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.