My Japan Bucket List

 

We went to Tokyo Disneyland about a week ago and I loved it. I am glad we got to go. There are experiences that I think we need to take a part of while we are here and that was definitely one of them.
Throughout out time here there are so many more things that I would like to accomplish!

Here is my list (for now! I got most of the ideas from (http://thejapanbucketlist.wordpress.com/) Doesn't mean I don't want to partake!

1. See Shinjuku Gyoen. Get lost in nature.
2. Go to an Art Museum.
3. Try clothes on in Japan (Just how small can they be?)
4. Make Sushi
5. Go to a waterpark.
6. Go to Tokyo Disneyland
7. Climb to the top of Mt. Fuji.
8. Sing in a karaoke bar!
9. Do ‘hanami’ (cherry blossom viewing) while in Japan.
10. Stay in a ryokan.
11. Visit the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.
12. Go up the Tokyo Tower.
13. Go to a local izakaya.
14. Participate in Aomori’s Neputa festival.
15. Visit the Sannai Maruyama site in Aomori.
16. Visit Gappo Park in Aomori.
17. Go up APSAM in Aomori and take an awesome photo of the skyline!
18. Get photos of the cosplayers on Harajuku Bridge.
19. Visit Kabukicho (Tokyo’s red light district).
20. Buy a yukata or kimono.
21. Ride the Yamanote line.
22. Explore Tokyo Narita Airport.
23. Find a really, really interesting toilet.
24. Get a photo in the cherry blossoms.
25. Drink Sake.
26. Drink Chu-Hi.
27. Buy/rent a bicycle
28. Visit Aomori.
29. Visit Hachinohe.
30. Visit Towada
31. Visit Sapporo, land of the beers.
32. Make a lasting friend.
33. Befriend the wildlife.
34. Teach a lesson.
35. Ring a shrine bell and pray.
36. Try a weird flavour of Kit-Kat. (I hear there’s lemonade, watermelon, green tea)
37. Participate in a tea ceremony.
38. Visit Meiji Shrine.
39. Visit a cat cafe
40. Go to a Pokemon Center!
41. Go to Universal Studios.
42. Ride a shinkansen (bullet train).
43. Play Pachinko.
44. Learn how to drive out here.
45. Get a job so I can stay longer and accomplish all of these things.
46. Try all sorts of weird foods
47. Try Japanese Ramen
48. Get in better shape.
49. Go to Sapporo Festival
50. Go to the Nebuta Festival
51. Go to Cherry Blossom Festival
52. Watch a Japanese Baseball game.
53. Go to the Misawa Festivals

Looking at my list I feel pretty accomplished for being here only a month and a half :) I am sure I will update on all of these things when I get the chance :)

What Love Wants

I want to be as essential as the air you breathe.
As light hearted as the smile that creeps on your face
When you are desperately trying to not let it.
I want to be the giggle that slips out when you are serious.
And the hand yours always seems to find when you are alone.


I want to be as dazzling as your eyes when you stopped crying
As beautiful as the sunshine falling through a cloudless sky
When all you've felt is rain.
I want to be the skip that your heart feels after a kiss.
And that one feeling that would be impossible to try to explain.


I want to be as powerful as the strongest electric shock.
As uncontrollable as your teary laughter
When you hear the best joke you will ever know.
I want to be as passionate as the last kiss you will feel.
And as forever as you could ever know.

Pick the Picture

The hardest part about living here is probably the food. Not so much eating it, there hasn't been much I don't like. But it is ordering it. Because I don't know Japanese, I can't order off their written menus AND know what is in it.

Sometimes there are English menus to look at. But normally they say "steak" or something very simplistic. It doesn't really define everything in the meal, maybe the overall idea though. Subway had some examples of that:

So you have to look at pictures and order something that MIGHT look good. For the most part that is easy. You want chicken, find something that looks like chicken and order it (praying that it is chicken). You want a steak (they have hamburger steak. AKA a hamburger without the bun) but it's there and ready to order.


(Also word to the wise, and I think I already mentioned this. But if it says "meat" don't get it. It is about the equivalent to whatever it is we put in hotdogs.)


Other times it is a disaster. This weekend the guys and I went to Pepper Jack. They raved about the food. I saw the pictures and was confused. It LOOKED like everything wasn't cooked. How am I supposed to decide what to eat if the pictures aren't cooked all the way. So I randomly choose one, praying for the best.


When my order was ready, I had a sizzling skillet on a tray. And, as you may have guessed, my food wasn't cooked (all the way). They gave me tongs and I had to flip the food myself and PRAY that it was done cooking by the time the skillet cooled off. (I am not entirely sure it was).

It was an interesting idea in theory. But I don't think I will EVER eat there again. I don't like seeing blood before I eat. and with all my other foods for that matter. I personally, thought it was too peppery (should have known I guess. The place was called Pepper Jacks) and the food cost like 10 bucks for something that I had to cook myself. That hardly seems fair. 


