30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 16

#16: Precious Fruit

Individually packaged apples about $2.00 USD each

Fruit is usually very expensive in Japan.  You can usually only buy fruit seasonally, with a few things coming from other countries in SE Asia, like bananas and pineapples.   Fruit is frequently packaged individually, usually in a soft cushiony "foam cradle" (as seen below).

We often get tired of the fruits in Japan, but in the first few weeks of every season, it's exciting to see new fruit arrive at the grocery store.  It usually starts at a REALLY high price and then moves to a moderate price (one I would have scoffed at before living in Japan).

Apple and Persimmon

Luckily, most of the fruit that is sold is of very high quality.  So, when you do spent a lot of money on them, you rarely have to throw out a piece of bad fruit.

Right now, the figs are starting to wane at the store, but apples, Asian pears, persimmon and mikon (mandarin oranges) are in full season.

Besides the normal market/grocery store fruit, there is also "gift fruit".  This is the really high end stuff.   Here is more information on this topic from Sembikiya (which specializes gift fruit in Japan) and a Western article about the same topic: Inside Japan's Most Insanely Expensive Fruit Parlor.

Cantaloupe - about $30 USD each.

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 15

#15 - Walk this Way

This is the image one often thinks about when they think about crossing the street in Japan.  This is a very busy intersection in the Shibuya section of Tokyo and this happens almost every time the light changes green.

Two things to take from this:
1. We do not live in a place this busy, although this is fun to do at least once (we'll find you a busy intersection in Osaka that you can enjoy).

2. Always obey the crosswalk signals, even if there is no traffic.  Just because it's a rule.  Why? Well, Wa is important here.  It makes Japan, Japan.  Sometimes rules seem ridiculous or make no sense, but it's for the best of everyone.  And, it works.

And, on a side note:
Are we really half way there?  I may have miscounted my days...

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 14

#14 Cooking in Japan/Japanese Kitchen

It is always a steep learning curve when you try to cook your go-to-meals at home in a new country.  Things you've made for years and watched your mom make, just don't turn out the same. First, ingredients are sometimes different or need to be substituted.  Second, the cooking tools and equipment are often different.

This is definitely true in Japan.  Japan does not have a baking culture and most kitchens (ours included) is teeny-tiny.

In Japan, most kitchens don't have an oven of any kind.  We had to purchase a "table top" convection oven/microwave combo, which definitely takes some getting used to.  It's the size of an US microwave, but it also works as an oven.  Roasting a turkey or making more than one dozen cookies is often challenging.

Most appliances are very smart here and it has all sorts of options, like our rice cooker and stovetop, but we regularly just use one or two buttons.

For our stove top, we now have IH.  The trick we learned in the first few nights in our apartment, was that the cooking vessel needed to be on the burner for it to work and that half of our pots/pans weren't IH compatible. But, it is really safe and cooks evenly.

Most Japanese kitchens have a built-in fish grill like you can see here:

Grilling on balconies is forbidden.  Everyone dries their clothes on their balconies and if one grills on their balcony, it is not being considerate of their neighbors (rightfully so).  Who really wants smoky barbecue smelling clothes?

This little grill is great.  We use it weekly, mainly for fish, but it's also great for garlic bread and pizzas and broiling cheese on top of a cheese steak sandwich, as seen below:

The one we have now is smarter than the one we used to have with many different features you can see that we've labeled.  (There are quite a few things labeled in our house.)

A rice cooker is also a common appliance in a Japanese kitchen.  We use ours regularly, as well.

Part of the fun of moving from country to country is learning first hand about a culture's cuisine, but we also have learned how to replicate our favorites from home as well.  Over the years, we've perfected pulled pork, rye bread, many Tex-Mex dishes and a lot of other things that we can't easily get here.

This is Lola's thumb's up/wink.
Oishi-des!  Yummy!

Ooh, and I just thought of another interesting Japanese kitchen feature - the refrigerator.  It's a lot smaller/skinner than most US refrigerators, and the freezer is on the bottom - this only poses a problem when you live with a two year old.  But, the cool feature of this otherwise ordinary appliance is that most of them open on both sides.

So, dear family, if you're thinking about heating up some food while we're at work, it's a little tricker than it may seem, but not impossible... Or even easier, just run to the convenience store or coffee shop, we'll give you the directions.

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 13

#13 100¥ Store - These Ain't No "Dollar Stores"

The infamous 100¥ stores.

I love them.  I usually go to one at least two times a month.  I think we survived off the 100¥ store when we first arrived here before our shipment came.

