Christmas Day

Christmas was wonderful! We had a lovely day, just being by ourselves, and taking our time.

William got a bike from Santa Claus. He can go much faster now because of the bigger wheels! He has hand brakes, a basket (he wanted one with a basket, very Japanese), and a bell.

It took us a long time to open all the presents. We had left some of the shipped from family gifts in the boxes, primarily because there wasn't room under the tree for them all! We appreciated the gifts to open up from everyone back home! Tim (you'll notice he's looking ill) is about to open up his growler. It's a very cool way to take beer from your kegerator to parties. Yes, Tim was ill on Christmas, and the day after, and even today, but he HAS to go to work today, so we've loaded him up on Tylenol, and he's off to base. Besides being slow because of illness, we had to stop opening gifts to have breakfast, to ride the bike, play with toys and gifts as we opened them, and to watch the clock. Tim got a groovy new clock from Santa. It uses ball bearings to keep time. William was running in every 3 minutes or so, to watch the 5 minutes change over. He'd wait for it, and down it'd go. It really slows down opening gifts when you have such a distraction. 5 1/2 hours later, we finished up. NOT because of a lot of gifts (we were blessed with plenty, however) but because we're easily distracted!

Mochi Pounding

I have to admit, I don't really know much on the history of Mochi pounding, but it is a Japanese New Years tradition. It is made by boiling polished and soaked rice and then pounding and kneading it until it turns into a sticky dough. It is then made into various treats or served in something like soup. They were doing Mochi pounding at the community center at the end of our block. We went down to see and we got a chance to participate. William got some whacks at the Mochi (and possibly the turner's fingers...), Caroline got a few whacks in, and all that Dad did is carry the camera around.

We then went inside to sample the results. It was an interesting taste, but not one either William or I were going to be able to finish, so we decided to take the rest home in a doggy bag. From the video, you might sense William's reluctance. I'm not sure Dad did much better...

It definitely is sticky and thick. Japanese newspapers apparently start tallying up the death toll from choking on Mochi about this time of year.

William also did Mochi pounding at his school with a visiting Sumo Wrestler. In that case, they added the Mochi to soup.

The Never Ending Christmas Pageant

William's Japanese school, Seika Yochien, put on it's 61st annual Christmas Pageant last week. This was our first pageant with William in it, so we were very excited. Caroline carried out the required task of finding brown tights and sweater for William for his part of the pageant. We were told to be there with William in his seat 45 minutes before the scheduled start. We were a bit late since there were about 5 families at the base taxi stand all going to Seika for the Pageant and the off base taxis were coming only one every few minutes. We eventually got there and took our place in the auditorium. Specifically, William sat in his assigned seat and Caroline and I stood along the wall and the back. It was a bit crowded.

The program was a one pager with two parts. We figured it would take 2 hours tops. We apparently haven't fully appreciated the Japanese tradition of long and respectful opening ceremonies where many important people get up to speak and get recognized. This portion took about an hour and a half. Then there was the actual Pageant where each class provided a dance or drama. One of the classes did the entire Birth of Christ story with about 12 scene changes with each student having a speaking role in each scene. Then each of the major age groups put on a short musical concert. Then, closing ceremonies... It took a grand total of 4 and a half hours! We hadn't planned for that. Caroline noticed as she was helping William get on his costume that the other mothers had snacks (if not meals) for their kids as they dressed them. William got a snack of candy, cough drops and pocket lint... We'll be more prepared next time.

I've combined one of William's classes concert videos with his dance routine. To help spot him, he is the blond haired drummer in the back right and the blond haired brown bear. We'd honestly expected William to be playing the melodian (air blown keyboard) since he'd been practicing at home. He's been in drum lessons for a few weeks, but we figured that was preparation for next year. What cracks me up, are the key boards with the megaphone underneath that you can kinda see in the front row. They are serious about having their music heard in Japan.

Reading Japanese

We read books to William as part of our bed time routine.  Since he's learned to read a bit, he sometimes wants to read the book himself.  We'd gotten some cool Shinkansen (Bullet Train) children's books that were written in Japanese, so we considered them purely picture books to look at the cool trains.  To our surprise, he picked these up and insists on reading these as well.  He's been playing with our Hirigana and Katakana (the two phonetic Japanese alphabets) flash cards and has learned the sounds that go with the characters.  But, it was still a surprise that he decided to try reading the books.  His pronunciation is probably poor, and we have a hard time helping him when he gets stuck, but he seems to cruise through the pages.  His reading comprehension, though, could improve a bit...

GW Tour

Last week the Yokosuka Naval base opened its gates for an annual open house event. With the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON newly in port and opening up for public visits, there were some 30,000 visitors to the base. Almost all of them making a bee line for berth 12 where the CVN 73 was waiting.


