Stories from Sendai, Issue #12, October 29, 2002

Dear friends and family,

These newsletters seem to be coming out just a little later each month, huh?  Well, we are busy, as always, but hopefully you will forgive our tardiness.

We have been keeping our big news out of this newsletter, but the "cat's out of the bag" around our school, so for those of you who don't know...we're pregnant.  We found out for sure on Sept. 7th (Todd's birthday - a nice present).  A friend of Barbara's took her to see the doctor she had used for her recent childbirth.  This was a clinic several kilometers north of town in Tomiya-cho.  The clinic sounded great, because they handle everything - doctor's visits up to the actual childbirth.  No hospitals required!   Barbara was a little nervous.  She had never been to the doctor here in Japan, and had heard quite a few stories.  Long waits, impersonal treatment, etc.  However, they arrived early on a Saturday, 8:30AM, and waited about 30 minutes to see the doctor.  The doctor was a very soft-spoken Japanese lady who asked a few questions, and then hopped her up on the ultrasound table.  Sure enough, the machine showed a tiny little black bean-shaped spot.  There were a few other tests - a urine sample, and a strange stint in an examining chair.  The nurses ask you to disrobe, then pull a curtain to cover your upper body.  The chair then moves into examining position all by itself.  So one feels all alone on one side of the curtain, but not at all on the other side!!

The next step is to register at the Ward Office.  The doctor gave Barbara an application, which had a schedule of hours to visit.  None of the times fit in with a working schedule.  So our secretary at school called and made a special appointment.  Barbara met with some very nice city workers, struggled with language problems, and was officially registered.  Apparently this system of looking after pregnant women has helped decrease the infant mortality rate here.  They offer free classes (in Japanese unfortunately), and each registrant receives free coupons for prenatal visits and baby checkups.

A month later, Barbara was back in the office.  She sat down in front of the doctor, and in halting English, the doctor said, "I'm sorry, but I won't be able to accept your delivery."  The reasons the doctor gave were 1) her English was not very good, 2) she had no nurses who spoke English, and 3) if there were complications (Barbara is Rh-negative) the clinic could not handle it.  She was shocked!  Her friend had had a very good experience with this doctor, and is also an English speaker.  She broke down crying right there in the office.  The doctor kept putting her hand on Barbara's arm, feeling embarrassed and sympathetic, but it took several tissues and minutes to calm down.  Barbara does NOT want to go to a hospital for the birth!  Again, too many stories of impersonal treatment.  After a long discussion, they both determined that there was a clinic close by where we live that would be sufficient.  The doctor called the other clinic, informed the new doctor of Barbara's circumstances (English-speaker, Rh-negative) and was accepted.  Whew!  She still doesn't know if a hospital birth will be necessary or not.  The appointment with the new doctor is this coming weekend.

As part of this newsletter, we will keep a little running journal of "pregnant in Japan" for everyone.  We shall see if our experience is typical of foreigners in Japan as we go!

We had officially planned to travel to Tokyo during September, but myriad school and social events caused us to postpone the plans for a month. And Barbara insisted on driving! So on the long weekend beginning October 12, off we went in that small car down the Tohoku Expressway.  We stopped every 100 km or so for a snack and stretch break, which usually involved getting Barbara something to drink. As we neared the Tokyo suburbs, the landscape of beautiful flatlands changed into tall buildings and industrial complexes. And then, when Tohoku Expressway ended, we were forced to take another couple expressways to get to our hotel in Ikebukuro. Once off the expressway, the trip began getting complicated. Though we've mentioned this before, it bears repeating that Japan has no street names, per se. They have maps, but the maps only carry route numbers and unmarked side-streets. Thus, navigation (which was Todd's job on the trip) turned out to be somewhat nightmarish. Getting our bearings, however, proved easier once we looked up -- large looming towers with neon signs gave us some landmarks, which thankfully had been included on the maps we were using. We arrived at out hotel about five hours after leaving Sendai -- which was actually pretty good time considering Tokyo traffic issues. We spent the evening walking around the Ikebukuro area -- with its pedestrian mall, lit up and gloriously hawking its game parlors, specialty shops, and large department stores. The area also boasted restaurants and people aplenty. The hotel we stayed at was a rather small affair, but had a REAL BED and air conditioning. The next morning, we dashed out to our car and began our Tokyo tour in earnest. Barbara had made an agenda of going to several places: Akihabara, Roppongi, and the area on Tokyo Bay called Odaiba among them. And our driving adventure, had truly begun in earnest. Both of us, having heard that Tokyo is one of the most expensive places to live and work in Japan, were loathe to park our car all day long and take the subway system. We opted instead to try our hand at navigating the streets of Tokyo, the costs of gasoline notwithstanding. So onto Akihabara we went. This particular place is famous in Tokyo for its electronics and computer products, which attracted both of us -- especially as we discovered that one of the retailers there sold English-system software. But when we arrived in Akihabara around 9 AM and fortunately found a parking place, the shops were still closed. We thought surely that the stores would be open after we ate a small breakfast, so we hopped into a local restaurant and munched happily away, waiting and waiting for the sellers to begin hawking their wares. It just wasn't to be. After breakfast, a short jaunt around to the shops allowed us to recognize our dilemma -- the stores would not be open until 11 AM! What would we do with those two hours? Never fear...Barbara had a plan. 

