Japanese is a beautiful language. The sounds are exotic and flow so nicely. Japanese people think of English the same. As one might see anime shirts with Japanese characters written on them in the US, Japanese people will have shirts with English written on them here. But.. some things are lost in translation. These are some of the best ones I saw in the mall. Enjoy!
Japanese culture is truly fascinating. Old and traditional lives with new and modern side by side. It’s not unusual to see a woman wearing a kimono and traditional Japanese sandals in a mall where others are wearing jeans and t-shirts. Politeness and respect goes beyond what anyone from the US would reasonably expect. You’ll never get honked at no matter how slow you drive, people will stop whatever they are doing to help you, and everyone leaves their car doors completely unlocked (with the keys inside) because crime rate is essentially zero. But one of the most interesting facets of Japanese culture is gambling. Gambling is.. illegal in Japan, yes, but it’s everywhere in loopholed ways.
Take this vending machine for example. See the 0000-9999 on the bottom? When you buy an item from this vending machine, you’ll see four numbers pop up, one by one. If all four numbers are the same (e.g. 7777), then you get a second drink for free! Gambling on a vending machine. But it doesn’t stop there. Not even close, this is just a small taste of gambling here.
This claw machine has a Spider Man figurine on a shelf close to a hole where it would fall and become your prize. There is a claw above it. You have one chance to move the claw horizontally, one chance to move it vertically, then you release the claw and hope it moves the toy to the hole. Every chance is ¥100 ($0.70) but boy oh boy do the yen disappear quickly!
The holy grail of gambling in Japan, however, is absolutely the Gacha machines. For ¥200-400 ($1.50-$3) you can get a type of toy from a machine. You know it’ll be one of the 4 or 5 options on the front of the machine but you don’t know which one. You can use these to make collections of these little toys.
Thse are the Gacha machines. As you can see, they all have completely different toys in them!
Some are cute characters from video games, anime, or well known brands like Hello Kitty.
Some are sorta practical like this cute cat pencil holder.
Some are just plain weird or disturbing like this tentacle ear plug thing. Yeah… no thanks.
Leanne is totally addicted already. These Gacha machines are everywhere! In the doorway of restaurants, in businesses, by benches in shopping malls, and there are even whole stores just dedicated to Gacha machines that get frequently rotated out to new collections.
So when you come to visit us, have a coin purse at the ready!
Our friend Ricky has been here for a year prior to our arrival and he’s an avid golfer. While I’m here in Misawa, he will be my golfing sensei. Our first lesson was on the driving range with the goal to just swing and hit the ball. Here I also made a native Japanese friend Ryota. I’m fitting into the culture here at Misawa AB and it’s not hard with all the supportive people around. The community here is absolutely amazing.
“Sumimasen” has become our new favorite word as we commit every accidental faux pas, but thankfully, everyone has been super nice and polite. I’ve even made a native Japanese friend!
The biggest news is we have a house! We moved into a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath townhouse on the north side of base. It has a yard that Miles absolutely loves.
We have officially landed in Japan! The plane ride was long but when it finally went after 47 hours of delays, the ride wasn’t too bad.
Miles did great with the ride! Didn’t seem to get bothered by it at all, which was a huge relief. Speaking of huge relief, the crazy boy held his pee the entire flight!
When we landed, we were blessed to see a familiar face: our friend Ricky. He was such a lifesaver. He drove us around the base, helped us check into our temporarily housing, get new housing (we secured a really great 3 bed 2.5 bath house on base with a yard), get our 4EJ international driver’s license, and best of all where to get cheap and delicious sushi off base.
Our first day was so exhausting, especially after such a long plane ride, so we called it by 7:30pm and passed out. The next day, Miles and I woke up by 4am feeling like our was 6 out 7 am because the sun was already coming up!! Land of the rising indeed! The sunrise here is at 4:15am!
Day 2 started with a cup of Joe from the vending machine in our hotel. The vending machines are everywhere and they have completely novel and fun drinks, most of which are really delicious.
In the morning, we headed off base to see some shops and convenience stores. Yes, convenience stores! In the US, these types of stores are generally grungy and boring, but in Japan they’re so different and fun. Just see the pics and videos below:
Next stop, supermarket!
Portland may have been a bust but Seattle definitely was not! Surprisingly it didn’t rain at all (I’m now 95% sure they tell us it’s rainy to keep us out) and the city was so walkable and fun!
Miles got very tired, which is great because tomorrow we hop onto a 12 hour flight to Japan, during which we want him asleep. Next post will be from Japan!
Portland, OR was a bit of a bust. Lots of homelessness and most things were closed down or just unsafe to be. We loved our dog friendly hotel though!
After the night in Portland we headed up to Seattle. Once we made it to the hotel, we dropped off our things and headed for the beautiful Cascades.
With a few days until we get to Japan, we are taking a road trip up the west coast to Seattle where we will fly out of. We left our California home and headed out in the Subaru!
We hiked Northern California around the beautiful Mt. Shasta.
Miles slept most of the trip in the comfy back of the Subaru. When we got to Medford, OR, we stopped for delicious tapas. The best one in my opinion was the saffron butter shrimp, but Leanne says the grilled octopus was her favorite.
We stayed the night in a tiny eco-home we found on AirBnB. It was so lovely.
It was a great first day. Now for the next stop: Portland!
When you are moving internationally, it is important to cut down on the amount of things you have. Especially when you are moving from a country with relatively large homes (USA) to a country with relatively small homes (Japan). As such, we cut down our possessions significantly. It is amazing how much junk accumulates in just a few years, even when you’re being careful!
I’m excited to “start fresh” though, and redecorate our new home in Japan in a Japanese style. Any Japanese interior design tips or inspiration would be amazing!
As Leanne heads into the end sprint of studying for boards, a necessary and welcomed reprieve presented itself as the USAFP (Uniformed Services Academy of Family Physicians) went underway in Orlando, FL. Leanne presented multiple posters of research and case presentations. We both attended lectures and learned what’s cutting edge in family medicine.
But what fun is only going to lectures when you are 15 minutes away from the “Happiest Place on Earth”?
With any free time we had, we and the other residents and attendings headed to Disney or Universal Studios!
Universal Studios Islands of Adventure:
One of the residents planned a “Family Dinner” at Disney Springs’ T-Rex café. Yes, that’s right, about 30 full-grown adult physicians went to the T-rex café. The waiter, at first confused where our children were, later assured us that sometimes adults come here too.
Lastly, my favorite Disney park Epcot. The “Flower Festival” was in full bloom and all the famous Disney characters were beautifully sculpted and located throughout the park. I loved enjoying food and drinks from around the world!
