existential dilemmas

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. – Kierkegaard

staying in tokyo

Posted on February 6, 2013 by chloe elizabeth

For those of you who don’t know (I can’t remember if I put on the blog or not), about a month ago, I got an offer to stay in Tokyo. When I headed over on this six month assignment, that was my goal, but actually having the offer in hand drove home the reality of what I was about to do. But, after a lot of thought and prayer, I decided to go for it for many many reasons.

And, just like that, my life became chaos. I signed the offer on January 8th and went right into high gear transition and moving mode. It’s a new job (same company, same function, supporting a different business) and I needed to find permanent housing. I’ve been in a “serviced apartment” for the past six months, and as nice as it has been to have people changing my sheets and washing my dishes, six months is long enough. I’m ready to have my stuff!

Because the transition needed to happen rather quickly (the last day for the woman I’m replacing is Feb. 15th), I set out to find a new apartment right away. Thankfully, I was provided with a realtor as part of my relocation package. Having been in Tokyo for almost six months, and spoken to a number of people about and helped a number of people with their own relocations, I had a little bit of an idea about how this apartment hunting might be a little different from the experience in the U.S.

For starters, I needed to be prepared to take my shoes off at every place, which meant being thoughtful about what I was wearing. Then there was mentally preparing myself for the tradeoffs. More space means farther out (that’s the same in NYC). Ovens basically don’t exist. Convenience over amenities. And so on and so forth.

What I didn’t expect was how snobby I would start to feel. As I started touring apartments that were quite nice and my list of wants slowly became needs, I realized that I was becoming “that” girl. The one who “needs” a gym with a pool, a view, a big kitchen, a big closet, a Japanese style bathroom, a high floor, a view, AND a great location. And, unlike New York, there aren’t really buildings with pre-war charm, so it’s all post-war, and anything post-war that was built before 1995 is pretty dark. Why didn’t we like windows in the last half of last century?Anyway, that first day I looked at about 10 apartments I think and they were all over the city. It was a LONG day. Then, on Sunday afternoon, we went and looked at a few more. It was so interesting to see different parts of the city and to get a sense for what is totally “Japanese” when it comes to housing. Shoe closets by the front door: brilliant. Washer/dryer in every apartment: amazing. No ovens: clearly they are not big bakers. No light fixtures…not sure what that one is about. Oh, and no window coverings. Also weird. And finally, no refrigerator. You really can learn so much about a culture going apartment hunting. I still need to ask about the light fixture, fridge, and curtains…

And the realization that three-pronged outlets (American style as opposed to Japanese style) were actually available? Not going to lie, this was a big deal. And from a cultural perspective, something as little as this might be indicative of the amount of influence foreigners can have on a culture over time.

Oh, and then there were the “seismic resistance models”…nothing like that to remind a girl where she’s living.

So, at the end of the weekend, there were two front runners. Neither one was exactly perfect, but both were way better than my previous apartment in NY. It was such an interesting experience to be fully aware that I was being kind of ridiculous, and yet not being able to kick the feeling that I was somehow getting “cheated” because neither one was perfect. Yes, totally ridiculous. But it’s like the kid who gets a candy bar and he’s so excited to get a candy bar, especially since he didn’t do anything to earn it. But then he sees his brother get two and suddenly the world is unfair! The point is…I maybe got a little bit crazy in the whole process.

And then, later that week, my darling friend Jennifer made the comment that whatever apartment I choose, it will become home and I knew she was right. So, as I thought about it more and more, I thought about which place I liked the most in terms of where I think I would feel the best hanging out in the apartment and there was a clear winner. But, the other one had this amazing pool (and I love swimming) with an amazing view and an amazing gym. Basically, the amenities were amazing! (Can you tell I loved it?) But the apartment, not as amazing. (Are you totally bored yet?)

The next Saturday, I went out with the realtor again to see a few more apartments and visit my top three (there was one more…most because it had this great deck–like awesome party deck–and was close to my church). It was totally clear which one was my favorite. Plus, that one is close to my friend CoyLou and it’s nice to have a friend close by. But most importantly, upon second visit, it just “felt” like my apartment. I was still nervous I was making the wrong decision, but when I told the realtor on Monday that I wanted it, I knew I was making a good decision. Oh, and it’s close to my favorite gyoza place. That really should have been enough, right?

And now, I’m back in the states and my things are going to be packed up tomorrow (including a massive stack of IKEA boxes from my little shopping spree yesterday–I bought a sectional!). I head back to Japan in five days and move into that new apartment the next weekend (I’ll have rental furniture for a while) and I am SO excited!

mochitsuki

Posted on February 5, 2013 by chloe elizabeth

The second Monday in January was a holiday in Japan. My friends, who know lots about Japan since they’ve been there longer than I have, invited me to go to a mochitsuki with them at a temple near their apartment (and my new apartment!). As a lover of mochi and Japanese traditions, I was super excited about this. So, even though I woke up to horrible weather (including snow!), I was still excited to venture out.

There are several temples where we could have gone to see this tradition, but because this one was so small, we were the only gaijin there. And as we were it, everyone was super excited to have us be a part of things. It was amazing. We got to pound the rice. We got to roll mochi balls. We got to take a tour of the temple and were taught a traditional prayer. It was incredible.

