K: So, lately I’ve been thinking about all of the things that are no longer strange to me here in Japan. Like, things that are just… normal that would be so weird in the United States if they occurred.

C: Okay. Like speaking Japanese?

K: No. Not like speaking Japanese. Although, when I very, very first came here, the Japanese all the time was quite startling, alarming, and scary because I had been told that the Japanese speak English. And the first time we came here, it was on vacation. So, when we moved here, I knew that already. (laughs) And I had studied some Japanese. No. But stuff like having the toilet not be in the same room as the shower.

C: Which now, it seems like “eww.”

K: Right? It seems so barbaric. Like, why would you do that? That is so gross.

C: And we see occasionally, like – it’s been a few years now since I traveled domestically for business – and let’s be real, I have not traveled internationally for business because of Covid.

K: Yeah.

C: But I anticipate in the future I will travel internationally for business. But when I go to business hotels, the… they have the “kit bathroom” where they have the toilet and the shower and everything are in one. And I just think of that as dirty times.

K: Yeah. So, that’s something that I also don’t find strange anymore. So, in a business hotel, you have to step in – in Japan – you have to step over a ledge into the bathroom, and the toilet and the shower – there’s no tub, and it’s just one room. And so… when

C: The ones I stay at, sometimes there’s a tub.

K: Okay. So, there can be a tub or no tub.

C: Right.

K: Something else I don’t find strange anymore is the fact that I can’t – that the tubs are short.

C: Mhm.

K: That they’re not made for the length of – for me to lay my feet down when I take a bath.

C: You are incredibly tall.

K: Right.

C: (laughs)

K: All 5 foot 4 of me. So, for me… baths were always about soaking my knees.

C: Yes.

K: And not being able to soak my knees, I haven’t taken a bath in – gosh, I don’t know… it’s been 15 years since I’ve taken a bath? I want to say.

C: That sounds about right because I was thinking, “no, we must’ve done it at a hotel. Like sometime along the way” – but no.

K: No. Not – since moving to Japan, I have not taken a bath. And I don’t think that’s weird. I shower

C: Well, yeah.

K: But I don’t think that’s weird. And something else I no longer find weird is that everywhere we go, it’s a detachable shower head.

C: I hadn’t thought about that.

K: That we have a fixed, overhead shower head and a detachable shower head.

C: Yeah because I thought, “our shower head is not detachable. I mean, we have the thing on the side for that.” (laughs)

K: Yeah because you’ve always loved an over the head…

C: Yeah, I have.

K: Shower. And every black girl with me will be like, “amen, sister” on not using the over head. So, I can put my head up in the bonnet and not have to worry about it and get a really good bathing because… shock and awe to everyone who’s not black, black folks – at least the black folks I know – we don’t wash our hair every day because it’s so dry. At least, my hair personally, is so dry and so fine that I would be baldheaded if I was washing my hair every day. It would just rip the hair right out of my head.

C: And I don’t wash your hair every day either.

K: Yeah. You don’t. Thank you for not washing my hair.

C: (laughs) You’re welcome.

K: You have never been allowed to wash my hair. You know there are strict hair rules.

C: (laughs)

K: And that’s one thing in a mixed ethnicity thing – I did take you to hair school early. Early in the relationship. I don’t sleep in bonnets, and I don’t sleep in a head scarf. And I don’t oil my scalp because my scalp isn’t that dry. But sometimes, I do oil my – I do oil my hair but not my scalp.

C: Well, and just to be real – because we keep it real on here – sometimes, you do sleep sitting up so that the issue of what you have on your head is moot because your head is not actually touching anything.

K: Yes. And so, I had to explain to you protective hairstyles and why there is absolutely never any tension on the front of my hairline.

C: You tried to save me, but it was already too late.

K: Yeah. Tension hair loss got you.

C: Yeah. It did. You were horrified at what I did with my comb.

K: Yeah. You would just like rip it through your – you would literally tear your hair out.

C: Well, yes, that’s how you get it straight. Like, obviously, if it tears it out those hairs were tangled up and rebellious.

K: And so, now my hair has changed texture over the years. My hair is getting straighter, which is really, really strange to me.

C: I think that’s length. And the reason I think it’s length is because my aunt – my mom’s sister – her hair could grow down to the middle of her back, and the longer it got the straighter it got, and

K: Oh, the weight of the hair.

C: Yeah.

K: It’s pulling out the curls.

C: Yeah.

K: Yeah. And it makes me really uncomfortable when family members comment – make the “good hair” comment. I don’t like that. I think all hair is good, and it also touches on core pain of mine. I’ve always wanted a crown.

C: Yeah.

K: And my hair has never been able to afro, and so I feel like I’ve been denied my crown. But Rasta’s hair can afro, and, in the summer, I usually give him a summer cut so that it’s really short because it’s so hot. And this summer, he’s just pulling it back into a ponytail because I’ve been too sick to cut it. But his hair is so beautiful. His crown is gorgeous, it’s hard to cut it. It pains my heart.

