat myself), Harajuku and Shibuya.

From a number of Tokyo's neighborhoods you can now see the Tokyo Sky Tree. Not yet completed and it's Japan's tallest building. It's set to open in Spring 2012 with 2 observatories, one at 350 meters and one at 450 meters. On a clear day you'll be able to see Mt Fuji. Tourism is the secondary purpose of the tower, the primary is TV broadcasting. The tower will allow a full transition from analog to digital broadcasting. The TV antenna which isn't build yet will reach 634 meters (2,080 ft) in the sky.

Before the Tokyo Sky Tree, Japan's tallest building was the Yokohama Landmark Tower, only 970 feet, half the height of the new tower.

New York City's Top of the Rock has their viewers 260 meters above street level and everyone loves it, 450 meters above street level is going to get people an amazing view.

Edo - Tokyo Museum

2011-01-29T14:34:00.003+09:00

After we bought our sumo tickets we had breakfast at the lovely McDonald's and then walked to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. The hockey team trainer has raved about this museum for a while so I thought we should check it out.

Upon entering we saw they offered free tour guides so we asked for an English speaking guide. This made the tour really nice because not all the exhibits had English and we were able to ask questions. The museum was laid out so that you started at the beginning of Tokyo's history (Edo period) then further along, WWII, and then the developments that we now see today.

The city models were incredible. There was one that our guide explained every human model (no taller than 3 inches) each cost more than $300 to create!

When the city was entirely short, wooden structures, you were able to see Mt Fuji from anywhere on Tokyo's street. Although beautiful, these wooden buildings led to a lot of fires. The museum had a portion about the firefighters who were also the city's carpenters. They organized themselves into groups and each was recognized by a large ornamental rod they carried. The guide said the most handsome of the group got to hold the rod. We tried to hold it and it was super heavy!

I liked the life-size Kabuki stage with mannequins. Kabuki was traditional theater and it still exists today. It was meant for the common people to attend and had showed stories about love, history, and moral dilemmas. All the actors were men so many of them had to dress like women to play their part; I thought that was funny. The stage itself was very cool. It rotated so that actors could disappear and the stage decor could change easily.

In the modern portion of the museum I was blown away by the '1 yen taxi'. That's just a penny and it got you anywhere in the city. But then the tour guide explained that the value of 1 yen then was equivalent to 3,000 yen today ($36).

After the museum we had time to explore before sumo started so we went to Asakusa where there's a temple, pagoda, and shopping street. Thankfully I've been there before because this is when my camera battery died.

If you'd like to see pictures of sumo: my post from Sunday, January 24, 2010 has pictures of last year tournament in Tokyo. Sabrina, Joe, and I enjoyed the bouts (matches). Our favorite was when one of the wrestlers smacked his opponent across the face. Their matches begin in a squat when both wrestlers place their fists on the ground. Occasionally there is a false start; part of psyching out your opponent and playing mind games. After the smack the two men re-set to only have another false start. This time the other wrestler went on the attack and knocked the other off his feet and onto his butt. The crowd loved it and we were laughing. Their actual bout was boring and short, but they definitely knew how to get the crowd going.

Overcrowded Trains at Shinjuku

2011-01-28T10:08:00.003+09:00

On Thursday morning we got up early so that we could purchase general admission tickets to the Sumo Tournament. The cheap seats are 3,600 yen, but if you get in line at the box office on the day you want to watch, you may purchase general admission tickets for just 2,100 yen. The box office opened at 8am so we tried to get there by nine before the seats sold out.

Unfamiliar with Tokyo's morning commute, I forgot the trains would be crowded on a Thursday morning. We needed to pass through Shinjuku, the world's busiest station. What was I thinking?!

According to the Discovery Channel 3.2 million people use Shinjuku Station each day! While waiting to get on the train we noticed train staff getting ready for the train to arrive. They positioned themselves at each spot where there would be doors opening for people to get on. I thought- good- these workers will control the congestion. I was wrong. These workers pushed people onto the train and tried to cram as many people on as possible!

We would've taken a picture but our arms were stuck at our sides. I got on my tip toes to help me breathe and got stuck like that for 20 minutes. I kept apologizing to Joe and Sabrina because I was having a small panic attack and felt terrible I put them in this position. We could feel our lungs being compressed and would've gotten off at the next stop but it was more painful when people tried to exit. Check out this person's video:

Clip of people being pushed

I think our entire train trip was 30 minutes and 20 of them were painfully uncomfortable. Joe and Sabrina labeled it as an 'experience' and I'm calling it 'almost being crushed'. I hope I never get into that situation again. I have been overcrowded before in Seoul trains but this was much worse. I was shocked.

Nikko's Toshogu Shrine

2011-01-27T12:54:00.000+09:00

On Wednesday Joe, Sabrina, and I got on the 8am train and made our way toward Nikko. I had gone once before (blog entry Wednesday, September 30, 2009) but rushed through the famous shrine. We were traveling with kids and also trying to make it to hockey game that same day. So I was happy to return with Joe and Sabrina and spend more time there. I was also curious what the city looked like covered in snow.

We started our day at the Toshogu Shrine, Japan's most ornately decorated shrine. Normally shrines embrace simplicity but this one is covered in Gold Leaf and bright paint.

We saw the 3 most famous wood carvings.

We also walked all the way up to Leyasu's Tomb. He was a very famous shogun. During the Edo period (1603-1867) in Japan the shogun had more power than the emperor. The stairs shown below were only a quarter of the way up to the tomb. It was quite a walk. At the very top they even had an AED installed for emergencies!

After the Toshogu Shrine we briefly looked at the Taiyuinbyo and Futarasan Shrine. Then we started walking back towards the JR Train Station and Shinkyo Bridge. Important people used this bridge to cross the river to visit the Shrines. Common people had to use another, less beautiful bridge.

It was now getting late and time to get back on the train; next stop Tokyo!

Sightseeing in Hachinohe, Japan

2011-01-26T14:31:00.003+09:00

Our friends, Joe and Sabrina came to Japan for a vacation. They arrived Sunday (16th) evening in Tokyo and made their way on the trains to Hachinohe. I put together a guide for them on how to get from Narita Airport to our apartment via the trains; that way I didn't have to train 8 hours to go get them and go back up North.

On our first day in Hachinohe we visited the shore and a shrine. The beach area is called the Tanesashi Coast and winds along Rt 1. We took a few pictures and then drove back towards the city, towards Kabushima Island. This is a shrine dedicated to black-tailed seagulls. 40,000 birds live there! Luckily there were only 5 or so birds because it was winter. I heard you need an umbrella in the warmer months or you'll get poo-ed on. After these two sites we were cold so we headed home for some lunch; traditional yakisoba.

After lunch we got back in the van and headed to our JR Train station. We needed to reserve our seats for the Nikko and Tokyo trip that we were taking on Wednesday but I also wanted to show Joe and Sab a festival float. There's a building to the left of the Hachinohe station housing a huge summer festival float. Most festivals are held in the summer months so I think if you visit Japan in the winter the next best thing is seeing one of the floats up close.

For dinner we went to our favorite Yakiniku Restaurant called Gyukaku. It's an all you can eat grilling restaurant. Our guests were able to try different food. Below is Joe trying Beef Tongue.

After dinner we walked 2 blocks to 'downtown' (on the street with Hachinohe's Movie Theater called Cino). There is a few narrow alleys lined with small restaurants or bars called Yataimura Miroku Yokocho. They are so small they only can fit 6-10 bar stools. We found one with Brad's hockey schedule displayed and took a seat. We had one drink and talked to the other couple inside. They liked hockey as did the 2 women working inside. Through broken english and a little charades we had a decent conversation.

On Tuesday we checked out Hachinohe's indoor Fish Market called Hasshoku Center. They are open everyday except Wednesday. Sabrina purchased some souvenirs and we had lunch inside.

Later in the afternoon we went to the onsen (aka naked spa). The one we went to is to the right of TOYS R US in the large brown building. Paying 420 yen gets you unlimited time in the baths. Immediately afterward we went to dinner at a sushi train restaurant. We strategically picked one beside a McDonald's in case Joe or Sabrina couldn't handle the fish. : ) Surprisingly all four of us enjoyed our sushi and didn't need any french fries. We went home and had birthday cake and chocolate beer to celebrate Sabrina's Birthday.

We found the chocolate beer at the Fish Market. I think it's only out for Valentine's Day. It's made by Sapporo and Royce in Hokkaido. I'd compare it to a Guinness, filling and delicious.

Friends & Family Visiting Japan

2011-01-26T00:08:00.000+09:00

Last week our friends from RPI came to visit. Everyday we were busy doing different things so I didn't have time to blog about it; this week I'll try to catch up.

On Monday evening after our friends, Joe and Sabrina left, we had dinner with the other Canadians and their visiting families. Cole's parents are in town so we had dinner at his apartment. We had tacos and fajitas because we were all missing comfort food.

The best part about the group dinner was passing Wyatt around. He was asleep nearly the entire time. Below is Brad with Wyatt and Lila. Brad looked so comfortable that we had to get his picture!

A New Hockey Star is Born!

2011-01-14T19:01:00.001+09:00

Our friends Cole and Lee-Anne had their baby yesterday morning. Wyatt William was a healthy 8 pounds. Both Wyatt and Lee-Anne are doing great! I think Lee-Anne deserves an award for this delivery. She had Wyatt without any pain killers! She is a super woman.

This afternoon I visited them at the Women's Clinic and got to hold Wyatt. I haven't held a newborn in 18 years and was a little nervous. I think my younger brother was the last time I held a baby under 1 month and Wyatt was just a day old today.

Lee-Anne's accommodations at the Clinic are super nice. She has a private room with bathroom and it's furnished more like a home than a hospital. While talking today, Lee-Anne sounded like she was ready to go home and tomorrow she gets to. In the afternoon Lee-Anne and Wyatt will be going home to be with her mom, sister, and daughter.

On the road to Aomori

2011-01-13T09:40:00.000+09:00

On Tuesday Brad and I decided we should get cracking on some paperwork we need to do. I'm applying for a Permanent Residence Visa in Canada. One of the many items to complete is a background check in every country I've lived in for more than six months. That means I need one for Japan and in order to get a background check we had to go to the Prefecture Police Headquarters... a 2 hour drive.

Before going we stopped by the hockey office to have them help us put the Japanese address into our GPS. After a few minutes we were on the road and we thought we had everything covered, boy were we wrong. The GPS didn't direct us to the Police Headquarters, instead it brought us to the outskirts of Aomori city. Once we realized this we decided just to drive towards the city center following signs that said city office and prefecture office. We parked underground and went up to the street level to walk around. We went into the Prefecture court house and asked for the Koban (Police). A security guard walked us around the block to the little Police Station. There we showed the police officer the address we were looking for and he gave us simple directions. After a 10 minute walk we made it to our destination.

Things were looking up; but not for long. Once in the little meeting room the Police Officers helping us wanted to see more paperwork. I had brought the 3 items listed on THEIR website required to obtain a police certificate. They wanted more. We called Sho (bilingual friend in the hockey office) and had the officers talk to him. They talked for probably a half hour! Finally they agreed to do my background check and take my finger prints as long as we faxed them more information the following day. Thank goodness because we drove 2 hours to get there!

On the way out of the city Brad wanted to stop at a Buddhist Temple to take some pictures. He had gone once before (Blog entry Sept 15 2009). The name is Seiryu-ji Temple. They have a very large Buddha (Showa Daibtsu) and pagoda.

The lesson we re-learned is formal paperwork is never easy in Japan. The general working population are huge sticklers for process and procedure so if you aren't doing something exactly as their rule book states, you just wasted your time and will have to re-do paperwork or come back the following week.

We also were reminded our GPS is a piece of garbage and to always bring a map as back-up. : )

Russian Food?

2011-01-12T13:31:00.001+09:00

While at the bars we've been exposed to an odd game. It's Russian roulette with food and I think the Japanese guys called it Russian food. What you do is you order a snack, say mini pizzas or cream puff pastries, and in the kitchen they fill one or two with hot sauce. The waitress then brings out the tray and there's one for everyone in your group.

Everyone takes one and eats it hoping they weren't the loser of the game. We played twice on Sunday night and the same guy got it twice in a row! He was in so much pain and disgust I think he almost threw up. He ran away from the table and into the bathroom. Glad I didn't lose....

Daiko Cabs

2011-01-11T21:24:00.001+09:00

This weekend the hockey team had two games. They lost the first in a shootout and won the second in another shoot out. As a result, the players were given Monday and Tuesday off so a group of us decided to go downtown on Sunday night. There was 5 of us so we would need 2 cabs. I realized this so instead of drinking at the apartments I waited and was able to drive us downtown.

We tried a new wine bar that a waiter (at our favorite restaurant) had told us about but it was hosting a private party. So then we went to a bar we always go to - Soul to Soul. After two hours of all you can drink Brad and I were exhausted and ready to go to sleep. We found our way back towards the parking garage and found a Daiko Cab to help us.

A Daiko Cab looks like a small, smart car that would deliver pizzas, but it's a taxi cab operation. There are two drivers. One person follows you to your vehicle. Then they drive you home in your car with their co-worker following behind in the business car. The result: you get home safe, you have your car in the morning, and it's the same price as a normal cab! I know other cities have this service but there's an extra charge. In our city it's maybe a dollar more, that's it! We love it.

Re: Dangerous Driving

2011-01-10T15:42:00.000+09:00

Only a few posts back I mentioned Brad and I driving on our scary "short cut" road. And that our van's mirror smacked another person's mirror while trying to drive past us. Well... Cole and Lee-Anne's family weren't so lucky this morning.

On the same road mentioned, their van slid on some ice. No other cars were around so their van slid into the guard rail, damaging the drivers door and rear bumper. Thankfully everyone was okay because they weren't driving very fast and the car stayed on the road. The guard rail protected them from going into a ditch. Yikes. I'll be avoiding that route until some of this snow melts.

