Clothing Not Optional

Women's Fashion is something I have come to find completely fascinating here in Japan!

Upon first arriving I knew immediately that I would stand out.
1.  I am blonde.
2.  I am smiley.
3.  I am at least a foot taller than everyone.
4.  I wear shorts, colorful clothing and short sleeves.

While I have never fancied myself a 'fashionista' - I do think that I have some decorum of taste when it comes to clothes. Except maybe for that large turtle neck sweater that I interviewed for a job in back in '91. But never-the-less, I have decided that I am either getting old, or that my taste has COMPLETELY gone out the window.

I have come to find that there are really three options for women's clothing here:
1.  The business suit.  A universal look. Mostly black or grey.
2.  The casual, I don't work but if the sun rays touch me anywhere on my body I'll disintegrate look.
3.  The I am hip, I am in fashion, I look like a hooker look.
*let me state here that while I am sure none of these beautiful girls are hookers...it is a look found commonly in trashy parts of US cities and towns.

I would like to comment on #s 2 and 3.
#2 The casual look - It contains anything from jeans, slacks, sweat pants, etc., combined with any manner of shirt.  Usually long sleeve...even in the summer months when the temps reach the 100s. If the shirt happens to be short sleeve or a 3/4 sleeve then there is always the accompanying arm gloves.  Yes, from hand to above the elbow. Also contained in this look is the ever present hat.  It could consist of anything from a baseball hat (usually the younger, more hip girls), to what I can only describe as a floppy grandpa's fishing hat, all the way to the big wide-brimmed visor.  Now when I say wide-brimmed...I am mean WIDE BRIMMED.  They put us Americans to shame on the visor! Shoes for this look are most commonly a sensible type of flat. Either a tennis shoe or something resembling a ballet slipper. Occasionally you'll see a high-heel shoe thrown in for good measure. (but that's all in #3)   And most times all this under an umbrella.

#3 The hip look - This my friends is the most baffling to me. The longer I am here I come to find this look has no age limit, unfortunately.  This is the most popular look here right now.  In my neighborhood which is mostly expat families and the very wealthy Japanese families - this look often eludes us.  But one short bus or train ride and wa-la...it is everywhere!
Starting from the top:  a hip shirt (usually cute, I must admit) that sometimes contains writing or ruffles or some form of entertainment ( with translation totally out of whack) along with jewelry of each persons discerning taste. Cinched by a big-ass belt.  They are back in style here.  I don't know about the States, but if they are - they'll be gone before I get back!  There are two options for the bottom half of the outfit - The skirt or the shorts.
The skirt is usually very short and does not match the top. In the winter months pants, well leggings, are worn under the short skirt.
The shorts seem normal enough to me...blue jean, khaki, whatever.  These too have leggings under them in the winter months.
Both looks are accompanied by either high heels, and I mean HIGH heels or boots.  If boots - it is not unlikely that they will have thigh high leggings on too. (see photo)

I read somewhere that during the Sex & the City series and the Movie(s) - they came here to find fashion ideas.  If so - Carrie Bradshaw's sometimes questionable wardrobe now makes perfect sense!
To me it looks more like Madonna from the 80s.  But what do I know. I only went as Madonna, circa 1988, for Halloween one year back in the '90s..


While none of this fashion is REALLY strange, I guess there are a few things that make me wonder every time I see someone wear them:
Bike Gloves.  They are somehow attached to the bicycle handle bars, no finger slots, and when you put your hands in them the sun cannot get to any part of your hand. I guess in case you forgot your elbow gloves!
Sunglasses.  No one here wears them unless you  ride a motorcycle. They are for OLD PEOPLE I was told by a young Japanese woman.
High Heels, Skirts & riding a bicycle.  I never thought it possible, but you can wear high heels while riding a bicycle.  I see it done everyday and actually done with the skill of Lance Armstrong cutting in and out of pedestrian traffic.
The aforementioned short skirts...do not hinder the riding of a bicycle.  I must say - I have yet to see one skirt fly up in the wind or one 'flash' as they whiz by. It takes skills I believe.  My step sons (and husband) can attest to this phenomenon. They are all three extremely disappointed.

