16 Aug 94
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| At a bar-b-cue in Tokyo with NTT colleages. |
Hey! Guess whose mum’s got a ......typewriter!! This is great! Finally I’ll be able to whip up some long overdue letters. However, to start with I’ve just got to finish off and send out this 2nd part of our Japanese Adventure. Well, here goes....
Now, how far did I get last time. Hold on a tick while I find a copy of the last tree-killer and see...Ok, didn’t get too far at all really, did I?
Well, we’ve well and truly settled in now. We finally have all the essentials, except an ironing-board (but I’m not too worried about that I need to say! J Oh, by the way, for those of you who are reading this and who are not computer nerdies, this simple symbol is a sideways smiley (apparently the only easy way to do one on the computer). So of you see one, try and give a smile, cause even if you don’t think what precedes it is funny, you can’t let a good smiley go to waste! J
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| Staying cool in Tokyo!! |
Well, that’s enough gasbagging about the weather, I’m beginning to feel like a weather broadcaster! J Now I’d like to write a little about life in a Japanese Shataku (company housing), if that’s Ok? J I’ve never actually lived in an apartment before, but even if I had, living in this apartment block would still be an experience. Since I’m home during the day often, I see a lot of the wives and their children. The wives all seem to get on and work well together. By that I mean that there are several communal tasks that we all have to perform over certain periods together. For example, approximately once a month we take turns in cleaning the outside area of our blocks in groups of two units, usually the next door neighbour. Then we take turns and for one week each unit must clean up the garbage collection area once the rubbish has been collected. We also mow the lawns and weed the grass area together every couple of months and the children’s play ground area is cleaned every couple of weeks. Usually only families with children need do this, but since I have Spike I volunteered! J Actually, Spike does use the monkey bars to do his chin-ups on, so I guess it works out Ok.
I quite enjoy pitching in to do these activities, since I get to gasbag with the other wives and feel more a part of the whole ‘family’. Of course only the wives do these tasks (except the lawn mowing) since the husbands are at work from morning till often midnight during the week. The families here seem to have accepted us pretty much and I’ve (Spike too but at the moment he’s too busy with work and also his Japanese lessons so he usually doesn’t join in) been invited to concerts, taken to parks and invited to their homes several times now. I guess it helps to have a bit of spoken Japanese to be included in these activities.
Japan is now in the midst of a recycling boom. Almost everything is re-used or recycled. Our household rubbish needs to be separated into burnable and unburnable piles. Then glass and tins are usually collected separately (however, not in our suburb yet) and we have to take our milk cartons and Styrofoam trays to recycling bins. It takes me most of the day just to put out the rubbish!! J Also when we put out the garbage for collection it has to either be in a bin or under a council provided net. The reason for this is the plague of enormous black crows now sweeping (or should I say swooping) the country. J
The only problem I have with this sudden concern over the amount of garbage that Tokyo is producing is the fact that they seemed to have missed the point. If they didn’t wrap consumer items in layer upon layer of paper and then plastic, half the amount of waste would be reduced. The Japanese have always had a ‘thing’ for wrapping using paper, and have always been expert at it, but now when plastic is being used so widely to wrap things, it’s time to stop and think if it’s all so necessary. One blatant example is the humble bottle of sauce or mayonnaise. The bottle itself is actually ‘wrapped in plastic’, Laura Palmer style! J A bit excessive I feel.
Spike and I have become favoured play things of the local kids too. We often have visits from kids and can be found in front of the shataku ‘playing’. Actually, we have intrigued the kids with our juggling antics! Juggling seems to be almost non-existent in Japan these days and the only people who know a little about it are the grand mothers who used to juggle as children (before super Nintendos came into our lives). We’re a bit rusty at the moment from lack of practice, but the kids seem to love it anyway. We often have parents standing on their own balconies sneaking a peek too!
As most of you probably know, Japan like a lot of Asian countries depends a lot on the bicycle as a mode of transport (not so much for recreation, as we do in the West). Everyone from very small children to grandparents own and ride, bicycles to school, the train station, the local stores, to work etc. So, most Japanese are excellent riders (unlike myself) and have good balance, especially the children. Which brings me to my next point, like hoola hoops were a craze (and probably still are) in Australia, the Unicycle is all the rage over here! Every child seems to have one and ride it adeptly. They aren’t all that expensive and Spike and I have been toying with the idea of buying one. It’d be great to be able to ride and juggle at the same time! I’ve often been called a ‘clown’ now I could really become one! J The Japanese already think we’re quite strange, imagine what this could do for our reputation!
Well, duty calls and I have to get on with dinner before Spike gets home. J It’s about 6.45pm now and he’ll be starving when he finally gets here, at about 7pm. So will I be for that matter! See you again when I get the chance. Ciao!
Hi, back again. It’s Thursday night and I’ve just returned home from a free trumpet concert which was held at the local golf driving range. I was invited to go with the family living below us on the 2nd floor and their neighbours. It was really enjoyable being out with the families, and the concert was quite good too. Also, on my return I had a call from my ‘good mate’ Shiho, so I’m feeling great at the moment and in the mood for some more Japan tales.
