Cultural Insights About Japan

I am trying to learn some things about this fascinating country that we find ourselves in.  Here are some differences that I have noted:

1. Bear is taking cello lessons from Inoue Sensei off base. We have learned to take off our shoes as we enter the building and how to greet him in Japanese. I really like the formal greetings and closings of meetings as well as the bowing. There is ceremony to these procedures and I enjoy the respect they instill.

2. There is a procedure at the Japanese market. We pay for our items in yen and we place the yen in a dish. We do not hand it to the cashier. Then we take our items to the side to bag them ourselves. The Japanese packages for food are smaller than we are used to and the shopping carts are small. Some days the markets will offer eggs for 100 yen (approximately 1 dollar) and you can take one carton per person. So all the ladies bring all their kids so they can stock up on eggs. I discovered this when I took four cartons but I only had two kids with me. The cashier politely took one away with a bow. I smiled back because I could not ask why I was not getting my eggs. I had to ask my friends later to find out why.

3. I love the Japanese toilets complete with seat warming and bidets.  They scare Pants but I think they are wonderful.

4. When we went to Sapporo, I was very impressed with the Japanese cab drivers.  The ones I saw were older gentlemen and they all dressed in white collared shirts and ties. I thought they looked very professional.

5. The Japanese workers are very efficient. We received our household goods last week and had a Japanese crew of five. They arrived on time and did not mess around.  They brought in all the furniture first so it could be placed. They assembled Bub's bed, the TV stand, and the couch. Then they brought in all the boxes, assembly line style. It was so fast. We asked them to unload the upstairs (bedrooms and bathrooms) and kitchens. There is a strict recycling process in Japan and if the movers unpack the boxes, they will break them down and haul them out.  This was completely overwhelming at first as we were left with piles of items on our bedroom floors, dishes on every counter top surface, and even piled in the sink.  The good thing about the mess was that we could see all our stuff at once so we could sort it and put it away. And we were forced to put the things away if we wanted a place to sleep and eat.

Kitchen mess

Bedroom mess

I am enjoying this new to me country. I enjoy that all the kids activities are provided on the base. There is a strong sense of community. I enjoy that I can just send my kids out to play without worrying about sunblock. Here we need our rain boots, umbrellas, and mosquito repellent. There are many things and people that I miss at Nellis but my heart cannot be sad all the time. There is a lot to love in Misawa.

I love how things get translated sometimes.

Yoga in Japanese

We are starting to slowly build a routine here at Misawa.  The kids mostly love to play outside in the big green area behind our house.  They look for kids outside and run to join them. I am glad that kids are so willing to jump right in with each other.  It helps make the transition easier in this military life.  It has been rainy for the last few days.  The weather is very different than Las Vegas and I find myself wishing we could go to the outdoor pool in the heat.  Why do I always miss what I leave behind and do I appreciate things in the moment? I am appreciating the free time the kids have to just play like kids in the trees, the grass, and the green.  The kids are taking lessons this summer which helps to structure our days. Pants has ballet, Bear has ballet and lyrical, and Bub has karate.  They each have various summer camps as well.  I always like to keep busy.

            I taught my first yoga class at the Potter Fitness Center today.  I taught three lovely Japanese women who spoke very little English. Couple this with my very little Japanese and it made for an interesting experience.  Misawa Air Force base holds three US military branches, Air Force, Army, and Navy, and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces.  I was excited to be able to mingle with the Japanese people and learn about their culture.  I have been listening to Japanese for three months and we are taking a Japanese Survival Language class on base. The only thing this has helped me with is recognizing some words/phrases and my pronunciation of common greetings.  I have little confidence in my ability to actually converse.  I did use my greetings with the ladies and was able to count to five in Japanese.  I quickly realized that I would need to learn Right (migi) and Left (hidari) in Japanese.  I found myself demonstrating more of the asanas because I did not know how to communicate the transitions and adjustments. I was hoping that Sanskrit, the yoga language, could help to bridge my gap, but the teacher before me did not use Sanskrit.  So we will all be learning together.  Just when I think I have this teaching down, there is another challenge for me to work through. Arigato and Namaste!

Color Run on the 4th of July at the Base beach, Lake Ogawara

Misawa LDS Military Unit

The kids and I went to church today with Josh.  It is off base in a tiny alley in Misawa.  The building looks like an office building with a steeple.  There is an elevator inside and instead of pews, we have padded folding chairs in the chapel.  We noticed some differences from what we are used to.  The ward is called a unit instead of a ward and the stake, usually a larger geographic area composed of many wards, is the entire of Japan.  All of the English speaking wards are in one stake from bottom to top.  This means that the Stake President travels between units for all matters of business that needs to be conducted.   The most important things were the same though.  I love that all wards or units are conducted the same throughout the world.  We are able to look up our ward or unit on LDS.org, show up at the assigned time, and we know what to expect.  We are looking forward to this unit becoming our family as we are so far away from ours.

New church building in Misawa

Veiw of our backyard green space and common area from our bedroom window

Visit to the Hachinohe shrine where we got to learn about another religion, Shinto.  I want to show my kids other ways to believe and worship God so that they can understand many facets of the culture they are living in.

