Golden Week

I always felt that in the U.S. I got ripped off for not having enough national holidays...real national holidays...not like Columbus Day. We don't even get one a month there. It seems as if everyone else in the developed world gets far more days off. And it's true. In Japan, on top of getting about one national holiday a month, there are two times a year when there is basically a week's worth of holidays right in a row. One happens over the new year and one happens in the last week of April / first week of May. It's called Golden Week. This isn't to imply I don't like working. But I just like having time off more.

Our Golden Week was a bit early and a bit short, since our baby girl is hopefully due any day now. Shelley's Mom is en route and we have a backstop date to induce Shelley in case it gets to that point. So the end is near. Stay tuned, we'll post pictures and let everyone know when Ella arrives.

Anyway, we spent the time off doing things locally - zoo's and parks. In retrospect, a very animal-centric long weekend. You can see pictures by clicking here. My favorite of these pictures is of Anthon trying to feed the goat and the goat getting too hungry and nipping at Anthon's fingers. The look on Anthon's face is priceless.



In other updates...
I've uploaded a few more videos from recent outings - mostly of Anthon during cherry blossom season.

Pet Parents

There are studies that show the Japanese population could be cut in half by the end of the century. While I could get into a serious discussion behind the reasons for the lower birth rate and its socio-economic end game, I won't. I want to talk about something infinitely more trivial - a frivolous outgrowth of a latent need to parent something, anything - pet parenting.

To set the stage, here are some statistics: there are more than 23 million pet dogs and cats in Japan. That's 5 million pets MORE than there are children under 15 in all of Japan (18 million kids). Pets are the new millenium's children.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence. I am hard pressed to find pictures of people's families or kids at the office, but there sure are tons of pictures of people's cats.

Small dogs and older dogs are usually carried around town in baby strollers.

We've seen dogs dressed up in hats, sunglasses, sweaters, long-johns with the button-flap over the bottom, etc.

Then there are articles from MSNBC.com and Nikkei Weekly that outline a variety of services that pet parents spend on their pets, including: accupuncture and physical therapy for aging dogs, spa treatments and aromatherapy, funeral services including joint pet/master gravesites, matchmaking parties and doggie wedding services that can cost upwards to $3,000. I wish I were making this up. But I am not.

The video, while all in Japanese, shows one of these wedding ceremonies, including the ceremony, cutting the cake, photo session, throwing flowers at the happy couple and an interview with a girl who is throwing this party in hopes that her future wedding will be this, uh, nice.

Japanese Dog Wedding

Brother, can you spare some...butter?

Japan is going through a weird butter shortage. I kid you not. For a country that has the second largest economy in the world, with one of the largest per capita GDPs, and is on the leading edge of most technological innovations, it's hard to imagine that it would have a hard time making something as simple as butter.

But it's true. The supermarket in our local area will get butter a few times a week and if you're not there within an hour or two after its restocked, you're evidently out of luck. This is reminiscent of Soviety-era bread lines or the 70's gasoline shortages in the U.S. In response, I've been turned into a butter mule, smuggling in butter at the request of my wife. Luckily, it's not an illicit trade...yet...and I've been spared having to ingest small balloons of butter to evade authorities.

The problem is that demand for milk is falling, which has forced milk producers to cut back their "supply" of cows and milk products, or redirect them into higher margin business like cheese. For you economics buffs out there, you're probably thinking that retailers should just import butter. And would you believe that the domestic butter market is highly protected? There's roughly a 30% tarrif that's levied on all butter imports, along with a 1,000 yen ($10) per kilogram tax placed on all butter imports. Basically, that leads to an 800% increase in the price of imported butter. That's why you NEVER see imported butter in Japan. Now we rarely get to see any butter at all.

If you're interested in a little butter-arbitrage scheme, maybe we can work something out. We can probably make a tiny fortune selling butter to the poor expats in our area! :)

Links:
Japan Today article
Asahi Shinbun

Our Male Model

We spent last Saturday at Shinjuku Gyoen Park and spent the late morning underneath a small grove of cherry blossom trees. We brought a lunch, and a bat & ball to keep Anthon entertained. We didn't on, however, Anthon being the subject of no less than 6 photographers.

