Day 6: Long Car Ride and Follow Up

Today we took about a 70 minute car ride through Tokyo. Mio's father went to see his doctor and we rode along. The doctor wanted to meet us. He was the doctor when Mio's mother had cancer 14 years ago. It's a long way to go to see a doctor, but Mio's dad likes him. He was very friendly and gave us some information about children's vaccinations in Japan.

During the car ride I took some pictures of the narrow roads to show how 2-lane roads here would hardly qualify for 1-lane roads back home. Every car you see on the road has some scratches on the corners of the bumpers or the side molding strips. The streets and parking spaces are so narrow that everyone eventually dings their car. Add to this the large number of bicyclists, pedestrians, scooters, motorcycles zig zagging in and out of traffic, and the parked cars and trucks on the side of the road, and it's a wonder that there aren't more accidents.

I also took a picture of the TV in the car. Mio's father turned it on to entertain the kids during the long ride. He also used the GPS system to see how much further we had to go.

Some of you had some questions based on my previous postings. Here are some of the questions / answers:

1. Naps: Yes, the boys have been taking naps almost daily. The heat and the time difference are a little bit of a challenge. However, the boys seem to be adjusting pretty well. We have been going to bed between 9 and 10 pm. The boys have been waking up between 5 am and 6 am, so we're not too far off schedule.

2. Clothing styles: Japanese have generic clothing, Japanese branded clothing, and then high fashion global brands like Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Hugo Boss, etc. What will we do for clothing? We have enough cloths to last for about 1 year. If Terry gets a business job, he'll most likely wear suits. He bought a couple of them in Portland and brought them along. The boys will be fine with the clothes we brought and can easily transition to Japanese kids clothes as they're very similar to American kids' clothes. Mio brought a lot of clothes. Women's clothes are more universal, so she should be OK.

3. Language: How is everyone doing with the language transition. Michael is doing pretty well. He has been pointing things out in the stores and restaurants. It is coming back for Terry and he and Michael work together on the language. Tommy is learning, but keeps asking when he can go to Japanese school to learn Japanese. We tell him that he can learn Japanese at home until he goes to Japanese school, but he's adamant that he needs to learn it at Japanese school. He's excited to go to school. However, he is picking up words and trying to use a little now and then. He really likes Mio's father and talks to him all the time. Pretty soon they'll begin to understand each other and then they'll really have fun.

In the afternoon Terry and the boys went on a walk in the opposite direction from yesterday. Our goal was to find a nearby grocery store and buy juice and snacks. Since Japanese homes are small, one cannot easily buy juice, snacks and other food items to last for the next couple of days. There simply isn't space to store a lot of things, so frequent trips to the store are necessary. I now know of 2 grocery stores within 8 minutes' walk to buy groceries from. Of course, 7-11 is only 50 feet away for emergency purchases. They carry a lot more basic foods/medicines than they do in the USA. They even sell liquor.

After the walk we went to the local park for some fun. When we got home the boys were pretty sweaty, so they took it upon themselves to put their heads under the faucet and cool off. Then they wrapped their heads in towels.

One point I forgot to add from our gov't registration process on Monday is that we seem to be eligible for a 10,000 Yen ($100) per month subsidy because we have children. The birth rate in Japan has been below sustaining levels for decades and the gov't encourages couples to have children. Depending on where you live, the subsidy can be even more.