Adventures in Tokyo

The Crow

2009-11-07T21:45:00.001-08:00

Jack saw this new sign in our park across the street today... The crows here are large and scary - and there are a lot of them. But maybe we should now be looking out for one in particular.

Update - but not really

2009-11-05T23:19:00.000-08:00

We know people are wondering what is going on - when are we leaving Tokyo? Where are we going next? And the answer is...we don't know. But just to give you all something until we know more, Jack's 12 years with Northwest(Delta) is officially over on December 18th. Our apartment lease here will end December 31st. Do we have arrangements for packers to come and move us? No. Do we know where Jack's next job will be? No. Am I concerned for our future? No. Am I disappointed to be leaving Tokyo earlier than planned? Yes. Am I still going to enjoy Tokyo as much as I can until the day we leave? Yes.

Jack is working hard to see what's out there to try and keep us international, but obviously it is now November 6th and the end of December will be here quite quickly. We still have our house in Minneapolis, just not sure if there is a place for our kids at their former school. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks our future will become more clear. Stay tuned.

Tourist for a day

2009-11-02T23:15:00.001-08:00

Today was yet another Japanese holiday. I've given up on trying to keep up on each celebration. I think someone told me the other day there are about 300 hundred of them. Many people in the expat community often have these days off. Jack usually has to work, but not today. The kids had school and we, for once, had the chance to tour the city for a few hours alone. I suggested that he come up with a plan for us. So he decided that we should head to the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku and have lunch on the 52nd floor at the New York Grill - the place 'Lost in Translation' was filmed. It was a perfectly clear day and we had a better view of Fuji-san today than we did when in Hakone. On our walk from the train station to the hotel. Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building - one of the many towering buildings in Shinjuku.

Playing tourist

View from the 52nd floor at the New York Grill - camera couldn't catch Fuji so well, but it was a great view.

The room/lounge from Lost in Translation

Our two hour lunch was wonderful although I can't say that I have ever dined in a place where the water ended up costing more than my glass of wine...

Trick or Treat - Take 2

2009-11-01T04:01:00.000-08:00

We took to the streets of Nishi Azabu and Moto Azabu again this year with the masses of expats and Japanese. I've been told it's getting so popular there are a couple thousand people weaving their way in and out of these streets. It certainly felt like it at times. Plenty of places the kids stopped at had run out of candy. Other places reported that they went through hundreds and hundreds of pieces of candy. I can't find my way around this area when it's light out, much less dark. Thankfully a dad in our group lead the way and helped me find my kids when I couldn't. Jack missed out this year as he joined many Aussie fans for a big Rugby match between Australia and New Zealand. I was told concessions ran out of beer halfway through the match. Doesn't sound like an Aussie event to me.

So the kids ran from building to building with a few houses in between. I think I saw every person I have met since moving here along the route. But whenever I turned to say 'hi' and talk to someone I lost a kid. I was thrilled when both Nicholas and Connor said they had so much candy and thought that they were done.

My little Transformer - Bumblebee

So most of the loot looks familiar...
Then there are a few Japanese treats in there. Kate was willing to give them all a go. I assumed they would all have some sort of fish flavor hidden in them. The first one looks more like salmon bites than what I think it was supposed to be - taffy? I snagged everyone's mini Milky Ways instead.

The night before...

Jack and I have now been here long enough to know someone that was having a Halloween Party, just for adults - The McAvoys

Nat and I after a Tequila Shot and a jello shot - I think

Our good friends The Gatherers

Jack surrounded by Marlo and Sue

The Pirate and his Maiden, although people

preferred to call me a wench instead.

A Field Trip

2009-11-01T03:45:00.001-08:00

I volunteered to join Nicholas's Grade 2 field trip to the Tama Zoo. I was in charge of 4 kids - nice ratio. Nicholas and Aliyu from Nigeria

Ellene from Australia and Anna from Japan

But what caught my eye were the Japanese school groups - decked out in full uniform head to toe.
No variation except the color of their hats

I love the set up for lunch - an upright backpack right in the middle of each plastic mat.

