Let's take the Shinkansen to IKEA?!

I'm a little behind in posting the blog so it may be a little longer than normal. So much to show and tell.

Thanks for all the kind comments about the blog. It's fun for me to do. Darren said he'll add to it soon so you can hear HIS perspective of things in Tokyo (something about all the exotic sports cars we've been seeing). Thanks for adding comments too - we really enjoy reading them.

Just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that the You Tube video I put on the last time is just a JOKE! There isn't any truth to it...that's why Darren was laughing at me for believing it (and me at myself...and now me at some of you :). People DO NOT go around and put their fingers in the salt dishes or do any of the other crazy stuff in that video. The sushi chef doesn't use the napkin for wiping off his own sweat and then the knife. People do not wear the sushi boards home as geta shoes on their feet and their feet (at least I think - haven't smelled any lately) don't smell like vinegar. It was just something I thought was funny since I (only half way - I remind you) believed it. :) Darren showed a Japanese friend at work and he said he was laughing at it and that the salt does mean to keep away bad things.

Our television came last Saturday and the kids were so excited! We get a few free Japanese cable stations - one of which I think is a full-time Sumo Wrestling channel. Since we don't have "American" television yet (thank you Van for setting up the Sling Box and TiVo!) the kids have mostly played on the Wii or Guitar Hero. Last Saturday night we all enjoyed our first family popcorn movie night together. It was fun :).

Last Sunday we took ANOTHER trip to IKEA (hopefully our last for a VERY long time). We had to order our last piece of furniture. Instead of going to the Funabashi store we went to the Yokohama store. I wasn't quite prepared for the experience there. Since it's pretty far away from our apartment we decided to take the Shinkansen or as we call it in the USA - the Bullet Train (see photo). The kids were so excited (and to admit it, Darren and I were too). It really was neat. It does go pretty fast - we were estimating maybe around 120 mph or more. The ride was SO smooth, especially compared to the subway rides. Once we got our tickets (about $40.00 US for the entire family - one way). The ride itself took about 20 minutes - even though it felt like half that time.








The kids wanted to see how fast they could run compared to the regular subway train so we took this video to see if they could beat it. (Really, it's just them running in place). I don't know why Maddie started running backward. Funny.

When we got off the Shinkansen at the Shin Yokohama Station we saw a sign for an IKEA shuttle bus. At first we thought that was odd - a shuttle bus - just for IKEA. Well, yes...a shuttle bus...just for IKEA! It was crowded too - going there and coming back. The ride on the IKEA bus took about 30 minutes. When we got to the IKEA store we were shocked at how crowded it was. The Funabashi store was crazy crowded but this store was twice as crowded. It was the craziest thing we've ever seen! I think the people here like IKEA so much because the prices are so affordable (compared to everywhere else in Tokyo) and the furniture caters to people with smaller places (traditional Japanese homes are very small). Let's just say it's something you'd never see in the USA unless there was a HUGE sale at IKEA and it was the day before Christmas.

One of the things that we've had to get used to here is that there is no clean indoor air act (that is one thing we miss about home). January 8th they just outlawed smoking in cabs so we're hoping that restaurants aren't too far behind. In most restaurants there are still smoking and non-smoking sections. The thing is, since the restaurants are so tiny and the seating is so limited, three tables will be smoking and three will be non-smoking...so pretty much the whole place is smoking. On the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) they have designated smoking cars. We walked through one to get to our car and it's pretty much just one big cloud of smoke (of course this is no offense to any of our smoking friends - you know we love you :).

Last weekend we went to Shibuya to go to a place called Tokyu Hands (no, I didn't misspell that). The only thing that I can match this store in the USA is Target - but not :). I miss Target!!!! This store was 6 floors and had EVERYTHING you could possibly imagine (except clothing). This is where I bought my mop and broom. Shibuya is also home to the busiest intersection in the world. I took a video of the people crossing.

Darren said that it's even busier at night. I don't think the video does justice to all the people there.


On some fun news, we heard that Atlanta had gotten some snow. Nate and Maddie were so bummed that they missed it. Then, a few days later, it snows here! They were so excited. However, we didn't get a snow day for school :(. It snowed pretty much all day but just left the roads all slushie - but drivable. I took some pictures of the snow outside our apartment from our terrace (see left and click to enlarge) and at Arisugawa Park right across from our apartment (see right). The kids were able to play in the snow at school so they were happy about that. We're hoping for a snow day that shuts school down though :).

In Harajuku there is a street called Takeshita Dori. It's a street of stores where a lot of the teens hang out and has a lot of wild clothing and accessories. This is where my other favorite store, Daiso is. It's another dollar type store but has things that cost more than 100 yen too. They have some GREAT things there. There's actually a Claire's jewelry store on this street too where I bought Maddie some earrings. Here's a photo of some neat crepes that they sell.

