Category Archives: Japan

The Parade of Fashionable Approval

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Today I got to put on a fashion show which is not something I usually do. I also got to play fashion critic which, as a dad, is part of my job description

Today was our day to, at long last, go out and go shopping. After the weight loss, I needed clothes that fit, rather than clothes that made look as if I’d grabbed large sacks and bound them them to my body with rope. Mind you, when I’m at home that look doesn’t bother me much. It also doesn’t bother me much when we’re out shopping, but it doesn’t look the best at work. She Who Must Be Obeyed was getting her Christmas present and our youngest was getting “the Christmas Presents That Suck” (clothes, socks, underwear, etc.)

However, before we left, she dressed up in a short skirt and our oldest’s knee socks which became thigh socks on our youngest. I went “that skirt’s too short” and SWMBO went “those stockings are too sexy” and I went “The stockings wouldn’t matter if the skirt was longer.” In the end, over my protests, our youngest got to keep the skirt but had to change socks.

Our oldest was staying home “to study”.

We went one station away to go to a large Uniqlo which offers clothes that meet my basic clothes requirements (especially for work clothes): 1) cheap, 2) boring, 3) no logos. If you want me to wear your logo, you can pay me to do so, not charge me more for the “privilege” of being your unpaid billboard. (Note: if anyone is interested in making me their paid billboard please contact me here.)

After shopping, we all made our own way home (ping pong was involved; long story) and I told our oldest to take a break from studying. (Ha ha ha. Not really. I actually ended her long break.)

Once everyone was home, we underwent the traditional “parade of approval” where we put on and showed off our newly acquired wares and made ready to take things back if they didn’t receive enthusiastic approval.

Oddly, all my clothes received approval. They must be more boring than I thought.

All By My Lonesome

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Although I usually like having time to myself, today it was kind of annoying.

At the school where I work today was make-up exams. Any student who gets a 3 (21-30%) as his final score for the term must, in theory, take the make-up exam. If a student gets a 4 (31-40%) he has the option of taking the exam. A 4 is considered a passing grade, although in English classes it’s not high enough to get an automatic recommendation to the attached university (that requires a 6). If a student passes the make-up exam, he can push his grade up one mark.

The problems occur when the student has a 4 because he’s missed a third or more of the total classes. These students get to take the exam but, because they have a habit of missing things, the odds of them showing up for the make-up exam are very slim.

That’s what happened to me today. I got up at a decent hour and then made my way to the school where I printed off my exam paper and did some prep work. At exam time, I found the room early and turned on the heater (which I don’t always do during a make-up exam because that’s the kind of cruel person I am…).

The student didn’t arrive early and at exam time, I found myself standing in the classroom by myself. The problem was, I couldn’t actually leave until the exam time was over (which I learned the term before). If the student had arrived with five minutes left, I would have to give him the exam and then collect it five minutes later.

Instead, I camped out at the front and did a little writing and a little planning. I also looked up a few things on my cellphone, which I’d brought anticipating this happening. The only student who came by was a student who wanted to take a picture of the blackboard and tomorrow’s special exam schedule.

After exam time, I entered an X on the OCR form and turned it in. I then headed out to do nothing for a little while until my evening class. I’d rather have done nothing at home, so maybe this was the student’s payback for his having received a low score.

Being Present Yet Phoning it in

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Today was the first meeting I’ve ever been to where everyone seemed to phone it in, including the people in charge of the meeting.

I’ve mentioned before how the Company For Which I Work (not its real name) has for the last few years, been requiring us to attend odd little training meetings during what used to be time off. The meetings are mostly useless and seem to exist to justify the employment of one or more people above us. Usually, the only useful part is the  sharing session where we pass around lessons that have worked and therefore get a selection of proven ideas.

Today, though, we were expected to describe how last year went–fine except for problems caused by you guys–and then watched a video of a poor gentleman dying in front of a class in what appeared to be a last minute change of schedule. Although the video clip was entertaining in an “I feel you pain” kind of way, it’s the kind of thing I hate doing at meetings such as these. It’s like having a professional baseball player studying a worse player’s batting style and saying “don’t do that” and calling it training.

There was some interesting politics where a couple teachers told us they would lose their positions because the company lost the contract but the company was trying to find them other placements. Why the positions were lost had us taking bets on when the school would come back to CFWIW and beg for trained teachers. (I can’t give more details than that except to say that private schools seemed to have discovered a way to get the free teachers from the JET Programme; the schools then discover that not all foreigners are trained language teachers.)

