Glass-blowing in Awa Kamogawa

One really wonderful surprise about living in our neighborhood in Tokyo is that we have an abundance of amazing international neighbors.  Our neighbors across the street (whose last name I just realized that I don't know), Hamish and Yoko, have two sons, Max (age 12) and Hugo (age 7), who are like brothers to Andreas.  The boys are constantly playing Nerf guns in the street or soccer in the park.  Our neighbors next door, Cassie and David Guttenfelder, have two girls, Julia (age 8) and Mae (age 6) who are like sisters to Annika.  They hole themselves up in Annika's room to play with American Girl dolls, disturb the whole neighborhood with their squeaky pogo-sticking or are enmeshed in crafts on Cassie's dining room table.  Needless to say, we feel extraordinarily blessed with such great neighbors. 

In any case, Hamish and Yoko generously invited us all to visit their country home in Awa Kamogawa in Chiba Prefecture.  Peter, Annika, Andreas and I took the "wakashio" train from Tokyo Station at 9:00am on Saturday and arrived a smooth and easy two hours later at Awa Kamogawa where Hamish picked us up.  Saturday we spent drinking red wine, eating steak and the most delicious fried potatoes ever around the fireplace.  In the evening, we had an incredibly communing-with-nature outdoor hot bath on their roof while it snowed (love that!). 

The next day, we visited a famous glass artisan named Yoji Suzuki at his studio.  He seems to live a simple life on a little piece of land where his glass studio is.  For 3,500 yen, he will teach you to make your own glass item.  You get to pick the shape and design and then you get to work.  I don't think this kind of thing could happen in the U.S. because the liability insurance would be enormous.  There is 500 degree Celsius glass on the end of poles being moved around the room as the kids learn how to blow glass.  Peter and I joined in the fun too.  It was a great experience.

Easy to miss the sign in the road

The glass studio is next door to Suzuki-san's house

 

Hamish, Deanna, Suzuki-san, Yoko and Peter

The view across the street from the studio is one of rice fields and hills.  Kamogawa rice is so superior that it is the rice of the Emperor, apparently.

Our creations: Andreas', Peter's and Annika's glasses



Deanna's bowl was a bit lopsided...

 

Bali

It has been a really long time since I have written a post, mostly because I could not locate the notebook with my own password in it.  Pathetic, but true.  Well, said notebook has been located and we are back in business!  There is much to share, but I'll start non-sequentially with our recent trip to Bali, Indonesia. 

When Peter and I looked at the calendar back in early November and realized that the kids would have off of school for 3-1/2 weeks (!), I realized that we absolutely had to get out of town for at least a part of the time or this mother bear might end up eating her cubs.  Being novices to Asian travel that does not include hitchhiking, sleeping overnight on airport sidewalks and sharing hostel rooms with unseen roommates who keep you up at night with various noisy shenanigans (all true), but instead includes two short and highly-demanding travel companions, we were unsure of where to go.  We looked at Okinawa (not warm at this time of year and pricey), at a JW Marriott resort in Phuket (loved the idea of the Kids' Club, but seemed a bit too isolated) and going to my parents' in Virginia (seemed too wimpy of us).  Finally, Peter happened upon a website for villas in Bali.  The villas in the photos looked really too good to be true for the price.  Little did I know that the price even included "a staff" of cleaners, cooks, gardeners, not to mention the butler (he was kind of our babysitter who made sure we took the right taxi and remembered to order our breakfast and to not go out without our umbrellas...).  Anyway, we decided to go to Semenyak in Bali and to stay at a villa called the Kalimaya II (www.villakalimaya.com).  The villa was paradise and Bali was a sensual and exotic pleasure of warm breezes, tropical fruits, spicy food with lots of peanut sauce, kind, gentle, smiling people and lots of spirituality with an abundance of  Hindu temples and religious offering to the gods in front of every doorstep.  I am hoping this becomes a December tradition...

