Stories from Sendai, Issue #1, Sept. 6, 2001

(WARNING: Long and photo intensive - a lot happens in four weeks!)

Well, here we are, just a few weeks into our life in Japan.  We plan to talk about our lives here, of course, filtered through our many life experiences. As a result, you may find us making comparisons between life in Japan, Egypt and the US.  We think experiencing culture shock again will be an enjoyable challenge. 

A note here about our logo before we go on. Sendai is known as the City of Trees, and it is no wonder. It is the third or fourth greenest city in the world, and it certainly shows. To honor that, we have included a motif of cherry blossoms, along with the tell-tale red sun of the Japanese flag. The Japanese characters you see is the word Sendai, and it is silhouetted against the red sun of Japan. We hope you enjoy our stories as much as we enjoy writing them.

This year, we traveled on Thai Airways (after getting an incredible deal on the airfare!) from Los Angeles International Airport.  This meant we had to drive a rental car from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  But all in all, it was less expensive than flying from San Francisco.  Although the flight left 1 hour later than we thought it would, and arrived 1 hour earlier than expected as well, we still had 9 hours on the plane.  Arriving at Narita (Tokyo) is incredibly easy!  There are signs everywhere in three or four languages, including English, and we moved from one station to the next without any trouble.  Barbara seriously considered bypassing the animal quarantine station, and going through customs straightaway.  The cat carrier bag (a Sherpa) is very inconspicuous.  Of course, our consciences made us head for the desk.  Upon seeing Nigel (as with most everyone we've encountered), she swooned and smiled. She almost cooed, which made us feel very comfortable about leaving him. The clerk checked Nigel's papers (they've never been checked anywhere else! -- not in Cairo, and not in the US), and asked us to report to the sixth floor.  We met our headmaster as we emerged from Customs (he had just arrived himself),  and were encouraged to drop by a service desk that specialized in baggage delivery. And are we glad we did! We unloaded 2 of our 4 larger bags, which alleviated the difficulty of dragging all of them on a train to Sendai. The bags would arrive two days later (on time!). After dropping off the two bags, the three of us decided that Todd would wait downstairs with the bags, while Barbara went with the headmaster, Dr. Yutzy, upstairs.  (NOTE: Our headmaster pronounces his name YOO-tzee, not YUTZ-ee.) We filled out forms, and then had to wait for a lady from the care facility to arrive to transport Nigel away.  Boohoo!  He was well-behaved as usual, and Barbara bid a sad goodbye to him for 15 days.  They require payment for care taking, about $20 dollars US a day, plus $25 transportation costs.  In addition, the day to pick him up and the first day of school were the same!  So add the cost of a train trip down and back ($220).

Our next step was to drag the remaining bags from platform to platform, train to train.  First the Narita Express to Tokyo Station (1 hour).  Then the Tohoku Shinkansen (bullet train) to Sendai Station (2 hours).  We finally arrived at midnight.  Dr. Yutzy's wife and adopted kids were waiting in the car, and we crammed ourselves in for the ride to the apartment. 

Happily, we had purchased almost all of our furniture from a couple who left the school last year.  All of it was waiting in our apartment when we arrived, and the Yutzys had set up and made the bed, and most of the furniture.  So we were able to just fall into bed!  Two other new teachers live in our building, Sue and Daryl, both Kiwis (New Zealanders).  They both have very small apartments.  One room, an extremely small kitchen, toilet and bath.  When they arrived their apartments were totally empty except a futon on the floor and emergency food and dishes (one cup, one set of flatware, etc.).  Our apartment is much bigger, but about a third smaller than the size of our Maadi/Cairo dwelling.  If Todd stands on his tiptoes, his head brushes the top of the doorways. We have three rooms (one bedroom, one living area, one dining area) and a nice sized kitchen.  There is no oven. But we do have a refrigerator, gas range/small toaster oven (think "Coleman camping stove"), and small-to-medium sized microwave.  As with other places in the world, the toilet is very interesting.  It is Western-style, but at the top it has a faucet that fills up the toilet. One uses the faucet to wash hands! A convenient towel ring is placed just so, and there's even a place for the soft soap! The toilet also has an electric seat warmer, for those cold winter nights. Todd can't help but think that he's going to burn his butt on that thing one day, though Barbara and fellow teacher Harriette concur that come Winter such luxury is most welcome. We have come to find out, as well, that some bathrooms are equipped with "seat socks" which are cotton cloth covers on the U-shaped toilet seats. They are VERY comfortable to sit on. Our shower/bath room is separate from the toilet.  In Japan, one is supposed to wash outside the bath, and then soak in the tub, completely clean.  Families all use the same water, since there is no dirt and soap in the water.  Barbara has decided to just shower in the tub anyway.  Todd is trying to use the room correctly.

