Wow, I have way too much to catch up on. It's been two months since I first got to Tokyo. One week was spent in Thailand and another back in Utah, so really it's been about a month and a half of living here. But even in a short (or long?) amount of time, I have done a ton, and learned so much about a completely foreign country.
Let's start from the beginning. Alex has been in Japan on and off since January, so I came out by myself. We decided to make things fun and have me find the apartment by myself. I wanted to do this because good sense of direction is one of my talents. Seriously. I can be somewhere one time and remember it forever. This was going to be a challenge though since the airport is 2 hours away by train and I needed to navigate the very intense train systems myself. BUT alas, I figured it out with no issues and even arrived at the apartment before Alex. I only had to ask someone once where to go, and he didn't speak English. Extra points for me.
Ok, ok, enough bragging. That's the most powerful I've felt here so far, let's be honest. This country is no joke. Like America, they expect you to speak their language, and act as if you've lived in this culture your whole life. Basic Japanese can only help so much. After that, it's very broken english-japanese happening. I have never felt so out of place! Oh, and I'm just about the only white person everywhere I go, so I get a lot of stares.
Some quirks about Japan:
1. You nod at everyone and say thank you about 100 times a day
2. You do not eat on the street, while walking, on the train, etc.
3. There are NO public garbages anywhere. So frustrating
4. Japanese people are the most kind, considerate people you will ever meet, but you don't just strike up conversation with random people on the street/train...or really even look at people for that matter
5. It is the cleanest place in the world (like no garbage on streets)...but ironically a lot of public bathrooms don't have soap
6. Japanese people love their soft-serve ice cream, pastries/bread, and drinks
7. People do not wear bright colors that often but wearing platform shoes and gaucho pants are a thing here
8. It's popular for girls to wear scrunchies and have charms or keychains on their purses
^^^I know I will think of more of those and put them in my next post.
A couple funny Kayla moments while in Japan so far:
1. Since you walk everywhere here, there is no time to have an emergency on the street. Well, I'm about a half-mile away from my apartment and get a bloody nose for crying out loud. Like, a bad one. But lo and behold, my Japanese angel comes to the rescue only maybe 30 seconds later and hands me a whole packet of tissues. That is the kind of people that live here.
2. Going to the grocery store is quite an experience for me. I can't read Japanese so it makes things pretty difficult. I've only bought the wrong item 3 times so I think I'm doing pretty good. But I can honestly say I don't know about half the things in the grocery store, or if I'm buying shampoo, conditioner or soap. So I make Alex do the hard stuff like that.
3. It is pretty funny being an American here. Well, a young American girl. I've already had several Japanese guys ask me out/give me their e-mail/tell me I'm beautiful. Of course I'm flattered, but I just walk away and laugh about it. The most recent encounter was a guy who was in his late 20's. They always start out by asking if I speak Japanese, which every time I reply, "No, sorry". Well, that didn't stop him, or the rest of them for that matter. He was asking me what I do, where I'm from, and why I'm in Japan (in very broken English). I told him I'm here with my husband for the summer. He was a little shocked I had a husband, but he just asked if we could still be friends. That's one way to make a friend. I felt bad, so I said sure. He then wrote down his e-mail for me with a note that said "If you need a massage". Not sure if he meant to write that, but either way I will not be emailing him.
Here are some pictures from a few of the places I've been thus far:
The week after we went to Thailand we went to our first Sumo wrestling match! We had to get there at 7:30am to line up for tickets. They let in about 400 people for standby tickets so we made it! Sumo tournaments are only in Tokyo twice a year so we were really lucky. It was an incredible event. Each match only lasts about 10-30 seconds and man are those guys huge.
We took a trip to the Ueno zoo. We love the zoo more than most adults ha. There are a ton of museums in Ueno and it's kind of the central park of Tokyo. We also got a cool Panda dumpling thing, so that was worth it!
Odaiba is definitely one of my favorite spots in Tokyo. There are the most random things to see. There's a mini statue of liberty, a huge Gundam figurine (I still have no idea who Gundam is), a wax museum, a museum of cars that has every color you could imagine, a huge ferris wheel, and three huge malls. One of the malls has an Italian theme, and another has a Hello Kitty cafe that is SO cute! The famous rainbow bridge is also by Odaiba and the sunset is absolutely gorgeous, as seen above.
Shibuya is one of the most exciting places to visit. They have the famous Hachi statue---the dog who patiently waited for his master, and the large Shibuya crossing. Hundreds of thousands of people cross here every day. I like to sit at the Starbucks overlooking the crossing and just people-watch. It's fascinating. They also have tons of shopping and restaurants and there's bright signs everywhere. It fits my view of Tokyo perfectly---busy, bright, crowded, lots of good Japanese food. This is also the most confusing train station for me as well.
I have two favorite walking/running spots that are both a 15-minute walk from our apartment. The first is the Tokyo Tower. I cannot get enough of it! Fun fact: it's actually taller than the eiffel tower (and a lot cooler since it's red ;)) There is a cool park close by as well as a shrine that I usually take a walk around. And real life---one time I was running there and I saw Mario & friends pull up to the sidewalk in go-carts. Weirdest/most hilarious thing ever.
The second place is the temple! It's like we're still in Utah, it's so close to us. It looks really similar to the Seattle temple. They were actually built the same year. There is also the most gorgeous park right across the street. I've spent a fair amount of time there because it's so peaceful. Plus, in the morning, there are a bunch of cute toddler playgroups walking around the park and they are SO CUTE.
^^I just thought this was funny
We live in a pretty ritzy neighborhood. We didn't know this, but we're not paying for it, so whatevs. I love our neighborhood though. We're about 20 steps from the grocery store, lots of restaurants, a 3-minute walk to the train station, and 5-10 minutes from Roppongi, a busy, popular area. Roppongi has an Ippudo (the best ramen shop ever made), so ya...we are in a great location. Also everyone owns a Lambo, Ferrari, Lexus, etc. in our neighborhood, so that's cool. Every other person has a little expensive dog, too.
This is a picture from the top of Alex's office building. He is the sponsor of my fun adventures and works so hard! Some days he has 7am calls with America, then doesn't get home until 9pm. That's not super often, don't worry, we see each other quite a bit. But anyways, it's pretty great to not work right now and have a break, but I miss my office and my patients! I'm glad Alex is working for both of us right now---he's the real MVP!!
Ok, sorry for the long post. I only posted maybe a quarter of my pics so I'll be doing more updates soon!
xoxo,
kay
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