Kai-Awase

Yesterday we had our 6 week anniversary of living in Tokyo.  The time has gone by quickly.

On February 2nd, I was invited to a Women's Fellowship Meeting at Tokyo Union Church in the Omote-sando (pronounced "o ma tae sand oh") area.  I had met a woman, JoAnn, who lives on the same floor and is a member of the Society who invited me.  At the meeting, I met many lovely ladies of all nationalities, which also included 2 fellow Master Gardeners, one from RI and one from PA.  At this monthly meeting, a guest, Yukiko Ota, gave a demonstration on the Japanese traditional shell-matching game, called Kai-Awase.  The shells were beautifully hand painted on the inside.  I enjoyed learning and playing this ancient Japanese game.

Mt. Fuji

These 2 photos are from Bill's work looking out a window.  One is taken during the day, the other at sunset. Once the weather warms up a bit, we will be taking a trip to Mt. Fuji.

The Scramble

In Shibuya, where Bill works, there is a street crossing near the train station.  The nickname of this intersection is called "the scramble".  Car traffic stops in all directions and pedestrians cross all at once!  If you count all the directions people are walking from...it is 12!  Thus the name!  The photo shows a quiet day taken from the neighboring Mark City building.  The scramble is also an area you will find unique and unusual people.  On this day we found a foursome of "unitards"!

Japanese wedding at Hie Shrine

On a Sunday in January, Bill and I visited the Hie Shrine which is next door to us.  We happened upon a wedding just ready to take place.  The photo is the bride to be being walked down the aisle.

Earthquakes

Yes, we have felt earthquakes.  Our first "major" one was on January 28 at 7:43 am.  It measured a 5.5 and yes the building feels like it is swaying.  It was scary, but we didn't panic.  I looked out the window (silly me...one of the rules for safety is stay away from windows!) and life looked normal.  Cars were still traveling, no buildings collapsed, and people were walking!  5.5 is so very minor to the locals.  We have felt many little quakes.  I check Japan's earthquake website whenever I feel a movement to see where it was.  You can follow along with me by checking out the website:  www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html  Click on Earthquake Information which is in the middle of the column on the left.  You will then see a map of Japan.  The epicenter is marked with a "x" and the circles show where the quake was felt and measured.  It is divided into prefectures which is similar to our states.  Tokyo is one prefecture with many different areas (similar to townships).

I'm also posting a couple of photos.  One is a sunrise as seen from our apartment and the other is fog and light snow approaching.

Next post I will discuss a few of the "holidays" that have occurred since we have been here.

Weather, food & shopping

I'm going to answer some questions that have come my way.  Tokyo is experiencing a colder than normal winter.  We've had several days of snow flurries and one day with a 2 inch snowfall.  On your news in the US you probably heard about the heavy amount of snow that Japan is getting.  You have to go quite north and west of Tokyo to see that. 

Tokyo is very diverse with their restaurants.  We have had a wide variety including Japanese, Chinese, Italian, British, and American.  Their are McD's here, although we have not gone.  Subway, Fridays, Outback, and Hooters can also be found.  Our plans are not to try those unless we get a craving.  I personally can't think of a time that I craved going to Hooters.  :)  One Friday evening we did have a craving for pizza and asked at our front desk for someone to deliver.  He pulls out the menu for Pizza Hut!  So we had Pizza Hut deliver us a $40.00 pizza!  Pizza will not be a weekly item on our menu!

 Most of the restaurants have a specific lunch menu that they offer for an average cost of 1000 yen which is equal to about $13.00.  Some restaurants have an English menu if you ask for it.  We do a lot of picture looking and pointing.  So far we have not had anything too outrageous.  We did have an appetizer that had cold potatoes and something else in it, but we couldn't quite figure it out.  Finally, one waiter spelled it out for us...SQUID.  Oh!  But it was very good.  Our routine is that I cook during the week and on Sat. and Sun. we explore a new place to eat.  Since lunch prices are more reasonable than dinner, we combine the two.

We have found our closest food market.  Some of you have heard the story of our one hour search for this market and then find out it is about a 6 minute walk from our apartment!  Streets are not marked with nice street signs.  The market is called Hanamasa which means meat market.  Besides meat, there are many other products.  Bill's boss's husband, Dave, has a car and has taken me to Costco (yes, just like home!) and the international market, Nissin.  Grocery prices are high in Tokyo.  On average 3-4 times higher.  But as budget minded as I am, I did find a good cheap wine!  400 yen which is about $5.00.

Welcome Joan and Bill and farewell to Chikako party

On Thursday, January 19, we were invited out to dinner with Bill's new coworkers to welcome us and to say goodbye to Chikako who would be heading to Michigan in a couple of weeks for her 18 month assignment.  We had a lovely Japanese style meal.  Some of the meal was prepared at the table by steaming.  Yes, some raw fish was served.  We enjoyed many glasses of Japanese beer, good food, and great company!  Kanpai! (Cheers!)(pronounced as "khan-pie")

Night time view from our apartment,