K: So, lately I’ve been thinking a lot about snow.

C: Even though it hasn’t snowed a lot here.

K: Well, every February it snows, here. I know – so, for me, y’all know I’m from California. So, for me, if there’s enough snow that I can see it falling from the sky – for me, that’s an event. It snowed.

C: It did snow. That is technically true. Unless there was rain, and then it’s sleet. I grew up in Alaska.

K: Yeah.

C: And so, it snowed every year. But, oddly enough, those are not the most memorable snow times of my childhood.

K: They weren’t?

C: No.

K: What’s the most memorable snow time?

C: Texas. I lived in Killeen, Texas. When I was in 4 – in what, 3^rd through 6^th grade which was actually only 2 years, but that’s a whole other thing. But… it snowed so heavily the first year that we were there that there were like 30 traffic accidents, and they closed school for two weeks, and it was an event. In a way that snow in Alaska was not.

K: So, for me, there was – it snowed in California when I was a kid.

C: Mhm.

K: And they closed the schools because it was such a shocking event.

C: In the Bay Area, right.

K: Yeah.

C: Because I saw this year in

K: It’s in the South Bay. It snowed specifically.

C: In the South Bay, okay. Because I saw this year up in, like, near the Donner Pass, they got 8 feet of snow or something. So, that area

K: Yeah, up in the…

C: Mountains. The Sierra-Nevada.

K: Yeah. Up in the Sierra-Nevada mountains, it snows. And in Tahoe. That’s really far north.

C: Yes.

K: So, that’s about 8 hours north of where I lived when I was a kid in San Jose.

C: Okay.

K: And so, it never – it only snowed, in my lifetime, it only snowed once in San Jose. And it was when I was a kid.

C: We just had good weather – good weather luck. Because the only year that it snowed in Killeen was the year I was there.

K: Uh-huh.

C: I was there exactly 2 years to the day. After one year it snowed for like two weeks, and then you had your snow.

K: Yeah.

C: And then the weekend that we got married in October, down in Monterey

K: Yeah.

C: They said, “it’s so weird. It’s always rainy every single day.” But we had a perfectly sunshiny day.

K: Yeah, it was a gorgeous, gorgeous day.

C: And it was the only gorgeous day of October.

K: Yeah, and they thought we were just out of our minds doing an outside beach wedding in Monterey in October.

C: They did not know you bring sunshine wherever you go.

K: Aww. That’s sweet. I think it was you.

C: Maybe the combination. Because we each

K: Our heart beams.

C: Because we each had snow on our own

K: Yeah.

C: And sunshine together.

K: (laughs) You’re such a cornball. I love it. So, that kind of

C: (laughs)

K: Tomfoolery I approve, and I encourage. So… Japan and the United States both have snow days when it’s too heavy – when the snow is too heavy that… it’s not safe to go to school. But Nagoya doesn’t close schools on snow days. Which I think is weird.

C: We’ve been here… 16 years, now?

K: Yeah.

C: Yeah. That’s right. And it’s never snowed so heavily that I feel like it’s been dangerous.

K: But I feel like – there’s been enough snow that it should be fun for the kids to gather some up and make – I think we’ve talked about Japanese snowmen before. That they’re 2, not 3.

C: Yeah.

K: Two humps, not three. So, for me, like… it’s so weird because, in January, we had that warm snap. And then – it’s every year, we have a warm snap, and I think “oh, we’re not gonna get the freezing cold February” and then boom, February hits, and it’s freezing cold and snowing. So, I don’t know why after all of these years, the warm snap in January continues to convince me that we’re not gonna get snow.

C: Yeah. It’s like the – just dreadful heat in September.

K: Yes.

C: It happens every year. It should not be a surprise. But every year, it’s like, “woah. It’s September, it’s so hot.”

K: So, for me, it’s not the dreadful heat in September. It’s the fact that it’s still hot in October.

C: Mm. Yeah.

K: That it hasn’t cooled down. So… half – the last half of September, and the first half of October is still really sweltering hot for me.

C: Yeah.

K: And I always think in my mind, “okay. Halfway through September, it’s gotta end.”

C: Yeah.

K: And my fantasy life is that we could leave in July and just be gone July, October, and September, and then suck it up the first two weeks of October. So, I’d love to be gone for three months.

C: Yeah.

K: To get away form the heat and be someplace like Australia where it’s the winter.

C: I think, eventually, we’ll get there because… you don’t – well, with Covid, you’re working completely remote.

K: Yeah.

C: But ordinarily, you don’t work completely remote.

K: Yeah.

C: But I think you’ll get there.

K: Yeah.

C: Maybe years from now. And I’m already there. So, we could do this. We could rock this. You know what I found interesting when I started learning about weather?

K: What?

C: That the sun… varies by millions of miles between its closest and furthest from the earth.

K: Okay.

C: I should say it the other way around. The earth varies millions of miles – it’s about 95 million miles from the sun.

K: Okay.

C: But it varies by a couple million miles.

K: Okay.

C: It’s actually closer to the sun during winter.

K: Really?

C: Yeah. During North American winter.

