Lift off!

It's finally here! I'm leaving Tokyo in a few hours and winging my way to Las Vegas. Saturday was a major countdown at work and everyone was calling me "short-timer." Of course, I added to the drama by ticking off the number of lessons I had left to teach: 11. . .10. . .9. . .8. . .7. . .6. . .5. . .4. . .3. . .2. . .1. . .LIFT OFF!!!

I'll be gone for nearly a month, thanks to the kindness of my boss! Vacation couldn't come at a better time, considering Tokyo is heating up to the hot liquid state. Even early in the morning it feels like someone's wrapped the city in a hot, wet, steaming blanket. Pure misery! This is my third summer in Tokes and I'll never get used to it.

Las Vegas has been hot, too, but at least it's dryer. The day after arriving, we'll throw our stuff in the car and head for some cooler weather in Seattle where we'll visit friends and family for a week and then head back down to Vegas. One of the guys at work asked if I was nuts to be spending 20 hours or so in a plane and airports, only to arrive and hop in the car for a two-day road trip! "Nah," I told him, "just glad to be heading for cooler weather!"

So, yesterday I spent the whole day trying to shove a ton of stuff into two big bags. My tiny room looked like a clothes bomb had gone off but I forgot to take a picture of it. I even had laundry hanging to dry across my entire sliding door because it was too steamy outside to expect it to dry anytime soon. Amazingly, it all dried in time to get packed!

I've been slugging down Airborne cocktails the past couple of days, hoping to stay well. There have been several summer colds making the rounds at work, and I'm just being cautious.

I'll have my laptop with me on the trip, but don't know if I'll be taking it to Seattle or not. Will try to keep blogging whenever I have a chance, and posting those "26 things" pictures!

26 things I want to do on vacation

While a true "26 things" list is supposed to be pictorial, mine is just words. Maybe I'll take pictures of each of these things when I'm on vacation and post them when I return. In the meantime, here's my list:

1. Rest (but only briefly)
2. Give everyone I know and love a big hug
3. Drink Margaritas
4. Eat Mexican food in Las Vegas
5. Eat Pagliacci Pizza in Seattle
6. Go for hikes in the deep green forest
7. Go to movies
8. Visit friends
9. Cook stuff with J&T
10. Get in the spa
11. Watch DVDs with J&T and eat popcorn
12. Go shopping for shoes that fit me
13. Go shopping for clothes that fit me
14. Go shopping for underwear that fits me
15. Buy makeup that's light enough for my fair skin
16. Eat real beer-battered fish and chips
17. Putter in an actual backyard
18. Win a big jackpot in Las Vegas
19. Stay cool sipping ice-cold lemonade
20. Play with cats
21. Sleep as late as I want
22. Stay up as late as I want
23. Browse in bookstores where there are books in English
24. Shop at Trader Joe's and Wild Oats
25. Stock up on stuff to take back to Tokyo
26. Try not to cry too much when I leave

Any other ideas?

Less than a week!

In less than a week, I'll be winging my way to Las Vegas aboard Korean Airlines. I've never flown KAL before, but people say it's a good airline with good service.

Unfortunately, every time I hear "KAL", I think of KAL 007 that was shot down over Sakhalin Island by the Soviets in 1983 when it wandered accidentally into Soviet airspace. All 269 passengers and crew perished. The claim was that they didn't know it was a civilian aircraft and evidence gathered over time showed that they had made no attempt to communicate with the airline. Conspiracy theorists have suggested that the accidental "off course theory" was no accident. "U.S. intelligence has a long history of 'tickling' Soviet radar' by deliberately flying planes into Soviet airspace and then recording the responses."

Well, at any rate, I'm not going to worry myself about such things. That was in 1983 when the Cold War was utmost in the minds of the Reagan administration. Now that the Soviet Union has fallen, we've transferred our paranoia to the terrorists. Doesn't it seem strange that every time we have a Republican administration everybody gets paranoid about something? I've heard that you create what you think. Makes me wonder if we're all thinking a little too much about "evil empires' and the "axis of evil" and creating more and more of it in the world. Maybe we should shift our thinking to better things and find peaceful solutions to the world's problems.

Who comes up with this stuff?

WARNING: Now, before anyone flames me for this post, I want everyone to know that I think it's a good idea to use humor whenever we feel helpless or hopeless. It's a way to heal and move forward with life. I am not dishonoring or disrespecting anyone who serves in the military and I sincerely hope that everyone left serving or working in Iraq or Afghanistan comes home safe and sane.