and last but certainly not least, riding a bicycle with an umbrella.  This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.  It rains a lot here in June and part of July and everyone has an umbrella.  They all ride their bicycles daily while carrying an open umbrella (along with bags, groceries, kids, dogs, whatever they are needing to transport via bicycle).  Now I know riding a bike with an umbrella doesn't sound hard and it certainly doesn't look hard...but if you have never tried it, then by all means - the next time it rains, grab your bike and your trusty umbrella and give it a try!
I did it, but I looked like one of the Three Stooges wobbling back & forth, side-to-side.  I know I scared the other people casually going about their rainy day routines.  Hell, I scared myself!  Needless to say I came home drenched, terrified and totally in awe.
These days when I have to go out in the rain on my bike...I just wear my rain suit.

till next time~
DD

Life Without a Car

I never really thought of myself as someone who had to have a car.  But living where I lived and having a small child...I "had to have a car!"  Add in the job and the trips out of state to see family and its a no brainer.
Once we decided to move to Japan...we sold both cars.  Let me say - a very unsettling thing.

Skip to today ~ living in Japan.
Things here are very different when it comes to transportation.  Consider - there are 127 million people in Japan.  We live in Yokohama, the 2nd largest city in Japan...3.4 million people.  The public transportation system is one of the best in the world, but that still doesn't make it easy to travel.  Actually, it sucks!

When I arrived in Japan, my husband had already been here almost 2 months.  He had already mastered the trains and buses because he had to take them daily for work.  He took me a on a few trips and then handed over some paperwork with bus numbers and schedules. So I pretty much started from scratch - learning without my husband because he works 16 hour days!  Trying to remember what bus goes where and then figuring out the time it will actually come to the bus stop...all the signs are in Japanese and everything is in military time here!  Of course - I am STILL counting from 12 o'clock forward on my hands to figure out what time it is!!!

So, to go anywhere - you have to take a bus (which is usually crowded) and then a train (which is also crowded).  By the time you get ANYWHERE - you are already tired.  It takes at least an hour to get anywhere.
Now throw in a stroller, a bag with extra clothes (while potty training), food and a drink, all for a 3 year-old who has never been on public transportation or shared a vehicle with anyone but his family and his dogs...and you've got a real treat brewing. Not to mention the bags that you have to carry back with you after you have been somewhere and made a purchase.
I must admit - my first MONTH of learning the public transportation system was terrible.  Now picture my son - jumping and grabbing the poles on the train and using them to slide down!  They love us here.

Which brings me to train and bus etiquette: DO NOT LOOK AT ANYONE AND DO NOT SPEAK!
At least that's what all the Japanese do.  We "loud" Americans...well, isn't the train and the bus where you are supposed to shoot the breeze and chit-chat to pass the time? uh, yea.  So needless to say, we get some very curious looks out of the corners of the eyes!
Kidding aside ~ do not look at your neighbor. Pretend there is no one there unless they actually need to scoot out of the seat beside you to get off the bus.  The only time you acknowledge someone else on the bus is if you are trying to give up your seat for a pregnant woman, a child or the elderly. Any other time - its likely you will turn to stone if you look someone in the eye. This is the Japanese way.

You also have to watch out for the elusive 'seat swapper' on the trains.  I read an article in Metropolis Magazine that stated the 'seat swapper' is something of an conundrum here...they are everywhere.  Moving even if no one else is sitting beside them.  Strange - especially after you start noticing how many of them there are.