K: Wow. That’s so weird.

C: Right?

K: That’s so weird. I’m like tripping out on that right now.

C: Yeah, I – I had that reaction when I found out. I was like, “what are you – no, show me the math.”

K: (laughs)

C: They’re like, “look. It is.”

K: Well and too, I think because we’re so centric to wherever we’re oriented from.

C: Right.

K: And so, our orientation is that it’s dark and cold, and so therefore… you know, this part of the earth can’t – the earth can’t possibly be experience – the other half of the earth can’t possibly be experiencing that’s outside of our range of understanding.

C: Yeah. Although, when it was warm here… in January, the people that I work with in Australia were complaining about it being cold. They were like, “where’s our summer?”

K: Mm.

C: So, it’s like – it’s almost like there’s erratic weather. I wonder if there’s something to explain that.

K: Yeah, but this – we’re not doing a dark episode, so we’re not doing that.

C: No, we’re doing a light episode about the sunshine and the snow.

K: Yes, we are. And snow is super reflective, so – if you’re out in the snow, make sure you put sunscreen on the bottom of your nose because you can get a sunburn on the bottom of your nose.

C: You absolutely can. I saw a lot of skiers growing up who had horrific sunburns on just their nostrils.

K: And it’s horrific.

C: Yes.

K: It’s never happened to me, but I’ve seen – I’ve known people that it’s happened to. And it’s so uncomfortable and so horrific and so ridiculous that it’s hard to like… talk about how excruciatingly painful your sunburnt nostrils are because you’ve been out skiing.

C: Yeah.

K: And a lot of the ski masks – even like the balaclavas – they have an opening, you know, to allow people to breathe.

C: Yeah.

K: And the sun reflects – and then having all that black around it doesn’t actually stop any of the reflective properties of snow.

C: Yeah. I found it so interesting because

K: The same thing with sunburnt lips.

C: When I was in Fairbanks, everybody who skied knew about snow blindness. They knew you had to wear goggles.

K: Yeah.

C: Because the way the snow reflects, you will experience temporary blindness – potentially – from the glare off the snow. But they didn’t know about the sunscreen for their nostrils.

K: And the lips.

C: And the lips. I think some people wore like Chapstick.

K: Chapstick?

C: Yeah.

K: But if you don’t have a Chapstick with an SPF, your lips can still get sunburned.

C: Yeah. Did you know I never went downhill skiing?

K: Yes, I do. But tell the people about it. They don’t.

C: Okay. Here it is.

K: (laughs)

C: I’ve never been downhill skiing.

(laughter)

C: I lived in Alaska for more than a decade, and I never went.

K: So, I always wanted to go dog sledding until you described it to me.

C: Yeah, I have been dog sledding.

K: And then I was like, “that is not at all what it looks like in the movies.”

C: Mhm.

K: In the movies, it looks like way fun. You’re underneath all those warm blankets. There’s somebody sitting behind you – standing behind you – making sure the dogs know where to go.

C: Yeah, that’s how it is if you are being hauled out of the Arctic because you’re going to die, and there’s only dogs to get you out.

K: Okay. So, what’s dog sledding really like? So, like, if you’re paying somebody for a dog sledding experience – because I’ve seen this in the Japanese commercials for – so, I feel like the Japanese commercials for it are more real than the American commercials for it.

C: Okay.

K: Because the American commercials for it are… in my mind, that I have, are from a campaign called “Vermont – it’s for lover’s”

C: Right.

K: And that was really popular in the 90s.

C: Yeah.

K: And they would – one of the things that they would show is… two people wrapped up all warm and toasty in a sleigh with someone standing behind them to act as the director, and then like… a bunch of dogs just doing dog sledding together. And it was all very calm. It was all very peaceful. It was all very romantic, and you would go down the trails to the mountains, and you would have – you know, you’d go up little, little hills and valleys. And it just looked absolutely stunning to me.

C: So, I think that might exist some places. But it didn’t exist in Fairbanks. So, Fairbanks – I knew a few dog sledders. Susan Butcher – I knew her – everybody knew her because it was a very small town. And she was like the biggest celebrity because she won the Iditarod like 5 years in a row and stuff.

K: Mm.

C: So

K: The Iditarod is a dog… slaying race.

C: Yeah. Dog sled race.

K: Oh yeah, not killing dogs.

(laughter)

C: Yeah.

K: Dog sled race. That’d be a very different race. Sorry if I triggered anyone with my mispronunciation.

C: Of about a thousand miles across Alaska.

K: Yeah.

C: And… so, all the dogs were working dogs, but to haul 3 people you’d need basically a 12-dog team. And they’re working dogs, so I think the inconsistency if they didn’t have customers every day would just be too much.

K: Mhm.

C: But my brother used to go skijoring. And I knew a lot of people who went skijoring.

K: What’s that?

C: that’s where you have a dog, and you hook a – a harness to the dog. And you’re on skis. And the dog runs and pulls you behind it.

K: That doesn’t sound smart or safe.

C: It doesn’t sound either one to me, too. I never went because it was my brother’s dog.

K: Okay.

C: But he had a husky.

