Taking out the trash

So there hasn’t been that much new on the teaching front. We had midterm examinations last week, which meant all of us ALT’s would show up to work, but not teach any classes. Some ALT’s took one or two days off, but I didn’t take any, because I didn’t want to waste my nenkyu, which are the 20 paid vacation days I get every year. I want to save those for when my family comes and visits.

I could have taken daikyu which is time off for when we work overtime, but I only have five and a half hours worth of daikyu so far, so I didn’t have enough to even take a full day off. But I’m not complaining. I have no problem getting paid to sit at school and read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, while the Japanese English teachers ask me questions about English grammar and usage.

It is getting darker earlier. Sunset is at around 5:15 pm, about an hour after I get off of work. I didn’t think it would get this dark this early until Mid-November at least.

Anyway, since there haven’t really been any big events lately, I figure I’d cover a topic of daily Japanese living that I haven’t covered yet. The Trash. The Garbage, The Recycling.

Now apparently the way they do it in Ina, Saitama and around Tokyo is a little different, a lot more strict, than how they do it in other places in Japan. I’m going to tell you how I deal with it here in Ina-machi.

Japan in general has decided that in order to act and be more eco-friendly, they must start sorting the trash and recycling more, which is all fine and good, but they have more trash categories than I’m used to.

Back in Anacortes, trash day was one day a week. We had a trash can, and a recycling bin, where we put in ALL of the recycling. Both the trash and recycling would be picked up on the same day every week. No trouble.

Here in Japan, you have to pre-sort all of your trash, and not just recyclables and garbage. There are burnables, cardboard, clear glass, colored glass, batteries, plastic or pura, cans, and PET bottles. And each type of garbage is picked up on a different day of the week. If you put the wrong trash out on the wrong day, and if they can find out it was you who did it, you will get fined.

When I first got here, Yamashita-sensei, one of my co-workers from House 2, got me a nice colorful garbage calendar, explaining all of the garbage categories, and which days I should put out which trash.

This explains the different trash categories, complete with photos for the kanji-illiterate gaijin.

Each color represents the different type of trash that gets picked up each day.

 

This trash categorization doesn’t stop in the household. For instance, if you go into a McDonald’s here and order in, you have to make sure you throw your paper and leftover food in the right garbage can, and your plastic lid and straw in another.

We also have these different trash cans all over the school, including the Language Lab. Whenever one of us ALT’s puts the wrong kind of trash in the wrong trash can, we get a mini-lecture from Yamashita sensei. One time Michelle put a banana peel in the wrong trash can, and when Yamashita sensei figured out it was her, he left it on her desk with a note. Although in all of our defense, the trash signs are all in kanji, and I can’t read kanji.

I guess it’s just a mini pet peeve of mine, expecting certain signs to have pictures on them, and finding kanji instead. It irritates me, but I guess I should get used to it. Not every part of Japan is going cater to the gaijin.

I’m more used to the trash situation a little more now. I can go days without looking at my trash calendar. Burnables are always picked up on Monday, and pura every Tuesday. I bought three different plastic trash bins from Daiso to make it easier to pre-sort my trash. I have one for burnables, one for pura, and one for other, which includes aluminum cans, PET bottles, and cardboard cartons. Although what does get annoying is when one type of trash starts to build up, but the pick-up date is days away, or isn’t until next week. I went and got a steady supply of febreze for that. However, I’m taking it as a challenge to see if I can produce less waste. I feel like a pig when I wake up in the morning and realize I have three trash bags to take out.

YOKOSUKA!

I apologize in advance if this post is long and jumbled, but I want to say first that I had an awesome time in Yokosuka this past weekend. Now that I’ve rested (I was a bit exhausted at the end of the weekend. Good thing I had Monday off to rest) I am ready to tell you all about my amazing weekend in Yokosuka!

I met Kesha at the train station around 9:15 am on Saturday. Michelle was going to come too, but she didn’t feel well that morning, and backed out the last minute. Too bad for her, she missed out.

