Autumn in Japan

Marc here...

Autumn is fully upon us. The cooler night weather is here, combined with the occasional chilly rain. For the most part, it's the same as Michigan, but with a few changes.

It's hotter here. You can still easily sweat during the day just walking down the street, if the sun is shining. The leaves haven't turned much yet, although some are falling.

Some things, however, are different. I never thought it would happen, but I miss Michigan autumns. The array of fall colors are amazing, and it's just not something I see much of here in Japan (yet). And, believe it or not, I miss all of the orange pumpkins and scarecrows, ghosts, and goblins. Although you can find Halloween items here, for the most part, it's quite rare and it's mostly just something Japanese people like to look at in the store, but not buy.

No apple cider, no autumn-flavored donuts. And don't even think about trying the pumpkin ice cream here -- it tastes more like squash-flavored ice cream, and that's not a good thing.

As the weather slowly gets colder, we talked to the neighbors about our heating options. As you may already know from the previous posts, there is no central heating in most of Japan. Instead, we have various other methods of keeping warm. If no one is home, you just let the place freeze. If you are home, however, you can decide. You can use your warm table that you drape a blanket over, called a kotatsu, or you can heat yourself with a small electric heather (expensive), wrap yourself in a heating blanket, pile regular blankets on, and so forth. The best method, however, is clearly using your kerosene heater (stove). Our device, which is newer, has convenient features, such as temperature control, high/medium/low, timer (on/off), etc. So when we go to bed, we'll have the heater off. Setting it to 7.5 hours will make sure that it is warm by the time you wake up again (provided you have 7 and a half hours to sleep). Many people also use the timer to make sure that their home begins to heat up a half hour before they normally arrive home.

Have any questions about autumn in Japan, or how to heat your house? Ask us in the comments, or send us an e-mail. We're never sure how many people are reading this, so it'd be nice to hear form you if you are.

I'll post again soon!

Goodbye bug infested tree by our front door!!

Today, I really wanted to get moving on trimming down the tree right by the front door. I kept telling myself that I would do it in the winter) not worry about the bugs) but I might as well get started now. I went over to Mrs. Tanaka’s place and asked to borrow the hand cutters but she insisted on helping me. Another neighbor’s wife came over after she was done with what she was doing to help us. I just wanted to trim some of the branches but we cut everything back. As we were cutting away, I was watching for any nasty spiders or the mosquitoes. As a matter of fact, we actually cut down all the branches away from the upper window and the kitchen window. When we were cleaning up some of the small areas, we noticed in the corner a small lizard. I thought it was cool. Mrs. Tanaka said that it eats bugs and makes noise. We bounded up the branches with string and placed the smaller ones in the clear trash bag for regular trash day tomorrow the 28th. Marc came back from work and noticed all three of us clearing away the nasty bug infested tree. Marc says, “It needed to go”. He was impressed that I did something on the outside of the place.

Eating at a "World Buffet" with some neighbors

From L-R Coop Guy, Mrs. Tanaka, another neighbor and her daughter Maho, and a new neighbor that I haven't met yet.

Kim here....While Marc was at work....

At 11am on October 16th, I am going with the neighbor women to the same buffet that Marc and I went to last week. I am not exactly what I am going to eat. I have to figure it out on my own this time. All I can say is that when I get back, I am going to want to eat out at certain places because Japan either can’t make that specific product or they just don’t have it. The lunch went very well. I actually met Mrs. Tanaka’s 2 daughters and they are around my age. The oldest is my age and the second daughter lives in another area. The youngest is only 20yrs. The youngest wants to play “catch ball” softball with me. I thought it sounded great but both daughters’ can’t speak English. It’s very hard for them. I still felt uncomfortable but after awhile I realized that it was fun trying to understand Japanese and they speaking in English.

A couple of our conversations were about me and what I do…..I said I have a graphic degree from the “university” college. I have to explain to them what I did and they wanted to see a few of my things. When I was explaining what kind of projects I had made in the past, they were so excited and impressed. We also talked about Marc and I and I was telling them about the wedding album and that I brought it with us. One of the neighbor women had fun looking at the pictures. She and I were talking about my tutoring experience and then comparing it to learning English. It’s very hard and she understood it. Going out to eat with them was great. It got me out of this house so I didn’t think about my sadness.

