A Very Warm Christmas

I can't wrap my head around the fact that it is Christmas today. The streets are still lined with golden leaves clinging to the branches of gingko trees. The sidewalks, too, are strewn with fallen leaves. It is definitely cold, but on a windless day, there is no bite in the air. I can get away with a sweater and light jacket. In other words, it still feels like autumn. 

Tokyo winters are relatively mild, but I read that even Chicago, has not received its first snow of the season. It is unprecedented and worrisome. It makes me rethink the things I can do better for the environment. Starting with wrapping paper. It helps that wrapping paper is oddly expensive in Japan. And that people love to reuse paper bags. This year, I used old paper shopping bags I've accumulated as wrapping paper and tried to make them look nicer with recycled gift ribbons (gifts are beautifully wrapped as a matter of custom, so I've accumulated a good number of ribbons too). When my kids finished unwrapping their gifts this morning, I collected the ribbons again for my collection. I'm sure everyone in my family would have preferred nicer wrapping, but hey, I was in charge of gift wrapping and the North Pole needs to conserve its resources to survive. 

It seems like a crazy thing only a carless person would say, but I miss the snow and ice. Christmas doesn't feel the same without it. That, and the fact that Christmas doesn't carry the same gravity in Japan as it does in most western countries. After all, only about 1% of the Japanese population identifies as Christian. Christmas is more like a fun holiday here while New Year is the holiday that people observe more seriously. 

The most festive Christmas activity in Japan is the viewing of Christmas lights. In Tokyo, there are a few boulevards and shopping centers that boast the most elaborate illuminations. For reasons not entirely clear to me, the illuminations are considered romantic and are especially popular as date spots. This year, we went to the Midtown shopping complex to see their lights. It did not disappoint. My daughter, who likes things that are shiny, bright, and twinkly these days, was mesmerized by the color-changing snow globe.

What do you eat for Christmas dinner? In Japan, the custom is to eat strawberry shortcake and fried chicken. Specifically, KFC fried chicken. I have no idea how this custom took root. My guess is that it stemmed from a very successful marketing campaign. We actually ate neither fried chicken nor strawberry shortcake. My mother in law made a delicious raspberry chocolate mousse cake. We also enjoyed a cozy lunch at Cafe Breizh, our neighborhood creperie that also has restaurants throughout France. 

Very tempted to buy a few bottles.

We also celebrated by attending a Nutcracker ballet. We attended a performance meant to be for children as young as babies. It turned out to be a standard two hour performance, albeit with more flourishes and a narrator. Although it was a longer performance than expected, it was a charming one, with exquisite stage designs. My kids also impressed me by watching the entire show without any problems. 

Wherever you are, happy holidays. Wishing you all a healthier, happier, and better 2022. 

Running in Tokyo: Training for a Half-Marathon

I have been training for my first half-marathon race. The longest race I've completed until now is a 15K, or 9.3 miles. A half marathon is 21 kilometers, just over 13 miles. Training for a distance like this has been an incredibly interesting experience. I never thought that this would be an experience I would undertake. 

I am an avid runner, though neither a competitive nor ambitious one. I started running when I stopped ballet and started college. I started doing Thanksgiving day morning races (the "Turkey Trot" or the "Drumstick Dash") as a way to optimize my appetite for that night's feast. Running was a good way to feel balanced and an easy way to accomplish a measurable goal. I have never regretted a run. Whenever I felt down, running has always made me feel better. It is a form of meditation. 

Nothing in particular spurred us to sign up for a half marathon. My husband, who is very much into sports and races, got the idea first. I then joined him, thinking it would good to have a goal to work towards right now. In Chicago, I would usually run on the 606 trail or go farther out on Lakeshore Drive. In Tokyo now, I have a few running paths near my home. There is the Meiji-Gaien Garden path, about one mile around. Akasaka Palace, where until recently Princess Mako lived, is about two miles around. The path around the Imperial Palace, where the emperor lives, is three miles around. Having these new scenic paths to explore motivates me to run in Tokyo. 

The 3 mile route that goes around the Imperial Palace.

If you run, how do you like to run? Do you run for results? Do you run to feel good? I like getting faster, but I run more for running itself. I like the feeling of getting lost in my thoughts. I like listening to music. I like turning inwards and letting my body takeover. Although my running watch has these functions, I don't like checking my heart rate and analyzing my pace and cadence during runs. After runs, I check my pace, measure it against my effort, and adjust the next run to reach my goal. It's mostly about how I feel. Running is less a sport and more a personal ritual. 

My husband is totally different. His running is intentional and analytical. He runs to optimize his results. As a former competitive swimmer, this mentality comes naturally to him. We approach running with totally different mindsets. I enjoy doing many things with him, but I have to say that running is not one of them! 

