The honeymoon is over

We've been in Tokyo nearly 3 months now - this is around the time when many ex-pats refer to a shift in mindset from the extended holiday feeling to the real challenges of living in a foreign world where little to no english is understood. Over the last few weeks we've definitely hit some rocky road. While still up for exploring Japan our honeymoon and the adrenalin that's come with being in such a wonderful city has dwindled as we've hit the ground running settling into our new routines.

We've had some teary times from Anna feeling the distance from her friends in Australia while still in the process of finding her groove socially in her new class. A number of kids in her class speak Japanese as a first language and I reckon trying to fit in when language is a barrier must be tough at the age of 6.  Rachel was also feeling a bit homesick in her own way, talking allot about her preschool friends and teachers back home. She has had the greatest transition at the British School which takes on a rigid academic approach to learning at a young age. She is learning to read and write now which is about 18 months earlier than we'd anticipated given we were still living in Australia. But she is a trooper and heads off to school in her little navy track pants and top quite happily (most days). I've definitely struggled more with this adjustment than she has and feel a great sense of loss that her playtime has been cut short.

Atholl learns Japanese every day. As the time is passing and the lessons are advancing he is finding this a really tough language to learn. He started learning Hiragana but that came to an end. His hand writing is bad enough in english, and he admitted it wasn't going to overcome Hiragana.

I had my moment of wanting to fly back to Sydney when Romy and Art delivered their newborn baby boy into the world 2 weeks ago. It felt wrong not to be present. Romy is so much more than just a special friend to us and we would have loved to be there to meet her beautiful baby.

Despite these moments (and of course there are others way to dull for a blog) we figure this is a natural course in a migration and we're adamant to move forward to make sure we enjoy our time.

The Red Leaf report in Tokyo refers to some of the best areas to take in the Autumn colours and as this time of the year is a highlight in the Japanese season calendar, we decided to take a trip to Hakone over a long weekend.

Hakone in the Kanagawa prefecture is about 90kms from Tokyo and famous for its scenery, proximity to Mount Fuji and onsens. We took this trip over a public holiday weekend - not a sensible idea. A one and a half hour train ride from Shinjuku station took us about 5 hours to get there by car.  We took a stop to keep sane in the traffic at Denny's a cheap American style cafe/diner for pancakes and french toast. Japanese style of course.

Driving into Hakone was breathtaking comparable in our opinions to the Swiss or Italian alps in summer. Hilly and magnificent hues of brights reds and yellows, such a pretty setting. Once we finally got there we started our trip at the Hakone Open Air Museum. We were so impressed with this amazing  outdoor exhibition of art and sculpture. There were 2 amazing art exhibits for the kids to run through, something really different. We also walked through an impressive Picasso gallery. There is something about seeing art outdoors - it was a bit like Sculpture by the Sea in Sydney where art and nature meet. Very lovely. We had our first taste of an onsen foot bath, a fun experience soaking our feet in thermal waters although Rachel got her tights wet and walked around the rest of the day barefoot in 10 degree weather.

We finally arrived at our hotel in the dark and rain pretty late. It was here where we fully enjoyed our first onsen experience.  Onsen means 'hot spring' in Japanese and the term is used to describe the bathing facilities. As Japan is a volcanically active country it has thousands of onsens both indoor and outdoor and Hakone is renowned for them.

I've heard that Japanese people talk about the virtue of 'naked communion' and I must say I felt this was a good way to describe the experience. It felt almost spiritual (perhaps similar to a Mikvah..although with a group spin on it!).  The girls came with me and we watched the locals scrubbing before and after and just followed what they were doing.

Ath went into the male onsen a little unsure of the custom (he had few men around). He burnt his eyes by splashing water over his face. Clearly a no-no. Although the water was really hot, the girls loved it, they wore the Japanese slippers and loved all the after-bathing pampering lovely creams and hair oils etc. I went again late at night trying the outdoor hot springs and again early in the morning with Anna. It was heavenly.