Remember awhile back when I wrote about the GPS system in most vehicles? Well, The lady next door has on in her van is it was showing TV. I think it was from the satellite but I am not sure. Anywho, it’s easier for the Japanese to back their vehicles in the parking spots because the road area is very narrow. On her GPS showed a video of the back and how far she has to go to back in. I thought it was just the coolest thing to have on a van or car. I know about the direction, talking to you about narrow turns, color (change) on the screen, and now the video screen on the back. How crazy??

Marc "accidentally" orders a new laptop

Marc here.

Yes, it's true, I'm sure you've all heard the rumors (actually, I know you probably haven't). But yes, I did indeed 'accidentally' order a new laptop from Apple.com. I ordered the MacBook standard model, the cheapest one they offer. How did it happen, you ask? It's really quite simple, although I know it sounds strange at first.

I would like to order a lot of things, but I don't. I don't because I don't want to spend money on things I don't need. However, I do still visit the site and pretend like I'm ordering, but I always stop just short of ordering. Well, I was doing this on Apple's website, only the website was in Japanese. Was it a misunderstanading due to the language? Not quite. I kept clicking 'continue' in their ordering process, knowing that only a 'submit order' button would finalize the deal. At least, that's the case in the US. In Japan, however, you order a product, and then frequently arrange for payment afterwards. So, I'm just fiddling here, seeing how much it would cost, and I click another button that says 'continue' in Japanese (if you can read the font, here it is in Japanese: 続ける). Well, it actually sends the order from that button click! I was quite shocked, expecting it to say something like 'Place Your Order' or 'Finalize Order.' Well, I tried to forget about it, and didn't arrange payment. Maybe it would just go away? NOPE! The very next day I get a call confirming my order and asking me if it was indeed what I wanted. Knowing I shouldn't, I immediately responded with a 'yes.' Oops... Oh well, I really do like the new laptop, and I can do a lot of awesome things with it that I couldn't before.

Here's my older Mac laptop:

Here's my newer one:

They're completely different, huh? (Kidding, of course)

Mac computers are now using Intel processors, meaning they can do a lot more than their old PowerPC ancestors. My new laptop has this Intel processor, while my old one (which I'm typing on now) doesn't. If you don't understand all this, that's ok; just trust me that I can do a lot more with the new one.

So Kim is less than excited, with all the talk I've been making of 'saving money' and 'not wasting money.' On top of it all, I also ordered a computer desk. In defense, the desk was very cheap, and very basic - it has one drawer and that's it. It's basically a flat piece of wood with a drawer and four legs, nothing more. It does look nice, though. I'll show you a picture when I get it.

Slowly getting cooler and cooler...

The view from my desk
Marc here.

For those of you who don't know, it's still actually quite warm here in Japan, at least during the day. Walking in the warmth of the day's sunlight, it's not hard to break a sweat. Windows are still open all over, allowing cooler wind to come through and cool off the otherwise sun-warmed houses. Make no mistake, though - fall is in the air. No leaves have turned, but fall is upon us.

The average temperature during the day as of late has been about 21-26 degrees Celsius, which translates to about 68 - 78 degrees Fahrenheit; yes, it's still that warm here. While people back in our home state of Michigan are anticipating snow with their furnaces turned on, we are still cracking windows and using fans to keep cool. Jealous? Don't be. Soon winter will be upon us, and we'll face only slightly warmer temperatures, but with one catch: no central heating!

That's right, virtually no homes in Japan have central heating, except for the far north (from which we are very distant). There are no heating ducts, no way of circulating hot air throughout our home. Instead, we have to focus on directed heat. If we want to be warm in the bathroom, we'll have to make the water hot. If we want to be warm while we eat or watch TV, we'll drape a blanket over our kotatsu. A kotatsu is a low table with a heating element built in, so you drape blankets over it and then cuddle up beside and underneath it (your legs are underneath, not your whole body). We also have two electric heaters, about the size of the ones that you probably use to warm your feet up. I've included a picture of it for all of you that are curioius; the picture shows it being used as a desk, with no blankets.

Our KOTATSU in all its glory

Our greatest ally for keeping warm, although not necessarily the one we'll use most, is the kerosene gas stove. I know, it sounds rudimentary. If you have images of a big huge hunk of metal sticking out of the top of the house, with a huge, wood-burning stove-like contraption, think again. This is actually a pretty advanced little piece of work. You plug it in to an electrical socket, and insert a modular can of kerosene gas. Adjust the settings to your desired preference (including timed off/on), and you're good to go. Unfortunately, the kerosene stove is a stand-alone unit; there are no ducts running outside of the home for ventilation. That means we have to crack a window to keep the place from becoming toxic, which sort of defeats the purpose of the heat, doesn't it? Why run your heater if your window to the freezing air outside is open? Getting used to the Japanese way of life takes some time!

