Hiromi Usagi!

Harper and I have been married for about 4 months, but we haven’t lived together yet.  When I say, “my husband is coming to Japan!,”  people get confused and ask me where he is NOW.  I usually start telling them about my visa and job matters, and they symphasize me..ahhh…

During the first half of his stay in Japn until the 29th, I am working, so Harper will wonder around Tokyo by himself and have lunch with me!  I wonder what kind of adventure he would get.  My office is in the middle of the most busy area in Tokyo, called Shinjuku, and there are so many stores and people everywhere.  I am sure that he would enjoy this chaotic district.

Since my direct boss took off for 3 week-long vacation, I have been busy… There are so many sick people at my work and small problems (thank god, not big problems) and I have to run around all day long, but it’s ok because I will have a lot of fun with Harper soon!!

It is very kind of Harper’s parents and family that they give up spending Christmas with him and sending him to Japan!  Thank you so much!!  Harper and I will go to my hometown for the new year’s.  The new year is the biggest holiday in Japan, just like Christmas in the U.S.  Harper will meet my relatives and we will have dinner together at a restaurant “to inform them our marriage”.  There are so many rules, but I think we have skipped most of them like an official engagement ceremony and so on.
We will stay at my maternal grandparents house where nobody lives now.  It is an old farm house located on a montain in a super rural area.  If it snows a lot, we might not be able to come down to the town where my parents live.  It is an isolated village with a lot of nature and a few people.  My grandparents used to have a goat and I liked playing with a baby goat when I was little.  They had silk worms too.  I was able to hear silk worms eating mulberry leaves when I was in a bed in the night.  It sounded so subtle but soothing somehow.  When I was little, I did not like going to my grandparents’ house, because there was no kid to play with, and the bathroom was old-styled with no water flush and located outside in a separate house and so scary.  My parents had a new bathroom built inside of the house, so now it’s ok… Don’t worry, Harper..
My gradma has alzheimer’s disease, so my parents take care of her at their house.  My grandpa is hospitalized, so that is why no one lives there.  My grandpa on my dad’s side passed away during the war, and my grandma on my dad’s side passed away several years ago.  Visiting both sides of my family was the main event in the new year’s holiday in my childhood.  I liked it but did not like getting so much attention from my relatives..ahhh.. funny me.  I have a lot of stories to tell Harper while we are staying at the house.

I cannot believe that Harper is coming in 2 days!  I wonder what to make for our Christmas dinner!

Happy Holidays!

After the visa fiasco, I was thinking about how much time I have in Tokyo before going back to the US. I have lived here for a little over one year, and now I am leaving soon. If I live in Japan again, I would choose Tokyo for sure.

At work, I got transferred to Shinjuku. I was at Ginza which is a fancy place with many fancy stores, maybe like the 5th ave in NYC. Whereas, Shinjuku is like ..umm Times square?? kind of chaotic and tons of people. It is closer to my place actually and it takes me a litte over 30 min, so it’s pretty convenient. I like my new co-workers too. The things are going well there, but I miss my previous co-workers for sure. They gave me a nice farewell. We didn’t have a party, but on the last day, they gave me cards full of messages and one girl gave me nice roses, I’ve got candle sets, chopsticks, Christmas-like stockings, and a fancy pen. I had a great time working there with wonderful people. I am glad that I took this position.

By the way,(a totally different topic..hahhaa but I am looking at a card with bunny picture on, which my previous co-worker gave me for my farewell) Those who know me very well already know that I like bunnies which have been very popular in Japan and there are a lot of character goods based on bunny. But in the states, bunny represents fertility/ a lot of babies. Here in Japan, it simply represents a cute creature like a teddy bear. Anyhow, my friends gave me quite few bunny goods. Harper gave me a bunny robott. This morning, he told me that bunny feet symbolizes good luck and people have “real” bunny feet as a lucky charm…sad… they cannot run in the heaven.. I wonder why it is a good luck charm. Well I will figure it out when I go back to the States.

I have 3 days off!! yey.. It is nice to have a mini mini vacation especially right after the transfer. I think I am going to explore old towns in Tokyo and hang out at parks or somewhere calm.

fun fun.. Now I am going to have lunch with Junko! I haven’t seen her for a good couple of years, so I am excited!!

