Music

The nearby elementary school has changed its morning welcome song to 'Sleigh Ride.' It's 30 degrees in June and all I have running through my brain is,

"Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling you-hoo!"

I think I may be going crazy.

Does anyone actually call 'you-hoo' anymore? Did anyone ever really call 'you-hoo' outside of a song or a sitcom?

Yep, I am crazy. But many of you already knew that.

Also, in other music news, my new favourite web site:
www.pandora.com

How's the weather today?

So I may have been a bit overzealous in my estimation of the amount of rain we were going to get. Already there have been brief hours of beautiful blue sky. But the heat is always lurking. Sucking up the moisture into the sky to release it onto us again. So that when it rains it feels inevitable. Like it's always been.

Everything feels wet. Like it will never be dry again. But still you hang your towels out to dry, offering them to the cloudy sky. Bringing them in the next day not damp, but not dry either.

You urge to shower is constant, even though the feeling of wet is everywhere. Your sweat clings to your skin like magnets, and it feels like it draws other water towards you, like a reverse shower of some kind. Sometimes it feels like you're in a bath on the street. That somehow everyone should be naked because we're living and walking in one giant onsen. Luckily, that is not the case.

Everything smells wet. Not moldy, wet. Like stepping out after a rainstorm when the world feels fresh and you think ahh, yes. Spring, clean. And really that's what it smells like. Nothing is covered with the same layer of dirt and pollution. Everything smells like itself again. The water just helped you find that.

So obviously not everything about rainy season is bad. Despite perpetually wet feet, I much prefer it to the rest of summer. Well, except for festival season, which I hope to enjoy more of this year. Yukatas and fireworks and 4 am ice cream runs. Something to dream of when you're trapped on a train in a suit.

Wet, wet, wet

"Which color umbrella do you want?"

"Why, is it raining?"

"Rainy season started today."

"Just because it's rainy season doesn't mean it's raining."

"..."

"Black umbrella, please."

Rainy season was supposed to start today and at 6am the heavens did indeed open and begin to drip. And will continue to do so for the next 2-4 weeks. I love the fact that even the weather runs on schedule here. I hate the fact that rainy season is part of the schedule. I predict 2 weeks of steady rain and 2 more weeks of intermittent rain. Then the real heat begins. Oy. Only 3 more months of running this weather gauntlet. Then we're home to struggle through the Canadian winter.

In other news we experienced our first earthquake. Very minor. If you weren't awake at 5am, like we were, you wouldn't have even known it happened. Even if you were awake you might not have noticed it. Just a slow gentle swaying of the buildings.

Also we just spent some money on a cool camcorder. Very nifty. However looking at the receipt makes me feel a little bit sick. But maybe we'll be adding movies to our picture site soon. Check out our updated photos with pics from Koyasan and karaoke, stories to follow soon.

Food Fights

Gah! I've finally done it. I've voluntarily added cornflakes to my salad. Granted it was poor quality fruit salad that needed a little extra something. And they were chocolate cornflakes (don't judge me!!), but I've finally joined the food insanity.

But I REFUSE to eat risotto pizza...yikes!

TV

Back in Osaka life continues as normal as it can be in the Bishop household. Today I was going to write about bums, I really was. And I don't mean those cute little homeless people, I mean honest to goodness rear-ends. Even though the subject has been written about numerous times it really is a topic that cannot be easily exhausted here. However, today I have to mention Japanese TV. Again a subject that has been written about numerous times but as I write today I'm watching NHK, Japan's public television channel. Apart from the interesting subscription payment plan, (They don't send you a bill in the mail, they send a person door to door collecting cash instead. This is because while it is said to be mandatory there is no enforcement for non-payment. In fact there have been many article written about how to dodge the NHK man. Strangely, we've never been home when they've called asking for the $600 fee. (We can never avoid the Jehova's Witnesses though, dang Jovies.)), and apart from the scandals over said payment plan (apart from the obvious logistical and logical conundrums, several NHK executives have been convicted of fraud and embezzlement), NHK is a great channel. It's specialty seems to be educational TV for young and old alike. There are interesting exercise shows, great dubbed news programs for us foreigners and lots and lots of language shows. In the evening many people sit down to learn English, Chinese, German, French, Italian and Spanish. In the afternoon they even have a Japanese program for the more conversationally challenged among us.

