あけましておめでとう！

Happy New Year, everybody! Long time no blog!

Here we have a blurry photograph of a copy of the nengajou we sent out this year. I know it’s extreeemely dorky, you don’t have to say anything. I’m not exactly sure if it’s above or below the kind of portrait where the couple wears turtlenecks against a backdrop of New England on the official Dorque Scale… I’m hoping it’s above, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. I accept us for the kind of people we are, lol.

So anyway, did everyone have a fun holiday? I’ve been keeping up with some friends through facebook and other social networks, but not everyone, of course! Tell me what you did this season!

Tatsuya and I have just returned to Chiba today after spending the last week in Fukui. It was a lot of fun, and my in-laws always spoil us “kids” rotten as always, LOL. Of course that includes what will probably be our last ever toshidama’s… I think Tatsuya alone scored nearly 120,000 yen this year, most of it being “congrats on getting a job!” money from his uncles. I made off with only 30,000 yen but hey, that’s still making out like a bandit in my book, and now I’ll definitely survive until next paycheck (including perhaps a few treats, of course!) I also got my hair cut into a super duper short boy/pixie cut while we were there. It’s cute I suppose but I’m still not really sure if it’s “me” or not… though I suppose for now it IS me, whether I think so or not! :P It’s potentially the beginning of an interesting experiment, perhaps though. If I let my hair grow out all year, I can see exactly how much it grows until 2012, amirite!

As for the holidays, New Years’ Eve we ate homemade mochi for breakfast and in the evening we watched Kohaku, then went to the shrines around the neighborhood at midnight. New Years Day felt unnaturally long, but that was because we woke up around 7:30 and in T’s and my case, we didn’t go to sleep until around 2am. I don’t know how we made it, haha. It was a fun day though: among other things, we braved a rain/snow torrent in the morning for the annual pilgrimage to Naritasan temple for prayers/hot snacks, and after that we went shopping with Tatsuya’s Mom, played a Bingo game at the local shopping center near home, and it was there that T thought it would be fun to tell me in exquisite detail about a picture he saw on 2ch of a person who apparently pooped their pants while standing in line for Comiket. I then learned that Tatsuya would totally be willing to crap his pants in public if it meant getting season tickets to ManU games, I’m still not sure exactly how I feel about that XD Naturally, though, that segued into an enlightening/disturbing discussion about humiliating acts we’d be willing to do/not do for a variety of rewards. I pretty much almost fainted, I was laughing so hard. LOL, I know this is one of those “you had to be there” stories, but oh my husband ♥ Seriously, we always have the best conversations.

Anyway, overall it was a lot of family visiting, watching tv, and eating food… just as I had hoped ♥ It was just as cold and snowy in Fukui as it was there last year… nothing I’m not used to from growing up in Spokane, but I’m beginning to enjoy coming back to the fair and mild winter weather that Tokyo offers :3

++

I didn’t make any blog/journal entries around this time last year, so I can’t go back and check to see if I had fulfilled any resolutions I may have made. But I figure either way, I accomplished a lot in 2010. That includes, in chronological order:

+ visiting my family in America/saying goodbye to my father before he passed away
+ getting married
+ graduating from college
+ getting a job
+ going to Disneyland… twice!

Haha, I can’t believe that all happened in one year, to be honest. If only I had gotten pregnant, I could’ve knocked out a good portion of my adult milestones all in one go! Oh well, gotta space it out a little bit, right?

I don’t know if I have any specifically resolutions in mind for 2011, though. Still, I’m already on my way to achieve some goals for this year:

+ go to Disney Sea (still gotta buy tickets, but we’re planning to go on the 12th, which is our 4 year coupleversary!)
+ save money (starting next week I’ll be starting my new work schedule with increased hours… combined with whatever Tatsuya makes over the next few months, saving is totally possible!)
+ move to Kanagawa (also officially marked! T’s parents will be coming over during Golden Week to help us. That’s also the week of my birthday so I think an epic housewarming/birthday party is in order, roflmao.)