Funerals in Japan

2011-01-06T19:51:00.002+09:00

Last month one of Brad's teammates' had a death in the family. It was sudden and unexpected; everyone was very sad. After hearing the news, the coach and manager of the team asked all of the players to contribute 3,000 yen. We were confused at the time but later learned that it is customary for funeral guests to offer condolence money. They place it in a fancy envelope with gray and silver ribbons. Individual contributions range from 3,000 yen to 30,000 yen ($36-$360) depending on their closeness with the deceased.

Wondering what the money goes towards? The money is used to help pay for the funeral. The average cost of a funeral in Japan is twice the cost it is in the United States. It costs on average $30,000 versus $15,000. The most expensive aspect is the grave plot. I don't have a picture of a grave yard but will add one soon. Each plot looks like a marble memorial and they are quite tall. They all have a stone monument, a place for flowers, incense, and a place to store the ashes.

According to statistics collected in 2007, 99.81% of Japanese people are cremated. The family brings the coffin to the crematorium after the funeral. They are told to come back in a few hours later to receive the ashes and bones. The family members are invited to pick the bones up with large chopsticks and place them in the urn. Once completed the urn is brought back to the family grave site for final resting.

Fukubukuro

2011-01-03T15:40:00.001+09:00

Happy New Year everyone!

On New Years Day people in Japan enjoy going shopping to take advantage of great sales. The stores have traditional sales as well as mystery bags or lucky bags for sale. It's a 'mystery' because you don't know what's inside. The bag called a Fukubukuro, fuku means luck and fukuro means bag. It contains several store items and sold together so that it's 50% (or more!) off retail value.

Brad and I went shopping on the 2nd and saw some of these mystery bags. Most of the stores had signs on their fliers indicating they had sold out of certain price ranges. The bags' prices range from $25 to $150. We didn't partake in this tradition; instead we bought boring items like white socks. : )

We celebrated New Years with the Hockey Team on the 29th. They had a holiday party at a bar downtown where we had food, drinks, and were able to play pool and darts. I had a lot of fun.

On the 31st we had the other Canadians over our apartment for dinner and drinks to bring in the New Year. I made ham, sweet cinnamon carrots, perogies, and buns. Lee-Anne brought over dessert, a salad, and scallops. I don't really like scallops (or clams, or oysters) but I thought I should just try one and see if my taste buds had matured into liking them. I chewed a little and thought- NOPE - I don't like scallops so I spit out what was left in my mouth into a tissue and went back to the party. About 2 hours later I got violently sick and everyone had to leave our apartment. I felt so bad ruining the party but I was really sick. After thinking about it Brad and I decided I'm definitely allergic to scallops. We remember I got really sick the last time I tried one too (and no one else got sick at our dinner party). Also, my mom and sister are allergic to all shellfish. In the next few days we hope I'll be able to see a doctor for an allergy test. I'm crossing my fingers it's only scallops!

Dangerous Driving

2010-12-31T16:44:00.000+09:00

Calling the local roads narrow is an understatement. We have a twisty road that we take when going downtown because it cuts our trip time in half. The road has both businesses and residential buildings on it yet isn't wide enough for 2 large vehicles.

Brad and I drive a large van so when we come along another car on the 'short cut' road we slow down and pull over as much as possible. Drivers have to be really careful because along both sides of the road are 2 feet ditches for water drainage.

Three days ago it was icy so we were driving extra slow on the 'short cut' road. We had a car in front of us and behind us also going slow. About half-way through the journey 3 cars came towards us attempting to drive by. The first one passed us, the second one passed, and the third one, a van of similar size hit us!

We were going maybe 5 mph so I didn't even notice we made contact with the other van. It was a clap sound. Only our mirrors touched so our mirror flipped-in! Brad kind of yelled when it happened and then we laughed about it. We pulled into the next business drive-way just in case the other vehicle wanted to exchange information. They never turned around so we just drove home. Thankfully there's no scratches!

Sapporo Illumination and Munich Christmas Market

2010-12-27T21:22:00.000+09:00

If we had to be anywhere in Japan for the holidays I think Sapporo was the right place to be. During the month of December they have a German Christmas market open noon to nine(last day was Christmas Eve). They had about 2 dozen stalls selling German food and crafts. Everything looked beautifully hand made. My favorite crafts were the Holiday Wreaths.

We smelled the roasted almonds and were tempted into buying some but then saw the price. A small plastic cup was over $20! So instead of snacking we stuck to drinking. Brad and I both tried Gluhwein for the first time. It's hot wine mixed with spices and liquor. We tried the apple and blueberry types offered.

After the hot beverages we walked around the park to check out the Christmas lights. They're weren't very many but we were thankful because we were getting cold. We decided to grab some hot chocolate then catch a cab back to the hotel.

Merry Christmas from Japan

2010-12-25T08:42:00.003+09:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It's Christmas morning and we're in Sapporo.

Home for the Holidays?

2010-12-23T16:39:00.000+09:00

On Christmas Brad and I won't be home- as in our apartment in Japan, nor will we be home as in North America. The FreeBlades Hockey team plays games on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The games are being played on the Northern Island of Hokkaido (for those that are bad at geography, Japan is made up of multiple islands and we will live on the main island).

We were supposed to leave for Sapporo on Thursday evening but due to high winds, thus dangerous waves, the ferry has been canceled. The back up plan is to take the ferry Christmas Eve morning and if the ferry still isn't running we are flying. I really hope we don't have to fly. It'll be a shorter trip but a pain with security and having to check in so early.

Is anyone wondering why Brad has games on these holidays? The only December holidays celebrated in Japan are the 23rd and 31st. They're the Emperor's Birthday and New Years Eve.

Even though Brad and I will be in a hotel on Christmas day we still decorated as best as we could. We wanted to get into the holiday spirit because almost no one celebrates Christmas here. Driving around you see random Christmas light displays and decor at the mall, but that's all. Below are pictures of our Charlie Brown Christmas Apartment.

What is Facebook? It's Mixi!

2010-12-22T12:42:00.002+09:00

On Tuesday we had our monthly ladies lunch. Hitomi arranged it all at a restaurant downtown called Chateau Kamiya. It was really nice and had affordable meals. I had the Hamburg Lunch Special which was a cheeseburger with no bun served with rice and steamed vegetables. Also included in the 'set' was a salad, soup, and dessert plate, all for 1,200 yen.

Chiyaki (pictured on the right) wanted to order a beer with lunch and I couldn't let her drink alone, so I said I'd have a beer too. : ) We lucked out because the restaurant was actually a brewery so they had a great sampler for only 440 yen ($5)! My favorite was the apple beer.

The theme of our lunch was half holiday and half birthday celebration. Chiyaki's Birthday was on the 11th so Hitomi had a cake brought in and we all sang happy birthday. She was very surprised and touched. After cake I gave everyone a small Christmas goodie bag and invited them over the apartment to continue socializing. The goodie bags had banana bread and an 'I love Brad' square (a no-bake peanut butter and chocolate cereal bar)

At the apartment the girls commented on our Christmas tree. They were astonished how many gifts we had for just Brad and I. I think they'd be shocked how much families over do it back home. I thanked Joe (Miki's son) for all the presents because he was dressed as Santa Claus. He was so cute!

Somewhere in our conversation Lee-Anne brought up facebook. The Japanese girls looked confused and said: what (pause) is (pause) facebook? Lee-Anne and I were shocked and asked how they didn't know what facebook was. I grabbed the computer and showed them what it was and explained you use it to talk to family and friends; you can send messages and share pictures. They seemed interested so maybe they'll join. Later Brad explained to me to that a lot of Japanese people use a different social network called Mixi. There is about 10 million users on Mixi compared to the 500 million facebook users

Having a Baby in Japan

2010-12-20T16:55:00.003+09:00

I am not having a baby, but my friend Lee-Anne is due in less than a month. So don't worry; it's not me, it's Lee-Anne that's pregnant. : )

We have a lot of free time, we're housewives, so we chat a ton and she's taught me a lot about pregnancy. She's made a lot of comparisons between how Japan does things and how Canada does things. For example the Women's Clinic that she'll be delivering in like women to stay a whole week after the baby is born- a whole week! And before you're sent home they pamper you in their private salon so you are refreshed before having to go home and take care of your husband and children. Canadian and US hospitals try to kick you out between 24-48 hours after the baby is born; huge difference.

Another thing that seems to be better here is the quality of ultrasounds. They do the 3-D ultrasounds with DVD and pictures for no added cost. I thought that was nice.

There are some negative aspects about delivering here. The amount of acceptable weight gained by the mother in Japan is only 5-10 pounds. Yes, that's not a typo; only 10 pounds. It's our understanding they'd prefer women to gain zero pounds. While back in North America it's perfectly acceptable to gain 25-35 pounds depending on your body type. You can imagine how frustrating this is for Lee-Anne because she is gaining weight and the nurses are giving her a hard time about it.

I think the scariest difference though is the lack of pain killers. In our city (of 250,000 people) they don't offer epidurals. I've never delivered a kid but I think when I do I'm going to want an epidural for the pain. In Hachinohe they don't have them. Tokyo hospitals may be the only place in the country that does have them. I applaud Lee-Anne for her courage.

In the recent weeks she has been getting their apartment ready for the new baby and has shown me their new furniture. She also raved about a tool to remove mucus from the baby's nose or her 2 year old's nose. Mothers know what I'm talking about. Japan stores sell something different than what North Americans are used to. Instead of a mini turkey baster it looks more like 2 rubber straws and a shot glass. Confused?

When we were over their apartment on Friday night for a group dinner their daughter sneezed and Lee-Anne ran over to use her snot sucker she told me about. All the guys were grossed out. Brad was dry-heaving in the corner while I was laughing. One tube goes in the child's nose and one in the adults mouth, suck, and the yucky stuff gets collected in a chamber. No more runny nose.

This intrigued me enough to look at other mucus removers and found a swedish one sold in North America. It's called Nosefrida, the snot sucker. http://www.nosefrida.com/FAQs.html
The Japanese one (Mama Hanamizu Totte) translates to Mama sucks nasal mucus.

Holiday Potluck

2010-12-19T13:54:00.002+09:00

We had another party with my Japanese class. This one was a potluck on Tuesday evening. We did one hour of class and then gathered in a large room to have a potluck dinner. I brought cold pasta salad with fresh broccoli, tomatoes, and olives. I wasn't sure if we would have access to a microwave to re-heat items or a fridge to keep items cold so I went with something I knew wouldn't go bad if left out and taste funny if warm.

Some people made items and others bought and brought items because of their hectic work schedules. I think 3 people brought Popeyes Chicken from the American Air Force base. Surprisingly, I've never had Popeyes so I tried it and can now say I've had their chicken, potatoes and biscuits, AND had them all in Japan. I think the best thing I had was someone's home made shepard's pie- yummy.

Before we left each class took a picture. The women in the bottom left are the instructors. With the holiday season approaching we don't have class until February 1st. It's a really long break; maybe they do this because the teachers are volunteers. One of them was half joking and offered private lessons if we get bored during the break. : )

Japanese Holiday Party

2010-12-13T22:12:00.000+09:00

The Japanese class I go to on Tuesday nights organized a holiday party this weekend. Brad was out of town so I went with our friends Oliver and Lindsay. It was easy to find considering we had an English map. It happened to be across the street from one of our favorite places: Dreams Come True Bar. And our party was at Girls Bar: Soul to Soul. Where do they come up with these names? If I didn't know any better I'd think we were going to a trashy strip joint.

Since the party I have learned that Girls Bar just means all the bartenders are female, which they were. They kind of dressed like they were working at TGIFridays and did a little show where they threw bottles around to music.

I had a great time and had fun with my friends. When our time was up at the first place we walked to Dreams Come True Bar. There the party continued on...

Visiting Hoboken, NJ

2010-12-12T15:42:00.000+09:00

On Sunday afternoon I traveled to New Jersey to be close to Newark airport and visit with Sarah. She was living in a new apartment and our plans for Sunday evening were to relax and watch TV. While on the couch I looked into her kitchen and saw a newspaper article on her fridge. I asked Sarah why do you have an article about TLC's show - Cake Boss- on your fridge? She said something I can't recall and what caught my attention was she said it was just down the street. Just down the street? I asked her if she had ever been to the famous bakery to which she said no because the line is hours long.

This was my last night in town, in the country really, so Sarah agreed we could go check out Carlo's Bakery. Yippee! It was getting close to the dinner hour on Sunday night so we double checked the bakery's hours and headed out the door. Soon we were there and got in line. Thankfully the outdoor line was only 20-30 minutes long; Sunday night must be a good time to visit.

Once inside we got a number, like a deli number, and waited. There wasn't a menu or prices so we slowly made our way to the glass cases as people placed their orders and left, making room for us. I promised Brad I would bring back some sweets so this was perfect. I bought 2 cupcakes to bring back and another one to split with Sarah that evening. Each were $3 and worth it. I had carrot cake that night which was very good and brought back two Christmas Wreath cupcakes which also were really yummy.

Our trip to the bakery featured on TLC's Cake Boss was a success. We went home, made dinner, and enjoyed our dessert. Sarah then made Brad chocolate chip cookies. The cookies and cupcakes both weathered the 14 hour flight and Brad was ecstatic upon receiving them. Don't worry, I gave Sarah (and Carlos) all the credit.

Brad had surprises waiting for me as well. He had cleaned the apartment, decorated our Christmas tree, and bought me flowers; such a good husband.

Visiting New York City

2010-12-11T11:42:00.000+09:00

On Friday I said my goodbyes to my parents and brother to board the Amtrak train to Penn Station. My mom felt bad that I had 2 suitcases so she upgraded me to business class. Thanks mom! It was my first time riding down in business so I took advantage of my free NY Times and read it on the way down.

