yungtokyomami

[yungtokyomami]

あけましておめでとう！

This was my first year spending the holiday + my bday season abroad and while I was grateful to be traveling throughout the Kansai area, I definitely missed the comforts & pieces of home that I didn’t expect to. For my 30th, we splurged on a ryokan with a private onsen on the outdoor balcony in Nara, including some of the most beautiful kaiseki meals! 

Definitely got lots of inspiration for future culinary/hospitality dreams. The wagyu beef course is what I want served to me for my last meal on Earth!

 It was very special to start out my bday with a suprise compliation video of clips from my family and friends back home, and definitely had me tearing up as I was trying to scarf down breakfast so we wouldn’t be late for the shinkansen! I was v sad this year to not be able to host a big meal with friends as usual, but took the opportunity instead to re-direct that energy towards treating myself and enjoying being with Cata too. Christmas in Japan is usually spent with your partner rather than your family, so already we’re assimilating lol. Sitting in our little hot tub while the rain poured down was very special, we kept looking out at this little lamp post below our deck to see if Totoro would appear! I'm feeling v grounded heading into 30 and excited to see what this next decade has in store for me. I’m also v proud and grateful for everything I was able to experience and grow from during my 20s! 30 ain’t lookin too shabby so far.

The trip was a much needed pause and break from the everyday hustle/tire of our Tokyo life. Within minutes of being outside of Tokyo, everything & everyone felt so much more chill and relaxed. It was really nice to be able to wake up with no particular agenda in mind on Christmas morning. Most shops and restaurants were closed but the one open restaurant ended up having one of my favorite meals so far! When I went downstairs to use the bathroom, there was a hidden empty auditorium and a little old man smoking something from a pipe on-stage, along with some rooms with Bob Marley posters...typical Japan to be such a random hidden little trap house lol. 

Visiting Osaka again was very special for me, as it was the first city I ever visited in Japan with my mom at 14 y.o. and where I got to meet Keiko-san later on at 17 when I was lucky enough to be one of two high school students in San Francisco chosen as a youth ambassador between sister-cities SF & Osaka and got to homestay with Keiko-San & her family for three weeks. Sometimes in life you’re lucky enough to come across people that you feel deeply connected to, regardless of distance or differences. It’s been 10+ years since we last saw each other in person but this night we got to catch up like old souls. We stayed up late talking together almost every night, laughing about the most random things, singing the sukiyaki song, and talking about our life/cultural differences and experiences. When it was time for me to return back to the US, I was really sad and she said something to me that I still carry with me to this day: “the world is a small place, so I’m sure I’ll see you again someday” —& today proved she was right all along 😂 I didn’t quite realize it at the time, but my time with her deeply impacted me and honestly changed my life. At that time, she was a caregiver for adults living with mental illnesses, as her mother and brother had also lived with schizophrenia and growing up for her was very difficult. Today she said something that also deeply resonated with me—no matter how difficult things become or how sad you are, you can still choose to find things to smile about or be grateful for. Today I could tell that her health had drastically changed from how I remembered her to be, she let me know that she has diabetes and is almost completely blind. I offered her my arm to hold onto while we were walking around, thinking she would be too shy to accept my offer but she latched her little arm into mine as we walked around and later that brought tears to my eyes reminding me of walking around with my mom whose vision has also drastically changed in the last few years. I also let her know about Cata & the first words out of her mouth were “oh! So you’re LGBTQ? My favorite word is diversity, I think we need so much more of it in Japan. As long as you’re happy that’s all that matters.” feeling v v grateful to have crossed paths with this special soul 💫

Last stop but certainly not least, was Kyoto! Everything about this city has always felt magical and when you’re there you almost feel like you’re the only person in the world who is lucky enough to be in a such a special place. If only you could bottle the sound of the wind blowing through the bamboo forest!

We counted down to 2022 with a huge crowd at Yasaka Shrine, thinking there would be a huge celebration with bells ringing at the temples at midnight....everyone just held up their phones and wooed for like 15 seconds and then started dispersing to go home lol! V anticlimactic but we got some zenzai (mochi red bean soup) from a street vendor nearby so that made the whole experience worthwhile in my eyes haha. 