Running in Tokyo vs. Running in Chicago

The biggest difference between running in Tokyo and running in Chicago is the topography. Tokyo is hilly in a totally unpredictable way. You might be running flat for a couple of miles, turn a corner, and suddenly encounter a steep incline ahead. Or you might find yourself running on an uphill that lasts for a mile. Running downhill, while easier on your breathing, is harder on your body, especially your joints. When we first moved here, my pace got slower as I had to adjust to the hills. 

Most of the running routes here have at least one or two inclines. Mercifully, our race route runs along a river and will be flat. I am hoping all the uphill and downhill running will make the race feel that much easier. 

The Transition to Running Long Distances

Our race is in early January. We signed up for the race in late September. When I first began, I researched different training plans and chose a 14 week plan for first time half marathoners. Most plans have you run 4-5 times a week, but under this one, it was 3 times a week. I wasn't sure I would have time to run more than 3 times a week. I am also injury prone and wanted time to cross train with stretching and strength exercises. Each week, I was suppose to complete an easy run, a speed work run, and a long endurance run. The endurance run distance is suppose to increase a mile a week. Since I started training early, I reduced this to half a mile on weeks I was feeling tired. 

I was able to stick more or less to the schedule. Some weeks were harder than others. None of the runs are suppose to leave you feeling depleted, but there were definitely runs that left me feeling that way, though it was surprisingly rare. What I found was that my body is more adaptable than I expected. The weeks when I ran 8-9 miles were hard. I started dreading the week of mile 10. Yet running 10 miles didn't feel so bad. My body had begun to adapt to these longer distances. The same thing happened during the week of mile 11, which was a difficult run. I found that each tough run really did make me better. As long as I got past that hump, I felt a noticeable difference in my endurance. It's almost been like a science experiment. Knowing my abilities and limitations, physically and mentally, I am surprised by how far my training has taken me. 

This past week, I reached thirteen miles during my long run. I've reached the peak and will soon taper my runs so that they become shorter. Meanwhile, my husband and I have been motivating ourselves by reading a slew of running books. Our favorites are The Incomplete Book of Running by Peter Sagal and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. 

This is the final stretch. Here is one more photo of the scenic Imperial Palace route from my run today:

Attending a Japanese Daycare (Hoikuen)

While E is enrolled in an English-speaking preschool, M attends hoikuen, Japanese daycare. Hoikuen enroll children from just a few months old to five years old, though it depends on the particular daycare center. Ours accepts children aged 0-3. It would take an entire post to explain the various tiers and nuances of the Japanese hoikuen system. Basically, they can be wholly private, privately managed but authorized by the government, and publicly run by the government. 

Daycares are usually managed, authorized, or funded on the municipal government level. In Tokyo, municipalities, or Kus, are massive and function as independent cities. We live in Shibuya-Ku (Shibuya refers both to Shibuya-Ku, a municipality inside Tokyo, as well as Shibuya city, a neighborhood within Shibuya-Ku famed for its Shibuya Scramble intersection). It is the local government's budget and policies that determine the access and quality of daycares within its area. 

Despite Japan's population decline and Tokyo's particularly low birth rate, daycare spots are hard to come by in this city. This is especially true for government-funded daycare centers because the tuition is low. M's hoikuen is subsidized, and her tuition is less than half of what we were paying in Chicago. The hoikuen has a sliding scale tuition system: each family's tuition is based on their income. Some families pay more, and some pay less. I think this is a great system. 

What do I love about M's hoikuen? First, the quality of care they provide. The teachers are patient, caring, and attentive. It helps that the student to teacher ratio is low. M has two teachers for the five kids in her class. During the time she wore diapers, she never once returned home with a diaper rash. She also never  returned home with bites - a common occurrence among young toddlers. Maybe there are just no biters in her class, or maybe the teachers intervene quickly enough to prevent it from happening.  

M's day at hoikuen looks somethings like this. After everyone arrives in the morning, they go on a long walk. Sometimes they walk around the neighborhood, and sometimes they go to one of the many nearby parks. The daycare encourages all the toddlers to walk. To make this happen, the kids are divided into small groups so that the teachers can closely supervise everyone. These walks are as long as an hour when the weather is nice. After some playtime, it's lunchtime. Food is prepared on site by a cook. At the beginning of each month, we receive the lunch menu for that month. A typical meal is fish with rice, veggies on the side, miso soup, and fruits. Then it is nap time, followed by an afternoon walk and an afternoon snack, like rice cakes. Before pick up, the kids might work on crafts projects or have free play. 

