Winter in Japan

I hope that every who reads my blog understands by now that Japanese summers are hot and oppressive. They sap your strength and range from uncomfortable to torturous. What you may not know is that winter here is testing too, in its own way.

In Britain we have the best combination of humidity and seasons: the summers are dry and the winters are damp. It’s great. In Japan, the summers are damp and the winters are dry. This is just plain bonkers.

Before I came to Japan, I had no idea how the humidity of a climate could be felt. Sure, I’d experienced the dry summers of the classic British holiday destinations, but Japan was something else altogether. Unlike the summer, when I pour with sweat from morning to night, winter is far more subtle in its effects.

You can tell how dry it is with just a simple unscientific test. In spring and autumn, a pair of trousers take about two days to dry out; depending on the weather, in summer it takes one to two days; but in winter, inside with no heating or breeze, it takes about 12 hours. That’s great news for your laundry pile, but terrible news for your body.

This week I’ve had the sniffles. It’s cold out and that’s just what happens. However, whenever I blow my nose I find blood mixed in there: not a lot, but enough to be noticeable. This is something new to me; I’ve never even had a nosebleed. That’s not all: my lips are constantly dry, my forehead feels taut and my elbows are peeling. Unsurprisingly lipbalm and moisturiser sales boom at this time of year.

Worse still, the cheaper places to live in and around Tokyo completely lack winter-proofing. Due to the extreme summers, many places are uninsulated. While most people have air-conditioners to provide heating, they are environmental unsound, expensive to run and not particularly effective. The best option is a gas space heater which requires you to run a pipe from your gas tap in the kitchen (something I’m pretty paranoid about), or, if you live higher up the property ladder, underfloor heating. The cheapest option, and the classic image of winter life in Japan, is to sit under a kotatsu: essentially a heated table. Last year we used one and it worked a treat, but this year we’ve not and I’m regretting every minute of it!

So spare a thought for your shivering blogger, cowering under the covers each morning; and more importantly, consider the thousands of homeless around the country in a far worse situation than me. Whatever I feel, they’re getting tenfold.

Reflections on my first full-year in Japan

I have been in Japan for one year and 156 days now, a little over 17 months. 2009 was my first full year here, and while the rest of the country tries to forget about the past 12 months in their bonenkai (忘年会), I’m trying my best to understand just what has happened to me this year.

Work

I’ve been through a difficult learning curve. Teaching young kids from day one, I began to find my ground in 2009. I’ve discovered which students and classes I adore, and which ones cause me problems. I’ve found a rhythm of games and work that is serving me well. If anything, I am better than ever with my very young learners, but I’ve yet to find the correct formula for older elementary and junior high school kids.

As for my working life, I feel appreciated and largely respected by my bosses and peers. This is very important for me: in such a decentralised system, your relationship with your colleagues can change the tone of your day significantly. I’ve also consolidated my teaching days into three schools, two of which are close to my home. Working 20 minutes from home as opposed to an hour away is the difference between being home just after 9pm, or being home at 10pm.

That said, I am considering what will come next. The job market is idle at the moment, but if I were to see a full-time job teaching adults for about the same pay, I would start looking to jump ship. I’m in no rush though, I don’t hate my job, it’s just that it is the kids that can ruin my day. Adults much less so. Yet, like I said, there is no rush.

On Keiko’s side, her work is moving in the right direction, if not quickly and smoothly enough. The poor girl has been working solid and much harder than I have. She deserves a long holiday and a big bonus, but neither are going to happen.

Verdict: Positive

Resolution(s):

• Find a less dry way to teach higher-level concepts (such as tenses and adverbs) to older children.
• Consolidate more working days closer to home.

Family

We started off 2009 by purchasing Ebichu, our hamster. He’s been an adorable and lovely addition to our family. He never bites and is low maintenance. So far, he’s never been sick, and he’s great to have around (even if he’s a pain to arrange a babysitter for). We love him as a family member. He might even be considered a substitute for the child that we’ve long wanted and came close to having this year.

The day I found I Keiko was pregnant, my heart pounded with anxiety… the doctor doubted it would come to term and Keiko was suffering from pain. After a few weeks, another doctor told us we would probably be fine. I felt myself ready to burst out with joy: I was going to be a dad. Only, I wasn’t.

