The Emperor's New Clothes

The Emperor of Japan comes out twice a year to greet his people. Once is on his Birthday on December 23rd and the other is on the 2nd of January where he gives his blessing for the new year. We went on Friday the 2nd with my Japanese teacher Tomoko and her family, and our friend Amy Joiner and her son Eric. We took the train and subway to "Nijubashi" (means two bridges for the two bridges you cross over the moat to get to the palace). We were led into a security line where we got frisked. There were thousands of people there, but the efficiency was amazing. We also had strollers so we were ushered into a different line and bypassed a lot of people. We lined up and were all given paper Japanese flags. Shortly, a great door opened and we all filed over a bridge and through the portcullis. There was a guard, very reminiscent of the Beefeaters in London, standing at attention as we walked past. We went up a hill and around a bend where we saw a beautiful Japanese building which I think is Edo Castle rebuilt. We went a bit farther (despit the thousands of people, the line moved quickly and orderly and everyone respected personal space) and went through another gate and came into a courtyard where there was a really long, low building. There was a glass porch - like a sunporch - on the second floor that was empty but was guarded on either side with "secret service." We all filed into the courtyard where we waited for 15 minutes when the Imperial Family filed out onto the porch. Although you can't tell from the picture (my iphone doesn't have zoom), we had a great view of the Emperor and his family. It was surreal listening to shouts of "Banzai" (eternal life) and the crackling of the paper flags in the wind. I do have to say after taking the kids to get dressed up in traditional Japanese kimonos, it was kind of disappointing to see the emperor dressed in his business suit, but it was a great experience in general. After a few minutes of waving and the Emperor giving his short blessing, he and his family filed out of the porch and we were all ushered through the exit and down the hill coming out on the opposite side of the entrance. We saw a beautiful pagoda and some beautiful gates on our way through the gardens and out of the property where we were deposited once again in the middle of the city. We all had a great time and are glad we had this opportunity that some Japanese only take advantage of once in their lives (like a trip to Mecca).

The Japanese Christmas Card

So these were supposed to be our Christmas card pictures this year. Unbeknownst to me however, there is a two-week processing time from your session till you get the prints. I don't exactly understand that because the pictures are digital...oh, well. So we went to the cutest place inside Toys-R-Us called Alice Studio. They do the hair and makeup and are great with the kids. Each child gets to take home the brush and comb that were used on them as well as the "flip-flop socks" as we call them. I think they came out great with the small exception that the day before the photo shoot, Tyler put his teeth through his top lip! Just adds to the fierce warrior thing I think. The Kun (coon) and Chan at the end of the names is a Japanese thing. They put Chan or Kun at the end of a boy's name and Chan at the end of a girls, to designate that they are children...it is a diminutive thing like the Spanish "-ita" or mija/hijo. I like it because they call Tyler, Tycoon!

Another Christmas Past

This Christmas season seems like it has been one of the best that we have had. It is bittersweet since we are not able to be with family, but it was very quiet, relatively uneventful, and just nice. We had some friends over for dinner on Christmas Eve. It was a great group of people and it was nice to spend some time getting to know them better. We weren't able to partake of two of our family Christmas traditions however, we didn't open one gift (it was just too late once the folks left and we had a lot of wrapping to do!) and we didn't drive around and look at the lights...one of my favorites.

We were supposed to have a small Christmas, but it didn't turn out that way. I will be very afraid next time Kurt tells me he only got me a "few small things"...I guess he wasn't lying...diamonds are "small" after all! The girls got bicycles. Tyler got a light-up police helmet that has a microphone - he has issued several tickets already. He also got a really cool "remote control" helicopter (that just goes up and around in a circle but is held to the controller by a bar). Hannah got two Barbies and kimonos for each. Sarah got a Tamagotchi Color and two other tamagotchis...she is looking rather Japanese with all these things hanging off of her! I got two pairs of jeans and a skirt set in addition to my two pairs of diamond earrings and necklace (WHAT was he thinking? He said one was an "everyday pair of studs" and the other was for dressing up) That jeweler saw him coming a mile away and boy am I glad! They are truly beautiful. Kurt got an Ipod Nano (pales in comparison) and a gift certificate to download Itunes. All in all, we were treated very well this year.

We also went on Saturday to a Japanese/American party/potluck (there was no sushi there). It was funny to play the gift exchange where you can "steal" the gifts up to twice, considering the Japanese feel it is really rude to take things from people. We Americans showed them, and several of the bolder Japanese women got into it...I got mine stolen so I had to steal someone elses and came home with a "tea" tray...perfect for serving breakfast in bed! It was a riot playing Pictionary with people yelling in Engish and Japanese. It is funny how people's cultural concepts are different with some things and the same in others. All around it was great fun.

