3 Weeks Later...

Well, it has been 3 weeks now and things have settled only slightly. 
Granted we are not in Japan but we are still dealing 'daily' with what is happening there...my husband has to go back.  In THREE DAYS. 
I am not happy about it.  But it seems there is nothing I can do.  It is his job.

So...
what the world is like when you walk away from everything that you have (twice):

• We have lived with my mom for a bit (luckily we get along so well - because moving back in with your mom at my age...could be hazardous to most peoples health)!
• We have now moved temporarily into an apartment, as our house is occupied (we let the tenants re-sign the lease just two weeks before the earthquake)!  Great timing - I know.
• We have had to find cars...we sold both before we moved the first time.  His company has been nice enough to 'lend' us one until the one we have ordered gets here - June.  I can't just go buy what I WANT - I have to drive something that my hubby's company makes. (and I found out the "lending" ends the day my husband leaves.)  So starts the money train.
• We got here, safely -I might add, but with ONE suitcase each. So moving into an apartment has been a little strange. Having nothing but 4 outfits has been weird.  Not that I am being unappreciative in the fact that I made it out safe - but in the fact that the last time I moved somewhere with nothing - was in COLLEGE.  A tank top, pair of jeans and a bottle opener just don't work anymore!!           As I told my best friend...    I am not made to be a nomad!!

I guess it takes times like these to make you see what is important (if you don't already know).  And since I have been here - a pair of good winter gloves and a hat would've been nice!  But so much for 'thoughtful packing' during an emergency! 

I have had several people tell me that during an emergency - I would be someone they would want with them...well, I guess that would work if they didn't need that damn emergency back-pack, a handy winter coat or a pair of fingernail clippers.  I mean usually I am accused by husband of packing everything but the kitchen sink...and usually, I guess its true.  But being here in this apartment with nothing but someone else's furniture, four outfits, a borrowed computer and a few things from Target... I feel very unprepared.  I feel a little lost. My Type A - is having some real issues with it all!

But, we will get our stuff back, it may be 2 months or 6 months.  Depending on if they put my husband in a hotel when he returns. 
I will get my husband back, in 6 - 8 months, depending on when they decide his part in the project is over.  The big question is:  will he be the same?  Will he have been 'altered' by the radiation? (I don't care what anyone says...radiation, a small dose or a large, will change someone...Whether it is now or in the future).

LIFE IS SO UNPREDICTABLE...everyone says it, I am living proof of it.
All I can say:
count your blessings, say your I love yous and pack your damn fingernail clippers!!!


Here's to another radiation free day for my son ~
Deeds

Earthquake-Days 2 & 3

Saturday, March 12, 2011
Amazingly enough we slept a bit that night after the quake.  Not restful, but sleep.
We woke that morning to sunny skies and warm temps.  Like nothing had happened the day before.  We went downstairs, like any other Saturday morning, to start breakfast...and then the house started moving again.

It became all too real what had happened the day before.  Coming down the stairs and into the kitchen there isn't much to see but hallway - - -so when the house started moving again - I immediately went to the living room and was reminded of all the chaos that had happened in our house.  There was still stuff strewn all over the floor.
I yelled for my husband, "babe, its starting again..." and started briskly walking to retrieve my son.  Luckily, it was just a small aftershock...again.

So as the day progressed (one 30 minute block at a time) things became all to clear...nothing was the same. We started calling family to let everyone know we were ok.  Even though we had sent a FB message the night before, we all needed to hear the actual voices. 

While my husband and I are taking turns on the phone, time is slowly ticking by. 
Every 30 -45 minutes, the house starts swaying again.  It felt like all the "little ones" use to.  But after being in the big one...there was no way to even think of trying to settle myself to any sort of comfort level to be "okay" with it.  Panic hit me every single time the house moved.

We decided to get out of the house and see what the rest of our little area looked like.  To try and get our minds off the obvious.  To try and not freak my son out any more than necessary. We got everyone dressed and off we went. 
The sun was shining, the weather was warm, even though slightly breezy.  We walked around and surveyed the damage...a few cracks in the concrete, some of the streets had busted and the sidewalks were broken and twisted.  The bridge over the street at one of the local grocerys was blocked off - but it seemed business as usual in the city.
It was all a little "too normal" - it made me uneasy.

We walked through the park to try and give my son a little play time and then decided to drive to higher ground (the place I went after the quake) to see what we could see of the Bay.  Once again, all seemed a little too normal. 
Many ships were parked, just waiting, off the coast.  Many more than normal.
There was one fire burning that we could see near the coast.  But all in all...nothing much too see.

We went home and tried to have a normal night...
although we ended up getting a phone call that said the French Embassy was warning everyone to fill their bathtubs, close all windows and do not use heat for fear of the nuclear plant and problems to come. This, once again, set wrong with me.
So we all took showers, we washed a load of clothes and ran the dishwasher...in case they shut off the water in the middle of the night.

