Self medicating in Japan

Like people in most countries, Japanese self medicate less than Americans.  I accidentally stumbled across a great example of this.  I happened to have a bottle of Tylenol that was purchased in Japan and one that was purchased in the States.  The Japanese box has the dose listed in English, the rest is in Japanese.

Tylenol purchased in Japan.

Tylenol purchased in United States.

I'm not sure if you caught it but on the Japan bottle the does is 300 mg, you are to only take one pill at a time with a maximum of 3 pills per day for a total of 900 mg.  On the US bottle, the dose is 500 mg, you can take 2 pills at a time and the max per day is 4000 mg.  Nope, I didn't accidentally add a zero.  The US over the counter dosage is over 4 times higher than in Japan.  I also feel that Americans are way more likely to exceed the dosage limit that is listed on a bottle.

What do you think this says about Americans?

Tea ceremony in a kimono

After my Japanese lesson on Friday my teacher, Ito-san, and I went to a tea ceremony class, in kimonos.  I bought a Kimono when I was in Kyoto.  It is not a very fancy one, it is synthetic and not silk.  Kimonos can be very reasonable, or extremely expensive.  I went for the low budget kimono option as I will have few chances to wear a kimono but thought it would be something nice to have as a memory from living in Japan, and something that will always fit and never go out of style.

I had most of the pieces I needed but Ito-san was nice enough to lend me the things I didn't have and help put me together.  I had a  hard time not giggling as she was helping me get ready.  The last time someone helped me get dressed was when I got married.  Ito-san had a proud mother hen expression on her face as she was helping me, she is such a lovely person!

If you are going to go all out, there are special under garments that you wear under a kimono (but are pretty much hidden by the other layers) that are shaped like a simple robe with ties.  They are usually thin cotton.  Next comes the under-kimono.  Mine is actually in two pieces, a wrap around skirt and a top (some are one piece).  There is a stiff piece of material that is inserted in to the collar of the under-kimono to give it shape.  The back of the neck should be exposed when the under-kimono is worn properly.  Ties are used to secure the under-kimono in place.  The under-kimono is visible under the kimono. 

The kimono goes on next.  This takes a bit more work to get properly in place.  Kimonos are very long and sizing is done pretty much based on sleeve length and and to some extent circumference but even with my added girth, the fit was still okay.  We had a good laugh about weather to put the ties under or over my baby bump, we opted for under.  With kimonos, you want the hem to be around the top of your tabi socks or around the top of the bone that sticks out on the side of your ankle.  A sash is tied around your waist to set the length of the kimono.  This leaves a flap of material that hangs down.  We used another tie to help hold the upper part of the kimono in place. 

On top of everything goes the obi.  This is a thick, wide band of material that is wrapped around the body a couple of times and is elaborately tied in the back.  I'm guessing mine is around 11-12 feet long.  It's a lot of material.

Kimonos and obi are normally tied very tightly but Ito-san was leaving things pretty loose on me because she didn't want me to be uncomfortable and didn't want to squish the bump.  This was greatly appreciated but also made the outfit a little less stable and by the end of the day I was starting to fall apart a little bit.

We were pressed for time when getting dressed so I did not take any pictures of the process and between the huge sleeves and the lack of a full length mirror in this apartment, I can't seem to get decent photos.  There are a ton of cites on how to wear a kimono if you want more details.

After wearing one for several hours I can assure you that kimonos were not designed for comfort, even when loosely tied.  Range of motion is restricted by the tight, long skirt and slouching is not an option.  The goal is to have a lean columnar shape when wearing a kimono and the amazingly uncomfortable shoes and long sleeves are supposed to keep your movements graceful and dainty.

If you are unfamiliar with tea ceremony in Japan, it is a very formalized set of very specific movements in a very specific order to make, serve and drink tea.  Every move is choreographed from how to open a door (soji screen), cleaning the utensils and bowl, how you hold your hand when scooping water.  Everything.  For example, the container that holds the tea is supposed to be wiped off with a silk cloth before it is opened and tea is made.  There are 16 steps on how to inspect the cloth for cleanliness, another 12 on how to fold the cloth and then another 16 on how to wipe off the tea container.  Each step must be memorized and executed precisely.  There are 1000s of steps to a proper tea ceremony.

As a complete new-be at tea ceremonies I found it very interesting to watch the different women in the class perform these same movements.  It was like watching different dancers perform the same routine.  They all had different levels of competence, different styles and quality of movement.  