Driving in Japan

I took my driver's class to earn my Japanese Driver's License. I learned some differences about driving in Japan:
- Narrow roads
- Slower speed limits
- No shoulders
- Deep ditches
- Concrete poles along the roadways
- Minimal signage (and all in Japanese of course!)
- No street lights
- Drive on the left side of the road
The last is the biggest difference as I now do everything opposite even turn my head the opposite way as I back up and use my right hand to put the blinker on.  Josh has had my start driving on base first and I only one time went into the right lane.  Watch out Japan, here I come!

Japanese language on the signage.  This sign is on base.  Off base there is no English translation

Top is a stop sign.  This one is strange to me as it looks like a yield.  Good thing it is red.

Exploring Misawa

Josh took us outside of base on our second day in Misawa.  Right away I could tell I was not in the US.  The roads are narrow, the signage is all in Japanese, the architecture is different, the bushes are manicured in the houses, and the cars are different.  We went to Universe, a Japanese grocery store.  We could not read a single label and we had fun guessing at what to buy for lunch.  We did a pretty good job and the food was tasty!

Universe Market food

Josh took us to Homac, a store like Walmart, and then it was out to Miss Veedo Beach to see the memorial of the first Transpacific flight made by two American Pilots.  This is a big deal in Misawa and many of the street signs have the plane pictured.  I loved to see the ocean.  I love the sounds, the smells, and the feel of the moisture on my skin.  It was a foggy and chilly day but the kids had no trouble collecting shells on the beach.

Miss Veedo Memorial

The concrete slabs are used slow the riptide

We ate dinner at Kappa Sushi where no one spoke English but it did not matter as we ordered on a touch screen and all the sushi came around to the tables on a conveyor belt.  When we did make a touch screen order, the food was brought out on a tiny train.  The kids were thrilled to see the food go around and hear the train as it traveled from table to table.  I think this will be a favorite restaurant just for it's novelty.  So, we had a taste of Japan today. I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I will be living in this beautiful place for three years.

We find ourselves in Misawa

We started our journey to Misawa in Salt Lake and flew to Seattle.  We arrived in time to get some dinner and go to bed as we were required to return to the airport between 2:30am-5:30am. We were sleepy as we arrived at the gate at 4:30am.  Then it was waiting until 7:30am to load the plane.  I had given the kids new Kindles as we had a long haul in front of us and I anticipate other long flights as we return to the states or travel abroad.  Unlike Josh, we had no problems loading and taking off.  I urged the kids to sleep and Pants was the only one who took me up on it. Bear and Bub spent the whole nine hour flight on their tablets.  The blessing and curse of technology!  We were given two meals on the plane, lunch and dinner, and that helped to pass the time and break the monotony.

We arrived in Misawa at 10:00am so we had skipped Sunday night and moved on to Monday morning. The customs officer inspected the plane first and then we were allowed to unload, collect our bags, and fill out the customs form.  We could see Josh but were not able to go to him until we had passed customs.  It was definitely a happy reunion.  Josh had flowers for me and we had hugs and kisses for him.

Our Japanese Porch

 Josh then played tour guide for us.  There were some advantages of him arriving before we did.  He had a car and our house and he knew some of things that we might want to see like: the library, the Potter Fitness Center where I will be teaching yoga, the school, the Mokuteki Community Center, the North fitness Center and North side of base housing, the 8 mile running track around the base, the post office with our PO Box, the BX (home of Baskin Robbins, yay!), where to get yen, the Weasel's Den (large indoor playground and track), ITT, Outdoor Recreation, the Youth Center, and Airmen Family Readiness Center.  We also saw the base beach at the Lake Ogawara.  There is so much to do on base!  This is very different from Nellis in that Nellis is right in Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world.  Since we are out of the country, the base provides all the entertainment since outside the gates it is Japan.  The base commander has the goal to make Misawa the base of choice for the pacific air force.  We did sign up for a Japanese language class to help us get around outside.  I was struck by how green the base is.  The drive around to the North side is really beautiful and lush.  I am no longer in the desert!

Weasel's Den playground

From Nellis to SLC, awaiting Misawa

I find myself in a unique time while I wait to join Josh in Misawa.  We decided that we wanted to wrap up things in Las Vegas and visit family in Salt Lake before the kids and I flew out.  Bear and Bub needed to finish school, we needed to hold a birthday party for Bub so he could spend the day with good Las Vegas friends, and Bear and Bub had a dance recital that they had been preparing for all year.  It is important to do these things for our closure on this Nellis chapter of our lives.  We were grateful to spend lots of time with family and good friends both in Las Vegas and Salt Lake.

Turner Cousins on Las Vegas get away.  We did not have to go far to attend the party!

Special Great Grandparents- Grandma Marr and Grandpa Earl

Bear Lake get away with family

The hard thing about waiting to join Josh is the disconnect I feel with him and the world that he is currently experiencing.   I do not know how to picture him there as it is foreign to me.  I do not know where I fit as we do not currently live anywhere.  I do not particularly enjoy saying my goodbyes to our precious family and friends on my own.  Saying that, I realize that Josh did not get a change to say goodbye to most people as he left straight from Las Vegas.  So, I have decided that most of these things are out of my control and all I can do is enjoy my kids, enjoy our family, and enjoy our friends.  This is a unique and precious time.