Thirty-Five Years In Japan

 Today marks thirty-five years since I came to Japan!

I planned to stay for about five years! I guess that plan didn't work out!

I was looking through my diary from that time. I was so scared to come here. Hisao was already here; I had to go to the UK to deal with my back problems, some things don't change.

I spent a year trying to fix my back, going for rehabilitation, maybe twice a week (I don't remember). Ultimately, the doctor stated that it wouldn't improve significantly beyond its current state. 

So January 1991, I packed my bags and came to Japan. 

If I could give my younger self some advice, it would boil down to just a few things.

These are the regrets I have about coming here.

First, don't burn your bridges; have an escape plan. Up until that point in my life, I always had a way to go back if things didn't work out. Money saved, contacts to get a job, this kind of thing. When I came to Japan, I didn't do that. Part of it might have been that I wasn't planning on staying too long. I figured five years would be enough time to make money, have the Japan experience, get to know Hisao's family. After that, we would go back to the UK and settle there.

Secondly, learn more about Japan. This was pre-Internet, YouTube, or influencers. In the November/December before I came, there was a Japanese culture exchange event in London. I remember the Sumo bouts, I'm sure there were other events, but I can't think what. The BBC did a documentary about Japan. The documentary covered the recovery of Japan after World War II. Another documentary I watched was about a day in the life of a typical family in Tokyo, the father going to work, and his daughter struggling through junior high school. I found that fasacinating but couldn't see myself standing at the door waving goodbye to Hisao!

I wished that I had understood a bit about the pressure of living as a foreigner in a country that is so totally foreign. I'm not sure if there were any resources out there at that time.

On a similar note, I wish I had learnt some Japanese. I knew a few phrases, some basic greetings, but I always thought that I would have time to really learn as I lived here. I didn't realise how much time and energy having kids would take up, also I didn't know that I would be running a business.

The last thing I regret, especially now, is not being able to drive! I thought I wouldn't need to drive, as the first plan was to stay in Tokyo. If we had stayed there, then not having a driver's license would have been alright. Now, however, it's really hard not being able to drive.

I can't imagine living anywhere else now. I don't really love Japan, but I feel comfortable here. Settled might be the best word. My kids have futures here. I don't think I want to go back to the UK now, to visit, but not to live.

I used this photo before, me just after arriving in Japan.

I watch videos of people coming to Japan to study, to live, for jobs or because their spouse is Japanese. I think they are very lucky to be able to come now, with the technology that is available now, it is so much easier. I had no way of calling my parents, I couldn't see my home in the UK. There were no apps to help with translation, my phrase book fell to pieces after a year! But I don't think that there is any technology that can help one adjust to such a different life. That takes time, perseverance and a sense of humour, being able to laugh at yourself and the mistakes you make!

Drop a comment if you live in a different country from your birthday country, also if you would like to come to live in Japan one day!

A Little Afternoon Outing

 This afternoon, Christopher and I went for a little outing.

I've lived in or near this city for almost 35 years and never knew about the area called Tera-Machi, also known as Temple Town. There are 17 temples in one small area. There are a number of graves in this area of famous people from Kurume.

The area is about 10 minutes walk from the Nishetsu Station, so the first plan was to get a bus and walk to Tera-Machi, but my knee has been rather painful the past week, so Mikey dropped us off and took us back to the station after.

I was amazed by the architecture of the area. Some of the temples were older, some more modern. Some had private houses on the grounds, some were very large with graveyards attached.

I took a couple of little videos. The weather was more like spring, which was really nice, but the sun was in my eyes a lot. If the video is jerking, that's where I missed a step!

In the second video, I really like the contrast between the brick wall, which to my mind looks very English and the temple, which looks very Japanese!

A map showing the different temples in the area

Red brick and temple building.

It was so peaceful, very quiet. Some of the temples had speeches or a service (is that the right word?).

I found myself whispering as I asked Christopher to translate what the signs were saying. This is just 10 minutes from a very busy station!

A few more photos from the area.

Temple bell, this would have been rung 108 times to usher in the New Year.

I like the ornament on the corner of the roof.

Massive doors

So beautiful and peaceful

Poster about a speech

Interesting door

Mikey picked us up and dropped us behind the station. 

It's been a long time since I've been there. Last year I went with Hannah, but we stayed at the front of the station.

There are a lot more shops than I remembered: a department store, a supermarket, Daiso, and a few other places.

I wanted to take a longer video, but some people were giving me funny looks!

I went into Diaso, a 100 yen shop and the department store. The department store used to sell imported foods, but this time, they didn't have any. I guess with Costco and Gyomusuper (a supermarket that has a lot of imported foods at a reasonable price), the department store couldn't compete. Christopher bought some nice pickles; he's really into Japanese food!

By this time, I was tired and hot. As I said before, the weather was more like spring, but the stores still had the heating on!