If only I could have walked around and snapped pictures of their little bento boxes while they were eating lunch.

Kit Kat

2009-10-28T03:03:00.001-07:00

One of the unique Kit Kat flavors we came across...not too bad either, but I wouldn't agree that it tasted like Ginger Ale

Saipan

2009-10-20T04:42:00.000-07:00

I think I have finally discovered the perfect family vacation. One must travel with one or two other families with children of similar ages and leave the husbands behind. Okay, I realize that isn't fair, much less a 'family' vacation, but this is the first time I think I might return home and NOT feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. Jack stuck around for a couple of days before he had to return to work, but he can't complain as he was surrounded by 3 wonderful women lounging by the beach, dining by candlelight and swinging the racket out on the court.

Saipan is beautiful however I am not posting any photos because they would be like any tropical vacation photo - palm trees, white sandy beaches, sunburned bodies and turquoise blue waters. A little slice of heaven. Unlike my partners in crime I prefer to keep the sand between my toes, staring out to sea while they prefer to lounge by the pool. Anything goes while the 9 kids are at Camp Hyatt.

I am happy to report that halfway into our vacation there have been no trips to the emergency room, although I may have been better off saving this post until the end of the week. I am seriously considering deleting this and waiting until we return to Tokyo. Connor is sleeping too close to the edge of the bed - close enough to fall out and clip his head on the bedside table...

Hakone

2009-10-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

We had to see Hakone before we left Japan as it is a must for anyone staying here for a significant period of time. Hakone is a hot spring town spanning across the collapsed remains of a huge volcano that was active 3 or 4 thousand years ago. The result? Many fun attractions including some interesting hot spring amusement as well as views of Mount Fuji. Because of our enormous family we couldn't get 1 Western style room, but we could get 1 Japanese style room. Upon entering our room the kids were quite confused. "Uh, Mom, where are the beds?" Ah, yes, the beds - "Why they are in the closet!" The Japanese style room is made of Tatami mats and we had futons for sleeping. The argument was not about which bed to sleep in, but where on the floor would they sleep. Five foutons filled the floor.

A wonderful place to visit is the Hakone Open Air Museum which was our first stop.

Just about everything is outside. Modern sculptures and creations from artists all over the world that allow the kids to run, climb, play and best of all - make noise!

They kids are all in there.

Run Connor Run!

This reminded me of the Chicago Millennium Park Bean - but smaller, and a ball, and suspended.

Woods of Net - Fantastic.

We couldn't get in there -but the kids could. They climbed in and out of those holes.

Such a happy place - although I will admit I heard our kids enthusiasm above everyone else's.

There was a mini Picasso museum. I took the kids through here in about 2 minutes. It was a quiet place with no touching.

The Symphonic Sculpture. Connor preferred not to climb the steps and stayed at ground level.

Connor found this sculpture on the map and couldn't wait to see it. He was then slightly disappointed and declared it was a woman with big boobs.

One of my favorites was the bronze sculpture face down in the grass off to the side.

Curved space

More climbing through these honeycomb spacelike spheres

We took a cable car up a mountain and transferred to a ropeway that carried us across the remains of a volcano filled with sulfurous steam vents. We did this twice in hopes to get a good view of Mount Fuji. There were no views on day one. Day two was a bit better.

Kate not enjoying the smelly air.

Well, we saw it. Off in the distance, not the clearest view, but it's there.

From the ropeway we took a boat across Lake Ashi.

Connor is there playing pirate between the bars.

For the kids, the highlight was Yunessun, something like a hot spring theme park. Before heading there we had to put on our special robes and lovely vinyl slippers.

Loving the outfits.

Yunessun is comprised of various hot springs inside and out. The first was a coffee bath. They actually put coffee into the hot spring. It smelled like coffee, but I can't say that it tasted like it. It was chilly outside, so it felt great.

The waterfall

The wine bath - red. The sign reads 'Do not drink' We missed the 'pouring of the wine' into the bath.

It looks like we have all been drinking from the hot spring.