Anyway, it took us about two hours to get to Yokosuka from Ina, but at least we got the special rapid train along the Shonan-Shinjuku line all the way down to Ofuna, where we switched to the Yokosuka line. We met Yui at Yokosuka station at 12:15, and after a quick bathroom break we walked over to the Navy Base, but took some photos along the waterfront on our way there.

Me and Yui along the waterfront of Yokosuka.

Bringing Yui and Kesha onto the base as guests was a little interesting. I did research two days before to see what was required to bring guests on base, so beforehand, I informed Yui and Kesha to bring their passports, which made the process a lot easier. The soldiers were nice though. The first soldier checked our bags at a table before he pointed to the desk where we went to get the guest passes. I had to re-fill the guest pass forms a couple of times, because they wanted no mistakes, and there were only pens. I was a little worried about not properly filling them out, and not filling them out completely. The forms asked for things like my Dad’s social security number, and his current command and assignment, and physical address. They also wanted my physical address, and they wanted Kesha’s and Yui’s physical addresses and passport numbers.

There were a few places I left blank because I wasn’t quite sure how to fill them out (mostly the stuff pertaining to Dad. He works at an Army base now, but technically he’s retired.) I figured if they really needed that filled out, they would let me know when I brought the form to the desk.

Getting the passes was actually painless. I was nervous that something stupid would happen, and that I would end up not being able to bring Kesha or Yui, or both, on Base, but it went over smoothly. The first question they asked me was if I was registered with DBIDS, and I wasn’t sure what that was. I think that’s something they have all the new residents on the base register with so they know who’s who among the locals. I was honest and said no, because this was my first time on the base, but that I lived here in Japan. I basically just had to give them my Japanese address, and they used a scanning device to scan my fingerprints, and then took my photo.

They also took Kesha’s and Yui’s photos, checked their passports, printed out their guest passes, and then we were on our way!

We went and took a base cab to get to the NEX, because the base is huge, I didn’t know where it was, and we didn’t want to wait for the bus. The cab driver was nice, and we were able to pay in dollars. Since it was past noon, we decided to get lunch first, and went to the food court. There was an A&W, Subway, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Long John Silver’s, Manchu Wok, and Popeye’s.

We all got lunch from Popeye’s. Yui got some wraps, and didn’t expect to get two of them with her meal. She could only eat one of them because she got so full. It was also really good to be able to re-fill our own sodas.

After eating, we began our epic shopping adventure. We entered the NEX sometime around 2, and left around 5:30. It was already dark by the time we finished. I got some bras that fit, and they turned out to be half the price of what was on the tag. I also got a pair of shoes, some dress socks, underwear, Macaroni and cheese, two boxes of Capri Sun, Honey nut Cheerios, face wash and moisturizer, shampoo for blonde hair (where else am I going to find that in Japan?) body wash, pajamas, and bags of cheap Halloween candy. I swear it’s mostly for the students!

Yui and Kesha enjoyed shopping too. Kesha actually got a bit of makeup, and when we brought the receipt back to the make-up counter, she get 3 freebies.

Now I tried doing research for this online and didn’t see it, so I didn’t know, but technically guests on the Navy Base aren’t supposed to shop at the NEX. Now I know I’m not the only person who brings guests to shop anyway. They only checked my ID at the front door, and let us all in. When Yui and I went to the cash register first, they let Yui pay in cash, so long as I presented my ID and took the bags for her. The next time around, when we returned to the cash register (Yui and bought more things) along with Kesha, the woman at the counter said that even with Yui handing me the cash, the security cameras were watching and that she wasn’t allowed to do it. But the woman was nice enough to just say that Yui should just pay me back outside the store. Kesha just included all of her stuff with the rest of the purchase and walked to the other side of the store while I paid for everything. Yui has already paid me back in full, Kesha is going to pay me back tomorrow. I spent over $200 for myself at the NEX, and it was worth it. Now I know that if I want to bring “shopping guests” with me, we have to be a little more discreet about it.

