Food Fun for Everyone!

Ahhh ... where to begin on the food-front?  First of all, I am very glad that my kids aren't picky eaters and are willing to try most things.  We looove street food and train station food and can't seem to get enough of it, nor can we afford enough of it to feed our bottomless pit children.  Alas...

Tako yaki - yummm... octopus balls!

We had tako yaki (octopus balls) at a train station stand and Ethan quite liked it until we told him it was octopus.... It's a favorite of Kevin's as it is a specialty of Osaka, where he spent a year as a college exchange student.  I think it makes him feel young again, like the good 'ol days.


Also love the yakitori stands!  After more than one mistake, I've learned that the pieces that look like tender, delicious pieces of beef are actually chicken liver.  I like most things, but liver is NOT one of them.  I'm not so sure about the chicken-skin-on-a-stick either, but I may have to try that someday soon.

Yaki tori food stall

Something scrumptious on a stick

Sandy and the kids at the stand-up sushi bar

We had a super-fun stand-up sushi bar evening to celebrate my friend, Sandy's birthday.  We were in Peace Corps Malawi together and it's been so fun to reconnect with her while she's been in Tokyo for work.  Fun times!  Ethan tried his first fish eggs, but Ryan refused saying that he'd "rather cut the egg open and have the fish as a pet."  We did have a few bits of wasabi that escaped my not-so-watchful eye and the kids were not so very happy about that, but they recovered quickly.

Ethan and his roe...

Sushi night out with Sandy without the kids... ate what we think was a whole little baby jellyfish, but we're not so sure what it was...

His pained expression has more to do with me taking a picture
than with the mochi waffle he was eating - I promise.

Our day trip to Kamakura was all about the street food.  We made it our family goal to eat only street food the whole day and we succeeded with great gusto.  It seems Kamakura is known for its mochi (pounded rice) in all different forms - we had mochi on a stick, mochi waffles, mochi wrapped in seaweed - all within about 2 city blocks and 30 minutes.  Delicious.

For lunch, I had the local Kamakura specialty of some sort of tiny little fish (for the Malawi folk, it reminded me of the miniature usipa) served over rice with a raw quail egg.  This was my first experience with raw quail eggs - not bad actually!

Never fear - we're just getting started on the food fun!  For Ryan's yochien celebration dinner, he chose to go to the hanami food stands.  Very wise choice!  Such a fun atmosphere.  We couldn't eat everything we wanted to, but had quite a nice sampling - sweet potato chips, age-dashi tofu, yakitori, imagawa yaki, sausage on a stick, some large bimbap-type-burrito thing. Can't wait til next year's hanami food festival!  I'm already strategizing as to how many times we can eat there during the 2 weeks of hanami...

Enjoy the sampling of photos below!

We waited a looooong time just so Ethan could have some cherry tomatoes - and it was well worth the wait for all of us.

Boat o' octopus for tako yaki

Fish sticks, anyone?

The sugar-high end to our evening!

Our First Hanami - Cherry Blossom Viewing

The cherry blossoms do not disappoint.  Phenomenal really.  Hard to put into words.  Even these pictures don't do it justice.

And they are everywhere.

Walking down the path from our house to the train station...
In the park nearby where we took a family bikeride...
On the path on the way to the zoo ...

A little more cherry blossom trivia for you...

• We've learned that it is a very short season, lasting only 1-2 weeks depending on the weather.
• There is a specific tree that indicates the official start of sakura season (made both Kevin and me think of the groundhog for some reason).
• Everyone has elaborate group picnics, and the youngest in the group gets the job of spreading out a large tarp in the morning to stake out prime hanami picnic spots for the rest of the group.
• I'm not sure why Kevin and I got such a kick out of this, but we did.  According to a "how to do hanami" website, you can look at a single tree or a group of trees.  Thanks for the tip!  Here's the exact wording... 

"Cherry blossom viewing is easy: Simply enjoy the intensity of the many blossoms by looking at a single tree or a group of trees." 

