Grocery store

I grocery shop almost every day.  At this point, I don't have a pantry full of food I can rely upon to make various dinners, like I did in the states.  So, every day I either walk or bike to the shopping center.  I also can't haul a whole bunch at one time since I have a kid on the back of my bike and the basket on front only holds so much.  Give me time, and I'll stock that pantry.

Today when my son and I went to the store, it was a mad house.  It seemed like everyone was shopping at 1 pm on Tuesday.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  But I had to get my groceries, so we persisted.  I had a list of items that I thought would be easy to find.  I had my Google Translate as my assistant.  I had my son as my cart pusher/commentary provider (responsible for giving the play by plays). 

We started in the deli, where we passed by the sushi display.  Although quite impressive, today was not sushi day (that seems to always fall on Friday, when I just don't want to cook).

We then walked up and down aisles trying to find rice noodles and Thai red curry paste.  I'm in an Asian store, should be easy, right?  Nope.  I finally found the noodles in the Thai section, right next to the Mexican section.  However, I couldn't find the curry paste.  After looking for some time, I FaceTimed my husband to help.  He asked me to find a store clerk, who he then asked to find it.  The store clerk came up empty handed.  We needed to go to another store.

But first I had to finish finding everything on my list.  I found shrimp on a bed of ice in the seafood section.  After watching others around me, I finally decided I needed to put the shrimp I wanted in a bag and then I could just put it in my basket.  Nothing fancy there.

We grabbed a couple other items and stumbled upon my new favorite product of all time.  It is anti-snoring tape that you can use to tape your spouse's mouth shut.  Where has this been all my life?  All those nights of poking could have been prevented with a bit of tape.  Too bad he only snores when he's sick...

Finally, it was time to check out.  There were ten lanes open (out of 12) and every single lane had a line half way down the aisle.  We stood and waited and waited.  My son was getting tired of waiting and was getting bouncy.  He really wanted something to drink.  As we got closer to the cash register, I told him he could grab a tea from the cooler right next to the register.  I forgot that these aren't generally cold, but actually heated bottles of tea.  He was happy with hot tea, so I let him get it.  I have noticed there are very few items in the checkout areas here.  Maybe a couple packs of gum and these hot beverage warmers.  But it isn't fully of candy and toys.  It makes checking out so much nicer when you have a kid!

We then paid for our groceries.  After a lot of practice, I am now pretty good at specifying that I don't want a bag.  After I pay, they push my basket to me and I go pack my own bags (as everybody does) at the provided tables. 

We then swung by the import store and quickly found the Thai red curry paste.  I'm so thankful to have this store!  It may be a bit spendy, but it has what I want/need.  I even picked up a little bag of kosher pickles, per my son's request.

On the way home, we rode my bike through the park.  I find it relaxing to ride through the park.  It is lovely and the leaves are starting to change colors.

Ginko Trees - I often see people collecting

the nuts from the ground.

Once home, we cooked our comforting curry noodle bowls and enjoyed the evening.  I told my husband about the herds of people at the store, and he explained "Tuesday is sale day at that store."  Oh.  Now I know.  And since he found an app that has the ads, I'll even buy stuff on sale like everyone else on Tuesdays.

Typhoon 21

Last night we were hit with Typhoon 21.  For us we closed the metal shutters and went to bed.  The peak of the storm hit us around 5 am, but we heard heavy rains and strong winds from inside before we went to bed.  My biggest concern was my husband wanting to leave for work on time with it still being very gusty outside.  I didn't want him to get hit with a tree branch or anything!  So, he stayed a little bit later at home and let things continue to settle for a while before heading to the office. 

The only thing we noticed that was out of place were a couple political posters that were laying on the ground outside our front door.  Speaking of politics, campaigns are run a bit differently in Japan.  During campaign season, there are cars that drive around neighborhoods with loudspeakers. There is a person inside these cars and vans going on and on about why you should vote for them or whatever.  It is annoying as all get out.  Does this really sway people?  You can't get enough info to make an informed decision based on a drive by proclamation.  They are loud and they are frequent. 