Sabrina met me at Penn Station and we struggled to find a cab. Arriving at 5:30 maybe wasn't the best strategy. I think we walked 3 avenues and 4 blocks before we gave up on a cab and just took a bus across town. The 70 pounds of luggage weren't feeling too great at this point. I later realized just how sore my arms were when it hurt to lift a drink to my lips. haha

We quickly got ready for dinner at Sabrina's apartment on the East side then caught a cab to Patsy's in midtown. Pizza and salad were yummy with Sabrina, Liz, and Michelle. Sarah got there too late for dinner but just in time to walk to the next place, The Wharf.

At this bar we also saw Christy, Maria, and Jen, all sorority sisters. Some of the girls brought guys along with them so we had a crowd of maybe 15 friends.

Around 2am Sabrina, Joe and I headed back to their place but before we did, we stopped at their local diner for some late night food. YUM. Then it was time for bed. I slept on an air mattress in their common room and was comfortable except for the temperature. I don't know how people do it- live in apartments without the ability to control the temperature. It's common in NYC apartments to not have a thermostat. The heat is controlled by the building and there's nothing you can do beside open your windows or use the A/C in the winter. Yikes. Let's just say I sweated out my toxins in my sleep that night.

On Saturday I met up with Kelly and Rory on the West side. I cabbed it because my arms couldn't take lugging my stuff down to the subway. We started our day at Rockefeller Center looking at the tree. This year the star is made by Swarovski.

After the tree we strolled down 5th avenue to check out the Christmas window displays then headed towards Central Park. We were lucky and saw a movie being filmed outside of the park and across the street from Trump Tower. The movie's scene was the Macy's Thanksgiving day Parade.

Rory, Kelly, and John did a little shopping but I had no room in my luggage and was grossed out. Why was I grossed out? Because Rory told me all about the bed bug infestations throughout the city, including how the bed bugs traveled down 5th avenue forcing clothing stores to close their doors for a week! Ewww.

At this point we were cold and tired so we had a snack then headed back to Rory's apartment to rest before going out that night. His place was really nicely decorated and had a doorman. But there was a funny step between his eating area and common area. The floor was all the same hardwood and it was hard to see. I fell up it twice and down it once! I couldn't believe it. Who falls on the same step 3 times in one day? Kelly fell twice which made me feel a little bit better. : )

We had dinner in the theatre district at a sushi place and went to a Hookah Bar called Kush. It was really fun and we danced a lot. Below are Kelly and John having fun. Like Friday night we grabbed some late night food, NY pizza, and headed home to bed.

Visiting Boston

2010-12-10T15:02:00.001+09:00

On Tuesday my mom and I drove to Massachusetts to see her parents and some of my friends. We had lunch with grandma and grandpa, yummy turkey soup, and I showed them pictures of my year in Japan thus far. Afterwards my mom and I ran a quick errand at the mall then she dropped me off at the train station.

In Boston their train/subway is called the "T". I've maybe taken it twice as a child so it was new to me. Fortunately my mom had lived in Boston and convinced me it would be easy. Off I went and as I got close to my station I called Sheridan. She was picking me up and we were going to dinner.

Oddly enough we selected a Japanese restaurant in Fennel Hall. I didn't mind though because what Americans call "Japanese" isn't always Japanese. This is especially true of sushi. What they serve in the states isn't what's sold in Japan. Real sushi is very plain. It's a simple roll with just rice and fish or sashimi with just rice and a piece of raw fish. Below is me outside Fennel Hall.

After dinner Sheridan and I met up with Katie and Elaine as well as some of their friends. We played Trivia at The Living Room. Thankfully we had Katie who carried our team; I didn't know a single answer! After the game was over Sheridan and I headed back to her place where I met her room mates and then we went to bed. Early the next morning I was back on the "T" and driving home with my mom. It was a quick and fun trip.

Visiting with Friends

2010-11-30T09:27:00.000+09:00

While I'm home I'm trying to see all of my friends. On the night before Thanksgiving I went out with high school friends: Laura, Amy, Katie, and Katie's new boyfriend. We did the usual and went to the bars in Saratoga. On the Friday after Thanksgiving Zoe and I met up in Clifton Park. Then the following evening I had all the high school gals over for dinner. I made lasagna and everyone brought something. The main event wasn't the food though, it was the first time for a lot of us to meet Jessy's baby!

Julianna is 2 1/2 months and is so cute. We all held her for a little bit before it was time for mommy and baby to head home. They didn't want to stay long to avoid picking up germs. Prior to departure we made sure to get a group shot.

The next day I got to see College friends: Laura and Christy. We had a lovely lunch out in Clifton Park. For the rest of my trip in the States I have plans to go to Boston on Tuesday night and then NYC on Friday night. There I'll get to see more College friends as well as best friends- Kelly and Rory. My trip is packed but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Traveling Half Way Around the World

2010-11-23T19:39:00.000+09:00

As expected, it's 5am and I'm awake. I traveled to NY yesterday to spend 2 weeks with family and friends for Thanksgiving. The time change really messes up my sleeping habits. It's 5am Eastern and 7pm Tokyo time; maybe I should be happy that I even slept til 5...

My trip went very smoothly. Lee-Anne dropped me off at the Hachinohe train station at 10:30. A half hour later I boarded the bullet train to Tokyo which took 3 hours. Then I took the Airport train to Narita Airport, taking 45 minutes. I got to the airport 2 hours early so I could relax and shop in duty free. My flight left at 5:30pm on Monday and 13 hours later I arrived in Newark at 4:30pm on Monday; weird, right? There I met my dad and he drove us home, taking us 3 hours. So that means I spent 20 hours traveling, (23 hours including sitting around that airport and train station).

Was it worth it? YES! I'm so happy to be home. The only thing I wish I could change is to have Brad here. I know we've done long distance dating before, but we haven't been apart from each other in a long time. And this is for 2 consecutive weeks. I'm going to miss him so much. As a result I plan to fill that emptiness with food, lots of Thanksgiving food!

Ladies Lunch at my Apartment

2010-11-18T18:21:00.001+09:00

The team is on a road trip today so Miki and I coordinated a lunch at my apartment. With such short notice only Miki, Lee-Anne, Hitomi, and Chi could come. Even with a small group we still had a lot of fun catching up.

I made everyone homemade macaroni and cheese, edamame, and croissants. Lee-Anne brought fruit salad and Miki brought cakes for dessert. We also had rice crispy treats and homemade banana bread. I tried to make Western food that I knew Lila (2 years old) would like.

I wasn't originally going to make any banana bread because I knew we already had a lot of sweets but Brad convinced me at 10:30pm. I felt like a real 'shufu des' (housewife) baking til midnight! haha Good thing I baked it though because everyone loved it. They all ate a piece and brought another one home with them.

I'm so happy Miki was able to help me plan this afternoon's get-together. She called all the Japanese wives trying to find a date that worked for everyone. She also gave me this fruit basket as a thank you for hosting the luncheon. Miki is so sweet and thoughtful! The orange fruit that looks unfamiliar is tanenashi. It looks like an orange tomato but I'm told it tastes like an orange. I've never had one and can't wait to try it. (I have now tried the tanenashi and think it tastes like a papaya.)

Next time I go to Miki and Chris' apartment I'll be sure to bring a gift. Perhaps a loaf of my banana bread : )

Was Jesus buried in Japan?

2010-11-17T15:48:00.002+09:00

I've been cleaning up the apartment in preparation for friends coming over tomorrow. We're having a ladies lunch while our husbands are on the road. I have a stack of pamphlets and brochures on our couch and picked one up to glance through. I normally don't procrastinate with cleaning but my energy was low.

I wanted to see if there was anything nearby Brad and I haven't seen yet. He's nearly banned all road trips due to the painfully low speed limits so site-seeing destinations have to be close. With a few page turns, boy did I find something interesting...

Apparently there's a legend that Jesus Christ came to Japan and has been buried here. The small village, Shingo, boasts that the grave site is legitimate and that Jesus' brother is buried next to him. It's a 45 minute drive from Hachinohe. Maybe Brad and I will check it out or maybe not, we'll see how bored we get. If you'd like to read more about the legend I found the following article online: japantoday.com

Oirase Salmon Festival

2010-11-14T09:40:00.005+09:00

This weekend the town of Oirase hosted it's 5th annual Salmon Festival. Saturday was forecasted to be nice weather and Oirase is only 25 minutes away so Brad and I decided to go check it out. Our classmates, Lindsay, Oliver, and Jemima also went.

The main event was the Salmon catch. You purchase a ticket for $15 and rent rubber boots. At the scheduled time ticket holders surround a shallow pool full of salmon. After instructions are given a siren goes off telling people they may rush into the pool and catch a fish with their hands. You get to take home your salmon and prizes were also given to those who caught tagged fish. We watched and laughed as people struggled. Oliver caught one; he's in the yellow and black checkered fleece.

After each salmon catch there was a salmon race. They used the same salmon for each race so in the late afternoon they were beaten up. The children were using a stick to encourage the fish to swim forward.

As with any festival there was fun food to be eaten. I had traditional Japanese Yaki-soba and Brad had fried chicken and a hamburger. His fried chicken was on a stick with alternating hot-dog pieces. It's seen here on the left.

We're not sure why, but Oirase has a miniature statue of liberty in one of their parks. I think it's about 50 feet tall. At the festival they had a smaller replica holding a salmon. I had to have my picture with it because of the irony.

Hirosaki Castle

2010-11-09T15:27:00.001+09:00

On Brad's day off we drove to Hirosaki. It's just 150 km west but it took forever to get there. We could only drive 25-50 mph (40-80 km) because roads in Japan have ridiculously low speed limits. Signs posted didn't exceed 60km! There's also a traffic light every kilometer while driving through farm land. A simple stop sign would do but Japan doesn't use stop signs. They only have yield signs and traffic lights.

Most of the trip we were driving at 35mph. It was painfully slow. Brad was not happy because the day before he was on the team bus for 10+ hours. But, on the bright side, we saw the brightest autumn colors we had ever seen. We went to Hirosaki Park to see their castle and maybe catch a glimpse of their autumn festival.

Unfortunately the festival was over but we went inside the castle and around the park. The castle was built in 1610 under Lord Tsugaru. The large building pictured is the castle tower. It is the only one built during the Edo period that still remains in Northern Japan.

The smaller tower pictured is a turret. They're just small towers along the castle walls.

Soba Noodle Cooking Class

2010-11-07T16:23:00.000+09:00

As part of the Japanese class I'm enrolled in, they offer cooking classes. They are infrequent so when I heard about this one I just had to go. The cost was only 1,000 yen and our activities were over the course of 3.5 hours.

We carpooled to the Nango Area of Hachinohe. It's a very old city with artifacts dating back 6,000 years. Prior to our cooking class a gentleman gave us a history lesson and showed us how people lived thousands of years ago.

The contraption below is used to separate the pieces of useable rice from the refuse.

During the Meiji period soap wasn't used so they used these dried pods from a tree. They released oils thought to cleanse. I thought this was crazy because I swear my parents have this type of tree in their front yard!

The oldest items we saw was pottery from 6,000 years back. Now, enough history, let's go cook!

We worked in groups of san (3). I was with Teresa and my Japanese teacher. We had to meticulously mix the water and flour while mixing with our hands. The amount of water used had to be perfect.

Once mixed and kneaded we rolled the buckwheat dough out. The goal was an evenly-flat square.

Next we folded the square twice on itself. Once layered, it was cut into noodles. Getting the right width was really hard. My noodles looked like linguine and Teresa's looked like angel hair. You were supposed to cut and they slightly lean your knife to the left. This pushed the wooden guide-board over just enough to expose the dough making it ready for your next cut.

Once everyone finished we went into the kitchen and had the noodles cooked and then washed and then cooked again. They were then placed in your bowl and the broth was added along with onion, tempura, and seaweed. Here's the finished product! Yum. The smaller dish has Japanese pickles. Most meals come with either pickles or miso soup and sometimes both.

We had a little time at the end to also try making a Japanese rice cracker. They're called Senbei. The local version is called Nanbu-Senbei and it has cheese melted inside! You take the dough and cover it with flour using chopsticks. Then you place it in a grill, picture a Belgium waffle maker that you flip over, but on a much smaller scale. It cooks for ni-ju (20) seconds on each side. The cheese is added and the cracker is re-heated. Then you have it: Nanbu-Senbei.

Bonsai Trees

2010-11-05T15:29:00.001+09:00

Every week the Hachinohe Fish Market changes exhibits and this past week Brad and I saw Bonsai Trees displayed. There was maybe 50 trees all under one meter tall. The one below was under a foot tall.

People use the term bonsai loosely for dwarfed trees and other small plants but these seeds aren't dwarfed or altered. The word comes from the Chinese word Penzia which literally means tray plant. If these same seeds were grown in the wild they'd be full size trees. It's the art and skill developed over a thousand years on how to prune the trees to their perfection.

The purpose of these plants is not for food nor a landscape but the experience and enjoyment for both the grower and admirers.

Techniques used include trimming, pruning, and using wires or clamps.
Tree styles vary from upright to cascading.

My favorite trees were the ones bearing fruit. They looked more outrageous and challenging.

Japanese Gateball

2010-11-04T18:02:00.001+09:00

All over our city are parks and within these parks we always see senior citizens playing the same game. To a foreigner it looks like croquet but it's called gateball.

In 1947 there was a shortage of rubber in Japan which was necessary in making sporting balls. In response a Japanese man working at a lumber mill invented a new game using a wooden ball and wooden mallet. It wasn't until the late 1950s that the sport started to catch on amongst senior citizens. In the eighties they established formal game rules and countries joined together to make a World Gateball Union.

