We are nicely settled into mom and dad's place here in Tsukuba. After a ferry ride to Seattle to pick up a delicious Piroshki from the Russian bakery before hopping on the light rail to the airport, we got onto a brand new 787-8. Almost 10 hours later, we've arrived in Tokyo. Mom met us at the airport and we hopped on the bus to Tsukuba.
It was a long day of traveling on nearly every mode of transportation possible for us, so we took it easy with an amazing sushi dinner (sorry no pics!) next door, and came home to a hot bath and a comfy bed.
Yes, I'm legit!
It was a long day of traveling on nearly every mode of transportation possible for us, so we took it easy with an amazing sushi dinner (sorry no pics!) next door, and came home to a hot bath and a comfy bed.
Here's some pics of a Japanese-style apartment, for those who are unfamiliar:
Entry doorway with electronic door bolt lock ... of course, take your shoes off in the tiled section (considered "outside"), and step up into the house and wear slippers
Living room with HUUUGE balcony (views of Mt. Fuji on a clear day)
High-tech kitchen
Induction-heat stove uses special magnetized pots/pans ... it's extremely safe (you can put a piece of paper on top and it will never burn) and ultra efficient (no wasted energy)
Dining room
Tatami (woven straw mats) room where I sleep ... my futon is folded up :-)
Awesome eco fridge
Of course, a washlet Toto toilet with heated seat, gently closing lid, bidet and butt-wash function, and hand rinsing sink. Change your house slippers for the toilet slippers when entering!
While in the U.S. air conditioning is centralized and uses lots of electricity, in Asia, air-con tends to be by room (only heat/cool the room you are occupying). This is a typical wall-mounted air conditioning unit with oscillating fan blade.
Microwave oven is actually both things ... microwave, and an oven to bake.
Traditional Japanese style bathroom with a hand-held shower (sit down on a stool to soap up), and once clean, enjoy soaking in the tub. Unlike Westerners, Japanese use the bathtub for soaking - not washing - purposes only. The rolling cover helps to maintain the bath heat so multiple people can soak in the tub and not waste the hot water.
Recirculating heat for the bath with intercom feature so you can call for help out into the house if needed (or, in Ian's case, a cup of tea!). Oh, I forgot to mention: you can push the red "ofuro" (Bath) button and the bath will fill itself to your specified temperature, stopping when full and ready. Then, it actually talks to you (via the other intercom in the kitchen) to let you know that your bath is ready! No standing around for 10 minutes, and no worrying that it will overflow.
Hang-drying laudry on sturdy poles with special pole clips is the normal thing to do. Why waste all that electricity when you can let the warm sunshine do all the work? If it's really wet and rainy, however, there is a small tumble dryer in the apartment.
This morning, mom made us breakfast and I studied my MCAT material a bit before we headed out into town. Our ports of call? Japanese bakery, department store food goodies, stationary shop, pastry shop, a quick snack, then off to a tomato ramen lunch, and a walk through a typical Japanese video game arcade:
Ian's latest discovery in the fridge this morning ... creamy japanese ice cream in a squeeze pouch
The world's windiest intersection !
At the パン (pronounced "pahn") shop ... baked goodness! Picked up some curry bread, cheese bread, kouign aman, and some plain toast for breakfast
Holiday goodies
Now, if there's one thing I can REALLY spend money on in Japan, it's definitely stationary at the stationary store. It's absolutely incredibly the overwhelming variety that's available .... you know those multi-colored pens where there are multiple colors in a barrel (usually red, black, blue, etc)? Well, you can take a blank, empty case and choose your color cartridges to create what kind of multi-color pen you want. Not only can you choose colors, you can also specify the thickness of the line that you desire ... 0.5, 0.38, or 0.28mm sizes available. Pens whose ink disappears with the use of a special friction roller (but won't disappear with a normal eraser), millions of mechanical pencils and lead available in 15 different "darkness"/"hardness" levels AND thicknesses .... it's endless!
Tiny basket for some heavy-duty shopping in my Norwegian jacket
Millions of options
This is the new big thing in Japan ... even the Japanese government offices have transitioned ... staple-less staplers. They use a special way of punching a hole still attached to the papers and then the paper tag gets folded into the hole to hold all the sheets together. Does a pretty great job stapling up to 10 pages, no metal waste, no fussing with little staples. I am getting one for sure!
All that stationary store shopping can make you hungry! Gyoza (chinese pot stickers) for a quick snack.
The lower levels of Japanese departments stores often have groceries as well as tons of different food item stands ...
Coffee bar
In a country with very little arable land to farm (since it's so mountainous), using that space to grow fruit rather than vegetables is quite the luxury and is reflected in the price
$70 melon, anyone? And this isn't even the expensive kind of melons ....
Lots of different kinds of Kyo-yasai (Kyoto style pickles). Mom likes to chat with Takako-san, the pickle lady!
Off to lunch later in the afternoon on a nice long pedestrian/bike-only path crossing through the whole town
Lunch spot was a tomato-ramen shop ... really interesting fusion mix. Here is my "milk - tomato - curry ramen with onsen (poached, literally 'hot spring') egg" （ミルクトマトカレーラメン）
And for dessert ... the most delicious custard-like thing I've ever had. It's actually silken tofu that is so creamy, topped with black sugar. Amazinggg
Local Tsukuba-made sweets shop to send some stuff up to my grandparents in Iwate since we will be visiting this weekend and grandma will be doing traditional Japanese tea ceremony!
Ian and I were eyeing the top left green item ... japanese Matcha green tea pudding with gold leaf
Huge house!
And of course, on the way back home, couldn't help but walk through a typical sensory-overload arcade!
Going to take it easy tonight (maybe a bit more studying) before we head out to Chez Lenon for some French food tonight. We are being spoiled :-p. Don't worry ... we did walk up the 11 flights of stairs on the way home to justify all our eating ;-)
Looks like so much fun! I like that the ice cream isn't cool but just coolish. I'm also jealous of all the pens/pencils in the stationary store. They should have that in the states!
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