The paths to each bath wind in and around the beautiful grounds.

The tea bath

Jack in the Green Tea bath

The rock bath

The sake bath - I didn't see a sign that said not to drink out of this bath.

There was a hot spring for everyone.

Nicholas headed down the slide into the warm bath

We missed out on the bath with fish that eat the dead skin off of your feet. That bath had a typical Japanese line that would have kept us there all morning. I think I'll just get a pedicure instead.

More tiny things...

2009-10-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed the size of the restaurant orders, the tiny strips of paper lined up next to the grill. A closer look

And there was Jack's sake that the waiter poured until it pooled in the saucer below. We pondered whether or not he was supposed to consume the extra and how. We chose to ask the waiter, who of course spoke very little English. So Jack attempted conversing with the waiter using his charades of 'Do I sip it from the saucer?' No, the waiter laughed and motioned to pour the extra back into the cup. I am so glad we asked.

Typhoon Melor

2009-10-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday and all the kids are home again, not because of flu or other illness, but because of the typhoon that passed over Japan last night and early today. We had snow days in Minneapolis, and now we face typhoon days in Tokyo. There was as much chatter about the impending storm as there usually is about a snow storm back home. The embassy sent out a letter warning people to have passports in hand, earthquake emergency kits available and contacts abroad.

I must admit that I am a little disappointed. Sure there was a lot of rain and large gusts of wind, but if I didn't know there was a typhoon in the neighborhood I would have just thought it to be a very windy and rainy day. Now there are beautiful clear blue skies (it's only 12:55PM), something we haven't seen for a while because of a string of rainy days. I had hoped to see more 'weather'. I kept checking the weather report thinking, 'That's it? That's all we are going to get?' It's not that I wanted anything bad to happen, just something more to convince me that cancelling school was in everyone's best interest. How about a late start?????

Potty Talk Part 4

2009-10-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

We tried a new restaurant in our neighborhood, Hona Azabu, Teppanyaki -- yum. But the toilet...it had a light. The bowl lit up. Who really needs to see what they are leaving behind? And the flusher? A little complicated, but I figured it out. It looked like a 'push in', but it was really a 'flipper'. On the counter next to the sink there were various business cards and flyers, a container of toothpicks and a container of cotton swabs, black - all black - the whole thing. I googled it. They are manufactured by a Japanese company and have been a big hit here as they apparently allow you to see the earwax more clearly. And you thought I had nothing else to say about the Japanese bathrooms.

Mommy, why is that man lying down on the ground at our bus stop?

2009-09-29T06:33:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...so how do I explain that some Japanese business men drink until complete obliteration, simply fall down and can't get up - even on a school night. We arrived at the bus stop today to see a well dressed young man wobbling in the arms of 3 police men. And unfortunately, this was the second time the kids observed this situation at the bus stop. The first time they found a man's shoe at our bus stop and then realized it belonged to the guy lying on the bench across the street. We delivered it via the police officers who were trying to shake the guy to consciousness. The kids have seen the homeless on the street, although it's not common around our neighborhood, but these guys clearly aren't homeless - just extremely intoxicated. And the people on the street? They just walk on by. Nobody stops, no one stares. Nobody seems to care.

This time, the disturbing part was that after a few moments of drunk guy standing with the police officers, they simply moved him to a bench out of the way of the busy sidewalk. He passed out again and the officers drove off. I couldn't cover up my surprise in front of the kids except to say that clearly he was harmless, needed to sleep it off and probably wasn't going to make it to work today. Kate made some comment about how that doesn't happen to daddy and I when we drink alcohol. Yes, Kate, that is true, but I would be lying if I said there weren't nights that I thought Jack might end up losing his way after a late night at Heaven.

2009-09-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

In all fairness to the Japanese, I thought I would post this...it's not just the Japanese falling down drunk - the gaijin do it as well. No, it's not Jack, although it could pass for him. This is however, a Saturday night around 1AM in Roppongi and this guy is probably just resting before he finishes his night at the next bar.