K: Uh-huh.

C: He had a malamute, which are like… huge, just powerful sled dogs.

K: Mhm.

C: And so, they’d go skijoring. Because that dog was so starved for exercise.

K: Oh, okay. I guess that’s a clever way to walk your dog.

C: Yeah.

K: In the winter-time kind of thing.

C: Exactly.

K: So, I watched this show on sledding because I love watching shows where foreigners who don’t speak Japanese come to Japan for vacation and have… experiences. And I can’t remember the name of the show, but it was a British guy who came up to… he went up to Hokkaido – and that’s the northern island in Japan – to go dog – bobsledding or dog – is it dog bob sledding?

C: It’s dog sledding. Bobsledding is when you go down a hill on a bobsled, which is like Cool Runnings. Do you remember that?

K: Okay, yeah. So, it was dog sledding. And… his thing – he was just screaming, “stop. Bloody hell. What the fuck.”

C: (laughs)

K: It was the most harrowing thing because they were like, “are you ready for this? Do you really want to do it?” And he was like, “yeah. Let’s do it.” And so, there’s… a cultural difference between – like, he wasn’t getting what the interpreter was asking him.

C: Right.

K: So, it was really funny – it’s funny for me to watch these shows because my… Japanese, today, I’ll admit is good enough to understand what is actually being – what they’re actually being asked.

C: Yeah.

K: Versus what the interpreter is saying. And… I love Japanese interpreters because it’s very much, like, if you’ve ever seen Lost in Translation where that guy is like saying a whole bunch of stuff to…

C: Bill Murray

K: Bill Murray’s character, and the interpreter says, “more intensity.” (laughs) And Bill Murray says, “no, I think he said more than that.”

C: Yeah.

K: And like, “no. More intensity.” And that – it gets put into a shorthand. So, the interpreter was like, “do you want a very vigorous experience?”

C: Mm. Yeah.

K: So, vigorous – if a Japanese person asks you if you want something vigorous or energetic, hear high intensity and going to cause you a great deal of physical strain. That’s what you should be hearing. But he’s hearing very vigorous, very lively. And so… yeah, it can be translated that way. But… in Japanese culture, those things mean something different.

They put him on and they’re like, “you want to go fast?” And he’s like, “sure. Why not?” And he’s like, “do you want to take this trail or this trail?” And so – he ended up going on the fast, vigorous, expert trail. And… all of our Japanese listeners were probably like cracking up because (laughs) that’s just not something, unless you are physically fit and experienced, that you ever want to do with the Japanese. Is something fast, vigorous, and expert level.

C: Yeah. Because dog sledding -I say as somebody who has never gone downhill skiing – is as intensely physical as downhill skiing.

K: Yeah, and so, it was a harrowing experience. Like, the trail was freezing, and it was bobbing all over, and he was just like screaming his head off. It was terrifying.

C: Yeah. It’s…

K: And I was just like – it was funny to me because I knew what he was in for.

C: right.

K: And so, that one was – that’s funny for… I watched that show because it’s so hilarious. It’s most hilarious if you can understand the Japanese side of it.

C: YEs.

K: It’s really hilarious. And so, that kind of made me rethink dog sledding. Like, I don’t… know if it’s really… that much fun.

C: I never perceived it as that much fun.

K: I perceived it as romantic, but I guess you have to be going really slow. Because, when they were going fast, the dogs were kicking up so much snow.

C: Yeah.

K: And so… even though there’s like good distance between you and the snow, it still – they kick up a lot of moisture.

C: They do kick up a lot of moisture, and when I was living in Fairbanks – it might still be one of the most popular t-shirts because that place does not change very fast. One of the most popular t-shirts had a picture of a dog’s butt from behind, and it said, “if you’re not the lead dog, the view never changes.”

K: Mmm.

C: And that’s pretty much what dog sledding is like is you’re just looking at dog butts the whole time.

K: Yeah, and so

C: Unless you’re standing and steering, and then you can see over the tops of the dogs.

K: But if you’re standing and steering, you’re doing hard labor.

C: Exactly.

K: And so, I was like, “no. that’s not at all” because I love horse-drawn carriages.

C: Yeah because you and I have gone on a horse-drawn carriage.

K: Every time one’s available.

C: Yes.

K: We go. Because I absolutely love them. And… I make sure that it’s a bit-less bridle.

C: Yeah. Yeah.

K: Because I don’t believe in putting a bit in a horse’s mouth. And making sure that the horses aren’t… whipped or hit. And… it’s a whole thing for me. Making it… so, like, the horse is happy for the work. Horses like to be active. Blah blah blah.

C: Yeah.

K: But… I absolutely love a horse-drawn carriage.

C: Yes.

K: Absolutely love it. So, I thought that it would be like a horse-drawn carriage. But in a carriage, you’re above the horse.

C: Right.

K: So, you’re not actually looking at the horse.

C: Yes.

K: So, in the carriages – I always make sure that, whenever we picked a carriage, that it was higher so that, even if the horse was pooping while we were on the ride, that we would not see it.

C: Yes.

K: And that was like a main – I was obsessed with it.

