Japanese weird food: green cake

It's green, it's sweet and it comes from my most beloved shop in Japan: MUJI. Introducing: the spinach cake!






Once you get past the green colour, it actually tastes really good. Great to go along your (green) tea. Ñam!

Veredict: approved

Hole in the ground toilet: this is not TOTO!

One of the things that strickes foreigners who first visit Japan, are the TOTO toilets, present in most public restrooms and hotels. The TOTOS are sort of computerised toilets with integrated bidet and bottom "massage" functions. We have three of those at home (TOTOs, not bottoms, but now that I think of it, we are three so we even have three of those, too). Anyway, will talk about the TOTOs at large on some other entry, not today.

Today is about what they call here "Japanese traditional toilets", a.k.a hole in the ground toilet. They are still present in most public parks and other oldish public toilets. In Argentina we used to call these "French toilets" and, I've found out that the French call them "Turkish toilets".

At least the Japanese own up to their holes in the ground with pride, ha!

Baby parafernalia in Tokyo, part 1

When you have kids, you suddenly become all too familiar with the pros and cons of the most unfathomable products. Moving from Brussels to Tokyo, the first things I tried to source was not frites or moules, not even beer. No, Sir, priority number one is to find diapers of the "that will work fine yet not set us back a fortune" kind.

At home (Brussels is and will be what I call "home" in this blog, by the way, just so that you, erm, know it) Bibu dons the P ones (don't make me say the brand, please!) Yes, they are not the cheapest, but they thoroughly pass the "piss at midnight" test, which the cheapos dont'. Daytime is another story, I have been using some private label ones and they work just great.

Anyway, now that we've moved to Tokyo, the quest was on to try to find the Japanese version of the P ones and find a local brand cheapo one for daytime. The first few days, we bought the P ones, which typicaly will set you back some 1,650 Yen (about 12.5 EUR) for a pack of 38 units (our Bibu weights now about 12 kilos) But, dear reader, in one of my frequent excursions around the 'hood, I've hit the jackpot: local brand pack of 40 for (drums please) 880 Yen!!! (about 6.6 EUR) Isn't that a great deal or what! They look something like this:

Yes, I know, the things that make me feel like an accomplished person these days. But anyway, isn't that a great deal or whatttt??? They have survived the daytime "piss and poo" rituals and will be tested on the "piss at midnight" test soon, when the P branded ones run out. Will report on that.

Now, on to formula. No, not talking about the formula for happiness or richness, just baby formula. You know, fake milk for babies. Bibu is now just under 14 months and has two fake milk drinks a day. I brought with me his favoured N brand from Switzerland (again, do not make me say the brand) but that is almost finished. So after running a quick internet research, I bought a Japanese brand which is apparently favoured by Western babies:

Well, I obviously didn't check the price on the shelf, as this cutie is actually 2,635 Yen (almost 20 EUR) bought in the same shop as the great deal diapers.

I can only say that I see Bibu drinking proper normal cow's milk in the very very short term..... That or the good deal with the diapers will compensate the outrageous price tag of the formula.

Bibu the chick magnet (sort of)

You know the famous popular belief that babies and small children attract women in the street? Well, with Bibu it's taking a twist to the bizarre.

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to check out the Roppongi Hills complex, which is relatively close to our place. We left and already I was missing the appartments air conditioning. My God it's boiling hot in here! Anyway, we arrived in said Roppongi Hills place, all vey nice and modern but a tad complicated to get around with a stroller and an increasingly impatient 1 year old. Seeing that things would quickly turn nasty if I didn't release Bibu from the stroller at least for a little while to let him stretch his legs, we made our way through the maze of elevators and semi-mezzanine floors to the "Mori Park" next to the Asahi TV station building.

Bibu was walking around in the park, wearing his hideous "combat sandals" (he apparently threw one of his nice sandals in the street the other day and we only found out the following day) when two women holding small ugly dogs à la Paris Hilton came by walking in the opposite direction. Bibu instantly fixed his stare on the chihuahuas and that's when I heard it: "Ah, such a cute baby"!!! This said with what I can only describe as a man's voice. So, indeed, there it was Mr Transexual walking his chihuahua, aptly named "Paris". We had the typical nice exchange with Bibu hesitating to pet the dog's head or not and Mr T reassuring us that "Paris" wouldn't hurt a bug. Bibu remained scotched to the spot and after a bit more hesitation and nervous smiles (mine) and much use of expressions such as "cute", "nice boy", etc (Mr T's) we all continued our ways through the park.

A few minutes later, now resolutely on the way back home after Bibu entered full blown metldown, I decided to take a quick tour around a book & CD shop in one of the corners, to check the prices of the imported magazines. On the way out, Mr T and friend (who was an actual woman, I presume) were sipping a latte or sililar Starbuckean concoction and of course they spotted us immediately and screamed "How cute, you're following uuuussssss!" to the top of their lungs.

