How my driving is (absolutely) different than yours.

Japanese license obtained, legality confirmed and experience had--to Costco.  It was terrifying and this is why…

1.  The navi speaks Japanese.  Okay, it speaks English too, but we have to program it using only Japanese, so it has taken some time to learn, but it accepts phone numbers as a destination!  Do navigators in America do that?!  It also tells me where there are traffic jams, which seem to happen a lot, because…

2. There are usually only two lanes on the freeway and no shoulder!  And…

3. We not only drive on the left (wrong) side of the road, but the driver drives from what we know as the passenger side.  Okay, this isn't news for anybody, but it sure is hard to make that switch in your head and to recalibrate.  Scott spent the whole drive as a passenger uncomfortably leaning to the right, which signaled to me I was too close on the left.  I thought I was as far right as I could go. There is no wiggle room.

4.  Our van is ultra skinny as are most other cars and trucks on the road…thank Heavens!

5.  Bikers have either no rules, or they don't follow the rules outlined for them.  Honestly, they scare me to death.  On the freeway, they go in the middle of lanes, they weave, they go on the non-shoulder which looks to be about six inches.  On surface roads, they creep up to the side of you as you are making a left turn (from the far left lane--remember, we are opposite here) and about scare you to death as roads are so narrow in the first place.  There is no second place.

6.  The road signs in Tokyo are in Japanese AND English, whew!

7.  Oftentimes there are surface roads under the freeways and the navi doesn't know that and cannot fix its directions until you pull away from such a road.

Other observations:

They have great names for their cars.  Case in point below.  Look to the right of the license plate under "Hybrid".  What?   She's what?  I could understand if it was "Hers".  Our van is an El Grande--heh, heh.

There is this cool little sensor on our van which beeps when objects are too close, which happens quite often.  A person can walk by, a bike ride by and touch it off.  It comes in handy when it is time to park as more often than not you are expected to back in.  See the little blue light on the left just above the dashboard?  It retracts completely when parked.

Speaking of parking, there are always one or two attendants to help you back in as the parking spaces are as narrow as the roads, in relative terms.  Great job, parking, dear husband.  Don't even get me started on our driveway (narrow, yes, and steep) and we do have to back in.

We drove once for almost twenty minutes before we felt like we were out of the city proper--it is that huge!  It is after all the biggest city in the world, which makes a navi essential.  As long as I see three different landmarks, I know I am close to home and I know I can figure it out without help--Tokyo tower, Mori tower and this building in Shinjuku which looks like it is the Empire State building, Asian style (bottom picture).

Imagine living this close to the freeway!  There are apartment buildings within yards, or should I say meters of the guardrail, and remember, there is no shoulder to speak of.

Getting a license was a month-long odyssey in itself.  We had to take a whole day filling out papers, taking a written test…wait, I am whining.  Anyway, I passed the driving test on the first try..only because the foreigner testing before me did such a bad job.  I think the tester just wanted to feel accomplished for the day.  Anyhow, we are free to go anywhere and Tokyo looks a lot different from the road than it does from the subway.  We love it here!

Korea, part 2 and Yokohama

Our third trip to Korea!  We love it there, but with apologies to the Ringwoods and Heather Morgan, Tokyo is better!  

What are these (top and bottom photos)?  Any guesses?  We saw a lot of them at Nandaemon, an old but huge marketplace in Seoul.  Top are pigs hands, knuckles and meaty parts, they look frightening to me and were almost enough to make me go vegetarian.  There was a pig head somehow preserved right next to these, but the woman running the stall wouldn't let me photograph.  Bottom, I just don't know, probably some kind of roots suspended in fluid. Looks Harry Potterish, don't you think?

 We were in Seoul for a Mission President's Training Seminar.  And although I can neither read Korean nor Russian, apparently these banners were celebrating the arrival and meeting of Vladimir Putin to have talks with South Korean officials.  I don't know if he was staying at our hotel or if the "talks" were there, but we were out doing other important things when he came.  Don't believe he was there?  "Look it up, its in the thing." Google it or ask the NSA--certainly they know.  We did see him arriving at the hotel later on that night on the news, he is really, really short.

See these dear people?  They (other than Adam in the center) work at the Korean office for the Asia North area.  They are incredibly hard-working, detail oriented and dedicated people (include Adam in that definition).  

Here are the mission presidents for the area (plus a few) after making makizushi for the missionaries to hand out.  Incredible men, each one.  Later that evening, we walked a lantern festival in downtown Seoul along a canal.  It depicted different scenes from Korean history.

Does this not look like a pig Mona Lisa?  For all you hiragana and katakana readers who might doubt this was actually in Seoul, look again.  I guarantee it was in Korea.