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| Enjoying a picnic with Keiko, Mrs Aibara, Hajime and Nobuko. |
Upon arrival you are told that everyone must wear swimming caps and no-one is allowed to bring beach balls, read by the pool, wear tanning oil, jump or dive into the pool or wear any jewellery into the pool. Ok, then after you change your guided through a small maze, where ‘sheep dip’ style, you pass through one pool after another. The first shin deep to clean your feel. The next pool was waist deep and the last, a shower system which squirts water at you from every known direction. Once you have passed through the maze, you eventually arrive at the pool side to find several (four per pool) lifeguards! Two sit on tennis umpire style chairs, and two walk around the pool side. Considering one pool is only 25msand the other a kids pool, I find this a little excessive! They rotate shifts every 30 mins and go through a flutter of hand gestures when starting or finishing a shift.
Now this may seem like a bit of over-kill to you, as I first thought, but wait till you hear the rest of the story! There is a strange phenomenon which takes place in Japanese pools which necessitates the evacuation of the pool and the lifeguards to protect the people. At exactly 10 mins to every hour, for 10 mins, the water itself turns into a crazed homicidal monster and would attack all swimmers if it were not for the lifeguards evacuating the pool! After this 10 min period, the water settles down again and everyone can enter the pool again without risk! In fact it’s nothing so dramatic, they just impose a rest period for the ‘safety’ of all swimmers. I don’t need this! I go there for a certain length of time and chose to swim for a certain amount of time...aaagh! It drives me nuts how the Japanese love authority and regimentation! I don’t see why it’s necessary for a person who has been in the water for 5 mins, to get out and rest for 10 mins! HELP! I’m drowning in all this discipline! The other point I forgot to mention is that if it rains at all, they evacuate the outdoor pool and close it.... what are they worried about! That someone might actually get WET!! J
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| With Centre Volunteers. |
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| With some of my lovelies that I 'help'! |
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| Tanabata no Hi - Firework Fun! |
The next was about a week later, and a festival I’m still not quite sure about, called Kimodameshii. This time the festival resembles Halloween and the kids enjoy trying to frighten each other. All the children from the 12 blocks of Shataku get together in the park at about 6pm and form several groups of around 5-6 kids. They then walk around the Shataku grounds, when it gets dark, being randomly frightened by groups of ‘ghosts’ (Dressed in white sheets and masks). The ghosts jump out from behind bushes shining torches in their faces and saying ‘help us’ over and over again. The groups of little children being escorted by an adult of course, never cease screaming at every new group of ‘ghosts’, which is strange of course since they know that their path is going to be crossed by howling spirits. I’ve asked someone about this ritual and, it has to do with the children showing their bravery and persistence (I think). Once again the children seem to live it anyway!
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| Waiting patiently for a massive Fireworks display! |
Speaking of being exhausted, I think I deserve a well earned break after that marathon! J Ciao!
Hi, back again. This time I’m coming to you live (well at the time I hand wrote this) from the Musashino Sports Centre Library. I’ve finally worked out how all these Japanese people who don’t have air-conditioning survive the days...they spend most of it at the library!! Not reading or doing research or anything silly like that, but getting some precious shut-eye. Since the nights are so hot and it’s difficult to get a good night’s sleep, they all decide to get a good day’s sleep!! So I’m going to make like a local and get some shut-eye, talk to you later. Boy does this lounge feel comfy – nighty night!
Hey!! Guess what...Guess What... Guess What!!! We’ve now got an AIR-CONDITIONER!! It’s just heaven! I’m not going to leave the apartment now till Autumn. I’m hibernating! It was a ‘gift’ from one of my best friends here called Mari. I met her at the local pool one day and we’ve just it it off. One of her family members had two spare after a house was demolished (whose, I don’t know!) and so she gave us one. It’s quite old but still works well enough for us. However, like most things in Japan that are free initially, it ended up costing us around $350 to have it installed. The same goes with our free fridge that we were given, we ended up paying $100 for delivery! Of course these are a fraction of the prices of new items, so we’re not complaining (though it might seem it after reading that last sentence J)
Spike seems to be doing well at work and I guess the major complaint he has at the moment is that they are re-furbishing the tennis courts there, and he won’t be able to play for a month or so....so sad! Actually, he’s very lucky because before this he was able to play every weekend and sometimes after work, which is rare in Japan. The work he is doing now is related of course to what he was doing in Brisbane, however it is in a slightly different area which is making it a little difficult. The other problem is the Japanese love for instant results. They have a staff meeting once a week and at every meeting you are expected to have some results. In this area it is very difficult though to keep churning out results regularly and it places a fair bit of stress on Spike. Like I said though, he is coping well.
Since arriving in Japan this year, we have unfortunately had no chance as yet to escape Tokyo. In September though we should, if things go well, spend a couple of weekends in the countryside. It should be much cooler there and it will be nice to ‘get back to nature’, if only for a short time.
Well, it’s that time again...the mind is blank and I haven’t the energy to dredge any further. I hope you have enjoyed reading my little newsletter. Until next time remember, ‘the world really is WONDERFUL!!.’
All our love, Maria and Spike.
