XMAS in Japan

As Xmas time rolls around, here in Japan...nothing has changed.  The Japanese do not celebrate Xmas - but since they LOVE Halloween - I had a little hope.  
But ~ NOTHING.
Well, I can't actually say 'nothing' because there are a few places here that have the lights in the windows.  I have been told by a friend that if you drive 2 hours, there is a little village that has set up Xmas lights everywhere.  My thoughts...2 hours in a car, a 3 year-old, cold outside...ummm, NO.  Luckily my husband felt the same!


In Japan some do give Christmas presents. Some parents give presents to their children, but the children do not give presents to the parents. The reasoning  ~ only Santa bring presents, so once the children no longer believe in Santa the presents are no longer given.  (That blows!)  I mean who doesn't LOVE a good present???  No matter how old you are.


Anyway, December 25th is not a national holiday in Japan, although December 23rd, which is the birthdate of the present emperor, is. Here the Xmas tradition is to maybe put up a few lights, some even might have a tree - but the actual day of Xmas is sort of a 'date night' here.
You are supposed to spend that day/night with your significant other.  Its not about family or anything like that.  Christmas seems to be closer to the Western concept of Valentine's Day.
Christmas Eve has been hyped by the T.V. media as being a time for romantic miracles. It is seen as a time to be spent with one's boyfriend or girlfriend in a romantic setting, so fancy restaurants and hotels are often booked solid. It is also a time when girls get to reveal their affections to boys and vice versa. Because of this, extending a girl an invitation to be together on Christmas Eve has very deep, romantic implications.


For single women in Japan it is really crucial to have someone to spend Christmas eve with. It is also really important for them where they spend Christmas eve and what present they receive. The whole evening must be very special, gorgeous and romantic. Japanese women who have a boy friend tend to show off, so women who don't are not happy to talk about the topic.

There is also a "sarcasm" that Christmas is compared with a woman's age. Cake shops throughout Japan always try to sell all their Christmas cakes before Christmas eve. Any cakes left after Christmas are seen to be very old or out of date. Women over 25 years old have been referred to as 'unsold Xmas cake.'
NICE.  I can only IMAGINE how well that would go over in the States.  Think of all the black eyes and sore groins the men would have if they said that to a single woman age 25!!!!  
Actually a very funny thought!


Something else strange, thanks to the marketing prowess of Kentucky Fried Chicken, the Christmas Chicken Dinner has become all the rage. Many Japanese even make reservations for their "Christmas Chicken" ahead of time. People will line up at the outlets to get their chickens.  As a result of KFC's advertising, most Japanese now believe that Westerners celebrate Christmas with a chicken dinner instead of the more common ham or turkey.


Here in our house, we have our little Charlie Brown Xmas tree (which is shorter than I am), we have a handful of presents under the tree for the little guy (most of which are Japanese so if they tear-up, we have no idea how to read the instructions to fix them!!!) and we can't send any gifts home (not that I have found anything worthy of sending) because of the "nothing over 16 OUNCES" can be accepted to the USA right now).  


Soooo...
what does one do here during this un-festive time...
WE PLAN A TRIP TO GUAM!
Now while I know Guam is NOT what you would normally think of when you think "vacation" - but, I hear its actually quite nice.  A beach, warm weather, and SHOPPING!
Yes, shopping!
They speak English, they have real stores, and real food and, and, and...a water-park!!! (Yeah - who are the coolest parent's ever gonna be this year?!!!)


So while I am missing Xmas with family, missing the snow that we got at home, and missing getting my own presents...
I am going to be pretty happy to lay my very white American butt on a beautiful sandy beach!


メリークリスマス ~ Merry Christmas!


Deeds

A Doc in a Box - LITERALLY

Some might wonder (as I did) what EXACTLY you do here in Japan when you get really sick?
When your 3 year old gets sick?
or if an earthquake knocks down your house, you escape and you need medical attention?
(By-the-way, we experienced our FOURTH earthquake last night...AT 3 AM!!)  - let me tell you - it is scary as hell to be woken up with your bed knocking against the wall...and you aren't the one making it move. VERY poltergeist.

A-N-Y-W-A-Y,
Here there is a very strict protocol:
Anything emergency - you can call the "ambulance" - but they are NOT allowed to do anything to you, administer ANY treatment or anything of the like.  They are merely TRANSPORT people.
If you want someone to DO something - stop the bleeding, wrap a broken leg until you get to the hospital to have it reattached or even just have someone tell you they suspect you are hypochondriac...you call the fire department!
Why the fire department?  I HAVE NO IDEA.

Anything non-emergency...you are on your own.
Before we moved here - we had a friend of a friend who had just moved back to the USA from Japan - she gave me her "medical" book.  All doctors in our area, their "specialty," and addresses and phone numbers. While I thought this was the best thing she could have ever done for me...now that I am here - I see it makes no difference what-so-ever!  NONE!

