Holidays In Japan

Our holidays are thought to be so foreign to other countries. Some are. Some aren't.

Thanksgiving isn;t big (for obvious reasons) in Japan. However some do get the holiday off to give thanks. They don't have turkey. The only ham they have in japan is the sliced version for sandwiches. So bringing the ham was a shock to them. But they enjoyed it more than most things I think.

Christmas is bigger than I expected in Japan or at least our heavily influenced area of Japan. At my Japanese and American Preschool all of the Japanese came to school with Christmas gifts and new toys. One of my American friends asked if it was Annual Gift Man that dropped off the toys. It wasn't. It was Santa.

About 10% of the country believes in Christianity. But what is interesting about religion out here is that a lot of it is intertwined with each other. Its normal to have a Christian wedding, a Buddhist Funeral and celebrate Chinese New Year (This year is the year of the Snake coming up FYI)

New Year is a week long festivity. Full of cleaning every speck of dust out of your house and then spending your time with family and friends. They believe whatever you do that first week will pave the road for how your next year will follow. They have little tricks (much like the ones I found out we do. My family doesn't do much for New Years) They leave a bowl of fruit that they don't touch for 3 days. It means they will be bountiful with food the next year. They go to the temple for New Years and ring it in with a prayer and a wish. And other things like that. I think its something Americans should celebrate in line with (and its not JUST because I want a week off lol)

The Japanese I talk to have NEVER heard of groundhogs day (and I found out the groundhog doesn't see his own shadow. He sees Jack Frosts shadow.) So it was fun teaching them about that one.

February 3rd is Setsubun. It is a holiday like another New Years where you wish for bad spirits to stay out and for good luck to enter your home. They throw beans and talk about Oni (a  demon orge like thing) It is a fun holiday.

Valentine's Day is split into 2 holidays (I am SURPRISED Hallmark hasn't tried to capitalize on that yet) It is February 14th (The girls give gifts to the boys) and March 14th (The boys give gifts to the girls). Basically asking to be the valentine and finally getting a response. It is a cute and sentimental way of expanding the holiday.

I am sure there are more that are different and I can't wait to hear more about it!

Must America Be So Pigheaded?

I have lived in Japan for 6 months and I'm going to say something I've known and understood since high school in the states. Can we PLEASE conform to the metric system? We are the ONLY idiots refusing to give up an out-dated system that we were "so sure" would catch on. This just in: It never caught on. Let's give it up already. I hate how moronic I feel (and we look) out here trying to figure out size, speed and god forbid temperature. And let's not even start me on time!

Maybe if we weren't so big headed and gave this losing game up, people in other countries would actually start listening to some of the information we say again.

"Driving in my car beep beep"

Cars are an exciting and petrifying experience out here. Without them I'd be lost. I wouldn't be able to work and I wouldn't be able to go anywhere. Yet, that is the American in me. Most Japanese ride their bikes depending how far it is and they live pretty close to their work.

I love my little yellow car. Its the first car that I want to be in rather than just will be in. I don't cringe at someone seeing my car, I am proud of it. The car handles amazing. It fits on the tiny roads out here and I can spot it when I need to. My gastank is probably 10 gallons (or whatever a close equivalent in liters is to 10 gallons). It costs me around 30 bucks to fill it up and that will last me 2 weeks. Yay decent gas mileage (and I don't drive that far).

The Japanese culture out here is different than ours in so many ways. At tutoring one day I had the owner ask me if I was rich when I asked them why, they said it was because I drive a Volkswagen  Realistically I got it pretty cheap on base.

Mike has an alfa romeo 147 (I think) and its a cute little car. sports manual, fun, fast and sporty car. I love it. Everyone has been telling me to worry about Mike's and my cars but im not buying it. His car had a light on for one start-up but it was turned off after that. And we will only be out here a year and a half so I am not so worried about the whole car thing (knock on wood). Of course we will always see.

The hardest part about not being in the US is the speed. The average is 40km which is under 25 mph (yeah I know it is BARELY under but it still is). It's not so hard to get used to beacuse of the tiny roads. It reminds me a lot of Chicago where driving 35 felt like you were flying. But it must be tough on all these gearheads and speed drivers if I struggle with it from time to time.

