Rachel's Birthday

This might be the most low key birthday we've ever celebrated for one of our girls. Rachel's first summer-time birthday. It was on a Monday, and because I'm away during the week at my language teachers training course, I wasn't even there on the day! 

On top of that, having no oven in our house meant that making a cake was pretty difficult. We had pretty much resigned ourselves to buying a slice of convenience store cake, but come Saturday, I made the snap decision that it wouldn't be a birthday without something home cooked. I pulled together and used the rice cooker to produce a brownie cake for our girl. 

It's not a classic from the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book, but it was something. We ate that on the Sunday before I left, and then on the Monday, Steve came through with some more "Japanese" offerings. It was kind of like Rachel got two birthdays really. 

Lots of messages and calls from back home and her Japanese school friends wrote some super lovely cards for her. Rachel was delighted to open the present of five books of the latest series she is obsessed with (Sophie was too), especially given that English books to read are in short supply here. We were on the fence about getting them, since it means we have to carry these with us while we travel Japan and then get them home again. But her excitement and crazy eyes as she opened it was worth it. 

She's got seven kilos of carry on luggage allowance after all. 

Living in Saitama: Japanese Teacher Language Training Program

This story begins last year, in September, when I decided to apply for a Japan Foundation intensive language training course. This was specifically for international teachers of Japanese language to help us improve proficiency and thus be better Japanese teachers in our home countries. The application process was involved, several proficiency tests and a written section as well as school approval etc. Obviously, back in September we didn't know if we would even be in Japan, but I applied anyway, since I was wanting to improve my Japanese proficiency and this course looked like a good opportunity. 

Application sent, and we didn't hear anything until March; the week before we were due to fly out. I was in! The acceptance process was nearly as detailed as the application process, and included medical approval and a chest x-ray, which I had nine days to get organised before our flight. Talk about panic mode. It wasn't exactly what I needed on top of wrapping up everything at school (assessing kids for report cards and prepping for the two weeks of relief lessons I had to leave) on top of cleaning out the house and finalising packing. 

There was also a question of whether or not I could actually accept and attend. The course is designed for teachers to fly in, attend and fly out. The Japan Foundation organise specific travel/study visas for the applicants and provide all the accomodation etc. We had a bit of back and forth about my specific situation, but in the end, they said that yes, I could attend. 

The timing worked out well, because we got here, settled in, the girls started school, and just as I was really starting to stretch the limits of my "what to do with free time" activities, I began. As I mentioned at the end of this post, I am living away from the rest of the family for the week (Monday to Friday) and then heading home for the weekend. Steve and the girls are doing fantastic without me. 

There are 33 teachers here (including me), and we represent 11 different countries. I'm the only Aussie. There is a large group from Indonesia (18), and then a few from India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Cuba, Mexico, Algeria, Morocco, Thailand and Myanmar all have just one teacher. Our common language is Japanese, so every day is a lot of practice and improvement. 

We are living in small hotel room style apartments in one building on the campus, and using the classrooms, hall, library etc for studying. The first couple of days I was very overwhelmed and thinking "why am I here?" which I'm pretty sure at least 95% of the other people were thinking too. That settled and we did some testing to be sorted into three classes of skill level. Some of the other teachers were really stressing about that testing, but I was honestly unworried. I mean, we were all already accepted, in, actually here! What came next was to help us learn and progress from whatever level we were at. 

Among all the language learning, the course also includes a large amount of Japanese cultural classes. In the first week we had lessons in how to wear yukata, which made everyone else delighted - most of them have never worn one before. I struggled with that because I didn't know how to not show my knowledge and experience, especially since I was starting to realise that for a lot of people, this was their first time in Japan. Everyone had lots of fun though, in their borrowed yukata (I bought my own) and several people considered buying one afterwards. 