Although I like M's hoikuen very much, there are some unexpected rules that I had to get used to. Here they are: 

• Sewing my daughter's name onto her blanket (as opposed to writing it or using a name sticker). I can barely sew a button onto a shirt, let alone a name. 

• Packing an extra outfit every day. This is because they change her after lunch, when her morning outfit would ostensibly get dirty. I don't think this is necessary to do everyday since she keeps two extra sets of clothes at daycare anyways. 

• No dresses, buttons, hair accessories, or hoods. Basically, nothing that can get "caught" or pulled by other kids. I thought this was excessively cautious. 

• Not allowing mittens in the winter on the basis that M would not be able to use all ten fingers to break a potential fall. Also no gloves because her classmates might get jealous of cute gloves, and then everybody would want gloves...in the winter. 

• This one was a big hurdle for us because it dealt with toilet training. It seems norms have changed in the last few decades in Japan. Or perhaps our daycare's kids are outliers. Either way, I was under the impression that Japanese kids became toilet trained significantly earlier than their American peers. It seems I was wrong. M no longer wears a diaper at home, with the exception of sleeping at night. However, the hoikuen said, due to staffing reasons, M could only go without a diaper for what amounts to an hour and a half during the day. While we explained that M rarely has accidents and is already trained, they responded that toddlers become potty trained in the three year old class. M was way too early. This confused me, because they had been encouraging M to sit on the toilet since she was a year and a half old. It also shocked me that the age they cited was three years old. 

Despite this, I think hoikuen has been an excellent experience for M. It is structured and nurturing. I know she will be happy, engaged, and well cared for when I drop her off in the mornings. And when we pick her up, she sometimes doesn't want to leave. They have also taught her skills that I don't think I would have been able to teach as effectively - group learning is amazing. Here is another post I wrote about Japanese kids and some differences in how they are raised compared to American kids. M will eventually join her sister at an English speaking primary school. However, having now experienced a Japanese Hoikuen, there is nowhere else I would rather M be at this age. 

Our First Thanksgiving in Japan

With the weather sunny and still reasonably warm (50-60s Fahrenheit) and without the Thanksgiving/Black Friday marketing, it didn't feel like late November. It was easy to forget about Thanksgiving. Unlike Halloween and Christmas, Thanksgiving is unknown in Japan. People have probably heard about it, but most don't quite know what it is. I did see one poster advertising "Black Friday Sale: 10% off!" I found this quaint and understated. I also saw four frozen turkeys sitting by themselves in a freezer at a local supermarket that sells a lot of international foods. E asked me if they were real turkeys. I responded, yes, they are real but frozen. She asked permission to touch them, as if at a petting zoo. That was the extent of our Thanksgiving. 

When I was growing up, my parents bought and cooked a turkey every Thanksgiving. We never had any other family members around to celebrate, so it was just three of us eating an obligatory turkey. There was nothing else to do when we were all home and there were turkeys sold everywhere. Every year, my dad brought home the annual turkey recipe circulating at work. One year, it called for injecting, as well as basking, the turkey with honey, seasoning and butter. Honestly, it all tasted the same. After I left for college, my parents stopped making turkey because they were now down to two people and realized that they didn't even like it very much. This started a Thanksgiving tradition, for them and for me, of eating other things, things that we would rather eat. In the last few years, our family has had roast chickens, duck l'orange, and rib roast. Still, once ever few years, someone will wonder if we should once again try our hand at turkey, and we will eat turkey. 

Another tradition my husband and I began was running a race - The Drumstick Dash! The Turkey Trot! - on Thanksgiving morning. I loved this, working up an appetite, enjoying the autumn foliage outdoors, and the running in the cold. No race this year, but we are both training for a half marathon to take place in January, so there was still a lot of running. In Tokyo right now, the temperatures are brisk but not cold (not by upper Midwest standards), and the autumn foliage is peaking. The views along my running route:

Gingko trees. This one was taken a few weeks ago, when the leaves were just beginning to turn.

Along with this Thanksgiving update is a toilet training update. M is now toilet trained with the exception of nights - she still wears a diaper overnight. We still have to watch her carefully and take her to the toilet at regular intervals. She can go without the toilet as long as an hour and a half, and our accident average is now one every few days. Things are not bad. Our only setback, surprisingly, has been daycare. I plan to write a post about daycare, so I will talk more about it there. 

Lastly, if you are interested in comparing different health care systems and service, you can read about it in my husband's blog. He saw how much fun I was having writing my blog and decided to start his own. His blog focuses on the systemic, operational, and cultural differences between Japanese and American medical care from a physician's perspective. As a Japanese person educated and trained in the U.S., he has found working for a Japanese hospital a novel and interesting experience. 

With that, I leave you with this autumn sunset as seen from our balcony. 