And, in case you were starting to think it's not so bad, you have to realize that we cannot sleep with the heaters going. Although some people may use a heating blanket, most actually fall asleep in a cool room and awake in a cold room, the temperature no different from that outside. Yes, it's common to awake from your peaceful slumber to a 38F room! Contrary to popular belief, we probably won't die, although our Japanese friends sometimes think we might.

But, for now, it's not that bad. In fact, I was feeling quite warm earlier today while eating my lunch; I opened the windows more. I'm currently at work, although there is little work to do now (all the students went home after they finished mid-terms).

Please send an e-mail our way, or post comments on our blog website! It means a lot to hear from all of you!

Festival in the area...

Kim here.....
Today (October 8) we went out with Mr. Takaoka-san, Nikki (New Zealand), and another Japanese man but I forgot his name. We met up with them at our station and then took the JR to a city that was 2 stops by us, Hoden. There we got into a taxi and then it dropped us off by the festival. When we were walking around, we noticed a small area where people were getting ready for the night. We stopped there and looked at the huge float object that many people would have to carry. It was decorated very nice, sparkly and shiny. There were also lights on the top but we couldn’t see them until the night rolled around.

Also many people were staring at our small group and offered us lunch and drinks. I wasn’t sure what all the food was so I mainly ate the fried chicken (karaage), grapes, and rice. There were also different forms of tofu but I don’t like it anyways. I am not kidding….when they offered us the food, they also offered us drinks. Yes, I mean drinks/alcohol. They placed our 5 beers (Kirin), green tea and something else. I was like man we get service around here now don’t we? It was funny because this was the first time Marc and I got free food. I am not sure about the others though.

I think maybe about 20-30 people would have to work together to carry this thing to the front of the stadium/field. It wasn’t very far. It was like a float. I felt like I was apart of the making. (I helped make out float my senior year…..I know it was 1 year but it was a lot of fun) Ok, back to what I was saying….The other Japanese man that was with us said it might weigh about a ton!! That’s very heavy. The square on the top was made professionally, like a house (architecture) but the bottom where you have to carry it, is made out of like 2X4’s but maybe thicker (3-4 in?). The men would have to carry this on their shoulders (one side depending on which side your carrying it). There are 2 more 2X4’s in the center inside of the outer 2X4’s. In the middle of the square house like thingy are 2-4 kids playing on the drums. This also reminded me of playing drums at a Korean camp.

The men and the kids have a specific costume. The men have like a shirt, red vest (depends on which color you are), something like a loin clothe to just cover the front and back (men’s thong). Trust me it was an interesting sight. Every time you would look around some man’s behind was right there or a little boys.

It was nice to see how each team would have to carry these huge wooden floats without dropping it on someone or tipping the huge ton over. At one time, a team was walking too fast and almost tipping it over. Everyone in the crowd you can hear them go “whoa!”. I guess every year someone gets injured….either having broken bones or very sore muscles the next day.

It was a nice sunny 77 degrees day until night fell and it was down in the 60’s. From the temperature change it was very chilly. I felt like I was at a football game when some people don’t really know what to wear because it was warm during the day and cold at night. I had a tank top, t-shirt, and a pink fleece vest on. I was still cold. Marc said “we are freezing our buns off and the men are doing it literally”. Because they just have 2 layers on the upper body and really nothing on the bottom half. We all laughed.

We left back to the station Hoden and at Kakogawa we parted our ways. We thanked them for a wonderful time.

Haircut in Japan (Marc)

Marc here.

My second story to tell you this 27th of September (which may not be your 27th of September) deals with getting my haircut. What you probably don't realize is that Japan is a notorious country for having butchered hair jobs that cost upwards of ¥4000 (about $36 American). Here's my experience:

I briskly walked out of the doctor's clinic, content for the time being with what I had received. Kim and I walked home, and on the way, she suggested I get a haircut. I was a little reluctant, since I didn't want a butcher to chop my hair to pieces. I changed my mind, deciding that I can only put it off for so long. We decided to visit a place that I saw by the train station.

So we walked the way there, taking about 7 minutes. We entered the store next to the sign, and I asked for confirmation that the cut was ¥1900 ($16 American). They paused, then told me that sign was for the place around the corner. Feeling a little embarassed, I asked what their price was. They responded with ¥3000, which was too much for me. I asked if it included a hair wash, and they told me it did not. I apologized and left.

