Teresa in Nagoya, Japan

If you’ve ever noticed my “Cool International Blogs” blogroll to the right, you’ve probably guessed that I like learning about different cultures. I am curious to hear about everyday experiences people have outside of the US.

Recently I wrote about our friend, Teresa, who was moving to Nagoya, Japan with her husband, Steve. I took Japanese in high school and I have always been fascinated with Japan. Plus, I am working a contract assignment at Nintendo and our parent company is in Kyoto, which results in a lot of interaction with our Japanese teammates. Now with Teresa in Nagoya I can get first-hand knowledge about life in the land of the rising sun.

Following are snippets of three emails from Teresa that I thought were very interesting about her new life in Nagoya.

In a July 31, 2011 email to friends and family Teresa wrote:

last night marked the end of our first full week here. funny, it seems like we`ve been here much longer, probably because i have been constantly on the go. i have been exploring new areas every day. i start out each morning with a long power walk-with all the great food here, i really need to keep up my exercise routine.


Nagoya from the 24th Floor of the Hilton Hotel

one day i ended up lost, or temporarily misplaced as i like to call it. after 2 1/2 hours i ended up back in the place i had headed out to find. luckily i had used the subway system when we were here on our house hunting trip so i just hopped on a train and came back to the hotel.


The Maneki Neko or Lucky Cat

later that day i went back to kimble, the place i`d found in the morning. it is a huge thrift store (they call them recycle centers or reuse shops) that has a great variety of dishes and pottery. i bought some planters, tea mugs and bowls. i was really weighed down with all the heavy bags and as i was heading towards a set of steps to go down to the subway, one of the attendants chased me down and directed me to an elevator. i find that japanese people are very helpful and kind and although i only know a few words and phrases, we somehow manage to communicate. i can`t wait to start learning the language so i can actually talk to people. boeing provides us with 40 hours of lessons and i plan to continue studying after that as well.


Katsudon - Fried Pork Cutlets

the food here is great however the one thing steve and i miss is salad. the japanese do not eat big salads like we are used to in the states. imagine my disappointment when i ordered a caesar here at the hotel and it only had about 3leaves of lettuce, 1 large crouton, wedge of tomato and small piece of broccoli-i`m not exaggerating. steve ordered a steak which was so minuscule that we ended up going out in town and buying potato croquets, very popular here, and some cake. the bakeries here are amazing! i could probably gain weight just getting a whiff of the bread. by the way, bread bakeries, and pastry shops are 2 different things all together-and they all look soooo delicious-i`m getting hungry just thinking about them.



OSU Kannon Shrine

yesterday was the most interesting day i`ve had! the hotel provides bikes free of charge for up to 4 hours. instead of walking, i enjoyed going out for a 3 hour ride and seeing some new areas i had not made it to on foot. the best part of the day however was when i walked to osu kannon shrine and shopping arcade.


Teresa in the Covered Shopping Arcade

as i wandered around i heard some brazilian music. ilooked up and saw police controlling the crowds and before i knew it a bunch of dancing girls in their tangas thongs) came dancing through the arcade. the musicians were in the back playing great music. i felt like i was at carnival in rio or mardi gras. after that i headed back to the shrine area and spent about an hour listening to some japanese drummers. there were about 4 different groups and they were great! their arms were all so well toned. i envisioned myself becoming a drummer so i could have such nicely defined arms, however the next performance was by a group of kids so it appears this is something they start at a young age.

steve is enjoying his job and is getting to know the people at the office. as some of you know, his work week is from sat.-wed. for the summer, so he was not able to join me for the fun activities yesterday. however, we did go to a bar and grill last night that was highly recommended as having big salads. we both had one of the best chicken salads ever! now we know where to go for our salad fix.

our shipment is due to arrive tomorrow but it has to go through customs and due to some change in procedure, boeing has not paid our rent yet. hopefully that will all be taken care of this week and we will be able to move in soon. we`ve been living in hotels for 4 out of the past 5 weeks, so it will be great to move into our new home. in the meantime however, i will continue to enjoy life at the hilton.

In one email I had asked Teresa 1) if many people spoke English 2) how money was used (cash v. credit cards) and 3) if she had been back inside her rental house yet. Her July 31, 2011 response follows:

there is very little english spoken here that is why i am so eager to learn the language.

just like mexico, it is pretty much a cash society. there is a hefty fee charged on cards issued out of country, so no more racking up freq. flier miles for us. like you, we used our cc for just about everything and paid the bill at the end of the month.


Teresa and Steve in Front of Their New House

we`ve only been back to the house once but it was at night after we went out there to meet a couple for dinner. we did not have a key so only looked at the outside. there`s a good italian restaurant not too far from the house.

This week I asked Teresa if I could post about her and her Nagoya experience. She replied on August 2, 2011 that she’d be happy with that idea and she added this info:

we had a 6.1 earthquake on monday night, about 75 mi. away or maybe that was km, and i slept right through it. shows you how tired i was. i`ve been in several small earthquakes during our overseas tours and lake stevens, but i`d always felt them. one in japan and one in sicily woke me up. i have been constantly on the go for the 9 full days we`ve been here so today i am just going to chill, read and sleep.

So there you have it - a taste of Nagoya - with more to come!