After looking at a map of Tokyo, and likely looking like a couple of lost sheep in the wilderness, Barbara indicated that the museums she had been planning to see in Odaiba would be open if we but headed there. With map in hand, and eyes on the road, we left our delightfully situated parking space and took a few wrong turns and found ourselves heading in the opposite direction from where we wanted to go. An expressway near Akihabara, which we thought might be our salvation, caused us to pull over and investigate. Todd found out that the expressway led toward Shinjuku -- not anywhere near Odaiba. We tried to find an easy way to turn the car around, but the traffic signs showed one way streets and "No U Turn" signs. ARGH! Frustrated, but determined, we eventually found a safe place to turn around and headed back the way we had come. After finding the road to Ginza, which would take us toward a major road leading to Odaiba, we gawked at the large buildings and Fifth-Avenue-like surroundings. Todd glanced back and forth from road to map, in an attempt to gauge distances and surroundings. So, as we were puttering along, Todd noticed that the signs on the road had changed numbers. And not just numbers, but destinations, too. You see, Odaiba is in the southeast corner of Tokyo, and we were supposed to have turned off on a major road near Ginza. And while we were supposedly on the same road, our car was heading toward Yokohama -- to the west and south of where we wanted to be! More panic, fumbling and u-turning occurred before we found our way to the turn off for Odaiba. It was (oddly enough) marked by a large "Mitsukoshi" symbol on the side of a tall building. Looking up had helped us once again. For the uninitiated, Mitsukoshi is a Japanese department store, similar to Neiman Marcus in the States. Ritzy and glamorous, and service with pizzazz. 

Needless to say, we were finally glad to be on the correct road. Odaiba -- here we come! We spoke too soon, it seems. The signs in Tokyo are not always what they appear. And when trying to match them with roadmaps, they can be downright confusing. We thought we had gotten in trouble a few more times, but it turned out that the former Dominos Pizza Driver instinct in Barbara just followed cars that seemed to be going east. It turned out to be the right move. But when the traffic eventually thinned, and we were stuck with a choice that didn't seem too clear from either map or sign, we had to pull over to get our bearings. Barbara (miraculously) figured out that we had to drive up a ramp-way and cross the waterways of Tokyo Bay to get to where we wanted to be. Odaiba, she reasoned, was not far away. She backed the car up, and proceeded to cross three lanes of road with less than 100 meters in front of her to get us onto the correct ramp. Catching our breath, we soon lost it again. The scenery from this ramp was beautiful, as far as industrial bays go -- and Todd feels especially bad that no pictures were taken of it. His excuse: He was navigating and frustrated. Barbara's excuse: She was driving and frustrated. Besides that, once we got into Odaiba proper, both navigator and pilot could not (for the life of us) figure out where that museum was that Barbara wanted to visit. It seemed that it was close to the International Conference Center. And the Lonely Planet guide that we were using seemed to indicate that the museums were in Odaiba, maybe a block or so away from it. Believe it or not, it was Todd who eventually asked Barbara to get directions from a security guard at the International Center.  In our best Japanese (which still is about as rusty as a 200-year-old nail)  we asked directions to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. "I'm sorry," says the guard in Japanese. "But that museum is not around here. It's in Ryogoku." Both of us looked at each other in dismay. You see...Ryogoku is only five minutes from -- you guessed it -- Akihabara. Barbara's comment: "At least we didn't have to pay for parking!"

Dismayed, but undaunted, we decided that we would go on to Barbara's next destination of the day: Roppongi. Fortunately, getting there was not as difficult as we imagined. Roppongi (which means "Six Forests") is the most foreigner-friendly of the neighborhoods in and around Tokyo, and therefore has an abundant night life. It being only about 10:30 AM, we decided that we'd skip the night scene and just have lunch there. Unbeknownst to Todd, Barbara had already staked a place out for lunch -- Tony Roma's. Todd found it humorous that the restaurants looked small and unassuming. He also chuckled that the Hard Rock Cafe was right above Tony Roma's, and that both entrances were almost invisible (unless you were looking for them) from one of the main roads in Roppongi. Hardly the kind of posturing one of these restaurants might have in the larger cities in the United States. Nevertheless, our time at Tony Roma's was one of the finest we've had since being in Japan. The food was not "Japanicized" -- our word for having a Japanese menu in an American-style family restaurant -- and afforded us the chance to eat real, juicy, barbecued ribs. Mmmmm, delicious. While it may not have been as good as some we'd had in Texas, it sure did come close!