At the shopping center or train station, there are politicians standing in the plaza with a bull horn going on and on about this or that, similar to the vehicle tactics.  Now, as a foreigner, I will never have the right to vote in this country.  Japan rarely allows citizenship for non-Japanese.  Plus you add in the language barrier, and it is all annoying background noise to me.  I find Japan to be very loud in general - even though the individuals are quiet, there is always advertisements, construction, and machinery making background noise.  When we first arrived in August, the semi's (or cicada) were so loud I would get a headache walking near trees.  Even the bugs add to noise pollution!

Once the typhoon had officially passed, the rains quickly disappeared.  Since it was still windy, the rain clouds also left pretty quickly, leaving us with a beautiful sunny day.  I couldn't believe how beautiful the sky was. 

Since my son still has a runny nose, we mostly stuck to our house.  He played in the rocks in our courtyard for a bit while I cleaned the house.  We washed laundry and hung it outside to dry.  We went grocery shopping for dinner.  I'm trying to adjust to having a budget, which is hard when things vary so much in price.  Certain things are cheap here that are expensive in the states and vis versa.  Even when I make a shopping list (and stick to it), I'm not sure if everything will fit into the budget I gave myself.  Plus, a person rarely shops at just one store here.  For example, today I was making a stir fry for dinner.  At the shopping center, we went to a veggie stand for veggies, a meat shop for chicken, and a general grocery store for the other ingredients to make the sauce.  While I could have purchased everything at the general grocery store, I would have paid a lot more for the veggies and the meat.  And since my son's nose is still going for gold, we stopped at a Chinese restaurant and picked up a couple orders of gyoza (pot stickers), as it is packed with ginger and garlic, powerful cold fighting foods.  I was able to stay within my budget, but it wasn't easy.

While in the store, I was fretting about my budget and trying to find the ingredients that I needed.  This can be quite the pain when I don't know what the package looks like for what I'm looking for.  So, I have to guess the location and then turn on my Google Translator* and start scanning everything.  I feel like such an idiot doing this.  But it is a system that works - kind of.  While trying to find corn starch, my son asks me "Why don't you just ask someone where it is?"  An innocent question that just made my head want to explode.  I can't ask them because I don't know how to say it in Japanese and I've had some pretty aggravating experiences asking store staff for things.  Once when I lived in Osaka I asked several store clerks "Yeees-to doko desu ka?"  (Where is the yeast?)  Only to have people look right at me and say "No English."  Luckily I bumped into students (junior high school students, mind you) who took me right to the yeast.  If you have the slightest bit of an accent, people look at you like you are trying to speak German to them instead of Japanese.  Anyway, I didn't ask and I didn't find it.  But I did find potato starch and decided I was fine with the substitution. 

*By the way - I have a love/hate relationship with Google Translator.  It doesn't always read what I need it to read and sometimes tells me different things depending on the angle of the camera.  But it is helpful.  Sometimes.

Once home, my son helped me make dinner, which is always nice.  He like to help chop, put things into the skillet, and stir, stir, stir.  I appreciate that he peels garlic for me and tries to wash the dishes when we're all done.  Plus, he chats with me while we cook.  I love that.  No matter where we live, I hope we always cook together and he always tells me things while we're in the kitchen.

Halloween Parade

Whenever someone tries to recreate a holiday or tradition, specifically a holiday they have never experienced first hand, it can be quite interesting.  Case in point - our local shopping center put on a Halloween celebration.