When we got the sharing part, most of us didn’t have handouts. We just got up and talked about the lesson or activity and promised to deliver it by email if anyone was interested. I tried to get copies of mine, but had technical issues meshed with a lack of incentives to deal with the issues so I just got up and talked.

When time was up, we bolted for the train station and home. We get to do this again in April (for orientation) and then in July (for no reason whatsoever).

Watching When I Eat After Not Watching What I Ate

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One of the hard parts about going to the in-laws, especially when you’ve changed the way you eat, is they still treat you as if nothing has changed, even if they comment on the results.

The other problem is, you pick up bad habits again.

After a week at the in-laws I can say I gained just over two kilograms (about 4.4 pounds). The main culprit was beer. Even though I cut back what they usually try to to serve me, there was still more than I’m used to drinking.

There were also a lot more carbs than I’d gotten used to the previous 140 or so days. For that matter, there was a lot more food. They commented every time I ate carbs without noticing that carbs was all I’d been offered. My choices were carbs or not. One morning I didn’t even get that choice when I got handed handed a bowl of ozoni with a rice cake in it.

I kept up a token daily exercise routine, but because there were always people around, and my usual workout space was being used in its official capacity as a family shrine during the new year, it was hard to follow a regular schedule. Also, my usual sleep pattern has been disrupted which messed with my physical state as well.

That would have been fine, but the last thing that contributed to the weight gain was a combination of boredom and easily available tasty sweets with no healthier alternatives. The boredom came because we didn’t do much this time. We usually go shopping a couple times and then go skiing once, but none of us were in the mood to ski. This time, though, I was mostly just sitting around watching people watch the various new year’s marathon relays whilst Mother of She Who Must Be Obeyed handed out sweets from gift boxes. Unfortunately, this is the first year they didn’t have pile of mixed nuts available and, because we didn’t go shopping, I didn’t have a chance to grab any. This all led to bored eating which didn’t help me maintain my weight.

All this threw off my new eating habits. I now find myself, even when I’ve been working on something, trying to track down easily available sweets. This is complicated by the fact I haven’t had a chance to go shopping and pick up some healthy alternatives.

Today was better, but I found myself reaching for cookies and chocolate more than once. Luckily I only picked them up once.

A Sudden Loss of New Rhythm

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I was oddly out of rhythm today even though I hadn’t been out of my old rhythm that long.

One of the odd things about being away at the in-laws is that the first day back is a day of trying to find my old rhythm. I’ve got my real chair back, I’ve got things to do that I planned at the in-laws (especially this time as there wasn’t much to do), and I’ve got clothes to unpack and put back and a lot of dusting to do.

Today, though, I couldn’t find any rhythm at all. I started to do a few things but quickly side-tracked myself. The list of things I’d made to do suddenly seemed distant and I had to remember where I’d put it and then had to remember what a certain list item meant and why I’d put it there. What’s odd about this is we were only there five days. However, we didn’t do much, which I think put me in a lazy rhythm.

I managed to get the coming term planned and tried to figure out when I need to be a the company I work for so that I can attend the latest in a string of useless compliance tests, er, “training sessions taught by people with less experience than I”. The resentment from that didn’t help motivate me the rest of the day.

Eventually I realized that the girls–who are still on vacation–needed feeding which reminded me that I needed feeding. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the house to cook. After that issue was resolved–She Who Must Be Obeyed had plans but neglected to tell us before she went to her part time job–I went back to ignoring the list.

Now it’s late and I have dishes to do. I also need to think about getting back into my usual work sleep pattern. I can do that tomorrow, though. Or is it today? Time all runs together this time of year so I’m not actually sure.

 

For the Trains Not the People

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I can imagine a world where trains run without people and the people running the trains are happy about that.

Our trip home today confirmed one of my long time theses about life in Japan: Japan Rail understands trains but it doesn’t understand people.

The problems actually began before we even left for the trip. She Who Must Be Obeyed managed to get all the tickets for the trip except, oddly, for the first leg of the return trip. Apparently Japan Rail East and Japan Rail West, although part of the same group of companies no longer cooperate enough that it’s no longer possible to buy tickets for one on the website of the other. (This hasn’t been a problem in the past.)

Keep in mind we were traveling in the U-Turn Rush on what is arguably the busiest travel day of the year as most company workers go back to work tomorrow. You would think a little cooperation would be be in order. But JR doesn’t think that way.

Instead we had to buy tickets at the station and the machine wouldn’t take SWMBO’s 1,000 yen notes and we had to use an actual person.

The trips on the local trains were fine but when we got to the bullet train the first thing we noticed was the usual omiyage (souvenir) stands were gone. This was a surprise because one of the last things Japanese do on their way home is buy gifts for friends and for the office. Also, as was mentioned yesterday, most kids are flush with cash and looking to spend. Instead, we had to go to a convenience store and get some gifts.

