Christmas comes early for KG

Temperatures have been dipping down in the single digits here (40's in Fahrenheit), and that means I spend more of my walk to and from work "underground". It keeps me away from the wind and cold weather, but guess what?! Underground is like a giant mall, and I want to spend money at every store I pass!! Yesterday, I decided I needed an early Christmas gift. Check out my new ladybug slippers!! These were meant for me in more than one way:

1) They have more padding than the slippers I bought from the 100 Yen store

2) They will keep my feet warm in my drafty apartment

3) They will help clean my floors, which means less sweeping and vacuuming!

4) Come on, they're cute ladybugs!!

Lunch box

I had my first bento (lunchbox) on Friday during a video conference which spanned over the noon hour. Here's a pic of it. So many things I can't name them all. In fact, when I tried to discreetly ask my co-workers sitting next to me what some of the things were, they didn't know either!! Here's my version of the meal starting from the top left and moving clockwise:

--red ball is a pickled plum (that sour thing I tried a few weekends ago), and it was a no-go. I couldn't do it to myself again! Mixed with maybe some black veggies.

--5 balls of chicken & rice wrapped in seaweed... yummy... the best part!

--Some kind of vegetable with seaweed wrap.

--pink stuff is their version of pickles.

--Random pieces of cooked fish and chicken and a wonton. Also a baby bottle of soy sauce for the rice balls.

--Some kind of vegetables. Weird colors and consistencies I've never seen before.

--Finally, the green stuff are waxy cold beans, and the black stringy stuff is seaweed.

On to another LUNCHBOX experience:

Today some girls from the office invited me to eat lunch IN with them. I didn't even know people brought their own lunch or where they ate, so I definitely wanted to check this out.

We ate in the main reception area (which is on the 5th floor), and I found it supremely strange. Kind of odd as a first thing for new visitors to see...

Anyway, I packed my normal American lunch: peanut butter sandwich, Cheetos (from Japan, which taste different and don't have nearly enough cheese powder on them), applesauce cup, box of raisins, Oreos, and water.

The girls I was with (2 friends I've eaten with before +3 new ones) were very critical of my lunch. They kept asking where my meat and vegetables were. I said maybe I'd eat them with dinner. Then they asked why don't I like vegetables. I would show them my applesauce and raisins, but this didn't help. This went on and on for the entire time. Apparently, peanut butter is a "sweet" in Japan, so they said I was having dessert for lunch. One girl said I was eating only "snacks".

On the other hand, their lunches consisted of (3) rice with veggies and meat, curry & rice, and a sandwich (which I found out was from McDonald's but her mother added more vegetables and then packed it in her lunch!). They did not have any sides. My one friend brought a dessert to share since it was a special occasion for me. It was a tiny bag of "octopus sticks with soy sauce". We each got 2 sticks. It was actually quite yummy, but clearly not filling.

I went back to my desk and jammed 3 Oreos into my mouth. I didn't want to eat dessert in front of them since I already felt like a freak show. It was quite a discouraging event. That is until all of the emails started rolling in... several girls emailed me to thank me for joining them and showing them such an interesting lunch. One even said to thank my mom for my care package from America because she's never seen a cup of applesauce or a box of raisins before!! In the emails I also received an invitation to: go shopping on "Oshu Street", go skating at the ice rink, get Japanese cooking lessons at one of their homes, and plan a weekend in Kyoto where we will try on kimonos!! Ahh, Japanese hospitality at it's best!

Day trip to...

Day Trip to... the AIRPORT ?!?

I know this sounds strange, but the Nagoya airport in and of itself is a destination! Tourists go there all the time to shop, eat, watch planes, and even take baths! I wanted to do a trial run to see if I could get to the airport by myself anyway, so I decided to make a fun trip out it.

First, an aerial view of the layout. The airport is on a man-made island with one road & train line in and out! I marked a tiny red arrow where the Sky Deck is on the map, so you have a "You Are Here" point of reference.

Every where I look in Japan is festive holiday stuff. Here is a giant snow globe with the airport mascot dressed in his Santa gear.

Nagoya airport has an outdoor "Sky Deck" to watch planes take off and land. They also have a gender-segregated indoor public bath so you have the plane activity to keep you entertained as you soak. I have not tried the "bathing nude in public" business yet, but it's on my list of things to do in Japan. My biggest fear is that the bath tubs will be too darn hot for me to handle, so I will just be stark naked sitting on the edge with water up to my ankles... (Can't you just imagine the Japanese women thinking "Who is this giant white lady, and why isn't she in the water?!") Plane touches down.

I love the ocean as the backdrop as it taxis to the terminal!