Also on the to-do list:

+ get a puppy (THIS YEAR FOR SURE OMG!)
+ work on my housekeeping skills
+ start my new sewing hobby in earnest (after the machine we just ordered TODAY arrives! My goal is to complete most of the patterns in my sewing instruction book, and make and wear an outfit I’ve designed by myself, even if it’s simple, by the end of the year)
+ I’ve actually had some small itches to draw again lately! Even if I can get myself to complete just one or two colored drawings this year, that would be great XD;
+ start studying for JLPT 1 (passing it, or even taking the test at all might be a resolution for another year though, HAHA)
+ also on the Japanese front, work on improving my speaking/conversation skills (cuz I’m still too much of a cat-got-your-tongue most of the time, which probably makes me come off like a dummy :/) If nothing else, that means doing some shadowing at least once a week :x
+ plan our wedding, and hopefully a honeymoon trip as well
+ get my mom to come visit!
+ ????
+ PROFIT!

CAN IT BE DONE?? Let’s find out!

今年もよろしくお願いします, y’all :P

PS, sorry for dropping the ball on the 30 day meme, haha I suck. Although it this point it would be more of a “30 questions answered at my leisure” meme, I still want to do it at least! Next entry for sure, I’ll answer a few, mmkay?

Tags: 2011 resolutions, friends and family, fukui, jlpt, kanagawa, moving, wedding, work

Japan 30 Day meme – Days 6 & 7 and Balancing the Future

See all 30 meme questions here!

Day 06 – Food that you swore you would never eat but now love (or tolerate).

To be honest, I’m a pretty adventurous eater… there’s hardly anything I’m not willing to put in my face at least once, and Japanese food is no exception. Octopus sashimi, basashi (raw horse sashimi), even stinky snotty natto is no match for my stomach. But with the exception of maybe natto, none of them are really anything I would want to eat everyday for the rest of my life. Even still, I remember a couple years back when I was in Japan for the summer program at Mukogawa Women’s University, my host family fed me hijiki (a kind of seaweed) and at the time I remember it smelled awful and felt so slimy and gross in my mouth that I swore I would never eat it again. However, literally just a couple of days ago, I brought a bento to work which included a hijiki/veggie mix okazu and it actually tasted pretty good! Not stinky or slimy at all! I guess it was worth giving a second chance…. I remain undefeated by any food challenge! Ha ha ha!!

Day 07 – Which Japanese words do you use in English? (hanami, shinkansen, etc.)

I’m assuming this question wants us to talk about Japanese words that aren’t already considered to be loanwords in English vernacular… everyone uses words like “tsunami” and “sushi”, derp! :P

Anyway, I think because I speak English with my husband in our home and (learning to) speak Japanese when I’m out and about, I’ve kind of gotten into the habit of mixing my languages a lot. This means I speak English with a bunch of random Japanese mixed in. Just like a J-pop song but in reverse, haha! Stuff like, “I’m samui!” (I’m cold!) or “I’m going to go benkyou nihongo now” (I’m going to go study Japanese now). I even started the “Hanashimasuing Japanese with an English sentence structure” fan page on facebook (totally nerdy, I know.) It’s completely ridiculous, but I’m sure it must be a common side effect when attempting to become bilingual because all my friends do it too, lol!

There’s also times when I want to express myself and only a word in Japanese will do. My favorite? “Mendokusaiiiii!” (it means “bothersome”, but when used as an interjection the connotation is basically equivalent to “I don’t wannaaaaa!!”) I think Tatsuya can confirm that I have used this word at least 50 times daily for the last two years, usually directed at school, going to work, or some 20-page essay I had to do for homework. It probably drives him nuts, lmao. I rarely mean it, but it’s so fun and satisfying to say, it helps me chill out a bit.

++

Now for a change of subject…

It’s funny how even though I’ve just landed my first job in Japan and I’m enjoying it immensely, I already seem to be considering and calculating my next move. You might be able to tell just from reading this blog, but anyone who knows me well surely knows that if there’s something I really want to do (such as go to a certain college, learn to speak the language of and live in a foreign country) I like to come up with a game plan: figure out how to make it happen, and then pretty much work toward it until the goal is achieved. I like planning ahead.

Anyway, what I’m thinking is I want to go back to school someday soon to study law. This is something I’ve been sitting on for a while because I keep going back and forth about it, but I’m wondering if the fact that I can’t shake it off after years and years might be a sign that it’s destiny and I’ll regret it if I don’t do it. Or who knows, maybe my Dad’s spirit is sending my subliminal messages, LOL! He was a lawyer too and for as long as I can remember, he would always tell me that he thought it was something that I would like and be good at. I was always like, “WTF NOOOO!!” I think in my mind I always pictured the sleazebag lawyer stereotype, with more money than good conscience. I don’t know why, that’s not the kind of lawyer my Dad was. He was a deputy prosector at the county level; a public servant who advocated for victims and contributed to the system of guaranteeing a fair trial for all. Of course, my own father knew me too well, and I think especially since he became sick and passed away that I realize how much alike we really are.

Anyway, I’m not sure if I want to be exactly a lawyer per se… but I do want to study something like International or Comparative US and Japanese Law and… I don’t know, work for some organization or company that needs experts on that kind of law. Jobs like that exist, right? LOL, obviously I haven’t worked out too many of the details. But I think either way, it will take me a few months to research and explore my options, save money, etc. All that I know for sure so far is I want to stay in Japan for school. This means getting my Japanese up to a level where I can pass the EJU and not to mention passing University entrance exams and surviving the classes! For a millisecond I considered going back to America for a few years to study, but if I did that there’s no way Tatsuya would be able to come with me because of his job, and being apart from my husband for 3 years when it’s really quite unnecessary would suuuuuck. I’d be coming back to Japan anyway, and there are certainly good schools here as well.

I said before that I kept going back and forth… most recently the reason is because I’m trying to figure out what the best plan would be for me, Tatsuya, and our future family. I definitely want kids before I reach my 30s, and I always envisioned being a stay-at-home, or at least part-time working Mom for the first few years of our child(ren)’s lives. My Dad went to law school after I was born, but in my case, as a female with a full-time working husband, it probably won’t be an option for me. I know I’m certainly not the only one, but sometimes I feel so conflicted. Part of me wants the post-graduate education and the interesting career, while the other part wants to dedicate all my time and effort into family. I’m still young of course, but what I might like to do is stay at my current job for the next couple of years and/or do some internships for my resume, then spend the next 3ish years getting my JD. After that, I would take the next few years off to have kids, and by the time they are old enough for hoikuen/youchien, THEN I start looking for a job. Is that completely stupid and crazy? Do people even do that? Would I be screwing myself by taking myself out of the game before I even have a chance to use my degree?

I wish I could get some advice. What do you think, friends? Anyone have any insight for me? :)

Tags: 30 day meme

Japan 30 Day meme – Days 3, 4 and 5

Sorry to be getting on behind on this already, but for the last couple of days I’ve been busy either with work, projects around the house, or being social. I’ve also been fighting a cold this past week, so I’ve been trying to get some extra sleep in on top of all that.

On Monday I met with my friend Molly and went to go see a movie called Ooku (大奥). I never read the original manga (I think I want to now), but we wanted to see it because the premise sounded interesting: it takes place in an alternate universe of Edo Japan where much of the male population are wiped out by disease, making the female to male ratio 4:1. Because men are so rare and “fragile” in society, women take over the roles of labor and leadership, including the Shogun, who is a woman. The story in the movie is about one particular boy (played by Arashi’s Ninomiya Kazunari… people like my Mom might remember him as the young soldier from Letters From Iwo Jima) who goes to live as a “concubine” in the Ooku, or Inner Chamber of the female Shogun’s castle. Anyway, the movie was all right, but by the end I was thinking I would miss the men too much if such a thing ever happened in real life, LOL!! :P Before the movie, we also discovered Halloween flavors being offered at Baskin Robbins, and they were ridiculously delicious. I got the Magical Mint Night (the blue and brown one) and it tasted exactly like a chocolate mint cookie. YUM.

Yesterday I spent much of the afternoon playing bug exterminator, since we were having a bit of a dani (mite) problem in our tatami room, which is our bedroom. YUCK-O! But I injected a buttload of dani poison into the tatami and for good measure sprayed on top as well, so now they are all dead… hopefully forever, muwahahaha. While I was in the middle of that, I got a message from my good friend John from Sophia U, who asked if I wanted to come out for drinks. At first I was all, “oh I don’t know… I’m sick, I’m cleaning, I have work in the morning, I’m this, I’m that.” But then I thought, “Oh, why the heck not?” So I went out and I was so glad I did, I met my friends I hadn’t seen since the last semester ended, as well as some new exchange students. I think before I was the kind of person who could come up with any excuse NOT to do something… “I just want to stay home with Tatsuya” or “I have to stay home and study.” I think I have to remind myself that it’s still ok for me to relax and have a little fun with my friends sometimes… even if I am married, don’t you think? hehe :)

But anyway, as much as I’ve rambled on, that’s not what this post is about! Back to the meme, I’ve got some catching up to do!

See all 30 meme questions here!

Day 03 – Most interesting person you met.

