Tokyo n' Home

Paul:

TOKYO

So, this past week was Golden Week and we had two days off work. This meant, of course, a four day weekend! Aren’t the Japanese awesome?! Well, our friend James O’Brien who speaks Japanese quite fluently told us he was taking us to Tokyo…what would follow would be simply amazing.

We awoke Monday morning at around five in the AM (I really need to get a coffee maker!) After a shower and some raisin bran, thanks to Costco, we were off to Akastuka train station. The train station is about a five minute walk from our apartment and very convenient. From Mito, where we live, to Ueno station in Tokyo is not too far and took less than two hours to travel by train. We didn’t take the bullet train, this was the normal train…perhaps we’ll venture into the future of train travel after a paycheck! So 2000 Yen later, $20, we were in Tokyo to see some sites. Our first visit was a very large shrine built in the 1800s, well part of it was. What you’ll find in many parts of Japan are parts of very old buildings remodeled and newer looking than the rest. During WWII many buildings were destroyed in bombings so it’s rare when you’re allowed to see something older than 60 years. But the shrine was certainly old and beautiful. In Japan there are two places to worship, shrines for Shinto and temples for Buddhist...I think I have that right. The shrines tend to be older since Buddhism was brought into the country from the West…by West I mean Tibet and India, not California. Anyway, the shrine was very large and beautiful; it was a good place to start the day.

After the shrine we headed over to a free observatory. You could go to Tokyo tower which is the highest and pay about 20 bucks a person. We took the free route and went to the Tokyo office building for free. Tokyo just keeps going when you look at it from above. The day was hazy, however, so we did not get to see Mt. Fuji or the ocean. But the buildings were enough. After the good view we headed over to a district known for video games and electronics…they didn’t disappoint.

Unless you were trying to find an American copy of Grand Theft Auto 4, a pointlessly violent video game that I’ve been looking forward to. So I was disappointed a little bit, but I was too distracted by so many people. I think at one point, if I had counted, I could have seen 20,000 people at once…and I am pretty sure they were going to the same places I was! So we grew tired of the crowds and headed over to lunch at Tokyo Dome, which is where the Tokyo Giants play.

Lunch was burgers and fries, could you get more American? Well, fries are debatable since they were German fries, then during WWII they were French and as of late Freedom…I’m still confused since Freedom isn’t exactly a country. Whatever you want to call them, I had them with ketchup and was pleased to the last bite. After lunch would be the most interesting street performance I have ever seen.

Take a mime, add educational content and take off his clothes…yes…take off his clothes and paint him white. We walked out of the subway station to about 12 street performers doing their own thing. Who would have guessed that the first one we went to would be the most entertaining. I turned toward the performer when I heard Devan say, “Paul, I think he’s getting naked.” I had to turn when I heard naked because the Japanese are pretty conservative people and it’s not something you’d expect out of a sane man. Anyway, I looked and sure enough a man had a sign that read, “The Living Museum,” and took all his clothes off except this “whitey tighties.” Then, he began to paint himself white…the audience was allowed to participate and pretty soon he was half covered in white wash. If you’re wondering if this gets better, it does…keep reading! He goes back over to his little box and sign and pulls out a Frisbee, he then poses exactly like the statue of “The Discus Thrower.” By the same method, he showed us “David” (complete with fig leaf), “The Thinker,” and even “Mona Lisa.” We got a kick out of “Mona Lisa” because he had picture frames and a rose on the ground but of course he couldn’t pick them up by himself so he pointed at James to help him out…James tried to give him the rose first…then a small frame and finally the large frame. The crowd enjoyed James trying to give him the wrong prop. But I will say he looked a lot like “Mona Lisa” for a man in his late 50s.

So as we were all smiling at this, I notice a white finger being pointed at me…no, there are other people here…surely not me. But the man in his underwear trotted over and took me out in the open for his show. When he grabbed for my hand, I remembered that I don’t trust street performers as a rule so I took off my watch. The crowd thought that was funny, so I took off my wedding ring as well. Still, the half naked man gestured to my hand until finally grabbing it and forming it into the “pull my finger” position. When he asked me to sit down with legs spread apart a little bit, I remembered the piece of art he was trying to create, “Creation of Adam.” So little Paul Weger and the even smaller painted man created an old piece of art from the Sistine Chapel…but it wouldn’t be our only piece of art created.