Something a little strange settled in me...I chalked it up to the uneasiness still lingering from the quake.  So we called it a night, early.  My husband ended up sleeping with my son and as I laid down to read (my mind would not calm enough for me to sleep) the house started moving again...
I wondered when it would all stop.  When would it all be normal again.
Little did I know what was in store for me the next day...

Sunday, March 13, 2011
We woke again to a sunny, warm day.  But the day just started a little "off".  Bathtubs full of water, the house continuing to sway with aftershocks, and the phone - ringing.  A LOT.

During all this we had CNN Japan on the television watching what news was being given about the tsumani.  Only a bit of information about the nuclear problem was being leaked through.  We started doing a little research on the internet and then we retrieved messages from our American phone line...everyone was saying GET OUT...NOW!
From that point on...everything was a blur.

We got a call from our neighbors (also a Nissan family) saying they had made plans to leave the country.  We looked at each other and decided 'we needed to talk'~
My husband asked me what I thought and if all this was just over-reaction.  We re-listened to messages, we sat for a good 15 minutes and watched the news.  We then discussed how the Japanese don't like to fail at anything, and how there probably was more going on than being let out to the news stations.  He looked at me and said, "What do YOU want to do."  Before that moment - I had not really thought about me, about what I wanted to do.  Actually stopping to think about it - scared me.  My eyes welled up and a few tears rolled down, and I looked up at my husband and said, "If it were just us, no problem.  But that little boy in there has no idea and has his entire life in front of him...I WANT TO LEAVE."
We started looking for flights.

He got approval from work to leave the country.  The approval which took over an hour! 
Then -"Do what you have to do."  We started looking for ANYTHING to get us off that island.
We found a flight to Honolulu for the next day at midnight.  Then there were calls back and forth to the neighbors about their flight and what flights we could get out.  We decided that we all needed to go together because we had a car, it would take less time.  Especailly since all the trains were still shut down and it was better for all - to go together.
A flight was found...for 5 pm..THAT DAY.
It's an hour and 30 minute drive to the airport -on a good day!  We had just had an earthquake, parts of the interstates were shut down...it was 12 noon.  We needed to be there two hours before for an international flight.  I had one hour to pack my family.

We put my son in front of the DVD player so as not to alert him to the fast paced packing going on. My husband stayed on the phone with a phone on each ear...one to the neighbor and one to his boss.  The neighbor had two phones going too...one to us and one to the travel agent lady.

The things I packed make no sense now that I am here in the States.  My brain wouldn't think straight...
'We are leaving.  We are REALLY leaving.  Grab shoes...wait, what kind?  What is the temp where we are going?  Wait, where are we going?  L.A.?  Tennessee?  Did I hear them say that we could get to L.A. but couldn't get to Tennessee until Thursday?  Wait, what are the temps in both places this time of the year?  I HAVE NO IDEA.
OK - think. Start packing Landon...he is most important.  OK...pants, shoes, socks, shirts.  Oh, he needs toys or SOMETHING.  What if we are gone for more than a few days.  What will he do?  What will he NEED?  Ok - stop and think.  Okay, keep going...only 30 minutes till we have to leave.  Ok I have to pack snacks for him for the plane...he won't eat that food.  What about all the food we just bought at the store?  What happens to all that?"
At this point -  MY BRAIN IS HURTING.

Ultimately I got packed (and not well, I might add).  We got into the car, got to the neighbors house.  There were people out  - seemingly checking things out,  we spoke to a German guy who saw us packing up the car.  His wife was across the street on the phone.  He said they were looking at leaving too - but trying to figure out where to go.
We had heard that the day before, no one could get in or out of Narita Airport because of the quake.  We left and hoped for the best! Once we got started, the seas seemed to part.  We made it to the airport (detours and all) in roughly two hours...just under the two hour mark for international flights!

The airport was crazy...
there were people SLEEPING everywhere.  People from the day of the quake, people who had ended up there the day after, people from canceled flights, people trying to get out any way they could.  The airline gave us free food tickets because the VIP lounge (or whatever it was) was not operational because of the quake. We got Starbucks & Mickey D's...breakfast of champions!  We knew it was getting bad when McDonald's was running out of food, AT AN AIRPORT!  But we ended up getting a lot of food...it was free.  We ended up not eating much of it and we gave it all away... To a group of girls, a French soccer team that was stranded in the airport and had made a fort with their luggage in the corner of the food court.  They clapped and yelled when we brought over the second stash of food.  It was sad and happy all at he same time.  We were helping them and yet, there they laid in the floor of an airport...the FLOOR of an AIRPORT.

