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After New Years in Japan, stores stuff a bag full of their merchandise and offer them at super cheap prices. Sometimes they show you what they’re offering. Other stores …you just have to try your luck.

From department stores to clothing stores, to grocery stores, jewelry stores, and donut shops, there are “Happy Bags” everywhere.

Two of the shops I had planned ahead to conquer had sold out their bags within 2 minutes of opening! I still managed to get a good deal though. In my bag was $400 worth of clothing for only $100, and surprisingly (most) everything fit!!

I don’t know about these days, but in America, it used to be the neighbors who would welcome the new arrivals. Here, it’s the other way around.

When we first moved to our place, our good friend and neighbor took us around to every house on the block. We had to introduce ourselves and let everyone know (in our case, WARN everyone) that we are now living near you (you have foreigners as neighbors!). And when you move out, you give your neighbors another gift as a thank-you-for-being-my-neighbors.

Common gifts include: dishwashing soap, towels, laundry soap, tea, and other small household necessities. They all come nicely wrapped with the new neighbors’ (or departing ones’) name on it and the occasion written in kanji.

We were the first ones to move into our complex (10 yrs ago) so we’ve got a closet full of “neighbor” gifts!

Here’s how it works:

A sales rep comes to your door and delivers the kit. In it is everything from cold meds to bandages to vitamin elixirs. He takes inventory of what’s in the box and then comes back in 3 months. When he returns he takes inventory again and anything you’ve used in that time is what you pay for. He also replaces any expired medicines. You don’t pay for the service. All you pay for is what you use.

I read a bunch of what-to-expect-when-you’re-expecting type of books from the States and I didn’t have a lot of questions for my Japanese doctor. I was his first non-Japanese patient and I think I made him a little nervous. Fortunately, there weren’t any complications with either pregnancies. In Japan, you can choose to go to a public hospital…to their maternity ward or you can choose to go to a private maternity hospital which is like a small hotel-size clinic. The cost is not much different. Mine was staffed with 2 doctors and a handful of nurses.

My doctor kept scolding me for how much weight I was gaining. According to American standards, I fell into the normal range for weight gain. But in Japan, women are only supposed to gain 8-12 kg (18-25 lbs!) and at 7 months I was already at 15 kg. Japanese hospitals don’t give any epidurals or any pain relievers during birth. It’s all natural! And they require you to stay 7 days after delivery for a normal birth, 10 for a C-section. I gladly stayed 10 days for each child. After a C-section you’re not even allowed to walk for the first 3 days. Meals are delivered to your room until you can manage to walk to the group dining room where all the new moms meet to eat and chat together. The kitchen staff gets fresh ingredients daily and each meal was superb and well balanced! In between mommy mealtimes were baby mealtimes. We all had to meet in the nursing room every 3 hours. The nurse handed us our baby, we weighed them, nursed them, and after they drank at least x ml of milk (according to their weight after feeding), handed them back, and went back to our room to rest. During the night, only if you requested your baby to receive breastmilk only, you were given a full night’s sleep while the nurses gave the babies formula. Meal times and feeding times were excellent opportunities to get to know the other moms (most of them lived in the area) and share some girltalk. It was like camp!!!

Customarily, after checking out of the hospital, Japanese women will go to their mother’s house for one month to get some help with the kid(s) and regain their strength to run their household again. The Japanese believe the role of mother is a top priority and vital to the culture and communty. That’s why there is such a stong emphasis on the health of women after delivery and what you should or should not do. Even reading a book is considered strenuous!!

I’ve heard a lot of unhappy foreigners give their frustrating tales of delivering in Japan mainly because of the communication barrier and cultural differences (many hospitals only recently starting letting husbands in during delivery and the no pain killers part). But mine was nothing short of GREAT!

Book Now!

The Dotonbori Hotel offers 116 rooms and luxurious amenities including foam mattresses, a pillow menu, and wooden conifer floors from Germany. For entertainment, there is a 20-inch LCD TV along with pay-per-view movies.

On the business-minded person, the hotel comes with business rooms that include high speed Internet access, refrigerators, coffee or tea makers and an air cleaning and humidifying machine. There are also private bathrooms with showers and tubs. Also included free of charge are toiletries and bottled water.

Other standard amenities available is a bike rental service, laundry service, a tea lounge and a library. Games are also available.

