K
So lately, I’ve been thinking about things that were super useful in the United States, but are completely useless and Japan. And this sort of came up because I’m getting ready to do a spring clean. And this time, I’m trying to get rid of things that we brought from the US that I just had no business bringing. And there’s no way that I could have known those before being in Japan shoes. Like, I would say two thirds of the shoes that I brought, I can’t wear.
C
I mean, I think to be fair, that a third of those were already impractical. But you have always disagreed about that.
K
And hey, so I love a stiletto heel. I do. I just love a stiletto heel. But I didn’t hold. I think we did a podcast. I want to say a couple years ago, right talked about like getting older and not wearing stilettos anymore. But even when I came to Japan, those stilettos were not, I couldn’t wear them anymore because one public transportation, that too, all of them have an ankle strap. Almost all of them have an ankle strap.
C
And a few days, I think like 10 days, it’ll be officially 17 years since you first came to Japan to live. Yeah. So you’re a little bit older.
K
Well, the thing that messes me up with bike because I have a lot of really cute touches. Yeah, but they all lace up. And I have not mastered the right tension for a lace up tennis shoe to be able to slip it on and off. And I was really surprised that like, I’m not surprised that by going into people’s homes, you have to take your shoes off. What I’m surprised about is the number of venues that require you to take your shoes off, like doctor’s office, dentist’s office, we’ve been in rooms and museums where you have to take your shoes off entire museums and art exhibits where you take your shoes off
C
when I was at university here. There were a couple of departments that required taking your shoes off. Math was not one of them. I got to wear my shoes in the math department. But there are a couple at the university I went to Nagoya University had I think like 11, specialists libraries. Yeah, some of the specialist libraries required removing your shoes to go into the library. And a couple of the labs did too.
K
Which is so just wild to me. It wouldn’t be wild if it was consistent, right. So I have to be prepared at any moment to take my shoes off. Because I don’t know and I so don’t find my Japanese friends. My Japanese sisters and brothers and siblings. Don’t fry is like y’all now so I’ll guess the call the middlings. Siblings cousins, brothers sisters, fam non binary. Yeah, my Japanese film. There you go. So my Japanese film Don’t fret. Y’all don’t know when you have to take your shoes off either.
C
We see people surprised by it yet,
K
because I have been. I have been hanging out my Japanese friends. And they like come in they go. Oh, sorry. Because they didn’t know. And I was like, it’s cool. I didn’t know either. And it was my idea to come. Yeah. So like I was there’s some restaurants that you have to take your shoes off.
C
And I just remembered that I was lying about the University of the math department. If I needed to use their computers, rather than my personal laptop, the computer lab you had to take your shoes off. And I thought other people be surprised by it, which is why it triggered this memory. It’s because I went there and I was surprised by it. And somebody else who’s a new student, Japanese came in. I went oh, before they started, um, lacing. They’re very much lace up shoes and put them in the shoe cabinet.
K
Yeah, and I don’t like so I don’t like to do the unlace and lace up because I’m a foreigner. And so it becomes a huge deal. And in some places if I’m the customer, they will want to shoe me and put my shoes on. Right if my shoes or slip on. They don’t mess with me because I feel like I know what time it is. You might
C
even know how to use chopsticks. Right?
K
I don’t feel comfortable with anybody dropping down and putting my shoes on me. Yeah, it’s Yeah, except for you. Yeah, like everybody knows you’ve been though that’s just the thing.
C
But it’s things to do tasks.
K
Your Get your mind out. Can’t your mind out of the gutter?
C
I’m looking at you so it’s hard. Wow. No,
K
are you saying I’m in the gutter? No, I’m
C
saying then looking at you.
K
You heard it first chance that I’m in the gutter
C
gives you thoughts that I shouldn’t share on the podcast.
K
I like being in the gutter with you. Yes, I live in the gutter and not roll around them up. Yeah,
C
yeah, but nobody ever tried to put my shoes on for me. They would have me. Yeah, they would have me a shoe horn.
K
So why don’t they try to put your shoes on?
C
I think they were taking advantage of pretty privilege. Yes.