For those of you who know Anthon, he's a very outgoing and verbal kid. He's fun loving and because of both his parents incessant picture taking, he is used to hamming it up for the camera. He knows when he's on and can be quite boisterous and entertaining...at least to his parents. We were playing around and I noticed in the periphery one lady who was ducking behind a tree snapping pictures of us. This went on for about five minutes before I made eye contact and she approached us asked if it was OK to take more pictures of our son. Literally 15 minutes later and she's snapping both film and digital pictures, directing on how to position him and how to make him laugh, etc. A bit odd. Then as I'm playing tee ball with Anthon (I hold the ball, Anthon swings the bat, and more often than not hits me in the process), another man comes up and starts taking pictures of Anthon playing ball...another 10 minutes following us around. We had two more groups of people ask to take pictures with Anthon and then two other, more shy photographers, that were more intent on either taking video of Anthon running around or taking pictures of the photographers taking pictures of Anthon. All in the space of two hours.

I certainly hope this doesn't turn Anthon into a Zoolander clone. I would hate to have him ask me, "Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?"

Here's a picture Shelley took of one of the photographers taking pictures of Anthon.

Sakura Thoughts

I saw that Shelley posted a few thoughts on Sakura here, and here.

This is probably the single best time to be in Japan, and while it is hard to plan to time a visit to see the cherry blossoms at their peak, it's well worth a trip. I think in many ways Japanese view cherry blossoms as a metaphor for life - in that it's delicate and fleeting yet inherently beautiful and should be celebrated.

On the flip side, sakura were used as a symbol in World War II to signify those young Kamikaze pilots who were flew suicide missions and never came back, essentially giving up their lives in their youth. In the same way, according to our friend and neighbor Walt, sakura symbolize the Japanese warrior, including the samurai, who are honored while dying in their youth in battle.

Despite the heavy symbolism, sakura season is a great excuse for the Japanese to party. As Shelley put it so eloquently, it's as if it's one big tailgate! And it's true. Walking through Ueno Park one night we saw thousands, literally, of people sitting on tarps on the ground, with their shoes off, underneath (mostly) the sakura trees, drinking heavily and eating. I would guess that these spots had been staked out for hours. Everyone seemed to be happy, even the homeless people in the park were happy collecting all the recyclable cans and bottles...it was payday for them. The daytimes were even more croweded families, friends and coworkers gathered to have "hanami parties" (flower viewing parties). Shelley remarked that it was one of the first times to see the Japanese cut loose like this and it was good for her to see that, I think. Seeing people get so excited about sakura showed a very human side to our adopted country.

And finally, we went to a park called Shinjuku Gyoen Park to get one last view of the sakura before the rains came and wiped all of the beautiful blossoms away. We happened upon a grove of trees that had shed half of its blossoms - which effectively covered the ground with what seemed like millions of white and pink petals. It was like snow, so peaceful and serene. The wind was blowing gently so you could pick up the blossoms and toss them in the air and they would float away. Anthon particularly liked that, though he would do more throwing at or mashing into people. Or he liked to try to eat the blossoms.

So if you have any desires to come visit us during the sakura season, it's normally the last week of March and the first week of April. Click on the links below to see pictures from our various sakura outings. Just be aware that pictures do not do this justice...sakura season is something to experience.

Showa Park, Ueno Park at night, Imperial Palace Moat, Shinjuku Gyoen Park

Day Trip to Kamakura

Shelley and I haven't really discussed who's on our top 5 list of famous people that we could kiss if we had the chance. If I had to guess, I'm sure Matthew McConaughey would be right up there at the top - as would Carrot Top. But I never in my wildest dreams thought that my wife would have the hots for the Buddah. I guess I should have read into her getting into yoga with a bit more scrutiny than I did.