From there, we had a 14 hour flight (my poor little guy is getting so use to the flights - he said yesterday  - that when Daddy went back to work...he needed to take two planes to get there!!).
After all the chaos of the previous 2 days...I was still nervous about the flight.  If there was even a tremor: the flight would NOT take off. We would be stuck again. Only this time - in an airport.  With all the other people who were stuck.
So when the plane finally had its wheels off the ground - my heart eased a little.  I looked at my son (who was in the middle seat) then looked at my hubby and mouthed the words "Thank You"...
and he knew ~
we had done the right thing.




Now the day in L.A. was a whole different story!!!

REALLY enjoying being on solid ground,
Deeds

A friend took this at the grocery store...this is where the bread is supposed to be.  Na-da.

Sooo glad we left.

The Earthquake

***let me preface this entry by saying that my family and I are back in the United States and thanking the powers-that-be for getting us home safely.  It has been 6 days and feels like it has been 100.

Friday, March 11, 2011
It started out like any other day...
Took my son to school, came home, checked emails and started my day.  A friend called and asked if I wanted to go walk and run some errands - so off we go.
We ended up on top of the hill behind our neighborhood that looks out over the Bay.  We started talking about how close we are living to the water and what chance would we have if we had a quake and tsunami...would we make it up to the top and would it be high enough.  Conversations continued about emergency back-packs and such and she informed me that she had one and had just replaced the waters in it so they were fresh.  I told her I didn't have an emergency pack and that even though we'd been living there a year and through all the little quakes (7 since I had been there) - that it would probably be in my best interest to pack one...just in case the big one that they had been predicting for 10 years - just happened to come before we our assignment was up.
We had lunch and called it a day. 

On this particular day I had decided to leave my son at school for an extra hour so that he could play with his two best friends.  At 2:45 pm I started the ritual of finding my car keys, sunglasses and coat to go get him. 
I was standing in the kitchen and the house started to move...another little one I thought. (Funny to me how I had started refering to the quakes as 'little ones' - almost like I was getting use to them)
The house started to creak, almost like it was 'settling' in cold weather, or like the sounds you hear thinking someone is coming down your stairs in the middle of the night.  The house started to slowly sway the way it always had during every other quake I had to date been privy to.  My thought was, "you know, I have been inside the house during every one of these - I think I'll go outside and see what it looks like to watch the trees sway."
No sooner than I walked out on the porch - the bottom dropped out. 

The ground started shaking violently.  The car was moving back and forth like someone was trying to push it on its side.  The bicycle fell to the ground. The front door slammed shut.  And I was having a hard time just standing up.
There is a house being built across the street and the two Japanese  construction guys were standing there looking at me - me looking at them.  One looked at me like "What the hell?" - almost like I had done this.  I was thinking hey guy...YOU live here,not me...YOU tell ME what the hell is happening.

I walked, well stumbled, best I could to the middle of the street to get away from the house and car.  I crouched down and watched as the rest of the neighbors started running out into the street.  This lasted for a full minute at least.  A minute is not long, until the earth under you is shaking so hard, it is hard to HEAR.
As everything slowly started to stop...My first thought:  MY SON.  Oh dear Jesus.  Please let him be okay.
I took off running.

His school is only about a mile away, and as I ran - somewhere I realized I was seeing that the entire world aroung me had stopped.
The cars in the streets.  The people had all come outside of the buidlings and houses and were standing on the sidewalks. The traffic lights had all gone black.  No birds chirping.  Everything had just STOPPED.  Except me of course.  Here I am running while the ground is still shaking...
I can only imagine how crazy I must have looked to all the Japanese.  Everything they tell you is to stop and take cover during something like this.  I, the crazy white lady,  am running down the street.

When I finally rounded the hill in the neighborhood where my son's school is - I started crying...there he stood.  Outside his schoool with his two best friends and three of his teachers.  I ran some more.
They let him go and he ran to me.  As is picked him up he hugged me and said, "Mommy we just had an earthquake!"  He wiggled out of my arms and stood up and did this little wiggly-shaky dance..."it was shaking all around like this Mommy." 
He stopped and goes, "Wait.  Why are you crying Mommy?"
aaahhh.  He was completely unphased.

We walked home.  Talked about what happened at school.  Dodged cars at traffic lights that were no longer working.  I fielded questions about how come we were walking across the street when the little man in the walk signal was no longer there or flashing telling us it was all clear.  While I am Thanking my lucky stars the little guy is unharmed and seemingly unaltered by it all.

Then - I walked in my house.
It never crossed my mind that something might be happening to my house during all this.  It never crossed my mind what might have happened to ME if I had not had the silly little thought to go out and 'watch the trees sway'.  Looking back - I sort of went blank.

