Moving to Japan

Let me first introduce myself. My name is Faryn and I have been happily married to a sailor in the U.S. Navy for a year and 2+ months now. We have a beautiful daughter Olivia who just turned 7 months old on the 1st of the year. She is our pride and joy. I have joked about writing this blog for quite some time now (actually since before Olivia was born...pretty much since I said "I do" and became seemingly obsessed with the Real Housewives series on bravo and Army Wives on Lifetime lol).

I must preface this blog with the following statements: in no way shape or form am I knowingly or purposely breaching OPSEC that is never my intention and I am doing my very best not to so please don't ask me where we are exactly or about any specific aspects of the military here because I cannot answer them in detail, further this is not a military bashing blog either, I am a very liberal democrat but I support our troops 100% although I don't always support the cause (yes that is possible), and most importantly I am a very proud Navy wife and I take pride in the work my husband does for our country! Having said that let me begin.

It has been almost five months now, since Olivia and I made the trek to Japan to be reunited with the love of my life and father of my daughter, who has been stationed here. We are just a short train ride from the infamous Tokyo and many other beautiful wonders of Japan. It was about 18 months ago that my husband came up for new orders and I suggested we try to go abroad somewhere. Specifically I said, "Lets go to a foreign country or something. We are young and don't have any kids lets go to Japan or some place cool like that." Shortly there after word got passed down that my husband would likely get the orders to Japan. Shortly thereafter we decided we would start trying to have our first child. (Im sure if you do the math you will figure out that we were not married yet and no we don't care what you think we had already decided to get married at that point and we thought it would take longer to get pregnant than it did.) When the official orders came down my husband (fiancé at the time) came home and said, "Babe its official we are going to Japan." and I said "Its official we are having a baby!"  And it was with that we frantically began to try to plan out how all of this was going to work out. 

I was still working on my law degree (I am still finishing up through online courses) and trying to plan a wedding, all while trying to figure out what I was going to do about school and trying to figure out what I was going to do about having this baby. So we finally decided that my husband would leave and go to Japan in February like planned and I would stay behind in San Diego and finish up another semester of law school and then have the baby there and hopefully he would fly back in time to be there for the birth. We were blessed more than enough and my husband and my mother were there for the birth of our beautiful healthy daughter Olivia. Two weeks later we uprooted our life as we knew it and had our household goods shipped to Japan and I packed a suitcase and Olivia had a suitcase and we moved to Washington state to spend the summer with my parents until Olivia was old enough to be medically cleared to moved to Japan. 

Fast forward seven months. We have been in Japan almost 5 months now. I went through the stages of transitioning to living in a foreign country. First is the excitement of living abroad and the anticipation of all the goals you have set for living abroad like learning the language and taking in the culture. Second is the depression of living in  a foreign country. Missing "home" and all that entails. Like other people that speak English, being able to go off base and go to a drive through of jack in the box at 2 am if need be, missing the ability to see friends and family whenever you want (ok or an inexpensive plane trip away). Third is adjusting to the life. I have finally reached step three. I have become accustomed to living here in Japan and  have somewhat made a daily routine for me and Olivia although we don't always follow it to a T but it works for us. 

So the most important tool to have as a Navy wife or any branch of the military really is the ability to make friends quickly. Thank God He blessed me with this skill, and that there is a sponsor program in the military that pairs active duty personnel up so that the new guy has someone to show him around their new duty station. Luckily God blessed my husband with a great sponsor and his wife has become my closest friend here. The downside to this tool in my Navy wife tool belt, as I like to call it, is that I have inadvertently made some people feel as though we are friends when I would rather not be. (That's a story for another Blog)

I have made some friends and have now experienced some great things here in Japan.  I have learned to drive on the "wrong" side of the road and in the passenger side of the car lollil paper toilet seat covers instead they have seat sanitizer you spray onto some toilet paper, wipe down the seat then toss the toilet paper in the toilet. Ok enough about the bathrooms. Everything is electric. 