But that was the worst food I've had in the last month. (Can you believe it? I have been here a month!) I have gotten chicken, and steak and rice concoctions and indian food. I have eaten fake Italian food and ramen. And they were all excellent and I would go back in a heartbeat. Just no more uncooked foods... Okay?

Home Sweet Home

A lot of people have been asking what our house looks like so I thought I would put up some of the pictures I have.

My shrine lol 

We have two more rooms like this one that I didn't take pictures of yet. One we are calling the Puppy Playroom. The other is just a random one with an extra bed in case anyone wants to visit! :)

Not our house but how great! haha!

“He’s the brains, sweetheart!”

Japanese people love to gamble. They play Pachinko for what could be forever. The places to play are everywhere and normally are right next to a pawn shop. That way (like Dave and Busters) they can win a prize, then they can go to the pawn shop and get rid of it and make some cash. It's ingenius really and that's how they get around gambling laws.

The pachinko place closes to our house is Jam Friends Club. On the outside it looks like so much fun. A flashy billboard, lots of colors, awesome name. We pass it all the time and think maybe there are lots of fun things to do in there.

Upon entering, we saw an awesome bronze R2D2 (picture will be up here when I get it from Eric). Instantly, all us nerds, we are hooked. We enter, more excited than kids in a candy store. 

We open the final door and the place is louder than loud. It was as if an airplane was inside of the building and resonating off the walls. All I could hear is fans and air. It was louder than every concert I have ever been to possibly combined. 

How do people stay around that sound?

Other than the sound, there were metal balls everywhere. I won't lie and say I know how to play Pachinko but I mean EVERYWHERE. If all those buckets would have spilled I think we would have to swim through the metal balls. 

There were mainly Pachinko machines but also some slot machines. We didn't stay long enough to test our luck... We already felt pretty unlucky. 

Nazi symbols in Japan

Being a teacher, I know how much the kids are getting into Call of Duty especially the Nazi Zombies. It's still the biggest craze and it's been out for a while. MW3 has nothing on BlackOps. So Nazi's have made a comeback, this time in the form of zombies, in America.

In Japan, Nazi things are around and displayed out in the open.
We saw an old Nazi trenchcoat in a mall.

And a rather explicit saying telling the Nazi's they aren't well liked. Thank you Dead Kennedy's.

In Shinjuku there was also a Nazi symbols frequenting the street. (Though not as often as I just made it sound).

I did a little research as to why it is so common to find these symbols all around Japan. It said that the Japanese are visual but they don't attach socio--political statutes to the visuals they see. So, for them, they just like looking at it.
...Interesting.

This place, views the world so much differently than we do. It's through their culture, religion, mentality and being that they are able to detach such emotions and move on to admiration. I am amazed and I am intrigued and I would love to learn more about it.

Americans don't know how to detach their emotions, to the point we get overly angry, overly happy, overly saddened, over sometimes nonsense things. Maybe Japan shows less emotion than us Americans are used to but maybe it's something we could learn more about and better ourselves for. You can't be controlled by your emotions if you learn how to detach them. Image how that would turn our government and media influence upside down...

What's PDA?

We are thinking of going to Disney in Tokyo in a few weeks. If the boys remember to request off in time. It's interesting because they still have characters walking around but there is no hugging, no picture taking, no autographs. They are just there to look at and admire. So much different then seeing Mickey and running toward him is a stampede of 5 year olds. Nope, not here. 


That's just how the culture is. PDA isn't even a term here. They don't shake hands, they don't hug, they don't even hold hands.


I mean it's not right if I say no one does. Some of the younger couples have been influenced by the Western culture and hold hands when they are in the mall, or walking around town. But it's not seen a lot at all.


It's just interesting to see this difference in culture. After all, they are already quiet and don't tend to show much emotion, now they don't show their affection in gestures either.


I wonder how they feel loved? We are used to be told a thousand times, and kissing and hugging. And doing everything in our power to show how we feel. They don't. I wonder if they feel differently towards each other than we do.

(Also, Random fact: here, Stitch is more like their Mickey. I see more Stitch than any other Disney character.)

NewsFlash: There are forks in Japan.

Everyone seems to be so wrapped up in our visions of Japan. Chopsticks, everyone is small, they all look the same. I find it interesting because being over here, I have something to tell you, we have it all wrong.

I have eaten at probably 15 different restaurants in 3 weeks and I have used chopsticks twice... in 3 weeks. (Well... I used it at home twice while eating but that was just b/c i wanted to.) Twice.

And I don't feel like a giant here. I mean, I don't feel small or average either but I feel like it's not much different than America. Some people are tall, some are average, some are small. I think part of the reason I don't feel short is because all the women here wear six inch heels all the time. They walk so funny. It's kind of disappointing.

As for them all looking the same, I don't see that either. You can definitely tell the differences when you are surrounded by them.

I guess what I am trying to say this is probably why culture shock hasn't really affected me. These reasons and more just show how "Westernized" the culture is and how much we make up all the time.

