Goodbye Mie, Hello Hyogo

Huge going away party in Nagoya

About a week after coming back to Japan this March, we decided to take a job working at an international kindergarten in the Kansai area. This meant that we would finish work at ECC on a Wednesday night, and come to start our new job the next morning in Osaka. It also meant traveling several times back and forth between Yokkaichi and Osaka for work (a 3 1/2 hour commute one way). It also meant living out of a hotel for several days and trying to find an apartment every day after work. Not to mention getting used to a new job and working on closing our Yokkaichi apartment.

Chad's last futsal game in Suzuka

You can imagine we had more than one stressful moment where we were screaming at asking ourselves what we had been thinking leaving so quickly. However, after finding an apartment and getting settled, we're feeling very glad.

Here's a glimpse of our new place, located in Kobe!

We really like the layout of our new apartment, and also its location! It's so near to Sannomiya (a huge city with awesome shopping), to Kobe port, to Kobe China town, and more. Check out the awesome view from our balcony:

At night you can see the city lights and watch trains passing through, and during the day you can see Kobe port and listen to the boat horns in the distance!

We feel like there's not enough time in a day for all of the fun things we can see and do near our new home in Japan. Chad's already found several places to play futsal, and our to-do list keeps growing.

One thing I must mention is the inoshishi situation. And by that I mean wild boar. You would think that living in Mie, which is considered to be the countryside, we would've seen all kinds of interesting wildlife (well, I guess we did see suzumebachi). But we never expected that after moving to the big city we'd encounter wild boar! Our first week in our new apartment we saw two of them, and learned that it's a normal occurrence (especially at night--yikes!). There are even warning signs placed around garbage areas telling us not to put our trash out at night so the inoshishi don't get into it.

I get a little scared walking home at night by myself. Can you blame me?

Guess we'll have to be careful. Thanks for your patience over our lack of posting over the last couple of crazy months. Mom Dykehouse and Quint are coming to visit next week, and we're super excited. We'll try and keep you updated, and close with a lovely picture of the cherry blossoms in Ashiya.

Walking Along I Saw...

...an old --but working!-- telephone booth:

There are a few of these telephone booths in an older part of Yokkaichi near our bank. I just love that area of town. I feel like I can get a glimpse of what was, like when we went to Decks in Odaiba and found an entire floor devoted to the 1950's.

Yokkaichi Sewer Cover

A couple other things that made me happy recently:


These AMAZING Anpanman cookies from our friend Joel. His lovely wife Yumi made them and they shared some! Aren't they cute?

Also, Comfort Food #8!

Yudofu (Boiled Tofu)

A student taught me how to make this simple dish. Put water, firm tofu (sliced), and a piece of kombu (kelp) into cold water and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat and use a slotted spoon to scoop out the hot tofu. Add a little soy sauce (yes, I know it looks like our tofu is drowning a bit) and green onions on top. Serve!

Setsubun

Yesterday was Setsubun, or the Bean-Throwing Ceremony. On this day, Japanese cleanse themselves of the former year and try to drive away evil spirits. In order to do this, they throw beans our their windows at demons! In supermarkets and convenient stores, you can find bean sets like the ones below:

I've always thought Setsubun was kind of exciting because everyone participates, even adults. And they just decide at some point during the day to start throwing the beans. Apparently, some families actually schedule an appointment with nearby temples to send "demons" to their houses. The demons pull up and knock so you know they've arrived, and then it's time to get to business.

Luckily, I was fully stocked with beans because -- to my surprise! -- an oni, or demon, came to our apartment!

See how surprised I am?

You're supposed to shout the equivalent of "DEMONS OUT! LUCK IN," but in my fright I only shouted, "NO!"

After all the commotion, I settled down to eat some of the leftover beans. You are supposed to count out a bean for each year you've been alive, and add one for good luck in the next year.

A more recent addition to Setsubun tradition is eating eho-maki, an uncut sushi roll. While eating it, you're supposed to face the lucky direction for the year (this year it's south east) and refrain from speaking or laughing. Which -- to me -- sounds like an invitation for giggles! For now, we'll stick with the crunchy leftover soy beans.

Hope we've made ourselves some good luck!

Snow Day...

Except...we still had to work! We woke up this morning to this:

And this:

And then trudged through it all to get to the nearest station (a little over 10 minutes on foot from our apartment depending on how you hit the traffic lights). We were only going to Kuwana, a train commute that usually takes about 12 minutes from Yokkaichi, but all of the trains were delayed.

What should have been a quick journey ended up taking over an hour and a half (not including our run through the snow to get to work after finally reaching Kuwana station!).

Keeping positive despite our shivers!

It's still really coming down outside, and the forecast isn't looking to change tomorrow. Considering last year it only snowed once in our area, this is quite surprising weather! Funny enough, it's making us homesick for Michigan snow :-)

We saw this cute snow bunny on our way home from work!

Now we're snuggling up in the warmth of our apartment with tea, hot chocolate, and good books.

Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

Happy New Year!

Took a little break from updates while we were in Michigan, but now that we're settled back into our routine in Japan we'd like to wish you a very happy 2011!

One activity we were happy to get back to in Yokkaichi was going for walks together. We almost always stop by a local temple during our strolls, and on our latest visit we could see bits of tradition surrounding New Year's.

Firstly, we saw kadomatsu, decorations placed in pairs outside temples, shrines and homes around the New Year. These decorations are meant to welcome ancestors, bring good luck for the year's harvest, and even temporarily house Japanese spirits or gods.


