Thanksgiving, Racing, Trains, and Tokyo

This has been a busy two weeks for us. We had a 4 day weekend here -- one weekend before the traditional American Thanksgiving. Part of this was arificial -- the Canadian Academy had off on Friday for teacher conferences after report cards. Matt took the day off of work so Megan and Matt could go to the conferences (conveniently, all 3 were scheduled consecutively -- but this is Japan, so conenience isn't just a good idea, it's the law). After that, what better way to spend a non-Japanese holiday weekday off than a family trip to Cosco? We finished up our Thanksgiving shopping with relative ease.

Saturday was the start of the official Japanese 3 day holiday weekend. We went to Arashiyama which was the subject of the last post, so I'll skip right to Sunday.

We have one the largest appartments among our local group of ex-pats -- at least among the "playground mafia" (that's the families with kids of the ages who hang out at the playground at the foot of our building everday after school. We had 9 other couples and us in the apartment for Thanksgiving on Sunday (the start of the week before the acutal Thanksgiving). Everyones' kids were in two other apartments with babysitters, so it was just the adults. We prepared a decent frozen turkey from Cosco and another couple brought a second turkey. Everyone else brough the remainder of the meal. All that was missing was the artichokes, really.

In keeping with tradition, I raced on Sunday morining. Thankgiving morning is about the best day of the year for a road race. Garden City, New York has a long running 5 mile Turkey Trot which first got me into this practice. Cincinnati, being the unknown big-time running town it is, has a 10k Thankgiving race which is 100 years old this year -- the longest running Thankgiving roadrace in the U.S. In Kobe, Japan I had to settle for the Kobe All Women's Marathon. It wasn't as bad as it sounds in 2 key respects. It wasn't actually a marathon. In Japan, there is a tendency to call any road race a "marathon." This particular event was actually a half-marathon or 21.098 km (13.1 miles). Perhaps more importantly, the "all women" part was also not an exact translation. Rather than a ridiculous starting line picutre of a big white Gai-Jin with a several thousand Japanese women, the race was actually rather typical with mostly men. The elite field (competing for prize money) was all women, and the open women's division got to start before the men, but other than that, it was a rather typical race.



Some of the P&G group warming up in the staging area. The guy on the right also lives on Rokko Island and is sporting our team T-shirt. He also is the only other person I ran during training with who speaks mostly English. Unfortunately, his race was ended at 18km for not keeping up with the trafic opening cut-off -- it was a reasonably strict rolling 2:15 pace you needed to maintain.

I finished what was my fourth half-marathon in 1:31:28, which is my second best time, and very good considering my currently level of fitness. I'll post a picuture when I can figure out how to get it off of the website which is all in Japanese.

To get to the start of the race, I had to take a very local train line we normally don't use. This is not the first time I've taken a train to the start of a road race -- I took the subway to the Chicago Marathon start from my hotel. This was a bit different, though, in two respects. Firstly, while the train had plenty of racers on it -- like most train rides it was simply crowded in general. More amusing was the platform. On the main train line we take, there is a high-tech cell phone ring tone like sound that plays when the trains are approaching. On this local line, there is also an "alert tone" but it is a sythethized diddy of "I've been working on the railroad" -- I assume the copyright licensing fees have been taken care of.

Thanksgiving was great with our new ex-pat friends and we had even more food leftover than we've ever had back in Ohio.

Matt and Megan in the kitchen trying to find where we put all the stuff we were pretty sure we shipped.



Everyone getting food on our crowded counter.



The Thanksgiving toast.






The big group shot.










And of course, the mandatory shot of one of the turkeys.







TOKYO

On Wednesday, I had my first business trip to Tokyo. I took the Shinkansen (bullet train) which is very cool. We had taken a short ride on the Shinkansen from Kyoto, but this was my first "real" trip in one of the resrved cars. This is one of the highest speed, most technically advanced train rides in the world. I waited on the platform at my designated space for my car expecting a very futuristic expeperience. Much to my surprise, the warning tone for the bullet train to Tokyo was the tune of the "Pufferbilly Song."

