Rachel in Tokyo

This is a blog about an American law school student studying in Tokyo for the semester.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

私輪尾ばあさん  My Grandmother



My Grandmother. Louise Fletcher Eyster. This is her jogging in 1974. The year I was born! Isn't she absolutely beautiful? This is how I will always remember her. Her smile. Her mind. Her propensity for generosity and sincere concern for her beloved family and also the world around her. YES I AM A DEMOCRAT! Just like my smart Grandmother, who always had good, intelligently informed reasons for why she was voting with the Democratic Party. This was a point of contention with many of her family members who chose the Republican route.

I love my Grandmother. I am glad that she is no longer in pain. I hope that she is looking down on me from heaven with a smile. I feel that she wanted me to pursue my dreams and goals. I hope that I someday hold half of the qualities my Grandmother possessed. She read two literary works a week. She emailed me 4 years ago. (It was so cute. She actually got frustrated when she thought it took so long to send and receive email. For she thought she had to turn the computer off and then back on again for an email to be sent or for her to receive one in return.) I still have her emails, thus, I will never discontinue my patronage to Yahoo! email.

I love my Grandmother. The life she lived, the memories that will continue to live on. I will honor her by telling my children about her. I will honor her with my life. I will strive to be the woman that she was. Thank you, Grandmother, for having me in your life. Thank you for loving me and for giving me so much. I will make you proud!

Monday, May 29, 2006

Family

I am so grateful to have family. Today, my Grandmother died. I found out that she had a massive stroke last Monday night, May 22nd, which left her paralyzed and unable to swallow. She had a living will in which she requested that the doctors would not keep her alive on machines when the time had come to leave this world. My Aunt Helen, her sister, who is also an MD, went to Pensacola to stay by her side through the final week, to enforce her living will. This has been a terribly sad time for me, as I was very close to Grandmother. Especially over the past 10 years. We have grown very close. I sent her letters as often as possible, and when she was unable to write me back, my Uncle Bert and Aunt Patty would relay loving messages from my Grandmother to me.

I thought about flying home for the memorial service, but upon the recommendations of several of my family members, declarations of my Grandmother's wishes for me, and diluted funds in my bank account, I decided to stay here in Tokyo. This being my decision, it was nice to have a "family" here in Tokyo, expressing their sympathies for me. When I went to tutor in Kameido on Tuesday night, Alisha was so bright and cheerful to see me, it was hard to stay sad. Sonya made it very clear how much she cared for me and my pain as she gave me a big hug when I told her the news.

Earlier that day, my friend Jeremy took me to lunch at the most incredible "Shabu Shabu restaurant in Ginza. (Shabu-shabu Japanese: しゃぶしゃぶ), also spelled syabu-syabu, is a Japanese variant of hot pot. The dish is related to sukiyaki in style, where both uses thinly sliced meat and vegetables, and usually served with dipping sauces. However, it is starkly different in taste; shabu-shabu is more savory and less sweet than sukiyaki. It is considered a winter dish but is eaten year-round.) And if taking me to one of the top restaurants in Tokyo was not enough, he met me with a beautiful white rose. The which is still alive and absolutely beautiful sitting on my table in my apartment. A reminder of the beautiful life my Grandmother is living now, outside the pain in her body and the world around her. She was 98 years old. One of the most beautiful, intelligent and caring people ever to live. I met up with another student of mine, Yuko, who bought me more flowers! Then when I arrived in Kameido, Alysha was all hugs, smiles and kisses. As if I was home with my own neice, Chloe, or my Goddaughter, Sarah, to hug and kiss me!

On Friday night, my friends, Mutsuko and Tomoko, met me in Ogikubo for a night of fun. We went to a cool restaurant called: "Jambo," where everyone sits around a table and cooks meats on a mini-grill in the middle. Later, we watched Bridgette Jone's diary and had a slumber party. When we awoke, we went to Denny's for breakfast. Denny's in Japan is very different in many ways, yet some common similarities remain a constant- even on the other side of the world.

#1: Food:
In the States, Denny's is all about potatoes and eggs and meats and pancakes for breakfast. Oh! And don't forget the cheddar cheese and bad coffee! You can get breakfast 24/7, even on Christmas day. If you're jones-ing for a greasy burger at 3AM after a night of partying, you can get it at Denny's. In Japan, you might want to consider Denny's for a traditional "Japanese" breakfast, which includes grilled fish, rice, miso soup and something "pickled". Or, you can get a pancake- but that's if you're in the mood for "dessert". If you want something of the egg-variety, then you can get them scrambled, fried or boiled. When I asked the server to add cheese to my eggs, however, she reacted like I was requesting the absolute most bizarre thing she had ever heard in her life. She had to request the Denny's chef and get special permission from the manager on duty, (who I think must have had to call his boss, who then called the regional manager for permission), because it took her forever to come back to the table...which brings me to point number 2:

#2: Service:
In the States, the service at Denny's is typically ssssssssssssslllllllllloooooooooooowwwwwwwwww......because servers work for tips in the United States. Since this is the case, typically, through the process of reason, those servers who lack fine dining skills, looks, character, or teeth, may end up working for a restaurant such as Denny's, where the tips range between $1-3 dollars a table. (By the way, for those of you who are Japanese and have not had to tip your server, as gratuity is included in most of the restaurants here in Tokyo, $1-3 per table is EXTREMELY LOW...) The service here in Tokyo is not much different, given my very first experience. Our server was incredibly slow and forgetful, keeping in conformity with my expectations of Denny's in general.

