Day 5: More shopping, and street learning

Today we went to another 100 Yen store for more household supplies as we decided we weren't ready for Costco. Because of the train rides, walking and rides in Mio's dad's car, it's kind of difficult to make a lot of purchases at one time and then drag everything back. Such is the life in Japan, frequent purchases. Michael and Tommy scored on some battery operated fans to help keep them cool. You can see a picture of them in front of Mio's father's car holding their fans.

Once back home I put a new towel bar up in our bathroom. Then I went downstairs and helped Mio make grilled cheese sandwiches. Pretty simple stuff. Mio's father commented that I can do anything. I think most Japanese men don't do much more than go to work. House work, cooking, house maintenance, fixing things, etc. is not so normal for men in Japan. Women act as the house manager and run the house as the man is rarely home. Maintenance is often performed by some type of handyman. However, I think the somewhat recent emergence of 'do it yourself' shops is beginning to change that slightly. I think most men don't want to be bothered with home repairs, but some are trying. Tim 'the tool man' Taylor probably wouldn't be a big hit here.

While the boys were napping, Mio and I spent almost 2 hours sorting through our Internet, TV and VOIP options. So many options, but I think we're settling on Yahoo's joint venture here in Japan where they offer TV, fast DSL and VOIP for about $60 per month. The fast DSL is 50 Mbps and the TV includes the Disney Channel, Nikelodeon and Cartoon Network. The VOIP service allows us to call the USA for about 3 cents per minute. I was thinking about fiber optics, but the fast DSL at 50 Mbps is about 25 times faster than the Comcast Cable I had in the USA at about 1/2 of the price. For another $30 I could double my speed with fiber, but I'm not sure why I would need that speed. We'll see how it goes. It should take about 6-7 days to get it installed.

In the afternoon I took the boys on a walk around the neighborhood to get them used to reading shop signs and to learn local landmarks. We learned to identify the different types of shops in a typical neighborhood: bakery, different types of noodle shops, Japanese fast food restaurants, convenience stores, book stores, train station, electrical goods store, toy store, household goods store, fish store, butcher, vegetable stand, grocery store, etc. Unlike the USA, you have to go to a lot of different shops to do general shopping. My other objective was to get the boys used to a lot of walking. We spent a total of about 3 hours walking today at various times. It's necessary for the boys to learn to do a lot of walking, and how to be safe on the street. With all the bicycles, walkers, cars, scooters, motorcycles and etc., the boys need to learn to watch out for themselves. Tommy is the most challenged at this, but the plethora of vending machines ensures that he never has to be thirsty. And our exploration of the inside of the bakery yielded some tasty snacks to refuel us. You can see a picture of the boys in front of the neighborhood map. This map shows visitors the homes and apartments in this neighborhood. It helps visitors to locate the residence they are visiting.

For breakfast we had salted, grilled salmon with rice and 2 types of seaweed. It was very tasty. For dinner we had kimchee soup, fried egg plant and green beans with Japanese sauce, and pork sauted with teriyaki sauce. Of course there was the obligatory beer and sake accompaniment.