Two teams of five people which can include both men and women on the same team, play for 30 minutes. They play on a court with 3 gates and one goal pole in the middle. Points are acquired by balls passing through the gates and contact with the goal pole. At the end of 30 minutes whichever team has more points, wins.

If you're wondering whether Brad and I have played this sport, we haven't. We'd look ridiculous with the seventy and eighty year-olds!

Halloween in Japan

2010-11-03T13:16:00.001+09:00

The verdict is out on whether Halloween is celebrated in Japan. Children dress up at school but they don't trick or treat door to door. Only part of the customs have been adopted here. Lila, our only trick or treater is Canadian so she is an exception. Wasn't she an adorable Minnie Mouse?!

I learned from my sorority sister who has family in Tokyo, that more people dress up in Tokyo. Young adults and teens put costumes on and ride the train that circles Tokyo. While riding they sip on beers and mixed drinks. For those of you that don't know- open containers are okay here. Walking down the street or riding shotgun in your friends car, you can have a beer in hand.

Since we weren't in Tokyo I didn't dress up. If I had I wanted to be Hello Kitty... maybe next year. (I did miss dressing up.) Instead I treated myself to a rihatsu (haircut) and massage. And instead of carving a pumpkin I made a pumpkin pie. I needed some practice prior to Thanksgiving and it turned out great.

Games against China Dragons

2010-11-02T14:53:00.001+09:00

After Korea, the Free Blades had 3 home games against the China Dragons. They played Thursday and Friday in Hachinohe and Sunday in the city of Morioka. With so few home games we encouraged our friends from class to come and watch. If they missed these games they wouldn't catch a game in Hachinohe until January! Crazy right?

On Thursday our friend, Andi came and brought her family. I think they had fun, especially the kids because they were playing with Lila. The team crushed the China Dragons, winning 15-0. None of the imports on the opposing team played that night due to illness. We actually started feeling bad clapping after goals were scored. I don't think I've ever seen a 15-0 score in professional hockey.

On Friday we invited Oliver and Lindsay (Canadians living in Hachinohe) and Teresa (Teacher in Misawa). Oliver and Lindsey were with 4 or 5 friends and Teresa brought 15 people! I was shocked. I tried to introduce myself to everyone while cheering on the Free Blades. Brad was recovering from a concussion so he was able to sit with us and visit. Again the Free Blades won 9-1.

After the game a handful of us went out for a drink. We looked into going to an izakaya but because it was a Friday night we needed to have a table reservation. Instead we suggested a pool and dart bar called "Dreams Come True".

Below are friends: Oliver and Lindsay

On Sunday the guys played China once more and once more beat them. The Japanese wives invited me to go with them but I declined because I didn't want to drive 2 hours to see a bad game. (Bad because there was no competition.) They all wanted to go because of the special guest. They tried to tell about the special guest but it was lost in translation.

This season the hockey team had a famous music group record their theme song. And these 2 singers were making an appearance at the hockey game in Morioka. They sang in between periods and met the team in the locker room. Brad said every Japanese guy had on huge smiles. They were mesmerized.

Namsangol Traditional Korean Village

2010-10-28T18:17:00.001+09:00

On Saturday (last day to sight-see) I visited the Namsangol Traditional Korean Village. It's a small grouping of houses in Seoul. They have free tours to learn about the architecture and history. I went alone and saw on the welcome sign that English tours were starting in 5 minutes. I walked up to the information window and asked about the tour. They inquired: how many, I said: one- just me and they started talking in Korean. Then they said please put your name here, country, and number in your party, tour will start in 5 minutes.

Five minutes later the man from the booth came out and introduced himself. I happened to be the only person asking for a tour so I got a one on one guide. Nice. The first interesting thing I learned was traditional houses have a specific room for the head of the household. It's his bedroom, common room, and entertaining room. I was shocked because it's pretty darn small. It's only covers the area of the 6 white squares. My guessing it was only a 10 by 10 foot room. The woman of the house doesn't enter this area so it's kind of like a man cave. She stays in the rest of the house which is much larger and more comfortable.

The guide also taught me that the roofs are meant to jut out enough so that the sun's rays don't hit the home's floor. That way the house stays cool in the summer months. This was an example of an elaborate roof.

Homes belonging to more prestigious people also were raised higher off the ground and had much nicer gates. At the conclusion of my tour I wandered back to one of the homes that was demonstrating traditional Korean Medicine. It was a large event with a few corporate sponsors. When I was approached by a woman dressed as a nurse, she asked me my symptoms. I told her I was healthy and she suggested Beauty Acupuncture. I had never had any acupuncture before so I happily accepted the free procedure. I've often wondered what it was like.

It was nearly painless. When I felt pain on the needle placement, I told the nurse and she slightly moved the place of the pin. After 10 minutes, I was done.

Musical performances weren't due on stage at the village for another half hour so I left to have some lunch. At a small Korean restaurant I had dolsot bibimbap. I'd compare it to fried rice that you mix up yourself.

After lunch I returned to the village to watch an hours worth of entertainment. I really enjoyed it and took a bunch of video. My favorite was a drumming group. They wore hats with ribbons attached and when the shook their heads the ribbon swung around in circles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka0jgJ-3OEk&feature=youtu.be

Korea's JSA

2010-10-25T17:13:00.000+09:00

The final part of the DMZ tour is through the joint security area (JSA). We were given a 20 minute brief on the history of violence and the rules while in the JSA. We also had to sign a waiver saying if we were injured or killed by the Korean People's Army (North), the United Nations Command, the United States of America, and the Republic of Korea wouldn't be held responsible. Pointing, making gestures, or expressions that could be taken the wrong way were prohibited.

After we signed our life away we boarded a US military bus with our new US military guide. Previously we had a small Korean woman as our guide. As we were driven to conference buildings we drove through the USO Camp Kim. It's very small. The soldier mentioned that their cafeteria, tailor, barbershop, and general store were all in one building. They do happen to have par 3 golf hole. It's been featured as the most dangerous golf hole in the world. I wanted to take a picture but they were banned at this point in our journey.

Above, the blue buildings are the UN and military Conference buildings. Exactly half the building is in South Korea and half is in North Korea. You can see the line divided by a cement slab. The South has rocks on their half and North has sand. They both originally had rocks but the North didn't like that so they changed theirs to be different.

The 2 guards you can clearly see are Southern military. They are present when people are using the facilities, as we are. They're here to protect us. If you click on the image to make it larger you can see a person from the Korean People's Army. He's standing on the Northern side peaking out from a pillar with binoculars and camera.

This is us inside the blue building. The conference table is set directly on the border so that people on the left are in the South and people on the right are in the North. I was standing on the right stand and therefore in North Korea.

Our guide told us that when they are having important meetings the Korean People's Army linger outside and make explicit hand gestures. They give the middle finger and also pretend to cut their head off and then point at you.

After a few pictures we got back on the bus and went to a viewpoint where we were surrounded by North Korea on 3 sides. I tried to get a picture of Kijong-dong here. That's the village for North Koreans within the DMZ. The tall thing is the tallest flag pole in the world. The North wanted to out-do the South. The flag weighs 600 pounds and has to get lowered during high winds because it can tear itself in half easily. Not too practical...

After examination, South Korea learned that no one lives in the Northern village. It was just built to appear luxurious and wealthy. The buildings are very tall and had electricity which was rare in the fifties for rural Korea. Just like the rest of North Korea, there was loud speakers blasting propaganda. Fortunately the propaganda eased to play after 2004 from this fake town. Our guide said they could hear it at Camp Kim.

In contrast the Southern village called Daeseong-dong has people living in it. It's a farming village protected by the military 24/7. They must sleep 239 nights/year to keep their residency and be home by curfew (midnight). So why would someone want to live there? They don't pay taxes and their farm land was free. Everyone makes the equivalent of $80-125K/year! In accordance with strict rules men cannot marry into this community, only women. Another bonus for these towns people is they don't have to serve 2 years in the military.

On the bus back to the main gate we saw the memorial for the1976 ax murder incident. There was a large tree in the DMZ blocking views so it was scheduled to be cut down. When the captain from the south went to trim it he was ambushed by Northern soldiers and killed by axes.

The last picture is the bridge of now return. After the war in 1953 the POWs were brought to this bridge and told you can stay where you are or go to the other side, but you can never come back.

This concluded our tour and we switched back onto our regular bus. We drove about 20 minutes and had a Korean dinner at a cafeteria then headed home. I really enjoyed the tour and learned a lot. I hope you have enjoyed reading about it!

Korea's DMZ

2010-10-24T16:47:00.000+09:00

After WWII the Soviets occupied the Northern portion of the Korean peninsula and the US occupied the Southern. There was a loose division along the 38th parallel. The United States helped to appoint a leader so in response the Soviets also appointed a leader. This furthered the divide that wasn't meant to ever exist. A few years went by and war broke out between North and South Korea on June 25, 1950. The war went on for 3 years and ended July 27, 1953. Each side retreated enough to make the buffer now known as the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) along the 38th parallel. It crosses the entire peninsula and is 4km wide. This is the area I visited...

I boarded my USO Tour Bus in Seoul at noon and just upon exiting the city we could see characteristics of war. Along the highway is the Hangyang river and it was entirely lined with barbed wire and the military lookout buildings. These items were put in place because in the winter of 1968, 31 North Koreans disguised as South Korean military walked down the frozen river in attempts to assassinate the President. They got all the way into the city center of Seoul but failed when soldiers figured out the scheme. Twenty-nine of the intruders were killed as well as sevety-one others; the remaining intruders committed suicide and one was captured. Incidents happen every few years making Korea's DMZ the most heavily militarized in the world.

It took just one hour for us to arrive at our first stop in the DMZ; the 3rd tunnel. North Korea in attempts to infiltrate had dug various tunnels under the DMZ. With the help of spies, South Korea has found 4. They believe there is 17 total...scary. Once discovered the North Korean government denied creating the tunnels. With a little science the South Koreans showed the directionality of the dynamite blast proved it was built coming from the North. So then the Northern government said they were mining for coal. They covered the interiors of the tunnels with coal dust. Once wiped away it shows the entire tunnel is gray granite. They are bad liars.

I couldn't take any pictures inside the tunnel because of tight security. It was a very steep walk and I had to wear a hard hat because areas are only about 5 feet tall. Below is a diagram of where we walked down. There are 3 blockade walls separating the N and S side. We were meters away from the North.

Our next stop was the Dora Mountain look out. We could see the 2 villages that reside within the DMZ. The South has a village and the North has a village. They created the villages because both sides were optimistic in thinking the division of countries would only last a few months; boy were they wrong.

It may be hard to see in this picture but there are no trees on the hills in Northern Korea. They cut all their trees down because they fear someone could hide in a forest and they also still use wood as a primary fuel source. The southern side of the DMZ is gorgeous and lush. It was definitely the freshest air I smelled in Korea! Through the decades it has turned into a safe haven for animals. There's tons of green space and no one will be destroying the habitat due to construction in the foreseeable future. There's just one small problem. After the war the Northern side flew airplanes over the DMZ and dropped a few hundred thousand land mines randomly. In 1999 South Korea removed 3,000. Only 3,000! So there a hundreds of thousands land mines in the DMZ. Good luck Mr deer in your nature reserve.

One of the rarer animals living in the DMZ is the Musk deer aka the vampire deer. We didn't see any because we weren't traipsing around in the forest but I looked up pictures online. They grow fangs instead of antlers.

Land mines are also strategically placed just outside of each DMZ. There are a reportedly 1 million on both the South side and the North side. The South did this to help in case there was an ambush. The North Korea army is much larger than the South and the land mines would slow an attack down. Both countries have active drafts but the difference is in the South men have to serve a mandatory 2 years. In the North the men AND women have to serve a minimum 10 years. Yikes!

Next stop on the tour: Dorasan Station. This train station is in the DMZ and was meant to connect the 2 countries. President George Bush came in 2002 for the grand opening. Presently the station isn't used and is quite erie. It's like a ghost town.

The train has been used to move product and not people. There is a factory on the DMZ in which North Koreans work. They produce items like metal utensils and women's clothing. They earn $70/month and considered 'lucky'. North Korea is communist and doesn't allow their people to own anything, property, shelter, clothing, food, it's all provided to them by the government. Jobs in North Korea don't provide wages so the fact that some people make $70/month is huge. The government of course takes half only leaving them with $35, but that $35 more than their peers.

The last part of the tour was through the joint security area (JSA). I'll put this in a separate entry because this one has gotten so long.

Myeong Dong Shopping

2010-10-22T17:45:00.000+09:00

On Wednesday afternoon all the ladies went and checked out Gyeongbok Palace. I visited last year and thought the others would enjoy it. This was the first palace compound to be built in Seoul and is the largest. It was originally constructed in 1392 by the Joseon Dynasty. There are 4 gates to enter the palace and the most breathtaking one is pictured below. The Gwanghwamun gate was just restored in 2010.

I had visited this palace last fall so I won't spend any more time on this subject.
Over our trip I kept noticing this colorful bird and happened to get a good shot of it on the palace grounds. Brad asked if it was a parrot so I looked it up. To my surprise it is a European Magpie which falls in the crow family. The beautiful feathers tricked me into admiring it; I hate crows.

In the evening, after the guys had their team dinner we went to Myeong dong street. It's a large shopping area with everything from luxury products in nice stores to knock offs on stalls along the curb. Below are knock off Victoria Secret PINK pajamas.

We spent 2 hours shopping and looking around. Brad found a Korean Baseball Cap he really liked and I found some clothes. At 10pm the stores started closing so we grabbed a cab and headed back to the hotel. We thought we had hailed a minivan but there was only a bench in the back. I quickly got in the front to give the driver directions which unfortunately meant Brad, Scott, Natalie, and Lee-Anne got squished in the back. Oops. Sorry!

