I've come to appreciate many things about Japan. However, there are a few things that I don't like or don't understand. Here's a list of "thumbs up" things and "thumbs down" things. You can judge for yourself! :)

Thumbs Up
1. Hilarious variety shows on TV
2. Vending machines EVERYWHERE
3. The widest selection of cell phones and cell phone accessories I've ever seen
4. You can buy a Starbucks drink right outside the ballpark and be allowed to go in with it
5. Strangers are extremely helpful if you ask for directions. They may even walk you part of the way there.
6. Conservation of water and electricity is a pretty high priority for most
7. Japanese castles are very cool
8. No tipping at restaurants
9. Sick people wear masks so as not to infect the non-sick. I can appreciate that on a crowded subway train.
10. Take out sushi rocks

Thumbs Down
1. Cosmetics are twice the price as the US
2. No one opens the door for others
3. I can never find a trash can when I need one
4. Eastern style toilets make me feel like I'm participating in urban camping
5. Fish is often served with the head still on. Yuck.
6. Conservation of paper doesn't even come close to the aforementioned #6
7. Public bathrooms may or may not have paper towels or hand dryers, so a third of the time you come out with clean, but wet, hands
8. Shoe sizes come in S, M, L, and LL. Somehow that takes some magic out of shoe shopping.
9. Japan's smoking population is pretty large meaning smelly bars and restaurants
10. Mayonnaise comes on everything. You have to make sure to ask first to get your order without it, just in case.

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For those of you still keeping up with this blog of ours, you may have noticed a lack of posts lately.. Well, we lost our internet connection. It was our own fault, really. Never the less it was extremely irritating as well. My Japanese language skills are improving, but not enough to be able to understand a full phone call to our ISP, Biglobe. It seems we made a small mistake: We never paid for their service. Much like most Americans would, we waited for a bill for the first month, and since it never came, I think that we forgot about it.

Regardless, expect updates to come soon.

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Can you live in Japan on a budget? Lots of helpful advice givers told us that the answer was no. They said that living in Japan is super expensive and we better be prepared to pay lots for little. Fortunately, that's not true! yay! In fact, living in Japan is totally reasonable - price wise. You just have to know not to shop at expensive department stores every weekend, and not pay for parking in the city.

View Exhibit A:

Wow! This so-delicious-lunch that I bought myself at the take out sushi place down the street cost about 6 bucks. These are freshly made everyday and given a lovely spot on the counter next to the tuna and cucumber rolls. In the bottom right-hand corner, you can see some boiled veggies. In this case, carrots, mushroom, and Japanese radish (daikon). Of course, to the left of that is some rice with a small plum in the center. In the top left-hand corner is a small portion of pasta salad. And then in the main entrée section some cabbage, a slice of omlette-style egg, three pieces of fried chicken and a slice of yummy salmon steak. 6 dollars is a pretty average price for a take-out lunch like this one. However, if I had really felt like it, I could have walked just a little bit farther to the discount market for a half-price lunch like this one. Although, I think I went out around 2pm, and the half-price market sells out of lunches by 12:30 (unfortunately, it's not a well-kept secret).

Also, daily goods seem to be the same price as home or cheaper.
View Exhibit B:
I picked up some stuff at the Wal-greens-style store earlier today. You're looking at two refills of fabric softener, one 1kg box of laundry detergent, one package of toilet paper and one package of paper towels. (And behind them is my gray grocery bag that I picked up 5 months ago at the dollar store). This stuff cost 836 yen. About 9 dollars. I don't know what I was expecting, but I had to do a double-take at the register because I already had the equivalent of 20 dollars out ready to pay for my stuff.

So, can you spend a lot in Japan? Yes. For example, Gap jeans in the US cost 58 dollars. In Japan, they cost 98 dollars. There are Japanese-style barbeque places where you can easily spend 50 dollars a person. But, you don't have to. In my opinion, one can live relatively easily
on a budget. To be fair, living in New England was about the same, if not slightly more costly.