Most have ice cream on them and other's have lunch type foods on them (i.e. tuna). We didn't try one this time.

The next street over is Omotesando which is VERY high end shopping. It has the most beautiful Ralph Lauren store we've ever been to. They also have a toy store called Kiddy Land and a great store called Oriental Bazaar where you can purchase a lot of neat Japanese paraphernalia.

We actually had to buy our first birthday present at Kiddy Land this week. Nathan went to his first birthday party here on Saturday. It was at a Karaoke "bar" called Smash Hits. (Don't worry it was during the day and it was a children's party). He said he had a lot of fun. Of course they had all the High School Musical songs and now that's where Maddie wants her birthday party (even though she was only there about 2 minutes while we were dropping Nathan off).

We finally took our bikes out for the first time this past weekend. We rode them to Rippongi which is about 15 minutes from our apartment. We went to this park called Robot Park (because of the robot statues). There's a really neat slide that has rolling pins on it...think conveyor belt. Here's some video of it because it's so different.



Here are some neat things we saw while we were out and about. This first is of a ticket machine that you use to order lunch. You put your money in, decide what you'd like to eat and then the machine gives you a ticket. Then you bring the ticket to the restaurant window to order your food. These are scattered here and there about the city.

Here's something you won't see in the USA. This is a Japanese style toilet in the women's bathroom. At first I thought it was for women who took their sons in with them :). Don't worry girls, they have normal toilets too...you don't see these very often actually.

Here's a photo of some precious Japanese girls going to school (walking by themselves across a main street - that's how safe it is here - really!) I'll try to get some photos of the boys because they are even more precious. The hats are different colors based on the school they're in. Notice the hard backpacks which all Japanese kids use (called randoseru in Japanese).




Here's the funny sign picture of the week. It is in the park across the street from our apartment. I've no idea what it says...I'll have to ask Darren's mom.





Have a GREAT week!

What's That White Salt For?

Okay, so I'll start our blog with a FUNNY story. Before we left the USA a friend of mine told me to be careful of establishments that have dishes of salt outside their doors. She said that she heard that meant they didn't serve foreigners. Well, last week, we saw two such places with salt outside their doors. We asked Darren's mom what she thought that meant and she said it was usually to ward off bad luck. SOOO, I did some research on the Internet (good ole Internet) and found the following video. So, as I'm watching this, I'm thinking it's really serious - you know - I'm still trying to learn all about the Japanese culture. Now keep in mind, it's spoken in Japanese with English subtitles so I'm trying to read and look at the video at the same time so I'm realizing that some things are VERY odd (you'll know what I mean). At the end of the video they "explain" the salt outside the door. So I show Darren and he just starts laughing at me - for semi-believing it (yes, I DID think it was VERY strange). Anyway, then we both are laughing so hard at my gullibility! I'm sure you'll all be laughing at me too - but really, I only HALF believed it :). So, I guess the salt is to ward of bad luck after all! Here's the video. It's a little long but it's worth the watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruh0TJJopn8.

Last Saturday our family went to Ueno Keno Park to feed the homeless. Madeline's 2nd grade class (only her class) made onigiri (triangular sized rice cakes with a prune in the middle - although onigiri can have different foods in the middle). I forgot to take a picture (imagine that) of the cakes they made. They also asked us not to take photos out of respect for the homeless. It was a cold, rainy day and we estimated that there were about 700 or so homeless there. Second Harvest was there feeding them and we passed out the onigiri while they were waiting in the long lines. A neat experience for our family.

After that, we went the the Science and Nature Museum which is within the same park. The kids admission was free and adult admission was only 500 yen (about $10.00 US for Darren and me - a bargain!). We saw Maddie's friend from Sweden there. Her name is Moah. They hung out together for awhile in the hands-on exhibit.

There was a really neat exhibit with a really strong magnet. A worker came over and told Maddie and Nathan to put their hand on top of one of the big magnets and then pretended to shove nails in their hands (nice!). Of course they were flat nails but the magnet was so powerful through both of their hands it made it appear like they had nails sticking out of them. They loved it.

Then there was this HILARIOUS mirror that made your body distorted. Darren and I took a picture of us - which I can't believe I'm putting on the site. We were going to joke that the food is so good over here that we've gained so much weight and got shorter. It was an awesome museum. Too big to finish in one day so we need to go back. Also, they have Asamo, the Honda robot there so we need to go back and see that show on robotics.
On the way out of the museum, before the subway, there was this man making the cutest banana treats. We've never seen anything like it. We video taped a little of him making it and took a picture of the kids with their treats. I had to not think about his hands touching the food or that dirty apron he had on! The kids loved it.

After the museum that day we actually went and found a TV. It is being delivered tomorrow. Nathan and Maddie are excited to play Guitar Hero and Sing Star (keep practicing Van!).