After shopping, we had to re-pack and re-bag everything outside of the store. I was smart enough to bring one of my lightweight suitcases to bring everything back, although I should’ve brought the bigger one. Kesha had to take some things out of their packaging to consolidate her bags, because she was heading back to Ina later that night.

We took a taxi off the base, who wasn’t as nice as the one we had earlier that day. We tried to explain to him to stop at the gate so that we could return the guest passes as per base protocol, but he just kept going. We got him to stop at the corner before he turned onto the main road, and Kesha dashed out with the passes to hand them back to the guard. Yui was trying to explain to the taxi in Japanese why we needed him to stop, but he just kept yelling back at her how he couldn’t stop, and that he couldn’t touch the papers.

Anyway, we got coin-lockers at Yokosuka-Chuo station so we wouldn’t have to carry our stuff while we got drinks. We walked along Dobuita street and stopped at an Irish pub. We got about two drinks each, and Kesha had to leave after an hour so she could get home in time to meet a friend. It was a shame that Kesha had to leave, because ten minutes after she left, a bag-piper came to perform at the pub. Yui and I stayed for the whole performance, and got a picture with him before we left the pub.

Bag-piper at the Irish pub in Yokosuka

Yui and I went to a small Izakaya that she knew, and got some food along with our drinks. I tried Quail eggs and bacon wrapped asparagus for the first time. The quail eggs were okay. I’m not sure I’d eat them all the time though, but the bacon-wrapped asparagus was delicious!

After the Izakaya, Yui and I took some pictures at a Purikura or “print club” machine. We each got a sheet of sticker photos, and the machine also dispensed three sets of fake eyelashes, which was something I’ve never seen come out of a purikura before.

We took the train to Yui’s house in Miura-shi, and her mother came and picked us up from the station. Yui’s mother doesn’t speak English, but I was able to introduce myself in Japanese.

When we arrived at Yui’s house, her mom asked us if we were hungry, because she had baked an apple pie. She also had leftover chicken wings, and invited us to sit down in the kitchen. Yui translated questions her mother had for me, like what did I do, how did I meet Yui, etc. Yui also took the time to show off all the goods she bought, and told her mom how much it all cost. Yui actually bought quite a few bottles of Victoria’s Secret sprays and lotions. On the base, the bottles are only $7 each, and apparently they cost around 1800 yen in stores in Japan. Her mother thought it was gracious of me to bring Yui on the base for good shopping, and gave me two place-mates that she sewed herself!

They also let me shower and borrow a towel. I wasn’t expecting this much hospitality. I had asked Yui if it was okay to stay at her house, and I just expected to crash on the floor, get one meal and then leave. No, I received the warmest welcome in Japan that I’ve experienced in Japan so far.

Yui and I ended up going to bed around 1:30 am after the midnight snacks and shower. Yui normally works on Sundays, but got permission from her boss to come in later the next day so she could see me off.

We woke up around 8 am the next day, and Yui’s mom made a big breakfast for both of us. She made mini-Costco pizzas (yes, there is Costco in Japan, I just haven’t seen it for myself yet) slices of tomato, and a fried egg over a slice of ham. Yui’s mom brought over a knife and fork when she realized I had time cutting up the ham and eating it with just chopsticks. I don’t know how the Japanese cut up their meals with their chopsticks, but they do.

Yui’s family also has this doorway marked with Yui’s and her brother’s heights when they were growing up. They also had marked two of Yui’s foreign friends who had come to her house. As I was packing up in the morning, Yui’s mom called me over and measured me too! I’ve officially been adopted as a foreign daughter into a Japanese family!

I was measured too! Now I'm part of the family!

