Please try again another day

I make plans.  I make lots of plans.  Sometimes they work out.  Sometimes not so much. 

This morning I had planned to meet up with another park mom and take our boys to the Nerima Art Museum for an afternoon of fun.  We love spending time together, as do our boys.  We've been looking forward to doing some fun activities together over summer vacation. 

We've been texting to make sure we could still do our activity after my son got sick.  I kept him home yesterday (which was a trial in itself) as his body finished his short bout of some stomach ailment.  By the end of the day he was fever free and full of energy - especially after being cooped up all day.  But this morning I received a text that her son now had a fever!

I wasn't going to let not having our friends join us stop me from going (I'm very hard headed that way).  So, we did a couple extra things around the house and left much later than intended.  It was another hot day.  I made sure to grab some extra water to keep us hydrated.  Then we hoped on my bike and were on our way.  Adventure awaited!

It took about 20 minutes to ride my bike from our house to the museum.  Another park mom had told me the outside of the museum had several statues which created a park in from of the building.  We were greeted by these friendly statues.  They received quite the reception since I hadn't told my son about them.  He found so much joy in running around them, climbing on them, and pretending they were real.  I enjoyed them from afar as I stayed in the shade of the trees around the perimeter of the park.  He ran and ran until sweat was pouring down his cheeks.  Of course, that didn't take very long in the heat.

It took me a while to realize the bodies and

legs are Nerima daikon!  So creative.

This crazy path was so neat.  My son ran up

and down it again and again.

We went to walk up the stairs to the art museum's second story entrance when I noticed it was blocked off.  What?!?  I thought I saw a sign indicating another entrance, so I wasn't deterred.  We walked around the corner to find... a closed sign. 

I am challenged with not being able to do research to verify hours of operation or random closures very easily.  Just another struggle with living abroad.  But I wouldn't let it get me down. 

The first floor of the Nerima Art Museum was the local library.  My son eagerly agreed to go in.  We found the one shelf that had children's books in English and settled in.  After reading a stack of books, we headed home.

Back on the bike, my son told me "I didn't really want to go to the museum today.  I wanted you to read to me.  So I'm happy.  I had a good day."  My little ray of sunshine made me smile once again by looking on the bright side of things.  Not being able to do what I had planned didn't ruin our day.  It just made it different.  And we had a great time regardless.

Cruising the waterways of Tokyo

Before coming home to a sick kid yesterday, I was on the town.  A few weeks ago the park moms decided we needed a night out.  So, one of the moms organized a dinner cruise down the Sumida River.  I met the moms at the train station to head downtown for our little soiree. 

Our group of 14 moms climbed aboard the boat at 6 pm.  As soon as we boarded, we removed our shoes and entered the main dining room.  The floor was covered in tatami (which you never wear shoes on).  There were 7 horigotatsu tables on each side of the boat.  Horigotatsu are very low tables with a sunken floor under the table.  Technically you are sitting on a cushion on the floor with your legs below ground.

Most of our meal was already sitting waiting for us, so we were able to start dining as the ship left the dock.  We indulged in a variety of fish, vegetables, and other Japanese specialties.  Everything was beautifully prepared.  As we ate, the staff brought a variety of tempura for us to enjoy as well. 

The cruise included drinks, so I indulged in some yummy umeshu (plum wine) and apricot liquor.  There were tons of options, but that was enough for me.

We cruised down the river and stopped twice to gaze at the skyline, near Skytree and Odaiba.  Once the boat stopped we could go up to the top deck and see the view.  It was so beautiful.  The sunset was faint, but so pretty.  And the city lights were quite breathtaking.

One nice bonus was the little peak of fireworks we were able to see.  We had a typhoon on Saturday, so they were rescheduled for Sunday.  Although our boat had to stay it's course, we still saw several go off. 