I’ve always trusted the Panasonic name for it’s quality products, but I am now a loyal customer because of their quality service. I bought a Panasonic washing machine/dryer (all-in-one) back in 2005, the first model, from a small Panasonic shop in town. It came with only a 1-yr warranty. After 2 years, the dryer started acting up. In a span of 3 months, they came to service it twice, both times putting in brand new replacement parts (for free! not even a service fee). I had to call them this week again for a minor problem with the dryer. Today the repairman came by, found nothing wrong, BUT….in two days he’s coming back to replace the whole machine with a brand new, updated model!!! FOR FREE!! And I’ll bet there’ll be apologies and bowing for the inconvenience.

Anyway, I just got my haircut today…..

Going to the hair salon is the highlight of my month! As soon as I walk in, the entire staff greets me with an ”irashaimase!” (if you’ve ever gone out for sushi, you’ve heard this…”welcome!”). They take my bags and coat, sit me down in the waiting area and rush to get me magazines. My regular hairdresser comes over, greets me, asks what I want this time, then takes me to the shampoo corner.

For the next 10 minutes, she scrubs and massages my scalp, shampoos, rinses, and repeats. During this time I’m constantly asked if I’m ok. Is the water temp. ok? Is there any area that’s sore? And each time she turns or lifts my head, I’m notified.

While she’s cutting my hair, she tries her best to speak to me in English. If she doesn’t know how to say something, she runs around the salon asking someone if they know the English. Not ever does she make me feel like I’M the one who is burdening THEM by not being able to speak fluent Japanese! After the cut, she rinses my hair (more scalp massage), then comes the best part….she puts this menthol tonic on my scalp and gives me ANOTHER scalp massage followed by a shoulder and hand and arm massage! and then dries and styles my hair.

When it’s all over, she helps me put on my coat, hands me my bag(s), then walks me outside (as I walk out the door the entire staff shouts out “arigato gozaimashita“…thank you for your business), shakes my hand, then bows and watches as I walk out of sight.

All this is included in the price of a haircut (when I get my hair colored I’m served coffee and a candy!) and you don’t tip in Japan! For about $35, I get a better haircut than I EVER did in the States, better service, and I’m treated like I deserve it!!

Mingen Chinese Izakaya offers a wide variety of drinks to accompany your Chinese dinner. Purchase the all-you-can-drink dinner course and enjoy delicious Chinese cuisine prepared by trained chefs.

〒541-0054 大阪府大阪市中央区南本町3-3-19 森一ビル2F

Location: Minamihonmachi 3-3-19 Chuo-ku, Osaka 541-004

Phone: 06-6241-9090

Time: Lunch Monday – Friday 11:30～14:00
Dinner 17:30～23:00(L.O.22:00)
Sunday 17:30～22:00(L.O.21:00)

Kyoto was the first place in Japan to grow tea. Needless to say, Kyoto is where the traditional Japanese tea ceremony was born and Uji is the most treasured location in Kyoto where tea is grown.

Most of the tea grown in Uji gets packaged and sold on a local basis by businesses around the Kyoto area. The only way this delicious, healthy green tea ever makes out of the Kansai region is when visitors, both foreign and Japanese, traveling to Kyoto purchase it as omiyage (a souvenir gift) to be given away or used on a personal basis.

Because of its ideal natural environment, Wazuka Town is one of the top Uji tea leaf production areas in Kyoto Prefecture. Located at the southern edge of Kyoto prefecture, Wazuka Town is nestled in an area of rolling, low hills. Fresh air, a cool climate and a large temperature difference between night and day are necessary for top quality tea and provide an idea location for visitors to sightsee and enjoy the delightful tea while experiencing the Japanese Tea Ceremony.

Ippodo, Fukujuen, Horaido, Matsuda Toukouen and Marukyu Koyamaen are some of Japan’s most famous tea retailers, and offer visitors a wide range of tea related products.

The next time you visit Kyoto, make sure you spend one day enjoying a tea ceremony or touring a tea plant and come away feeling refreshed fully immersed in Kyoto culture.

Osaka-Kobe

The Canadian Academy is a private day and boarding school which offers an educational program from prekindergarten to grade 12. The School is approved by the Japanese Ministry of Education, accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and Council of International Schools, and certified to award both the U.S. high school and IB diplomas. The official language of instruction at the school is English. Curriculum is based on the North American standard and has been coordinated with the International Baccalaureate program. More than half of the graduates attend US colleges and universities.

Address:

4-1 Koyo-cho Naka
Higashinada-ku
658-0032 Kobe

Phone: 81-78-857-0100