One of the delightful surprises in our apartment here is our satellite radio. Yes, you read that correctly. We are able to receive US-based radio stations and radio networks via a receiver here. Perhaps the most surprising for Todd was the ability to get National Public Radio over the satellite. And Barbara has enjoyed an 80s and 90s music station out of New Jersey! We are also privy to a host of Japanese stations as well, but we are not really listening to those! 

We arrived at the beginning of the "Obon" holiday, when people believe their ancestors will visit them.  Most people go to their hometowns to see family.  As a result,  it's the busiest travel season. Many shops are closed, but getting around town has been great, since less people are out and about.  At the end of the Obon, some people set off fireworks across the street and all over town.

Our first full day in Sendai was spent going to the Ward office to get our alien registration cards -- more colloquially the "Gaijin" (foreigner) cards.  We are required to carry them around at all times.  While at the office, we met a family from Michigan doing the same thing.  The three boys would be attending our school, Tohoku International School.  After applying, we went to order our "hankos" (signature stamps).  Barbara ordered one with "ba ba ra" in Japanese, and Todd got one with "to ma su."  We shopped at the "combini" (convenience store) in the first floor of our building, and continued unpacking.  We also visited the school for the first time.  It is small -- 2 floors, 5 classrooms, 2 offices, 2 sets of bathrooms, a kitchen and a multi-purpose room that doubles as the school library.  Only grades Pre-K to 3 attend here.  There are only about 50 students altogether.  The rest of the school, 4-12, attends a different campus on the north side of town.  We are located in the central/east section of Sendai, in Komatsushima. 

The second day Todd went to school so he could receive our luggage from the airport. The goods didn't arrive until 11:30, so he was able to get a head start on his room -- which had been the office in previous years. After Todd walked the bags back to the apartment -- about 300 yards distance -- we went grocery shopping with the second grade teacher, Harriette.  She is from Savannah, Georgia.  We walked to various little grocery stores in the area, and then hopped on the bus to the subway station.  We rode the subway to a big supermarket/department store called Ito Yokado.  The little groceries were a lot like the ones in Egypt, or the US 30 years ago.  But the supermarket was huge, with everything you could think of.  But they didn't have Ranch dressing or cheddar cheese -- much to Barbara's amazement.  Anyway, we then took the subway to Sendai Station.  All major train stations have large shopping complexes, and we shopped for meat, and got some American products at the Jupiter store.  Finally we bused back home.  It cost about $8.50 for all that traveling, over 4 hours time (we took a leisurely pace).  Harriette says that Sendai's public transportation is one of the most expensive in Japan - but it is beautifully clean and easy to use.  Surprisingly, the prices for meat only ranged from about $2-7 per pound (500 g) -- in some cases less than in Cairo. We were expecting the prices to be much, much worse.

Later in the week we went to "The Mall" in the Southern part of Sendai.  Most of the mall is set up like a huge department store ("depato") with only partitions between the shops.  There was even a Disney store and an L. L. Bean!  But alas, no clothes in Barbara's size.  The highest sizes were a 10 American, with a plethora of 2s and 4s to choose from.  Daryl and Barbara have been wondering where the larger ladies (they do exist!) get their clothes.  Todd, on the other hand, is finding the clothing stores to be quite suitable, but a touch pricey. A button down shirt that might retail in the US for $25 or so costs 7900 yen ($66) on average. He probably won't be buying them any time soon. We are finding that not everyone is a foot shorter here -- maybe four to six inches, if that.  Nonetheless, we have been amazed by the cleanliness and convenience of everything so far.  