My Favorite Japanese Condiments

I have always enjoyed cooking, especially in the winter. It warmed up the apartment on cold Chicago (or even colder Minnesota) days. With my dog at my feet, ingredients on the table, and a lineup of podcasts ready to play, it was one of my greatest pleasures. Even after kids, when the pressure increased to churn out balanced meals one after another, I still liked it - maybe not all the time, but most of the time, yes. 

This changed when we moved to Japan. It was mostly because of the different ingredients available. Technically, you can find anything in a city like Tokyo. However, some things became hard to find and others more expensive. A box of Morton's Kosher salt, for example, cost $8 USD here compared to $3 in the U.S. And I have to go to a specialty store some distance away from my apartment. Beans (garbanzo, kidney, canellini, black), lentils, grains, and cheese were all major components of our diet that became similarly inaccessible. And since groceries generally cost more in Japan, I was spending more and buying less. After the novelty wore off, the food shopping started feeling like a chore. Is this expensive? Is it organic? Is it a grapefruit? It was all a bit disorienting. 

These days, I feel like I am starting to get back into the groove of cooking again. I have accepted that the grocery bill will be double to what it was before and that there will be very few organic options. I have also learned how to better cook with more accessible Japanese ingredients. So here are five condiments/sauces that have made cooking in Japan easier and more delicious. 

1. Mentsuyu

Mentsuyu is a pre-combined mixture of soy sauce, sake, mirin, dashi broth, and bonito. It is a little sweet, a little tangy, salty, and very umami. It is most commonly used as dipping sauce for soba, somen, and other types of noodles. Mentsuyu is my most used condiment because the flavors are already so well-balanced and therefore versatile. You can use it in a stir fry, as a broth, or for a marinade. I love using Mentsuyu with pan fried Japanese vegetables like eggplant, Shishito pepper, Manganji pepper, and lotus root. I simply soak the pan fried vegetable in a shallow bowl of mentsuyu and chill it in the refrigerator. Sometimes I add a dash of rice wine vinegar. 

2. Shichimi Togarashi

Shichimi Togarashi translates into "seven spice pepper." It is made of sansho pepper (an aromatic, mild, peppercorny pepper native to Japan), red pepper, ginger, seaweed, and sesame seeds. This is a ubiquitous condiment used on ramen, udon, soba, and rice. It is a great topping for a boring dish. We eat a lot of cauliflower, usually just sautéed with salt and sugar. Sometimes, I sprinkle shichimi togarashi on the finished product to liven it up. Despite its red color, it is mild enough that my four year old won't mind a little bit. 

3. Youki Chicken Stock Granules

Youki is the brand name for these chicken stock granules. They are akin to chicken bouillon. Their dried granule form makes them convenient to use, and I use them most frequently in sauces, soups, and stews. It adds an underlying umami flavor and enhances the existing flavors. 

4. Ponzu 

Ponzu is soy sauce infused with citrus flavors, primarily yuzu. The citrus gives the sauce a distinctively acidic taste. Ponzu is great with tofu and seafood. An easy side dish is good quality tofu, chilled and plated with thinly sliced scallions, bonito flakes, and ponzu. Ponzu is also great as an ingredient for marinades and dressings. 

5. Furikake

Furikake is a generic term for a dried seasoning mixture that is sprinkled on rice. There are different flavors of furikake, from wasabi to salmon to egg. The most popular variety is probably noritama, which is nori (seaweed) and tamago (egg) flavored. Kids love this stuff. My kids are not picky eaters, but when there is any hesitation, furikake is like magic dust. Just a little sprinkle makes everything go down. It is also used in making onigiri, rice balls. Although I think furikake is usually used with rice, I use it on vegetables to add a little more color and flavor. 

Kid-themed variety packs. The different colors represent different flavors. For instance, the green is vegetable furikake. 

All five of these condiments are available in the U.S. but did not make it into my kitchen as staples until we moved to Japan. If you are curious about trying any of these, Japanese Cooking 101 and Just One Cookbook. 

Potty Training

Yesterday was the first day of M's potty training. E was potty trained when she turned two, and we figured we would do the same for M. To tell you the truth, we have been dragging our feet since M's birthday a couple of weeks ago. 

It took us three days to potty train E and a week to fully potty train her (meaning she could be awake without a diaper as well as sleep without one). We read the book Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki and followed her guidelines, which aim to potty train kids quickly rather than gradually. It worked for us. Things progressed just as the book described. Even now, it seems amazing that we were so lucky with E. We chalked it up to a combination of beginner's luck and E's personality. Naturally, we reasoned that it would be hard to get lucky twice. And the task ahead seemed to become more and more overwhelming in our minds. 

