Race to the Moon

This quilt, entitled "Race to the Moon," shows baby sea turtles racing from their nest to the sea in the light of a full moon.
Three dimensional sea turtles clambered over what looked like a real sandy beach.

A bit of under sea whimsy.

Girls' Night Out

There is a group of women who were all taking Taiko together last year before I even knew I was coming to Japan. I joined their class in September. They have been kind enough to take me into their circle. I knew when I met them initially that they were "my kind" of women. First, they LOVE to laugh. They like to beat drums loudly, like warriors with big sticks. They have a combined wacky sense of humor that "fits" just right. So I was delighted in the Fall when they invited me to a recipe sharing luncheon. It was the first place where I really felt "at home." We laughed over lunch till my sides ached, and I was so incredibly grateful to have been welcomed into their midst like that. We had another good time at another friend's house last Fall, and then everyone got caught up in the holidays, traveling and life happened, the good and the bad.

We had an opportunity to get together last night however, and made plans to to meet at Shibuya Station at a famous statue of a dog called "Hachiko." Read his story. It made me cry the first time I read it: http://www.fabuloustravel.com/globe/hachiko/hachiko.html

We met at Hachiko, and walked together to a Korean Barbecue Place in the huge city of Shibuya. Of course, it being Shibuya, I had no idea where we were, and got completely turned around, but I expected as much. Thankfully I was with friends who knew the way. At Korean B-b-q, there are open flame charcoal pits in the table, and you cook your meat and veggies right there in the flames. I was a little bummed by the prospect of eating beef tongue at first, but it was very thinly sliced and very good. (Once when I was a kid at my grandmother's house in Oneonta, she cunningly served me a tongue sandwich, telling me simply that it was beef. I remember knowing immediately by the taste and texture that she was trying to pull a fast one and further scrutinized the meat in between the bread. Oh horrors! Those little things looked like.....like.....TASTE BUDS!!?? I remember vowing to myself at that moment never to eat anything that could taste me back.) But, I'm off the point here. Last night's meal was delicious, and we were the loudest, rowdiest, gaijin in the place. Actually the only gaijin in the place, although we were accompanied by Ikuko, a Japanese friend of one of our group.

There was conversation about the difficulties of daily life in Japan: ordering pizza, finding the way to places by car, and funny stories about buying things to eat that turn out not to be what you thought they were. One of our gang chimed up with, "Is there anyplace else in the world where we could have a discussion about how difficult it is to ORDER A PIZZA?!" Laughter is the universal steam release valve, let me tell you.

We were pleasantly surprised when the proprietor came to the table and put down a black velvet mat and told us he was going to do magic. He was pretty darn good! Cards and balls and pens appeared and disappeared to our delighted amusement and amazement. When we left the restaurant, I was the last one out of the place and I noticed him following us close behind. He followed us up the stairs, around a corner and onto the street. I was just starting to be aware of my creep-out warning system, when I realized he was just making sure we got up to the street alright, and he happily wished us a good night.

Dinner was followed by karaoke for an hour and then on home. I found out last night that one of this group is moving to Switzerland after this school year ends. That's the way of the expat community. I asked her if she wanted to eventually go home to the States, and she immediately expressed their desire to return to Tokyo after the 3 years in Switzerland. There are many many people who are global nomads here, and seem happily content to be so.

I have been soaking up (nay, luxuriating in) the international community in which I now move. In my yoga class there is an Italian, a Japanese, and a French woman, plus of course, Americans. The class is taught by a young woman from Switzerland. At Monday night's rehearsal for the up-coming Brahms Requiem performance, I sat next to a young woman from Montenegro. (I am embarrassed to tell you that I had to look up Montenegro to find out more about it!) I have made plans to attend a party for the chorus after our rehearsal the week before the concert so that I can meet some more Japanese folks. The members of the chorus are so nice, but we never have the time to meet and greet. Wouldn't it be a shame if I lived here for a time and never really got to know some native Tokyoites?

