So, there are a few things that I did not expect I would miss so much, while living in Japan. I did not include things that I knew I would miss before coming to Japan, such as milk and pizza. This list is a collective list of 5 things that actually surprise me in terms of how much I desire them.
WARNING! There are some items that not everyone will want to read about. So, feel free to skip over those which are not appealing to you. I will not be offended, as I will not know about them. 1. Wheat ThinsI have no idea why I crave wheat thins so much, but there are no other crackers out there that sound more satisfying. Before we went to Costco, the first thing I thought, was that there would be Wheat Thins. I scoured that store, there were no Wheat Thins. Munster cheese, but no Wheat Thins. Please send me some Wheat Thins! 2. TamponsThey have only 2 types of tampons here. Ones that are essentially normal (I say “essentially” because they just plain aren’t good absorbers), and ones that are basically just the cotton part, that comes with this special glove for you to insert it with. Why would you make something like that? And who is freaking buying them?! I bought them on accident, because I can’t read everything in Japanese yet, and only saw that I could have a box of 60 tampons for less than the box of 25. I quickly discovered the reason when I opened the box to find lots of little cotton sticks and disposable finger gloves. My first thought was, “Am I supposed to assemble them?” but once I figured out what I really was supposed to do I about vomited. Seriously, why would you sell that?! No wonder there are no tampons in Japan! That product is freaking everybody out. 3. White Chocolate Reese’sI never really craved them to begin with, and now that they are nowhere to be found, let alone the regular ones, I suddenly have a huge hankering for them. Why you ask? Simply because they aren’t here! Just like the wheat thins. I never once craved them before, but for some reason, because they are nonexistent, I just HAVE to crave them. Well too bad because they cost like $20 online and I am not about to pay $20 for nostalgia, craving-satisfying purposes. 4. Sketch booksThis was something that really just annoys me. They have art club, I have students who draw the most elaborate pictures all the time. Yet, I cannot find sketchbooks. Where are they buying these things? When I stayed in Tokyo, all the art stores included the drawing section. For some unknown reason, all the art stores I keep finding here, sell lots of fabric, beads, stickers, yarn, and everything else, but sketch books. They even have the charcoal pencils BUT no sketch books. I just you just use the pencils for drawing in the air or something. Normally, this wouldn’t really bother me, but as a hobby of mine is book binding, I kind of need the sketchbooks. It is really difficult to find sketchbooks. WHY!!!!! We did eventually find an art store just for painting and drawing, so I do have sketchbooks now, they just don’t come with the thick board backing. Which, as a bookbinder, you use when binding books! UUUUUUUUUUUGGGHHHH!!! 5. Scrapbooking suppliesI only ever scrapbooked with my sister and that was like, once or twice a year or so. I never really got into the hobby. So why do I miss those supplies so much you ask? It has everything to do with point number 4. I book bind, and since a cover is what makes 50% of the book, I kind of need something to cover the board. I can’t just have a plain old slab of cardboard on the cover. Especially if I am giving it to someone else. Apparently, I never realized how much I relied on those supplies until they were gone. Not only does this include the paper, but this includes glue as well. There is a special glue you need to use when binding and I have always only ever found it under the scrapbooking section. I have looked for the glue here, but they don’t have anything like it. I suppose that I may have to just order from Amazon or something. 6. YarnOk, so this last one is not exactly something I miss as they have it here. It really should say that I miss affordable yarn. You get maybe one ounce of yarn for $5 while in the US you can get 5 ounces for $3.50. HUGE difference. The only strange thing, is that the specialty yarn, (i.e. fuzzy, sparkly, sock yarn) is really cheap! Sock yarn is SUPER expensive in the US. About $6-$9 a skein, and you need 2 of them to make a pair. (Why they sell it like that, I will never know) In Japan, it is $2-$6 a skein. Why don’t we have this price in the US? I think I shall be making more socks and fluffy scarves in the near future. You might be asking, Jeny, isn’t it cheaper to just buy scarves and socks from the store? Such as the dollar store? And I would answer you, Sure, sure. But how often can you hold up your foot to someone and scream out “I made this!”? I hope you enjoyed my post on the 5 things I miss in from home. I am sure that if I asked my husband to make a similar list, which he would be including things like food and various other dairy products that he could have if it were in Japan.
