#ilovejapan

I missed a few weeks, but I'm back at it!  Here are 5 thins I love about Japan!

1. Some restaurants also follow the no shoes rule and provide these cubbies with locks for you to leave your shoes in.  This one happens to be my favorite number!

2. I left my wallet sitting on a bench at a train station and a kind young man returned it to me!

3. 4. & 5. are all vending machines!  

Toy trains,

POPCORN,

and toy bugs!

#ilovejapan

Y'all, I'm seriously starting to freak out about leaving Japan.  I am NOT ready!  Here are some of the things I'm going to miss most about Japan!

1. The abundant bicycle parking...it's no wonder everyone here is so skinny, everyone rides a bicycle.  I'd be willing to be there is more bicycle parking than car parking here.

2. Customer service here is superior to anywhere else in the world that I've ever been to.  Anytime you purchase something that could possibly be a gift they'll ask you "presento?" and if you say yes, it's almost certain that they will wrap it in a way that is far better than anything I could do myself!

3. Their lunch sets.  I love getting many different little dishes.  It's so much better than a burger and fries!

4.  The signs that we cannot read.  Our best guess is that people with afro's can sit on the trains but if you're bald (ing) like my husband, you must stand.  I'd love to hear your interpretation of this sign (if you don't speak Japanese)!

5. The flowers/gardens here.  Space may be limited but people are creative and passionate about their landscaping here.  I love all the variety of flowers and seeing the different ways people fill the (normally) small space they have outside their house.

#ilovejapan

Another week and another list of 5 things I love about Japan!

1. Believe it or not, I love the Japanese style toilets (don't worry, it was clean when I snapped this).  You don't have to sit on nasty seats and you don't have to touch the handle to flush, you just step on it.  I know some people have issues with the whole squatting thing but I grew up camping, I'm used to squatting to pee in the woods, so it's no big deal to me.

2. Ramen.  This is probably my favorite food here.  I know I say that a lot, but seriously,  I don't think I've had a single bowl of ramen that I didn't enjoy.  Plus, it was my very first Japanese meal so it holds a special spot in my heart! (and now this is what we're having for dinner tonight because my mouth is watering just looking at this photo)

3. Lost in translation.  I'm not sure if they were going for crimper or curler or what here but I'm pretty sure it wasn't clipper based on the photo. 

4. Colored strips of road.  They paint certain intersections red to indicate that it is particularly dangerous and you should be extra cautious.  How smart!

5. Fun takes on American favorites.   Corn chowder flavor Doritos and salad flavor "Pringles" are just a few of the choices.

#ilovejapan

Exactly two years ago today, Japan was shook by the great Tohoku earthquake and a tsunami that wiped out miles of the northern coast.  Looking back on that day I had no idea, at the time, the impact those event would have on my life.  Today's #ilovejapan post is dedicated to the people who were impacted by the events that took place on March 11, 2011.

Today's 5 things I love about Japan (specifically the Japanese people) are

1. Their determination.

2. Their graciousness (cheap hair cuts for volunteers).

3. Their creativity (the Nozomi Project turning trash into treasures)

4. Their resiliency. 

 5. Their patriotism.

Please take a moment out of your day to pray for the people of Japan!

#ilovejapan

Another week and another list of things I LOVE about Japan!

1.  my ladies!

(I don't know how it took me four weeks for them to make the list)

Some times I struggle to come up with a fun & informative lesson every week but they tolerate me and my randomness so well and I always leave there with a smile on my face.

2.  Shrine sales

They set up giant flea markets on the grounds of some shrines every so often.  They are great places to pick up unique gifts and souvenirs.   

3. The generosity of strangers.

At the above shrine sale, I saw this funky tie clip (my husband loves dressing up and he thinks his tie clips are the perfect accessory/conversation piece) so I asked the man "ikura desu ka" ("how much is this?", one of the few phrases I know well in Japanese) and he handed it to me and said "puresento".  I knew what that meant so I bowed and said "domo, arigato gozaimasu"!  Jason loves it, especially since it was free!

The very next day I walked into a shop and the woman working walked over to me and handed me this neatly folded crane and said, "puresento".  I must have looked like I needed a pick me up this week (which I did)!

4.  All my favorite bands in one place!

In the US, these bands would never all play together but here in Japan, YES!  I'm so pumped for a good old punk show but I have a feeling it's going to be very different than the shows in the States...we shall see!

5. Sushi!

Again, I don't know why this one took so long to make the list, but YUM!

Things are about to get CRAZY around here, I'll fill you in on all the details soon, so please hang on with me while I hop onto the roller coaster!

#ilovejapan

I almost skipped this week but just 5 minutes of scrolling through photos on my iPhone and I easily came up with 5 things I love about Japan!

1. My wonderful ESL students' dedication to their lessons.  Even the snow won't stop them!

2. This comic I found while wrapping my package at Ikea.  I love the Japanese sense of humor.

3. Japanese are fairly law abiding citizens EXCEPT when it comes to bicycle parking!  I see this everywhere and it always makes me chuckle.