The slow and painful moments that it took to acknowledge the doctor’s news, the floods of tears that followed, and the inevitable dive into depression I will never forget about this year. We learned this just two days before we were to move home. Our new house still reminds me of our loss. We chose it knowing that we would have a baby here where they could spend their first few years pottering around our small garden, playing in the nearby parks, and walking along the river. The house is great (although it’s much colder in winter than we expected), but until I fill that gap in our lives, I will always be living in that moment.

Verdict: Negative

Resolution(s):

• None (yet).

Friends

This has been a pretty good year for catching up with friends. Chikara was here for most of the year so we spent a good deal of time together. Nori came back in the summer so I was able to see both of them together, a throwback to our Aberystwyth days. But now Chikara’s back in the UK and Nori’s hard at work, so it’s not easy to see two of my best friends as often as I’d like.

As for friends back home, Rory came over (twice in 12 months). Although I didn’t get a chance to get to know him while we lived in Aber, it’s great to have that chance even though I live abroad. On the other hand, despite deciding to get a job here, Andy hasn’t made it to Japan yet. I hope that 2010 changes that.

Finally, I’ve networked a lot more this year, and it’s paid off. Earlier in the year I met Bryan (sadly, just before he went back to the States) for a drink, and I love the idea of catching an after-work or Saturday night drink with anyone following me here or on Twitter. (Just no murderers, please!) In addition, after learning some lessons from last year’s Christmas parties, I’ve managed to get more people into my contacts list.

Verdict: Positive

Resolution(s):

• Try to get out for drinks more often and meet new people.

Travel

I still have many places to visit in Japan. I didn’t do much sightseeing in 2008 as I was adjusting to work and married life, but this year I’ve made it to a few places: Enoshima, Odawara, Sagamiko, and more. I like local tourism, seeings things that are nearby on a day-trip or long weekend. Whereas many Tokyoites jet off to far-flung regions of Japan, that just stresses me out. There are still many local places that I want to visit this year, and I’d like to arrange another longer-stay holiday at some point in the year.

Verdict: Positive

Resolution(s):

• Visit Nikko, Karuizawa, and Ikebukuro (I can’t believe I’ve still not been there).
• Try to go on at least one longer-haul holiday.

Language

This year has been difficult for my Japanese skills. I’m still improving, but for months I had no teacher after the move from Sagamihara to Kawasaki. Now I have one, but she doesn’t teach on national holidays which, when you have a lesson on Mondays, is a constant annoyance.

I’m still overly shy and embarrassed by my Japanese, but if the alcohol’s flowing then so can the language. On the plus side, I can to talk to Keiko’s parents on the phone more fluently than ever. However, I need to talk more to help overcome my insecurities, so I’m trying to find a local language exchange partner. No luck yet.

Finally, I’ve succumbed to the idea that I should take a Japanese test. I have two options: JLPT5 or the J-Test. I don’t feel like I would struggle too much to pass JLPT5, but I’d like the experience of taking that kind of test. The higher-level tests (Levels 1 and 2) are important to employers, plus a pass might increase my confidence.

Verdict: Positive

Resolution(s):

• Try to supplement my private lessons with a group lesson.
• Find a language exchange partner or someone whom I can talk to entirely in Japanese.
• Apply to take a Japanese test.

Health & Lifestyle

Finally, I’d like to note that 2009 has been an excellent one for my body. Having grown up a fussy child, I’m only now beginning to eat most common vegetables. In addition, I’ve been trying to lose weight: I started this year in the gym, but gave up my membership as work became busier in the summer. However, since finishing at the gym, I’ve been losing weight due to better eating and my better understanding of calorie intake. This is a first for me, and it’s something I really hope I can continue.

Verdict: Positive

Resolution(s):

• Go out running more frequently (at least in the warmer months).
• Drop 5kg in a sustainable fashion.

Summary

On the whole, I had a rather good year. I’m fitter and healthier than ever, living in a cosy apartment and getting on well in my work. The things I wanted to do in Japan are being done, even if it’s happening slower than I expected. Even though we went through the toughest experience of our lives in the summer, we are nevertheless stronger and more determined because of it. In sum, not a great year, but not too terrible either: there is still room for improvement in 2010.

Happy New Year everyone!

