What I Miss After Two Weeks

    It's been over two weeks since we arrived, and we are finally released from quarantine. Freedom is especially sweet because the weather is already springlike, but without rain.

    I read about Chicago's blizzards and subzero temperatures. It feels surreal that I am reading about it and not living it. I do miss a little bit the feeling you get returning to a warm home after a brutal winter trek outdoors. I don't miss the black slushy snow of the city, the buried cars, my dog's poor paws hurting from the salt, and taking the wet and dirty city trains. 

What I do miss are these: 

Peanut Butter & Nut Butters

    I miss the price and accessibility of peanut butter. Not every grocery store sells it, and when they do, it is triple, four times, the price of what it might be in the States. I could buy a 462 g container from Mariano's for about $2. It is $8 for the same size in Tokyo.

    While peanut butter was not a personal staple, it was a household staple because it is cheap, convenient, somewhat nutritious, and filling. Its rarity in Japan makes me crave it more. Right now I am still comparing things against American prices. I'm sure I will eventually buy the eight dollar peanut butter. 

Muesli

    Oats sold in Japan are imported and thus very expensive. Price is the theme. You will probably find anything in a city like Tokyo - it just depends on how much you want to pay. I paid about $2/lb in Chicago. At my neighborhood grocery in Tokyo, oats cost $5/lb. and packaged oat products cost even more. The cheapest - by far - is a one pound bag of muesli for $4. A bag that size more typically costs $8-12. Nature's Path granola is about $12 for a (small) 312g bag. Yikes.

Kerrygold Butter

    I miss it so much. Maybe it is somewhere, but I have not yet found it. I started using Kerrygold a few years ago for table butter. It is rich and flavorful and makes me want to eat bread all day long. After a while, I started using Kerrygold butter for everything. Then I was hooked. And now I am longing for this high fat content butter. If you know where I can buy this in Tokyo, let me know. I am willing to pay an arm and a leg for it. 

Organic Things

    The supply for organic dairy and produce is limited. In Chicago we bought mostly organic dairy and produce: milk, yogurt, eggs, sliced cheese, fruits and veggies. We also bought organic chicken most of the time, but sometimes not if the chicken looked good and fresh. Whole Foods labels their seafood in degrees of sustainability, so my criteria for shopping was based on that and price. 

    Things in Japan are different. Some groceries stores don't carry organic dairy. Even the nicest ones, located at basement level of department stores, carry only a smattering of organic items. The thing though is, the quality and freshness of food is undoubtedly higher. Some are fresher than farmer's market produce. We had asparagus that was so tender, buttery, and sweet that it was a pleasure to eat raw. When the food tastes this good, it is easy to let go. 

Taller Counters

    Standard Japanese counters are low in old and new homes. My kitchen counter falls below my hipbone and bathroom counters are nearly mid-thigh. I am 5 feet 5 inches tall. In Japan, I am on the tall side but I don't stand out. 

    Personally, the bending down to cook or brush my teeth is the least of my worries. The bigger headache is how one year old M (who landed in the 90th percentile for height) can reach anything. Nothing is safe. 

Big Dogs and Especially My Dog

    Are you a dog person or a cat person? I am a large dog person. In Japan, most dogs are tiny toy dogs, carried around in purses, pouches, and pockets. They are dressed up, dolled up, and pampered like canine royalty. The dog buggy industry is big. I saw a man dressed in a dapper suit pushing a Mercedes-Benz dog buggy with his dog inside wearing a matching outfit. I didn't have the courage to take a photo of that, but here is one of a couple of fancy buggies on sale for about $700 each. The concept of a "pet dog" is totally different in Japan. 

    I miss my border collie. He was sweet, annoying, energetic, persistent, and incredibly intelligent (99% of that intelligence was used to find more food). We had to leave him behind with my brother in law's family because an existence in Tokyo would have been difficult. 

    We live in a building that requests owners to wash their dog's paws before coming inside. It's not a problem if your dog is 5 lbs, but our dog is 40 lbs, hates getting picked up, and hates getting washed even more. Everything is designed for smaller dogs, from dog parks to dog food. Border collies love sprinting in open areas and chasing things, both of which would have been difficult. Most importantly, we were worried about him spending 15 hours alone in the plane's cargohold. He is 6 years old and has never been on a plane. It was hard to justify putting him through that. 