It snowed all throughout the day on New Year’s Eve (my first time experiencing snow in Japan!) and I caught some people exchanging otoshidama (New Year’s Money in envelopes) outside of a shrine from our hotel balcony. 

On Oshogatsu (New Year’s Day) most shops and businesses were closed for vacation, giving us a new appreciation for convenience store and fast food employees who didn’t get the day off and kept our bellies fed with a warm meal! I definitely missed my mom’s ozoni and gobo. We randomly made it over to Kinkakuji right for the first sunset of 2022 and serendipitiously came across some perfect koi as we were about to leave. 

Our last morning in Kyoto started off abruptly as I forgot to set our alarm the night before and we were woken up by the blaring hotel phone ringing as the front desk was calling us past our check-out time to basically say wake tf up and go! Thankfully we still had plenty of time to trek to the top of Fushimi Inari Shrine, although it was incredibly crowded because everyone was getting in their Hatsumode (first shrine visit of the year!) We lit candles for family health and wafted our bodies with the incense smoke at each stop along the way. 

What an awesomely exhausting way to wrap up the chaos that was 2021.  Hoping 2022 brings universal rest, relaxation, & respite for all. 

With love, from Tokyo <3

[yungtokyomami]

Rui wa tomo o yobu 類は友を呼ぶ (birds of a feather flock together)

Today officially marks one month since landing in Japan--two official weeks of freedom post-quarantine! 

Here’s my first-day-of-freedom-face, right before leaving the quarantine hotel on my first day of work at a private middle/high school in Bunkyo City (don’t worry I always wear a blazer/jacket to cover those tattoos lol) 

Honestly these days have been flying by--filled with 10-24,000 steps/day, navigating through whizzing trains and subway stations, breezing past millions of people (all so stylish and beautiful!), adjusting to the fast&furious Tokyo life, experiencing massive workplace culture shock and trying to establish some sense of stability/home amidst all the chaos. We’ve been staying at a business hotel in Shibuya (paid for by our schools) until our apartment is ready for moving in!

Each day is truly filled with high highs and low lows--the joys of meeting sweet & generous Japanese folks eager to practice English together and the lows of feeling incompetent & clueless when ordering something at a restaurant or even just trying to buy something at a store (98% of menus have been entirely in Japanese, but I finally understand how to say “takeout” or recognize that they’re usually asking if I just want a plastic bag lol) Bless google maps and google translate, I honestly don’t understand how people moved anywhere without this technology beforehand haha Slowly but surely a lot of the Japanese I learned in high school is coming back to me, I can at least read/understand most of what’s going on around me and it’s always reassuring when the sweet lunch lady tells me nihongo ga joozu! miya-chan wa meccha kawaii!” (your Japanese is really good! Miya is super cute!) 

My first couple of weeks at work have been super chill which has been so nice, they gave me a handful of days off so that we could get some basic life things together for the apartment. Another English teacher from the Philippines met me at the quarantine hotel for my first day and we rode the subway together to my school. It really felt like a movie because everything moved so quickly and was a total 180 from my sloth life in quarantine. She’s super nice and has been living in Tokyo since the year I was born! I just kept telling her it was so nice to finally breathe fresh air and chat with another person in the flesh :)  She was kind enough to remember to take photos for me on my first day, also because I was so nervous about having my phone out at work so I left it in my bag all day haha. 

The school prepared an awesome welcome lunch for me, traditional Japanese sushi from one of the top 5 sushi restaurants in Tokyo! In true Japanese fashion, I knew I had to eat everything even though I didn’t know what it all really was/the wasabi was so strong I was def fighting back the tears haha

The vice principal & head of school office joined me and I somehow managed to get them to laugh although I was super intimidated (something about the hierarchy in workplace culture in Japan stresses me out in a way that I don’t necessarily feel in the US!) They were actually both really nice and one of them has been helping me translate a bunch of things/helped show me how to get around on the confusing subway system, my true hero!

