Car Horns Must Wear Out Quickly In China

As I'm sure you learned from Laura's post, we went to the Great Wall today. We signed up for a shuttle bus that goes to a less busy section, and it turned out we were the only ones going. Instead of a bus we went in a sedan, and lucked into a private tour of Beijing. Traffic here is crazy, and people here loooooove to honk, so I decided to count how many times our driver honked throughout the day. This idea came to me after his first 10-15 honks, so the official number is a little lower than what it should be.
And the grand total is... 119. Yep, if you want to launch a business venture into China, you should manufacture car horns.

China I

Hey ya'll!

We're in Beijing. It's freakin' CRAZY here. Initial impressions:
1-smog is about a million times worse that you read about.
2-people drive like they have a death wish.
3-things are uber cheap.
4-it's more like Mexico than anywhere I've been.
5-everything's covered in a thin layer of dirt, but I haven't seen anything disgusting yet.
6-...let's just say that people in Japan are really nice ;-).

We climbed the Great Wall today. It's was totally epic. Amazing. Maybe the most amazing thing I've ever done/seen. We hired a private tour guide and driver for the day-it was about...$90? For like 7 hours. They took us to the wall, a silk factory (where we bought some stuff) and to a tea ceremony. The teas were amazing, but I only bought one. We bought some stuff at the wall too (souvenir-y type stuff).

Anyways, I'm starving for some Pekin Duck, so I'm outta here. I'm soooooooo tired from today, so I think I'll be crashing early. More posts later!!

Laura :O

Last post for a bit

We leave for Beijing on Wed and will get back next Mon. We'll try to post pictures sometime next week. In the meantime, here's a random pic. I'm sure you can guess what it's for. I translated the top line and it comes out roughly to 'Disposal is a fun favour'. Yay!

We're currently gearing up for China. Our last work week (and a couple days) is starting up right now, and then we're off to Beijing for a week. The week that we're going is a massive holiday for about 90+% of Japan called 'Golden Week'. It consists of a string of back-to-back holidays, and since everyone's on vacation, it's extremely busy everywhere, and traveling within Japan is VERY expensive. It's actually cheaper to go on vacation outside the country during this time - hence China.

Looking forward to it. Should be making one more blog post before then.

Brian.

The newest little Dyck

Today Laura and I became an Aunt and Uncle. Our nephew's name is Ethan (hope the spelling's right). Congratulations to Dave and Katie. We love and miss you.

Hal

Say hello to Hal.

These are EVERYWHERE in Japan. My guess is they are an emergency station (fire, etc), but every time I ask it to tell me what its purpose is, it says 'I'm sorry Brian, I'm afraid I can't do that'. Meh. Should be fine...

Sorry, another late post.

Getting back into the swing of things for work, though thankfully, we only have 4 weeks until the next break. We went and booked a trip to China, so we're doubly looking forward to the 29th.

Had a lot of fun while my parents were here. Disneysea was a blast, and Kyoto was amazing. Here's a random pic of our adventures in Japan.

This one's from our hotel in Kyoto. A vending machine that offers 'casual frozen foods'. Hot of course. I just loooove that Takoyaki (fried octopus in a ball of batter) is considered casual (though if you're Japanese, it really would be). Enjoy!

Kyoto

Sorry for the late post. Haven't been around much lately. My parentsn have been visiting since Friday. So far, we've hit up the Ushiku Daibutsu and Kairakuen (see earlier posts on each), Tokyo (Shibuya and Ginza wards), Tokyo Disneysea, and now Kyoto.

We just got to Kyoto today. We rode the second fastest type of train in Japan (and the world?). Amazingly smooth ride. Lots of leg room too. From Tokyo to Kyoto in about 2hrs 30mins. FAST.

Not sure the name of where we went, and Laura's taking a nap, so I will add details later.

Brian.

Spring is Finally Here!!

