Tsukuba-Dooba-Doo

Valentine's Day has always been a special day for me.  From as far back as I can remember, my mother would always celebrate Feb 14th with my brother and I by giving us chocolates, small presents, cards, and a special V-Day breakfast.  Waking up to heart-shaped pancakes, strawberry syrup, and an early morning chocolate-high was enough to move Valentines Day near the top of my holiday list.


As I grew up with budding hormones, this day became much more about girlfriends and romance.  I, a man, began following the American traditions of Valentines Day by buying flowers, chocolate, dinner, ect. for my significant other just like the advertisements told me to do.  Interestingly, my Valentine's Day in Japan will be reminiscent of my childhood.  This is because in Japan, it is the women who are expected to buy presents for the men.


That's right boys, just sit back and let the girls swoon to you with arms full of sweet, sweet chocolate.  For school girls, this is the perfect chance to let that special boy (or boys) know how you feel about them.  Even in the work place, female coworkers are supposed to give gifts to their male coworkers and bosses.  These chocolates are more of a burden for women since they are called "obligatory chocolates" or "giri-choko" and are seen as a friendly gesture, not romantic.  As with most gift giving in Japan, these treats are ridiculously priced so women can end up spending a pretty penny by the time they buy chocolates for everyone they are supposed to.

But hold on...back the truck up!  Isn't Japan the land of mutual gift giving? How can men just take, take, take without reciprocation? Well they don't anymore.  In 1978, Japan created another holiday called "White Day" in which men return the favor to the women that they like.  From what I've read, it seems like White Day is very similar to the American way of celebrating Valentines Day.  Don't worry ladies, the men are expected to give gifts 2-3 times more expensive than were given to them.  So you win out in the end.


In honor of my mother's tradition I made a Valentine's Day breakfast.  However, instead of pancakes, I  made Kate and myself strawberry shakes.  When I got to work I couldn't help but be disappointed.  I'm not gonna lie, I was looking forward to getting obligatory chocolates from my female coworkers, but it never happened.  I at least thought that the head honcho of the office, Iki-san, would get something from someone.  Alas, as I stealthily scoured the office for Valentine's Day chocolate, it became clear to me that maybe it wasn't as widely celebrated as I thought.  In fact, I never even heard the word Valentine throughout the whole day...the internet lied to me! :(

To see a video about Valentine's Day in Japan, click here.

-Seth

AIST
I woke up on Chirstmas Eve day at 7 am and was at work by 8.  The paper that I submitted to the Science China journal needed a couple revisions before the deadline on Monday, 27th....ugh.  I put on my big boy pants and headed to work.  Fortunately, Kate played tour guide to Mary, Louis, and my dad as they walked around AIST's museums that day.  As mentioned in previous posts, Science Square Tsukuba was more of a crowd pleaser than the Geological Museum.
 

After they got done playing "Louis' head on dad's body" we met up for lunch.  Unfortunately, I still hadn't finished at work so they trudged around the Geography museum for a while.  Later that day we all met a the house to start the Christmas festivities.

Christmas in Japan
Christmas in Japan is nothing more than a commercial holiday that you spend with your significant other.  Men are expected to spend ridiculous amounts of money on their girlfriends, and that's about it.  No family gatherings, no time off work, and no religious significance.  Although the generic atmosphere of Christmas is here (Christmas lights, Santa hats, Western Christmas music, holiday sales in stores), there is no religious depth behind it.

Of course, if you understand the religiosity of Japan this is no surprise to you.  Celebrating this time in a country comprised primarily of Buddhists means that CHRISTmas turns into Xmas.   Everywhere you turn, it's "Xmas" this and "Xmas" that.  Rarely will you actually read something that says "Christmas."  Although I do feel like America is becoming like this more and more every year, at least everyone knows the actual story behind Christmas, the birth of Jesus.  It was quite odd, to say the least.

Xmas Dinner
Roast turkey or ham, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, eggnog, and pie.  These food items constitute what we fondly call "Christmas Dinner" in America.  As you might have guessed, Japan has quite a different menu when it comes to dinner on December 25th; fried chicken!  Not just any fried chicken, KFC fried chicken.  This is what I refer to as "Xmas dinner."

Santa Claus and Colonel Sanders are synonymous in the eyes of the typical Japanese citizen.  Through a stroke of marketing genius, KFC has convinced the entire nation that everyone else in the world eats KFC on Christmas, its a virtual monopoly.  For your viewing pleasure, I've provided this Japanese commercial.


Knowing these facts, Kate and I thought that it would be fun to make a Japanese Christmas dinner.  We opted to cook our own since we didn't want to deal with the KFC madness.  Our Xmas dinner menu was ginger soy fried chicken, sashimi, rice, sashimi salad, and for some American flair, mac and cheese. We had never hosted such a prestigious dinner, but managed to pull it off in our 6'x10' kitchen (without an oven). 