Out side of the room was a small fountain in which we had to rinse our hands and mouths.  The room itself was tatami floors and soji screens.  There were 6 other ladies in the class and an instructor.  The instructor was very old but seemed very nice.  She was concerned about me kneeling the whole time.  I switched between kneeling on the floor and sitting on a stool when my feet fell asleep.  Long periods of kneeling are tough on pregnant westerners and I appreciated the chance to politely let my feet wake up.

I did not make tea but participated in the drinking of tea and eating of sweets.  Sweets are eaten before tea is drank.  This is still very strictly ritualized and involved a series of bows, thanking the person to my left for letting me drink tea before them, rotating the bowl, each movement had precise hand placement, drinking the tea in short sips with a loud slurp for the last sip, wiping the lip of the bowl, rotating the bowl, setting it down and bowing.

Tea at tea ceremonies is macha tea, it is a thick, frothy green tea.  I like it but many people don't like it because it is very strong and a little bitter.  It seemed rude to take pictures during the tea ceremony so I didn't ask but did get some pictures afterwards.  Everyone in the class was very kind to me (but spoke no English).  I did my best to answer what few questions I could in Japanese.  I think they were just happy to share their culture with me and insisted that I take the flowers that they had for the class home.  It was a great experience. 

Here is a picture of me in the tea ceremony room.  You can see the tatami floors and to the left of the picture is the pot of hot water that is sunken in the floor.  In olden times this would have been heated by charcoal but instead was a small electric burner under the pot.

Me and my teacher Ito-san

This was the sensai (teacher) of the tea ceremony class.  She spent the class in the chair as she was very old and kneeling hurt her joints. 

This is me after the class (starting to fall apart a little in the kimono department as it is too low at this point and the folds are not looking so crisp.  In the background is my apartment building.

I LOVE Japanese manhole covers!

I know I'm a little goofy but, I love Japanese manhole covers!  Every town you go to has different ones.  Some are really pretty and I find them all super interesting.  I think I was in Japan for over a month before I noticed and started paying attention.  Now, as I travel around, its one of those things that I look for.

I get really strange looks when I take pictures of the manhole covers from locals but I don't really care, I get strange looks no mater what I do ;-)

These are some of my favorites.

The origami folded cranes in Hiroshima representing peace.

Happy squid - makes me laugh.

The cliffs of Oki Island.

This is another one from the Oki Islands.

This one is from the Tobi-shima bike ride (7 bridges) on an island that grows oranges.

This lion one was in Bizen.

You see ones like this in areas without fire hydrants.  The water for the hoses is under the side walk and accessed by removing this cover.

This is in Saijo and is a sake brewery not a factory.

This one is from Kyoto

I'm sure I'll collect some more in my remaining 8 months in Japan but I thought this was an interesting little piece of Japan that I think is largely unnoticed.  To me is shows the Japanese attention to detail and appreciation for pretty things.

A little Japanese culture with my teacher

Once a week I have a 2 hour Japanese lesson.  My teacher, Ito-san is great.  Her English is limited but better than my Japanese.  We are enjoying learning about each other and each others culture.  I think she is learning more English than I'm learning Japanese but I'm okay with that.  She is becoming not just a teacher but a friend.

In December, we went to a Ikebana class together which is a special and specific type of Japanese flower arranging.  Japanese also have more westernized flower arrangements in which flower are arranged in a way that is aesthetically pleasing.  Ikebana is a bit more complicated.  The number of flowers used has meaning, the way in which the flowers are used has meaning, the types of flowers and colors all have meaning.  In high school, I worked in a flower shop so I found this all extremely interesting.

I rode my bike to the class.  The room reserved was all tatami floors (flooring made from rice plant stalks, it is very smooth and springy and very pretty) so we took our shoes off at the door.  The floor where we would be doing the arrangements was covered in blue tarps to protect the flooring.  The tables were all low to the floor and we knelt for the class.  There were about 10 people in the class.

First, the teacher handed out pamphlets that had pictures of some flower arrangements that were done by a master of the art.  She talked through why they were special and the significance of the pieces.  With my limited Japanese and Ito-san's limited ability to explain the subtle nuances to me, much of this was over my head.  I did get a better understanding for what Ikebana is about.

Other people at class

We then got our vases and flowers and we each had a table to ourselves.  The teacher explained the piece and drew some stuff on the board.  I got the general idea and then we all started on our arrangements.  It was a lot of fun to get to play with flowers, it's been a while since I've done anything so thought out and not just trying to make the flowers from a grocery store bouquet look okay.

