And, like that, Nicolai entered elementary school.

We not only made it to the highly anticipated entrance ceremony, somehow it is already over. I'm pretty sure we just did this ordeal with Sebastian yesterday and yet he tells me that tomorrow he starts as a fourth grader. Though sometimes a little sneaky, he is fairly honest so I guess I have to believe him.

 

For the first time in years there will be two first grade classes at the neighborhood elementary school. Both of them have 30 plus students. In America, I am sure this would not be something to be celebrated but in a country suffering from a rapidly declining population, it is a good sign.

 

Nicolai's new teacher's name is Ruriko-sensei and she is new to the school. Luckily, Sebastian's old teacher who speaks excellent English, will be around to help Nicolai transition to elementary school life. Though his Japanese is good, it is still developing so knowing he will have a little extra support is comforting for everyone (including his new sensei, I suspect).

 

At the entrance ceremony, the sixth grade students led the first graders in which is just so utterly symbolic that you can't miss it. This year, we know quite a few of the sixth graders because when Sebastian started they were just third graders. The benefit of staying in one place for a while has been the honor of watching the neighborhood kids unfold. It all happens so quick, too quick. You can watch it but in one blink they go from babes in arms to thriving, independent adolescents, showing the new class the way.

Kakuozan Nittaiji Kobasan (Temple Market)

Today we ventured out in the surprisingly brisk March cold to the monthly temple market at Kakuozan here in Nagoya.




We were hoping it was more like a junky flea market but instead we found lots of fresh food and flowers and gardening plants and tools. Lovely to look at but not the weird cheap stuff Jason was after.
The story behind the temple is really interesting (read about it here) and the neighborhood is rather hip and full of enviable shops (wholegrain bread shop next to a Buddhist alter shop next to a chocolatier! next to a grave stone cutter next to a breakfast diner). One of the shops we visited was this fantastic European and natural toy shop called Yuubo. Such a sweet place where the kids (minus Sebastian who was still at school) played happily for about 30 minutes.

And despite the freezing temperatures and gale winds, Spring is coming. The cherry trees guarantee it...

The Graduate

With much ado and fanfare, this boy graduated from kindergarten last week. Two years vanished in a poof and now here we are with a genki, semi-literate, functionally bilingual Nicolai. Japanese kindergarten is not for the faint of heart. In which I mean lazy. It is a full-time job keeping up with all the events and activities that go on in a regular school year and before you know it, your kid is bowing to his sensei and singing sayonara to kindergarten. Literally...



We were lucky to be able to send both of the boys to private kindergartens, both valuing that critical stage of childhood by creating an environment that encouraged creativity, cooperation, and social awareness. Academic prowess is not central in the Japanese kindergarten; it is more about cultivating experiences that the child can carry with them through life. Sebastian's kindergarten followed a Piaget approach, granting the children lots of freedom and space for discovery. Nico's kindergarten was a Buddhist school so regular lessons in manners, sensitivity, and compassion were taught in the week.




All in all, it has been a very wonderful experience for our family and I know Nicolai is ready to start school in April. We'll have a year off from kindergarten until Colette starts (we like them to have 4 years at home in English) which will be a good chance to catch up on other aspects of our life.
Then we'll be ready to start round three.

It will be hard at first to get used to this guy being a first grader.

Making a wish

Yesterday we went to Sakura Tenjin Jinga, a little shrine in central Nagoya that has a very special feature. Wedged between high rises, this tiny jinga houses not only kamisama but a wishing cow.


Most jingas have some specific purpose like wishing for romance or academic success. This one lets you choose anything you want but you have to pour water over the cow as many times as your age.

We have something to wish for right now so we headed there yesterday in the wet snow. There was something really beautiful about pouring a ladle of water for each of my years. I hope it did the trick.

It was super cold so afterward we headed to a sweet little soba restaurant to warm up.


And some of us slept through the entire journey.

Hello Summer?

Today is the coolest July 21st I have ever known. Right now it is about 68 degrees and drizzly. I am extremely grateful for such an odd day in the middle of summer but it is a little strange.