We are thinking of heading to the Emperial Palace on January 2nd, one of two days the Emperor makes an appearance (the other was Dec 23, his Birthday). He will give his people a blessing for the New Year from inside a glass porch attached to the palace. It should be very interesting. We hope that your new year brings you great happiness and many blessings.

The Man Who Came Back is Out!

Ok all, the movie "The Man Who Came Back," is out on DVD. You can get it from Netflix or even the shoppette here in Japan! Keep in mind that it is rated R (not the scenes I was in) for some violence (it is a revenge western after all) and some nudity (not me, you wouldn't want to see that!). It really is a good movie. I thought it was really well-made and very emotionally charged. It is fun to see Eric Braedon doing something other than The Young and the Restless after so many years. I was in one major scene and was there throughout most of it. :) My Dad said he was surprised at how much screen time I actually got. Keep in mind this was the pre-Weight Watchers/Slimfast me! You can also see Sarah clapping in front of the crowd when the new Mayor takes over and as "Reese Paxton" rides into town with the body on his horse, you can see Sarah and Hannah in a long shot in the top right. Anyway, Glen Pitre is a really good director and I have enjoyed watching some of his other work, check it out. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving at Tokyo Disney

Hello all! Despite getting our stuff the day before, we decided to take advantage of Kurt's day off and went to Tokyo Disney on Thanksgiving day. We drove using great directions from a place on base and had no trouble getting there. As we were driving, it started to rain and the temperature dropped. It was wet and really cold! It turns out that it was the best day to go...no one was there! People had told us that some of the lines were more than two hours long for one ride, but the longest we waited was 30 minutes (space mountain). We went on Dumbo, Small World, Haunted Mansion and all of the other traditional favorites. The only thing that we didn't get to do was meet Mickey...that line was about two hours even that day (mostly Japanese adults). I was so cold that I had to buy a hoodie Mickey sweatshirt and we got Disney umbrellas! We had curry chicken over rice for our Thanksgiving dinner...boy it was yummy! The funniest thing about the park was that the shows were all in Japanese. We went to the Lilo and Stitch show just to get out of the cold and it was really entertaining to see animatronic birds singing in Japanese. They also called Stitch "Stitchy" which Hannah thinks is hysterical. The other funny thing is how many adults were there. They really get into dressing up. Most people had some kind of crazy headgear with ears, some even had tails that hung down the side like a pony tail...men and women alike! One lady matched her leopard boots to her leopard Mickey Mouse hat with ears. I wish I had taken more pictures of other people! I have pictures on Kurt's and my phone, but he left Sunday for Oklahoma for two weeks and I don't know how to download them...all of the istructions are in Japanese! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! BTW, for those of you who feel bad that we didn't get a traditional dinner, we did the next day. Some friends invited us for a meal, that was really delicious and had everything traditional...thank you Joyners!

Shibuya!!!

So our very enthusiastic sponsors were kind enough to take us to get cell phones on Saturday. Then, Saturday night, we all got on the train and headed to Tokyo. It was a really long ride, but really interesting. Kids in Japan go to school on Saturdays too, so we saw a ton of kids wearing their school uniforms around the stations at around 6pm. We got off at a station called Shibuya in the downtown area. It is also called Shibuya Crossing because it is an intersection where five streets intersect. It is amazing. It was really reminiscent of Times Square. There are so many people, but it is strange because it doesn’t feel crowded. Even when there was standing room only on the trains, you had plenty of personal space. We walked around and did a lot of people watching…there are some crazy styles out there, even more so than NY if you can believe that! So we decided to find a place to eat. We just walked around until we found a restaurant building. What they do, is have a giant display case that has really intricate plastic replicas of their dishes. Each section of the case designates a different restaurant and the floor of the building that it is on. We went to the 7th floor of this one and basically decided by looking at the plastic food what we would order. I got some egg battered chicken served with a salad with ginger dressing which came as a combination with crab fried rice with crab croquets on top. Everything was really delicious and I am realizing that I love all kinds of Japanese food! I already bought my Slimfast so I can have my food and stay on top of things too! Jessica (sponsor) took some great pictures that I will post as soon as I get them.

We have arrived!

