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?

Rockin' America

I will start this by saying:
I LOVE AMERICA - I LOVE AMERICA - I L-O-V-E  AMERICA!
Now with that said, I continue.

If it is not obvious by the statements above, let me tell you - I have made it back to the States for a much needed visit!
Even though our trip started a little bumpy (Mom was stopped in the Tokyo Airport by security for having not one, but TWO pair of scissors in her carry-on!)  They took her aside and took down her passport number and all her informtaion.  It was a nice way to start a 24 hour journey.
But - we got all of the drama out of the way in the beginning and the rest of the trip was pretty much a breeze.
Well, I take that back - I forgot (conveniently) that I had one of the worst allergy attacks I've had since I was a kid.  That made for a lovely and pleasant trip at 35,000 feet!  But I was willing to endure anything to get home.

Safely at home and spending most of a full week suffering from jet-lag, I happened to be up one morning at 5:30 am and decided to wander into the closest Walgreens... I thought I had died and gone to heaven!
I know I looked like a big ole drugged out dork. Why, you ask?
I had on some crazy version of sweat pants and a T-shirt, hair all pulled up on the top of my head, no make-up and I was on about day 3 of filling myself full of Zyrtec and Benadryl to make the allergies go away.
Plus when I walked in, I got to about the middle of the store and just stopped.  Standing there looking around in COMPLETE awe at all the things that I can't buy in Japan!!!!!!!!

It made me realize how many uneeded and usless things I take for granted:
The 12 pack of utility scissors that you don't need but will buy anyway because it is such a good deal -in the clearance bin, only $5.  The 30 diffferent brands of soft drinks, vitamins that I'll never take but with labels I can actually read, the random isle of junk that lets you know what season we are in, trash mags  for only $3.95 (Japan price - $15), Wet & Wild .99cent trashy make-up in EVERY color and last but not least - - two-ply toilet paper!!!!And the list could go on and on and on.

So I stood there - taking it all in, enjoying the weird smell of cleaner and disenfectant mixed with air freshner someone had probably sprayed trying to figure out if they liked the smell enough to buy it.
But - I loved it!  I loved every weird minute of it.

If there is such a thing as heaven...I would have sworn that morning that I had found it. 
and I won't even tell you what I probably looked like when I walked into the Harris Teeter Grocery Store...


I'm enjoying the scenery,
Deeds

Strange Things...

I was sitting here a little bummed today, for no particular reason I have decided - and I got to thinking about money and how expensive things are here in Japan.  So I decided to make a list of all the things and prices that I could think of - - - just for comparison sake.
Don't get me wrong - EVERYTHING is expensive here but some things make you scratch your head and wonder...
(this is only a rough guide...everything is relative)

Let's start with the most important thing - alcohol!
Good liquor is cheap - Bad liquor is expensive...well, everyone's taste is different, but according to what's "good" in the States by price!
= Vodka:      Absolut $15.  Skyy $10. Smirnoff $20. (Finlandia, and all the other brands I have forgotten - are pretty cheap too)
= Whiskey:    Jack Daniels $26.  Crown Royal $17. (at home this size bottle of Crown would be $36)
=Wine:          Mondavi $9.  Clos Du Bois $13 (both small bottles)  Woodbridge $12 (for a mag).  There are all sorts of knock off wines here that we've never heard of, and you can get those at the "spontaneous buy section" right at the check-out isle where the gum and candy are in the States, for about $3.50 a bottle.
=Beer:  The most expensive thing here.  Usually you can only get Budweiser or something familiar at Costco and it's expensive.  Depending on the brand and the purchase place - a SIX PACK can run you $12 - $20.
A single beer out at a restaurant or bar is AT LEAST $7-8.  Irish/British beer (Guinness, etc.) $11-13.  And $7- $8 for a smaller 'draft beer' US brand (if they have it).
You can get Sake and such everywhere - but not much for that, so don't recall the prices.
Luckily for my wallet - I don't drink beer anymore.