For some reason, the man really enjoyed me and decided that I needed to be in another art piece with him. So he sits down and pats his lap while looking at me longingly. “This can’t be good,” I thought. He then holds up the sign which says, “The Kiss.” The crowd thought the idea was hilarious, and I wished I was still in the crowd. I mean, kudos to the guy for wanting to kiss a foreigner, couldn’t he pick someone else? So I sat on his lap, about three different ways till he finally opened a book and showed me the proper position, and put my cheek on his cheek…Devan thought this was hilarious. I was uncomfortable and he was sweaty. The crowd, once again, thought it was the funniest thing they have seen in a while. I, however, was ready to be done…but I wasn’t.

So I stand up and start to walk off, then he tells me, “Wait, you’re star!” So I get back up on the little box he had set out. Before I go on, it is important to mention that the crowd has grown to around 500 people now and they’re all having a “good” time. The street performer looks at me and motions for me to take off my shirt…I really didn’t mind since two minutes ago it looked like we were kissing. With my shirt off it felt like another day at the beach…with buildings and Japanese people. He then gets out the paint and gives me a few marks on my rib cage. When I saw where he painted, I realized that I was to be Jesus on the cross. I was not offended, remembering that many artists had painted this scene and I am now a part of the living museum. The street performer then began to pull about seven people from the audience in various positions around the cross, including Devan who was posed as one of the Romans kicking someone. I think the painting he was trying to recreate was by Picasso, but I can’t remember the name…feel free to post it if you remember. My favorite part of the whole show was when he put on a halo and twittered around the entire scene as an angel. The whole time I thought that this trip to Tokyo couldn’t have been better.

So we saw some sites, I was a site, and ate some great food. I honestly hope that will be my most eventful trip to Tokyo! We got home safe, and it was good to be home. I’ve written a lot, so I understand if you don’t read all of it. We still lack internet of our own so I apologize for the length of time it takes for a new blog post. On a side note, we had the biggest earthquake Mito has had in ten years last night. It wasn’t a damaging quake…but it frightened me…give me a good ole Oklahoman tornado any day! Devan slept through it, I’m pretty sure that she’s tougher than I am. We’ll post again soon, thanks for reading.

Devan:

Around our Apartment

As far as cheap apartments go in Mito, we didn’t do too badly. My largest complaint is the awful smell coming from under the sink in the bathroom. However, given a choice, I don’t know if I would move because it is in a pretty good location. We are only about a 3 minute bike ride from one of the three train stations in Mito, a dollar store, two grocery stores, a pharmacy, a hardware store, a laundry mat, and several convenient stores. Here, the convenient stores are like the ones in America with random food and practical items, however, they don’t have gas and that’s where you go to pay your bills. All the bills come with a barcode on the bottom, instead of mailing in a check every month instead you walk down to the store and pay there. Japan is still very much a cash society so there are no checks to send in. The pharmacy is next door, it reminds me of a Walgreens with a larger food section. The dollar store is neat, not everything in the store is a dollar though…but they do have everything from fish tank decorations to complete dish sets. Most of our kitchen and bathroom stuff have come from there. Paul even bought a few ties there.

Having the train station close is nice because we can get to most places by train. The church most of the AET’s go to, sometimes I think more for the American companionship than religion, is just a short walk from the next train station down. The mall is just a short walk from the other train station to the east of us. At the train station is also a major bus terminal but we only know which bus to take to get to the school administrator building. We tried once to take the bus to see some other AETs on the other side of town. We got on the wrong bus, got lost, and took a four hour walking tour of the countryside. We’ve been a bit nervous about being adventurous on the bus system ever since. Most things we can get to by train, bike, or walking. In the last month it has been hard though because we’ve had to buy a lot of stuff for our empty apartment. They generally frown when you try to get on the crowded train with an entire futon. Port, the saint he is, has been driving us around while we buy stuff for the past month. When we first moved here we thought we could get by without a car, but we have since decided a car wouldn’t be a bad idea. Plus the novelty of riding a bike to work, on the brink of the rainy season, has lost its environmentally friendly appeal.