The house looked like someone had ransacked and robbed the place.  When we opened the door the pictures in the entryway were all sideways.  Stuff was strewn in front of the door.  The living room had plants thrown in the floor, candle sticks knocked over and broken, vases in the floor, art had shaken off the walls.  All the little decor knick-knacks were in the floor, souvenirs from all the places we had been were in the floor in pieces.  The 3 sided floor mirror - face down in the dining room.  The kitchen - every drawer and cabinet were open.  Things were out of the cabinets, stuff in the floor, and luckily...the few bottles of wine we had sitting on the cabinet had only shaken their way to the EDGE of the cabinet...they never made it to the floor!!!!  Yes, someone knew I would need those later!!!

The upstairs wasn't as bad.  Well, everywhere but our room.  The TV had fallen off the dresser, the big mirror was on the floor, my dressing table and all contents...EVERYWHERE.  It looked like a perfume bandit had taken each one out, smelled them and then randomly tossed them around the room. 
I found my cell phone, grabbed our coats and some water bottles and headed back outside to the street. 

It was TWO HOURS before I finally made contact with my husband.  All power, phones, everything - OUT.  Not knowing where he was or if he was ok...was bad.  I think the most frightening thing (besides my son's safety) was the fact that there was no way to know anything.  ANYTHING.  Sirens are going off, people are walking everywhere, all my nieghbors were still out in the streets...
they tell you to stay out of the buildings because of aftershocks...luckily we did.  Two more happened...and they were almost as bad as the quake itself.  
The construction workers had their truck radio on loud...the German lady across the street was translating the broadcast.  Listening for tsunami warnings.  Everything was surreal - the German lady translating the Japanese to us and everyone around was of some other nationality.
During the interim I ran back inside and packed that damn emergency back-pack we had talked about earlier.  Found my crappy little AM/FM Japanese radio (I bought to listen to the military rock channel) -hoping for some sort of news in ENGLISH, grabbed passports, all the extra money we had stashed and tossed it all in the car. I left a note for my husband taped to the door.
We headed for higher ground.

We went to the club where I take my son swimming in the summer.  It is the highest point in our area.  Many of the other expat families were there.  Well, not the families...the mothers and kids.  During this whole ordeal, which lasted about 4 hours - there were NO MEN ANYWHERE.  None.
It was all Mothers and kids, or Mothers trying to find their kids.  It was scary.
All the men were at work.  The phones weren't working and none of us could get in contact to find out if they were ok.  Or find out if they could even make it back to us. We couldn't understand the news about the tsunami because it was all in Japanese.  We were basically helpess.

It took TWO HOURS before I could reach my husband to let him know we were okay and to find out he was unharmed.  It took another FIVE HOURS for him to get home to us.
He works 15 miles away.  FIFTEEN MILES....FIVE HOURS.
The phones (cell phones) worked for 5 mintues, literally, and then were out for the next 8 hours.  We had no power, no phones, no nothing.  Just dead time....waiting.
For our husbands and for another quake.

Finally at dusk, we went home.  I needed to clean up what glass and broken things I could before it got too dark.  I needed to find the candles, find the flashlights.  I needed to make it safe for my son to even be in the house.
After all the glass was cleaned, and paths were made to walk...
I settled my son in to watch his DVD player (Thank God I remembered to charge the battery the night before) and I had a MUCH needed glasss of wine...
and we sat and waited for my husband.

He arrived after 9pm.  The earthquake was at 2:26pm.
Trying to get home to us he had been in a co-workers car, then walked (because he could walk faster than the cars were moving) and then in a taxi.  All trains and buses had been shut down. 

After the heartswell we had when we were all together again, we cleaned a little more, had another glass of wine and reluctantly decided to try and sleep.
Precaution lead us to take the picture off the wall over our bed and our son slept with us that night.  It was not a restful sleep...afteshocks were coming about every 30 minutes.

I was scared, freaked out and worn out.
Deeds

***DAY 2 will be posted as soon as I can.
This was all I could stomach to remember in one sitting.  I am still comparmentalizing and a little in denial.  I am trying to deal one day at a time.

This is an areial shot of a crack from the earthquake...
these are not weeds...these are full grown TREES around the crack. 
Just to give you some perspective.

Driving

It took a long time, but as you probably can tell...I DID get my driver's license.

A few things that made it painstaking:
Everything about the Japanese driver system is still rooted in the 1950s:

• the building (which is way out in B.F.E.)- over an hour just to get there.
• the SCAN TRON sheet driver test
• the classroom where you take the test (only seats about 10 people - tightly)
• the eye test machine
• the cardboard box with the bell in it that rings when you put your application in (just so they know that someone is actually out there)
• and the FOUR hours it usually takes to have the test given and graded. 

and the list could go on.  But regardless of all this, I finally got my license.  Well, by default actually.
After taking the test twice - I almost gave up.
The test consisted of 10 questions, True and False.  Easy right?...um, NO.
They are trick questions.  If ONE WORD in the sentence is wrong...you are wrong.
Then if you miss 4 questions - you fail.  If you fail, they DO NOT tell you what you got wrong.  They DO NOT let you see your Scan-Tron.  They DO NOT help you - IN ANY WAY.
They let you take the test as many times as you want...but you have to come back on a different day every time and it is about $30 each time you take the test.  And if they decide that they don't want you to pass...you never will.  NO MATTER WHAT.
Lovely.