The ship put on a great tour. They shuffled people straight onto the pier and onto the hangar bay. They showed some video and then you stepped on to elevator 1 to take you to the flight deck where you could see Mt. Fuji behind the hills. You could also see a F-18 posed for launch with the blast deflectors up, tour around the deck, and then get on elevator 4 to ride back down. They had displays of fire fighting equipment, jet engines, and munitions. William posed with a fire fighter to impress Uncle Noel.

We got there early since we could get on base before the gates opened to the public. We walked right on and had the place nearly to ourselves for about 20 minutes. Then the crowds started crawling in. The lines were incredibly long, but they processed people quickly and everyone got to take a close look at the CVN. I think it will do a lot to help the community feel comfortable with its presence.

He Rides!

...and he's off!

I haven't been out with William working on his training wheel weaning as much as I'd like to have. We probably could have gotten to this point a bit earlier, but we are all overjoyed for making this important milestone with William.

We've been going out and taking the training wheels and pedals off his bike and letting him push himself around. Once he could balance along for a while and could use the steering to keep himself upright, we attempted it with the pedals back on and the training wheels still removed. The first time I did it a week ago, he pedaled about 10 feet on his own, but after a few bad stumbles trying again, we gave up for the day. We tried again yesterday and he got a bit farther, but with the wind and the fact we were doing this on gravel made it pretty hard.

Today, we went out early while it was nice and calm and headed to the "Dog" park just a block away that has a fairly good sized concrete area. We practiced a bit with the pedals off and then tried it with the pedals. His first run of the day was nearly 30 feet and it was only the looming planter box that made him stop. A few more practice runs and some tips, and he is now launching by himself and beginning to figure out planned turns.

We've officially considered him graduated from training wheels and they've been tossed in the corner. We are all very proud!

INFORMAL PATERNITY CHECK

Tim and I have this re-occuring joke. When William does something we recognize in a genetic sort-of-way, we call it an informal paternity/maternity check.
Well, I wrapped gifts the other day. I needed to get my gifts for the states wrapped and shipped. The lines will be LONG and the custom forms take forever to fill out, so I got done early. This also means that wrapping has been done at our house, the inventory taken, and Tim and I are lagging--- substantially--- behind William in the amount of gifts. We will try to remedy that over the next few weeks.

Tim took the presents down and put them under the tree. William was home all afternoon long. He was playing piano right next to the tree, and playing melodian on the floor, eating at the table, watching TV in the adjoining room... and he never once saw the gifts.

So I said to Tim, "Has he seen them yet, or is this another 'informal paternity check?" So Tim said, "Hey, William, have you seen our family ornament for this year? Let's put it on!" We get one each year that represents something we've done, and we bought this one the other night. We decided to wait to put it on and make a little family time of the event with William around. Hallmark does make ornaments for EVERY occasion, as you can see. William took it out of the box, put it on, roughly 18 inches above the mounds of wrapped packages. Nope, didn't even see the gifts.

Yes, bonus points for those of you who see his dog Bernie is still sleeping, this time under the tree.

I have 9 teachers at the school to give gifts to. One of my Japanese friends LOVES Almond Roca (and I get to claim it as a local specialty since it's from Tacoma), so I am wrapping stacks to give to them. It's my understanding that between Christmas and new year, you give gifts to teachers and the like. I'm just going to give Christmas gifts and call it square!

Costco

I actually drove to Costco here. It took 50 minutes, and was a lovely drive on a brilliantly bright fall day. I went with Laura (pictured in yellow) and Jandi. Costco has parking on the roof (efficient use of space) and so the escalator-style moving ramps allow you to take your cart with you. Kinda fun.

I was able to buy Yoshida's teriyaki sauce (an American item). I also purchased quite a few Japanese type foods. Real sushi for cheap, pickled octopus (I warned Tim, but he was still a bit startled when he pulled out the cellophane wrapped tentacle-lousy arm in the refrigerator), Filipino style meat sauce, Japanese version of chicken nuggets (they use dark meat and panko type outside with some funky herbs), and Japanese eggs. I'm starting to like them. When we first got here, I couldn't eat them because of the fishy taste. They probably feed their chickens with seaweed or something. Ewww. But now, after all the fish we eat here, I don't taste it anymore!
Of course, even normal Costco foods have a local flavor to them, like this seafood pizza. If you double-click and look closer, it has shrimp, calamari and scallops. And it's not uncommon to have a bit of mayonaise drizzled on top of a pizza, either. Now, those are good eats to Tim, who loves the white stuff. Japanese mayonaise is a bit thinner and yellower.

