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Saw this on YouTube a few days ago and thought it summed up life here quite well.
Imagine having the following conversation with a random (yet armed) stranger in the airport:
“Excuse me. Do you have AIDS?”
“Um…no.”
“Leprosy?”
“Um…what?”
“How about Venereal Disease?”
When one flies to China, they are required to answer questions on the landing survey that ask such things as “Do you have depression?” or “Do you have AIDS?” Admit to having anything on the list and you’ll quickly find yourself on a flight headed back the direction you just came.
Want to move to China? You have to prove you don’t have any of the above and more.
With this in mind I found myself shuffled off to a medical clinic in Yoyogi last week and submitted to a battery of tests. They poked, they prodded and they made certain that I was not color blind. After that it was off to the EKG room before stopping in for a quick chest xray which was the last stop before the ultimate fun…the blood draw.
Seriously, the Chinese government required enough tests that FIVE vials of blood were taken from me. FIVE FULL VIALS. Really? Someone needs to explain to me why that was at all necessary (and no, I’m not going to buy the whole “Lepors distroy social order” argument.)
Alas, I survived. Survived only to be ushered into a room with the Doctor who was reviewing my chest x-ray and who quickly announced that my heart…It is small.
Yes, it has now been medically confirmed that I have a small heart. Couple that with the fact that my body tempature runs a bit colder than the average and it turns out that I have a small, cold heart.
-I’ll give you a moment to snicker-
In the Japanese tradition of medical care, I received the same and only treatment that T or I have been recommended for any and all of the ailments we’ve come across in Japan: Drink more water. I’m beginning to wonder if there is actually any medication in this country or if water is just prescribed for everything.
Kidney Stones? Guzzle the water.
Sinus infection? Water.
Small, cold heart? Water…maybe warm it up.
Regardless, as I sit here with a large bottle of water pondering life, I have beside me a stack of papers three inches thick proclaiming me NORMAL (that’s a first) and free of all sorts of diseases including some I had to get a dictionary. I also have the full x-ray of my small heart at home with plans of putting on the refrigerator, right next to the MRI of T’s kidney stones and my masters degree.
I guess knowing for sure I don’t have rabies will help me sleep just a bit better tonight.
We’ve been in Tokyo for a little over two years now and somehow hadn’t managed to make the short trip south.
To be honest, if you listened to the guidebooks you would think there was nothing at all to do in Yokohama. Seriously, it received less than a full page. You basically get a few paragraphs mentioning it being the 2nd largest city in Japan, having a Chinatown, and a ferris wheel, but no major shrines, temples, monuments, or futuristic whatnot.
So perhaps you could understand why it took awhile for us to make the short trek.
Even at lunch time on Saturday we still weren’t sure if we were going there or some place else. Finally after a moment’s debate on the train we decided we’d check out Chinatown as the lure of chinese food was too hard to pass up.
Heading down we took the bullet train and within ten minutes arrived at Shin-Yokohama station. From there we took a local train another 20 minutes to Chinatown. What we found when we arrived was kind of surprising.
Tokyo as we may have stated once or twice is congested, loud, hectic and often leaves you to wonder why you ever stepped outside.
Yokohama turned out to be open, calm, reserved, and pleasant (for this afternoon at least). It also didn’t hurt to find a grocery store with root beer minutes after getting off the train either!
So with drinks in hand we wandered into Chinatown and took in the sites.
Overall there were just a handful of cultural sites, but plenty of restaurants. There were almost too many options to choose from, but eventually we settled on a small food-stall selling various candies and buns stuffed with things like sesame, peaches and others with pork, chicken, etc. After making our purchases we settled into a nearby park for our snacks to take it all in.
After a few hours of wandering, we found ourselves outside the baseball stadium and surrounded by some beautifully blooming Tulips. The warm, sunny afternoon it seemed like the perfect time for M to take a quick break from wandering and snap some photos.
All in all, I would highly recommend Yokohama and hope to get to a baseball game out there shortly.
Thursday our company took the entire day to participate in an outreach project within the local community, as part of a regional effort within our network of sister companies to do something to improve the world around us for a day.
Our task was to clean up a beach down on the coast near Kamakura.
Ordinarily this would be a brilliant idea, except it’s still winter and the weather for most of the week consisted of rain, drizzle and biting wind along the coast. Knowing this, we put on our hiking boots, bundled up and took bets on which of our female co-workers would show up in the most inappropriate shoes (like open toed heels).