Tomorrow is FRIDAY! We are off to a Quilt Show in the Tokyo Dome City Center.

Cheers!

On having fun

Fridays are now fun day. I have enlisted 2 or 3 of my neighborhood friends to set aside Friday each week. This week there should have been 3 of us, but unfortunately one had a knee/shower/gravity incident and couldn't accompany us. She was with us in spirit. Terry, my new tomodachi (friend) and fellow musician, mother of McGill student, and adventurer and I set out to visit someplace new. She chose the Museum of Photography in Ebisu. Ebisu is still Tokyo, it's just one of the smaller "cities" within the massive Tokyo region.

We discovered some wonderful exhibits. Some fun, some sad (stories and "where are they now" photos from the bombing of Hiroshima, taken in 1970's), and some interactive very modern cool exhibits using light and Japanese text. We spent a couple of hours happily engrossed in the quiet, unpopulated museum space. When stomachs started growling, we left in search of something fabulous for lunch. At the Ebisu Garden Place where we were, we found a restaurant on the 39th floor! Our delight deepened when we were seated at a table for 2 by a window. It was uncharacteristically smoggy that day for winter, but the view was still pretty good, and the food great. We talked about families, jobs, life, and just enjoyed being out on an adventure.

There exists a parasitological museum here in Tokyo that I am curious about. It's claim to fame: "It's grisly centrepiece is an 8.8m-long tapeworm found ensconced in the body of a 40-year-old Yokohama man." (Tokyo city guide- Lonely Planet)

Ewwwww. Maybe that's a museum I could get the boys excited about!

Curious things

As I was looking out the window on the 39th floor from another view point, I noticed an apartment building with cars on the roof. Cars! On the roof?! My small mind was confounded by this, as I stared at it, trying to figure out how the heck they got those cars on the roof. But then, I noticed on one corner of the roof what appeared to be the top of a large elevator shaft- just the right size for one car at a time. How clever. Maybe there are car elevators in NYC, but I wasn't aware of them. Those clever Japanese.

Look what's blooming in January!

New Year's Resolutions

Well, it was a close shave, but the girls caught the 11:42 Narita Express this morning. We didn't mean to, but we got a late start, enjoyed several wrong-way moments in Shinjuku station, but inspite of that, managed to get everyone on the waiting train car. I of course, burst into tears as soon as I said good-bye to them all. I tearfully found the train I was to take home, when Robin called and invited me out for lunch. As I accepted, I complained to him that I felt like a bloated whale after eating my way through Tokyo for the last 3 weeks non-stop. My New Year's Resolution is to eat less, completely cut out desserts, and make sure I get plenty of exercise. Thankfully, the exercise isn't a problem in walk-everywhere Japan. And fun. I want to have more fun. I am now a fun junkie.

We ate a delicious curry restaurant very close to his office. It wasn't a huge amount of food, just a bowl with rice and very delicious chicken curry. No dessert! There are some things that have changed for me over the last 3 weeks. I really am having fun getting around, looking in shops, feeling confident, understanding the Japanese of 2 year olds. It's a feeling of competence that I honestly haven't enjoyed since I stepped off the plane in Japan on August 14. As little as I know about Tokyo, Japanese culture and getting around, I knew more than my visitors, and that made me a teeny tiny expert. It's a hoot to see this place through the eyes of visitors. Anyway, feeling my new found confidence, and new found frustration at not really understanding how this city is laid out, I decided to walk home from Akasaka (where Robin works) to Oyamacho, where we reside. Plus- I would be true to my resolution to get exercise. Robin told me it was about 4 and a half miles- "No sweat," I thought. That's like doing the rim trail and the gorge trail together plus a little more, something I've done on several occasions. So I set out. The sun came out. I saw places I'd never seen before. I wasn't really afraid of getting lost, because I knew I could hop on a train if I needed to. I followed the street signs over the road that point cars in the right direction. I was right on track until I came to Shibuya. (We live in Shibuya, but not the city part) I got completely lost, couldn't find the park, saw no metro signs, and was walking around an area I didn't even know existed. I did manage to find a backstreet that had several "Love Hotels" on it. They had seperate room rates listed out front: a "rest" rate that was for 3 hours, and a "stay" rate which I assume meant over night. There were some interesting displays in the windows out front. The French maid lives on in the imaginations of Japanese men, it seems.

