More Fun with Food in Japan

Japanese cucumbers are the best tasting, non-burp inducing cucumbers on the planet. They are slim and very dark green, with very few bumps on the skin. In Japanese, they are called kyuuri, or きゅうり。(Please let me know if I wrote that incorrectly, nihon no tomodachi.)

What I didn't know is that Japanese cucumbers, when fresh, have a delightful little magic to them. My good friend Tamie-san told me she was watching a cooking show on NHK that said when cucumbers are extremely fresh, you can break them in half by hand and then stick the cucumber back together. Doesn't that sound like a fun thing to try with your kids?

Back to School

After a fun summer break in the US, with family visits in both the US and the UK plus vacations, we are now back in Tokyo and doing all the back to school events that happen in the beginning of the year. This is a very special year for the Johnsons, as all the boys are at the same campus for ASIJ this year. We decided to send Sam to kindergarten at the big campus at Chofu and then all the boys would be on the same schedule. Very liberating for mom, too!

Sam has settled into kindergarten after a week of transition days - one day on, one day off. He is asking about buying a cafeteria lunch, and he is excited to play on the big playground at the elementary school. He also really loves the book that his teacher read, a Max and Ruby story called Bunny Cakes. The classroom is sunny and colorful, and there is a pet rabbit named Ralph. I asked Sam if Ralph hopped around the room, and he said yes, but that he always hides in the class bathroom. Can you blame him? I think I might be tempted to hide in the bathroom if I was in a room full of kindergarteners, too.

Michael's third grade teacher is deeply interested in her third grade class and I think will be very responsive to any questions we might ask. I am very glad that there will be some handwriting work - all of the Johnson boys could use a little help in that area. Michael is a happy kid and was - to my surprise - very pleased to see me today at the Back to School event for the elementary school. Michael's sense of humor is really growing stronger and more sophisticated (ha). The class poster for "What grosses me out..." is full of what you would expect from 3rd graders - body emissions, human and animal, but Michael wrote "When my brother ate a slug."

Chris has settled into middle school with no real adjustment issues - he loves the extra freedom and activities that 6th graders have. He has joined the 6th grade soccer group and he also goes to the Games Club. He will be attending the Middle School social/dance today - he assures me he is only interested in the food!

Our only concern for Chris this year is his math class. I attended the Middle School Back to School night last evening, and was very pleased and impressed with all the teachers he has. The curriculum seems well designed, and the Middle School facilities are beautiful. When I returned, I talked to Chris about what I had seen and he mentioned that the text book he received in math class was a text book he used - in 4th grade at Claymont.

That is just unacceptable. Last year was kind of strange, moving mid year, so I was willing to let Chris adjust and not fuss about his classes. But if we continue this way, he will be behind when we return to the US. Not to mention bored, doing 6th grade math for yet another year. So I have spoken to his advisor already, hoping to have Chris moved to a 7th grade class. We will find out shortly. I am a bit upset, since I know if we were in Delaware he would have finished the 7th grade text he was using in 5th grade, and would probably have moved onto more challenging and interesting mathematics. The advisor says Chris would only be allowed to take 7th grade math if they feel he could perform at the top of the class. I do hope they advance Chris, otherwise we are going to have to find a math tutor to keep him up to speed.

More posts to come on interesting Japanese cultural foibles that westerners have difficulty with like bread.... and toilets....

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

A Video Card for Mom on her birthday - we miss you! We hope you have a great day with Russ and Courtney and Cole.

Chris' Colonial Day at ASIJ

March 19th was a special day for Chris at school - the fifth grade celebrated Colonial Day. 

Or Pioneer Day, or Heritage Day - I heard it called all three names. They were celebrating the conclusion of their unit on the American Colonies. A whole day of activities was in the works, including silhuouette drawing, candle dipping, johnny cake frying, weaving, and lantern making. Then the children enjoyed a "colonial lunch" in each classroom, and then there was a musical presentation in the ASIJ theater. 

Chris has settled into his usual, volunteering sort of nature, and volunteered for a speaking part in the musical program and the small singing group. I took the train up to school after dropping Sam off at school and I was able to see the candle dipping and weaving, have lunch and enjoy the very fine musical presentation.

As you can see, colonial costumes were the order of the day. Each child had a colonial character that they learned about and incorporated into their studies. Chris was a carpenter. He tried to talk me into letting him carry tools into school and rubbing dirt on his face to be more authentic. I said absolutely no to the tools, and suggested theatrical makeup rather than dirt, which ended that conversation. Chris decided to created some tools from cardboard and hang them from his belt, and he was satisfied.

