Restaurants, Markets and Bookstores

This weekend we took another trip towards the outskirts of Boston. Our target destination was to go to a Japanese bookstore and to follow-up with a Japanese restaurant.

I did a little homework before our departure; I found several links to a Sasuga Bookstore, in Cambridge Mass. But to my dismay the store is no longer a store and strictly an online ordering base now.

When I was younger I used to enjoy going to these smaller specialized bookstores when you could actually smell the new print and glue and thumb through the pages and magazines. Even more so today the magazines come wrapped in plastic (preventing browsing) and/or are available through orders online or subscriptions.

Over the Summer we took a trip to San Francisco and visited Japan-Town there. We found a nice bookstore there that had just the atmosphere I've come to expect.

Aside from that it did not deter me from visiting Cambridge and Natick. Our first stop was a a Japanese Buffet (that's right, not a Chinese Buffet which is all too common around New England).

I was suspicious right off the bat, because every "so-called" Japanese Cuisine and restaurant that I've been to with the exception of only a handful has been run by Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and other. Not that I have any issue with any of those - just that when you want to buy American Beef from Nebraska (Omaha Steaks) for instance you don't go to an Spanish Grocery store and get imported beef from Europe.

It's sad to see there are so many copy-cat restaurants with pseudo Japanese names to trick average Americans into thinking they are getting authentic Japanese food from authentic Japanese chefs. There are many times when you can tell they've used substitute ingredients or foods (due to cost cutting) which is represented in the tast. Other times it's not prepared the way it is traditionally and again the taste isn't there or odd.

I am digressing - we stopped at MINADO (Japanese Buffet), the one night we passed by the front of the restaurant Aya looked in and said, "Oh, they look like Japanese Business men in there dining and are being served by Japanese waitresses."

We learned that maybe some Japanese (visitors and business people) frequent the place, the servers and chefs weren't Japanese to the best of our knowledge. On the lighter side, the buffet was quite extensive and included a menagerie of Sushi. A newspaper had a write-up about the buffet (review).

We went and the cost on a Saturday was $17 per adult and oddly $8.00 for my youngest (Child) based on the child's height. Aya was very pleased with the spread, especially when it came to Sushi. I told her it was all-you-eat but she did not pack it on as I would have expected, since I thought $17.00 was more than reasonable.

From there we went to Cambridge to shop at a small Japanese market. Again these are hard to come by here in New England, since more of the Asian markets are Chinese. This was situated on Massachusetts Avenue #1815 and was called: Kotobukiya

This was the part of the trip make Aya feel at home, she could buy what she has been craving from Japan (at a much higher cost) as she filled a plastic bag worth of stuff it was around $50.00. I think she didn't care, it made her feel good and no so isolated.

I can relate for when I was in Japan for 2 months I noticed by the end of my 1st month I begged my uncle to take me to McDonald's (oh the memories).

I also did a little research from the General of Japan in Boston - Consulate, which has tidbits of information about things going on in Japan and local happenings related to Japan. For instance, I've never even heard of the "John Manjiro Festival" in Fair Haven, MA near New Bedford, but I am plan on attending it, if possible - if not for Aya, for myself.

As it turns out that she will not be able to attend this little festival because she has a trip planned with her Exchange Organization to go to Niagara Fall, N.Y. I am certain the festival will pale incomparison to the Falls, but I wanted to put it out there for whoever wants to check it out.

A hint of fluency improvement

During the week, we've been discussing with Aya her about her trips with the organization that would include missing some time with the school. We understand that the whole idea of this exchange is about learning about American culture and experience the "wow" famous places in the United States.

On the down side, her grades and class participation will be the caveat of her whole stay here. I am certain that if she does poor in school there will be some kind of meeting as to whether she can continue or not.

From what I can tell she's doing okay in Math, her Humanities (parenting) and Physical Education. American History is difficult to her - as it seems that the content when presented in class doesn't strictly follow the text book and includes handouts. Many of the homework, quizzes and test include essay questions (as I mentioned before) this is the hardest for her to understand. Essays seem to draw from your mind and abstract thinking based off of what you've read or learned. Back home in Japan, children seem to learn by wrote-memory and content taught is the same as content on tests.