The doors are electric; rarely do you ever have to open a door, they automatically open for you or you just tap where the handle would be and the door opens. 

There is a vending machine for almost everything. You can buy beer, cigarettes, alcohol, drinks (hot or cold), juice, coffee, water, soda, a hot cup of noodles, even fresh produce all from a vending machine. There are even vending machines that sell gadgets like iPods, cameras and phones in them. 

The Japanese people as a whole are extremely nice very quiet and keep to themselves but they are so nice and almost always willing to help out the "stupid Americans." Japan is also one of the safest places to live in the world! The entire country of Japan is comparably the size of California with a population the similar to that of the entire U.S. with a crime rate lower than that of Rhode Island or something like that (those are not exact crime statistics but the size and population are pretty accurate). There's not many other places safer to raise a family and if I didn't have a family in the states I miss and love so much I would love nothing more than to stay here a few more years and raise Olivia and any potential siblings she might have here. 

The language is very interesting! Although I have not learned much and have little time to learn I love the idea that I have a great opportunity to learn another language. What I have learned so far is that many Japanese speak some level of English which comes in handy when we "stupid" Americans need help because we are lost or have no understanding of what in the world is going on around us. What is most interesting is that many words in the spoken language sound very similar to their English counterpart. Apparently this is because the Japanese genuinely love American culture (what ever that may be) and their language and culture has embraced and taken on many American aspects. I love the culture so much because it is such an old one and is incredibly rich. They value those who have come before them and their history, as well as respect and most importantly education. (something Americans have failed to recognize in the recent years). Although the Japanese traditionally lack affection of any kind I find them most interesting and sometimes even funny. (many things get lost in translation so often times we see shirts that say funny things in English because the meaning got lost in translation.)

The food. I have not really had any food that I didn't like here. Although if you know me or even knew what I looked like then you would know that theres not ever really been a time that I didn't like a food I put in my mouth. Before moving here I loved sushi, or at least the Americanized version of sushi. The sushi here is very different. No California rolls or the viva las vegas roll (found at Ra sushi bar and is one of my favorites). Just straight up rice and raw fish. Just doesn't sound appetizing now does it? For the most part it most definitely isn't. But there are a few different rolls I have found to be absolutely delicious. Many of which consist of crab or shrimp, salmon or tuna. Mainly because I refuse to eat pretty much anything else. Oh yeah I also like the pork sushi too. Sounds weird I know but it tastes absolutely divine. Aside from the sushi I have found that I do like the ramen noodles that are very popular here. Its mostly top ramen like  in the states but also has a chunk or two of pork or beef in it with lots of little slices of green onions for flavor and texture and some random piece of something in it that looks almost like the white part of a hard boiled egg but then it has some pink design in it. I never eat it but the one time I did it had no flavor and the texture was more than I could handle so now I just push it to the side and devour my noodles. Also popular is the Japanese curry. It is decently good and edible but if you have ever had thai curry you will be very disappointed; just as I was the first time I had Japanese curry. In all reality it doesn't taste bad, just different. Then there's what we call the "beef bowls." Its really a bowl of rice topped with teriyaki beef, but it tastes good nonetheless. My husband always just gets the plain rice with beef but I like to shake it up a bit and I get the rice with beef and they used to make this one that had spicy bean sprouts on it that I loved but they don't have it anymore so now I get the one with spicy shitake mushrooms on it and its delicious. And of all my favorite food that we have tried here in Japan its Yakiniku...which is actually Korean BBQ. Go figure right its not even Japanese and leave it to Black people to love BBQ lol. (Thats just a joke not all black people like bbq and thats not a stereotype that should be furthered or encouraged based on this blog.) Regardless it tastes so good. Our favorite is this restaurant called the Great Viking. Its actually a buffet and is somewhat expensive but always worth it! The unique part about it that all the meats are raw. You get a tray and put all the food you want on it then take it to your table where there is an actually grill in the center where you grill your meat. I like the beef grilled then dipped in the Korean bbq sauce (which I mix with the spicy bbq sauce to create my own little concoction) then I put it with my rice and it tastes so good. (We just finished dinner, I'm full but still salivating at the idea of eating this food right now.) My husband actually likes to take the meat off the grill dip it in the bbq sauce and then put it in a piece of lettuce and eat it which is pretty good too. For some reason the rice here is so delicious. I have had jasmine rice and sticky rice many times before back in the states but for some reason it is so much better here. In fact some days I even crave the rice here. The rice has a special flavor to it that has yet to be captured and replicated in the states. The only downfall to the rice is that it makes you feel full but doesn't stick with you for very long. So don't get full on just the rice otherwise you will be hungry in an hour or so.