The Shinkansen whizzing past. Does this conjure up "Pufferbilly Song" to you?

Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, so I could not really see Fuji-san (Mt. Fuji) as the train went past Yokahama.

I have been to several world capital cities including London, Paris, Beijing, Rome, and Seoul. In some ways they are starting to blend together quite a bit. All of them remind me more of New York than of Washington. Tokyo is certainly big and crowded (although I was able to avoid crowds as I was mostly outside mid-day and mid-week). The high end shopping is mostly "world brands" -- Tiffany, Gucci, Coach, various French, Italian, and American luxury brands. The Sushi in Tokyo is better than the Osaka area, but the overall resteraunt scene really isn't. It's a pretty cool and exciting city, and I didn't really get a chance to explore too much, but I'm looking forward to coming back for several days for the marathon in February. The view out of my hotel room overlooking the main Koyen (park) in Tokyo.
One of the busy areas of Tokyo at night. The pictures taken out of windows of moving taxis just don't come out that great.




Tokyo actually has a few major intersections each of which is as brightly lit and as crowded as Times Square. In fact, 2 of them are also called ____ (name of some Japanese media company) Times Square.


Here is the Takahashi Times Square building. A big plate of peppers at an Indian resteraunt in Tokyo.

Tokyo has more Christmas decorations than Kobe -- which is hard to imagine. Overall, Christmas here is treated about the same way Cinco de Mayo is treated in the USA -- it's all about having a party, doing something different with no clue or care what the orignal point might have been. In fact, there is quite a bit of mixing of Cupid and Valentine's imagry with the Christmas. One thing we are beginning to realize again, for the first time, is how powerful American culture is, and how much the rest of the world really does look up to America even as it also acts resentful and petulant some of the time.

This last one is the hotel lobby.


This actually is in Kobe, but it does show the interesting mixing of Christmas and Cupid imagry.



The Shinkansen back was smooth and enjoyable. It was a more clear day, so I could see Fuji-san pretty well. Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of the train, so I had no opportunity for pictures. Interestingly, Kyoto was packed with hundreds of thousands of Japanese crowding to take picutres of single trees with turning leaves. The train must of had nothing but hard-boiled Tokyo businessmen because no one gave much of a passing glance to the much more impressive view of Mt. Fuji out the window. Of course, back in Kobe the first thing everyone asked me was "how was the view of Mt. Fuji?"
It's not very mature, but headlines like this still make me giggle. It's much easier to find the Financial Times than the Wall Street Journal in most newstands.

Arashiyama

The changing leaves cause massive crowds!
This past weekend we went to Arashiyama, a neighborhood in the city of Kyoto. Kyoto is famous for it's preservation of historic Japan. This is the city where geisha's still work in the entertainment district! It is also filled with shrines and temples. However, to our surprise, it is still very much a large modern city! The view from the train was not what we expected at all. However, our destination was not the city itself, but an area right outside the city.

The Japanese are very interested in celebrating the natural wonders of their country. Spring cherry blossom season is world famous, but fall Maple leaf season is also a very big deal. Arashiyama, set in the mountains outside of Kyoto, is considered a prime place for viewing the changing leaves. It is also filled with shrines, temples, a bamboo forest, and a wild monkey preserve!

We decided to visit Arashiyama last weekend. The leaves have changed color and it would be our first excursion to city outside of our area. We decided to take the train, having been warned about traffic, especially on a holiday weekend. It was about a 90 minute, 4 train ride. It was also very crowded! Matt and I had to stand the entire way. Once we got there, the crowds got even worse!