We went around the corner, and I entered the shop. I looked a little confused, I'm sure, because there appeared to be slightly older woman and man both standing by the chair where you get your hair cut. A Japanese man was paying as we entered the store, and promptly left. The man ushered me quickly to the chair, and I sat down. He began spraying my hair with water, and then asked me what I wanted. I told him I wanted it shorter, but kind of the style I had at the time, just much shorter. He immediately began chopping my hair off. And make no mistake, he virtually was chopping it off! He was taking off nearly an inch in one cut at a time. I immediately began to worry, hearing all the stories about 5 minute cheapie haircuts that leave people's heads lopsided. After chopping for a couple minutes, he ruffled my hair a little and began to snip a little more. My hair still looked lopsided as he reached for the mirror. I panicked! 'Oh no, he's going to leave my hair this way!' He shows me the back of my head and asked if it was ok. He hadn't even touched the hair beneath my hair line! You know, all that scraggly stuff that needs to be buzzed. I told him if that got buzzed it would be ok (but it wasn't really ok). He nodded, then put the mirror away.

He reached for the brush and the lather, the old style of shaving. I promptly told him I wanted to keep my goatee, and he grunted out a 'yes' (this is all in Japanese, of course). He than begans to lather up the back of my head! He's going to use a blade and shave the hair in the back, not a trimmer! Interesting, I thought to myself. He then began to snip some more from my hair and perfect a few spots, taking care of my last worries. He grabbed the lather again and began lathering up my face. After that, he grabs a hot towel and puts it over my face, making me look like I was getting ready to rob a train. He then proceeded to ask Kim a question in Japanese, and I was unable to mention that she couldn't speak Japanese because my mouth was covered!

He removed the towel and began shaving my face, and I then told him that Kim doesn't understand Japanese because she isn't Japanese. He acknowledged that he figured that out. He then asked us about another foreigner, asking if we knew him. After a little bit of back-and-forth, we confirmed that he was indeed talking about Rob, the Canadian man who lives directly across from our house, about a 10 second walk away. Apparently, Rob goes to this guy as well. That was the highlight of the conversation, especially considering that the first 5 minutes were dead silence.

I then was instructed to bend over into the sink, and the lady washed my hair. She put several things in it, probably shampoo and conditioner. She then had me wash my face as well. The guy blow-dried my hair, put in some hair tonic, and then spiked the front of my hair a little. After that, it was all over.

When it was all said and done, I received a haircut, shave on the back of my neck, a regular shave, a hair washing, and hair tonic/gel stuff. The whole thing set me back only ¥1900, just as advertised. This guy is definitely a winner, and I plan to keep going back!

My first experience with a haircut in Japan was incredibly, dare I say it was the best haircut I've ever had. Try it sometime, if you get a chance!

Trip to the clinic (Marc)

Marc here. Well, I've got a story to tell for this blog. My trip to the doctor! It's an exciting story that I have to share with all of you.

I spoke to some of the teachers at the school, and they suggested I visit a clinic very close by. Mind you, I'm visiting only to get some medication for my acid reflux. So, I get all of the fancy words prepared to talk about my diseases, and I type them into my cellphone. So, I went to the clinic, and they were very kind to me. The nurses gave me the sheet of paper to fill out, and took my insurance card. I then began to fill it out, answering each question as I could. I pulled out my electronic dictionary, and apologized that I was taking so long. After clarifying that I didn't have any major illnesses and was not pregnant, I handed in the paper.

I was promptly handed a cup. The cup was a usual paper cup, with no top. She told me what to do with it, but I didn't fully understand. I could figure I knew what she wanted, since she pointed towards the toilet as she handed it to me. I clarified through the dictionary that she indeed wanted me to urinate in the cup; after all, I wasn't about to use gestures to clarify THIS request. She led me to the bathroom, and it went just fine.

Next I returned to the desk, where I was promptly whisked away into the room where they took my blood pressure. There were two hospital beds and 4 stools in front of them. People were sitting on two of the four stools, right next to where I was having my blood pressure taken. The lady responded that it was very good, and spoke in Japanese to Kim, who had no idea what she was saying. She told me to sit down on a little stool. I looked around, and noticed that everyone could see everyone else, even the guy who was lying on the bed next to us. It felt a bit uncomfortable, to be honest. The nurse spoke to Kim again, and I felt obliged to tell her that Kim is not Japanese and doesn't speak the language. She apologized, and we all laughed briefly. Kim returned to the main waiting room, and I waited on the little stool.