I'm threatening to let my Costco membership go. It's rather far, and we have no storage for the huge supplies. I can't upload my pictures to them. I love doing that, and just picking them up later. They do have the 1 hour here, though. The dues are cheaper here.

I did find out that they deliver to your home. For $5 per large box, you can have your Costco purchases show up at your house the following day. That's good for those who arrive by train to go shopping there. Laura has done so in the past.

Okay, I'll end with my 'joke.' A friend who is Japanese and teaches English, makes her students pick American names. So, when we went to lunch, she said the American women should choose Japanese names. Until 25 years ago or so, most Japanese women's names ended with 'ko.' Chieko, Junko, Hamako, Masako, etc. We had to choose a name that ended with 'ko.' When it came my turn, I said, "Ka-su-to-ko." That is how they pronounce Costco in Japanese.

Piano Man

William loves playing the piano. He is learning the melodian at school. That is a mini keyboard that you have to blow to make it create a sound. He is also taking drum lessons and LOVING it!

He loves to 'sing' his books at night. He likes doing the reading, and it takes forever, but it's pretty funny.

He reads his Shinkansen book. It's in hiriganas, and he does really well. Of course, except for a few words here and there, we have no idea what it's saying.

He doesn't sit down and 'practice' piano. It's more of an interest, 'fly by' key assault. He loves to play things fast that he's already learned. Uh oh. Um, don't know where he gets THAT from!?...

Cha iro Kuma

William has had 2 days off from school. Japanese Labor Day was Sunday, so Monday was a holiday, and Tuesday was a comp day for the teachers at his school.

So, William and I went SHOPPING. This is a picture of us at the local Daiei Mall. Their theme is Mummin Valley. This is the house and the papa and mama mummin (trolls). Pikku My (or Little Me) is up on the roof. She's the one I love so much. Her little expression is how I feel sometimes. Heh heh heh. I love anything Mummin Valley right now.

William's school tasked us to get him brown tights and top, as he is to play a Bear in the 'Mountain Christmas' Pageant. Do you know how hard it is to find brown tights? I called the English liason at the school and tried to convince her that black bears do exist where we come from, and maybe he should play a black bear.

Nope, a chairo kuma (brown bear) it is to be.

So, we traipsed from store to store until I finally decided that brown thermal bottom wear would do the trick. I got a fleece turtle neck top. I figure it'll double as a ski top when he needs the warmth this winter. Now, I have to figure out brown socks. Do you know how impossible it is to buy dark brown socks for boys? Now, if a brown-grey would work, I'm IN, as William's socks start turning that color after awhile...

I'm toying with the idea of making him some brown 'bear claw' slippers.

However, finding fabric here is hard, and the prices are outrageous. Hmmm... I guess everyone will have to stand by and see what the costume looks like once I'm done with making it. Actually, I was told to just provide brown tights and brown sweater. The school is supposed to do the rest.

Last laugh is on William. He has to go to school on Thanksgiving and the day after. Actually, it turns out to be these quiet, idyllic times for Tim and I. Alone in the house without the sounds of William.

Birthday Party

William was invited to a friend from school's party. Some of the children are American-Japanese. Usually, mom is the Japanese national, and dad is an American.

At one point, he and this boy were friends. I think the teachers used this boy to interpret a little for William at the beginning. So, when we were invited to the party, we accepted.

By the time the party rolled around, this boy was no longer a friend of William's. He didn't want to attend. But, the mom had told me there was going to be a juggler there, so please be on time. We bought a gift (which William said we could just drop off and go), so I figured let's make an appearance.

At first, he was reticent. He was the only Anglo there. 2 more arrived in due time, but he was definitely feeling like an outsider. And his best friend wasn't there yet, so he was telling me he just wanted to get out of there. I can only imagine what he was feeling. But, I've been there before. You don't feel comfortable, so you just wanna leave. But, we'd made a promise, and we needed to fulfill it.

So, I cajoled William to cooperate, and he really enjoyed himself.

The first cutaway shows the only 2 blonde kids at William's preschool. Her dad works with Tim occasionally, so we know them. Suzannah started talking Japanese after 1 year at Seika. She has been attending 2 years, and is fluent and amazing. It's funny to see people react to her when she speaks Japanese.

The second cutaway is of William's best friend at Seika, Masato.

After the act was done, the balloon made party favors and games began, and William and I slipped out a side door. I was actually glad to find out that William isn't a 'pleaser.' He won't sell his soul short for friends. It is obvious that he has made his decision on who is nice to him or not, and he's good with that.

PANEL DISCUSSION

I was very honored to be asked to be on a panel to discuss different parenting styles and roles. It was sponsored by the Yokosuka Mother's Association. My friend, Nobuko, is the president. The panel consisted of Filipina, Chinese, American, and Japanese.