K
I don’t think it was pretty privileged because it was, it would be women that would do it. I’ve had a couple men do it too. So when you go into so I went in I was the strangest instance of it was I was doing furniture shopping here in Japan, I went to a really upscale, high end furniture place because I was looking for a king size bed. And it’s more likely to find a larger bed, but more upscale, you go in Japan. This place also sold authentic Japanese. I can’t read the name of it now. Popular in the 80s the fake stuff. If you can’t touch it, lacquer. Yeah. Japanese lacquerware. Yeah, Japanese like lacquered cabinets. And we’ve talked about the cabinet’s before we’re like authentic Japanese lacquer, the heat from your hand, will change the color of the lacquer. So I was at the place and it was still early in my timeshare in Japan. But and
C
for context. It’s only been about 10 years that IKEA has been here. And when IKEA came, say furniture sales in Japan went up by 80%. Because most people never buy furniture in their lifetime. Furniture is was just hideously expensive here.
K
Yeah. And it’s really dropped, right? The furniture prices. So this was before IKEA was here. And there are very few furniture shops and very few bed shops. So go into this place because they might have what’s called a royal bed, which is a California king is called royal bed here. I don’t know. So I went there and I had lace up shoes because I was going furniture shopping. So I wouldn’t have take my shoes off, had to unlace my shoes and take them off, which is not a big deal. They tried to drop down and replace them. I was like, No, thank you. I’m Bonnie thing. I’m not committing. I felt like the stuff I’m committing to buying something. They feel like that too. That’s why they dropped down, right? And then they have like really my slippers. And I put the slippers on I go around everything and I’m not even tripping. And then again, they tried to put my shoes back on. So the context of being in a furniture store where you can’t touch the furniture. And they asked you to clasp your hands behind your back. That was really strange to me. Taking off my shoes in a furniture shop was really strange for me. Yeah. And that’s when I was like I’m done with lace up shoes. Yes, I’m done. And then I was done with ankle diatonic still rock acute ankle strap. And I was done with the cute ankle strap because I was wearing strap at the toe strap at the ankle six on stiletto and the first flight of steps. One flight of steps. I was like, Okay, let’s go home and you’re really chill about it. And you’re like those shoes are impassable bit like No, no, they’ll be fine. They’ll be fine. And you’re like no boobs. So it’s like, I don’t think I think that we should. And you’re like, I know you really want to wear the shoes at the event. So I’ll carry them for you. And then we got to the event. I was like, Okay, I will be so overdressed in the tills and I would tower over everybody. But at five foot seven as a woman as someone who’s female presenting, I just wish feel like I was towering over everyone, right? And so I was like, Okay, I’m gonna stay in flats here. Because I’m right within like the sweet spot for female presenting height. And for your age. I feel like yeah, for your
C
age group. Yeah, because I noticed the kids like there are a lot of older teenagers who are taller than me. And like girls who are near my height, I’m not quite 510. But anybody older, like if somebody is a little taller than 50 here, and Japanese, I’m going to be taller than them. Yeah, but if somebody is under 25 It’s a mix. It’s a mixed bag.
K
And so I need to out myself that I wear suede. I’m going to help myself to have suede shoes. So I’m sorry for anybody who hasn’t been paying attention, but I’m not vegan because I can’t be and I can’t be vegan because I have a rare blood disorder. And yeah, I’m super defensive about it.
C
That’s the same reason cats can’t be vegans not the same chemical, but you lack the ability to synthesize a necessary amino acid. The same cats do.
K
So I can’t be vegan. Right. And I think I’m defensive about it because I think that I would go vegan just because of where we’re at with climate change. I think like, everybody should do what they can. So I do go vegan a couple times a month, like what my body will tolerate. I try to go vegan at least once a week.
C
Well, you’re definitely not a meat at every meal kind of person.
K
No, like, cuz my body can’t do that either. Right? So it’s all like, the third thing is a thing is the thing. Follow us on Twitter, if you want to know more about. So I tweet a lot about my third thing. When I’m tweeting. I don’t know sometimes to most of our tweets on Twitter, Chad, because you’re more consistent on Twitter, I think
C
hard to say. I haven’t tweeted very much in the last couple of months, because I had a break. And then I got a promotion at work. So I’ve been busy.
K
Oh, yeah. There’s that having a life. Yeah. Beyond. So when I’m tweeting all the time, I’m still having a life. I’m just having a life that I have more discretionary time. Yeah, that’s when I’m not tweeting us because I don’t get to decide what I’m doing my time. Other people have laid claim to it kind of thing.
C
And usually when I’m tweeting, I’m waiting on somebody else.
K
Yeah. Yeah. A lot of hurry up and wait, I do sometimes. Yeah.