Having said that, there's a blog I've been reading recently that is so funny I just had to tell you about it. It's called, of all things, Al-Zarqawi's Mom's Blog . Here's an example:



Karim took me out for a make-out. They will make my new hair for the Jon Daily show. Here it is!

It's the most bizarre thing I've ever read, but I started chuckling, and then pretty soon I was bwahahahaha-ing. I mean, even the idea of someone creating such a blog boggles my mind, but whoever it is has managed to imbue a personality into this imaginary person.

But, don't go there unless you're prepared to laugh at the utter absurdity of the blog.

Summer time. . .time for summer uniforms

I tried to take a picture today of three little school girls who were playing that game, rock, paper, scissors (can't remember what it's called in Japanese). They saw me pull out my camera and dashed away, but I managed to get one blurry picture of them.

The schools have finally allowed the children to switch to their summer uniforms and these little girls were dressed in light cotton dresses with their cute little white hats and socks.

I wonder just how many school uniforms there are in Tokyo. Can't believe how many different ones I've seen!

Caution: poop zone

Well, maybe that's what the sign says. I'm not sure because I can't read kanji, but I'm fairly certain that's the message because overhead, on the train station sign, is a nest with four little baby swallows who are just about to abandon it. Apparently, the momma and papa birds have become quite messy, therefore the need for a poop barricade. And just in case anyone still wasn't sure where not to step after seeing the barricade and reading the sign, the train station staff took it upon themselves to run tape all around the poop as an added cautionary note. Cracks me up!



This picture of the nest is really bad because I couldn't zoom in on it with my camera, but you can get the idea. There are four little baby birds (although in this picture only three are visible), who have really overgrown their poor little nest. Today they were all panting from the heat, with their cute little yellow beaks gaping. Last night when I came through the station, one of the babies had swooned over the side of its nest, looking as though it had been out on a bender. Should have taken a picture but I didn't. Tonight, only two were occupying the nest but the other two and their parents had found another perch atop the ticket machine. This little family apparently loves trains. . .

Update: Peter--one of my blog readers-- translated the sign for us. Thanks, Peter!

Warning!
There is a swallows nest overhead,
excretement are dropping.
Because of this, please be careful.
Station master

Are you kidding me?

All over Tokyo it seems to be the rage to go to "hot yoga" classes. By hot, we're talking at least 100F (around 38C) or more in the yoga classrooms. I googled for hot yoga and up came over 15 million hits!

Maybe it's just me, but there's no way in Hell I'd ever go to a super-heated yoga class! Yoga's supposed to be cool and beautiful, and dripping sweat all over the floor or splattering it on others as you do a dog-like full body shake with your wet hair does not appeal to me in the least.

Yes, I already know that the heat is supposed to help stretch out your muscles more gently, but I've also read that it can over-stretch the muscles and do considerable damage to muscles and joints.

So, thanks very much, but I think I'll pass on this latest exercise fad. I get enough sweating and muscle stretching walking to and from the train stations and up and down the millions of stairs in Tokyo!

Awesome photo!

This was sent to me today by a friend who lives in Seattle. It apparently was taken in North Seattle by another friend. I'd love to visit this beautiful "dancing tree" when I get there next month!

Making plans

My tickets are purchased and I can't wait! In less than five weeks I'll be flying to Las Vegas to see my daughter and her husband. J & T have invited me to come spend a month with them while J's casino remodels--and bought me the tickets as a birthday gift!

I don't actually have any vacation time until December, but my boss was kind enough to let me take a one-month leave from work. I think he'll be glad to get rid of me during that month of hellish Tokyo summer heat and humidity because all I do is complain about it. This will be my third Tokyo summer and I didn't think I'd live through the first one! Coming in late May from the cool Pacific Northwest, where the temperature rarely gets over a comfortable 75F (around 23C), it was a very difficult transition. Maybe it's my Irish genes, but I just don't think I'll ever adapt to the steamy heat of Tokyo in the summer. Once the temps hit 65F (18C) here, I'm a sweaty mess.

So, off I go to Las Vegas, where the temperature has already broken heat records! This week it hit 108F (42C) and it's only early June! Usually, it doesn't hit that temperature until mid-July. J thinks I'm to blame. She said that everywhere I go, the temperature rises. I'm beginning to think she's right! It's uncanny how that happens, and I'm the person who can't stand hot temperatures! What am I going to do with global warming?

The day after I arrive in Las Vegas, we'll throw our bags in the car and drive up to Seattle to visit friends and family. It's a 2-day drive, so J, T and I will have lots of time to yak. J's husband is one of the funniest guys I've ever met, so I know it will be fun driving with him. Well, actually, now that I think about it, we're all pretty funny, so it should be a real hoot.