Hawaii friends…remember hosting Japanese students and taking them to Ala Moana for an outing?  Remember waiting outside Louis Vuitton and Channel shops while they put down $400 for wallets?  Maybe you will remember them turning up their noses when they saw "Made in Korea" on labels of scarves?  Maybe there was a reason.  I saw a scarf and should have opened it, but was satisfied with its pretty colors all folded up.  Upon unfolding it in our home in Tokyo, Emma suddenly fell in love.  It is actually a British flag with a crowned skull and the words "God Save McQueen".  It now hangs in her room.  Fail for me, one man's trash is another's treasure.

On an unrelated note, nothing to do with Korea or Yokohama, we went out for pizza last night and swear we sat next to an Asian Charles Barkley.

The rest of the photos are from a park we visited in Yokohama called Sankeien Garden.  It was assembled by a successful silk businessman over 100 years ago.  He had  ancient buildings brought to this park which faces Tokyo Bay.  Many of these structures are over 500 years old.  This is a 500+ year old door!  Isn't it gorgeous?!

We saw two brides and their grooms in the garden.  

I have seen too many brand new, made-of-cement Japanese garden lanterns in the city lately, these just struck me for some reason.  They truly are hand made and, well, ancient.

Not sure which was more impressive, nature or the old tea houses, bridges and gates--maybe the combination of the two.

Emma loved it as well.  So glad she decided to come with us today.  She was supposed to leave on a school trip, but stayed with the parentals instead.  So lucky to have her with us here during her last year.  So glad she loves Japan.

Scott and Emma are always in search for the perfect dango--mochi rice balls grilled in soy sauce.  Although Scott introduced them to her in Asakusa (see previous post), they swear the ones in Nikko (another post) are the best.  Today's weren't so bad.  I snap chatted a picture to Kate of a mochi maker and she snap chatted back a picture of herself labeled "mochi eater".  Wish she was here.

This was one of the most ancient buildings, built during the Edo period.

So much more to show, so much more to see.  So much more work to be done here!

O Sumo!

We went to watch a Sumo tournament last month and my phone camera did a terrible job, so many thanks to Adam Aalders for the photos!

Useful vocabulary, refer to at any time:

rikishi--sumo wrestler
yokozuna--grand champion
ozeki--champion
dohyo--circle where the matches are fought
gyoji--referee
mawashi--loincloth--made of silk, 10 yards by 2 feet, folded in six, then wrapped four to seven times around the waist, depending on the size of the rikishi.




Sumo is held six times a year, three in Tokyo at the Kokugikan.  This was painted on the outside wall.

Cute story--the admin. assistants in the office, who are two darling Japanese girls Emi and Yayoi e-mailed me ahead of time to let me know that it would be best to bring our "opera grass" as our seats were really distant from the dohyo.  We didn't have any, so we borrowed from them.  There were four couples and probably 10 other people who went and only one pair of "opera grass" to share.  We passed the binoculars around until it came to Carey Aalders who refrained, saying she didn't want to see any closer.  Don't blame her considering the rikishi wear only mawashi, but it was really exciting to watch once you get past the uniform.

This is the dohyo.   It is a ring with buried straw bags which mark the different parts.  It is 18 feet square and 2 feet high, made of clay.  The inner circle is 15 ft. in diameter and to win a sumo match, you either push your opponent out of the ring, or cause him to fall inside the dohyo.  There are other rules, but you get the idea. There is a roof resembling a Shinto shrine suspended from cables.  This is a centuries old sport..more than 500 years.

So, we got there when the lower levels had finished, there are actually five levels even though your vocabulary list has only two.  We watched the Ozeki and were surprised to see at least three foreigners--you obviously could tell by their faces, but their hairy backs and legs were a dead giveaway (I would have passed on looking through the opera grass on those).  Can you spot the foreigners below?  The palest rikishi in blue and the hairiest one with his hairy back to us.  There are only two Yokozuna, a Japanese named Kotoshogiku and a Mongolian named Hakuho.

So, a few highlights:

This was the beginning "parade" of the Ozeki.  See the gyoji in the middle?  

 One of the traditions is to purify yourself before the beginning of the match by washing your mouth and wiping your body.  Throwing salt is said to purify the ring and keep the rikishi from injury.

Here is where they are ready to begin.  This part can take much longer that the match itself and they squat and stand and so forth.  Some people like this part better than the actual wrestle.

 The rikishi wearing black obviously won by throwing down his opponent.

This is a photo of the two Yokozuna before their matches.  They are wearing special rope and paper set aside for grand champions only.  The gyoji is in blue and I have no idea what the rikishi to his left is there for.  The Japanese Yokozuna is in red and the Mongolian is in grey.  Hawaii friends will remember at least three Hawaiian sumos--Konishiki and Akebono come to mind.  These two last matches were of course the highlight of the day.  

