Grocery Shopping gone extreme

As many of you know, I am an avid eater! My love for food extends well beyond the Fast Food joints and typical cookie-cutter restaurants of Misissauga. If anyone knows my habits, I love to go grocery shopping at 11pm at night. Therefore, I thought I'd share with you my new experiences shopping for food in Japan.

As Japan has the largest middle-class society (which I just learned) they have the funds to spend on what they do best, EAT! But not so simple for the white foreigner. You walk into the grocery store, always through an automated glass door before being greeted with a loud 'Irashaimase', which literally means 'Hello, how can I help you'- but you are to never answer

Now traveling through the grocery store. It's your best bet to walk AROUND the perimeter of the store, walking past rows of veggies, fruit, tofu, meats, dairy and drinks. Sounds like a Western grocerer, correct? WRONG! What you really want are your favorites, like pasta sauce, curry, bread, chips and xereal which can only be found deep within the centre of the aisles at which point you are sucked into the Black Hole never to return.

And then there is the cost and quantity. For $40 CDN you can eat for about 3 days before you have to run back for either more 100% milk or another head of lettuce.

Presentation is not to be dismissed. With celephane wrapping everywhere, food is kept fresh and tasty until you have to rip through layers and layers before getting to your food. At least at that point you are really hungry for the food that awaits.

Some small details: egg yolk is orange, there are full aisles of soy souce, an apple can cost $5 CDN and good luck finding organics.

I hope you ALL have the experience to grocery shop like this in the near future.

`You are a fool not to do it, but a fool to do it twice`

I begin with a Japanese proverb- and what a great way to begin to describe my domination of Mt. Fuji this past weekend. This proverb actually derives from the experience many have been so fortunate to describe of their journey up Mt. Fuji. And I couldn`t put it into any better words myself. The climb was an experience, I will put it bluntly like that. The climb up was a daunting one, as we began at 9pm after an 8hour bus ride from Fukui to the 5th station up the mountain. The climb itself took roughly 4 hours, that is for myself and 2 other foreigners. We played a game of `Ten Little Indians`... I had to describe Agatha Christie`s book to one of my friends... and by the end of it, it was only the 3 of us at the summit. Layers were put on as we neared the summit, a short 3770m from the base, but nearly thousands more memories to last a lifetime. There are two goals to the climb- 1. Achieving the summit and 2. Catching the sunrise at the summit. Both, I am happy to say have been achieved.
You would have thought the Japanese had already created an escalator up to the top. However, the most stricking thing about the climb was that 80 year old grandmas and 8 year old children also made the attempt to climb the mountain. It is no Mecca to the Japanese I found out, as not even a small majority of the population has attempted the climb, but I have to give it up to those who do the attempt.
So that summarizes the `fool not to do it`, but the second part of the proverb comes at the descending the volcano. My knees buckled as the great descend came around. I could not be more happy to get off the giant rock, even though it was a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience. And I`ll keep it at that.

One white guy in Shibuya

I made it! Even though I am posting this at 1am here, the jet-lag has really hit me hard, I can still describe rather quickly my initial reaction. Hot. Sweaty. Crowded. Overwhelming.
It was rather difficult to select a picture that would depict the essence of Japan and I cannot adequately say that I have done it justice- however this describes our Western perspective of Tokyo, and let me tell you, you aren't wrong whatsoever! There really are lights, billboards, shopping, eating everywhere.
This is just one of many pictures that will be put up- but this one is in Shibuya district in Tokyo- known for its young hipsters and insurmountable cross-walks.
It was not the easiest trip to make, having to tackle the subway system running past gawking eyes (mine were also gawking). It's a rather euphoric state we are all feeling at this time. 800 Gaijins in one hotel- here for the same purpose ultimately.
Deepa, if MRC opened an overseas office- it would have to be in Tokyo, for sure!
Just thought I would warmly welcome you all to my Japan for the next year or so. I will do my best for you to capture what I see in Japan and maybe even have a session on describing how a Toilet works. For now, its about photos. Enjoy!

The Eve of Japan

Ah, the celebratory first wall post- I've deflowered my well- someone had to I suppose, and it was just a matter of time before I did it.
Okay, to the important stuff... the night before I leave. I leave! I'm actually leaving. Or should that be emphasized more with an exclamation mark? Regardless, I'm leaving tomorrow at 1:20pm. They've asked us to be at the airport of course, 3 hours prior to our take-off- something I never understood.
Regardless, I'm leaving. Leaving with 60 other ALTs (Assistant Language Teacher) from Toronto, all going to Tokyo on a marvelous 13 hour flight.
Regardless- I'll be in Japan in 24 hours approximately.
Where has this summer gone by... furthermore, where has this year, these 22 years gone by? I remember the day I applied- looked over my application- referred it to James of course who then looked at it. I remember Jane sifting through it, along with Sarah to capture the true essence of the experiences I had previously- Kasia with her always wise, yet doubting assessments of my judgement (much appreciated). I sent off my application into the abyss of a slew of thousands of application and to this day question why me- yea, why me? Its not that I'm too bold to wonder why I was chosen, but when I look around- I can understand it. If any of you have read "Stuff White People Like", you will know why (great recommendation by the way- thanks so much David).
However, I'm fulfilling something more than what white people tend to do. I'm learning. I'm living abroad. I'm teaching. I'm becoming engrossed with a foreign culture. Learning a new language. Wait, what is it that's different? That i'm not yet too sure of, but I am sure to find out soon enough and after a year maybe this blog page will be full with inspiration for others, or a wall of just collected thoughts. Who knows?!
Why keep a blog anyways? I wanted to make this wall- not because I'm going on an extended vacation, but to improve my writing skills- thanks for the suggestion Jasmine. And furthermore, to give you the best impression I can of a culture that is completely 360 of what we all know to be what is called home.
Think of some questions- I'll answer them and maybe something might spark your interest.
I'm getting very sleepy at the moment and I haven't even finished tying up those loose ends.

All the best for now and please, remember that Japan DOES have technology- I AM still able to be contacted, even more easily than Kingston to Toronto.

I'm really leaving.