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.
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