I have to say I love the other "how-to" shows the most. How to play (insert instrument of your choice here), how to take pictures, how to wear a kimono, and my favorite, how to swim. I'm still trying to figure out how to practice at home while watching TV, but watching the lower level rheumy businessman student struggling to stay afloat is a lesson in perseverance if nothing else.

Not that I've been watching TV. We've both been working too much to do much of anything lately. But the perfect accompaniment for the English lessons has finally been released, and we bought copies the other day. That's right! CD's for the young English learner in your life, complete with chants and songs performed by yours truly. And some guy named Matt. They didn't have auditions for the male part, so Carl isn't on them. If you want I can send you a copy of these strangely catchy tunes. But NHK doesn't have a "how to sing" show so there's no quality guarantee.

Tokyo!

Many days in the Bishop world, life is like a musical. Some days it's "The Sound of Music," some days it's "Les Miserables." And on our arrival to Tokyo on March 31st we met our very own 'Master of the House.'

Meet Max. Max is the proprietor of the JGH Hotel. Sounds nice doesn't it? A new hotel situated minutes from Tokyo's central attractions managed by a sweet couple of Tokyoites(?)who want to share their love of their city with the world. A double room with private bath, breakfast included, for only $44 a night. It was the price that should have tipped me off. No matter how glowing the reviews, you always get what you pay for...

On our eagerly anticipated first trip to Tokyo we took the Shinkansen into the heart of the big city. All shining steel and glittering glass on a bright blue spring morning, Tokyo took our breath away. It felt like the opening scene to "Wonderful Town" or "Guys and Dolls." But then I hadn't slept since before work the night before so maybe I was a little giddy.

We just as quickly left the city center to head out to Nishi-Kawaguchi and our hotel. We followed the directions to the out of the way house, set off of the street in a run-down residential neighbourhood. I was expecting something homey and hostel-ish so when Max answered the door looking like a short Japanese version of Elvis, the late Hawaii years, I was more amused than alarmed. But Carl's spidey sense started tingling. Streaming cigarette smoke, he took us to the tiny kitchen to sign-in. Max offered us sake, which Carl had to reach for over my head to get. We kampai'd our cups and poured another. Max said I was a good drinker. I'm not sure if that was a compliment.

After leafing through many handwritten notebooks he found our reservation and expressed extreme surprise that we were married. He had us sign a waiver that included a clause that guests indulge in no destructive or untoward behaviour...including sex. They really didn't get too many married couples through there. He took a refundable deposit for linen and cleaning and explained that as a small establishment, they charged a little extra for extras, like extra for the towels and for phone calls, internet, and 350 yen per bath (not showers, thankfully). Huh, OK, that wasn't on the website. But hey, we get our own room with a private bathroom, so that shouldn't be a problem right? We paid for the room up front and then he showed us to our room, by unlocking the bicycle lock on the sliding door right behind us in the tiny kitchen. This is when my eyes popped as Carl's jaw gaped. Homemade bunk beds with not enough room around them to put down our suitcase or stand up and get changed. A homemade dividing wall that divided the already tiny Japanese room in two. And next door wasn't the bath, it was the room of (during the week we were there) British frat boys, a Mormon family, and German backpackers. We know this because we could hear every word they said, just like they could hear every breath we took.

We took one look at the tiny room, and despite our travel weariness, dropped our bags and headed right back out on the road. We went to the Tokyo Bay area and wandered around, trying to sort out our options among the bright lights and technological marvels below the glowing ferris wheel. We resolved to only use the 'hotel' to sleep, and to spend as much time as possible out enjoying Tokyo. So despite the fact that our futons were as thick as paper and the uneaten breakfasts were often reused the next morning, and that on our way back each night we were hassled by pimps and prostitutes (the first I've seen in Japan) to go into the strip joints and other clubs that lined the walk back, and despite the fact that we were also hassled by cops on the one day it was pouring rain and my chest cold was at its worst, we had a pretty amazing Tokyo adventure.

Highlights include the Tsukiji Fish Market, Meiji Shrine, Asakasuka Temple, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, Harajuku, Roppongi, Shibuya, the Metropolitan Government Towers, Tokyo Bay, Ginza, the Beer Museum and hanging with Joe and big glasses of beer on Carl's 32nd birthday.

