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| A few months after we first arrived, I was at a community center playtime with the kids and learned a song about throwing beans at demons. I thought it was just a weird song. I soon found out that this is part of a MAJOR Japanese tradition. A "demon" even comes to our kids' Christian preschool every year and gets beans thrown at it (poor volunteer dad!). At the end of winter, people "cleanse" their homes by throwing beans while saying "Demons out! Luck in!" There are LOTS of different kinds of beans available. I posted something on facebook about the whole demon and bean thing and a new local believer wrote that she's sad that she can't eat the beans anymore because she's Christian now and they're so delicious. Well, I didn't know what to say! I didn't know enough about the cultural and religious significance of the beans, what exactly they do with the beans, etc to be able to answer her clearly. Many months later, I had the opportunity to ask a bilingual Japanese pastor who had spent some time in America about this and his reply was, "Well, let me ask you this. Do American Christians eat Halloween candy?" All of the American missionaries sitting in the room smiled. As did I. :) |
As you can imagine, there's a lot of "Engrish" around. I usually just smile and don't usually take photos, but I did of this one. The spelling errors on this sign "Fride steamed Bum in custard" though actually stopped me from taking one. It wasn't until I got home that I read the Japanese above and realized it's something that I actually really like! One of those rare occasions where I would have been better off ignoring the English!
Did you know that Hiroshima is famous in Japan for its oysters? I had no idea that oysters could be served in so many different ways... The middle one in the last picture is fresh oyster with Japanese-style kimchi on top. We don't eat out very often and the type of restaurants we go to don't tend to offer fresh oysters, but it's a fun treat when we get the opportunity!
This is a story from almost almost a year back now... Before we were given our second car, I had to take a taxi a couple of times because Peter needed the car. I knew it'd be expensive, but I just remember being so completely shocked the first time I rode in one - the 10 minute drive from the kids' preschool to our home cost more than I care to remember. :/ After one particular playdate with other moms from Juhee's preschool class at the mall, I had to go home because I had to teach later that afternoon, but the mom who had offered to give me and Juhee a ride back home on her way home was nowhere to be seen. I tried calling her, but no answer. I tried calling Peter probably about 10 times to see if he could come pick us up as he was back home, but no answer. So I decided to get a cab. It was a white one, very much like the one in the picture. The cab driver started speaking a mixture of Japanese and English to us when he realized that Juhee and I were speaking in English. Two parts of our conversation are still vivid in my mind. As usual, when someone asks about why we're here, I mention about us being Christian missionaries. His reply was, "Oh! I'm Christian too. Do you know Jehovah's Witness? I'm Jehovah's Witness" Ummm... We talked about life in America and Japan and the taxi driver asked Juhee, "Which do you like better, America or Japan?" Juhee put her head to the side, thought for a minute, and then said, "America" The driver's response was "I hate you!" Wow. Seriously?!?!?! To a 5-year-old?! We were insulted AND had to pay way too much for the 10-15 minute ride home. I was not a happy bunny!!!
Strawberries, like most fruits in Japan, are fairly expensive. I don't tend to buy them in the Winter when they first come out but usually wait till March or so when they're cheaper. Now and again, if there's a packet of strawberries in the discounted area 'cause they're starting to go bad, I'll grab it. I wash them, cut off the tops (although now that the kids are older, sometime I leave them on) and the parts going bad, count them, and divide them evenly into four so the four of us get the same number. Japanese strawberries are similar to Korean ones - a brighter & lighter red and sweeter with no tartness. I don't know if they're still around, but if they are, I'm looking forward to buying one of those boxes with six quarts of strawberries for $10 from the guys who sell them on street corners when we get back! :)
We have cable. When our home was set-up for us, our home set-up team ordered cable for us as part of our internet package. We're so grateful for cable!!! Being able to watch familiar TV shows in English at night after the kids have gone to bed is a great way to detox from language and cultural stress. One evening during the Sochi Winter Olympics, I was watching Korean news on KBS World. Everything was normal until they got to the part where they were going to show footage from the Olympics. And then I got this! A notification saying that due to copyright laws, the footage cannot be shown on KBS World. :( The commentary continued but no footage... :'( We have this issue with some videos online too - praise songs, sermons, drama :) ... It's very sad when I get a message telling me that the online video cannot be viewed in my country of residence. :(
During a visit to Korea a couple of years ago, I was chatting with the taxi driver and I told him that we live in Japan and were just visiting. He then said, "I heard Japanese people brush their teeth in the kitchen / kitchen sink." "Uh..." "That's gross!" "Uh..." At that point, I didn't know anything about it and I didn't know that brushing teeth in the kitchen was something gross. Weird, yes, but not sure if it was gross. Well, fast forward a few months and we're sitting in the home of one of the Japanese pastors that we work with and are having a conversation about life in Japan. I'd just shared a testimony about how difficult our first couple of years were and they wanted to know more. As an example, I told them about how it was a challenge for us to brush the kids teeth and do bath time in the Winter because our sink & bath area (toilet's separate) were so cold and would take a while to heat up because our insulation was so poor. The pastor very matter-of-fact-ly said, "Why don't you brush your teeth in the kitchen? It's already warm." Well, we hadn't really thought of doing that... We didn't think it was something that people did... And then I remembered what the Korean taxi driver had said... So as of Winter of 2013, the Oh family brushes their teeth in the kitchen during the Winter too... Gross or not, it's the most practical solution and one that we're very happy with!
When we first went to visit our first house, there was a very powerful, distinct, not-so-pleasant smell. I asked what the smell was and I was told that it's the smell of new tatami mats. Thankfully it aired out pretty quickly. When we first came to our current house to view it, the tatami mats were used, but still in very good condition. When we moved in, we found out that the owners had replaced them with new ones - eek! For us, it meant more pressure to keep it "gently used". We don't really like tatami - it's hard to vacuum and sometimes little splinter like parts come off, so to kill two birds with one stone, we bought a carpet to cover our tatami. One of our close friends came to visit soon after we moved in and she told us that she did the same with her tatami. She lifted it up one day during rainy season and found mold covering the bottom of the carpet and tatami! So whenever we get the chance, we air out our tatami/carpet. We've had so many problems with mold on our futons, blankets, shoes, etc and clothes, towels, etc smelling like dirty rags in Hiroshima... We definitely try to be more proactive now - we found out the hard way!!!
On April 1st of this year, the Japanese government raised tax from 5% to 8%. Next April, it's rising to 10%. As you can imagine, there was a rush to buy big items (like cars!) before April 1st and I'm sure people will be buying more throughout this year before next April hits. On March 31st (Monday), we'd just come back from our one week Vision Trip and I needed to do some grocery shopping. I went to the discount grocery store that I usually go to and was met with a big surprise! There was hardly any parking and it was PACKED inside!!! All of their tills were open and they still had long lines. It was already close to dinner time, so I decided to just grab a few things. I chatted with the lady at the till and she said that it'd been crazy since the weekend, and not just that store but most stores around the country. Price tags are also different now. Japan used to have the same system as Europe (or at least the countries I've been to) and most of Asia (ditto) - what you see is what you pay. But now, it's changed so that it's like America - what you pay is what you see + tax, so the amount you pay at the register is always higher. It was hard for me to adjust to this when I moved to America. I always felt like I was being ripped off. I often felt like something that I thought was affordable, or at least OK for the price, was no longer so and ended up leaving the store wondering if I'd actually made a smart purchase. I'm sure it's going to take a while for people in Japan to get used to too. We're going to have sticker shock BIG time when we return to Japan in early 2016!
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