Anyway .....we did the hanami picnic in 3 different parks and somehow don't have any pictures of any of the picnics or with the kids.  Edo Castle in the evening with friends of Kevin from work.  Komazawa park while on a family bikeride.  And Shinjuku Koen for an Easter party / hanami picnic.  Was a busy hanami weekend for sure.

First Week of Shogakko and Yochien

From what we can tell, kids are doing just fine at school.  Then again, we can't really tell much... so that's a wild guess.  They are both very excited to go to school every morning, so we take that as a good sign.  And in the daily reports, the most common answer is "it was kind of fun, actually."  We did hear from the teacher (through another parent) that Ethan seemed very "nervous" at first, but now he's all smiles that he's found a friend.

FIRST GRADE:

In Ethan's first week, he was one of the lunch servers for his classroom.  How they chose the only child who can't speak Japanese for additional responsibilities during the first few days of school is a little perplexing, but alas.  Maybe it was a test to see if we would be able to wash and IRON the school server outfit and get it back to school correctly and on-time?  Hmmm .... I wonder if we passed?

Ethan in his stunning pink school lunch server uniform.  He had to wear a face mask too but we couldn't find one for the picture... tres chic!

 Ethan's favorite parts of the school day seem to be lunch (no surprise there) and his Japanese as a second language support class.  He says his Japanese class is "not really learning, it's mostly games."  Whatever works.

I give Kevin credit - he spent over an hour one night translating the school menu so we could answer Ethan everyday when he asks "what's for lunch today?"  He loves the Japanese school lunch food and reports that he eats 4 bowls everyday.  Apparently the kids can have additional helpings, and Ethan helps himself (which we encourage, because it's expensive to feed our bottomless pit kids in Japan).  It's mostly typical Japanese food - fish, rice, soup, yakisoba, udon, etc.  But, our translation of one of the menu items was "melon bread" and we haven't quite figured out what that is, even after Ethan ate it and described it to us.  The mystery remains ...

In preparation for school, we had coached Ethan to watch what the other kids were doing and follow their lead.  If they take out the blue book, you should probably take out the blue book and so forth.  Seems logical enough, right?  Ethan had a different idea.  On the second day of school, he told us that he was just sitting there because he didn't understand what the teacher said.  "What were the other kids doing?" I asked.  "They were writing in their school books, and everyone knows that you're not supposed to write in school books, so I definitely didn't do that."  What??%$#  Clearly, a little more coaching was required.

Playing at school after a THREE hour parent meeting

One thing I really like about Ethan's school is that each first-grader is assigned a 6th grader who, in Ethan's words, "will take care of me for a week or maybe a year."  Each morning, the 6th graders go into the first grade classrooms, talk to their assigned student, help them unpack their backpacks, etc.  It's quite sweet - or so it seems from where I sit.  And Ethan quite likes his 6th grade friends, so that's all that matters.

There is a little girl in Ethan's class who speaks Japanese, French, and English (her mother is Japanese and her father is French) and she has been a HUGE help to Ethan.  She is simply a great kid and her whole family has been so kind and so helpful to us and to Ethan.  There are also 2 other little girls from Ethan's class who live on our street, so we see them a lot and their moms too have been incredibly helpful.  One morning, I asked if anyone knew about judo classes and by that afternoon, one of the moms had looked on-line, found a class, printed out the information, translated it for me, and given me a map as to how to get there.  All from a casual question and within a matter of hours.  The kindness is phenomenal.

Weekend park playdate with friends from school,
one of the other dads was captain of this ship.

Kevin was the captain of this row boat.
This park is about a 5-10 minute walk from our house...

Walking home with the "blue" group
Ryan is always very excited to greet them.

