Yoroshiku onegai shimasu - よろしくおねがいします

A few days ago, while standing listening to the daily speech about what happened in yochien on that day, I was struck by the number of times that the teacher said "yoroshiku onegai shimasu."  Now it's quite possible that I noticed that phrase so often because I actually recognize it, whereas much of what I hear is still unintelligible syllables to me.  But the thought stuck with me over the course of several days.

We don't have a similar phrase in English that I know of, but the closest translation seems to be "please look favorably upon me."  It seems that every paragraph uttered by the yochien teacher was punctuated by "please look favorably upon me."

Similarly, whenever I have met someone for the first time, the response is "please look favorably upon me."  I, too, have said my share of "yoroshiku onegai shimasus" but in my case, I really do need their favor as I am sure to screw something up along the way.

At each of the school opening ceremonies, each of the teachers, visitors, dignitaries, and guests introduced themselves and completed his/her introduction with "yorushiku onegai shimasu."  There is no variation; it is simply said.  It is rote.  I am not even sure anyone truly means it.

I started to think how that one phrase might explain part of the Japanese culture.  Mind you, I am not a scholar of Japanese culture, I am not a trained anthropoligist nor linguist, and I have been in the country for a whoppin' few months.  So, this is simply a personal observation.

Buuuut, it just seems to me to be so .... so meek, so lacking in confidence and assertiveness, fatalistic almost.  I'm not sure these are the right words, but it's the best I can come up with for now.  At the same time, it also seems to show the genuine eagerness to please and be helpful that we have experienced so much of in our first few months.

Any insights from the peanut gallery? Ponder away...

I ponder best over beer... just sayin'

Who knew ... ? #2

... that you need a bank account at the post office to pay for school lunches? Hunh?

Ethan was very eager to try the unicycles.
I was far less eager...

... that unicycles are standard issue playground equipment at Japanese elementary schools? As well as stilts?

... that kids get portable EKGs at school (as in lying on a table in the library with wires attached to the chest and such)?

... that kids also get swimming lessons at school?

... that kids can stay after school and play until 5 pm with basically no supervision and then walk home when they feel like it?

... that shiba inu puppies lose their teeth?  OK, maybe others knew this, but I had no idea.  Our dog never teethed...

... that daikon is a great source of vitamin C?

Ryan and his teacher during our home visit

... that teachers do home visits? For elementary school and pre-school...

... that things really are smaller here?  The sink in our hotel literally came up to my knees.  I am always hitting my head on the wrist straps on the trains that are mounted low enough for smaller people to reach them.  And my knees literally touch the wall when sitting on the loo.  Seriously.


... that we would get on the wrong train multiple times - even after being here for a few months?  It's the subtle differences between express, commuter express, limited express, and rapid express...

... that you can ONLY buy rental insurance FOR Japan while living IN the U.S.?

... that we would be without a TV for 4 months and survive just fine?

... that even I would be bitten by the bento box bug and make snow-man shaped rice balls and carrot flowers?

The Recycling Instructions, at least
it's in English!

... that there are 12 different types of recyclables? And the only days in the entire month that we DO NOT have to recycle something is the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month?

... that things that are available on-line at home are not available on-line in Japan (at least not for free)?  For example, hulu, pbs, etc...

... that Japan only legalized low-hormone birth control pills in 1998?  Are you kidding me?

... that you don't make an appointment for a pediatrician? You just show up and it all works fine - and did I mention that it's free?

... that "medical massage" is covered under Japanese national health insurance?  Go figure...

Undokai - うんどかいーSchool Sports Festival

Oi, oi, oi.  I am waaaay behind on the good 'ol blog posts.  I was afraid the momentum wouldn't last; must be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was in Hong Kong for 5 days (woo-hoo!), and then within 10 hours of me returning home, Kevin left for Taiwan for a week, and we're still catching up a bit. Who knows?  But in the wise words of LibraryAnn, that's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Higashine Undokai - ひがしねのうんどかい

There had been lots of talk around school about Undokai, and by "talk," I mean no fewer than 47 notices sent home about it, virtually all of which we couldn't read.  But, of course, we still didn't truly understand what all the fuss was about.