 
After we had filled our bellies full of chicken and fish we went down stairs and started opening gifts!  This was great fun where we all enjoyed ourselves and laughed a lot.  Towards the end of the gift exchange the Haines came down and joined in the fun.

Following the Tokyo Tower debacle, we followed the big blob of a crowd back to Roppongi for some serious clubbing.  Since the last train to Tsukuba left at 11:30pm, we were dedicated to playing in Tokyo at least until the first morning train at 5:30am.  It was going to be a long night.

The club: Feria.  The rub: 4 stories of dancing mayhem.  Upon our arrival Katie and I strolled down to the basement floor.  From the stairs we tried to scope out a spot for dancing, but couldn't locate a single square inch of vacant dance floor real estate.  If there is one thing I've learned from riding the overly packed Tokyo train system, it's that there is always room for just a few more.  So, we promptly squeezed our way to a little dance nook by a small stairway.  We danced for a little while before getting fed up with the overcrowded room.  From there we elevator-ed up a couple levels to check out the other floors.

The 4th floor was less crowded so we spent the majority of the night up there.  The music was awesome (American pop music, in case you were wondering) and we were having a blast.  However, being that Katie and I aren't actually party animals ( I may have exaggerated a little bit in the last post), we started checking our watches fairly frequently around 3:00am.  We visited the 3rd floor bar and outdoor lounge until about 4:00am.  One this particular night, the guy-to-girl ratio at Feria was about 4 to 1.  This meant that EVERY time I turned my back for a second a guy was trying to swoop in on Katie.  Truth be told, it was kinda funny to me.  Poor guys...it's good to be a married man.

In Japan, the coming of the New Year is considered to be the most important holiday of he year.  It is a deeply religious week where people spend time with their families as well as visiting temples and shrines.  The Meiji Shrine in Tokyo hosts several million visitors in the frist three days of the new year.  In some ways, it parallels how Americans celebrate Christmas.  However, it doesn't resemble how Americans bring in the New Year (e.g. "Partyyyyyyyy!").  We usually seize this opportunity to throw back a bucket of beer, eat a crock pot of queso, and toast to the New Year in every time zone imaginable.  "3...2...1... Happy New Year Portuguese Azores!!!"

One Japanese tradition we indulged in was eating soba (buckwheat) noodles.  They believe that eating long noodles will yield long life.  We went with Junichi, Kaoru, the Haines', and Akira to a noodle shop in a small town north of Tsukuba.  Akira said that he eats at that shop every New Years Eve and only on New Years Eve.        





After what felt like 10 minutes after arriving, I noticed it was 11:45pm.  Katie and I decided to book it over to the Tokyo Tower for the end of the year countdown.   We approached the tower and got gobbled up by the huge crowd surrounding it.  About 5 minutes before the new year, colorful strobe lights began to flicker at the base of the tower.  As the new year approached, these lights moved their way up the tower.  The anticipation was building, but there wasn't an "official" clock anywhere.  I didn't want to miss the countdown so I began nervously checking my iPod clock.  "Three minutes......two minutes....ONE MINUTE...."  I could feel the anxiety in the air.  Nobody had enough confidence in their timekeeping device to muster up a countdown.  Before I knew it I looked up and saw a big "2011" light up on the tower.  Crap, we missed it!  Katie and I looked at each other with shocked/confused/apprehensive expressions and said "Happy New Year!"



We had missed the official countdown...awwwww swizzle sticks!  Oh well, it was the new year.  I took this moment to simply stop and take it in. What a difference a year can make.  2010 had been the most life changing year I could have ever imagined.  Not in a million year would I have guessed that I would climb Mt. Fuji, spend the night in a Tokyo sleep pod, and visit Tokyo Disneyland on multiple occasions.  Best of all, I've been able to share everything that Japan has to offer with so many loved ones.  So good luck 2011, you have a hard act to follow.

-Seth

Thanksgiving Day was upon us.  Out of everything that we had planned for the week, this proved to be the most ambitious endeavor.  Coincidentally, Chelsae's parents were also visiting Japan during this week AND our friend Akira and his wife wanted to experience an American Thanksgiving.  This brought our attendance up to a whopping 13 people for the meal.  It doesn't seem very impressive by normal American standards, but it's quite impressive considering our situation here.

We rented a large room with a full kitchen to accommodate our celebration.  Four ovens and stove tops were working simultaneously in three separate rooms to cook all of the turkeys, pies, and casseroles.  I was constantly on the phone, sending runners, or dashing from room-to-room myself.  I felt like an army general coordinating a strike on three war fronts.  Aside from difficulties with the gas ovens in the rental room, we functioned as a well oiled Thanksgiving-preparation machine.   




Here we are carving up one of the birds.  We purchased two 7-lb turkeys for dinner, mere babies compared to their American counterparts.  Would you like to guess what the total was for both turkeys...?  I will give you some options for your guess:



As with all holiday gatherings, there are two potential outcomes.  In one scenario the turkey is moist, smiles are on everybody's face, and joyous chatter fills the room.  It is the picture perfect holiday feast. 





