Japanory

My Worst Nightmare!

Wednesday 27^th June 2007

OK, I do have far more horrendous nightmares than this, but don't all mothers? However, this one is just ugh, yukky and gross. And actually happened.

The air conditioning got switched on for the first time today and I settled down to do some work.

A couple of hours later I went into the kitchen to get a cup of tea… and the floor was absolutely crawling with maggots!

Now, I can cope with ALL kinds of creepy crawlies - spiders, cockroaches, the local 10" long centipedes, millipedes, snakes… whatever. But I loathe, detest, abhor and am totally freaked out by maggots. Even writing this post is giving me the heebie-jeebies. And I won't even consider looking for a picture to put in here.

I went online to see if I could find someone awake in the UK to advise. Here's part of the conversation that followed…

Me: Anyone up? Help! I've just been into my kitchen and there are loads of maggots going across the floor. 

Hubby is away all week, of course.
I've sprayed them with insect killer, poured bleach all over them and still the buggers live.

I can't go back in there now...

AN Other: Oh yuk. Boiling water?

Me: Thank you! I'll be brave and go back into the kitchen to put the kettle on.

AN Other: Hoover? With the hose attachment? Tons and tons of kitchen roll, just take deep breaths, scoop them up. I really feel for you!

Me: Poured boiling water on them, little buggers take some getting rid of. My kitchen floor is now about an inch deep in water & bleach.
Think I will get the hoover out now and see how it copes.
SO glad you are around. THANK YOU

Me: OK have hoovered them up and put the hoover outside. It's leaking - hardly surprising in that I also hoovered up a few pints of water and bleach. 
Give me spiders, cockroaches, snakes - ANYTHING, except for these disgusting creatures. Will def need a new hoover especially if it rains tonight! It's not coming inside...

Thankfully no more appeared and I figured they came in from the air-con unit. Even now, when the aircon gets switched on for the first time I am very wary for a few days.

When Tim came home he disposed of the hoover and bought a new one.

Ugh, ugh, ugh!!!

Oh yes, Rhiannon had a nice girl over for a playdate in the evening.

Round-up of a Week or Thereabouts

Saturday 16^th June to Monday 25^th June 2007

Certain people (Nickie at http://typecast2000.blogspot.com/ for one!) have impressed upon me the need to get this darn TravelBlog up to date as soon as possible… I'm doing my best! But I do have several projects on the go all the time)

 

Anyway, I thought I'd just do a quick round-up for this week to clear some general bits and pieces and get a couple of rants out the way.

Saturdays: Rhiannon does her extra Aikido lessons while Tim and I enjoy our Starbucks coffee and a proper grown up chat about life, the universe and everything. Then we do something else in the afternoon - either together or Tim may take Rhiannon off on her own to allow me to work.

On the second Saturday Rhiannon went to a birthday party with a lovely girl whom we met on the bus to school. It was held at a kindergarten some distance away and lots of craft activities were arranged for them. She had a wonderful time while Tim and I wandered around a nearby shopping mall. Tim's pretty good at shopping, unlike many men. I don't ever force him to come shopping with me, but once in a while it's nice to be accompanied. I think it helps him that I don't shop for clothes or shoes - especially not here! It's hard enough for me to find things that fit in the UK (I'm 6' tall) so there is absolutely no point in browsing here. However, Tim copes OK with interior design shops and kitchen departments, so we enjoy that together.

Father's Day: I'm sure we did something nice for this, but I have no recollection of precisely what! Give me some credit - remember, I am writing these posts 3 years on and I can barely remember what I did last week!

Monday: My Ikebana classes have finished for the summer so instead, I treat myself to a pampering session at Boudoir. It's lovely there and it's not sometime I indulge in as often as I should. For the second Monday I get myself to the hairdressers - Sinden - Time for an extremely long - 4 hours - appointment to get my colours redone. This involves copious applications of bleach over my fringe and this time around the back too. Once that's finally taken (my fine hair is remarkably resistant to bleaching) I am then slathered with cerise pink dye. The rest of my hair is dyed black. No, there is no photo, sorry! Later, as I pass some extremely cool Japanese teens, I overheard them say "Excellent hair!" and am ridiculously pleased.