Coming sometime...butts and breasts and Costco. Stay tuned

Superpowered Random Adventures

Just a few more short and sweet comments on life in Japan....

I recently discovered that one of my superpowers is the ability to stop trains. In Japan, trains rarely stop, as punctuality is valued above all else. So it takes something truly unique to get a train to stop. However, if a silly , out of shape foreigner shoves an umbrella in the door in order to join her husband, who can run up stairs a might faster than her, the train will stop. The train doors here aren't incredibly sensitive and something like an umbrella won't cause the doors to pop open. You have to stop the train to open the doors to get the umbrella out and the silly foreigner on. Highly embarrassing, but also very interesting.

I also recently spiffed up my superhero look with a new haircut. I went to a new salon where there is some English spoken. My hair looked fine when I'd gotten it cut previously but it was starting to get out of control and I didn't know the Japanese words for 'thin' or 'layer' and the conversation required to go with it was waaaay out of my league.

Men's haircuts here are a unique ritual that you should really ask Carl about. Women's salons aren't so different from home, but there are a few big differences. First, they cover your face when you get your hair washed. Nothing personal, it's just to protect your make-up. Also they comb your hair out after washing it, which combined with the light conditioner used here can cause some massive tangles or giant frizz if you have curly or wavy hair. Often when getting your hair dried or styled there will be 2 people working on your hair. 2 or more people circling you with blowdryers or combs or straighteners to give your hair all the TLC it needs. You could start to feel like a celebrity with all that attention going to your head (hee...sorry, I can't resist bad puns!) However even with all that attention, it took me 2 hours to get my hair washed and cut. Am I just special or a pain in the neck?

Also quick head and shoulder massages are often included in your haircut. Not a lot different from home, but the massage technique is probably very unique. It started with some quick squeezes and pressure point holding, OK, nothing out of the ordinary here. But when she held both hands together and started slamming them onto my shoulders and head with loud clapping noises I started to wonder if I was more tense than I realized. I was literally beaten about the head and neck. All in the name of good customer service. And after some asking around I discovered this was a standard practice at many salons.

Anyway, after all is said and done I have a lovely haircut to take with me Tokyo. Yes, that's right, our next adventure will be all about the wonders of the nation's capital. Also, all about the two most revered days on the calendar, April Fools and Carl's Birthday. Funny how they fall so close together.

We also have lots more pictures uploaded, including a new section of Japanese flower arrangements called ikebana. Stay tuned...

Months of Random Adventure!

I have done something that I thought I would never do again. And then I did it twice.

I went skating! Of all the places for a Canadian to go skating (for the first time in 10 years) Japan is not at the top of the list. But that is just what I did, and then a week later, I did it again. I honestly thought I would never go skating again as I had a tendency to break things whenever I went rollerskating as a child. But when adventure calls you must answer.

The first time we went it was in celebration of Genny's birthday. She's the redheaded New Yorker who is part of Carl's new improv group. And she loves skating. She found a skating rink inside of a cheesy, poorly spell-checked, yet fun, amusement park just outside of Osaka. We went with Curtis, another member of Carl's group (who was last seen in "North Country" calling Charlize Theron a very bad word), and his family, including two fun but exhausting boys, as well as other miscellaneous friends, some of whom didn't even know the birthday girl. The rink was small and crowded but it did have a Zamboni machine! I soon found my ice legs, much to my surprise. And I didn't even fall once! (Honestly, this is an amazing achievement! Ask my parents.)

Carl, the former figure skater, also took a while to find his balance, but by the time we left he was doing some spins to entertain us.

The next time we went was with Carl and his two fun but exhausting private students and their parents. Carl had mentioned our first little adventure and the fact that he used to teach skating and soon had volunteered himself to teach Ryo and Kento how to skate. Another fun day was had by all, but doing laps while trying to hold a 5 year old upright is a little more difficult than just being proud of your ability to keep yourself upright.

Skating was one of the most memorable things we've done this month, but other recent adventures, in chronological order, included my first Chinese New Year's dinner. We ate noodles for long life and fish for luck and I got to meet some of the great people Carl works with, including Stephanie, the organizer. She's from Toronto and a total blast to hang out with. And apparently her sister has a major role in the new Star Wars series. (Not important, just another random tidbit.)