After a two hour bus ride, we were armed with surgical gloves, fabric glovels and two foot long tongs to make sure no one actually had to touch anything. I think this might be a good time to note that our CEO was questioning if there would even be litter to pick up as this is Japan and others were wondering if the Head of HR had spent the night at the beach ripping up papers for us to pick up…Japan is that clean.
Long story short we picked up quite a bit of trash with the majority being cigarette butts, bottle caps and even more cigarette butts.
After finishing our two hours of beachcombing M and I set out with a friend to check out the local aquarium with the free time the company provided. Initially the entry price of 2,000 JPY seemed a bit steep, yet the fish were actually pretty interesting, especially the dolphins.
As it turned out we missed their last show for the day, but what we saw instead proved just as entertaining as the trainers fed them, checked their vitals, and played with them. For the second time in the span of a week I found myself dumbstruck by animals that could be both smart and funny.
With the prospects weatherwise being just as dreary for Sunday, we decided we would check out the local aquarium with the hopes of having some repeat success.
Instead our results were mixed. M got some good shots, but the lighting inside made things a bit tricky.
Some of the fish were simply too fast to capture on film, but I’m thrilled that M got a picture of this little guy. (Editors note: I think it’s a type blowfish if you are curious. His smile was likely due to the fact his residence of the aquarium would keep him off of local restaurant tables as a delicacy. )
Finally on the way out after finishing with the fish we were hopeful in seeing the seals and penguins, but ultimately disappointed.
The seal was all alone and chasing his own tale for entertainment and Penguinland looked like one of the saddest places on earth. I think even the Beijing zoo penguins were better off.
All in all, we did see some cool fish but I’d have to say the Kamakura aquarium was quite a bit more cheerful than the Shinagawa aquarium.
After checking out on Sunday morning we headed out in search of the snow monkeys. To do so we purchased tickets for the “Monkey Bus” upon arriving the day before. From the ryokan it was a short walk to the station followed by a twenty minute bus-ride through a winding pass up the mountainside. It was a bit scary at points, but the driver managed to make it look easy as he kept plowing forward over the ice.
Once we arrived at the park entrance we set out on foot in search of the not so elusive monkeys (you’ll note that in all of our previous travels the promises of Monkeys had always been left unfulfilled). Within five minutes a few of the braver members of the troop made their way past us in search of a drink from the river.
As the signs at the lodge would tell us later, the monkeys don’t consider humans a threat and therefore make little attempt to engage us. Aside from this, the one other thing we picked up on was the smell. Anyone who has ventured near a natural hotspring knows the smell.
Sulfur stinks…like one endless fart or perhaps a cuddle with a wet dog.
Sorry, but I see no point in mincing words. It’s kind of funny to picture yourself in such majestic surroundings (snow topped mountains & beautiful trees soaring towards the sky) while trying to remember to breathe through your mouth the entire time. But I digress…
After another ten minutes walk we arrived at a rather humble lodge, handed our tickets in and within minutes entered another world.
Understand, this isn’t the zoo. There are no walls or fences, the ground is theirs and you are an observer. But what you see is nothing short of amazing. Carved into the side of a mountain is a small paradise for roughly 200 monkeys with the focal point being the onsen.
At times it can get a little chaotic, yet with the exception of one or two scuffles, everyone behaved. Better than some groups of people I’ve been a part of to be honest as most of the little guys played up for the cameras
To be honest, I think M took some of her best photos yet.
Overall we spent a little over two hours watching an average Sunday morning for the monkeys become an extraordinary one for us. The more time you spend with the monkeys, the greater kinship you feel to them. In their eyes you begin to see the characteristics we as humans display each and every day…
Pondering
Boredom
Mischief
Resignation
An OCD approach to grooming
What initially seemed like another goofy boondoggle M cooked up, turned out to be a window into the lives of some curious little creatures…
Go figure that the most awkward part of the weekend was having to share a bath with an old Japanese man. Though one of the Monkeys did get a little curious at one point…
Since we kicked off our travels, I’ve learned many things about marriage. One of the most important of these things: If you don’t give your husband time to contemplate doing something he considers awkward or embarrassing, he’s more likely to do it.
It was with this in mind I told him of our most recent trip to Yudanaka. I went on for weeks about the monkeys. It was all monkeys all the time. Oh how many we would see! How fun it would be! In the midst of this celebrating I may have forgotten to mention the detail about getting naked with strangers in a large outdoor bathhouse.