Jason had today off, another odd thing since Saturdays are his busiest teaching days. So we headed down to Sakae for the weekly farmer's market. (We were a little late since we had to drop Nico off at school for his overnight camping trip with his classmates. His first overnight away since moving to Japan.)
 Even though the cool and damp morning made me think of October, the tables at the market were covered with the bounty of summer. Tomatoes, garlic, herbs, peppers, bitter melon, eggplant, and squash. The rainbow colors were vibrant against the grey day but I had a hard time thinking of summertime recipes to use them in. (My rule is I cannot buy vegetables unless I know exactly what I will make with them. This avoids the tragedy of wilted/rotten organic veggies.) I meant to buy more but ended up with just a dinner's worth.


The real prize were these guys and gals. Two pairs of kabuto mushi for only 200 yen (2 bucks). We felt like thieves but gladly accepted the chance to buy some really nice beetles, raised by elementary school kids in the mountains. Made me miss country living, like I always do on market day.


When we returned home, Sebastian's pal Hikari-chan was waiting for us. They spent the rest of the dreary day playing with the beetles and hamster (notice the non-plural) on the porch, letting the guy beetles fight on the goya (bitter melon) vine.



Tonight we were going to go to the giant festival out at the port (3 kids instead of 4 makes such feats seem feasible) but the drizzle continues, making home the better choice. The main attraction of the festival is the fireworks. I am betting they will be a tad dull this year.
Besides, next weekend is the matsuri (festival) at Sebastian's school so we can get our festivaling in then. And we have our own (family-sized) sack of fireworks, just waiting for the best night.
Tonight though I think we'll enjoy a little less fighting (brother v. brother), a glass of beer, and the cool breeze flowing through the open windows. So cool in fact, I think I need my light sweater.  Is it really summer vacation already?

Shopping as we do...

We went for some supply shopping (running out of cleaning supplies) and arcade game playing. The mall is not too far from us so as much as I am not a fan of triple decker shopping complexes, in the winter an enclosed area that meets all of our random needs is quite nice.

The mall wasn't so crowded, as most people were probably at home cleaning and preparing for the New Year. The only place that was booming, really, was the supermarket. Traditionally Japanese people like to make special bentos called osechi filled with all sorts of auspicious delights that will make them healthy, wealthy, and wise for the coming year. Everything is made ahead of time to allow for the cooks of the household to have a reprieve from their duties.
We have discovered that in the city people are more likely just to order their osechis instead of slaving over the stove for days before the holidays. Some people just make a few of the dishes that they like, particularly the black soybeans and mochi. We don't really make anything besides for the ozoni, a soup that everyone eats on the first morning of the New Year. It is supposed to warm you up when you return from the midnight visits to the shrines and temples.

There was another side to the crowded supermarket, less festive but practical. The shops will be closed for the holiday, the only days when they close for the whole year. This is something that we have learned the hard way requires attention. In super convenient Japan, you become really soft as a shopper since if you forget something then you can always go to one of the hundreds of convenient 24 supermarkets and convenience stores in your neighborhood. Thinking ahead for your next three days' meals and other necessities can strain your creativity if you are such a soft shopper, as we are.

This brings us to another resolution. We are going to give up our soft, city ways and adopt a more traditional method of planning our (healthier) meals. Recently I discovered a Saturday morning organic market on my way to work and last week I took Jason and the gang to see it. He was, as I expected, impressed. All sorts of lovely vegetables and foodstuffs that you cannot find in the stores, right there being sold by regional farmers for the benefit of us urban-dwellers. We had tried to order a veggie box from a local organic supplier for a bit but since it is a bit of a gamble we often wasted a lot of the contents (particularly if it was a good week for something like onions). I also like the idea of taking the kids down to see the loveliness in person and run around with the farmers' kids and other young customers. And since it is only two train stops away, I think it will blend into our weekly routine quite nicely.

2012 is all about living the life we want and I think including this reformed habit will make the coming year and all those that follow full of health, a little more wealth, and hopefully a bit more wisdom.

8 days, 8 days....

Eight days until the wonderful man delivers and installs our a/c. Eight whole days. Today we had to go to the park around 7 am to avoid the unrelenting heat of the day. How did we do it last year? No cooking, lots of iced drinks, fans and more fans, siesta, kiddie pool, showers and more showers, parasols and cold packs. Surviving summer in Nagoya is exhausting.
But summer in Japan? Definitely one of my favorite seasons. Festivals, fireworks, shaved ice, swimming, cold somen noodles, watermelon, sunflowers, cicadas, yep, definitely in the top four. Neck and neck with winter.