I'm so happy :). It's gorgeous out today, about 22 degrees with a slight breeze. As Bri mentioned, our neighbourhood smells of Froot-Loops. I'm pretty sure it's because of the plum trees blossoming. It's amazing, I just want to eat the air.

I'm also happy because as of tonight, we have a week off. Bri's parents get here tomorrow, which is super exciting! We're heading into Kyoto next week with them. I've wanted to go there since we got here and this is a great season because hopefully the cherry blossoms will be in blooms. Apparently it's an amazing sight.

I got a haircut today. I was really nervous cuz my Japanese still isn't good and not many service people in Tsukuba speak English. Luckily I found a hairdresser whose English is almost perfect! So it worked out-yay!

That's all I had to say. We've been pretty busy lately for some strange reason. Well, busy by Japan-standards, which I suppose isn't actually that busy.

Talk to ya soon
Laura :-)

Our Neighbourhood Smells Like Fruit-Loops Today

That is all.

Lunch

I was feeling extremely hungry today, as I went home sick from work yesterday, and was unable to really eat anything for the rest of the day. We met up with some coworkers at this fantastic restaurant that does salads, pasta, sandwiches, etc, but in a western style and western portions (the burgers are MONSTROUS!). Now, we've mentioned how pet friendly Japan is, and Laura even remarked today how the majority of dogs here (even big dogs like golden labs) are wearing some article of clothing. So we get to the cafe and there are people outside with their dogs (including an adorable beagle) - not so odd. As we are scanning the menu, Laura notices a DOG MENU. Here, at a reduced price, you could buy things like boiled chicken for your kindly canine. There are of course restaurants in N. America that do this as well, but as we talked about this with our friends, we got the distinct impression that while this sort of service is still a bit odd and something that people would take notice of back home, it's not even worth a second glance in Japan (or the Kanto area at least). Below is a pic of the Dogs' choices, along with my rather loose translation.



Boiled Chicken Plate
Milk Cookie Plate (Milk Bone?)

The next three are in Hiragana, and while I can read it, my dictionary is rather limited.

Sorry for the late post. We had a conference in Shinjuku (Tokyo) that we all went to (all the teachers). Unfortunately, it was mostly a waste of time, and more importantly, a waste of our one day off a week. That said, we did go for margaritas afterward, and I picked up some comics at Tokyo's largest English bookstore. The thing that made the conference so disappointing is it was billed as a chance to talk with the authors of our kids' books and get a better handle on how to use them. Instead, it turned out to be a commercial for their newer books. Annoying to say the least. We only have two more weeks till our vacation though, and my parents are visiting so fun's on the horizon. This grind sucks, and yesterday didn't make it any better, but once the vacations start, they're pretty well sprinkled throughout till September.

K, here we go.

So, I didn't have anything on my mind yesterday, but also couldn't find my memory card from my phone (which is filled with random pics). Found it, so here you go. This is a random gentleman we bumped into when we were at the park in Mito last weekend. The bunny so comfortably perched on his shoulder simply demanded a pic. Enjoy.

Kairakuen

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile, but most of you know how lazy I am :). Things are good here, spring's coming, which is really exciting! We went to Kai-rak-uen park last weekend, which was gorgeous. This park has the most ume (plum) trees in all of Japan-over 3,000. Anyways, the trees started blooming a few weeks ago so we went for the Ume Festival.



There was also a house there, built by an emperor (I think) called a Kobuntei. I really loved that house-I told Brian I wanted him to buy it for me. I don't think the Japanese government would go for it though.





The rooms all had sliding doors (like we have, I don't know what they're called) painted by famous Japanese artists. They were amazing...