Holiday in Japan = Sake!

playing tour guide in tokyo

Posted on January 26, 2013 by chloe elizabeth

Just a few quick highlights of the part of the trip when my cousin was in Tokyo because I am trying desperately to get caught up.

Christmas, as I mentioned, was a Karaoke Christmas. Before that, we also joined my friends for a lovely dinner at an American military place (I cannot remember the name of it for the life of me). It was amazing. And included Diet Coke.

And then, the day after Christmas, we went and saw Les Miserables. Or in Japanese (spelled American style), Ray Meezahrahburu. I’m not going to give you my review of the movie other than to say I enjoyed it thoroughly for what it was, a cinematic interpretation of an operetta written for the stage. What I do want to share is our funny experience trying to get to the movie.

We had been at my friend’s house which is exactly in the wrong place to get to the movie theater in a hurry. Too close to take the train, but a far enough walk that we weren’t going to make it. So, we hopped in a cab. Cabs, as you may or may not know, are not really my thing in Japan. I’m getting better, but it’s still hard.

So, I told the cab driver (really, I should say taxi driver because there’s nothing “cab driver” like about these drivers) we wanted to go to Roppongi Hills Cinema. Well, really I said “Roppongi Hiruzu Cinema”. The taxi drive repeated Roppongi Hiruzu, but didn’t understand the “cinema”. I knew it was the same word in Japanese, but I doubted myself when he couldn’t understand me. And repeated myself multiple times thinking that the next time he’d magically understand what I was saying even though I was saying it exactly the same way as the previous time.

And then I paused and thought, “How would this be written in Japanese?” and it clicked. So I then said “Roppongi Hiruzu Sheenayma” and the driver, in excitement, says, “Oh, sheenayma!” and all was well in the universe. Have I mentioned lately how much I love Japan. It’s not the easiest place to live for a white girl who doesn’t speak the language, but it sure is a fun adventure.

On Thursday we went to Meiji Shrine. I’ve posted a lot about this place before, so I didn’t take a lot of photos, but it was nice to visit. We barely made it in time, but it was enough for Tanya to see it. And then we headed down to Shibuya (crazy intersection place). Along the way, we passed this shoe store and Tanya suggest we go inside. Big mistake.

While it was Tanya’s idea to go in, I’m the one that was trying on shoes. I couldn’t help myself. I figured I wouldn’t be able to fit in shoes in Japan as the Japanese are just smaller than Americans in general. But, lo and behold, my feet that happen to be just a little on the small side given my height can fit into the largest Japanese shoe size (at least that can easily be found in a store. And so I walked away with these beauties.

Not only are my own trips/vacations expensive for me, but when others are on vacation with me, they’re expensive for me, too. But totally worth it!

Later that night we were wandering around Roppongi and walked by this pet store, which had a number of little monkeys for sale. Let’s just say I was tempted…if it hadn’t have been for the price tag.

And the requisite trip to Tokyo Tower. We got there at the perfect time. The end of daylight, so Tanya was able to see the city during the day, during sunset, and all lit up. To top it off, it was an amazingly clear day so we were also able to see Mt. Fuji.

And then, after getting home, we decided to make a little visit to Don Quijote, this amazing super store just around the corner from me. This is it’s own experience for so many reasons (not the least of which is the food they cell). In fact, I think it could be considered a crash course in Tokyo culture. I’ve been there many times (they have everything–think Japanese Kmart) and I’m pretty used to the weirdness that is Tokyo, but this one caught even me off guard. And I could not stop laughing. I mean, it was just amazing.

The following day (I think) we headed out to Shinjuku to meet my friends for dinner at my new favorite restaurant in all of Tokyo, this little gyoza place that is amazing and so cheap. All they do is gyoza (aka pot-stickers or dumplings). Tanya wasn’t super happy about the smoking in the restaurant that was happening. Coming from California where you can’t smoke anywhere (and where, apparently, there are PSAs encouraging you to tell smokers that they are giving you cancer) it was a bit of an adjustment for her. I don’t like it, but clearly I’ve gotten used to it.

After dinner we wandered around Shinjuku and did some shopping. We found ourselves in what we thought was a regular department store, but come to find out it was the regular department store’s “special styles” store. To say it was interesting would be a total understatement. Unfortunately, I got busted for taking this photo, so I didn’t get any other ones. But, I think this one is pretty awesome.

The departments in this store? You can check them out here. Worth the visit.

And then, as we continued walking, we saw these. I’ve seen pictures of them before, but it was my first time seeing them life. Tokyo is a weird place. Basically, you can rent these and sit in the chair (see the chair?) and then…I don’t know what. And I haven’t researched it further because I’m not sure I want to know what.

On Friday, we headed out to Yokohama (a little farther actually) to visit our grandparents’ home when they lived here in the ’70s. It was pretty awesome to see it. It was clearly abandoned, so we did a little exploring. Apparently, it has changed quite a bit, according to my aunt, but it was still cool to see their house.