I went browsing through all the stores, but did not make any purchases. Before catching a train back to town, I did pop into an Italian cafe for a strawberry/pineapple gelato cone! Yummy!!

The train ride was pretty easy. I'm becoming a pro at all of this public transportation business. I bought a first-class ticket on the way there, meaning I had an assigned seat and there is room for your luggage. This is most likely the way I'll need to get to & from the airport in the future. On the way home, I decided to "slum it" in a regular train car. It was packed, a little smelly, and I was getting nauseous from riding sideways. Oh yeah, and a woman sitting next to me really wanted to practice her English out on me. (Train rides are sort of my personal time, and I usually enjoy the silence and people watching.) I guess I've learned my lesson, and I will spend the extra $4 to ride in comfort for 35 minutes on future trips!!

High Fashion

Like any proper girl, one of my main concerns when I found out I was moving to Japan was "What do I wear?" As it turns out, that should have been the least of my worries...

The Japanese like to call themselves "fashionable"; however, I would call it "diverse". There is a ton of variety and very little judgment based on clothes. I catch myself every morning thinking "Really?! Seriously?! Did you even look in the mirror today?!" to strangers I come across on the street.

Sadly, I have only a few pictures of fashion because, as it turns out, it's simply not polite to openly take pictures of random outfits. I have turned off all chimes on my camera and most of the time the flash is off, too. This helps me be a little sneaky :)

The first pic features a woman with a popular plaid, pleated skirt and a brightly colored, big bag. She is also wearing a mask. As I mentioned, it is very common. I'm probably going to come back to the USA, go to a store, and wonder why people are coughing and sneezing and spreading their germs on me!!

A man at the airport. The layered look is popular for both men & women, as well as "skinny" jeans. Actually, I haven't seen anything but skinny jeans. This guy pairs his outfit with some boots and a stocking cap, even in 70 degree weather!

A high fashion man. As I mentioned, it was 70 that day. I hope he is going some where cold that will justify his gloves and scarf. Sunglasses are rare*; his are just for looks.

*I read that the Japanese rarely wear sunglasses, and it is certainly true. I better guard mine with my life because if they break, I'm screwed! One of my co-workers wears sunglasses, so I asked him about it. He said that all Japanese have dark-colored eyes, and they are not sensitive to sunlight. He had LASIK surgery less than a year ago, so now he is really sensitive to the sun. It sounds like an acceptable theory to me because I really need my shades after LASIK as well!

Another airport guy. He is clutching his man-purse, which is also a must for any guy. I was in a store today that had an entire wall of the Men's Dept dedicated to bags and man-purses in a rainbow of pretty colors!

Ladies walking on a Saturday afternoon. The woman on the left has over-the-knee socks on paired with high-heeled boots and a short skirt. I see many belted coats that, likes hers, is not utilizing the belt and tied in the back.

Two ladies on the subway. Age is indistinguishable. Maybe early 20's. (I'm terrible at guessing Asian ages, and they love to test me about it at work!!) Colored tights are seen every where, and even better if they are patterned with argyle, plaid, stripes, or flowers! Boots, of all types (cowboy, heeled, rain, furry), are supremely common as well.

Hi, welcome to the Men's Dept of the local UNIQLO store :) No joke, you can get any color you like! On the bright side (pun intended) if I ever need clothes in the Japan, I will be shopping in the Men's Dept, so I should be happy with these cool choices!!

They don't carry my size in Japan... seriously... EVER! I found Nagoya's only American clothing store today: Gap, and their sizes are exactly the same as America!! BUT, pants only come in 0, 2, 4, or 6. Shirts are available in XXS, XS, S, and M. Shoes only go up to size 24, which is a 7 in the USA. I better be losing a lot of weight if I ever intend to fit into authentic Japanese clothing!!

A casual weekend stroll... in a short skirt and HIGH heels!! Some ladies have such short skirts that they must cover their bums with their purses when they go up stairs!! (That would be me, if I try to fit my butt into a size 6 stretchy skirt!!)

Finally, I don't have any pictures, but turtlenecks are wildly popular (Mom would love it!) with both men and women! As I mentioned, I don't think anyone judges me for my clothes, but I have been asked a few times if I was cold wearing my "half-sleeves" or why I was still wearing my "summer clothes". Umm, maybe because the thermostat is set at 82, and I'm a girl from Michigan who is notoriously warm blooded!!

I don't need to feel self-conscious about my limited, living-out-of-a-suitcase wardrobe because I see repeat outfits every week. I also have the sneaky suspicion that the ladies will be wearing the same jumpers and dresses in the summer, just without the turtlenecks underneath!!

Calling all Food Lovers!