Hope you are all staying cool wherever you may be.
xoxo

Heat Island

This is what Nico looks like on the way to school. And on the way home. And, well, pretty much all the time now.

It is hot. Like, really, really hot. Nagoya is nationally famous for being one of the hottest places in Japan because the mountains curve into a pocket to trap heat, with the Ise Bay as a wall so that air cannot escape. Humidity, concrete, no wind plus geography added together equals misery. So we broke down and laid a fairly large amount of yen on the department store's counter and proceeded to whine and beg until they agreed to bring us an A/C. Sorry Al Gore, but it isn't optional this year. We feel bad about it, we do, but perhaps worse about sweating in our sleep.Starting July 11th, our footstep will be just a tad heavier. We said we were sorry.

Yochien Life

We've been back in the yochien (kindergarten) swing of things for three months now and let me just say, it is awesome. Nico has a blast everyday and has the most wonderful teachers, which is all we wanted for him.
Sure, the constant activities can be a little exhausting. Like the Tanabata Festival last week, held a bit before the actual holiday. I admit, we grumble a bit about these things but then when we get there we are floored by the cuteness. Who wouldn't be?

Dreaming in green

So now that we get to stay, we have to fulfill all those promises we made, the little IOUs to the Universe in exchange for the three-year visa that lines Colette's passport.

One of the main promises I kept making was to be more awake and aware. Obviously our life here is very fragile so I need to pay constant attention. I really, truly love Japan. I love the quiet, the attention to detail, the weeds left to grow everywhere, the glass bells and cicadas in the summertime. Even the soft and sour parts of Japan can fit into my heart. Yet, paying attention includes paying attention to my own needs, as well as appreciating my environment.

And one thing that I have been craving is wildness. Japan is a very wild country, though most might not consider it to be so. Step outside of the city limits and you will probably be in the mountains or standing in a rice field. For my nature loving family, living in the concretescape that is Nagoya can be a little soul-numbing. Don't get me wrong, Nagoya is a comfortable city, and less urban than Tokyo, Osaka, and even Fukuoka. But it is a city nonetheless. Living here can make you a little dazed, it can make trekking outside of the city limits seem troublesome. For us, a lot of the problem is based around scheduling. It is rare that all of us are free for explorations on the same day. So on Monday after our triumph at immigration, realizing my luck in having all three kids at the same time, we headed out of Nagoya a bit to see what a forest park looked like.

Upon arriving, we were reminded how everything is closed on Mondays in Japan, including forest parks.

So we ended up taking a lovely, albeit windswept, stroll around a small lake. Though no hike, it was such a good, sunshiny walk. We saw our first tanbo (dragonfly) of the season, along with skinks, ladybugs, water striders, and even a muskrat. Being outdoors with the kids (coupled with the release from the heaviness of worry I had been toting around for a few weeks) made it really a perfect afternoon. So perfect in fact, that I have decided to spend every chance we can going outside of the limits, into the unknown. Though Sebastian does request that we bring the nets next time, for as he said, "If I had known there were going to be insects, I would have been better prepared".

Plum Rain::梅雨

Tsuyu, the rainy season, has arrived in Nagoya. I am one of those rare birds that loves the rainy season. I truly do. It is such a peaceful time in Japan. It gives everyone a chance to rest before the unrelentingly oppressive summer grabs us and allows for no other conversation besides for "Atsui desu ne?" (hot, isn't it?).
With the rainy season comes my favorite flower of all, ajisai (hydrangea). Wet shoes and curly hair is surely a fair price to pay for such beauty. The literal translation of tsuyu is Plum Rain. How can you not be charmed by that?

Tsuyu love aside, I do wish that it didn't have to come so early this year. Tomorrow is the big day at immigration and because of the kindergarten schedule and the elementary school holding their sports day on Tuesday, I find that I will be taking three kids with me in the rain to plead my case. Three kids, in the rain, on the early Monday morning commuter trains. Three kids who after two solid days of rain are bursting at the seams.

The good thing is that regardless of the outcome tomorrow, I will be able to enjoy another Japanese tsuyu. Maybe after the appointment tomorrow, we'll go splash in some puddles and hunt snails.

Wish me luck!


xoxo

By any other name

There seem to be roses blooming everywhere around Nagoya right now. I have never been very fond of the rose, inheriting my grandmother's prejudice against their full sweet blossoms. She referred to them as funeral flowers, a description that repelled me for many years. This year though I have been charmed by them.