We started by leaving the train station and going in the exact opposite direction from where we wanted to be. Even with a map, I completely blew it! We found a tiny cafe with a non-english speaking cook. It took quite a while, but eventually we managed to order a lunch that everyone would eat! After we left the cafe, we walked 5 blocks back to the station and followed the crowd to the tourist area. There was a gorgeous temple district, streets lined with small, specialty shops and restaurants, a river with boats that looked like gondolas, and a mountain with wild monkeys at the top. Unfortunately, there were also 750,000 other people there. It was kind of awful! We couldn't really do much of anything other than follow the crowds. Our favorite part, by far, was seeing the Japanese monkeys. Apparently the 20 minute hike straight up the mountain deterred a lot of tourists, so it wasn't as crowded. Seeing the monkeys running around was very cool!

These monkeys engaged in some amorous activities shortly after I took this picture. This lead to Matt explaining the facts of life to Nate. He found it "disgusting"! :-)

Our first train ride back was so crowded that I thought we might run out of air! We decided to take the bullet train back to Kobe. It was almost 3 times the price, but we all got seats and it took half the time. Trains in Japan aren't that cheap. The ride to Kyoto cost about $25.00 for Nathan, Matt, and I (the girls are still free). The bullet train was about $70.00. The bullet train, or Shinkansen, was very cool. The speed was noticeably faster and much smoother. The cars were more like very nice airplane cabins than train cars.

We definitely plan to go back to Arashiyama some day but we'll avoid holiday weekends!

I'm re-posting this from my friend Alexis Jacob's blog. I just thought it was incredibly interesting! I have noticed the Christmas cakes for sale everywhere. We did take a few pictures at the mall this weekend. The Japanese seem to have adopted the tackiest of American Christmas decorations. Most of the Christmas trees we've seen have been pink or purple foil! Also we found a statue of Elvis, decorated for the holidays!

Passion Christmas

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Today at 8:18am

Christmas in Japan is much different than Christmas in the states. With less than 1 percent of the population being Christian there are no mangers, wise men, or baby Jesus wrapped in cloth. Not even a hint that to some it may exist. You see lots of bows, ribbons and tiny trees. You will hear Christmas music in stores, but most people have no clue what is being sung. And while I see very little Christmas in stores compared to what I am used to, according to expats that have been in Japan even a few years ago, there is double what used to be.

At our local grocery store there are signs everywhere for "Passion Christmas". Those two words just don't mix in my mind. After some googling, I have learned that Christmas here is about Christmas Cakes, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and sex.

The Japanese are great lovers of festivals and celebrations, so it only makes sense that they would like Christmas. Christmas Eve is celebrated by eating a 'Christmas Cake', which the father of the family purchases on his way home from work. Stores all over carry versions of this Christmas cake and then reduce the price drastically on Christmas Day. This has resulted in an expression in which young girls are referred to as a 'Christmas cakes': marriageable until their 25th birthday and requiring heavy discounts to get married after their 25th birthdays.

A KFC Christmas Chicken Dinner has become quite popular. Some Japanese will make reservations for their "Christmas Chicken" ahead of time and then line up outside their local store to pick up their orders. Thanks to KFCs brilliant marketing effort, the Japanese believe that Westerners celebrate Christmas with a chicken dinner instead of ham, turkey or roasts.

Christmas in Japan is more like what us Westerners would call Valentine's Day. Presents will be flowers, stuffed animals and jewelry. Presents are reserved for those who we may have romantic feelings for or close friends. It is a time for boys and girls to reveal their affection for one another. Married couples (and I am sure many unmarried ones too) will book rooms at "love hotels", a very popular type of hotel in Japan where people go for just a few hours to have sex.

Passion Christmas... it had to have been thought up by a man.