A taste of home!

Akihabara drew us back to itself, especially now that Barbara was feeling like a pro after having traversed much of Tokyo already. But traffic was horrendous -- car traffic AND people traffic. Large four-to-six lane roads had been blocked off for pedestrian traffic. Holiday shoppers had packed the streets of Akihabara, and were roaming the area like a bunch of ants at a picnic. And now that we had been out for the day, we felt like we'd come back to familiar territory. Getting back to our hotel afterward was, to Barbara, a relatively easy task. We are sure that getting down here for our professional development seminar in Spring will be just as easy. Oh yes -- and who could forget the trip to Costco we made on Monday? It was all in a day's travels with Barbara, Queen of Expressways!

The weekend following our trek through Tokyo, our school had its annual Fall Festival. The teachers planned games for the kids, parents cooked up mouth-watering dishes, and kids came by the droves dressed up as heroes, cartoon characters, ghouls or creatures of pure imagination. Because of some issues with the weather, most games were moved inside. But a small pavilion was created for the food -- and what a variety there was! Foods from Poland, Burma, Korea, Japan, and India (to name only a few) were there for the sampling. Many people from the community joined our school population that evening, which introduced them to the distinctly international flavor of TIS. Both of us were on duty that night, and barely got a chance to breathe! Todd was in charge of a racing game, which allowed children to choose a caricature of a teacher, and race it against the others. The winners got a prize of a car or wallet, while the losers got some kind of candy from a grab bag.  Barbara and another teacher, Daryl, were in charge of a bowling game, which proved quite popular as the main prizes were gobs and gobs of candies! Trick or Treat!

Sendai has many areas close by with stunning natural beauty.  Last weekend, several teachers, and one of the families from school, went up to see the fall colors at Mt. Zao.  We left at about 7:30AM to try to beat the crowds of sightseers.  Barbara (Todd decided not to go) went in someone else's car, realizing that our little K car would probably not make it up the mountain very easily.  However, she didn't insist on the front seat (Barbara gets terribly car sick, and always drives our own car as a result).  About halfway to our destination, she started feeling pretty woozy, since her nausea tolerance is way down, being pregnant and all.  She switched to the front seat, but once the winding curves started, it was too much!  Close to one of the scenic lookouts, she fled from the car and lost her breakfast all over the grass on the side of the road.  The owners of the car let her drive the rest of the way up.

Once we arrived at the top of the mountain, there was a gorgeous crater lake to see.  Many days out of the year, the lake is nearly invisible because of clouds and fog, but we had a beautiful sunny, cold morning.  The lake is a deep green color and quite stunning.  It was rather chilly to stand out gazing at it for long, so Barbara ventured back inside the visitor's center, looking for a replacement for breakfast.  The gift shop had only "omiyage" (souvenir) food items, and the snack bar was mostly fried items.  So she and some of the others had some hot cocoa.  Luckily, when we left the center, there were some vendors of grilled corn-on-the-cob.  Yum!

On the way down the mountain, we made several stops to view the fall foliage.  At one stop there was a shrine and a trail down to a viewpoint where one could see a waterfall in the distance.  Several people missed that chance, and so we stopped again to see the waterfalls.  There are two sets in close range of each other.  Quite lovely with all the colors around.

Finally, after lunch we stopped at a kokeshi (traditional wooden doll) museum and shop.  There were hundreds upon hundreds of kokeshi on display from various parts of the Tohoku region.  Kokeshi are very simple-looking, but are not simply made.  There are several steps, from choosing the wood, drying it, stripping the wood, turning it on a lathe, and polishing.  The doll is painted with India ink, joined at the neck, and waxed to a fine polish.  An artisan was behind a glass partition, creating a wooden toy, a top, on the lathe.  Jeffrey (the son of the family who brought us along) was lucky enough to bring home that very top!

Mt. Zao's famous crater lake.			Some corn to replace a lost breakfast!
Beautiful fall color at a shrine on the way down the mountain.			In the distance, a double waterfall appears between the trees.
The artisan at the kokeshi museum, working away.			Jeffrey holds his top!
One of the MANY displays at the museum.

Only in Japan - while in Tokyo, we ran across an amusing sight that is quite common.  There are many, many bicyclists in this country, and very little legal space to park.  So even when there is a very strongly worded sign - people park there anyway.  Of course, there is always the chance that your bicycle will be cleared away and impounded!

We'll catch up again at the end of November - we promise!

Love,

Todd and Barbara Thomas