Tokyo - Japanese

The Uphill Battle
Japanese is a peculiar language compared to those I've learned.  There is a lot to it and if you think you're going to master it easily, you're kidding yourself.  I've now been in immersion class for about a month - it's been an interesting ride.  The first thing I and almost everyone else learns is the Hiragana alphabet.  Using this alphabet, you can, in theory, write Japanese.  You're expected to learn this on your own before you start a Japanese class.  I learned it about a year and a half ago and this has made the transition to class a lot easier.  With Hiragana, you could, for example write "kuruma" which means "car."  It looks like this: くるま。Hiragana is pretty straightforward, Japanese is spelled like it sounds.

 

Tokyo - Kawagoe

Edo-Period Town
On Sunday we rode our daily train in the opposite direction to its end.  Just past our house it ceases its westerly direction and turns right, plowing due north for thirty minutes towards a town named Kawagoe.  It's an old town, a supposed Edo-era town that is more aptly described as one with many Edo-period-looking buildings.  It's both touristy and nice, two words I rarely use in conjunction.     

Tokyo - Biking

It's a Way of Life Here
It may be a stretch to characterize cycling as part of the Japanese DNA but if you spend some time here in the outskirts you might draw the same conclusion.  The train is king, no denying that - each town or neighborhood is built around the train station.  All the businesses are close to the station; there is always a grocery store or two, the post office, the library, the butcher, the schools, etc.  The housing radiates outwards from the station creating a giant circle of life the edges of which are quiet and overlap with the adjacent towns, no further than half a mile away.  Everything in town is done on the bike.  You take your kids to school that way, you go shopping that way - bouncing from small shop to small shop, filling up your basket (or baskets) as you go.

Tokyo - Schooling

Hitting the Books
We've finished our first week of school.  I've gotten over the initial disappointment of doing poorly on my entrance exam.  Reading and writing I did great, hardly missed one.  My speaking exam was horrendous.  As a result, they put me back a few chapters from where I've progressed with my tutor.  Right after the exam was over, they dropped me into an ongoing class.  I took my seat and everyone introduced themselves in Japanese.  I did the same.  There are seven of us at the moment - an Australian, American, two Germans, a Swiss, and a Mexican.  It's an interesting approach - the  schedule changes every day and every two hours you get a different teacher.  I think I had about six different teachers so far.  They all have one thing in common - they don't speak a word of English and you're not allowed to either.  We speak a lot - we write a lot - we have a lot of homework every day.

Tokyo - Cooking Class

Lessons from a Master
Our landlady's mother gives cooking classes so of course we took her up on her offer.  Hotaka, on the left, translated for her mom as we learned to cook two different dishes.  First, a meat and vegetable hotpot then okonomiyaki - a savory pancake filled with vegetables and pork.

Tokyo - Hiking

West, Into the Mountains
We hopped on a train bound for Chichibu, a small town renowned for hiking and onsen (thermal springs.)  It's an interesting train, it heads west for a short spell, stops at a station and then reverses out, heading northwest.  So, you're facing the direction of travel and then you're not.  This being Japan, there's a small lever at the end of your seat that you can press to spin it around 180 degrees if you like.  Most, like us, stayed seated and happily rode backwards into the mountains.

Tokyo - Spring has Sprung

Sakura Season
Today is the official kick off of Sakura season, which lasts approximately two weeks.  Not only are the cherry blossoms showing, just about everything is beginning to bloom.  We took a short train ride to a park south of our neighborhood to take it all in.  The custom is to take your camera, pitch a blanket and have a picnic.  We took some sandwiches and spent three hours walking around.  We also saw some bonzai trees that were hundreds of years old.  Enjoy the photos.

Tokyo - Japanese

Slow Improvement
Our Japanese classes start on April 2nd.  Four hours a day, five days a week.  I expect there will be homework as well, we'll find out soon.  Dodo is starting in the absolute beginner class, though she is a bit more advanced than that.  She has been practicing reading and writing the two Japanese alphabets every day.  I will find out what class I'm in once I arrive on the day.  We're using the same books that I've been using with my private teacher.  I am a quarter of the way into the second book and they think they'll be placing me in a class that starts near the end of the 1st book, which is fine by me.  It will give me a chance to review.  We went to Shinjuku to see where our class is going to be.  It's in a small commercial building.

Tokyo - Garbage

The Schizophrenia of Recycling in Japan
Japan takes recycling more seriously than any country I've been to.  The rules are daunting and most foreigners don't do it correctly.  When Jean lived here previously, she messed it up so bad that she started taking her garbage to the train station and chucking it there.  Luckily, our landlady left us instructions in English.  All plastic items other than PET bottles have to be washed, dried and then cut into pieces and put in a special "plastic refuse" garbage bag.  After you remove the cap and labels from the PET bottles then wash and dry them out, you carry them to the local supermarket to throw them in a special recycling can.

Tokyo - Life, Part II

Our Neighborhood
We are 15 miles outside of downtown Tokyo.  I guess you'd say we live in the suburbs or the "greater Tokyo area."  We live in Higashimurayama, in a small neighborhood called Tamakocho.

Tokyo - Life, Part I

Our House
We live in a relatively traditional wooden house.  It has no central heating, just area heaters and floor heaters that you can turn on if necessary. There is a small button on the wall you can press to heat the wooden floor. It has become necessary in the past few days as the temperature has dropped into the 30's and there was a coating of snow yesterday.  Downstairs, we have a large living room that has a western style table looking out through a panel of south-facing windows onto the back yard.

Japan - Bathing

Onsen

Tokyo - Tokyo Station

Character Street
A Japanese oddity that I'd not experienced before.  Deep inside Tokyo station, their Grand Central, there's a long hallway called "Character Street" where store after store sells 3-D approximations of beloved cartoon characters.

Tokyo - Regulars

The Usual Katsu Curry Spot
This trip we didn't repeat a lot of the usual things but this we couldn't pass up.  I had to cajole her a bit - she was complaining she was full and couldn't imagine eating such a big lunch.  "Let's just walk over and see" I said.  Walk we did, towards Meguro, where Jean used to work when she lived in Tokyo.  Down the steps from street level into a small hallway beneath the traffic and noise.  Barely noon and already a line.  We heard the sizzle of the pork and smelled it.  The waitress was making her way down the line, taking orders.  She looked at us in recognition.  "Less rice" she said in Japanese - remembering our usual order - even though we hadn't been here in a year.  We're once a year regulars.

Tokyo - Wandering

Hiroo, Ikebukuro, Uguisudani, Akihabara and Roppongi

We put on our traveling shoes and hit the streets, starting off in a small neighborhood called Hiroo.  I'd never been.  It's a bit schwanks, lots of embassies, small restaurants and cafes.  We ate breakfast and then sat in a tiny two-level cafe that could fit inside a double-decker bus.

Tokyo - Rock n Roll Izakaya

Food and Ambiance

Tokyo - Waiting for Pancakes

Super-Tower Pancakes in Shibuya
The new craze, apparently - impossibly fluffy, tall pancakes.  We went at 1:45, not realizing there were only three seatings per day and we'd just missed one.  In each seating they only make 20 servings.so they suggested we come back early for the 3pm slot.

Tokyo - Alley Food

Ebisu Yokocho
tightly packed, drunk crowd, greasy food, smoking

Tokyo - Asakusa

and Surrounding Hoods

Tokyo - Chocolate

Avant Garde Smores in Asakusa
While we were walking in the Asakusa neighborhood we noted a fancy looking chocolate shop and took refuge from the cold wind.