We Have Arrived!!!

Welcome to Tok'yall, the blog that will follow the adventures of a simple southern boy & his native guide in Tokyo. So far all is well. We arrived 2 days ago and have been acclimating to our new environment nicely. Aya's parents were happy to see her, and even happier to know she will be here for a while. I guess they are coming to terms that I too will be here for a while, but her father continues to try to scare me away with talk of 9-7 workdays (supposedly I will be leaving earlier than the Japanese staff), and casual 9-5 saturdays. I am pretty sure he is joking. No one works that much right??? I guess I will find out as I begin working tomorrow.

Aya's parents treated us to home delivered sushi saturday night. Amazing that you can have fresh sushi delivered for $13 per person, but a medium pizza delivered is about $30. So far we have eaten very well, although I am not 100% sure what some of it has been. This morning we had a traditional new years breakfast which consisted of broiled sardines, fish cakes, pickled vegetables, cured fish wraped in seaweed, herrin roe, pumpkin, potatoes, lotus root, bamboo shoot, ozoni (a soy broth with rice cake, chicken, green onion, youzu citrus, and mushrooms), and a special sweet sake. A little different than bacon and eggs.

We have begun looking for an apartment. So far we have only toured 3, but one thing is for sure, whatever we find will be SMALL! The largest we have seen is about 500 square feet, and has 2 bedrooms. I guess if you work 100 of 168 hours in a week you do not need much but a bed to come home to (good since that is about all that will fit). We hope to see many more apartments in the next few weeks, but will have to balance location, size, and cost.

Today was a holiday, "coming of age day", celebrating everyone who turns 20 this year. It celebrates their entrance into adulthood (and 100 hour work weeks - you're welcome!). We went to the Meiji Shrine, along with thousands of others, to pray and observe the women in traditional kimonos. It is amazing how ornate they are. Apparently they can also cost in excess of $10,000. It is kind of like a fashion show with all of the young women in kimonos posing for crowds of people taking photos very much like paparazzi.

After the shrine we toured Takeshita in the Harajuku district. It is a very interesting street consisting of shops, restaurants, and cafes. It caters to the younger 20 something crowd, and leather wearing gender benders. From there we went to Aoyama Road which is the fashion district. If it is name brand and costs 5 to 500 times what it is worth you can find it on this street. Needless to say I was a bit out of place here, but it was fun to window shop and people watch.

So far it is going great. It is obviously a big change, but so long as I can get the "Big America Texas Burger" everything will be just fine.