Tonight's Forecast: Winter!

Let's talk pictures.

 Snow in Japan just has another whole dimension to it when in context whether it's on sloping tile roofs...

 ...or bikes. Yes, they still ride bikes through the snow! I've seen a fair number of wipe outs.

 On lighter snow days, I pass the time by shoveling the parking lot.

 Standing on an empty train platform in the snow is so other-worldly! I knew the Polar Express or the White Queen's sleigh were coming any second...

Winter-Wate

Maybe I'm just used to the Japanese cold or maybe this winter just hasn't been as icy as last year. It's hard to tell. I like to think I've adapted, but that doesn't seem realistic.

Either way, I'm enjoying the beauty of the season. Back in Maryland, an inch of snow around Christmastime was a miracle and the closest we came to a white Christmas around our house was usually watching Bing Crosby croon on TV.

Not exactly "White Christmas"

And for the record, we proudly watched the original VHS tape in dazzling Technicolor.

But here in Japan, the snow falls thick and fast time time of year. Already, the roads are packed solid with snow and I won't be seeing pavement until spring. Homes and apartments are cocooned in bubble-wrap. Christmas cakes and fried chicken are whisking out the door faster than you can say "ほほほ."

In the midst of it all, I'm finally on my winter vacation. The general belief is that Christmas is a couple's holiday, here. While there is a Christian presence in most towns, it's small, and Christmas is seen as more of a novelty like Halloween: just something to dress up in cute costumes for. Oh yes, there are costumes. Mostly revealing Santa outfits for the girls.

But some cities take Christmas to heart, mostly for marketing, but they do have events. One of the most famous is the Sendai Starlight Pageant. Every year, the Jozenji Street is decorated with thousands of gold LED tree lights. The tree-lined avenue is lit for the entire evening for a couple weeks right up until Christmas. Thousands of people travel to Sendai to walk the avenue, marvel at the lights and wait for the "Starlight Wink" when the lights all go dark and after a moment of breathless silence, Christmas music begins to play and the lights flare to life! It's really very beautiful under that golden glow.

Where do trees end and sky begin?

 I missed it last year but was so glad I made the trip myself this time around. I booked a night at a hostel and spent the evening walking around bustling Sendai enjoying the holiday season.

Still have mixed feelings 'bout bean pillows

Umebachi Guesthouse upper floor commonspace

No overnight stay is complete without manga!

Christmas might be for "lovers," but even though the ones I love are far away, I was feeling it.

Hana-mizu: Nose Water or Flower Water?

I have been sitting and listening to this for two days now. It's "influ" season in Japan and Kitakami has been hit hard. I'm cowering in fear at my desk and praying I make it to winter vacation without catching anything. But it's looking bleak. At one school, there is a teacher who sounds like she's on her death bed. Every breath is a rattle and she was coughing so hard at one point, I thought she'd lose a lung! Yesterday, she turned so red during the teacher's meeting, I was sure she was going to pass out!

Instead, she retreated to the hallway to cough. That wasn't a great idea since there's a spectacular echo effect out there.

Every day, I hear of another cluster of students being out with the flu. A couple have gone to the hospital! Yet still, students walk to and from school in snow and freezing rain, they walk through icy hallways, assemble in the spacious gym and brave the arctic bathrooms. Their only reprieve is the teachers room (most of which now have central air) or their classroom stoves.

But that's okay because everyone wears a surgical mask. No fear of germs (maybe), but it still does nothing to stifle that god awful coughing.

Look, Japan, let's have a chat. Your employees work harder than most other countries. I have so much respect for these people who work 6 to 7 days a week, dawn til dusk, year round. It's exhausting to be so dedicated...and that's why this time of year, your weakened immune systems give in to the flu.

So here's a little lesson on how to be sick. Trust me, it'll do wonders!

Day 1: Discover you have (a cold/ influ / walking pneumonia)

Congratulations! You're sick! Time to call the office and excuse yourself for a couple days and run to the pharmacy. Don't settle for simple tablets. Get the controlled substances. You don't have any heavy machinery to operate and you are excused from being a cognizant being for a while. Enjoy the bliss-haze that is Robitussin.

