What a Month

It's been over a month since I've posted anything. Strangely my blog traffic has been up during that time. I like to think that's because over time I've built up resources and valuable information about Tokyo. Or maybe it's just a mystery. But all of that's beside the point. I'm back and happy to be here. 

John and I went back to the US for two weeks just after I posted my last entry. We had some of the most messed up travel plans I've ever experienced, in both directions. But in spite of the inconvenience good came out of it on each end. Due to flight delays we were given a new itinerary departing Japan which gave us a 12 hour layover in San Francisco. My sister lives nearby so we were able to spend a day with her, eating, hiking, and seeing her new house, before heading on to North Carolina. Then a huge snowstorm snarled flights all along the east coast just as we were supposed to return, giving us another day with John's family.

Since I've been back I've been so busy with everything from mountains of laundry to celebrating my wonderful godson's first birthday. There was lots of baking involved! And then last Friday Raku and I participated in the Women's March in Tokyo. It received appallingly bad coverage in English. Both the attendance and REASON for the march were misreported in the Japan Times. Ugh. I honestly don't want to know what was reported in Japanese. But as frustrating as that was, Raku and I carried beautiful signs and marched in a group of 648 people (when only 100 had been expected) - men and women of many nationalities, sharing our concerns and showing our solidarity with marchers around the world.

North Carolina Snow

I made this!!

Double Birthday Celebration

Tokyo Women's March

Merry Christmas

No matter how many times we do it, Christmas just feels strange in Tokyo. The last couple of years Thanksgiving has felt really cheerful and normal (don't worry family, we still love you and miss you like crazy!) but Christmas is a different story.

I don't mean to sound whiny or ungrateful when I write this. Getting to live in Japan is such an amazing experience and I'm so glad I got to spend today with my amazing husband and wonderful friends. We ate delicious food (stollen! gyudon! donuts!) and I got beautiful presents. But last night we went to a Christmas Eve church service, and when they sang Silent Night I couldn't stop myself from crying, because I just felt like I was in the wrong place. I think the reality when you're an expat is that you have to accept that there are days when you will feel homesick, even once the real transition and culture shock is years behind you.

Despite my sadness, today really was a nice day. To everyone reading this I'd like to wish you a Merry Christmas and sincerely hope that wherever you are, when you celebrate holidays that are special to you, you are able to find love and joy no matter the circumstances.

Getting Crafty

The giant tree in Kitte is so pretty every year

Shibuya, Overrun By Santas!

There's an extra visitor in our nativity this year

Our Little Tree

Happy Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving is behind us. I'll probably be washing dishes all morning, but it is so worth it to have our house full of friends and laughter and good food.

I went back and read my blog posts for our past Thanksgivings - can you believe this is our fourth out here? It's interesting to remember different ways we've celebrated - we're definitely getting better at it, and to see what I've been especially thankful for each year. I don't think much has changed. I'm still thankful for family, and that with the internet it's so easy to stay connected to them. I'm thankful for John and how wonderful life is with him.  And of course for my friends. Honestly, I'm having trouble writing about what I'm thankful for because it all sounds so trite. So instead of rambling on, I'll just wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving too!

Holiday Week

Yesterday was Labor Thanksgiving Day, so it was a three day weekend here in Japan, and later this week is American Thanksgiving. It's feeling quite festive around here. I'm getting ingredients together and getting ready to cook up a storm on Thursday.

The weather has been getting cooler - it feels so crisp and refreshing outside and I even put our winter duvet on the bed over the weekend. The leaves are changing too. This afternoon on my walk home it was so quiet outside that I could actually hear the leaves falling. This is one of my favorite times of year in Tokyo.

I've been thinking a lot about how next year is going to be different. Raku's having her baby, and I'm closing in on finishing the second draft of my book. I don't know really know what's coming next, but I'm excited to find out. A few days ago we decorated a bunch of clothes for Raku's baby - I can't believe her due date is just 6 weeks away!

Clearly, we were meant to design baby high fashion

Cold weather means soup

Fall colors

Happy Golden Week

It's hard to believe that it's already the first week of May. A month ago I was still wearing a winter coat and now the weather is sunny and in the 70's. The beginning of May contains a group of holidays known as Golden Week, and for the first time since we moved here, we aren't losing one to a Saturday. Last Wednesday was a holiday, along with this Monday through Wednesday. Luckily the weather has been great and so far John and I have been really enjoying our extra time together. We've ventured to a few new areas, hit a few old favorites, and celebrated Raku's birthday.