We also took a day trip to Tokyo where we got to do a fuurin experience. We were able blow our own glass wind chimes and paint a design on them. These are very Japanese summer time things that I don't have and was hoping to get one this time round, so hooray! Afterwards we went to lunch and then Asakusa, which I've been too before, so I skipped off to have dinner with a favourite uncle of mine. 

Now coming up on three weeks in (7 weeks total), things are settling into routine. Lots of lessons and things to do. We have an "Expo" to prepare for - I'm in a group who are going to showcase the oceans around our respective countries. We are doing more cultural things as well, and in our spare time we hang out in the karaoke room, play ping pong (though I did that for ten mins last night and hurt my shoulder again, gah!), or just sit around and chat. Lots more to say about this whole thing, but I'll save it for another day - this post is long enough already! 

Subscription Update

Just wanted to let everyone know that we had some dramas with the previous service that we were using to get the updated blog posts sent to your emails. After the first twenty, things turned ugly and it was hiding the blog link/content rather than making it easy for you to find. So sorry for this in the last three or so posts! 

My tech team (aka my Steve) has been on the case and we are now fully switched over to using Mailerlite. If you were already subscribed, you don't need to do anything, but maybe check your spam if you haven't gotten an email lately. We have already canceled the previous subscription account, so you shouldn't get any more emails from them (and if you do, please unsubscribe and mark as spam!)

If you are someone who hasn't been subscribed and would like to be - there should be a handy link at the top of the page. If you are on your phone, you will need to scroll to the bottom of the page, click "view web version" and then the subscription box should appear. 

Hopefully any bumps are sorted and we will be back to normal Japan programming soon!

Floor Pantry

For those who were curious about the floor pantry that I mentioned back in April when I gave you the house tour, here are a few more snaps of it. 

It's honestly just a box in the floor with a trapdoor lid. We don't really need it (though I'm sure if we were staying longer than four months here, I'd be using it more!) but we keep anything big and un-opened in there. And the potatoes. 

From Australia it seems ridiculous, but I wonder if there are other countries out there who have storage in their floors too? Surely there are. 

Sewing Nook Update 2, Lego and Other Things

It wasn't until I was writing a post about waiting for a cyclone way back in March(!) and reflecting on how much I loved my little Sewing Nook that I realised that somewhere in 2024, it had an upgrade that was not blogged! Rectification time is here! 

A couple of factors in this kind of minor updated. Firstly: the desk top we had put in in 2022 was bowing slightly. Not an urgent need, but giving me some concern none the less. Then there was the lego. 

We'd had a table and lego out for at least five years, but towards the end of 2023, there was less interest. I had covertly packed things away, lego kits went into zip lock bags and then into tubs over the course of a couple of months. I had put the table with what remained out on the deck to clean the floors and it sat out there for at least a week or two without the girls batting an eye lid, so I quickly relocated it under the house without them noticing. Stealth parenting at its best!

I think we had about three or four months when they didn't even mind, but something triggered Sophie and she asked for a set. I got it out and put it on a tray table for her. I had been thinking the lego phase was over, but unfortunately for me, this was not the case. The lego creep was real and the girls had a huge renewed interest in it. Soon, lego was back in force, and the table was again required. 

Where to put the lego table now that it was officially back? I ended up sacrificing the desk that I had in the living room. It was two birds one stone, because moving the desk out of the living room and into the Sewing Nook made space for the lego, and meant we didn't need to actually fix or replace the bowing table top we already had in the Sewing Nook. We just took it out and slid the pre-made desk in. Then there was space in the living room for all the lego (and I mean: All. The. Lego.) and the bowing sewing desk was no longer a problem. 

The other thing that happened was Olivia the Overlocker stopped working. Some plastic casing inside her broke, and the repair shop people said it wasn't worth trying to fix, since they don't make replacement parts for the plastic and it would end up costing me the price of a new machine if they did. Sadness! I ended up donating Olivia for parts to the sewing repair shop, and have been without her ever since. 

