So you think you’re as smart as the Japanese? -- by Sam

The Japanese. You don’t really understand how smart they are until you realize the smart and obvious things they do. For example: I bought a giant pack of gum that comes in those palm-sized containers and inside the container was a pack of mini sticky notes. The reason for the sticky notes was to use them to spit your gum into. Smart right? 

No icky gooey mess on the street or on your shoes!

 

What about a car elevator that takes your car up to a certain parking spot? It saves you the extra work and saves space.  This is a parking garage for a bank. Cars go in but not the driver or the passengers.  With a press of a button, the car elevator takes the car up to an empty spot.  When you leave, the operator brings the car down and rotates the car for you on the yellow circle.  That way, you don't have to have the space to back it out.  Smart!

T

What if you were a blind person trying to find your way through a subway station? How would you know where to walk so you don’t bump into people? Solution: rows of little bumps in the ground so that your feet can use the bumps as a guide.

Suppose you want some ramen for dinner and you go into a ramen shop with only cooks and no waiters/waitresses. How do you order your food?  You go to a vending machine type of thing where all the buttons on it are of food options.You pay the money, press the button with the food of your choice, and then a slip of paper comes out. Most of the restaurants have bar-like seating, so you sit in an open stool and put your slip of paper in front of you. The cooks will come around, look at your order, and then cook the food in front of you for a tasty dinner. I wish we had those in America. 

 

There’s just one more smart thing that I know of about Japan:the  ice cream cones. Japan’s ice cream cones are actually really smart. The top part of the cone fans out on all sides to look like a flower. When the ice cream gets put in the middle, ice cream doesn’t melt off the sides. Think about it. No more washing your hands after because you got ice cream all over them. Now that’s smart. 

Of course, there are other smart things about Japan, but those are the ones I found really interesting. Go smart Japanese!!!(I think Americans should follow their lead)

- Sam

A few more smart/space saving ideas -- by Kathy

Smart packaging!  The seaweed is kept fresh and dry.  If you pull the white tab and pull the corners outward, it opens up the dry seaweed and wraps it around the rice like magic.  So clever!

Is space an issue in your home?  Get one of these space savers.  Sink and toilet in one! 

This baby washes and dries and slices and dices! 

Space saving water bottle holders on the back of the seats on Hato Bus.  There's also a hook for you to hang your purse. 

Photos worth sharing!

Meet Sumo San -- Susan's new beau! Handsome fella!  ;-)

We pass by this little playground everyday on our way to and from the hotel.  It's right around the corner, amongst all these homes, hotels and businesses.  Not once did we see any children playing in this playground.  Probably way too hot!   Our girls couldn't resist.  We stopped by a couple of times to go down the slide or sit on the two lonely swings.  

Guess what this is all about?   Schools in Japan, you're not allowed to wear regular street shoes into the school buildings.  When you arrive, you put your street shoes in the cubby holes and put on one of these red slippers.  Because of that, it's very clean inside the classrooms and hall ways. 

This photo was taken inside the school gym.  The students can wear gym shoes inside the gym.  These are their outside street shoes.  Notice the soles of the shoes are not touching the gym floor!!!   So disciplined and orderly at such young age.

Talk about orderly...that's Tati digging through her ginormous luggage, looking for her green shirt.  See the shoes behind her?  We were a mess! 

This is the hotel where we stayed.  Loved it!  

Here's Yoko with her flip phones!  They even match the color of her clothes!  The day we left, she joined the "smart" world.  She upgraded to an iPhone!  Yay! Now you're connencted! 

Shaeli is stuffing herself with a giant waffle cone ice cream sandwich bar!  

Ayaka, Moeka, Yoko, Shaeli, Kathy & Masashi at the Narita Aiport on August 9, 2014

 Thank you, our dear friends in Japan, for your warm hospitality.  On behalf of the girls and their families, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 

Selfies of me and my beautiful, talented girls!  

Thanks for the memories!  Love you all!

Kathy Y. 

More Volleyball at Kaetsu University -- by Coach Susan

The Louie-Chens were lucky enough to stay another week after the other Top Gun players returned home. As a result of our longer stay, Kira was fortunate enough to be able to practice and scrimmage on Friday, Aug. 15 at Kaetsu University where Coach Yoko coaches. We were also lucky enough to have the company of Moeka, Honoka, and Kumiko again.

There were a total of 4 university teams and a high school team there that day, from different parts of Tokyo and Osaka and even a team from the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the names of all the teams because the coaches were busy with their teams. Watching the Japanese teams warm up was an experience itself. Not only did they do the normal stretching, passing, setting, and hitting drills, they also incorporated other drills that forced the players to move and dive all over the court to practice getting the ball to a target or up so that another player can set the ball for an attack. It was impressive to see the hustle and ball control that all the players exhibited.

Another thing I noticed was that the players were in charge of their own warm ups and drills. I was informed that the coaches in Japan are all teachers who would need to attend meetings after school so they are usually not present while the team is warming up. As a result, the players on the team have to learn early on how to run their warm ups by themselves. The Canadian team and most teams in the USA still have their coaches or assistant coaches helping with the warm ups. I was impressed with how organized the players were taking turns and alternating being in charge.

The Canadian players were so much bigger than all the Japanese teams, but they lost every single match. The difference was that the Japanese teams ran a faster offense to be able to get past the tall blockers. Also, they had better serving and ball control than the Canadian team. Don’t get me wrong. The Canadian team was a good team, but they definitely were not a match that day for any of the Japanese teams. I learned from Coach Yoko that beginning from middle school on, teams practice daily from 9-5 and they place a lot of emphasis on serving and ball control. Ball control is one of the skills that our Top Gun team works very hard at as well.