I just talked to Harper on the phone and he yelled at me for not updating my blog for a month. I am sorry for those who have waited for my new entry.

Well, I went to the US embassy for my second interview for the visa which will enable me to live and work in the US. My appointment time was at 8:30am, so I got up at 6:30 and got on a crowded train for a while. This time, there was a file with the instruction that I can place my documents accordingly. It was very helpful and more organized compared to the last time. The list of the documents didn’t match the check-list I downloaded from the US embassy website, so I was worried about not having one document which I had submitted in the last interview. It turned out to be ok..phew..

I was told everything was ok, including my physical exam which was a little painful physically and finacially (immunization shots and about $550 fee..wow..). Harper and I paid about $800 for the visa interviews and $550 for the medical exam, so getting visa is expensive. Everyone at the interview looked nervous and stressed out, so I felt I was not alone. I wasn’t able to notice this in the last interview with Harper. I think I was too nervous to be aware of that. Most of the interviewees were with their spouses/ family member, so I was a little bit lonely with my cell phone taken away at the entrance. However, I was soooooooooooooooo happy that it was approved and they will send me the visa in about one week. Yey!! Soon I will be able to come to the US to live with Harper!
This time, I was asked a few questions at the end. The officer asked me where we met, where Harper is now, what he does, whether he likes the job, how long he has the current job for, what I studied, where Harper’s parents are from. I think that’s it. They were random questions which my relatives might ask me. I am glad that the interviewer was nice.

It was about 10:30 when I got out of the US embassy. I took a day off today, but I could have gone to work after the interview and saved the day off for some other time, but I am actually glad that I didn’t do that because I had a nice lunch at my favorite restaurant and came home and took a long nap and read a book all day long. I had been physically tired of fighting not to get sick around so many sick people at work. There were a couple of work related events/ parties last week as well, and my parents visited me for two days. These were all fun, but I was exhausted, so it was very nice to recharge my energy.

I will talk about these events in my next entry!

I am reading a book called “the 7 habits of highly effective people” which is for a book club at my work. Honestly I wasn’t interested in business books before, but this book is great because it talks about human relationship in general which everyone can associate with. It makes me think of both of my good and bad habits and their reasons. To me, it seems just an extention of psychological approach. Anyhow, I will write more about this later too!

I have been eating seasonal food lately. It is a great season for food!! chestnut, sweet potatos, pumpkin, mushroom, pear, grape, persimmon, and new crop of rice!…ummm yumm.. I will write about this as well.. Wow so much to write!!

Ok..I will be back here soon.

Yesterday was fun, and I got to see a cool part of Tokyo where a lot of creative people live and many hideouts are there. I met up with my friend and he showed me around in his neighborhood. While I was having a lunch with him, Lakshmi called from India!! Harper and I often talk about her and we both miss her, so it was really nice to talk to her. Thank you, Lakshmi!!

There is the oldest park in Tokyo in Kichijoji, and we had lunch at a Thai restaurant in the park. We walked around and around and started drinking around 5. I was supposed to go to a birthday party/ dancing all night with some of my friends from work, but I couldn’t make it there. I was exhausted and kind of drunk..ahhhh.. the b-day girl is so nice and sweet and I wanted to hang out with her, but I physically couldn’t.. I even missed the last train.. I made it to Ikebukuro by train, but it was 12:50 when I got to Ikebukuro, and all trains were done… I thought I had to take a cab, but somehow I found “later night bus” and found the one which goes to my neighborhood. Actually, the bus stop when I got off was much closer than the train station. I am glad I found the bus by accident. I just followed the crowd and waited on a long line for a cab ride, and then I saw the sign of “late night bus.” I should do more research on this, so I might be able to go out until late but not until the first train at 5 am. I could go out probably until 2 or 3, but 5 is a little too much for me.