While conversing with her, I can tell she is beginning to pick up normal speed conversation and responds to and asks questions more liberally. I am impressed though, since I would have thought it would take a little longer before she felt comfortable and confident in doing so.

Weeks seem to pass more quickly as Fall approaches.

The week came and went fairly fast, each day Aya was burdened with homework. I had to assist her on several occasions as she didn't get the full meaning of what some of the questions being asked in the History essay questions and with some of the Math word problems.

Friday soon approached, on this night the High School had a dance. In the past my oldest said these dances were boring and that the local church dances were more entertaining. I quickly pointed out to her that the church dances seemed to be more unregulated in such areas as age requirements being upheld and event the capacity of the church basement in question (in case of fire), it seemed the church was more concerned with profit than the number of attendees.

I convinced her to bring Aya to the High School dance to at least show her what they are like in the United States. To my daughter's surprise the dance was actually fun and entertaining compared to the Junior High Dances which she said no one attends. It turns out that some of her friends who made it into the church dance (over age), since it is supposed to be restricted to 5th thru 8th grade, were kicked out.

Aya said she had fun regardless, though it was held outside and the weather was typical September weather mid-50's - which she says is very cold to her.

On Saturday we spent the day down on Connecticut's shoreline in Waterford and New London - walked along the beach and got our feet wet. The water temperature at first was even icy to me, but it took about 10 minutes for it to feel tolerable.

We combed the beach for collectibles and while walking along the wave breaker (rocks) we showed her our New England 3 leafed friend "Poison Ivy", which was jutting out from some of the shrubs around the beach area already turning a mottled red.

Later we went over to Harkness Park, which was an Estate at one time of someone very wealthy, since then turned into a public park which over-looked the ocean (Long Island Sound).

In the home of the Estate and around its garden was a nice wedding, so she got to see an American Style wedding from afar. We spend a great deal on the vast lawn and found a kite which someone had lost with string intact and spent time trying to keep it aloft.

We went for some Hot Dogs at a joint called Fred's Shanty Restaurant, was better than Krusty Krab of Spongebob Squarepants. Food wasn't bad - fried clams were good. The girls went for the foot long hot dogs.

Later that evening we took a trip to the Mohegan Indian Casino. Aya had been studying about how the Native Americans were treated during the U.S. Westward expansion (take over in general), where she learned how some tribes fell into poverty, where others had rose from the ashes so to speak and developed one of the World's most successful Casino on and off the reservation. Apparently they aren't doing too bad for themselves, judging by the ever expanding buildings and hotels they are building. Even the big name entertainers are taking note and can't ignore places in little ol' Connecticut.

Foxwood's Resort Casino, another casino in South Eastern Connecticut was the first, but it seems the Mohegan's have taken that recipe and added more flavor to it and they both seem to cater to a different crowd. No matter how you slice it, someone is making money.

It was a long day to say the least, judging by the sleeping children in the car on the way home - but rest assured they weren't bored. Which is basically a typical statement from my own daughter and many teenagers. I stop to ponder how teenagers can get bored, when they have 10x more things to play with than I used to as a kid and 20x more things to do than my parents. We didn't have all this technology and could not even see 200 channels on cable or satellite. Not to mention I-pods, MP3's, Gameboys, PSP, X-Box, PC's, Huge Malls, Large Movie Theaters, NetFlix - the list grows and grows.

I would like just for once to send my daughter to Siberia and have her experience life in that climate and isolation - then she can say she's bored.

Building confidence & starting to shine.

The past several days seemed to take shape. Things seemed to lighten up, though Aya had a lot of homework and studying to do to play catch up since she was ill.

This past weekend she got to spend some time with her other exchange students (friends). It was a sleep over on Saturday and a picnic on Sunday.

It was rumored they stayed up all night on Saturday night watching movies and talking till 4 a.m. Needless to say they were beat by the start of the day on Sunday.

There were some additional students that had arrived late: A boy from Finland and a girl from Germany. It would appear this organization gets a large pool from Europe and from that pool Germany seemed to have the strongest output of students.

Saturday night for the rest of the family since it was down to 3 of us, after the oldest (natural) daughter planned a sleep over. The youngest wanted to play Monopoly - so we did, though I am a rather sore loser. I was able to purchase Park Place and Boardwalk only to succumb to the Hotel Chains along Illinois Ave and Marvin Gardens - I mortgaged everything and gave up my small stash of cash (dirt poor and in debtor's prison).

