Happy Halloween!

Tonight there are hundreds of ghosts, witches, skeletons, clowns, cowboys, and various other goblins making a heck of a lot of noise walking up our street. Enough to wake the dead. Halloween is a huge deal here. Thankfully the ghoulish crowd is not stopping at our front door. There are stations set up outside in front of apartment buildings, where the neighbors combine and give away their obscene amounts of candy. I heard a rumor that the kids don't even have to say, "Trick or Treat!" There's just a scrum for candy. That may or may not be true. I won't go out to find out for myself, thanks. I am a Halloween Scrooge. It comes from teaching in a middle school and observing how the holiday eats up 2 days of meaningful instruction. On Halloween itself, the kids are too excited about going trick-or-treating to even sit still. The day after Halloween, the kids are exhausted PLUS buzzing on a prolonged sugar high. You can imagine how much learning goes on then...bah humbug.


Christmas is another interesting holiday in Japan. This Buddist, Shinto, Confusian country celebrates Christmas by exchanging gifts and eating Christmas cake. They also eat chicken at Christmas (no taste for turkey) so KFC does a booming business. I hear that the city will be decorated for Christmas. Fascinating.


This weekend we enjoyed a typhoon, and a couple of the most beautiful days we've had here. On Saturday, we went to our favorite sushi place.





We call it "conveyor belt sushi" for as you can see, the chef is placing another plate on the belt that keeps movin past. When you see something that you want, you take it. Each plate is colored differently, according to price. At the end of your meal, they come and add up your stack of plates. There is no tipping in Japan. What you see on the bill is what it is. It's very nice, actually. Service is always good. It is expected.

More sushi. It's lots of fresh raw fish on rice. Sometimes it has seaweed wrapped around it, and sometimes the chef puts wasabi between the rice and fish. It's delicious.

Later we went to Starbucks, and in the pastry case there were green donuts. I suspect green tea is included in the recipe somehow, and most likely in the frosting. You can get green tea flavored ice cream and gelato. It's interesting. I don't mind it, but it's not my favorite.

Green Donuts!

The picture speaks for itself.

Godzilla spotted in Downtown Tokyo!

Yesterday afternoon, Robin and I came upon this small statue of Godzilla. He is standing quietly, unobtrusively in a square near Hibya Station (and of course, a Starbucks!). Noone was screaming or running in the streets. He was mostly ignored by all. I however, was delighted to see him.

The other picture is a great example of one of many, many misspelled English signs that are all around us. For example, when my cell phone is calling someone, the word "dialling" comes up on the screen. Today on the train Robin pointed out a sign that had "31 th" printed on it. On and on it goes. Very entertaining.

An old dog learns some new tricks!

Don't be tooo impressed! This web page has been brought to you by Russell Posegate, my new super-hero. He suggested I set up a blog page because, he argued, I was in the perfect situation for it. So here goes. Russ posted many of my mass emails onto this page, and I will fill in some of the earlier gaps, to create a more complete history. I am mostly excited this morning because I stumbled onto the menu that gives language options. When you're not looking, sometimes the computer decides to change a once-familiar page to Japanese, which is frustrating, because after that, how do you know where to click to change the language back? OK- now I'm letting my total lack of computer savy show.

Robin returned home from a 2 week trip to Taiwan and Denver with some things we requested from home PLUS Oreo cookies! He is my all-time hero.

More later...