I got to tell them how we use the 'TIME OUT' system of punishment. They were interested that Tim also parents, and we share the nightly routine duties.

I was the only one that had to resort to English. I memorized 3 portions of what I was going to talk about. People kept complimenting my Japanese. That always makes me squirm, because I do not speak the language, yet. I feel bad because I haven't been studying like I should be.

We also got to meet the Mayor of Yokosuka.

A fellow Seika mom took pictures of me with her cell phone, thus I have photos.

When the panel portion was done, we did sing along activities for the toddlers there. I got to sing songs in both English and Japanese. This is me doing 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," or was it, "Atama, Kata, Hiza Pon?"

I am impressed how hard my friend, Nobuko, works at trying to open communication, and therefore understanding, between Japanese and Americans here. She has a wonderful open heart, and volunteers an enormous amount of time helping Americans learn the language (her classes are FREE, and FUN!).

COCKROACH!!!

Okay, there are no pictures of this, it is so gross.

I have heard of many cockroaches here in Japan. Except one out by my car this summer, I haven't seen any. Recently it turned cold. All the animals are trying to find shelter. Thankfully, this quarter-sized guy decided to zip across my dining room floor AFTER everyone had gone the other night. Someone might have just been the one to let him in.

You should have seen the struggle. I am trying to kill it with my zouri. That is a handmade from cloth slipper, so my clout was next to nil. It was quicker and craftier than the best running back. I kept trying to kill it with... a rag, basically. It bobbed and weaved... I finally maimed it (it might have been the shock wave from my screaming) by the kegerator.

Tim came running to assist. By that time, I had paper towel ready, and said, "KILL IT!!!" He did the deed, and the bundled remains went into the trash.

Whew. Ewwww...

I am a Washington girl, and we usually don't have to deal with this type of creature.

Hopefully, no more find their way inside.

I might have to start wearing more sturdy slippers.

William on the Piano

William has badgered us into teaching him some piano. We were happy enough to let him play at the piano with it's volume turned way down, but he insists that he wants to learn how to read and play real music. So, Caroline ordered up a set of beginner books and William is starting to work through them. He's working through some of the real basics such as Middle C, finger numbering, measures, beats, quarter notes, half notes, and whole notes. We thought we'd record his first real song since he is related to Caroline and myself so he may very well give up on the process before we have a chance to record any more...

Sorry, we'd left the volume way down on the piano and I didn't notice until I uploaded the video. It's hard to hear, but honestly, he's hitting the right notes...

Tokyo Disney Christmas

We were hoping for an uncrowded day at Tokyo Disney. We picked a weekday in fall and it even started out pouring rain. We figured we'd get our rain coats and sail through the lines. We hear that there are days like that, but we were far from that this time. For one, the weather turned out great. It did rain for a bit in the morning, but it was sunny and pleasant the rest of the day... Darn! Second, and probably more importantly, it was the first day of Christmas decorations and shows at Disney. There were tons of people with news crews covering the event.

It wasn't as bad as our previous trip, though. The longest we stayed in a line this time was 50 minutes compared to over 2 hours last time. We were also able to Fast Pass several rides this time where last time, we only got one Fast Pass before they were all used up. Many lines were in the 20 minute range, so it was tolerable.

The price was better. The government discount increased from about $4 to $10, so it was 4,300 Yen ($43) per person for adults and William got in for 3,400 Yen ($34). Since we drove, it was another 2,000 Yen ($20) to park and a total of 4,600 Yen ($46) for tolls. Although that adds up a bit, for several people, it is cheaper than taking the MWR bus or taking the train. It's also more convenient since you don't have to call the tour guide to get into the bus to change out your rain jacket for sunglasses...

For the second time around, we got to slow down a bit and study the scene a bit closer. We were still amazed with the lines for popcorn. We also started realizing that there were many flavors of popcorn. We didn't do a complete listing, but we saw Salt, Caramel, Chocolate, Curry, Sour...

We (OK, Caroline) were also a bit better at Japanese, so when we ordered three cheeseburgers, we got three cheeseburgers.

Next time, I think we'll try Disney Sea, which is the Disney park next door...

Shichi Go San

Japan celebrates children of the ages 3 and 5 for boys, and 3 and 7 for girls on November 15. Because it is impossible to rent a kimono at that time, we went to the shrine and took our photos early.
Shichi Go San (literally translates to 7-5-3) requires you to go to the shrine for a blessing. We just went for pictures. Many people do it that way, and I saw quite a few of the boys dressed up in Western style suits.William, being a golden haired boy, and in full Japanese regalia, was quite the center of attention. People were taking his pictre and saying 'how cute' and being amazed an American family had a kid there for Shichi Go San. For those of you who don't know William well, he hates attention, unless he's hamming it up and wants to be silly. So, we have many pictures of a very silly boy.

