Jeff In Japan

Just like anywhere else in the world, if you want to know what food is like in a country – spend some time with the locals. Here you can see a home-cooked meal (though the fish isn’t technically cooked). This meal was delicious! Once again, kudos to my host family.

On the second night, my host family took me out to dinner. We went to a restaurant that had stove tops on each table. You would order different flavored broths – which would boil in front of you – then you would add in vegetables, meats, etc… It was like fondue, just without the cheese (which I, of course, approved of). The only weird thing was that after you cooked your meat, you were supposed to dip it in a raw egg. Supposedly, this is delicious. I just couldn’t convince myself to try. I ate the octopus, I ate the squid, I ate the fish candy (yes, there’s fish candy), but I just couldn’t do a raw egg. If you think you can, by all means give it a try – cook up some beef and dip it in raw egg before you eat it. If the salmonela doesn’t get to you, let me know how it tastes.

We’ve all heard the stories – people getting pushed onto the trains, they’re SO crowded, etc… Being from NYC, I’ve riden in my fair share of packed subway cars – I was more than ready for the challenge!

Expert conclusion – Their subway is no more crowded than ours during rush hour. What’s interesting is that the Tokyo subway never really quiets down. It’s always packed… every hour is rush hour. That was probably the biggest surprise.

Until we get around to creating a Star Trek inspired universal translator, communicating in a foreign country will be difficult. Mrs. Tanaka, fortunately, spoke fairly fluent English and we were able to speak to each other. Mr. Tanaka’s English was about equal to my Spanish – meaning he understood some of what I was saying and he was able to talk to me a little bit. The children knew very little, but their friends who came over (I was a bit of a celebrity) couldn’t wait to practice their English with me… There aren’t a lot of native English speakers around. Much of our communicating was done while playing games like poker, uno, jenga and spit – some things, after all, are universal.

A large part of the JFMF Program is to learn about Japanese culture – a good way to do that is to spend time with an actual Japanese family – which I did. The Tanaka family lives in a very modern home in Soka that could easily be in any city in the U.S. Technology-wise, I was impressed, and aside from not wearing sneakers/shoes indoors, I think most westerners would feel right at home (well, there is the toilet and all its buttons and automatic flushing, but after a few days in Japan you get used to that too).

The Tanaka Family:

Kids are kids:
(Watching Charlie & The Chocolate Factory – in Japanese of course).

I would also like to take a moment to publicy thank the Tanaka family for being such wonderful and gracious hosts. My time in Japan was made all the more special because of their kindness & generosity.

Yep. My first earthquake. It happened while I was sleeping. I remember waking up and feeling my whole bed shaking – it felt like being in the ocean, waves just moving your body back & forth (or – imagine someone rhythmically shaking your bed). I thought to myself, “Hmmm… this must be an earthquake.” I stayed in bed and enjoyed the ride (ignoring all the advice of find a safe place under a doorway, a table, etc… Hey, I was tired – cut me a break). People who were awake or who jumped out of bed and looked out the window said they saw bikes on the street swaying and that the building was actually moving. Pretty scary stuff for a New Yorker… my host family thought it was hysterical that this was my first earthquake.

You can link to the article here.

The question was asked – do the Japanese people celebrate Halloween? The answer – oh yeah. Big time. Apparently Halloween “arrived” in Japan about 5 years ago and has caught on… Disney may have something to do with that (The Nightmare Before Christmas is HUGE here – much bigger than in the U.S.). Even the convenience stores have embraced Halloween…

This goes on for a bit… but if you’ve never seen the Disney Light Parade (and I hadn’t), it’s pretty cool to watch. If you have seen this before, then you know what to expect.

I suppose it’s a bit sad that I’ve grown up in the United States and have never been to DisneyLand or DisneyWorld. Still, the people I went with assured me that Tokyo Disneyland was a near carbon copy of the ones in the U.S. (Considering that almost all the signs were in English, I’m willing to believe their assessment – though I don’t know that the U.S. versions offer octopus dumplings on their menus). I rode the Star Tours & Pirates of the Caribean rides (C3P0 and Pirates speaking Japanese – interesting experience).

A wacky looking fish –

Here I am with Tracy (from Florida), Holly (from Ohio) and Mickey (from Japan via Florida)…

Ok – so Tokyo is indeed a big, modern city – but I explored other parts of Japan and there was definitely nature going on… by which I mean creepy, crawley type things. Just a small sample: DRAGONFLY –
PRAYING MANTIS –
BIG SPIDER –

Our visit created quite the uproar. Many students went around with autograph books asking us to sign. It was clear they were competing to see who could get the most signatures. While I would normally discourage something like this as a teacher… it was very neat to feel like a rock star, so I signed everything they put in front of me. They also got a bit rowdy, as the pictures demonstrate: