Heated Toilets and Turks

It has been a busy couple of weeks--this week both boys are out of school for Fall Break...all week...ARGH!

The weather in Tokyo has taken a turn toward the unpleasant. It is rainy and very chilly.  It is even chillier because we did not expect this kind of weather so soon and I am still waiting on my coat to arrive.  But, there is one very nice thing about Tokyo in chilly weather--heated toilets!

I have mentioned bathrooms a lot on this blog, but I have to mention the Toto again.  Many restaurants and malls and apartments have gone with the Toto toilet over the traditional hole-toilet featured below. And, even in warm weather it's a great invention. But, in cold weather it is especially welcome. The Toto has a feature whereby you flip a switch and the toilet seat stays heated. So, when you sit down, it is very warm and cozy.  For a while we couldn't figure out how to get our heat to work--we still actually haven't figured it out but we found two radiator plug in heater things that at least raise the temperature inside a little bit--so I would go and sit on the toilet for warmth.  Really, I'd sit and read a book or take my computer in and check email. The Toto kept the little toilet part of the bathroom really warm and sitting on the toilet took the chill away.  It is GREAT!

We also broke down and purchased Japanese DVD players--one for the tiny television the old lady left us and one that is a portable 9 inch screen DVD/Screen combo.  It has been great. We can't get all our favorite shows, but we can get things like The Closer, Burn Notice, NCIS, and various and sundry kids' shows.  Sam has watched all of the Harry Potter movies.  It was a lifesaver when our Slingbox quit for two days and it was too cold to drag the kids out of the apartment in search of entertainment.

Sam's school had its Fall Festival last week.  It was very interesting and made me think that when it comes to elementary education the Turks have it right and the Americans are very wrong.  Sam's school is like walking into the elementary schools of my childhood.  First, the teachers are about evenly split between men and women.  Sam's teacher is a young British guy and he's a great teacher.  He makes things like Math (called Maths by the Brits) really fun with stories no woman would ever tell....Twelve students were walking through the woods.  Five fell into a giant sink hole and only two were rescued.  How many students survived the field trip?  I can't think of the last time I saw a male elementary school teacher in Fayetteville.

The teachers are also really warm with the kids--at recess they don't sit and talk to each other; they get out on the playground and play dodgeball or chase with the kids. I myself have actually witnessed the principal out on the playground picking kids up and running around like a big funny bear.  Last year when Sam was being teased at school, the teacher never even noticed because she was so busy chatting with other teachers on the playground.  We heard about it from another mother.

Maybe most importantly, the classroom is a place where the kids get to learn to like learning.  Instead of pushing all the kids to meet the same spelling or math goal, the teacher divides the class into different groups and teaches them in such a way that they learn at their own pace without feeling like they are stupid or behind.  He also takes the time to hear each student read out loud a couple of times a week. The classrooms are a little sparce. Instead of having ready-made decorations or addition charts, the walls are decorated with things the students have made or that the teacher has put together. There aren't any fancy pieces of equipment--no elmos or anything.  But, I'm really impressed with the dedication of the teachers--they even offer free after school programs three days a week (Sam takes Yoga, Sports, and Dodgeball)--they really focus on the students and work with them.  There are good teachers back home, too, but our system is set up to let technology teach the kids, to keep the teachers busy lesson planning, and to force teachers to focus on the end of grade tests. I think a lot is missed that way. In science Sam's class measured germs in various places at school--bathrooms, lunchroom, the principal's shoes. That won't be on any test, but Sam will remember it!

So, good things about Tokyo this week....toilets, Turkish schools...

Views from inside a Tokyo train station (subway)

Video from Professor Kido's house

The Window Washers

I just found this fascinating.  Look how high up the window washers are and they are really just hanging onto the building by strings.

Harvesting Rice in the Mountains

Last weekend we were invited to one of Sid's colleague's mountain house for the annual rice harvest.  All in all we had a wonderful time.  To get to the mountain house (1.5 hours north of Tokyo by bullet train--"shinkansen"--and about one hour by car from Nagano) we took the bullet train.  This train goes as fast as a propeller plane and is quite an experience. There are women dressed like flight attendants who bring around a cart of food items for sale. We had seats in the reserved section so before we got on the "flight attendants" tidied up and put fresh cloths on the seat backs for us to put our heads against. The bullet train leaves from Tokyo Station, the largest station in Japan.

Sid and our kind host, Hisako on the bullet train. Note Sid's soda.  Sam was carrying the Coke and evidently shook it up. When Sid opened it it sprayed out and he caught it by wrapping his sweater around it.  Also note the window with the scenery flying past.

The country life--here in the mountains there were few apartments and many houses.  This scene is of rice fields. The rice is gathered and then hung out to dry--you can see it draped over what is essentially a long wooden fence.

The rice fields are very pretty.

 The Pash family getting ready to work in the rice field.  The fields are quite muddy and so we purchased a combination of rain boots and cheap tennis shoes for the trip.  Ironically, Sam ended up with camo boots.  We have managed to purchase nearly nothing in camoflauge since moving to Fayetteville but in Tokyo could only find camo boots in Sam's size!

 More rice field.

 The Pash family working in the rice field. I am very glad that this was just a symbolic thing--the emperor plants and harvests a symbolic amount of rice and so did we.  If we had had to harvest the whole field, I think I would have died. It was rather warm out and essentially what you do is bend over, separate one clump of rice from the rest, cut it off near the ground with a curved instrument (sort of a smaller version of the grim reaper's tool), carry that clump to the side and lay it the same direction as the other clumps already there. Then you walk back and do it again.  In the old days, this is how it was done. Now, you harvest a small amount as a symbolic gesture and let the machines do the rest.  This rice field is part of a coop that our hosts belong to. It is used to make sake and each member of the coop gets a certain number of bottles of sake made from this particular rice. Not all rice or sake is the same, though.  The best rice is the rice dried in the fields under the sun.  It has more flavor. The rice dried by machines losing something.  So, field owners dry the rice they plan to keep for themselves in the sun and dry the rice to be sold by machine.  At dinner before the day of the harvest, we tasted last year's sake (rice wine).  It has less flavor than grape wine and is drunk in little sake cups (like shots).  And, the Japanese drink many "shots" of sake.

 Working up an appetite?

 Our hosts at the rice field.

 I love this picture of a rice field.  It is all swirly like a Van Gogh painting.

 After the rice cutting was done--Melinda, Sam, and Graham with Hisako, her husband, son and daughter in law, and grandkids. Sam became very fond of the little girl who is 5.  They played together all day--and despite the language barrier really got along well. Perhaps they got along so well because of the language barrier!  :) At any rate, when we had to leave the little girl cried and cried inconsolably and Sam kept saying, "I live in Tokyo!"

 All along the roads and rice fields in the mountains you see clumps of cosmos like this.  It is beautiful.

 After the rice harvesting was done for the day, the group had a BBQ at a public park.  Sam especially was very hungry and excited. It did not turn out well for him, however. One of the organizers had caught hundreds of freshwater fish from a river near his home and stuck sticks through the whole, uncleaned, fish.  These were then roasted over a fire. Sam was appalled. He would not even stay at the BBQ because people were eating the fish whole, eyes, scales, bones and all.  So, we took a walk down to Hisako's friend's home, Professor Kido.  Professor Kido's husband is an artist and makes beautiful sculptures out of stainless steel. Their mountain home is his workplace. It's a really neat house.  The bottom floor is the workshop and then upstairs is a big, open home. The whole scene reminded me of something you would expect to find in France or Italy. Mountain scenery with a big open house looking out over it all. Also, their son works with stone so the whole place is filled with art.  Professor Kido teaches Greek history, but she makes jewelry and has several tile mosaics she has made on the walls.  When Sam and I were there looking around at the art, Professor Kido asked us what was wrong. She and her husband set up tables for Sam and I under big, festive umbrellas in the backyard overlooking the mountains and the volcano.  She brought out a big bowl of fruit and several types of drinks for us. Sam was very happy. We sat and munched on fruit in the garden and then we hunted for frogs until the BBQ was over.

 My favorite of Professor Kido's husband's sculptures.

 From another view.

 Sam displaying one of the trillions of frogs he caught at Professor Kido's.

 The frog up close. There were many types of frogs--green, white, brownish. There were also an amazing number of dragonflies. Sam's little friend was able to capture the dragonflies by spinning her finger around in a circle and then stretching her finger out for the dragonfly to land on. 

 Professor Kido and the kids in her kitchen. In addition to big sculptures, Professor Kido's husband has made an assortment of stainless steel puzzles. The kids really enjoyed these. Even Graham!  The box is full of the cookies that saved my life. I was starving after just a little fruit and not much else. So, I ate green tea cookies. They were like oreos sort of without the chocolate. They were quite tasty. 

 The view from Sam and my table under the umbrellas at Professor Kido's house.

 This is my favorite picture. Upon learning Sam's disinclination to eat Japanese food or meat, Professor Kido put together a dinner party for our family, the Greek professor visiting Kyoritsu this month, and several students here in Japan (including a Korean-Australian girl who spoke like an Aussie, her Greek-Venezuelan boyfriend, who spoke like a Venezuelan, and a Japanese girl). All in all there were about 20 of us at the party.  It gets dark much earlier in the mountains than in Tokyo. Here in Tokyo the sun sets about 7:30 each day, but in the mountains it was dark by about 6. This picture was taken after dinner at night without a flash. I love the flowers highlighted by the lights below.  We had pasta with tomato sauce and salad. Sam loved it. Sid and Fumi (our host's son) were late because in the night (did I mention we slept on futons--quite comfortable--a futon is a tatami mat on the floor covered with lots of fluffy bedding) Fumi and I were stung by bees. So, Sid and Fumi went to gather our things from the house and discovered a bees' nest as big as a watermelon and had to call the exterminator.  I was lucky only to have suffered one sting.  But, that made them late for the party.  The sauce was cooked in the kitchen, but the pasta was boiled outside. The Japanese often have ingenious ways of cooking. In this case, Professor Kido's husband has a "stove" heated by fire outside.

Sam and his friend.

Old Friends and the largest Buddhist Temple outside of China

There's lots to tell about the last few weeks.  It will take me a couple of posts.  Sid's roommate from graduate school, Yutaka Ito and his new wife came to visit a couple of weekends ago.  We went to one of Tokyo's tourist meccas, Asakasa Temple. It is the largest Buddhist temple outside of China.  The temple itself is huge and ornate, but what interested the Americans most was the wonderful array of little shops and stalls leading to the temple. If you visit Tokyo, this is the place to go to get your souvenirs, everything from Japanese dolls to traditional Japanese cloths to kimonos.  The stalls line a little street on both sides and up above there are fall decorations--leaves and sort of shiny leaves--sort of like fall tinsel off a fall Christmas tree.

Along the way to the shrine--not the fall leaf decorations and the Chinese lanterns. Also note the crowd.

The Ito family and 3/4 of the Pash family.  Note Sam's downcast look.  He was unable to purchase a Chinese star key chain and is not happy.  Later, the key chain was purchased by big brother Graham who also bought one for himself.

The Pash family in front of the entrance to the temple. On the right you can just glimpse the giant ball thing and in the middle you can see a huge Chinese lantern.  These objects are much bigger than they appear in this picture.

Smoke for purification before entering the temple.

Graham pondering the peace and serenity he might have if he became a Buddhist.

Sid and Yugi in front of the temple entrance.  Note Sid's eyeglasses--just one example of the bargains one can find at the 100 yen shop.

 

 

I love Tokyo

Tokyo is a wonderful city.  I am always amazed at how I can get around town--all around town--all the while being completely illiterate. Well, illiterate for the culture in which I am now living.  I don't have to be able to read the names of the train stations because I can just look at the color and number codes and match them to my little subway map. And, failing that I can just ask someone--the Japanese are invariably helpful and if they can't figure out what you want they ask other Japanese people until they get an answer for you.  And, the food places are great for those of us who can't read or write. Indian, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese, whatever--you can just point to the wax model or picture of what you want. And, if you want something changed you can just speak in Pidgin Japanese and hand gestures until the waiter understands.  I have a new love of Ramen. I'm not talking about the Ramen we eat at home out of a Styrofoam cup.  Ramen here is delicious homemade noodles in a big bowl with fresh vegetables. Well, usually there would be some sort of meat on top, too, but I always get mine without.  Sometimes that takes a lot of doing because the Japanese love meat and fish and so it is rare to see anything on the menu without a meat or an assortment of meats on it. They think I am funny for only wanting vegetables on my Ramen.  Ramen is better than udon. Udon is fat noodles. And, if you go to a bad udon place you might get cold noodles and a cold cup of something to dip them in.  Try that with your chopsticks!

The fall weather is finally here--cool and dry with blue skies and puffy clouds.  It's lovely to walk around, row around the local moat, or eat Ramen at a little outdoor table by candlelight. 

All the Chinese restaurants have little paper lanterns--a nice touch., especially when they are lit up at night.  It is a cheerful place to eat out. And, I have to say most people seem to eat out.  We eat out on weekends and there are so many places to try. 

I started Japanese lessons today with one of Sid's students from Kyoritsu University. She is very smart.  I am very slow. Japanese is a tough language to learn.  It is a very polite language.  There are words stuck into sentences just to show respect.  For example, Ohayo is good morning, but you most likely will say "Ohayo gozaimas" to anyone you meet. Basically good morning with respect. 

But I did learn something funny today.  Sumimasen is "excuse me" and in the stores and subways you will hear people say that. But, at times you hear susumimas--I thought that it was just a shortening of sumimasen. Actually, what they are saying is basically hurry up.  I have heard that a lot--evidently I am often standing in someone's way--but, since I am a gaijin (foreigner) they think I don't know the difference. (which I did not until today). 

But, in general everyone is overly helpful.  I can't imagine an illiterate foreigner in NYC or even Fayetteville being handled so carefully and treated so kindly. And, they certainly would not be able to get around like I do here. I have a new appreciation for how difficult it is for foreigners to travel in the US.  I resolve to be nicer when I get home!  :)