Monday was a holiday for the Japanese. It was 'Culture Day' and we had many cultural experiences. First, I drove to a Buddhist Temple in Kamakura. Realizing my mistake, I had to ask around to find out where the nearest shrine was. Finally, only in Japanese, we finally got someone who gave us a small map, with directions.
Kamakura is a very historic town with many temples and shrines. On Japanese holidays, it's a zoo. So, the going was slow. By the time we got to the shrine and parked, William was out of humor. We did get enough good photos to consider it a success. But the cute girls 3 and 7 whose parents wanted a pic of them with William, was a no-go. We met them again, back at the rental shop, returning their kimono at the same time.

There are different layers. There is a white shirt undergarment, a black kimono, and the pants and the decorative silk overcoat are called hakama and haori. The dressing process was really quite elaborate, and took time to do it okay.

It costed about $250.00 to rent the whole caboodle.


Then, our 'cultural exchange' began. The traffic was SO BAD, that we eventually went left, instead of going right and back the way we came. On the little map we now had, Tim could see some roads that we could go back to town on. Well, the goat paths we saw didn't look promising. We kept going, hoping for some sign. Finally, we found one that said to follow on to the toll road. Well, it didn't tell us how FAR we'd have to go to get that accomplished! So, we stopped twice, and in my awful Japanese (I understand straight, and turn left and right, and can ask how many kilometers) we had enough 'cultural exchange' to indeed get back on the toll road (highway) to Yokosuka.

Meanwhile, from the back seat, William makes the observation that we should have brought our GPS for Japan. Yes, William, we should have. And then I looked at Tim, who was sitting stoically next to be, to judge whether he had encouraged William to make this observation, because I KNEW he was thinking it! He spent good money to get one for me, but when I know where I'm going, I don't use it. I wasn't expecting to have to go the wrong way. But then, what would 'Culture Day' be without a bit of 'cultural interaction?'

Halloween in Japan

Happy Halloween!

Both Caroline and I were in a bit of culture shock today. Halloween is much different here in Japan. We're used to the busy streets with all the kids and defending our house by bribing the little ones. Our neighborhood was pretty quiet.

The base puts on quite a haunt, though. They open up the gates for the Japanese to come onto base and trick-or-treat throughout the housing areas. Captains' row gets hit pretty hard. I saw an article where Captain Weed (base commander) said that last year he stopped counting after 850 kids!


William's costume this year was Classic Batman. (Note: William's Bag has POW BAM To be Continued... I found the fabric to match the Batman jammies we were given. I had the black sweat suit to go under, but William chose a different one for the day. He was given the shirt last year, and it has October 31 on it, and he insisted on that one!!! The Batman hood was interesting, as I barely had enough fabric. Fabric is EXPENSIVE in Japan. I modified my pattern, and made it work. Then I added the face with fabric paint. I couldn't do eye holes (not enough fabric) and it's a good thing. It is easier to see out of this way! He was a very cute Batman. Tim said a 'LONE Batman.' He wouldn't go to a door with other kids. It had to be just him.)

Last week, William did a base school Halloween party and then the base Halloween carnival with haunted houses, jump houses and a trick-or-treat walk.

We carved the Commissary pumpkins the other day and we were lucky they survived the two days until Halloween. They were shipped from the States and were a bit dry and old by the time they got here. William did the scary face, Caroline did the happy face, and well, the engineer in the family was only mildly creative...


For Halloween day, we went on to base for the Mayhem. We wandered around quite a bit before we kind of got a clue of where best to go. We ended up working our way backwards through the throng to work over some of the residences before heading back home to light our pumpkins and wait to see if anyone knocked at our house. We'd heard rumor that there might be a few, but we didn't get any. Thank goodness for the base putting on such a big Halloween event or we would have really felt in a foreign land. We just wish we had a better idea of where to go and what to do on base. (Note: For anyone learning from this blog... we were told to be on base by 4:30. We left our house at 4:30 and were trick-or-treating by 4:50. We were told (very nicely, I wasn't offended, just embarrassed) at our first house that it started at 6, but they were ready to give out candy already. When relating this story at the commissary to a friend, one of the Captains on base overheard and stopped to say that that information was incorrect... it is 4:30, and the candy is usually gone by 6. It made more sense, as it is dark by 5:00 here. But, on Halloween night, it made me feel like I was 'out of line' and we really do try to do what is correct and proper here. We weren't going to any houses that didn't have lit pumpkins out front. Isn't that the universal code that 'we have candy?' I think part of the problem is that we don't get the American school information, as William goes off-base. Schools are a great source for common information, and we aren't plugged in. William was unphased by his parents tentativeness (at this point) and soldiered on to more houses. And even though we called it quits after about 10 houses, William had enough candy to spread it out on the carpet at home, and be excited about how many skittles and starbursts he had. That's what Halloween is for... to experience the many pleasures of the American sweet tooth, and to find out the candy you like most!