Anyways, that's it for now-I gotta get to work. Take care!! Laura :)

Japan: The Land of Muzak

Okay, so this is what was perched on the outskirts of my mind last week: Japan's love affair with muzak; oh boy, is it a love affair! EVERYWHERE you go, you can't help but here smooth renditions (both orchestral and electronic) of a multitude of popular western songs. I've heard everything from Beyonce (Irreplaceable) and Madonna (Crazy For You), to Aerosmith and folk songs (Too-A-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral). There are many others of course, but I've been negligent in keeping track of them (various other hip-hop, alt. rock, folk songs, etc.).

My personal favorite odd song usage has to be the signal that every Japanese store I've been in (at closing time anyway) uses to signal it's time to wrap up your shopping and get the hell out: Auld Lang Syne. Grocery stores, recycle shops (2nd hand), electronics stores, if you're shopping there between 9 and 10pm, you'll hear Auld Lang Syne. It's an odd way to say 'Dear Customers, we're closing soon, please proceed to the check out with your purchases', but it's entertainin nonetheless. You here the drunken song of renewal while browsing the aisles, look up, and all of your fellow shoppers are making a pseudo zombie-shuffle towards the cashier, items in hand. Consumer programming at its best.

Seriously though, EVERYTIME we go for dinner we are serenaded by deliciously lame renditions of songs that were, in many cases, deliciously lame to begin with. I really should start taking names.

Anway, that's it for now. Next week I'll tell you about the non-muzak offerings of a specific grocery store. Later.

Free time

Hmmmm, what to blog about today? There were so many things I thought of during the week and, of course, I can't remember a single one of them right now. They were mostly along the lines of 'Japan: The land of...'. Huh. Let me sit here and ponder... (2mins later). Well, I'm too lazy to sit and think about one of the funny observations of the past week, so I'll go with a sad one instead.

Japan: The land of severely over-worked people. I encountered two students this week that really shed some light on just how driven and consumed the Japanese are concerning work and education.

The first was an adult student. When I asked about hobbies, the student replied that he currently had NO time for hobbies. The one hobby he had before joining the workforce post-University had been given up, as all his spare time is spent on extra study for work. He doesn't even have any of his old equipment. That's how little chance he'll ever have time for it again is. As a result, he had nothing to discuss, and with no textbook to fall back on, it made for and EXTREMELY interesting conversation *sarcasm - drip, drip*

The second was just SAD. I asked the same question of a 12yr old student. She thought for a moment, and then replied 'sleeping in my room'. Her classmate spoke of custom pictures with friends, but the only thing this girl REALLY loves to do when she gets a moment of free time is to sleep. These kids are so pushed in school, have so many extracurricular activities, that most are dead on their feet @ age eleven. That's still elementary school. My junior high kids remind me of college/university students, but without the energy to party.

Costco

So we went to Costco yesterday. Gotta love how close it is to us. It's only a mere 60ish km from us in Funabashi, Chiba (near Tokyo), and thanks to the magic that is Japanese roadways, it's a painless SEVEN HOUR ROUND TRIP!!!!! Yes, SEVEN HOURS!!!!!!! Suffice to say, we never go more than once a month. Hell, if we could get a decent selection of Western food elsewhere, we'd probably never go there... if not for the pizza. Costco has the best pizza in Kanto, PERIOD. It's so good that a friend of ours tagged along for that reason alone.

We also had our newest teacher come with, then spent the rest of the evening hanging out with her and a few of our co-workers, hence the reason for a Monday post. Our house has turned into a bit of a meeting point for our friends, as it has more space than the apartments (just think back to our original apartment - that's what they're living in). This also contributed to the late post, as we were up untill 2.30am with guests, then up @ 9am for the Costco run (which is late considering it opens at 10am, and any time you can shave off of peak traffic time is MARVELOUS).

So anyway, that's the latest. Oh, and we stopped by our favorite liquor store (as Costco isn't solely a liquor store). It's called Big Boss, has a picture of Al Capone, and has an insane selection of booze. Snapped a pic with a bottle of whiskey, the quantity of which can be found in pretty much ANY standard liquor store in Japan. Enjoy.