Saturday night, my friend, Yossi, met me for dinner in Ogikubo. (These pictures were taken from a previous lunch with Yossi, during my spring internship with Apple. He took me to a great little "Japanese Inn" for lunch. It had a garden as well.
He chose this fantastic Japanese restaurant. We had so much fun! After dinner, we shot pool and played darts. He finally "let" me win the very last game of darts. Very nice of him. Of course, I couldn't keep the eight-ball out of the pocket (before sinking my other balls), so he won every game of pool. I demand a rematch! :-)

On Sunday, I woke up very early to meet up with other volunteers in the center of Tokyo: the Imperial Palace, for a charity event. This event was a 10K/5K run/walk for 6 different charities around Tokyo. (We helped charities to: feed the homeless, help victims of AIDS, and domestic violence, help orphans, and underprivileged kids go to college.) It was definitely a worthwhile event and one that I am proud to have helped. Incidentally, I met some great people, too! Ugi, Mary, and many more people. After the charity event, I hopped a train from Hibya to Ueno to meet up with my "nihon-family" from Kameido.

We went to the Ueno ZOO! And we had a blast! It was such a fun day. We saw lions and tigers and gorillas and polar and panda bears. And the birds really put on a show for us!!! The Peacock and the Condors were in rare form! It was a wonderful day. We then ventured to an all-u-can-eat Chinese-Karaoke restaurant! The food and drinks were great! But best of all was the company. Hideki and Sonya sang great songs, while Asonari was the king of kids-pop. I tore up an Eminem song and they thought my rap-rendition was "cool."

Then this morning, as I was in the middle of getting ready for work, my Uncle Bert sent me an email informing me that my Grandmother had passed away at 4AM this morning. (American time.) I was very sad. I emailed my boss at Citigroup to ask if I could take the day off. I didn't want to cry at work in front of people. He said no problem. Then about half an hour later, my family called me. Dad, Boots, Eddie, Robin and little Wesley all talked to me about her. We cried but knew it was for the best. She was in so much pain. Boots told me an incredible story of being out by the pool just moments after it happened, and said that it was very hot. And all of a sudden, out of no where, this gust of wind blew a towel off of the chair, and up into the air. Then a very heavy cushion lept off of one of the lounge chairs and into the pool. She felt that was my Grandmother leaving the earth right at that moment. Coincidentally, a very similar event happened when my Uncle Ben passed away last May! Crazy!

I am not able to publish blog entries as often as I would like, because I work during the day, 5 days a week. I take classes on Monday and Wednesday nights. I tutor 8 times a week at various locations around town, and if you're reading my blog, you are probably aware of my active social life. I am thus including some pictures from my phone that I have recently taken, of which I am very fond.

Kristina and Jeremy are gone, and I am very sad about this, too. They were such good friends to me. I can't wait to see what the future holds for all of us! Here we are at the fishing restaurant where Kristina participated in an unusual "catch and release" program with her fish (against the restaurant's wishes). The moment I snapped this picture, the fish jumped back into the water. Then Jeremy caught a fish (the same one, we think...) We got 2 fish for the price of one! And finally, here is a picture of Kristina beating Jeremy at DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION in Shibuya! This was the last day we all spent together in Tokyo before she left to return to the States. However, as blogged previously, I did meet up with Jeremy one more time for fabulous Shabu Shabu in Ginza.

A bientot!

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Food for thought

Okay, so this will be my last entry for a few days. I have a lot to say, but not a lot of time or room to say it. I have managed to take 6 classes this semester, and do surprisingly well. I have also kept an active client list as an English sensei. I have 7 clients that I meet with on a weekly basis. 2 of which I see more than once a week. In November, Jared lost his job and I had no idea how we could afford for me to come to Tokyo, as we had to spend what little we had saved up for the trip on rent while he found new employment. In December, we decided that although I only had less than 1/4 of the budget they "recommended" I come with in pocket, I would come anyway. I am a resourceful person, so I decided what the heck. I can do it!

So, with $3,000 in January I needed to figure out by February how I would pay for the rest of my trip. I did a google search to find websites to help post my profile online as an English teacher. I had never done this before, but decided I liked people and knew English, so how hard could it be? Within a week and a half, I met my Kameido "family" that I speak of often on my website. They have been invaluable to my experience here in Tokyo. Within another 2 weeks, I was teaching English on a regular basis. Within another month, I had 4 clients. I have 7 now. I have really gotten the hang of it! Actually, I can't take any more business! Well....maybe....