I don't think anyone would mind if I wanted to get a new overlocker, but the reality is, there are other ways to finish a hem. Ways that I've learnt function just as well and look equally as neat if not better (French seams, and bound Hong Kong Finishes, I'm looking at you (and swooning slightly)). So I can go without. It also means there is more space for the now present iron and small board that I have. And I also have space to lay down my cutting board right at the table. 

My goodness, my Sewing Nook gives me such joy and oh do I miss it! So so much. I've been doing lots of hand sewing here in Japan (Red Yukata, sports bags, sewing kit and sitapons to name a few) as well as getting a lot doing on the cross stitch project, but all the hand sewing has given me an injury (I'm hoping it's minor?) in my shoulder. It's been pretty painful and I've intentionally had to take a stitching break to try to let it recover. I'm nearly a full week of "sewing rest" now, and while the whole shoulder is feeling better, I don't want to risk restarting too soon and having an even longer recovery time. Sadness! 

On the plus side, I've been reading - mostly the Tamora Pierce books that Sophie bought to Japan with us. So nostalgic. And you know me, I'm keeping busy in other ways too. More on that later! 

The girls have been surviving in Japan remarkably well with the limited amount of Lego that we have on hand. I had let them take a very small selection each. They mostly chose a few small animals, a base and then whatever fit on it. I also strategically bought two small and one medium set of Lego to bring with us as a surprise for them too, knowing how much they were going to miss having the huge range when we got here. 

The sets I bought were a hit. They had all the right kinds of small animals that the girls love, fun nature elements and enough parts to tear apart and rebuild in numerous and various ways. Rachel actually said on day two of having them: "I can never be bored here because these are the best ever!" Spoiler alert: she's been bored. But they have had a lot of fun too. 

Oyama Adventures

So my friend David, who I talked about in the Red Yukata, lived in Japan for over ten years after we graduated university. He was based in the "country town" of Oyama, in Tochigi Prefecture. It's about 2 hours out of Tokyo, though the bullet train can get you there in half that time. He was back in Japan for a month for work and various things, including a performing in a concert. 

In the lead up to the big concert event (more on that later), David had some spare time, so he asked if I wanted to do a day trip and visit. I said yes, since I was filling my days with various things just like this, and he promptly organised a whole bunch of things for us to do. 

I arrived about 11 and we went on a tour of the main sights of Oyama: namely the shrine and the remains of the castle. The street up to the shrine was beautifully lined with red lanterns and the tori gate at the entrance was suitably large. The walk around to the castle remains (I say remains, there is not much that remains...) had the view of the surrounding mountains, including, David assured me, Fuji-san in the distance, on a very clear winter day of course. 

We went from there (through a magical enchanted forest feeling park) to have sukiyaki for lunch. So good. 

I was full from this lunch for hours. I don't think I even ate dinner that day. I drank a lot more tea though. 

Then, David's friend, Shinozaki-san, picked us up from the car park and took us to her place. David had said that we were going to have tea ceremony tea there, which I had assumed was just the three of us. I was wrong. When we got there, there was a weekly group meeting of ladies who try to get together and practice English to help prevent dementia in old age. 

Then two extra ladies showed up, one who promptly off-loaded a slew of kimono and obi to David and I (eek!), and the other who actually did the tea ceremony for us. We did those things and then played a game of karuta (my first ever; it's a picture/poetry matching snap game played with 100 cards) while the "practicing English" ladies group were in the other room. Not going to lie, it was a little strange. 

Then we joined them, and had a half hour of English practising together. It was nice to meet these ladies who had adopted David into their families when he was a lonely Aussie living in Oyama those first couple of years. I did get a couple of photos of them, but I didn't ask about putting it on the internet, so I won't be sharing it here. Sorry! The tea ceremony was so lovely though, I haven't had proper tea ceremony in a really long time (can't actually remember when!). I'll likely explain what that whole thing looks like in another post. 

Then we got a lift back into town to David's rental to drop off the kimono he had acquired. Lucky him; I had to carry my five kilos of kimono around with us for the next visit and then all the way home as well. We walked to the station and stopped for a cool drink (another tea!) before we went to David's koto teacher. 