Of course the cats in Ginza wear pearls

Goofing around at Makuhari Beach

Drinks by the water

Fields of flowers at Hitachi Seaside Park

Raku's Birthday Flower Outing

Happy New Year!

I can't believe the last year has come and gone so quickly!

John and I are still in North Carolina, so we haven't rung in the new year just yet, though Tokyo already did a couple hours ago. Being here has made me realize how much I've learned and continued to adapt to our life in Japan over the past year, and I hope that continues in the next year.

My New Year's resolution for this year is to be a little more relaxed and to go with the flow, embracing all the opportunities I have. With life being a little more complicated in Japan I've gotten in the habit of over-planning, over-researching, and thinking everything through before I do it. A lot of times that's necessary living in a foreign country and not speaking the language. But I realize that sometimes I take it too far, spending more time planning for things than I do enjoying them.

For the next year I want to find all the joy I can in our crazy adventure of a life, and I hope that all of you find joy in your lives too!

Happy Thanksgiving (A Day Late)

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone found a way to celebrate yesterday and had something to be thankful for. This year I am thankful for the wonderful friends we have here in Tokyo, for a husband who makes me happy every single day, and because I am going back to the US for Christmas and my mom's wedding in only a week and a half!

After our last two pitiful attempts at celebrating Thanksgiving I told John I didn't even want to try this year. In fact, I said we could go out for sushi or ramen but that would be the extent of our celebrating. But at the last minute we decided to give it another try, and it turned out to be our best Thanksgiving yet. Raku and her husband came, as well as a couple people from John's office and it was fun to have the house full and our table pulled out so extra chairs would fit. There was lots of food and laughing and plenty of champagne, and for the first time even though our families weren't here it felt right.

Turkey isn't that easy to find in Tokyo, but for the first time I found turkey breasts for sale at Nissin. Besides that we had two types of stuffing, two types of cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans, and pumpkin parfaits for dessert. A pretty awesome feat for two burners and a crock pot to handle!

Maybe it was because I had lower expectations, or maybe it's because I wasn't even sad to be away from family because I know I'll see everyone for Christmas, but I woke up this morning still smiling from how happy I felt. In the spirit of Black Friday shopping (which I've actually never participated in) Raku and I went out Christmas shopping today and I got lots of good stuff for everyone back home.

Happy Golden Week!

This morning John and I woke up early and decided to go to Mercer Brunch, a really cute little restaurant that we've been eying for over a year but have never gotten around to trying. When the weather is good there's lots of open air seating, with interesting tables and couches and a lovely fire pit. French toast is what they're known for, and it comes with most of the different meal sets you can order. I am not even a french toast fan and the stuff was amazing! It is so tender and custardy but crisp and butter all at once. It's lightly sweetened and doesn't come with any additional syrup (much to John's dismay) but I thought it was perfect. There's normally a line for the place, but we were lucky and arriving just before 11:00 only had to wait about ten minutes. By the time we left a line was stretching down the block.

This evening we're going to a Yakult Swallows baseball game to celebrate Raku's birthday (Happy Birthday Raku!) and then we have three more glorious days to relax. I'm sure that I'll be complaining about the weather soon, but lately it's been so wonderful and balmy. We've had the windows open with the curtains flapping in the breeze nearly every day.

Oh, and it's been a whole week that I've forgotten to say anything, but I cut my hair last Friday! More than twenty centimeters off - probably nine or ten inches by the time it was done. I'm still going to Shinka in Roppongi and very satisfied with the place. I've gotten haircuts there before, but never anything this major so I was nervous how it would turn out. Miyuki did a great job after looking at the photographs and talking with me about what I wanted. I had to coax her a little to get it this short, and honestly I would have liked it to be a little shorter, but I'm sure in her profession it makes sense to be cautious. On days when they aren't busy Sachi helps her with my highlights and they both do a great job. If you're looking for an English speaking place to get your hair done in Tokyo I would definitely recommend either of them.

Mercer Brunch
Hours: M-F 10:00-3:30, 6:00-midnight, S-S 9:00-midnight
Phone: 03- 3470-6551
Address: 4-2-35 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Map

Steak and Eggs at Mercer Brunch

Spicy Chicken Salad at Mercer Brunch (delicious, though not spicy)

New Short Hair!

Perfect Saturday

It's the first day of Golden Week, but John and I have already had the most wonderful weekend.  The weather was gorgeously sunny so we spent as much time as we could outside being dreamily in love with Tokyo.  After a visit to the dermatologist and an early lunch we ended up in Shimokitazawa, a cute neighborhood outside of central Tokyo with fun little shops and more people than cars in the streets.