C
Or like, start automated things. Because a lot of my job is automating things and wait for them to see how they go. So a lot of wait time,
K
what’s automated and watch? Right? You have to watch and wait for it to break. Yes. Or catch things like up is doing something that’s gonna break. Yes. And I what I think it’s so odd at your job is that people are upset that you’re preemptively preventing something from breaking, because they want it to run until it breaks. And I get that your predecessor, I’m gonna say you won’t say it, I’ll say your predecessor sucked ass at the job. And so they kind of like all of your predecessors, built in this mentality of we should get as far down the road as we can. But if you’re good at your job, you realize that if stuff is completely broken down,
C
what and we’re using tools, I don’t want to get into like a big long work thing. But we’re using tools that allow for on the flight tuning of different things. And that’s what I do when I’m doing these kind of things. So
K
I feel like they get some timing with you about that. Like sometimes they love it. Sometimes they don’t
C
they they do it very much is if I’m doing my job, right, everything just runs smoothly.
K
But that’s not true. Because you’ve got things that are grandfathered in.
C
But yeah, I’m saying from the outside, everything runs smoothly. People don’t see what what’s not running smoothly, internally. Yeah. And they start to say, do you really do anything like nobody’s been that direct? And I think that’s a difference in work culture between Australia and Japan, because
K
it’s, for me, it’s the thing that bothers me is not do anything. The thing that bothers me is why did you do that? Yeah. Why did you do that thing that prevented a catastrophe? Yeah, that’s, I don’t like that. So that kind of explains like a little bit of how different cultures think about usefulness and uselessness. And for me, what I’m thinking about for usefulness are what are the things that I can use every day? What are the things that I enjoy using? What are the things that are covered in dust, and have to go to the dry cleaners to use them? And there’s a serious mold issue, at least where we live. And I find that I struggle with things that I love. But I’m starting to have the rule if it ever gets moldy, I should throw it out. Because obviously, I’m not using it enough or attending to it enough that it prevented it from sitting in the closet and getting mold. Yeah. And so clothes will mildew if you’re not using them regularly, and they’re not airing out the closet regularly, or rotating them regularly. And cleaning them regularly. For me at least clothes get moldy. And it’s not because I’m dirty. So don’t be shady. If there’s like there are mold spores and I’ve talked about the writing yet airborne.
C
Yeah, my shoes get get it
K
off of our shoe cabinet to prevent our sheets from molding right. And it’s really hard because I have a lot of things. I really love that I need to get rid of that hole if it doesn’t spark joy crap, it sparks joy. Okay, I’m just not using it. And I was listening to as watching hosta Minaj the fast fashion episode of Patriot Act if you have Netflix, I think everyone should go watch the fast fashion episode. Because it freed me. I’ve had these clothes now for some of them for 20 years.
C
Yeah, some of them since before we got married, which was more than 20 years ago.
K
Yeah. And so I kept it For the life of it, and I was shocked to find out in the United States that 80% of things that go to the Salvation Army are thrown away. Yeah. And by thrown away, I mean, shipped to Africa. And then Africans got through it. And from there, so 80% of it gets shipped to Africa. And then only 20% of that gets used. So 60% of everything you donate ends up in a landfill,
C
but we had somebody come by not from Salvation Army, but come by and say, Do you have any kind of good condition use clothes? When we had thing, we pulled them out? And they took one scarf? And some of these things still had tags on them? Yes. Like, it wasn’t that they were, you know, old and Ratty. It was just that they’re like, No, we couldn’t use that. So we’re not even gonna pretend to take it.
K
So for me, I do have like, a big, like, I do need to do like two or three bags of clothes that I’m throwing out and I didn’t need to do a bunch of shoes. My problem with the shoes are as I’ve talked about them before, there, shouldn’t Chanel. And so they’re Gucci, rather. And so I think I do think I am going to put them up, like take photos of them, and put them up with the size and say, come take me you can have me
C
more on our, our grocery store has a donation box for clothing to so we’ll figure out what the rules are about that and what we can take to there.
K
Yeah, but I feel better. I don’t feel like a bad human for everything. Yeah, I want to get rid of because it’s just not useful. Like sweaters. I’ve talked about the sweaters before. Yeah, because temperatures are so variable inside. I just feel like I’m roasting. And um,
C
yeah, I think we mentioned before, if it’s raining, the heat will be on on the subway. Yes, like no matter how hot it is outside. It is raining. The heat is on. Yeah, I’m assuming that’s kind of some kind of anti moisture mechanism.
