Simple Life

I don't really know where to begin.  I guess to say that we are coming (or going) home.  Jason, the kids, and I are leaving Japan and moving back to the states next month.  We make this move with mixed emotions.  The idea of returning to the states for a visit came up a couple of weeks ago when we found out my Dad was sick, but in the last few days as we looked at our options, it became clear that returning for good is our best choice at the moment. Leaving Japan isn't really going to be too hard for us, as Tokyo hasn't grown into home for us yet.  Were we still in Utazu with our "family" there, it would be much harder. So, leaving won't be hard, but, returning, that will suck (such a poetic word choice, I know.  It just happens to fit perfectly...). We've liked Japan, we've liked living here.  We've had an amazing experience that we wouldn't trade.  There are some thing we would have done differently if we'd known differently, but I su...

Setsubun was celebrated this weekend here in Japan.  Setsubun literally means "sectional separation" or "seasonal division".  It is celebrated on the day before spring according to Japan's lunar calendar.  There is a lot of history around setsubun, although it is not a national holiday.  Basically, Japanese people do a ritual to chase away the devil, evil spirits, or ogres called Oni.  In the distant past this was done by burning dried sardine heads and wood - the smoke was thought to chase away the spirits.  Drums were also played.  People do not do this much anymore from what I am told - thank goodness.  Smelly!  Today, people throw roasted beans around their houses  while yelling, "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" This translates to "Devils out! Happiness in!" or "Get out Ogre!  Come in Happiness!"  Afterwards you are supposed to collect and eat the number of beans that corresponds to your age.  That is a lot of ro...

Most of my posts lately have been heavier-hearted...time for less heavy.  This post is simply some of the strange, wonderful, or perplexing things I've seen here in Tokyo in the last few months. Food Um, there are noodles on your sandwich...I don't know why the idea of noodles on a sandwich is so wrong to me - I eat garlic bread with my spaghetti.  I have yet to try this common deli sandwich so don't ask me how it tastes.  I just think weird...  The orange in this pic is the size of a satsuma - followed by an onion the size of a baseball.  The apple is obviously bigger, followed by the biggest asian pear I have ever seen.  We stopped at a fruit stand near our house and picked up the pear for about $3.  Five of us snacked on it and there was still some left...crazy! This little meal was a kids meal that Jaxon ordered while we were out one day.  It is curry and rice, broccoli and potatoes, a piece of chicken and a few french fries.  O...

If you google the most expensive cities to live in worldwide you'll find Tokyo somewhere in the top 10.  I looked at a few last night and Tokyo was actually in the top 3 on 5 of the lists.  Now, one list claimed that you'd have to shell out $5,000 to get a 2 bedroom apartment in Tokyo.  I'm sure there are plenty of such apartments, but there are also less expensive ones so you can't believe everything you read. But, it is true.  Living here is very expensive.  We rent an 860 ft2 apartment for approximately $1100 a month.  If we want to rent a parking space that is another $115 a month.  Our utilities, including internet but with no cable, are over $400 a month.  All that for utilities and our apartment does not even have central air or heat!  Groceries, gas, train tickets, they all add up too of course.  Groceries vary in price from store to store and season to season, but it is not uncommon to see 4 apples for $6 or a quart of milk fo...

I got a phone call from my brother two days ago. He was calling to tell me that our father is dying.  Brain cancer that started in the lungs (as far as we know).  The man was, and likely still is, a very heavy smoker from the time he hit puberty so the lung cancer was no surprise.  My brother doesn't know exactly what's what as our Dad has a brand of his own truth at all times.  According to him, he's fine.  His caretaker says there are tumors (the word inoperable may have been used) and Dad has lost the use of the left side of his body.  Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. Please, do not be sad for me or wish me well with this.  I will agree that death is awful and should be taken to heart, that it should never be looked at or taken lightly.  But, my father is a monster.  A positively vile man that should have died so long ago.  I have lost much better people in my life, people that deserved to live and would actually contribu...

This is the final blog post for our holiday trip.  Our last stop was in Kuala Lumpur, a very large city in Malaysia.  When we booked this trip we chose our destinations based on cheap airfare and friends recommendations of okay places to visit. Months after we bought the tickets we began to actually plan the trip - what to do kind of stuff.  Kuala Lumpur was quite underwhelming on paper and as we headed into the trip Jason and I were sure it would be our least favorite place.  As it turns out, KL is great. There isn't a lot of must see tourist type stuff there, which is fine by us.  The city we didn't think we'd like ended being our favorite place on our trip and a city we'd definitely like to visit again someday. KL is a large city that is quite spread out.  There are smaller neighborhoods within the city - just like every other place I've ever been. Due to Lily being sick we didn't get to see a lot but we liked what we were able to see. Our hotel was ...

After our time in Singapore we headed over to Tioman Island, Malaysia.  Tioman is a small island that is mostly jungle.  There are no paved roads on the island (except for the one that led from the airport to our resort), most people go from place to place on the island by boat.  We went in December, which is monsoon season, so it was quiet.  Most of the restaurants were shut down for the season and there was just not a lot going on. To get there we rode a bus for five hours (a bus that had once been for smokers, was torn up and nasty=looong bus ride) followed by a ridiculous ferry ride.  The ferry ride was 1.5 hours long which was about 1.25 hours too long.  The seas were so choppy that several people around us were throwing up for the second half of the trip.  Most of them had sick bags, but not all.  It was lovely...clearly we were quite pleased to get off the boat. *The bus took us to Mersing, the port town in Malaysia that the ferry left f...