C: You know something that – I think that happens in Japan is people stare at Rasta, but they don’t stare exclusively at his hair. And in the U.S., people stare exclusively at his hair and attempt to touch it – and he was much younger. He was a child, so I think there’s also those… kind of sense of

K: No, Rasta gets accosted by – Rasta doesn’t go to conbinis at night because there’s drunk people there, and they will follow him home talking about his hair. Like, Rasta gets – so, here’s some things that I do think are strange.

C: Okay.

K: Rasta was riding his back late one night, and this chick stopped him and asked him if he knew where to get drugs.

C: (laughs)

K: Like, this random Japanese girl. And he was like, “no, I don’t.” She was like, “can you help me find my friends?” Because her and her friends were out roaming the streets in the middle of the night looking for drugs. And I was like, “Rasta, what is wrong with you?”

C: The newspaper is clear: foreigners are responsible for all drugs.

K: And I don’t find that strange anymore. That kind of bigotry.

C: Yeah.

K: It’s not shocking to me. I was like, “of course she’s gonna ask the foreigner where to get drugs.”

C: Okay.

K: Of course, the foreigner knows.

C: Thank you. If you want drugs or Covid, find a foreigner.

K: Right? So, something more positive that I don’t find strange anymore is… I don’t find the fact that the shopping center is attached – the grocery store is attached to a mall. That was really, really weird for me. The whole Jusco-Aeon thing is just really weird to me.

C: See, that’s interesting to me because – that’s interesting because, in Alaska

K: What grocery store in California is attached to a mall?

C: West Valley had a grocery store attached to it.

K: No. It did not.

C: It absolutely did. You just completely ignored it because it was across the street from the Good Guys – which went out of business – and there was a… a shopping – a grocery store attached to West Valley mall. But it wasn’t a chain store, and it wasn’t Cosentino’s – it wasn’t our local grocery store.

K: Okay. I remember the strip mall.

C: Yeah.

K: But this isn’t like – Aeon is not a strip mall. And that’s another thing that’s not weird to me is that Aeon is pronounced “Eon” – it’s A-E-O-N. And so, that would be “ah e oh n” if I were pronouncing each of those separately.

C: Yeah, if you were looking at it as if “okay, they have transliterated the Japanese.”

K: Yeah. If it’s – if Aeon was put on the… hiragana chart.

C: Right.

K: Which is one of the symbols – we’ve talked about it before that it’s katakana, hiragana

C: It’s a syllabary, and then you have

K: And it would be “a e oh n.”

C: Yeah.

K: And it took me years to accept that the “a” is silent, and it’s “Aeon.”

C: Yeah. And it’s written in katakana above the letters so that people will know how to correctly pronounce it as “I oh n.”

K: Yes. And then… Jusco (Pronunciation: Jasco) is spelled J-U-S-C-O.

C: Yes.

K: And it took me years to not say “Jusco.”

C: Right.

K: And to accept that it’s Jusco – so, Jusco’s the shopping center. And Aeon is the mall. And Jusco is several stories high.

C: Yeah.

K: And it has clothing and toys and… you know, undergarments

C: Yeah, housewares.

K: Housewares, yeah.

C: Beds. Appliances.

K: Yeah. Everything you would expect in a home goods store. So, I was going to say everything you would expect in a Tokyu Hands except food, but then that’s another thing. Tokyu Hands being my reference to what a pillar up-and-down place that has a bunch of random crap in it.

C: Well, and that’s the specific Tokyu Hands that’s here in Nagoya. There’s one in the Annex tower and another one in the… Nagoya Station tower, and both of them span several floors.

K: Yes. And there’s one in Sakae, which is Nagoya’s downtown area.

C: Yeah, that’s the one in the Annex.

K: Okay. So, that doesn’t seem weird to me anymore. And the lack of bleach. I’ve never seen

C: I hadn’t thought about the bleach, yeah

K: Outside of Tokyu Hands, I have never seen bleach.

C: Yes. Tokyu Hands has a lot of imported cleaning products and things.

K: Yeah. It has like Tide…

C: Yeah.

K: And for years, I would go all the way to Tokyu Hands to get Tide with bleach to wash my clothes. And it’s just not that serious.

C: Mmm.

K: I do not need all the chemicals in Tide with bleach to get my clothes clean.

C: Okay, something I still haven’t gotten used to is the abbreviations here.

K: Okay.

C: Like, Jusco is part of the “Tru-Value” brand of stores.

K: Yeah.

C: So, their groceries are “Tru-Value” in the same way that… Safeway, when there was a Safeway, had Kirkland’s as their in-store brand.

K: Mhm.

C: But they abbreviate it “TV” so when I’m walking around the store – especially early in the morning before they’ve unpacked things – there’ll be boxes that say like “TV lunch.” And I’m like, “TV lunch? I remember TV dinners when I was growing up.”

K: (laughs)

C: And then I look at it like, “oh, right. Tru-Value lunch.”

K: Yeah.