We'll spend a week in Seattle and then drive back down to LV where J and I will get to hang out together for at least two more weeks. We're not like most mothers and daughters, I think. In our case, we really, really enjoy hanging out together! We're so close that we actually have this freaky psychic communication thing going. For example, she was just recently talking to T about hummingbirds and their tiny eggs. Out of the blue, with absolutely no discussion of that conversation, I sent her a link to an amazing pictorial of the birth of two hummingbird babies. We do this sort of thing all the time! T says the hair rises on the back of his neck when we do this kind of stuff.

So you're probably going to hear the countdown for my trip in future blog entries.

666 uber species

OK, everyone knows that cockroaches are the true inheritors of the earth. That's a given. But this morning something disturbingly bizarre happened. I think there's a new Uber Species!

Despite the fact that I keep a relatively clean apartment, never let trash accumulate, keep all food put away, and wash cans and bottles before putting them in the trash, I've found a few of the vile creatures in "hotels" placed strategically around my kitchen. Up to this point, I've never actually seen one in the room I now occupy. (In my previous room in the same house, I saw plenty of them! But that was, I imagined, because my room faced the next door neighbors mega-trash cans and was directly above my landlady's kitchen.)

Anyhoo, last night I came home, flipped on the light and walked up the flight of stairs into my tiny kitchen, only to catch the movement of something LARGE racing into the sink! I'm the kind of person who nearly pukes at the sight of them, so it numbed my brain to realize that I was going to have to have a shoot-out with this home invader. I grabbed a can of RAID, or whatever the Japanese equivalent is to that American brand name, and cautiously stalked it as it ran for cover behind my little cooktop stove. I got in one good blast before it disappeared.

"Oh crap," I thought to myself. "Now where did it go?" It completely disappeared, and I thought it had escaped into some ill-fitting wall trim. So I opened my shoji to escape from the kitchen into my room, slamming it shut behind me.

A few minutes later I carefully slid the shoji open and saw the Beast, lying on the floor, on its back, in its death throes. I promptly shot it a second time with the roach spray to put it out of its misery, poured myself a drink, and retreated back into my room.

During the night I woke up a couple of times thinking, "Ah geez, now I'm going to have to pick the damn thing up and throw it in the trash!" You've gotta understand something here. . .I'm a total wuss about insects! (Many years ago, after my divorce, I once called my ex to come over to my apartment to trap and release a very large spider that was terrorizing me! Thankfully, he was kind enough to do it!)

So, you can imagine my shock and horror this morning when I slid open the shoji, and. . .and. . .there was NO DEAD ROACH! It was gone!!! I looked everywhere and couldn't find it! What kind of cockroach was this thing? It was on its back, DYING from two direct hits from my AK-47 can of RAID! And now it's gone??? What kind of nonsense is that?

I know yesterday was 6-6-6. Could this have been the Beast? Or is there a new uber species of cockroach in Tokyo that's impervious to the, formerly, deadly spray?

A time for work, play and family

Life is moving very fast these days and I feel exhausted! The deadline for four of our textbooks is Wednesday and I'm hoping we meet it. I'm writing three of the books and the project manager is writing one, plus doing all the graphics. She's really got a huge responsibility with these kinds of projects and works way too many hours.

Of course, I'm also working way too many hours, but I don't work at this pace all the time the way she does. There's something about Japanese companies that chews people up and spits them out. It's really a shame that it has to work this way.

It seems that more and more companies try harder and harder to increase their profits at the expense of their employees. I read that in the U.S. employees are actually making less money--figuring in inflation--than they were making four or five years ago. Just doesn't seem fair, does it? And, especially at a time when companies (oil, pharmaceutical, etc.) are reporting record profits.

If I ran a company, I would treat my employees as my most valuable asset and wouldn't be so greedy about filling my own pockets at their expense. As an example, my company (Japanese) is part of a much larger mega-corporation. Last year they forced all the teachers to forego their annual raises because the company "wasn't doing well." Not surprisingly, all the executives of the large parent company received their usual enormous annual bonuses and raises. Teacher's salaries are a pittance compared to what the corporation pays to their top executives, yet we had to wait over a year to get our tiny raises. At the annual stockholders meeting, management declared that their biggest dilemma for the new year was figuring out what to do with all the money they had made! This didn't sit well with all the hundreds of teachers who had to forego their annual raise due to "financial difficulties."

It's that kind of behavior that makes people feel cynical about their jobs. It's also working the many, unpaid overtime hours, like my project manager does, that makes me wonder how people can care about their jobs.