After celebrating the Chinese New Year we welcomed spring in with a Japanese ritual called Setsubun. To start spring right in Japan you must cleanse your house of bad luck and welcome in good luck, a metaphysical spring cleaning. You do this by throwing beans out all of your doors to drive out the demons, while shouting, "Oni wa soto" (Get out devil (you probably shouldn't say this to departing house guests - Carl)). Then you welcome in good luck by throwing beans into your house while shouting, "Huku wa uchi" (In with good fortune). Then you must eat an entire maki roll in silence while facing the correct direction. It's not the most important holiday on the Japanese calendar, but it can't hurt to try. So I threw dried soybeans at Ca...the demon (kidding!). We ate maki rolls and then we vacuumed up the beans inside the house. At the very least it's a good incentive to clean.

We also visited Himeji castle, one of the few surviving (not reconstructed) feudal era castles in Japan. It's also one of the most beautiful. It's white walls are compared to egrets' wings rising above the city. It's also huge and right next to a large, lovely garden complex. However, I do recommend visiting in the spring if you're going to go. They didn't have central heating in feudal times. Actually they don't have central heating in modern Japan either, come to think of it.

We also got to visit with Joe for another long weekend. We went with Sanae and Chiaki to a huge amusement complex and participated in 2 of the most popular pastimes in Japan, UFO catching and pri-cla photos. UFO catchers are also known as claw machines at home and pri-cla photos are photo booth photos decorated with some computer graphic help. You can find both types of machines anywhere there's an arcade. Sometimes entire arcades contain just these 2 kind of machines. At any rate, a good time was had by all. However, these photos are a little harder to share with you as they are printed on tiny stickers, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Questions, comments, concerns? I'm always available at colleen.bishop@gmail.com

Your Mother was Right, Always Wear Clean Underwear...

...and shave, you never know when you're going to end up in a foreign hospital in the middle of the night.

Now before we go any further, everyone's alright. There is a happy ending to this story. However, let's just say I was inspired to talk about the difference between the Japanese and Canadian health care system due to a recent experience.

On a cold and damp December night in Osaka, Carl and I were settled down to an evening of junk food and B-movies. We were watching Open Water, a low-budget film that sort of reminded us of our honeymoon and each other, without the fighting and the terrifying stranding in the middle of the shark-infested ocean. At one point, I commented, "Hmmm...where'd this earache come from. I think I'm getting an ear infection." Ten minutes later, I thought, my throat is kind of scratchy. Ten minutes after that I casually commented, "My throat is closing up kind of fast."

Now by this point it was early morning and we were well immersed in the tragic tale of love and loss on the screen. Carl was suddenly finding it hard to focus and we were starting to brainstorm solutions to this kinda scary situation. There was no need to panic, I wasn't having trouble breathing, but my throat was swelling at a steadily alarming rate. We didn't want to call an ambulance, like I said there was no need to panic, but we did think I should see a doctor sooner rather than later. We started making phone calls; to work (the only night no one's there), our health insurance office (apparently 24 hours in Tokyo is less than 24 hours in Osaka), even the Canadian consulate (the numbers cannot be reached by cell phone and we don't have a land line). So we started walking. There had to be someone close by we could talk to. Down the block to the nearby retirement home, they couldn't help me, (I'm not that old yet!) but they did give us another number to call that went nowhere. Sigh. Down another block to another hospital, they were closed with no hours posted. Double sigh.

At this point, I should tell you that Japan does have a national health plan but private healthcare facilities (the hospital we ended up at is owned by the power company). I think this might have been affecting our ability to find open doors. As it was we went back home at 2:30am to reconsider our options. We finally decided to head the other direction to the nearby police box. We knew they were open. After all, if the police couldn't help us, who could?

We walked into the tiny smoke-filled room and told them that my throat was tight and I needed a doctor (in broken Japanese with lots of pointing of course). They got some information from me and started making calls. This was when I started learning Japanese swear words. As the policeman made phone call after phone call, and then pulled out the phone book and kept making phone calls, more and more of them ended with the phone slamming and the word "Baka!" spat out in disgust. That means idiot for all of you wanting to use that at home. This went on for over 30 minutes. Sometimes a few questions were asked before the phone was slammed. But as I was not dying, did not speak Japanese and am not a child my options remained limited. Finally the police gave up and called the ambulance, that's 1-1-9 here for anyone interested.

