5pm on Friday in Tokyo

In Tokyo, timing is everything. You could run your watch by the trains; contractors and deliverymen give you a time that they will arrive and they actually do it.  Every single day at 5pm across the city, chimes play to let everyone know that it's, well, 5pm.  

Yesterday I was walking home from Roppongi Hills after getting my haircut and I noted a group of Japanese people waiting on a walking bridge that goes over the main slope.  Roppongi Hills is a new-ish area of town (circa 2003) and has upscale shops like Kate Spade, Tiffany's, Isaac Mizrahi and upscale restaurants like Il Mulino, Joel Rubecheon, and the like.  They have an outdoor arena that hosts concerts and festivals year-round.

I noted the time: 4:57pm.  

Taking my place with the small crowd, I looked over the side of the bridge down the slope.  Three minutes later, at precisely 5pm, the chimes started their ringing and at the same moment, the entire street below became ablaze and alive with blue and white lights sending a collective "ooooh" up from the people.  The chimes faded seconds later with the the last of the expressions from the people.

I waited a moment, savoring the beauty of the lights and the excitement of the people.  What they take for granted is not only the timing, but the magic of the city itself.  I have not been to another city that is as busy yet still as quiet as Tokyo. The city and its people are clean and kind. It is a miracle in modern society and it is the ambiance of the city that I love so much. 

As they all dispersed, on to homes or dinners or wherever, I  stopped into the wine shop that is at the end of the bridge and bought a half-bottle of champagne to share with Marc.  It seemed like something to celebrate.

Happiest of Holidays to you all - and may 2009 bring you peace.

Bailey and Sydney's violin concert

Bailey and Sydney played in a violin concert last weekend.  Enjoy the photos!! 

Japan Times Headline on sex

I kid you not: here's the blurb from the front page of the _Japan Times_ for Saturday, November 22, 2008

Business:

All work, no play

The Japan Business Federation is worried the nation's workers aren't having enough sex and wants it member firms to start so-called family weeks to reverse a declining birthrate.

The article on page 8 of the newspaper, the business section, discusses how the 1632 member-firms of the organization are urging employees to leave by 7pm and get special permission before working on the weekend, all aimed at placing value on families instead of the traditional high value placed on hard work.  They believe that the average employee works so hard during the week that he has no time or energy to have sex and therefore procreate. In 2007, the birthrate in Japan stood at 1.24.  The article goes on to mention that many so-called "salary-men" or white collar workers, used some of the extra time off to arrange extra expeditions to favorite bars they frequent, but others are showing up early at home causing children ask fathers if they are ill.  There is a word in Japanese "karoshi" which literally means death from overwork.  It's an all-too common term.

But hey, I'm all for extra time for more sex!  Go Japan!!

Last week the kids had an autumn break from school and my friend Kerrin invited the kids and me to go with her to her beach house in Shimoda, on the Izu Penninsula, about three hours south of Tokyo.  Shimoda is the official landing spot of the American Admiral Perry who in 1853 landed in his big black ships and demanded that Japan open its doors, which had been closed for over 250 years since the start of the Tokugawa Shogunate, to trade with the west. His arrival brought down the Shogun dynasty and made way for the Meiji Restoration and the re-seating of the emperor.

Marc decided to join us for the weekend, as did Kerrin's husband Steven.  In addition, another family from the kids' school was down there, so all three families had a wonderful time riding horses, going swimming in the Pacific Ocean (yes on November 1 - it was warm!) and just relaxing and enjoying each other's company.  On Friday night we all went into a local onsen, the Japanese hot spring bath.  This is my millionth time going, but the first time that I dared to bring a camera.  On Saturday night all three families had a bar-b-que.  Kerrin is South African and her husband is a Brit. In the other family, the Coppetiers, Adrienne is Austrian and Fredereic is Belgian.  There are some things that transcend culture, though, and one of them is roasting marshmallows.  Everyone knows how to do that!  On Sunday we were able to walk through the town a bit.  Enjoy the photos!  

Special lunch with Bailey

Today Bailey and Marc went into his office to watch the Penn State vs. University of Wisconsin football game - on the brand-new 50-inch flatscreen into which Marc plugged his laptop loaded with the slingbox. One of the partners in the office is a Wisconsin grad, and obviously Marc is a Penn Stater, so they decided to watch together. An 8pm Saturday night game in Madison Wisconsin means 9am Sunday morning here in Tokyo! Afterward, Marc took Bailey to lunch. Later, I asked Bailey about it. "Mom!" Bailey practically shouted, "Dad took me to Burger King - the only one in Tokyo!" "What did you eat?" I asked, hoping to live a little vicariously through his onion-ring experience. "Dad let me have a junior WOO-PER!" Yes you read that right. Bailey had no idea it was called a Whopper; he called it a WOO-PER. It might have taken me ten minutes to stop laughing. Oh the things our children miss by living overseas....

Who could resist one last photo op...

I was lucky enough to get to spend 10 days in September with my cousins Jenn and Dave and their newborn baby, Erin and their 3-year-old daughter Ella.  The flight to Virginia was worth it for these special babies! And a very very special sister/cousin...

Soccer (football??)

So the main reason we rented a car is to go to the Highland Festival in Makuhari on Sunday.  We could have taken a train, but the car was so much simpler in this case. Run by The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) it celebrates Scottish heritage.  One of the main features is a 7-a-side "football" (soccer to most of us...) tournament.  Anyone who wants to can put together a team.  One of our friends took it upon himself to do it.  They called themselves the "Azabu United" and recruited guys from our community.  Marc was one of the younger players.  What does that tell you?  Check out the team photo though - at the last second our French friends Denis and Pravya recruited three young Frenchmen who are studying abroad here in Tokyo.  That brought the average age of the players waaaay down!  Most of the men brought their families too, so the rest of us made up the cheering squad.  

The coolest part of the whole thing was the international flavor of the team - French, British, Singaporean, Finnish and American.  

The team did well - they won one game and lost two. Perhaps I'm prejudiced, but I think Marc was one of the best players on the field - and one of the most experienced.  But most importantly everyone had fun, and EVERYONE walked off the field under their own steam - they might have been tired, but there weren't any injuries.  Good news!

The festival itself was fun, too.  Bailey mostly watched his dad play soccer, but Sydney played some games and ate fish and chips for lunch.  None of us ate the Hagus.  What is that, anyway?  Check out the photos of the Japanese people in kilts doing the highland dancing.  Pretty wild!

There's no way to express how grateful we are for the life we are living.  Every day seems to bring something new or different.  And sometimes the day brings something familiar - like a soccer game - but gives it a whole different flavor.