On Thursday I took it easy and hung out with Brad at the hotel and then in the evening Natalie and I went back to the stores of Myeong Dong to finish our shopping. : ) We both didn't get to stores we wanted to visit or spend enough time at H&M. So we shopped for another 2 hours and had a nice dinner together.

Seoul Forest & War Memorial

2010-10-21T17:27:00.000+09:00

On Monday the guys had the day off so Brad and I went the the CoEx Mall. We didn't see anything we liked to buy so that was a let down but we really enjoyed lunch. We had Sbarro Pizza and NY Fries' Poutine. It really hit the spot because we had beers the night before.

On Tuesday I needed to get to the USO office and purchase a tour ticket. I wanted to try the DMZ tour on Friday and advance ticket purchase is necessary to guarantee your spot on the bus. I found the office easily and got my ticket. After wards I made my way to the nearby War Memorial.

Above is their huge museum to learn about all the wars Korea has partaken in as well as an outside area full of monuments and military equipment. I just walked around the outside part.

When I finished looking at everything I scanned my Welcome to Seoul booklet to see if I was close to any sites that I haven't visited. I came across Seoul Forest on the map and decided to go. The booklet compared it to New York's Central Park. It has the same purpose in mind but is half the size. Even with 400,000 tress and 100 different animals, the 345 acres is small compared to NY's 843 acres of green space.

I really enjoyed walking around. Kids had just gotten out of school and were dragging each other into a fountain. Their school uniforms were getting soaked as they laughed and yelled. I also saw artwork and an Eco Park with deer. The park has 5 areas: an Art Park, Eco Area, Nature Studying part, Wetlands, and Waterside Park. Similar to Central Park there is a stage and multiple playgrounds, only on a smaller scale. The art below is named Toward The Space by Kim Young Won. It was my favorite.

After my peaceful time at the park I headed back to the hotel to greet Brad as he went to hockey that evening. A few hours later myself and the girls followed and went to their game. They lost that night but it was entertaining.

Seoul, The City of Neon Crosses

2010-10-20T19:17:00.014+09:00

I had two goals this trip: watch at least one hockey game and try more Korean Food than I did last time I visited Seoul. It was only my second full day and I was well on track. I've had both heartburn and acid reflux from the spicy food and I'm still trying to have a positive attitude about trying new stuff. : ) And, Sunday evening we went to the Hockey game.

We had to take a taxi cab because the arena wasn't near any train stations. We would've had to take a combination of train and buses to get there. Luckily, with 3 people to split the cab cost, it was only $4 per person. The only downside was the way people drive in Seoul. It's as though drivers float between lanes and the lines aren't the law but more of a guideline. Blinkers are optional, making it a little scary.

Earlier in the day I did take the trains and subway with Natalie to visit Namdaemun Market. The hotel (Ambassador Novotel Dokasan) is about a 15 minute walk from the station. Again there's a downside. You have to walk past approximately 2 dozen Butcher Shops. They all have glass windows and display half their product right on the sidewalk! It smells like bad dog food. A lot of places in Seoul smell foul (I always think I stepped in dog poop and then I remember, oh, I'm in Seoul and it smells) but this street reeks.

At the market we both purchased change purses and Natalie also got 2 larger bags. We had lunch there and made sure to have something Korean. I tired yachaejeon for the 1st time. It was like a spicy veggie pancake. I picked out some of the red peppers because it was really hot.

We all had an early dinner and needed something normal to steady our stomachs before the hockey game. Solution: Outback Steakhouse. Our hotel was close to a lot of food options and Outback was one of them. We were able to get the lunch special because we got there before 5pm. I had soup, bread, and coconut chicken salad for $10.

On the way out I noticed all the churches in the area. I wasn't aware of this but 30% of the 48 million South Koreans are Christian. Christianity was heavily adopted after the Korean War in the 1950s. Oddly enough, Koreans places neon red crosses a top of their churches so they are know for the city of neon crosses.

International Fireworks Festival in Seoul

2010-10-19T16:19:00.001+09:00

On Saturday, Seoul hosted it's International Fireworks Festival at the Hangang River Park. Prior to the event I read online that the event started at 5:00 and the show started at 7:30 and went until 9:00. We decided to leave the hotel around 4 to get there at the beginning. We had the subway stops noted and thought we were prepared for the night ahead, boy were we wrong.

There was a lot more people than we anticipated. The trains and subway were quite scary. They had police men at every train door so people wouldn't get trampled trying to get on. I think we had to wait for 3 trains before we could squeeze on. My chest and backside were smashed up against strangers. People woo-ed and wailed being smushed as people tried to shuffle on and cram in every inch available on the train.

Thankfully we only had to ride for 2 stops like this. Lee-Anne held Lila close and either Natlie or I held the collapsed stroller. Upon exited we sighed and followed the crowds up the stairs and escalors. Once above ground it was very pretty. The sun was just setting and people were flying kites.

We killed some time getting dinner and walking around the park. I had Gimbap, also called Kimbap. It's Korea's sushi which contained rice, ham, cucumber, egg, crab, carrots, and radish. Once it got closer to 7:30 we found a grassy spot and sat and waited. As expected the show started on time. About 45 minutes in we agreed that we wanted to walk up to the road and scan the area perhaps to leave early. The crowds had grown to 1.2 million people at this festival! Seoul is home to 12 million so 10 percent of it's population was crammed into one park by the river.

The subway station we had gotten off at appeared to be only letting people exit. There was a baracade of police officers standing in front of the stairs. As a result we walked about a mile (with thousands of others leaving early) to the next subway station and were able to board there. Thank goodness because we weren't that familar with the area and weren't sure what direction to walk.

We were happy we went for the experience. I'd compare it to going to NYC's time square for New Years Eve. About a million people attend that every winter and they also shut down multiple subway trains for safety reasons.

This is why I love Japan!

2010-10-17T19:59:00.000+09:00

We got home this afternoon safe and sound. Our travels started at 7:30am and ended with us arriving at our apartments by 4:30pm. While approaching the taxi cabs we were joking that maybe we'd have the same cab as last week and see Lee-Anne's missing curling iron- no luck.

I've started to unpack and upload pictures this evening and at about 7pm the door bell rang. I checked our TV security screen and saw a man in a uniform. I thought hmmm, a little late for the post man. I opened the door and who do I see....? The taxi driver from 10 days ago holding Lee-Anne's curling iron! I'm not kidding. We spoke in broken Japanese and hand gestures as I laughed and thanked him over and over.

I called Lee-Anne immediately afterwards and told her what had just happened. Before I hung up I said- you know what? This is why I love Japan; the people are amazing.

More Korea stories to come soon!

And P.S. I haven't heard the cat this evening.

Successfully Made it to Seoul

2010-10-13T16:04:00.002+09:00

On Friday morning, Lee-Anne, Lila, Natalie, and I set off for our mini vacation to Seoul. Our trip started by taking a taxi to the Hachinohe Bullet Train Station. Upon arrival Lee-Anne noticed she left her curling iron in the cab but the cabbie had already disappeared. Darn it! Well we can't miss the train so onward we went.

We had 3 hours on the bullet train to Sendai then switched onto an airport train for a half hour. This brought us directly to the airport terminal. We checked in with almost no problems. Natalie was warned by the flight staff that she doesn't have a Japanese visa (yes...so?) so Japanese customs may or may not let her back in after Korea. This really freaked her out but I tried to calm her and say they did that to me last year- which they did- and I was continually let back into Japan. So, fingers crossed, we don't have issues at the end of our trip.

Our flight to Seoul was great. We were on Asiana Airlines and it was a nonstop flight. In just 2 and a half hours we were landing after being served a nice lunch and provided with an English Korean Times newspaper.

Customs and baggage were a breeze, now it was time to find a taxi. I was planning on taking the train because it was only 4 dollars (4,200 won) but the girls wouldn't stand for it. They wanted to stay together so I accepted and we went to the taxi area. They knew where our hotel was but unfortunately our 3 suitcases couldn't fit in one trunk. I had a measly carry-on but Lee-Anne and Natalie's suitcases were full size. After speaking with a few cabbies, one with an afro-hair-do came out with a net and bungee cord smiling. He loaded our suitcases, leaving the trunk wide open, draped a net over them and bungeed the trunk to the hitch. I wish I'd taken a photo but I was too freaked out. I was positive we were going to lose a bag! The suitcases bounced around the entire 70 minute trip- thankfully they all made it!

Lee-Anne did lose one more item, but not a suitcase. Somewhere while trying to get a taxi, Lila's blanket fell and we left it behind. Sorry Lila.

Once at the hotel we couldn't check in- the guys hadn't arrived yet so we had a nice long dinner and a few beers. Our dinner was Korean Beef Rib soup accompanied by rice, and Kim-chi (Korean spicy veggie dish. It was a bit spicy but not too bad.

It may be hard to see in this image but please note our server's tie is sparkly. There is glitter on it. I'm not sure why but the fashion for business men in Seoul is glitter and be-dazzeled ties on ages 35 and up. This is not a joke. I repeat this is not a joke.

And the Cat Came Back

2010-10-07T15:32:00.000+09:00

This week we've been getting ready to fly to Seoul, South Korea. On Monday Brad was gone for 10 hours doing paperwork. Since he was renewing his visa this year versus applying for a new one, the process was a bit more complicated. He had to go to Aomori city twice. Monday was his second time; he needed a new visa (fancy sticker in his passport) as well as a re-entry pass (another sticker in the passport).

When he got back from the Aomori road trip he had to go down to city hall to apply for his Alien Registration Card. This card is necessary if you have a visa and must be carried at all times. All of these pieces needed to be taken care of prior to us leaving tomorrow. The reason being is when Brad tries to leave Japan they ask to see his alien card and when he tries to come back they need to see a re-entry stamp. Are you starting to see they have tight border control? ...because they do.

Thankfully everything got taken care of, it just took forever!

In other news we keep getting woken up and startled by a stray kitten. The poor thing meows so loud and seems to be starving. The animal doesn't have a collar and has been hanging outside our apartments this entire week. We felt so bad we fed it some cooked chicken. We walked far down the street, threw the food and ran away hoping the kitten wouldn't associate our apartments with food. This evening I've asked Brad to have someone call a shelter because the kitten is starving and probably needs care. We feel awful but we think that's the best thing to do. I hope the authorities take care of it before we return from our trip.

We both leave tomorrow morning, we can't wait!

100 Bottles Of Beer On the Wall

2010-10-04T17:23:00.000+09:00

Welcome to my 100th blog entry!

Last night we all went out downtown. It was our first time "out" this season. The game schedule has been hectic and the guys have been on the road a lot. As expected we went to an izakaya and karaoke afterwards. There was a bunch of us so we had 3 tables. All the wives sat together and the guys sat together. At my table there was Natalie, Carly, Chi, Mayo, Hitomi, and Izumi. There was sometimes a language barrier but we had a great time and definitely witnessed 100 beers come across our tables. : )

I really like the aspects of izakayas- private room, all you can drink, and appetizers included in the price. I love trying different Japanese foods and izakayas are great for this. Depending on the restaurant's menu you're served a selection of Japanese dishes. Last night I tried 2 new items for the first time.

This first one was meat, veggies, rice, and egg. We turned on the gas to heat this bowl and cook everything while stirring. It turned out tasting like fried rice, very yummy. Later we were served this steaming yellow dish. It was a block of tofu with egg cooked on top. There was a broth with it too. I liked it. Tofu has been really growing on me.

During the entire night we munched on these tasty items shown below. It's fried spaghetti with salt and maybe a little seasoning. These weren't new to me but I have to rave about them. They're irresistible!

Cash Society

2010-10-02T21:56:00.001+09:00

I've been told Japan is a cash based society and have seen this over time, yet I still forget to go to the ATM during business hours. Brad asked me how much money I had at one in the afternoon today (Saturday). I told him about ten dollars, in change, haha. He said he didn't have a lot (of money) either so we won't be able to go out after Sunday's game. Shoot!

You're thinking, um, hello, use your credit card, or just go to the ATM. Well, we can't. Restaurants, bars, stores, you name it, they don't take our credit cards. We can only count on the train station accepting our plastic. As for ATMs, our bank's ATM closes at 12:30 on Saturday and others close at 5:00. We don't mind the surcharge at other ATMs, but they usually don't have english menus, therefore impossible to use. To recap, Japanese businesses rarely accept credit cards and expect patrons to pay in cash, yet there are no 24 hour ATMs. Does this make sense to anyone?

My solution was to try to find an English ATM before 5:00. I didn't find one, but I did find an ATM at our grocery store with a store employee willing to help me. I had her punch all the buttons for me as I smiled and nodded. I thanked her a bunch and left the store with 20,000 yen. Sunday night, here I come!

The guy's won their game tonight- 5-2. The crowd was pretty good as well as the atmosphere. Not much else to report. On a side note, this is my 99th blog entry...

Going to the Hospital

2010-09-29T16:43:00.003+09:00

Don't be alarmed; we're okay. Brad's ankle got hit with the puck twice this weekend so he had it X-rayed to make sure it wasn't broken. The doctor said as far as he could see there weren't any fractures. This all happened Saturday night when we were in Yokohama. I was really worried because if the doctor said it was badly hurt then he wouldn't be able to play for a while and we just finished booking a flight for me to join the team in Seoul, Korea next week.

When Brad came back to the hotel with good news he also mentioned the hospital was nearly empty. Odd. This was a Saturday night in a huge city. Brad was in and out all in one hour! I guess their low crime rate and the fact I'm not supposed to drive faster than 45mph on the highway leads to less accidents.

More good news- I got an email regarding the job openings in Misawa. It was an automated email but in summary it said that my questionnaire and resume have been reviewed and I am qualified to work as a Children's Development Tech (teacher's aid). The email was clear to state it was not a job offer and I would still have to pass other qualifications; I'm guessing that means an interview and drug test. I'm very excited and hope they contact me again soon.