So, we showed up on Undokai Day and did our best to soak it all in.  Basically, it's like Field Day on some serious crack.  Each student in the entire school is assigned to either the red (aka) or white (shiro) team, and points are tabulated for both teams for every event in every grade.  This is serious stuff!  Each class does some sort of performance, many of which seem to be to inspire and cheer on the red or white team.  And aren't the Japanese clever - the red hats that the kids wear for gym (and recess too, I think) are reversible, so the kids simply flip it to the color of their assigned team.

Ethan was on the red team - and he cheered for his team for the entire 7 hours and was completely hoarse by the end of the day...

The day was jam-packed.  Some of the highlights:

• A very enthusiastic "spirit" chant/dance led by the 6th-grade Undokai leaders
• Lots of running / relay races 
• A "ninja" dance by Ethan and the first grade classes
• A funny "chicken" type game where one child sitting on the shoulders of another had to try and take off the hat of the shoulder-sitting person on the other team...
• Some meditation-type exercises set to some very sleep-inducing music (plus it was right after lunch)
• A race to roll/carry a HUGE red ball along a course of kids - this involved every child in the school, I think.  Ethan LOVED this one!
• The "gumball" game in which the first graders tried to throw small balls into a basket and the class with the most balls after a set time won.  Funny thing - it was a tie and they had to do it again as a tie-breaker!

Singing the Higashine School song to kick-off the day - it's a little bit of Where's Waldo? Hint: He's wearing a red hat and he's the only happa...

The uber-serious "judges" and "scorekeepers" for the 756 relay races... it was a very long day!

A very cool samurai dance...

Ethan's ninja dance... hint: he's wearing a blue bandana...

Semi-finals of the chicken sumo match...

The big red ball obstacle course...

And in case you can't sleep without knowing, the RED team won 517-510.  Ethan was elated!  And after 7 hours, we were ready to go home (and props to Ryan - he was a trooper and it was hot).  Oh yeah, did I mention that we got to do it all over again the following weekend for Ryan's school?

Gekkohara Undokai - げっこはらのうんどかい

Now, to be honest, I was in Hong Kong during Ryan's Undokai.  It was actually a bit of a lost-in-translation issue, as I was told by a translator (in English) at the beginning of the school year when reviewing the school calendar that the yochien/preschool "can" join the Undokai at the sister elementary school. So, when looking at the calendar 2 months ahead of time to book a trip to Hong Kong, I took that to mean that it was optional.  Plus, it was on a Saturday, so it made perfect sense to me that it was optional.  Ummm... yeah... I was wrong.  Again.  When the interpreter said the yochien "can" join, what she really meant was "what a fabulous opportunity not to be missed."

Well, I missed it, but Ryan, Ethan, and Kevin did not.

Seems that Undokai are quite similar across schools in Japan.  Two notable differences: 1) Ryan's school has turf on the field and it just looks soooo much nicer, and 2) Ryan's Undokai only lasted 3 hours.

Definitely the same basic events as at Ethan's Undokai.  Below are the videos of Ryan's relay race and also Ryan's "gumball" event.  Ryan was on the Shiro team (to be honest, I'm not sure why he has his hat on red-side out) and though he looooved shouting, "Shiro, shiro, shiro, Go, Go, GO," I don't think he was that concerned about who won (unlike his brother, for whom, it was of paramount importance).

Note:  There might be a problem with some of the videos, but in the interest of addressing the several "where are the blog updates" comments I've received recently, I'm going to go ahead and post this anyway and figure that out later...

日本語 (Japanese language) and a few other bits of excitement

Our big news is that Ethan came home from school last week grinning ear-to-ear and eyes all-asparkle and he announces, "I answered my first question in class today - twice - and all the kids clapped."  
He was so proud - it made me so happy.  Now, to give the full story .... the questions were math questions and 4+3 = 7 in both America and Japan as well as the entire world, but he still had the guts to raise his hand and say the question and answer in Japanese.  And when the neighbor kids, who are in his class, said that the whole class clapped for him, I almost teared up.  There had been some rough spots recently, so this felt like a huge win.

From Ethan: I also read my first story in Japanese - all by myself.  My favorite lines are いろいろ (iroiro) and
うきうき(ukiuki).  