Kyoto: A Retrospective

For many people, Kyoto is the best place to go in Japan, a wonderful land of shrines, traditional architecture and geisha. There is no denying that everyone who comes to Japan, especially those living here, should see Kyoto. However, once you go beyond tourism, life perhaps isn’t so great.

With some days off and little else to do, Keiko and I made our way down to Kyoto, a second time for both of us. I had spent a month in Kyoto back in the summer of 2006, and Keiko had been sightseeing there sometime before that. We’d thus seen most of what we need to see, and only had to stay for a short time. After only two days there, I came to appreciate the differences between Kanto (the region around Tokyo) and Kansai (around Osaka), and my opinion of Kyoto has become far more complex.

Last week, I felt that Kyoto was a quaint place, rather convenient but ultimately lacked urban planning and effective conservation efforts. I believed that Kyoto’s highly developed bus system was an excellent means of getting about, and that it was nice to be in a city where you could walk home within two hours at worst. The hyper-locality of its shops and stores, and its wealth of independent businesses, worked in the city’s favour. Also, it was close to other major cities: Osaka (less than an hour away), Nagoya and Kobe (both about two hours away). Much of this still holds true in my mind, but whereas I once believed that I could easily live in a place like Kyoto (after all, is it so much different to much of the UK’s towns and cities?), now I can barely imagine it.

Take the buses, for instance. You might need to walk 5 minutes to your nearest bus stop. Then you may have to ride the bus for an hour just to get to the station or some other destination. Particularly on the tourist routes to places like Gion or Kinkakuji, the bus can be as crowded as any Tokyo train, and much less comfortable. In Kyoto, you enter the bus from the centre and exit from the front. This means that people in the back have to push their way through a 4 metre-long crowded aisle in other to get out of a packed bus. Kyoto buses, at least around the central wards, are flat-rate, ¥220 for an adult. You pay this at the front of the bus as you exit, in contrast to my local Kawasaki buses, which are also flat-rate (and ¥20 cheaper) where you pay on entry at the front and exit through the central door. This gives the driver more control over how many people squeeze into the bus, as well as making it easier for people to exit.

At one point, on the way to Kinkakuji on an unbelievably packed bus, a man somewhere behind me told me to ‘sit down’. The reason being that there was a priority seat right in front of me, and if I sat down it would give people some more space. I knew for a fact however, that there were some older people around me, and thus I was reluctant to do so, instead hoping that such a person would take it. Indeed, unable to turn around and offer it to anyone, a middle-aged woman beside me tugged on the shoulder of an old lady and invited her to take the seat. I couldn’t help but think that if that guy wanted to sit down, he should have done so himself instead of ordering me around. Keiko told me that that is just the way people from Kansai are (although Kanto vs Kansai is a rather big rivalry, people from Hokkaido are supposedly very intolerant of Kansai manners). I am inclined to agree, I cannot think of a time I have been on a cramped train when I heard people calling out for others to move forwards (even though they couldn’t move at all): on the whole, people in Kanto are far more impersonal and business-like with strangers. They may be rude, but they aren’t overtly angry for the most part.

These incidents with the buses, and the amount of time I spent standing up on them, made me realise just how inconvenient a place it is. From my house in Kawasaki, I can walk to the station in 10 minutes and reach Shibuya in 20 minutes, Yokohama in 35, and Tachikawa in 40. I can catch a bus to the next station down from me and be there in 10 minutes, I can walk to the next station up from me in about 30 minutes. The buses don’t stop until after 11, and even then, there are special late buses until 1 am. If you were to work in Tokyo and finish at 9pm, you could get back home by about 10:30 no matter where you lived in this area. By contrast, if someone worked in Osaka and went home to Kyoto, they’d be stuck with either an expensive taxi ride, long bike ride, or a longer walk if they lived in the north or south of the city. This is one of the key benefits of living in one of Kanagawa’s station towns, a suburban area full of commuters which exists simply because there is a station nearby, but it is one that holds true for much of Kanagawa, Tokyo, Chiba and Saitama.