    My brother in law's family know and love my dog. They spend lots of times outdoors and have tons of open space. Because their oldest kids are 12 and 9 years old, they had been thinking about adopting a dog. It seemed like the best decision for everyone. So my dog is a Colorado dog enjoying life in the mountains.

My Trip to IKEA Harajuku

There are two Ikeas centrally located in Tokyo. One is Ikea Harajuku and the other Ikea Shibuya. Both are within a couple of miles from our apartment. 

We still need some things for organizing: hangers, cutlery trays, storage bins, etc. I know Marie Kondo disapproves of buying more things to organize what you already have, and to some degree, I agree. It is easy to be seduced by all those gimmicky organizational schemes. But there are essentials that definitely do help you organize, and Ikea is one of my favorite places to go. 

It is a holiday today - the Emperor's birthday - and everyone has the day off. So we went first thing in the morning to avoid the crowds. Since Ikea Harajuku is in the middle of Tokyo, it is a lot smaller than the typical Ikea. In addition to selling fewer items, it also sold very different items. 

Chopsticks and chopstick accessories: traveling chopsticks with case, chopsticks, and hashioki or chopstick rests. 

Ikea-style bentos:

The second floor Ikea cafe was also totally different, both the design and the menu. I love the dining area's covid friendly design. 

Ikea's plant-based hot dog is sold everywhere, but Harajuku also had plant based kebabs (no photo of kebab because the husband ate it) and a variety of plant based sausages. In fact, a lot of foods were sold as "plant based," including soft serve and ramen. 

There is a smaller cafe on the first floor, which sold not only Ikea's famous soft serves but also croissants, pain au chocolat, donuts, olive bread, and beetroot bread. The drink menu was also more extensive with a variety of coffees and teas. 

I can't be sure that this is unique but I have not seen it at other Ikea stores. It looks very useful. I was tempted to buy it. If you have tried it, let me know if it works well. 

Last but not least is this contraption not specific to Ikea, but nonetheless part of the experience: the toilet baby seat. It is where you can park your baby to do your business in peace. It is either in every stall or in a few of the stalls. 

My overall impression of Ikea Harajuku was that it was tailored to the local market, surprisingly so for a company as big and standardized as Ikea. Besides the items mentioned above, there were many others. I also got the feeling that it was a bit more expensive. For example, the soft serve was about $2.50, but maybe because it is plant based? The store was more urban-chic than the utilitarian, warehousey Ikea I know. We will likely visit a larger, more typical Ikea in the next few weeks. It will be interesting to compare! 

Conbini Snacks: the Lawson Edition

A conbini in Japan is basically a convenience store, though that comparison does not do it justice. It is more convenient than an American convenience store. It's more like a mini Target. Prices are not double what they are at a regular store just because you might pay more in a pinch, as is so often the case at convenience stores. 

Lawson, Family Mart, and 7-Eleven are the most common conbinis. They are ubiquitous - you will rarely be more than a few steps away from one. They sell bentos, cooked foods from steamed buns to fried chicken, pastries, skin care, toiletries, and so much more. Dave Chang reportedly lived (quite well) off conbini food for a year (or maybe it was years?) while living in Japan. 

This post is about some of the snack foods I got from Lawson. I'm saving other things for a separate post. Here is a bag of rice crackers, some Moomin-themed mini donuts, and a soft baguette thing topped with what I thought was cheese. 

 

The bread was covered in mayo, specifically Kewpie mayo, and pieces of ham. It was ok, but I would rather it be cheese than mayo. Bread was processed to fluffy perfection as expected. 

The Moomin donuts were not good. They tasted very shelf-stable. Packaging was cute, so at least my kids loved it. 

Assorted veggie chips and peanuts covered in a cracker shell. The veggie chips were good! It sounds silly to say packaged chips tasted fresh, but they really did. It carrots, kabocha (pumpkin), and some type of yam. They were crunchy but still soft enough for my one year old to eat easily, and each veggie flavor was distinct. 

The peanut crackers came in four different flavors: crab, shrimp, squid, and bonito (tuna). These are pretty common at Asian-American supermarkets in the States. These were also good, though no different from what you can usually get in the U.S. 

I bought this out of curiosity. It's jamón-ish. It didn't look bad, though I still had low expectations. This cost only $1.50 USD. It tasted not as bad as expected, but I wouldn't buy it again. Very salty and not a lot of flavor. 

