Under construction

Our main shopping center, IMA, is getting a pretty serious facelift. They are completely renovating three floors. All the areas with small businesses as well as 95% of the restaurants are currently closed as they gut and renovate the building. The two department stores, McDonalds, Subway, and one tiny coffee shop are the only places still open for business.

This is a huge deal for our family (and I’m sure many others in the area) because many of the stores and restaurants that we frequent during the week are closed. Especially painful is my go-to delis for quick dinners are closed, meaning I have to plan better for meals when I am too tired to cook. In the US I had a freezer full of homemade meals that I could utilize when I didn’t want to cook. But I don’t have the convenience of a large freezer here, meaning I rely on delis and restaurants a lot more than I used to. Even after three years, I’m still struggling with this fact. I miss my ability to cook once and eat three or four meals from that effort! I do my best, but I still feel like I’m failing in this department a lot of the time.

In true Japanese fashion, the sections under construction are hidden behind tall white walls that contain dust and dampen the machinery noise. While this is typically great, my son loves to watch construction projects. So, it is sad that he can’t watch everyone work. If they had a comment box, I’d suggest that they put in little viewing windows for kiddos.

While the temporary closure of the shopping center obviously isn’t the end of the world, it is yet another inconvenience during a pretty stressful time. We’ve been told everything will reopen in mid-December. It can’t come soon enough.

Regardless of the construction, our life just keeps chugging along. After just three weeks of “vacation,” my son has returned to school. It was a bit sad for us because we didn’t go anywhere or do anything. He had so much homework to complete that we chipped away at it on a daily basis. We found solace in going to the park and even getting to join Piyo Piyo with friends a couple times (although I am happy to report we missed the day there was a huge thunderstorm and everyone got dumped on). We also tried to do fun things here and there, like going grape picking at a local farm. In fact, we’ve meant to go grape picking at this location near our house for the past two years, but have always been so busy we miss the short picking season. So, there are bright spots in not being able to go anywhere!

Each day this week, he has come home from school happy from seeing his friends and learning new things, but a sweaty mess from sitting in a hot classroom. They have air conditioners running all day, but the windows and doors are required to be open for air circulation and the cool air just races outside as quickly as can be.

This morning, I spent some time in the garden, pulling a couple tomato plants from planters (we already enjoyed all the tomatoes they had to offer), mixing in vermicompost (worm castings), and planting a fall crop of green beans. Hopefully they will give me a nice amount because we love green beans!

With the closure of the majority of the shopping center, I have decided to try to make more complete meals in the rice cooker. I’m hoping it takes some of the stress out of the “what’s for dinner” dilemma. It is taking a bit of research to find recipes, but when I find some that my family likes, I’ll be sure to share them.

Ice, Ice Baby

Growing up in the northwestern US, the hot days of summer meant either playing in a sprinkler in our yard, or biking to the community pool for hours of fun. I have lots of fond memories camping and picking produce like blueberries and strawberries. We also ate popsicles. Tons of them.  It was our official summer treat.

They generally weren’t fancy. But we loved to indulge on the sugary treats day after day. It makes me laugh to picture myself as a kid - sitting on the porch in my shorts and tank top, with a messy head of blonde hair cut in a semi-fashionable bowl-cut hairstyle, racing my brightly colored popsicle. Who would finish first? Me or the heat of the summer afternoon?

Although popsicles are common in Japan, the more popular treat to be the heat of the hot Japanese summer, is kakigori or shaved ice. As soon as the temperatures start raising, the signs start appearing. 

Shaved ice, not crushed or tiny cubes, reigns supreme. So, kakigori has a soft feel in the mouth. The toppings range from simple brightly colored syrup to fancy over the top concoctions. While I easily walk past those simple syrups that are too sweet for me, I love the fancy concoctions!

Last year we traveled by bus to Kichijoji enjoy some super special shaved ice with designer ice and high end fruit toppings. It was well worth the trip.

But how would we top it this year?  There are tons of fancy kakigori places around Tokyo (and Japan, in general), but there aren't many within biking distance of our home.

Despite the heat, we hopped on our bikes and rode to Ikebukuro to a shop my husband had read about. They currently require reservations to limit the number of people in the shop at any one time. Kakigori is not something you get as take out. Instead, you enjoy it where you buy it. I was surprised when my husband told me they only offered day of reservations, but since he was able to secure three seats for our family, it was fine with me.

Simply called “An” (ah-n), the shop sells fancy kakigori. They have seasonal flavors that border on the strange. Of course, this intrigued me even more.

Our reservation was at 11:30 am. So, we informed our son that we were having kakigori for lunch. While he was excited, he was also concerned that it wouldn’t fill him up. I let him know if he was still hungry afterwards, I would happily buy him so “real food” to fill up his tummy.