Peter just sent me the following article about problems that Bali is facing with overdevelopment of tourism.  It's an interesting and sobering read.  All of that luxury for tourists comes at a big price for those who live in Bali.  By the way, did you know that Indonesia is the world's 4th most populous country?  Another amazing fact:  Indonesia is comprised of 17,500+ islands.  Much of the land is rainforest and, as in Brazil, is rapidly disappearing due to the lumber industry and development.  Consequently, Indonesia has the largest number of endangered species living in it. 

http://bloom.bg/K9BkBP

Getting ready to surf

 Amazing dinner at Sarong in Semenyak

Temple grounds in Ubud 

 Temple in Semenyak

 Enjoying the goddess at the pool at our villa

 Entrance to our villa

A Day in the Life of a Tokyo Housewife

 

 

 

It has been a long time since I have posted an update.  Part of this delay is because we moved into our apartment in late September and I have been trying to find a place to put all of our things as well as manage without some basics like a dining table, dresser drawers and an adequate clothing dryer.  We have a combination washer/dryer.  It "works" if you consider 90 minutes of drying and still your clothes are rather damp as "working".  So, any day that is sunny (which has been surprisingly rare lately), I (and the other Japanese housewives) rush to put our laundry in so that we can hang it on our balconies to dry. This is all very ecological, but quite a pain.

The life of a Japanese housewife is very time-consuming.  Because I do not drive, I have to literally cart all of my groceries home in my granny cart.  This means daily shopping, which I am a supporter of in theory, but which takes up a lot of time and also means regularly running out of milk and Peter's beer (for shame!) on a daily basis.  The size of packaging is very small (three bananas, one tiny head of broccoli, 3 slices of bread, 5 slices of ham, 1 liter of milk), so you really do find yourself shopping dinner by dinner.  I just hope my rotator cuffs hold out.  Anyway, I had a bit of sticker-shock when I arrived here and took the below photos to document the tiny size/big price of fresh food.  Fruit, asparagus, honey and cheese are really expensive here.  Surprisingly, wine and spirits, chicken breast and fresh fish are all much cheaper than in the U.S.  The Japanese don't like chicken breast because they consider it too lean and tasteless. 

Yes, that's about 6 spears of asparagus. 

An expensive little loaf, but worth it.

One head of garlic

Real Japanese housewives ride their bicycles everywhere.  In theory, it is illegal to ride your bicycle on most sidewalks, but this law is universally disregarded, even by the extremely rule-focused Japanese.  This is understandable, as Japanese mothers regularly ride with 2-3 children on their bikes, not to mention their groceries.  But it makes for treacherous sidewalks for the untrained pedestrian (i.e. me).  When we first arrived, I was terrified that my suburban children with their oblivious walking styles would veer right into a bikers' path and be seriously injured.  As I could have guessed, I have been the only one to get hit by a bike thus far.  It was a slight collision only and all parties emerged unscathed, but I'm sure it's not my last...  One day, I, too, will try to ride a bike in Tokyo (no less try to drive), but I think I'll wait til spring.

Yes, that's a surfboard on that bike.

Yesterday, I attended the Meiji Jingu Temple Enshrinement Anniversary Ceremony with my Japanese homestay father.  Meiji Jingu is one of Japan's most well-known Shinto shrines.  It is relatively new, having been founded on November 1st, 1920 to "enshrine the soul and remember the virtues with gratitude and respect" of Emperor Meiji who died in 1912.  He was the great-grandfather of the current Emperor Akihito and oversaw the incredibly rapid modernization of Japan after its opening to the West.

The ceremony consisted of the following:
- Entering procession of Shinto priests (with huge taiko drum being beaten)
- One bow to the Kami of Meiji Jingu
- Opening of the doors to the inner sanctuary (only this day every year)
- Food offerings by Shinto priests (going up a special staircase carrying  fruits, fish, rice cakes, salt, vegetables, etc.)
- Recital of Shinto liturgy
- Shinto dance Yoyogi-no-Mai performed by shrine maidens
- Recital of the national anthem
- Offering of sacred branches by dignitaries from across Japan (about 50 very old people)
- One bow to the Kami
- Leaving procession of Shinto priests (with huge taiko drum being beaten)
- Receiving of obento upon departure

I describe all of this to explain that this ceremony was all about ritual.  It required a good lower back as we were all sitting in the chilly temple air on cot-like benches and a good ability to not fall asleep.  The shrine maiden dancing was ritualized, very slow, synchronized movements by four expressionless shrine maidens.  It reinforced for me how much Japanese culture and arts are all about perfection.  Rather than innovation or incredible feats, it is about mastering something to perfection.  These maidens' movements were not difficult or athletic, they were slow and perfectly synchronized.  Their faces were expressionless.