Waking up at the Palace Hotel Hakone was a treat.  We had magical views of snowcapped Mount Fuji and the surrounding Lake Ashi. We took the picturesque boat trip across the lake to the Hakone Shrine and then made our way home unsure what the roads would be like.

After a 4 hour drive covering 15 kms we arrived at the main Hakone town and we decided that I should take the train to get the kids home. Trying to get onto the Romance Car (loved the name of this train) and buy tickets was stressful in itself but at least 1.5 hours later I was back in Tokyo with the kids bathed and in bed long before Atholl got home. It took him 8 hours to drive 90 KMs with a dodgy GPS -  I was very relieved when he finally walked in.


There is so much more we want to explore. We know this a beautiful country with diverse scenery.  Next travel adventure is to Hakuba for skiing next February. We're going to take the Shinkansen (bullet train) for sure. We don't have a lot of time here and we need to move fast.


(Below are photos from Hakone and Lake Ashi)

out and about

It goes without saying that exploring any city with young kids takes the travel experience to a whole new level. We're constantly on the look out for a good park, a child friendly cafe, an exit on the subway with the least stairs or even better a lift - which then becomes a preferred station to commute through. Despite living in the thick of Shibuya an extremely busy and electric city within a city, we've been surprised how many fantastic places there are close by perfect for our kids.

It's not always easy getting around. Anna told me the other day 'Mum, I'm over this walking thing'. We have explored solely on foot, scooters and public transport and while it's given us a great feeling for city life, it's not always easy as the girls get tired.

On our third weekend in Tokyo we took the children to the Imperial Palace Gardens, home to the Emperor of Japan and built on the site of an old Edo castle. The East gardens are the only part of the palace that are open to the public and were well worth the effort of walking through. We discovered beautiful manicured Japanese gardens, pretty ponds, bonsai trees and large grassy areas to play ball.

Another great afternoon was an outing to Ueno Park. We decided to visit the Science Museum (Ueno is famous for its string of museums) but once we arrived in the park we had so much to see we never actually made it there.

Tokyo Green 2012 festival was in full bloom. It's a festival showcasing floral displays and miniature gardens across several of Tokyo's parks. Turns out Ueno park is also a fabulous place to come to enjoy street art, so we were captivated for hours by amazing performances, acrobatics, comedy and random performers in some very strange costumes.  At one point this freak half human/ half monster (dress up of course) grabbed Anna's razor to ride it. The audience laughed and she started to scream - it was quite a site.

Next to the Ueno Zoo (600Y/ $5 - how cheap compared to Taronga??) was a little amusement park and also a nice playground. Our troop of 3 were in child heaven. There was also some cool Japanese exhibits scattered around, didn't quite understand what their purpose was, but it all felt very 'Japanesey' and we spent hours captured by the fun vibe and taking photos alongside interesting artefacts.

During half term I took the kids to one of the best playgrounds I've ever seen called the 'Niko Niko park' - meaning 100 yen park (as in you pay Y100 to enter.) A very large, safe enclosed area with brilliant slides, climbing equipment, flying fox and a climbing zone up a wooded and hilly part of the park which my girls loved. Unlike many of the playgrounds which have sand only (not ideal for a baby who eats everything off the ground) the Niko Niko park has tarmac so perfect for baby Jonah.We met some school friends there and spent the whole day there until the park closed at 4:30pm. There was no worry about running out of food as Japan's best selection of vending machines were present at the Niko Niko park and we managed to source everything from hot tea, ice-cream, biscuits, miso soup - you name it from these super awesome vending machines.

KidZania - a mini kids city - was an expensive outing but also worth a visit. It's in Toyoso (in a great shopping centre which I never got to see much of) and is probably best described as a kids world with over 80 different real life experiences for children in a educational realistic environment where the kids role play adult actiivites. Kids either do a job and are paid or have to pay with their kidzania money to do a job. The area is built just like a real city, paved streets etc with real life brands and was pretty impressive for kids and adults. My girls were hooked and would go back in a flash.