As for the sight seeing we haven't done a lot but what we have done has been absolutely great! We have gone grape picking at the base of Mt. Fuji and then watched and learned how grapes are turned into wine here in Japan.  We have made traditional Japanese Washi Paper. That is probably the funnest thing we have done thus far. And our paper turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself. We have visited different parts of Tokyo, been to an aquarium where we saw a dolphin show, and recently we visited Landmark Tower; the tallest building in all of Japan 69 stories high with an elevator that travels at 750 m/hour. A speed at which my ears actually popped because of the change in pressure. The views were spectacular and  breath taking in a way that is not even imaginable. 

We have also visited malls and even done some shopping here. We saw The Rise of the Planet of the Apes in a Japanese movie theater. That was an experience to be had. Unlike in the states where the theater is general admission find your own seats, here in Japan each ticket sold is assigned to a specific seat. We spent nearly $50 on special "couples seating" where we got to sit in a love seat and watch the movie. It was actually really fun and there was no arm rest to move or get in between us. And actually the concessions weren't that expensive. The Japanese are very serious about being quiet in the movie theater. They do not want your phone going off or you will be asked to leave, and if you are laughing excessively then you will be asked to leave as well. Also they don't want you to ruin the experience for anyone else so they ask that you keep your gas and body odor to yourself as well. It sounds funny but its true. The movie screens are huge too. But the experience was so fun!

Now onto the bad. Most importantly right now the exchange rate does not favor the dollar. So doing anything in Japan is expensive after you do the conversion. But we make it work by trying to find inexpensive things to do or to go on tours sponsored but the base MWR office where we can pay for the tour in dollars so at least we know how much its really costing us. 

Next is the language barrier. Although I find the language here very interesting its a struggle when you don't speak the language. I continue to tell my husband that it kind of makes me feel deaf when we are out in town and all the people around us are speaking a language I don't understand because I just don't hear it anymore and it is a weird silence that goes on when you are out in town off the military base because they speak so fast that even if you did understand the language they speak so fast you couldn't understand it anyway. 

The Japanese are almost obsessed with American culture so we often get stared at and although the staring is not one of disrespect but of complete interest it is tough to get used to. They love babies, especially American ones or maybe its just mine, but they love to touch her and it really bothers me. She had never been the least bit sick until we got here and first time we took her out the nice lil old japanese ladies just fawned over her and held her tiny hand and oohed and aahed at her and before you know it my baby had her first cold that seemed to last forever. When she was finally better we ventured out again only for her to get sick again! It seems like every time we go out she gets sick. (I know its because she's little and a baby but I think its worse for me when she gets a cold than it is for her.) The really crazy part is that when the Japanese get sick like they have a cold or something then they were these funny surgical masks in an attempt to prevent the spread of germs to others but inevitably Olivia always gets sick and then she shares her sickness with her father and me. 

The other downfall is the overcrowding. Japan is so over populated that there is always traffic no matter what time of day or night it is, and there is always a lot of people on the train. In order to truly explore any part of Japan it is best done on an American holiday during the week when the Japanese are at work. And we never go off base on a Japanese holiday because it will take at least 3 times longer to get where we are going and it will be extremely crowded wherever our destination is. 

So thats pretty much our experience in Japan thus far. Stay tuned for more experiences of the Real Housewife of the Navy.