We found a nice bakery that had seating. We got a snack bread and a drink.

This had shrimp and cheese sauce!

We wandered around a bit more, got some cheap eggs. Took another little video from the walkway.

This walkway area used to be where the homeless used to sleep. Looks like it's been cleaned up!

I had a really lovely afternoon. 

I found a map of the city, I was surprised at the number of tourist areas there are and how many I've already visited!

This last photo was from the bus stop. Where the 7-11 is, used to be McDonald's.  I remember waiting there when I first arrived here. Hisao took the bus to get the car, leaving me with a load of luggage and one small coffee. The staff kept giving me funny looks, maybe they thought I had been abandoned! This was before everyone had phones; I just had to wait and hope he was coming back. He did, but took over 2 hours!

Another This And That Post

 It's January! Usually, this time of year is cold. The temperature usually hovers about the 10 °C mark. This week, however, has been very warm. Today it was 19 °C.

I had a little walk around the garden. Yes, it's still a disaster, but if the weather stays this mild, maybe we can do a bit this weekend!

I took a little video while I was out. The birds were really singing. I think you'll have to put the volume up to hear them, but for me, it was so nice. I never realised how quiet the winter is. In the other seasons, there are noises from different animals, birds and insects. I'm always amazed at the noise the insects can make; for such small creatures, they can really make a racket!

Took a couple of photos of a few flowers we have.

Nice bit of colour

A few more interesting photos from the past few days!

Rently?

This was a truck that we were following the other day! I think Marujun is a name, but rently? I love how the Japanese take English and use it in a very unique way!

These next photos are what happened when Mikey dropped his cards. 

When we are waiting for students at the community center Mikey sometimes practices his card routine. But of course, he occasionally drops them. However, I've never seen them land like this before.

The card is in the tatami mat!

If he could do that on purpose, it would be a good trick!

Lists And Routines

 Does anyone else make lists?

I keep a monthly to-do list. David asked if it's things for me to do or for him! 

One reason I keep this list is that some chores just seem to get away from me; having things listed helps a lot.

My basic routine is to keep the main areas of the house clean and tidy. Dishes, always a mountain of them! I do try to do them every day, also ask whoever has some time to do some. I try to do laundry every day when the weather is good, and I can get it outside to dry. At the moment, it's every other day, nothing really dries and having wet or damp clothes hanging around just isn't nice. Of course, I have to run the vacuum, that's almost every day, the wooden floors get swept, vacuumed and mopped! Cat hair! This time of year isn't a big problem, but as the weather warms up and they start losing their winter fur, it gets to be rather crazy. These are the things I try to get done daily. 

January to-do list

This is just the beginning! I usually add to it as I cross off things! 

The first item is to clean cob webs. I thought I had gotten them all in my big clean before Christmas, but I've noticed a few more. I know that we had a lot of spiders in September/October, but I helped many of them to move out, maybe they came back or left their kids here! I know I say I don't like insects, but spiders are alright, as long as they aren't too big!

The second item is to clean under my bed. My bed has drawers under it, to take them out and clean is really hard. Taking them out is alright, getting them back in is hard! So I usually slide my mattress off and move the board to get underneath! I hope to get that done tomorrow.

I'll let you know how I get on! I hope to have all the jobs crossed off!

Another list I have is things I want to buy!

Things I want to buy

I managed to buy a couple of the things on the list, a wet/dry vacuum cleaner and a vacuum cleaner. Between the cats and this house being very dusty, those two things are necessary!

The other items I'm trying to save for. But I think the printer I might have to ask either David or Christopher to buy on a credit card. It's something I use a lot for teaching!

The other things I can wait for!

Another list I've just started is places I hope to visit this year!

Places to visit this year

I'm not sure how many of these I can get to, but I thought having a list would help me to plan. I'm going to write this out in more detail later; this was just a brainstorming list. I want to figure out when to go and how much it will cost, so I can budget for things!

A few more lists or plans I'm thinking of making are to do with my words for this year: health and learning.

What are my goals for my health? How much weight should I aim to lose? What should I do to achieve that goal? What exercises will help me? Where to find help/inspiration when the junk food is screaming my name? I don't keep junk food in the house, which helps, but sometimes I get an intense craving for something! I guess one good thing about living in the middle of nowhere is that I can't just go to a shop and buy snacks!

Also, what should I focus on learning this year? Of course, Japanese. I had a dream the other night that I had to teach biology to 6th graders in Japanese! I woke up in a panic! I don't think I would ever have that level of fleuncy but to be able to deal with day-to-day life without panicking would be nice! I also want to read more classic books. I'm not sure what yet! I just finished Wuthering Heights, which was a lot more intense than I thought it would be. Thinking about what my next read will be!

Then I want to get into Japanese history more. Visiting historical places is more interesting with a bit of knowledge of the time period and area. All of my kids like history, especially David, so they help me to understand things!