At the end of my rope - I finally told my husband to ask his company about me having a "International License"...if that would cover me on the insurance. No test, just my U.S. license and a paper from the U.S. saying 'International Driver's License.'
Well, sure-as-hell...they said it was fine.  All that trouble and time - FOR NOTHING.  Dammit.
But it will make for a good story for the rest of my driving life.

So - jump to present day...
The hubby comes home last week and informs me that he needs to take the car to work for its 6 month check-up.  I reluctantly agree to ride my bike again for a day and give up the keys.

Now you might wonder, how come we have a car and my husband doesn't use it to drive to work everyday???
It takes him one hour and 30 minutes to get to work via a bus, then two or three train changes.  A pain is the a$$, I know.
But he kept telling me it takes longer to drive than to take the trains.  I thought - yeah whatever big guy...I would be driving!


So he takes the car for the check-up.  It takes him almost two hours to get to work - in traffic at 7:30 am.
He gets home that night and tells me that he made it home in only ONE hour!
'Wow," I said, "Maybe you should start driving to work" - and then thought better of it because I would have no car anymore.  Luckily he said "nah, takes too long."


The rest of our conversation went like this:

ME:  Why after a full year, when I tell someone you work in Zama (a little town)- every time they go "ooooh"?              So how far away is Zama actually???
HIM:  15 miles.
ME:   Wait. What? 15 miles?
HIM:  Yep.
ME:  and it takes almost TWO HOURS to get there and back EVERYDAY.
HIM:  Yep.
ME:  and even in the car it takes longer to get there?  15 miles?  nooooo.
HIM:  Yep.

I sat there dumbfounded and speechless. I finally understood.  I finally realized that I could probably throw a rock and hit my husband in the head while he was working but it would take him almost two hours to get back here to ask me why I threw the rock.

No wonder he is ready to go home too!
That 45 minute commute to work in the U.S. has never looked so good.

~as I grab the keys and head out to drive on the wrong side of the road and terrorize the locals  !!!  =-)

Enjoy your day,
Deeds





     

Work Ethic

I was talking to my husband the other day and we ended up discussing his work...which is usually not a topic of conversation between us.  I know, strange since we are living in another country specifically for his job! But he has always been the type person to not bring his work home.  And to be honest - I probably wouldn't understand much of what he was trying to explain, him being a Chemical Engineer and all.

So in discussing his "office" and what happens when he is there 16 hours a day, I found out some things the Japanese do that I had no idea:

At lunch time (12 noon) they turn off all the lights in the building.  For one hour. Most eat at their desks and then sleep.  The hubby says you can walk anywhere in the building and there are people everywhere - dead asleep.

Sitting straight up at their desks and some face down on the desks. But most all are asleep.

At 1pm - the lights come back on and all go back to work.

I have heard from many Expats that nothing really gets 'started' until after lunch.  In the States everyone gets to work at the crack-of-dawn to get a jump on the day and hopefully get out of the office before they get caught in traffic. Here they stroll leisurely in at 9 and leave around 9.  I asked my Japanese tutor about this and she said that is the way it is here.  The men are gone all day and the women like it that way.  The women like to get their daily house duties done and then hopefully - go to lunch with friends and talk.  Then the kids get home from school, and the moms make dinner and take care of the kids and wa-la the day is done.  My tutor said the reason the women like the men to be gone is that when they are home - they get in the way.  

This made me laugh.

Here the work day (for most everyone) doesn't begin until 9 or 10 am.  

Most retail stores and restaurants 11 am. 

When we first moved here we were told that "the Japanese work crazy hours" - and they do.  The professionals and factory workers.  

The retail stores are open from 10 am (most 11am) until around 8pm.  The restaurants stay open until 11 or 12.

After the sun goes down here - there really is not a whole lot to do. There is always Tokyo and clubs - but that has never been my destination for two reasons:

1.  Husband at work (till 10 pm every night) and a four-year-old at home, are not real conducive to a jaunt to Tokyo to party.  

2.  Tokyo is about 45 minutes away (by car) - longer by train. After having a few cocktails, you pretty much  want to change your clothes and fall into bed - and an hour ride just to get home...is not fun.  Especially on the train. Especially with a buzz.

If you have ever had a few drinks and gotten woozy just from a car ride home...the train is much worse.  Granted you don't have to drive or worry about any of that, but the stop and go, the constant clack of the tracks, the side-to-side constant motion of the train...

makes for even a seasoned veteran to have flashes of woozy. I found this out the hard way.

