We passed the two year mark a few weeks ago. We've been here longer than we were in Virginia, Ohio, or Maryland.
This was our first visit to Fuji, just after we got here in 2017:
It's been fun. I love this country. I love these people.*
*In the last week alone, we've had two experiences that remind me being a jerk isn't exclusive to Americans. Traffic here is different. People cut you off constantly, but they do it so politely that you don't want to go all rage-y on them. They just put their hand up and go. Or they throw a blinker on and go. If there's even the tiniest chance they can force their car into your flow of traffic, they will take it and then give you their flashers to say thank you.
Sometimes, though...you can't stop.
The other day, for instance. We were on our way into Tokyo for a bit of an emergency. As we approached an intersection, a lil work van started to cut over. There was no room. There was no time. It wasn't even close. Sean slammed on the brakes, but the work van pushed so far over, Sean had to whip into the next lane. Um, yeah. There was a giant dump truck in that lane. The giant dump truck driver managed to stop in time, but he may have been eating ramen and it may have dumped in his lap. The other joy of traffic here is that the red lights catch you. You may slip through one, but will surely be stopped by the next light, ten yards down the road. I knew the dump truck driver was mad. Not at the original work van that started the whole thing, he was mad at us.
To our chagrin, he pulled up alongside us as the next red light and rolled his window down. We did the bow and mime forgiveness in the gaijin way thing, but he still yelled at us. Not sure what he yelled, but yell he did.
Instance number two happened at Costco. Baby cakes was worn out from all her being cute and wanted a snack for the ride home. I was parked behind a divider, so it wasn't a big deal to nurse her real quick. Naturally, another work van backed in in front of me. Three men got out. Man number one noticed what I was doing and said something to the other two. Instead of being polite, knowing full well what I was doing, they went out of their way to walk directly beside my car and all three of them looked down on me. One of them said something rather obnoxiously and they all laughed. I have never once felt like I needed to lock my doors while out in public here, but that experience made me feel so violated.
But wait. It gets worse.
After I locked my doors and made sure they'd moved on their merry way, I settled down...only to notice another man in their party. He was about 175 years old, so I didn't notice him at first. I glanced up and he was peeking at me around the corner of their van. The fella looked just like the hyena on Lion King, crazy eyes and all. He wasn't just peeking at me, he was taking a whiz. Once he realized I saw him, he turned his back to me and finished emptying his bladder on the wall. No lie, he peed for a solid three minutes. Yeah. Ew.
Last year:
This was close to our two year mark:
And Sean got this one at the Tokyo Tower.
Two years. Man. MEN. In two years two of them have turned into men.
Another story I'll want to visit when the Japan homesickness gets strong: Today I had to renew our JCI(Japanese Compulsory Insurance, is a government regulated, mandatory safety inspection that must be done every two years for cars in Japan). I didn't think it would be that big of a deal.
Let me tell you how big of a deal it actually is. I had an inspection with the Auto Hobby shop on base. I thought it was THE inspection, but no. There's an inspection before the inspection because governmental headaches is also not America specific. Thank goodness, a friend offered to take two of the knuckleheads since my babysitters are currently galavanting across America with their Pops.
90 minutes of pre-inspecting resulted in a failure to pass. My tires are worn(funny...just bought brand new tires 10 months ago. *sniff sniff* I smell a racket) and some other automobile piece a gal like me can't care to remember needs replacing. I learned today that JCI and regular insurance are two different things. How fun that they both expire this month. I got the two things cross threaded and as it turns out, only one is not due til the end of the month, and the other...expired two weeks ago and I'm basically a fugitive, likely to be arrested at any moment.
Can I just continue on with this money grab and slip on past the Bounty Hunters to the garage to have my tires changed? Heavens, no.
I had to go to the Insurance office to pay the JCI(not to be confused with the insurance-even though it's the insurance office).
Then I had to go to the bank because I didn't have enough cash.
Then it was back to the Insurance Office.
Then it was to City Hall(off base) to get temporary plates that last five days.
Then to the off base garage to have repairs done.
Then to a restaurant within walking distance because the garage has no waiting area.
Then to the bank again because the off base garage is cash only.
Then it was to spend a few minutes repenting when the ATM brought me to my daily-withdrawal-limit-met knees.
Then it was reaching victory via my change purse and getting my van paid for.
Then back to where it all started at the on base Auto Hobby Shop to get the magical red "pass" inspection stamp.
Then I managed to slide across the finish line at the insurance office just as they were closing.
Only to find out it wasn't the finish line. "The car has to go for an inspection."
"What, pray tell, have I been doing for the last 7 hours?"-me, in my head. "This(rifling through the large stack of recently accumulated paperwork and receipts) isn't it?"