Pictures from Home

Hello Friends,

My sister in law Sarah sent me a link to Jerry Feist's fantastic pictures from the Chris Bond 5K Run. I have to say, I was fine until I saw my buds Eric and Paul, and then with tears, I started talking to everyone. It was great to see all of you, and to see the fine fall day filled with friends, community spirit, and love and support for Chris and the Bond family. I would have been walking with you, had I been there. If you haven't seen the slide show of the day- you must. Jerry is a great photographer.

http://www.infinisol.com/chrisbondrun/slideshow.html

As it is, I get in a lot of walking here daily, but I am a little discouraged by the lack of progress in the "walk your pounds away" department. The food here is just too good, it seems. We've had a run of great weather, and this past weekend Matt and I got out to visit the Meiji Shrine, which is practically in our neighborhood. We walked to the shrine, wandered around Harajuku (known for it's bizarre youth culture) and then went out for lunch at a Thai restaurant in our neighborhood- the food was HOT! We were pounding the water, and sweating like lightweights. But it was good. Earlier, a wedding had just taken place at the shrine, and I got some pictures of the happy couple.

On Sunday, I took some more pictures with you in mind- just to give you a further taste of what a vibrant, lively, and sometimes strange place Yoyogi Park is on the weekend.

Cheers!

A Busy Weekend

Hello Friends,

On Friday, I had a chance to take a boat/walking tour with a Women's Group from the Tokyo American Club. The day was sunny, had a perfect temperature and the mood was high as our gaggle of American women met in front of Almond coffee shop at 8:45 at Roppongi Crossing. We took several trains during the busiest morning commuter time to get to the pier for our river trip. The locals sleep, listen to music, meditate or shut off very quietly when commuting by train. They basically disengage with each other and the world. I guess it is necessary, because there are so many strangers crammed trogether in such close proximity. At times it seems as if they are all in a dark funk. In the morning especially, you can catch glimpses of zombie-like faces. Anyway- our little groups that got into the train together were all talking so loudly, and everyone at once, that women were shouting to be heard. You should have seen the "stink eye" that some of the poor disturbed locals were giving us. Others looked shocked. I have to say too, that I have been around some VERY LOUD American women who actually embarrass me. My teacher-self fights the urge to shush them. I make it a point to speak rather softly on the trains, but there are some folks here who are either oblivious to how loud and obnoxious they seem to the Japanese, or they know and don't care. On a lighter note, some advice that was thrown my way went something like this: "Just remember... your job is to entertain the locals." Entertain them, we did.

Anyway, we arrived at the pier and had a short wait, boarded the boat and had a lovely 40 minute ride up the Sumida River to Asakusa, the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo. Anyone who has been to Tokyo even once for a short time has probably visited here. The temple grounds hold several impressive structures, and there are lots places to spend your money- buying a fortune, paying for prayer, buying talismans for heath, safety, or passing exams- you name it! You can throw your yen away so fast, you hardly see it go. As I watched in wonder as some of our group engaged in yen throwing, I took some pictures. At the entrance to the main gate- there are two statues. The one on the left is the god of thunder and the one on the right is the god of wind. Both these guys are there to scare or blow away evil spirits. There are also rows and rows of white lanterns with different writing on them. These display a list of sponsors. (Maybe they sponsored a recent festival or event at the temple or some such thing) Once inside the grounds, one encounters a very large incense burner. They believe that the incense smoke is cleansing or healing, and that if you fan it to a part of your body that is sick, it helps with healing. I took in a few breaths of it for good measure.

We wandered around for a short time, and then found lunch. After a delicious tempura lunch, we walked another short way to the "kitchen district." It is a marvel. Think of some weirdo or obscure or specialized kitchen gadget. Go ahead. Now say it aloud..... Yes! You can find it there. Dishes, cookware, gadgets, small appliances, bake ware, glass ware, ingredients, chef wear- it is all located up and down the streets in this area. Very fun!

