Cherry Blossom Adventures

Apparently all foreigners in Japan *might* be terrorists so from the 20th of November every foreigner entering into Japan will have to be fingerprinted and photographed...this is not just visitors to the country but even those who live here and have visas (In fact even people with permanent residency here will need to do the same thing…people who have lived here for years and years and years)….The thing that gets me is that there has never been an act of terrorism in Japan that wasn`t done by Japanese people…yet this is their excuse for demanding these details….although at the end of video I watched they also mentioned it is to keep out `Foreign criminals` and people who overstay their visa…….Apparently the fingerprints and photos are also able to be exchanged with other governments.

Since I am traveling back to Australia in December on my way back in January I will need to do this for the first time. Do you have any idea how long that will take??? Plus you have to do it EVERY time!!! I can just see myself after a nine hour flight arriving back in Tokyo, just wanting to get back to my apartment to find instead of an hour waiting in line I will need to wait five.

It is times like this I really hate Japan…..We are already forced to carry alien registration identification cards on us at all times (Which police or government officials can demand to see at any time…without reason) and now we have to be subjected to this……Perhaps this really is needed to stomp out terrorism but I do not beleive this to be the case…

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A typhoon (http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070716a1.html) and an earthquake (http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070716p2a00m0na001000c.html)have hit Japan this past weekend (The earthquake this morning at 10am). While we had some rain and wind from the typhoon Tokyo was more or less OK. The earthquake, which hit Niigata (Similar to the one that hit the same area in 2004) could be felt in parts of Tokyo. But just to let everyone know, we are fine. Apparently the typhoon even made news in Australia!!

Will do a proper update of weekend in the next couple of days. Have lots of photos from Mandy`s trip to Tokyo!

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I love the fact that you can decide to make hummus (or anything really!) at 11:30 at night then when you finish at 12 and realize you have no fresh vegtables to dip in it for the next day that you can go to the supermarket less than 3 minutes walk away. Because it is open until 2am. (I mean a real supermarket by the way, like coles or woolworths or costco!)

I also love the fact that moterbikes and scooters here have what can only be described as a bike chain. Why? I do wonder. But it is still funny to see! ( To tell you the truth I had never noticed this until I was walking home tonight!)

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It has started…we are officially apartment hunting. Today we picked up some brochures, we also went into one place to have a look at what they had on offer and ended up going out to see three apartments. Apartment hunting in Japan is crazy…I was so wrecked by the time I found my apartment last time and I was reminded today why I hate it so much…

Real estate agent: `So are you married?`

us: no

Real estate agent: Do you both have guarantors?

Us: Yes, shumpei`s parents

Real estate agent: Well because you are not married she (meaning me) can`t use your parents. She will need to go to a company and pay for a guarantor since she doesn`t have any other Japanese family right?

Us: But his parents are willing to be our guarantor?

Real estate agent: sorry that wouldn`t work…

We thought about this for a bit, and apparently if only Shumpei`s name goes on the lease, we can still live together but I won`t need a guarantor then.

We filled in a couple of forms saying what we wanted etc…

Real estate agent: You realize, before I can show you any apartments I will need to ring and mention that an unmarried couple, one of which is foreign, might want to rent their apartment.

me: Ok, I guess. (I couldn`t really say no now could I?)

Real estate agent then started to do this in front of me.

Real estate agent (to owners): . I have a couple looking for a place, they are not married is that ok? (He would wait for them to say ok …..none of them said no at this point…although one did say as long as we weren`t planning on having kids it was ok???)

Real estate agent: Oh and the girl is foreign…….

Some people actually said no straight out….and he would say `Ok I understand` and hang up. Some would ask more questions…like whether I spoke Japanese, where I was from, whether I had a job, what job I had etc.

The couple of places that said ok, would receive this reaction from the real estate agent ` Oh thank you so much for, thank you so much` As if them thinking about renting an apartment to me was nothing short of a miracle.

TO tell you the truth, the guy that helped us today was actually pretty good. Some people I dealt with last time, especially if Shumpei or Shun`s mother weren`t with me, some of the things they would say to me were terrible….One guy refused to even show me places I wanted to see because I was foreign…he wouldn`t even ring the owners and ask if it was ok. Shun was with me that time, and by that time I was so over apartment hunting that I hadn`t even wanted to go into the place because I had said to them they were always so mean and he said they wouldn`t be mean to me if he was there. And that guy that time was the worse…

We saw three apartments today, two of which I liked ( I could ride to work from both of them in less that 30 minutes). The thing is we really need to get the 7000 dollars we will probably need to move together first….We were hoping to move by the end of June but it doesn`t look like it will happen….That is a lot of money, money that we don`t have lying around. In fact I have no savings at the moment and Shumpei only has a little….