Anyhow, I made it home all right. Kichijoji is an amazing place, and it got many thing, like hippy things, street fashion type things, arty things, and brand shops, and Gap and Jcrew. umm….it is hard to describe it. There are also big department stores as well, and sooooo many bars and restaurants. There are some colleges too. It was like a maze and I had no idea where I was all the time, but fun. We ended up going to 3 bars…hahahaaa… I tried to stick with beer only, but I had a few sips of yummy brown sugar Shochu… dangerous.

oh well.. I needed to loosen up, so it was perfect..

It has been raining in Tokyo for a few days, and this weekend was a little longer than usual because of a national holiday on Mon. However, I just had two days off. I used one day off for my vacation earlier. I had Fri and Sat off, which is a sort of new thing for me, because Thu and Fri were my day off before. It is nice to have one weekend off, so I can see my friends who have a regular Mon-Fri job.
On Friday, I went to Tokyo British Clinic to have medical check up for my visa. My insurance/ any insurance doesn’t cover it and I had to take immunization shots which were expensive. I spent 49,000 yen total which is about $420. I’ve had measles, mumps, and rubella shots… scary…. I went to a nice macrobiotic cafe in Ebisu and had a sweet as a treat. I slept a lot on the day.

On sat I cleaned my room, cooked a lot, and read Catch 22 which I really enjoy reading on train everyday. It was a calm weekend and a lot of rain.

Since I started reading Catch 22, I see it everywhere, and I can’t help thinking about visa application process. As Harper mentioned this in his blog, the application forms on PDF were updated and, I had a different version from his. He was supposed to submit all of the tax information in the past 3 years, but at the interview, we were told that the only latest was needed. A huge difference between Catch 22 and our experience is that we weren’t tricked completely, and our request was accepted. phew… I should compile the visa application process and what we did and what happened and write them in my entry some time. There are always some small things, even though we thought we prepared everything perfectly.

For example, at the clinic, I brought my immunization record, which my grad school keeps and I had Harper get for me, but a nurse asked me to show my Japanese health record with my birth information. I had to have my parents send it to the clinic by fax while I was taking the med exam. I wish they had told me that I needed the health record when I made an appointment.

Regardless of all of the efforts from my family, the nurse told me that I still need to get immunization shots. ahhhh…. well, I don’t have to worry about getting measles and those yucky diseases at least good 10 years, so that’s good. I had those diseases when I was baby though. I guess it has been more than 10 years since then. They could have checked my blood if I was still immune to those, but it would cost over $100, and I might have to take those shots if the result was negative. I chose not to waste $100 and had shots. ouch.. I will pick up the result this Friday and make an appointment for the last interview. I am almost there..yes..almost…

Luckily, my work has been good, and I have been able to get off work on time. I hope it stayed like this.

ok..it’s time to take a bath and relax..

I had been so good with not having coffee for a while, but I started it again and cannot stop it.  It started a few weeks ago right after my marriage paper document/ interview event.  I was so tired and wanted to have a cup of coffee to make it though the hot and tiring day.  I was like, “sure, just one cup a day is not a big deal” and had one.  I felt great.  Coffee does something different from other caffeinated drinks.

I drink grain coffee as a substitute and love it, but still want caffeine boost.  I am drinking a cup of grain coffee now and thinking that I had a lot of caffeine today (soy latte and americano)  I know that I didn’t have too much, but I have had coffee everyday since the day when I started it.  I physically want it and feel great after a cup of coffee.  I guess I feel guilty that I am putting caffeine into my cleansed body…hahaha….  I also feel so tired when I wake up in the morning.

I don’t do drugs, but I kind of understand what substitute addiction is like. I went to a coffee shops twice today with my co-workers.  I had a good time with them, of course, and had a lot of caffeine.

I hope I can sleep well tonight.  well, I am getting sleepy though…

Where should I start?? Well… Harper and I got married !! on the paper and applied my visa so that we can live together. We want to have a wedding/party at some point. I had so much fun with him and his dad, Steve, and my parents love both of them. Harper suggested on the phone that we should marry right after my Chicago trip, but this time he proposed to me in person in a beautiful park near the hotel where Steve stayed. He surprised me with a diamond ring which he told me he couldn’t get.
It was not easy for me to find a jewelry shop which can fix my ring in a few days, but my friend Kumi told me this nice place and Harper and I had nice chat with a lady who took care of us. Now I can wear this beautiful precious ring all the time. I saw Harper off at the airport today and got sad, but this time I was ok and didn’t cry…. In fact, I am so happy and I don’t know how to describe it!!
We did so many things, mostly visa things and marriage at the beginning. I had to work on the weekend, but Harper and Steve had a wonderful adventure without me and after my work we had a great time at a pub near my house. On Monday we had to go to the U.S. embassy to get an affidavit of competency to marry which we needed to get married at a local city hall. Steve came along with us, and it wasn’t difficult, but we were so glad that he came with us because we were sort of nervous.