The cruise lasted almost 3 hours.  It was such a nice little break.  When I got home, I snuck into my son's room to give him a kiss goodnight.  Instead of finding a sleeping beauty, I found an awake hot kiddo.  Soon, my husband and I were dealing with a lot.  Such is the life of parents!  Even on "nights off", our responsibilities are never far away.  (After a rough night, he's back to playing and having a great time.)

Sick Kid

Sorry no blog post today.  My kid is sick with a fever.  Priorities.

The official sound of summer

The buzzing has been going for over a month now.  Semis, or cicadas, are singing their mating call.  To me, it sounds like static on the radio being played at full blast.  My son thinks it is a fun sound that indicates bugs are near.  Most Japanese people will tell you the "chirping" sounds like summer.  Many people believe that summer doesn't really begin until you hear their song.  They were already singing when we arrived here last year.  They shout for attention from mid July to early September each year.

No matter what you think it sounds like, there is no doubting it is very loud.  Any time you are near a tree, you can hear the buzzing.  There are times when I can't even hear myself think.  And I think that says a lot since I'm the mother of a 5 year old!  I read somewhere that the reason cicadas don’t annoy themselves with their music is because they can “switch off” their hearing.  There are times that I am so jealous of this.

The sound isn't the only sign of their presence.  We are seeing their exoskeletons all over the place.  Their "shells" are hanging from tree trunks, laying on the ground, and even grabbing onto screen doors.  I find it disgusting.  They are everywhere!

The semi living in Japan are Tanna Japonesis or evening cicada (although you can hear them all day!).  Adults are approximately one inch (females) to one and a half inches (males) long.  The larva live underground for up to 17 years before emerging for a short, week long adulthood, where their entire being is focused on one thing - reproduction.  That's why they sing so loudly.  They want someone to love and they want it now.

Thank goodness for small favors, but my son hasn't gotten his hands on a live one.  He wants to bring home all the bugs and I am not going to have one of these noise machines in our house for one minute.  It's bad enough they are everywhere else!

I am not lunch!

My son screams loudly "I am not lunch!  Stop eating me!"  I can't blame him.  We protect and we protect and we protect, yet they still come after us like a child flocks to anything with sugar.  I've come to the conclusion, it doesn't matter what we do, they will come after us anyway.

Mosquitos are a horrible problem in Japan.  The hot and humid summers are the perfect habitat for the little blood suckers.  It is so much of a problem, I had my son immunized for Japanese encephalitis right after we moved here.  It is a serious disease spread by mosquito bites that can cause someone to have symptoms ranging from vomiting and headaches to brain swelling and coma.   My whole family has always attracted mosquitos and collected bites as some sort of insanity challenge.

There are lots of ways to combat mosquitos here.  Before leaving the house, we spray ourselves with repellant and put repellant stickers on our clothing.  Some days  it helps more than others.  Usually, we will get bites in the exact spot we didn't spray or a short distance from the sticker.  It is so aggravating.

Many moms bring mosquito repelling incense to the park and burn them where we sit.  I've gotten used to their scent, as many people have them burning at this time of year.  Farmers have special little canisters with vent holes attached to their belt loop to continuously release the smoke on their clothes in the fields.  These coils are so common, that one of the popular images representing summer is a ceramic pig that people put the incense into.  The cute pig can be found on porches, bedrooms, anywhere they want mosquitos to stay away from.  Of course there are other designs too, but the pig is the most famous.

We don't have a pig.  I want one, but I just haven't found "the one" yet.  In the meantime, we are eaten alive.  Despite the spray.  Despite the stickers.  Despite the coils.  We are eaten.  And it is torture! 

I keep yelling at my husband and son to "STOP SCRATCHING!!!"  But it is to no avail.  I put cream on them,  but they scratch anyway.  And we are all miserable in our suffering.

The birthplace of curry pan

There are some pretty weird pastries in Japan.  I try to stay away from the term "weird," but there really isn't a better descriptor.  Some of the flavor combinations seem to be more of a dare versus a true attempt at innovation. 