And then today, Ryan had his own language win without even knowing it.  Today was unseasonably cold and very rainy, so we decided to have family nap-time after school and the boys and I snuggled together in my bed (we always have naptime afterschool, but I'm not usually included in the napping festivities).  The boys were sound asleep and I was dozing a bit when I hear Ryan talking.  Whether he was dreaming or talking in his sleep, I do not know but what I do know is that he was speaking in JAPANESE.  "すわってくださいすわって" (pronounced, suwatte kudasai, suwatte) which means "sit down please, sit down."  Clearly this is something he has heard often at yochien.  Cracked me up.  Kevin is in Osaka for a few days, but he got quite a chuckle out of it when he called tonight from the shinkansen (bullet train).

Ryan made sushi at yochien,
made with tissue paper, tape, and cellophane

Ryan and his teacher - at our home visit

Monday was the "ring of fire" eclipse, quite visible in Tokyo.  Extremely cool.  Kids (and mom and dad) were enthralled.  We watched the moon move all the way across the sun, until it was perfectly aligned in the middle and the sun looked like a ring of fire... very cool.  Sorry, but I don't have any pics of the actual eclipse.

Watching the eclipse

Other exciting news is that lo and behold, the plants in our garden are actually sprouting.  Having never had a garden before and having the brownest thumb around (seriously, I have killed cactuses that sat approximately 6 inches from the sink - how hard would it have been to water it every month or so?), I was expecting absolutely nothing to sprout.  I was even preparing the kids for it.  "This garden is just an experiment" I kept telling them. But, so far, so good.  We have little green tomatoes on our tomato plants, we have had 2 strawberries, and have harvested lettuce several times.  Our snow peas, pole beans, and garden beans are 3 inches high and all of our watermelon seeds have sprouted.  Cucumber and zucchini are looking a little less promising, but we'll see.

Random pic - playing with neighborhood kids
at the park

More Hajimetes (Firsts)

First Judo Class

This one's for you, Grandpa!

Ethan has 90 minutes of judo under his (white) belt. And so far, so good.  He was very excited to start judo.  It's the only judo class we could find and it's a bit of a bus ride from our house, but it's all part of the adventure.

There were supposed to be 20 kids in the class.  In fact, they had been very clear that you had to apply for a spot and that there would be a lottery for the 20 spots.  Because of this, we were thrilled to learn that Ethan had won the lottery (so to speak).  Imagine my surprise when there were only THREE kids in the class.  Kevin thinks the sensei said that there are indeed supposed to be 20 kids in the class and he wasn't sure where everyone was.  It's all a bit unclear, but for now, we'll just go on hoping that it stays a small class.

Practicing falls.
The sensei is very kind ... and patient (so far)

Ethan was also a little nervous about being able to understand the sensei, and though he didn't manage to get all the instructions the first time, he managed overall and seemed to have a good time.  In fact, that reminds me of another observation.  The other 2 kids didn't crack a smile for the entire hour and a half, whereas Ethan was grinning from ear to ear for much of the time, even while trying to do these neck push-up things that looked painful even to watch.  Now, his smiles may be partially due to nervousness and cluelessness, and I understand the seriousness and respectful nature of the sport, but to watch the other 6 year olds not crack a smile for 90 minutes while doing something that's supposed to be fun was painful for ME to watch.  In this case, I think I'll opt for the less-Japanese-philosophy that it's actually OK to have fun.  We'll see, I may change my tune - but for now, we'll just go with the flow and see what happens.

Kevin and Ethan had a little practice session this weekend, so hopefully he'll have a better idea of what to expect and what to do at his judo class this Wednesday.

First Bento Boxes

Last week marked the beginning of making bento boxes for Ryan.  Ooo-la-la!  Who knew that I would actually succumb to the pressure?  Not every day, and not to the craaazy detail of the amazing bento box book that my good Fremont friend, E, introduced me to, but alas.  It's a fun little activity for me and Ryan for the 15 minutes between when Ethan leaves for school and when Ryan and I have to leave.

Even funnier thing is that I asked Ryan if anyone actually sees his lunch.  "Nope," he replied.  So, I'm not exactly sure where the yochien-parent-peer-pressure-about-bento-boxes actually occurs, unless the moms themselves are showing off their lunches to others in the bicycle parking lot.  Hmmm ... yet another mystery!