However, there is an alternative outcome.  One where the smallest mis-speak could result in a full on fistfight, babies crying everywhere, drinks get knocked over...oh, and the turkey is as dry as the Sahara. 





Lucky for us, and babies everywhere, Thanksgiving dinner was absolutely amazing.  Before we dug into the food, we went around the table and everyone said what they were thankful for.  Of course, it got emotional as many of us ended up crying, myself included.  There was just so much to be thankful for: visiting family, delicious food, amazing friends, wonderful jobs, loving family and friends back in the States, ect., ect., ect. The list of blessings is endless.

The week after I arrived in Japan, I noticed an eye catching photo on the cover of a magazine which had local events throughout the year.  In the photo was a huge, red, glowing Japanese warrior.  The text was in Japanese so I didn't know what it was, but I remember thinking "I have to go to that event, whenever it is."  During the last weekend of August, I got my chance.  


The Matsuri Tsukuba Festival is the biggest festival Tsukuba has to offer.  The big glowing floats are part of the Nebuta Parade, which is the main attraction. As the sun goes down, the center of town becomes inundated with food vendors, mini games (like at a carnival), and spectators.  As there is one major walkway through this area, you find yourself trying to wiggle your way past the food stands and through a thick slurry of people on your way to the parade area.


The atmosphere of the parade is very energetic.  You hear a bunch of people cheering, whistles blowing, bells-a-ringin', drummers drumming, and a partridge in a pear tree...my bad... I got distracted.  I must say that I've never put much thought into parades, but there were a couple things that made this parade much different from any I had been to in the US.  

Power to the People: Every float, portable shrine, ect. was pushed or held up by people.  There were no cars, motorcycles, scooters, or trucks moving these huge things around.  Just real. live. tired. people.  There was even a live band playing music on a ten foot high stage on wheels being pushed around.


Wait, didn't I just see that on the other side of the road!?:  Parades in the the US are unforgivable. A lack of punctuality may cost you a good view of the coolest part of the 30 minute event.  Japan's solution to this is simple: close off a 1km stretch of road, send the floats/people down one side, when they get to the end have 'em loop back around, repeat.  This transforms the parade into a 4 hour long marathon for those in the streets.  It's great for the spectators though!

Why are those man-skirts so short!?: Ok, ok...I know I should be mature about this and appreciate the cultural difference...but something about the length of their man-skirts (I know they aren't called that) makes the immature American in me giggle.

July 4th weekend is special for everyone who lives in the States! It is a great times with friends, enjoying our freedom and watching fireworks. For Seth and I, it is also our anniversary, so we decided to do a weekend trip.  Seth has a Japanese language class till 8:00pm on Friday nights, so we headed out "early" 9:00am Saturday morning.

Seth and I have become the masters of public transportation, but it was a bit of a challenge to arrive where we wanted to go on Saturday.  To take the trains from Tsukuba to Awa-Kamogawa ( the station for Seaworld) should have taken 2 1/2 hours, but we did not arrive until 2pm....which was 2 1/2 hours more than what it should have taken!  What happened one might ask?  Well it was a struggle with getting on four different train lines and not knowing about rapid trains (everything is in Japanese with no English subtitles) and we also had a train break down on us!

Luckily  all we really wanted to do was hang out and spend time together.  The whole traveling time we would just laugh about what was the next obstacle (ninjas, tsunamis) would come in our way. Once at Seaworld we enjoyed three shows: killer whales, sea-lions, beluga whales, and of course all of the exhibits.


In leaving Seaworld, we picked up our public transportation pride and did much better getting to our hotel. We still had a little obstacle by getting dropped off at the wrong hotel by our taxi driver, but we figured it out and we were ready to rest our feet and eat some dinner!  Here is some more pictures of the Japanese hotel that we stayed in and our day on the beach.





At the beach we realized that we were the only people not surfing and not wearing a wet suit. It was funny but also awkward because everyone was staring at Seth and his awesome body boarding skills!!!

We hope that everyone reading this had a great 4th of July celebrating our countries freedom and the ones that give/risk their lives to keep us free!

   ~Kate

Lately I've been avoiding my blog like all manners of MTV programming. For the past couple of weeks I've been very busy with work and getting ready for Katie to arrive in Japan. Also, occasionally I feel like a self-absorbed jerk for writing about my life in a blog. These factors combined have resulted in an abrupt stagnation on the blogging front. However, now that Katie is here and my ego is back to being overly inflated, I plan on trying to keep a little more up to date on the blog.

I was going to pick up where I left off and talk about the one week holiday called "Golden Week." Lucky for me though, Matt has already done a fine job of documenting our journey in his blog, Our Life in Japan. So I will kindly ask that you please visit his blog by
clicking here.

I'm not totally copping out, however. Below are some of my pictures with descriptions.

I, Seth Walker, do solemnly swear to quite being lazy and catch up on my blog.
Look for new posts soon.

-Seth