My friends, Kumi, Dai, Miki and we had a wonderful dinner at a Ninja restaurant in Akasaka. It was like a maze and everything was so hidden, and I almost couldn’t get out from the bathroom… My friends are so nice and they all loved Harper and Steve. We talked about music a lot since they work for a music magazine in Tokyo. Thank you so much, my friends!! Steve and Harper are great and they can hang out with anyone!! We had a great time with older ladies at the pub too!!

Tuesday was a long day, but fun. we submitted our marriage application at a local city hall. They had never filed a marriage certificate for a non-Japanese spouse (Harper), so they were super cautious and I was a little bit? frustrated. Harper tamed me (hahahah) and we found out that my parents’ names are not listed on the original family registry. It was not a big deal, and they can still use the address, but now they are thinking about making their own registry. I still don’t know what’s up, but I’ve got an address for me and Harper near my dad’s birth place.

Reed’s family and Nakazawa family had lunch together and we all went to my parents’ farms and rice paddies. Steve and Harper enjoyed a country scenery and my parents were happy to get to know them. After saying good bye to my parents, we went back to Kofu and hang out with my friend, Yurie at my favorite cafe owned by a wonderful woman, Shiho and had a local noodle dish and took an express train back to tokyo. Wow…busy..

However, the Wed was the biggest day for Harper and me. We had a nice lunch with Steve and Steve went to the airport to go back to the States, and we headed to the U.S. emabssy for the interview. I was nervous for sure, and so was Harper, but we had no problem at all and everything went so well… we had a light meal at an organic cafe and went back to my place and took a long nap. yeah..like several hours. We were exhausted.
After this interview, we just hang out and took it easy. We slept in on thursday and watched a movie called “Hustle & Flow” and we checked out some stores in Omotesando and had a nice Italian dinner, and yesterday/ the last day before Harper left, we went shopping at the tokyo station and a nice Sashimi dinner/ Harper’s favorite! in Azabujuban. We were catching up the time we missed each other. It was like a nice weekend.
I had 7 days off and got married, and I am soooooooooooooooooo happy!! Thank you so much, Harper, Harper’s family, my family, his friends, and my friends. We are so happy because of all of you!!

My robott bunny was right.  there was a huge thunderstorm/ typhoon yesterday afternoon.  I was inside of the building, but still able to hear a loud thunder.  It is a typical Japanese summer.  A few people around me are on vacation and I am jealous…hahha…  I have only one day off a week, so that I can take day offs when Harper and his dad come to Japan.  It’s quite exciting for sure.  You have no idea how exciting this would be!!

While I didn’t update my blog, many things happened. I’ve got transferred to a fancy place  called Ginza.  There are many fancy department stores, boutiques, and restaurants there, and fancy women hang out there a lot.  I am definitely not one of them, but I found it interesting there in terms of the crowds.  The last place was fancy too, but it was more residential, and I was there for only one month.

I have been working a lot and takining care of a big school and many instructors.  On my day off I had my hair and finger nails done with high tech stuff (digital perm, Calgel nails??)  I have several tiny stars on my nails, and apparently they last good one month or so without peeling off.  amazing.  I had my eyelash permed too, so that I don’t have to curle them in the morning.  I am impressed with the technology and of course, my friends’ techniques.

Although I have been working a lot, I went out for a drink several times, which I think is really rare for me.  I have met many new people and they are from different places! It is super international here.  I really like it.

Lately, I have had a glass of wine with dinner… At first I felt sort of guilty by drinking alcohol almost everyday, but I don’t anymore, and it is an organic white wine! and chilled.  It is so summer, and I can’t resist it.