Little sausage octopus - I've since learned that a minute in boiling water makes the legs curl up more...

Tofu smiley face...

Boy and tofu smiley face... :)

First Time the Other Shoe Dropped

So, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Things were going too well.  Kids seemed happy as could be.  But I just knew, that one day, the sadness would find its way to the surface.  I didn't know when.  And I didn't know how.  But I knew.  

And sure enough, about a week or so ago, Ryan was lying in bed with us one morning about 6 am and out of nowhere, he says 

I don't like this country.  I want to go back to America.  I miss my friends in Fremont.  The only thing that will make it better is to go back to Fremont.

This was repeated several times and followed by huge tears and genuine sobs.  It broke my heart.  And then as quickly as it came on, it was gone again.  That same morning, on our bike ride to school, he says "I want to get there early so I can learn Japanese faster."  Nothing like a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me.  

Just a few nights ago, Ethan shed a few tears as well - again, mostly about friends from home and how to find real friends here in Japan, especially when we aren't yet able to communicate very well.  One day at a time.  But in the moment, it still broke my heart, though he bounced back by the next morning.  Thank goodness for that!

First Picture of the Boys with Sakura (cherry blossoms)

So, I finallllly took a few pictures of the kids just as the cherry blossom season was coming to an end...

A blanket of sakura petals...

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Kid Quote of the Day:

Yesterday, we went to the Thai festival in Tokyo.  Fabulous food and lots of fun!

As we were trying to find our way to Yoyogi Park where the festival was taking place,

Kevin:  I think the Thai festival is this way.  That's where all the people are coming from.
Ryan:  I don't think so.  Those people don't have ties on.

Happy Mother's Day!

Ethan and Ryan wanted to give all the mothers out there a special Mother's Day greeting AND dance.  Hope this puts a smile on your face and you have a wonderful day.

Our First Golden Week

Just a quick update as to what we've been up to.  Last week (April 29-May 6) was "Golden Week" here in Japan.  To be honest, I am not sure why it's called Golden Week and in fact, neither the "golden" nor the "week" parts make sense to me.  Monday was a holiday, then the kids had school and Kevin had work on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then Thursday and Friday were holidays.  Whaaaaat?  Why would you have a "golden week" that includes going to school and work on Tuesday and Wednesday?  Then again, no one asked me and I'm just a visitor here.  I'm sure there's a good reason for it and one day, I just might be smart enough to figure it out.  I wouldn't recommend holding your breath until then, however.

That said, we had a great "golden-three-days-plus-2-weekends."  Word on the Japanese street was that traveling during this week was an all-around bad idea because of high prices, horrible traffic, crowded trains, etc.  We had heard multiple stories of friends (Japanese friends, no less) who sat in a traffic jam for 4 hours to go 20 km.  So, we listened to that wisdom and stayed home here in Tokyo.

But, we lived life to the fullest and had several fun adventures.

Top Five Things We Did During Golden Week:

1.  Tokyo Giants Game

Great fun!  Ryan conked out for the first few innings (when the boy wants to sleep, he will sleep - it's the Narimatsu in him), and Ethan cheered non-stop for the whole game.  He started by using an empty potato chip box since that's all he had until Kevin and I relented and got them both noisemaker bats.

Giants beat the Hiroshima Carp 4-3 and we had hot dogs with seaweed (yep, you read that correctly - ballpark food Japanese style). Can't beat that for a good time.

The joy of noisemakers

At the top of the 8th inning, Kevin and I wondered if we should leave early so as to avoid the throngs of people and long lines to exit and get on the train.  But no one else was leaving.  Hmmm - when in Rome and all that.  Plus it's Golden Week, right?  And maybe something super exciting happens right after the game and we're the only ones who don't know about it.  So we stayed.  Nothing super exciting happened, unless you are as amazed as we are that the 45,000 people in the Tokyo Dome exited quickly and efficiently THROUGH REVOLVING DOORS in about 10 seconds flat.  OK, maybe not 10 seconds, but pretty darn fast.  Kevin and I were floored.  This would have been utter chaos in the US.