K
Yeah, and flip flops can’t wear my flip flops. Yeah. Because the sudden rain and not I have one pair of flip flops that I can wear. But they’re so culturally done that I just don’t wear my flip flops. Because when you take your seats off inside, because you’re wearing slippers, you have to have on socks or you’re rude. Yeah, so I have seen some people that wear open toed or flip flops and just carry a pair of socks in their bag. That my purse is so tiny like it’s full.
C
The Gator socks the gator? That wouldn’t shoes? Yeah. So they sell the socks with the big toe separated so that you can use it. Yeah,
K
but that’s not cute. It’s not That’s not cute. So the thing that surprises me most that we brought from the US that I have not used at all is my Kool Aid jug.
C
I use it sometimes for water.
K
But there’s no Kool Aid in Japan. No, there’s
C
not. There’s no flavor eight either. They’re not playing favorites like that.
K
Yeah, there’s no Kool Aid. There’s no flavoring, no Crystal Light. And I never drank Crystal Light. I’m not even sure
C
it exists anymore. But you know, I used to drink the the pouches where you could.
K
Yeah, you did like the Crystal Light. And I haven’t seen do they do just patches here. I haven’t seen them.
C
Yeah, you don’t like the juice patches here. They do juice boxes. Yeah, I’ve
K
never I wasn’t a fan of them in the United States. Yeah, but I would give Rasta Capri Sun Yeah. And I would pretend to take a sip because that’s who you are Rasta when you listen to this I’m just gonna come clean. No, I’m sorry to do this publicly. I know this might be traumatizing for you. But mommy never drank your Capri Suns. I guess pretended to drink your Capri Sun. Wow. Yes, money lied. And I’m sorry.
C
Hashtag truth bomb. Right?
K
Because what kid needs their parent to sip like as if they’re afraid of being poisoned?
C
Thank you. I was just thinking what kid needs a poison tester?
K
Everything Everything for that kid. You taste it. I don’t like strawberry milk. But you taste it but I don’t like it tasted anyway. And so he’ll just like pressure me and just stare at me with those eyes. And like y’all have a met roster but if you met roster, he has his face that he does. That is just like 1000 pounds of peer pressure. There’s like nothing is going forward. Nothing is happening until you do this thing for me mother. Yeah my mother so he makes the do this for me another face and I’m just I’m weak against the face. Roster Dota two rosters still use this dude. That roster knows don’t overuse it because it doesn’t tolerate it. So rosters crap Y’all don’t play around sight on this, your mind. So I think of all of the nasty stuff I’ve had to drink, and eat and taste so that this child of mine would eat and drink their food that they wanted, mind you. So, that’s all I’m saying about that. So Rasta is one of those things that worked in the United
C
I was thinking to myself, don’t say it.
K
Just kidding. We love you, baby. I’m just kidding. Mommy loves you. I’m happy we brought Roscoe
C
he calls your mother
K
I have the me rock roster from the years, especially now that his Japanese is like native level. Yes. So for reals for reals roster super useful. But besides that Ross is our son and we love pasta. Yes. Last is the precious
C
but we did bring a lot of clothes from the US that he never ended up wearing because he had outgrown them. Bastard like when we moved we didn’t separate Okay, these are the clothes that are outgrown and these are not it was just well of course we’re running a 20 foot container
K
now he went through a growth spurt right after we got here.
C
Yeah, so
K
we did not pack clothes that didn’t fit him. We packed clothes that he developed the agency and autonomy to say that he wouldn’t wear anymore because I love roster in the color orange. Yes, you do. I love roster and the color orange rasa does not like to wear the color orange. And so we have now we have a truce and a treaty on that Ross doesn’t have to wear anymore orange. But there was a point in time. Because roster we moved on roster was 12. Yeah. And NASA was right at that age like so right before we moved faster was still being dressed by me. And then once we moved, and Rasca acclimate to here, Ross is like, I don’t like that.
C
Well, and you came over here in bursts to learn Japanese and different things. Yeah, two years before we moved here finally. So
K
that didn’t affect what we brought with us. It should have been, should have. But
C
we started like having stuff here in Japan when Ross was 10.
K
Yeah. And so that all of that stuff stayed, right. And I feel like we used all of that stuff, because a lot of that stuff was art and everything. So I love all of our photos that we brought all of our keepsakes, and all of our memorabilia and even blankets. I love our blankets and our towels. The towels make me feel just so we have towels that we have owned for 20 years now. Yeah. So okay, we keep stuff
C
on there from Target.