At the hockey games I poked around the Team Spirit items for sale and noticed the number seven on a lot of items. For example on the front of T shirts it says their new team slogan- Beyond the Next Level- and on the back is a big 7. I also noticed a 7 on the blimp that flys around in-between periods. I asked Brad about it and apparently the team has decided that the fans get to wear the number 7 because they are the 7th player. Kind of cute, but stinky for the guy who wore #7 last year. He had to give it up and pick a new number!

Weekend Trip to Yokohama

2010-09-27T10:26:00.001+09:00

This past weekend all the player's wives/girlfriends took the train down to Yokohama. It took just under 4 hours to get there. None of us had been there before and we wanted to see the guys play as well. The city is home to 3.6 million people (Tokyo and NYC are approximately 8 million). Within the city is Japan's largest China Town containing more than 200 restaurants.

On friday night we walked around China town and had dinner.

On Saturday Natalie and I went to the Water Front where they have shopping, museums, and an amusement park. Lee-Ann and her daughter stayed back so they could be rested for the hockey game at 2pm. We tried to go on the Ferris Wheel so that we could get a shot of Mt Fuji but the ride was closed due to high winds.

On Sunday before the hockey game we walked around the International Stadium aka Nissan Stadium. It has hosted 2002 World Cup Games and home to the Yokohama F. Marinos Football (soccer) Team. The place is huge; there are more than 72,000 seats.

During the afternoon there was a market taking place all around the stadium. There was food vendors, bouncy-bounce for kids and stalls selling just about everything.

As for hockey, this weekend the Free Blades walked away with one point from each game. Saturday's game ended in a shoot out and Sunday's in overtime. The crowds were pretty good and they had new entertainment in between periods.

The Free Blades will be playing 6 "home games" in Yokohama this year. I think the team is trying to get a feel of a few different cities to see where the best place is for their hockey team. With home games scattered across the main island that leaves only 6 games to be played in Hachinohe; better not miss one or they'll be gone before I know it!

Hockey Season Has Started

2010-09-19T17:38:00.003+09:00

This weekend kicked off the Asia Hockey League Season. The Free Blades played the OJI Eagles and beat them both Saturday and Sunday! During the first game Brad had an assist and they won 6-3. On Sunday they won in a shoot out 5-4 and Brad had another assist.

Today Lee-Anne and I had planned to go to the Misawa Air Show which is about an hour north of us. We spoke to people from Hachinohe and Misawa and learned that if we didn't start driving by 6:30am, we shouldn't bother going. The reason being is people flock to the air show and the roads and parking lots just can't handle the crowds. It would take at least double the time to get there and once there we may or may not find parking. To put it in perspective, the base is home to 5,000 people. These 5,000 people hosted 400,000 visitors at last year's show and it was a zoo. Sorry, no thanks, not worth the traffic and headaches.

Hachinohe Park and Botanical Garden

2010-09-18T15:14:00.000+09:00

Today we went to a free park in Hachinohe. On the map it just refers to it as Hachinohe Park but is more than just a 'park'. There was picnic areas, gardens, open green space, amusement rides (100-300 yen/ride), food stalls, and a zoo. We rode on the ferris wheel and children's train.

Next time we'll try out the Go Karts pictured below. Although hesitant at first, Lila loved this slide and a small fountain in which kids could get their feet wet.

The free zoo really exceeded my expectation. They had monkeys!

They also had deer, goats, raccoons, rabbits, pigs, and various birds. My favorite was the peacocks. We'll definitely go back and have some fun on another ride or two. The park is open April 1st through the beginning of November and closed every Monday. Hours are 9am-4pm.

Fukuchi Water Park

2010-09-17T21:06:00.003+09:00

Today Lee-Anne and I ventured to Fukuchi Water Park which I believe is also called Bade House or Bade Park. It was just 25 minutes from our house. The weather was gloomy and we wanted to do something fun while the guys were on the road. This is the exterior of the water park area. There was also an onsen (Japanese Baths), hotel, stores, restaurant, and ice arena.

On a lovely summer day it looks more like the image below. : ) In the summer they have a lazy river outside as well as an outdoor pool. These were both closed for fall/winter but the rest of the pools were open.

Inside we had access to multiple hot and cold pools as well as the water slide. On the weekdays the water slide opens up at noon. We were hungry by noon so we skipped the twisty slide. If we had wanted to take a ride it was 50 yen per ride and cost us 1,000 yen for entry (for adults), 3-15 was 500 yen, and under 3 year was free. Our 1,000 yen also bought us access to the onsen.
http://www.badepark.com 0178-84-2850

So we swam from 10am (when the park opened) to about noon, then we had lunch. We met 2 nice American women from the Misawa base as well as their children. We exchanged information and plan to meet up on Sunday. On the base there is an annual Air Show scheduled for Sunday; looks to be quite a show and who knows, we may meet more nice people. : )

Eating Tongue and Learning a New Tongue

2010-09-16T20:44:00.000+09:00

On Tuesday night the Free Blades had a team BBQ and all of the wives/girlfriends were invited. Great, right? Not really because Tuesday night is the only night of the week I'm booked. I found a great Japanese class in town that started September 7th and I didn't want to miss another week of it so I made the decision to go to the first 15 minutes of the BBQ and then go to class.

While at the BBQ I had a few pieces of Beef tongue. I gotta admit, I really like the stuff. Below are scallops they started grilling right as I was leaving. PS-I'm not smiling because I'm still chewing the beef tongue : )

Below are some of the items Brad had for dinner. Note that they ate for two and a half hours straight so when I called after class, they were still eating! On this grill was oysters, prawn, tongue, potato, green pepper, mushroom, and pumpkin. The dark stringy stuff below is raw beef and apple. I can't comment on it but Brad said it was good. Interesting...

So back to mwah. I found out about these Japanese Language Classes in a little welcome booklet from City Hall. You get one when you register for your alien registration card. It works out to be about $3/class; not too shabby. There's a textbook I can buy at the mall but I think the teachers may provide photo copies of the pages as an alternative. The teachers are all volunteers and part of the MIJEC (Michinoku International Japanese Education Center, a non-for-profit organization).

In the last class we worked on learning one of the alphabets, numbers, classroom phrases, as well as introductions with our name/occupation/citizenship. I went first and was so embarrassed because I had to tell the teacher, no job. (The teachers sometimes know little to no English.) The teacher smiled at me and said housewife? I said yes and she said: shu fu! So I am a shu fu. Watashi wa shu fu des otherwise stated I am a housewife. haha.

At the end of class I spoke with 3 people and hope to make friends. Two were Canadians in the Jet Program living in Hach-city. http://www.jetprogramme.org/ They are already Free Blade Fans too- awesome. And the third was an American woman from the Misawa Base- sweet!

For the Love of Golf

2010-09-14T15:44:00.000+09:00

We've been told that golf is very expensive to play in Japan so I thought I'd do a little research. I found that due to the bad economy the price to play at public courses has come down drastically as well as the membership at private courses.

In the eighties and nineties it cost in the neighborhood of $700,000 to join a private course! No joke. That amount encouraged investment bankers to get interested. In the last five years Goldman Saccs and other firms have bought golf courses in Japan.

Since the early nineties, the economy has taken a few big hits driving the membership fees down. It also caused 800 courses to go bankrupt in Japan. Memberships now cost 1 million yen or $12,000. To compare I looked at private clubs in upstate NY and the initiation fees are $1,000-$2,000.

So what spurred me besides curiosity to learn about the cost of golf here? This is what- men practicing their golf swing everywhere! I was at the beach with Lee-Anne a few days ago and this man wearing a speedo was practicing his stroke as if he were in a sand trap. hahaha.

My Easy Bake Oven

2010-09-10T20:18:00.000+09:00

It's not pink but it's tiny! For this hockey season we were able to secure an oven. It's actually a microwave with a button to change the function to a toaster or an oven.

Tonight I thought, here we go, I might as well try to bake something! Everytime I'm at the grocery store I've been trying to acquire various ingredients I remember I need to make Brad's favorite goodies. The biggest item I'm missing from a lot of recipes is corn syrup so I'll keep looking. I did manage to have all the ingredients for banana bread though, so that's what I tried.

Before judging me on the looks of my final product, please remember I'm new to this oven and unlike Brad's family I didn't grow up on buns, breads, and muffins from scratch on the regular. hehe. It's a little burnt (the heating element is on top of this unit) but it tastes great!

Are you cobbing me?

2010-09-09T20:57:00.002+09:00

At the grocery store I always glance at the local veggies and fruit in the front of the store. They taste the best and are usually less expensive. I saw that corn on the cob was in season and I guess... on sale.

Want to take a gander how much a cob of corn costs? Not 50 cents/cob like in Canada. One cob of corn costs $2 in Northern Japan! Ridiculous, right? Even more silly, at the International Liquor/Foods Store they sell corn on the cob shrink wrapped. I'm so glad I got my fill of corn in Canada because I'm not buying it here.

First Day Off

2010-09-08T16:04:00.002+09:00

On the guy's day off we made our way to the beach. The water was pretty warm that day, I even went in. It took about 40 minutes to drive there. I feel like everything (except the grocery store) takes 30 minutes to get to. Most of the roads are 60 kph which is only 37mph! Annoying, but I've got time here. Prior to leaving Canada I did apply for 2 jobs on https://my.usajobs.gov/ . I would've applied for more but I didn't match the criteria which was either I was in the military or married to someone in the military. Fingers crossed I get one!

After the beach we went home and rinsed off so that we could all go out to dinner. We also picked up the trainer, Kei, before heading to our favorite Yakiniku restaurant. We did the all you can drink and eat package for 2 hours. We definitely overstuffed ourselves. I got to try 2 new items; I had stomach and 'fine bacon'. The stomach was really chewy like a oyster so I didn't like it and the bacon was awesome because it tasted like ham.

Ladies Lunch

2010-09-06T08:27:00.005+09:00

The company associated with the hockey team this year decided it would be nice to provide us a get together every month. On Saturday 6 of us got together at the coach's home for an informal lunch. His wife, Miki was our host. It was great to eat and chat with the other wives. I met and caught up with Miki, Chiaki (Chi), Satomi, Izumi, and Lee-Ann. (Can you guess which person is the Canadian? hehe)

All of us are far from bilingual but when we talk slow we are able to help each other understand. Miki and Chi know the most english and are able to help A LOT.

Lee-Ann has a 2 year old daughter here and Miki has a 1 year old son so they were able to play and enjoy
themselves while we ate. The afternoon went wonderfully until about 4:30 when I started to get dizzy. My body hasn't adjusted to the time change and I started to feel sick. We left the party and nearly made it to our street but we had to pull over and I got violently ill. I went to bed at 6:00 that evening and felt fine the next day. No one else got sick so it wasn't the food... odd effects of time change/sleep deprivation. Maybe the 11 hours of sleep I got that night will help! : )

Playing House

2010-09-05T05:47:00.000+09:00

Brad is away for exhibition games this weekend so I have taken the job of unpacking us and buying missing items for our place. The list of needed items is very short; the team is very organized this year and on the ball. For example on our second day here they had our cell phones ready and turned on for us; we didn't have to do a thing!

Below is our master bedroom. We brought our own top sheet (and matching pillow cases) this year. Japanese people only use a fitted sheet and a duvet blanket and Brad says he 'needs' a top sheet. : )

In our second bedroom which we also use to watch movies on our projector I tried to make a day bed. Our duvet is just put away in the closet because it's 30 C here which is 86 F. When we have visitors this year, this will be their room.

Our common room is cozy and clean and sits beside our kitchen. This year we made sure to get a larger refrigerator so I didn't need to go grocery shopping every 2 days.

We made it!

2010-09-03T16:38:00.001+09:00

Brad and I flew back to Japan from Vancouver on August 31st. The flight was good because we slept 6 of the 10 hours on the plane. The other 4 hours was spent watching movies on our personal screens- we love flying Air Canada.

Tokyo Customs went smoothly and we picked up our bags and wheeled them to the shipping counters. It's common that people ship their bags home so they don't have to lug them on the trains or subways. For $100 USD we shipped 4 bags each weighing 50 pounds and 3 hockey sticks. (Too bad the sticks never made it to Hach-city- whoops! maybe they'll arrive tomorrow)

After the airport we took a 55 minute train to Tokyo station and then a 3 hour bullet train to Hachinohe. We absolutely love the train system here and wish Canada and the US would build them. They do have one downside though; the cost. It cost the team 200.00 to get Brad on the train One Way to Hachinohe! I got a discounted tourist pass because my Visa is still in the works. It only cost me 190.00 and that bought me 4 days on the trains of unlimited use. One way to Hachinohe used up one of my days and I still have 3 left.

Speaking of money... I forgot one thing accidentally in Canada; our japanese yen! Oops. Thankfully Brad looked at it in a positive light- the Yen keeps gaining value so when Brad's mother changes it back into Canadian dollars we'll make a few bucks.

When we arrived at the train station Brad's teammates greeted us and welcomed us back. After a few hellos and konnichiwas we drove our van to our apartment (same one as last year) to find it exactly how we left it (which is clean because of my OCD hehe).

The Hachinohe Enburi

2010-02-28T14:43:00.000+09:00

Today marks the completion of 6 months in Japan for Brad and I (title of the blog ;-). I'm happy I have an easy outlet to look back at all we've done here. Our flights are booked to fly out of Tokyo in 2 weeks after finishing a tournament and an event with the fans. But not so fast, before heading back to BC and NY, we're taking an Asian vacation in Thailand.

A few days after Brad's mother left we were able to attend the Hachinohe Enburi festival. Over 4 days there are celebrations and performances to pray for a good rice harvest. It is thought that this celebration began 800 years ago by Lord Nanbu. We went to the first event which was a parade followed by dancing.