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After having observed and skated in more than one location, I have figured out some things, and can safely say that I have figured out the reason for why Japan has always been one of the top countries when it comes to figure skating athletes. Here are the reasons I have found:
1. More people skate than in AmericaI get that Japan has about a third of the population of America. So I am not saying that there literally are more people who ice skate than there are figure skaters in America. That would most likely be impossible. When you take into account ratios, there are more people skating and taking lessons than in the US. Everywhere I have gone, there have been at least 20 skaters practicing. And there were not obviously skilled ones and ones still learning. No. I am talking at least double axels. The skills these kids have is insane. I have also seen more speed skaters than I ever did in the US. 2. There are no crazy momsI get that this might be a cultural difference, but I am pretty sure that parenting plays a part either way. I do see parents. They do exist, but just not in the way where you will always see parents hanging around watching their kids, cheering their kids, and telling their kids/coaches what they need to do. Some parents just drop their kids off and come pick them up later. Usually, when I see parents of kids who skate well, they really push their children to work harder than they have ever worked, EVERY TIME. But parents here, are encouraging and basically let the kids make their own decisions. They make known what they want their kids to do in an indirect way, so that the kids still feel like they are making a decision on their own. You might still call it crazy moms, but these kids are much more happy about skating then those other kids. Plus, they are nice to everyone, not just their clique. 3. Coaches don't yellYou might think this means yelling at the kids because they did something wrong, like a punishment. I get that, but that's wrong. What I really mean, is that they let the students go and do something, the coach watches, then the student checks in to see if the coach approves. If the coach shakes their head, the student does it again, and again, until things are perfect. They seem to do this, to get the students to find the mistakes they are doing themselves, without relying on someone else to tell them how to do it. I saw one kid, do a triple salcow, at least 12 times before he finally sought council from his coach. This may or may not be a good thing, but it really seems to be working for the students. 4. Students actually practice for hours, on their ownI mentioned that parents will drop off their kids or even stay and just wait in the heated rooms, but there are a large number of them that arrive on their own. They come to the rink, do a full warm up off ice, practice for hours on the ice, then do more work outs off ice, then they finally stretch and go home. I was amazed that they were doing this all on their own. It made me feel like I really didn't love the sport at all because I was not doing half of that stuff when I skated. 5. Classes are a thing hereBesides speed skating, I have yet to see a coach working one on one with a student. All the coaches I have seen had more than one student at once. The coach would tell them what to do, each student, one at a time, would perform the element, and the coach would have the studetns give their opinions before the coach said anything. Again, they are promoting them to think for themselves. This next point is the last one, and I think is most important to how great they are at skating. 6. They still do figuresSeveral times in Nagano, I saw one coach in particular, have students doing either very elegant dance moves or figures. And today, I saw several girls, doing figures as practice. All the levels of skating is the same. They do the pre-preliminary, novice, junior, all of that is exactly the same. They do the MIF and FS tests. They just add figures. They don't test in figures, they just do them. They still do actual figures competitions. My coworkers have even asked me if I could do certain figures because they apparently display competitions on television here for figures. I can't believe people actually watch that, that aren't even figure skaters. I didn't think anyone coudl possibly appreciate it outside of skaters. Needless to say, I was very shocked and amazed to find this out. I am pretty sure, this is the main reason why they are so good. Do you agree with everything I have said? I am pretty sure that there might be other factors, but I have not found them out. For now, I just will sit back and be amazed at all the wonderful skaters, and try to match their energy and skill level. Ok, maybe not the skill level, but definitely their energy. |
AuthorJeny B Archives
August 2021
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