2.  Haneda airport to watch the planes land and the ships come into port

Fun way to spend an afternoon - and free!  To be honest, I was a little hung over from a girls night out, so I was not able to enjoy it to the fullest.  But the kids had a good time and that's the important thing.  We also visited Kevin's office for the first time and the kids loooved watching the shinkansen from the window of his office.  Added bonus was riding the monorail home...

Monorail ... aka ... roller coaster ride!  Wheeee....

3.  Fun with Friends

We invited 2 friends from Ethan's school over for "Movie Night" and had our first Japanese pizza delivery.  The pizza was yummy though not cheap ($60 for basically 2 small pizzas - they call them large size, but in American terms, they were small, as in 8-10 slices).  The kids had fun and were not at all happy when their friends had to go home.

Watching Alvin and the Chipmunks - Chipwrecked...

We also had a potluck picnic in the park with friends from Ryan's yochien.  I will be exchanging English lessons for Japanese cooking lessons with the grandmother of one of Ryan's fellow yochien students so it was good to meet her.  And it turns out that she and her husband were host families for the exact same exchange student program that Kevin was a part of 15 years ago.  Small world.

4.  Cereal for Breakfast and Double Ice Cream Cones (but not for breakfast)

May 5 was Children's Day in Japan.  From what we can tell, that means that you see fish flags flying, but we didn't observe any other significant components of Children's Day.  We did learn from a little girl in Ethan's class that they didn't do anything to celebrate it because "there are no boys in our house."  There is a Girls' Day on March 3, so it seems that Children's Day is really more Boys' Day.

Sooo, while others around the world were celebrating the 5th of May with Corona or margaritas, we were excited to eat cereal for breakfast.  That's a luxury for us now; it's the little things in life.  And we had ice cream cones to celebrate Children's Day.  Ethan was thrilled to point out that this was "the first time in my life that I had a DOUBLE ice cream cone.  I like Children's Day."

5.  We got a dog!

OK, only temporarily, but still.  We became a puppy foster family for a 7 month old Shiba inu named Mastumoto.  He belongs to one of our first friends here, Chika and we took care of him for a week while she was in the hospital having a beautiful baby girl.  He went home yesterday...

Chika, the kids, and Matsu a few weeks ago at the park...

He's a cute little guy, but he gave us quite a scare when he bolted out the door the first day we had him.  It was horrible.  As I opened the door to go meet a prospective student, there were huge crashes of thunder and bolts of lightning.  Matsumoto darted out and I couldn't stop him.  He took off.  It was pouring down rain, there was lightning and thunder and that little rascal was fast!  Turns out that's exactly when a tornado was happening just north of Tokyo, but of course, we didn't know it at the time.  We were running all over the neighborhood, we were searching on bikes, we were calling his name.  I was crying, just sick with worry that I would have to call Chika and Rocco and tell them that we'd lost their firstborn dog.  The neighbors were helping us look, we were asking everyone we saw.  Kevin was riding all over the neighborhood.  We were frantic!

Matsumoto's storytime

But, there is a happy ending!  Quite far from our house, some people had seen him running, blocked his path, nabbed him, and tied him up.   Kevin happened to ride by and see them and brought him home safe and sound.  Thank Buddha and all that!

Matsumoto was actually found at the house/garden shop of an older couple where we had stopped several times to buy plants for our garden.  So, the next day, Matsumoto and the kids and I went back to their house to thank them with some Ghirardelli chocolates (and we bought some more plants for the garden, for good measure).

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Kid Quote of the Day:

One day last week, Ethan asked me to read to him a Grimm's Fairy Tale, The Hare and the Hedgehog. It's from a book given to me by my grandmother so it's not an updated version of the fairy tales. It was about a husband and wife hedgehog who, by working as a team, tricked the hare into thinking that he had lost a race.  The story ended with 2 morals, and I quote.  
"1. Never make fun of anyone about a condition they can do nothing about, and 
2.  Marry someone like yourself."

Ethan:  Well, that's not true.  You and Daddy are different.  Daddy is Japanese and you're African.

Me:  I'm African?

Ethan:  Well, you like to go to Africa a lot and you're kind of different.

Me: Ummm, ok.