"That's pre inspection," matter-o-factly, as if I'm the crazy one and this all makes perfect sense.
Imagine my glee as the Insurance lady made sure to cement the smile on my face by telling me that due to President's Day, my temporary tag will expire before the inspection can be done and I will have to go back to City Hall to extend my tag and then back to the Insurance Office so they can take my van to Tachikawa.
This is why people sell cars before JCI is due. Now I get it. I did find a small(infinitesimal, really) solace in the fact that I actually knew where all these places were, but still. Dang. I know this will all be funny tomorrow.
I feel I should mention(& receive an award for) the fact that Sparrow's teething, Jude's behavior clearly reflects that he's in mourning from his grandparents departure and Titus is overly fulfilling his "man of the house" role by being a touch bossy.
*sigh* I haven't blogged the little things in a while. I ran into a friend at the commissary I hadn't seen in quite some time. She mentioned she reads my blog. An aisle later, she stared at my circus somewhat bewildered. We'd managed to make it down the clearance Valentines aisle before I had to say, "Kick your brother again and it all goes back." I'm not sure if you were curious or horrified, Friend, but you did manage to bring me back to center with, "One day, you'll miss this, right?"
I think so...?
Yeah, I think so.
Another story I'll want to visit when the Japan homesickness gets strong: Today I had to renew our JCI(Japanese Compulsory Insurance, is a government regulated, mandatory safety inspection that must be done every two years for cars in Japan). I didn't think it would be that big of a deal.
Let me tell you how big of a deal it actually is. I had an inspection with the Auto Hobby shop on base. I thought it was THE inspection, but no. There's an inspection before the inspection because governmental headaches is also not America specific. Thank goodness, a friend offered to take two of the knuckleheads since my babysitters are currently galavanting across America with their Pops.
90 minutes of pre-inspecting resulted in a failure to pass. My tires are worn(funny...just bought brand new tires 10 months ago. *sniff sniff* I smell a racket) and some other automobile piece a gal like me can't care to remember needs replacing. I learned today that JCI and regular insurance are two different things. How fun that they both expire this month. I got the two things cross threaded and as it turns out, only one is not due til the end of the month, and the other...expired two weeks ago and I'm basically a fugitive, likely to be arrested at any moment.
Can I just continue on with this money grab and slip on past the Bounty Hunters to the garage to have my tires changed? Heavens, no.
I had to go to the Insurance office to pay the JCI(not to be confused with the insurance-even though it's the insurance office).
Then I had to go to the bank because I didn't have enough cash.
Then it was back to the Insurance Office.
Then it was to City Hall(off base) to get temporary plates that last five days.
Then to the off base garage to have repairs done.
Then to a restaurant within walking distance because the garage has no waiting area.
Then to the bank again because the off base garage is cash only.
Then it was to spend a few minutes repenting when the ATM brought me to my daily-withdrawal-limit-met knees.
Then it was reaching victory via my change purse and getting my van paid for.
Then back to where it all started at the on base Auto Hobby Shop to get the magical red "pass" inspection stamp.
Then I managed to slide across the finish line at the insurance office just as they were closing.
Only to find out it wasn't the finish line. "The car has to go for an inspection."
"What, pray tell, have I been doing for the last 7 hours?"-me, in my head. "This(rifling through the large stack of recently accumulated paperwork and receipts) isn't it?"
"That's pre inspection," matter-o-factly, as if I'm the crazy one and this all makes perfect sense.
Imagine my glee as the Insurance lady made sure to cement the smile on my face by telling me that due to President's Day, my temporary tag will expire before the inspection can be done and I will have to go back to City Hall to extend my tag and then back to the Insurance Office so they can take my van to Tachikawa.
This is why people sell cars before JCI is due. Now I get it. I did find a small(infinitesimal, really) solace in the fact that I actually knew where all these places were, but still. Dang. I know this will all be funny tomorrow.
I feel I should mention(& receive an award for) the fact that Sparrow's teething, Jude's behavior clearly reflects that he's in mourning from his grandparents departure and Titus is overly fulfilling his "man of the house" role by being a touch bossy.
*sigh* I haven't blogged the little things in a while. I ran into a friend at the commissary I hadn't seen in quite some time. She mentioned she reads my blog. An aisle later, she stared at my circus somewhat bewildered. We'd managed to make it down the clearance Valentines aisle before I had to say, "Kick your brother again and it all goes back." I'm not sure if you were curious or horrified, Friend, but you did manage to bring me back to center with, "One day, you'll miss this, right?"
I think so...?
Yeah, I think so.
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