Old vs. New

One thing I'm noticing more and more is that this country is a really interesting mix of old and new. On the one hand, Japan is always on the cutting edge of technology. On the other, tradition and old school rules of etiquette rule the daily lives and routines of the Japanese.

The toilets I mentioned are just one of many electronically controlled items in our house. The floors are warmed (just press a button on the wall), there are intercoms and security cameras, and the shower temperature is controlled by a panel on the wall, rather than just turning the knob right or left.

Here is the installation guy trying to explain to me how the shower works:

There are 7 different remote controls for this house for everything from AC units and fans to the floor warmers. In addition, train stations, belt sushi restaurants, banks, even vending machines, are all electronic, user friendly, and completely intuative. It makes interacting with machines fun, rather than frustrating.

Also, the fashion in Tokyo is light years ahead of anything in the states or Europe; recycling is beyond anything I've ever seen; and, the driving laws are so strict that yesterday I saw a boy run out into the middle of the road after a ball, everyone stop on a dime, the boy pick up the ball, smile and bow deeply to the cars, and then just trot back up on the sidewalk with his ball! No one batted an eyelash. I mean, this is an advanced country, people.

And yet!

There is so much red tape to get anything done (the house and car, just for starters), so many old fashioned rules, and the people are seemingly so "quaint" at times that I sort of love it and sort of want to scream all at once. I hate to use the word "quaint" though, because I think I am probably just picking up the polite mask they put on. Like, they probably want to me to think they are quaint or something. Sometimes I want to cause a scene just to see what will happen, but I'm pretty sure people would just continue on their way, politely ignoring whatever I was doing.

Here is the latest bit of red tape and old fashioned process I have been involved in: in order to open a bank account here, you must first obtain a Hanko, or stamp. It's a special stamp you have made with your name spelled out in Katakana so that you can "sign" all your documents with it. You cannot open a bank account without this stamp. It reminds me of the wax seals used back in medieval Europe. Here's mine:

And don't even think that you will actually be able to open the bank account just because you have the hanko. I am having to provide lots and lots of documentation to get this done, and they made me copy down my address on the application form in Kanji! It looked like one of the boys wrote it when I was done. Of course the man in the bank kept saying, "Yes! Looks good!" Polite liar!

Also, people still trade name cards when they meet, and ladies regularly walk around in Kimono. You will see a lot of hip kids, businessmen, and regular Western-looking housewives right along side grandma in her kimono going to the grocery store. Or just waiting for a train:

In traditional cities such as Kyoto, Geisha still perform ceremonies and entertain at tea houses for real. It's not just a tourist attraction; they really entertain traveling businessmen or political leaders:

And I am always feeling there is more than meets the eye here. The juxtaposition of old and new is a never-ending source of fascination for me.

Anyway, I'm totally exhausted, but I feel that I must read more about all this. Then off to bed! Tomorrow is another long one. I hope I get to see more kimonos.

Trash Day, EVERYDAY!

First, an update --- we have internet!!!! I feel as if I have re-entered the 21st century. Woo HOOOO!

So now that we have been in our house "out in town" (as the people who live on base like to say) for almost 3 weeks, I have started to get used to some of the quirks of living in a Japanese home. Part of this has been cramming our stuff into a much smaller space than we are used to... Please witness the pantry / laundry room / cleaning supply closet:

Another part has been quickly learning some Kanji (the symbols used in one of the 3 written languages in Japan) in order to be able to do things like flush the toilet. And the toilets! WOW - they are works of art. So much attention has been paid to something most people try not to think about at all. [I feel this says something about Japan (and about the rest of the world), but I haven't figured out what.] Anyway, you don't manually flush these toilets. They are controlled by an electric panel on the wall. There is one button for pee and one button for poop, naturally. And there are many more options than just flushing. My favorites include the seat warmer and the boy and girl bidet options:

 
In addition, the toilets get their own rooms, which don't usually include a sink. But don't worry! There is a sink ON TOP of the toilet that automatically turns on as soon as you press the flush button. Efficient AND hygienic all at once. This country thinks of everything! Check it:

One of the other things that has taken me awhile to get used to is the trash separating. Let me just say up front that, for me, the trash seems like a full-time job. First I had to get FIVE trash cans for the different types of trash that have to be kept separately: Burnable, Non-Burnable, Plastic, Plastic Bottles, and Paper.