Day 2: Begin hibernation

Your body is now at civil war with itself. While it's fighting a disgusting battle of phlegm and fevers, hunker down. Make a fortress of your bed or sofa. Arm yourself with your favorite TV shows, tissues, juice, tea and soup. Have at thee!

Day 3: Moufu, mo-fo!

Boil that fever out. Steam baths, onsen, hot showers, bubble baths, blankets, blankets, blankets! Drop some menthol, eucalyptus or hell, chili oil into the water and let the fires cleanse your soul.

Day Whatever: Mind and body recover

Take your time. You're in no rush to get back to work. You are ONLY safe to return to the outside world when you are no longer coughing up solids or snorting through your runny nose or hallucinating your oatmeal talking smack about you.

And there you have it. You'll feel miserable, but isn't it more considerate to keep the inconvenience of sickness out of the public sphere? It's also a lot more comfortable when you don't have to put on real clothes.

Thanksgiving Omedetou!

I can’t believe I’ve been in Japan for almost two entire years. Sometimes, it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but then something happens and I’m bitch-slapped with reality. Thanksgiving is one of those “somethings.” 

Americans love Thanksgiving. Really, we love any excuse to get a bunch of friends and family together and stuff ourselves silly: tailgate parties, Labor Day, the Fourth of July, to name a few. But Thanksgiving also has that undertone of American history that makes it all the more important because it makes us feel patriotic. 

We tend to glance over the ugly side of American Indian-Pilgrim relations (Yellow Fever, territory wars, ahem) but the important thing is to remember what the purpose of this one tradition. There was a time when the Pilgrims were grateful to the native people who helped them survive their first years in the New World. And they expressed that gratitude with food. 

Food is amazing. It’s not only delicious and nutritious, but it’s universal. No matter who you are, where you come from or where you’re going, food is something everyone shares. Having a place to gather and share your stories is one thing, but the communal act of sharing food and drinks solidifies it into a pact. We shared food, ergo we are homies.

I’m just trying to say that after I missed my family’s Thanksgiving gathering last year, I was very excited to have Thanksgiving with my friends in Japan! Will opened his spacious apartment to a motley crew of Americans and Japanese and their offerings. In American fashion, everyone was asked to bring something. 

While it rained outside, we drank wine and beer and ate a crazy assortment of food: takoyaki (battered octopus balls), fried chicken, salad, jambalaya, maki sushi, spaghetti and meat sauce. I kept things East Coast with herbed chicken, my Grandma’s corn pudding and spiced cranberry sauce with cream cheese. 

We ate and drank, listened to great music and danced once the drinks were really flowing. Towards the end of the meal, we said a toast and then I asked everyone to go around the table and say something they are thankful for. Personally, I was thankful for new and old friends, sharing a delicious meal, and my family’s health. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hair Au Naturale

There's an old children's cartoon series called "The Wild Thornberries." It followed the hijinks of a nomadic family of wildlife documentary filmmaker parents, (the father, Nigel, was voiced by Tim Curry) and the daughters; younger wild-child, Eliza, and disgruntled teenager, Debbie. In one episode, the family is in the middle of a jungle when Debbie gets inspired by a magazine article to make her own "natural shampoo" to tame her long, wavy locks.

I have recently been living Debbie's struggle. I've recently begun dabbling with the popular no shampoo, or "no 'poo" method of hair maintenance. The theory goes, if you quit using conventional shampoos and switch them with baking soda and apple cider vinegar, your hair will become shiny, soft, and more manageable.

Most shampoos are full of chemicals that strip your hair of its natural oil and soaks it in perfumes and waxes and who knows what else. The problem with that is your hair has its own natural method of keeping your scalp moisturized and healthy. Strip it of this natural oil and your scalp has to overcompensate by producing more oil and the cycle of shampoo use continues.

Congratulations: your hair is officially an addict.

Instead, there are methods of treating your hair with more gentle products or unconventional home remedies. Using baking soda and ACV is one of those methods. It's a simple practice and I decided last weekend that I'd give "no 'poo" a shot. I quit shampooing cold turkey and every few days did another scalp massage and rinse, but sans baking soda because it's freaking impossible to find here. But herein lies another issue: pH balance.