This must happen quite a lot here because I was told that they have a term for this: platform pizza.  I know, its gross.  But, as I stated in an earlier blog, here the drunkness is accepted.  Most believe that if you have had too much to drink - you probably had a very hard and stressful day at work and you deserve to be drunk. I guess if I was working 16 hour days - I'd need a drink too.  

JAPAN'S "LOVE HOTELS"

The words ‘love’ and ‘hotel’ combined usually conjure up romantic images of weekends away, breakfast in bed, walks in the woods, dinner by candlelight with champagne - and whatever else springs to mind - by an open fire. In Japan, however, the resultant image of the same combination of words is somewhat different.


A "LOVE HOTEL" is basically this:  short term hotels throughout Japan where couples meet to have sex in a private and erotic setting.For decades Japan's love hotels have provided a place for couples to enjoy anonymous, uninterrupted sex. Politician and secretary, teacher and student, husband and hooker -- all are welcome, as long as they pay in cash and leave when the time limit is up.

They say that the hotels exist out of necessity...until recently, most people lived with their families until marriage, often with three generations under one roof, separated by only paper screens. Without a private space for the most private of acts.  So they had to find somewhere to do the 'deed'. 
What a terrible thought...having Grams in the next room watching Japanese Wheel of Fortune while trying to 'be sexy'? - umm, NO.

So voila, birth of the Love Hotel!  Everyone knows they exist and it is an accepted practice here. These hotels are typically either concentrated in city districts close to train or subway stations, near highways on the city outskirts, or in industrial districts. Love hotel architecture is sometimes garish, with buildings shaped like castles, boats or UFOs and lit with neon lighting. What wonderful imaginations!

Some more recent love hotels are very ordinary looking buildings, distinguished mainly by having small, covered, or even no windows.

As women gradually came to have more social and financial clout, the hotels re-modeled themselves away from typically male themes such as outer space and cars (haa haa...SO typical male). Porno channels on the TV were out and a ‘come early, stay late’ policy was in.  The newer hotels come complete with karaoke machines, jacuzzis and even swimming pools and most are  hilariously decorated. Some love-hotels boast sun-beds for those who like to top off their tan while doing the duty, or adjoining ‘swapping rooms’ for those who prefer to bed hop. Some have CCTV feeds from all the rooms, offering a unique in-house video channel where you can watch others watching you doing what you’re watching them do. A number of hotels provide ‘party rooms’ for groups and even S&M facilities for aficionados.
The stats say the annual turnover of the love hotel industry is more than ¥4 trillion (yen)...that's pushing $5 trillion USD.  A LOT OF MONEY.  But we all know, sex sells!

Some of the fabulous names I have seen on the signs of the Love Hotels around here:
Hotel CHAT
Hotel Rainbow
Carib Hotel
P & A Plaza
Dixy Inn
Hotel Chez Moi
Hotel J-Girl
Hotel Lala
Hotel First Wood  (priceless!)


The rates here are by the hour and rooms are often selected from a panel of buttons and the bill settled by pneumatic tube, automatic cash machines, or a pair of hands behind a pane of frosted glass.


Similar establishments exist in other East Asian countries such as South Korea,Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The same concept also exists in Central and South America, particularly in Guatemala, Chile and Mexico (where they are called "autohotels"), in the Dominican Republic and Colombia (where they are called "cabañas" or "motels"), and in Argentina and Uruguay, where they are often called "albergues transitorios" or "telos" (after reversing the syllables of the word "hotel"). They are very common in Brazil and Puerto Rico, where they are simply called "motels" (the word is exclusively used for love hotels).

In the United States and Canada, they are known as "no-tell motels" . Apparently the first love hotel will open in France next summer, in Pontoise, next to Paris!

I guess all the world needs love.  No matter WHERE you have to get it!

Enjoy the photos!

Deeds


the video screens to choose your "room"...

 the sex machine room...

 the Neil Armstrong Room - for all you astronaut wanna-bes!

the Train/Subway Room - in case you don't get 'groped' enough on the real trains!

 The Spiderman Room...swing from chain to chain!

What is this...the Land of the Lost Room???

****and they say Japan is a mild mannered culture!  Someone figured out the wild side!!!

Guam

Over Xmas, we went to Guam.  Since we will be in Japan for 18 months - two years, we only get one trip "home"...we did that in October for family reasons.
So my husband decided that since he's been working for 12 months, around 16 hours a day...that we needed to go somewhere fun and lucky me, Tropical!

Guam became our destination.  A quick five hour flight, sunny, warm, English is the language, shopping is plentiful and the general temperature is 85 degrees (29 C - for all my international friends).

Once we arrived we were whisked away in a lovely, shabby cab.  Complete with hanging pineapple air fresher and some new-fangled rap song emanating from the stereo, obviously from America, that I have not yet had the pleasure of hearing.
The island is very small so we were at the hotel in roughly 10 minutes.  Great!