I really want to move though….I am so sick of our little cramped apartment!!! We were talking about money today and if we live really tightly we might be able to get the money together before end of July…then it would be just a matter of finding an apartment.

Oh the joys of apartment hunting!!!!!!

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Well Cherry blossom/Sakura season is almost over…Hanami parties have been had and lots of photos have been taken!!! I thought it was about time I actually got around to posting some photos!

I actually went to one hanami party this year, the one I organized (although then we merged with Deanne and Masao from Tokyo Made for their pink party and they basically did all the work!!) and we were a bit early. And basically there were no blossoms. But we still had a blast…and our own little tree!

This past weekend would have been perfect for a hanami (blossom viewing) party/picnic…although it was fairly cloudy it was still fairly warm and the blossoms were out in full bloom! Shumpei and I headed to Shinjuku Gyoen (A park in Shinjuku which is about 15 minutes from where I live by train) and paid our 200 yen (I had no idea that you had to pay into some parks…I was also shocked when we were in Okinawa and you had to pay to use some beaches…Seems crazy doesn`t it?) to enter the very crowded park. It was lovely though. And I really want to go back in Autumn to see the difference between seasons! I had never been before, and I certainly hadn`t seen the cherry blossoms there before, so it was a great day out! I took way too many photos!

Then yesterday we headed out to Chiba to Shumpei`s parents place. We are supposed to go back there once a month but it had been ages since I had been there, almost two months. I hadn`t been since before my birthday anyway and was shocked to find present waiting for me there from his parents and his brother and his brother`s wife. Also after dinner I go a cake with happy birthday written on it. And they sang for me! Birthdays are not a big deal in Japan (Much to my dismay!) but I was really happy (and surprised) that they had remembered and gone to so much trouble!

This was my cake!!

It deserves to be a big photo don`t you think! It says `Tanjyoubi omedetou` which means happy birthday in Japanese! I love Japanese short cake too!!!! Plus the let me eat the white chocolate birthday message thingy! It was yummy!

We also went out to Chiba to see the sakura out there. Right near Shumpei`s parents house is a small creek that has sakura trees all along it. The best thing is that they have lanterns in the trees so at night it looks especially beautiful. They call it yozzakura (Night sakura) and it really is stunning. The photos don`t do it justice but that didn`t stop me from taking a million shots while I walked along with Shumpei.

We also went to see some Shidarezakura at a local temple (Well we thought it was local but in the end it was a 30 minute bike ride away!) we took Holly, the dog! Shidarezakura is the type in the photos…It is hanging down! (I was going to explain it better but I can`t!) The shidarezakura tree in these photos is more than 400 years old!

There are a couple more photos here if you are interested! I love this type of year and I am sad to see that the cherry blossoms will all be gone soon (Although when they are all falling, petal by petal, is also a great time to go to a park cos it is like it is raining flowers!) But I am very excited cos now that Spring has started properly it means golden week is almost here. And during golden week I am going back to Australia for a quick visit!!! Yay! I am so excited to see family and friends, go shopping and go to a cafe and be able to have a nice sandwich. Oh and eat all my other favourite foods. And cheap fruit! Oh I can`t wait!!!

Quick question: When you played hide and seek when you were a kid did you just face away from the person that was `up` put your hands over your eyes and just stand or sit there? My brother used to do something similar to that. He would always go to his bedroom sit down in the middle of the room and cover his eyes…I guess he figured he couldn`t see anyone so nobody could see him. I thought it was just him. Turns out though it is fairly normal for kids to be that stupid and think that that works. A little boy (age 4) in Spring school at work at the moment does that whenever we play hide and seek at the park. It is the funniest thing to watch!!!!

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I couldn`t remember the English word for seahorse today…I think I have been in Japan too long.

I can also never remember the word renovate. That word eludes me all the time…Although I can`t remember the Japanese word for that either!

Is it normal to forget words from your native language?