Oh man, this one is hard! I think going to Sophia University for a year, I met a ton of interesting people from very diverse backgrounds, both students and teachers. A lot of my professors had these amazing lives that I can only imagine. My Buddhist theology studies professor was a Jesuit sent to Japan by the Pope, and spent several years learning about Buddhism by living in monasteries with Buddhist monks. My Asian politics/security studies professor was a Cambodian who lived through the Khmer Rouge, fled to Canada, ended up as a college professor in Japan, and recently began a search for his long-lost father. Amazing! I could meet students from all over the world, including from within Japan, who blew me away with all their passions and aspirations. Sometimes I can’t believe I was lucky enough to be counted among them, converging at a point when our lives had brought us here. It’s very inspiring to me. I wonder where we will be years from now…

Day 04 – What’s your favorite place that’s not in any of the guidebooks/lists of places to visit?

This is another tough one for me because I don’t really move off the beaten path so often. I rarely wander around and explore, and sometimes I only think of stuff to do when I look up famous places, haha. I like going shopping or window shopping, usually for clothes, so I’m often walking around the Lalaport mall, Lumine in Shinjuku, or various shops in Shibuya and Harajuku. I’ll go to non-famous places too, though, like shopping centers around my house, and occasionally hole-in-the-wall second-hand or vintage boutiques. I bought a cute lacy white dress in Koenji recently, for example.

Also this might sound sappy, but a place I like to go that’s definitely not in any of the guidebooks is Tatsuya’s house and neighborhood in Fukui. There’s nothing like riding our bikes through endless rice fields over to Ami (a small shopping center near his house) or to the grocery store, or to Tsutaya for some movies. It’s really like my second home! I wish it was closer to Tokyo and we could visit more often :(

Day 05 – Which, if any, Japanese mannerisms or expressions have you adopted?

Oh my gosh, hahaha. it’s amazing how much little stuff like this takes over your life, especially when you have a Japanese husband and couples in general have a tendency to pick up on each other’s mannerisms. The biggest one is probably getting in the habit of using aizuchi (with optional duck lips, lmao.) I think this quickly becomes second nature for anyone studying Japanese or living in Japan, haha. Also, Tatsuya makes this very specific ふゅうううん〜 noise for when he’s tired… there’s a certain melody to it, it’s like his a bird, lol! I do it too, now. The funny thing is, that one is something he picked up from his Dad… hahaha! It’s the family I’m-tired-bird-call!

Also, I fancy myself an old Japanese lady in-training. I’m going to be an EXPERT in the next 20 years, let me tell you. I cannot go anywhere without my towels, umbrellas, bottle of tea/water, etc. when appropriate. But I still have adopted my share of young person mannerisms as well. Nose buried in my cell phone at all times. Putting on makeup on the train. Ha.

Tags: 30 day meme

Japan 30 Day meme: Day 2

See all 30 meme questions here!

Day 02 – Describe your neighborhood in Japan.

I live in Funabashi, Chiba, which is pretty much a suburb in the Greater Tokyo Area… it’s only a few kilometers outside Tokyo Metropolis, and it takes me less than an hour by train to reach all the hub-bub within the central wards. Around my own apartment however, it’s comparatively much more quiet and detached, which was the idea when we moved in. I don’t do much exploring in my own neighborhood (not when big shiny Tokyo is so close by!) but there’s still some interesting stuff within walking distance.

First off, directly in front of my apartment is a plot of land in which rice is raised every year. I have no clue who owns the field or why it’s there of all places, but I like it because in spring in summer, we’re treated to the sounds of crickets and frogs living there, as well as the sweet smell of maturing rice plants. It’s like having the best of both city and country! Also right next to my apartment, there’s a small American style cafe, which often hosts karaoke nights or live bands. I’m not sure if the owners are related to our apartment building or not, but they will often say hello when I walk past. Some other notable “neighbors” of ours are a pachinko parlor, a keio gas company building, a volvo car dealership-turned softbank mobile store-turned used car dealership, a small hospital, and even a police station!