The restaurant is on the second floor of a building with a tight staircase that is easily missed by passers by. I am constantly amazed at how small spaces are here - especially restaurants. The shop had just two tables that each sat 4 and 4 seats at a bar. However, I think normally they squeeze in a third table and 2 more seats at the bar. They’re just giving people extra space due to Covid.

We were seated at a table and quickly picked out what we wanted to eat.

My husband ordered the special - strawberry cheesecake. It was shaved ice with a strawberry topping. It came with a side of cheesecake-flavored sauce (thinned sweet cream cheese) and a lemon wedge. The waitress instructed my husband to squeeze the lemon on his kakigori half way through the dessert.

Our son asked for kuromitsu kinako. Kuromitsu is a Japanese sugar syrup similar to molasses, but thinner and milder. It is often described as “black honey.” Kinako is a powder made from roasted soybeans that tastes a bit like roasted peanuts. The two flavors compliment each other very nicely. This choice made my husband laugh and say “does it taste like Japan?” because the flavors are so stereotypically Japanese.

I chose nutty avocado for my kakigori. It looked so creamy and unique. Avocados have been very popular in Tokyo for the last few years.  We see avocado toast offered at restaurants and piles of them for sale at shops.  But I still have yet to see an avocado sushi roll in this country.  Although I've seen slices of the green fruit atop nigiri (raw fish on a ball of seasoned rice).  At any rate, my trendy kakigori also came with a lemon wedge to squeeze on after I had devoured half of the mound of ice.

When the kakigori arrived, we were surprised by the size. It was almost the same size as our son’s head! He quickly said “maybe this will fill me up!”

All three of us greatly enjoyed our kakigori. We took bites of each other’s, but mainly stuck to our own choosing. My nutty avocado was creamy and fluffy, with big chunks of the green fruit. While I wouldn’t order it on a regular basis, it was delightful.

Although it took a while, our son finished his huge serving of kakigori. He liked the fact that it wasn’t overly sweet because the kinako balanced out the kuromitsu.

My husband said he would happily enjoy his strawberry cheesecake kakigori again and again.

We all felt it was worth the long bike ride to Ikebukuro for the fancy treats. Well, until we had to bike back home. By then, we were all really hot once again, making us wish the treats came at the end of a long bike ride and not just in the middle of it.

I sometimes wonder what kind of memories my son will have of his childhood. Will he have fond memories visiting shrines, playing in the park, and seeking out interesting kakigori during the sweltering summers of his youth? Or will it be something else?

The magic dragon

We are so tired of staying home. We are doing our best to be strong, but it is really hard. So, we go on bike rides. The weekends have become time for long bike rides going in whatever direction the wind takes us. It is hard in the heat, but we persist (and take lots of water with us).

In the mood for a long escape, we hopped on our bikes and headed to my husband and son's favorite shrine in Tokyo prefecture. A short 10 km bike ride from home is Tanashi Jinja, a shrine protected by dragons.

My husband and son had gone a couple times without me. Every time they returned, they would say "you need to go to this shrine!" So, this time, I went along for the (long) ride.

Tanashi Jinja was founded in the 13th century, but has been in it's current location since 1670. The inner shrine building features beautifully carved dragons from 1875. It is amazing to look at the carvings. They are so detailed.

There are 5 dragon statues placed around the property of the shrine. Red, White, Black, Blue, and Gold dragons are all represented. The main shrine building (the one with all the carvings) houses the golden dragon. 

I was expecting to see the dragon statues. After all, I had heard several reports about them. I was not expecting to see a sumo mound, known as a dohyo (dough-hhh-yo). It was donated by the Showa era great champion, Taiho. He made it 27 years ago for the shrine as a prayer for the nation to have a great harvest. While I don't necessarily see the connection, it made enough sense to the sumo champion to build a mound and ring on shrine property.

While we were at the shrine, we were able to listen to several ceremonies taking place.  The sound of the monk chanting and the taiko drum beating is very relaxing to me.  

I'm sure we will be back to this shrine. It was really interesting. Unfortunately, it was just super hot and I needed to cut it short.

After getting home, I needed to water the garden pots for a second time that day. It was then that my son and I realized that we had grown rice! There were grains revealing themselves.  It was so exciting. It felt like a gift from the dragons. After all, my husband and son got the rice to grow and directions from this shrine.  We made the effort and they repaid it with prosperity. Regardless of the validity of this idea, it was fun to imagine.

