Happy Halloween

Roo proudly left for school this morning wearing his transformer costume. His class this afternoon will trick or treat at the businesses in the neighborhood. Tonight we're having a group of friends over to trick or treat together and eat pizza at our house after. Hopefully this way we can prevent the kids from filling up on candy for supper! We will be handing out candy at our apartment and it will be fun to see the Japanese children trick or treating. Last year it struck me how polite the kids are in that none rush the door and they say "thank you very much" many times while the parents are taking photos and bowing before departing.

Here are photos from a party this past weekend. In keeping with his Nordic roots, Ryan wore a Viking helmet and in keeping with my love of animals, I wore a kitty mask.

Origami

Our house is littered with paper airplanes. And, origami rocket ships. Roo’s standard request these days is “can you make me a paper airplane?”. Or as Ryan taught him to call it “an aircraft”. According to Roo aircraft can fly “super fast” and he usually pronounces “super fast” super fast. Now that he’s discovered origami and that you can find almost any pattern on the computer, his requests have expanded and he asks for rocket ships, aliens, or robots. The word origami comes from oru meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper. (sometimes the sound "k" changes to "g" when it's in the middle of a word) The goal of this art is to create a representation of an object using geometric folds and crease patterns preferably without the use of gluing or cutting the paper, and using only one piece of paper. However, modern origami may not follow these rules strictly and designs may include cutting. It seems to me that the skill of folding is emphasized for young children. Similar to how Westerners may teach children how to draw circles or a happy face, or use a scissors. Case in point, when we were at the doctor with Roo on Monday, during the initial evaluation the health care worker asked Roo to fold a piece of paper “this way” then “that way”. I imagine he did this as a quick evaluation of Roo’s developmental level. When I realized the purpose of the question a part of me wanted to say “wait, we don’t teach our kids to fold” but I kept quiet and Roo did just fine. Lately he likes to sit with a piece of paper and fold many creases and announce that he’s using his “imagination” to make origami. There is an amazing website available in English. It has anime to demonstrate the folds. I highly recommend! http://www.origami-club.com/en/.

MC Yogi: Obama '08 - Vote for Hope

I do yoga at Sun & Moon near Meguro station. http://www.sunandmoon.jp/about Leza, the owner and instructor at Sun and Moon, mentioned this you tube video at the end of class tonight. It's receiving a lot of views. The writer and performer, MC Yogi is a friend of hers. He's a yogi and a rapper! A truly unique combination. This song is obviously a tribute to Obama. His album full of yoga raps is a fresh listen if you're looking for a little variety to accompany your practice. http://mcyogi.com/

Shakey's Pizza

Ryan has fond memories of Shakey’s Pizza. I sort of recall a Shakeys in either New Ulm or Mankato, but definitely not St.James. Sunday evening friends and us found ourselves in Harajuku needing to feed our preschoolers after a bomb of a Halloween party that supplied only pretzels. Ryan quickly chimed in “hey, isn’t there a Shakeys near?”. The first time we drove by the restaurant we were surprised and wondered if it was the real deal. Happily, we enjoyed the pizza! Except for the anchovy that came on the pizza titled “Herb and Tomato”. Mysteriously, the anchovy part wasn’t printed in romanji, only katakana. Our friend joked under his breath, “just another example of f***ing with the gaijin”. (Gaijin is “outsider”.) Fish on pizza is the one ingredient I imagine most English speakers would like to know about, much more than say "tomato" or "herb". You can’t help but wonder! Anyways, our visit prompted me to check into the history of Shakeys. It started in the 50’s in California and the expansion in the United States remained mostly west of the Mississippi. In the mid 70’s restaurants opened in Japan and the Philippines. Now, Shakeys is bigger in the Philippines than the United States. There are about 400 stores globally, and only 60 are in the US. At it’s peak there were 300+ in the US. As far as I can tell, there are no Shakeys left in Minnesota. So, we’ll enjoy a bit of nostalgia from childhood while we’re living on the other side of the world!

Book Review - Norwegian Wood

by Haruki Murakami
This is my second Murakami novel and I enjoyed it more than my first, Kafka on the Shore. I was pleased that there was no supernatural component. Norwegian Wood is a story about a college age boy in the late sixties and his somewhat peculiar relationships. The title is in reference to the popular Beatles song. The main character is introspective and likable. While I found myself thinking at times “this is a little weird”, his character is captivating enough that I couldn’t stop reading. However, it is not an uplifting read. A sad current flows through the entire book and the ending left me feeling that the lives of all would always be weighted with sadness. It’s hard to tell how much the reflective nature of the characters represents Japanese mainstream, but since it was a big hit in Japan, it makes me think it strikes a familiar cord in the culture. Possibly a culture that accepts life is tragic, death by suicide is not so rare, and loneliness is something to be endured rather than fixed.

Apple Stamp Project

Here is Roo working on an art project. We made stamps from apples and decorated after drying. I got the idea from one of my favorite mom blog's at: http://mominmadison.blogspot.com/2008/10/apple-stamping.html . We decorated together. Some of the faces are the characters from the Japanese cartoon Anpanman.

Chopsticks

The other day I was talking with my Aunt Bonnie and the subject of chopsticks entered our conversation. I caught myself saying “I love using chopsticks”. It’s true. But still, I surprised myself. I only started eating with chopsticks when we learned we could be moving to Japan. I’d visit the sushi bar at Lunds or Byerly’s and get maki or nigiri to go, and practice, sometimes in my car, eating with chopsticks. Only later did I learn that sushi is the one food it’s ok to eat with your fingers and forego the utensils. I was clumsy. When we arrived in Japan, I’d try to inconspicuously watch other eaters and take note if their middle finger was really relaxed and only guiding the top stick instead of purple from pressure and gripping the bottom stick, like my middle finger. I’d try to relax and lessen my grip. In fact, it’s not all that different from learning to knit. One of the first gifts from our Japanese language teacher was a set of long chopsticks to use in cooking. I’ve found that they work great for quickly beating an egg or whisking in oil. Gradually, eating with chopsticks became easier and easier and I can confidently snap apart wooden chopsticks and enjoy my food at a pleasant pace. Something about eating with chopsticks feels healthier. Delicate. Better portion control and less shoveling. The small cuts of food served in single dishes makes eating with chopsticks logical. Of course, eating an Outback t-bone with chopsticks would still be tough. Still, I’m confident that when we leave Asia our “silverware drawer” will have a spot for chopsticks and the chopstick rests I‘m collecting. It’s become habit!