Yep, that Bibu is a chick magnet I say! :-)

Childcare in Tokyo not easy to find

So, yesterday night spent a couple of hours searching the internet for childcare options near our place. Results were almost nil. Managed to book a free trial at Gymboree in Moto Azabu, which is a sort of organised playgroup thing. I have no clue how expensive it is, but I figure I'll find that out on Wednesday when Bibu and I go there.

Otherwise, there is very little in offer and almost nothing for kids younger than 2 years old. I've looked so far into international schools, which are mostly in English and some French schools, but with not a lot of luck.

Ah, I think it will be some time before Bibu can go back to his creche days! Anyway, for the moment it will be lots of visits to the park and walks around the city.

4 days in Tokyo

I've now been living in Tokyo for the grand total of 4 days, hurra!

OK, OK, that's not a lot, but still, Bibu and I have been up to a spot or two of shopping for house items and some more adventurous stuff.

Shopping wise, I've done some food shopping and that is for the moment a bit of an adventure. Sure, you can find pretty much all the typical foodstuffs for Western cooking. Known vegetables and cooking oil, even bought some parmesan. The trick lies in understanding a minimum of Japanese and Chinese characters to decipher the labels of the local stuff. There are easily 30 different kinds of sauces in each supermarket I've found. For example, I want to buy some miso paste for making miso soup, but didn't know where to start.

Another thing I've noticed is the price difference between the shops. The closest supermarket to our house is the well-known National Azabu. It stocks all sorts of imported food, from cereals to camembert "President". Prices are completely over the top, something like 8 EUR for a pack of butter (whatevah). On the other side of the spectrum is the "Lawson 100" which sells most of its goods for 100 Yen (about 1 EUR) The quality is very good but to buy in this one you need to understand a bit the language to read the labels, otherwise shopping turns into a "wheel of fortune" experience: "will this taste as soya sauce or super spicy oyster sauce?"

Somewhere in between is the "Daimaru Peackock" near Roppongi Hills, which has a lot of variety and decent prices. For the moment I've bought standard Western stuff, mostly meat, chicken, vegetables and fruit and I am playing it safe.

Talking about fruits, for some reason peaches are a bit of a luxury here. In some places they charge about 1,000 Yen (about 10 EUR) for 4! They look nice and juicy and all, but it seems a bit excessive. Mr M managed to buy 4 for 500 Yens on the way back home from his office. They were presented in cosy "peach sweaters" in lack of a better word. I dont' think the Japanese worry much about using lots of unnecessary plastic packaging.

Today I'll try to find some baby stuff for Bibu and some bits an pieces for the house, like proper coffee mugs and not the miniature ones we've been drinking from lately. Wish me luck!

The angle is very important

So, I am now in Tokyo since yesterday. The trip was long, difficult and tring, just like I expected it. Bibu had trouble staying calm in the limited space that a plane seat offers, to put it mildly. There were mean looks from other fellow passengers, oh yes. But well, we survived and we're here now to stay.

The first thing I did once in Narita airport was, quite understandably, run for the nearest disabled toilet, which allows to enter the cublicle with a stroller and all. This one was a combo disabled/ baby nappyi change station. It featured the trusty "TOTO" WC. Now, it is difficult to spot places in Tokyo with directions in English. Granted, the English is a bit dodgy, but this is such a gem that I cannot pass it by:

Closing a house

I am now pretty much done with the suitcases. Ok, minus the small fact that one of them still weighs more than the allowed 20kg, which, let's be frank, it's a bit meagre. Those strict Lufthansa Germans!

Anyway, it's so odd thinking that tomorrow morning Bibu and I will leave this house and only be back in 6 months, for Christmas. The sheer reality of our move to Tokyo has finally hit. I'm gonna miss my Belgian life. Not that I am not looking forward to the Japanese chapter, but here I am a local and I have found my life here in good old Brussels. Tokyo is really a big adventure. It's a step towards the unknown and it goes beyond the fact that the language is different, the culture is diferent, they drive in the opposite side, etc. It even goes beyond the fact that for the next two years I'll be a housewife. As in "not working and not earning any money". Mmmm, that one bugs me but I know that I'll figure something out. I know I'll be pretty busy anyway with Bibu and getting to know the city, during the first few months.

But well, let's not put the cart before the horses, so to speak, and let's focus on the immediate next hurdle of this Japanese adventure: the trip. Yes, dear friends, tomorrow Bibu and I will be spending some 15 hours in and around planes. I guess travelling with a 13 month old will be lots of fun and hard-hard work. I am trying not to think too much on all the things that can go wrong, like delays, overflowing diapers, fellow passengers complaining about Bibu's crying/ food throwing/ farting, etc, but it is HARD.

I tend to always think the worst, that's me the pessimistic. I guess the only certain thing is that I'll find out tomorrow.

See you in Japan!