And because we were already out that way, we took the opportunity to visit Chinatown in Yokohama. One of the biggest in the world and definitely the cleanest.

There were a number of very cool temples there. And tons of food, but neither of us was hungry and we had dinner plans.

On Saturday, we headed out to Asakusa to go to the Edo museum. Which turned out to be closed. New Year’s is a serious thing around these parts and things close down for the entire week. But it wasn’t a total loss. We got to see the temple (which I had yet to visit) and experience Tokyo at it’s holiday finest (i.e. crowds of people everywhere.

We also wandered through part of Ueno Park–another first for me–and saw this woman feeding the birds. We might have both started singing tuppence a bag.

And Saturday night we went to a fancy dinner for Tanya’s 25th birthday and it was so good and so fun (minus the taxi experience getting there…I’ve never had a Tokyo taxi driver flat out refuse me service, but that’s what happened. But I was stubborn and won and so we got the angriest ride I’ve ever had in my life. If there had been any other option.

Sunday was T’s last day in Tokyo (and it was only part of a day). We went to the Sony Center (which was pretty cool) and then wandered around Matsuya for a bit. I had no idea there was a food hall in the basement. Kind of a painful discovery.

We got Tanya a piece of cake, since she hadn’t had actual cake on her birthday, and she shoved it in her face before we had to Tokyo Station to get her on the Narita Express to the airport.

The End

Coming up…a job offer, apartment hunting, and a mochitsuki.

a karaoke christmas

Posted on January 17, 2013 by chloe elizabeth

A while back (sometime in November) a few of us who were going to be in Tokyo for Christmas were discussing plans and one of my friends suggested that we get a group together for a little karaoke. I was all for it. Then, it turned out, the end of year party (aka Bōnenkai) at my work also included a karaoke portion. And thus Christmas of 2012 will forever live in my memory as my Karaoke Christmas. And here’s the evidence:

This may or may not be my new boss.

Just a little Jingle Bell Rock.

And proof that I am a team player! Oh, how I do love singing a little Wilson Phillips.

And then on Christmas itself. I need to get some other photos from friends, but here’s one of T and me singing…I can’t remember what. But it was good.

This is more what karaoke typically looks like here in Tokyo…nice and poorly lit. 🙂

While perhaps not your most traditional Christmas (there was a lovely Christmas buffet dinner at a U.S. military something or other and it did include lots of American favorites including my beloved DC, as well), it was seriously so fun. I loved having my cousin here and being able to spend it with her and my favorite people in Tokyo.

maples and roses

Posted on December 15, 2012 by chloe elizabeth

No time to write a real post, but I just have to share these amazing photos from my adventures out and about in Tokyo a few weeks ago. Yes, a few weeks. I’m so behind!

I had heard about and seen photos of the fall colors in Japan, but I hadn’t had time to get out and see them for myself and I was worried I was going to miss them. So the Saturday after Thanksgiving (which was an absolutely gorgeous day) I decided it was time to be a tourist again in my own city.

I consulted the Top 10 Tokyo book I borrowed from my friend, CoyLou, and set off to see what I could see in Bunkyo-ku, one of the wards north of me where there are a couple of big parks.

**Note: these photos are not in order because my computer is having issues and I don’t have the patience to reorder them. Also, I haven’t edited any of them…partly because I want to share them untouched, but mostly because I have no desire to spend more time on my computer than I necessary.**

My first stop was Rikugi-en. It did not disappoint!

The light in the park was absolutely perfect. And I had lots of fun playing with it.

Possibly my favorite photo from the entire day.

When I took this, I thought it looked like I was standing on some fake fall set of a T.V. show, but it wasn’t. Just this beautiful, mossy knoll, covered in leaves, with a ray of sunlight shining down.

Koi. Huge koi. My older brother would have been very jealous.

Playing with shadows.

Playing with sunlight.

Following Rikugi-en, I headed down the street to Kyu-Furukawa Gardens. I had read about the beautiful rose gardens and grounds of this western-style mansion, but assumed I would not be seeing roses so late in November. I was happy to discover I was mistaken. The rose garden was incredible.

I share this picture not because of the fall foliage or the grounds, but the Bo Peep. A common sight in various parts of Tokyo, but kind of random here.

A beautiful stone staircase in a hidden part of the grounds. The sunlight peeking through was stunning.

Charles de Gaulle

Rio Samba Rose

As I was getting ready to leave the park (again, photos not in order), I happened upon this little concert that was just starting. The kokyū musician was playing Disney songs with recorded, orchestral accompaniment. I can’t lie. It was pretty magical.

The audience collected on the lawn and this was our view. I would have loved to have performed on a stage like this back in my singing days. Talk about a great backdrop.

Blue Light Rose…maybe my favorite.

So basically, autumn in Tokyo was even more vibrant and breathtaking than I’d heard, seen, or even imagined. I don’t think that there’s a tree out there that can hold a candle to a Japanese maple (or 紅葉 / もみじ / momiji in Japanese) in the fall and they are everywhere here. And then you add roses, and well, it’s pretty much perfect.

That said, I do hope that I get to stick around here through the spring because I’m sure that the photos don’t do that justice either.