Work: At this point I am doing a heap of work for the independent publishers in the UK. As well as writing the Tokyo Tales articles each month, I do a load of web mastering stuff for them - editing, proof reading, formatting and uploading the various formats onto the server. This takes AGES due to the clunky software. All the uploads arrive within a day or two of having to be on site, so I often work deep into the early hours to ensure they are online by the dreadline. (No, that's not a typo - I prefer dreadline to deadline; it speaks volumes.)

I'm also now writing a monthly travel article for them, so that's another project to add to my monthly work. I've always wanted to be a travel writer, so thought this would be a fabulous opportunity. Unfortunately, it ended up being the least exciting of the articles I wrote. For a start, it's really hard to encompass the essence of a place into 500 words. I've travelled a LOT, so use my experiences in these articles, so for once, there's not a lot of research that needs to be done. However, I am not allowed to have a by-line, which is pretty unfair in my opinion. Apart from getting no recognition for my freelance writing, it doesn't really allow me to add these to my portfolio. Also, it gives the impression the site owner writes them herself…

Playdate: I am firmly of the belief that children should have as many playdates as often as possible. It helps them build friendships and enforces certain socialisation rules that only children often lack. However, when my daughter arrived home from this particular playdate in tears, one has to rethink who they should have playdates with. This one was with a woman I've mentioned before in this blog but I shan't reference back. I've learned from others that she is unstable and should be avoided at all costs. Now I make Tim go and collect Rhiannon from her house as I have had enough of her.

Apparently she turned on Rhiannon saying she was bossy, selfish and spoiled. To say I am outraged is an understatement. I am astounded that any mother would say something as cruel as this to a five year old. Rhiannon will not be going there again. However, I resisted the urge to stoop to her level at the time (and Rhiannon isn't beyond elaborating stories), but wish to note that while her two girls were here they stole items from Rhiannon's room and deliberately broke a number of her precious ornaments… I could rant for quite a while on this person, but I refuse to waste brainspace on her any longer. Besides, she will continue to crop up from time to time in future posts, unfortunately.

And finally: On Sunday 24^th June Tim has to fly away on business. Again. This time it's to Singapore for a conference that will take him away from us for the whole of next week. Once again, we have insisted on compensatory presents and he's promised to buy me a new PDA as my old Ipaq has given up the ghost. I do love new gadgets…

So that's that week covered. More singular posts to come in due course…!

The Child’s First Sleepover

Thursday 14^th June 2007 - Friday 15^th June 2007

She's only five years old and has never had a sleepover anywhere. She's not a great sleeper in her own bed: in any other bed - hotels, Nana's etc - she's impossible. Am I worried about this? NO! A night with no child… perfect! Someone else's problem for a change…

Basically, the school have arranged for the Reception kids to have their own group sleepover in the school library. They explained (in a letter) that this would be a good experience for them as from Year 1 they will go on a field trip away. I presume they've had homesickness problems with Year 1 children before, so this is their way of preparing the little ones for sleeping away from home.

What a great idea! They will be with all their friends in a fairly familiar environment. What an adventure for them! Teachers and teaching assistants will be sleeping there too the doors will be locked. They'll watch a movie, have a "midnight feast" (the teachers will change the time on the clock, heh heh!) and then the children will snuggle into their sleeping bags. I don't expect any sleeping to happen, but who cares?

We're given a list of things to take in - one of which is a camera "with the express rule that NO photographs of teachers in their pyjamas will be developed and displayed!"

But you'd think from the reactions from most of the mums that the school planned on kidnapping them all to sell into slavery! The general consensus was "no way is my kid going on that sleepover!" At the beginning of the week, most children were not going.

Upon further questioning of the reluctant mums, the real reason for their reticence became clear… the Friday after the sleepover was a free day. The children wouldn't be going to school as we are to collect them at 9am. This would mean certain mothers wouldn't get their free day of "ladies who lunch", manicures, gym sessions or whatever self-indulgent things they do during their week.