In terms of trains, Kyoto has a pretty large number. In its both hideously empty but amazingly modern-looking station, Kyoto plays host to several JR lines, and a small subway system. From the basement of the Hankyu department store in Kawaramachi Shijo, a good 15 minute bus ride from the main station, you can catch the Hankyu Kyoto Line to Osaka, about an hour away. Finally, around Shijo, you can take the Randen tram service up into Arashiyama. There seems to be lots of variety, but in fact given how dispersed they are and how you’ll have to jump from operator to operator, getting around in Kyoto without a scooter or bike quickly adds up. One such example of poor integration can be found in the payment system. In Kansai they use ICOCA, an electronic payment system similar to Oyster, instead of JR East’s Suica, or PASMO (used by non-JR companies in Kanto). However, while tourists can use their PASMO or SUICA on Kyoto’s JR lines, I was surprised to have it rejected when trying to get on the subway.

If you like the arty and independent culture that Kyoto offers, with its trendy and expensive areas, then you’d be okay to live there. It’s a place for students and small-businesses, not for the big business culture you see in the Tokyo region. Kyoto is more isolated and dependent on personal transport than a place like this, and that might be fine if you work in the city’s booming tourist industry or at one of its distinguished universities, but as a man accustomed to travelling around to different schools on different days, much further than any Kyoto bus journey, I can’t help but feel that the decentralised business in which I work would be unable to sustain itself in so small and so isolated a city. If it could, then I really wouldn’t want to be working there, where if the bus is full, you can’t get on. Rush hour would be hellish, and the tourist season worse.

Going back to Kyoto has simply highlighted what it is that I like about where I live. Yes, Kyoto has history and green spaces, but the Kamogawa (along which I used to love walking) is full of midges and is nothing compared to the great Tamagawa a stone’s throw from my house. Whether there is a major difference between the people here or there, or not, at least this feels like home. Kyoto, on the other hand, will only ever feel like a maddening tourist destination with little new to offer me.

One Year Past

Monday was our first anniversary. Any such occasion gives you pause for reflection, and looking back, I have to say that while the year has been difficult for us at times, we’re in a situation a million times better than where we started. Tough experiences at work, settling in, lack of time together, and topping it off with the miscarriage, we’ve had our good times and our horrible times, but finally we seem on the up and up. We have a home that we love in an area that is great for future family, the only thing that I really want is to change my job to be in something with either more convenient working hours or better pay, but there is no rush on that for now.

Monday was a national holiday, but not one for my company, so I asked for a day off months ago so that we could do something on the Sunday and unwind on the next. We really didn’t have a clue what we would do until the last few days. We discussed having a night in/around Kawasaki, but that was a little risky for me (we barely know the place and we’d probably be disappointed), or we could have gone on a buffet cruise in Yokohama, which seemed really nice (all-you-can-eat Chinese) but a little pricey (¥7500 each). In the end we settled on visiting Shibuya’s Bunkamura to see a Trompe de l’Oeil (Trick of the Eyes) exhibition. At some point though, I wished that we hadn’t.

I have never been to such a popular exhibition. The queue to buy a ticket was a 30 minutes long squeeze into sweaty, hot demarked lines at the end of which was a calamity: customers who already had tickets were being delayed from entering the exhibition because, as one member of staff put it, those who had bought the tickets on the day had been standing in a queue for the last 30 minutes. When we got out of the first queue, we joined the second queue while those around us strolled into the hall. The guy in front of us, with his family, was fuming and laid into the attendant. It was a bit of a farce.

Inside, we were confronted with another queue, although we were free to swan around in whatever fashion we wanted. Keiko went off, I stayed in the queue, wanting to see the pictures close up… but the queue barely moved. At picture after picture, people were either stood staring for 5-10 minutes, or kids were completing tasks in their programmes, or people were pushing their way in so that we couldn’t move forward. It was a rabble, people squeezing their way in and out of the crowds around the pictures, stabbing at the air around the paintings (despite the fact I was told not to use my fan near the paintings because they were ‘sensitive’); the usual Tokyo rudeness had migrated from the trains to the gallery and the staff were oblivious. Not to mention the fact that I have never heard such nonsense as was coming out of some of the attendees’ mouths. Some clearly did not get the idea that the paintings were tricks, although its a testament to the Renaissance artists that managed to fool even a modern audience. Others were clearly there to fulfil their monthly pretentiousness quota.

After an hour or so in the scrums, but with a great deal of art under our belts, we headed back into the streets for a drink. It’s summer now: the humidity is unmistakeable, even if I feel less affected by it than I did in my previous two Japanese summers. So to stay somewhat fresh (as by now I was soaked with sweat) we had regular breaks for drinks. We were meant to visit another exhibition, a free one, but it was in a cafe and was awkwardly located, so we headed to Parco to see a Spongebob Squarepants exhibition which was tiny and free. It wasn’t really worth the effort in any case, but I did get to spend a long time in the bookshops in Parco’s basement floor.