So, if you haven't decided where to take a vacation yet, maybe you should consider Japan! :)

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Ekimae (or Nagoya Station - or MaeEki) is an extremely crowded and busy part of town. This is the main hub for trains going in and out of the city. Also, if you come in from the airport, the train will drop you off here. What's cool about this part of town is that although it leans heavily towards the business side of things (lots of office space, tons of commuters), it also has some popular draws. One of the places we like to visit is the pair of skyscrapers called the Nagoya Towers. In one of them, there is a pretty fancy Marriott Hotel (never been there). In the other is a shopping complex. The main department store is call Takashimaya. It's an expensive department store, but you can find good deals there on some quality stuff. Also, the shops around it have a wide variety, so window shopping is fun too. On the 12th and 13th floors, there are restaurants. There is a really great lunch place on the 13th floor called Tokyo Stock that serves curry and soup (a pretty small menu - maybe 4 to 5 daily choices, but it's delicious!). And just across the escalator is a Starbucks. If you're out walking around in the middle of the day, or if you happen to work nearby, then this is an awesome place to have your lunch break. The pic at the top is a photo looking out of one of the windows on the 13th floor. You can see one of the main streets with the office buildings around as well as the monument (called the Nagoya Station monument -- creative, I know) outside. Overall, I think I really like this part of town. Especially if I'm not there during rush hour.

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For this post, I thought it might be fun to quote some cute/funny/awkard/rofl things that students say. Of course, our students are adults and are trying really hard to learn. But, if we can't laugh from time to time, then how can I even begin to feel good about my atrocious Japanese?

Me: "What are some kinds of music that you can think of."
Student: "Japanese pop, techno, rock, hip-hop"
Me: "Great. That's a good list. What about music where there are no singers and many instruments?"
Student: "Classical?"
Me: "Yes, good. And, can you think of one where there is a fat lady who sings very high notes?"
Student: "Gospel."
Me: "I was looking for Opera, but yes."


Me: "So, you like American dramas, do you?"
Student: "Yes. I like Supernatural."
Me: "Really? That one is too scary for me. Have you seen the Simpsons. I think it's popular in Japan, right?"
Student: "Yes, the fun one with yellow people."


Me: "Imagine that you and I are at a party. You are the host, and I am a guest. I would like you to ask me if I need anything using our target vocabulary, ok?"
Student: "Yes, ok."
"How are you?"
Me: "Fine thanks, what a great party!"
Student: "Would you care for ....ah...... would you like.... ah..... we're at a party?"

My apologies if it's not funny in text. But, trust me, in person it's priceless. I hope to have many more moments like these. In a post to come in the future, we'll probably go over crazy Japanese-English advertisements. They can be laugh out loud funny. :)

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Nagoya is divided into neighborhoods, or sections, that are separately named and are known for a variety of things.

Sakae is one of these neighborhoods. In Sakae, there is a lot of shopping - the expensive kind. You can find a Calvin Klein store, a Louis Vitton store, Mikimoto, Adidas, and others. We like to window shop around, but generally speaking I don't intend to pay 50000yen for a pair of Levi's Silver Tab jeans. Being that it's an expensive area, it's also very clean and a good place to walk around.

Other than that, Sakae also has cool buildings and structures, such as TV tower, Oasis 21 (a bus station that looks like it's from the future. The upper portion is called the Aqua Spaceship), and ferris wheels. Below you can see a view of part of Sakae from the top of the Aqua Spaceship.

Finally, Sakae also has it's share of performance and entertainment. There are commonly singers who show up outside one of the larger department stores. In the picture below, you can see a Christmas performance made by some men. I have know idea who they are supposed to be, but there were a lot of families there, so I can only assume they are characters from some kids show or movie. These brave men in pink sang and danced their way across a pirate ship-stage for a few hours one weekend.

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It's about that time of year... the time for all to decorate their lawns, put up the lights, and brave the sales. In Japan, you may think that there are no celebrations of the kind, but you'd be wrong. In fact, it seems that the whole city is in celebration mode.

View exhibit A -- This is the side of a building lit up like a reindeer. I didn't notice it at first until Christopher pointed it out to me. And then I thought, how the heck did I not notice that?