I figured he’d be less likely to put up a fight if I only gave him a few minutes notice. With this in mind, we packed the beagle off to camp and headed north. A few hours later we found ourselves in the charming streets of the Shibu Spa.
It was only once we checked in to the ryokan that he found out that it was known for having six different types of hot springs available for it’s guests to bath in. Granted, at this point he didn’t realize that it was the only option to achieve optimal weekend cleanliness as there are no in room showers…but that didn’t occur to him as we skipped around town to see the various sites.
Somewhere along our walk we came across a sign promising something that in all of our travels, we’d never seen.
In all fairness to the Tobacco Diety, he’s not exactly very well named as he’s actually supposed to help one quit smoking.
What he also was? Very lonely.
Placed in a small box next to a family washing machine, the Tobacco Deity is clearly not a very popular one. I could have told you this without having to see the poor Deity’s conditions as each floor of our office building has a sealed smoking room and that as recently as five years ago, everyone just smoked that their desks. Actually, some still do after most people leave.
Fair to say, this is not a very popular Deity.
Other things we saw along our way?
Buddha
Dressed with protection from the cold.
More Buddha
Unfortunately for T, we’d decided to see the snow Monkey’s on Sunday as they don’t have a predictable schedule and “come and go as they please. sometimes, they come early and leave early.” Having travelled through a lot of Asia with many empty promises of Monkeys before, I was determined to have plenty of time for the critters to show up. This did however, leave plenty of time for a dip in the onsen.
So. The onsen.
Trips to the onsen are quite popular in these parts with people traveling far and wide and to onsen amusement parks, it seemed that we might at least see what all of the fuss was about.
Coming from an increasingly modest country however, the idea of stripping down with a bunch of strangers made T a bit…nervous. You see, there are several rules to the onsen.
1) Single sex groupings only.
2) To enter the onsen you must first shower and scrub. Scrub well. And as I’ve been told, scrub again once you think you are scrubbed.
3) The towel, it stays with your all of your clothes in the basket in the changing area.
4) A bathing suit counts as clothing.
Needless to say, T wasn’t thrilled as I handed him his robe, told him that no one looks, pointed him in the direction of the men’s baths and trotted in the direction of my promised soak. Perhaps not the kindest thing to do to the person that you are going to make stand in the snow for hours the following day but neither telling your wife she’s “an adventure.”
Good News – He lived and he liked it.
Bad News – He liked it so much sat in the extremely hot bath a little to long and came out a bit green.
It’s fair to say though, that if you should ever visit Japan, the onsen is a must try. Don’t worry no one looks and really, niether should you.
Tomorrow…The Monkeys! As many of the troop of 200 or so that I could get on camera.
Naked with strangers in an onsen that is.
Most of all, we had an amazing weekend. One that has left us exhausted.
Tons of monkey pictures on flickr. Probably some of my favorites that I have ever taken so enjoy!
More tomorrow.
Bangkok – October 2007
Being an expat in Japan means many things. You get to marvel at the efficiency of it all. You get to marvel at the inefficiency of it all. The eel is plentiful and so are the working hours. Most of all though, it means you need to have some sort of patented answer to the most popular question of them all:
“How did you end up in JAPAN?”
Really people, it’s not like we moved to Siberia. That said, I am asked at least once a week how I found myself here and have grown used to the confused tonality in which the question is normally delivered.
Granted, it wasn’t the most romantic of decisions. Growing up I’d long dreamed of the cobblestone pathways of Italy, the sidewalk cafe’s of Paris and the double deckers of London…certainly that would be the glamorous fairytale I’d grow up to live, no?
Well, no. (Not yet at least)
That fairytale all turned into a more Alice in Wonderland type tale the minute my boss responded to my inquiry about working abroad with, “I think it would be a great experience for you but I won’t transfer you to Europe, that’s where everyone goes.”
Not really the response I wanted and as “but, um, I want to move to London” would have only sounded like a whine at that moment, I bit my tongue. I followed up with the obligatory questions about the next steps and we began to plot my future.
At first I thought I would just wait a day or two to go back in and announce that actually, “Who needs to think independently, London would be just fine thanks!”
That day never came.