As I hovered somewhere between exhaustion and screaming frustration the ambulance came. At a leisurely pace the nonchalant attendants loaded me into the back of the bus, after I'd removed my shoes of course. Then they hooked me up to some equipment, took the temperature of my armpit, asked me more questions, but didn't really listen to the answers, and finally decided on a place to take me. The only time I managed to peak their interest was when my heart monitor started going wonky. Having a benign heart murmur can be fun at times. They were exceedingly casual as I obviously wasn't an emergency and, being free, ambulances get abused a lot. Sometimes people use them as a free taxi service to visit friends at the hospital.

We got to the hospital and walked into a dark and deserted waiting room. We went to a hospital without an emergency room, but with a night shift doctor who spoke English. As I sat down in the exam room they took the temperature of my armpit again with a thermometer that had seen better days, and then pulled out the tongue depressor to look at my throat. He also pulled out a small yellow camping flashlight. I thought he was going to start telling ghost stories for a minute but he used it to look down my almost fully closed throat. When I started choking on the tongue depressor he told me to relax, and if I could have talked I might have said something about getting a better light so he could ... nevermind.

He then told me that he was a GP, there was nothing he could do, I had to wait for a throat specialist. Then he gave me one Benydryl. At this point I should mention that most doctors in Japan are specialists and if you have a problem you go to the doctor with that specialty, not your neighbourhood GP. And of course the specialists didn't arrive until 8am. Sigh.

By this time it was 6:00am and I'm thinking, I could have, I SHOULD have, just stayed home. I have way better drugs there and a much more comfortable couch to wait on. But we had come this far. And we didn't even know where here was, or how far we were from home. So we waited in the plastic chairs in the deserted waiting room and watched insomniac patients make their rounds of the hospital. When I tried to speak, I choked and sounded like Marlee Maitlin. Carl was alternating between uncomfortable snoozing positions and worrying over me. What were we doing here?

After a while some older women walked in and sat down, obviously waiting for the hospital to open. We had been told to wait until the front desk opened at 8. But at 7:30 there was a sudden line-up in front of two machines that spit out little bits of paper. But we waited like good little patients until just before 8 when one of the attendants gave us a little bit of paper and told us to go upstairs at 8. We weren't sure how this would conflict with our earlier instructions but at 8 someone came downstairs and called us upstairs, so we went.

I quickly got in to see the doctor. He also spoke English and asked all the usual questions. Then he gave some nasal spray and held up a machine and said "I have to look at your deep throat." I opened my mouth obediently (OK, you reading this blog - the one in the corner. Yeah you. Go wash your brain out with soap right now! You know who you are!). But he shook his head, the tube was going down my nose. He then told me that my throat was almost completely closed and that I had acute laryngitis. Huh. So that's what it's called when choke on your own throat tissue. At least that's what I might have said if I could have talked. My vocal abilities were nil at this point.

Things started to move fairly fast then. I was admitted to the hospital and given a private room and an IV. I was whisked around the hospital by a lovely nurse with no English, but who was clinging bravely to a medical book with English subtitles, as I went from exam room to exam room. I was grateful that I'd just shaved my legs as I went from x-ray to EKG to blood test and back again trying to undress and dress around my IV bag. Why did I need x-rays and an EKG for a throat infection? Who knows, I couldn't ask. Finally they told me that they wanted to keep me overnight, possibly for many days while I got better. By this time the meds in my IV had kicked in and I could croak in the voice of a tracheotomy patient, "Days?" I could stay for one night, Carl had already called in sick for me, but days? For laryngitis? I resolved to fight this injustice - later. After I'd slept. Carl and I had been up since before work the previous day, and Carl still had to work that night. It was just past noon. I sent Carl home to get some sleep. We got some giggles from the nurses when we kissed goodbye, then I went back to my room.