My wife got to attend the picnic - as I had to miss it due to work.

We spent most of Sunday night assisting Aya with her studying and projects which were due on Monday. Due to her activities over the weekend and her illness, it gave little time to perform all her assignments.

I don't think I learned as much as I did about the U.S. Constitution than I did on Sunday night, which includes all my years in school grade through college. (Sad isn't it?)

Aya expressed to me today that she strongly wants to join a club; after school so she can participate and make more friends. She really wants to join a Volleyball team - but at this high school I didn't see much for that. In Massachusetts Basketball, Baseball, Soccer and Football are the biggest attractions, however I did learn tonight not only is Massachusetts is where the Basketball Hall of Fame is but where it was invented (at the Y.M.C.A.) - but also Volleyball was also invented here back in 1895. I would never have guessed that as Aya was also surprised since they are her favorite sports.

It seems Aya is coming out of her shell, slowly - sort of waking up out of a deep slumber must have been like to Rip Van Winkle.

Metal Gear Solid: Code name Snake?

I know this isn't related to anything Okinawa or New England, but thought how amazing technology and robots are these days. I can't keep wondering if we are heading towards the day Terminator becomes a reality.

Tis the season to be wary!

I know in New England we get some hurricanes from time to time, but nothing can compare to the frequent hits of typhoons in Japan and other parts of Asia. I may be comparing apples and oranges, but I would rather tough out a hurricane than a typhoon (since in our area, most hurricanes are weak in nature - Florida and the Gulf region may be a different story).

Farenheight 101

The kids went off the school on Monday, it was back to the usual grind after a long Labor Day Weekend.

Aya seemed to be more quiet than usual and then we noticed she was coming down with something. This is an awkward situation because now you have someone who is ill in your home that has never dealt with being away from the comforts of her home.

She complained of a headache and more of body aches, she brought along some of her own medicine from Japan (sort of little packets of power) which looked like it was from the Old School days when medicines weren't in these pills we take today but in some weighed formula on a gram scale.

She had some strips that she read her own temperature and said 38C which doesn't register since we still think in Fahrenheit and chose to use our Ear Thermometer 101 F. As my old high school teacher used to say, "You look like something the cat dragged in." - she sort of fit that description. I told her she would be wise to sit this one out and not force yourself to school, she agreed.

My fear is she will fall behind in her school work, where basically each day for her would be like 2 days for normal kids since there is some translation to consider and the time to digest what was learned lost.

She's been in bed all day except for lunch - if this continues we will have to take her to seek medical attention, oddly there are no doctors who will take the organizations insurance, only the hospital which means we would have to visit the E.R. in order to be seen and evaluated. (Not something to look forward to, most E.R. were and still are a pain since you have to sit for hours sometimes just to get Triage from the nurse.

Poking around on the net like I normally do at night, I found this little article. A hard sell, but an oddity in of itself.

REIKI 霊気

My path to the world of healing and spirituality started and progressed along with raising my three sons. In 1989, my first son, one year old then, started running a high fever. I gave him a medicine for fever and three days later his temperature was still running high. I did not know what to do. Then I remembered a book on an old Japanese hand healing method I had read and it described a healing technique, receiving universal energy thru your left hand and sending it
out through your right hand. Not really expecting it to work, I decided to give it a try and put my right hand on my son. To my surprise, it worked! It brought down his temperature in no time. Since then, I continued to experience this
magic, “I put my hands on and the problem goes away”. Every time any of my sons got sick, I helped them heal by putting my hand on them. Still it was not something I was properly taught and I had no idea on how and why it works….

Makes an interesting bed time story.

Labor Day Weekend

The family pretty much booked the whole weekend with things to do.

Saturday we did a surprise trip to Boston (Mainly cause Aya was asking when and the weather would be getting colder in a few months):

Sunday my oldest daughter went to the Spencer Fair with one of her friends, I think Aya was all Fair'd out (for now).

Today they did some shopping at one of the local Malls. I say local to us is like 40 minutes away, to Aya its like an eternity though she doesn't express her feelings much. (She disclosed that to my mother one day)