The doctor called people one by one, and all you had to do was walk around a small partition to see the doctor. Everything you said was easily heard by everyone else in the room, so hopefully what you have is not embarassing! The doctor was a little discouraged that my Japanese wasn't fluent, and he seemed confused by the request I gave him for the medication (the name was written in Japanese). I told him I wrote all of the information on my cellphone, but he promptly told me that it is not acceptable to have a cellphone on in a clinic. OOPS! That made things difficult. After a brief period of going back and forth trying to talk about my problem, he finally understood what I had told him all along: it's acid reflux! He asked me about a few procedures, and I told him I had all of those things done, and that the diagnosis was GERD (gastro-esophigal reflux disease, though I might have spelled it wrong). He gave me some medicine, and told me to use it for 14 days, and see if that solves the problem. I told him it would not solve the problem because I've had it for over 5 years and I need medicine daily. He seemed confused, and told me there is no medicine to treat GERD. I think he meant that there is no cure, which is true. I requested pills daily, but he refused and said I can contact him again in 14 days if I need more; I'm going to contact him, for sure, so why didn't he just give me the pills!?

Anyway, they told me it was finished and I quickly left. I noticed he had been looking at his watch during our discussion, and so I felt a little less than totally cared for. I went to the front desk, and they told me to sit down and wait. I was then called back up about 3 minutes later. She asked if I understood the directions for the medicine, and I said that I did. She then told me the price for this entire visit, including the medicine I was taking home: ¥1610. That's a little less than $14 American. Without my insurance, it would have cost me about $45 American. I was pleasantly surprised at how cheap the whole event was.

Did I mention that there was no appointment necessary? I made the decision to visit the doctor at about 3:30 PM, went to the doctor's office at about 5:00, was seen and got out by about 5:45. Other than the language confusion and the lack of privacy, it seemed to be a great experience. Try it sometime, if you get a chance.

Developments...

Life in Japan is changing. Fall is here, and the weather is cool. The infamous spiders are coming out in full bloom (that's a bad thing, by the way), and the students are changing into their winter uniforms (all the students here have to wear uniforms). Kim and I are getting more and more used to things. Kim is picking up additional work, tutoring a young girl in the residences near us, in addition to her classes on Thursdays. She's also doing informal tutoring with a Japanese woman every Friday morning. I'm keeping busy working on lessons and trying to improve my Japanese, which so far has consisted of studying over 200 Kanji characters in two weeks (not such a big thing when you realize I have previously studied most of them). This is Marc writing, if you haven't noticed!

We are getting more friendly with the people at KBF (Kobe Bible Fellowship). I also recently RSVP'ed for a luncheon at the Osaka American consulate. Maybe mingling with the people there will lead me in a new direction for a job later on in life (who knows, maybe I'll work at the consulate). Kim and I also plan on getting connected with a local church here in Kakogawa, especially me since they are predominately a Japanese congregation (KBF is international, with many Japanese, middle eastern, Indian, Australian, American, Canadian, and other kinds of people).

Kim's latest craze is trying to find little presents to give people for various occasions. Meanwhile, being cheap as usual, I am trying to persuade her to buy less, but she makes her own money so it's her choice!

We'll write again soon. I'm prodding Kim to write a few articles, so look for them soon!

Our new blog site, again...

Ok, I know. We've changed our blog website three times. Please don't give up! We're going to stick with this one, Lord willing. The other two were frustrating in terms of the amount of advertising they put on their pages, and even made it hard to tell what we wrote versus what was an advertisement.

Regardless, here we are! Please bookmark this site! In fact, if I could, I would include a little link here to click and bookmark the site. But I don't know how. Remember, we're located here: This Blog It doesn't matter if you capitalize it or not, but make sure you can get back here easily!

We'll try to port over the messages from the other blog so that everyone can see our old posts. We're include pictures as much as we can. I'll try to get ahold of a photo-hosting website so that we can create a convenient, extensive photo library for people to browse at their leisure, so you can see the glory of our new home and surrounding area.

If you're wondering, YES, we are experiencing culture shock. Although I have been here before, I didn't truly 'live' here the way I do now. Kim is taking it especially hard. It's a good experience for both of us no doubt, but it's a little difficult for us because we have to relate in very unusual ways to each other, and are put in situations we had never anticipated.

It's getting easier, though, over time. We are getting a rythym going, so that is helpful. Please e-mail us or post comments on this blog with your questions and thoughts, we'd really appreciate it! It means so much to have friends and family keep in touch with us and be actively interested in what is going on over here.

Talk to you soon!

Marc