Autumn is proving to be a very beautiful time in Tokyo. Over the last few weeks we've been exploring some fantastic spots to take in the gorgeous colours and I have to admit never before have I taken so many photos of trees. I keep my camera close as its so pretty I want to keep the colours alive in my memories of this place. A day out in Showa Kinen (a park about an hour west of where we live) was one of the most spectacular parks I've ever been to. We hired bikes and spent the day riding and soaking up the amazing scenery: ponds, gardens, cosmos fields and more.

Today we found Shinjuku Gyoen another magnificent park with lots of traditional Japanese gardens,water lily ponds and massive cedar trees. The colours were so alive and the kids had a ball playing in fields of massive leaves.

Winter is fast approaching and we'll need to start trying out some indoor stuff. Weather has been great until now, so we've been lucky to spend so much time outdoors in the parks. And if Cherry Blossom season in the springtime is anything as pretty as the fall we've got lots to look forward to.

We got wheels

After about 3 days in Tokyo we realised we'd need a car to keep our pace and explore our new environment with our young family. Tokyo's incredible transport network has to be amoung one of the most sophisticated in the world with an extensive subway (Tokyo metro) and overland train system (the 'JR') which connects every area of the sprawling city. 

Throw 3 kids (under 7 years old) with a buggy into the mix of numerous subway interchanges involving kilometres of walking between platforms and the insane number of people who commute on this network daily - it was pretty daunting and exhausting getting around. For for the first 6 weeks we took a lot of taxi's which are expensive; about 710Y (nearly $10) before you get in. Busses although easier with our baggage are way too complicated to figure out as their route maps and schedules appear to be in Japanese only. 

One Saturday evening we arrived at Shinjuku station (thankfully the children were home sleeping with a babysitter) and were stunned that it took us about 20 minutes to walk from the train platform to the station exit! Turns out Shinjuku station is the busiest metro station in the world with over 200 exits and 3.6 million commuters a day. Just a little more intense than Bondi Junction at rush hour. Typical choice for our quiet date night away from the kids. 

Despite the highly complex subway map consisting of hundreds of squiggly lines in different colours and routes many of the signs are in English and although I wouldn't recommend a claustrophobic individual or one who suffers from panic in crowds travel Tokyo's metro - Japan's network takes the cake in terms of efficiency and handling so many millions of people. 

People are patient, courteous and there is an amazing train etiquette: no talking, no mobiles (playing on them is ok, but no talking at all) so much so that you can hear a pin drop on the subway, no food, no drink, no talking to fellow passengers, no loud music blasting and definitely no pushing. I am stunned everyday at the amazing politeness at all times on the metro. Mind blowing in fact. 

We've had a few laughs that when ones changes platforms in any given Tokyo subway station it's absolutely no guarantee you're anywhere near your next train. Strong possibility you'll need to walk a distance of up to a kilometre underground. This is definitely not a stroller friendly system either. We often find ourselves transporting scooters, kids, baby bags, and a mountain buggy ....only to realise there are no elevators and endless amounts of stairs we need to climb.

So we found our second hand car in the school newsletter. An expat family was moving onto their next post in Kenya and we bought their Honda Odessy during our second week here. A 7 seater that had done around 37, 000km.  Much to our ignorance, we were actually about 3 weeks away from actually owning the car. 

Atholl could write a book on how he decided to avoid the $500 dealer fee to manage the paperwork and transfer the vehicle privately into his name. Not sure many expats have lived to tell this experience. So much so that when he told his Japanese work colleagues he was taking this on himself, they were stunned, even the locals find this process a challenge, described as an impossibility. 