While doing research on where to stay - we were told by several people here (all expats) that we most definitely had to stay at the Pacific Islands Club.  We were warned that it was a bit 'dated' but since we have a 3 year old..."you gotta stay there, the water park is excellent."

Palm trees and waterfalls, kayak streams and a kiddie park, water slides and wind surfing, trampolines and snorkeling, scuba diving and water animals...this place had everything you could imagine.  My son was in heaven.  Well, my son and my husband were in heaven!
I was just happy to lay by the pool and watch the happiness.
The 30 minute breaks to myself, laying poolside with 100 little kids frolicking all around...were pure heaven.  I never knew that being in the middle of all that chaos - could be so relaxing.  I happily waved from a distance as my son and husband went from water animal to water animal, and water slide to water walk.  It was bliss.

Our schedule went something as follows:
9 am - wake
9:30 - breakfast (in the LARGE buffet style dining room with 600 other people)
10:30 - poolside
1:30 - lunch
2:30 - son naps
5:00 - shower
6:30 - dinner (which was something quite normal and American (ie, burgers, ribs, fish, etc.))
8:00 - roam hotel
9:30 - back to room

One day we ventured to KMART.  Yes, they have a 24 hour Kmart.  This is where everyone stocks up on all the things you can't get here in Japan...the American brands you are used to:
vitamins, shampoos/conditioners, American size clothes (but remember - we are in Kmart- so you have to be desperate), toys, socks, tools...what-have-you.
And of course - the prices are through the roof.

We also ended up being one out of about 15 families (that I saw) who were not Asian.  So we basically had the same idea as all the others...go somewhere warm.
The hotel pool staff was mostly Westerners, they all had on a name tag with their home city on it.  Most were young, early twenties and loving life.  Life guarding by day and partying by night on a little island in the Pacific.  (how come I never thought of that when I was in my 20s???)

But, the rooms were run down...reminded me a little of Three's Company.  The older furniture and the very flat, hard beds.  Bad art on the walls and a 15 inch TV that was probably 20 years old.  The bedspreads - very HoJo, and one night our air conditioner started leaking and made a huge wet spot in the middle of the hallway.  But I will tell you this...
This is the first trip I have ever taken where the room - did not matter.
We were so happy to be in the warm weather, to have my husband with us on a daily basis, to have normal  food at every meal (well, what we consider normal - I know, everything's relative), and a water park that ROCKED!

We much enjoyed Guam.  Its not Hawaii, but it will do just fine!!!!

If you have the chance...try it sometime!

Happy 2011!

Deeds

New Year's Eve

The New Year celebration has always been a big deal in my life.  Well, until I had my son...now I am just boring, and happy to get to sleep BEFORE midnight.
Anyway, here in Japan the New Year Holiday is a very big deal.   Nothing like the  holiday in America where people party their brains out for one night and then Thank God that the year ended before they got the hangover. No here, its a bit different.


While I am quite positive that everyone here drinks, seeing as the liquor store around the corner did not have an empty parking spot for two straight days (around the clock) prior to New Year's Eve, but here in our neighborhood, things were relatively quiet New Year's Eve.


Shogatsu is the celebration of the New Year and is the most important holiday in Japan.  Things in Japan start to close down early on New Year's Eve...restaurants, shops, offices, gas stations, grocery stores...everything...CLOSED.
Omisoka is the day of New Year’s Eve.  Since the New Year is the biggest event in Japan, people celebrate the Eve as well.
Luckily I was warned about the closings a few days prior to NYE.  We stocked up on things we thought we couldn't live without for a few days and we were set.


It is said people work hard to prepare for the New Year.  Starting one or two weeks ahead...doing a full-on CLEAN (like spring cleaning in the States). The reason people do the cleaning in the middle of winter is to get rid of the 'dirty' of the passing year and to welcome the New Year with a fresh and serene mind.  Probably not a bad idea.


At midnight things are pretty quiet.  Not what I am use to.  
Starting precisely at 12 - the temples ring their bells 108 times.   People stay up till midnight to listen to the 108 chimes (notice 'quiet') of a nearby temple bell.  The 108 chimes called Joya-no-kane, this rings out the old year and rings in the New. It is supposed to release people from the 108 worldly sin.  (God knows I need that.)


The temples have been readied beforehand and at midnight they open their doors and let in the masses.  The shrines all over Japan are packed with people from midnight thru to January 3^rd.  People go to pray for safety, happiness and the long lives of the family. Many are dressed in Kimonos and buy a good luck talisman called Omamori. It is kept as a protection from illness, accidents and disasters. After experiencing the "little" earthquakes...I can see why they need the protection!!!