Next year, we'll be a bit smarter on the whole thing and will better know what to do and hopefully won't be so culture shocked over the whole thing.

TEN TEN in China Town

This should have been published 10/10. We went to a parade in Yokohama's China Town! There were politicians...And there were cute little kids playing 'dragons.' I think, from viewing a performance, that the dragon is controlled by a ball. There is a Chinese school there, and all of the kids participated in the parade. I joked that the dragons were 'draggins' when a few of the kids were tired. They'd just drag their pole on the ground.
I had seen the poster for the parade, and wanted to go on my birthday. When we got there, we went onto the school's grounds, where they were setting up for a performance. Two teenaged boys per 'dragon' (looks more like a pug dog to me) and it was phenomenal.

I have been to many China Towns, and since Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan (it feels more like a suburb of Tokyo because of it's location) and we're so close to China, I thought it would be much bigger. I read somewhere that after the 1923 earthquake, many left, and they didn't start coming back until much later.

Here's a short video of some of what we experienced.

Japanese Problem -> Japanese Solution

I know. It's been a while since we've posted and I have such an uninteresting, purely utilitarian, post. But, we were so excited today on this one. It also gives people a quick peek at a part of our house. I know people are asking for pictures of the house, but we're still working on parts of it...

Before we moved into the house, we'd talked with the previous residents and one of the problems with the house was the unsavory smell that occasionally came up from the washing machine drain. OK, it wasn't just unsavory, it was sewer smell! They said it wasn't very often and they said they had some sealing putty (monkey s**t) to seal around the hose to seal out the smell, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. We didn't smell it at the time and I felt that an engineer, like myself, could overcome any piping problem with ease. So, we took the house.

The drain is just a hole in the floor. The base guys that brought in the washer threw the drain hose from the washer down the hole just like the previous renters had. It only took me a couple of days to go in and seal around the hose with the putty. Problem was that the smell still came up. It was coming up the hose and through the washing machine. It only happened occasionally, but it was disturbing, and embarrassing, when it did. I know that 'P' traps are normally used to keep sewer gasses from coming back into the house. I was beginning to think that the builders of the house missed that little part and we were going to call the realtor to ask that it be fixed. We were hemming and hawing on how to do this since the Japanese don't directly say that someone else messed up. You phrase it like you messed it up and need help to resolve it. I also figured that problems with Japanese houses have Japanese solutions, and that we very well might have missed something here.

Today, Caroline brought out a piece of foreign plumbing that had been loose and in her way under the sink and asked if it might be the solution for the smell and whether we should call the realtor guy about it. I looked at it in astonishment before I told her not to bother calling, this was definitely the solution! It was the adapter for that drain in the floor. It snugged itself into the hole with an O-ring seal and has a P trap portion below and a place to hook up the hose above. The hardest part of installing it was getting all the putty off everything. It'll take a few days to ensure that it solves the problem, but we are both just thrilled to have figured it out.

Seika Sports Day

It was a big day! It is Japan's national sports and fitness day and William's school put on their 60th Annual Athletic Meeting. We arrived promptly at 8:30 AM and we spent the next 6 hours sitting in the sun on a dirt field watching a pretty fascinating Japanese sports event. Even for a pre-school/kindergarten event, Japanese sporting events start with all kinds of pomp and circumstance, music, speeches, flowers, bowing, raising flags, and then more music and speeches before you get to the event where you start with the lighting of the cellophane Olympic flame... then the sports!

We started off with Suzuwari (Breaking of the Bell). The ropes that are strung over the top of the field had, what looked like, two beer keg piniatas which were actually two paper mache bells sealed together and the participants threw balls at the bells to break them open. The balls were fluffy balls of cloth, so all they really did was impede the guy that was cutting open the seal between the bells with a knife. But, with a great cheer, they were broken open and all the streamers, paper chains, and flowers on a string came stringing out and they hauled them into the sky like paper jelly fish!

There were all kinds of kid type sports being played (Rolling of the big balls, running, tug-of-war, more music and pageantry...) It was a bit difficult to spot William since he was dressed like all the rest of his classmates in their sports uniforms (summer uniform, by the way, not the winter uniform we'd dressed him in. We're not sure where we missed the message on that one. Winter uniform started the 1st of October. But when Caroline showed up, most everyone else had the summer outfit. If there is a "Uniform of the Day" notification that we got, it was in Kanji and we missed it. I was scrambling to deliver the summer outfit, but the Seika staff are apparently used to people like us and loaned William a summer outfit.) Anyway, with their little hats on, they all look the same, but when they take their hats off, it became pretty easy to spot William. See if you can find him in this picture...