Everyone at the school has been super nice and welcoming and helpful, I truly feel so blessed to have landed at such a wonderful school! The students are so respectful and work so hard (most of them have classes 6 days/week + 8-10 hour days at school!) and are so so cute and eager to chit chat. Next week I get to start leading my own afterschool English immersion class! Today as I was getting off the train in the morning, a student recognized me from my introduction the day before & we were able to walk to school together and chat the chit. Another teacher told me he was so happy and shocked because one of the girls who asked me a question in front of the class is usually always sleeping/uninvolved during his class. There are about 35 other English teachers at my school, majority are Japanese English Teachers but a few others are from the Philippines & the US. With 1700 students total everyone keeps saying it’s going to be impossible to remember names but I’m going to do my best! Someone out there is truly looking out for me because there’s a Mister Donut close to our school, I was happy to be able to treat a couple of the other English teachers after work!

& the next day I came back to my desk with this beautiful lil art piece from one of them :) Along with a small bag of kiwis from another teacher’s tree! I’ve only been there two weeks and already my coworkers know the way to my heart haha.

Speaking of food...Surprisingly everything here is much cheaper than eating out in the US, especially because gratuity is already included in the prices. The other night we stumbled into a random izakaya after the first two restaurants we tried to go to were both closed--and ended up with having one of the best meals of our lives! A 5-course kaiseki meal + drinks for ~$30/person! The food has been too good to even describe in words so these pictures will just have to speak for themselves! 

We stumbled into a seafood izakaya with some other JETs and there were a bunch of fresh fish tanks at the front where you could choose what you wanted to grill at the table! 

^^the reason for my double chin lol just call me Mrs. Chin 

We went to our first queer bar in Japan and were honestly shocked at how many friendly Japanese women we met who spoke some English, literally all ages/shapes/styles haha & we met the owner who was a super kind Japanese woman who started the bar in 1991--the same year I was born! We made some friends and they invited us with them to another bar nearby (Ni-chome is Tokyo’s version of San Francisco’s Castro District) where we met some more awesome women, some native Japanese, some from Korea and some from the Philippines. It was definitely interesting to chat with them because all of them said that they didn’t feel like it was safe to be openly gay at their workplace and only one had come out to her parents/family. Talking with them made me realize how privileged my life in Seattle was, to have so many queer friends and be accepted by my family, & especially to have worked as a therapist at the oldest LGBTQ-focused community mental health agency in the world! Honestly I was very stressed about moving to Japan with my partner (I put that we would be living together in my application for the program) and was worried that I would have to be super closeted the entire time we’re here. But to have this be our first experience going out to a queer bar in Tokyo was really special because we felt safe and within community, which is a truly priceless feeling and something I was really sad about leaving behind back home. I can definitely say that even in my wildest dreams, I would’ve never imagined that one day I would be sitting in Taito’s City Hall next to my girlfriend along with the head of the English department at my school as we’re waiting to register the address of our first apartment together :) He was really kind, even inviting us out for tea together afterwards, and reassuring Cata that if she needed help with anything to feel free to have me ask on her behalf. I’m not trying to be all out&about in regards to my personal life at the workplace, but it’s definitely been a huge load of weight lifted from my shoulders to know that my coworkers are accepting, respectful, and acknowledging of my partner. Japan and it’s people truly never cease to amaze me! A friend we made that night taught us this Japanese proverb: Rui wa tomo o yobu 類は友を呼ぶ (birds of a feather flock together, good energy attracts good energy) I think it perfectly sums up our time in Japan so far and although each day is truly truly exhausting on all levels, I know that right here and right now this is exactly where I’m supposed to be :) 

Til next time! Mata ne!

[yungtokyomami]

Halfway thru Quarantine!