We Were Best Friends... Once

 

Dear DMC,

There are people in your life that you couldn’t have been closer to once upon a time. They understood you and they were always there for you. They sympathized with you when you needed it. They made you laugh when they knew you needed something taken off your mind. They knew how to react to bring out what was best for you. Yet something made you drift apart. Have you ever wondered what happened to us? What caused us to stop caring as much?

Since high school we have drifted apart. I know that most friendships don’t survive after high school and my head was in the clouds when I still expected the opposite to be the case with us. But we used to be so inseparable and I know that in the time since we have grown apart. I know we aren’t the same people we were but I want you to know my feelings about it. I might have had different experiences than you but I was always willing to share. I might have found different friends, but I was always yours. 

Looking back on our friendship I remember the days that I don’t think any other friend possessed. The way we spent an entire day with glue and spaghetti noodles trying to build bridges and cars. The Lego parties and coloring book days when we just wanted to act like little kids again. What about the stories we wrote and the letters about us being best friends forever. I still have a copy of that somewhere. Remember climbing the Lowes building (and how i stood watch because I was NOT about to get arrested), how I was scared me half to death watching the Ring? Our 84 Ponchos and Fafsa nickname days? When I had to endear endless chatter consisting of only paintball and video-games? And oh the revolting Halo summer. Our friendship has meant a great deal to me. Every moment we have shared I remember. Even the ones that weren’t always good, I will always remember. 

Yet like every high school friendship, we have drifted. We moved on to working too much, getting paid to little, taking care of people we shouldn’t have to and running away to different countries. We don’t get to be the care-free people we used to. We don’t get those moments as often as we used to. But we still have the possibility of being close, you know that right? You can still turn to me for help and you could talk about your problems. I know I still talk about mine to you and you are always there to help. But this friendship is a two-way street and I would be happy to listen to yours. You can still share with me. I can still make you laugh when you need to and react to bring out what is best for you. 

We don’t need to drift anymore. I can still be your best friend, whenever you need me.

Love always,

Ashley

Junk Drawer Mess

 

“Once I had a purpose.” He whispered to the Highlighter. “I was like you; I was important. I was needed. Now I sit here gathering dust like the broken clothespins she means to fix but never does.” 

He looked at his worn edges. He recalls how he once glistened in the sunlight. His glimmer was gone, replaced with scratches and dents. He was young and full of energy once. His aqua color matched her own personality: bright and charismatic. 

There was once a time that he felt special. They were all special. The blouse meant more to Her than most clothing articles mean to a person. He was Her gift, Her last memory from Her mother. A smile ignited Her face when she looked at the blouse. The bright teals and calming aquas reflected Her eyes and calmed Her when She needed it most. He knew what She needed; She needed him.

“You never know, Button, one day she may need you again.” Highlighter tried to console the lonely old button. “Maybe she will need to fix another shirt.” 

“Another shirt...” Mimicked Button. “It would never be the same.” Broken hearted, he thinks about the day that changed everything. 

“I mean nothing to Her. I haven’t since that day. We were getting ready for a second date. Between Her eccentric personality and electrifying outfit, She was set. Her date was downstairs waiting. The clock, ticking late as usual. She fretted with Her heartbeat a-flutter. 

“Her makeup looked stunning and she pulled the blouse a little too tightly. It unraveled me. I fell from the shirt without a glance back. The date went fine, the shirt looked improved and I was shoved in this drawer where I continue to sit, day after day, waiting to get thrown away. I think the day approaches. The Ruler overheard Her mention cleaning us out again...” He looked away, lost in thought. 

Highlighter stayed silent. What good was Button? He had been in the drawer longer than every other object in there. He was decrepit and his personality matched it lately. He was worn for wear and everyone was waiting for the seemingly inevitable.

As she opened the drawer. She grouped the items in three separate piles. They didn’t know which pile they were in until they were replaced in the drawer, used or thrown out. 

So they fretted. Their thoughts were panicked, words silent and scared. Which pile were they in? They looked around and tried to assess which would be which. Highlighter was content. He was with the Pens and Pencils. So he assumed he was either staying in the drawer or going to school. Button however wasn’t in any pile. He was alone. What did it mean, there was never a fourth pile. It had always been three. What was he doing all by himself?