C: You were. You were like, “let’s give the horses privacy before we start.” (laughs)

K: No, I wanted to make sure that our view – we couldn’t see it.

C: Yeah.

K: Like, even if they did it, we couldn’t see it. Because I don’t want to watch that.

C: Mhm.

K: that’s not sexy.

C: (laughs) Or romantic.

K: Yeah. So, I feel like the same way about… like, homesteading. So, there’s homesteaders in Japan. And I have a really good girl friend who came to Japan who in the 80s. And… she came to Japan with her husband who came here to study martial arts at a traditional Japanese dojo out in the countryside. And I’m not gonna say what city or anything because it’s her story to tell – except for the part I’m gonna tell. (laughs)

C: Yeah. The rest of it. She can keep the rest of it.

K: Yeah. Well, she wrote a book about it – and I can’t remember the book. Sorry babe. I can’t remember the book. But if you – if you want me to promote your book, shoot me an email with the title of your book, and I’ll – I’ll tweet it out. But you don’t listen every week. I know this about you. So…

C: Shame.

K: Right? Dang. It’s hurtful when my friends don’t listen every week. And they’re like, “but we know all these stories.”

C: I know what you mean.

K: No, you don’t. They don’t know everything about us.

C: Yeah. There’s new stories to discover every day.

K: Yeah. They don’t know what the digression is going to be because we don’t even know what the digression is going to be.

C: We don’t know. It is a mystery to us.

K: Thank you. And like, whatever’s gonna click in my brain to be like, “hey. This thing needs to be talked about.”

C: Which muse will arrive?

K: Yes. Thank you. And right now, it’s friends who don’t listen to the podcast every week. And we have friends all over the world who don’t listen. Because if – and

C: Wow. We are unpopular globally.

(laughter)

K: It’s so weird because we have, like – I know for a fact. Like, we have one friend that swears that they listen every week.

C: Mhm.

K: They swear it. But there are zero listeners from that country.

C: Mhm.

K: So, I know for a fact that they’re lying. Because there are zero listeners from that country.

C: Maybe they mean that they read the transcript every week.

K: No. Because, on our website, we can track where – so, we can track you. So, to all of our friends who are

C: Oh, okay. Yeah.

K: Listening to this episode (laughs)

C: (laughs) That’s not sinister. Enjoy being tracked.

(laughter)

K: We don’t track it. So, what it is, is it basically gives us analytics, and it just gives us a number and a location. It doesn’t give us any IP addresses or anything like that. It’s just really funny to me that, like, they swear, and they’re super supportive in every way. They tweet about it, and they talk about it, but there is no one from their country listening to it.

C: Mhm.

K: And I find it interesting because… our friend – a couple weeks back, we did an episode about having friends around the world.

C: Right.

K: But those were global friends that live here in Japan. Because of our… being on Twitter, we also have friends that are located in other places that we haven’t met. And we’re planning, like, our first

C: Well, and – oh yeah, that we haven’t met. That part, yeah.

K: We haven’t met them in person. And there’s a couple of people that we just absolutely adore who are in Australia and New Zealand.

C: Yeah.

K: And post-Covid, that’s probably going to be our first international trip.

C: Yes.

K: And so, we’re super excited. Everyone’s fantasy is that it’s going to be August. And it’s not. It’s – it might be August, but it’ll be August of 2022. Because we can’t go until I’m vaccinated. Until we’re both Vaccinated.

C: Yeah. With all of that – all that goes with that.

K: Does it snow in Australia? I know it snows in New Zealand.

C: I do not believe that it snows in Australia.

K: So, you know we don’t google because we’re just lazy AF.

C: Yeah. There might be some mountains that are high up enough that they get snow, but I don’t think that it snows at sea level anywhere in Australia.

K: So, if you’re an Oz, and… you – and it snows there – hit us up on Twitter, and let us know, “yeah, it snows.”

C: Well and let us know where. Because I know that it doesn’t snow in Melbourne.

K: Okay.

C: Because that’s where my work is.

K: But Australia’s huge.

C: That’s what I’m saying – let us know where it is.

K: But most of it’s desert in my mind.

C: Most of it is desert. But desert doesn’t mean it doesn’t snow.

K: And so – and don’t be like “it snows in Tasmania.” But I don’t think it snows in Tasmania, either. I know it snows in the southern and northern New Zealand islands because you can get the southern or northern lights. Now I think I’m making something up. The southern lights are in New Zealand.

C: Yeah. You

K: And the southern

C: To get the northern lights, you need to be up in the northern hemisphere.

K: Yeah. So, the southern lights. And so… okay. I’m gonna stop talking about New Zealand and Australia.

C: (laughs)

K: Beyond the point that, like, we’re gonna go there. Hopefully in 2022.

C: Yeah.

K: And meet all of our lovely friends. And I’m gonna get – I have 3 tattoos I wanna get, and 1 tattoo I wanna get freshened up. So… because I was looking for – so, it all started because, about a month ago? A friend was like, “share your bad tattoos with me” and they had a tattoo they didn’t like. And I was like, “here’s a great cover artist” but they’re also a great refresh artist. And I know about them because I have a 20-year-old tattoo that needs to be refreshed. And I think it looks really bad if you have brand new ink next to really old ink.