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Our apartment is 25m sq…If your not sure how small that actually is and you live in Australia then it is probably the size of your bedroom… Put it this way my mothers bedroom is bigger than our whole apartment. Our apartment consists of a bedroom, a hallway (that has the kitchen* in it, as well as the washing machine, and 5 bins.) and a bathroom which two people can not stand in comfortably. I know this because we only have one mirror, one sink etc so when we are both in a rush in the morning cleaning our teeth at the same time can become a challenge unless one of us stands in the bath/shower.

And I am sick of it. I am sick of having no space. And because we have too much stuff then the apartment always seems messy. I hate mess and I am a fairly clean person but this apartment does my head in because it never ever seems clean. But what really annoys me is that if I clean it then less than a day later it is messy again. I can`t really blame Shumpei…he is not as clean as me but he isn`t dirty or messy either. It is just there is no space. From the toilet to the sink in the kitchen it is only 1 and a half meters apart… I know because I just measured it….and that is just crazy.

I want to move. And we will be moving later this year because living in a space this size might be OK for one person (in fact for Tokyo it is not bad in terms of size of a 1k…which means one bedroom and kitchen.) but with the two of us here it is just too much. I eat, Internet, sleep, watch TV and get dressed all in the one room. Because there is no other rooms.

We will be looking for an apartment classified as a 2DK…which means two bedrooms (But one of the rooms will most likely be the size of a closet while the other one we will sleep in) a dining and kitchen. They might not be separate it depends on the place but usually a DK just means a bigger kitchen…and you should have place for a table. I really want a table. I am sick of eating on the floor or on the bed. It just seems so gross…

I am sick of a lot of things. I used to love this apartment. I think because technically it is my first flat…I either lived at home or at a dorm up until now so it was so nice to have my own space. Then Shumpei moved in, which was great, but it meant that I had half the space…and really there wasn`t enough space to begin with. We have lived like this for almost a year now and the thing is it doesn`t bother him at all. Sure he agrees it is kind of small for two people but he would be quite content to stay in this apartment. I know it is a money thing too….for both of us. To move we will have to pay about 6 months rent…. We pay just over 1000 Australian dollars a month to live here at the moment but for a bigger apartment we would have to pay more obviously. And the system in Japan is that you pay 2 months key money (which you never get back ) 2 months bond (which you might get back) one month agent fee then your first months rent. So to move we`d probably have to put forward about 3500 dollars each or 380,000yen.

We haven`t really started apartment hunting yet mainly because I do not have the money to move at the moment. I wish I did, but it will take me at least a couple of months to save that much. Plus I have a ticket to China to buy, among other things.

Don`t get me wrong there are some great things about our apartment. For example it came with a washing machine, microwave and fridge (although we have our own fridge now) so when I moved in I didn`t have to buy any of those things, It is in Kichijoji (A really great place) and it is less than a five minute walk to the station. But I guess I am just over it… I am not sure how much longer I can stand living in an apartment this small.

Anyone want to give us an apartment for free? In Tokyo? Preferably still in Kichijoji? I would really appreciate it…Thanks!

Oh and the picture at the top is not of our apartment but it is basically the same layout and size.

*When I say kitchen I mean sink, and one hot plate with 3 inches of bench space. The microwave, rice cooker and fridge are all against the wall in the hallway.

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While mine won`t be as entertaining as Steph`s…I have decided to write about my garbage distress…unlike her`s mine doesn`t end with hot garbage men or me in little shorts and a see through top!

In Japan, well at least where I live, the garbage system is way to complicated for a simple foreigner to understand. I have instructions on my walls in English and Japanese ( I used to have only English but then the bf moved in and he kept making mistakes so I had to get a Japanese copy from the building manager…He was putting clean paper and plastic together…WHICH IS JUST NOT DONE!)

Firstly there are three coloured bags. Oh and garbage is taken out everyday Monday through Friday.

Monday is burnable rubbish. Green bags.

Tuesday is non-burnable rubbish. Also green bags.

Wednesday is plastic, separated into two bags. Clear bags. (One has clean, washed plastic, the other has plastic pet bottles with labels and lids removed…the labels and lids go in the other plastic bag.

Thursday is burnable rubbish again. Green bags.

Friday is paper (clean only), glass (bottles etc must have caps and labels removed), cans (washed) and dangerous garbage (meaning batteries and aerosol cans). All in clear bags except the dangerous garbage which goes into red bag.. The paper must be bundled with red string if it is magazines or boxes. Tape must be removed from boxes…

I live in an apartment that is 25m sq (read: TINY) and half of it is taken up with fricken garbage bins. I have five in total…inside my apartment plus the plastic bottles and non-burnable garbage ( I never have much…) goes onto the floor. Because I don`t have any space for other bins.