100¥ is about $1.00, so yes, it is in theory, a lot like a dollar store.

But they are so, so much more.

I often wonder what this lady thinks of me.
She is the regular cashier at the 100¥ nearest to our house.
I often buy large quantities for the Design Kitchen at school or things for birthday parties.
My latest big purchase was 20 bento boxes and all the accessories.

You can get anything from pottery to cute Japanese lunch box accessories to office/art supplies to snacks to tupperware to odds and ends to keep your kids entertained for a train ride/dinner in a restaurant and much, much more.

There are some 100¥ stores that are better than others.  And taking it a step above, there are even 300¥ stores, that have higher quality items.

Hey, you could buy all the gifts you bring back to the US from the 100¥ store, we won't tell!

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 12

#12 - Take Off Your Shoes, Onegaishimasu (Please)

In Japan, you always take off your shoes when entering a house.  This is a habit we got into quickly, it is especially helpful when living with small children.  (They really can dirty up a place fast).  Most apartments are equipped with large shoe closets upon entering that store many pairs of shoes.

It keeps houses cleaner and it helps prevent damage to the tatami flooring in tatami rooms.

There are other places that you may also have to remove your shoes including certain restaurant seating and the dentist's office. The most surprising to me was the dressing rooms at department stores.  You leave your shoes outside the changing room when you try things on.

In most schools, students have indoor and outdoor shoes.  At our school, this rule holds true for the elementary school.  The middle and high schoolers (and teachers) don't have to change their shoes, even thought they share a lot of the same spaces, I guess they are less prone to have dirty shoes.

It is always intriguing to me how people deftly slip in and out of their shoes - their socked feet don't touch the entry way and slip easily into house slippers.  This takes practice.  Shoes are neatly slipped off and usually left facing towards the door, so one can slip them back on and continue out the door when exiting.  I truly find this an art, one that I am often fumbling around as I pick up kids and have bags slung around my shoulders.  At a very young age, kids independently take off their shoes as soon as they enter a house.

Last week, I went on a middle school trip and students had to bring four pairs of shoes - water shoes, indoor shoes/slippers, indoor sneakers and outdoor sneakers.  It was serious business.

Continuing on with this shoe business, you never put your feet up on things.  Even kids are expected to keep their feet off the seats of the train and in other public places.

Even with 55 kids, they all take off their shoes before entering the tatami room.

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 11

#11 Rokko Island

Rokko Island

Rokko Island is a rectangular man-made island.  There is a great 5 km (3.1 mile) "Greenbelt" path that encloses the residential area of the island which is great to run/walk around and is dotted with great views, playgrounds and planned plantings.  Outside of that, there are shipyards for containers and a few other commercial buildings.

Middle of Rokko Island

Within the residential area, there are restaurants, schools, parks, grocery stores, a water park... Anything one might need when living on an island.  Unfortunately, in the past few years, many businesses have left Rokko Island, so there isn't as much a variety of restaurants and shopping.

It is the perfect place if you are under 10 or over 60.

We get around on bike and by foot.  We are only 5 minutes from work and grocery stores by bike (and really anything else on the island).

It does get a bit boring and we often wish there were more restaurant choices on island.  We wish that it was easier to go out and buy a gift or get the kids new shoes (as it was when we first moved to the island five years ago).  But, the kids have a lot of freedom on island.   Maximo rides ahead of us on his bike and has a key to our apartment.  While there are cars, there are lights and crossing signals everywhere.  There are hedges separating most of the sidewalks and roads, so when you are walking with an unpredictable toddler, it is usually pretty safe.

Maximo walking home with his friends

While sometimes we yearn for more exciting (shopping and eating, mostly) options nearby, we never have to worry about traffic or being jammed on a train on a busy commute to work.  It's easy to hop on the Rokko Liner and head into Sannomiya (the heart of Kobe) and enjoy meals, shopping and all the things we miss in our day to day home-to-work-to-home life.

Lola in the River Mall

In the middle of the island, there is the River Mall, a man-made "river" which is great for the kids to play in when it's hot.  This is where most of the shops, hotels, restaurants can be found on island.

View North from our apartment towards Kobe

There is a decent ex-pat population on Rokko Island due to the two international schools and Proctor and Gamble.  It is one of the few places in Japan you'll regularly see many foreigners. Due to this population, the grocery stores have a wider variety of products and we can get pretty much whatever we want (for a price, of course).

The City and the inhabitants (especially the large population of retirees) do a great job of keeping the island beautiful and clean.  There are a lot of sculptures around island and there are flowers, trees and plants everywhere you look.