We went to Bear Pond for some delicious hispter coffee, and while we were there noticed a cucpcake shop right across the street so we popped in and got a couple for later. Much of the rest of the afternoon was spent people watching, taking pictures, and shopping.  I'm more of a window shopper, but John scored a rare bottle of bourbon, a denim jacket, and a leather ID case.

On Sunday we couldn't quite recapture the bliss of the day before, but in the afternoon we took a bottle of champagne (ice bucket and all) to the park behind midtown and soaked up as much sun as we could.

Can you even stand how cool this place looks?

The cupcakes weren't bad, but the scones were excellent!

Spring Flowers!

The Gate to Someone's House

Midtown Champagne

Back in the Swing of Things

I haven't been very good about blogging so far this month, have I? Now that the New Year's holidays are over it's been back to regular life - John going to work and me back to my daily working out and writing routine. It's been hard to get back into the swing of things though. I just want to go fun places or watch TV curled up under warm blankets all the time.

But just because it's been back to reality doesn't mean we haven't done anything fun. John's birthday was this week and I made him a really awesome chocolate stout cake (if I do say so myself) decorated with edible gold (and for the careful observer, the exact same candles that I used on his cake last year). We also had some weird "champagne" (and I use that term loosely).  Around New Year's a lot of stores sell fukubukuro - or "Lucky Bags" that have unknown contents in them. There are some variations where you actually do know what you're getting, or you at least know the possibilities are. We did one where we bought mystery bottles of wine and the one John picked was this bright blue drink that is less alcoholic, but "based on" champagne whatever that means. The flavor was a little earthy which was jarring - with such a bright color I kept expecting it to taste like a blue raspberry slushy or something.

Speaking of weird things, I also tried a new weird snack food this week. After Raku and I tried the Sausage Doritos and the Fried Chicken Cheetos I was really excited when I found a bag of Camembert Doritos to buy her! But we tried that last night and they were terrible. Seriously, if you ever see them do yourself a favor and walk away. When we opened the bag the smell was really strong, in an unpleasant stinky cheese way. And the taste was just bizarre. They were really sweet! There must be at least as much sugar as weird cheese flavoring in them. With all the other novelty chips we've at least managed to finish the bag even if we wouldn't buy another, but with these we threw them out after one bite each.

Tomorrow is Coming of Age Day, so it's a three day weekend. I think we might celebrate by going to the spa in Yokohama. John's never been but I think it will be the perfect way to relax on a cold winter day.

Masamoto Tsukiji Knives

For Christmas this year John bought me two Japanese knives.  To be honest, I cook all the time and I've known for a while that the knives we have are pretty dull, but I didn't really know very much about good knives.  When John told me he wanted to take me to pick some out I nearly panicked because I wasn't sure I would know what to look for or even be able to appreciate such high quality knives.  So I took a while to do my research and get used to the idea, but when we finally went I was so excited!

What I learned is that Japanese knives are some of the sharpest in the world.  They're made in the same style as swords, and the steel they use can be sharpened to an exceptionally sharp blade, though it does make the knife a little more brittle.  You probably don't want to go hacking away at bones with these. Originally I assumed that Kappabashi would be the place to go, but the store I settled on is in Tsukiji, where the fish market is.  While Masamoto Tsukiji does sell knives for use at home, a great many of their knives are meant for restaurants and sushi chefs.

I chose a 210 mm gyuto knife, essentially an 8 1/2 in chef's knife, and a 120 mm knife for smaller jobs. The store sells both stainless steel and carbon steel, and I chose stainless which sacrifices only a small amount of sharpness for much more durability.  Even though they're stainless it's important to wash and dry them immediately after use, especially when chopping salty or acidic foods, something I've never actually been careful about before.  One of the most special things about these knives is that they will engrave your name in the knife, right there on the spot.  With the stainless steel blades they can only put it in the bolster, but with the carbon steel they can carve it right into the blade.  

I was a little nervous that it would be hard to get the knives, or that the proprietors would be annoyed to be selling to what would probably look like just another tourist.  They're craftsmen who have been doing this for hundreds of years after all.  But I was pleasantly surprised!  Everyone in the store was very kind and helpful, even joking around and making small talk with John in simple Japanese.  We saw a number of other tourists in the store, both American and Korean, and they were able to communicate in limited English phrases.  If you plan on asking lots of questions or asking for much guidance it would help to speak Japanese, but by looking at their website (with google translate) beforehand you should be able to get a good idea of what you want before going in.  This link goes straight to their stainless steal knives meant for home use.

