Ian's Japan Blog

Reiko's Birthday

2010-04-25T20:30:00.005+09:00

This Saturday was Reiko's birthday. We took it slow and went out in the morning to buy her a gift. We were going to get a Wii Fit with the board thingy for her birthday but she decided against it since we wouldn't have much time to play. After that we looked around a bit more and had some Tsukemen for lunch. Tsukemen is a kind of noodle that you dip in flavored soup.

After that we were feeling sleepy so we came home and had a nap. I always seem to feel tired after eating Tsukemen. Reiko seemed to think that it was funny that she was sleeping the day away on her birthday but we had a good sleep.

After we got up we hung out at the apartment at bit before heading out again for dinner at a Spanish Bar called "Pasion". We called ahead and told them it was Reiko's birthday. The staff were very polite and after dinner they brought out a birthday desert. I figured that the desert would be just enough for Reiko so I ordered an ice cream with hot apples separately but the staff combined the ice cream and Reiko's desert.

It was really nice that they combined the two deserts. It made for a really special birthday for Reiko. Reiko was so moved that she wrote "Thank you" to the manager on the plate.

My Darling is a Foreigner

2010-04-19T19:56:00.005+09:00

Yesterday Reiko and I went to see the movie "Da-ring wa Gaikokujin" (My Darling is a Foreigner). "Darling" is based off of a popular Japanese graphic novel series which details the life of a the Japanese author, Satori Oguri, and her American, Language Geek, husband.

The series has many parts but the movie takes place as Satori is struggling to become an illustrator and begins dating her future husband Tony. Tony speaks very good Japanese but puts himself in some hilariously awkward or embarrassing situations. In one such instance he abruptly introduces himself to Satori's parents as her boyfriend at Satori's sister's wedding, and later when another guest jokes with the new groom Tony asks why he would say such terrible things.

At the wedding Satori's father tells her that he doesn't approve of their relationship. Satori doesn't tell Tony about it and the climax of the movie comes when he is sent to the hospital and later dies of a heart ailment. Just before he dies he apologizes to Tony, and it turns out that he bought some English language books figuring that he should try to meet Tony half way if Tony and Satori's reltionship was serious.

The movie was cute and though I don't really like the obvious comparisons that can be made between Tony and Satori and Reiko and my relationship, I thought the movie was a really nice way to spend our Sunday afternoon. I'm glad Reiko invited me to go see it.

eigobu

2010-04-17T10:08:00.003+09:00

Hi to anyone who has been reading. I haven't been writing in this blog very much but I hope to challenge myself in the coming months to write almost every day.

Yesterday, I attended a group for people who are learning English. It's called "eigobu" and it's a good way to connect with people who have an interest in learning foreign languages much like I am. Since the Japanese members are learning English and the English speakers in the group are learning Japanese we can help each other out by correcting our mistakes and offering advice. Usually a group like this where there is a dual focus (Japanese and English learning) it doesn't turn out well because members have different motives, but since we are limiting the members to people who can speak a minimum level of English/Japanese, it has worked out better than I expected.

This time was our second time meeting. The first meetup was kind of a planning meeting so we didn't do very much but this time everyone introduced themselves in English and we recorded what they said on video. We then watched the video and talked about what the speaker could do to improve their English.

Everyone has their own way of speaking so it was very interesting to talk about how they could improve their language abilities. We found that there is often an easier, or grammatically simpler way of saying what the speaker wants to say. Perhaps the simpler expression doesn't come to mind or the speaker wants to use more complicated grammar, but it was a reoccurring problem with our Japanese and English speakers, myself included.

I speak a relatively high level of Japanese every day so I am not usually corrected often, but yesterday I got a change to get some advice on improving some areas of my Japanese. It was a fairly rare experience for me so I was really glad that I could take part in it. I'm looking forward to next time.

Mario Kart

2009-12-27T23:45:00.003+09:00

Last Tuesday was my last day of work before a long Christmas vacation. So Reiko commanded me to get Mario Kart Wii so I picked it up on the way back from work.

You control your kart by using the Wii controller. I was surprised how well it works and you forget you are actually using it. It's pretty slick.

Mochi Pounding (Mochi Tsuki)

2009-12-22T00:41:00.001+09:00

Reiko's cousin Mariko and her husband Peter arrived in Japan last Tuesday so Reiko and I went with them to pound some Mochi at a nearby event that was taking place.

Mochi is a kind of soft food which is traditionally made from rice which is pounded with a large wooden hammer. The pounding action is much like kneading dough so on person has to knead the mochi while another pounds it.