C: It’s just like the local… almost every day, that TV gets me. I’ll see something with TV and be like, “how is this TV? Dammit. Did it again. Tru-Value. Not television.”

K: So, another thing that’s not strange for me is that after – so, the grocery store opens at 8 am.

C: Yeah. That’s right.

K: And by 10 am, there’s no more fruit.

C: It’s interesting because I went just this morning, and they were setting up to have cut watermelon, but they hadn’t actually cut them up yet.

K: Yeah, there’s like the 8-10 am fruit, and then there’s the 10-12 fruit.

C: Yeah.

K: And then there’s the all-day fruit. So, all-day fruit are like your apples, your oranges… if peaches are in season – any round fruit that’s in season that grows on a tree, they usually stock it all day.

C: Yeah. It’s so hard to say what “in season” means for peaches, though. Because there’s peaches out right now, but I don’t know if they’re in season.

K: Yeah. And I don’t – so, I – I don’t eat peaches, so I don’t pay attention to what’s local and what’s not. And, like… grapes are wild.

C: Grapes are out now – so

K: But the pricing on grapes is wild.

C: Okay, yeah.

K: And I’ve totally gotten used to… weird things, like – I’m currently eating locally grown strawberries. And they had these strawberries – when Rasta does the shopping, sometimes he struggles with what’s local and what’s not. He brought me back six strawberries, and I swear to you they tasted like bourbon.

C: They did. I tasted them.

K: They tasted exactly like bourbon, and I was like, “what is this?”

C: (laughs)

K: “Why is this? And how is this a thing?” And they know just to give you six because – kudos to anybody who could do six. You put them in a blender with milk.

C: I did.

K: How was that experience?

C: It was a mixed experience.

K: You guys should laugh because I can’t.

C: (laughs)

K: No, how was that for you?

C: It wasn’t as good as I was hoping. I think it needed more ice cream. It had none, so it needed more.

K: I think it did. Yeah. I think it did. Another thing that… I – I don’t think is weird – I tweet about it being weird, but… I don’t really think it’s weird anymore is how seasonal everything is. And… how long it takes to track things down that I thought I loved but I don’t – like, I thought I loved zucchinis. Come to find out, I don’t. What I love are little yellow zucchinis, but I love them when cooked with a pasta dish, and I used to have this pan in the United States

C: Mm. Yeah. Your vegetarian lasagna.

K: Yeah. For my – and so, I would cook the lasagna noodles… no, I wouldn’t – I would slice and put the zucchini in the vegetarian lasagna.

C: Yeah.

K: I wouldn’t cook it beforehand. But I also had another dish with – where I would do zucchini and linguini, and I would put the zucchini on top to be steamed. So, I loved steamed zucchini.

C: Mhm.

K: But I can’t make steamed zucchini here. And I… love baked foods, but baking here – we have a baking microwave oven, and everything’s… in… what’s it called?

C: Centigrade or Celsius.

K: Yeah. And so, I’ve gotten used to that and the temperatures to bake stuff, but then I’ve gone keto. And so, I’m wondering when am I gonna get around to making… what is it called? A quiche. I think I should get around to making a quiche with zucchini in it.

C: I think you should. You like eggs.

K: Yeah. I love a quiche, and I think you could enjoy a quiche, too.

C: I would.

K: But, to me, a quiche without

C: A crust.

K: Yeah. Is weird, and there’s no pie crust here. And I’ve just like accepted that there’s no pie crust.

C: Yeah. I think the attitude on that is, “what? There’s flour. There’s shortening. There’s butter. There’s sugar, there’s salt. You could make a pie crust.”

K: When have you ever seen a pie? I’ve never seen a pie in Japan.

C: Just at restaurants.

K: Yeah, I’m saying outside of – at restaurants, I see ranch dressing. At restaurants, I see things I would normally see in a supermarket in the U.S. that I don’t see here. And so… like… I’m used to the fac that there’s no ranch dressing. Lie, I haven’t eaten ranch dressing in years, and when I get a really bad craving for it, we go to the Outback, and I get cheese fries and ranch dressing, and they put – of course – they put bacon and… and cheese. And they give you a side dipping sauce of ranch dressing.

C: Yes. The same recipe as all over the world.

K: Yeah. Heart attack on a plate. It’s one of those heart attack on a plate recipes. So, something I’ve also gotten used to is that I don’t like restaurant food any more in Japan than I did in the United States. Never really liked restaurant food except for P.F. Chang’s.

C: Yeah. You did like P.F. Chang’s. And we had a ritual

K: I like P.F. Chang’s… I also liked… that place that had wet burritos.

C: Yeah.

K: And the place that had the carnitas.

C: Yeah.

K: And Jack in the Box.

C: And to be clear, except for Jack in the Box, those were little family-owned restaurants.

K: Yeah.

C: And you and I

K: So, I do like the little family-owned restaurants here in Japan.

C: And you and I had an iHop ritual.

K: Yeah. We did.

C: Where we’d go by iHop

K: iHop or Denny’s, whichever was least crowded.

C: Yeah.