So I'm extremely proud to say that my husband undertook the following challenge: a trip to the Australian embassy in Tokyo to verify his signature, 2 trips to the local police station with proof that our home has a legal car space (this is such an issue here, as space is so scarce) a few trips to the local ward office in Shibuya (our council) to verify our new house details, about 10 calls and emails between the current owner, filling in endless forms in Japanese, obtaining international drivers permits (as the Japanese licence was way too complex) and finally a day trip to the registration office which he described to me as watching himself in a Japanese Benny Hill movie: moving between various office buildings to get papers and forms stamped and then stamped again! So despite an amazing subway that works like clockwork we have now experienced the red tape and ludicrous process that comes with buying a car in Japan. But he accomplished this with great effort and an excess of 30 admin hours. 

Atholl collected the car and took a wrong turn trying to get home only to find himself driving across the famous Shibuya crossing. Go Ath. Our tank was on red so the next challenge was to try find petrol. Most of the petrol stations are not obvious to westerners as the pumps are suspended from the ceiling. What appeared to be a car wash was actually a gas station. 

So our Honda is happily sitting in our garage - the girls were so excited to see a car but I must admit I only looked at it after about 4 days.  I've braved the subway with my kids but driving in a city where streets have no names, our GPS is half english and half Japanese, road signs are in Japanese and you need a foreign degree to work out parking regulations and meters driving my kids around feels a bit daunting to be honest. 

Although I'm proud of how fit the girls are after 6 weeks on foot, it's getting colder and as winter approaches I will need to get into the drivers seat. I reckon it's like any first time and will get easier. I'm also hoping that if I do get caught out by one of the thousands of traffic wardens who roam the streets, I'll have my 'gaijin' (foreigner) ignorance as my shield to save me some yen in traffic and parking offences. 

We're in our new home

We're approaching the end of week 5 in Tokyo and it's been a big week. We moved into our new home on Monday and had the fun of arranging furniture and unpacking over 100 boxes that arrived at Yokohoma port last week after 3 weeks at sea. 

Our new neighbourhood is called Kamiyamacho, a 10 minute walk from the mega-manic Shibuya and to our local subway station Yoyogi-Koen (as in the surname 'Cohen' which does not refer to my mothers maiden name but means a park in Japanese). It took me longer to work out how to pronounce this suburb ('Ka-mi-yah-ma-cho') than it did to find the actual house. 

The March 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami had a massive impact on the expatriate community in Tokyo. Despite all the obvious impacts this type of natural and national disaster had on the country's economy there has been a significant exodus of expats from Japan. They either got nervous and left on their own accord or companies have cut budgets and sent them home resulting in a large number of vacant properties in some of Tokyo's best expat suburbs. 

Having experienced  the rather unpleasant and stressful process of finding a decent rental in London and years later in Sydney, the expectations of our long term property set-up were pretty low. This is Tokyo, recently rated the most expensive city in the world. I was hopeful for a decent looking shoebox to fit all our stuff we had brought over. 

In our second week here I met Nakagawa-san. A real estate agent from Century 21 who fetched Jonah and I from our apartment in Aoyama and drove us around numerous suburbs to view properties. Every one was a great size, perfectly liveable. This was going to be a lot easier than I expected. Aside from anything, I was driven around (with my baby on my lap) and given a lot more than just a 15 minute slot to view a property with no-one else in site. There wasn't a lot of competition out there.  

The process was made a lot easier by the fact that Nakagawa-san and Japanese people in general love babies. He was happy to hold him and watch him crawl around while I checked out each apartment. Although we had learned about the custom of always removing your shoes when entering a home (and wearing slippers) before we arrived in Japan, I forgot and wore my lace up trainers. This meant taking my trainers on and off about 8 times that morning. I made sure to wear my havianas the next time I met up with Nakagawa-san. 

On the second morning, the first house I saw I loved and told Nakagawa-san we were in business. We moved in 3 weeks later. 