As the day progressed, the nice white uniforms became a dingier and dingier shade of dirt to the point that they blended in to the field. Caroline is presently trying to clean the loaner uniform...

Parents were invited to participate in many of the events along with the staff and special guests. Some of the special guests did a lantern race where they were dressed in neon kimonos and conical hats and they raced to a kit with a paper lantern and matches where they lit the lantern and then carefully carried the lantern to the finish line. There was also a volunteer parent tug-of-war that I participated in. They just threw us into teams as they saw fit. I ended up on the white team which was opposite of Williams, so I may not have tried my hardest... Even so, I thought we were robbed!

We were also called weeks in advance to ensure that I would be present and able to run in the final Medley relay. It was the final sporting event. They had four teams. Each with a student, a faculty member, and two parents in that order that ran the baton around the track. Having seen one of the parents already slip out on the pre-school sized curve, I didn't give it all that I had, but I did make up time to get us to a second place finish. I'll keep my day job.

The day ended with more gymnastics (performed to a medley of Disney tunes with Japanese Lyrics), announcement of the game points (white won), speeches, more flowers, lowering of the flag, songs, closing address, and prizes. Everyone had fun, though it was a long day. Even I was getting tired and whiney. I'm not sure how the kids held up to it all!



In the video, William is in the parade holding hands with another student and looks at the camera. He is later doing warm-up exercises in a less than enthusiastic manner (which doesn't really distinguish him much in this case...) then doing the parachute routine. He is then in the red hat team playing tug-of-war with the teachers. And... I have no idea who that big kid is, out of uniform, coming around the corner...

Being Prepared

One of the things that Karen and I enjoyed doing in Kyoto is staying at a Japanese style Ryokan (Inn). Basically, it is a bed and breakfast. The sinks for getting ready were in a common area, and you had to share toilets (very clean, and they had one for men, one for women). The shower was in a room by itself. It had a little garden area off of it. Taking a camera down to bathe wasn't something I ever did, so there are no shots of that. Our ryokan was run by several generations of women. I believe this picture is 'grandma' and her grand daughter, who do the majority of the work. The youngest was named Karen, and she was only 6.



One thing to be prepared for if you're visiting Japan is the food differences. This breakfast, they tried to do more Western style (eggs, ham slices) for us, as the previous day neither of us touched the natto. It is a rotted bean, and it slime-strings as you pull it out of the bowl. If you can get over the consistency, it does taste good to me. Right up until the after-taste kicks in. And then there's fish for breakfast. Thankfully, Karen loves fish. The first day I did power through the smoked salmon, as it was the only protein along with the cold tofu. Now, I do eat tofu. However, when served a slab of it cold in the morning, I could only get down about a half. It was a big portion.

What I tried a small chunk of, was the Kyoto hata hata fish as seen here. It just wasn't my taste, as the Japanese would say. Every morning does give you miso soup, which I love, and hot tea, so life is good.

Sleeping on a futon on a tatami mat was fun to try. I loved how the covers (which were heavy and quite warm) went into the round hole in the middle, versus being tied or tucked at the end.


The pillows were some sort of heavy commodity in a small pillow. They were heavy, and kind of like sleeping on a sand bag. You had to hollow out (pound down) a spot for your round head, and hope for the best. Karen and I decided that this is the Japanese preparedness program. Since Kyoto is built by a river, and flooding is possible, if it happens in the middle of the night, all Kyoto occupants shall run out and throw down their pillows at the embankment to form a barrier. After sleeping the second night on these, we were sure of it. At least we were doing all we could to save the lives of many in case of a disaster. Even if both of us had stiff necks the following day.

AFN Setup

One of the perks of being a Civil Servant OCONUS (Outside the Continental United States) is that you get free access to the Armed Forces Network (AFN). It is a collection of about 10 channels of programming spanning family programming, sports, movies, and news and a couple radio channels including NPR. The commercials are more military public announcements than anything else. In Japan, they deliver the signal via satellite to individual satellite dishes at your residence.

"Free" never seams to be so. Even though they provide the set-top box, satellite dish and a subscription, you need to provide the mounting for the dish, cable, and installation. They provide a list of installers that charge about $300 to install the system, but we've had varying reports of quality from these companies. Though, we'd also heard many stories of failed DIY attempts at installation. This just challenged us to try, so we set off to install ours and we were eventually successful. Here are some of the details on how to install an AFN dish in Japan.