The Japanese can be very hospitable hosts. We certainly didn't expect to be welcomed to Kamakura with a sign welcoming the "Great Kannon." I admit I am flattered. Not to be a nitpick, but couldn't they at least spell our names right?

And finally, as Shelley said in her blog about our trip we happened upon a couple who were getting married in this very public place. On the one hand I felt excited to see this, but I also felt bad that I was opportunistically snapping shots of their special day. While I was taking these pictures, Shelley was watching Anthon, who decided that he wanted to just go exploring on his own. Well, that didn't see well with Shelley who went after and resulted in our son, who has a pretty good set of pipes, screaming all the way back to his stroller after Shelley caught up to him. Nothing like being the one with the screaming kid to disrupt a wedding ceremony. Like a good father and husband I pretended I didn't know them.




All of the pictures are linked to a page of photos I shot from the day. Or you can clik on the link to go there.

Amish Cooking in Japan

This post is brought to you by our new sponsor, Cafe Amish - for all your Amish food needs.

A great thing about living in Japan is that believe it or not, you can get pretty much any kind of ethnic food you want. Of course we love the Japanese food that we can get here, but we've been surprised with the level of quality of the hamburgers, the Italian food and we've even had very good Mexican food. As I've written about before, the Japanese are just foodies.

Well, for those of you who fear that if you were to move to Japan you'd have no outlet for your Amish cooking cravings, rest assured that we've found such a place for you in the tiny, rural resort town of Kamakura...about 90 minutes by train south of Tokyo. Taking a quick look at the menu, one realizes that perhaps the proprietors of this Cafe might be of a smaller, less zealous branch of the Amish. Maybe a more liberal, reformed version? I'll let you be the judge. Here's the menu:

Let's see we have such Amish staples as toast, lattes, 2 kinds of beer, and white cream & bean paste cakes.

Now I'm no marketing genius, though marketing is my job and I did study it in school, but I've never considered before using the Amish as some hip ploy to lure customers. I guess if you're going to differentiate yourself, you might as well REALLY differentiate yourself, right?

Masks

During the winter and early spring months in Japan it is common to see people walking around wearing what appear to be white surgical masks. These are worn for a variety of reasons, most notably by those who are either sick and don't want to infect others or those who aren't sick and don't want to be infected by those who are. No matter how stupid they make people look you find people all around town wearing these - from old guys to rather fashionable young women...at work, on the trains, walking around...everywhere.

To me wearing these masks is a very important statement about Japanese culture.
I really respect a culture where people by and large consider the feelings of others when they make a decision or a deliberate act. Certainly putting the group first over the individual has its downsides, but I think living in a city of 20 million people you have to make certain sacrifices just to get along in such cramped quarters.


There is speculation, however, that this is all one bizarre show of solidarity by millions of adoring fans of the one, the only, King of Pop. Certainly Michael Jackson has his legions of fans here in Japan. Or, could this be some trendy new fashion statement that could be sweeping the States come next fall? I hear gauze-padded surgical masks are the next fashion accessory to replace hand held Yorkies and Chihuahuas.

In the end, despite my desire to be Japanese, I can't quite get myself to don one of these masks in public. I think being a foreigner exempts me from a lot of societal norms - this being one of them. So much for my being considerate of others, my support for Michael Jackson or my keen, forward-looking fashion sense.

DIY Japanese Food

I think it can be accurately said that the Japanese are foodies. More than the average American, I think the average Japanese enjoys the experience of eating food more. I was reminded of this recently when I went out to eat Korean BBQ with co-workers who would literally ooo and aww at each tantilizing bite of food that they would eat.

I don't want to paint a broad brush here - I don't think that Americans' attitude towards food boils down to opening your mouth and shoveling it in as fast as you can...though I'm sure there is some of that...especially with me! I just think to the average Japanese, eating, especially eating out, is about more than just the one sense of taste.