C: Yeah because your tattoo’s not bad. It’s just faded.

K: Yeah, it’s super faded because I -haven’t had a touch job since I got it first done. So, it’s way overdue for a touch up.

C: Mhm.

K: And so… I need to get that touched up and then get the new art, so that everything ages the same. So, anytime you get a tattoo, if you have any other tattoos, and you want them to look good – especially if you’re dealing with color – you should really get them freshened up first. Is my 50 cents on the topic.

C: Thank you.

K: Yeah.

C: I’m gonna keep this in mind.

K: You have a tattoo. Don’t act like you’re not inked.

C: I have many tattoos. The number of tattoos

K: You have 2.

C: The number of tattoos I have is a secret.

K: It’s not. I just said it. You have 2.

C: (laughs)

K: And you’ve had fallout. Like…

C: Yeah.

K: There are pieces of your tattoo missing.

C: But I had that immediately after I got them.

K: Yeah. Because you had a brand-new tattoo artist who was like super gentle with you. And I was like, “no.” My tattoo artist pounded the ink into me. And like, really pounded it into me. So much so that I was bleeding color for 3 days.

C: Mhm.

K: But… it stayed. It looked great for a really long time.

C: Yeah.

K: So… it – and my tattoo artist, he was like, “do you think that you would ever want this tattoo removed?” And I was like, “no. I won’t ever want this tattoo removed.” And he’s like, “good because it will be impossible to remove this tattoo.”

C: And you were like, “that’s fine. I know which tattoo I’m having removed, and it’s not this one.”

K: Yeah. Because I did get a different tattoo on my wrist removed. So… because we’re in Japan, and it’s just – and working with kids ands tuff, it was affecting my ability to be employed.

C: Yeah.

K: So, I had it removed.

C: Yeah, that part’s unfair.

K: Yeah. It was completely unfair but living in – I had it removed before we moved to Japan.

C: Yes.

K: And I’m really happy with the decision to have it removed.

C: Yes.

K: And I can still see it, and if you know where it was, you can still kind of see it. And it’s like – I should have done one more session I think, just to get a couple of dots out. But… if you’re getting a tattoo, red is the most difficult color to remove.

C: Be aware.

K: Yeah. Just FYI. For your information kind of thing. So, but back to snow and snow in Nagoya… you took some really beautiful snow pictures.

C: Thank you. I think they’re probably posted on Twitter.

K: No, they’re posted… they’re not posted anywhere.

C: They’re not posted anywhere? Okay.

K: No because they’re not even on our – on our Instagram that we don’t post to.

C: No.

K: We have an Instagram – the Musicks in Japan – we don’t even post our gorgeous episode art.

C: No. We used to, but it’s just a hassle.

K: Instagram is not user friendly.

C: It is not. Not in the least.

K: Because you have to post it on the day. And – it’s so much work. It’s like three hours. And I’m cheap. I don’t enjoy… having to hire an employee for social media.

C: Right.

K: And I feel like social media should be about who we genuinely want to interact with.

C: Mhm.

K: And it should be about us. And so, yeah. There’s that.

C: I feel that way, too.

K: Yeah.

C: But yeah, I took some snow pictures. But the snow here hasn’t gotten really deep. I think the most I’ve seen was a couple of inches before it melted.

K: Yeah. And so, we have some palm trees near our house, and one of – two of my favorite pictures. One was of the bench on the roof of… the place that we used to live.

C: Yeah.

K: Covered in snow. And then the other one was of the palm trees covered in snow.

C: Yeah. I think it’s interesting how trees are. One of the years that I was in Alaska – I think it was 1992 or so – it snowed in early September. Just once. But it hadn’t gone through spring yet, so all the trees had green leaves and everything.

K: Mhm.

C: And it just snapped so many tree branches because, usually by the time it snows, all of the leaves have fallen off the deciduous trees.

K: Mhm.

C: They had not, so much more got caught in the branches. And it wiped out power to the whole town for several days, and… there were like 200 branch snaps. It was a whole thing.

K: And you’re wearing snow covered pajamas right now.

C: I am. They’re snow themed.

K: Yeah. I looked over, and I was like, “wow. Chad’s covered in snow.”

C: I am. Yes.

K: It’s very topical. I wonder if that influenced me.

C: I was thinking, “maybe that’s why you’re like ‘snow is on my mind.’”

K: Yeah. Because I’ve been looking at your gorgeous body covered in snow.

C: Yes.

K: Very sexy.

C: Yes. I’m feeling very flakey today.

K: (laughs) I think I’m feeling – my humor bone is feeling very generous today.

C: (laughs) It is.

K: (laughs) So… with my friend, I got – I want to finish like talking about her.

C: Yeah. The homesteading.

K: Yeah. The homesteader. So, it wasn’t really homesteading but it was because she lived in an old-style… Japanese house with rice paper walls and… mud walls and a mud stove. And… no electricity. And no indoor plumbing. Like… living like – if you watch like Alaska’s Last Frontier, they have warm water.