To me, that's pretty detailed, but it gets better. Signs everywhere say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. When you walk into department stores, they are playing Christmas carols. Not Japanese Christmas carols, but classic English ones like "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" and "Silent Night" and "Jingle Bells." The main train station in the city has a light display on one side. View exhibit B -- This is the side of Nagoya Station. The picture doesn't show it, but Santa pops around the side of the building, in and out of windows and things.

So with all this Christmas cheer, is it really Christmas as usual? No, not really I have to admit. Most individual families don't celebrate, and it's impossible to find a turkey (much less roast one in an oven that I don't have!) or a honey-baked ham. Maybe next year I'll venture out and pick up a roast chicken from the Brasilian meat shop -- I've been told it's delicious. But this year, I imagine Christopher and I will just go down the street to our local take-out sushi place and grab some tekkamaki. Don't feel bad for me though, I was already visited by Santa!!!

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As some of you may know, on day 4 or 5 of being in Japan, I took a spill down a flight of stairs. I injured my left hip, knee and ankle, as they had been wrapped under me as I slid down the stairs. Luckily, I didn't hit my head or anything. I couldn't walk, and after some hobbling my neighbor helped me around. I didn't know he was my neighbor at the time, I thought he was just a very cool Australian. He was working at the time, but he gave me some cold wraps to put on my injuries, and headed back out to work. I couldn't walk, I didn't want to do anything but lay there. Lexie went to a pay phone and called our work, because we were due to start work that day. One of the staff members of my school came out to meet us and took us to the closest hospital. Which just so happened to be one of the newest in the city. I'll walk you through what that was like.


As we approached the hospital it looked like any American hospital might. Then we pulled in, and got out of the taxi. We walked up to the doors, two, made of glass with the auto-open sensor. Pretty normal. We got a wheelchair and then we walked over to registration. We filled out some basic forms. They issue us a card that contains my medical records. Nifty, right? Next, they gave us a wing and a number, like.. A52. So, we went to the A wing, and read the LCD screens there that told us which door to go wait near. In our case, it was the last one on the right. The wait was about 20 minutes, all in all. Then upon one of the many LCD screens, our number appeared. They have this space age looking door for each area that opens when the number is signaled. Ours opened and we moved into the small connecting room. Only, it wasn't a connecting room, it was actually the diagnosis room. They pulled and pushed on my leg, asking me, "Does it hurt now?? How about now?" They decided I needed an x-ray, to ensure things were not broken. So, off to the x-ray ward to wait... I thought.. but again, Japanese efficiency wins. They issued me a number, something like C7. So, they wheeled me to the C wing, and we waited about 5 min, and then they got me in for x-rays. (Same Star Trek-style doors here too.) After the x-rays they took me back to the the A wing. Another 5 minute wait, and I was back in the diagnosis room for a consult. Turns out I didn't break anything, they showed me everything from my x-rays on a 25 inch LCD monitor. The doctor told me I had a bad sprain, and that it would take two weeks to heal. He gave me a crutch and wrapped my leg so tightly I thought he was preparing it for removal.

I didn't go to work that first week at all. I sat at home, no internet or anything, save a small TV that a Japanese friend of ours gave us. I watched enough Japanese TV during that time to last me a few months, as I see it. I took a lot of pain killer, and then after a week of this, I returned to the hospital for my follow up visit. They did some basic, does it hurt when I do this, tests and assured me that I was beginning to heal. I opted to leave the crutch with them, as I was trying to speed my recovery and rehabilitation. By the way, check in for the follow-up consisted of me scanning that card they gave me through an automated patient machine. It spat out a number, something like A44, and I didn't even have to talk to anyone except for the appointment itself.



I still have pain now. Not as much, mind you, but I still ache when I sit still for too long. I can walk now for up to about three hours before it starts plaguing me again. All in all, the recovery is slow, but I'm managing to keep it moving. The name of the hospital is Nagoya Central Hospital, if you follow the link, the site is in Japanese, but if you scroll down you can see some pictures of the doors and stuff.

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