October Daily Living Reflections…
Hello friends & family, it’s been a few weeks and not sure where time has gone. It’s been a busy fall and it finally feels like fall in Tokyo. Today was a rainy & windy day and it reminded me of Portland, oh how I miss the rain.
We are settling into daily life, the boys are mid way through their first semester at ASIJ, Blake is doing well at work, and I am staying busy with my Japanese lessons 3 times a week, lunch with friends (other mom’s from school), preparing for our Marathon in Dec., exploring cultural classes, and keeping everyone together.
Tokyo Tower from the base, such a lovely sight from most places around Tokyo.
We spent a day during the Typhoon weekend in mid October exploring Kamakura. We met up with friends from Portland, Fukumi and Larry, who were gracious to provide our family a tour of their favorite Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. It was such a lovely day. Checkout pictures under the Travel Tips sections.
The great Daibutsu in Kamakura
Stairs leading up to the oldest Buddhist temple in Kamakura, so beautiful.
Nihon no seikatsu wa omoshiroi desu! Japan living is interesting! I am trying to practice my Japanese and it is tough. I took Japanese over 25 years ago in college and forgot basically everything, and it is not easy to relearn it at my age.
The toughest part so far for me is the cooking. We don’t have access to all the ingredients that I am used to, Japanese grocery stores are different and that makes planning dinner difficult. So far I have made Japanese curry, yakisoba, make your own sushi, chicken katsu, grilled fish, I really haven’t tried anything new to make. I plan to take some classes on gyoza and ramen making, and a sushi class. We all crave a taco night and spaghetti too, however finding all the ingredients takes planning. Luckily, it is quite easy to grab a quick bite to eat nearby, but we do miss a lot of food from the US.
You would all be impressed that I ride my bike to pick up groceries. I feel like I am back in college when I would ride my bike from the dorms, pick up groceries and pack them in my backpack. Since my bike has 2 baskets, I can load up a good supply of food and snacks. Most people only buy enough food for a day or two, so I sometimes look like I am trying to feed an army- with multiple packs of chicken or beef, since the meat come in very small portions, I need to buy multiple packs at a time.
I went to my first Japanese Shibori -Indigo dyeing class at Best Living Japan! Shibori dyeing is the process of using manual resist dyeing technique to keep some areas white. It was fun to learn how to create a Shibori design and learn how to use pigment and live bacteria to create the fermentation/ dyeing process. During the fermentation process, the indigo color gets darker with exposure to air. After soaking our linen scarf for sometime, once you remove it from the dye, it looks green, and then changes to indigo when exposed to air, pretty cool.
Indigo dye with active bacteria to create the fermentation process.
My first attempt at Indigo dyeing. The process is called Shibori dyeing, which is where you use manual resist dyeing techniques to give it the whiteness (absence of color) in the design.
I have really enjoyed NOT driving! I don’t miss it at all. I sure wished Portland had better mass transportation and bus systems. My weekly activities consists of walking to a train station, taking train or subway, or riding the bus. Each week, for my Japanese class, I walk 20 minutes to Shibuya from our place or a quick bus ride. Twice a week I get to walk through the Shibuya Crossing intersection and I just happened to take this picture. I love spotting the tourists who are snapping pictures as they cross Shibuya Crossing, it brings a smile to me as it was only a couple of months ago I was doing the same thing. Now I take in all the beauty and action that the city offers. Japan is such an incredible place to be living among the millions of people, but everyone respects each others privacy and goes about their own business as if you were by yourself. There is much peace in the chaos of people everywhere. It is truly an amazing place to be.
On my way to my Japanese Class each week.
If I feel lazy to walk, I take the Daikanyama loop bus, so cute.