Report Cards

This week the kids received their first quarter report cards. There weren't really any surprises. Katie is doing well, although her fine motor skills lag a little behind. Since she's the youngest in her class, the teacher isn't concerned. Laura's teacher called her a "model student"! She is very excited about her brand new reading skills and loves the fact that she can write! However, she isn't any where near the top of her class! (more about this in a minute) Nathan is doing fine. He continues to struggle with spelling and writing. The biggest shock was that his grades fell from A's and B's to B's and C's. I think this is primarily because of the change in expectations for the students, rather than a change on his part. The students here are extremely bright and Nathan has gone from being at the top of the class to somewhere in the middle. Matt and I are going to Parent/Teacher conferences tomorrow. We're hoping Nathan's teacher will have some ideas about how to improve his spelling!

I volunteer in Laura's class two mornings a week. The reading and writing skills of the some of the kindergarten students are phenomenal! Some of the girls in her class are already reading at a second grade level. Two in particular, have better handwriting than I do! The amazing thing is that both of these girls are native Japanese speakers. English is their second language! One of the girls will be leaving in April to attend Japanese school. Schools in Japan begin their year in April, which causes a few problems for students who try to switch from one to another. School is taken very seriously here, to the point that families chose the area that they live in based on the school rather than where the parents work. It is very common for fathers to have several hours long commutes to work or even live in another city during the week! Many Japanese students attend regular school during the day and then go to "enrichment" programs every day after school. Having a child do well in school is the primary focus of the family. Often, Japanese mothers feel guilty for any time that they spend on interests other than their children. Therefore, things like school lunches and birthday treats are taken to amazing extremes! Laura constantly complains that her lunch isn't "fancy" like her friends. I don't make carefully constructed pictures with her food! She doesn't realize that she's just lucky I remember to make it most days! :-)

Fall Weekend

This week fall has finally come to Kobe! The weather is getting cooler and less humid and the leaves on the trees are starting to change color. We celebrated the change of season by spending most of the weekend outdoors!

Saturday was the start of the soccer season for Nathan and Laura. The kids and I biked to the school grounds. Laura's group consists of 5-7 year olds and Nathan's is 8-10 year olds. Both groups are co-ed. The setup reminded me a lot of the YMCA's preschool soccer program rather than the typical school team in the States. The various teams are coached by high school students with

help from parents. The sessions consist of practice followed by a game made of teams in

the same group. Both Nate and Laura had a lot of fun and want to go back next week!

I was worried about Laura. Her last attempt at soccer was not a happy experience for her. This year she is a lot more interested and seems less afraid of coming into contact with the ball! Katie found a friend from her grade and spent the entire time running around shrieking. She loves going to soccer, even though she isn't old enough

to play! When practice was over we played on the school playground for a while and then rode our bikes toward home. We stopped for treats at the coffee shop (for me) and the Little Mermaid bakery (for the kids). We ate and drank at a

picnic table on the river mall and then went to the park next to our building and played with friends until it was time to head in for lunch.

Matt got home from China/Korea around 4:00 p.m. We were all incredibly glad to see him! He had lots of exotic items, gifts from the law firms he visited on the trip. I'm not sure I like all these week long business trips. I miss him!

Today, after church, we walked to a hiking trail that went up Mt. Rokko. Friends of ours invited us to go and assured us that the trail was an easy hike for the kids to an incredible waterfall. Unfortunately, we ended up on the wrong trail. Instead of the easy trail to the waterfall, we hiked to the top of Mt. Rokko, along the ridgeline and back

down...all without ever seeing the waterfall, although we did hear it!

The hike took about 2 hours and was really steep! The view was amazing but I really didn't think Katie was going to make it! (I wasn't sure I was going to make it, honestly). The kids were very disappointed that we didn't get to see the waterfall, so once we got back down to the bottom we took the Shin-Kobe Ropeway (like a tram) back up the mountain. It was gorgeous! The waterfall was spectacular and the view of the city was great. They also have a huge herb garden cascading down the mountain. Many people ride the Ropeway to the top and walk down through the herb garden. After our hike, we chose to take the Ropeway back down! The top of the mountain was much cooler than the bottom and the girls got cold. This is them sharing my sweater.