The method of getting to and from school is quite different.  No buses, no parents dropping off by car, few parents at all, actually.  On the way to school, most kids walk by themselves.  There are designated routes the kids are supposed to walk - the street is quite busy and there are swarms of kids all walking along.  First-graders (ichinensei) all wear bright yellow hats.  Some of the first grade parents walk part-way with their children, but definitely not a majority.  Ethan has been begging us to let him walk by himself ..... so starting Monday, he'll be making the 1 km trek on his own.  For walking home, each child is assigned to a walking group.  Ethan is in the blue group and for the first month of school, each group of kids is escorted home by a teacher from the school.  After a few more weeks, the first graders will be on their own for the return trip too.

YOCHIEN:

When I picked Ryan up from yochien yesterday, the first words out of his mouth were "I understand the teacher a lot today."  Fabulous.  And HIS perception is everything, so we're going with it.  Side note: apparently he's losing his ability to speak English correctly very quickly - is that a good sign in terms of his speed at learning Japanese?  Not so sure.

At Gekkohara yochien

In Japan, yochien (translated as kindergarten, but really seems to mirror pre-school in the U.S.) is 2-3 years.  Private yochiens start with a 3 year old class and public yochiens start with a 4 year old class.  Our timing is perfect, as Ryan is at a public yochien in the 4 year old class, so all the other children are new to the school as well.  In fact, many of the children have never been to pre-school before, so Ryan actually has a leg- up in that he has several years of experience in daycare/pre-school under his belt.

The yochien takes it sweet time ramping up to the full 5 hours/day - up to now, it's only been 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 hours per day.  Just enough time for me to make it to part of a Japanese class a few days/week.  I'm looking forward to when they start the 9-2 schedule.

When the 4 year olds arrive at school, each child is escorted into the gate hand in hand by one of the children from the 5 year old class.  Quite cute actually.  Ryan's been busy making paper airplanes (kami no hikooki) at school as well as a fair amount of artwork.

In the morning, waiting for yochien to start...

Yep, that's how you write Ryan's name in Japanese!

 At pick-up time, the parents line up and the teacher gives a speech about what the kids did that day and any other announcements.  This is pretty much what I understand during the speech.  "They did something in the morning (asa).  Something was fun (tanoshii).  Something is happening next Tuesday morning (kayoobi asa). " And on and on. I catch a few words here and there.  The rest is all guesswork.  Luckily for me, there is a Japanese mom who is married to a Canadian who has been SOOO helpful as well.  I'm pretty clueless most of the time, and I can't even imagine how completely lost I would be without so many people willing to help.

After the update from the teacher, the parents stand in line next to their child and one-by-one, the sensei shakes each child's hand and says "sayonara."  Every day, Ryan takes this very seriously and asks me "do I say sayonara sensei? Is that right?"  With a confident voice and a confident handshake, Ryan says goodbye to his teacher and is on his merry way.

So, that's how our school year has started.  Oooo-la-la, our new life continues.

Who knew....?

Who knew.....

... that the best place to buy a refrigerator in Tokyo is a place called Bic Camera?

... that it would take a PhD, daily discipline, and a full size calendar to correctly recycle in Japan?

... that cherry blossoms would look like snow as the blossoms gently blow off the trees?

... that it would take a minimum of 3 men, outfitted in hard hats, standing on a VERY quiet residential street to "protect the people" from a very small sidewalk repair?

... that cleanliness in Japan includes physically washing the traffic lights hanging overhead in the middle of an intersection?  Not repairing, actually washing, with water and a scrub brush.

... that fruit is crazy expensive, but this is the best darn fruit I've ever eaten?!?

... that our rice cooker can also make cakes and play music?

... that many people wear face masks yet bakeries and grocery stores have all their items out in plain view, right at eye/nose/mouth level of young children?

... that lines in Japan that seem unfathomably long somehow move very, very fast?

... that few Japanese homes have ovens but there's a fancy French bakery every .5km? Yummm...

... that the inside temperature of a house really could be colder than outside?  Thank goodness for spring!

... that a neighbor we've never met would knock on our door and give us an envelope containing a card and 2,000 yen as congratulations "from the community" for Ethan starting elementary school?