Each day of the week a different category has to be put out.

Your trash has to be in clear bags, and if you include something in one category that should be in another, they very politely bring your trash back to you and tell you to please re-do it, thank you very much.

The real estate agent gave me a BOOKLET on what goes in which category.

And it's complicated, too. For example, if you drink bottled water, first you have to tear off the label and unscrew the cap. The cap and the label go in "Plastic" while the bottle itself goes in "Plastic Bottle".

Anyway, this has been hard to get used to, but I have to say that it has made me a LOT more conscious about "refuse, reuse, and recycle". I mean, I would rather get big bottle of juice and portion it out to the boys in their reusable cups than have to deal with throwing away 8 million juice boxes.

In our AOB class, they told us that Japan's landmass is the size of California, but that only 17% of that land is habitable. In addition, there are 127,650,000 people living in Japan. That's half of the population of the United States living in a space 17% of the size of California. I guess they just don't have room for trash.

In conclusion, trash or no trash, I am pretty much over the moon to be in our house, using internet at my own kitchen table, and looking at pictures on our walls. CHEERS!

Interim Solution

I still don't have internet service. I am not convinced that I will ever have internet service. The owner of this house said "hell, no, you cannot drill a hole in my wall." So, there's that. There is a second internet provider coming out to take a look at the house tomorrow, but I can't imagine the answer will be much different about drilling a hole in the wall in order to pull together the proper wiring for internet service. Meanwhile, I remembered over the weekend that our cell phone company mentioned way back on day 1 when we bought our phones that they can be used as their own hotspots and that you can "tether" your computer to it to get internet service. So I immediately hooked this up. It's not perfect, but it will DO for now.

If you are asking yourself, "Why the hell won't the owner let a hole be drilled for a basic utility?" you are asking the same question I am. I have discovered that people here are somewhat rigid, and the rules are endless. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realize that, in most of my travels, people in general usually seem to be a bit more rigid than in the states. I think that in all Americans there exists a certain amount of the old wild west. Meaning, we all sort of think that we can make things work in some way, even if we have been told we can't. We will bend the rules or talk someone into something if necessary, but damn it, we will make it work. But in other countries there seem to be more rigid rules, and people seem to be more apt to fall in line and abide by them. When the answer is, "No," you don't see people here saying, "Oh, yeah, well let me talk to your boss and we will see about that!" or going around or under or over whatever blockade there is in order to get what they want anyway. If this new internet company doesn't work I am going to have to look into a bigger version of what my phone already does. Hopefully I can make this happen without going too wild west on anyone.

In other news, the boys started preschool yesterday. Praise the lord, is what I say to that. I am excited for me, I mean them, on many levels. Circumstances have made it somewhat difficult up to this point for me to get a job that would pay enough to justify any sort of daycare for 2 kids, so I have been at home with them for most of 3 years. While a lot of that has been fun, a lot of it has also been exhausting and frustrating. I mean, let's face it: infants are a lot of work, and toddlers, while super funny and cute sometimes, are really just tiny tyrants hell-bent on getting their way at all costs. (Oh wait, that sounds like all the Americans I was just describing.) Anyway, the former is physically exhausting, the latter is so mentally exhausting I am surprised I haven't ended up on Jerry Springer yet for hurling one or the other of them out a window. Just kidding! No I'm not, yes I am, no I'm not.