K
Yeah. So no family surprising to me that I wish we had brought that we didn’t bring. We’re dishes. As we bought for some reason we bought tons of silverware. Right. We we bought all of our almost all of our cutlery, but we didn’t bring any of our plates. And I wish we had brought our plates. Because Japanese plates, we buy them at the dollar store just to be clear. And the Dollar Store plates. We didn’t have dollar store places in the US we had nice, like place sets for entertaining. And I was like I’m not going to be entertaining as much. But the dollar stir plates in Japan, if you drop them once they split down the middle
C
one you’ve been watching a ceramic show. Pottery shows now I know. Oh, they had two halves of a plate. And they just held them together with glaze. Because they all they all develop crack lines before they actually crack.
K
Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.
C
When I spend some knowledge, you’re never gonna
K
get me to agree. Anybody made a plate in two pieces, like watching the pottery show. If nothing else, you should have learned that that is just like the least fees like this. Oh my gosh, no,
C
they all crack so cleanly, though.
K
No, they don’t some break at the edge. We do have had a lot that break right down the center. Yeah, but some break at edge. And so I’m wondering, should we invest? Should we pay a little bit more? Should we go ahead and separate and pay that $4 more for a plate, but I don’t trust it. I don’t feel like it would stay. I feel like it would be just as fragile. And then the wood, the wooden dishes that they have here. That cheap lacquer that they put on them that bubbles up and I don’t want to eat that. Yeah, so
C
the cheap ceramic dishes that we buy last us about four or five years usually that the wooden ones that we tried that we’re like we’re gonna do the wood. It’s made of bamboo. It’s not actually wood. We’re gonna do the bamboo. It’s gonna be good. It’s gonna be good for eco friendly. Does like five or six times after eating off of them. Yeah, all of the finish on it was gone, it would start staining and like warping and yeah, they’re just not good.
K
And then we have a really nice tea set that someone gave us. I don’t know why they gave us this really nice, expensive tea set. And it’s fragile as all get out, so you can’t use it. So I don’t know, where the price point is for durable goods.
C
I don’t know, because that just got delivered one day and you’re like, Oh, that’s a client. Don’t look at the name. Like, okay.
K
Yeah. And how they found me was creepy, but whatever. Like, some people track me down and find my home address which violation violation. So I started putting,
C
yeah, you started putting, if you try to track me down, I will drop you as a client.
K
Yeah. Like, don’t send things to my home, do not find my home. Do not follow me home. And you’re like, What have you been through a lot? Okay. So I don’t know, what is a durable good. In Japan? I don’t know the durable brands. I know, the high end brands. And I know, the low end brands, I don’t know the media and brands. Right? I feel like we I brought a lot of high end brand stuff from the US with me to Japan, that don’t fit my lifestyle. Yeah, cuz I’m not. I’m not an entertainer anymore. And also, it just even when we were entertaining in Japan, I wasn’t using those things. Because I was surprised to find out that when you do have, we did throw a couple of house parties we I know we said we never threw parties, but we used to throw them quite regularly and have Japanese people come over. And they did enjoy it, the home cooking and all of that. But we had really intimate relationships with them. And so it was never a fancy dress, right party like a dinner party in Japan. Is it a formal dinner? We didn’t have? Yeah, friends on that level.
C
We have a relationship that they were they had said, please go ahead and call me by my first name.
K
Yeah, we did. And I have friends that I can chat. And so yeah, like so those like songs so much on and couldn’t and Thomas for girls Chronos for boys. And right away. It’s not strict. But like you that’s to say that you need them. When you hear someone saying like, like that’s the Quran. That’s them saying that they’ve known roster since he was a boy. Yeah. And so I have a couple of good friends are like, No, you can call me China couldn’t because I feel like I’ve known you long enough that you’re like, like a childhood friend. Yeah. And so if you have a childhood friend over, like, what’s your level of dress, you know? And if we’re going out to a museum or what have you, I just I don’t find that there’s enough formal occasions where I dress up. And then there was the awkward thing of where we would go to events with the American Chamber of Commerce, Japan, and y’all can hate me if you want to, I don’t care. And I went to one event and I was dressed in all silk and heels, my heels. And everybody made such a big deal of the fact that I was wearing silk. And I was like
C
all these people in wool, silk and wool suits.