Cost of food
Coke, soda, tea:  $4-$5 EACH in a restaurant.  No refills here baby.
There are some - but very few - places with drink "bars". You pay one price and go back as many times as you want for refills.  The glasses are about the size of a kids cup.
We did find a 'all you can drink' alcohol special at a restaurant here close to the house...$12 - all you can drink for 2 hours, while eating dinner!  For that price - I know some people that would put this place out of business!  Mind it is 'house' swill...still a good deal though!


Pizza Hut - $25-$38  for ONE pizza about the size of our medium pizzas in the States.
Real quick - just thought I'd throw some of the "types" of pizza you can get - and I quote:
Cheese & Cheese, Ebipuru Egg, Mayo-Q (BBQ with mayo), Seafood Mix, Dijon Mustard Sausage, Pote Mayo Gratin, Carbonara, Tuna Mild, and Super Korean Purukogi!  Sounds yummy huh? ugh.

There are a few places to get American food (i.e., cheeseburgers, pasta) but they are very expensive and sometimes you are lucky and they are true to taste.  I had lunch with a friend a few weeks ago and a cheeseburger, fries, coke was $22.  It was an OKAY burger - but not a $22 burger.
A milkshake (not that I was ever a milkshake drinker) will cost you $10-$12.  Amazing how you never really craved something until it was not readily available for $2 at your local drive-thru!!  I have yet to have the milkshake.


There is no tipping - ANYWHERE. You can tell there is no tipping because the service is not very good.  I completely understand too.  Hell, it was hard enough to get us waiters to come to your table when we were making good money - I can't imagine what it must be like to not get a tip...and still have to go be nice!  No fun.
Most restaurants - the chain restaurants - have a button on the table.  No one comes to your table until you push the button. They want you to be ready to order when they get there and you order everything at once.  No drinks, then appetizer, then meal ordering...its everything at once.
and I almost forgot ~ the piece-de-resistance...they always serve the "man of the house" first.  He always gets his food first!  My stepsons have argued that Landon gets his food first (he's 3) - but 9 times out of 10 - my husband ALWAYS gets his food first.  And you can't really sit and wait for the other dishes to come out...they NEVER all come at the same time.  It is not something they do here in Japan. When its ready - it comes out.  No being polite and waiting for everyone to get their food. If you don't want to eat cold food - you eat when it comes!

There are very few mani-pedi places either.  I was really shocked.  I was looking forward to weekly, well maybe monthly, foot rubs and pedicures - but alas, there are very few places (at least in our area) that do these services.
I did a little research and found a place in Tokyo that would do a pedicure for $126.  I don't know what all that included (better be something good and extra like the male massage parlors in Nashville???) - but that is way too far for me to travel (2 hours) and way too much to spend.  Even though - with all the walking my feet could REALLY use it! I am sure there is somewhere close to have this service done...but not like at home where there is a shop at every Kroger or Publix corner.  I miss that.


A Cab $7.10 - just to get in the cab. They don't charge for extra people like in NY. The doors open automatically. They get real upset if you try to touch the door to open or close it. I have been scolded several times!  Old habits die hard, ya know.

And something that has bothered me, and will bother me until I leave...the toilet paper.  I am weirdo about two things:   toilet paper and paper towels.
Every type toilet paper here is like gas station toilet paper.  Very thin, no two-ply, just gas station-cheap toilet paper.
The thickest thing I have found (and I have looked everywhere) - is something equivalent of a generic Kroger brand.  Not great, well - not even good - but you take what you can get.  I have decided the reason for this terrible deficiency in TP - absolutely MUST BE the water/sewer regulations.  There is no other answer. And I am VERY disappointed.

And by the way - a roll of Bounty paper towels is $5-6 dollars.  FOR ONE ROLL.
So I ration.
And the 1/4 sheet of  "ShamWow" that I jokingly got from my friend Jill before I left that States...is a life-saver!  
Who knew?!

DD