Oh by the way all bags have to bought and are pretty damn expensive! The garbage has to go downstairs into the entrance sometime between 9 at night and 9 the next morning. I am quite lucky now, my oya-san (means owner, although she is actually the manager I guess of the building) is not that pedantic about it and I think if people make mistakes she just fixes it (BUT EWWWW…..OTHER PEOPLES GARBAGE) although if it is not in the right bags she usually returns it to the person if she knows who it is or leaves it downstairs with a note on it.

But before, when I lived at the international house when I was university student all hell broke loose when the garbage system for our area changed to the above (By the way the above system is not a japan wide system or even a Tokyo wide system…I can not believe they have different ways of separating garbage in different suburbs but they do!)…before that it was just burnable and non burnable and cans, glass and dangerous garbage was separate. And it was all in the same colour clear bags. Oh and burnable was paper and food and non-burnable was plastic (Now for some strange reason plastic (dirty) is burnable…clean of course must go out with the other plastic on Wednesday!). We had lectures on garbage separation, were given English instructions (the Chinese girl was given Chinese instructions) and I believe there was a couple of powerpoint slide shows. But basically none of us could be bothered. And our oya-san was hellish…SHE WOULD GO THROUGH OUR GARBAGE AND THEN PUT IT BACK IN OUR KITCHENS OR OUTSIDE OUR DOORS IF SHE FOUND SOMETHING WITH OUT NAME ON IT OR SOMETHING TYING IT BACK TO ME or SOMEBODY ELSE.

This is where it got complicated. One guy hated her (the oya-san). And would cut everything up with his name on it tying back to him or leave it and put it into other people`s bins cos he was a lazy fucker who couldn`t be bothered to separate his garbage. HE PUT EVERYTHING TOGETHER. It was a nightmare. She knew it was him but couldn`t prove it. There were letters flying back and forth…Once she even pulled certain things out of the garbage and put them outside his door. It was just gross.

Plus there was 3 or 4 people sharing a kitchen. We were all responsible for our own bedroom rubbish but the kitchen rubbish there was a roster. And none of us ever remembered to do it until it was overflowing and the oya-san would relent and take it out for us. Then leave notes. My biggest pet hate was washing out juice containers then having to cut them up…THAT`S RIGHT….CUT THEM UP.

I believe in recycling. I do. But this is just too much….Especially when you only have such a small space to keep rubbish in your apartment and no big bins in the basement of anything to put it all. If you forget one week your stuck with it…In your apartment…til the next time. (Note: Not all apartments are like this…most big places have basements with big garbage bins)

So next time you think `Oh I don`t want to take out my ONE bag of garbage` or ` God, I don`t want to take out the bin.` think of me…and the fact I have to wake up 15 minutes before I have to just to separate and prepare my garbage for collection!

Ps: Read this for some other interesting points. This is not my area but I too have to do most of the things listed.

pps: I left out the instructions for clothing and shoes and handbags…they don`t all go together but there are different rules for them. Oh and there are special days if you want to throw out fridges, freezes, microwaves etc too.

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The silly people over at the Meteorological Agency and their silly program made a mistake. The cherry blossoms will not bloom in Tokyo as early as predicted….which totally screws up my weekend next weekend as hanami is organized for then. They have released new dates (so far only in Japanese I think), predicting that they start to bloom on the 23rd but I just don`t trust them now. The article here explains that the program they use, with all the data collected through from September last year til now screwed up. I do hope that they are blooming well and good before the 24th…otherwise there will be some very disappointed people…and I am not just talking about our group of people…but the hundreds and thousands of people that who have no doubt already organized to have hanami around that time!!!

I still remember my first ever hanami…and the first time I saw sakura. The first time I saw sakura was the weekend I after I arrived in Japan for the first time, in the park near the university and during the tour of the university a week after I arrived. People get so damned excited about it all. My first hanami party was actually at night…Strange but true! It was during uni orientation and two of the guys I lived with had joined one of the soccer clubs at Seikei Uni…and in April each year, when uni starts, clubs have welcome parties for new members and this one just happened to be in the park at night during cherry blossom time and we were invited to join in. That week was already crazy and filled with millions of other drinking parties (We kind of just rocked up wherever we wanted to, for some reason we didn`t have to become members of the clubs or circles to join in…The weirdest thing was that most of the time we didn`t have to pay either…I even joined a tennis circle despite the fact I can not play tennis…) Basically these parties consisted of people making you drink while singing silly drinking songs and shouts of iki iki iki (Basically meaning down it!!) One of the best parties of the week though was in the park that night….Drinking, red faced men and cherry blossoms…really showed off the Japanese culture I know and love!