The Japanese Yokozuna from top to bottom, throwing salt, almost forcing his opponent out of the ring and finally losing from being thrown down.  Take note that the spectators are sitting on cushions on the floor.  The cushions nearest the dohyo are green, but go back and look at the Ozeki parade and you will see scarlet cushions at the next level.  When Kotoshogiku lost, the people watching were so upset, they threw their cushions in protest.  For a full minute, scarlet cushions were flying into the dohyo.

This picture only shows a few , but you can see people getting ready to throw.  It was wonderful!  I remember throwing flour tortillas at a BYU football game as a student, not quite the same.

So, what a cultural experience, loved it!  We look forward to the next bout at the beginning of 2014--we will be there!

Our cultural experience was not quite over after the match as the men from the office wanted to see how the gaijins did with traditional Sumo food.

 See how fresh this sashimi is?  You have no idea.  Even though most of the flesh was cut away, this skewered fish was still moving and twitching when it came to our table.  The women at the table couldn't get past this fact and passed on eating it.

 This sashimi we could handle.

This is called Chanko and it is meat and fish balls, vegetables cooked in a broth.  Hmmm.  I wouldn't recommend it, thus I have decided against sumo as a career choice.  It was a night for Shokugo Ramen (see post two or three ago).  Our neighbors, the Ringwoods went to McDonald's after.  

Fabulous night!

There is nothing to eat, only expensive ingredients to make...what exactly?!

So, let's go grocery shopping in Tokyo.  No driver's license just yet, so we have to stay close by--places we can walk, bike or train to.  And, since we walk, bike or train, we can only carry so much, creating an every other day shopping need.  Okay, I already mentioned there is a Costco, but that is for another post.

Let's visit National Azabu, the closest and most expensive one with plenty of foreign choices.  The yen/dollar rate is always changing, but most recently it hovers around 100 yen to $1, so any photos you see, just make the conversion.

Meat/fish department:

Tako anyone?  Such a wide selection.  I won't even show the beef or pork, it is too expensive.  No turkey (except at Costco), plenty of chicken and lots of other very fresh fish. 

For those of you who don't live in Hawaii or have never visited Japan, kamaboko is a fishcake--white  fish parts chopped, processed and steamed.  Think imitation crab except nastier tasting.  It is then cut into slices to place on top of ramen. It is usually pink and white, but look at this gorgeous kamaboko I found!  Yes, it is Pikachu kamaboko ready to be sliced and garnished.

We love, love, love Japanese food, but we also crave our American/Hawaiian stuff.  Luckily National Azabu has a lot of it.  You can buy about a cup of sour cream for $4!  I just had to have some recently for soup I was making.  I refused to pay as I needed two cups.  So...I googled "how to make sour cream" and saved myself almost $8.  You have to be resourceful here.  And yes, you too can make sour cream! Just plan ahead, it takes 72 hours.

They have fabulous yogurt here, but I had to train myself to love plain yogurt over Greek style as it is waaaay too expensive.  

You read that right, $29 for a quart of Fage Greek style yogurt.

Another bargain..cake mix for almost $8.  Emma had to make me one for my birthday--wow.  Just our luck, Japanese directions were pasted on the back, covering the English ones.

Produce should be reasonable, right?  Depends.  Sendai was considered the place to get most of Tokyo's vegetables, but since the tsunami/quake/nuclear power plant melt down, people here are too worried about radiation, so we spend most of our money on fruits.  For example:

Almost $10 for a quarter or less of a watermelon.  Okay, melons have always been expensive here.  We saw one in a crate, bedding in straw for nearly $100.  I splurged once and ate every bit.  Peaches (below) for just over $3 for 2.  My parents and sisters have peach trees in Utah--they GIVE them away.

There is always Frosted Flakes, regular or waffle flavored.  But you have to ask for Corn Frosties.

And who could live without Creap?

True story.  I bought Organic Arugula from Costco last week to make salads.  I washed it, spun it, left it in the fridge for a few hours.  Later when we went to eat it, I almost put a spoonful of bee in my mouth.  Can you see it?  I don't know how it survived, but it was definitely moving.  So glad I spied it before I ingested it.

Now for the fabulous food--Tempura, Ramen, Curry Rice, Mabodofu, etc., etc., etc.

Scott introduced Emma to Yakidango--mochi balls (pounded rice balls) coated with teriyaki-like sauce and roasted.  Yum!  They found some as big as golf balls in Nikko.

  

Oishii!  So, I have learned to just bite the bullet so to speak and just buy what needs to be bought so we don't starve.  I am sure we won't.