With the weather already getting warmer, I have my sights set on trying the ice cream soon. There is also a Lawson Natural, which is a larger, slightly fancier Lawson with some organic items. They have a good bakery section too, which is all the incentive I need to go there once this quarantine is over. 

5 Unique Features of a Japanese Home

1. The Fish Grill

    There is a grill drawer lying underneath the usual three-burner stove. It is used for grilling fish, like whole mackerel or some other smallish fish. I have not used it yet because, surprisingly, I'm having trouble finding fresh seafood. Whole fish and seafood is surprisingly hard to find in small city markets. You have to go to a larger grocery store, a department grocery store, or a fish market. Our neighborhood has several small markets within a half mile radius, but no large supermarket. 

2. Toilets/Toilet Rooms

    In Japanese homes, the toilets are separate from the rest of the bathroom. Our toilets are like any other typical Japanese toilet in that they are automated and have multiple functions. These are soundproofing, odorproofing, seat warming functions. And several bidet options. 

    In the past, we have visited Tokyo during the winter. After returning to Chicago, it was always a shock to go to the toilet in the middle of the night without seat warmers. 

3. Ofuro

    This is the Japanese bath. Although I am personally more a shower person, I can appreciate the occasional bath. The entire room is for showering and bath. You first take a thorough shower and then step into the bath, which is more for relaxing rather than cleaning. It is the same in a public bath. 

    The two poles above the bath are for line drying. It is common to have either just a washing machine or  combined washing/drying machine. Because of this, homes are equipped with line drying options, either on the balcony or the bathroom. We have a combined washing/drying machine. I hang delicates on the poles and then press the "dry" button on the control panel. This activates the drying fan on the ceiling and essentially turns the room into a dryer. You can set it on timer to turn off automatically. An hour and a half usually gets the job done. 

4. The Entryway

    Entryways are designated areas where you can remove or put on outdoor shoes. Homes usually have a step (where the rug might be) clearly separating the outdoor/indoor shoe areas. We are lucky to have a large shoe closet. At first, I thought we could never fill the storage space. Only a week in, I am beginning to see that it won't be a problem. M seems to go through shoe sizes every few weeks, and there are plenty of other things to store in addition to shoes. 

5. The Intercom

    Almost every home is equipped with a screen with a view of the doorstep. In our case, the delivery guy would arrive outside the building and call us via the intercom. We would hear the ring, and his face would then appear on the screen saying that package is being delivered. I would say, ok, and let him in the building's main door. Then he would bring the package to my doorstep and ring again. Same thing, except this time I open my front door to accept the package. 

    These are the big ones for now. I can't wait to visit other people's homes once this pandemic is over. 

   

Recycling in Japan

Behold my flattened milk carton. To be recycled, it must be rinsed, flattened, dried, and taken to a designated recycling center for cartons. Before moving here, I thought I would spend a good chunk of my waking hours sorting my garbage. That's how it seemed anyways. I know of only one other country - Germany - with just as many rules. In reality, though, it's not so bad. By the way - this will be a very boring post if you have no interest in recycling.

There are many and varied recycling rules in Japan, and almost everyone follows them. Each city ward sets the rules. Because we live in an apartment building, a lot of the work is done for us. Usually trash is collected twice a week and I think recycling once a week or every two weeks depending on the item, but our building empties out the bins every day. I dispose of my recycling and garbage in my floor's Recycle Station.

Garbage is combustibles/burnables and plastics (except plastic bottles). All garbage must be thrown away in a semi-transparent bag. Recyclables are separated into categories. 

Plastic bottles can be recycled but I need to strip off the plastic label, remove the cap, and crush the plastic. If it contained anything besides water, it must be rinsed. Do you see the sink? It's so you can rinse clean all containers before recycling: cans, beer cans, glass bottles, etc. Pretty convenient. 

Some things, like the milk cartons and styrofoam, can be recycled but must be taken to designated processing centers. It takes more work because you have to look up the closest location in your ward and bring it there. However, most people still do it. 

Cardboard boxes can be recycled but must be stripped of everything that is not cardboard. I stripped our moving boxes of plastic and tape and flattened them. Usually I would also have to tie the cardboard together so they remain flat, but the building does this for us. In Chicago, there have been times where I've found a massive unfolded box stuffed into our building's recycling bin, taking up the whole bin. In Japan, the bin would remain uncollected. 