Hair is about a 4 or 5 on the pH scale and baking soda is highly alkaline, around an 8. Putting that on your hair weakens it and can cause icky nasty fallout.

I already have hair that would rather be on my floor than my scalp, so I'm glad I found that out before I tried coating my hair in baking soda!

So I turned to the New Library of Alexandria, more commonly known as Pinterest, for an alternative to hair-kryptonite and I found two very appealing recipes that drew me in for their one common ingredient:

Coconut milk.

A few months ago, I tried growing my hair faster by massaging coconut milk into my roots and doing the "inversion method" for about a week. I did notice that my hair was softer and a little stronger, but I got tired of head rushes and soon forgot about the coconut milk.

But today it found its way back into my life! I found a recipe for a diluted amount of Dr.Bronner's, coconut milk, and essential oil. I saw the other recipe called for aloe vera gel and coconut milk, so I substituted the essential oil for the gel, threw it into a squeeze bottle and found myself in possession of my own natural shampoo!

After my workout, I washed my hair with my new concoction. It's still drying, and maybe it's because it's the first time in almost 2 weeks since I've shampooed, but it feels a lot better already! And the best part? Even having to assemble all the parts, my shampoo is cheaper than a bottle of that fancy "damage repair oil treatment" shampoo I got at the store!

That's it's own sort of success.

Ninja Girl Power!

Believe it or not, Japan has a history of some pretty outspoken women. Westerners tend to get caught up in the image of a docile female attending her stern and dominant husband. But some of Japan’s most influential people were women. They have been artists, writers, dancers, athletes, religious leaders, and even ninja.

Enter Chiyome-san and her deadly flowers.

In the 1500s, Chiyome was the wife of a Japanese feudal warlord, a shogun. He lived a dangerous life full of violence and power with terrifying footsoldiers like the samurai and ninja. But where samurai were honor-bound men sworn to protect their lord, ninja were assassins, hit men of the shadows and the plot points of many a B-movie and television series.

You had to be serious to be a ninja. Your job description involved causing dissention among the ranks, fomenting insurrection, spying on someone’s battle plans, betraying, poisoning, and dying a painful death if you were caught. You were society’s outcast but for all the heavy lifting and bloody nights, ninja were not paid very well. 

When Chiyome’s husband died, Chiyome had few options. Most widows shaved their heads and became monks and lived in seclusion. But that wasn’t Chiyome’s style. Looking for some cash flow and a little honor, she opened her house to orphans and runaways. Her neighbors may have thought she was just being a great philanthropist…until a knife came whizzing through the shoji and stuck in the wall. 

Chiyome opened a secret ninja school. She took children without families or pasts, gave them new identities and turned them into her kunoichi, her “deadly flowers.” She taught them how to use knives, swords, and poisons. The kunoichi also carried fans sharpened at the edges, powders laced with toxins, and hairpins dipped in poison. Armed to the teeth, the women most beautifully slaughtered their fair share of men. And if they were caught, Chiyome had taught them how to hold their breath for minutes at a time under water and even how to dislocate their own joints if they’d been tied up! 

You don’t see that kind of lesson in vocational schools.

I have to credit some of this to Vicki Leon's book, "4000 Years of Uppity Women." She glances briefly over Chiyome is her book, the rest is from my own research. 

Good Thoughts Over Wine and Pizza

I've come to the conclusion that I look more Russian in neon lights than natural daylight. But more on that in a minute.

Tonight was my friend, William "Woodsie" Woods', birthday party. A few of our friends organized a dinner at an Italian place in Morioka, so off we went on the JR to the "big" city. We met out friends and walked to a very nice place on par with my one true love, Mountee. We were eventually joined by a few more people and after ordering beers and a DELICIOUS bottle of white wine, we "kanpaied" the evening into commencement.