C: Yeah.

K: And more amenities than she had in the 80s. And… so… and she raised 5 kids in those conditions.

C: That we know about.

K: (laughs) And she’s like, “you are so dramatic.” But her calligraphy – her Japanese calligraphy – is absolutely stunning. Because she decided while her husband was learning martial arts at the dojo, that she would learn calligraphy from the wife. So, she learned traditional calligraphy with – where you grind your own ink and use a… a bamboo brush. And different brush styles. And her calligraphy is absolutely stunning and award-winning. And so, it’s like really controversial – it was really controversial when her picture appeared in the paper. People didn’t believe that she could really do it. And so, she kind of became, like, a spectacle.

C: Mhm.

K: And they were able to have a residual income by people coming and watching this black woman do calligraphy. And so, people would pay her to write things for them because of the novelty of having a black American woman do traditional Japanese calligraphy. And if you get a letter written in…. traditional Japanese calligraphy, you need to frame that or put it in a box or keep it somewhere special

C: (laughs)

K: Because it really is, like… a rare art form. It’s – and it’s kind of like a dying art form because of computer. A lot of… it was recently in the news that a lot of school children – actually, college students – don’t know how to write Japanese. Like, they can’t write a letter in Japanese.

C: Yeah.

K: Because they’re so used to typing now, on the computer, and so they learn how to write the calligraphy in elementary school and Jr high, but by high school now a lot of the papers are typed.

C: I feel the same way. I feel like I know how to write our address. And I know how to write all of the individual characters of the hiragana and katakana, but I struggle to write any kanji because I just type it and it appears. So, I can read it.

K: Yeah.

C: But writing it is like… I don’t remember.

K: So, I used to be able to write our address, but I have gotten lazier and lazier.

C: (laughs)

K: And… I do – so, this might be an offensive term if you’re not in Japan. But I do what I think of as the “round eye” and this is because somebody in Japan called me a “round eye.” And I was like, “cool.” So, if I’m a round eye, then you’ll do everything for me? So, for me, with some of the racist tropes and things, my whole life – and I’ve shared this before on the podcast – if I can use racism to my benefit to get service, I will. So, now I just make my eyes big and round, and it’s so weird because I do a Japanese thing. So, they should know that I know because whenever there’s something to write, I do my eyes big and round, I tilt my head to the left, and I go, “nn?”

C: (laughs)

K: Which is completely Japanese, but it’s Japanese helplessness.

C: Yes.

K: And so… it’s exactly what a manga character is drawn to look like when they’re being a helpless stereotypical girl in manga tropes. So, I think of it as manga face. And I use a lot of manga faces to get out of doing everything. But I’m thinking about stopping that habit, but then I’ve been sequestered for almost a year. Like, I’m coming up on 12 months of only seeing doctors, and my Japanese has just really fallen off.

C: Well, and if you give me puffer face from manga face, I just ask you, “what do you want?” Yeah, that one.

K: I just did it.

C: Yeah.

K: It’s when you blow your cheeks out. You fill your cheeks with air.

C: Yeah.

K: And then, depending on what shape you make your lips, it determines whether you’re angry, sad, scared, frustrated… obstinate. It’s a whole emotional range. There’s a whole range of puffer faces.

C: Yeah, so I’m just like, “what do you want? Just tell me what you want. You and I speak the same language natively.”

K: (laughs) But you do puffer face, too. And you think that your beard hides your puffer face. Yeah, because you do puffer mouth when you want me to know, but you do puffer face when you’re trying not to sigh at me.

C: Mmm.

K: Because I’m like, “don’t sigh at me.”

C: Yeah.

K: I do not like being sighed at.

C: You don’t.

K: It’s really frustrating. And you’re the same way. Because when I sigh, you’re like, “I hear you sighing.”

C: Yeah.

K: You say it that strongly.

C: I do. But I don’t ever – I feel like I never tell you, “don’t be patient with me.”

K: (laughs)

C: I like you being patient with me. I’m like, “please, be patient with me.”

(laughter)

K: Yes. I actually have to tell you like, “don’t be patient with me. I don’t need patience, okay? I’m more together than that. You can just be efficient.” Because I feel like it’s efficient or patient.

C: Mhm.

K: And the reality is you move – we both have the habit of we move at a set speed. Like, once we start something, we cannot make ourselves do it faster.

C: No.

K: We can appear to be attempting to be faster, but it’s an illusion.

C: Complete illusion.

K: Yeah.

C: Because I’m being efficient and constant in my speed. And also, sometimes, I just have joint things going on where it’s just incredibly painful.

K: That has nothing to do with you being patient or not.

C: No, but it has to do with moving at a constant speed.

K: Yeah. And so, the “don’t be patient with me” is more about… don’t assume the mood I’m in.

C: Mm.

K: And don’t give care when care is not needed. Because I have a certain amount of – because everyone knows I’m a spoony. And for those of you who this might be your first time listening to us, spoony theory is that everybody gets the same amount of spoons every day. And every time you do an activity, you hand out a spoon. The rate in which – and the amount of spoons – that each activity costs is different per person. And so, you have so many patient spoons that you can give out in a week. And I don’t want to use up my patient spoons if I don’t need them.