I dream of a day when all the hardworking people of the world receive fair and just wages and benefits, where they're treated with dignity and respect, and where they have enough hours left at the end of the day to spend with their families, eating dinner together. Somewhere along the way, things got very, very screwed up, and there needs to come a time when it's set right. There's nothing wrong with working hard, but everyone needs balance in their lives. Time for work, time for play, and time for family. What's wrong with that?

Forerunners to the Da Vinci Code

A couple of friends and I headed over to Roppongi Hills tonight to catch the opening of The Da Vinci Code, but we were out of luck. It was sold out! We were taking a chance trying to see it on its opening weekend, but we were all so anxious to see it. Didn't matter that the reviews have been lukewarm. The book was a real page turner, even though the writing is not even remotely literary. I don't think it was meant to be literary--just entertaining.

Back in the late 80s I had read one of the "inspirations" for The Da Vinci Code, The Holy Blood, Holy Grail , and found it fascinating. After reading it, I kept looking for more information and then read The Chalice and the Blade.



Then I attended a workshop in the Seattle area in the mid-1990s where I had the privilege of meeting Margaret Starbird, the author of Woman With the Alabaster Jar . She was a fascinating woman and spoke at length about what had inspired her to write her book about Mary Magdalene and her possible marriage to Jesus. She hadn't taken her research lightly, and had actually set out to dispell the claims made in The Holy Blood, Holy Grail .




She was a devout Catholic and had considered such a relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus not only ludicrous, but heretical as well. She spent several years completing her research--and discovered, to her horror, that there was compelling evidence supporting the liaison between Mary Magdalene and Jesus. She also revealed that her research had led her to believe that Mary Magdalene was not the prostitute we have been told she was, but was in fact one of the early deciples. To learn more about Margaret Starbird's books, look here.

Apparently, Mary Magdalene was also the apostle Thomas' nemesis. If my memory serves, according to passages in Starbird's book that she found in the Bible, it was Thomas who said to Jesus, "Why do you always kiss her on the mouth? Why do you love her more than us?" Sounded like jealousy to me. Could it have been possible that he wished to expunge Mary Magdalene's importance to Jesus and to sully her reputation as well in his gospels?

In Starbird's book, she suggests that the wedding ceremony, so prominent in the Bible, where Jesus performed the miracle of turning water into wine, was actually his own wedding. There are enough remaining clues in the Bible to lead a person with an open mind to the conclusion that it was, in fact, Jesus' own marriage ceremony. In that story, Mary "anoints" Jesus with the costly sacred nard from her alabaster jar. Nard was typically part of a dowry that the bride gave to her husband on their wedding night. It has an explicit sexual connotation. This was a ceremony that was only done by a wife with her husband. For a wedding "guest" to have done such a thing to another "guest" would have been completely illogical and shocking.

Also, from what I've read, it would have been unheard of for a man calling himself a Jew (Jesus) to preach the word of God if he were not married. Jesus was a Jew, and would most likely have followed the conventions of his time and married.

The controversy about such a possible relationship will never end, I'm sure, but I'm glad that The Da Vinci Code has sparked some interest in looking at "facts" from a new perspective. The "conquerors" always write the history, and in a sense, Thomas was one of the conquerors as one of the deciples. If he had an ax to grind about Mary Magdalene's relationship with Jesus, it makes sense that he might have wanted to portray her as the sinful prostitute.

Unfortuntely, along the way, we have all paid the price with the loss of the Sacred Feminine. What would our world look like today if a woman had been acknowledged as the dearly beloved wife of one of the world's greatest avatars?

Protein heaven

Two friends and I headed out to Omotesando Sunday night for an incredible dinner at Barbacoa Grill, a Brazilian restaurant that serves all-you-can-eat churrasco (grilled beef and other meats). There are at least 15 cuts of meats to choose from and they arrive at your table on long skewers where they are sliced and served by the wait staff known as Passador. There's also an amazing salad bar where even vegetarians can experience gustatorial delight. Dinners are Y4000 (about $36) and worth every yen!



There's also a bottomless drinks menu for an additional Y2200 (about $20) and up, depending on what you want to drink. There's a two-hour limit on these drinks. We ordered the Caipirinha, which is some kind of Brazilian drink that has to be the nectar of the gods!

Be forewarned, however. This kind of protein binging, if you're not used to eating so much meat, can leave you feeling a bit sluggish the next day. Or maybe it was the Caipirinha. . .

Lucky to be a mom!

Saturday I got a surprise delivery at work and the gals at the front desk were so excited to see what it was. They couldn't wait for me to open the box, but Saturdays are our super-busy days at the school, so I had to do a very rushed opening. Inside were these gorgeous roses in a darling little cut-work silver basket with a silver ribbon on top. We oohed and aahed over it several times during the day until it was time to take them home that evening.