K: We would go there for like our getaway mid-day breakfast. We’d always order breakfast. To be clear, it was always nasty.

C: (laughs)

K: It never tasted good. I never enjoyed it. The only time I ever really enjoyed Denny’s food was when I was pregnant. Rasta loved Denny’s pancakes. But I think now he’s over pancakes. I don’t know.

C: Yeah.

K: Rasta, let me know – are you over pancakes?

(laughter)

K: Like, do you like panke-ki? Because there’s no pancakes here in Japan. But there are panke-kis.

C: And hotto ke-ki.

K: Yeah. But they are not pancakes.

C: Yeah.

K: And… before the pandemic, Rasta did you eat at Denny’s? I think since Rasta stopped doing salsa, like wasn’t in the salsa group anymore, I think he wasn’t out late enough to eat Denny’s.

C: Oh, yeah, to go out to dinner after dancing and such.

K: Yeah.

C: And that’s why I say we had a ritual for iHop rather than that we liked eating there.

K: (laughs)

C: Because it was a ritual.

K: Yeah.

C: Just like when I lived in San Francisco – before you and I met – I had a ritual of eating at the Lucky Penny on Mason and Geary.

K: Okay, I loved Cha Cha Cha’s restaurant.

C: Yeah.

K: Their chicken paillard – you can only get it at the restaurant. Their cookbook does not have the full recipe.

C: Yeah. We tried making it here, and it was like, “okay, this is paillard, but this is not…”

K: This is not Cha Cha Cha paillard.

C: Yeah.

K: And it was from the Cha Cha Cha cookbook, so… I’m just saying. Just saying.

C: Okay. So. Without jinxing anything, do you find it weird that, in 13 years, we have never had to plunge our toilet?

K: You know what? In the United States, we only had to plunge our toilet once, and it was not us.

C: (laughs)

K: It was somebody else’s story to tell.

C: (laughs)

K: But we did not own a plunger, and they had to go buy a plunger. We don’t need to plunge our toilets. So, do you find it strange that in over 20 years of marriage, we’ve never needed to plunge a toilet because of anything that you, me, or Rasta has done in the bathroom?

C: Ain’t that some shit?

(laughter)

K: I think we all know how to properly use toilet paper.

C: I think so, yeah.

K: Because I think plunging the toilet is too much toilet paper.

C: Yeah because we have a low-flow toilet here, so it’s not like we have a super high-power toilet.

K: Yeah, and I find it’s rare that I ever need to use the big flush. I always use the small flush to conserve water.

C: I am not convinced there’s actually a difference, but for those of you who haven’t seen a Japanese toilet: there’s a knob on the side that you twist to flush, and one direction it says “small”, and one direction says “big.” To me, they seem to do the same thing.

K: So, they do the same thing, but the big side flushes longer.

C: You’re saying it’s got more intensity?

K: Yeah.

C: Okay.

K: That’s a Lost in Translation joke that got lost in translation.

C: Just because that movie is almost 20 years old does not mean that my references are outdated.

K: Oh, my goodness. I have a mosquito bite on my thumb.

C: That is so rude.

K: Right? I feel like I just healed from a mosquito bite somewhere else on my body. On a finger. It was on my middle finger.

C: Mm.

K: I have to sniff. Entertain the people while I sniff.

C: Mosquitos love her hands.

K: They do. They do. And I don’t find that odd.

C: Yeah. I don’t find that odd, either. But I came from Alaska, and they have a lot of mosquitos there.

K: Yeah. The joke is that they’re the national bird.

C: The state bird.

K: Yeah.

C: Your joke is that Alaska is not a state, it’s its own country.

K: Yes. Might as well be, and many Alaskans would agree with me.

C: Many Alaskans wish they could agree with you.

K: Yes.

C: The Alaskan Independence Party.

K: Yes.

C: It’s a whole thing. I don’t find it weird anymore that there are elected communists.

K: That there are what?

C: Elected communists in… congress. In parliament.

K: Yeah, and something kind of sad – I don’t find the Nazi party here to be weird anymore.

C: See, but I don’t find that weird in the U.S., either. I feel like there are a lot of – of fascists in congress. So, I – that’s been my whole life. So that

K: But they’re like, I don’t think they’re – now, I think they’re out.

C: Right.

K: But they used to be in the closet.

C: You’re saying here in Japan, they’re literally – the Japanese Nazi Party has a few seats in congress.

K: Yes. And they’re like, calling themselves Nazis.

C: Yeah, they’re like, “we’re Nazis. We’re”

K: “We stand by everything we did in World War 2.”

C: “We’re sad the German Nazis lost, we’re sad we lost.”

K: Yeah. And so, I don’t find that to be so weird. Something else I don’t find to be weird anymore that I used to find really strange… three things related to the police: 1) how convenient and helpful the koban is.

C: Yeah.

K: I love that there’s just random – the koban is the police box, and there’s a police officer that sits in that box. And they’re super helpful. You can register your bicycle there. You can register that your bicycle has ben stolen, you can ask for directions, you can report a crime. They’re just like – they’re wonderful little information stations, and the people are very knowledgeable.