It's because of that need for a multi-sensory experience, I believe, that in Japan there are many foods where, if you go into a restaurant, you have to cook your own food. I can think of at least three distinct types of wildly popular foods in Japan where you walk into the restaurant and pay for them to bring you your food so that you can then begin to cook it. They are Korean BBQ, Shabu-Shabu and what we had earlier this week, Okonomiyaki. Shelley loves Shabu Shabu, likes Korean BBQ, so I introduced her and Anthon to Okonomiyaki this week.

Okonomiyaki is essentially a Japanese-style pancake - batter filled with things like meat, seafood, vegetables, noodles and spices. You mix it all together and let it cook on a griddle in front of you. It looks weird, but it tastes good. The circular griddle with the spherical shaped holes are for something called taco-yaki - breaded balls filled with octopus. The griddle also has room for yaki-soba, fried noodles, like chow mein.

Even in a dive like this one, the experience of eating something new and cooking it yourself adds to the multi-sensory experience that I think Japanese foodies crave. I really think we enjoyed our food more because we cooked it than had the okonomiyaki pancake had just showed up for us to eat. So, maybe the Japanese are on to something there. I'm waiting for some bright business school grad to take this business model to the next level and have people pay to not only cook their food, but to also clear the table and wash the dishes.

Picture of the Week: Tokyo has a Nudy Boy!

When we told friends we were moving to Tokyo, they asked us if Tokyo had stores that we were accustomed to, you know - The Gap, Costco, Trader Joes, etc. Well, if finding a Nudy Boy clothing store isn't validation that you live in a big, westernized city, then I don't know what is.

I'll be back in the States in April. Get your Nudy Boy clothing orders in to me early because space is limited in my suitcase.

Anthon is kawaiiiiiiiii

Since moving here to Tokyo, Anthon has received his fair share of attention from people we randomly meet on the street. Invariably, they'll all the same thing about Anthon, that he's "kawaii," or cute. I've found that the level of cuteness that Anthon has at that moment is directly proportional to the length of the last sylable "ii" that's spoken. There was the dignified grandmother who was biking towards us - almost running into us by the way - and made a polite gesture towards Anthon, keeping her "kawaii" comment the way it was meant to be said.

That was topped a few days later when Anthon and I went to Mister Donuts, a donut chain in Japan. While we were eating our donuts the teenage girl next to us let out an elongated "kawaiiiiii" adding, "He's so cute, it makes me want to cry."

But that was topped yet again as Anthon was playing with an interactive movie that would sense his body movements and let him kick balls and grab fish. a small crowd of about 10 lunch-goers stopped to watch Anthon and many in unison let out multiple kawaiiiiii's.

I don't know where it goes from here. But Anthon certainly has been able to charm a lot of people. Now I'm not saying that my son is any cuter than other kids. It's just that, naturally, he doesn't look like most of the kids running around Tokyo. So he gets a lot of attention based on that. And because is a ham, he eats it up and likes to perform.

On a side note
I'm finally getting around to updating the video archive. I've added three new videos, please do check them out if you have the time.

Potty Training...

I'm writing this in hopes of coaxing Shelley into sharing her experiences so far with potty training Anthon. We're well into our second week and I am regailed daily with stories of not just soiled pants but also slow and steady progress towards potty training. Here are a few thoughts and stories:

1. I came home one night and noticed Anthon didn't have any pants on - only his Little Einstein underpants. I came to find out that he had blown through all of his pants. He had no more pants to wear. One word comes to mind: prolific.

2. Anthon likes to cry wolf. He thinks it's funny. Well, one of these days we will all be sorry.

3. As a reward he gets 1 M&M for a #1 and 2 M&Ms for a #2. Those double if we're away from home. I'm thinking, why hasn't the maker of M&Ms come out with M&Ms for potty training kids? You know, yellow and brown M&Ms???

< sarcasm >
4. We're not without support. Thank goodness for Japanese educational videos that are helping our son become a "pants man" in our new home.