Arrangements all followed the same basic shape and structure but were very different when you look at them closely.  here are a few examples.

Once everyone was finished the teacher went around the room and talked about the good and areas for improvement in everyone's arrangement.  Then with crazy efficiency, everyone pulled their flowers out of their vases (the vases belonged to the center and were not to be taken home, but the flowers could be taken home) wrapped up the flowers in news paper, cleaned up the tables, folded up tarps, vacuumed, moved room divider screens and set up snacks and tea.  I had brought cookies and everyone had brought something so we all had a little snack and chatted and drank tea.  It was really fun.  People were curious about what I was doing in Japan and what I thought of the class.  I tried to answer what I could in Japanese and the rest poor Ito-san was left to try and translate.

After snacks as we were leaving the building they all stared at me in shock and horror when they realized that I was going to ride my bike home in the cold while pregnant.  There was a small hill between me and home and they all thought that this was such a strange thing that I could do this.  I have seen so many Japanese women walk bikes up hills that I guess they never considered that I could actually pedal up it.  They all stood and watched as I put my flowers in my bike basket and waved as I rode away.

When I got home I tried to reconstruct my arrangement in a vase that I bought in Japan.  I have no idea what the teacher would say about it, but I liked it!

The last lesson I had in December, Ito-san wanted to cook something Japanese with me.  She brought all of the supplies to make toki-yaki.  There is a small cast iron griddle with semi circular indentations about a inch and a half in diameter.  First you make a batter that is similar to an unsweetened pancake batter and fill up the tray with batter, then in each little cup you drop in a small piece of toki (octopus) and then cover the whole thing with chopped green onions, cabbage and some dried sea weed and dried fish flakes. 

Toki-yaki batter

Once the batter starts to set, you cut a grid between the cups to separate them and start to roll the contents of each cup around a little.  After a couple of rounds of rolling the cup contents you wind up with little spheres that are crispy and browned on the outside and hot and slightly softer on the inside.  Once the toki-yaki are done, you serve them with the same sauce that is used for okinomiyaki (probably equivalent to Japanese BBQ sauce).  I thought they were very tastey and it was to learn to cook something very Japanese.

Just starting to from little balls

Tah-dah!  Little round toki-yaki balls all ready to be eaten.

Pregnant in Japan, part 4

This past Monday was a little difficult for me.  After I posted my last blog about being in the US, I was feeling pretty homesick.  Everything in Japan is just a little bit harder and some days I feel more up for the challenge than others.  I was missing my dogs, friends and family and being able to read things in the grocery store, driving my cute little car on the side of the road that makes sense, not being stared at where ever I go since I'm the only white lady, being able to find simple things like normal pillows and having this wonderful thing called central heating...  I had one good, solid day of feeling sorry for myself  (I spent the whole day on the uncomfortably hard couch under my blanket in our cold apartment watching American TV shows on Netflix) and then pulled myself together.  I started planning the next trip that Jeff and I are going to take and spent some good times with my friends here in Japan and everything is looking much better and I'm looking forward to the adventure of it again.

Had my regularly scheduled maternity check up visit on Friday.  In Japan they are pretty strict on the weight gain.  They want you to gain only 10 kg which is about 22 lbs through out the course of the pregnancy.  They really want you to have consistent weight gain and add a kg a month.  The first three months of visits, I gained absolutely no weight (I actually dropped 0.2 kg.  I think this was mostly due to muscle loss.  I was running around 30 miles a week and doing some exercises at home and cycling on the weekends.  And then I got queasy and pretty much did nothing except a little walking or biking to and from the train station, I definitely lost some muscle).  My doctor kept telling me "you can eat".  I wasn't sure if she was asking if I was too queasy to eat or if she was telling me to eat more because I wasn't gaining weight.  Either way, things changed this month...

This last visit I seemed to have made up for the last few months and gained almost 4 kg!!!  I think I have to blame most of that on my feeding frenzy when back in the US.  Between the Ben and Jerry's, pizza and Mexican food...  it is safe to say that I ate a few more calories than normal.  My doctor circled the number in red and told me that I shouldn't gain that much weight again.  That I need to only gain one kg a month for the rest of my pregnancy.  Personally I don't really care what I gain all that much.  I fully intend to lose it (I figure I took 9 months to gain it, I get 9 months to lose it.  Sounds fair, right?) but I thought the exchange was funny.