... that recycling is very important in Japan yet many, many, many things are individually wrapped?  As in, you buy a box of 12 cookies and EACH cookie will have its own plastic packaging.  Now, that wrapper will inevitably be recyclable, but still.

... that the 100 yen shop would be such a saving grace?  I think we've furnished our entire home from the 100 yen shop and craigslist Tokyo...

... that people would be oh so very kind?  I only wish that people in my own country (myself included) would be half as nice to immigrants in the US as people have been to us.

Opening Ceremony at Gekkohara Yochien

Whew!  Two opening ceremonies under our belt.  We seem to be getting better at this.  At least, we had our slippers with us this time...





















It was a beautiful sunny day and Ryan was extremely excited to start kindergarten (yochien) in Japan.  He was all dressed up and commented several times that he looked "just like Daddy."  He also mentioned that he saw lots of moms wearing flowers at Ethan's opening ceremony and shouldn't I wear a flower too?  That prompted a search of the backyard for the perfect flower for me.  What a sweet boy...

 Ryan's yochien is a little bit far from our house, so we have this handy-dandy mamachari bike to make the trek (mamachari is short for mother's chariot - this is a topic in and of itself for a later post).  And to be honest, it was basically the only yochien who would take us.  Seems that many yochiens closer to us were either already full and/or were a little hesitant to accept a family that didn't speak Japanese.  Oh well ... we very much like this kindergarten, the teachers are super energetic and friendly, and to Ryan's utter joy - they have animals - a rabbit and a guinea pig.  It was definitely the animals that sealed the deal for Ryan.

The Mamachari bike...

With slippers, school supplies, and the required blue hat in hand, we were on our way on our trusty Mamachari.  Ryan was thrilled to explore his new playground before the start of the ceremony, and being the height of cherry blossom season made it all the more picturesque.

The ceremony itself was EXTREMELY mother-dominated.  So much so that Kevin and the other dads were sent to wait in the ceremony room while the moms stayed with the children until the ceremony was ready to begin.  Then, I walked in with Ryan, took him to his chair, and sat immediately behind him.  Kevin and all the other dads were sitting in some back corner somewhere, relegated to an almost hidden spot.  Interesting... we're learning a little more each day with each new experience, that's for sure.

In many ways, the yochien ceremony was a miniature version of  the elementary school ceremony.  Same speeches, dignitaries saying "omedetoo gozaimasu" one by one (but thankfully there were fewer of them), songs by the 5 year old class.  Ryan was happy as can be.  He was so intent about listening to the speaker and watching what the other kids were doing.  He raised his hand when any other child did.  He joined in on the song - at least the la la la la part.  He seemed right at home and it brought tears to my eyes.  As we were about to leave, he asked if it was already over.  We explained that he would get to come back for "real school" the next day.  This resulted in an exuberant happy dance right there in the yochien schoolyard complete with high-fives and spins.  For anyone who has seen Ryan's dance moves, you know that this is a sight to behold...

Ryan's choice for his opening-ceremony-celebration dinner was spectacular.  I feared with every bone in my body that he would want to go to Denny's (because, yes, there is actually a Denny's in Tokyo), but to my utter joy, he wanted to go to the street food stands we had seen the previous weekend while exploring a cherry blossom park.  SCORE!  So much to share on our food exploits that that will have to wait for another post... but in the meantime, here are my boys at one of the many food stands we sampled from.

Opening Ceremony at Higashine Shogakko

E and proud little brother getting ready to walk to school for the opening ceremony at Higashine.

Finally!  The much anticipated moment of starting school in Japan....

Modeling the randoseru!!!

That said, we had NO idea how much work it would be to prepare for school  and buy school supplies.  Seriously - we had to write the kids name on EACH individual pencil and EACH individual crayon.  Seriously?  Yes, sir.  And virtually everything needs its own special carrying bag - a bag for indoor shoes, a bag for the placemat, a bag for the plastic cup, a bag for books, a bag for a change of clothes - AND each bag has very specific dimension requirement - 20 cm x 25 cm or 18 cm x 32 cm.  My brain was swimming through honey in the school supply aisle....