Another reason is outside pressure. For a few months now, both M's daycare and her grandparents have been attempting to potty train M. When she said "poo poo," they would rush to sit her on the toilet. Ninety percent of the time, of course, she had done the deed already. Her daycare teacher reported that she did pee a few times on the toilet. All of this made us shirk from the responsibility. Maybe M was ready, but we were not. It's a little selfish, I know. Since E was potty trained at age two, we had given ourselves an unspoken two year deadline. We reasoned that two didn't seem so late anyways. 

So how did it go? Day one went better than expected. M has a strong rebellious streak. And she doesn't mind messes. So we expected a messy, rebellious day. Instead, she had only one accident in the morning. After that, she peed on the toilet every time after announcing "pee pee." She also pooped successfully. Jamie Glowacki's book recommends for the kid to be naked from the waist down on the first day of training. This is so she can better understand what is happening when she has an accident. Once she understands that, she can begin to make the connection between wanting to pee and using the toilet. It also promotes clarity: there is no diaper sometimes and potty sometimes. As Glowacki puts it, it is difficult to learn a new behavior when you are still actively engaging in the old behavior. 

Potty Training in Different Countries

The environment of potty training this time around is completely different. As I mentioned, M's daycare has been encouraging of potty training and very willing to help. Now that we have undertaken the task, making the transition from potty training at home to potty training at daycare seems entirely doable. It is a very community-oriented mindset. You experience this in other circumstances too - like when other people (usually older people, to be honest) scold your kids. While this might be unacceptable in the U.S., it's not in Japan. It's happened to me, but I didn't mind much, as my reaction to what M was doing would have been similar. The community approach to raising kids works in a society of nearly uniform culture and values. 

E's daycare in Chicago had a hands-off policy for potty training. Even so, kids had to be potty trained to progress to the older class. E was in an older toddlers class when she began potty training. Although the classroom had its own bathroom with a child-sized toilet, it was used as a storage room and was thus unusable. She was also not allowed to visit the neighboring classroom's bathroom on the basis that it would disrupt the teacher to student ratios of each class. There was simply no support or infrastructure for a two year old to potty train. Parents were solely responsible for leading their kids to that milestone. It reflected an individual-minded approach to raising children. On the one hand, you get executive power. On the other, you have the exclusive burden. 

Toilet training in Japan begins early compared to the U.S. It is as early as age one and usually before age two. It is an interesting topic with cultural, socio-economical, psychological, and environmental angles. I won't get into it, but it is interesting if you want to read about Freud, science, and policy. 

Anyways, it is an all-consuming activity. All I can think about right now is potty training. With E, day two was actually than day one, and after a setback, she finally learned how to pull her pants down and go to the toilet. Day one was too easy to be true, so I am treading cautiously. My husband is more optimistic. We shall see what day two brings. I will report back next week. 

A New Sort of Halloween

I spotted the first signs of Halloween on September 1, at the supermarket. There was a special display of sweets in Halloween-themed packaging. Rather than the candy and chocolate you would typically find in America's Halloween aisles, these were bite-sized cakes and biscuits. During that first week of September, I noticed Halloween decorations everywhere. And not just a hint of the holiday but elaborate displays at store windows. "That's weird. Nobody celebrated Halloween here when I was growing up," said my husband. It seems the increase in Halloween festivities is commensurate with the increase of Anglo expats living and settling in Tokyo. It doesn't have the same presence in Japan's small towns and the country. Even in Tokyo, it was different from the American Halloween I know. 

Japanese Halloween is more about the aesthetic of Halloween. There are decorations everywhere, and a small handful of young adults might dress up in costume and walk around the famed Shibuya Scramble. I think the very act of wearing a costume is so novel that the costumes themselves tend to be conventionally commercial: amongst adults, mostly Squid Game and Pokemon. You will be hard pressed to see abstract themes here. 

Kids don't generally wear costumes or go trick-or-treating. Aside from a few nightlife hotspots, Halloween night in residential neighborhoods is a quiet night like any other. Since E attends international school, though, she got to celebrate Halloween...a lot. Her school had a no-uniform-day, where student could wear costumes to school. A couple of her classmates prepared goodie bags for everyone to take home. Most of the treat giving happened after school on Friday at a nearby park, where classmates gathered to exchange treats. It was more like Valentine's day, with kids handing each other goodie bags. You wouldn't hear anyone saying trick-or-treat. 

This was our first Japanese Halloween haul. Some familiar, many unfamiliar. 

This was my favorite. 

E's favorite. 

