Merry Christmas!

To all our friends, wherever you are: May the blessings of this season rest upon you and your homes.

Tom, Cindy, Sherry and C. J.

Sign of the Week: Police Patrol

This sign is at entry to the grocery store immediately across the street from our apartment. It's comforting to know police patrol here frequently. Actually, the sign is probably unnecessary. From its location, you can usually see at least two policemen on duty.
























The wording of signs like this often makes me smile. But actually, when you think about it, they do a pretty good job of communicating, for all their awkwardness. And I appreciate the effort. I mean, if I were asked to make a sign to put up at Timberline shopping center to help Japanese visitors understand policemen were on duty, I wouldn't do very well.

Edifice of the Week: "typical" apartment building

This week's selection is not a famous landmark, nor does it tower over its neighborhood. It is simply a typical apartment building in Azabu-Juban. Of course, as we've reviewed in earlier posts, "typical" in this neighborhood can mean it is somehow different from the other buildings on the block.
























Why did the architect choose this shape? It seems an extreme choice to me--I mean, wouldn't it generate a lot more useful floor space in this ultra-crowded city to have this building "normally" squared off at the top? Wouldn't that bring in more rent revenues, or at least be more efficient?

Maybe there's another reason, a practical engineering concern that is beyond my comprehension. I know nothing of such things. But it may be that this is simply an example of our neighborhood's aesthetic: making something different simply for variety's sake.

Vehicle of the Week: Nissan Cube

Here is the popular Nissan Cube, a small MPV that has been on the market here in Japan for years (2006 was the first year for this version, however). It looks sort of like a shrunken-down Scion.



Note the offset rear window which wraps around the left rear. The back door opens to the side, an interesting feature.


Smaller cars are becoming more popular in the U. S., and I understand Nissan is mulling an entry to the American market with this car. If that happens, remember...you saw it here first!

Doggies in the 'hood

As you might imagine, living in Tokyo has presented us with plenty of opportunities to experience "culture shock." On top of this, we are also dealing with a neigborhood that is much more exclusive than we're used to. When we moved to Cary, North Carolina a few years ago, I used to say that actually, we'd just moved from Sewell to Moorestown. Well, now we've moved from Sewell to Manhattan's upper east side. So we "don't belong" on more than one level.

Just how chichi is Azabu-Juban? One indicator is the high doggie factor. We're not talking about dogs, now--our neighborhood in Sewell has plenty of dogs--but doggies. Teacups and toys. Miniatures. Dogs with paws that never touch ground out of doors. Dogs coiffed and costumed.

Have you got a dog hospital in your neighborhood? You may. What about a dog cemetery and memorial park? A dog boutique? A dog salon? Dog spa? Dog aromatherapy? Dog massage? We have all of these and more within five blocks of each other.

It's fun to see the doggies--they're cute, even if the doggie culture is a little surreal to us. But we miss our Fritz, as I've mentioned before. Still, if he were here, he would probably feel as much culture shock as we do.

Proxy grandparents Christmas party

The Tokyo 1st (English-speaking) LDS Ward, our church congregation, has a number of senior couples who are here as volunteer missionaries, working at the Tokyo temple. Most of them are grandparents, far away from their grandchildren during this holiday season. On the other hand, the congregation also has young families, with children whose grandparents are far away in the States.


This being the situation, some of the grandparents decided to hold special Christmas party for the children. As long-distance grandparents ourselves, Cindy and I were happy to be invited to help out. We had a sit-down breakfast for all the families, then some Christmas carols, and finally, a visit from Santa. (By the way--it's a small world sometimes--Santa was Dr. Ames, a former business school professor of mine who is now here as a consultant).

Cindy and I really enjoyed ourselves, and C. J. avoided missing his annual conversation with Santa. The adopted grandchildren seemed to have fun, too, and had fun singing with them. But we do miss little Marigold.

Meet me at Hachiko

Friday night is date night, and Cindy and I met in Shibuya for some shopping. I understand weekend nights are usually pretty busy in this neighborhood, but with gift-buying season at its peak, it was particularly crowded. Pictures don't really do it justice; imagine Times Square in Manhattan, only bigger and more crowded (and more polite).

We decided to meet at the statue of Hachiko. Hachiko was a dog born in the 1920s--an Akita. The story is that he would come to meet his master at Shibuya station faithfully every evening. After a few years, the master died while away. The little dog kept coming to the station to wait for him every evening for years. He became famous as a symbol of loyalty. After the dog passed away, citizens commissioned a bronze statue to be placed at the station entrance. The statue was melted down for weapons during the austerity of WWII, but re-made in the years following. Since Hachiko is so well-known, and Shibuya station is a real labyrinth, the statue has become a favorite landmark and meeting place.

There is just one problem with a well-known meetingplace--you're not going to be the only ones using it. As the picture below shows, actually finding each other at Hachiko might not be as easy as it sounds.

But after a little searching, we linked up fine. We also met a group of youth from the Tokyo South Stake of our church. They were meeting to go carolling. C. J. was en route to join them.

We shopped for Christmas decorations at "Tokyu Hands," a large arts and crafts store, then strolled around looking at the decorations and getting to know the area a little.

In a remarkable coincidence among such throngs, we came across C. J. and some of the rest of the youth on their way to get something to eat after caroling. Cindy and I realized we had worked up quite an appetite ourselves. We wanted something we could sink our teeth into, so we tried a Kentucky Fried Chicken we came across.

The chicken was about what you'd expect from KFC, and certainly filling. One slight difference from the states was that they leave the chicken's foot on, connected to the drumstick. Cindy didn't care for this. The biscuits were interesting. They had a hole in the middle, like a doughnut. I don't know how to describe their texture well, but they were only vaguely like stateside biscuits. They came with maple-flavored pancake syrup to drizzle over them.

Things were still hopping in Shibuya when we left. We caught the Ginza subway line up to Aoyama Itchome ("Blue Mountain First Street"), changed for the Oedo line to our station, Azabu-Juban, and walked home. The trip only took about 30 minutes, even with the crowds.

We wonder if our Fritz is looking for us to come home, like Hachiko all those years ago...we miss him, and we're looking forward to seeing him in May.