In the end, the option I’d never considered became the option that seemed like the best path forward. Having never considered even travelling in Asia, the idea of moving there seemed strangely natural. Sure, the hours would be long but the career track would certainly accelerate. There would be new adventures, new experiences that wouldn’t be available any where else and it quickly shaped up to be the chance of a lifetime.
Yes, there have been ups and downs but we’ve been places we never thought we’d see. We’ve done things we’d never considered before (hitchhiking in Thailand, climbing mountains, scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef) and have had so many adventures that couldn’t happen anywhere else.
Has it been easy? No, not at all really. It’s actually probably one of the most challenging things we’ve been through.
Has it been worth it? Absolutely.
What’s next? Who knows. If the economy would do something productive for a change, I might have a better answer.
For now, I just plan our next adventure, another we never thought we’d get to do in another place we never thought we’d see: Nepal. After hours spent casing my usual haunts (orbitz, expedia, tripadvisor) I’ve got plane tickets in my grubby little hands and can’t wait!
Sometimes life takes unexpected twists and turns. My only advice that when this twists and turns come up: Go with it. You never know, it might just turn out to be the adventure of a lifetime.
Dear Parents. In the off shot that you are reading this, please don’t read this entry as it won’t please you. No! It’s not about THAT! GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER MOTHER!
In the days following college, I did what most people my age did: I moved to the city, found myself a shoe box apartment and proceeded to survive off of oatmeal for years on end.
Please note before you start pitying me: I will admit to living a bizarre double life during these years as I survived off oatmeal and yet was regularly treated to spa trips, broadway tickets and baseball games through my job. NO! I am not a hooker.
I will always look back on the oatmeal years fondly as the time I learned how to survive on $25 a week for food and lived in the ghetto. But hey, it was MY shoebox, my own little piece of New York. Sure, my upstairs neighbor was a little strange and there was that one time there was a dead body was found upstairs which lead to the awesome exchange as follows:
Detective: So. There’s a body upstairs on the landing. We think it was natural causes.
Me: Oh. um. really?
Detective: Yes ma’am. But don’t worry we think it was natural causes. You didn’t happen to hear any gun shots, did you?
You’ll note this all went down the ONE DAY IN THREE YEARS MY FATHER VISITED ME IN NEW YORK.
Regardless, my time in New York was a fun one. I managed to come and go as I pleased and never had a single issue as a single female living in a perhaps questionable neighborhood in New York. Only once did someone look at me in a manner that was off and even then a male neighbor from the dog park made sure I was home safely before heading his own way.
So, of course it is when I move to one of the safest cities in the world I end up with a stalker.
(oh hi mom! did i forget to mention this on our weekly skype call? whoops!)
I’ve named him creepy man.
I first came into contact with creepy man some weeks back on an evening where T and I were headed out somewhere. He was acting strangely as we walked passed him but didn’t really think much of it as there are plenty of strange people in the world and we happen to be two of them. It wasn’t until he kept turning around to watch us and began following us that we grew a bit concerned.
In the weeks following, creepy man has stepped up his game.
He’s followed us around the neighborhood on his bike, on foot and generally lurks. Yesterday he went as far as to get off his bike to watch me walk into my building. He never says anything but manages to retain all sorts of creepy in his fur lined purple jacket.
Yes, we’re playing it safe. Doors are locked at all times, T walks with me whenever I need to leave the house these days and we’ve even begun considering the idea of switching apartments.
No, I’m no longer allowed to walk home or the dog at night. Which is sad as I enjoyed the 20 minutes a day where I was allowed to blast my eardrums out with the latest awful music just added from Itunes. Oh well, I guess this is good news for my hearing.
Needless to say, creepy man sucks.
Am hoping he gets a life soon as asking our boss if T can walk me home every night was a touch embarrassing. Have also asked a few Japanese people how to handle the situation…suggestions welcome.
Forgot to mention this story last week when it came out, but it still cracks me up.
And no…we haven’t been granted this opportunity. Apologies to everyone in Seattle and Miami.
For some reason though I’m skeptical that this will solve the problem.
Oddly enough most nights when we actually do get to leave at a decent hour we find ourselves trying to catch up on simple household chores and even if we have time afterwards are too tired to do much more than fall asleep on the couch.
Work here is your life (like it or not) and changing that within this culture isn’t something I see happening overnight. Ideas like this are nice in theory and get good press, but I don’t expect to see the streets of Tokyo flooded with strollers come autumn.