K
Yeah, so it was uncomfortable for me. And then I went to another formal like it was supposed to be a formal business type dinner and the silk again, it was an I have these two skirts are really beautiful. They’re embroidered. So I thought, Okay, I won’t do the embroidery itself, because that makes like, way too much of a hullabaloo. They weren’t that expensive. They aren’t my most expensive. I
C
was thinking I was thinking the price. I thought those were reasonably priced. You’ve gotten like many, many years of many, many times of use out of them.
K
Yeah, so then I just wore a plain soap because I like soap because it’s airy. And I never know the temperature in Japan. So silk is my friend. And they made like a huge deal out of the fact that I was an all silk again. And I was just like, okay, so
C
no, it’s Ray on I told you. I don’t wear bring on. I know you don’t
K
is for ecological reasons. Yeah. And so for me, I just feel like I’m in the packet in cotton and natural and I do natural fibers. So that has has shifted. So my sweaters and so it’s mostly clothes that we shouldn’t have brought with us instead we should have brought dishes. Yes. Like I wish we had brought dishes but the cabinets are so shallow, at least in in our house. The cabinets are so shallow that I don’t know if our dishes would have fit. And that was one of the issues. One of the things that we were talking about, because we had lived here for a little while and then back. They were when we’re looking at dishes or like what our dishes fit, like dishes would not fit in the dishwasher. No, like a full size American plate does an average American dinner plate would not fit. And the curry plates don’t fit. So
C
they’re too curved.
K
They’re too tall.
C
Yeah, that’s one thing though. Too curved. They’ve got too much depth.
K
They’re too tall.
C
They’re too diameters.
K
Circumference is too large. See, I see the curve in the pleat.
C
I say diameter, but you can calculate Cumference from the diameter, so I’ll allow it.
K
So what’s something you brought that you regret? I think you have any regrets. Do you regret the shake machine? I think you should regret Brian. I
C
do regret bringing the milkshake machine. I don’t think I’ve ever used it here. We used it here for a while. What was never a good idea. And it wasn’t a good idea in the US. That’s when anything by never. Yeah. It was never a good idea. Yeah, I think the big things that I brought were like art and such. I don’t regret bringing that. I’m happy you brought that.
K
I love that. We bought our art.
C
Yeah, I think I had a desk that we brought.
K
No, we didn’t bring your desk. Okay. You bought a glass desk, so you can regret that purchase?
C
Yeah. I thought I was gonna like it. Yeah,
K
no. No more desks for you.
C
Right. Now I have a TV tray that I use. And that’s all you get.
K
And it’s all I need. Yeah, three teeny trays. A lot better.
C
I guess strictly they’re not TV trays. Because they’re they’re just collapsible tables. They reach all the way to the ground. They don’t have the miniature legs of a typical, you mess
K
them off me? Absolutely. Yeah. Because you have my big,
C
I have your big and then I went and bought two more to replace your big. And then I took them back. I was like you’re not using
K
memory is so bad. The two small tables that we have, you did not bite. So something that’s really practical in Japan, if you move to Japan, get yourself some collapsible tables. They’re awesome. I suggest them to every client when they’re like, I don’t know how to set things up and that pop up and I’m like, get yourself collapsible tables. And then like, would that work? And then my guess because while you’re working, you can have your table up. Yeah. And when you’re relaxing, you can put your table down. And they’re like, but where would I put this at the end? And I like collapsible table. I’m telling you, and all of my clients have loved it. So we had collapsible tables that go with the chairs? Yes, that we have in the living room that we now have our beds in. Yes. So those are the collapsible tables that you use. So you’re trying to have this fiction where you actually purchase your own classical tables specifically for just a few years. And that never happened.
C
I remember buying them at Nitori. Very,
K
okay. You went with me to buy them? Yes. Where they purchase for you to use as your office desk. No.
C
Yeah, this is true.
K
So something we brought from the United States that broke down that we replaced the ring on that I love that we still use our blender. Yeah. I love our blender.
C
We’ve had to replace the rubber part a few times. Yeah. And there to prevent the motor from burning out. So yes, we have been bad people and use it to crush ice.
K
Because I went through an ice chip phase. Yeah. So we’re using it to chip is this a good blender? Yes. Something else you brought? That I think was a waste your fishbone remover that you’ve never used to remove a single Fishbone from a single piece of fish. I know.
C
And when I when I bought that Fishbone remover? Yeah. Because I thought wow, I cook a lot of fish now. I really need a fishbone and
K
have we never get a piece of this?
C
Yeah. So when I bought that fish remover. I wasn’t thinking about whether it’d be useful in Japan.