After a little while and a couple pizzas, we were joined by a few more friends of friends. It was an engaging party, and everyone had a good time. Will even showed us how to bastardize a perfectly good 4Formaggia pizza with chili oil on top of the honey provided. I'm ashamed to say it was okay...but the honey is still the best topping. We ended dinner with a fabulous chocolate and raspberry pizza complete with a sparkler for Will. 29 is NOT too old for sparklers, people.

In traditional party-animal style, we headed to out second location, Sundance, the famed Tex-Mex Irish bar of Morioka. Yes, I'm sure everyone has one of these in their hometown, so you know what it's like. Self-explanatory. There are nachos. There is Guinness. 'Nuff said.

Our party was soon joined by a plethora of other Japanese with their Western friends in tow. the next couple of hours passed drunkenly happily enough. I even won a 1,000 yen ($9) bet with a Californian who thought Maryland was the "Keystone State," not Pennsylvania. I even got a beer out of it. Mom would be so proud.

I will never be caught lying and saying that I was a party animal in college. At 10:30pm, I rounded up a couple of my Japanese friends so we could catch the last train out of town. As far as I know, Will is still drinking his way from bar to bar in Morioka wearing a felt birthday cake hat.

On the train, the girls and I discussed many things including Thanksgiving. As much as Halloween and Christmas is embraced for the gastronomic opportunities and the shoppingshoppingshopping, Thanksgiving is an American tradition largely overlooked...as it understandably is in the rest of the world. However, they not only know about Thanksgiving, they're enthusiastic about it! They even know "Black Friday!" More importantly, they want to celebrate Thanksgiving.

I didn't get to celebrate Thanksgiving last year and was a bit bummed out about it, so I told them "Yes, let's celebrate together" and the plans were quickly made. I told them turkey will be substituted for chicken, but I found a place that sells cranberry sauce so we're pretty much good to go. We'll have it at Will's much larger apartment, unbeknownst to him, and all they have to bring is their zabuton, floor cushions. Will lacks for furniture.

When I got off the train in Kitakami, I was feeling nicely tipsy, but not unsteady.

Now, I've seen the video of the girl walking through New York for 10 hours being catcalled. As someone who's experienced catcalling, been told I "have a nice gait" and also that I'm "not girlfriend material," I know how shitty it feels to be objectified. I used to wish I could beat the living hell out of guys who say stuff like that. And I believe men need to be taught that it's not as complimentary as they think to harass a woman that way.

But instead of violence, I think there is a way for women to fight back without the anger and vitriol. I was craving a little snack, and decided to take a shortcut through the bar district in Kitakami, knowing full well there'd be plenty of drunken guys walking around. I saw a few guys pissing on fences and wobbling on the street. As I walked around a group of men, they caught sight of me and were a bit startled. Suddenly, they were walking with me.

"Russian beauty?" one asked me. I laughed and said no, then told them to guess. Ingirisu? (English?) No. Saibiria? (Siberian) No. I finally said "America-jin" and they said "Las Angeles?"

Then one asked me something and gave a suggestive gesture that could have been very sexual or just "karaoke." I gave him a shove, told him the equivalent of "offensive" like Harue taught me and crossed the street to the convenience store.

It wasn't until I got outside I realized they'd followed me and were standing in the parking lot. This is how I imagine their conversation went.

"Look, look. She's buying chocolate."

"So cute."

"Yuki, she's your type. Ask her to come to karaoke."

"Idiot! Shut up! You ask her!"

"Fine, I will!"

Maybe I'm flattering myself. But they did ask me where I lived. I cunningly told them I was coming from a party in Morioka. They asked where I lived.  I told them I live in Kitakami, that I'm an English teacher. No specifics. They then asked if I'd join them at karaoke. I excused myself for having a bad voice and confidently and forcefully bid them goodnight and made sure they weren't following me again.

So I believe that while verbal harassment is rude and annoying, it's not up to just men to knock that shit off, it's up to women to be confident enough in their own skin to fight back the way they see is appropriate. These guys were drunk, but since I have to maintain a reputation in this town but also they were drunk and not of their sound minds, I made the choice to firmly but congenially push them away. And in a way, this is fighting back but in a way that saves face for me and gets my point across to them without making an ugly scene.

I like to think my Grandpa would be proud.