Ok, so our trip started in Little Rock going to Dallas. We were lucky enough to get on an earlier flight because the weather was bad and we had no leeway if we missed our flight to Seattle. The kids were really good because they got to dig into their backpacks full of dollar store goodies. We got to Seattle and into our hotel about 7:30 their time which was 4:30 Little Rock time and ordered room service. After that, we pretty much just went to bed since we had to be up early. In his typical fashion, Tyler was up at 5:30...half hour before we needed to be. We got to the airport and all checked in and then did breakfast. The plane left a full hour early so we didn't have to wait very long at all. We left about 9:00 am Seattle time. Kurt had arranged seating, the guy told him that even though we wouldn't be sitting in the same row, we would like the seats he was giving us. Not sure who he was, but he deserves the greatest blessings God has to offer...he upgraded us to "business class" which, on this plane was first class! We had the first two rows so Tyler had the bulkead to play in when the weather was clear. Each of us had our own pull-out video monitor where we could access on-demand movies and play video games. I played a lot of "Bejeweled." So all-in-all the flight was good. The food was good (we ate twice) and besides just being needy constantly, the kids were as good as can be expected...with one major exception. Except for a twenty minute nap for Tyler and a short nap for Hannah, none of the kids slept on the plane. That meant only a short nap for me since I was sitting next to Ty. When I did sleep however, it was awesome because the seats reclined fully into bed position! When we got to Yokota, it didn't take us very long to pass customs and we were deposited into the terminal with all of our luggage (six bags, three carseats, five backpacks and a stroller). We immediately noticed all of the crazy drinks in the vending machines...all in Japanese. The other really weird thing was the hand dryers in the bathrooms, they were like industrial blowers and really effective and kind of fun! Our sponsors (Phillip and Jessica Newman) were there to pick us up with their two cars thank goodness and they showed us right to our hotel room, having picked up our keys for us too (and left a goodie bag of snacks and drinks which were so helpful since we had no food!). As we were getting out of he car, in the breezeway parking area at the front doors, Tyler had a coughing fit that started him gagging on phlegm and made him throw up. Hannah saw the throwup and threw up too - what a joy. We got them upstairs and cleaned up and headed out with the Newmans. I am really sorry to say that it didn't dawn on me to take my camera (by that time I had already been awake 17 long hours) but it was still light enough to see Mt. Fuji. We also got here in perfect time for Fall, the leaves are gorgeous and we have a great view from the TLF 4th floor. Anyway, we headed out to this really great traditional Japanese restaurant. As we pulled up, poor Hannah had just had it and threw up in Kurt's cupped hands (I am so proud of him for keeping it together!). The great thing about Japanese restaurants is that they have a hand-washing station between two sets of entry doors in the front lobby of the restaruant! So they put us in a little room and closed us in with sliding privacy doors...so Japanese, just like you would imagine. They seat you at a little square table (yes, you had to take your shoes off first) and it recessed into the floor so the seats were at floor level. There was a little metal grill in the center of the table with hot coals under it. They served you really thin slices of the raw meat of your choice and vegetables that you cooked right there. It was very similar to a Korean Barbecue. Some of the meat was really fatty, almost like bacon, but was really tasty! I guess it was a wake up call even though we had been told, but it was $100.00 for two plates of meat and some veggies for four people! So all three kids fell asleep in the booth and had to be carried up to bed. Oddly, it was Sarah that was up at 4:30 and Kurt too. Tyler was up about five and Hannah (mini me) and I were up at 6:30. We took the base bus over to the BX complex had lunch and came back. We looked at (and bought) a Mitsubishi mini-van and all I have to say is that we are really spoiled with options in the states like sliding side doors and cargo space. This car is really nice and is about like the sienna with features (no dvd) and milage, but only cost us $3,800.00 US. That is crazy to us! So Kurt is out right now looking at cell phones off base with Phillip Newman, the kids are napping (I will join them momentarily as I feel about hung over right now) and then we are going to Tokyo. Train tickets for our family one-way are $34 US! Wow, it is really a good thing for "cost of living allowance!" Great news is that this is the first overseas base to set up a US calling plan. You can pick the area code you want and anyone from home can call you as often as you want and vice versa. Supposedly the rates are in a package deal with your internet and cable for about $100.00 per month, but we will see. Since my parents don't have cell phones, we will likely get a NY area code and number...that will be funny. Also our cell phones will only be Japan-Japan phones and won't be used to call long-distance. We may look into video phone-by-computer, but we need to pick out a house first. There are three distinct areas of this base (which is huge!) and they have houses available in two of the three...now we have to pick which area. We have talked to a lot of people and usually they like the area they live in the best! So that is our last twenty-four hours. I will try to keep updating and will get pictures uploaded as soon as I have the patience to figure out why my Iphone won't sync with my laptop! Sayonara for now! (Oh, the cleaning lady already had to hug Tyler, she just loved him and the fact that he knew some Japanese words).