As a family, we are known for always attending various events in our community.  This keeps us pretty busy and entertained.  My husband saw an advertisement for this event on social media.  Since we didn't have other plans, and it has been down pouring for a few days now, we decided to go.  Luckily, I had packed one of my son's favorite costumes in our bags (not in our shipment).  A couple years ago he was invited to a superhero birthday party.  I made him a mask and cape.  It didn't take up much room and he enjoys playing superheroes whenever he gets the chance.  I'm so glad I decided to carry it with us because he has played with it several times.  Frankly, I don't think there has been anything that we brought that he hasn't played with at least once.

We walked through the pouring rain to the shopping center.  We needed to buy at ¥1000 ($9) worth of merchandise from any store in the shopping center to participate.  We bought some tofu and bentos for lunch, which more than covered the "fee."  Once we bought our stuff, we were able to get my son's face painted, guess the weight of large orange pumpkins, and participate in the parade.  The face painting was a hit, as it usually is.  The weight guessing game was interesting, as it was multiple choice.  You had a 1 in 3 chance of being correct.  Losers walked away with a Halloween sticker and winners got a little bag with three pieces of candy. 

When it was time for the parade, the kids gathered in one area.  The kids were all dressed up in costumes, including Elsa (from Frozen), Where's Waldo, Pumpkins, and a really cute Gnome.  There was one kid in a Scream ghost costume.  I haven't seen one of those in years.  They were all given a bag with a couple Halloween hard candies inside.  Then, they were told that the candies were not for them.  They needed to give away the candies to other children during the parade.  A marching band arrived, complete with two trumpets, a trombone, two drums, and a xylophone.  The shopping center mascot, a blue cat, also arrived and joined in the celebrations.  The band played lively music and led the children and parents through the shopping center.  As we followed along, our son handed out the provided candy to children watching the procession.  After all his candy was gone, he walked with the cat, holding it's hand.  We completed the parade route and the kids turned in their bag in exchange for a large bag of goodies.  It had five different treats inside.

Carmel corn (similar to extremely sweet Pirate Booty), pizza flavored puffed snacks,

mini doughnuts, and corn snack stick.  Not pictured is grape flavored gummies.

Overall, it was fun to go.  My son had a good time.  We did some Halloween type activities, which made him very happy.  But it was just... different.  Not bad, just different.

The tofu we purchased in order to participate in the Halloween festivities was made from edamame - green soybeans.  We ate it with our dinner.  In the US, I find tofu to be tasteless and bland.  No wonder it has such a bad name for so many people.  In Japan, the tofu is delicious.  This particular tofu was smooth and soft.  We ate it plain, not even adding soy sauce or ponzu to it.  It didn't need anything else because it had plenty of flavor on it's own.  My son, who's always enjoyed tofu, described it so eloquently "Mmmmmm!  Sooo good!"

Runny noses in the rain

It's been raining almost all week.  We had a little reprieve on Wednesday, where we spent most of the day outside.  But otherwise it has been rain, rain, rain.  You'd think we were in Seattle!  There is a typhoon coming.  After it has it's way with Tokyo, the weather is supposed to get nice - although cold. 

With the change in weather, I noticed a large number of runny noses at the community center on Thursday.  This morning, my son woke up with a stuffed up nose.  I'm not really surprised.  I actually fully expect to be sick quite often during this cold and flu season as our bodies are not used to the viruses over here.  The only thing we can do is be as healthy as possible, wash our hands often, and try to strengthen our immune systems. 

But since the runny nose has started dripping, I've broken out all those packs of tissues that are passed out by people on the street.  As you walk around (usually in high traffic areas) there are people handing out packs of tissues with advertisements in them.  At first, I thought this was great.  You can always use a pack of tissues.  But then I started using them.  Oh, my goodness!  They are the worst tissues ever made.  They are so thin and easily blown through.  I admit I've always been a tissue snob, but I just can't deal with these worthless pieces of paper.  And buying boxes of tissues isn't any better.  They are the same quality.  Argh!  This is why I packed boxes of tissues in my shipment from the US.  Unfortunately, the first runny nose has arrived before my shipment has!  And since it isn't due to be delivered until at least next Friday (per the last update), hopefully, the runny nose will have disappeared by then.  But mark my words - if I ever see nice, quality tissues here, I will buy them.  I don't even care if they are ¥1,000 ($9) a box!