On Saturday, I performed my 3 class pieces at the American School with all the school Taiko students of Moko Igarashi. You will see pictures of Moko attached. She is a tiny fireball of percussion energy. Thankfully there were other Taiko Moms there. On the way to the school on Saturday, I was having a dread feeling that it would be a sea of Kindergarteners and ME. Before we performed I had time to watch some JV football, a cheer leading routine, sit in the sun in the bleachers and eat a messy chili dog with a diet Dr. Pepper. That school is a trip. It transports you to the USA. When you are within the fence, you are in America.
In the evening, I went to Chiba, to "audition" for a once a month conducting position with a group there. They remind me very much of the Trumansburg Community Chorus. However- they have been rehearsing the same music once a week for a year and are preparing for their next concert date: October 2008. They memorize all their music. It's an older group of folks who have all been given or have taken American nicknames. I was introduced to Bill, Irene, Meg, Nancy, Mary, ....you get the idea. They are so very sweet. I will probably do it- as it is only once a month and there is no pressure of a looming concert date, at least not right away! I hadn't conducted a group in over 4 months and it felt like coming home to work with them. The only downside is that it takes about an hour and a half by train to get there. It was a long day. Sunday was a day of rest!

Enjoy the pictures.

Take Care, and Stay in Touch,
Cheers,

A short excerpt of Moko directing "Running Horse" at the American School October 13, 2007

Music City

Hello!

Yesterday Robin and I took the Shinkansen (the bullet train) to a city called Hamamatsu. It is a couple of hours South along the coast. It is called "Music City" because there are piano building factories for Kawai and Yamaha as well as beautiful piano showrooms. There are music stores all over the shopping district and a concert hall where they hold major international competitions. The nice thing about going there was that I finally had a chance to GET OUT OF TOKYO! The view from the Shinkansen was great- we went through mountains on our West and ocean on our East. We could even see the top of Mount Fuji above the clouds as we passed by. We visited the Hamamatsu Musical Instrument Museum, and it was fabulous! There were instruments from all over the world and from every period in time. What a collection! There were some of the strangest instruments I've ever seen! I took a bunch of pictures that are attached. After spending a long time at the museum- (poor Robin, he got bored after a time) we wandered down to the down town area of the city. Hamamatsu has an Ithaca feel to it. Wider streets, smaller town, fewer people, lots of school groups visiting- I think there may have been a school music festival going on, there were so many groups. We came across a street that had been closed off, and heard a band tuning. We hurried over to see what was going on. Luckily, we could see over most of the people in front of us! Set up in the street was at least an 80-member Hamamatsu High School band comprised entirely of girls. WOW! They were amazing! They performed with the musicianship of college music students- plus they moved to the music, and several times included singing, choreography and a costume change. They featured soloists on soprano sax, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, and piano. They played with great precision. We couldn't pull ourselves away. I absolutely loved it. You might find it interesting that the piece they opened with was the theme from "Rocky."

The past few weeks have been busy. This past week I took a 3-day seminar called, Tokyo, Here and How. It is designed to help newly relocated expats settle into Tokyo life. The topics included traditional culture and etiquette, architecture and history, earth quake preparedness, how to find health care, how to buy Japanese groceries, where to go for fun, and some demonstrations. There were kimono tying demonstrations, Taiko drumming and traditional Japanese dance. It was just a fun and relaxing 3 days at the American Club, meeting other "newbies" and getting lots of good information. Friday night we broke down and ordered Dominoes Pizza. The boys have been asking for pizza for about 2 weeks. Rob and I walked over to the store in the rain and ordered. A little while later the delivery guy came on his scooter to deliver it. Pizza never tasted so good! Someone recently told me about an American family here who would call a number for pizza quite frequently, and always had a hard time communicating. Somehow they always managed to get their pizza delivered. One time, they had a Japanese friend who was at their house call for the pizza. The Japanese friend discovered that for over a year, these people had been calling a photo mart number, ordering their pizza, and the photo mart people had then been calling the pizza place for them! Can you imagine something like that happening in The Big Apple???? That story cracks me up completely.

The weather today is perfect. We all now have our bikes and are heading out to the park after we eat lunch. There is always something interesting going on in Yoyogi Park on a Sunday afternoon. Next weekend on Saturday will be my first Taiko performance. Should be interesting...I'll just watch all the kids and do what they do. Try not to stick out and look too goofy.

Take Care, All.
Cheers,