Next we took a look at the ema, or prayer cards. These cards are filled out with goals, hopes and prayers for the year (these ones were still from 2010).


Next we came to a little tree in a fire pit. The papers tied around the limbs are fortunes for 2011. These fortunes are drawn at the temple, read, and tied around the tree (whether good or bad).


The kadomatsu, ema, and tree will all be burned together within a matter of days. The kadomatsu: to release and appease the spirits; the ema: to let go of changed goals, bad things, memories and things not yet achieved; the tree and fortunes: to erase the bad luck and make the good luck come true. It's very symbolic of what many of us do every year. We embrace what was good, try to let go of what was bad, and hope for the best in the New Year.

Hope you can Let Go and Embrace Hope, Happiness and Love in 2011.

Merry-Go-Round Cafe

I am in love with a little children's bookstore near our apartment called the Merry-Go-Round. There are three sections in the store: In one small area, they sell imported goods from the Netherlands, in another, larger area they sell children's books, and --best of all!-- another area serves as a coffee and tea room!

Doesn't it look inviting?

This Christmas tree is so simple and adorable.

Here is a glimpse of the book area, as well as the opening to the coffee and tea room.

On the archway we saw this cute sign:

And to the left of where we sat we saw this:

To the right we saw this:

We were given this menu:

And we saw these cute signs, drank Chai tea, and got a cute yellow bill, stamped with a little bus!

To this day, I still feel joy when looking at children's books. There is just something so exciting about opening the covers and discovering the colorful adventures on each page. Combining that pleasure with specialty imports and a simple, comfortable cafe makes for a lovely little shop.

Mori no Kichin

I may have mentioned before that I love visiting little cafes, particularly locally owned ones with character. One cafe I've been longing to try out for a long time is Mori no Kichin, or Forest Kitchen.

The cafe sign alone looked cute, simple and inviting, and the atmosphere inside held up to be the same. Despite walking into a strong smoky smell, I was determined to give the cafe a chance. I hadn't waited this long to walk right back out (and, like I said, it was inviting).

The only customers aside from us sat right up at the bar, gossiping and laughing loudly. They even talked about us, wondering aloud where we were from and commenting on how great our Japanese was (yeah! we fooled them!). After a few minutes it was easy to conclude that they were all close friends--perhaps even family.

Chad and I ordered the lunch set of the day and hoped by the time it was served we'd be used to the smoke (and that we could taste our food!). To be honest, although it was nice enough, we were a little worried about how great of a meal we'd be getting.

Clearly, we shouldn't have wasted our energy on worrying! The lunch set was soooo yummy! Miso Katsu, or pork cutlet with miso paste, miso soup, rice, tsukemono (pickled veggies) and a sweet piece of melon. All for 780 yen each.

Will we be going back to the cafe? Maybe someday. But for now, I've got others on my list to try!

Taiyo no Cafe

There are many interesting little cafes tucked away in Yokkaichi, and one of them is Taiyo no Cafe. Taiyo means "sun," and the warm feeling sunshine brings is definitely reflected in Taiyo's atmosphere. It is a very simple, open, laid-back cafe in which French, Bossa Americana music and more is played to set customers at ease. (For an example, check out this pretty little version of "Jambalaya" sung by Lisa Ono.)

I love the painting on the main wall:

I've been to the cafe twice now, and both times I ordered the tuna egg salad sandwich that comes with a side of mixed fruit and jello cubes. So yummy! They also serve all-you-can-eat-parfaits for an extra 420 yen, but I've never tried them. Some friends say the parfaits are addicting, so I guess it's safer that I stay away from that option for now! ;-)

Hope you've been able to enjoy some sunshine out your way--it's been rather rainy and overcast lately here (but at least today was sunny!).

Nakagawara Station

Our nearest station is easy to miss. It's quaint, quiet, and quite pretty on sunny days:

Alongside the station are these paintings:

Who wouldn't want to ride a magical, colorful, inviting train like the one painted here?

The rail crossing on the main road before making a right to get to the station.

We usually don't use Nakagawara station because it takes just about as long being on time and waiting for the train as it does to bike to our next nearest station (plus that saves us a few yen). On rainy days or super busy days, though, it's our definite go-to. We'll miss awesome public transportation when we move back to the states, but it's better than missing all of you! :-)

Santa Has a Secret...

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But first! Some cool pictures of the light show on display outside of Nagoya station on the JR side.

Spring:

Summer:

Fall:

Winter:

I only wish the pictures were as good as the real thing! The winter scene was really stunning.

Speaking of stunning things in Japan, I want to tell you some reasons I love FEELZ gym in Yokkaichi:

1. They have great classes for an exceptional price. (I take boxercise, hot boxing, yoga, hot yoga and zumba each week!)

2. The atmosphere is very friendly, and the employees speak to me in both English and Japanese (depending on how much English they know). Both the instructors and the staff are kind to me. Everyone--including other members--is very patient with me when I speak Japanese, and vice-versa. It creates a nice atmosphere, because we're all learning.

3. Most importantly, I feel that FEELZ has a great way of bringing Western holiday spirit to the gym. Halloween was celebrated with decorations, a BBQ, magic tricks and boxing. Christmas, too, is being celebrated with decorations and a party. To top it off, FEELZ has even let me in on a little secret!

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Santa Claus is not who you think he is!

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....!

HE IS A BOXING DARTH VADER IN DISGUISE!

Me, Darth Claus, and my boxercise/hot boxing instructor

For more information on the secrets which have been revealed to me via FEELZ gym and Japan, please see Chad and I next week in America!

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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