Here's a few more pics of food I've been saving up...

This is "miso katsu". It's a Nagoya speciality, and oddly enough this was the first meal I had when I stepped off the bullet train from Tokyo. I've had it once or twice more since I've been here. Thankfully, I really enjoy it!! It's kind of like a deep-fried, breaded pork cutlet slathered in a crazy barbecue sauce. Always served with cabbage on the side. The pink stuff in the dish at the top is with nearly every meal, but often different colors. People describe it as pickles, but I think they are much more bitter. Also served with white rice and soup. My first homemade meal! All the comforts of home: grilled cheese, potato chips, and apple juice from a coffee mug!! Cheese is a rare commodity in Japan, and I have no idea what kind this was! It was light yellow, almost white, and probably a variety I've never had before.

Here's a pastry I got from a self-serve bakery. It has some kind of sausage in the middle, and I think there is melted cheese on top. This reminds me of a yummy meal I make at home: wiener wraps. The original version is a hot dog wrapped in American cheese and a crescent roll. This version was okay. I popped it in the microwave for a few seconds, and that helped a lot. I can't believe some people eat these at the counter of the bakery when they are cold! Oh yeah, and most of them are slathered in some kind of yellowish sauce (I'm presuming mustard), so I was thankful to find the cheese version. Here's another pastry that I bought. It has a pie crust, and the filling is pecans and some other gooey stuff, drizzled in chocolate. I thought it looked amazing, but as it turns out it really has no taste. Such a let down! We stopped at a coffee shop one morning before our Yourou park adventure, and although Japanese don't really eat breakfast foods like we do, they did serve us these free appetizers with our beverages. We each got a half a piece of toast and a warm hard-boiled egg. I took the picture mainly because this is the largest drink I've seen in all of Japan, and oddly, it was for orange juice! The other beverage at the top of the picture is Ema's: cold tea with milk. This combination is rather popular. My favorite meal so far!! It's fried chicken bits!! Served with shredded cabbage, clear soup, and white rice. The other bonus is that this restaurant is right across from work and also served me the "hamburg" from a few weeks ago. This place is never busy, and I'm told it's perfect for the days during the summer rainy season when you don't want to walk too far!

Another hamburg restaurant. Although it's difficult to tell, this hamburg is in the shape of a doughnut and topped with an egg. When you cut into it and take a bite, the runny yolk goes every where! I think my dad would love it. I tried to eat around the runny yolk, and if I couldn't avoid it, then I also dipped it generously in the funky barbecue sauce to drown out the taste. I did like this rice bowl with the chopstick holes built right in. (I do pretty well with the chopsticks, so much that many Japanese are impressed and asked where I learned! But this meal had corn niblets, which were nearly impossible, except for one at a time. And I also struggle with noodle meals. Long skinny noddles are slippery and how the heck are you supposed to get them into your mouth without cutting them?!)

Another yummy meal: tempura, which today is fried seafood and veggies. I'm told this was a "dinner" meal, so I should feel lucky that we had it for lunch! Served with white rice, pudding*, soy sauce for dipping, Japanese pickles, clear soup, and tea. *The pudding is not at all like pudding in America. I've had it several times, and I just don't like it. It's served warm, is creamy, has some kind blah of syrup sauce on the top, and is filled with surprise bits of raw eel or other similiar seafood!

The ladies in my department, Ema & Mari, took me out for this special meal this week. They were really hoping I would like this traditional Nagoya meal, but I think they could tell that I wasn't too impressed. First of all, yes, that is a raw egg in a bowl. You are supposed to mix it up, and dip each bite into it. Considering they both know I'm not a huge fan of eggs, I'm still puzzled why they thought this was a good meal for me? After a couple dips in the raw egg, they told me I didn't have to eat the egg if I didn't want to. So anyway, what's in the pot of food (called suki yaki)? It's kind of like a thick stew with beef, onions, leeks, and 3 giant chunks of tofu. I ate everything in the mystery pot, but most of it without egg. This was also served with white rice, Japanese pickles, soup, and tea.

Yesterday at lunch I met my first Japanese person who admitted to not liking a specific type of food!! This was quite a revelation! And believe it or not, this Japanese girl won't eat WHITE RICE!! I have no idea how she survives!! All of her friends find this so funny! I found it rather ironic, too.

Visit to Toyota Museum & Plant

Tuesday for work I took a trip to Toyota City. First stop was the Toyota Museum, where you could stroll around and take a self-guided tour of Toyota products and the company's vision for the future.

All of the cars in the showroom and made and sold in Japan. I had no idea they had an actual large SUV they made and sold here!

I'll take one of each. Toyota racing

I've never seen this pick up truck around Nagoya, but the Japanese I was with said they do exist!!

