FIRE!!!!

Shortly after dinner Friday evening we heard fire trucks passing in front of our building. This is a normal occurance as the fire station is a bit around the corner and our street is one of their main routes to get out of the area.  I (Rich) picked up Max so that we could look out the window and see them pass.  This time they took a side street and went down past the back of our building.   Max went back to playing with his toys and we heard more sirens.  These trucks came from a different direction and made a u-turn going back down the same sidestreet.  Odd….We continued watching other cars pass and looked at the trees lit up in blue and white lights for the holidays. I pointed out to Heather a new store is opening up across the street on the 28^th, and it has something to do with being a “mozzarella bar”.  Yum.

Hold on. More sirens….More fire trucks.  Max and I quickly put on our coats and shoes and went down to investigate. 

 

We walked up the street and it looked like the fire trucks disappeared.  Upon reaching the corner though we saw one stopped.  Interesting…We walked further and saw another.  Then an ambulance.  Then another truck. Then hoses out on the sidewalk, all aside the low building next to ours.  We kept walking and Max was calling out and pointing at the fire truck, and was excited at the ambulance and flashing lights!  Then he pointed out the “ladder truck”…which was closer to our building.  A few more steps provided a clear view of the street between our building and Robot Park.  “Holy Cow!!!” I thought (and as Max has recently learned to say).  Nine fire trucks and the firefighters were going into our builing, Residence B!  But it seemed like nothing serious as the firefighters, though many, were not running around in a panic (then again, this is Japan).

 

We walked up through Robot Park and across the bridge over the street.  There seemed to be a fair number of people milling about.  Max started chasing some kids and we went inside by our lobby.

 

Once inside we now heard fire alarms and red lights I had never noticed before were flashing. Holy Cow! (or substitute other appropriate word here).  An automated voice was blaring over the loudspeaker.  It sounded kind of like at the end of one of the original James Bond movies when the evil hideout is in self destruct mode:  “RESIDENTS OF BUILDING C.  PLEASE EVACUATE. THERE IS A FIRE ON THE 42^ND FLOOR”.  

 

HOLY S***!!!! 

 

So I of course went upstairs to tell Heather.  There were no alarms going off in our building and I assumed everything was safe.

 

We prepared a bath for Max and an announcement came over the loudspeaker in our apartment.  It was in Japanese. It was very loud. Heather and I looked at each other quizzically as it did not sound like any Japanese I had mastered so far (“two beers, please”, and “turn left at the light”).  Finally, the announcement came in English.  “PLEASE DO NOT BE ALARMED.  THE SITUATION IS UNDER CONTROL”.  Then they repeated the annoucement again in Japanese. Again in English.  I thought that was a good idea in case someone didn’t hear it the first time.  Then they repeated it a third time.  Four. Five. Six.  I started to feel alarmed.

 

Max’s bath went without further incident. I suppose it was good he was in a big pool of water.  While drying him off we heard more crackling coming over the loud speaker.  It took me a while to find the camera to record this (listen to the attached)  but fortunately they made the annoucement SEVEN times.

 

I can’t wait to see what happens in a big earthquake.

Halloween II: School Parade

On October 31st, Max's school held a Halloween parade in which the kids walked about a block to a neighboring Japanese (vs. International) preschool to show off costumes and sing songs. Mickey Max refused to wear his ears and gloves, still he was recognized by the students.  He also refused to participate in the sing-along and was more interested in the toys he spied.

A few kids had meltdowns during the parade, but Max held his own. 

Batman has a meltdown.  Female Buzz Lightyear waits patiently.

This is Max's class. One of the princesses has a meltdown.

Waiting to cross the street. Always a production.

The kids from the other school do their song.

Halloween I

It's been a full week of Halloween fun here in Tokyo.  We started things off with a parade on Saturday the 25th.  I was amazed at the turn-out at the arena in Roppongi Hills.  Mobs of people were there.  And from what I understand, Halloween is a relatively newly adopted holiday in Japan.  

I had been working for a while on putting together a Mickey costume for Max as he loves Mickey and Donald and the gang.  His favorite TV show is the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse which we get on the Disney Channel.  He wakes up every morning and says "watch mickey!"

So I put together a costume and Max actually wore it at the parade.  Our good friend Fumie joined us with her daughter Tamano who I decided was a pumpkin princess. 

Here are some pics of the day.  More to come, hopefully from Max's school parade on Halloween Day.

Master of Ceremonies

Johnny D. waves hello

Very tall Japanese man

The band

Very odd onlooker

Post-parade meltdown: No, it's MY TRAIN!