Beijing - Celebrities and Stitches

2009-09-22T04:24:00.000-07:00

We spent four days in Beijing while Japan celebrated 'Silver Week,' another string of holidays which also meant a couple of days off for the kids, yeah, because my kids have been in school so much already!

The Great Wall was first on our list. Unfortunately it was foggy that day, so half of the experience was lost because we couldn't see beyond the tower in front of us, but nevertheless it was still incredible.

Day two took us to The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Before we left, people told us the Chinese would like our kids and their blonde hair. I had no idea how much they would like them. We were used to people staring at us in Tokyo, but here in China the moment we were off the train and heading for the Forbidden City, people began to tap us on the shoulder and ask us if they could take a picture of the kids - mostly Connor, the baby, they would call him. But, whenever one family took a picture, another jumped in and then asked for a turn. Eventually, we just decided to keep moving because we were never going to get to see anything. The Chinese would simply stop and stare - at us. Sometimes they would point and count and ask, 'All yours?' And I would nod and smile and they looked quite surprised. This happened several times. Kate was the most agreeable for pictures until we told Connor and Nicholas they could earn points towards toys at the Silk Market if they cooperated and let people take their photo.

I think there are three different families snapping pictures in this one.

These guys chose to bribe Nick and Connor with a Chinese flag for a group shot.

Really now, we are just the Malones from Minneapolis!

Many people approached us asking if we needed a tour guide. One in particular wouldn't leave us alone. Eventually she gave up on us. As luck would have it we only made it to The Forbidden City and replaced Tiananmen Square with a trip to the local hospital. While Jack was waiting in line for tickets Connor attempted to scale a wall only to reach up and grab onto a loose slab of brick/marble which then came crashing down onto his head. I grabbed him and tried to soothe his pain when Kate starts yelling, 'Mom! He's bleeding all over!' I didn't want to look, I am not good with blood or open wounds. But sure enough his hair was soaked in blood so I carefully moved it around to see a small gash that probably required stitches. This is a first for our family. We made it almost 10 years without stitches or broken bones and here we are in China breaking our lucky streak. So of course by now we had a circle of concerned people around us. The blonde baby was bleeding. And, the woman who wanted so badly to be our tour guide was now going to get what she wanted. She would escort us to the hospital and get us through the translation nightmare we were about to encounter. There was a sense of calm having Lily, our tour guide, present. I quietly reminded Jack that he would be compensating her for her troubles and then some. We couldn't do this without her.

Upon arriving at the hospital, it was very quiet and empty. This was good for us, no waiting, but was a but unsettling at the same time. They lead us to a doctor who looked at the wound and he then took us to another doctor who was sitting in his office - uh - having a smoke! He was was the who was going to 'operate'. I just hoped he was going to wash his hands. And when Kate and I went to the bathroom - no soap. I asked Lily and the doctor, "Will they numb him up before they stitch him up?" They hesitated and then said 'yes', but I wasn't sure they knew what I meant. Next stop was the 'operating room', basically a little room with a small screen. It felt like something from the 50's. They proceeded to take Connor and leave me behind. Thankfully he went willingly and I simply tried to hold it together outside the door. Lily looked at me and said, 'It's okay Ma'am, your baby be fine.' Lump in my throat.

We heard Connor cry a bit, but overall he was amazing, a brave little boy. They covered the stitches with a piece of gauze and a couple of paper clips. It looked more like a hair accessory. Then they handed us two vials of medicine. It took several minutes for us to understand what we were supposed to do with them, should he drink them? Should we apply them onto the stitches? Oh no, we were to take them downstairs to the nurses in the 'Transfusion Room' where he would get a couple of shots. The first was in the wrist to test for an allergic reaction. The second was the antibiotic in his rear end. Neither went over very well with Connor and there was a lot of screaming and holding down. There were a couple of men in the room with IVs of some sort. I assume we helped them to pass the time with our chaos. We were in the hospital for maybe a total of an hour. Jack paid the bill - $15.00. Unbelievable, so that's Nationalized Health-care.

Connor - a little cleaned up before the stitches.