C: Mm. Yeah.

K: And so, that’s why I tell you don’t be patient.

C: Because there’s no returns on those spoons.

K: There are. There’s no returns. And if you – if I let you dish it out… that’s it.

C: Yeah.

K: So, in terms of snow vacations, I want to do snowcations. And I want to go stay at like ice hotels and in igloos and all of those things, and you’re just resoundingly… no. You don’t want to do any snow trips other than the one we did to Asahi-Kawa, and we probably don’t do that one again.

C: Yeah. When we did that one, we stayed at a nice hotel that was not made out of ice. And I felt like that was nice. I feel like… I feel like ice hotels are a young person’s game.

K: You feel like they’re a young person’s game?

C: I do.

K: Why? They’re warm. They’re heated.

C: I know. But they’re just so trendy. I’m like…

K: So, what about the aurora borealis ones where they have like, open roofs?

C: Yeah. I think that would be good. I think that would be nice.

K: But every time I tell you, “let’s book an aurora borealis trip”, you’re like, “there’s no guarantee we’ll see it. And I’ve seen the northern lights, and they’re really not that big of a deal.”

C: Okay. I do feel all of that.

K: Yeah. So, I think I have a better chance at getting you to see the southern lights.

C: I have not seen those.

K: Yeah. So, getting you to d redo an experience that you’ve done is really difficult.

C: Yes.

K: If you’ve don it, you don’t want to do it again.

C: Exactly. Unlike you. You like to repeat things over and over.

K: Yes. I do. I like to – I usually like to do a positive experience 2 or 3 times.

C: Yeah.

K: But since our son has decided that he doesn’t want to get married, and he doesn’t want to have children, that means he can rejoin the family trips. And that way, I can do stuff like we need to go back to Hakone, so I can ride the freaking ninja bus.

C: You do deserve to ride the ninja bus.

K: Yes. I want to – because I love being on things. This is something you hate doing that I love doing. I love being on things that jostle the body.

C: Yes. And the ninja bus is an amphibious bus that takes a tour through town and then drives down into lake Hakone and takes a tour of the lake.

K: And the reason it’s called the ninja bus is because it also goes over some really rough terrain. Like, you should be expected to be bounced out of your seat.

C: Yes.

K: That sounds really appealing to me.

C: As somebody with arthritis, that does not sound so appealing to me.

K: Which is why we haven’t done the ninja bus.

C: I know. I appreciate your kindness in that.

K: And Rasta will do that even if it’s painful for him because he loves seeing me excited.

C: (laughs) Yeah.

K: Like, when I’m excited and happy about something, he can’t help but feel excited and happy about it. And then… the fact that he did it with me – he feels like he made that excitement happen.

C: Yeah. I feel like I get to see you excited more often. #PodcastAfterDark.

K: (laughs) You’re so pervy. That was so pervy.

C: (laughs)

K: Oh my gosh. Yes, you do get to see me excited more often. Perv. So, like, I definitely want to go back to Hakone. And I find that… being at the – coming up on the… one year anniversary of being quarantined, my… fantasy vacation life is getting richer.

C: Mhm.

K: and more complex. Like, I know I want to go back to Spain. Never want to go to France again. Have no desire to go to anywhere in the U.K. – um

C: Now, if we go back to Spain, would you like to go back to Madrid – where we went to a conference for you – or do you want to go to Barcelona?

K: I want to go to Barcelona.

C: Okay. That’s what I thought.

K: Yeah. Madrid was nice, and everybody was covered in tattoos, so I’m wondering about the Madrid tattoo culture.

C: Mhm.

K: Because, like, almost every single man I saw had a tattoo.

C: And a significant portion of the women, too.

K: Yeah. So, I think there must be a strong tattoo culture in Madrid.

C: Yeah.

K: So, that’s something I’m a little bit curious about.

C: Mm.

K: Because I want to – y’all know I want to cover both my legs in tattoos.

C: Yeah.

K: So… because I have no desire to go to… the onsen. Like…

C: Right.

K: Or to go swimming. Like, I don’t have a desire to do anything in Japan that requires me to show my legs.

C: No.

K: And so, I don’t think that… it’s prohibitive in any way.

C: I don’t think so. And if one day, you were like, “I really want to go to the onsen”, you can get hotel rooms that have your own private onsen in them.

K: Yeah. But I – like, it’s a hot tub.

C: Exactly.

K: It’s a hot springs. And I think, growing up in the United States, I’m really kind of spoiled. Because I’ve been to natural outdoor hot springs my whole life.

C: Yeah. Growing up in Northern California in the 70s, I do think you got the whole… hippy hot springs thing going on.

K: Yeah. Absolutely. And so… I’m kind of over it because that’s what we used to do every summer.

C: Yeah.

K: Is like – because it’s really cheap way to burn some… some months. And every single camp in Northern California in the Santa Cruz area – and also in the national park area. Every summer, I’d go hiking in the national park area, and then the thing to do is go to the hot springs at Yosemite. And there are different hot springs. Some of them are too hot to get in. And some of them are not. And you can just go and bathe there.