THEN, we went to a sushi bar with a rotating conveyor belt of sushi. We also took video of that. The restaurant was called Pintokeno. It was our first real sushi outing. Maddie wasn't as adventurous as I thought she'd be. Nathan loves shrimp and the first one he pulled off the belt was huge. After his first bite we realized it had wasabi on it - too spicy. So we had to ask the sushi chef to make some without wasabi. Nathan was in heaven. (I did not ask the sushi chef any personal questions - as per the video!) :)

Here's some everyday photos. Here's one of my rice cooker - good luck with that! I actually do know how to use it. Really just the push of a button - the red one is on and the upper left one is off. Last night I was making rice for dinner and I was filling up the water and was able to read the word sushi in Japanese (see photo on the right)! I was so excited...I went to tell the kids. They were laughing at me. Nathan said, "Mom, you're going to put that on the blog aren't you?" Well, yeah! Darren and I haven't begun our official Japanese language classes yet. I've just been learning from what the kids are studying at home for their Japanese language classes.

I also went to the market this week and bought some butter thinking it was going to be in four sticks - well, it was not. This looks like something you'd buy at a warehouse club!

I'm still working on getting the apartment unpacked. I received another shipment from IKEA yesterday - desks! One of these days I'll take a picture of the finished rooms and put it on the blog.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes by the way! I turned 40 Wednesday - January 16!!!!! What a special way to celebrate - being in Japan. Believe it or not, we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was the best Mexican we've ever had - SO fresh. It takes coming to Tokyo to find an amazing Mexican restaurant (though we still like Viva Mexico in Powder Springs - definitely MUCH cheaper in the USA).

We also got the kids their own cell phones Wednesday. In the USA they'd be just wishing for one, but since they have such a long bus ride and after school programs are starting soon, we felt better if we all had access to each other. Plus, for earthquake safety - of which, we haven't felt any tremors since we've been here...knock on wood! They are beyond thrilled with their new phones. I'll take a picture of them with their phones (per Nathan's request) and post it next time.

Hugs and love to everyone!

Let the Games Begin!

Well, we are finally officially in our apartment! It feels good to have someplace to call "home." I think that we have all agreed that our favorite part of our new home are the toilets. Yes, the toilets...they have heated seats!!! They are actually bidets - though we haven't really used any of the features (it's all computerized - very hi-tech! :). Our air shipment is being delivered tomorrow so it will be nice to have some of our things.

Maddie and Nathan began school Monday. Their bus stop is right outside of our apartment. The buses are not like U.S. yellow school buses, they are more like charter buses with seat belts. Darren and I rode with the kids on the bus to school the first day. It takes about 45 minutes (each way) to get to and from school. The ride itself actually seemed to go pretty fast and wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Hopefully it will continue to be that way for the kids. We've allowed them to bring their Nintendo DS's (a couple of days a week) and on Wednesday they had a seven way Mario Brothers game going on with other kids on the bus (I guess they can join in wirelessly). Anyway, we dropped them off at their classrooms and then we went to an all day parent orientation meeting. Again, information overload. We were able to purchase supplies at the school store and lunch tickets. Lunch for Maddie is 500 yen (about $5.00) and for Nathan is 550 yen (about $5.50) a day! I'm sure once we get our kitchen stocked with food they'll be taking lunch most days...but for this week they're getting school lunch. The menus have been pretty American: hamburger, spaghetti, pizza, mac and cheese. But today's menu is: Gyoza, Yakisoba, Edamame and Egg drop soup… needless to say, it was a lunch box day. I’m not even sure what all that is, except for the soup of course.

The cost of lunch and the cost of everything else actually doesn't really matter when you're spending Monopoly or play money though (that's what I feel like I'm using when I spend yen!).

The kids had their first Japanese class on Tuesday and they both liked it. Nathan actually said he loved it and that the class wasn't long enough (hopefully he'll feel that way next week!). He learned how to write his name in Japanese and can do it by heart now.

Maddie's teachers name is Mrs. Lavender and Nathan's is Ms. Campbell. They both seem very nice. After the first day of school we asked them to rate school on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest and Nathan rated it a 1o. Maddie rated it 100. They have both made friends very quickly. We have done something with friends everyday after school since Monday. Our building reminds me of our cul-de-sac in Georgia. There are a lot of great families and friends to play with. We are planning a "building" pot-luck dinner in February.

One thing I have noticed is that all the ex-pats (ex-patriot's or ex-pats are people who live in one country but work in another - like us) are so overly helpful and generous. I heard that the ex-pat community in the Minami-Azabu area where we live is close and it seems to be true. We have been so blessed with meeting so many wonderful people in just three short days of school starting.

