Posts (page 2)

What are your neighbors like? (The ones you live near or next to, not the ones in your Vox neighborhood!)

This is a good one for me to talk about.  All my neighbors are quiet people who go about their daily lives. 

Across the street is out landlord ("house owner").  The Japanese don't translate landlord very well.  He is an older man  who lives with his wife and very cute dog.  I'm pretty sure the dog is an Akita, or at least I think so.  It's definitely a Japanese breed.  He has the coloring of the Akita and the curled tail and longer coat, but a lot of the dogs around here have a narrower face, more like a fox.  At any rate, he's cute and friendly.  The house owner also takes care of our garden.  That is good, because if he made me do it, the plants would die.

On our left is a middle to older aged couple.  I'm pretty sure he still works, and she keeps house.  I haven't actually spoken with them, but they are polite.  Of course they are polite!  This is Japan, silly me.

On our right is Soo-san.  She is middle aged, and I'm pretty sure she lives alone.  I don't know if she works.  She has a white, 1/2 tailed cat who lives outside and likes to yowl.  At first, I thought one of mine got out, but then I realized.

Finally, behind us lives an older lady and I think she has a husband.  The people who introduced me around the neighborhood told me she is an Ikebana teacher.  They also have a very old and feeble Akita who I don't think will last much longer.  He can't hardly walk, and he whines a lot.

Those are my neighbors.  I can only hope I'm as well behaved as they are.

What do you love about where you live?
Submitted by Emu with a Clue.

Japan has something for everyone.  If you are part of a couple where one of you loves the mountains and the other loves the ocean, this is the place for you.  Russ and I love both (I do hate the beach, but that's a sand thing,) so Japan is the perfect place for us.

Russ' ship pulled in late last night, but he was CDO (Command Duty Officer) and couldn't leave the ship.  I went over to see him for about an hour until taps and I got kicked off the ship (along with all the other visitors.)  Today was a pretty easy day in the morning.  I went to Japanese class, which is really great, and picked up lunch to take home.  I had left Russ taking a deep nap to recover from several recent early mornings.  After discussing with Russ what we could do for a few hours that would still allow me to get some homework done tonight, we settled on taking a walk.  Sasebo is covered with walking trails.  There are stairs everywhere for people to walk down to the water or downtown and home again.  Our cho (neighborhood) is also on the western outskirts of town, so we have lots of nature nearby.  Russ suggested we just pick a trail or road and see where it goes.  He wanted to have an idea of how to get to Mt. Yumihare.  I said "There is NO WAY I am walking the whole way up to Mt. Yumihare!!!"

We set off down the neighborhood and across the street toward the road going up the mountain.  The day was perfect with a high of about 68 degrees and a nice breeze.  The forest along the road was beautiful.  Every now and then, there would be a break in the trees with a view of a bamboo forest across the hill or a scene out over the 99 islands.   It was beautiful.  A few times I wished I had brought my camera, but then, I was glad I didn't have to carry it.

About an hour after we left home, we were standing on the lookout platform of Mt. Yumihare.  Oh well.

On the way down the mountain, we found another little road that looked interesting, so we took it.  It led us to an obelisk looking monument and then through a trail in the woods to a standing buddha on a hill.  I was intrigued by this because the buddha was quite tall, but I had never seen him before.  Somehow, he was hidden from view except for certain angles.  I'll have to ask around about him.  We tried a footpath through the woods to get us closer to home without going back up the hill, but the path became a bit treacherous, or maybe it was just that I entered shaky leg stage.  So, we had to go back up the hill and take the familiar road home. 

On the way down, we heard a rustling in the underbrush.  Suddenly, Russ started and darted across the road.  I realized that this was probably not a medium sized deer, and I didn't want myself between it and Russ.  I much preferred to have Russ in the middle.  I darted across the road as we heard it come back toward the road in the woods.  About that time, I realized that this was a wild boar we were dealing with.  Thank goodness I'm current on my Japanese Encephalitis vaccine.  After a few moments, the boar went on his way, and we were out of danger.  We continued our way home, but never did manage to cross back over to our original side of the road.

Three and a half hours after we left home, we arrived again.  My feet were screaming and my left knee was about to give, but the exercise was wonderful and the view was inspiring.  We finished off the evening with sushi, a foot rub, and a good beer.