No matter how strange, some weird pastries stick around, becoming standard flavors.  One popular pastry that is now standard is karepan or curry pan.  It is a Japanese curry wrapped in dough, coated in breadcrumbs that is either fried or baked.  Pan (pawn) means bread in Japanese and refers to any bread product, including pastries.  Curry pan can be found with sweet curry, spicy curry, curry with meat, vegetable curry, curry with cheese, and more.  The varieties are endless.  Many curry pans come with half of a soft or hard boiled egg in the middle.

Since 1934, Denmark Bakery has been baking bread for patrons.  They are known for their vegetable based starter (similar to sourdough starter, a fermented yeast, but using vegetables like daikon) that they use for loaves, as well as curry pan.  Some people even say they invented curry pan, but I couldn't find anything to back this up.  Whether the were first or not, they make really good curry pan.

Every store has a different style, but I really like their mild curry with half an egg.  It is well balanced and not too sweet of a curry.

They also offer other pastries, like the chocolate filled cat that my son picked or fruit topped danish. 

But if you happen across this shop, or practically any other bakery in Japan, I highly recommend trying the curry pan.  It truly is a Japanese specialty - even if it is a little weird.

Hanabi - the big ones

The firework shows here are so breathtaking.  These are not your normal 4th of July fireworks.  They are different here.  Shooting up from the ground, everyone can see where they are launched from.  They tend to be smaller, but much more interesting.  It is so hard to explain.

During summer, there are lots and lots of chances to view fireworks.  Just like the semis (cicadas) in the trees, fireworks are an element of what makes a summer a Japanese summer.  We've attended a couple fireworks displays already this summer.  Each show is so fun and entertaining.  As a kid, I always had a hard time staying awake late enough to see the sparks begin to fly, since the shows don't usually start until 10.  But here, each show beings promptly at 8:00 pm.  This makes it so much more family friendly because it isn't super late. 

Last weekend, we went to Toshimaen to see the fireworks that they recently reintroduced.  20 years ago they stopped their firework shows every weekend of the summer.  But this year they brought them back.  We went to the theme park right as the park was closing at 7:30.  We purchased a bench for ¥1000 ($9) which gave us guaranteed good seats.  When the fireworks started at 8, we knew we did the right thing.  They were amazing and we had front row seats.  My son sat with his mouth hanging open.  When it was all said and done, we all looked at each other with eyes wide open.  A simple "wow" escaped our lips, as we tried to fathom what we had just watched.

Tonight my park friends gathered to watch the fireworks at the local military base.  Twice a year the base opens it's doors to the public and sets off fireworks.  It was a fantastic demonstration with matsuri booths, bon odori dancing, music, and fireworks.  The moms staked out good seats (places for our mats), and we were rewarded nicely.  We could see the stage for the 6 pm to 8 pm entertainment and we had front row seats for the 8 pm fireworks.  Such a glorious evening. 

A day just to eat... eel?

There is a unwritten holiday in Japan a couple times each year, most recently on July 20.  It is one that is celebrated in many households, but not found on any calendars.  It is a food based holiday, that has people lining up at restaurants and buying out stores of one simple product.  It is a day to eat eel, specifically grilled freshwater eel.

While some say the focus is to honor an old saying which promotes eating fish to help the body withstand the summer heat, my husband swears the holiday was created as a PR campaign by a struggling industry in the Edo Period.  No matter the reason, people really do eat eel on Eel Day!

Eel season is winter.  Historically, people didn't want to eat eel in summer because they considered it a winter food.  Families of eel restauranteurs were struggling, so they asked well-known Japanese naturalist Gennai Hiraga to help them.  A marketing campaign ensued and a sign urging customers to eat eel on "Doyo no Ushi Day" was posted.  People listened and came to eat eel.

Over the years, the health benefits of eel has been promoted.  Eel is, in fact, packed with protein, Vitamin A, Omega 3 fatty acids, EPA, DHA, etc.