1) Obtain the Dish and Decoder: You request the AFN system along with all your government provided appliances when you sign your lease for off-base housing. They drop it off at the same time they drop off your fridge, washer, dryer, microwave/convection oven, smoke and CO detectors, and anything else you signed up for. Although they install all the other stuff, they do not install the AFN system.

2) Mount the Dish: Since we are leasing our house in Japan, we were not allowed to drill any holes in the siding or otherwise permanently mount anything to the house. So how do you install a satellite dish? Well, Japanese houses will generally have Japanese solutions to these types of problems. In this case, you can go to a hardware or electronics store and buy several different styles of temporary mounts for satellite dishes. In our case, we got a clamp mount that you clamp over a balcony rail. The clamp cost around $60 and a couple bucks for wood blocks to use as shims and we had a mount for the dish. You need to mount it so it has a clear view of the sky in a southwesterly direction (Azimuth 246.4 to be exact).

3) Setup the Decoder: To aim the dish you need to have the decoder set-up to listen for the satellite and then be able to see what the signal level is like as you tweak on the dish. I had an outlet pretty close to where I was setting up the dish, so I just plugged in the decoder box right close to the dish and then routed the audio and video feed from the box to a portable DVD player so I could see the signal as I had my hands on the dish. After it is up and running, pick menu and then go to item #2 "Preset/LNB" and put the information in as follows:

• Active = 3
• Preset = 3
• Down Link = 12.647
• Symbol Rate = 28.0
• FEC = 3/4
• Polar = V or V-fixed
• NetID = 4
• LNB Power = 13
• Lo1 = 9.75
• Lo2 = 10.6
• Cross Over 11.7
• Lo Select = Xover

4) Aim the Dish: Tip: (I strongly suggest having a video display of the signal level and sound of the tones in sight as you aim the dish. I used a portable DVD player hooked into the decoder right next to me as a aimed the dish. It's tempting to just have your spouse yell up the signal levels, but it is very precise tweaking required to line up the dish that can only be accomplished with quick feedback on the results). Go back to menu and select #3 "Dish Setup" It'll show a bar code for signal strength, a "Lock" indicator, and signal quality. With the dish pointed any old direction, the signal strength will be about 45 to 50. If it is 0, then your satellite cable is not hooked up to the dish LNB (sensor that cable hooks up to on the dish). Aim the dish to start with using a compass to point it at an Azimuth of 246.4 and an elevation of 28.1. From there, I moved the dish slowly back and forth and up and down until I found a strong signal. My Azimuth was off by about 10 degrees and the elevation off by a degree or two. The bar graph and tones tend to be a bit delayed, but with patience and a thorough search pattern, you can find the signal. If the dish is pointed nearly perfectly, the signal may lock and quality bar may start increasing. First tweak the azimuth until the signal is the strongest, then tweak the elevation to do the same. Once you have it pointed in the right direction, tighten down the dish.
Then, loosen the LNB mount and rotate it in 10 degree increments up to a total of 90 degrees in either direction. Find the spot with the highest signal strength and quality and then tighten it down. If you don't get a lock or strong signal, you may need to widen your search, or look to see if there is something in the way. Satellite dishes need a clear line of sight to the satellite to work, so if there is a building, tree, or power pole in the way, it won't work. You'll need to find a different place to mount the dish.

5) Route the Cable Into the House: Once again, we can't drill any holes in the house, but solutions are available. In our case, we bought a ribbon cable ($40) which has a coax connection on each end with a very thin ribbon cable in between. You can route the ribbon cable through a window or sliding glass door and then you can still close and lock the window or door. another option is to route the cable through the holes that the Japanese split air conditioning units route their hoses.

6) Once we had our dish pointed correctly, we got a message that said something along the lines of "Channel Not Authorized". I called the HELP DESK at (951) 413-2339 (manned 24 hours and they really are helpful) and they asked for the UA number off the bottom of the decoder box and within a minute he sent a signal via the satellite that unlocked the box and we were watching TV. Awesome!

During the first attempt at aiming, my set-top box seized up and stopped providing a video and audio signal. I unplugged it for a while before plugging it back in, but it still didn't work. I called the help desk and they said that with that particular model, they didn't have a reboot option, so I had to take it into base to Self Help and trade it in for another.

Update 8/10/09: It seems that the free systems were a temporary promotion and they now charge for AFN, though, I don't think it is too expensive.

Update 1/2/10: Added some emphasis to set up a display you can personally see as you are aiming the dish. Although it was mentioned before, I've had friends try to set up by having the spouse call up the signal levels and suffered much frustration. He just asked that I "Bold" those words...