Darren seems to be enjoying his job. He went back to work on Tuesday. He's been working long hours. Hopefully now that the Internet is hooked up at home he will be able to work more at home in the evenings.

We are still trying to meander our ways around the subways. I haven't been brave enough to go on it by myself yet (except today for one stop). I do have a funny story to tell. We were on our way to IKEA last week and a Japanese lady asked me what stop Disney Land was and how she could purchase tickets (she must have been from a prefecture far from here). So upon confirming the stop with Darren I was actually able to help her buy her tickets...yes, VERY shocking I know! I was so proud of myself. Of course I got off the subway today and turned the wrong way and went out the wrong entrance and had to turn around and go back through the subway to the correct entrance, but hey, baby steps! :)


The thing that I have noticed most on the subway is that everyone sleeps between stops. It's very funny. Also, fashion is very evident here. The women dress to the hilt. Many wear short skirts and long boots with very high heels. It's crazy with all the walking they do - and it's winter! They must think, poor American girl, she has no fashion sense (but I like my sensible tennis shoes).



I have also noticed that the Japanese people are so very kind and work very hard. If they are working in the service industry they truly work to please you. I had a package come for me and missed it and the post office re-delivered it the same day I called them about it. They are really beautiful people, inside and out.

Here is a picture of what the Coke machines look like. They are ALL over the city...even down the off-beaten paths.



Here is a sign that we saw in a park. Very funny. Darren's inter-pretation of it was: Don't feed the pigeons because they poop on our clothes. A lot of people around the city (not our area) will hang their clothes off their terraces to dry.

I still feel like I am living somebody elses life or having an out of body experience!

I'll update more next week! (Maddie's class is making onigiri (rice patties) on Friday and we are going to Ueno Koen (a park) to hand them out to the homeless on Saturday).

First Days in Tokyo

Well, we're in Tokyo! We arrived on Sunday, December 30th after our 14 hour flight. (Yes, that is our 12 bags of luggage!) What an amazing few days it has been. We are all experiencing sensory overload...there is just so much to see and experience. We've walked more in these four days then we have in the last month! We have definitely jumped in the deep end - sink or swim (or walk as it may be). We (meaning Darren) are becoming very savvy using the subway - which is crazy! I've never seen so many people in my life - and Darren said it isn't even crowded because of the holiday. Tokyo basically closes down from January 1 - 4. Things are just now beginning to open back up. We even got a peek of Tokyo Disney Land from the Subway on our way to IKEA Japan a few days ago. (You can click on a photo by the way to enlarge it).

We went to our apartment yesterday and you can see Mount Fuji from the roof garden. You can also see Tokyo Tower from our terrace. We went shopping at the local grocery store for a few things. THAT was an experience! I think I bought laundry detergent, dish washing liquid and disinfectant cleaner.

We walked all over the neighborhood and found a 100 YEN store!!! My favorite of course (think dollar store). We got some great things there :). Things are a bit more expensive here. You learn the value of the yen very quickly. For example, we ate at Subway for dinner the other night and each ordered 1/2 sandwich (that's all they have), fries (yes, fries), drinks and it came to 3000 yen (about $30.00) AND they put very little food inside the sandwich. We now know why the Japanese are very thin - walking a lot and eating on the lite side.

We tend to stick to restaurants that have pictures of the food on the menus so we can just point to what we want. The second day we were here I ordered what the guy had next to me and she kept asking me something and I just kept saying "hai" (yes). Thank goodness I ordered something yummy. So far the kids have been open to trying pretty much everything.

Since we're still at the hotel (the furniture store opens tomorrow so we can get beds for the apartment) we've been able to eat a wonderful breakfast buffet at the hotel every morning. Some of the foods they offer are very Japanese but most is normal US breakfast foods. The oddest thing we have noticed so far is that the egg yolks are as orange as orange juice. As you can see, we have an amazing view of the city (we're staying in Shinjuku).

There is a park right next to our hotel called Shinjuku Park and there is a huge play area for the kids. It has a really huge concrete slide that the kids love. We met four local boys there today and they played with Maddie and Nathan for over an hour. I have found that the one universal language we all share is laughter. I would have taken more photos but the batteries in my camera died and this was the only one I could get. The boys at the top were the new "friends" the kids made (even if we couldn't communicate with words).

Here are two more interesting photos. The first one is of a line of people waiting for Krispy Kreme doughnuts (the wait was 50 minutes). We were AMAZED to say the least. The other is of some kiosks along the street to process your digital photos. We did buy a rice cooker today (we had to have someone explain what the Japanese writing means - good luck!), a hair dryer and an iron. The store we bought these items in today was ten floors...many escalators, elevators and stairs to say the least.

I'll try to update this again before I lose Internet access through the hotel. I'm not sure when ours will be up at our apartment.

Happy New Year!