Now that I've had the knives for about a week I have to say I'm in love.  Cutting everything is so fun! And so easy!  Honestly I want to say that cutting through potatoes or carrots or onions is like cutting through butter, but I tested it, and it's actually easier (if we're talking about cold butter, at least).

Masamoto Tsukiji Knives

Hours: 6:00-3:00, closed Sundays and holidays

Phone: 03-3541-7155

Address: 4-9-9 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

Map

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's already the end of the year!  It's been over a week since I've blogged too.  I've just been at home with John enjoying some time off.  He's got this entire week, and at the last minute was able to take Christmas day off as well.  I mentioned before that I was feeling so blue about the holidays, but they turned out pretty nicely.  Nothing super exciting to report, just a quiet relaxing time with good food, lots of FaceTime, and celebrating later with friends.

Now that it's the New Year's Holiday most people are off visiting family, so Tokyo feels very quiet and emptied out.  Traditionally on New Year's Eve Japanese people will eat noodles (soba in particular) to symbolize longevity in the new year.  John's not a big fan of soba (though I love it) but we had our favorite ramen, so maybe that counts?

I want to thank everyone that reads this blog, it's meant so much to me to have this outlet, and it makes me so happy to know that people out there are reading.  I've grown and learned so much in the past year, and tried to share a lot of that through this blog.  I hope that 2014 brings wonderful things to both you and me.  Happy New Year!

The Christmas Spirit

Can you believe how soon Christmas is? The past couple of weeks have been a flurry of Christmas shopping and mailing heaps of packages (receiving them too!) We have our Christmas tree up and our building has some cheery lights up, which is fun. It's strange to think that this is already our second Christmas here. I've been trying really hard to get into the Christmas spirit, but it's been a pretty up and down sort of week. I'm so lucky to have the friends and support here that I do, but a friend moved back to the US today. Raku, of course, has been wonderful putting up with all my moods and cheering me up with her kindness, shopping adventures, and when all else fails with chu-hais in conbinis. Part of me is glad to be settled and really appreciative of the life I have here, but part of me is so sad to not being going back for Christmas.

I've done a lot of really great shopping lately, and have several fun posts coming soon about it all, but for now here are some Christmas-y photos.

Home Sweet Home

Our Christmas Tree!  (The same one I've had since I was 22) 

S'mores - One of the only things worth making in a fish oven

Getting all our packages ready to ship

Some days you just need to drink a Sparkling Rose or a Sparkling Nouveau in the Family Mart

Feeling at Home

I can't believe it's already a week into December.  It's hitting me more now than at our anniversary that we've actually lived here for a whole year.  This will be the first time since starting college that John or I have lived in the same house/apartment/dorm room for more than a year.  It's nice to feel settled, but it's also sort of strange.  I'm feeling more settled and even alright about being here for the holidays this year, but there's still a sense of impermanence.

This week I've been doing a lot of Christmas shopping, getting packages ready to send back to the US. It's been fun to buy some of the traditional Japanese crafts for people that I normally just admire.  I also bought a Starbucks Christmas ornament.  It might be a little silly, but I've spent so much time writing in them this year that it seemed appropriate.  And it's really cute.

Midtown Christmas

Tokyo Midtown has a bunch of funny Santas set up for Christmas with instructions on how to pose with each one.  Raku and I didn't always take the advice, but we had a fun time playing around with them. Raku thinks she looks like a vagrant in the one where she's pretending to sleep.  My favorite was the nerdy Santa with the argyle socks.

Tokyo Midtown

Hours: 11:00-9:00

Address: 9-7-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Map

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can't believe how quickly November has flown by.  It doesn't seem like it should already be Thanksgiving, even though it's so late this year.  I also can't believe this is our second Thanksgiving in Japan.  This one feels a lot more real though, since we're living in our own apartment, not that tiny temporary place.

Our Thanksgiving dinner isn't going to be all that different than last year, though I'm attempting to mimic sweet potato casserole with kabocha - a Japanese squash.  Besides that we'll have rosemary lemon chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, and green beans.  For dessert this time I found some apple pie flavored ice cream at the grocery store.

As wonderful as the food is though, today is really about thankfulness.  This year I'm particularly thankful for the internet.  It allows me to stay in touch with friends and family no matter where they or I am, it lets me do research for my book so easily from any location, and it has been an invaluable resource over the last year for figuring out how to make our life here.  (Speaking of resources I recently had my blog added to the Japan Blog List, a great resource for people living in or interested in Japan)  I'm also very thankful for my friends and family back in the US who video chat me at strange times, mail me random things I can't find here, and provide me with so much love and support.  And of course I am thankful for the amazing friends and wonderful husband that I have here.