< /sarcasm >

Shelley deserves all the credit for this. This I'm sure has to take a lot of patience and a dulled sense of smell. And what I know of pregnant-Shelley - she doesn't have a dulled sense of smell. And I guess I should be grateful to Anthon for not enjoying living in his own...well...you know.

Costco, the balm that cures ills!

Months ago when Shelley and I were starting to think seriously about our move to Japan, I was anxious about whether I could provide her enough of a life that resembled "home". As you can imagine, life can be very different here. I was really excited to learn that there were a number of Costcos in the Tokyo area. That certainly had me excited. Turth be told, the Costco that we go to in the States is really crowded and a big huge pain to navigate through, as people seemingly buy up cart loads of things they don't need...at least from our eyes. We go to Costco in the States to get stuff at a discount not to load up. Little did we know, however, that the Costco here in Japan would be the balm that cured our ills.

Naturally, this is the biggest move that our family has had to make. And we really didn't think that it would be this physically draining and somewhat emotionally taxing to live in limbo for a while before you can feel totally settled with your new life, all your stuff, new friends, different language/culture, etc. And so, for the first week to have only gone grocery shopping for a few things and to only have to eat "little smokeys" sausages for breakfast every day can push someone over the edge! We debated whether or not to ask our relocation folks to take us to Costco as it seemed like a glorified taxi service, but we were desperate.

In preparation for our trip, we had to get enough cash. Since we hadn't funded our local bank accounts, we had to max out our daily ATM withdrawals...for the both of us. We also had to make a list of the things we wanted. About two minutes into the planning we just decided that we would go up and down every aisle and throw into our cart anything that looked remotely good.

It was the most wonderful Costco experience of our lives. If we wanted it, we threw it into the cart. We filled up two big carts worth of goods and we looked like those people that you see at Costco that you hate. We were unashamedly those people. We were the happiest people that ever walked through check-out. It took forever to load the car, unload the car, lug it all up to our apartment and then put it all away. But when we were done we had huge smiles on our faces. It was a big mental hurdle that we had cleared and suddenly we felt so much better about our lives here in Japan.

Without disclosing the total bill, the receipt did run up from the floor to reach Shelley's waist.

I love Japanese toilets

I'll be honest, I love a lot of things about our new place. But I love nothing more than the toilets. These babies have a little sensor that causes the lid to open up when you approach the toilet. Come on. Really.



The seats are always warm. You never have to touch any part of the toilet. There is a little remote control that you push to flush, bring the seats up or down, activate the bidet, or hot air spray, etc.

Japan has come a long way in their bathroom technology. I used to live in fear of having to use the dreaded "squatter"...I think you can visualize what I'm talking about. If not, then think of a hole in the ground.

As is the case with any new revolutionary, life-changing technology, you're going to get those who don't totally embrace it at first. Shelley was a little annoyed that the toilet would raise the lid in excited anticipation whenever Shelley entered the bathroom, even when she only wanted to brush her teeth. She at first made me turn off the automatic setting, only to come around after pushing a few wrong buttons and almost falling in late one night.

I'm not sure what one of these babies cost, but as Ferris Bueler once said, "It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up."

I think the only thing it doesn't have is captured nicely by Saturday Night Live...


The Love Toilet

Our apartment

We've been buried in Tokyo without internet access and so we haven't had a chance to update our blog with pictures and stories about our first few days here in Tokyo.

Our apartment is on the third floor of this four story building pictured to the left. We live below a friend of the family who I've known since my days in La Canada...small world. They've been incredibly nice to us...so much so that Anthon has a new "Grammy" that he talks about all the time.

We live in the relatively quiet urban neighborhood of Yoyogi Uehara. It's about a 15 minute walk to Tokyo's version of Central Park with lots of green space, ducks, dogs and open space to run around. The area has a lot of expats as its the closest bus stop to the American School. So there is a nice mixture between local and expat families.