We share a wall with the Morgans, a Kiwi couple who came to say hello as we moved in and the Latvian embassy is across the road. I've not met the ambassador yet but am looking out for him and his wife...and I've met some neighbours who are also British School families. We had some tea yesterday with one of them and I was glad to hear we're living in a quiet block built on a cliff-top making this very solid ground to live. As a result this has become a very sought after block and street given we live in such an earthquake prone region. 

We have a local, lively high street called the Kamiyama Street . I've walked along it a few times with the kids. It's narrow and busy but filled with lots of Japanese cafes, restaurants and convenience stores. We've discovered a quick lunch for the girls called Onigri : a triangle sushi with seaweed on the outside and a filling of cooked salmon or tuna fish in side the centre. Cheap (130Y/ $1.20) and it passed the Rachel test.  It must be good. 

The Japanese don't appear to do alfresco dining (probably a space thing) so yesterday after we bought our lunch I managed to find a few crates stacked outside 7-11. We made some seats for the girls to eat lunch while Jonah ate his rice cakes in his mountain buggy. Felt just like the old days outside Jeds with our coffee and spelt scones from Organic, except we probably stuck out like a bunch of sore thumbs to the locals in our new hood. 

We had a great team of unpackers helping us on Monday. They were incredibly courteous and hard working. Deliveries of all our electrical appliances arrived and from IKEA, installation of internet, tv, phone lines and an official came by from the ward office to talk us through the garbage process. Mikiko was there from Tokyo Orientations most of the morning to help with translation - not sure how any expats settle here without these godsend relocation consultants. 

All 3 kids were home, it's been half term this week so it was a BIG Monday. Ath and I were tired but managed to have a house in good shape by 11pm.  

Most importantly we're thrilled to call this our new Sarakinsky 'home' in Kamiyamacho for the next 12 months. And even happier that we know how to pronounce that to the locals. And at the expense of never having to see another box again - I'd quite happily live in Tokyo for the rest of my life. 

Where the streets have no name

I love my walk to school with the kids everyday which is now an established routine since arriving in Tokyo 2 and half weeks ago. Getting 3 kids and 3 bags ready and out the door at 8am isn't quite as fun, its pretty brutal to be honest (especially when we were used to schools on our doorstep in Australia) but I figure that morning rush hour is universally hard work for all parents no matter where one lives.

We leave our apartment in Aoyama, which is located in a suburb called Jingumae and take a left out the hotel and then another left. We walk for about 500 metres along a road that falls within the quirky neighbourhood of Harajuku.

When we first heard our address '3-1-29 Jingumae' we asked our relocation consultant Meiko 'What's with all the numbers?'

In Tokyo the streets do not have names unless they are very large and very important streets. The numbers tell you the 'chome' which is the part of a suburb your home is located in, another number represents your street and the final number indicates your house number.

I'll admit it I'm a real map person. Maybe it's the old Contiki Tour Guide in me, but I love a good map and enjoy navigating my way through foreign places. But to be perfectly honest I'm thrown here. I now need to find places by looking at maps where streets have no names. This will be interesting.

Harajuku feels like a key fashion hub of Tokyo with lots of funky shops selling clothing and all types of accessories. On the weekend it's filled with youngsters dressing up as punk dolls, with dyed hair in every imaginable colour and it's got a very retro vibe - a bit like London's Camden but a bit cooler and less dingy.

Walking down this curvy narrow street in Harajuku I think my mother would freak out. She used to worry that crossing Glenyr Avenue in Bondi with the kids was dangerous. Here there are no pavements, only a single car lane and I have a buggy, a baby and 2 kids. It's like being in a live ride of dodgem cars.

The shops on either side are elaborate. There are a lot of hair salons and boutique upmarket wedding shops. Im not sure if they sell wedding dresses or it's where the bridal parties go before the wedding. But there are a lot of them. There are some amazing clothing shops too and then every now and again we'll pass a quaint shop selling beautiful Japanese items like embellished chopsticks and kimonos .