We had told several people that we would be climbing Mt. Fuji before school began.  Well, the teacher with the van had to back out of the trip, so we were stuck.  It might be possible to go again in a few weeks, but unlikely since the official climbing season only lasts from July 1st to August 31st.  It's possible to climb it before or after, but one risks colder temperatures and possible snow the later in the fall. So as a substitute, our headmaster took all the new teachers from our elementary (all 4 of us) to Mt. Izumi.  We expected a wide trail and an easy climb based on some kindly information provided by our headmaster. And he was correct after a fashion. It turns out that Mt. Izumi is a ski slope in the winter, so the initial trails we hiked up were indeed wide. But with it being August (and hot, and muggy, and foggy, and misty) the overgrowth of the wide expanse of ski trails became narrow, weed and grass overgrown rivulets we were later forced to navigate. After about 25 minutes of hiking, the trail turned into a tiny sand and rock path, hardly distinguishable from the grass.  By the time we had gone 1/2 a mile, Barbara was huffing and puffing, and being chased by a large yellow and black striped insect, which Barbara could only guess was the BIGGEST bee she had ever seen. It would buzz loudly around her head, and land on various bits of her clothing -- but most especially on her shirt. She had been wearing a red Ponder Elementary Choir T-shirt that day, which this insect apparently loved. It also seemed to love making music, because its buzz sometimes would modulate in pitch. Now anyone who knows Barbara, knows that she detests bees. And further, anyone who knows Barbara knows that she has a terrific set of lungs. And she used them! Screams and fits of panic overwhelmed her as she would race ahead to get away from this pestering insect, only to have it follow her for what must have been a few hundred meters. When Todd tried to calm her down, the insect left her alone -- only to land on Todd's rump! Daryl, after inspecting the insect more closely, determined that the insect that looked like a bee,was in fact a very large, non-injurious fly! Well, after the panic (and lots of huffing and puffing), we only ended up making it half way up.  Besides being tired, we reasoned we would not have been able to see any view from the top -- except the mistiness around us.  After a half-hour or so break, we decided to head back down. To everyone's relief, downhill was easier. Barbara still slipped and fell four times, but managed well for someone who had never been hiking before.  It _was_ her first time using a real mountain trail, after all.  Up to that point, she had been used to packed earth or asphalt. She learned how to use her feet to grip the earth beneath her, walk down a hill sideways, and maintain her balance so she wouldn't fall as often. Once at the base of the hill, Barbara's relief showed in the smile of satisfaction on her face. But we doubt she'll be hiking again any time soon. 

As anyone knows -- the bills always come due. Many has been the day when both of us have dreaded the bills. But in Japan, or at least here in Sendai, paying the bills has become blissful.  The bills are mailed to you, as you might expect. That's pretty much the norm. But...here in Sendai (and in Japan in general) you can pay them at the local convenience store, along with your emergency toilet tissue! Imagine being able to walk into a 7-11 (there's one about 500 meters from us) and pay your electric, gas and water bills! In fact, Todd recently paid our first electric bill at the even more local convenience store (less than 10 meters away), Sunkus. What the clerk does is he scans the electric bill's bar codes -- and just as if you were buying a cold Coca-Cola, gives you a smile while asking you for the amount of your bill. No fuss, no hassle having to mail in a check, or having to drive downtown to pay the bills. Leave it to the Japanese to come up with an easy, logical way to pay the bills efficiently! Just a side note about the "combini" stores: if there's not one immediately in sight, there's always one just around the corner in Sendai. 

Now having experienced at least four weeks in Sendai, we can definitively say that Barbara's jaw has not yet managed to pick itself off the ground. Todd, on the other hand, has been taking all of this Japanese stuff in stride for years. You see, Barbara's fascination with Japan goes way back to a J-Pop tape given to her by her step-father while he was on military duty in the Pacific. But with all the antsy anticipation this summer, even Barbara's step-father was more than a bit amused by her obsessive fascinations. She was so anxious, in fact, that she was determined to stock up on provisions she was sure Sendai and Japan would not (or could not) possibly offer her -- mostly related to her diet. These got so bad in late July, that her step-father teased her that, naturally, there would be no coffee, tea, sushi or fish in Japan -- and she would do well to stock up on such provisions as well. And while this was, of course, done tongue-in-cheek -- the upshot of it all was that Barbara was overly worried about the convenience and availability of many items she had been used to using.  This place is a shopping paradise!  Sendai is no Tokyo, but that's probably a good thing.  We are able to get everything we need either locally or through a company called the Foreign Buyers Club.  And everything Barbara has had shipped in from overseas has come through with no customs hassles or delays.

We have had two weeks of school now, and both of us have very small classes, especially Barbara!  Todd's class is 11, but Barbara only has 4.  Since they are four-year olds, it's a blessing.  Two afternoons a week, she teaches K-3 music.  Our children are really sweet.

Well, we promise to write a slightly shorter letter next time.  We love to hear from everyone, and hope there's no eye strain. :-)

Ja matta! (See ya later!)

Todd and Barbara Thomas

PICTURES:

Sendai Station - the hub of downtown Sendai.

Our favorite place to eat so far - kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi).  Heiroku-zushi has 20 locations around town, and we've eaten there 5 times at 3 different locations in 4 weeks.  A full meal is about 1/3 the price of a pizza here!

Barbara after the trek halfway up Mt. Izumi, looking rough...

Todd and the park across the street from our apartment building.

Obon fireworks as seen from our balcony.

Tohoku International School, Komatsushima campus, PK-3.

Aren't they cute?!

Barbara with her students in the classroom.

Todd with his students.

Hard at work!