Some of the other traditions:

• Entrances of homes, stores, etc., are decorated with a Shimekezari. These are twisted pieces of straw rope with fern leaves, an orange and other items of good omen.
• A Bonenkai party.  Bonenkai litarelly means a "Forget-the-year party" to forget the unpleasant memories of the passing year and to welcome the New Year with a fresh and serene mind. 
• People give special allowances to their children, nephews and nieces called Otoshidama. It is the busiest season for toy shops to attract children to spend their new found wealth.
• People send a lot of greeting cards to relatives, friends, business acquaintances and customers to wish them a happy New Year. Post offices in Japan collect and keep them then deliver them on the New Year's day all at once.  There is something about a 'lottery' with the cards.  They are all numbered and then some numbers are drawn and the lucky ones get prizes. I don't really know all about it - and since we got no cards...we didn't really research it.

The holiday in general reminds me of Xmas in America.  The shutting down of stores, the weeks of prep, the calm of it all.  Quite nice - but once again, not what we are use to.
All in all in the end - it didn't really matter - 
We had an early dinner out with friends NYE.  I had started to feel a little 'under the weather' and only had a few cocktails trying to stay in the spirit. (huh-oh, now you KNOW something is amiss) I was asleep by 10:30.
January 1- uneventful and illness is gaining. Everything closed.
January 2- illness is winning. everything closed. In my weariness I think it is still Saturday.
January 3 - I Thank God I have made it to Monday...start calling doctors at 8am...EVERYTHING CLOSED.  At this point I am beyond my wits and after calling a friend who tells me that yeah, nothing will be open until TOMORROW...I take off my 'sick clothes' and put on my sick 'outside clothes', throw my English to Japanese dictionary in my purse and   drive myself to the Emergency Room.  
When I pulled up - I thought it was closed too.  All the windows closed.  No cars. Anywhere.
How do you run a hospital with only 10 people working it???  Don't know - but they did it.


I sat in the hospital, the only foreigner, and one of two people who spoke English.  The other guy was working the front desk and in my sickness haze I thought he was a doctor.  At this point I was so happy to see him - I  thought he had a halo.
I walked in - there he was behind the girl behind the 'intake' desk. He had longer hair, a pinstripe shirt, khakis and a red thing around his neck I could have SWORN was a stethoscope. He helped with the forms and then sent me to the 'waiting room' and that was the last I saw of him, his English and his halo.
The waiting room - a hallway with some benches.  Everyone there - in Michael Jackson masks.  All - staring at me.


I was smart enough to take a book.  What I read while waiting a full hour - I have no idea. I heard names being called out - nothing that sounded like Sullivan.  Finally some man (another sicky) takes pity on me and walks over and points to one of the doors.  They had called my name, I never heard them, they never walked down the hall to look for me.


The "doctor" spoke about 10 words of English. I explained my symptoms, he looked in my throat, listened to my 'lungs' (right under my clavicle bones.  apparently my lungs have moved) and he recorded the temperature from the self-serve thermometer I was given while sitting in the hallway.
Yep, you mess it up, not accurate...your problem.


After all this we finally agree on one thing...I have pneumonia.
He has no idea what to prescribe me so I tell him what I want.  The same stuff they gave me the last time I had pneumonia (in the USA).
I got 1/4 the dose of the meds I asked for and he sent me home.


It has been dreaded.  Hurts to walk up the stairs.  Can't breathe. Body hurts.  Etc, Etc, Etc.  You know the drill.
Now today, I feel a little better (not great) and find out my son has Bronchitis...AGAIN.
Dammit.


My husband goes back to work tomorrow.  My mom comes back in country this weekend.  And 2011 is off with a BANG.


The way I am choosing to look at it - 
my year can only get better.  Right?


-I read another blog today and the lady had two kids who got pneumonia one right after the other.  I told her to suck it up sister and thank her lucky stars that it was the kids, that she had strong meds to get them thru it, a doc who knows what's up and a city that is actually functioning.
Actually I sympathized. (but you know that's what part of me really wanted to say).
I think it was the steroid, amoxicillan, benadryl, sudafed, nasal spray, vaseline, cough drop, chapstick delirium talking.


Maybe I need to do the 'full-on-clean' and get rid of the 'dirty'???
Maybe they are on to something. hmmm.


Here's to the ' lucky' Year of the Rabbit~
Deeds


***this is merely meant for everyone to see the humor in the ridiculous...which does happen.  And apparently, more to me than most!!  :-) 
I mean isn't that what this blog is all about!
Cheers.


UPDATE:
after my 3 days of antibiotics from the ER.  I started going downhill again, quickly!  I went to my previous doctor and got more antibiotics.
I found out that the meds the ER had given was only 1/4 the strength recommended for an average adult, and given only 1/3 the recommended dosage days.  I needed 10 days of antibiotics.
There is no FDA regulation here.
who knew?