Typically served on a bed of rice in a lacquered box, the presentation of eel is particularly beautiful.  The sweet sauce that is brushed on the top of the eel shimmers in the light and looks very enticing. 
Of course it is served many other ways as well, but this is the most popular.

When we celebrated eels day in the US, my husband used to make the traditional grilled eel.  However, he also made rolled omelets with eel tucked inside it and uzaku (pickled cucumbers with small pieces of eel).  Sometimes we had eel and egg rice bowls.  There really are so many options.

No matter the reason for the holiday, it is a fun tradition that makes people feel united - like we all had dinner together.

Let them play like the good old times

When friends come to Tokyo, we go out of our way to make sure we can see them.  Several weeks ago, two families from my son's school (daycare) in America contacted us to see if we could meet during their family upcoming vacations.  Since my son just started summer vacation from school, it was really easy to make plans to meet up.  It was like we were destined to be reunited.

Since it has been so hot, we all quickly agreed that we should plan an indoor activity.  Our kids are used to playing very actively with each other and dehydration is a big concern these days.  There are alerts on the TV daily about avoiding dehydration and recommending staying indoors.  We tried to find a place located centrally for all three families, as well.  We ended up deciding on ASOBono!, a children's museum in Tokyo Dome City. 

None of us had been there, but it was super easy to find.  We were planning on purchasing all day passes, but were sadly informed that these passes are not sold during summer vacation.  So, we bit the bullet and paid for one hour of play.  To enter, you pay for the adult entrance and one hour for the child.  When you check out, they charge you for each additional half hour of play for the child only.  Since the adult and child each cost ¥930 to enter and the additional time rate is ¥410 per half hour, the fees can quickly add up (2 hours of play costs approximately $25 for one adult and one child). 

After removing our shoes, paying, and putting my bag in a locker, we were ready to play!  The kids ran full force into the first area that contained the hugest ball pit in all of Tokyo, slides, climbing walls, a pirate ship, and a bounce area.  They were all darting from thing to thing, so happy in this new place of wonder.  The Adventure Ocean was a big hit with the kids.  They played in this room for almost an hour.

At that point, the kids went various directions as they headed to the Pleasure Station (trains and cars), Colorful Town (restaurant, market, house, and library), and the Toy Forest (log cabin, board games, fishing, workshop, and more).

The atmosphere is fun and there is lots of open space for the kids to run around and play.  They all didn't want to leave, but lunch called.  Right next door is a food court with several options and great choices for kids.  The kids all had a ball today.  It was so neat to hear them switch between Japanese and English with each other as they played together.

It is amazing to see my son reconnect with friends that he has had since he was a baby.  As much as of a delight it was conversing with the parents, seeing him reunite with friends is even better.

Bon Odori

Originally created as a celebration to welcome spirits of the deceased, Obon is a Buddhist custom to celebrate loved ones that have passed on.  Every year in mid-August, families come together to celebrate life by cleaning the alters and graves of family members.  They also join together with the community in a special dance, called Bon Odori.  The dance isn't necessarily held during Obon, but usually pretty close to it.

Although it is almost a month early, our community held a Bon Odori tonight.  From 6 pm to 9 pm, a nearby park was filled with people dancing, eating, and having a good time.  The perimeter of the festival housed several booths offering food and seats.  In the center of the park was a two level tower that held a taiko drummer and bell ringer on the top level and dancers on the lower level.  There was a circle lined out with chalk around the tower to have a designated dance space.

The music was loud, and the energy high.  After walking the perimeter, my husband and son joined in the dancing.  My son was jubilant as he and daddy watched the dancers on the stage and mimicked their movements.  The dances are very simple and repetitive, similar to line dancing, so it was easy to catch on. 

It was still very hot, even after the sun went down, but that didn't damper the festive mood.  Although the reasons for the dance seem morbid, they are special to the Japanese culture and not at all sad in nature.