Fortunately kiddy peer-pressure prevailed and all the children, bar a handful, attended the sleepover.

Tim and I treated ourselves to a night out at the local Indian restaurant and very nice it was too.

The next morning I collected an extremely tired but very happy little girl from school. All the teachers looked dead on their feet! I suppose it's one thing teaching kids all day (I couldn't do that) but it's entirely another thing to take care of around 50 or 60 all night too!

Rhiannon was full of stories about her adventure. She seems to have it in her head that someone moved them all around while they were asleep because she was next to X when she went to bed, but woke up next to Y. Goodness knows what that was all about! (I may add to this post another day when I can ask Rhiannon about her memories of it)

We spent a gentle day watching TV together as she was exhausted. And an early night for her!

The unlucky children who didn't join in the sleepover had to go to school as normal that day… was it really worth depriving a child of this adventure just to save the day for the mother's manicure?

 

Driving in Tokyo

Tuesday 12^th June 2007

I'm nervous. Very nervous.

Tim is in Seoul. Rhiannon has to be at school on time / early as she has a swimming lesson first thing. And then I have to go to work!

I've got another day of IT training at the Embassy. Not entirely sure what it will entail as the department have been reticent about telling me any details but I do know it's on Microsoft Access which doesn't fill me with pleasure. Not my favourite course to teach. Their system is so tied down there is very little they can do with it. But I'm not nervous about this… my main worry today is how to drive from school to work.

And for me, this is a big concern. I get lost trying to find my sense of direction.

I'm OK driving to places I'm familiar with (school and back) but this is way out of my comfort zone. However, the GPS is set up and after dropping Rhiannon off at school, I grip the steering wheel very tightly and set off.

Roads here vary from six lane main roads to narrow lanes that are sometimes one way, but more often than not, two way. Which is interesting when you meet another vehicle coming in the other direction. Corners can be extremely tight and it's common to see people taking a couple of attempts to negotiate them, even taxis.

An additional peculiarity of Tokyo's roads is the way the lanes don't quite match up after you've made it across an intersection. You sort of have to drift a little to find your way back in between the white lines.

Furthermore, there are massive freeways that fly over and under the main roads. Most of the time the entrances are cunningly disguised as someone's driveway, but there are many places where the six lane road turns into seven and one of those lanes takes you onto the freeway. Incidentally, these are misnamed as they are not free - they are toll roads.

My biggest fear is accidentally getting onto one of these and then not being able to get off it until the next prefecture.

About three quarters of the way to the Embassy I reach one of the most enormous intersections you could possibly imagine. And even worse - I'm the first in the queue at the traffic lights! I don't like this one little bit; at least if there is someone in front of me I can follow them.

Ahead of me is the largest expanse of tarmac I've seen outside of an airport. Countless roads branch off it like a multi-pointed star. Sort of. My GPS is telling me something I don't understand as usual. But the map indicates that I need to take a road located at about 11 o'clock to where I am.

But there are three roads there, all at approximately the same 11 o'clock point. One of them goes up to a flyover. And another goes to a freeway... and at that point the traffic lights changed.

Yikes!

There are no lines on the road to indicate where to go. So I have little option than to just go! In fact I do believe I closed my eyes on the way across. I ended up going up the ramp to the flyover. Completely convinced I had inadvertently got onto the freeway, I panicked. But what can you do? You can't stop and go back. It's amazing how quickly your brain works sometimes. I was convinced I'd a) gone the wrong way up an exit ramp and b) got onto a freeway.

By some miracle this was the correct road! Goodness knows how. But my nerves were completely shredded.

After that, the work was a doddle and they paid me immediately which is always welcome.

By the way, the pictures in this post are not of this particular road, but give you an idea of some of the more gentle and user-friendly intersections.

An Eventful Day which Required a Certificate…

Monday 11^th June 2007

I made Rhiannon a Star Certificate today. She deserved it.

Firstly, she was stoic about Tim heading off to Seoul this morning. Usually she gets upset but she's getting used to the idea now that Daddy has to travel away sometimes for work. Mainly though, it's because he's promised to bring her (another) present from there!