My ever-thoughtful daugher had sent them to me from the U.S. for a Mother's Day gift!

Every time I think about my daughter, which is all the time, I never seem to get over the fact that I'm so lucky to have her at all! Things were not easy with my pregnancies, and I eventually had several miscarriages. There was nothing I wanted more than a daughter, and my wish came true! My relationship with my own mother was fraught with difficulties and we were never close. I vowed that if I had a daughter some day, I would do everything I could to forge a strong and loving relationship, and now that's exactly what I have with Jenn. She is my heart, and always will be. I'm so incredibly lucky!

Baseball Ballet

I came across this awesome baseball ballet from "TV in Japan" that was fascinating to watch.

Harsh reality

My heart felt like it would break this morning when I came across two little dead birds that had fallen out of their nest. It was startling to see their little bodies lying on the side of the street as I walked to the station. At first, my mind refused to grasp what it was I was looking at, and then the reality hit me.

I heard birds chirping loudly in the tree above the little bodies, so it was probably the parents trying to make me go away. I just stood there, frozen in my tracks, not knowing what to do. Then I decided that I couldn't just leave them there in the road, to be stepped on by passersby, so I picked them up one by one and set them next to each other in a little patch of grass and weeds, covering them as best I could.

An old man who had been walking behind me passed by as I knelt on the ground and glanced back to see what I was doing. He stopped and just stood there silently as I picked up the cold, stiff little bodies and hid them in the grass. As I slowly got up to walk away, he still stood there looking at me. Our eyes met for a second and I saw a glimmer of sadness reflected in his eyes, too. All I could manage to say was, "babies." He nodded, turned, and walked away.

Food theme

It's Golden Week here in Japan, which means that people have several days off in a row. It's a holiday that most people look forward to because they finally get a rest. I, on the other hand, have opted to work during Golden Week. What was I thinking? I've been working much too much lately, and could have used a few days to catch my breath and relax.

Anyway, I did manage to go out with a friend last night and had a fabulous dinner in Shibuya. I have no idea what the name of the place was. Fortunately, my friend speaks fluent Japanese, so she was able to read the menu to me. That's the area where I have the most difficulty in "assimilating" as one person commented in my blog.



Even though my camera doesn't take such great closeups, I'm posting a couple of pictures just to give you an idea of some of the yummy stuff we ate.



While the food was quite delicious, the service was, um, OK, I'll go ahead and say it: strange! We were seated at an ultra-tiny table, yet the staff brought almost everything we ordered at the same time! It presented a balancing act. Why would a restaurant do that?

Despite this minor problem, we managed to enjoy our meal of wonderfully fresh sushi, including scallops, which I've never eaten raw before. They were quite delicate, and the lemon slices between the pieces gave a beautiful lemony taste. We also had a Nicoise salad--although it wasn't anything like a real Nicoise salad, except that it did have tuna in it. Just so-so on that one because the dressing was very nondescript.

We also ate very delicious little salmon rolls, wrapped in paper-thin tofu "skins" and filled with cream cheese. They were very tasty.

So, it was nice to get out and play for a few hours. I've recently worked a couple of 18-hour days, trying to finish up a book writing project. In the past four months, I've been involved in seven book projects, and the pace is sometimes crazy! This is work I do in my "spare" time when I'm not teaching.

I think it's been a little too much for me recently because I seem to have developed asthma. I rarely ever get sick, so it's kind of annoying, and I've never had asthma before! It's probably due to being extra tired, and to all the crud in the air here. I've read that asthma has become a real problem in Japan lately. Some people tell me I should wear a mask--seen all too often here in Tokyo--but there's just something about wearing a mask that seems too strange to my Western mind.

So, instead, I use my inhalers and try to keep going. I should have taken Golden Week off!

A petit lunch

I was taken out for a birthday lunch yesterday by my good friend, Hisae. She was the first Japanese person I met when I came to Japan, and I lived with her for almost 3 weeks while I finished my training and found a place to live.

We met in Jiyugaoka and went to a small cafe that served beautiful and tasty food. I had a delicious seafood mousse with a light soup, salad and dessert. Hisae had an assortment of fish salads, along with soup and a green salad. Dessert was a delicious custard crowned with a sweet strawberry sauce.



I think Hisae was a little disappointed with the lunch because the portions were extremely small, and she's a big eater. She said she had eaten a late breakfast and was glad because she wasn't so hungry for lunch. Otherwise, she said she would have been hungry after this meal.