It still feels surreal to finally be in Tokyo. I caught a full view of Mt. Fuji from the laundry room yesterday, she reminds me of Mt. Rainier & helps me feel a little closer to home/Seattle :) On October 16, our best buds Joyce & Sarah drove us to the airport at 6am--we thought it’d be too early to cry but I was wrong haha. I keep thinking about that Winnie the Pooh quote: “How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” The past few weeks + preparing to move pushed me to have multiple meaningful conversations with friends/family and express true gratitude for their presence in my life. When I first moved to Seattle 4 years ago, I never would’ve imagined that leaving would be so hard! I’m officially a firm believer that connections with others is the only thing that gets us through life. I love you all & if you’re reading this, I love you too! :) 

Anywho, the flight was direct from Seattle to Haneda Airport, 11 hours in total, plus an additional 5 hours to get through customs/Covid tests/immigration paperwork/etc. We were treated super kindly by everyone at the airport & some even thanked me for being part of the JET program! It already feels so nice to be surrounded by other Japanese folks & know that I don’t have to worry about any anti-Asian violence for a while. When we got dropped off at the airport, there was a police officer walking around outside holding an assault rifle & honestly that helped me feel even more ready to GTFO lol. 

Can’t wait to take those first steps out of this hotel & breathe some fresh air! We’re only allowed to leave our rooms every morning at 9am to get our temperatures checked. We’re also allowed to take out the trash from our rooms at 11am, & I make sure to take the long way back to the room (gotta get those steps in somehow lol) At random times every day we get a video call that records our faces for 30 seconds in order to make sure that we’re staying indoors and abiding by Japan’s quarantine policy. Honestly tho, it’s nice to see how seriously Japan takes Covid protocols compared to the US. 

We just secured our apartment in Taito-ku, which is the northeastern part of Tokyo! Will start moving in on November 3 and feeling a little overwhelmed about all of the things we need to do to begin the nesting process--the majority of apartments in Tokyo are unfurnished, meaning that we have to buy appliances like a refrigerator, washing machine, microwave, sometimes even light bulbs, etc but our real estate agent Minha is a gem & helping make everything as smooth as possible. 

Now I’m sleepy so here’s some photos! 

Somehow, all of this was able to fit into....

....this! 

Everyone was allowed two checked-in luggages, one backpack & a personal item (not pictured here--my 20 lb. tote bag of snacks lol) It took me at least 3 attempts to get everything to fit, I never realized how difficult it would be to pack my life away in a couple of suitcases. P.s. Away luggage = 10/10 highly recommend! 

View from the 18th floor at Keio Plaza, where we’ll be quarantining for 14 days. It’s a 4-star hotel in Shinjuku. My favorite part of the room is the heated toilet seat, Cata’s too LOL. 

We get 3 free meals per day delivered to our rooms! Each day we look forward to the sound of plastic bags rustling around in the hallways, shortly followed by our little doorbell & two of the most gentle door knocks to let us know the food has arrived haha. Breakfast arrives around 7:30am, lunch around 11:30am, and dinner around 5:30pm so we’ve quickly gotten used to waking up early & beating the initial jetlag. The food is surprisingly good (&sometimes not so good lol) and alternates between Japanese-style bento & western meals. Above is Nikujaga (pork belly stew + veggies), rice, pickled gobo (burdock root), Japanese pickles, tamago & eggplant!  Everything is served cold and we’re too lazy to bring it up to the microwaves on the 34th floor that are only available a few hours/day. I saw a photo of the quarantine meals in Hong Kong: some baked beans, a bread roll, and one hard-boiled egg--so I consider us blessed & remind myself of this everytime before saying itadakimasu! 

Breakfast quiche with spinach & bacon, potatoes, and the dreaded daily macaroni salad. Each breakfast comes with yogurt & a juice box! 

The cutest little hanbaaga sliders! +our fav mac salad lol 

Tonkatsu, rice, hijiki salad, tamago & spinach gomae (hands down the best meal so far!) 

When the free food doesn’t cut it, we splurged and ordered the Japanese-style breakfast! The first time in my life ever ordering room service and she didn’t disappoint!

Each day we have a couple hours of virtual orientation/training to complete for our teacher onboarding. On this day I finished with everything by 10am and cracked open a lemon chu-hi seltzer to celebrate! 10am in Tokyo = 6pm in Seattle so she was justified lol 

Searched every nook & cranny in the hotel room & finally found our yukata! So grateful we are able to quarantine together--we didn’t request it but Goddess looked out for us! 

[yungtokyomami]

Tokyo Tomorrow!

Testing this out, T minus 16 hours til we’re at the Seattle Airport!