Recovering in the Transfusion Room.

This photo is just to say we made it back to the Forbidden City, post-op.

Day 3 (yes, these are out of order)
The Summer Palace
Electric Boat we rented on the Lake

Grounds at The Summer Palace

Day 1 The Great Wall at Mutianyu - Cable car going up to the Wall

Great Wall going up...

Great Wall going down...

'Great' place for the kids!

Japanese Lessons

2009-09-17T05:13:00.000-07:00

Although our end date here is uncertain, I decided that I really wanted to take some Japanese lessons. There are still a few things I simply want to master.

1. I want to give a taxi driver directions with more than one word and be able to say more than 'hai' after everything he says...

2. I want to know what I might be ordering from a restaurant that doesn't have an English menu, pictures or an English speaking waiter

3. I want to share daily small talk with the woman who sweeps and cleans around the apartment. She is the sweetest woman and always tries to talk with me and I got nothin' I owe it to her to be able to talk about the weather if nothing else.

4. I want to be able to count higher than Connor. He can now count to ten and write his name in Japanese.

I am talking lessons at the kids' school in a group setting. No, not with the kids, but with the parents. We went around the table and practiced introducing ourselves in Japanese and shared where we were from. Watashi wa Brigitte desu. America kara kimashita. These are my classmates: Argentina, Italy, China, US, Australia, Denmark and Sweden. I love this school!

Yes Virginia there is a Costco

2009-09-11T05:14:00.000-07:00

Costco is in Japan. I guess it really shouldn't be surprising, but it is. Are the Japanese really going to buy 48 rolls of toilet paper? Where would they put it? There are a couple close to Tokyo and for those of us who don't have a car or feel like spending the entire day getting to and from via public transportation we can order from their website, The Flying Pig. You do pay almost double however, if you order online. Then you wonder if it's worth it. This is what I did last year, because I wanted certain items and I wanted my cereal to be in the size of a box that would last longer than two days. But oh how I wished I could just get to that store and see for myself what it was like. It only took a year. There were too many scheduling conflicts last year to make it work. This year I even had two failed attempts with sick kids staying home from school. That gets old after a while as I have previously mentioned...

So yes, I finally got there. I might as well have been in the St. Louis Park Minnesota Costco with the exception of more sushi , rice crackers and plenty of other unidentifiable Japanese food items. The layout was the same. You could tell a gaijin cart from a Japanese cart. They had 5 things in their cart. We had 50. I tired not to make eye contact passing by the Japanese as my cart began to spill over. I wanted to announce, 'It's my FIRST time! I've been waiting a year!' To get to the parking lot there was an escalator that I went on with my cart, kind of like the magic carpet at the ski resorts. Somehow the carts just lock on. It's sort of visible off to the side in the picture.

Although it is Costco, it's still Japan, so my bill was twice as much as it typically is in the states, but with plenty of great deals to keep me happy and my cabinets full for a while.

Flu invasion

2009-09-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

Ahh!!!Connor has been diagnosed with the flu. People ask, but is it the swine flu? And the doctor says most likely that it is the swine flu although they don't send samples out to the labs due to overload. The seasonal flu apparently hasn't arrived yet - which is why they assume that it is the swine flu. At the doctor's office, they requested that he arrive wearing a mask and when we left they took us out through a back entrance - basically a narrow storage area, sprayed us down with disinfectant and gave us 10 days worth of Relenza to keep the flu at bay for the rest of us.

Most importantly, Connor will be fine. Not as important, but more annoying, is the school policy (or Japan's policy) is that if one sibling is sick with the flu ALL siblings must remain home for 5 days. It's Tuesday and beginning tomorrow they will all be home, sick or not, for the remainder of the week. You can imagine how happy this makes me. The school is also closing Connor's class down as he is the 4th case just in his particular class. We are in week 3 of school. I am pretty sure there have not been two days in a row when all the kids have been in school. I am now officially in desperate survivor mode.