The audience consisted of mainly elderly Japanese men and women.  From what I understood, the tickets to attend were given to those people who are regular financial supporters of Meiji Jingu.  I was very lucky to attend and was likely the youngest person and the only non-Japanese.  It gave me a sense of the intense nationalism of this older generation as we stood and they sang the national anthem called "Kimigayo".

The words of "Kimigayo":
Kimigayo wa
Chiyo ni yachiyo ni
Sazareishi no
Iwao to narite
Koke no musu made

May the reign of the Emperor
continue for a thousand, nay, eight thousand generations
and for the eternity that it takes
for small pebbles to grow into a great rock
and become covered with moss.

One of the Shinto priests

You write your wishes on these little boards and post them.  Many wish for "success on exams".

One of the four dancing shrine maidens

Sake donated to Meiji Jingu Shrine

Meiji Jingu Shrine

 

Ode to a Japanese Mover

Today was one of the days when I really love living in Japan.  I remembered from my high school days how amazing Japanese movers were.  Today, I happily discovered that they are still as good as they were 30 years ago when we moved here in 1983. 

The Move Out in Edgemont, NY:
We got off to a good enough start with 5 guys arriving on time at 9am on July 29th.  The head guy was polite enough, but he was kind of a whiner and also got very testy with his guys and with me and my father as the day wore on.  At one point, when he was confused with his mess of paperwork, he started heckling one of his guys in front of us, which showed not only poor management skills, but truly failed to inspire consumer confidence that our goods were actually going to arrive in Japan. 

As soon as they walked in, one guy asked where the bathroom was and another asked for a glass of water.  It's July.  Do you not carry water with you when you work for a day moving people??!?!  The guys were very casual with us, some more chatty than others.  Chatty is totally fine by me, but (1) please hurry up and get this over with and (2) it is not okay to reach your filthy hands into my father's bag of pita chips that he has left on the counter without asking.  Hello?!?!?  The topper was when the same chip-reaching guy saw me toasting a bagel for my father and not-too-subtly hinted, "Gee that looks awfully good."  When I asked if he wanted one too, he happily accepted.  No big deal, but you do this everyday.  Do you not bring your lunch?

When all was done, the testy head guy tells me that his boss will be calling me to ask how it went.  He says, "You are 100% satisfied, right?"  When I asked if his guys could pick up the garbage that they had left strewn around the house (water bottles, empty tape rolls, used tape, used packing papers, unused boxes, etc.), he sheepishly agreed and called in some of his guys to clean up.  They still didn't clean up well, but I left it at that.  After they left, I found dishes that they had failed to reach and pack in the kitchen as well as other unpacked items that I cannot remember anymore.

Finally, I realized that, being in the U.S. and in Westchester, NY, a tip was definitely expected.  I gave each of the 5 guys a $40 tip.  They seemed happy enough with that, but, as always, I was left feeling that they were somehow not satisfied, despite a job pretty crappily done.  Ah, the American work ethic!

The Move In - Tokyo, Japan:
The guys show up early to start prepping the walls and elevator with padding protection so as not to scratch the walls or floor.  We get started on time at 9am.  They are a team of about 6 guys, but only 3-4 carry things inside.  The  other 2-3 stay with the truck and unload and move the truck as needed for traffic.  They guys start by putting cardboard and padding on all of my corners and walls so as not to scratch or mark-up anything.  The carry-in guys amaze with their ability to slip off their shoes at my step-up entrance (genkan) while carrying a 400-pound, huge buffet.  They are polite and pleasant as they carry each box to me, tell me the number to check off and ask where each box should go.  Do they talk about their weekend plans?  Do they ask for water?  Do they bicker with one another?  No, no, no.  It is just pure professionalism and efficiency.  I love these guys. 

In these photos, you see two of the guys putting together our complicated glass coffee tables.  One of the parts was forced on in prior assembly, so the head guy pulls out his tool box, sits on the floor in his socks and works away until it is fixed.  Turns out, we had never assembled the thing correctly when we were in NY.  It always had been super wobbly.  Now we know why!