City of Brotherly Love?

In just a few short days my baby brother will be landing at Narita so we are eagerly preparing for his much hyped visit.

Jeff and I are both super excited for sibling hosting part deux, this time with one less sibling squatting in our teeny tiny apartment.  Coming in over six feet tall, Aaron will likely find our place a bit cramped and will be doing a fair share of ducking while exploring the city, but he's already excited about the basketball game we've arranged for him. 

I just know Aaron is going to love Tokyo and we've been racking our brains for great things to do and see with him while he's here.  We haven't made any specific plans yet, and we don't want to spoil any surprises, so here are just a few things that I know Aaron will love about my temporary hometown.

The food:

Ramen, soba, udon, tempura, yaki niku, yaki soba, yaki tori, okonomiaki, sushi.  Yum.  What's not to love??  Ok, maybe tako yaki (tako = octopus) and the ten million kinds of mushrooms they have here, but that's just me.

Don't worry, Aaron, we'll definitely go for kai-ten sushi place while you're here (or as Leigh likes to put it - sushi-go-round).


Starbucks:
My baby brother has an affinity for (obsession with?) Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Lattes and the day they add them to the seasonal menu is a day of celebration in his world.  Unfortunately we've reached the time of year when they've run out of the appropriate spices at many locations and I didn't see them in Japan at all.  Lucky for him there is a Starbucks on almost every corner in Tokyo (though I haven't scouted a location where you can sit in one and look out the window at another like at Astor Place in NYC) with a wide range of caffeinated options for his enjoyment.  And an English menu.
(Point Tokyo: In addition to Starbucks, there are in fact many such high end coffee shops to chose from.  One is not limited to the Starbucks/Dunkin' Donuts dichotomy.)

Tully's:

Ok, Tully's Coffee, but he does like Tully's and coffee, so where can you go wrong?  Right?









Engrish:
My brother is an avid reader and a great writer and I think he'll be quite amused by the, shall we say, "liberties" taken with the English language. 

Public Transportation:

Aaron's been living in New York City since he graduated college and knows the ins and outs of the NYC subway system.  I think he will be impressed by the organization and efficiency of the Tokyo train system though.  The trains are never late.  Ever.  Oh, yea, and it's about a thousand times more comfortable and clean than in New York.  Maybe more.

This is my well worn English copy of the system. For perspective, it takes exactly one hour (the trains are always on time) to do the oval in the middle - this city is HUGE.

Can't wait to share more when he actually gets here!

Mata ne,
Melissa

noodling around

Have I mentioned before how much I enjoy seeing friendly faces from back home?  Once or twice?  Seventy-five times?  Well Leigh, a good friend from high school, is one of our favorites.  She's stationed in Japan as a Navy nurse a little more than an hour away from us by train, so we certainly don't get to hang out as much as we might like.  And now we're trying to get all the fun in that we can as she'll be leaving us soon for a tour in Afghanistan.

We were lucky enough to get together this past weekend for a visit to a museum honoring one of the things Japan does best: ramen.  Those of you who survived college on ramen noodles and Natty Light will need to throw out the window everything you think you know about this "required eating" in Japanese food culture.

The best shops take pride in their own soup base made in house and served with handmade noodles and slices of pork (now, I have been eating much more meat and have had to be far less discriminating in my choices in Japan than I am known to be at home, but this is one area I do not partake; I order mine niku nuki  - without meat).  If you're lucky, your ramen may also come topped with some long onion and sprouts and sometimes spinach; though vegetables, and furthermore fostering healthy eating habits, are not what ramen is known for.  (Above is Jeff's bowl of ramen from a recent outing topped with ground sesame seeds, garlic paste, and red pepper paste, ready for stirring all together and getting down to business.)

Jeff and I have been exploring Tokyo, looking for the best ramen shops in town so we can be sure to get our fill while living here.  Sadly, we have yet to hear of anywhere in America that can reproduce the quality one can find on almost any corner in Japan.