For me, it was just right, and I loved getting a chance to catch up with my friend after almost a year. But, I'd have to agree that this was a chick cafe. Men would probably go away hungry.

Can people tell where you're from?

People often ask about my accent and wonder where I'm from. A few people have thought I had a British accent, but I don't. I'm from America. I've lived on the East and West Coasts, and in the Southwest and Midwest. Somehow, I've managed to learn to pronounce my words carefully (especially since teaching) so maybe that's why some people think it sounds British. Brits don't think I sound British at all!

According to a brief online test I took, my English is "65% General American English, 15% Upper Midwestern (whatever that is!), and 15% Yankee."

If you'd like to see how your English is rated, check here.

From the land of Tir na nOg

A luscious red rose, smelling like one of the dozens of tea roses I used to grow in my garden in Seattle, arrived for me today. This picture doesn't really do it justice. It's the deepest red, and most velvet-textured rose I've seen in a long time! It has completely filled my little room with its intoxicating perfume, which reminds me of the real perfume called Joy. It was sent by my friend David and his wife Hiroko.

The countdown is almost over, and the big day is just about here. Tomorrow is my birthday, but it's no ordinary birthday. This is THE BIG ONE, the one I used to think that only very old people had.

I remember when my parents turned six-oh, and they were really old! I don't feel old! In fact, sometimes I forget how old I really am because most people guess me to be much younger. In my university class last week, students were asking me questions and trying to guess my age. The range was from an astonishing 29 (paleeeez!) to 38. Nobody said anything about 50s or even 40s!

Age seems to come up often, and people always act surprised when I tell them my actual age. I know there's such a thing as "being polite" and guessing younger, but that usually means maybe 10 years younger, at the most, not more than 20 years younger.

When they hear my age, they inevitably want to know if I've had cosmetic surgery or Botox treatments, to which I answer an honest "No."

A few weeks ago I went to see a doctor about my lingering cough from the flu, and took along a friend who acted as translator. He asked her a question. Her eyes lit up as she gleefully turned to ask me: "Are you pregnant?" We both laughed so hard we could barely wheeze out an answer. She told him I was almost 60 years old and his eyebrows shot up in disbelief as he let out a very long, Japanese-style "eeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh?" A couple of nurses and another doctor had overheard our conversation in the tiny examination room and peeked around the curtain to have a look. Now there were three other people going "eeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh?" One nurse finally said, "so young, so young." (He wanted to take an x-ray, and was maybe just being cautious. . .?)

Maybe I just have good genes. Or maybe it's my attitude toward life. I try to live in a way that honors and values all life. I have a positive mental attitude, despite the many tragic events of my life. From each one of those events, I've gained valuable knowledge about who I am, and why I'm here. It's humbled me and made me more compassionate toward others because I can understand their pain.

Perhaps, looking young comes from the inside. A healthy dose of deep introspection teaches one to stop worrying about the small things in life. Thinking more about those we love instead of those we hate does wonders for the spirit, and that radiates out into the world as the light of eternal youth.

There's a wonderful Irish film called Into the West , which tells about a land of eternal youth. In Gaelic, they call that land Tir na nOg. So, for an Irish birthday wish, I wish everyone eternal youth in such a land, and for me, I say, La-breithe mhaith agat (happy birthday)!

Care package from home

Thanks to my very thoughtful daughter, I'm sitting here looking at an adorable Easter basket that I just received in the mail. She and her husband went shopping for all the little goodies and put the basket together themselves. It's so cute with its little chicks and pink bunny!

Seems like she and I are in a role reversal lately. I used to always be the one making sure to decorate, cook, and shop for the holidays. Since coming to Japan, I've become such a slacker! Next to the cute basket sits the box I didn't manage to get shipped in time for an Easter arrival. Now Jenn won't get it until the week after Easter.

Being late to ship this box wasn't intentional (even though this may sound like a pathetic excuse). I hunted around trying to find something Easter-ish to send, but apparently the Japanese haven't adopted this holiday despite their gleeful attitude toward Christmas. You'd think the Japanese would love Easter, with all the cute little pink bunnies and baby chicks, and chocolate eggs, and pastel-dyed eggs. But, so far as I can see, it has managed to escape their attention.

Maybe next year. . .

Made me laugh!

I know, this is just silly, but I love this kind of humor! Thanks, Diana!

Enchiladas in Tokyo!

Went out with friends last weekend who suggested a terrific Mexican restaurant in Harajuku. I've eaten some Mexican food in Tokyo, and while tasty, it wasn't exactly like what I was used to eating in the U.S. I grew up on Mexican food in Tucson, Arizona, and have a particular palate for salsas, Mexican cheese, and the quality of the mole and chipotle sauces.