Above are Tayu Dancers wearing the "horse-head" hat or Eboshi. Their dance depicts planting rice seedlings in a rice field. The children below are performing the Daikoku -mai which is done with a fan or mallet in cellebration.

Below is the Sudare dance in which people uses barred lattice of bamboo to make cool shapes while singing. It was cute that they incorporated the olympics into their repertoire.

I think Brad's favorite dance was the Ebisu-mai. Ebisu is one of the seven gods of fortune and this dance is the struggle of catching a fish.

Kabushima Island aka Seagull Island

2010-02-27T09:29:00.001+09:00

On Sandy's last full day with us we checked out the coastline by our house. We visited Kabushima Island which is also called Seagull Island. It's the breeding ground for thousands of black-tailed seagulls which would make most turn away but the Japanese people do not view seagulls as pests. The building on the island is the very scenic Kabushima Benzaiten shrine.

For our last supper we went to a Shabu Shabu restaurant for all you can eat meat and fish. This was our first meal with Sandy and sushi. She was a great sport and tried a lot of different things. Brad and I were very impressed.

Second Hand Stores in Japan

2010-02-26T20:57:00.000+09:00

On Friday and Saturday we visited the indoor Fish Market, a second hand store and went out to dinner for okonomoyaki. This was my 3rd time at this fish market so I paid closer attention to try and see what I may have missed on other trips. The surprising things I saw were the creepy sharks being sold, below, as well as whale meat for sale. We know it was whale because their was a diagram indicating where the meat was from....

We bought salmon and scallops from the market and had a delicous dinner prepared by Brad that evening. After-wards we watched a documentary on food (Food Inc) and towards the end I started to feel queasy. Five minutes later I was very sick. Thankfully it wasn't the food; just a 24 hour throw-up bug. YUCK.

Saturday we went to various stores to pick up gifts, including TOYS R US for cute children's chopsticks. One of our last stops was a 2nd hand store. We wanted to show Brad's mom how nice they are here. They carry everything from Louis Vuitton purses to gently used clothes, and even hand guns. It's crazy.

For dinner we went to a new restaurant for okonomoyaki. It's similar to egg fu yung. Our omelet was mostly cabbage, egg, and pork all grilled together. Then it's covered in a sweet brown sauce with a little bit of mayo drizzled on top.

Rikuchu-kaigan Coast

2010-02-23T10:19:00.000+09:00

On Wednesday the 10th we relaxed back in our home town of Hachinohe. We only left the house to do a bit of grocery shopping so that we could make dinner at home. We all really needed a day off from site seeing...but only one day. : )

On Thursday we drove southwest along the coast to a large National Park. The area we went to see is called Rikuchu-kaigan, but the park itself extends 180 km along the Pacific Ocean. This coastline is an portrays an uplifted coastline, partly due to recent strong earthquakes and tsunamis (1934). Throughout the trip we drove past signs indicating whether or not we were in tsunimi inundation areas. It was beautiful though, check out the pictures.

We walked 363 steps to a 2nd observation point and took some more pictures.

This road trip was great BUT since it's visited mostly in the summer months there wasn't anywhere we could stop and eat. I think we drove for a half hour to find ourselves at a mini mart making ramen so I didn't starve. O well, part of the adventure!

For dinner that evening we brought Sandy to our favorite Yakiniku restaurant. She grilled and ate tongue, beef, pork, pumpkin, liver, onions, garlic, and chicken. Our waiter is in the photo because he's awesome. He's knows a little English and always helps us out when we dine there.

Jigokudani Monkey Park

2010-02-22T15:32:00.000+09:00

On Tuesday the 9th we had a yummy breakfast at our hotel in Nagano then headed north to Yamanouchi. We took a combination of trains and buses to the park that features Snow Monkeys bathing in natural hot springs. The park is called Jigokudani or Hell's Valley because of all the hot steam that bubbles out of the ground's cracks and crevices.

To get to the park area we had to walk about 30 minutes. Thank god it was a walk and not a hike! Our legs were tired from the previous days of touring around.

You can't touch or feed the monkeys at this park but you can get relatively close and photograph them.

We had a good time and took tons of pictures. While waiting for our bus back to Nagano we chatted with some Australians. They were interesting to talk with helped us locate the bus station. Apparently a lot of Australians visit Japan to ski and snowboard. They kind of stood out, not just because they're aren't Japanese, but they had great tans!

Matsumoto, Japan

2010-02-21T15:37:00.002+09:00

On Monday morning Brad, Sandy, and I got up and went to the train station to make our way to Nagano. It is home to the 1998 Winter Olympics, but that's not why we we're visiting. Nagano is in the middle of 2 places we wanted to visit: Matsumoto Castle and Jigokudani Monkey Park .

First up- the castle... It was built in 1590 and was destroyed by wars. Only the Donjon tower for warfare, a second tower in the southeast, and the moon observatory area remain. The warfare tower is by far the coolest. We climbed to the top via steep stairs. A sign said they rose at 60+ degrees.

Brad's favorite part about the castle was the collection of old rifles and weaponry on display. I think he took 50 or so pictures of old guns! He liked one in particular, it had a gun and a knife combined.

My favoirte part was that there was a hidden floor. From the exterior of the building it appears there's 5 stories, but there's 6. The 3rd floor doesn't have any windows making it the safest floor in the castle during an attack.

When we completed our tour of the castle we got back on the train and went to Nagano city. At dinner time we made our way to the city's well known temple, Zenko-ji. They were having a special event to commemorate the 98' Olympics by displaying decorative lanterns and lighting up the temple.

It was cool but we couldn't stay too long because it started raining. My favorite lantern was one that had the words USA and JAPAN together.

We read in a tourist book that the Nagano prefecture invented the soba noodle and that they're famous for it so that's exactly what we had for dinner: Soba noodles. Chopsticks and soup are a challenge but we all managed just fine. None of us used a spoon! : )

Sandy Sees Tokyo

2010-02-20T11:33:00.002+09:00

We had a half day to tour Tokyo because we wanted to be on time for Brad's afternoon hockey game. This presented a challenge; how can I show Sandy everything Tokyo has to offer in a few hours? Well after some planning I selected my favorites (this was my 5th time visiting) and made a little itinerary.

Tokyo, similar to NYC has different areas, or boroughs. Friday evening we walked around the area our hotel was in, Shinjuku, and showed her the various highlights. On Saturday evening we went up to the viewing floor in the Metro Government Buildings to see the city views. With the Shinjuku area exhausted that left Shibuya, Asakusa, and Harajuku. There are many more areas but these 3 are my favorites.

Shibuya has the most congested crosswalk where people cross every which way, cool shopping, and the famous meeting place with the dog statute. The dog is named Hachiko and the story is told that he would go with his owner every morning to the train station and wait for him there until he got off of work. The dog continued this routine even after his owner passed away; he was loyal and faithful. People often agree to meet at this statue due to the masses of people that loiter this area.

Next we went to Asakusa. The photo above is the Nakamise Shopping Street. They sell loads of great gifts and yummy snacks. At one end of the street is a Pagoda and Sensoji Temple and the other is Asahi Beer Tower. We had lunch outside the pagoda then it was back on the subway and off to Harajuku!

First stop- Meiji Shrine. This shrine is Tokyo's most popular so we had to check it out. It was the weekend so I thought we might get to see a wedding and we did! There were 3 weddings while we were there.

The other sites we did in Harajuku were the shopping streets: Takeshita, Harajuku, and Omotesando Street. They are mostly clothing but Takeshita also is famous for it's crepes. We didn't leave until we both got one. Yum!

We also checked out the Kiddy Land store, Oriental Bazaar, and Omotesando Hills Shopping Mall. The shopping Mall changes their exhibit monthly and while we were there it was a Valentines Day Shop. They had exquisite chocolate and roses. Some of the roses were preserved and were supposed to last 2-3 years. One bud surrounded by pretty green moss cost $30. I was tempted but didn't buy one.

At this point in the afternoon is was getting late so we went back to the hotel, freshened up, then got back on the train and went to the hockey game. They won again this evening (6-5) and the fans went wild. When we left the arena one fan gave Brad a birthday present. It was bear themed for his nickname: Kuma San. There was a teddy bear, bear cookies, Chocolate band-aids, and postcards of him as a bobble head!

Kamakura, Japan

2010-02-19T15:33:00.004+09:00

Sandy and I started our Saturday morning touring Kamkura. It's a small city south of Tokyo with a dozen beautiful shrines and temples. We started at Hasedera; there are hundreds of small statues of the Jizo Bodhisattva who helps the souls of dead children to reach paradise. The picture below is just one wall containing these statues. There were many more.

Hasedera also had 2 halls contain large golden Buddhas but we weren't allowed to take pictures inside. One was 9.18 meters (30.1 ft) tall with 11 extra heads. Each has a different expression to symbolize that the Buddha listens to wishes from all types of people. The second satute was seated, measuring 2.8 meters (9.2 ft) tall. Both were built prior to 1200. The Temple itself was founded in 736.

Next, we walked to the Daibutsu Temple to see the Great Buddha statue. It's a national treasure and stands 13.4 meters with the pedestal. The construction began in 1252 and hasn't been changed other than reinforcing the interior. We paid 50 cents to go inside and see how the copper pieces fit together like a puzzle. It was very cool.

After getting a lot of pictures we set off to our next shrine: Zeniarai Benten. We walked up what felt like a mountain to reach this place. The shrine is a series of caves in which you wash your money in. It's said that when you spend the money that has been washed in the spring's water, it will multiple in worth and come back to you.

I participated and washed some coins. A lot of people were washing one hundred dollar bills (10,000 yen) but I didn't want to get my paper money wet. : ) I was also more concerned with taking pictures of the thousands of paper cranes hanging in the cave. They were so beautiful.

What goes up must come down.... since Sandy and I walked up a mountain for the last place we had to find our way down. We cut through a park and got lost. There were a few people in the park though so we asked a man walking his dog how to get back down and see Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine. He chuckled that we had gotten turned around, stopped where he was going and led us down the mountain instead. The man was so helpful and he even gave us a little history lesson as we passed by ancient graves and cemeteries.

Finally we got back to civilization and made our way to the last shrine. It seemed to be the most popular in the town because of the large crowds we saw. The colors on the wood here were very strong and popped against the blue sky. We quickly took a few pictures and then headed back towards the train station. That evening Brad's team had a game and we were running late. Whoops! Sandy and I got to the game by the 2nd period to see Brad get an assist and win 5-2.

Mum made it to Japan!

2010-02-18T15:06:00.001+09:00

Brad's mom came for a 2 week trip to visit with us and see Japan. She booked it pretty last minute so we were very happy and excited for her to come. Sandy arrived on Friday the 5th, just 2 or 3 days after we got back from China so I haven't had time to update the blog; (sorry!).

Her flight went pretty smoothly and I was at Narita Airport to greet her as she exited customs. We then set out to meet up with Brad. He would've been at the airport too but he was just finishing up dinner with his teammates. The hockey team was in Tokyo for 2 games that weekend.

We got on the Narita Express train at the airport and rode it to Shinjuku station, the busiest train station in the world. Our hotel was just outside of the station which was very convenient but very hectic for lugging a suitcase through. With a little help from some maps we found the hotel and found Brad walking around outside. We quickly put our baggage in our rooms, then had some dinner, and walked around Shinjuku for a bit. We didn't stay out late so we could rest up for the following day: a trip to Kamkura.

Shopping in China

2010-02-04T09:09:00.000+09:00

The Freeblades won their last 2 games in China and now we’re heading back to Japan. These past 2 days we took it easy on the site seeing so that Brad could be rested, but we did go shopping. I’m now the happy owner of a new purse and boots. The shopping here is insane.

When you go underground there’s multiple levels and sections. Each section has more than 100 stores and they’re all dedicated to one item. For example you can walk an entire block under ground and see 100 women’s coat stores, then you go down a level and see 100 women’s sweater stores. Brad said he felt like a mole running around, getting lost, and going above ground only to poke his head up to see where he was. One time when we went above ground we walked outside to discover we were in the middle of a traffic circle with no sidewalks and no cross walks. Let’s just say running across 4 lanes of traffic isn’t an easy feat.

Harbin's Ice and Snow World

2010-02-03T12:07:00.002+09:00

The FreeBlades won their first game in China, 7-2. Brad had 1 goal and 2 assists; I had 2nd had smoke. Almost everything in China is dirty, including the ice arena which allows smoking throughout. I changed seats a few times to get away from the smoke and stares. People aren't shy about staring; they're just curious though so I don't mind.

Getting to the game was a little scary. I decided to take a cab alone so I could avoid going 2 hours early with the team. Another plus- I knew it'd be cheap too, only a $1.50. I got into the cab and was surprised to see prison-like bars separating me from the driver. I handed him directions to the rink written in Chinese and he started to drive. As we came up to a traffic light to take a left there was a long line of cars all wanting to take a left. Instead of waiting, the cab swerved into the incoming traffic lane and drove an entire block to cut off the line to take a left!

The following day (Friday) we had breakfast then went touring around the city. We checked out St Sophia Church which is heavily influenced by Russian architecture then went shopping. We checked out the popular Central Street aka Zongyang Street as well as the underground shopping areas. The underground shopping looks like a subway station entrance but has a black curtain to keep the cold out. It's a little creepy going down there but well worth it. The items for sale are amazing knock offs. You should see how good the fake UGGs look.

In the evening we went to Harbin's Ice and Snow World. It's an entire park of ice and snow sculptures and they're absolutely amazing. The pictures and video say it all. With the windchill I think it was -35 C so we froze a little but it was well worth it. In between the sculptures were stands selling clothing, toys, and photos with animals. Brad had his picture taken with a white snow fox and I had my picture with a yak. Brad loved holding the fox because it was toasty hot but I was too scared after Jon being bit by a wild animal. The yak (buffalo-like animal) look very sedated so I was okay getting on it. The Chinese men kept telling me how to pose so I'm laughing in all the pictures.