 

I was able to pack most of my things into my suitcase, but Yui’s mother offered a re-usable shopping bag to place the rest of my items that couldn’t fit. I was able to fit it on top of my suitcase so that it would be easier to carry everything. At 9 am after a few final pictures of me and Yui in front of her house, we all piled into her mother’s car. We dropped Yui off at her work first. I saw the café where she’s a waitress. Then Yui’s mother dropped me off back in front of the Naval Base.

There was a little “oopsie” moment with Yui’s mom. She knew she couldn’t drive onto the base herself, and she doesn’t speak English, and I don’t know enough Japanese to tell her “Pull over here, this is fine.” So what ended up happening was, Yui’s mom pulled up right in between the entrance and exit gates and parked there to let me out. I quickly pulled out my bags and ran over to the sidewalk. There was a short iron barrier between the sidewalk and the road, and I had to quickly pull my bags over it before I climbed over it myself. When I got to the gate, the guard told me off for pulling over in between the gates. I apologized and told him I knew it was a bad place to pull over, I just had a bad time explaining to the driver because she didn’t know any English, and my Japanese isn’t that much better. But after that I had no problem getting through the gate. They didn’t even check my bags this time.

Anyway, the first thing I did on the base was a get a taxi to the hospital, since I wasn’t able to do it the day before. The taxi pulled me right up to the front door of the hospital. I had a moment where I just stared at the sign and at the door. I don’t know why, but I started to cry. I wasn’t expecting to either. It was cool and weird at the same time, seeing the hospital where I born. This was where my life began, and I didn’t remember any of it. It was a little surreal. I started taking pictures, and a woman in uniform came out and asked me if I needed help with anything because I looked lost. I told her that I was fine, I was just visiting the place where I was born, and wanted to see it. She then offered to take my photo in front of the hospital. I tried really hard not to cry in that picture, but at least the woman was understanding.

Standing in front of the hospital where I was born. It comes full circle!

 

I didn’t actually go inside, because I could only go into the lobby anyway, and two I already felt awkward having the woman coming out and asking if I was lost and needed anything. After she went back inside, I took just one moment longer to look at the building, and sat down on a bench in a park-area across the street from the emergency room and had a little skype date with my family.

They made fun of me for crying at seeing the hospital where I was born (thanks a lot guys). But overall the conversation was good. I was getting over the crying, but I had all this snot coming out of my nose, and I couldn’t reach my tissues fast enough from my purse, so my parents and my sister got to see my runny nose in it’s full glory (Sorry guys!) It was actually great timing to have this conversation with my family after visiting the hospital. It was good to talk with them and see their faces.

After the call, I walked over to the food court and got a burger and a root-beer float from A&W for my last American meal. It was good to have a burger with ketchup on it. I’ve had a few burgers at the McDonald’s and MosBurgers here in Japan, and they just don’t put kethup on them. And only one McDonald’s had ketchup packets after I asked for them.

Anyway, during lunch I got a skype call from my friend Lauren Silver, and I had a good long conversation with her too, even though she also made fun of me for crying in front of the hospital. After these conversations I had less than half battery power on my iPhone, but it was worth it.

After lunch, I contemplated visiting Mikasa park, but then I realized that meant dragging my heavy bags with me at the same time, and that I could always come back. That and the train ride would take two hours, and maybe more depending on the transfer time, and if I got local or rapid line. So I got a taxi to take me from off-base over to the train station.

When I got on the train, I met a retired Army officer who also had a large amount of purchases in his suitcase and an extra bag. I never actually caught his name, but he told me he was an ALT too, but a privately contracted one, though he knew of the JET program. He told me he had been an ALT in Korea before, and that this was his sixth year being an ALT in Japan. He said he didn’t remember when he last “lived” in America, and that it was strange to think about that in the past couple of years, he only “visits” his home country. We parted at Yokohama station, and he wished me luck with my teaching job.

The last part of the trip was uneventful, and I was dead-tired when I got home. I managed to make myself unpack everything before I took a long nap, and got dinner at a conbini later. This was the best weekend that I had in Japan so far, and I can’t wait to go back to Yokosuka!