The big party was on Saturday, the day before Halloween. On Friday, October 29, I went to buy treats for the party and found the most shocking thing about Halloween in Japan: the Halloween candy disappears before Halloween. Not a pumpkin or witch in sight. Instead, I saw Christmas decorations! Christmas before November! Without the buffer of Thanksgiving, the Christmas spirit has already arrived in Tokyo. I realized that, in Japan, Halloween was more an abstract part of the autumnal scenery than a concrete holiday to celebrate. 

A classmate's mom had reserved an indoor play space for the party. It included an inflatable play structure, a pretend grocery store, an indoor sand pit, and other random toys. Parents brought treats, either food or toys, and the kids came in their Halloween costumes. They played some and trick or treated some. There were more toys than candy, and the spread was impressive. 

I had been feeling nostalgic for last year's Halloween, but there was plenty of celebrating this year. Despite the ubiquitous Halloween decorations around town, there is no tradition of trick-or-treating in Japan. We felt lucky to be part of a smaller community that made Halloween special for the kids. Happy Halloween!

Okinawa Part II: What We Did & What We Ate

Our Stay

I was impressed with the range of amenities our hotel provided for kids. I don't expect experiences to be customized for kids, but it makes things convenient and all the more enjoyable. For example, the staff had prepared a crib in our room complete with sheets and a blanket. There was a child toothbrush and toothpaste, room slippers, beach robe, and beach sandals. There were kids beach toys for loan, free of charge. While we had brought our own, I wouldn't have had I known, because beach toys are bulky to pack. There is also a hotel scavenger hunt with a prize at the end - a nice activity if you get tired of the beach and pool. Our kids were very happy. 

The Halekulani has a shallow but large kiddy pool, an infinity pool, and a quiet adults-only section with a smaller pool and jacuzzi. Indoors, there is a large family pool and two onsen baths. This came in handy in the cool and cloudy afternoons, despite warm and sunny mornings. Out of four days, there was one day of afternoon rain. I was glad to have packed light sweaters and jackets. Island weather can change so quickly!

Hotels in Japan almost always provide pajamas. We got pajamas for the whole family.

By the time we completed check-in, it was well past lunchtime, so we decided to eat at one of the hotel's restaurants. Being a Hawaiian hotel, of course Loco Moco was on the menu. I ordered it, and it was delicious. By the way, the bitter melon on the side is an Okinawan specialty and appears in a lot of Okinawan dishes. 

After lunch, my husband went with E to explore the hotel while I relaxed and enjoyed the view from our room as M napped. I would never plan a beach vacation myself, but when we do go on one, it is as relaxing as advertised. 

For dinner, we went to a restaurant a ten minute walk away from our hotel. It serves Okinawan pork, which we wanted to try. It was quite good, and the casual atmosphere was perfect for kids after a long day of traveling. 

Kayaking & Snorkeling Tour

This tour was one of the trip's highlights. The original tour we chose would have taken us to explore the "Blue Cave," but because strong winds were creating strong currents, we went instead to a tiny remote island. They provided all the equipment, including wetsuits for everyone, even little M. They also provided life jackets, though it was up to us for the snorkeling part. Despite being a strong swimmer, I chose to wear a life jacket. My husband, who was a competitive swimmer, did not. 

We kayaked from the main island to a smaller one about 20 minutes away (by kayak). E was given her own paddle, which she liked very much. M sat in front of me, wedged between my legs. Interestingly enough, she fell asleep within minutes. When we reached the small island, our guide told us about the different plant life and sea life we might encounter, and we were left to explore. We saw a lot of hermit crabs and snails on the sand. E loved looking for and collecting shells and sea glass. 

The tour company we used, Andago, is extremely kid-friendly. They provided inflatable floats on which the kids could lie on their stomachs and look into the water with full face masks. E could have gone snorkeling, but the mouthpiece was too much for her, so she opted to ride on a float with her sister. Our guide guided the kids on their floats while we snorkeled in the vicinity. He was super engaging and made E - who can get nervous in new situations like this - feel completely at ease. I didn't expect her to love the tour as much as she did! 

In retrospect, I wish I had snorkeled without the life vest. The currents were strong, but the wetsuits already made me more buoyant, and it was hard to dive underwater with the extra life vest. There were a lot of different types of colorful fish. We also saw tons of sea urchin tucked into the coral reefs. One sea urchin was almost the size of my head, but this apparently was a more poisonous type of sea urchin. 

We enjoyed some post-snorkeling tea and biscuits before returning to the main island on our kayaks once again. And again, M fell asleep as soon as we set off on the kayaks. Our tour was technically suppose to be two hours long, but our guide took his time showing and explaining to us interesting things, so our tour was closer to three hours. This tour was good for all levels and ages. Our guide clearly loved the ocean and what he does, and I feel this made the experience as enjoyable as it was. 