Sometimes very showy people pound it very fast and as the one kneading has to touch the mochi in between hits it can be a bit dangerous.

Thanksgiving weekend

2009-11-23T15:13:00.008+09:00

Today is "Kinrou Kannsha no Hi" or "Work Thankgiving Day". Reiko and I are spending the day at home. I'm working on getting ready for my parents to come to Tokyo and Reiko is studying and watching the OC.

Reiko has been addicted to watching the show for the last week. She's rented all the DVDs from the local rental place and is already on Season 3.

This weekend was pretty fun. My parents are coming to Japan during new years and our and my family and Reiko's family are having a dinner to celebrate our wedding. So on Saturday, we went dress shopping for Reiko and picked out a nice dress for her. It was a bit more expensive than we wanted it to be but she needed to buy a lot since she didn't have any jewelry or shoes. After that we went out for yakiniku for dinner.

Yesterday we watched some of episodes of OC together and I made pea soup that my mom sent from the 'states. All in all it was a pretty good weekend.

Cirque De Soleil

2009-09-23T18:29:00.002+09:00

Japan had a rare 5 day long weekend in September this year. It was lucky since it happened to fall the weekend after Reiko and I decided to get married. We spent the weekend mostly getting accustomed to each other and resting.

Reiko brought me home a Wii on Sunday which made my weekend. She also got Wii Sports Resort. We played a fair bit and I settled on ping pong as my favorite game while she likes cycling.

Today we went to see Cirque de Soleil performance "Zed" at their permanent Tokyo theater near Tokyo Disney Resort. The theater is small compared to say, the Las Vegas one but it great to finally see the Circus of the Sun.

Wedding

2009-09-23T17:15:00.003+09:00

A lot has happened recently so it's hard to know where to start. The last week has been one of the best weeks of my life.

Last Thursday Reiko and I made it official. We went to the city office and got married. We had gone the previous week to pick up our wedding rings. The rings were hand made from scratch by the same jewelry maker that made Reiko's brother's wedding rings. The are very nice and have our 9/17 anniversary date and our initials inscribed on the inside. Other than size and that Reiko's has a small diamond in it, the rings are identical.

The jewelery maker also made Reiko's engagement ring. All the rings have platinum bands.

After that Reiko and I went out to dinner at the Imperial Hotel near Yuurakuchou Station. It was a very nice dinner so we dressed up.

After dinner the staff presented us with a piece of cake to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

The next day my coworkers took me out to eat to celebrate my wedding. The arranged for a private room for an hour and gave me a pillow with "yes" written on one side and "no" written on the other. You can guess what it means.

Reiko is Moving

2009-08-07T00:53:00.003+09:00

Reiko has begun moving her stuff into my our apartment. I'm trying to come to terms with her stuff being here. The fact that we live in Tokyo means that we have limit space for stuff and this apartment will start to get mighty small once all her stuff arrives.

So I've been working on figuring out what I should get rid of and my desktop computer has become a prime target. I have a desktop PC but I have pretty much moved towards using the laptop exclusively since it's much easier to use and is mobile and small. The desktop PC is very tied down to the corner of my apartment whereas I can use my laptop in the bedroom, living room, or on the kitchen table. Whatever suits me at the moment. I feel like I want to keep it as it still works, I use it for some limited tasks, it has dual monitors, and most of all, perhaps, I've invested a lot of time in it. So I hate to see it go, but reality is that I just don't use it much. Reiko has suggested we get another desk for it and put it in the tatami room but I'm kind of on the fence about it since I'd rather use the laptop anyway.

iTunes won't take my money

2009-07-27T00:34:00.003+09:00

iTunes refuses to take my credit card information because my credit card is not a Japanese credit card. I suppose it's because I'm using the Japanese localized version? I can't easily make a credit card in Japan because I'm not a permanent resident but I can't buy things using iTunes unless I have a Japanese credit card.

Not being able to have a Japanese credit card in Japan is all kinds of annoying. I have to buy things online COD so that I can pay for them without sending money overseas to my bank account in the 'states so that I can pay my credit card. Totally ridiculous.

Getting Married

2009-07-26T22:07:00.002+09:00

Today I officially proposed to my girlfriend Reiko. She and I have been dating for 3 years and it's time we got married. I've been working towards getting married since a little less than a year ago. A number of things happened that delayed. I originally planned to propose last April. But my plan was shot down and I was pretty disappointed and was really not sure what I do. But today it's official. I'm getting married.

I'm not sure how we'll celebrate getting married. I'm almost positive we won't have a wedding in the traditional sense. It will probably be very low key. I'll probably know more in the coming months.