Japanese Candy and More!

I can't say that I have ever had a major craving for Japanese candy the way one might have for, say, German chocolate or French pastries. Before moving here, I had tried the Hi-Chew candies and the Pocky sticks. Both fine. Both kinda forgettable. 

Last night we went to a Japanese grocery store a few minutes from our house and I was immediately in love with it for one simple reason: 

Cushy, reclining stroller carts and toddler seat carts. I'll take three.

My elation was somewhat dampened when we came to a little sample tray containing these weird, wiggly tiny white FISH with EYES. Of which Ivy had three servings before I could even say "Awwww heck no!" I love how adventurous she is, but the rest of us decided to abstain.

It's the black eyes on their milky white little bodies that does it for me. 

All this fresh, cheap sushi! That's the kind of food I can get behind.

"Okay, okay," you say, "but I was promised candy." Indeed. Come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination!

Candy mini food. I hope?

Cookie/gummy versions of popular foods out here. 

Jelly is a very popular treat here. The texture is a little gross to me - sort of a clumpy, watery Jell-o, but my kids love it.

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This lazy egg guy is my favorite. I laugh every time I see it. PLEASE watch this video. That's the character and it's really popular here as well, sort of a lesser Hello Kitty type character. 

These are so good. Milk candies that taste like that Hokkaido ice cream that I can't stop talking about.

New varieties of Pocky sticks that I am excited to try! Plus the Men's version for that special someone in your life. 

Coconut pineapple and grape mentos. It is of note that the grape flavor out here is far superior to the states. Seriously, what is wrong with grape in the US? It's like cough syrup, especially comparatively.

Mango "Adult Hi-Chew." I have also had bitter orange, which is my all-time favorite.

Kristen, I'll be sending a bag of these your way. Haha!

Little gummy fruit with toothpick included for easy eating.

ALL THE CANDY. 

These little boxes were packaged together and I was curious about their contents, so I bought them. It was like $1. 

The top box had little heart candies and the bottom box had this tiny, wooden ladder car (firetruck?) that I love. So cute. I want to go buy 10 more. 

Then there were things I bought just because they were adorable.

We are settling in to our new life! Ivy has started preschool and loves it. She always comes home with news, which June and I soak in like sponges - what did she have for snack? Was Aaron a jerk again? Who laughed at her joke? We MUST know. June and I usually eat a late breakfast and just enjoy a more relaxed few hours together before we walk over and get her - a 7 minute walk. 

There are a few things about living out here that are...different. We do most of our grocery shopping at the commissary on post, which is just around the corner. It's always an adventure since the produce section is a combination of very expensive Japanese produce and very expensive, low quality imported produce. I am not complaining - there are many things that would be difficult or impossible to find if we didn't have the commissary, but it makes meal planning difficult. 

Like the time I planned a whole week's menu with the intention of buying a big ol' box of mangoes from Costco...only to find that they were out of season and were not to be had, even for ready money, in the entire country of Japan. My options were thus:

Another hard thing that we discovered this weekend is the limitation of health care. There is a great clinic out here that is unfortunately not open on the weekends. I learned as much when I called to inquire about the removal of a poly bead from June's nose. Our only option was to drive to Yokosuka Naval Base, which can take two or more hours with traffic, and wait in their emergency room, effectively destroying any Saturday plans we might have. 

Fortunately, I don't care THAT much about my children's safety, so we opted for a quick internet search. I found this article and did a little magic, and soon the offending bead was out. Gross. But very satisfying. 

I hope you have sufficiently gained and lost your appetite several times during the course of this post. Have a great night!

Tokyo Disney

We had been planning this trip for a few weeks and it was an adventure from beginning to end! We left right after breakfast and hit major traffic, which is unavoidable, but the sights of the city and bay were still fun. Less fun? Discovering that June was shoeless. If we had been in the states, a quick detour to Walmart would have been in order. In Japan, we are clueless. Luckily, we were able to buy some (disgustingly overpriced) shoes for the Junebug at the gift shop and we were golden.