Hachiko

2009-09-05T23:59:00.000-07:00

Hachiko - A Dog Story is out in theaters in the US. It has not made it here yet. It's an Americanized version of the heartfelt Japanese story about a dog who met his owner at the Shibuya Train Station at the same time every night after work. One night the owner suffered a stroke while at work and later died. The dog continued to go to the station every night for 10 years waiting for his owner's return. The Japanese placed a bronze statue outside of the station to commemorate this amazing animal. The statue is now a very popular meeting point as we met our friends there last night before going out. I don't know if the movie will be any good, but I will probably watch it just because...

One more reason to love dogs. One more possible explanation as to why the Japanese are so crazy for their dogs.

Potty Talk Part 3

2009-09-03T23:52:00.000-07:00

Every time I enter a public restroom in Japan I worry that I won't be able to figure out how to flush the toilet. Last week I told my girlfriend to go into the restroom first and then tell me where the flusher was. Kate always asks me to go in first and check it out as well. You would think it shouldn't so be complicated but it often is and the last thing you want to do is leave a public restroom with an unflushed toilet. Sure there is the handle method and some have automatic sensors. Those are the no brainers. But then you come across ones with buttons, lots of buttons - without a drawing attached. Some buttons have colors. Is it the green one? Or the red one? I am pretty sure I pushed an emergency button once. There might be levers or buttons on the floor that one steps on. I have also been known to stand and wave my hand in front of anything on the wall hoping it will trigger the flush. I think it took me 10 minutes at a restaurant one night in this teeny tiny restroom trying to figure it out. I was waving my arms, trying every button and handle I could find. I was sweating. Nothing worked. This was the last time I forgot to ask where it was before I went in.

The Container

2009-08-31T08:53:00.000-07:00

Jack and I were at dinner at a little tapas place in Roppongi. I was bothered by the empty wine box resting between us at the bottom of the table. I had nowhere for my feet to rest. Jack tells me the box is for my purse. I forgot about this. I said, "But how would you know that is for my purse?" He said he looked under all the other tables and saw women's purses and man bags sitting in the baskets and boxes. Duh.

They do that here. They provide a special container to set your purse/bag in at a restaurant, instead of placing it on the 'dirty' floor or on the back of your chair. Last year I was out with 4 girlfriends at a restaurant at the Grand Hyatt. Instead of a basket, they gathered all of our purses set them on a chair and then covered them with a napkin?!?!?!? And at my house, my girlfriend was over, my American girlfriend, and I noticed her purse was sitting in our newspaper basket. I questioned her why it was there and she said she just assumed it was the Japanese bag holder. She has been here a bit longer than us.

Connor's Birthday Outing

2009-08-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

Connor was so confused about when his actual birthday was because he had his kid party on Saturday and his birthday was on Sunday. He kept asking us, 'Am I 5 yet?' We didn't have anything planned for the birth DAY. In the morning he repeatedly came into my room while I was sleeping and asked for more presents and when they were all opened he wasn't happy. Hmmmm...did the other two act like this at 5?

So I decided we should take the train to see this 18 meter tall 'Gundam' in Odiba. Odiba is a man made island by the Tokyo Bay. It has it's own list of things to do including shopping, museums, an aquarium, water/onsen park and a giant Ferris wheel. It also has a Statue of Liberty which was fun for the kids to see out the window of the train because we were just at the 'real' one two weeks earlier while visiting my sister in NY. This Gundam reminded me of a transformer and Connor has been obsessed with transformers for quite some time. It was supposed to move it's head and blow smoke - which it did, and it was pretty funny to here the ooohhhh and ahhhhh's of the Japanese upon these highlights.

As we approached Shiokaze Park where the towering Gundam stood there were also hundreds of other people heading in the same direction. Ugh. All the pictures I saw online were of an empty park with a few spectators. But of course we happened to go on the day that there was some sort of Green Tokyo festival surrounding this Gundam guy. It wasn't so bad/crowded at the park, we only lost Connor once. It was the dreaded train ride home with lines and lines of people waiting to get on a train and then the wonderful packed cars with our kids still managing to fight and pinch and cry and I am pretty sure I said, more than once, this is our tourist event for the month. I'm done. Happy Birthday Connor!