I ordered a triple enchilada plate. The corn enchiladas were filled with succulent and tender pieces of chicken bathed in three different sauces: salsa verde, chipotle, and the more traditional red sauce. It was hard to choose a favorite, but I'd probably lean toward the smoky and spicy flavored chipotle sauce.

This meal was authentic! There was even a strolling Mariachi band and delicious shaken Margaritas.




The down side was that Fonda de la Madrugada is a very long walk from the Meiji Jingumae station and it sits at the bottom of a long staircase which made me feel like I was going down into a dungeon. Another negative was the extremely claustrophobic, faintly lit, and smelly restrooms.

Pink "snow"

Beautiful though it might have been, nothing lasts forever. The petals have fallen and look like pink snow.



Everywhere, shopkeepers diligently swept up the remains of the day. Goodbye, beautiful Sakura petals.

All the little souls. . .

Today I wandered into a beautiful Shinto shrine in Okusawa, which is very close to where I work. It was such a serene place, and I believe it is a shrine to children. There were many individual little shrines, including one of a statue dressed in real baby clothes. On the floor of that shrine was a tiny white stuffed teddy bear and fresh flowers.



The main entry to the shrine is draped in a dragon made out of rope or hemp-like material, and apparently guards or protects the souls of the children. There's another open-mouthed dragon inside the shrine, and its head and upper body projects out of the rocks.



As I walked around the almost deserted grounds, I felt so at peace. Bless all the little souls who have touched so many hearts.



This is a photo of the place where visitors wash their hands before entering the shrine.



Here's one of the gold-trimmed doors to the main shrine.



Memorials to three children.



Peace and serenity among the trees.



The main shrine.

Japan's latest celebrity

A couple of months ago I was standing outside a popular electronics store in Shibuya waiting for a friend who was running a few minutes late. I stood there people watching and suddenly there was this guy dressed in black leather hotpants and a tight leather vest over a black turtleneck sweater. I've just discovered who he was: Masaki Sumitani, otherwise known as Hard Gay, or HG. He's apparently a heterosexual parody of a gay man and walks around thrusting his hips and yelling, "Yahoo!" He's also one of the hottest celebrities around Tokyo right now and seems to be making the talk show rounds. Here are some pictures of him.

Clouds of pink blossoms

Everyone eagerly awaits the magnificent spring display of cherry blossoms, and this is the optimum week! Clouds of pink blossoms are everywhere, and the contrast against the dark color of the tree bark is stunning.



These pictures were taken early in the morning in Jiyugaoka before work on what's usually a very crowded boulevard. By afternoon, thousands of people had gathered to view the trees.

One of my students, a business man, told me that every year companies have Sakura parties where all employees meet up outdoors at some particularly wonderful site to view the cherry blossoms. Usually, the newest "member" of the company is sent out to "hold the best spot" early in the day before anyone else can grab it. It's a long and boring day guarding the spot, marked by a blue plastic tarp, against encroachers. Anyone who's ever had this duty is glad to never have to worry about doing it again. At these parties, the sake flows freely and people get quite drunk, I've been told. This picture was blatantly "borrowed" from another blogger flicker user Kanagawa_keng (hoping he or she won't mind) showing the early arrival of freshman salarymen who lay out their blue tarps to reserve their company's party space.







Pedestrian, train, and car traffic have been intense and people even go out at night to view the trees. Many people say that spring has been extra cold this year and the wind has been especially strong, but even so, everyone seems to venture out on this yearly ritual to enjoy the Sakura.




What a shame it only lasts for a couple of weeks, but now I'm waiting to watch the petals fall to the ground where they will look like soft-pink snow.

A world of contrasts

Just as night is different from day, and spring is different from winter, so are there many cultural and generational differences in Japan. On the one hand, there's the traditional Japan where women wear kimono for special celebrations such as weddings and tea ceremonies.








On the other hand. . .well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are a few pictures of the rest of my day in Harajuku. This is the teen scene where the only tradition is making new traditions, and where kids get to express themselves and break out of the usual constrictions of everyday life in Japan.

Meiji Jingumae Shrine in Harajuku

I can't believe it's been two months since my last post! I've been so incredibly busy with lots of work writing textbooks for university students. My current project is writing three textbooks for older students, and the deadline is the end of April. Somewhere in all those deadlines, I managed to get out yesterday to meet my friend Judy for brunch. After brunch she had her voice lesson appointment, so I walked to the Meiji Jingumae shrine in Harajuku. I've posted a few pictures, but apologize for the terrible quality. There was a big fingerprint smack in the middle of the lens!

