Konbanwa, good evening! How are you? Are you enjoying spooky season? I celebrated my 34th birthday this week! More on that later, first I want to share three highlights from the past two weeks.
On Wednesday October 16, my supervisor in the US Embassy hosted a welcome dinner for me at a fancy Japanese restaurant. There were 7 (!) courses, which you can see in the menu below. Everything was delicate and delicious. I wish I took more pictures of the food, but I was having such a good time I only snapped a pic of Course #1, grilled sesame tofu.
I’m a little bit mad at myself for not taking a picture of Course #2, which included “ginkgo nuts roasted in salt.” Ginkgos are my favorite type of tree, and (coincidentally) they are everywhere here- they are the symbol of Tokyo. The logo on the city government offices is the shape of a ginkgo leaf. In the fall, female ginkgo trees drop their fruit and have a notorious stinky scent. People in Tokyo sometimes collect the fallen fruit from the ginkgo trees in parks and fry them at home. I was so happy this fancy restaurant had it on the menu. They were soft and tender!
There were three representatives from the Embassy at the dinner, along with four of my colleagues from the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education. We had a great time, and it was so nice to get to know them better as people outside of work. It turns out one of my colleagues is into “Fast and Furious” style racing and has her own race car! I’m really hoping I can get an invitation to cheer her on when she competes in a Tokyo parking lot in the middle of the night…how cool would that be?! My colleagues also taught me “ippon-jime” which is a clapping ritual to end a party. One person chants, “yooooo-OOO!” and then everyone claps once in unison. We practiced an alternative called “sanbon-jime,” too. I found a YouTube example video of it here.
Second highlight: climbing Mount Takao last Sunday with a group of international friends. I met this group on MeetUp during my first week in Tokyo, and was thrilled last weekend when they wanted to climb a mountain. Takao is a beautiful mountain outside of Tokyo with a temple village and a monkey park (like a zoo but only for monkeys) on top. If you know me, you know I love mountains, and I was so excited to experience my first hike in Japan with a fun group of people. I also tried “mitarashi dango” for the first time, which is a rice flour dumpling with a sweet soy sauce dip served on a skewer. It tastes kind of like a savory rice flour donut.
Certain shrines have special themes. The pencil here means that if you pay a donation to this shrine on top of the mountain, it will make you a better student, or help you be extra smart!!
Post-hike cold soba and tempura tasted so good
Third highlight is that I joined a sort of Japanese self-study support group that meets Saturday mornings. We bring our own materials to study and there is a fantastic tutor who joins us and meets with each person in 10 minute intervals. It’s fun and conversational. I can’t say my Japanese is progressing very quickly…my brain is so full from new experiences and focused on adapting to a new job that I don’t have much time to focus on language learning. But I’m hoping things will click soon. This weekend I learned that “gin-ko” means “bank” in Japanese and there’s a separate word for ginkgo tree. Turns out every time I’ve tried to express my love for ginkgo trees I’ve actually been exclaiming, “I love banks!!” Oops!
Back to birthdays. It’s a weird experience to celebrate a birthday in a foreign country where no one knows you. I had a great time treating myself to NY-style pizza and craft beer at a fun bar, and also indulging in new foods at the Tokyo Night Market.
I’m reading a book right now called What I Talk about When I Talk about Running, a memoir by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. I joined an English book club here in Tokyo to meet more people and this is their November selection. (Shout out to my beloved NYC Book Club that’s been going 6 years and counting…I feel like I’m cheating on you 😫). I was reading it on my commute to work the day before my birthday and was startled by this passage:
“At any rate, that’s how I started running. Thirty-three- that’s how old I was then. Still young enough, though no longer a young man. The age that Jesus Christ died. The age that Scott Fitzgerald started to go downhill. That age may be a kind of crossroads in life. That was the age when I began my life as a runner, and it was my belated, but real, starting point as a novelist.” (p. 47)
What synchronicity to come across these words on my final day of being 33. I do feel like I recently passed through a crossroads, and am now witnessing the results of my choices unfold before me on the other side. I think a big part of why I said yes to Japan was to prove that I could do long-term travel at 33 years old, that it isn’t just a luxury for 22 year olds. I wanted to prove to myself that I don’t have to be tied to a traditional timeline, or tied to a job just because it’s the easiest path to take. I wanted to say yes to adventure, in order to move myself closer to a lifetime of adventures, both big and small. It’s a very satisfying feeling to be in your 30s and be content with and proud of your choices. I feel open and curious to where this crossroads may lead me.
Wishing you clarity in your own choices in the week ahead,
Rachel
I HAD to sample all the beers, it was my birthday!!!
Tokyo Night Market was a blast.
Earlier this week I also tried octopus balls (takoyaki), a specialty from Osaka. Delicious but felt a little gross after eating eight of them for lunch…maybe better for sharing.
Happy birthday Rachel! Continue these great cultural experiences and adventures!
Happy Birthday Rachel!!