Lots of love to everyone near and far!

Halloween Photo Shoot

Happy Halloween! Is there anything better than a holiday when you and a friend can dress up and have a hilarious photo shoot? Well, I guess I don't really need a holiday for that. Back when my sister was visiting she, Raku, and I all bought matching cat shirts for 500 yen at Uniqlo. Honestly there are not that many occasions that we find to wear them together (though we try!) but using them as cat costumes seemed perfect. We waited too long and missed our chance to buy cat ears, but made some pretty great ones using construction paper and headbands. Then we spent a good 20 minutes coming up with our best cat poses.

Speaking of holidays, John told me that on the way to work he saw Christmas wreaths up!

By the way, I don't know if you can tell in the pictures, but I got a haircut earlier this week. It's not much shorter, but it has lots of layers in it now. I wish I was more creative about styling my hair. Where do people get all their cute ideas?

Going with the Flow

Are you very good at going with the flow? I'm trying to get better at it. When we first moved here I felt so out of control. Everything was so hard - I had the responsibilities of an adult, but what felt like the abilities of a very young child. As a coping mechanism I tried so hard to plan ahead and be in control of every small thing in my life that I could. In the beginning that was really helpful for me, but lately I've been thinking I need to relax a little more. I've found that I'm becoming resistant to change, something I never would have expected a year ago.

I know it's still more than a month away, but since September I've been trying to figure out what to do for Thanksgiving this year. It's easy to stress yourself out doing obsessive research and trying to make a plan to recreate a perfect experience. It makes you evaluate how important certain things are. Is having a "normal" Thanksgiving a way to hold on to treasured memories and traditions? Or is it a way to try and pretend that life hasn't really changed since moving here?

Yesterday I went to Costco and was delighted to discover they are selling pumpkin pies! A piece of my Thanksgiving plan was falling into place!  But, it turns out that Costco Japan carries pumpkin pie in October, and by November they're probably out of stock. I guess it's a Halloween thing? After some debating in the store, I realized that rather than being disappointed that I wouldn't be able to come get one for Thanksgiving I should be excited that I have the opportunity to have it all. And that what's really important to me about Thanksgiving is spending time with people that I care about, sharing laughter and delicious food, whether it's traditional or not. Even if it's not on the 4th Thursday of November.

So last night we had pumpkin pie, and I was thankful to be able to share a fall dessert with friends. Full disclosure - I bought a second pie and put it in the freezer for Thanksgiving. I guess I haven't completely let go yet.

Costco Pumpkin Pie

Change of Plans

My ten year high school reunion is going on right now. Weird. It seems forever ago, but then actually hearing ten years sounds crazy. John and I were supposed to be in Okinawa this weekend, but unfortunately there's a typhoon hitting them so the trip had to be canceled. At least the flights were cheap and the hotel was refundable. Sadly it's also grey and rainy in Tokyo.

Misty Skyline

Luckily, we're finding ways to enjoy the weekend anyways. The other day I bought some tiny pumpkins at Aoyama Flower Market. The normal size are like 3000 yen, but these were less than 300. The funniest part is that they give you stickers to make jack-o-lanters, so that you don't have to color or carve them.

Jack-o-Lantern Stickers

Our little pumpkin friend

And as usual, Saturday mornings call for pancakes.  This morning I tried a new recipe - lemon ricotta pancakes with spiced apples.

The apples are the best part

Tanabata

Today is Tanabata, a celestial summer holiday celebrating the mythical Orihime and Hikoboshi.  The story goes that Orihime (the star Vega) was the daughter of the sky god.  She was a weaver and wove beautiful fabric.  One day she met Hikoboshi,(the star Altair) a cow herd.  They fell madly in love, and began to spend all of their time together.  They were so distracted by each other that they began neglecting their work, angering Orihime's father.  As punishment he created a mighty river to separate them (the Milky Way).  Orihime was devastated, and after much weeping her father finally relented, allowing the lovers to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month each year.

A Tanabata Tree

To celebrate, people also make wishes, writing them on colorful strips of paper and hanging them from bamboo branches.  Raku's building has a Tanabata tree, so we each made wishes this week.

My wish - that my sister can come visit

Speaking of my sister, July 7 is not only Tanabata, it's her birthday.  Happy Birthday Julie!  And speaking of birthdays, check out this hilarious birthday card I just received.

You Feta Have A Gouda Birthday!