While he was living in Oyama, he learnt koto, a traditional Japanese musical instrument, generally called a harp since it's big and got strings that you pluck. Looks nothing like a traditional harp though. I've had David visit the school I teach at for the last couple of years and demonstrate koto to the students which has been fun. I've had the basics from him and can play one song, but David's teacher now gave me an official lesson. 

She had the music for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star out, (I'm a beginner, got to start somewhere!), so that's what we worked on. She played through the melody with me as I got used to it, then they tuned a third koto for David to play (the accompanying base line) as well, and she switched to the harmony line. After some more practice we stopped for a cup of cold tea (or was it juice? I've lost count) and a chat, and then practiced again. 

The koto sensei organises a big concert with all the students every two years. Not just with koto students, but also shamisen (a three stringed guitar like instrument that you play upright with a big pick) and shakuhachi (wooden recorder). They have so many students at the school, from kids to older people so it was going to be a huge concert - five hours long! I could feel how busy everyone was in the lead up and so I was very aware of the privilege it was getting to have a private hour long lesson so close to crunch time. 

After the lesson, I was back to the train station to head home. It's funny how "country" anything out of Tokyo is referred to, but the station was still surround by huge buildings, heaps of shops and things to do. I guess what makes it "country" is that ten or fifteen mins of walking away from the station, there begins to be "not much" in the way of "big city" stuff, and a car starts to be much more essential. Still. 

A week and a half later, Steve and the girls joined me on an adventure back to Oyama to attend the aforementioned concert. We did stop on the way there (bonsai!), and then I went off to the concert (it was five hours, so there was no way the girls (or Steve really) were going to last that long) while Steve and the girls had their own little Oyama adventure. 

They liked the enchanted forest, and the view from the castle ruins. Then they joined me at the concert for about three songs, before they decided to head home. I was so impressed with the concert. I've heard the koto before, but obviously mostly just David playing solo, or with me fumbling along. To hear twenty (or more!) of the instruments with different parts playing together was special. 

While I was at the concert, I did see David's tea ceremony teacher and one of the extra ladies that I'd met the week before. I fortuitously sat right in front of them in the large concert hall. Then they gave me more yukata and obi.  Eek again! The collection continues to grow. 

It was lovely to have these ladies to chat to during the breaks between songs though, since after each song, they have to reset the whole stage for the next group of performers. That means that they fully close the curtains and everyone lugs off their instruments, stands and music stands, while simultaneously a whole bunch of other people are trying to get their things onto the stage and in position for the next song. It's understandable that the concert is five hours long! Kudos to the people who made it all the way from start to finish and didn't take the easy way out like me. I guess those people don't necessarily have a two hour train trip back to Tokyo after the concert though. 

I have to say though, I did enjoy my time in Oyama, and happy that I could see and support a friend in his musical journey. Happy days! 

Rainy Yokohama

Back in May, when the girls were at school on Saturday because sports day was postponed, Steve and I decided to trip it out to Yokohama together. Yokohama is the port city on the south side of Tokyo Bay and is well known for being "China Town". I'd been there before with my homestay family over twenty years ago and had had some of the best Chinese food I'd ever eaten. Keen to go back!

The train ride was long, and we made it more complicated (but not longer) by progressively jumping onto different trains spontaneously, so there were a stack of unecssacary changes. I still find it fun to just ride around on the fast and well timed trains of Tokyo though, so even that was a highlight. 

The rainy cold weather was not. When we arrived in Yokohama we regretted not wearing raincoats instead of taking the umbrellas, because the wind was terrible. We did some walking around, mostly for me to take photos of the pokemon manhole covers, and ended up down by the water. There was an impressive rose garden (which would have been much more lovely if it were not raining) and a triathlon was being run as well. 

No lovely view of the bay though, since it was so rainy. So we walked back through China town and stopped for a thirteen course banquet for lunch. Delicious! 