K
So why did we bring it? Why do we still have it?
C
It was a gift from you to me. You gave it to me as a gift. very excitedly. You’re like, be paid. I got you something.
K
I did not give you the fishbone you did. You
C
did. It’s from William Sonoma. You gave it to me
K
that Oh, because that’s when you told me that You were gonna make me salmon.
C
And I did make you salmon. I just didn’t use that thing.
K
Because you bought burned salmon filets? Yes. Hello. Well, you told me that you were gonna fillet fish.
C
I think. I think we had a breakdown in language there.
K
So you cook me the list of shrimp? Yeah. I hardly ever want the shrimp. And you, you don’t cook me any fish at all. I’ll randomly go buy fish at the store when I’m craving it. But then cooking it is too much for me. Yeah,
C
I bought y’all a couple of times. We’ve cooked a few fish. But, you know, I feel like one of the things that I like is that the grocery stores near enough I can go get prepared foods. And they always have well prepared fish. I feel like it’s much more efficient for them to cook 50 servings of this thing and then sell them then for me to cook one of my own. Yeah. So cooking for myself. Sometimes I feel like ecologically bad about it.
K
I feel like if you’re planning a move to Japan, I think having a Western rice cooker. Yeah, because we have a Western rice cooker and I absolutely love. Alright, now we have a Japanese rice cooker.
C
No. All right. Ours is still one load, Ron. Is it? Yeah. Japanese rice cooker. I don’t use the rice cooker. It was made by a Japanese company. But all of the buttons and everything are an English.
K
Yeah. So like I would say absolutely bring all of your cooking all of your pots and pans. Because I wish we had brought all of our pots and pans. Yeah. And I wish we had brought all of our plates and glasses. And cutlery. So I think pack up your kitchen and bring your kitchen with you. Except for your baking pans. Bring your small. What do we have our nine by nines. Yeah. Bring all your nine by nine baking pans. But leave all your big, like broiler pans. Leave those.
C
Yeah, unless you set up for especially you’re not cooking a sheet cake.
K
Yeah, no, there’s no, you can’t cook a sheet cake. Right. Like we technically could because we have brailler pans that came with our oven. And we bought a boiler pan and additional boiler pan because I like to boil two things at once what I’m doing like my little, they like to make these dishes where you put food and aluminum foil and roll them up. Yeah. And I like to cook more than two rows of it because then it’s a 15 minute meal. And it microwaves beautifully. And you can reinvent it like once it’s cooked you can cook it a bunch of different other ways on the second cook. Yeah, add rice or add spice that’s really dead. And I would say don’t bring sweaters.
C
Yeah, I think it depends on where you’re going to live.
K
I know that they’ll bring bandanas because for some reason down dances are super expensive in Japan. Like when they sell them at the dollar store. I buy a bunch of them because they’re not natural. They’re not regularly stocked at the dollar store. And if for me, I feel like more than $1 more than shakin, 100 yen for $1 for a bandana is outrageous. just outrageous. I’m used to getting three, three or four for $1. Sometimes extra dollar. Yeah, you’re
C
not used to like $9 A piece.
K
Right? So I went to the store one day I was gonna buy bandanas and I was like, Okay, wait, I’m not paying $9 For a single bandana. Like I was an undershirts and underclothes. Lots and lots of underwear.
C
Unless you like going to the convenience store and buying underwear. Like which is really only an option for men.
K
So if you’d like bikini cut underwear. If if you like wearing female underwear, that is bikini cut, you’ll be fine. And if you’re within the size ranges, yeah. So for me, I’m a big girl. I don’t like bikini cut, and I don’t wear a thong anymore. I’m done like my thong years are behind me. And I find that I can’t find comfortable cuts. And then also I’d like to wear the boxer briefs. Yeah. And they don’t make boxer briefs in my size and the cut of the boxer briefs are strange here in Japan. Like men’s underwear in Japan. They have like a little pouch sewn into them. Yes for the business and I find in the in the US. The pouch can lay flush, or the pouch can purge out but it’s a flexible pouch. Right right. Other than a cut in pouch that’s rigid. Yeah. Which I think it’s weird.
C
It’s not comfortable. It’s not quite codpiece, but it’s very much longer.
K
So I think the biggest practical thing is and I love the fact that we brought our umbrellas, but they’ve since turned to dust.
C
I had one stolen because it was just too beautiful. The frogs? No, not the frogs. The frogs wore out the butterflies that I got in Sweden.