C: And in small towns, somebody lives there. Like, when we go to Hakone – which we haven’t been in a while because of Covid.

K: Yes.

C: Which makes us sad. But when we were at Hakone near the place that we stayed, across the street from the convenience store – so, now everyone will know exactly where it was – there was a koban.

K: (laughs)

C: With an apartment above it, and there was a note saying if nobody was in the koban, then please ring the doorbell because they’re probably – they will be upstairs sleeping, and it’s okay to wake them.

K: Yeah. And that doesn’t seem strange to me. That makes sense to me because they’re service people. They’re in a service job.

C: Yeah.

K: That doesn’t seem so odd to me. The second thing that doesn’t seem so odd to me about police is that they don’t carry guns.

C: Mhm.

K: They’re – there are no – there are armed police, but they have to be called out special.

C: Yeah.

K: And it’s really rare to get an armed police response. They’re very rarely called out. They’re very rarely needed. Which I really enjoy. I really enjoy not seeing… any sort of guns. On police officers.

C: Well, on anybody. The number of gun deaths in Japan is less than 2 per year on average.

K: Yeah. And the third thing that I like is that… they don’t just arrest people on a whim. Like, they really try to avoid arresting you. And… I’ve seen them, like, even with foreigners – even when they’re harassing foreigners, they don’t want to arrest them. They just want to harass them and be jerks – which I don’t like that – but I’ve seen them trying to corral a really drunk person into the subway.

C: Yeah.

K: If they can just get them on a subway car, they don’t have to arrest them. Which I thought that was really interesting because, in the United States, if three police officers are standing around a belligerent drunk person, someone’s getting at least tased.

C: Uh-huh.

K: Because they do have tasers, but they didn’t tase him. They didn’t beat them or anything, they just kind of corralled them into the direction of the subway. They got out their ID, they put them on the train they were supposed to be on to get home. And then it was all of the subway riders’… issue.

C: (laughs)

K: Which segues to another thing that I’m not – that I don’t find odd anymore. People sleeping on the subway. On the subway trains, not in the subway stations.

C: Right.

K: What do you think about that?

C: You mean

K: People falling asleep on trains and falling asleep on subway trains.

C: Oh, yeah being a thing that so-called “normal people” do?

K: Mhm.

C: Yeah. I’ve always done that because, you know that public transit puts me to sleep.

K: Yeah.

C: You get a bus going, and

K: It’s like a lullaby for you.

C: Absolutely. I’m like a baby. I’m all strapped in, the car starts, and I’m just out.

K: (laughs)

C: But yeah, I guess in California, I rode Bart every day for a while and road Marin buses depending on what year it was and what job or school I was at. And if somebody was asleep, they were usually, like… asleep across an entire bench and… obviously not a commuter.

K: Yeah.

C: And here, commuters falling asleep is totally normal.

K: Yeah.

C: And commuters pretending to be asleep is also totally normal.

K: Yes. Like I’m just trying to survive. Just trying to survive.

C: Not just trying to survive, but… I’m just tired, and I’m taking up three seats by just sprawling myself here, and I’m gonna pretend I’m asleep so that I don’t notice all the people wanting to sit down.

K: Oh, okay. That rudeness. The manspreading.

C: Total. Yeah.

K: Yeah. The signs for “do not man spread.”

C: Mhm.

K: I totally think they’re helpful. I love the… at least, at Ozone station, as you’re walking down – there’s this huge hallway for Ozone station. Something else I don’t find weird is how far away entrances from the actual platforms.

C: Yeah, that it’s almost a kilometer from one end – from the wicket to the end of the platform.

K: Yeah. So, you get in, then you just have this long, old walk. And on the sides, there’s all of these different signs. And the different signs, I don’t find them strange anymore. Like, the random things they’re asking people not to do, I find it sort of… lets me in on what’s going on socially. Because sometimes it’ll be “no manspreading” sometimes it’ll be “don’t leave your cigarette butts on the floor” sometimes it’ll be “don’t put mirrors on your shoes and look up schoolgirl’s skirts.”

C: (laughs) Okay. Yes. That – that’s something that I still find sad but don’t find strange. Are all the signs

K: It’s kind of sad we don’t find it strange.

C: Yeah. That’s why I said I still find it sad but don’t’ find it strange that a lot of the subway stations will have signs that say things like, “groping is a crime.” Like… it’s sad that you need to remind people of this. And they’re in Japanese, so this is one case where I do not feel like I am being personally accused.

K: (laughs) It’s been

C: Because it doesn’t say it in English.

K: It’s been years since we’ve seen the… crime guy with the hat and glasses.

C: It has been, yeah.

K: A picture of

C: Of me.

K: You.

C: Yeah.

K: In years.

C: Artist’s rendition.

K: Yeah. Something else I don’t find strange but I’ve never done and if you’re one of our Japan listeners, and you’ve tasted one of these, please let us know. The gift – the 100 dollar or ichi man en watermelon shaped like a square. Or the tiny, perfectly round gift watermelons. That have the special stem and a bow on them.

