DAY TWO: Critters, Curriculum, and Cannibalism

Realizations from just one full day in Japan:
Japan is way more humid than my home in Washington, USA, which makes Japan way warmer. I thought, while packing, that the weather would be similar, since we live on a similar latitude, but no! Thankfully, I have a wonderful mother, who reminded me that last time we came (in October, a month later and colder in the year) we were not particularly cold. Now I am glad I listened to her, and didn’t pack all of my sweaters and other fall attire that I would usually need to be wearing back home. We constantly have a film of sweat across our bodies. My teenager skin is not enjoying this.

Japan has some HUGE insects. I have been noticing some strange birds flying about, and marveling at the diversity of the world. Also, we have been wondering about a loud noise, that sounds as loud as a fire alarm, but does not have any kind of even tempo, so it is probably made by some insect. We asked Yoshio about it, and he said it was an insect, in a group of insects called cemi (semi, seme, ceme,…?) but he did not know the English word for the exact kind of insect. He was saying this as we were approaching a particularly loud bush. When we came up to it, the alarm stopped, and then my bird flew out.
“Oh,” I thought, “Not a bird.”
Yoshio says they are not dangerous.

Most doors are either curtains, sliding paper doors, sliding glass doors, or automatic sliding doors. There are not actually that many normal doors with door knobs, that I have noticed. I have also noticed that those doors with door knobs, have door knobs that turn in the opposite direction (at least in our apartment)! I keep on locking doors, then panicking for a moment when I am not able to get out. The hardest thing is that, in our apartment, it has not been consistent. Some door knobs turn one way, some turn the other, and some turn one way on one side, and the other way on the other side. I do not know if this is normal, or if it just our apartment, but I do find it interesting, and will pay attention in the future. Hopefully I will come up with a consensus before two months is up.

Other things that feel backwards, in cars the steering wheel is on the opposite side. This was not so astounding, I knew that the steering wheel could be on the opposite side, but I thought that that only happened in England. Here cars drive by, and I excitedly wonder if self-driving cars are being allowed in Japan, and then I look further, and see the driver on the right side of the car. ☹

To sum up, Japan is a wonderful and unique place, and I am honored to be able to explore it for a whole two months.
Now, to tell you about our day. Bayus made us some green tea with breakfast, which was delicious.

 

We roughly started school, beginning with first-day-of-school pictures, and Bayus started a new math curriculum, using the sliding glass door as a white board.

 

We unloaded our washer, and hung all of our clothes up to dry on the balcony. At home, at this time of year, clothes take forever to dry, but in the Japan heat, they dried surprisingly quickly.

 

For lunch, we had intended on going to the ramen restaurant across the street, but it was closed, so we went for a walk. I enjoyed seeing all the Japanese homes and gardens, particularly this bonsai tree garden that was beautifully adorable. (Hey, Jacob- I thought you would like these, since you have some lovely bonsai trees of your own)

 

We ended up at a place that served human subjects (kidding, I hope, that was what our phone translator said, but we blamed it on a bad translator moment. I tried it, and was not gripped with guilt, so we should be good).

 

 

We walked back home, just in time for Uncle Yoshio to come and pick us up, and show us around town Other than the heat, the walks have been quite enjoyable. He showed us around a supermarket, and told us what each section had in it. I was mesmerized by the ‘make your own sushi platter’ bar. After the supermarket, we walked to Yoshio’s house. Aunt Tamiko is the most hospitable person in the world. She is very sick with an autoimmune disease, but she still had a lovely snack laid out for us when we arrived.

 

We enjoyed spending the afternoon with them. During our stay, one of their friend’s daughters, who lived in North Carolina for seven years, but now lives in the Himalayas with her husband, but was on vacation visiting her family in Japan, came to visit. She speaks very good English, and was excited to meet us. She was very kind.

Mom took a group picture before we left, but we will be back tomorrow.

 

As we left, we asked Yoshio and Tamiko about the lovely flowers in their garden. Almost everyone in Japan has a garden, I have seen very little grass.

This one is called Rooster Head,

 

 

 

 

and this one is called Evening Face.

 

On our walk back home, we stopped by the supermarket, to pick up some breakfast, and ingredients for a Japanese dish with a couple of bitter gourds that Nozomi, the Japanese friend, showed us and we decided to try. Online says it is an acquired taste, we’ll be sure to report back later and let you all know how it goes.

 

We miss you, our friends, but we are fully enjoying our time with our Japanese family.

-Hannah