But I digress. I am excited for them (truly) because they are going to be around lots of other kids, which they so need right now, they get to run around like maniacs, and hopefully they get to pick up at least some Japanese. They had a great first day, and tomorrow they go back for more. Yahoo! This preschool is unbelievable, too. The bus that picks them up has flowers and bunnies all over it, there is a giant rocket ship slide, they do things like plant potatoes, and the one English-speaking teacher called me the night after their first day to tell me how they did. It's like they go to Japanese Narnia twice a week. When the teacher on the bus came to get them, she had all of the kids at the bust stop line up with hands by their sides and shout, "OHIYO GOZIEMAS!" ("Good morning!") And when the bus dropped them off in the afternoon they all had to do the same thing and shout, "SYONARA!" ("Goodbye!) It was pretty much the most dear thing I've ever seen. If you are interested: http://mikuni.ed.jp/en/english/index_e_e.htm

Oh, and the UNIFORMS! The uniforms are flipping awesome. All school kids in Japan wear uniforms. They are all different depending on school and class, age, and gender. In general, the uniforms for preschool, kindergarten, and grammar school are hilarious. But they look even crazier on young American boys who normally wear things that can get dirty easily. I laughed the entire time I was helping them get dressed yesterday. Bottom line is that this is pretty much the most exciting thing that has happened yet. I can't wait to see how it goes on their second day!

Here are some pictures from the big morning...

Anthony and Jackson put on their shoes. (This is a BIG deal! You have to take off your shoes when you go into the school, so the boys had to learn to do this themselves before school started!)

The boys and I. (Please note how much more excited I am than they are at this moment.)

Boys waiting for the bus!

Goodbye, bus! Have fun, boys!!!

Almost There...

I am typing on my phone just to say that i am stil alive and kicking. We were supposed to get internet today but apparently a hole will have to be drilled into the wall. ????? And so now we have to ask the owner if we are allowed to do that. Which means im pretty sure it will be another 2 weeks before we are online. good news is that we are in the house! We are a block from the beach, the house is amazing, and slowly but surely it is starting to look like a home. Probably most exciting for me is that I have a kitchen in working order! I'm cooking again, woo hoo!!! OK I'm off the grid again till I can post from my computer.

A Car, Finally

This is Phyl:

You may also refer to him as "the nicest man in the universe." He has made our car buying and registering process a lot less horrible than it usually is. We met Phyl on our 1st full day in Japan, when we trekked over to the lemon lot on base to see about buying a car. We ended up buying one from him that day and another one today. He buys junked cars at auctions, fixes them up, details them, takes care of title and inspection paperwork, and sells them for good prices to people like us.

Here are the steps you must go through to get a parking pass and register your car, once you have actually purchased it:

There are 4 different buildings (City Hall, Land Transportation Office, Police Station, and Vehicle Registration Office) that you have to visit multiple times and in a certain order so that you can complete the process, and these 4 buildings are all in different CITIES in this area.

One of the most annoying parts is that, during the whole process you have to have temporary plates on your car. These must be obtained at City Hall. However, they only give you plates for 5 days, so you have to keep going back and renewing them every 5 days. Because let me tell you, 5 days is NOT long enough to take care of all this nonsense. Phyl, bless his kind soul, took me there himself the first time and then went back THREE different times for us and renewed the plates. In addition, he sat with me in the insurance office to make sure we had the right paperwork to insure the car. And, probably most annoying of all, he fielded countless "what do i do next?" phone calls from yours truly.

Seriously, where would we be without Phyl?

And now, finally I have a car that is actually registered. It has plates, and it has base decals. I can drive legally, people. Technically, it's a minivan. By American standards, it's more like a hatchback on steroids. It does have a 3rd row of seats, but the seats are small, and when you put down the 3rd row it has about as much storage space as a VW Bug. You can't tell from this picture, but I am taller than this car.

And, now we also have a 2nd car! Adam will use it when he has to get to work. We have to start the whole paperwork process for that one now, God help me. I am hoping Saint Phyl isn't tired of us and might help us with this part as well. I also love this tiny car and will definitely be driving it myself when the boys aren't in tow:

And finally, just for another check in the "hooray" box: omorrow we get our furniture delivered to our new place! We are definitely making progress!!! Yahoo!