4. Recycle shop, or second hand store finds, like this nabe pot that was only $5 and a gorgeous kimono for under $10!  

5. Seeing how others view America.  This was in a local scrap booking store.  Football, cowboys, movies, the statue of liberty, taxi's and lots of food!

#ilovejapan

Here are my 5 favorite things about Japan this week!

1. Ridiculously cute tights for less than $2.50.

2. SAKURA (cherry blossom) SEASON!  This means specialty mugs and drinks at Starbucks.  I'm not normally a Starbucks fan but these are too cute to pass up.

3. These special melons that are given as gifts and cost WAY more than a traditional melons. (I've never learned why, maybe I'll remember to ask one day)  The one on the left is about $60 US!

4. Another shoe post. Not only do the Japanese not wear shoes in their homes, the children also have special shoes they wear only in school.  They must take off their outside shoes and wear these while they are inside.

5. Big America burgers at McDonald's.  For the past few years McDonald's in Japan has come out with different "American" burgers.  This one here is the Texas burger which features "grainy mustard", cheese, a burger patty, fried onions, bacon and BBQ sauce.  I haven't actually tried any of these, since I don't eat beef, much less McDonald's but I still think the idea is good marketing!

#ilovejapan

I'm loving this weekly challenge!  Coming up with 5 things I love about Japan each week has really made me think about everything I do here in a different way.  Here are the 5 things I love about Japan this week!

1. The "romance car" on days you're running late.  It's a super express train with assigned seats that stops 3 stations away from us and then not again until it arrives in Tokyo.  It's FABULOUS, but an extra 400 yen (about $5 US) each way so we don't take it very often.

2. Discount produce at the market that is fresher than the stuff they sell at our commissary.

3. Signs.  I have NO idea what this sign is for or what it says but it was too funny not to mimic.

4.  Ah, these things are GENIOUS! When you're trying on clothes, they give you these mesh covers to put over your face so you don't get makeup all over the clothing!  How many times have you found a fabulous shirt, it's the last one, in your size, then you notice a make-up stain on it...that never happens here! (now that I see this photo, I'm totally regretting not purchasing this skirt!)

5. Japanese have, hands down, the cutest shoes I've ever seen, EVER!  Most of them are reasonably priced (under $30) too.  The only downfall is that I wear a size 9 US which is a LL or LLL here and they rarely have the cute styles in my size.

#ilovejapan

Halfway through this week I thought to myself, "you are crazy, you'll never be able to come up with 5 things each week", and that day I wrote down 8 as soon as I left base.  This little weekly project of mine is going to be great at forcing me to leave base at least once a week.  Sometimes it's too easy to stay in the bubble of Camp Zama.  I digress, here are this weeks 5 things I love about Japan!

1. 100 yen shops.  Seriously, the dollar store has NOTHING on these shops!  In America you would never say to your neighbor, "hey, I'm going to the dollar store today, would you like to come?" but at least once a week I invite someone or someone invites me on a trip to the 100 yen store.  They sell EVERYTHING and most of it is a fairly high quality for about the equivalent of $1.

2.  Mirrors.  The roads here are TINY so they have these great mirrors installed on almost every corner so you can see around the buildings & tight corners.  They making driving (and riding your bicycle) here so much easier! 

 Plus they're fun to take photos of people in!

3.  Produce markets.  The produce on base here is hot garbage!  Like stuff that most food banks wouldn't even accept.  {I understand the commissary is doing the best they can but they insist on importing most of it from the US and by the time it arrives here it's WAY past its prime} I buy about 90% of my produce off base and happily do so even if it's twice the price.

4. RICE vending machines.  I have never used one of these but I SERIOUSLY want to before we leave.  A 10kg bag of rice is not something you can regularly purchase from a vending machine, at least not where I'm from.  

5.  Hanging laundry.  Maybe I wouldn't like this one so much if I was forced to do it but I love the idea of it.  So fresh, easier on your clothes and much less energy waste than using a dryer.  I do hang some laundry and maybe one day I'll fully switch over.

#ilovejapan

Every single time I leave base {and sometimes even while I'm on base} I think to myself, "I love _____ about living in Japan".  Japan has truly become a 2nd home for me and I never ever want to forget these feelings of love and admiration for this great country, so I've decided to start a new series here on my blog.  I sat on this post for a few weeks trying to come up with a clever title for this series but kept coming up empty handed, then this week I noticed I used the hash tag "#ilovejapan" on multiple photos on instagram so thus a title was born.

Each week {hopefully on Monday} I'm going to share 5 things I love about living in Japan.  I'll probably repeat a few, but I shall try my best not to.  Some of these will have pictures to go along with the post, others may not, but I look forward to looking back on all these things once we leave this wonderful country.  Here is week 1:

1. bowing instead of hand shaking at the end of sporting events

this was at a little league game {1st-3rd graders} and I almost died from the cuteness

2. HOT chocolate from a vending machine

3. BOOKS in a vending machine

4. yakitori and Coke in a bottle at snack time

5. signs {this one will be a repeat I'm sure, with different signs}
no running