There I am slurping up some ramen-y goodness. For the record, the bib is not cool, but if you care about your shirt, wear it. Eating ramen is a full-contact exercise.

 

But back to the museum.  We went in thinking it was going to have a history of ramen in Japan (interestingly, while the Japanese take pride in having perfected the art, it was introduced to Japan via China, and has really only gained popularity within the last century) and a lot of information and samples of the different styles of ramen.  We were duped, however.  The museum, while fun, was more of a collection of ramen shops than a history lesson.   It did have some information, but the educational displays were dwarfed by the gift shop.  For me, history buff that I am, the best part was that the museum was a reconstruction, kitschy as it may have been, of a section of Tokyo from Showa 33 (1958 - the Japanese calendar is based on the years the particular Emperor has been in power).

Here is a view from the second floor looking down into the section of the museum they like to call the "ramen restaurant mall." 

And there is Jeff and Leigh exploring the streets of Showa 33 Tokyo.  Apparently Tokyo was very dirty and dark back then.  And short too.  Oh, and they had these creepy cat noises playing out of a speaker somewhere.  With the old houses and the screeching cats we felt right back home in our first Japanese apartment.  We even started keeping our eyes peeled for the neko onna.

After taking the full ten minutes it took to walk around the museum, we settled in for some mediocre ramen at one of the shops.  It wasn't the best I'd had, but it certainly wasn't the worst either.  The company, however, was wonderful!

The 300 yen price tag (plus the cost of your bowl of ramen, if you so choose) makes this a stop worth checking out if you're in Shin-Yokohama anyway and have the time, though I certainly would have put the mysterious caves on the Yokosuka base above this on my to-do list.

two months!

Yesterday marked two months since we moved to Tokyo.  I can hardly believe it.  It feels like we've been here for way longer.  We've already moved once, traveled to a few different places, and enjoyed the company of friends from America.  We're not coming home anytime soon, but we are looking forward to our first official houseguests!

Michael and Sara, Jeff's brother and sister, will be spending two weeks exploring Tokyo and celebrating the new year with us.  We're so excited!  Safe travels, and we'll see you at Narita soon!

Mata ne,
Melissa

Kentucky Christmas

Every family has their own Christmas traditions.  Mine usually includes a trip to Watertown to celebrate with Grandma and my dad's side of the family.  Jeff's family always hung out with the same group of families for a "white elephant" Christmas exchange.  From what I understand, this is generally in line with what most of the rest of the world does, spending time with family and close friends, contemplating a birth that took place approximately 2010 years ago.  Of course, several friends also celebrated the "chosen people" way with Chinese food and movies.  (The NYTimes and SNL are blowing their cover though!)



Here in Japan, Christmas, as with many "western" traditions, is interpreted very differently.  It's common to find people getting together and eating KFC fried chicken.  No joke.  I have not been able to determine where this practice originated, though I am suspicious of KFC's role.  There are actually commercials advertising fried chicken from KFC, supermarkets, and konbini, commonly referred to as convenience stores in America.

Historically, the new year is a much bigger celebration than the birth of Jesus in this predominantly non-Christian country.  People get together for bonenkai, a traditional end of the year get-together that translates literally as "forget the year party." I'd prefer not to forget this year, thankyouverymuch!

This year, Jeff and I aren't celebrating Christmas.  Fitting I suppose, neither of us being Chrsitian and all.  Rather, we bought peanut butter (a celebration within itself), ate burritos with our good friend Chris, and are now watching Love Actually while enjoying a glass of wine. And Jeff is doing the laundry.  That is the only Christmas miracle I need.

Hope you're all enjoying your time off from work/school and your Christmas/Channuka/Kwanzaa/Festivus celebrations!  What are you all doing this year, anyways?

Mata ne,
Melissa

Happy Birthday Cara!!

Happy birthday to the beautiful, talented, intelligent, and wonderful Cara (my maid of honor).

Here she is following her amazing speech that had everyone in the tent in stitches and in tears.

And dancing with her handsome father - nice looking family, huh?

Who's buying the first birthday drink?

Mata ne,
Melissa