Here is some video:

Tokyo Marathon 2009

Here's a benefit to living in an international city: world class sporting events. On March 21st, over 30,000 runners took part in the Tokyo Marathon, and the Johnsons saw some of them! We had a special reason for going to see the marathoners - two of the boys' teachers ran. Michael's second grade teacher Ms. Brown, and Sam's Teacher Mary both ran the marathon. 

That day was at the beginning of the boys' spring break, and to kick it off, we went down to Hibiya Park where we knew the runners would be going by. The marathon website said there would be tourist information at this particular park, which was fairly close to us, so we chose that location to watch. We arrived at the park around 11am, and stayed until past 1 pm, and there were athletes running by the entire time we were there.

Unfortunately, we missed seeing Ms. Brown and Teacher Mary. But we did see some costumes that did make you doubt the runner's seriousness. Or perhaps they just wanted their friends and family to be able to see them.

Michael and Sam were in hysterics at some of the crazy getup that some of the runners wore. We saw many cows, pandas, goofy pink wigged athletes, and a cello run by. 

It was a very windy day and rained off and on, luckily not enough to make us leave. After cheering on the athletes, we had some delicious street food from vendors in the park. 

I can't stress enough how good the food is here. In the US when you go to something like this, you expect to pay a lot of money for crappy food. Not here - it is not too expensive to buy street food (keeping in mind that this is Tokyo), and it is good. Nick and I had some yakisoba in a regional style, Chris and Michael had tacos, and Sam opted for a hot dog - big surprise there. I got Sam his hot dog from a cart with very fancy fixings - knowing his tastes, I said, "Purain dog, onagaishimasu." (Plain dog, if you please) I am still laughing because Sam's plain dog came with ketchup and shredded cabbage - and he ate it all up!

March 21 was still pre-sakura (cherry blossom), but Hibiya Park had pretty displays of bulbs. Michael particularly liked them.

St. Patick's Day in Tokyo

I don't know about you, but I didn't expect St. Patrick's Day to be observed or even mentioned in Japan. Imagine my surprise when I read on the Shibuya City website that there would be a St. Patrick's Day parade on Omotesando-dori on March 15th. I couldn't imagine what that would be like, and I really wanted to go. 

We planned to go as a family, but Michael was sick that weekend. Chris had finally recovered from being sick - I think it was his first trip out of the apartment since falling ill on the 9th. Chris and I went down to Omotesando with Denise, Andrew, and Daniel Hersey to check out the parade. 

It was not a huge parade, but it was a fun parade. St. Patrick himself started the parade, followed by the US Army Japan marching band. There were Irish dancers, Irish dogs - setters and wolfhounds, and graduates of an Irish University. In other words, anything remotely Irish was in this parade. 

Every Irish pub in Tokyo marched in the parade with signs and coupons - I have a feeling that they are the primary impetus for this parade! One of the pubs had a super jazzy combo that

 marched in the parade.

That Sushi Thing

Our Friday pizza nights have turned into Friday yakitori nights - hey, Domino's is about $30-40 a pizza and it doesn't fill us up! But we can get loads of yakitori from the yakitori man who sets up a stall outside our neighborhood grocery every Friday. This past Friday, we added a plate of sushi to the dinner table. Everyone asked Chris and Michael before we left - "Are you going to eat sushi?" The answer is of course, yes! How can you live in Japan and not eat it?

Chris is the most adventurous of our boys, and eats the sushi I can't eat. The first photo is Chris eating salmon egg roe sushi. Michael is more cautious and would rather eat yakitori (grilled chicken on a skewer - yummmm). His sushi choice was the scrambled egg, which I have to agree is kind of yucky - I don't know what is added to it, but it is sweet.  Sam is being surprisingly daring, too. His sushi of choice was shrimp - always a safe option. Sam is becoming quite a fan of wasabi.

So these photos are for my mom and for Dick Moore, who must have their sushi experience through the Johnson boys! Enjoy.

And thinking of the Moore family, I have added a poll to my blog. I recently had a western food attack and bought a case of Diet Coke for the sum of $30. Please fill out my poll - would you be this crazy?

A Tour by Chris

Chris took this video on his camera and since it is too big to email, we're posting it here for everyone to see! 

A tour of chez Johnson of Yoyogi-uehara, Tokyo, Japan.