Next I was lying down on the table with my shirt up to expose my growing belly for the ultrasound.  As soon as the doctor sat down, the machine shut down.  There was much frowning and scurrying around by the doctor and the nurse and head scratching followed by the requisite amount of profuse apologies and nervous laughter.  Eventually they turned the machine off, let it sit a moment and then turned it back on again.  It booted up and all seemed good.  The doctor was talking on the phone with what seemed to be the ultrasound company to understand the problem.  She got off the phone squirted gel all over my belly and click, it turned off again.  Jeff had a pretty good view of the proceedings and thinks that the machine was overheating.  There was a box that was behind it and appears to have been blocking the air intake for the cooling fan.  Unfortunately he lacked the Japanese to explain that he is a nerd and understands these things.  So, more scurrying, apologies and waiting as the machine re-booted for the third time.  This time the doctor sat there, ultrasound thingy at the ready and as soon as the machine was working drove around my belly like a Californian trying to avoid rush hour traffic.  She grabbed all the measurements that she wanted, took a couple of pictures, declared everything good and done.  We all cheered.  About three seconds later the machine shut down and we all had a good giggle.

Japanese people hate to be wrong.  Last visit the doctor said "60% girl baby".  This visit "70% girl baby".  "If three visit same, then 100%".  This cracks Jeff and I up but we are stepping up our quest for good girl names.

I'm Back!

I some how thought I'd be ambitious enough to keep writing over the holidays while I was in the States.  I even had some photos with me and some posts all ready to go in my head but, nope!  Didn't happen.  I managed to find other things to keep myself busy.

I had a lovely time.  We spend a few days with my husbands family, a week in Boise in our house and hanging out with our dogs and then I spent a week with my parents (Jeff left a little earlier to go back to work).

The flights were long and uncomfortable and I was slower to get over the jet lag than normal.  Usually I have no problems with long flights and jet lag but this time it lingered for quite a while (chocking that up to yet another fun pregnancy side effect).  I'm not sure if it's because I had so much fun enjoying American food and being able to read the menu or if it is just timing in the pregnancy but some how at the start of the trip I was just looking a bit on the pudgy side to now, I have an honest to goodness, no confusing it baby bump.  Thank goodness one of the items on the itinerary when in the states was getting some maternity clothes.  I'm sure they have them some where in Japan but I haven't figured out where yet and have no idea how to ask.  I'm sure I'll have to pick up a few more items over the next couple of months so I'll find out but for now at least I have comfortable pants and shirts that don't look like they are straining.

I also finally broke down and bought some baby clothes.  We don't know what the gender is yet (next appointment is Friday and hope to get a more confident sounding answer then) but my mom and I picked up a bunch of gender neutral-ish things.  This might sound a little strange, but it was actually the very first time ever that I have bought baby clothes and it made things feel a little more real.  I'm still routinely shocked when I see myself in a mirror and I see how big my belly has gotten.  I suppose it's normal but I find it all very strange and my body no longer feels like mine, it's foreign.

I joyfully did a ridiculously large amount of laundry while back home.  It was so fast and easy!  I didn't pack many clothes since I planned on shopping so I washed them a couple times, all my new clothes and the baby clothes.  Today I'm doing the dreaded laundry in Japan.

Sleeping in our big, lovely bed back in Boise helped remind me how uncomfortable I fine our small, hard bed in Japan.  We can't do anything about the size as there is only a couple inches on either side between the bed and the wall, but we could do something about the firmness.  A trip to Cost-Co got us a memory foam topper which we sent back to Japan (the Hiroshima Cost-Co doesn't have them).  It has helped so much!

Before Jeff and I left we had a list of things to do, eat and buy on our trip.  We crossed off almost everyone of them.  Eat:  Mexican food (twice), pizza, Italian, Ben and Jerry's, In & Out, BBQ ribs and cheese.  When I went into Whole Foods to buy cheese I just stood at the cheese counter in awe.  One of the people who worked there must have seen the shock on my face and offered to help me.  When I mentioned my cheese deprived state from living in Japan a group of them started rushing around and feeding me cheese samples.  I bought $25 in cheese, worth it! 

We had such a nice time seeing friends again and just hanging out with our dogs (unfortunately, the lab seems to be mad that we left again and is taking it out on our poor friend who is watching them, sorry!).  We enjoyed simple conveniences like central heat, familiar items in the grocery store and driving on the side of the road that isn't scary.

It was a good trip.  I am really really happy that I went but it's also good to back in Japan.  I have another 8-ish months here and I now feel ready for it.