Kira, Moeka, and Honoka had a great workout performing all the drills with the Kaetsu University players. Kira even had the pleasure of serving and playing the last several points of one of the matches between Kaetsu University and another Japanese university team before we had to leave. Everyone was so happy for her when she served an ace! She also passed decently for her team to run an attack and eventually win the match. I think this was one of the highlights of her Tokyo trip.

Kira and I learned some great lessons that last day before we had to leave Japan. We enjoyed educating ourselves with the different drills they used as part of their warm ups and Kira would have loved to play more with them. Their ball control and quick offense were fun to watch. I know I wouldn’t have minded watching their scrimmages for a longer time, but alas, we had to leave. We will definitely be implementing some of these drills into our Top Gun regiment.

Tomo and Nana were the DS for the team who worked with Kira, Moeka, and Honoka.

Most Interesting Japanese Food

We barely scratched the surface of what's good to eat in Japan.  We probably need more days and a lot more yen!  But, we did have some great sushi, delicious tempura, awesome ramen and yummy rice bowls (and let's not forget the fine dining from the convenient store.)

I must say, all our girls put their novice palates to the test.  We were all shocked when Sam ate raw fish!  She also survived 10 days without her favorite food -- milk and butter! Tati, kept asking for mayo to go with her food.  She will tell you that Japanese mayo is slightly sweeter.

So, what is our culinary highlight of our trip?

Wednesday evening, Coach Yoko took us to Tsukishima area and  treated us to one of the famous Japanese-style pancake: Monjayaki (monja). This is what "monja street"  looks like.  All the restaurants in this area specialize in monjayaki and/or okonomiyaki.  Quite a popular style of cuisine!

Street with all the Monjayaki Restaurants.  (Check out the baby and the bicycle on the right. Many of the bikes have a baby seat in the back and a basket in the front.)

This is where we ate.

How do I describe this?  It's a savory dish.  You have a choice of various types of meat and seafood.  And your order comes in one bowl with your choice of meat and a bunch of cabbage and sprouts (?) and other assortment of stuff I can't identify.  At the bottom of the bowl is liquidy pancake batter.  You start by cooking the solids on the grill.  Then you pour the batter in the center.  The rest is a mess!  And you eat it in a semi-soft, slightly gooey state.  They give you a big scraper for cooking and a little one to scoop some to your plate.

We had fun cooking our meal...

Smokey!

Some love it and some don't.  But it is very popular in Japan.  All the monja restaurants in that area were very busy.  I read somewhere that there are 75 monja restaurants in that area.

Of course, the girls 
shaped it into a heart!

This type of food dates back to WWII time when rice was scarce.  People got creative with what they have on hand and flour.  Interesting, right?  I am glad we all got to try it!

Then came dessert -- chocolate crepe!  I think we all preferred this portion of the meal better. Anything with chocolate is a winner!

Each of us got to eat 2 small pieces, not the whole crepe.

 

Luckily, we went to this restaurant early around 5:30.  As we were cooking and eating, the place started filling up with customers.  Some started smoking.  By the time we got to dessert, the restaurant was filled with smoke from the grill and the smokers.  We all started rubbing our eyes.  (We, Californians, are so spoiled!)  We had to rush out of there!

This shop right next door to the monja restaurant, specialized in melon buns (aka pineapple bun or bo-lo-bao).  Freshly baked.  He also sells ice cream.  We had to have some since we didn't get enough of the chocolate crepes!  Most of us had egg-custard (flan) flavor ice cream.  Yum!

BTW, you should watch "The Mind of a Chef", Season 1, Chef David Chang.  There are a lot of references to Japan and it's awesome food, combined with travel, cooking, history, science, and humor.  It's on NetFlix.  http://www.pbs.org/food/features/the-mind-of-a-chef-episode-descriptions/  I wish I had seen it before I went to Japan.

Girl Paradise: 🌸Harajuku🌸 -- by Shaeli

Konichiwa!

Takeshita St., also known as Harajuku, is dedicated to fashion. It was made for younger generations (teens - young twenties) and holds all of Japan's latest trends.  We visited Harajuku twice during our time in Japan. Our first visit was on Monday 8/4/14. We didn't have much time to look around that day and we really wanted to go back. Our second visit was on Friday, 8/8/14, our last full free day😭!

 

The Entrance to the Madness!

Shops galore!

What's "Earty"?

Sam and I trying not to get lost in the crowd!  And you can spot Coach Yoko further up front in dark pink. She's usually easy to spot because she's sooo tall!

Can you find Yoko in this photo?

I'm so glad I was able to look at the rest of the stores during the second visit, because the whole street is like a big mall! Some stores go up and some even go underground because space is so limited. The narrow street is crowded with teenagers. Girls wearing pretty dresses are walking with their friends, even with high heels on!

  

Too cute!  Bathroom door signs!  Japan, they call it Toilet, not Bathroom!

WEGO Basement Store

She's real!

Weird to find a gyro store in Japan.  They're quite delicious...even in Japan!

Potato Chips and Ice Cream

What a Combo!

In addition to the clothing stores, there are a lot of snack shops.  There's Mc Donalds, crepe/waffle shops, ice cream shops, milk tea shops, etc.  For about $2.20, you can snack on potato chips and ice cream.  We had our lunch at one of the rice bowl shops.  

Really good rice bowl!

We went to Harajuku on two weekdays.  Check out what a typical Sunday looks like...  they really pack it in and they really dress up, too.  These photos are from the Internet.


 

 

It's clear to see, that if you want to experience pop culture in Tokyo, Japan, what better place to do it than at Harajuku!  If you dare, 
go on a Sunday!

I am in the mood to dress up!  

Peace,

Shaeli