The biggest surprise, to me anyway, was on the train.

As soon as we departed the station a voice from the speakers informed us that there would be no food or drinks sold on the train. This means there’d be no drink cart roaming the aisles. This was a surprise because I’ve been on trains packed so full of people it almost counted as an orgy and been ordered out of the way by the cart lady as she tried to make her rounds. Getting out of her way required a level of intimacy with nearby passengers that probably violated several Japanese laws and makes me legally betrothed to several men, women and children.

This time, though, the aisles were empty but no cart came.

Luckily, in one of our stations the main omiyage and food courts were open and we were able to grab supper. They, of course, are actually interested in making money. Apparently JR is still in a hangover from its government owned days and isn’t that interested in profit.

 

Food, Alcohol and In-laws

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This post is written under the influence of alcohol, too much food and lots of in-laws. These things are all realted and I’m not sure which is more fatal.

Despite my success in losing weight, I’d always planned on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day being cheat days. I’d keep up with a token exercise habit but give in to a substantial amount of temptation.

I didn’t realize the temptation would be so substantial.

Yesterday’s supper was temaki sushi (aka hand roll or “roll your own” sushi). This is one of my favorite foods and although I horrify Mother of She Who Must Be Obeyed by spreading a mere shmere of rice on the seaweed paper, I still managed to consume more carbs than I’ve been doing lately.

Then there was the booze my brother-in-law bought me. I had to consume that, too, as we waited for the new year to arrive.

Today began with the traditional ozoni. This is a stew with lots of vegetables on top of toasted rice cakes. There was also a few ounces of sake. Later, a few distant in-laws stopped by and that meant I got to consume beer, mostly to keep the visitor from having to drink an entire liter of beer. This meant that by 10:30 a.m. I’d had a few ounces of sake and a lot of beer (a technical term) and was feeling kind of mellow.

The evening brought the full complement of immediate in-laws which meant we had a full family of serious eaters and drinkers. Although I usually resist such challenges, keep in mind I’d already been drinking, and decided to remind them why I used to be bigger which, well, yeah.

Supper was osechi, which I’ve written about before, and yakiniku, which we hand fried on a griddle in the middle of the table. I ate a lot of that whilst explaining that, no, really, I was actually watching what I ate and explaining how I’d lost so much weight. That explanation was followed by fried noodles and cheap cake. (Yes, I ate some because “cheesecake” and “weakness”.)

One of the three trays of osechi. This one includes chili squid, and

One of the three trays of osechi. This one includes chili squid, teriyaki chicken and caramel walnuts.

The second of the two trays

The second of the two trays. This one includes salmon, potato salad, fried pork and potato salad.

Along the way we went through two bottles of sparkling wine (one of which was blue), two bottles of beaujolais nouveau and at least one can of beer. Now I’m sipping some bourbon and trying to remain coherent. (Not that these posts have ever been coherent, but there you are.)

No, really, this sparkling wine is blue. (It's also a bit sweet, but not terribly so.)

No, really, this sparkling wine is blue. (It’s also a bit sweet, but not terribly so.)

Tomorrow will probably be shopping, which completes the final stage of consumption.

The New, the Old, and the Newly Old

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Today we all managed to get out the door and to the in-laws. As always, this was a bit of an adventure involving tension, anger and laundry. However, we got out the door only 15 minutes later than planned, which is 15 minutes earlier than usual and managed to catch every train with little trouble.

For this trip we opted for the new bullet train that passes through She Who Must Be Obeyed’s hometown on the way to Itoigawa station. (Surprisingly, my suggestion we jump out as we passed through Nou was met with silence but not derision.)

The train was new and the seats seemed roomier than most bullet train seats. It had adjustable headrests and a pair of electrical outlets in each seat block for recharging all peripheral devices. It saved us a lot of time and stress as it was no longer necessary for us to change trains, which typically involved me rushing ahead and reserving/fighting for seats.

In Itoigawa we got our first visit to the new bullet train station which is a couple floors tall and towers over the old station.

We also got, for the first time in a long time, to ride from Itoigawa Station to Nou Station. In fact, we realized it was the first time our girls had ever done so.

The big change with this part of the trip is that Japan Rail had replaced the usual, old three car trains with single car “wanman” trains. According to the schedule on the wall, this seemed to be the new normal (with a few random exceptions). There also seemed to be more trains than there used to be as I seem to remember having to wait days to catch the next train if I’d missed the one I wanted, but that might be me misremembering.