K
Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was a gorgeous umbrella.
C
Got it the natural Museum of History. Yeah.
K
So I would say, think about, like, if you’re going to be bringing stuff, think about, like, go online, and figure out how big a tatami is. And I would say create that with something that you own. Like, if you can get a towel. That’s the length of autonomy, or something because everything is to Tommy size. Or if
C
you have a laundry room, that’s probably about the size of a standard bedroom here in Japan.
K
Yeah. And do the layout and think to yourself, like the tatami still Jacks me up. I know for me, like, our current bedroom is really small. So our living room was only five and a half to Tommy big. But that’s because it’s supposed to be our dining room. Which is weird to me. Yeah. Because after kitchen is supposed to be the living room and for my American brain, if it’s off of the kitchen as the dining room. Hello. But it’s actually supposed to be the living room. And that’s like, eight to Tommy or eight and a half? I don’t know.
C
Yeah, I couldn’t. We’re looking the other day for this. And I could find certification on the total square area, but not of the rooms.
K
Yeah, and familiarize yourself with a measuring tape. If you’re coming from specifically the United States, where we’re the only one of the few countries, not the only, like one of three countries that uses Imperial measurements. It’s going to take a minute for you to get used to you will get used to it. I don’t say that you’ll know the metric but you’ll get used to it. But
C
even if you use it even if you work in centimeters all the time. I haven’t seen any metal tape here.
K
Yeah, I haven’t seen any metal lock tape. Everything’s a really soft, like, everything’s a soft floppy. took your hands you can find Yeah,
C
maybe. Tape. I know it’s from measuring around curves, like specifically measuring people. You don’t want your Craftsman metal tape when you’re measuring some somebody’s waist. But
K
yeah, yeah, think about the types of things that that you want to do. And the type of lifestyle that you want to have. But definitely, we’re always telling everybody to look at floor plans. And it’s not a joke. It’s because don’t look at the the square footage. Because there are some bedrooms that are honest to goodness as big as a single bed. Yes. And that’s all it will fit in it is a single bed. And like you have to exit it. You have to crawl up the end of your bed. Because side to side you’re touching.
C
Yeah, think like you’ve heard of capsule hotels. It’s a capsule bedroom.
K
Completely capsule bedroom. So look at floor plans and think about what is useful to you. Not what sparks joy, or none of that. What do you use? What will you use on a regular basis? And then think about what would you use in a room? That is always 80 degrees? Because inside for some reason? 80 degrees is the temperature in Japan for inside not your own home? Yeah, that’s the between 70 and 80.
C
That’s the cool bill. Yeah, yeah, that’s the cool business policy that that only started being the case in like 2012.
K
Yeah. And I love a hoodie, but they’re just, I don’t know, they’re just, they’re viewed as low class here. So even if you’re wearing a nice hoodie, so I would say invest in a nice one nice jacket. So if you’re going shopping, or you’re going someplace where you don’t want to be viewed as homeless, have something other than 30
C
Well, and one final thing is not to bring but to be aware of if you are moving here with a job, and the company is like you’re gonna live in company housing. Oh, you are you are being taken for a ride on the rent. If you’re gonna be here for more than a minute.
K
Yeah, in it. I think next month we’re doing moving. Yeah. And living. Yeah, we’re doing that next month because we’re masters moving We’ll probably have, that’ll be on my mind. As we talk about what lately I’m talking about fresh up to date info. Yep. And what’s lately what’s been on my mind for the take two is things easy. We’ll pull up, we’re in Volume Two of the evening. And we have our second author nuts, and so super excited about that. And we’ve done away with their outro and our intro because we’re wiling out here.
C
Okay, that’s what the description is for.
K
So we hope that you had a good time listen to this just ramble on mostly about clothing that we shouldn’t have bought. And I’m sorry, like, you know, truth bombing, Rosta like that, but it is what it is. So thank you so much. All of our beautiful music mills. We’re so happy that you listen, we value each and every listen, and we’re so happy that we’re in. I’m doing the release of roof motion. We’re so happy that we’re in the top 10 on player FM spin, like, I don’t know, like three or four months now. Yeah, it’s gonna say and if you follow us on over to the tech team become our patron you have over like several 100 things that you can download and listen to
C
and I think it’s like over 100 I think several 100 Is is a bridge too far
K
for me when they’re listening to this.
C
Okay, fair point. Yeah,
K
well follows on over to the take today. We’re gonna talk about all things eating. Bye
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