C: Yeah, I don’t know if Covid has affected it or if it’s just changing tastes at Aeon or whatever, but when I was there yesterday looking at watermelons…

K: Uh-huh.

C: No, that was this morning. I was there this morning looking at watermelons.

K: (laughs)

C: Looking for cut watermelons, specifically.

K: Yeah.

C: And they have perfectly round, quite big watermelons. Like, quite a lot larger than a basketball, for only 3000 yen.

K: Really?

C: Yeah. Which is about 30 dollars. So that’s a lot for watermelon in the U.S., but of ra watermelon in Japan, that’s quite cheap.

K: Yeah.

C: A bunch of grapes was 4 dollars, but the day before it had been 10 dollars.

K: Yeah.

C: Peaches are 5 dollars apiece, so fruit can be expensive.

K: Fruit – day by day, hour by hour the price of fruit changes. And I eat tons of fruit. If you follow my Twitter, you know I eat tons of fruit. And I eat the most expensive kind. Locally grown fruit in Japan cost twice as much as imported fruit.

C: Not always. Like, the strawberries are very reasonable. They’ve stayed the same price for locally grown and imports.

K: Oh, that’s nice.

C: Yeah.

K: But I feel like it’s worth it to pay extra for the locally grown so that way – because I do what I can for climate change and buying local and being a locavore is something that I can do, so I do it.

C: Yeah.

K: I do have my – like, you know – I do get stuff from around different parts of Japan. But I feel like I’m in the same country, I do my best to keep it in Aichi.

C: and it’s shipped here by train.

K: Yeah. So, I do my best on that.

C: It’s shipped here by electric train, so… like…

K: You know, something that I’ve gotten used to that I think is weird?

C: What’s that?

K: The fact that they keep promising an expansion of the train system and never do it.

C: No. They’ve promised it by like 2027 or something.

K: But they haven’t even started it, and it was originally promised by 2020. And then it was promised by 2025.

C: Yeah.

K: And now it’s 2027. Because if you listen to like, year one of the podcast – we’re super stressed out about it. Like, what’s this going to mean for our neighborhood? How’s it going to change it? Because we were

C: They hadn’t chosen, yeah.

K: Yeah.

C: They said, “maybe we’ll end it in Ozone” – we’re like, “no.”

K: No. Don’t. But it hasn’t started, so how slow Japan is to do things is something I’ve gotten used to. Like, the fact that they just now have started vaccinating the elderly, and that it’s gonna be another year before we’re vaccinated – I called it at the beginning of the pandemic.

C: You did.

K: And you and Rasta were like, “I can’t hear that truth. Tell me a different truth.”

C: I didn’t say you were wrong. I just said I couldn’t hear that truth.

K: And you asked me to tell you a different truth.

C: But I called it truth.

K: Yeah. But I told you a different truth, and I said, “when Japan starts to vaccinate, whatever they tell you the vaccination schedule is going to be, they will do their best to match it. But they will do their best to match it for the population that they’ve named, and when it’s our turn, we’ll receive a postcard in the mail.”

C: Yes.

K: So, for all our Japan listeners, if you don’t have a “my number” which is the Japanese version of a social security card, go to your local ward office and get a my number, or you will not be eligible for vaccination until everyone who has a my number card has been vaccinated.

C: Yeah. And you just need the number, you don’t need to actually have the card. Because those are two separate things, here.

K: Yeah. You have to have a number for registration to get your postcard in the mail.

C: Right.

K: To go get your vaccine.

C: Everybody should have that already. Because it was optional at first, and then after a year they were like, “it’s no longer optional. We’ve been telling you it’s not gonna be optional anymore.” Because, before that, they

K: But a lot of people don’t know about it.

C: Yeah, that’s true.

K: Because they – because the my number card is not attached to the pension. You don’t need a my number card to pay your pension. Or to get your pension.

C: You don’t need it to get your pension, but now they are requiring that you provide the number to pay your pension.

K: And how many people are paying their pension? We pay our pension, but not everybody does.

C: The percentage is low.

K: Yeah.

C: It was a scandal when we first got here that a lot of legislators weren’t paying theirs.

K: Yeah. So, I don’t find that strange anymore. Like, that a lot of people aren’t paying their social security, basically.

C: Yeah.

K: It’s a tax, and if I don’t pay it, what happens? You don’t get any money when you turn 65. And al to of people are just opting out of that.

C: Yeah. And we filed an exemption for ours because we’re like, “we’re not gonna be here enough years to ever earn enough credits to get any, so…”

K: Well, we paid it up until we got permanent residency.

C: We did.

K: Because you have to pay it up until you get permanent residency. Which I ain’t mad at, and if you’re in Japan… and you leave – if you’re here for less than five years, I want to say?

C: Three years.

K: Three years.

C: At three years you can get all of the money that you’ve paid into the system transferred back into your home system.

K: Yeah, but you have to get a stamp on your way out to prove that you’ve left.