The train was surprisingly roomy compared to the old trains and had wood arm rests. Instead of giving our tickets to a guy at the station, we gave then to the train driver as we walked off the train.

The only disappointment was there was no momentary blackout when the train passed from West Japan’s electric grid to East Japan’s. I was hoping to scare the girls when that happened. If that’s gone, then so is part of the fun of riding the train.

That Which You Will Do and Probably Not

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Right now I’m in gooder intentions.

The day before a trip to the in-laws involves a number of phases: good intentions, denial, acceptance, gooder intentions, greater denial. All these phases involve packing.

I’ve traveled enough that I have the clothes part of packing down to a science: lay out what you think you’ll need, then put half of it back where it came from. This is especially true when we are traveling by train and are only staying a few days. Once we get to the in-laws, we break out the house clothes we’ve left there and become part of the furniture. More than a couple changes of clothes are not necessary.

And even the “couple” part might be extreme. I usually have what I’m wearing plus one change of clothes. There is an instinct in the women in She Who Must Be Obeyed’s family to treat dirty laundry like my mother treats bugs: they are all bad until made good. And the sooner they are made good the better. This means that bugs are killed quickly and laundry is done frequently. It is possible, depending on how quickly things dry, to wear the same outfit every day and have it be freshly cleaned and folded each time.

The other part of packing involves good intentions about what I’m actually going to accomplish while I’m there. For various complicated reasons, I often end up being left by myself whilst the others run off on various errands. My goal is to always fill this time with something productive: writing, editing, Japanese study, reading, meditation, etc.

With that in mind, I take a few things to do and, because I’m in denial, add a few other things to do because the pile of things to do looks small. Then acceptance hits and I take a few things out and feel a sense of accomplishment and grown-upedness (a technical term).  But then gooder intentions hits followed quickly by greater denial and I put stuff back in my travel bag.,

Once I’m at the in-laws, for the first day or so I actually take the stuff out and look at them. What usually happens after that is I carry the stuff around and do very little with it.

However, part of the greater denial phase is the overwhelming sense that this time things will be different.

I’m sure they will be, so I’m taking a few extra things to do.

Ain’t No Lifestyle Changes On Christmas Day, Just Work

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It’s probably not the wine that will get me. It will be the cake. Even then it’s probably not the cake itself that will get me, it’s the eating it at 10:30 at night that will.

Apparently my alarm went off at the usual time this morning, but I don’t remember it at all. (I went to bed after 2 a.m. Long story.) Instead, she who must be obeyed mentioned at around 6:00 a.m. that our youngest had already risen and my response was something like “why is that my problem?” and then “Oh, Merry Christmas. Love you.”

Us not having been awakened meant that our youngest was pouting at the small pile of presents, none of which resembled a game for a Nintendo 3DS. Instead she found a print of the cover to indicate it was coming and some stocking stuffers (even though there were no stockings). Those included annoyingly cute masking tape, Pentone sticky notes, and a form of gateway drug, er, a Pilot Kakuno fountain pen set. Our oldest had the similar items, although she’d already received her Christmas present (long story involving the naughty list).

The stocking stuffers. Kakuno pens, Pentone notes and annoyingly cute masking tape.

The stocking stuffers. Kakuno pen and ink sets, Pentone notes and annoyingly cute masking tape.

I showed them how to get the pens ready to use and showed them how to use them. I’m not sure how impressed they are, but I got Pilot pink ink for our youngest and purple in for your oldest. They seemed to like that.

The game arrived later in the day, and I had fun torturing our youngest by pointing out the package had my name on it, not hers. She pointed out I didn’t own a 3DS and I pointed I’d just use hers.

After that, I actually had to do some work. Well, eventually I did. I revised a couple lessons for next terms and then waited until the appropriate time to send them in.

I then had to balance my diet/lifestyle changes with “Chocolate, Mother! Chocolate!” and the knowledge there would eventually be cake.

For complicated reasons we ate late. Supper consisted of chicken, salad, lots of cheese and bread, a solid cheap Bordeaux, and a few steak fries.

After that, the girls all collaborated to decorate the cake and we finally sat down to eat it at 10:30 at night. It busted my usual low carb fare. It was also perfect so I ate more than I should have (but not as much I would have in the past).

Almost too cute to eat. Almost.

Almost too cute to eat. Almost. (Our youngest insisted on the candles.)

Now I’m waiting for the carb sleep. I’ve lost 15.5 kilograms (about 34 pounds) in the past 138 days and have reached the weight I plan to maintain. We’ll see what happens tomorrow. Especially as there’s more chocolate and a lot more cake left.