Not to mention the Randoseru - the traditional backpacks that every child in Japan has.  The school told us they cost 30,000 yen (almost $400 - for a 6 year old's backpack - I almost had a heart attack).  I only hope we're not deported if they find out that we bought it on sale for only 10,000 yen (which is still $125 for a child's backpack - sorry, I'm repeating myself - I just can't help it - this STILL blows my mind).

 And we really didn't realize what a HUGE deal the opening ceremony is... thank goodness we got a clue a few days before and learned that all the boys wear suits.  What$#%$??  So, off to buy a suit we went.  And then imagine my surprise when all I can find are short suits - i.e. full suits for little boys but instead of pants, they come with shorts.  I found this so odd that I felt obligated to ask a poor unsuspecting Japanese mother also looking at the suits if a short suit was the right thing to buy for a school opening ceremony.  Sounds easy enough - but just imagine that conversation in my broken Japanese and with lots of pointing at the mannequin.  Ahhh... the fun of it all.

I thought I was being sooooo very organized by asking someone to call the school the day before the opening ceremony to ask them what we were supposed to bring to the ceremony.  They told us to bring the child's indoor shoes (and the corresponding bag, of course), his randoseru, and a bag to carry his textbooks. Check.  Check.  And check.  We're off to the ceremony with everything we need - or so we think.

We arrive.  We find out what class Ethan is in.  Ethan is ushered inside the school and we are pointed towards the gym.  No problem until we notice our first mistake.  Every other parent is carrying a bag with slippers in it.  Oops.  We didn't bring slippers for ourselves.  And no bag.  So, there we were, the only people in the entire gym who left our shoes outside the gym and walked around barefoot.  At least, we all had socks without holes in them.  A small victory, but a victory nonetheless - and even the little victories count these days.

And every other mother had on a large corsage.  Well, every mother except me of course.  Oops #2.  Clearly I don't love my kid and don't value education, as evidenced by my lack of a corsage.  And then, it becomes clear that the other parents are carrying a map of the gym that shows them where to sit.  Many of the parents had the maps protected in clear plastic folders, so it did not appear to be something that they picked up on their way in.  Oops #3 within about 6 minutes.  Anyway, we figured out where to sit and all was grand.

The gym - all the first graders processed in with their classmates and sat in the front with their fellow students.

Can't really say too too much about the ceremony, since it was all in Japanese.  Lots of local dignitaries were there and they each were introduced and said omedetoo gozaimasu (congratulations) to the students and parents.  That took a while.

The second graders did a little performance on an instrument that I have honestly never seen before.  It's a small keyboard that they rest on their shoulder with a tube that they put around the back of their neck and then blow into a mouthpiece attached to the tube. We think this might be the "harmonica" that we have to buy for E - at least that is how it was translated for us, though it is unlike any harmonica I have ever seen.






After the formal ceremony, we headed to the classroom where the kids got their textbooks and their extra-special yellow hat which they are required to wear when walking to and from school.  It's also very regimented, in that each family had to mark where they live on a map, which determined which walking group the child is in, and we *think* that means that these kids will all walk home together.  Or something like that.  We had already been given a map which told us very specifically exactly which streets E is allowed to use to walk to and from school.  Ok - got it.

All the moms crouched down helping the kids go through their new stuff.... Note:  E's desk is front and center.

After it was all over, the kids played on the playground after the ceremony and had a grand time - mostly on a rope swing, the monkey bars, and rolling tires back and forth.

Headed home...

And we celebrated the event with dinner and ice cream sundaes at a hamburger joint we had heard about it that is not far from our house.  The burgers did not disappoint (but the 4, literally 4, french fries that came with the burgers was a little shy from what I was hoping for).

Proud dad enjoying ice cream sundaes!

One more opening ceremony for R's yochien (kindergarten) on Tuesday and then real life begins!