Harper and I have a huge huge news, but I will tell you guys later when it really happens!!

Since I set up this Nabaztag bunny with Harper’s help (of course), she has forcasted thunderstorms every day, I just laughed so hard today.  I wonder how many days she will keep on doing this.  I can’t believe that I have a robott pet now.  I have always wanted to have a bunny, so I am happy to have it even though it is not a real bunny..close enough??.  She rotates or moves her ears and makes noise.  So, tomorrow, it will be thunderstorm again….

Last night, I hang out with Miki and we had beer and nice conversation.  A while ago, she introduced me  a book about Edo Shigusa (Edo mannerism??) and a manual for prostitutes in Edo period.  quite interesting.  The mannerism one talks about aesthetics of Edo culture, and I believe that those qualities are supoposed to carry on to contemporary Japanese aesthetics, but sadly most of them hardly been seen in the society.  Generally speaking, it was a good reminder for me to think about how gracious, humble, and considerate Japanese people were/ are??.  The other one—prostitute manual is all about how to protect women’s bodies from being hurt or useless.  I am surprised that a dildo existed in Edo period…omg…umm..

my apartment smells like a fruit orchard now with peaches and plums.  my happy fragrant apartment with the bunny and fuits awaited me tonight.

I talked to Becca on the phone today!! and we told each other how great we were. hahaha..  Well, I started.  She is really happy and gives me a lot of hope and encouragement in my life, so I told her that, and she told me that how I take care of myself has been good influence on her.  We were like “we are awesome!” and big laugh…  she is moving to DC next month, and I want to visit her.

I talk to Harper everyday on the phone with his special phone/ internet trick, so we don’t have to pay so much.  amazing…  He went to Lula for dinner and ran into Becca and Fred, so I got to talk to her!!

Thank you, Harper!

He gave me a fancy robott bunny which can talk? and make sounds, although this bunny doesn’t have a mouth.  I accidently!? named her Bunniko because I couldn’t think of anything, but ‘something something Ko’ (many Japanese girls’ names end with “ko”  ummm..mine doesn’t, but “mi” is also common).  I should rename her soon.

Today is my day off…ahhhh..so nice to loosen up.  I was exhausted because I started working at a new place from this month.  I haven’t changed my job, but my status changed, yea..that’s right.  Last night, all I wanted to do was going to bed..ahh..  I wished I had chilled Irish cider in my frige..oh well….  I try to stay away from alcohol and caffeine  and I have been successful, but Irish cider from Ireland though..my friend’s souvenir..I should drink it sometime soon.  I like cider, and I am wondering if warm cider tastes good or not.  probably not, huh?
I went to a physical check-up today and they took my blood…it didn’t hurt though.  my doctor did a great job on it.  I guess I am healthy according to the doctor, but it takes a while to know the result of the blood and urine tests, I think.

I went to Macrobiotic Marche and got some sweets and grain coffee to tame my sugar and caffeine addiction.  When I really need caffeine to activate my brain, I drink green tea which seems to work better than coffee, especially for a long run.  I miss a good cup of coffee though.  I think that I will have a nice cup of coffee, but not fast foodish types.  I am super sensitive about what to take in my body now since I read the macrobiotic book that I mentioned in the earlier entries.  My coworker took me to a nice macrobiotic restaurant nearby my work!  They had great tempeh dishes and we splitted Fajita and Vietnamise spring rolls.  They were good, but I miss vege Vietnamise rolls from Tank in Argyle, Chicago.  They were so delicious!  I have made spring rolls, but theirs are the best.

Last week, I hang out with my friend from Cornell and she is also from my hometown.  It has been a couple of years since we hang out, so it was very nice to see her.  She was like, “you are still obsessed with food, aren’t you?”  ahhhh… she is right, I have to admit that, but lately I don’t feel guilty about my obsession because it is important for my body and spirit. I am much healthier than several years ago.  It affects my mental state too.

I am going to see my parents next week and hang out with my friends there.  it is my mini-mini summer vacation.  I will get fresh air and fresh veges and fruits into my body.

my friend sent me wonderful white peaches yesterday!  I am so excited to have them…

sweet things are my friends for sure.