We survive the road in Harajuku and make a right onto Omotosando. This is aptly known as Tokyo's - Champs Elysee : Prada, Louis V, Dolce and Gabanna, Blvgari, Chimmy Choo and every other upmarket clothing label you can think of has a bold presence on Omotosando with gorgeous building facades and there are a couple of departmental stores too that remind me of Harvey Nichols in London or Printemps in Paris.

We turn left at Chanel and then have another 10 minutes down the coolest street - with no name of course  - until we hit the British School which marks the end of our walk. This street is a bit wider, full of cafes, funky stores and it's a buzz in the afternoons.

We often see teams of photographers and lots of interesting looking people. We pass about 3 Starbucks's on route, lots of Family Marts (like a 7 Eleven) where we often stop to buy afternoon  snacks and take pit stops on our way home. Its about a 25 minute walk for the girls each way. They moaned a lot at the beginning. They were unfit and kept telling us they missed our car. But it's a firm part of our routine now, they're getting fitter and its a great time to soak up the atmosphere in our quirky new neighbourhood.

Hello Tokyo!

As I sit in our serviced apartment  in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo with my three kids asleep and my husband at formal welcome dinner (hosted by his Japanese colleagues entertaining him at a karaoke evening - just the sort of entertainment Ath loves) it's hard to believe that this all started with a 'what if' conversation between Atholl and I. 

What if we were to uproot our family and go live somewhere completely different for a period of time, taking us out of our comfort zone of the easy-going eastern suburbs in Sydney. Assessing our relocation to Australia 5 years ago, we could never have imagined such a smooth ride. Life is good, we love the beach life style, jobs are solid..it's too easy.  It was time to move on and experience something new before we get to that stage when people will start saying 'wont you screw up your kids?'

Wrapping up a full life in Sydney was a massive task. Every bone of our bodies ached after the physical labour of packing up our house in Bondi. Saying a temporary goodbye to many wonderful friends took it's toll emotionally and arriving in Tokyo, I felt like a wash-out. Although there was not much time to recover, when you got 3 kids to feed, I slept more in the first 24 hours after arriving in Tokyo than I did the whole week before leaving Australia. 

We took some training prior to arriving in Tokyo, to help soften the blow of 'culture shock' which proved helpful to develop a sense of cultural intelligence and insights into this very interesting culture. The words I've read everywhere in expat guide books and websites is 'don't jump in too quickly'. I've taken that advice quite seriously. Typically Ath & I are the sort of travellers who tend to arrive in a new place and head out immediately to seek adventure before unpacking our clothes.  

But this is different. Tokyo is a sprawling metropolis,  strong foreign culture underpins a very fast paced, high-tech and high energy city. We're here for a year, at least, and we need to take this slow. So early days were spent  taking it all in with a few short works and basic admin things, like getting our residence cards, mobile phones and bank accounts. Atholl took care of this, I took the the kids. He was amazed at the bureaucracy and ridiculous amount of manual paper work involved.  Fortunately Meiko (our relocation consultant) was there to take him around and translate along the way. 

Key insight 10 days in:  its unbelievable how alienated you feel not understanding anything. 

Simple tasks like taking a cab, grocery shopping or reading the instructions of my rice cooker in the serviced apartment are challenges. For now my job is home keeper, taking care of my family and feeding the kids, these things I've take for granted forever wont be easy over here. 

So I've overcooked my rice and bought a $20 packet of salmon thinking it was fresh when it fact it came smoked and salted (inedible actually) and I know there's alot more of that to come. But I am feeling content. it's all in the spirit of 'what if' and adventure. There is so much to learn, and so much of this amazing city to explore. Ath is learning Japanese every day for 3 hours, the girls learn it too at school, Jonah babbles like he gets it all. So perhaps that will be my next calling - take some Japanese classes to help me around a grocery store and buy the right kind of fish next time.