Ultra-light weight concept car. I think it's missing some seats so you can see the structure of the materials rather than for saving weight! Goal is to make a car that's easy on resources, easy on the environment, and super safe.

School kids check out the Prius, and fill out their assignment sheet.

Notice many kids have masks on. This is common for kids and adults. I'm told by my American friends that I should wear one when I'm not feeling well. This helps prevent the spread of germs, and your co-workers really go easy on you because they know you must feel like crap!!

As the car states, it's a Plug-In!

Personal robot car that they suggest is going to change the way we think about mobility! There is a video demo at the bottom of the page.

Close-up of the personal robot car. The trim lights on the car change from purple to green to red :)

For all of my musical friends (Scholls!), here is a video of a Toyota Partner Robot playing Christmas carols! You must go directly to the blog to view it. I have no idea any of the other tricks he can do!

Finally, the video of the personal robot car! It has two positions. Upright, as shown, or the wheels spread apart, and the car kind of lays down. I have a video of it, too, but it is taking forever to upload today!

Second stop was a bus ride to the Tsutsumi plant for the once-a-day English-guided tour!

Even if you're not a fan of Toyota, some of the figures are mind boggling. It's now totally clear to me why the town's official name is Toyota City. For example:

There are 71,000 Toyota employees in all of Japan, and over half of them live in Toyota City.

There are 15 plants in Japan, and 10 of them are in Toyota City!

Here's some stats for just the Tsutsumi plant:

Nearly 12 million sq ft

6,000 employees

2 production lines make 2,000 vehicles a day (takt time = 57 seconds, for all of you Toyota nerds out there...)

They make 5 models on each line, including the Prius and Scion tC exports.

Am I really ready to drive?!

I was planning on getting my "International Driving Permit" when I was back in the USA in a few weeks, which means I could rent a car in Japan if I wanted to go on a impromptu road trip. But after seeing this traffic signal on my walk home from work, I'm beginning to have my doubts. Does anyone know what the heck this means?!

Shinkansen

I finally caught the bullet train on video! You must go directly to the blog to access it. I know the speed doesn't seem impressive since it just left the station, but you can at least see it's aerodynamic design :)

Inuyama

Another Sunday spent exploring a nearby town with 3 Japanese tour guides! Three ladies from work wanted to introduce me to Inuyama. It was about a 30 minute train ride from Nagoya.

This guy reminds me of a Japanese version of Curious George!

Kerri poses with a demon! We have arrived at "Momotaro Shrine". We decided to call this guy "Peach Boy" because legend has it he was found inside a giant peach. "Momo" means peach, and "Taro" is a common boys name.

Even the caves are small in Japan! The girls I was with could bend over and walk through this thing, but I got stuck!!

Peach Boy recruited these strange animals to fight demons with him! I must warn you this story is a fairy tale and quite strange!!

The story of Peach Boy. (If you're still curious, google "Momotaro in Inuyama".)

New friends: Yuko, Kaori, Akiko, and Kerri.

Monkeying around (while waiting for the shuttle bus) with Yuko, Kerri, Kaori, and Akiko.

Next stop is Inuyama Temple. Here is the map with plenty of stairs!!

The climb begins!

Akiko stops to admire the 7 Japanese Gods featured on this rotating ball.

At the temple, I ring the giant bell and make a wish. (Perhaps I should wish that next weekend's adventure has fewer stairs...)

The amusement park in the distance is called "Japan Monkey Park" and features rides as well as several species of monkeys.

Many people were walking to these various touristy places, but we (thankfully) we taking a free shuttle bus!

This meal was like my very own "Fear Factor". This fish meal came highly recommended, and I always take the locals advice. First, we had to pick the bones out of our fish. I felt like I was doing a dissection in Biology class. I decided to pick out a few organs, too, and leave the head and tail on my plate. Next, I put the edible pieces and parts back in my personal hot pot and stir it up with rice and gobo (a Japanese vegetable). The gobo was pretty slimy and gross. I was afraid to ask exactly what it was until after my meal. There was no way I would have guessed it was a vegetable. I was thinking maybe eel. The other scary part was this pickled plum they wanted me to try. Yikes!!! So super sour. I had to spit out the pit and was tempted to spit out the whole thing... but I didn't!

Yuko, Kerri, & Akiko ready for the main event: Inuyama Castle!

This is the oldest standing castle in Japan, built in 1537. They even had a brochure in English, so I learned all sorts of fun facts!

View from the balcony of the castle. Breathtaking scenery.

But super windy and cold when you're outside and up that high.

I love all of the intricate details of it's construction, even from 1537!!