I thought I would post some old sakura and hanami pictures from the two years I have spent in Japan during the mad cherry blossom time. Keep in mind that it is usually all over after 2 weeks, less if it rains but it is without one of the best times of the year to be here. Despite the crowds you must battle to find a good hanami spot!! I do hope this years blossoms come out soon, and put on a good showing!

Tomorrow I am going on an excursion with the kiddies to the park featured in photos 3 and 4. We are going bug catching with the kids…and the best thing about living so class to the park is that I don`t have to get up until 8:45 tomorrow. Usually I start work at 9 but tomorrow the parents will drop their kids off at the park at 10:00, meaning I don`t have to be there until 9:45! Bonus. Other great thing…tomorrow is Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ps: Expect to see many many more cherry blossom and hanami photos in the next month!!!!!!! I say next month because who knows when the bloody things will start blooming!

pps: We should so introduce a hanami like custom in Australia…am happy to provide advice for anybody who would like to start it! It is simply the best thing ever. Nothing better than getting drunk with friends while sitting on a blue sheet eating picnic food and watching the flowers! Wjho agrees?

I want to introduce Australia Day BBQ with friends here while listening to triple J hottest 100…as that was an old tradition I participated in up until moving here! ANy others living in Japan want to try this next year?

ppps: I read something last year, don`t remember where, but apparently there are more ER visits around hanami and cherry blossom time due to drunk salary men climbing the trees to get a bit of a look and fallin out. Does anyone know where I could of heard this or read this? Or did I dream it?

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I dream in English and Japanese. As far as I know no other languages have appeared. I still remember the first dream I had where everything was in Japanese. It was set in Japan and some friends were in it and it was all in Japanese. The best thing about my dreams in Japanese is that my Japanese is always perfect, and I always understand everything that is going on. Something I am still striving for in real life. I would say, of the dreams I remember, 60% are in English while the other 40% are in Japanese. Sometimes my non-English speaking friends speak perfect English in my dreams…Shumpei loves it when I tell him he spoke English in my dreams. Sometimes my dreams are based in Australia, but with all the people from my Japan life, which is a bit strange but I guess that is what dreams are. Strange.

I used to have a dream analysis book but I guess it is in Australia somewhere. It never made a whole lot of sense to me. Does anyone follow this seriously? What do you think, should I analyze my dreams?

I am also a restless sleeper. While I sleep fine, the people around me, namely Shumpei, have to deal with sleep talking, sleep moaning, moving around, futon stealing and kicking. Apparently I went through a patch of been a good sleeper, despite the sleep talking (also which is apparently in English and Japanese…or sometimes a weird mix so I have heard) but in the last week I have been quite difficult. I blame it on the change of the seasons…I apparently steal the futon (doona!) but I don`t use it to cover myself up, I just hug it. So Shumpei freezes. When I say I sleep talk too, I mean I really sleep talk. I have full on conversations really loudly with actions and everything (IE moving my hand around in front of my face to indicate things apparently!)

Anyone that has slept in a bed with me, or watched me sleep know how difficult I can be. I guess cos so many people comment on it that it must be true. Apparently I don`t snore though…so at least I have one good thing going for me! I also don`t sleep walk…although my father and brother have both been prone to get up in the middle of the night and have a walk around. Maybe that is the next stage of my sleep oddities!!!

Anyone else out there a strange sleeper? Do you have any cures? I have asked Shumpei to film me next time i get really vocal as I think it would make for interesting blog material!!

Update: Take last nights dream for example. It was in Japanese mainly, with some english. It was set in Australia, mainly around a christmas party at my old work (I used to work in a bar/cafe at manly!) and we had hired it out to have our party there. Thing was it was all people from my life in Japan that were there…and my old boss could somehow speak Japanese. Well he was speaking English to me, but Japanese to my Japanese friends. Is this not strange?? It was a good dream though, hell of a christmas party!

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