We took a train a couple of stations up, walked through a shopping area (to avoid the rain) randomly came across this DeLorean promoting the Back to the Future musical. 

And took fun photos in the Snoopy store. 

Then we braved the rain once again to visit the Cup Noodle Museum, which was interesting and cool. The guy who invented cup noodles was still working at 95 when he finally cracked instant noodles that can be eaten in space. Steve approved. 

We had some very interesting (should I say questionable?) beers at a brewery, while we watched the rain do more rainy-ness and then jumped on the train home again. 

Making the most of it: going out even when it's rainy and wet and the girls have school. 

The Saddest Thing

Two words: Animal Cafe. 

Also, trigger warning - this is not a super uplifting post and contains descriptions of poor treatment of animals. 

Last year, I was very resolute that I did not want to be a part of any animal cafe visiting experiences. I dislike zoos (though Australia does do them very well) and I don't want to see any animals in boxes that they don't belong in. This time round, for some reason, I was mildly interested in going to an animal cafe. I think Steve reporting the conditions of the cat cafe that the girls and he visited last year being tolerable. And the draw of wanting to see hedgehogs too. What we didn't do, was enough research. 

We had a vague plan that we would take the girls to one, but when we were out in Asakusa being ninja and samurai, they really began to notice all the different options there. The asking to go increased. I guess part of me thought: "Let's get it done now and then we can cross it off the list." So a quick google and a short walk later and we were at one that had a variety of animals. 

I wish I could say we walked out, but after you are there, and they have space (often there is a booking system with a long wait time), it's much harder to say no. I think too, I was focused on understanding what the guy at the front desk was rattling off in Japanese to me that I didn't properly look around at the conditions of the room. Hindsight is 20/20. 

The place had small hedgehogs in tubs, two owls, a marmoset that was free range and at least fifteen otters. The otters were the worst, because they were in enclosures behind perspex that had no stimulation, no natural landscape, nothing. One of the connected "rooms" had a single bathtub that they were nearly the length of when they were swimming, so they would jump in, do a lap and back and then out again. Poor poor otters. 

We tried to make the most of it, but the regret was so high. Why did we give this place money for the appalling care they showed for these animals? It really tainted our whole day after that. We had a lot of talks with the girls about it. I think they even had regret, though they were also more enamoured by the "cool animal experience" than Steve and I.  

I think worse still, the girls were now focused on "next time". Probably wanting to replace the sad memory with a better one. "Next time, let's just go to a cat cafe" they would say, "because cats are usually inside house pets." The idea of there even being a "next time" was unsettling, but I could understand their desire to have some positive memories. 

So I researched. We were certainly done with exotic animals and would just be sticking with cats. I serendipitously stumbled across an area of Tokyo, right near Nippori, that was actually nicknamed cat town. There were options there and most of the reviews were very positive. Places that wouldn't let kids in under 12 because they were too enthusiastic for the animals. Places that were not open every single day for hours and hours. Places that made you read the rules, sign compliance agreements and sanitise every part of you before you were allowed to enter. Things were looking much more promising for a positive experience here. 

The place we went to was a rescue centre for cats that also adopted them out. It was expensive to be there for a half hour, but we got a drink each, and I was much happier about handing over the money when I saw the care and environment the cats were in. 

The girls enjoyed their time, respectfully leaving cats that were sleeping alone and taking photos instead. They got to play with a couple of more frisky cats and it was overall a nice little half hour. 

I still don't know what to do about the whole animal cafe experience though. It shows a disappointing lack of care for animals that is really prevalent in Japan. Even thinking about the axolotl at the girls school (who regularly eat each others limbs because they are under-stimulated/fed) is depressing. Can we just turn up with supplies for their aquariums? Do I write to the girls teachers? Would that even be noticed, or are they just another cog in the machine? 

This has been the saddest thing we've experienced here. It's not all beautiful flowers, kind people and cool things.