Then when I picked her up from Aikido after school she proudly brandished a real certificate for "Making a Good Effort". I think it's so important for children to be rewarded in this way. It encourages them to continue trying, makes them feel very special and boosts their self-esteem. When I was a kid, the thinking was that no rewards or recognition were required (for whatever dumb reason), so even though I was a pretty good athlete, I have nothing to prove that.

The rest of the certificate said this…

She told a boy to kiss her and he did

She played football with the big boys

When she fell over and cut her knee, with blood, she didn't cry at all

She helped rescue a mole from Raymi and Ginger by being very brave and chasing the cats away.

Then she helped mummy catch the mole and find it a new home and set it free

I shall explain:

After she showed me the Aikido certificate in the car on the way home, she shyly whispered that she had something to tell me and would I be cross?

"Of course not", I said, rather nervously, thinking, "oh no! What had she done? Got into trouble, sent to the Head Mistress?"

No, - she had indeed, dared a boy in her class to kiss her during play time, and he did! I wish I could remember who this boy way, but I can't. I tried not to laugh…

Next on the list - more boys! We could be in trouble in years to come…

There are a couple of boys who live next door to us and regularly play football outside the house. Rhiannon often presses her nose up against the window to watch, but lacks the Japanese language skills to talk to them and (usually) the nerve to ask if she can join in. They are some years older than her with the eldest being about 13 or so. But today, with her confidence massively boosted by the day's events she went out and they very kindly allowed her to play footie with them.

Now she's also the world's greatest drama queen when it comes to any injury; a bruise causes a meltdown and demands for a plaster, so you can imagine the palaver she creates when she gets a proper cut or graze that produces blood. Not today though! She fell on the tarmac and got a good scrape with a lot of blood that needed a real pad, not just a teeny plaster! And as the certificate states - no tears!! Being brave in front of the boys…

They went indoors after this to do their homework and Rhiannon got her skipping rope out to continue her playing outside.

Suddenly, she came running in shouting that Raymi (our cat) and his little stray friend - who we have unimaginatively named Ginger - were "being weird down the alleyway - I think they might be fighting". I could hear no fighting sounds, but went out to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, the two cats were being "weird", but it didn't take me long to work out what they were up to - they were chasing some kind of creature and playing with it. They were running up and down behind our linked-neighbour's house.

The only way to rescue whatever it was they were after was for Rhiannon to squeeze through the hedge separating our gardens and chase the cats away. I wouldn't fit. So I went down the other side of the houses armed with a plastic bucket to head the cats off and discovered a mole! Alive and unhurt, thankfully. I retrieved a scared little girl from the narrow alleyway and she helped me guide the mole into the bucket. This was the first mole she's ever seen, so we had a little natural history lesson, said a very firm no, we couldn't keep it as a pet and asked her where did she think it would prefer to live?

Just down the road is a route to an ancient, unused and dry waterway circling Shinjuku-Gyoen garden so we took it down there where Rhiannon scrambled down the bank and set it free in the little wilderness.

I must admit to being surprised at finding a mole in the middle of Tokyo! And I was very proud of Rhiannon today, hence the certificate.

Extra Aikido

Saturday 9^th June 2007

Pacific Aikido - the group who run the childrens' classes at school - have set up some Saturday sessions for those kids who wish to progress quicker through the grades.

Rhiannon is enjoying aikido so much, she insists that we sign her up for them, even though we usually prefer to keep our weekends free from school / sport related activities. But it's only for a few weeks and means Rhiannon will get her yellow belt sooner rather than later.

Who are we to curb such enthusiasm?

We drop Rhiannon off for her hour and a half session and then Tim and I wander down the delightfully named Cat Street to the nearest Starbucks. It's very pleasant for us to spend this rare grown-up time together, talking with each other without a kid interrupting or eavesdropping.

It's very easy to lose yourself in the parenthood trap and ignore each other's feelings and needs, so this short "us" time is valuable and very enjoyable.

Transporting Trees

Thursday 7^th June 2007

Tokyo is a surprisingly "green" city.