Changing into autumn . . . Uniforms

The weather is getting colder, the air is getting crisper. I no longer need to turn the air conditioner on every day. I can just open my window and let a cool breeze come through. Also, since today was the first school day of October, that meant officially switching over to the autumn uniform for students.

Since it’s no longer so awfully humid, attire has gone from “cool biz” back to business. I even noticed that some of the Japanese teachers went and got new haircuts. The majority of the male teachers, and the Vice Principal Mr. Suzuki, were all wearing suits with jackets.

During September classes, students could just wear their shirts, leave the top button un-buttoned, and roll up their sleeves. Today, they had to have their complete uniform, including their jackets. After the days classes were over, students lined up outside of their classes, and, one-by-one, had to go through a team of teachers to check their uniforms, and quiz them on the dress code.

They’re actual uniforms haven’t changed much, they just have to wear their complete uniforms to school from now on. I’ve always known that Japanese high schools change their uniforms with the seasons, but I never knew it was this strict, this ordered, and this uniform (excuse the pun.)

When Hollins Otaku invaded Tokyo

One of my friends from Hollins, Emma, is currently spending a semester abroad at Kansai Gaidai in Osaka. She and one of her friends, Kolla from Iceland, got tickets to a 2ne1 concert in Tokyo. When I heard about this, I tried to get tickets to the same concert, but by the time I found out where I could get the tickets, they had sold out. Even though I could not go with them, I was still able to spend time with them in Tokyo before the concert.

It was wonderful to see one of my college friends again, and of course, to meet a new friend. Emma and Kolla took an overnight bus from Osaka to Tokyo, and pulled into Shinjuku station around 7:30 am yesterday. I woke up around 7am and had told Emma to call me when she arrived in Tokyo. I was still eating breakfast by the time she called, so I told her and her friend to just find a place somewhere to sit down and eat until I arrived at Shinjuku station.

Now even though I’ve passed through Shinjuku station multiple times now, it still confuses me. Every time I think I’m going out one exit, I end up in a place I don’t recognize, or I get turned around. What I do now is tell people to meet me out of the south exit, or go outside. There’s one gate that I’m very familiar with, and I know I can get to the other exit easily if I exit the station and walk around it. Going outside the station is the only way I can figure it out. I spent 15 minutes looking for Emma and Kolla when I arrived, and there was lots of hugging when we finally found each other. It was good to re-unite with a member of the Otaku family that I left behind at Hollins.

I had Emma and Kolla put their overnight bags in coin-lockers right by the platforms for the Shonan-Shinjuku line where they would be going home later that night. Then we went straight to Harajuku!

Now most stores in Harajuku don’t actually open until 10 am, or 11 am at the earliest, so we went to the Meiji-Shingu shrine first. I played Tour guide for Emma and Kolla, and told them all of the information I knew about the shrine from my last visit there. I pointed out the sake barrels on display that were each donated by different countries, and of course, the oldest wooden Torii gate standing in Japan.

I also helped them cleanse themselves for a Shinto shrine for their first time. Apparently they haven’t taken the time to visit many shrines yet in Japan. Luckily, there were instructions in English written on a wooden placard, and on pamphlets. You dip the wooden ladle in the water, and rinse your left hand first, then your right hand. Then you pour water into your left hand, and cup it so you can cleanse your mouth. You’re not supposed to drink it from the ladle. Then you tip the ladle up so that any leftover water cleanses the ladle.

Emma cleansing before going into the shrine.

 

We had to remind Kolla to use her hand to cleanse her mouth.

Kolla cleansing her mouth. You have to cup the water in your left hand. You ARE NOT supposed to drink from the ladle.

 

Afterwards, I showed the how to pray at the shrine. We used the same pamphlet as a reference. You throw coins into the offertory box. It’s purposely designed so that the coins make noise when you throw it in. You then bow twice, clap your hands twice, and make your wish or prayer before you bow again.