I also applied to every paying internship they had for us here at Temple. And the book is full of positions! However, I am a woman (which does hinder my ability to find work with some of the Japanese firms), and I do not speak Japanese, so I was not at the top of anyone's list for potential interns. As the students who were fluent in Japanese got snatched up first, and then most of the other positions were quickly filled by male students, I realized quickly that I would need to find my own job if I would work here in Tokyo at all.

I am a very talkative person and am not afraid of rejection. Thus, I made a good sales person 'back in the day'. I had a conversation with my East/West Negotiations professor (Corporate Counsel for Apple, Japan) after the first couple of classes and by the end of January, I was interning at Apple Japan once a week. The name, of course, speaks for itself. I was very happy to work there, just to gain exposure to the corporate culture of an American name-brand subsidiary in Japan. Yossi-sensei is an incredible man, with a wealth of knowledge that I can only one day hope to achieve. Thank you Yossi, for an invaluable experience!

Of course, I had my mind set on plans for the summer, too! I want to make the most of my trip and realized quickly that I was in the presence of Securities Greatness when I sat in class and listened to my professor, Mark Hunsaker, lecture on Securities regulation. He is General Counsel for NikkoCitigroup, and has been responsible for some multi-billion dollar IPO's in his 14 years of working in Japan for NikkoCitigroup. Again, I'm a talker, and started talking to him enthusiastically about any opportunities for summer employment with Citi. Just a few weeks ago, I got just what I wanted. A paid summer internship with the largest financial services company in the world. Who could ask for anything more?

So this is it. I am doing it. I have done it. And I plan to do more. I came here with enough money to live on for a month and a half. I have now been here over 4 months and plan to stay another 3 1/2. I could have not done it without the loving support of my boyfriend, Jared, and support from my Dad and Boots. I was unsure as to how I was going to make it through April and Dad and Boots were there for me. Thank you! My friends and brothers (and sisters-in law) have also been helpful and supportive. Thank you for everything! I am humbled by such an incredible experience and awed by those yet to come. I am grateful for every opportunity and my disappointments are too few to even count, and are powerfully overshadowed by all the good. Thank you. I love you all.

And yes, I promise. I will be home soon!

Disney Sea

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Here we went to Disney Sea. A spinoff of Disney. A theme park about mermaids, lagoons, volcanoes and everything "under the sea".... and more. It was great...for the most part.

My friends, Kristina, Tomoko, Mutsuko, Joe, Jerry and I all went to the park for a day. A Saturday. The beginning of GOLDEN WEEK. We were thinking of going to Disneyland instead, but given the inevitable crowds, we picked Disney Sea instead, as it is more of an "adult" theme park...
When we first got there, we saw a huge globe. This globe has running water all over it. It's quite unique, in that the water stays on the globe somehow, defying gravity on its way down.
Goofy was cool. The mouse ears that I found were quite appropriate. It had 2 words on it: "makin' music"....haha. I come to the other side of the world, and see my name (spelled a little different), with the little southern " ' " apostrophe at the end....
We also saw a broadway play there too. It was one of my favorite parts. It was a 30 minute production of all of the famous songs from about 12-different broadway plays. However, one of the singers was a really bad Japanese lip-syncher...
Posin' by the clock...

We tried to get a picture of this volcano in action. This was the "journey to the center of the earth" ride. Throughout the day, you could hear the rumblings of the volcano, as it was about to erupt. But whenever the actual "blast" occurred, we never got the right timing to take a good picture.

Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom was a cool ride. But many of these rides felt like adult-versions of "its a small world"...they have (as Kristina would say: KAWAII) cutesy-little renditions of the actual scenery and event-creations and main actors, but none of it is really scary, or goes very fast to give much of a thrill. I kept looking for the "adult" in this themepark, but didn't really find it.

Here, notice how happy Kristina and I are!



We did have an awesome time, though! JERRY and TOMOKO and MUTSUKO and KRISTINA are SO COOL!!!! Here is the tower of terror!!! Very scary! It won't be ready until the fall, though.


A jeep came barrelling out of the CENTER OF THE EARTH ride.

The Disney tram had mickey ears!
Kristina and I get along very well. We both know what's important in a trip to Disney! RUM!!! Clear, looks like water! Makes goofy look goofiER!

She really got into the drums! This was the best Marinachi band I've ever seen at a themepark! Everyone is just so HAPPY!
Joe feels like the king of the universe in the middle of 4 women.


In the "Arabian" section of Disney Sea, they had a 3-d Aladdin show, and other Arabian sites, including this magical rope. This was just before it started pouring down rain.
Here is Ariel's show. If you look real close at this picture, you can see her picture. The show was a live production of "part of your world" and "under the sea"


Here's Mutsuko! She works for one of my favorite places! LUSH! They're all over Japan. I love lush. She brings me Lush presents sometimes. My favorite!