By this I mean there are a lot of plants and trees around. The roads are lined with trees - normally Ginkgo or Willow - and every building has several potplants outside.

Each year, the trees are pruned. Not in the brutal, ugly, top-lopping way it's done in Britain, but carefully and artistically. Think about how bonsai trees look, then imagine that on a larger scale.

Tokyo provides unexpected sights on a daily basis. But this one was the best I've seen so far.

A fully grown tree being transported to its new home! The roots are carefully bagged up ready for replanting.

 

It will be well looked after, that's for sure.

Red Hot Chili Peppers in Tokyo!

Don't get too excited - look at the date... remember I'm writing an incredibly backdated blog!

Wednesday 6^th June 2007

Tonight's the night! The night I've been anticipating for about twenty years!

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have rescheduled their cancelled gig. Woohoo!!!!!

Shortly after we first arrived I forced Tim to get tickets to see one of my favourite bands in concert. But as seems to be the case whenever I try to see this band, circumstances got in the way. The concert was supposed to be in March but cancelled because the gorgeous Anthony Keidis developed pneumonia. I offered to travel to the States to rub his chest, but Tim didn't think it was a good idea…! *Sigh*

But now it's on again! I am so excited I could burst!! We made our way to the Tokyo Dome for the gig.

Where sadly my bubble burst.

Perhaps it was too soon for Keidis to return after his illness, maybe there were disagreements in the band, but whatever their reason the performance lacked energy and va-va-voom. The Tokyo Dome is just too big and the acoustics are dreadful.

Flea and John Frusciante were geniuses as ever, though. John made us laugh with his very sweet falsetto version of Abba's "SOS" and Flea played a trumpet solo to a Boney M track, of all things!

But overall, I was rather disappointed. And they didn't play "Under the Bridge". Humph.

The set list is here, with links to some of the videos and solos.

Spending a Yen in Japan… Toilets

I thought I had written about these before, but it appears not. It was for one of my Tokyo Tales articles published in the UK - which, incidentally, was the only article I ever received a complaint about - for being vulgar! Ah well, there's always one, isn't there?

Anyway. Of the many questions I'm asked about life in Japan, a frequently recurring one is on the subject of toilets. Many people have heard of the automatic cleaning, high-tech gadgetry for which Japan is famous and recall various stories on the latest invention in the world of sanitary systems. But are you aware of exactly what they can do?

There are two basic types of lavatory here; the familiar Western style and the Japanese squat toilet, with the Japanese version being the most common in public toilets. Thankfully, there is a handle to hold on to assist my untrained leg muscles. Some are pretty grim - the worst I've experienced was in a hut half way up Mount Fuji which was literally a hole in the floor with everything dropping through to a big pit. Graphic pictures are posted on the wall to illustrate the correct method of using the squat toilet.

Interestingly there are also pictures on how to use a Western style lavatory too!

The Western toilets are very talented with a huge number of features incorporated in them, complete with a spaceship-style control panel. Unfortunately, this is almost always written in Japanese so there have been some 'interesting' and rather unnerving moments when I've inadvertently pressed the wrong button! It was many months before I finally found instructions in English, and most enlightening they were too! I've posted a picture of them further down the page.

One of the more unusual aspects of spending a penny (yen!) in public toilets is the motion sensor that starts the sound of running water. This is found only in the women's cubicles and is designed to cover the sound of bodily functions. It just needs a wave of the hand or general proximity to set it off and has the tendency to make me jump even now. Some play loud piped music instead: "Ave Maria" is a favourite.

When it comes to the modern Western toilet, the functions incorporated are amazing. The lid lifts automatically upon entering the cubicle, the toilet seat is heated – which is pleasant in the chilly winter and sometimes you find a toilet that glows in the dark. In the summer, a few have under-seat air conditioning, but this is not as pleasant or as popular as the heated version.