Runny noses or not, life goes on.  We are managing to make things work despite being without my dishes (we are eating on paper plates), wearing the same 5 outfits (getting really sick of the same clothes), and sleeping on the hide-a-bed couch (thank goodness we bought a comfy one for our guests!).  I can't wait to get everything from our house in the US - dishes, clothes, bed, toys, tools, and more.  We are making do with what we have.  We're trying not to buy duplicates since we, well, don't want duplicates!  So, this morning I made pancakes for my sick boy.  I had a bit of a chuckle as I mixed the batter with a kid's spoon (because it was either that or chopsticks) in a double boiler insert.  But they turned out just fine despite my lack of tools. 

The highlight of the day?  It was finding the absolute coolest car I have ever laid eyes on.  (If you haven't seen the movie "My Neighbor Totoro", do it!  It's the best!)

Washing Day

Frankly, everyday is washing day in Japan.  That's just how it works.  If you're single, you can do it every couple days.  But when you have a family of 3, laundry is a daily affair.  The loads tend to be small, but it's important not to let it pile up.

When we went appliance shopping, we looked at washing machines first.  There were so many options, it was quite exhausting trying to find a good fit.  While most households in Japan still don't have dryers, they are becoming more popular.  But buying a dryer doesn't mean you have another appliance.  Lots of washing machine models have a dryer function as well!  I was first introduced to this concept early in my marriage during a vacation to Japan where we stayed with my in-laws.  They had the latest and greatest model, that featured a steam dryer.  My mother-in-law was very insistent that I use this new machine even though I had no idea how to use it.  You put everything in and closed the door.  After you put the soap in the drawer, you let it run.  And it ran, and ran, and ran.  For 4 hours!!!  When I pulled my clothes out, they were steamed alright.  My brand new pair of jeans had permanent creases in them from the steam dryer.  I was not impressed.

Well, the washer/dryer combo has come a long way in the past fifteen years.  There were around 6 models of separate dryers, but those were mostly for combining with older machines or very old homes that can't hold a larger combo machine.

Why all the resistance to dryers?  Laundry is still primary hung outside.  Homes come with skinny porches specifically for the purpose of hanging the wet stuff outside.  This is another reason not to let it pile up - crowded wet clothes take much longer to dry!  This is fine in the summer, but in the rainy season and winter it gets a bit annoying.  You end up having clothes hanging all over your house or clogging up your bathroom.

So, after looking at a lot of different models, we found the washer that we wanted.  It took several tries to make sure it would fit, including having a service department representative come to our house to confirm it would fit. It was quite the headache, but worth it when we knew for sure the $3,000 machine would actually work!

After delivery, my husband had to walk me though how to use the machine.  There are the "normal" washing features - gentle, regular, heavy duty, and so forth.  The biggest difference, in my opinion, is the water selection.  You can set up a hose to use the cold bathwater for the first washing cycle.  Since you wash before you bathe (the bath is just for soaking), it is not "dirty" water and perfectly good for washing your clothes.  After the first washing cycle, it uses tap water for the rinse cycle.  I think this is a great way to reduce the amount of water being used in a household.

I prefer to have the machine stop between the washing and drying functions so I can grab anything that I don't want to go in the dryer and hang them to dry.  But the machine can do both cycles in about 2 hours.  I have enjoyed having the dryer and especially love the fluff feature that tosses the laundry around every minute or two for 30 minutes after the dryer is finished to reduce wrinkling when you can't get right to the clean clothes. 

On a sunny day, I hung everything out to dry.  Once done, I tossed everything in the dryer for 10 minutes to fluff it.  It was wonderful.  The smell of the sun, but the softness of the dryer.