Garlic Shrimp & Kouri Island 

Kouri Island is a popular destination, as much for its garlic shrimp as for its beaches. October is low season, so the beach was almost empty. The water was pretty, but I preferred our hotel's beach. The sand was coarse, and bits of washed up seashell and coral made walking a little painful. 

The garlic shrimp was more exciting. We went to Kouri Shrimp, located by the beachfront. It is a casual eatery that is perfect for post-beach meals. While the menu is pretty limited to variations of garlic shrimp, the shrimp is really, really good. I got a refreshing acai smoothie to go with my lunch. The only downside is, if you have kids, you will spend more time peeling the shrimp than eating it. 

Spending time at the Halekulani

Our trip lasted five days and four nights. As a resort hotel, the Halekulani had a lot to offer by itself, including several swimming pools, a nice stretch of beach, various water activities, several restaurants, and evening performances. Our last couple of days were spent making the most of our stay. 

The best part about enjoying the beach at your hotel is all the beach equipment at your disposal. No need to lug around towels, umbrellas, and folding chairs. 

A cloudier (but still nice) day at the beach.

On the last night, we had dinner at the hotel's House Without A Key restaurant. It was really, really good. Although they have a kids menu, there are plenty of items on the main menu suitable for kids as well. I ordered the kids set for E, as she loves eating meal sets these days - meal sets are also very popular in Japan. 

I wish the set included more vegetables. The soup is cream of corn, and the pumpkin ramekin contains rice gratin. 

My favorite menu item was the mushroom truffle pasta. We also had a salad, a fish, and a Okinawan barbeque dish. We shared everything family style, which worked well because each dish contained a single food group (e.g., the bbq was just meat, no veggies or carbs). 

Hawaiian music and dancing with dinner.

And that was the end of our trip to Okinawa. E complained that "we are leaving but everyone else [the friends she made at the hotel] is staying!" Our return trip to Tokyo was just as smooth and uneventful as our outbound flight. We enjoyed our stay on the main island but would also love to visit the other Okinawa islands someday. 

Okinawa Part I

We just returned from our vacation in Okinawa. The first in two years where our destination was not the home of a family member. Also the first in two years where we did not have access to a laundry machine and where the destination was a completely unknown place. We spent quite a lot of time packing the day before departure, pondering on the what-ifs, which resulted in us bringing half our medicine supply. 

My mother-in-law came with us, to help with the kids and to redeem her unpleasant memory of visiting Okinawa 40 years ago. Back then, my husband had not been born yet and his brother was a baby. The family went to Okinawa for the baby's first beach vacation, excited to introduce the baby to the sand, sun, and ocean. As it so often turns out, the baby hated these elements. We were lucky enough set off for Okinawa with a good deal of certainty that our kids love the beach, as they talk about it constantly. Our destination was Okinawa Honto, the main Okinawa island.

The Flight to Okinawa 

We took a taxi to Haneda Airport, the closer of the two Tokyo airports. The kids followed in their grandparents' car. In Japan, babies and toddlers may ride in taxis without carseats (even newborns from the hospital). Since this trip was long and went through highways, we used the carseats. 

It took about half an hour from the city center to Haneda Airport. The airport was predictably empty, and it took less than 15 minutes to check our bags and go through security. We flew with Skymark, a Japanese budget airline comparable to Southwest. Despite its low cost, the customer service was good and our flights were on-time. 

We had to check our stroller at the counter, but they offered this convenient contraption that was actually preferable to our umbrella stroller. 

Breezing through security. 

Because we left home before 7am, we had packed a couple of sandwiches for the kids to eat for breakfast at the airport. But we didn't need to. In Japan, even at the airport, food is widely accessible, inexpensive, and varied. There are restaurants and convenience stores at the airport selling different types of food at the same prices as those outside the airport. 

Apple and persimmon (seasonal fruits) vending machine at Haneda.

Bottled water at the airport convenience store for about $1 USD

Our direct flight to Okinawa had some empty seats. We were lucky to have a seat for M without purchasing one. Just shy of two years old, she is the same height as some three year olds and looked a bit large for a lap child. Still, the requirements are based on age, and so we had to hold her for take off and landing. 

The flight was about two and a half hours long. They served coffee or water, a packet of KitKat, and a mask. Additional drinks and snacks were available for purchase (at a very reasonable price). The seats were comfortable, the plane was clean, and the flight attendants attentive. We were also able to check one free bag each, which according to my husband is standard for Japanese airlines. I was happy with our flight experience and would use the same airline again. 

Arrival in Naha, Okinawa

From Naha Airport, where we landed, our hotel was more than an hour's drive.  I'm not sure how public transportation is within Naha, the city, but it is difficult to get to other parts of the island without a car. With kids in tow, we rented car with car seats for ease of transportation.