The day after you arrive, we'll be at work, and you can go explore the island...you'll never be more than 15 minutes from our apartment.

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 10

These posts are written for Carrie, Pete, and Elvia for their imminent trip to Japan, but of course, anyone traveling to Japan or dreaming of traveling to Japan can enjoy.

#10 Trash Talk

Image Credit: http://blogs.afp.com/correspondent

In Japan, trash sorting and pick-up is serious business, as you can see from the above image. At first it's a bit overwhelming, but now when we go back to the U.S. in the summer, we're shocked by the amount we just "throw away", even with the recycling programs we have in Savannah and CT.

In Japan, the major trash sorting categories (as understood by a foreigner) are:

Burnable trash - this goes to an incinerator and is food scrap, non-recyclable paper, and other burnable items.

Pura - this is plastic packaging - plastic wrap, plastic wrap from snacks, packaging from meat in the grocery store, and thin styrofoam, labels from PET bottles.

PET - this is plastic bottles - mostly drink containers.  But on this day of recycling, we can also recycle glass bottles, aluminum and tin cans.

Non-burnable trash - Hard plastics, and other small (that can fit into a bag) non burnable items.

While we can recycle A LOT, it is difficult to get rid of things (especially large things) you no longer want.  You cannot just go to a dump and drop it off, or what was even easier in Peru, just leave it by the side of the road, where someone else would grab it or it would be collected with the trash.

This is sometimes very difficult, especially because living spaces are so small in Japan.  The only other frustrating thing about trash is finding a trash can in a public place (other than a train station) can sometimes be challenging.

In Japan, people are really good good about cleaning up after themselves.   We went to a big festival and were given tongs and trash bags to carry out our trash with us.  

Frequently, different groups (schools, apartment complexes) organize clean-ups where they don their gloves, tongs and a variety of different trash bags to collect trash around their neighborhoods.

Regularly we see people on Rokko Island picking up trash when they are out walking their dog in the morning, just because.

Japan is a highly populated country, and they have great systems in place for people to live in harmony as best they can.  In Japan, people really respect nature and cleanliness, and everyone contributes.

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 9

These posts are written for Carrie, Pete, and Elvia for their imminent trip to Japan, but of course, anyone traveling to Japan or dreaming of traveling to Japan can enjoy.

#9: Cosplay

Cosplay "costume play" is where grown adults dress up in (intricate & expensive) costumes with accessories that usually represent a character, from Manga (Japanese adult cartoon) or other sources.

Our island is often a playground for "Cosplayers" and photographers on the weekends.  The spaceship-like Fashion Museum and the Proctor & Gamble Building (which Lola refers to Monsters' Inc.), are perfect backdrops to pink and blue-haired sword-wielding futuristic warriors.

It's always entertaining to watch and I love the juxtaposition of kids playing in the River Mall with all these futuristic funky characters getting photographed in the background.

If you want to learn more about Cosplay, read here (or Google it yourself!).

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 8

These posts are written for Carrie, Pete, and Elvia for their imminent trip to Japan, but of course, anyone traveling to Japan or dreaming of traveling to Japan can enjoy.

#8: Great advertisements/public announcements

Image Credit: http://wwwscriblets-bleets.blogspot.jp/

I often spend my train rides trying to figure out the meaning of the advertisements/public announcements.  Many times they are straightforward and easy to figure out the message (even when one is illiterate).  

But often times, I look at the posters and have no idea what the advertisement is about or there is just a really interesting/strange way of attracting people to the advertisement - not ones you would normally see in the U.S.  There are usually include cute animals or beautiful girls.

Sometimes the are funny because there are issues with English translation.

Here are some posted here at train stations.  I need to take pictures of more, because they are great.  

Image Credit: www.japantrends.com

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 7

These posts are written for Carrie, Pete, and Elvia for their imminent trip to Japan, but of course, anyone traveling to Japan or dreaming of traveling to Japan can enjoy.

Tiny beers

#7 Teeny Tiny Things

When we first moved to Japan, I was amazed by how tiny things were - tiny apartments, tiny refrigerators, tiny packages of meat/fish at the grocery store, tiny portions at restaurants, and more.  After a while, you really get use to it, and now when we go back home I'm shocked by how big everything is - cars, meals served at restaurants, stores, etc.

Tiny Taco

 It's hard in these images to really get the perspective of how tiny some things are, but when you'll get here you'll see.

You get used to the tininess.
A large house isn't needed.
A massive meal isn't necessary.
Everything is cute.
While many things are tiny... they are really efficient and/or of the best quality.

A tiny moving truck