C: Okay.

K: And you have to have a designated person in Japan

C: Yeah. This is reminding me. Below 3 years, you can get the money back in cash.

K: Yeah.

C: Above 3 years, they will only transfer it to your government’s pension system. So, you can still get it.

K: Okay, that’s not completely accurate, but like we always say, we are not here to tell you laws. We are not lawyers, and we are not current.

C: Nope.

K: And we are permanent residents, and this does not affect us, so our accuracy on it – go down to your local ward office and ask them about it. No, go down to your local pension office and ask them about it if you’re planning to leave Japan, and they’ll give you the skinny on it.

C: Okay.

K: Because it’s different for country to country.

C: Speaking about being current.

K: Okay.

C: Do you find it strange that the last time we went to a hotel for new years – which was like 2019 to 2020.

K: Mhm.

C: That they had a fortune teller setup in the hotel?

K: No, I did not find that strange at all. (laughs) I did not find the booth for the fortune teller and palm reader to be odd at all when we went to Hakone.

C: Because it was New Years.

K: Yes.

C: So of course, there was a fortune teller.

K: Yes. It totally made sense to me because, every year for New Years, is when you get your fortune told. I don’t because, like, don’t give me bad luck. That’s what I learned from my dear friend who’s like, “let me shake it for you. I’m bad luck, you’re gonna get a bad fortune.” And then I got it, pulled it out, and she was like, “oh. That’s a really bad fortune.”

C: Yeah. She told you all of the fortunes re bad, but that one’s really bad.

K: Yeah.

C: If all of them are bad

K: Why am I doing this?

C: So, then, when it isn’t as bad as your fortune said, you know you had a good year. (laughs)

K: Yes. And I also don’t find it odd that women aren’t allowed in… any Shinto spaces.

C: Yeah. Like…

K: Like, the weird pockets of misogyny that exist in Japan that don’t feel oppressive don’t bother me.

C: Mhm.

K: But I don’t know if women who follow the Shinto faith – if it hurts or bothers them that they’re excluded from things, or if they just accept it like Christian women and like Muslim women.

C: Well, I know the Osaka mayor, and this was years ago when the Osaka mayor was a woman.

K: Yeah.

C: To be clear, she’s still a woman, but there have been elections since then.

K: Yeah.

C: Was vociferous about the sumo competition. Like, that she ought to be able to preside. And the vice mayor ended up presiding because, traditionally the mayor presides at the opening ceremony.

K: Because that’s a Shinto tradition.

C: Yes.

K: And it would curse the entire country.

C: (laughs) Yeah, we wouldn’t want that.

K: If you believe in the Shinto faith. You know.

C: Yeah. Just, tradition. But like, you know

K: No. It’s their religion.

C: I understand it’s a religion.

K: Yeah.

C: But it’s also a family based religion.

K: Yeah.

C: And so, a lot of Shintoism

K: And a gender-based religion.

C: Yes.

K: As a lot of religions are.

C: Yeah.

K: So, something that I also don’t – I no longer find strange… and I actually feel safer and calmer about is no one touches me. I love not being touched. I’ve talked about it before.

C: Yeah.

K: But like, even in the grocery store and really close places – except for like packed subway trains where you can’t help, you’re like stuck in there like a bunch of sardines. But like, at the grocery store and such and even at the doctor with like the air pat – they pat the air above my arm.

C: Yeah.

K: I much prefer that than the back rub or hugging. Except for when I had my… endoscopy.

C: Mhm.

K: Because that’s a hard freaking test, man. And the guy who was doing it was doing the most, and the nurse rubbed – was actually rubbing my back and calming me down. And I really appreciated that touch. So, for me, I love when I’m in a medical situation. The nurses seem to instinctually know when I need to be touched and when I don’t. And they don’t always assume that touching is the right thing.

C: Yeah.

K: And so, I find it very soothing. I feel very safe. Like, I don’t feel like I’m going to be accosted.

C: I do feel like the Japanese medical practice – and it’s been a while since I’ve been in the U.S. to have medicine there, so maybe it’s changed – is much more explanatory. Like, when I go, my doctor speaks English, but his nurses do not.

K: Mhm.

C: So, when the nurse takes my blood pressure, they’ll say, “I’m going to take your blood pressure. Can you put your arm out? I’m gonna put the cuff on. I’m gonna inflate it.”

K: Yeah.

C: They just talk through it.

K: They ask for consent at each step. Because every time – even when I go tot eh same hospital and I get the same phlebotomist, they ask

C: Yeah, I’ve had the same doctor for years. So, they’ve seen me 50 times.

K: They ask, “can I put this around your arm? May I tighten it? Can I cause you pain when – I’m gonna stick the needle in, it’s gonna cause you pain. Are you okay with being caused pain? Do you want to look, do you want to look away, do you want me to give you a count?” And I’m like – my veins roll, so they always have to chase my vein down, and they’re like, “do you want me to pull it out and try again?” And I’m like, no. Just chase the vein down. I don’t need multiple pricks.

