January 25

There isn’t much to report today. I woke up super-late. It was freezing (even 3º below), so we had to let the tap run in the house so the pipes would not freeze. When I did wake up though, okaasan had made an egg and onigiri for me as well as an apple and Juice. After breakfast, I decided to clean the kitchen a bit for okaasan since I’ve been feeling bad about accepting her and otousan’s kindness so much without having a way to show my gratitude. I thought I was the only one home, but otousan came home while I was cleaning, so I was worried about him finding me cleaning, but he just said thank you and went about his business.

Afterward, I talked on skype (forever) with my family and a few friends. Otousan was intrigued that I could use my computer as a phone. I offered to let him try it, but he didn’t give me a direct answer. I spent a lot of the afternoon researching ukiyoe artists to write my (weekly culture and art) paper on and when okaasan came home, she commented that I had been using the internet all day. I had, however, cleaned the stove and done my laundry (in the entirely-written-in-Japanese machine), (plus the internet work was for school), so it wasn’t a freeloader’s day.

Earlier that day, I had lunch, but the time was much later than noon (when Otousan had eaten). While I was eating, otousan came in to let me know that there was soup also and to turn the stove on to heat it. I think my host family thinks I don’t know how to do anything myself, since I’m always asking if it’s alright to do things. The point was, however, that I had already done all of this (and eaten the soup) by the time Otousan came in to help (the empty bowl was at my place setting when I got to the table, so I made the connections). It was, however, only the second time I had used a (their) gas stove and only the first time I had successfully lit it. P.S. Gas stoves are much better than electric (or at least better than the electric stove at my house in the US) because they are so much faster!

Nothing really exciting happened until dinner. Okaasan made naninaninanizushi; sushi that was not rolled up. It was delicous and beautiful. I couldn’t believe okaasan when she said “this is all we’re eating” (in Japanese, of course) because there was a giant, colorful dish of food in front of me, not to mention more in a large, bamboo bowl. The dish consisted of shredded, scrambled eggs, sushi rice, shitaki mushrooms, bamboo chutes, some kind of root, shredded carrot, ginger, some kind of flavoring (I’m thinking dried fish), nori flakes, and probably more things I can’t remember. I can’t believe how delicious it was. We also had miso (of course) with fried tofu and fish cake in it. The interesting part of the meal, however, was the salmon roe. Okaasan asked if I had had it, and I asked politely if it was okay if I didn’t eat it. She said it was fine, but later, she asked me to just try it. Otousan was laughing (in an understated way) the entire time from when I accepted to when I put the first one on my plate. When okaasan asked me how it was, I told her the truth; that it wasn’t as strange as I thought, but otousan was still amused. I had a few more with okaasan’s suggestion and it was true; not as strange as you would think, as long as you don’t think too hard about what you’re actually eating. Okaasan said they came from Alaska, not Hokkaido, and that it had something to do with not being able to fly over the Soviet Union in the past and having to fly over Alaska. For dessert we had candied beans (I’m guessing the sugar content is on par with a KrispyKream donut), and I went to study after dinner for Monday’s shorttest.

P.S. In Japan, everyone carries a bag, even the guys and little children. Usually, they will be totes, messenger bags, or some other kind of slung bag. American-style book bags aren’t that popular by comparison, but there are still quite a few.