We chose the main Okinawan island, Okinawa Honto, because there were more non-water activities for young kids in case of a rainy day, or for variety. There are a few farmer's markets, a nice aquarium, and a pineapple theme park, not to mention a lot of good restaurants. Our hotel was the Halekulani. The first and only other Halekulani is in Hawaii, so ours had a Hawaiian flair. It has a nice stretch of beach and both outdoor and indoor pools. The in house dining is expensive, but it is within close driving distance to delicious and inexpensive restaurants in the area. Having a rental car let us take advantage of those options. 

A Hawaiian welcome.

What we did and what we ate - to be continued in Part II!

Women's Fashion in Tokyo

I was scrolling endlessly through Ragtag's online store and spotted a jacket perfect for the autumn. Being a conservative shopper, I hesitated, looking at other clothes to buy more time. When I clicked checkout five minutes later, the jacket's photo had faded to gray - sold out. Nooo. I texted my husband, "I'm a little depressed bc this jacket sold out right before I was able to check out online. It's not easy to find clothes I like this much here." The story ends happily: an hour later, I went to look at the jacket's photo one last time. Lo and behold, it was back in stock. I bought it immediately. Such is the emotional rollercoaster of online shopping. I don't do it often. 

I am a mismatch for Japanese fashion. Still, I can find nice basics at Uniqlo. When I want something a little different, something special, I go to Ragtag. Ragtag is a large consignment store. It has a more eclectic collection of clothes, shoes, and accessories than any one retail store. Since everything is used, prices are a fraction of the original. Clothing sales here are neither as ubiquitous nor as steep as they are in America. Moreover, used goods are usually in great, and sometimes impeccable, condition. People really respect and care for their belongings here (Marie Kondo kind of encapsulates this spirit). If you visit Japan, thrift stores and consignment shops are great places to find unique gifts and souvenirs. 

The Everyday Look

This section is about mainstream styles I see on the streets everyday. Barring nuances, I would generally describe it as loose, boxy, and layered. Even in the summer, you will see a tunic shirt layered over loose pants, or a loose vest layered over a long-sleeved shirt. Here are some common looks.

Uniqlo

Gu

Uniqlo

I suppose it is a variation on the international trend of loose clothes, such as straight legged and barrel legged jeans. 

Ultra-feminine clothing is very popular, especially among young women, though I would say that women's clothing of all ages are distinctly feminine. You can see lots of pleats, pastels, bows, puffs, and lace (not black lace, more like powdery blue or white lace). This is the kawaii aesthetic: cute, feminine, and even child-like. Reina Triendl is a popular TV personality who epitomizes the kawaii aesthetic. When I first saw her, I thought she could pass for a high school student. In reality, she is 30 years old.  

You will also notice that female newscasters tend to wear more flowing dresses and fewer power pants. 

Not the greatest example, but you get the gist.

Makeup

The natural no-makeup look is totally not a thing in Japan. This is interesting, because traditional Japanese aesthetics pivots on the notion of appreciating imperfection. This is called wabi-sabi. It is rooted in Buddhism, which honors the transience and imperfection of nature. Think of traditional Japanese pottery or a zen garden. 

I don't think wabi-sabi extends to facial beauty. Japanese women wear makeup almost universally, and the makeup is meant to conceal all perceived imperfections. Most Japanese makeup tutorials have you shadowing your face to make your nose look longer, narrower, and higher. Some show you how to use eyeliner to create the illusion of an extra fold in your eyelid. 

Ultimately, I think, makeup is less a means of individual expression or creativity and more about looking put together and beautiful (by standards determined by the collective society). Both the skincare and beauty industries in Japan are mega. 

Hair

Similarly, the natural tousled hair won't garner much appreciation. Everyone is perfectly coiffed. Some hairstyles are meant to look perfect while others are a bit more creative. No matter the hairstyle, you can tell that it was intentional. It is the apparent intentionality that is appreciated. This is very interesting to me, because I am more familiar with cultures that celebrate effortless beauty. On the contrary, in Japan, the time and effort you spend to make yourself presentable is a marker of respect for the people around you. So it's not a bad thing to look like you have tried hard to look good. 

On that note, it must not come as a surprise that athleisure is not popular in Japan. I am totally ok with this, because I only wear exercise clothes when I am exercising. However, my hair and makeup are giveaways that I am probably not Japanese. 

These are just the most common styles I see. I wish I had the nerve to take photos of people wearing interesting things on the street to show you! If you are still curious, you can visit these Youtube channels to get a better idea:

TsurisaKitcheninParis

Reina Triendl's Channel