We have finished furnishing out apartment for now. When we first moved here, and still today, I had a hard time with how empty and white our apartment was. We didn’t have window coverings or even a bed to sleep on. The first few nights, before we had our gas set up, we didn’t have heat so we slept on the floor in our coats and scarves. As part of our contract we did get some money for moving and furnishing expenses so we have been slowly acquiring stuff to make it homier. We still don’t want to buy too much because we won’t be able to take it with us when we leave, so why spend the money. Our final purchase was a small two-seater kitchen table. Our kitchen consists of a sink, a two burner gas stove, and literally a foot of counter space which is half filled by the drying rack. We are excited to increase the flat surfaces with the addition of a table. We also now have a dresser and some seating in the living room. When we moved in, there was a pad thing in the living room for sitting. It was working out fine until I was cleaning the other day and discovered mold on the bottom of the pad…SICK and out to the trash it went. Another AET couple lent us their TV. Paul is happy because now he can play his games, I’m happy because I can watch movies. We do have 12 channels but I try not to watch too much TV. I can’t understand anything, I have to deal with not understanding all day at work, and I don’t really want to deal with that at home. There is a movie channel that will have some movies in English. Yesterday, Paul and I watched the Dead Zone with Christopher Walkin. Good book, terrible movie.

The Mean Lady Downstairs

We have been having some trouble with our downstairs neighbor. She is a single mother, from the looks of it; about our age with a five year old daughter. About three mornings a week, we wake up to the mother yelling/screaming and banging things around. One morning we woke up to the little girl screaming from outside and banging on their front door. We don’t know what is going on down there; of course we can’t understand what the mother is yelling about. It still bothers me, last night when Paul was out, the mother started screaming and you could hear banging and then the little girl crying. We have asked around at church if there is the Japanese equivalent to DHS but no one seems to know of anything. Things like domestic abuse are still very hush, hush around here. We don’t know what to do, if this were America I would know just who to call and would have called about a three weeks ago, but now…when I asked a school, I was told that it is just how it is and strangers are not the ones to interfere...and certainly not foreigners. I don’t like standing idly by, I know it is their culture, but (pardon the dramatic phrase) what about universal human rights?

Food

The food has been pretty good if you know what to avoid...I learned quickly that if it looks like chocolate it’s probably not. I have been in Japan for 33 days and have yet to eat fish. Not that fish isn’t everywhere but it is avoidable. We found a Pizza Hut about a 20 minute bike ride away. Pizzas here are ridiculously expensive. A medium (which is a small is America) is about 25 bucks. Lucky for me every 6th-8^th of each month is half price day! Food sizes are all smaller here too. You can’t find a gallon of milk; you can only buy a quart. We bought the largest pancake mix we could find and it still only made 12 pancakes. No boxes of Bisquick that stick around for months I guess. Even their drinks are smaller; when you go to restaurants you get a shot glass of water with two ice cubes.

Most nights after work, Paul and I meet at the grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner. I feel bad because I know Paul wants so badly to try that fish looking thing with four eyes and tentacles but I keep marching right by trying not to tear up from the awful smell. Paul has been doing most of the cooking (as usual) and I have yet to be forced to eat something that once filtered ocean water through its GI track. After our trip to Costco we have had a never ending supply of refried beans and tortilla chips. I think I have eaten more Mexican food in Japan than I did in America. Cereal (my life blood) is hard to find, expensive, and one box will last exactly three days. I have also eaten more McDonalds here than I have in the whole of my life. Back home I hated the thought of going to McDonalds; certainly after “Fast Food Nation.” Maybe it makes me think of home, maybe it really is better here, but for some reason I can not get enough of McDonalds…fried chicken sandwich, fries, and a coke to be exact. Paul has been a good dietician and has only let me go about once a week but I think about it most everyday. Japan does win one point for food, a little place called Mr. Doughnut…it’s just about the best doughnuts in the world and they are open late! At the mall they have both a McDonalds and Mr. Doughnut right next to each other…guess where I suggest we eat most every night. For some reason I can not get full and am constantly thinking about food. I don’t know if it is the increase in activity (biking and walking everywhere I go) or stress. I’m not too worried about the increase in calories because, for the most part, it is balanced with plenty of vegetables and protein in the school lunch and Paul does a good job meal planning at home.