C: Well, and Fairbanks had its own hot springs.

K: Really?

C: Yeah. Called Chena Hot Springs. It’s 60 miles outside of town, down Chena Hot Springs Road. Because the road naming is very imaginative. But… yeah. It’s famous because… even in the midst of winter, they stay unfrozen. And you can go bathe and things in them.

K: and then I know that, here in Japan, they have an experience where you can go see the snow monkeys.

C: Yeah.

K: And it is wholly unappealing to me to go into a hot springs that snow monkeys go in.

C: Well

K: That just seems so eww.

C: Well, and even

K: They’re wild animals.

C: You and I have been to the

K: They’re super strong and super dangerous.

C: You and I have been to the monkey park.

K: Yeah.

C: Here on Honshu. And that was fun. But you walk up a trail, and they’re like, “don’t feed the monkeys along the trail.”

K: Yeah.

C: “Just leave them be.”

K: Yeah.

C: And then at the top, there’s a building that you go in, and the monkeys stay outside. And there’s wire… a wire outside so the monkeys can, basically, crawl all over it, and you can feed them treats through the holes.

K: Yeah. So, they put the humans in the cage because the wild monkeys

C: Are wild monkeys.

K: Yeah. And I think we’ve talked about it before – the funny thing about the monkeys being picky.

C: Yeah.

K: And like, passing it and some monkeys like the nuts and some monkeys like the fruit. And they would like, pass off the stuff they didn’t like to other monkeys. And, like, go around and look around “who’s go the stuff I like.”

C: Yeah. And we had the one monkey that would like… tap its chest, like, to signal it wanted something.

K: Yeah.

C: and hold out its hand.

K: Yeah.

C: And then if it wasn’t what it wanted, it’d pass it off to somebody else and do it again.

K: Yeah. (laughs) And it really was fun because I felt like a trained monkey.

C: (laughs)

K: I feel like the monkey trained me so fat. I was like, “I’ve got to go get the dried fruit for the monkey.”

C: Yeah.

K: Because I’m like, “I don’t want nuts. I just want dried fruit” because I wanted that monkey to be happy. And that monkey looked at me like, “you know.” (laughs) And then when it was full, it just ran off. And I was over it.

C: And that same trip to the Tokyo area, we went to Nara and fed the deer.

K: Yeah. And the deer are aggressive.

C: They’re like headbutting like, “I know you’ve got deer crackers.”

K: Yeah.

C: And if they don’t think you do, they’ll like headbutt you to the deer cracker vendor.

K: Yes. (laughs)

C: I don’t know why they don’t bother the vendor, but they know “don’t bother the vendor. People will come and feed you, but the vendor won’t.”

K: Because there’s like a perimeter around the vendor that the deer just won’t cross.

C: Yeah.

K: It’s like an invisible line that the deer know – so, the deer are kind of trained, but all of the humans get trained. So, I think that that’s kind of cool and fun, but it was shocking. And so, for us, there hasn’t been, like, a huge snowfall this year. But it has been absolutely a challenge to get the house warm.

C: Yes.

K: And stay warm this year.

C: It’s alternated between slightly warm and rainy days and very cold but dry days.

K: Yeah.

C: Like, come on. Make up your mind. Just, like, get cold and precipitation, so we can get snowy days and sunny days.

K: And I really like the fact that you alert me when it’s snowing. Because my side of the house, while I have – I’m surrounded by a glass wall – because I’m working, I have to have the curtains closed because then, no one would be able to see me.

C: Yes.

K: Because I’m also on the sunnier side of the house. So, I tried having it with the curtains open, and you just – you can’t see me at all. The sun is too bright. So, I have no idea what the weather is like outside: whether it’s sunny or foggy or anything.

C: But I have a north-facing window, so I can see out to the mountains, and I can see if it’s raining or snowing, and I come and tell you.

K: Yeah. So, it’s really nice in between clients to go and sit with my husband – I feel very spoiled – and sit with my husband and sometimes have hot cocoa and look at the snow and complain about how cold the house is.

(laughter)

K: And be like, “this is why the house is so cold.” So, thank you for hanging out with us. You know we love you Musick Notes. And if you’re a first-time listener, we hope you come back. If you’re a long-time listener, we hope you come back. We value every listen seriously and honestly. It’s very humbling. Y’all know that we’re in the top 30s – whoo whoo – on Player FM for podcasts about Japan. We’re trying to make it in the top 20. So… that’s super, super exciting for us. Watching it climb the charts. And that’s down to y’all listening every week, and… hanging out with us. So, we really appreciate that. And to all of our patrons, you know we love you, and we’re about to head on over to Patreon, and we’re going to talk about pre-orders today.

C: Yes, we are.

K: And Chad’s book. Exciting stuff.

C: Very.

K: (Laughs) So, we hope you come back next week, and that you follow us on over to the Patreon for the take two. And… thanks a lot. That’s it for today.

C: Bye.

K: Bye.