Similarly, paper shopping bags, newspapers, and office paper must be flat and consolidated. Oversized garbage must be collected in a special way. I haven't done this yet, but I would have to buy a sticker for the oversized item and then arrange for it to be collected. If no sticker, it won't be collected. 

Going through these steps to recycle makes me more aware how much I'm using and producing. Despite the meticulous recycling, shops here do use a lot of plastic and packaging, especially for food. 

However, you won't find any Christmas trees tossed into the dumpster. This drove me crazy. It is one of the few items you have to specially dispose of, and you only have to do it once a year. It was a testament to Chicago's recycling culture. I also wondered how much of the recycling really got recycled. It takes time to sort through my garbage, but it is worth it if things that are meant to be recycled actually do get recycled. 

Quarantining with Toddlers: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Quarantining with toddlers is like that Dan Hicks song: how can I miss you if you won't go away? I have never listened to Dan Hicks, but a friend's mom used to say this. I think it sums up most relationships, even the best ones. You need a break once in a while. 

E just turned four years old days ago. M is 15.5 months old. At the moment, E demands more attention (and energy) than M. I'm not sure if this is due to personality or age or both. E is outgoing, extremely talkative, and easily excitable. She is also cautious, likes and follows rules (most of the time), and loves reading and puzzles. M is more introverted, a risk-taker, and very persistent when she has her mind set on something. She is independent-minded, super active, and keeps herself entertained. 

Between the two of them, one or the other is napping between 10am and 3pm. Between 2pm and 3pm, they are both napping. This is the golden hour. However, E is on the cusp of starting preschool and will soon not nap at all. M seems like she is growing out of her afternoon nap. Fortunately, I don't think this will happen during our quarantine. 

E likes doing worksheets from her activity book, and it keeps her current with basic skills she has already learned. E and M are about 2.75 years apart and are at the ages where they play together. This is a game-changer, especially during this quarantine. Here are some of the other things we have been doing:

The thing with E, though, is that she talks all the time. We raised her to be trilingual, and she fires on all three cylinders. I know most of this is typical and even desired of toddlers, However, it seems sometimes that it stems from a need for attention more than genuine curiosity/desire to engage in conversation. I also cannot eat anything in front of her without giving away half my portion. We try engaging her in different activities and giving her "E time" but alas, we need to do other things. 

E is due to start preschool in April. I might enroll her in a drop-in daycare before then to provide her with the social interactions she craves. Even expensive private daycares in Tokyo cost less than $1000 for older kids and around $1000 for infants and babies. This compared to $2000 and $2200, respectively, for our Chicago daycare. 

Japanese daycare centers are subsidized at different levels. The higher the subsidy, the lower the rates, and the longer the waiting list. Overall, there is a shortage of daycares in Tokyo. 

It is easier taking care of M. She requires some watching and creates chaos and messes. But it is less mentally draining. And the apartment is novel enough and large enough for her to explore for now. M will be attending full-time a partially subsidized daycare in our building - the ultimate luxury for us. 

For now, TV is the most relaxing time for everyone. And snack time is never boring these days. 

So the good is getting used to everything together. The bad is disciplining your kid to no avail when the real solution is social stimulation. And the ugly? Getting tired of your being around your kids (and them getting tired of you). And secretly eating so you don't have to share :)

Food Shopping: First Impressions

Food shopping is not entirely accurate because we are still quarantining. My mother in law has kindly been bringing groceries. I can't wait to be out and about doing my own food shopping. For now, here are a few differences between Japanese and American sticker prices I've already noticed. 

Fruits are more expensive, and seafood is less expensive. A package of strawberries cost $8 USD and nearly as much as domestic scallops. The scallops in the photo are really fresh - so fresh that they can be eaten sashimi-style. Yet they cost only about a dollar more than the strawberries. 

Unsurprisingly, natto is a lot cheaper in Japan. Natto is a kind of fermented soybean that is eaten with rice. It has a stinky smell and a slimy texture. It is not well-loved outside Japan. Nevertheless, it is healthy, a convenient source of protein, and a staple in our household. My kids love it. At Mitsuwa in Chicago, it cost around $2 for a pack of three. Here, it is 75 cents for the same. Also, it is more delicious - if you think natto is delicious at all. 