We've found this life in this area is very different from our life back in Pasadena. We can walk pretty much everywhere we go and for longer trips we take the train. Talk of buying a car has been put on hold until at least our little girl is born. Then we can revisit that topic at a time when many expats move home. But we are a two minute walk to the grocery store, three minute walk to the train station and within 5-10 minutes from a variety of small, family owned restaurants, flower shops, book stores, bakeries, etc. It's what I imagined living in New York would be like.

The apartment itself is quite spacious. It's double the size of our Pasadena condo and normally wouldn't have been within our housing budget. But it sat for 6 months open and I think the landlords were looking to get any cash flow possible. We lucked out because they recently upgraded the whole place. While our place is sterile and drafty because our stuff is still on the slow boat, it has a lot of potential. The kitchen, living and dining rooms and master bedroom face the western sunset. While all this light is a blessing in this cold winter, I can only imagine how hot it could get in the summer. The view to the west is of a mosque. Not what we thought we'd be looking at, but as you can see from the picture to the right, it does provide quite the view at sunset.

The kitchen has tons of storage space, granite counter tops and US-sized fridge, dish washer and oven. The bedrooms are large and afford Anthon to have his own room, Ella her own room come May, and an office.

If you're a Google Maps geek, like I am, then here is an arial photo of our place. Yes, it doesn't look like much.


View Larger Map

We'll pass along a more detailed video of our place. But in the mean time, please enjoy a few pictures of our place.

How to Contact us in Japan

Though we're now on the other side of the world, we don't want to stray too far from our family and friends. There are a number of ways to get in touch with us while we're in Japan.

Email
These stay the same. If you don't have our email addresses, click on the "Email Tony and Shelley" link on the top right hand column.

Address
Tony, Shelley & Anthon Cannon
3-37-3 Nishihara #301
Shibuya Ku, Tokyo
Japan

Phone Number
Email us and we'll send you a US-based phone number that will ring our phone in Japan. The only charges incurred by you will be what it costs to call the 626 area code (Pasadena, CA.)

If you use Skype...our user name is: tokyocannons.

AIM / iChat

We bought a Mac and are looking forward to using iChat with family and friends. If you'd like to see what we're up, add us to your buddy list. Our username is: tokyocannons.

Japanese TV is AWESOME!

So I've fretted about what to do about TV viewing when we move to Japan. There are only a few English channels - but conspicuously missing are such beloved channels like ESPN. Most of the first run shows in the US are at least one or two seasons behind in Japan, if they're broadcast at all. I toyed with the idea of buying a Slingbox, hooking it up to TIVO and placing that in my parents condo in Salt Lake City. Then we could stream live TV as well as shows stored on the TIVO...all controlled from our apartment in Tokyo. But that seems like a hugely expensive technical error waiting to happen.

Within the last few weeks, I've come across a few great Japanese TV shows, that at least for now, has piqued my interest....and you don't even need to understand Japanese! There are plenty more of these shows on YouTube.


Human Tetris

Japanese Obstacle Course

Guess the picture...

So this is a lovely view from inside our new office building in the upscale Marunouchi district in Tokyo. But can you guess where I took this picture you see above? Good guesses would include an office, the entry way to our floor and maybe even a conference room. But you'd be wrong...
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...If you guessed the urinals in the men's bathroom, then you'd be correct! I find it odd that I am close enough to look into the office of someone in the building next door while I'm, ummm, taking care of business. I presume they can see us, at least only from the chest up, though. Good times. :)

Anthon's pasport picture

Many of you know that our little family is moving to Tokyo, Japan in January. We're in the early stages of learning about the logistics of our move. One thing that we have to do is apply for Anthon's passport. I think it's funny that at 2 years old, he needs to get a passport. I don't think I got my passport until I was 13 or 14. Oh and when we move, we'll get to fly Business Class, something I didn't experience until I was 25...Anthon? The ripe old age of 2. Is it any wonder that as you get older you find yourself starting conversations with your kids with "In my day." I just didn't think it would happen at 32!

So, anyway back to the picture. I was typing away at the computer and I noticed his passport application with his mug shot attached to it. I thought I'd upload it for your viewing pleasure.