Come 7pm, we were off to dinner on Parco’s 7th floor, a European dining bar (‘Fancy going for a European?’) called Marvellous. We had coupons for free champagne, and ate our way through German sausages (the best sausages I’ve ever had in Japan) and some chicken and steak. It is the Japanese style to share the dish, and despite this being a European-style eatery, the dinner plates were big and accompanied with sideplates. Not to mention the fact that the food came out at ridiculous times: our drinks came before we finished our champagne, and no dish arrived at the same time as another. We were disappointed with the service, but our stomachs were satisfied.

Over dinner we debated where to go next, settling on a British Pub and then karaoke (I had to twist Keiko’s arm a lot to get this one – she said she hates karaoke). The British Pub, the Aldgate, which had nice decoration but expensive drinks (although if you like Kettle Chips, you’re in for a treat). It was there I discovered that Heinz (of ketchup and baked beans fame) is actually an American company, a fact that haunts me even now. We didn’t stay at the Aldgate long, for a British Pub there was a noticeable lack of foreigners and no-one was really chatting to anyone else, plus I was itching to get some karaoke in.

We arrived at Big Echo and we were presented with a new style DAM machine with a new points system and remote. It was all pretty cool. Keiko sang and she said she enjoyed herself and wouldn’t mind going again, which is a result. Not really too much to report here though, I sang my usual variety and Keiko tried far too many songs that she either didn’t really know the tune to or needed a second part, but it was fun, as usual.

To wrap up our evening, we ventured into Shibuya’s love hotel-packed district of Dogenzaka. For the uninitiated, love hotels are hotels made specifically for romantic trysts. You can ‘rest’ (i.e. pay per hour), or ‘stay’ (i.e. pay for the night). Our choices for the night had been all-night karaoke (fairly expensive, about ¥12,000 all told – plus it’s impossible to sleep), an internet cafe (where we might have found a comfortable room and even have had a communal shower, but it’s hardly the way you want to spend a night as a couple), a business hotel (¥20,000 or up and difficult if you don’t book in advance), or a love hotel. Turns out it wasn’t that expensive either: for ¥16,300 we received a double bed, a TV, and an awesome bathroom with a mist sauna and jacuzzi-style bath (and a TV in the bathroom, which when I turned it on was switched to a porn channel). Okay, so you don’t really have room service (unless you’re looking for kinky outfits) and your bed has probably been soiled thousands of times, but truly, it was the best option.

Our room had some added spice: called Pinky Queens, it was, I guess, for bondage. The butterfly on the right actually has Velcro wrist and ankle ties for something… I wasn’t quite sure what, but I had my money on riding crops. There was also a strange chair with an unknown but undoubtedly kinky purpose. We hadn’t realised what the room held in store for us, but creepy butterflies aside, it wasn’t a bad place to unwind, bathe (oh god, yes – what better way to beat the heat) and rest. Plus we had the added pleasure of awkwardness as other customers walked in as we were trying to find a room, and also of watching the other customers in the district pour out into the rather pungent Shibuya streets in the early morning.

All in all, a good night. Certainly one of the  best nights since we arrived. We rounded it off shopping for Keiko’s birthday-cum-anniversary present – a coffee machine. She can’t complain and neither can I. One year down, many more to come.

The New Place

Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes, we appreciate knowing that your thoughts are with us. I’m not really ready to write up anything big at the moment, but I want to show you some photos of our new place.

I took these the day we moved in, and they’re admittedly rubbish, but they give a taste of our place. I’ve put them next to photos of our old place for comparison (those too are from the week we moved in).

Old Bedroom (left), New Bedroom/Tatami Room (right)

Old Kitchen (left), New Kitchen (right)

Old Living Room (left), New Living Room (right)

What a difference a year makes!

Anyway, we’re settled in and have all the furniture we need (there is a desk, not shown above, and a sofa). The whole thing looks and feels like the home that it is. We couldn’t ask for much more. Despite the amount of junk everywhere in the above photos, by the third day, I had finished unpacking entirely. I’ll get some updated photos up when I’m up for it.