I promptly faded in and out of consciousness from a combination of exhaustion and the fun antibiotics and anti-histamines that were pumping into me. I was interrupted by lunch, a doctor wanting to practice English, my doctor, the administrator of the hospital (I was only the third foreign overnight patient that the hospital had ever had, kind of a celebrity) and the nurses every now and then. Carl came back after visiting hours to give me a much welcome change of clothes and pajamas and other overnight essentials. I later learned that chopsticks would have been a good idea as patients have to bring their own utensils to eat with. Luckily there was a small stock of plastic utensils for me to use.

One good night's sleep later and I was myself again. Using my newly returned, but just as unable to communicate voice, I slowly laboured over the answers to the same questions. Yes, I feel fine. No, my throat doesn't hurt. Yes, I understand you but I don't know how to make you understand that I understand you. After I convinced my doctor there was no need to keep a healthy patient in the hospital (there was also no need to keep a laryngitis patient in the hospital, but private hospitals have to make money somehow) I received my walking papers. Well, they brought me a week worth of meds and stuck that tube down my nose again, and then they sent me to the front desk to be billed. Yikes! Maybe I should have stayed in the hospital. Wait, then the bill would have been higher. Ignore my circular illogic.

We're on travel insurance. If we were on the national health plan, all of this would have been covered, with maybe a small co-pay on the drugs. However, with our work-sponsored travel insurance we had to pay upfront. Luckily we'd gotten paid the night before or I might have had to work in the hospital kitchen to get out. Over 2 weeks salary, gone.

Again, there is a happy ending. We were fully reimbursed from our insurance company two weeks later. Everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and I can still speak and sing. Speaking of which I have recently done so in a recording studio, for a 'soon to be for sale across Japan' CD ... but that's for another blog.

Happy New Year

It is the New Year and time to reflect on what went on in the year before and write down hopes for the new one. Carl and I have been here for almost 10 months. We have watched spring, summer, autumn and now part of winter come and go in Japan. We've celebrated our favourite holidays (April Fools and Thanksgiving. Guess which one matches which person!). We've celebrated Carl's 31st birthday and my 30th. And now Christmas and New Year's in our adopted country.

Why would we do this? What have we learned? When are we coming home? No, seriously, why are we doing this?


Some things we've learned on our Japanese Adventure....

1) Sushi really does taste better in Japan. However, this only applies to restaurant sushi. The stuff you buy at the grocery store tastes about the same, but you're going to get more variety here. They don't often package roe and octopus at the Calgary Sobey's. However, when done by a professional chef, it's like ... it's like ... really good raw fish? Words cannot describe the tender, melt-in-your-mouth sensation of eating something killed just seconds before in front of you.

2) Drinking to excess is not just the domain of underage teenagers and 20 year olds (the legal age in Japan) having their first beer or sake. It can be the unfortunate pastime of businessmen in black suits. Entertaining clients can be hazardous to your health here. It can also cause you to spend a number of nights sleeping on a train station floor or city sidewalk. Luckily, it's common enough that no one will disturb your sleep. Also, all you can drink for one flat rate is a bad idea for foreigners who try and get the most bang for their buck...Carl.

3) Humidity sucks. It's worse than windchill, it's worse than waking up with a cat on your face, worse than having a drunk businessman breath on you. However, in summer everyone understands why you walk around with a towel around your neck here.

4) Japanese is a damn difficult language. Two phonetic syllabaries and over 10 000 kanji words makes even attempting to read the language almost impossible. I say almost, because other people braver than me have managed to accomplish this task. This is my way of saying, no, I don't speak Japanese. Maybe that will be one of my resolutions this year; to try, try again. Maybe.

5) You can make friends anywhere. Especially Japanese friends, as I've met some of the friendliest, funniest people anywhere here. However, friends who understand your quirks, people who know what you mean when you start speaking gibberish, people who love you for who you are unconditionally, take time and luck to have in your life. I am lucky to have so many of them in Calgary and I miss you all terribly.

However, I will have to miss you all a little longer. Carl and I will be staying a few extra months here, enduring yet another summer of humidity hell. We'll be back before Labour Day, but I don't know when exactly. We still have a lot to see and do here. We still have to see Sapporo and Tokyo and, most importantly, Tokyo Disneyland. We will continue to update you on our adventures (hopefully more frequently).

One thing I have learned this year is that there is no feeling like accomplishing a life-long dream, no matter what the result is. I hope that all of you get to experience that in the new year. Happy New Year everyone!!!