Theoretically Speaking

Tokyo, Japan -- So my new theory is about why Japanese people are so thin. And that's because it's ridiculously expensive here.

Of course, I'm joking. Not about the expensive part though. I'm astounded at the prices of everything. ASTOUNDED. What? THREE dollars for TWO tomatoes? I went to the store just to look around yesterday and to get out by myself and just gaped at prices. $2 for a half loaf of bread. $6 for a travel size jar of peanut butter. Juice- somewhere around $5.

But some things are a bit cheaper (not much from what I can see)... Tofu is really cheap. You can get like a small block of it for less than a dollar. And you can get some stuff at CostCo which I hear makes it cheaper.

Another astound-ment is just the sheer number of rules here. There are SO many rules and ways of doing things. The Japanese are well-ordered, just-so kinda people. And high-tech. I have some cool ones that I'll just have to tell you about in person.

Which brings me to the funny story of the [yester]day. I went out with this other newbie named Ben- he's been here for like 2 months or something like that- and we went to Machida, which is where they're going to do the youth church plant. And after walking around seeing stuff and the area and all that, we were hungry and went to eat. There's this place that we went to- and what you do is order what you want from a machine and pay for it there... Think vending-machine. It prints out a ticket and you give it to the cook. And then they bring you your food when it's ready and you sit at this diner-ish bar. But it doesn't look diner-ish, so don't get confused.

So, there are a million buttons on this machine. Ok, maybe like 100. But it's only written in their language and has NO pictures. Hmm? What does Janine want to eat today?? Mmmmm.... I'll take.... THAT one.

Nicely enough there was a girl that spoke some English and really only gave us 2 options: pork soup or fish soup and then showed us the buttons. Went for the pork. It was pretty good. And I ate the noodles with chopsticks. Yeah, I know I'm pretty awesome.

Actually, the Japanese are a lot more awesome (because they can do it with style; I can do it with capability). But that's beside the point.Have you ever heard of the company that was trying to sell diapers in Africa but couldn't? The diapers weren't selling, so they did a little investigation. Most of the people in that area couldn't read, so they bought based on what the packaging looked like. The packaging that the company used had a picture of a cute blonde baby in a diaper on it. So, they wouldn't buy the diapers because they thought that what they'd be buying was a blonde baby.

But, in some respects, I feel the same way here. I bought something the other day, paid, left the store... and it was not what I thought I had bought. Going to the store, I walked around and had no idea what the stuff actually was. Well, not the obvious stuff, like octopus or bread or something like that-- but like aisles that have boxes in them... or sauces or spices... or even the difference between the creams and that kind of stuff. It'll all take some getting used to. And I'm glad to be kinda getting used to being here. I feel more comfortable now, and it's been nice to have Christine show me the ropes a bit. It was a good day, and I felt less.... lost? I feel more like-- ok, I can do this (survive) here. Of course, I knew I could, but... hmm... I don't know how to describe it.

But I had a good talk with Christine about all kinds of stuff, which I'll talk about at some point. Don't worry-- I may not know what to do or how to read here (yet), but I AM learning a lot about culture and new words and all kinds of stuff.

Today, we went to the store at another part of town called Shin-yuri-gaoka to buy some food, and Christine challenged me on which train to use. Right before that, I commented at we clipped along, "I ALMOST feel like I know what I'm doing." And I got the train right.

Ok, 2 more things before I head to bed, which I need to.

-We went to this huge building in Shinjuku to see Tokyo. You know how you see pictures of how big Tokyo is in books? Yeah, well.... I was like-- I don't even know what to do with this site! It's HUGE! And awesome, because the sun was somewhere near setting.

-I can't remember what the other part is. I'll get it tomorrow. But, I'd like to repeat, as I have a few times since being here-- it should not be this cold anywhere on earth. Oh yeah, now I remember- but I'll talk more about the language and some interesting stuff about the people later.