Anyway...I digress. I was seriously lost, my feet were starting to ache, and I had called Robin, but what he was telling me didn't feel right. I saw a young woman stepping out of her house, and waited until she was right near me, and I asked her in Japanese, "Excuse me. Yoyogi Park, where is it?" Nakamura-san, my Japanese teacher would have been proud of me! The young woman pointed in the general direction of the Park and in English asked me where I was from. She told me she would "walk with." She explained that she was on her way to the Olympic Swimming Pool right by the park, and we made our way back there. Boy, was I LOST! I think she was delighted to have the opportunity to practice English, and I found out that her name is Yumi, she works in Real Estate, she loves Tokyo, grew up in the country, has been to NYC several times (and loves it!) and studies English after work. I think that means she takes classes. She was a delight, and so nice. I tried out several of my Japanese phrases on her. When I finally got my bearings, she shook my hand several times and we parted like old friends. Today's mistake of getting lost was a lovely opportunity.

Kabuki Theatre

Here's where the girls and I went this morning:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki-za

The Kabuki-za is a HUGE theatre with an interesting history. We went there with the intent to catch a 21 minute Kabuki Act. When we came up out of the subway station, we were right AT the theatre, and got in the line that went to the box office. There was a man with a sign at the end of the line, and as we stood there for a moment, he must have known we were clueless. He explained to us that we were standing in the "members only" line, and beckoned us towards the correct line. Ah yes- the line for the "one act" audience members. We bought the cheapest tickets for the one act which was mostly dancing about sake, spirits from the ocean and a sake seller. The theatre has a 2 row section way up on the 4th floor across the back for the "one-act whimps." Claire and I got the earphone English commentary receivers that helped us know what we were watching.

The performance today was lovely to watch. The costumes were so colorful, the movement graceful, the music wonderful hear and see being performed. This was an all male show- the musicians were all lined up on two tiers across the back of the stage, sitting motionless, except for their string plucking, drum hitting and singing. I loved the singing. Quite high in places, and there was some strain to their sound, but I think it was supposed to sound that way. And during the singing there were 2 or 3 guys who were making funny sounds, at seemingly random intervals in time, that were ascending in pitch, like a surprised sounding "Ohh!" It made me want to giggle, but I loved this new sounding singing.

The sake spirits in their white faces and bright red long wigs danced into the sake establishment, drank until they were tipsy, and were so grateful to the sake seller that they magically made his sake vessel overflow for all eternity. They danced happily inebriated back into the sea.

We went to leave as soon as it was over, although everyone around us was sitting comfortably. When I tried to return the earphone receiver, the woman behind the counter pointed to a paper in her hand that said, "You may stay for another show." So we did. Or at least we stayed for part of the second one. This had a more complicated story, a very large cast with lots of cross-dressers, dialogue, and humor. The musicians were behind screens, so were much less conspicuous. The girls had an appointment to tour the Imperial Palace at 1:30, so we had to leave at noon.

An interesting thing: the people who were in the regular sections were given bags with lunch bentos in them, and some people were eating the contents of their bento with hashi (chopsticks) while they waited for the show to start. If you wanted to, you could make a full day of Kabuki. The first act of the matinee begins at 11:00, and the last act finally ends around 4:00. They provide the food, the potty breaks between acts, and the cool entertainment. Then in the evening, the tickets are much more expensive, and they do it all over again.