She placed the Pens, Pencils, and Highlighter in a pencil box destined for a backpack. Highlighter would be happy. He liked the little one and the way she boasted about his color. The Rulers and Take-out Menus were replaced in the drawer. Button sat on the counter looking at his world. Much has changed in the house since that day. The kitchen was now an aqua that much resembled his own color. The living room incorporated yellows and oranges against the bright teal walls. 

She held him in the light and looked him over. She brought some polish to his sides, tickling him as the cloth caressed every inch of his body.

“Okay this is it.” He whispered to no one in particular. What would happen to him? She walked over to the kitchen table, placing him down. She reached down and grabbed the cloth at her feet. He saw the design, the intricate way the needle had grazed it. She had made it herself. Maybe he would once again have a purpose.

“Hello Friend,” whispered the Needle that found its way next to him. He was placed in the center of the purse, she had been making so delicately. She turned and put the purse into a bright yellow gift bag. 

“Hi!” One of the neighboring buttons said after the tissue paper was placed on top of them. 

“What are we doing here?” Button asked his new friends.

“We are a gift for her daughter. She has grown up and we mark the girl turning into a young woman. A special gift, because of you and how much this color means to Her. And how much this purse will mean to her daughter.” He looked over his surroundings. There were a bunch of beautiful mismatched buttons on the bag. He was the biggest, the center of attention. Something he never expected to be again.

Happiness is an adventure into the unknown.

Technology in Japan

We all have heard what I will be calling "The Rumors." Japan supposedly has the latest and greatest technology. Their internet is supposed to be 100 mbps. That means I just about should never have to wait for a video to load.... yet I wait.

Then we have the phones. Somehow Japan didn't figure out that they were the most "technological advanced country" because my phone does not resemble that. My phone is a smart phone (in which I stole from Mike). The battery life lasts 2 hours if I am on the internet. The phone barely sends text messages (even though supposedly thats the #1 way people in Japan use their phone.) And the phones are expensive! An Iphone 4s is like 600 bucks. Given that is without a contract. But in reality my Evo shift back home was better and more reliable then the phone out here. That speaks a lot.

So... where are all the cool gizmos and gadgets? I feel like I was expecting the Jetsons and arrived at the Flintstones.

Gotta Catch Em All

((I had to write a fictional story based on a newspaper article. The article I read was from a newspaper I just got a job to edit and write for. It is the only English newspapers in Misawa. The article was about a Pokemon Center in Sendai (a town 3 hours away.) It is a store much like the American Girl Store where you can buy and trade toys and it encourages battles and teaches you how to use your trading cards))

It has been a long treacherous journey for Ashley and her pokemon. A three hour car ride on paths full of dangerous Geodudes and Onixes. The roads were difficult to follow, in fear of the rock-like pokemon coming to life and treating your car as an enemy. It didn't help that Ashley couldn't read any of the signs on the way to Sendai. Thanks to Alakazam, a mystic spell has been placed on Ashley that made all the signs seem like gibberish. Not to mention, Ashley was finding it difficult to drive thanks to Marowaks boomerang hitting the wheel of the car and causing Ashley to drive on the other side of the car and other side of the road! 

It seems impossible that Ashley and her pokemon have made it this far. But they finally have gotten past  the double crossing winds of Butterfree. And the fog and gasses of Weezing. But through their fight, they have survived and ultimately made their way to the final battle: The Sendai Pokemon Center.

Ashley didn't know what she should do first. Should she look at the trophies? The toys? Should she take her pokemon to the park? Or go to a pokemon trading school so she can be the best pokemon trainer of them all! Should she battle other challengers! Oh the list goes on and on! How many new pokemons would she encounter? What would her Eevee, Scyther, Piplup, and Pachirisu think! 

Little did Ashley know she wasn't alone. Deep in the Pokemon Center waited her ultimate enemy: Steve, the Pokemon abuser. Tune in next week as Ashley takes on her arch enemy to the battle of the century at Sendai Pokemon Center!!!