I don't know if I managed to mention that Russ came home on the 18th of March.  Well, he did, and he's gone again, but that's for a little later.  That weekend, we went to the Dazaifu antique bazaar.  We had heard that the Kyushu National Museum was right next to the shrine, but we didn't have time to go that day.  So, we planned to go the next Sunday, the 30th of March.  Also, the museum was having a very special exhibit of Picture Scrolls (Emaki). 

These scrolls tell stories, histories, detail biographies and important places, and sometimes were used for encyclopedias and teaching.  They were also limited to the realm of the royal and wealthy.  They are GORGEOUS!  I haven't yet figured out where online I can find photos of these scrolls, but if I do, I'll post it.  The museum building itself is fascinating.  It is in the shape of a wave, and it's situated up on a mountain.  The entrance we knew of is adjacent to the Dazaifu shrine.  It turns out that the land for the museum was donated from the shrine property.  The entrance is a smallish building at the bottom of the mountain.  You enter the doors into a room with a timbered ceiling.  You get on an escalator and you go up.  Then, another escalator and up again.  Then, you take a moving walkway through a tunnel with changing color lighting.  This tunnel dumps you out onto the other side of the mountain where the museum is.  It is build to withstand a 7.5 earthquake with a cedar log ceiling and a titanium roof that is capped on the building, not attached.  The building itself is beautiful and competes with the treasures it holds.

The day was chilly, rainy and dreary, but we really enjoyed the trip to the museum.  Sydney was still using her feeding tube, so I was able to hire a teenager to keep her at a sleepover for the night.  Sydney didn't think it was her favorite experience ever, but she knew we love her, so she tolerated it. She has gotten almost completely better in the last few weeks.  She had her tube out on Tuesday and has done nothing but eat in the last week.  You'd think she hadn't eaten in a month! 

The Friday before the trip to the museum, Russ was told to get ready to go out to sea on Tuesday, April 1.  The ship wasn't scheduled to go out until April 26.  Several people thought it was a sick joke, but when the order came down to re-assemble the boiler, which was receiving maintenance, we knew it wasn't a joke.  The departure was delayed until Friday, so I was happy that I got to keep Russ for a few extra days.  I don't expect him home until sometime this summer, but maybe I'll get a nice surprise.  They are supposed to stop in Hong Kong for a few days, so I'm hoping to go there.

So, between Sydney finally getting better and Russ going back out to sea early, it's been a little busy around here.  Now that I have some freedom, I can get back to enjoying Japan again!  I hope to have some more fun experiences to post soon.

Sydney is finally showing signs of improvement.  She spent the weekend in the hospital, and we brought her home last evening.  On Friday morning, her liver blood levels were pretty dire.  Her ALP reading, which is supposed to be between 0-193 was at 1186.  On Monday evening, it was down to 662.  I was thrilled.  I watched the doctor feed her before we left, and I got detailed instructions on how to do it.  This morning, I fed her before I took Russ to work, and everything went fine.  At lunch time, everything went downhill.  I put the syringe of food into the feeding tube, and no matter how hard I pushed on the plunger, the food wouldn't budge!  In a panic, I grabbed Syd and we rushed off to the vet.  It turned out that everything was fine.  Sydney had her head turned and had pinched off the tube.  After I ate lunch, we tried again, and everything went fine.  As she eats, she's getting better, and I am beyond relieved.  She spends most of her day sleeping, and being loved.  She's really cute with her tube sticking out of the bandages at her neck, but she is humiliated by her appearance, so I won't torture her with the camera.  Keep her in your thoughts and prayers for me!

If you ask a Japanese person which religion he is, the answer really is: "It depends on the day."  Except for the very small percentage of Japanese who have adopted the western religions, 99+ % of Japanese are not a religious people.  The are, on the other hand, a very superstitious people.  The Japanese practice both Shinto and Buddhism.  Most of us have some idea of what Buddhism is.  The important elements are that there are several Buddhas, the one we know of being only the first to reach enlightenment; Buddhists follow the eight fold path to achieve enlightenment; upon death, we either go to Nirvana or are re-incarnated; and Buddhism has no god.  Shintoism is a highly polytheistic religion.  I don't which is more so, Shintoism or Hinduism.  The number of gods is beyond mind boggling.  Each of the major mountains, ancient trees, rivers, etc has it's own god, as do more intangible aspects of life like health, fertility, and academia.  Additionally, when family members die, they become spirits with whom their descendants can communicate and ask for favors.  Shinto shrines are for happy occasions and can be identified by the entry Torii gates.  Buddhist temples can be recognized by the presence of graves and are for funerals and death.  This leads us to Dazaifu Tenmagu Shrine outside Fukuoka, Japan.