Then there are things like this bag of muesli/cereal mix:

It's Kellogg's brand but I have never seen this in America. Have you? It is really good (light, crunchy, and only lightly sweetened). I would have bought this back home. I don't know how much this cost, but things like granola, muesli, and cereal generally cost double or triple what it would cost in America. Sad, as I love muesli. But I also love morning pastries, which are abundant here. There are french-style bakeries everywhere. More on that once quarantine is over. 

One other thing I noticed is that produce items are overly packaged. Take this for example: 

On the flip side, the quality of produce items are very high, higher than my local Whole Foods in Chicago. I've gone through three packages of strawberries, and not a single mealy, watery, tasteless strawberry. Maybe $8 is worth it then? 

There was a QR code on a package of potatoes tracing it to a farm in Hokkaido, an agricultural region in the north. I thought this was so interesting. My husband makes fun of me, but I would love QR codes on my food telling me about their origins. Japanese agricultural production seems very different from the U.S.. I want to learn more about it, so stay tuned on this topic. 

Arrival

At 5am last Saturday, we woke up to temperatures near -10 degrees Fahrenheit (!) to head to the airport. This was the final step in our months-long process to move from Chicago to Tokyo. We decided to move to Japan a few months ago, at the peak of lockdown in Chicago, for all the reasons you might guess, and a few more. Despite months of preparation, it is hard to believe that we are finally here. As much as I want to enjoy living in Tokyo on my own terms, my experience here will be hugely and unavoidably influenced by my kids. Hence the name of this blog. 

The trip took nearly 24 hours from door to door. We had seven checked bags. Five of those were large moving boxes. There were also two car seats, two strollers, a diaper bag, two backpacks, one duffle, one rolling suitcase, and two toddlers in tow. Wish I had taken a photo of our mountain of belongings at the airport. Here are the boxes:

I had shipped most of our things a month earlier. The problem with that is it takes 2-3 months. The checked luggage contained things we needed right away. Even after months of selling, giving away, and donating, we still had so much stuff. Things would just appear seemingly out of nowhere. Just when I though we were almost done, I would find another pile. And another, and another. Basically, we had too many things. 

We flew from Minneapolis to Detroit and then on to Tokyo. Miraculously for early February in the Midwest, the weather was calm and there were no delays. The long haul flight was even emptier than I had expected - no one in business class, and only two other passengers in our section. 

Entering Japan these days requires clearing a few hurdles. The Japanese Ministry of Health requires you to get tested for Covid-19 within 72 hours of departure. The test must be either a nasopharyngeal swab (the uncomfortable one where they go way up your nose) or a saliva test. You must then receive results before departing. 

We made an appointment to get the nasopharyngeal swabs for the entire family. My husband spoke with three different people to confirm that the test would be a nasopharyngeal swab and not an ordinary nasal swab. And of course, turns out it was just an ordinary nasal swab. We got tested anyways in case this was the only test we could get, because at that point, it was less than 72 hours before departure. Luckily, we were to get appointments for saliva testing later that day. We used syringes for the 15 month old (M) and 4 year old (E). Did you know that babies produce so much saliva that it took M half the time it took us to produce enough for the sample? We tested negative, so our journey continued. 

Next, another Covid test upon arrival at Haneda airport. Upon landing, we were ushered through a series of checkpoints where you must present the same documents: passports and proof of a negative Covid test (from point of departure). Then we were tested for Covid-19 via saliva testing (all except poor M, who cannot yet spit into a funnel and so had to undergo a nasopharyngeal swab). After that, we went to the quarantine area to await results. Despite the informational pamphlet saying it would take 2-3 hours to receive results, it took only one hour. Thankfully, everyone tested negative again. 

Immigration time. This took a looong time - almost two hours. This is because we were relocating and not merely visiting. It was also because I am not a Japanese citizen unlike my other family members.

Next was customs. We collected our checked baggage. With all our luggage, mostly in the form of massive cardboard boxes wrapped thrice around with plastic, they quickly waved us through.

At this point, I felt like a zombie. There was just one major thing left to do before leaving the airport: ship the checked boxes to be delivered to our Tokyo apartment. This cost only about $65 USD for four large boxes, and it took only 2 days. What an amazing service.

After shipping our boxes, we were at last on our way to the new apartment. The final requirement is a 2-week quarantine phase. I will let you know whether or not I survive this with one extremely talkative four year old and a one year old who likes to dive off sofas.