Airborne

Just Picking Dandelions

"In the waters of ourselves, the young ones hurt." Danette scribbles along the sides of her paper. Trying to find an answer to one of life's many questions. She listens to the speaker prancing on about the laws of Chemistry and how hard this class will be. Numbingly she takes notes. But her focus is on her cursive. The young ones, they always were the hardest to look after.

After years of babysitting and countless terms of nannying. Danette knew this to be true. Yet they were also the most joyous. It was simple to engage them and a young one could find happiness anywhere.

But Danette couldn't.

She struggled for years against depression and she felt the mist holding her back now. She carved into the fog, she chisled the tears away, but seemed to always be met with a new batch to chase. What did those young ones understand that she forgot? How could the simplicity of their lives allow them happiness when the complexity of her own caused discomfort?

She stared at the wall.

She knew she had to break free. What would it be like to be free? She scribbled about laughter and giggling, appreciating and pushing herself forward. How? How did she get to be free?

As the bell rang, she stared at her words. Unable to find the answer on her own. She walked through the school with the same daze as every other day. Approaching her locker, she found her books, carried her guitar and headed toward the long awaiting exit.

She followed the sidewalk mind numbingly. Knowing the way better than she knew her own name. But she resisted. She had her own case to follow. She turned left instead. The park was up ahead. What did they know?


The swingset stood in its mighty grounds. A little boy sat in a swing. His brown hair messed up from the wind and his eyes the color of the grass stuck between his toes. He giggled as his father pushed him higher and higher he went. His name was Adam, she overheard his father say it. Danette watched the scene and remembered how content she would be swinging for hours as a child. Laughing and singing just as Adam was. His father got preoccupied with the baby swing next to him. A gorgeous little girl.

Adam stopped swinging and explored the rest of the playground. He was a pirate on the slide and a cowboy on the monkey bars. He was an astronaut on the merry-go-round and a prince fighting a dragon for his princess near Danette's tree. She wrote the memories down the side of her notebook, as she watched. With the final slash from Adam's sword, the dragon fell. Adam stood imaginary sword in the ground, triumphant. And picked the dandelions next to his kill. Kissing each one as it entered his fist.

He walked over to Danette's tree.

"My princess, these flowers are for you. You are free." Adam said as he gazed at Danette with a smile. Danette took the dandelions with a giggle.

"Why thank you my prince, what should I do now?" Danette asked quietly to the little boy.

"Be happy and play." He said as he walked back over to his father, looking back one last time at the princess he rescued.

As Danette looked at the flowers, she saw through the fog, a little opening, a little crack. And knew her prince had saved her after all.

Where's the lightning?

I have been here 2 weeks. I am surrounded with a new way of life. It's been great. I have been able to pick up basic Japanese. But there is no real need. I feel much like I presume the hispanics feel in America. Everyone is so willing to learn basics of their language that it's okay that we don't speak Japanese. I haven't had to say much other than trying things out and to be polite.

It's different being the only people that speak English. In Tokyo, this felt way more than true. I felt like spies up to no good, speaking in a language no one could understand. We were surrounded and on what seemed to be a mission.

In Misawa, things are different. Since there is a military base here, most of the people know basic English. When going to a restaurant, they say things in English, likewise we say things in Japanese. But it's not scary. It's the basics: Konnichiwa (Hi), Arigoto Gozaimiasu (Thank you), Kuidisai (Please).


The biggest difference is how much we point. We point to our food, point to our size, point to the price.   But I don't feel like much of an outsider.

What I find funny is that they still will speak Japanese too us. I mean looking back I do the same back home. Hoping they know some words. But I have never been on this end of the spectrum.

If anything I am more nervous of doing something they find disgraceful than I am with learning the language. But everything I read on etiquette tells me that being a foreigner it's OKAY that I don't always get it right. So even that isn't much of a problem.

Buying Bender (my new puppy) was probably the most conversation I had with a Japanese nationalist. Sometimes they understood us, sometimes we didn't understand them. But we got through it, relatively hassle-free.

So I guess what I am saying is the shock was in my head more than it is out here. Things might be different if I didn't live so close to base, if I wasn't with Mike and all his friends.

For now I still see the overcast

I seem to be constantly waiting for the storm to hit.

But I've began doubting... doubting it is even a storm at all.

Leave it to the professionals :)

Here are some professionally taken photos of Shinjuku. Let's just be honest, mine will never look this good.

 

  

 

The Sound of Silence

Sometimes the world is too busy. Look in every town, every person has
A well kept agenda
     A sought after destination
          A person they need to be with.
No one knows how ti sit still and enjoy the silence.
The lull of their own heartbeat
     The waves of their breathing
          The urge to get lost in themselves.
We've been so caught up with different ways to communicate
We are losing the most important one.
    Listening to the voice inside your head as he cheers for you
          As he cries for you, as he helps you and hurts you.
We follow blindly on roads with only one route to take.
The superficial world has become our only goal.
     We are forgetting ourselves.
          We are losing ourselves.
All because we aren't listening to ourselves.
     All because we aren't taking the time to be ourselves.
          All because we couldn't stand to be alone with ourselves.
Take some time.
     Re-introduce yourself to you.
         And welcome the silence.