At least they are pretty cute, right?

Ivy and Luke went on the Star Tours (Star Wars) ride and had a great time. I think that's one of the magical elements about Disneyland and Disney World - you get to be kid again and get legitimately excited about things you used to love. And in Luke's case, things you still love. In the mean time, June and I toured Cinderalla's castle and bumped into Belle and Gaston on the way out. 

June and Cinderella could commiserate about shoe debacles after what she's been through today.

June was ecstatic. It was a great moment. 

So, I know you are all wondering: what makes Tokyo Disney different? Well, the most obvious thing is the people. They are all Japanese! But these are not the conservative, focused, emotionless people efficiently entering and exiting the trains or shopping at the grocery store. They are an explosion of Disney spirit! We went during a school day, so the majority of the people were young adults and small children with their parents. 

Here's the (maybe) best part of my day: I started to realize that for whatever reason, people here like to match at Disneyland. I started noticing it immediately, but the more I looked, the more ridiculous and amazing it was. Let's start with the casual matchers: 

Same shirt. This obviously requires some level of coordination, but is pretty weak, really, in comparison to:

Matching shirts purchased as Disneyland that look like Disney barfed all over the fabric. Insanely popular. Presumably, a conversation was also about red shoes. A noble effort. but next we have: 

The non-Disney matchers, who not only purchased matching clothing, but did so well in advance. These two ladies had matching lavender skirts and hair flowers.  

While this couple was sporting preppy chic on a 90+ degree day. That's commitment. But let's talk about REAL commitment: 

The strawberry couple. #relationshipgoals. 

or

These ladies with their matching EVERYTHING. Purse, shoes, ears. That level of coordination is admirable. Confusing, yet admirable. 

OKAY. I should probably talk about my kids and stuff. But I want you to also appreciate all the creeping around I did for you and sympathize with Luke for having to listen to me freak out about it all day. It was great, though. I think I've made that clear. Now let's talk about the next item by order of importance: FOOD. 

Pumpkin swirl ice cream. Less pumpkin spice sweetness. More awesome. 

Guava crushed ice. The single most refreshing treat I've ever had. 

Trying to make a sweating child pose with a popsicle is cruel and unusual punishment. I opted for an action shot. 

For lunch, we went to the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall. 

It's honestly been so long since I've been to Disneyand, I couldn't remember which things were unique to Japan. Turns out, this is one of those things. It was ornately decorated and the food was whimsical and delicious. 

A "Happy Unbirthday" cake that we all shared. Ivy got a kick out of eating the "candle."

The fun kids meals with a delicious corn and shrimp chowder thing that I stole unapologetically.

My little heart patty. I also got corn soup, which is very popular here and I love as well.

Another fun treat we got a few times was the popcorn - my favorite was the butter and soy sauce flavor while the girls liked the honey. It had the texture of kettle corn, but with different flavors. 

And of course, we did all the rides that you gotta do. 

I love that it looks like I'm giving Ivy a lecture about how not to mess around when comes to tea cup spinning. She loved it and June curled into a ball on my lap and requested that we never, ever do that again. Ivy and I flew solo two more times. 

This is the lamest ride of all time. Don't let my face fool you. The two lessons I learned that day were that the Dumbo ride is dumb(o) and we will probably never watch Pinocchio if I can help it. 

We stayed all day and well into the night. We watched the parade and the light parade and all three of our kids, in their turn, took naps curled up on the stroller while we continued to explore and enjoy. 

Surprisingly, everything being in Japanese didn't seem to phase any of us. I actually preferred it sometimes, because the commentary can be so mundane or silly on rides so it was more pleasant to just listen to the Japanese and sort of zone out. The one exception to this was the Snow White ride, which was terrifying for June and was made worse by the cackling witch popping out and screeching in Japanese. It was so funny to me, but if she harbors a fear of the language for the rest of her life, it won't be a mystery why. 

We loved our day! Add that to your list of reasons to come and see us.