Harbin's Siberian Tiger Park

2010-02-02T23:17:00.001+09:00

Today during the optional skate we went to Harbin's Siberian Tiger Park. After breakfast at the hotel we got bundled up to bear the cold. I had on 3 pairs of pants, boots, 2 shirts, a fleece, coat, hat, ear muffs, and gloves. Next we had to get 2 cabs. In our travels abroad we've been using mainly trains and subways but cannot here because a subway doesn't exist in Harbin.

The concierge helped us get a cab and told him where to bring us. We looked at the cab, looked back at him and tried to tell him 2 cabs again but he insisted we could fit in one. Back in college we've crammed in an extra body to go down the street but this was a half hour ride! I, being the smallest rode laying across the guys laps. My view was upside down and looking up at the sky which ended up being good because the driving here is scary. The guys shrieked a few times as the cab barely cleared bicyclists and pedestrians. We all agreed the driving here is much more dangerous than Korea and in Korea they speed through red lights!

Once at the tiger park we bought our entrance tickets which were $9.50 and went into the gift shop to stay warm. After a few minutes they announced the bus was outside and we got on. The bus drove us around the park for about 40 minutes while going in and out of security fences. The highlight of the ride was pooling our money together to buy a few chickens to feed the tigers. We paid our driver and he radioed a worker in a white SUV to come and feed the tigers in front of our bus. The SUV came ripping down the snowy road honking his horn and all the tigers came running.

The Siberian Tiger species only lives in Russia, Eastern China, and Northern Korea. There were some in the West but have been wiped out. As the largest cat in the feline family it has been heavily hunted and close to extinction. This park is supposed to help prevent extinction but is disliked by animal groups for questionable practices.

After the bus tour there was a short walking tour where we got to see Lions, Leopards, Cheetahs, Jaguars, and Ligers. The Ligers were the most interesting because there are only 10 in the world. They are born to a female tiger that mates with a male lion.

Following the walking tour we went back in the gift shop area and got our photo taken with a baby lion. It was 50 CNY which is only $7.25. The wild animal behaved for all of us except Jon...Jon went last and I guess the cub wanted to be playful so he bit down on Jon's arm. He's okay but there's definitely a red mark on his bicep from one of the canine teeth.

Right now I'm waiting to go to the first game of the road trip against The China Dragons. I hope we win!

Getting to China

2010-02-01T20:27:00.000+09:00

Our journey started at midnight on Tuesday evening when the team bus left the Hachinohe Ice Rink. Inside were the team players, team doctor, coaches, and the new Free Blade- Me! It was VERY weird riding the bus with all the guys. We were heading towards Nigata International Airport. After a grueling 8 hour drive with 8 stops for bathroom and smoke breaks we made it to the airport for our noon flight. At this point everyone needed to change out of their sweats and into something presentable. Awkwardly I took off my glasses and closed my eyes. Brad suggesed I just get off the bus but I looked down the isle to get off and there were guys undressing so I preceded to shut my eyes and giggle to myself about the odd situation I was in.

Nothing to note about the flight besides the lack of leg room; Brad's knees were right up against the back of person preceding him. Oh, and half the food they served for lunch was expired. I think the flight lasted 2.5 hours; not too shabby.

Customs was a breeze and everyone's bags showed up unscathed. The rest of our day was riding to the hotel to settle in, grab a snack at McDonald's, and the team went to practice. I'm just waiting for them to get back for a late dinner at 9pm. Trying to kill time before dinner I tried to blog and go on Facebook but China blocks both. I'm sure I'll discover a few more sites they block. If you're wondering how I even got on my computer due to power differences, the hotel provides free power adapters to borrow.

There wasn't any time to really site see today but tomorrow they have an optional skate so we're going to try and see the Siberian Tiger Park they have here. Also on the agenda we are planing on seeing the Ice Sculptures. Harbin is known for their ice sculptures and they are scattered all around the city, but featured in 3 parks.

Brad's Birthday

2010-01-26T15:00:00.002+09:00

We just finished celebrating Brad's 28th Birthday; just the two of us went out to dinner, had cake and opened presents. Brad's parents got him a beautiful knife from here. It is layered metal and super sharp! We knew we wanted to take one home on the recommendation of an Enderby friend. After playing professional sports here in Japan he said he had wished he bought home a Japanese knife. If you'd like to see it close up, just click on the image.

On the weekend we went out with a large group. We were celebrating Brad's, Jon's, Casey's, and Bruce's birthdays because they're all within 2 weeks of each other. We went to an Izakaya and then a Dart Bar. Our private room at the Izakaya was very cool because it had karaoke set up inside.

Now that we're done partying we're getting ready to go to China. The team has 3 away games in Harbin China and I get to tag along. My 90 day visitor permit expires soon and the team decided it's less complicated to leave and re-enter Japan then trying to get me a visa for my last 60 days. I'm very excited for China but very scared at the same time. Harbin is one of the coldest cities in China. In the evenings it gets down to -25 F, and that's before windchill! I will try to take a lot of pictures but I can't make any promises because I'll be indoors most of the trip.

I ran to the store to grab a few toiletries to pack and discovered the Japanese grocery stores don't carry very much for deodorant or shaving cream. The only shaving cream they had was a travel size and cost me $8! I think there's not much demand because people aren't hairy here. I asked Brad about the deodorant situation and he explained to me that the Japanese guys don't smell when they sweat. About half the team doesn't need to even wear deodorant and if they do it's weak, spray-on stuff. I thought that was interesting.

Sumo Wrestling

2010-01-24T09:55:00.002+09:00

On Monday the 11th, Zoe, Elaine, and I got out of bed early and headed to Ryogoku District. At 8am outside of the Kokugikan Stadium general admission Sumo tickets were on sale. They were the very last row in the stadium but they were only $22. The next grouping of tickets were $38 and didn't have any better of a view. The best seats in the house, the ring side seats, were $170 and weren't even seats, they were cushions! In the picture below you can see how the spectators are sitting cross legged.

Above is an opening ceremony for the Makuuchi Division. This took place around 4:00. Earlier in the afternoon the less known wrestlers had their performances. Their divsions are called Juryo and Jonokuchi-Makushita. We caught a few of their bouts (what we refer to as matches) but we really wanted to see the elite group, the Makuuchi.

To our surprise some of the wrestlers weren't Japanese. About a quarter of them were from other countries, mainly Mongolia. We also learned that there isn't any weight classes in sumo so you occasionally see a lean man fight a huge man. I rooted for the smaller person but weight always seemed to win.

These tournaments occur 6 times a year, in the odd months, for 15 days, in different cities. Brad and I are so happy we got to see Sumo while living in Japan, and even more thrilled Zoe and Elaine got to see it on their visit. We just happened to be in the right city at the right time.

Drinking Japanese Style

2010-01-21T17:13:00.002+09:00

While Zoe and Elaine were here we tried to introduce them to all of the different beverages here. Other than the traditional Beer, Wine, and Liquor we're used to back home, there's sake, shochu, chuhai, and plum wine. Sake is rice wine and is 10-20% alcohol, shochu is an alcohol that you mix with water or fruit juice and is 20-40% alcohol, and chuhai is a canned-carbonated beverage with shochu between 5-8%.

It's very common to go to a late dinner at a restaurant/bar called an Izakaya. They serve small dishes and have all you can drink for 2 hours. A quirky fact about restaurants in general here are that they don't have napkins. They provide you with a hot towel or wet wipe. It was hard to get used to not placing a napkin on our laps

Some people go to two izakayas then go to karaoke. The three of us went while in Tokyo and had a blast. You'd think you would need a big group to make it fun but you don't!

Lastly, when girls go out drinking (or even to the grocery store for some) they always wear fake eyelashes. We thought it'd be fun to try wearing them one night. They looked cool but I got a ton of glue in my eyes making them burn; quite unpleasant.

Matsushima and Sendai

2010-01-20T18:08:00.001+09:00

We had an extra day on our train passes so we decided to go to Matsushima and Sendai. In Matsushima we saw a Zen temple and caves in which Buddhist used to mediate in. There was also a museum we quickly walked through; there wasn't very many english captions.

As the lunch hour approached we got back on the train and went to Sendai. We had a lunch date with one of Elaine's college buddies who just happens to live in Japan. It's his second year playing professional basketball in Sendai. It was nice to talk to him because he had gone through the same living adjustments as we have.

After lunch we went to the large Buddha on the hill called Byakui Kannon. It's 181 meters tall which is approximately twice the size of the statue of Liberty. Similar to Lady Liberty you can go inside where there is a museum featuring 12 Generals of God corresponding to the animal signs, 108 Buddha statues, and 'the image of god' (Buddhist's image of God).

Friends came to visit!

2010-01-19T16:06:00.000+09:00

Two of my high school friends came to visit! They were here for just a little longer than a week. As soon as they left we had a huge snow storm. Below is Brad shoveling us a path. I think we got 20 inches in the last 5 days; but enough about that and back to my friends...

We split their time up with half their visit in Hachinohe and the other half in Tokyo. In our town we went to the Fish Market, Grocery Store, the Malls, Float display (for summer festivals) at a city building, and an Onsen. Below are apples being sold at the fish market. I'm very curious how they change the apple's skin color so they can write Japanese symbols on the fruit.

I mentioned an onsen in the list of things we did in Hachinohe. An onsen is a public bath that resembles a spa. They are everywhere and people here love going to them, especially in the winter. I knew I couldn't live in Japan for 6 months and avoid them all together so I waited until I had some female company to take on the adventure. I needed women to go with me because the onsens aren't co-ed.... why aren't they co-ed you're wondering? Well it's because onsens are kind of like a nudist spas. haha.

Zoe and Elaine were hesitant about going but I begged them and they agreed it'd be interesting... After you pay to enter (the place we went to was about 4.00 but other places are up to 30.00) you enter a locker room. It looks like any other gym locker room. There you undress and put your belongings in a locker then proceed to the showers. They sit on a plastic stool in front of a mirror and hand held shower. It's there you throughly clean and shower yourself. Once finished you are free to use the various hot tubs.

Afterwards the three of us were happy we were gutsy enough to try the public baths. I think we all enjoyed the outdoor one the best. It was serene and cool with the winter air contrasting with the hot water.

Last, but not least, we brought the ladies to our favorite Japanese restaurants featuring all you can eat food. We made sure they tried shabu shabu, sushi, yakiniku, taiyaki, okonomoyaki, and takoyaki. Above is a picture from a shabu shabu restaurant.

Nara, Japan New Years Day

2010-01-15T14:53:00.001+09:00

Nara is home to numerous national treasures all of which are located in a park; Nara Park. We thought it would be perfect to visit Nara on New Years day because there are several well known shrines and temples in a small area. (Our legs and feet were ready for a break by this day.) The park is also home to 1,200 wild deer. They were friendly but wanted to be fed. There were stands set up selling crackers and if you bought a bundle the deer flocked to you. It was very funny to watch others feed the deer.

When you weren't feeding the deer quickly enough they'd head-bump you resulting in deer snot on your jacket. I couldn't stop laughing as Brad fed them.

Below is a picture of the front of Todai-ji Temple. The deer were everywhere!

Todai-ji Temple is the largest wooden building in the world. It houses 3 large Buddhas and was very impressive.

The shrine we visited was Kasuga Shrine. Thousands of people were visiting on this day for Hatumode; first shrine visit of the New Year. Everyone buys new lucky charms called omamori. Below are the crowds lining up to buy them.

Besides purchasing good luck charms people go and pray for wishes. First you rinse your hands in the sacred water. Then walk over to the praying area, throw your donation into a box, ring the bell once, bow twice, clap twice while thinking about your 2 wishes, and then bow before walking away. I messed up the order when it came my turn to go but I gave it my best shot. : )

Osaka, Japan

2010-01-14T15:28:00.000+09:00

After Kobe we went to Osaka, Japan's 3rd largest city. We checked out the Kita Area which has this cool Entertainment Park called HEP. It's a shopping mall with a huge arcade and Ferris wheel.

The Kita area also has a huge electronics store: Yodobashi Camera Umeda. We went in and looked around for an underwater video camera. Brad's dad wants to drag one behind the boat to view the fish. They were between 600 and 800 dollars for the waterproof case then you had to buy the correlating camera to fit inside.

After window shopping we had some sushi and tempura then went to the hotel to get some rest because we had another long day of site seeing planned out. The first place we visited was Osaka Castle. Many years ago it was the Imperial Palace and now is open to the public because the Imperial Family has been moved to Tokyo. Like many other buildings it has been burned down multiple times due to war and natural disasters and has been reconstructed. It's first construction was in 1583.

We checked out the Bay Area with the Tempozan Marketplace Shopping Mall, Ferris Wheel, and pictured below, their aquarium. It was very windy by the bay so we couldn't stay long. We felt as though we were being blown away.

The Shinsekai area was okay; it was full of packinos (their version of casinos) and places to eat. Brad tried takoyaki which is a dough ball the size of a golf ball filled with green onion and one piece of octopus. On top is a curry sauce, mayo, and bonito flakes (fish flakes). He liked them and I was too scared to try them on this day (I did get the courage a week later and I also liked them).

Before heading back to the hotel we went to the Minami Area containing different shopping areas: Dontonbori, Amerikamura, and Den Den Town. The picture below shows the most popular tourist shot with the 'Glico' man in the back.

On New Years Eve people in Japan visit Buddhist temples because they are associated with death and the current year is ending or dying. Brad and I watched live footage from our hotel showing different temples across Japan and the activities going on. The common theme was ringing the temple bell 108 times for the 108 harmful desires thought of in Buddhism. These are similar to the ten commandments in Catholicism, but a whole lot more of them.