Surviving the heat of summer

We have transitioned pretty seamlessly into the summer vacation schedule. While in quarantine earlier this year, I found having a basic schedule to be very helpful for both my son and myself. We start the morning off with a walk in the park. Each day, I am amazed at how spectacular the weather is, knowing it will only be in my comfort zone until around 8:30 am. So we try to head home before then. By the time we get home, I am already a sweaty mess. But then I am able to escape into the air conditioning for a few hours.

Starting at 9 am, my son does an hour to an hour and a half of homework. Most of this includes me sitting by his side, going through a deck of math flash cards and listening to him reading. But when he is working on his worksheets, I can escape to the kitchen for a bit to throw together parts of dinner. I know that if I wait until the end of the day, I am not going to have the capacity to cook. Once I have overheated, I am not willing or able to do very much. Even with air conditioning, standing in front of a gas stove is pretty hot. These days our dinners are simple and feature a lot of fresh vegetables. I’ve noticed I am cooking mainly western food, but my miso is making a regular appearance.

Once homework has been wrapped up, we make a phone call or two or do an activity until it is time to eat lunch with my husband. We have all voiced that we hope he never has to return to the office. It is so nice having him home all the time and now he doesn’t have to stand on a crowded train for 2 hours a day.

After lunch, my son and I head out of the house for some fresh air. While in years past, we have explored a lot - going to museums, seeking out ninja parks, and sightseeing - we are sticking close to home. We found a working fountain (not all of them have been turned on), and spent an afternoon taking turns splashing in it and resting in the shade. Heat stroke is a major concern every year, but especially this year since we’ve been spending so much time indoors and not acclimating to the rising temperatures. It didn’t help that the rainy season lasted 8 days later than usual in Tokyo, ending just in time for summer vacation to start (which also started later than usual).

Wherever we go, the constant hum of semis (aka cicadas) is overwhelming. I was mentioning to a friend the other day that it seemed like summer arrived basically overnight. She quickly agreed.  One morning the sound of the semi woke her up at 5 am.  Now it is a daily occurrence.  We find it interesting that both of our husbands grew up in Japan and they don’t even notice the semi most of the time. Where as the two of us, raised in the US, are overwhelmed by their constant “singing” that sounds more like an alarm than anything else to me. At least they started calling out much later this year due to the late start of summer.

Another day, we found a section of trees and set up my son’s slack line. He practiced walking back and forth on it while I sat and read a book.

While reading, a group of teenagers from the local high school (you can always tell by their uniforms) came and sat not too far from me. Since having a kid, the noise of children young and old tends not to bother me very much. It was actually nice to hear them singing and chatting with each other. Since I wasn’t particularly paying attention to them, it took me a while to realize that they were speaking in 3 languages - Japanese, English, and a third language I couldn’t quite place. I noticed when they started using foul language. A couple words here and there didn’t bother me at first, but it got more and more frequent. I know my son has heard it all before, but I found it annoying. I hear more than my fair share of cussing from teens in Japan. Since there aren’t any equally powerful words in Japanese, the excitement of using expletives is alluring. For the most part, I ignore it, but when I am not able or willing to walk away, I have been known to say something. After a while, I finally looked over at them and said “I know you’re used to people not being able to understand what you are saying. But, I understand, and I’d really prefer if you chose your words more carefully. There are kids that can speak English here, too.” Horrified, they immediately apologized. I smiled at them through my mask and told them I understood the allure, but would appreciate a change in verbiage. They went back to their conversation and I went back to my book. A little while later, they packed up their stuff to leave. Before departing, they came over and apologized again. I was floored. I’ve piped up to many kids swearing over the years (time and place, people), and I’ve never been met with such emphatic remorse. We ended up chatting for a few minutes before they headed home for dinner. I wish I could have let their parents know what awesome kids they have.

On another day, we discovered that our beloved Piyo Piyo was open almost everyday in Hikargaoka Park. Typically it is closed in August, as it is geared toward younger kids and many families are vacationing the summer holiday. But this year, due to COVID-19, they decided to offer it and open it to older kids as well. My son rarely begs, but he did as soon as he realized he could go dig in the dirt, play with water, and see park friends all at once. It felt like a little reunion as we saw so many park moms that we used to spend each and every day with. I couldn’t believe how much all the children have grown since we last saw them back in February or March!

After playing for hours outside, we go home. I try not to collapse into a melted puddle of sweat, but I’m not always successful. The heat is very taxing. Although we drink copious amounts of water during the day, I often have a raging headache each night from the heat and wearing my hair pulled back and off my neck (it’s gotten so long since I don’t get my hair cut in Japan). We eat our dinner and have a bit of family time before my son heads off to bed.

To wrap up the day, my husband and I lounge around the air conditioning. We mostly watch tv, but occasionally play games. Some nights we are just too tired to function. The heat really takes its toll on us.