Back at the bottom we still had a bit of a walk back to our car. We went through the historic foriegners section of Kobe called Kitano. It has gorgous old homes built by some of the first European settlers in Kobe. The district is now a very wealthy area filled with restaurants, shops and wedding venues.

We didn't get home until 5:30 p.m. and neither Matt or I had the energy to cook...so we had McDonald's for dinner! Oddly enough, the kids went right to sleep tonight...and I'm next! :-)

Kids Plaza Osaka

Yesterday Laura's class went to the Kids Plaza Osaka. The KPO is a children's museum that is spread over 4 floors in downtown Osaka. The kindergarten is currently doing a unit on forces, so they were looking at the various forces that were on display at the museum. We saw quite a few

at the entrance, where they have a huge ball circus. It is incredibly complex! I think we could have spent 30 minutes just looking at it! They had a big interactive science floor. My favorite display was the bubble machine that let you stand inside a giant bubble! There was also a big cultural display.

The U.S. room allowed kids to put on football helmets and pads and throw a football. I'm not sure if I want football to be the sole representative of American culture!

They had a big musical instruments display, a kitchen where kids could cook actual food, a TV studio and an imaginative play area with a home, post office, grocery store, sushi restaurant,

etc. The kids favorite part was Kids Town, a crazy play area designed by Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. They had such a good time and they actually seem to have learned a few things! I can't wait to take Nate and Katie!

Saipan

Hmm...I've been pretty bad about updating this recently. Sorry! We've been on vacation!

We decided that for our family vacation this year we wanted something relaxing and easy. A friend suggested Saipan. Saipan is an island that is about half way between Japan and Australia. Oddly enough, despite being half way around the world, it is a U.S. protectorate. It's part of the Mariana Islands (which also includes Guam). This means that it is only 4 hours away and they speak English and we were able to use U.S. dollars! Saipan's major moment in history was during WWII. The Japanese soldiers who were defending it decided to commit suicide rather than surrender

to U.S. troops.

Unfortunately, they

convinced many local families to do so as well, threatening them with the atrocities that U.S. troops would commit when they landed. Bonzai Cliffs is the name of the island where these suicides took place. The top of the cliffs are covered with peace memorials

from many different groups. The irony is that the local

population were so well treated by the American's that they chose to remain a part of the U.S. when given the option to become an independent state.

We stayed at the Pacific Island Club, a resort that included several pools with a pirate

ship theme, 4 water slides, a lazy river,

a body surfing pool, kayaks, sailboats, snorkeling, a miniature golf course, a playground, etc. The kids even got to make costumes and go trick-or-treating. There was so much to do that we never even took advantage of the kids club!

The grounds and the amenities were definitely 5 star! The rooms were closer to 3 star but other than the beds (hard as rocks in the Asian style) that didn't bother us. We didn't spend much time in our rooms! Nathan has become a hard core snorkeling addict. Matt and I

could hardly keep up with him. The beaches in Saipan were much rockier than we're used to, but

that is partly because it has a number of coral reefs. We took a trip to another resort where we were able to go snorkeling directly over the reef right from the shore. Laura and Katie spent as

much time as possible in the water. They especially loved going down the water slides with their

dad. One of the highlights for the girls was finding all kinds of amazing shells and live crabs on the beach. We came home with a small pail of shells, but managed to prevent the smuggling of the crabs...we think!

All in all it was a very nice vacation. We did have 2 days of rain and kids who squabbled endlessly but I think we all enjoyed it. The only major flaw was that Nathan left his DSi on the plane. We have calls in to track it down, but we're pretty sure it is lost for good. The plane ride back to the U.S. is going to be a lot longer for him now!

(I think I managed to figure out a way to email this to a few people each time we post something new. I'm only allowed to mail it to 10 people, so I put in family members. If you'd rather not get the blog via email, just let me know and I'll remove you. If there is someone who would like to get the blog via email and isn't, let me know. I still have a few more slots!)