Earthquake

So we had the largest earthquake we've felt here so far this morning. Just before 7am, it was a 5.7 (richter I would assume, as the site I got the info off of was an international site and not Japanese) and lasted for a bout 15-20 seconds. It was enough that our bedroom light was swaying back and forth for a good minute afterward. We then went back to sleep.

On another note, I'm going on record that I (can't vouch for Laura) will post here EVERY Sunday (our time). Whether it's a quick 'Sorry, nothing to write about' post, or something that's been on my mind all week, I promise it'll be up here Sunday. That said, if I have something that's gotta go up earlier, that'll happen too. I simply needed to lay down some ground rules for myself concerning my posts, as I can let it go for a long time if I'm not kicking my own ass about it.

So see you next week.

Brian.

Umbrellas

So we were looking for a new purse for Laura today, and because it's the New Year, there are sales everywhere (New Year is like Christmas for Japanese - all the sales happen for New Year). She found some that she liked, and while she was humming and hawing, I saw umbrellas for 50-60% off. We bought two. A pink and polka dot one for Laura, and a blue and heart print one for me (I discovered when we got home... looked polka dot unopened in the store - oh well, it's Japan). The really funny thing is that when we were at the register, they bring out this gigantic bag for Laura's purse's (she found two - like I said, major sales), and then proceeded to put the umbrellas in THEIR OWN PLASTIC BAGS!!! The bags were long, narrow, and clearly meant specifically for umbrellas. They then taped the excess plastic to the bag (like you would wrap up your umbrella when finished with it) so they were nice and snug in their very own wrapping, and placed them in the one big bag. Japan is the land of extra packaging at a retail level. It's considered a sign of respect for the customer, as it's all about the details. It'd truly be funny if there wasn't so much waste involved. I'm almost surprised they didn't individually bag the bags. Anyway, I'm off to go birth a hamster. Nite.

Christmas Vacation

So our winter vacation is drawing to a close. It's gone by so fast! We started off on the 23rd by driving up to Sendai. What a beautiful drive! Pictures here We good 3 toll roads, which got us there in just under 4 hrs. It follows a lot of oceanside, which was gorgeous. We passed Mito (the capital of our prefecture, Ibaraki) and Hitachi (yes, like the electronic name brand). Sendai is in Miyagi, which is 3 prefectures away. We got into Sendai in the evening and wandered the city. It's quite big, just over a million residents. We both thought it was the perfect size. See pictures here

Christmas Eve day we went to the Sendai Castle Ruins . It was a big dull, though we saw some amazing views of Sendai. We were expecting some castle, but nope, just ruins. Christmas Eve dinner was Indian food, which was okay, but totally suited our usual Christmas Eve tradition of ethnic food.

Christmas Day we took off to Matsushima, which is a cluster of about 260 small islands. Pictures here . It was so gorgeous, but SO cold!! We finished the day with a cow tongue dinner (pics in the second picture link). It was delicious. So tender, not what I expected at all. I didn't like it as much as Brian, but I'm also not as much as a beef fan.

Friday we went to the Dai Kannon . It was snowing in the mountains and so cold!!! The next day we went drove home to Tsukuba.

Monday we took a new teacher to Costco/Ikea with us. Nothing too exciting there.

Tuesday we went to Disneyland - yay!! It was SO BUSY!!! We waited in 2 very long lines. It was almost identical to Disneyland in California. It had more rides than DisneySea, but I thought that DisneySea was more aesthetically pleasing.

We didn't do anything for New Years'. New Year's Eve isn't really celebrated in Japan, only New Years Day.

Friday we went to Chinatown in Yokohama. It's the biggest in Japan, one of the biggest in Asia. It was okay. The Chinese food we ate was very similar to what we get in Canada. Lots and lots of shops.

And that brings us to today!! We're spending the weekend just chilling and catching up on laundry and cleaning. Monday-back to work!

Anyways, hope you all had great holidays. Happy New Year!!