My son is three, and if you have a kid....you KNOW they get sick ALL THE TIME.  All the fun little germs that follow them home from school or daycare or the dreaded play area in the mall. So while we have been here only a short time - we have now seen THREE of the different children's doctors.
In the States, mom's usually go to great lengths to find a pediatrician BEFORE they have their kid.  They want to make sure that they like their personality and demeanor before entrusting their sick child to them for the next 10 years.
I had that.  Not anymore.
Now - I just HOPE I can understand, and I pray that my son never gets anything worse than a cold!

So, short version:  my list of the doctors:
(let me preface this by saying:  since we cannot read Japanese - we call the doctors by whatever the picture is on  their office door.  and they mostly all have one)
1)  The Bluff Man
2)  The Garden Lady
3) The Dolphin
4)  The Pig

Everyone here tells you something, good and bad, about each doctor - so we just started going  - to see who made ME feel better about my sons illnesses.

The Bluff Man we have seen several times.  He is somewhat quick, he speaks fairly good English, and we can usually get in the same day we call.
His office is clean and 'big' compared to everything else I have seen here. It has one bathroom (old school style), two exam rooms (both of which you can see into when you walk in the front door)  and his office - which also doubles as the MAIN exam room.
He prescribes the same medicine EVERY time.  Luckily it has worked.  I basically went in the 1st time and told him "we need Amoxicillan - the strongest you have."  (Here the medicines are about HALF the strength of medicines in America)
But it makes me wonder if he EVER prescribes anything else.  Or if Amoxicillan is his answer for it all?

The Pig I was told NEVER to go to.  But in an emergency flu situation - I decided to try it.  I was shocked when I went in.  VERY small.  The waiting room is about the size of a walk-in closet. There was no hallway to the exam room - there was a door, and then you were in a room about the size of your average American dining room.
Once in the 'dining room'  there was desk in the middle of the room, half of the room seemed to house all the supplies - stacked against the wall (and I swear there was a gurney pushed up against the boxes - casually covered by a sheet).  The other side of the room housed a couch (very old school) with a velveteen blanket over it and a stool between the desk and the couch. The couch was the exam table...scary.
This man was very talkative, and spoke very fast - broken English. He was more interested in "talking English" with me and showing my son very rudimentary magic tricks - than he was in diagnosing my child's illness.
Its sad when your 3-year-old asks why the strange man-doctor was doing those weird tricks.

Finally, The Garden Lady...I have heard she is the best pediatric doctor around here.  So much so that the adults try to go see her as well. This is where we ended up today.
Once again we walked into a building and immediately we are in the middle of 25 people waiting! While in a normal size office, or an office with more than one doctor, or even a ratty-ass Centra Care - this might not be anything to be alarmed about.  But when you have just arrived in another walk-in-closet - - it was cause for concern!
and of course they are all staring at us.  Foreigners, blonde, and very tall.  Yep, we fit right in.  ugh.

After I filled out the paper work, she said "2 hour" - I said, um...NO.
We have appointment.  She shook her head.  "We no take appointments." - well that's funny since someone told me this morning to be there at 10:30.
She walked away - and then came out another door (which I never even saw it was so small) - and she motioned us in. Maybe because we were foreigners - who knows.  I was just happy to go ahead of all those others waiting!
I was so happy to follow her I hadn't paid any attention but once I closed the door and turned around -  low and behold - I had walked into a coat closet that had been made into a makeshift exam room.
I kid you not - I could sit on the dwarf size 'cot' and put my legs straight out and touch the other wall with my feet. The room contained only a pillow, a sitting stool and a large file cabinet. My stomach got queasy just at the thought of "what have I gotten us into now?"
So they finally shuffled us into ANOTHER room - with a large (well, relatively speaking) partition. I swear it looked like a make-shift M.A.S.H. hospital.  You could hear everything going on with the patient on the other side of the partition.
Three nurses hovering on the corners - all with the Michael Jackson type hospital masks on and what looked like candy-striper outfits on.
Then a little kid comes out from the other side - sporting a mask, an IV and the rolling liquid bag.  It took everything I had to not whisk my son the hell outta there...right then.

So she (Dr. Sato - as I now know) was nice.  Spoke good broken English and she was quick.  She said he didn't need medicine "right now" - but if his fever stayed until Wednesday - bring him back to give him a BLOOD TEST.  I thought, what-the-hell?  Then the vision of the kid with the IV bag and rolling pole came back and it was all I could do to get out of there.

So we are home, no medicine, and no closer to getting a diagnosis.  We are loading up on Vitamin C, liquids and lots of rest.
And all with the conclusion that if push comes to shove...it will be back to the Bluff Man for at least a little Amoxicillan - to kill WHATEVER it is that lurks inside my child. (and hopefully some peace of mind knowing I am trying to cure him).

Suddenly the very large, over-priced, 5 doctor office we previously had in the USA- - doesn't look so bad.

Out of their closets~
Deeds