We then set off to go shopping along Takeshita street! Takeshita street is the colorful place across from the train station where all the fun fashion shops are. The first shop we went into though, had a lot of posters of different Kpop and Jpop stars. We spent awhile in their, oggling at the fun photos. The store also had Gatchapon machines. Gatchapon is basically the Japanese version of those 25 cent trinket machines we have at home in the US. Each gatchapon in this shop though had different themes, and of course that meant each machine pertained to a certain band. Most of the trinkets were just photo key-chains, but you don’t know which one you’re going to get.

We also got our pictures taken together at a Print Club, or “purikura” machine. Print clubs are the Japanese versions of photo booths, only a lot more fun and colorful. Most of the time you take more than three photos, and then you edit them with fun things on a computer screen. It then prints out your photos on a sticker sheet, and you share the stickers with your friends. Most of the print clubs now add these instant “Big-eye” effects, and automatic photoshop so that everyone looks somewhat like a model.

This is what our photos looked like when we were "editing" them.

 

We got some crepes as t0-go food before we left for Akihabara.

Akihabara is known as the electronic or “otaku” district in Tokyo. It’s where people go to get good deals on computers and electronics, and it’s also where there are a hodge-podge of anime and manga shops. I actually didn’t know of many specific places to go in Akihabara since I’ve only been there once before, so we all got to explore together.

A lot of the times in Akihabara, or anywhere in Tokyo for that matter, you just pick a building that looks like it has a lot of stores or attractions, and explore the inside of it to see what you can find. That’s what we did.

By accident, we also found the building where AKB48 holds their daily performances, but since that’s something you have to enter a ticket lottery for, we just walked by it. We also found a maid café in the same building. Emma had said earlier that she wanted to check one out, but we noticed that there was a bit of a wait, and the majority of the people waiting were boys. The girls that were waiting seemed to be there with their boyfriends. This had us feeling uncomfortable, so we decided to just look at it from outside, and then pass by. We ended up going to a Tully’s coffee instead.

It was alright though. We had a chance to sit down and just talk. Also, after a long bus ride, Emma and Kolla had just been walking around Tokyo all day and needed a rest. We had wanted to see if we could fit in Tokyo Tower before their concert, but by the time we finished it our coffee, it was 3 o’clock, and they told me the doors opened around 4-ish, even though it didn’t start until 6 pm, and that they wanted some time to get to the concert venue. That was okay, they felt satisfied with what they had seen that day, and they were excited for the concert.

Before they left for their concert, I took their shopping bags so that they didn’t have to carry them to the concert and back. I also gave them directions on how to get Omiya station after their concert was over. I brought their bags back to my apartment, and got myself dinner, before going back to Omiya to meet up with them around 11 pm. They told me that the concert had ended at 8:15, but that the reason they took so long getting back was because the crowd was so huge and slow exiting the concert venue.

They looked dead tired when I met them in Omiya, and we took the last local train back to my town so they could spend the night in my apartment. I had bought some sleeping mats, and cheap pillows and blankets for them to sleep on. When we arrived back at my apartment, they presented me with a thank-you gift.

It lights up!

 

They got it for me, because they knew I had wanted to go to the concert too, and it was in thanks of showing them around Tokyo, and letting them crash at my apartment for free.

We had to wake up very early the next morning, at 6:15 am, so that we could catch the early trains, and make sure they got on the Keihin-Tohoku line all the way to Yokohama, because that was where their 10 am bus to Osaka was leaving from. I made sure they got on the right train, and told Emma to call me of they had any trouble, and to text me when they got on the bus. Good thing we left early, because they made it right on time!

I’m about as exhausted as they are, but I really enjoyed my weekend.It was great seeing Emma again, and I’m glad we had this chance to spend the day together in Tokyo. We had an awesome fun time. Maybe if I have time, I can go down to Osaka to see her there, before she leaves at the end of the semester.