Simple Life

One thing that I have gained by living outside the US is a new appreciation for the difficulty immigrants have when trying to set up a new life in a new place.  It's kind of funny...here we are the immigrants, the foreigners, the crazy gaijin (literally means foreign person) that don't speak the language and need all kinds of help. Here we get pats on the back for our bravery, lauding for our courageous spirit, an A for our effort. But, back home, we hear things like, "You know, they should really learn to speak our language.  They are living here, in our country..."  I have heard that so many times.  It's never bothered me, immigrants into the US that can't speak English, but I also never put any thought into how difficult life must be for them either. One example...to live and work in another country you have to have the proper paperwork, otherwise you are an illegal alien.  (Such a controversial topic in the US...).  Here we need a visa.  Every...

We have several bucket list items that we would love to - but will not- accomplish before we leave Japan.  I guess that means that someday we will just have to come back!  Anyway, one item on the list that we decided we must do this time was visit Tokyo Disney.  We are only living 1.5 hours away by train and we do have two kids...it just makes sense to do it now. Tokyo Disneyland is actually two parks - Disneyland and Disney Sea.  We could've done one or both.  After talking to people and reading a bunch of reviews we decided to do just one park, Disney Sea.  Disneyland here is said to be much like Disney everywhere else, but Disney Sea is unique in that this is the only one. We didn't tell the kids where we were going, just that we had to go into the city to do something important before we left.  5 AM wake ups! Once the kids realized where we were going they were super excited!  When you get off the train at the station near Disney you then ...

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...