They also have "pushers" - people hired to get on the buses (and trains) at the busiest times of the day, and push the masses closer together to get as many people on as possible.  They are dressed like any other person - so you can't tell them apart.
In America, it would be considered a safety hazard to have that many people on a bus or train while moving. People standing, people sitting, people crunched together like sardines.  Not fun.
I saw a train last week so packed with people - it looked like a clown car from a cartoon. Heads turned sideways, arms and legs everywhere.  Faces smashed against the glass. No joke.

Another curiosity - everyone sleeps on the trains & buses.  Heads hung, bobbling side to side.  I really don't know quite how they do it.  All the stops and starts. We all know how uncomfortable it is to sleep sitting up.  Much less while moving.
How do they not miss their stop?  Do they not sleep at home?  Is this the dedicated time to sleep?
I ask all this because there really are that many people sleeping on the trains and buses that it warrants investigation.  I'll have to ask my Japanese friend who gets all my elementary questions.

But we ended up getting a car.  Company provided.  The LaFesta!...its a beauty let me tell ya.  It helps for the trips to Costco (yes, they have one here) and for the day trips to places only 30 minutes to an hour away - which would take us 2-3 hours by train.
Beauty aside - the car is a joy.  I never thought I would be so happy to have a car. Now if I can only convince them to give me a Japanese driver's license - I'll be set!

Living in Japan...THE BATHROOM

I debated whether to even start a blog about this trip, as I KNOW it will take a lot of time and effort. But after much chagrin and torment from others...I am going to take on the task. I actually do believe that anyone who reads this will find some humor in what is happening to me on a daily basis over here in Nippon.

I don't really know where to start since I have been here now for 3 months - but something caught me as funny today in our ritual of "going potty" with my 3 year-old son Landon, so I guess I will start there...The Japanese Bathroom.

The bathroom situations in Japan are VERY different - in a good way. As Americans we see the bathroom as a sacred place. Men - see it as a place to get clean and a place to read the paper, in private. Women - see it as a place for solitude, beauty, privacy and a place we would rather not share with men.

In Japan - the bathroom is not as sacred - but more focused upon the toilet, or washlet as most are called.

A few facts about a Japanese washlet:

They are heated.
Even in the public restrooms - they are heated. Until you have had this in your life on a regular basis - you have no idea what you are missing! At first it is a little strange - but you get used to it mighty quick. I found this out in the middle of a very cold March night, as my son had turned off the heat button on our toilet. You would have thought someone had given me an electric volt with a stun gun. (I know - insert a hearty laugh and visual here!)

It sounds crazy - but the heated seat is a glorious thing!

They have a CONTROL on the side of every toilet. 
I kid you not...a control panel. Almost liken to a TV remote or the remote to a Hover'Round.

The HOME RESTROOM control panel: usually consists of 3 or 4 buttons. The 'heat' control dial. The 'front' wash. The 'back' wash. The 'pressure' of the wash! I have no doubts that you can figure out what all these are. Mind you - we had to try them out and let me tell you...you MUST make sure that no one has tampered with the 'pressure' button, otherwise it makes for a rude awakening!

The PUBLIC RESTROOM control panel: This my friends has more buttons than should be allowable by law. It has all the buttons I stated above and a few more thrown in for good public bathroom etiquette. (the Japanese DO NOT, under any circumstances, want you to know that they are going to the bathroom!!)

The extra buttons include: something equivalent to the sound of a cough, a 'flushing sound', and I swear in one of the restrooms they even had a 'radio sound' button! Why these buttons exist is beyond me because the walls and doors go from ceiling to floor - in EVERY bathroom.

The Japanese do not want you to know they go to the bathroom!

Since I have only been here 3 months, I know I have not experienced all the bathrooms that they have to offer - but overall, the bathrooms are very clean, very private and put American public bathrooms to shame.

However, there is another - scarier type public bathroom out there...the trough. And let me tell you...IT IS SCARY AS HELL!

It is like the troughs in a regular men's bathroom, only laid flat on the floor, and it is for women.

This my friends is fodder for a whole other blog!