I had expected to see flowering trees at the shrine, but there were none. This particular shrine is a picture of tranquility and subtlelty. There's a bridge that crosses over a meandering stream and the trees around it glistened in the soft lighting. It seemed quite magical!


While many Sakura (cherry) trees are blooming already, they haven't hit their peak of bloom yet. It's expected any day now and I can't wait. I'll post more pictures if I manage to get out to see them, and will definitely clean my camera lens first!

Macaroni westerns?

I teach a chapter from an upper-level English book that includes what kind of entertainment people like. Part of the chapter is about movie genres such as drama, action, comedy, musicals, sci-fi and so forth. It seems that whenever I ask my students if they know any other genres, this is what pops us: macaroni westerns.

Macaroni? The first time I heard it, I thought my student just made a mistake. "Don't you mean spaghetti westerns?" I asked.

"Spaghetti westerns?" my student asked. "No, macaroni westerns."

After hearing this at least three or four times now, I'm convinced that what Americans know as "spaghetti westerns" has entered the Japanese mainstream as "macaroni westerns."

Who knows how these misunderstandings get started, but they do provide some humorous moments.

Things I miss

Don't get me wrong. I'm really enjoying living in Tokyo, but, to be honest, there are some things I miss.

Central heating
How is it possible that a country that leads the world in technology can't figure out a way to heat and cool an entire house or apartment? All we have are these wall-hung combination heating/air conditioning units--one to an apartment. They're terribly inefficient and very expensive to run, so most people don't use them unless the weather is either extremely hot or extremely cold.

Insulated houses/apartments
In Japan, almost no insulation materials are used in construction. Whereas in the U.S. we have double-wall construction and double- or triple-glazed windows, Japan apparently has no use for these modern luxuries. I can sit in my apartment and watch the curtains billow out as the wind whips through. There is absolutely no retention of any heat. In the summer, it's the opposite with no retention of cool air.

Warm bathroom
See above.

Space
This includes both personal and living space. I'm sure this is just an American bias, but I really miss having space for me and my things. Most of the time I'm elbow-to-elbow with other people, no matter where I go. Even in our teacher lounge, there are times when a room about the size of two bedroom closets holds 20 people or more. Often, between classes, it's standing room only. Everything in Tokyo is built with the thought of putting as many people as possible into as little space as possible. Apartments are the same. My entire apartment is probably about 150 square feet and costs me about $700 a month. My kitchen and bathroom are about 8 square feet each, and there is no heat in either of those rooms. Fortunately, I have a sliding shoji door that closes off the kitchen from my main room, and a door that closes off the bathroom area. That helps to keep my room warmer in the winter, but makes for icy-cold bathing and cooking!

Familiar stores
I miss stores like TJ Maxx, Ross, Fred Meyer, Pottery Barn, Lowe's, and Nordstrom. I could find anything I wanted in that combination of stores. In Tokyo, I have no idea where to find things. Everything is either in small, boutique-type shops, or enormous department stores that are like mazes. Even in such huge stores, I can't find what I'm looking for. And forget about finding clothes that fit! Armholes are half the size of American clothing, and bras and other underwear are made for 12-year-old-sized bodies. Women here also have wide waists, no hips and flat bottoms. I have none of those attributes.

Quiet
I really miss the quiet, peaceful , sounds of nature. Everywhere here is noisy, from the sounds of loudspeakers hawking everything from politics to roasted sweet potatoes, to trains blowing their horns, to people talking, to music playing in the streets. . .everywhere, noise, noise, noise.

My things
I miss having my furniture here in Tokyo, and my beautiful china and crystal. I miss my books, pictures, art, rugs, good thick towels, 400-count sheets, my big down comforter.

Dryers
Very few people have dryers. How can people live without dryers in a land where the summers are constantly rainy, where there are more than 20 typhoons a summer, where the humidity is around 90 percent for eight months out of the year, where winters are freezing cold? Washers and dryers are very expensive here, but there's plenty of money in Japan. Why doesn't everyone have a dryer? And, how nice does it look to see laundry hanging from every possible niche and cranny, including balconies, living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens or wherever there's a hook, curtain rod, moulding, or doorknob?

Car
Even though it's very convenient to take the train, I miss having my own car. There's nothing quite like that convenience that I took for granted my entire lifetime.

Family and friends
While I've made many fantastic friendships during my time in Tokyo, I miss being in closer proximity to my daughter and her husband. Email and Skype and regular phone calls are great, but nothing compares to being able to talk face-to-face and give each other hugs. That's what I miss the most.