Built into the toilet is a bidet, with a directional hose, a choice of water temperatures, variations on water pressure, pulsating and massaging options. Instead of toilet paper you can use the warm air blow dryer. Apparently, some people spend an inordinate amount of time in these particular facilities…

When you've finished, the most modern ones flush automatically and close the lid for you. If the flush isn't automatic, there is then an exercise in exploration: is the flush one of the many unreadable buttons, a black sensor on the wall or a manual handle cunningly hidden behind the open lid? Some minutes can be spent randomly pressing buttons in the hope that one of them will actually be the flush. Make sure you are standing up for this experiment - pressing random buttons whilst sitting on the loo can cause you to leap into the air squealing… see the previous paragraph! Yes, embarrassingly I speak from experience as very few are labelled in English as below.

Some home models have a "learning mode" which memorises the times when the toilet is used and only heats the seat in time for this, therefore saving electricity. Some very recent inventions include medical sensors to measure sugar in the urine!

All these fancy functions have a potential for disaster. In 2007, the main manufacturer of these toilets, Toto, had to offer free repairs to 180,000 lavatories which developed wiring problems causing several seats to catch fire. Thankfully nobody was injured.

In restaurants you find pairs of shoes just inside the door. These are 'toilet slippers' and you put them on before entering and removed after leaving. Some toilets are shared by both sexes, with a urinal in the first room and a closed-door cubicle beyond which means you have to pass the urinal to get to the cubicle.

An interesting addition to the range of lavatory systems available is one found in ecologically aware places. After flushing, these toilets send the water that fills the cistern out through a tap over the top of the tank so you can rinse your hands while conserving water.

However, there is rarely anywhere to dry your hands by the basins in public toilets. Everyone carries little personal towels with them for this purpose which are the size of a small flannel. One day I will remember to carry one with me! 

If you really want to see these 'bidet toilets' in action, look at this American website http://www.totousa.com/Washlet/WashletC110.aspx - it's the videos on this page that the complainant considered vulgar, by the way - you have been warned! I think they are pretty tasteful considering what they are talking about!! You will see the kind of surprise that awaits the unsuspecting user…!

And finally... yes, a long post, I know - but when the "flow" happens, I've just got to go with it...!

Someone sent me this picture - I haven't seen it in any toilet but that may be because I visit the ladies, not the gents.

   

Rainy Season in Japan

Sunday 3^rd June 2007

Japan has several extra seasons than the four we are used to. As well as Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, there is also the rainy season and the typhoon season. I think you can also count Hanami (Cherry Blossom time) as a 'season' as well as many other festivals too.

The rainy season has an actual, set start and end date! 8^th June to 20^th July.

Tsuyu is the Japanese name for the rainy season. It doesn't exactly rain every single day, but compared to the rest of the year, it is noticeable. The weather forecasting here is incredibly accurate - which is amazing compared to our hit or miss system in the UK. This is the site we use to work out what to wear each day and whether an umbrella is required and what time it is likely to rain http://www.jma.go.jp/en/yoho/319.html ! Impressive!!

If, by some chance, you forget your umbrella on the day it rains, almost every shop sells cheap transparent plastic ones. Outside every shop or office there is either an umbrella rack for you to leave it before entering the store - it will not be stolen! Or a dispenser that you pop your brollie into where it will be automatically inserted into a plastic bag to save it dripping all over the floor.

It's little things like this that make Japan the special and wonderful place it is.

Of course, the start and end dates of the rainy season are predictions by the Japan Meteorological Agency and Mother Nature doesn't necessarily conform to these. But it's a good way for the shops to predict when to stock umbrellas and wellies.

I took a little trip to explore Ginza. This is an area with three large department stores and every designer store you can name. There aren't any shopping malls in Tokyo, but the few department stores there are provide everything one could possibly need. Other shops are mostly independents and this is one particular aspect of Japan that I truly adore. I loathe the cloned High Streets in the UK and the fact that every town centre is made up of identical shops; chain stores that have shoved the independents away forever.

One store's display of umbrellas was particularly breathtaking. The ground floor ("First Floor" in Japan) reaches right up through all the other five or six floors and the brollies cascaded all the way down from the ceiling. Unfortunately my camera didn't do a great job of showing this.

I spotted an umbrella made in the shape of a red paper parasol - but a proper rainproof one. I must try and get one of these before I leave Japan.