Let me know in the comments if you are a list person!

As I develop these lists, I'll post them here!

Headache

 I fell asleep with my kerosene heater on (paraffin). Big mistake, as I woke up a few hours later to a lovely warm room but with a raging headache! I took some painkillers and opened the window a bit to change the air. I slept until just after 5am, when I had to get up to make some breakfast.

I decided to have a couple more hours of sleep. Unfortunately, my allergies started, so I took some allergy medicine and dozed a bit.

I made the same stupid mistake of leaving my heater on, I woke up 2 hours later with an even worse headache! One side effect of the allergy medicine is headaches, so between the heater and the medicine, I wasn't feeling that great!

I took more painkillers and have been drinking a lot of water. I feel a bit better, but today is one of my teaching days! I think I'll go for a walk while Mikey is teaching the younger class, might clear my head more. 

My bucket list of places I want to visit is growing. Hannah keeps sending me maps of places that look really interesting. One place is a shrine that Mikey went to over the New Year holiday.

Yesterday, Christopher was showing me this massive bookstore in Tokyo and a few other places. It looks more like a mall than just a bookstore. I don't think they sell English books, but there's a massive stationery store inside that I would enjoy!

I have to get ready to leave soon! 

Here is a view of the mountain. The weather is very strange, it was very cold the other day, it even tried to snow, now it's warmish again! Today it's sunny, but the wind is rather biting!

When I went out yesterday to say "Good morning" to the mountain!

Coming Of Age Day

 Today is another national holiday in Japan, Coming of Age Day.

Although there have been ceremonies to celebrate young people reaching adulthood, the modern form has been around since 1948, and it's held on the second Monday of January. 

The age for adulthood was lowered to 18 in 2022, but most ceremonies still focus on 20-year-olds, probably because drinking and smoking laws haven't changed.

Local city halls and community centres host ceremonies called Seijinshiki.The ceremony usually involves speeches from local officials,  reunions with classmates and visits to shrines. And of course, photos, lots of photos.  The shiki part means ceremony. I know this because David doesn't like anything with shiki in it. For example, the graduation ceremony, known as sotsugyoushiki. 

I'm not sure if this still happens, but in some places, young people would be given gifts. One of my students told me that her group were given Japanese plum trees to plant. She said that every year, when the tree would blossom, about the end of January, it would remind her of her Coming Of Age Day and the determination she made then to live a good and productive life!

Young people get to dress up in their best, special kimonos for the girls, called furisode, suits or hakama for the boys.

Girls in their furisode

None of my kids attended this ceremony; they weren't really interested. Instead, we had a little party at home. Some of my students who went to the ceremony said it was a nice day, but a lot of money, especially for the girls. The kimonos are usually hired for the day and cost up to 250,000 yen, about £1000. 

I like to see the news on this day, as there are usually segments showing the young people all dressed up and going to the city hall or shrines. 

Also, this is a nice little break; everyone is back at work, trying to get back into the rhythm of life that had been interrupted by the New Year's holiday. This feels like a little breather before the real work of the new year starts! 

Japanese Study

 I keep saying that I'm going to get back into my Japanese study, but time passes, and I don't do anything!

This afternoon I was determined to do some study and reached for my laptop!

I realised that this was the mistake I kept making. 

I keep looking for resources to study instead of studying.

There are some good sites out there, but I get easily distracted by links, then YouTube, then something else catches my eye. I then look at the time and find an hour has passed, and I haven't even started to study!

Today I decided to pull my books out.

I have a lot of books. As I said before, I have a bad habit of collecting books but not reading or using them!

My Japanese textbook

I bought this book when I first came to Japan, about 35 years ago. It still looks new; there are notes inside as I've been through it a few times. The notes tend to trail off after the first few chapters! The sad thing is I bought some books for teaching English at the same time, those have been replaced many times as they just fell pieces because they were used so much!

Today I wrote out some of the vocabulary from the first lesson.  This book uses hiragana, katakana and romanji (Romanised Japanese). I want to write the vocabulary out with kanji as well. I'll ask one of my kids to help with that.

I also wrote the important grammar points. These are things I know but don't know!

I think I pick up a lot of Japanese just by listening to things around me. The kids talking, when I'm out, students who change between Japanese and English, YouTube videos, etc. I can hear sentence patterns, but I've never really studied them. This time I'm going to pay more attention to grammar. 

This is my notebook today!

It's a start

I also found an old kanji drill book that we bought for the kids. We have a copy machine, so I used to copy the pages they needed.

This is today's effort.

Kanji practice.

I did two pages of this. I know the meaning of most of these kanji, but how to read and write is another question!

This is rather bad, I put the date on when I was trying to learn before!

May 8th, 2017!

Nine years ago!! 

Leave me a comment to encourage me!!!