Michizane Sugawara was a high ranking Japanese official in Kyoto.  He was also a noted academic.  Sugawara was later exiled from Kyoto to Dazaifu, where he died and was buried a few years later.  After his death, a series of natural disasters struck Kyoto.  The government, being comprised of highly suspicious Japanese, suspected that they had been cursed by Sugawara before his death.  To appease his spirit, they built an elaborate shrine over his grave and planted hundreds of ume trees (Japanese plums) as these were his favorite.  Apparently, he also liked oxen, or else part of the shrine is dedicated to the ox bearing his body to his grave.  There are several statues of oxen where the noses and horns are rubbed smooth.  This must be a good luck charm.  This shrine, Dazaifu Tenmagu, was dedicated to Tenjin (the deified spirit of Sugawara), the god of literature.  It is the first in Japan dedicated to him.  On January first, the Japanese go to visit shrines to pray, and this is one of the most popular shrines in Japan.  It is also highly popular among students.

Another interesting aspect of Japanese life is the shrine sale.  We would think of this event as a flea market, but to us Americans, it's way more interesting than a flea market because it has Japanese junk, not western (OK, not much.)  Every 3 months or so, Dazaifu organizes a shrine sale, or antique bazaar.  This is where Russ and I went on Saturday.  We really enjoyed being able to relax, not worry about Sydney, walk around, and look at the wares.  I saw a chest I liked, but it was not dove-tailed, so Russ wanted to wait until we found a better one.  Once he does, it's mine.  It was really cool, about 8 ft square with a front door.  Inside are drawers with secret compartments.  It was just really neat.  Next to the shrine is one of four national museums, the Kyoto National Museum.  They are currently having a special display of picture scrolls including some national treasures.  If we can find a kitty sitter, we're going to try to go this weekend.  Enjoy a few photos of our trip!

Syd went to the vet this morning for her feeding tube.  I was expecting to either be there for an hour while they installed it or maybe pick her up tonight.  Silly me.  They need to keep her for the weekend.  I also thought the tube would go in through her mouth.  Again, silly me.  The tube is going in through her neck.  Well, isn't that lovely.

The good news is that I can easily go on the MWR trip tomorrow.  The bad news is that I need to call the girl I hired and lay her off.  I'm a little disappointed for her.  I got the impression she was looking forward to this experience.  I do feel pretty good that Syd will be directly in the care of the vet, though.  Dr. Hamaguchi lives upstairs from his practice, so he's always nearby.

I'm really looking forward to Syd getting better or at least more stable.  I haven't been able to do much of anything because I need to feed her about every two hours.  I can miss a feeding here and there, but I'm pretty much tied to the house.  Hopefully, she'll improve soon, or at least this tube will give her more comfort and me more freedom. 

The next post I have will be about the trip to the Dazaifu temple antique bazaar.  Maybe you'll find that more interesting.

TTFN

Today is a national holiday in Japan.  I hope you all enjoy!

As for other news, Sydney is still somewhat stable.  Tanaka-sensei told me to only feed her a little since her digestive system is weak.  Hamaguchi-sensei says she needs to eat more.  So, tomorrow, she graduates to a feeding tube.  I'm pretty freaked out about this.  I've had a few people tell me this is a good thing because they wouldn't give her a feeding tube if they didn't think it would help her get better.  I'm going to take that explanation and run with it. 

Russ got back from sea on Tuesday.  That was really nice.  The only bad thing about him coming home is that I'm not used to having someone else in the bed, so I don't sleep very well for the first few nights.  If he were closer in size to a cat, I think it would be easier, but I love him anyway.  Also, I've become accustomed to being up much of the night to make calls to the US.  Now, I have to get up in the morning to take him to work. 

Well, you all have a wonderful Spring Equinox Day.  I'm going back to bed for a few hours!

I LOVE Skype!!  If you are my friend, and you want to talk to me regularly, I recommend Skype.  I spent 4.5 hours on the phone today with my friend Nancy in San Diego, and it was FREE!  Also, they have great IM service.  Plus, I needed to call the shipping company today, and since it's an 800 number, it was free too.  Calls to landlines and cell phones in the US are 2.1 cents/min.  So, I highly recommend Skype.

Now, back to our scheduled programming...

What one object/thing would you take if your house were on fire?

If I couldn't round up the cats, I'd grab my wedding ring and my laptop.