Lining up the cars

It's already October 20th and Tokyo is in pre-Halloween gear.  This Saturday we'll go to a parade near our house and Max will also have a parade at school. Life has settled into a predictable rhythm with school, swimming and play dates for Max and me transporting Max to and fro, taking Japanese lessons, going to the gym (very occasionally), thinking about how I really need to expand my cooking repertoire, doing the daily and weekly shopping, wasting time on the internet, reading,  and sitting around waiting for Rich to get home at night.  Yes, I feel I've adjusted to the insane work schedule Rich has had for the past (going on 4) weeks. It's a massively detailed project with a short timeline so working till 11:00 PM and on weekends has become a norm.

So Max and I continue to do our thing.  We play blocks, cars and trains; we chase each other around the house; we practice sitting on the potty; we read a lot; we watch a lot of Curious George on DVD.  Here's a couple of shots of Max lining up his cars.  He took great care and precision with this.  And just a mention for those of you concerned with this behavior, he zooms his cars around quite normally as well.

Recycling rocks

New rules for recycling were posted earlier this month.  The best thing is that a ton of stuff can now be recycled.  The only downside is that it will require a hell of a lot more rinsing moving forward. (Bring on the peanut butter jars!) But maybe that will provide more of an incentive for me to scout out products with less packaging.  

Irony of ironies.  While Japan is pretty good about recycling, they are package and wrapping crazy.  So when you buy a pack of rice crackers - each one is individually wrapped.  Doesn't this kind of defeat the purpose?

So far I am trying to reduce packaging in Max's lunch by not buying juice and milk boxes and using reusable containers instead of baggies.  My next step is to really work at carrying around my own coffee cup to avoid generating Starbucks waste.  

I also need to practice saying "issho de ii desu" (literallly "all together is ok") to the cashiers at the grocery store to tell them not to put dairy items and fruits and veggies in their own little baggies.  And to refuse other extraneous bags --- "fukuro wa kekko desu" (literally "bag no thank you").

Two Sundays in Kichijoji

One of our favorite new places to hang out is Kichijoji. Special thanks to Tazuko and Keiichi for inviting us out to lunch with them in this happening neighborhood. Here we all our outside the Village Vanguard Diner.  Tazuko and Keiichi were craving burgers so they chose the place.  You would think from the signage visible in the photo that we were in the States.  

Elsewhere in Kichijoji this is not the case.  While we saw a couple of expats here and there, it is primarily Japanese and has a youngish, mellow, everyday sort of vibe.  There is a nice big park with a small lake and swan boats and row boats to rent.  There are also random entertainers along the path doing magic tricks, playing instruments or doing any sort of amateur acts.  There is also a zoo attached that we explored during our second visit to the area.  As far as zoos go, it was pretty basic and on the old side but we had a good time just the same. Although the elephant didn't look too healthy.

For our second visit, we explored the zoo and stumbled upon a great place for brunch.  Here is a photo of Rich and Max enjoying their pancakes and french toast (respectively) with blueberry sauce.  And of Max drinking milk and water at the same time.  Notice the yellow mini car below his arm.  This is a new favorite.  

Unfortunately a lot of blueberry sauce ended up on Max's shirt and then on my shoulder in a blueberry embrace.  But I can attest to the power of the Spray 'n Wash stain stick.  It works.

After brunch, Rich took Max home and I got to wander and shop. There are lots of interesting side streets with funky shops as well as larger established department stores. I also found a maze of dark, narrow alleys with tiny shops and miniscule restaurants - just a couple of seats - with mysterious odors emanating from them.

I bought a few random items.  Cute socks, a funky shirt for Max, some houseware stuff.  But by 3:00 I was experiencing sensory overload from the masses of people and shop after shop after shop.  So I headed back to the station to begin the long trek home. That's the main downside. It's about an hour door to door from our house to Kichijoji. And the worst part of that hour is the time spent transferring and navigating through Shinjuku Station and the triathalon of stairs, escalators and tunnels you need to conquer just to get to the right subway.

Still, I'm sure we'll be back.

 

Odaiba

What can one really say about a mass of sand and silt poured into Tokyo Bay to form a new community of high rises and shopping malls.  That's Odaiba. We went a couple weekends ago. The train ride takes you over the Rainbow Bridge and it was a spectacular warm day.  

Max and I explored the beach (man-made).  (We found a dead crab.) We passed by the rent-a-dog place that had a line out the door and the adjacent Doggy Restaurant. Does this kind of service exist anywhere else?  Someone please say that Tokyoites are not the only people who will line up to rent a dog for the afternoon to take it for a walk and buy it lunch.

Then we headed into one of the handful of large malls on the island to check out Toys R Us. I planned on getting Max a tricycle but he displayed no interest. This was so frustrating as he loves to play with/on the tricycles in our basement bike storage area.  

I bought a couple Thomas trains to keep on hand for future surprise gifts and we headed out to lunch in the food court. Then Rich checked out Eddie Bauer which somehow was kind of stylish as only the Japanese can make outfits look good. More on the style gene later...

Max fell asleep after lunch so as he snoozed in the stroller Rich and I got coffee and enjoyed the view.