McDonald's

2009-08-22T02:14:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am recovering from Connor's 5th birthday party and decided to buy the kids McDonald's for dinner. Another thing I missed - the 2 minute walk to McD's when I'm too tired to cook for my children. So I am standing in line watching this young guy place an order when he flipped open his phone. I thought, 'Hmm, a bit rude,' then he said something to the cashier and I thought, 'Okay, maybe someone is texting him their order.' THEN he places the bottom half of his phone on some disk thing in front of the register which then lit up and apparently that paid for his food! George Jetson , your order is ready.

Part 2

2009-08-19T19:42:00.001-07:00

We are back. It's day 3 and unfortunately the jet lag only seems to be getting worse before it's getting any better, for the kids anyway. I have my sleeping pills.

I had two brief conversations with friends long before we left for the summer. The first one was about how I should mentally prepare myself for that 'first' comeback to Tokyo after a summer in the states, that it might be difficult. The second friend said she couldn't wait to get back to Tokyo, and at that time I couldn't imagine that and I remember saying to her, 'Really?' As it turns out for me, for us, we loved seeing everyone back in the states; had a great, great time, but I was more than ready to return to Tokyo - and I believe anyone in close contact with me the last couple of weeks knew this to be true.

Upon stepping foot back onto the 'island' I was happy to be surrounded by people carrying on conversations around me and not understanding anything they said. I realized that I missed being in the minority. I missed the grocery store across the street. I missed the 5 o'clock curfew bell-sort-of-tone that is heard every night across the park. I missed Japanese service. I missed NOT having a car. I missed carrying around a boatload of Yen. I missed our doormen. I missed the vegetable/fruit guy even though all we say is konichiwa and domo. I missed the silly dressed dogs. I missed the view of the park out our apartment window. I missed my bed. I missed more than I thought I would. It feels good to be back.

On our way back home...

2009-06-19T03:11:00.000-07:00

We are headed back to the states for most of the summer. I imagine I won't be posting anything unless there is some unusual experience between now and stepping onto the plane - which is entirely possible. I am looking forward to the flight as I will be sitting in business class with the two older ones and Jack is sitting 'in the back' with the little guy - he's not old enough to sit up front as a non-rev rule. I may be speaking a little too early, but - knock on wood - everyone is healthy, right now, and hopefully can stay that way until we reach American soil.

Thanks to all of you for reading and sharing in this great adventure of ours, and we look forward to more upon our return in August.

Buy me some peanuts and crackerjack...or yakitori

2009-06-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

My sister is visiting with her 14 year-old daughter and her daughter's friend. We all went to see one of Japan's major league baseball games, the Yakult Swallows, at Jingu Stadium tonight. We might as well have been back in Madison at a Badgers Football game...in the student section! We unknowingly chose seats right behind the 'band'...the five guys playing trumpets throughout the game. We also heard random parts of the song, Africa, by Toto over the loudspeaker and then the crowd would sing the Canadian anthem when the Canadian guy on their team was up to bat. The crowd was crazy, non-stop cheering. I'll just have to let the pictures do the talking for this one.

Notice the guy in his work clothes? No time to go home first, men were hurrying into the stadium with briefcases in tow for the 6PM game

Kate and the girls enjoyed Baskin Robbins - green tea flavored on the far left, while the adults had chicken yakitori

A lot of flag twirling and most everyone had a jersey on - which was helpful when they started chanting a player's name as we just looked on the shirts to figure out who they were cheering for

This is a big thing - cheering bats that one bangs together - most everyone had these as well

By then end of the night these became weapons between the boys

Yes, cheerleaders

At every home run the mini umbrellas went up swaying and bopping in the air and everyone sang a song - this game was a blowout 10-1, so there was a lot of umbrella action, but I still never caught onto the words in the song

My sister couldn't resist - she had to have one too

The beer girls with mini kegs on their backs

Our Ebisu beer girl with a typical Japanese peace pose

A great time had by all. We will definitely go again.