C: Mhm.

K: Because I always have like one huge giant bruise. Every now and then I get what I think is the golden phlebotomist.

C: (laughs)

K: She knows to go lower on my arm to not try to go at the bend of the arm. I have a really great vein mid-way down my arm that doesn’t roll and just delivers the blood, but everybody wants to go to the same vein – the usual vein which is on the outer side of the arm. And so, with all things blood drawn, I no longer find it weird that they wrap it in this really tight ace bandage if they draw blood for more than one thing.

C: Mhm.

K: So, if they take two or three vials of blood, they wrap it and put it in an ace bandage. I’m gonna post mine on Twitter one day like, “I got my blood drawn, and this is what it looks like afterwards.”

C: (laughs)

K: So, I don’t find any of the procedures weird.

C: Yeah.

K: Like, any of the medical stuff. None of it is weird to me. It all just feels really natural.

C: Yeah.

K: And like paying as soon as I’m done.

C: I don’t find it weird to not have terror about what the bill will be. That’s nice.

K: You don’t feel weird about what?

C: Having terror about what the bill will be. I went to my doctor and only had 20 dollars – well, 2000 yen – in my wallet. And I was like, eh, that’s enough.

K: Yeah, I always ask Rasta, “do we got ni man? I just want to be on the safe side.”

C: Yeah. Do we have 200 dollars?

K: Yeah. I want to be on the safe side. I want to make sure we cover everything because every now and then, they’ll throw in a CT unexpected. And it still comes under a hundred bucks – the most I think ever that wasn’t a hospital stay was like 150 dollars. And that’s when they did everything, like x-rays, CTs, endoscopy, so…. The endoscopy, I always try not to get. It is the worst medical procedure ever. And that is where they stick a tube down your throat – they spray this numbing agent down your throat that does not affect the gag reflex whatsoever. And to make it worse, I have my tonsils.

C: Is it like Chloraseptic?

K: Yeah. It’s very much – they spray some Chloraseptic and are like, “you’re good to go” and I’m like

C: (laughs) No, no. Hold on.

K: “No, I’m not.” Where’s the cocaine? Like, you need to coat my throat with cocaine.

C: (laughs) They have never coated your throat with cocaine.

K: No, they never have, and I’m saying they need to.

C: Yeah because you had nasal surgery, and they coated your nose with cocaine.

K: Yes, they did.

C: Which is an approved medical use. And this was in the U.S.

K: Yes. But I’m saying for an endoscopy, I would like my throat to be coated in cocaine. I’m making a request, here.

C: Okay. I got you.

K: I would not think it was odd if they offered me a cocaine swab before an endoscopy.

C: Like, thank you for the anesthesia. It’s a very effective anesthetic.

K: Yes. I would really appreciate it. And they call it anesthesia, and I’m like, “this is not anesthesia.”

C: Mhm.

K: This is not the American definition – and I don’t know why I need to be awake for this.

C: (laughs)

K: Get some Swedish milk. So, I don’t find that strange, it’s just something that I’m grumbly about. So, life to me feels really normal. And I haven’t left Japan… in over a decade?

C: That is not true because we went to Paris, and we went to Madrid.

K: (laughs) I totally forgot. I had a blast in Spain.

C: But you were working your ass off because both of those were for your PHD

K: Yeah. I had a blast in Spain. Did not enjoy France in the least.

C: Paris, specifically. We didn’t go anywhere else in France.

K: Yeah. Did not enjoy Paris in the least. Really enjoyed Madrid. So, yeah. Those are things we don’t find strange about Japan anymore. So, if you’ve been living in Japan for a while and are an ex-pat, hit us up on Twitter and tell us what you don’t find strange anymore. And if you… don’t live in Japan but want to know more about living I n Japan, you can always hit us up on Twitter and ask us questions. Or you can leave a comment on the website, and we’ll be sure to… do our best to answer it.

C: Address it, yeah. And if you’re new to Japan, we’re not trying to exclude you. You can say, “I still find this strange. Will I ever get used to it?”

K: Yes. And we’ll tell you. Maybe you will, maybe you won’t. I don’t know. To tell you the truth.

C: Yeah. That will be the answer.

K: Yeah.

C: (laughs)

K: And on the take tow, we’re gonna talk about what it takes to bring a book to market. So, we’re really excited by the positive response we’ve received by the Cinnabar Moth take twos. And we’re gonna head on over. We appreciate your time, and that you tune in every week. And… next week, we’re gonna be… I think we’re gonna be talking about the Paralympics, but I’m not sure.

C: Yeah, we’ll have to see how that goes.

K: Yeah. (laughs) WE don’t know. I can pretend – I want to know. I feel like it’ll be more professional, but this is an amateur podcast. (laughs)

C: What?

K: You know what, y’all need to follow us on over to our Patreon and for two or three bucks a month, we have hundreds of take twos, and all kinds of things. You get discounts on books and stuff, and you could make us more professional.

C: You could try.

K: (laughs) Talk to you next week.

C: Bye.

K: Bye.