We live on a busy street, right on the edge of car dealership land. Lots of cars are always passing through, but luckily we can’t really hear them much from inside our apartment. Ambulances dispatched from the nearby hospital are annoying though, especially when it’s in the middle of the night >_o On the other hand, the train station is only a short 8-minute walk away! And if we follow the yellow brick road busy street toward the central part of Funabashi, we pass by some good stuff: a drug store, a convenience store (in addition to at least 3 others nearby), a Book Off (a used book/dvd/video game store), Yoshinoya restaurant, and even a park (where the GREAT SAKURA STORM OF 2010 happened… NEVAR FORGET.) There’s also a post office, a bakery, 9074309724065734 dry cleaning shops, not to mention lots of houses and other apartment complexes nearby. The only thing we don’t have within ten steps of our home is a supermarket, in which we have to go through to the other side of the train tracks to access. Not SO bad really, but even still, in terms of convenience it’s quicker to make a last-minute evening run for a Lexus hybrid than for a carton milk or eggs. lulz! All in all though, a pretty okay place to live.

Tags: 30 day meme, apartment, at home, funabashi

Japan 30 Day meme: Day 1

Since this is my Japan blog, I figured for the sake of encouraging myself to update more often, I would do a Japan one-a-day survey meme that I found on a friend’s livejournal. Hopefully she doesn’t mind that I snagged it, but it seems like a fun one. If anyone else wants to do their own, I’d love to read your answers ;) Credit goes to hinoai @ LJ, via chochajin!

Here are the questions I’ll be answering over the next month:

Day 01 – A picture of you “in Japan”. (doing or wearing something “Japanese”)
Day 02 – Describe your neighborhood in Japan.
Day 03 – Most interesting person you met.
Day 04 – What’s your favorite place that’s not in any of the guidebooks/lists of places to visit?
Day 05 – Which, if any, Japanese mannerisms or expressions have you adopted?
Day 06 – Food that you swore you would never eat but now love (or tolerate).
Day 07 – Which Japanese words do you use in English? (hanami, shinkansen, etc.)
Day 08 – Are you a Herbivore or Carnivore? S or M?
Day 09 – Favorite stores/shopping centers.
Day 10 – Something about Japan that sets it apart from anywhere else.
Day 11 – What did you find most overrated and underrated about Japan?
Day 12 – Describe a fail!gaijin moment. (Where you did something wrong or completely misunderstood because you couldn’t ~read the air~ or just plain had no idea what you were supposed to do because you weren’t born and raised here) Describe a gaijin!smash moment .(Where your foreignness was to your benefit)
Day 13 – Something about Japan that reminds you of home? [I made up this question actually... it was originally a repeat of number 10 so I came up with a new one to answer instead!]
Day 14 – What is the hardest thing about living in Japan versus your home country?
Day 15 – Weirdest food item you’ve seen, and weirdest food item you’ve actually eaten.
Day 16 – How you realised you’d acclimated to Japan. (if you have)
Day 17 – Your karaoke top 5, your sushi top 5, your conbini top 5.
Day 18 – Post some amusing/cute/faily purikura.
Day 19 – Your favorite Japanese character(s) and Gachapon/UFO Catcher toys
Day 20 – Favorite Japanese festival or folklore.
Day 21 – Favorite and least favorite Japanese fashion trends.
Day 22 – Your favorite Japanese saying or kotowaza (proverb).
Day 23 – What is something you have/do in Japan that you wish you had/could do in your home country?
Day 24 – Your favorite Japanese slang or borrow-word (外来語), e.g. セフレ “sex friend”
Day 25 – Most interesting vending machine find.
Day 26 – What’s your favorite/least favorite train line.
Day 27 – Place you avoid going to if at all possible.
Day 28 – A picture of you looking like a weaboo/A picture of you trying to blend in and failing.
Day 29 – What’s the thing you [will] miss most about Japan when you leave (either on vacation, or move away)?
Day 30 – Did Japan meet your expectations, both good and bad? What has been the most surprising thing about Japan for you, or the thing you least expected?

And here is my response for today!

Day 01 – A picture of you “in Japan”. (doing or wearing something “Japanese”)

I have plenty of these, too many to choose. So even though it’s kinda lame compared to some other stuff I’ve shared in the past, I’ll just pick the most recent photo of me saved on our camera:

Here is me at our neighborhood Autumn Matsuri in Fukui, on the first day of Autumn of course! It was raining like cats and dogs that night, but it didn’t stop all the Japanese baby boomers from dressing in their finest wafuku to cover their favorite enka classics on-stage for all to enjoy! (To quote Tatsuya: “This is SOOOO inaka (country) matsuri!”) Also, you can see Otousan in the background talking to a neighbor friend. Good times.

I still want to do regular life updates in addition to these, but at least now I definitely have something to talk about every day for a while! Thanks for reading, see you again tomorrow! ;D

Tags: 30 day meme