Japan Wrap-Up
For some time the wife has been experiencing a frustrating, depressing, funk. It stems from her inability to have friends of her own here in the US, her inability to go anywhere on her own, and her lack of autonomy.This causes her to get irritated at the slightest quirk, mis-step, or inconvenience. She gets in a huff, usually storms off at a rapid pace, and continues doing everything at a rapid pace until she calms down, ...which is usually never.
Recently, (in advance of our trip) she's added "everything American" to her list of grievances. However, once in Japan, she missed her homelife here in the USA. "Tiresome" is the best way I can describe life in Japan, ...it is often tiresome.
After experiencing it with a new eyes, I think she saw this a bit clearer, but this just added to her frustration. Instead of visiting all her friends and having a lot of free time to re-connect with Japan, she had to deal with all the frustrations of transit, the close-quarters of staying with family (in 1 bedroom apartments), and the frustration of dealing with certain members of her family.
So, the trip was filled with countless episodes of her huffing about. Here's one great example:
Setting: We're at a department store.
Context: She owns 4,767 bags and or purses. Actual non-exaggerated number is roughly 30. Also, I long for a 46" DLP widescreen tv. Price tag $2400. We are not planning on having this any time soon because it's not a "needed" item.
She wants a new "Baby's Bag", what we Americans call a "diaper bag" for carrying formula, diapers, supplies, etc. Ok. We look for and purchase one.
Then, she starts looking at purses. She "needs" one because nothing she has goes with her winter coat (which I am not fond of in the first place, picture Raisa Gorbachev circa 1989).
But, I'm a good husband. I say nothing.
She finds a nice one.
"How much is it?"
"$90.00"
"Wow. That's expensive." I say this because it's a very simple, small bag. Not remarkable in any way.
"No, that's cheap. Everyone has more expensive bags than this."
"What do you mean."
"Everybody is having this. $200-400 bags. All women have them."
"Ha ha, I don't think so." I say this because no women I know has a bag that expensive, ...at least not that I'm aware of.
"Look, see her bag. That's a $500 bag. Probably more." She points out a simple dark-colored bag being carried by another shopper.
"Ok." Not wanting to argue, I try to make my point by getting her to see my perspective on this. Maybe some women have expensive bags, but that really sounds like a luxury to me. Not a necessity, right? Am I out of line here? We're a one income family, and it's not a huge income at that. So, I say the following. "Well, I could easily say that all of my friends have new computers and widescreen tvs, therefore I should have one, right?"
Now, maybe this wasn't the best line of conversation, but it's what I went with.
Her reaction?
"Fine." She slaps down the bag and storms off. You've seen those low-budget shows like Benny Hill where they show someone walking away or running away real fast by fast-forwarding the tape and it's really funny? That's what it looked like.
I literally have to jog to keep up with her.
Now imagine about 160 similar scenarios played out over 4 days.
That was my vacation.
But it wasn't all bad:
Lunch at Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai's restaurant at top of a skyscraper was absolutely to die for. I've never tasted anything so exquisite. My heart went weak just from the smell of the entre', and I nearly wept when I tasted it. The food separated my mind from my body, ...I was in a different world, a completely different world. After finishing, I thought, now I can die.
Every person, and I mean every single f-ing person on the planet should eat food that good once in their life. Just once. It's worth it. And I'm not talking about a 5 star restaurant in town, ...I mean a restaurant that gets 5 stars on the global scale. Sitting there on the 67th floor of a Shibuya high rise we could see Mt. Fugi and the other mountain ranges that encircle the Tokyo region. We could see most of the city, the pulsing freeways and walkways, the glittering towers with video facades, ...it made the whole trip worthwhile.
Also, I got a chance to see Sideways on the plane ride back to the good old USA. And I have to tell you, every man should see this movie. I haven't laughed so hard at a movie since ....well I don't know when. It's a total "guy" movie. It's brilliantly written, brilliantly cast, and brilliantly acted. Did I mention it was funny? It's "Swingers" but with slightly older men. Men past their prime instead of in the middle of it.
Most of all, it's not an "arty" film at all. While the artistry is there, it's not the point of the movie. Too many films try to be art. This film just tries to be honest. It get's 5 of 5 stars from me.
So, that's it. The baby slept almost the whole plane ride home. I slept for most of it as well. We actually had to wake her up so we could change her before we landed. We sailed through customs and the baggage check to find a sunny 50 degree day waiting for us.
Home. Reunion with the World's Naughtiest Dog (WND). Apparantly, the WND was extra cute while we were gone.
My dad took my car in for repairs while I was out. Nothing major. So, my car was sitting in their driveway. The mechanic (a family friend) drove it over to my parent's house. Upon hearing my car pull up, the WND went bezerk.
Even after seeing I was not there, she went nuts.
For days my car sat in the driveway, ...yet the WND would sit at the window and stare at it, whinning, waiting. One day she got so anxious, that my mom had to let her sit in the car by herself for a few hours just to calm her down.
Once again under one roof, we were all happy again. I've already vowed that I am not going back to Japan next year, but that could change.
I'm just glad to be back in the world. Dinners together, weekends together, late night snacks together.
Last night the baby was up really late. She was really punchy and cranky. Laughing one minute, moaning the next. We brought her to bed with us to try and encourage sleep, but she wanted to horse around instead. All three of us under the same covers, the baby and the wife giggling away uncontrollably. The baby was wildly swinging her rattle out of frustration, banging both my wife and myself in the face repeatedly. She somehow got alhold of the drawstring on my wife's sweatpants and starting chewing them. After they were completely soaked, she started sucking them like straws. She eventually rattled and chewed and wriggled herself to sleep between us.
Best. Night. Ever.
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