Haircut

Before I came to the U.S, I had a plethora of concerns about my life in the U.S. Take the barber shop, for instance. I really felt depressed just at the thought of getting a haircut. When I lived in New Jersey, my English skills were even worse than now. I just said that I needed my hair cut short. As a result, my hairstyle was a very short crew cut all through the year. I don’t like short hairstyles.

By the way, here is a short explanation of a typical Japanese barber. The customer will have a haircut, shampoo, shave, shoulder rub and blow dry. Most of the barber shops shampoo twice, before and after the haircut. It costs 3000 - 5000 yen ($35 - $55), but the service is excellent. I usually got a haircut once a month paying 4000 yen.

When I went to a barber shop in California for the first time, I looked up a lot of words associated with haircuts beforehand, such as trim, leave, top, side, back, sideburns, thin out and so on. These words didn’t work because the barber asked me the blade number for the electric clippers. I really had no idea of the blade number, so I picked number 3 at random. The barber cut my hair with the electric clippers without even hesitating. Eventually my hairstyles became one third shorter than they were in Japan. It was not too bad. I can’t imagine what my hair will look like until the haircut is finished, but I’m enjoying all the different hairstyles I have gotten. I’ll try a number 2 blade next time.

Mr. Smith

I’m taking an English class twice a week after work. My teacher says that mistakes are important to becoming fluent in English. Without mistakes, we cannot learn. I really agree with his idea. I’m learning a lot from my mistakes. One day, I learned the word “wordsmith” in his English class. This word reminds me of one mistake I made a long time ago. I leased a car when I lived in New Jersey. I had a bunch of terrible experiences related to that car. I got a flat tire 3 times. Someone broke into my car. The car broke down in the middle of an intersection. I especially remember one episode.

One day, I went shopping at Woodbridge shopping center which was the nearest shopping mall to my apartment. When I returned to the parking lot, I realized that I didn’t have my car key. I looked around everywhere, but I couldn’t find it. Finally, I found my key on the passenger seat of my car, but the door was locked. I had locked myself out! I began to panic. I walked around for a while and calmed down. I decided to call the car rental company. I called up the salesperson who was responsible for my car. I explained my situation. Since I didn’t know the expression “lock oneself out,” he hardly comprehended what I meant. Eventually he understood and told to me that he couldn’t help at all, and to please call Lock Smith. I simply hung up and I called the car rental company again. The conversation was as follows:

Me: Can I talk to Lock Smith?

Reception: There is no one here who is named Smith.

Me: I heard from Mr. XXXX. He said that I should call Smith.

Reception: I’m sorry. I don’t know of any Smith in this office. Are you sure XXXX told you to call Smith?


I explained my situation to him again. All at once, he burst into laughter. I couldn’t understand what happened. He started to explain the meaning of a locksmith to me and told me the phone number of a locksmith. I called the locksmith company and asked to have it opened. A guy from the locksmith company was really kind, and I told him my story about the previous 2 hours. He said that he hoped he would not see me again in his business. I learned many things that day by paying $70 to a locksmith. I made a lot of mistakes in speaking English, but in the end everything turned out to be fine.

Japanese Grocery Stores

I usually have a Japanese meal for my breakfast and dinner at home. I cook Japanese cuisine myself. I often use an American supermarket. There are some Japanese foods, so I get most of the ingredients at an American supermarket. As for some ingredients such as tofu, rice and soup stock made from dried bonito fish, I can’t get authentic ones at an American supermarket, so I sometimes go shopping to get these ingredients at a Japanese supermarket. There are three Japanese grocery store chains in the Bay Area: Mitsuwa, Nijiya and Marukai. I like Marukai the most because Marukai has a nice store brand tofu. This tofu is good for pan-fried cooking and it tastes like the traditional tofu in Okinawa. One more reason I like Marukai is that they not only have Japanese food but also Hawaiian foods. I can get Lion coffee, Minato dressing and Alaea Red Sea Salt at Marukai. I really love Hawaii. When I stand at the Hawaiian food corner, I feel as if I were in Hawaii.

Here is what I always get at Marukai: Marukai Tofu (store brand tofu), Yakult (Japanese probiotic drink) and Spam. I think that the price of Spam at Marukai is lower than at American supermarkets. The price is less than $3. I often cook “Goya Chanpuru” at home. Goya is a bitter gourd. Chanpuru means stir-fried dishes which are regional specialties in Okinawa. Goya Chanpuru is stir-fried bitter gourd, tofu, egg and luncheon meat. So I cook Goya Chanpuru with Marukai tofu and Spam which I get at Marukai. Unfortunately, there is no goya in Marukai, and Nijiya is the only store which sells goya. I have to go to at least two Japanese supermarkets when I cook Goya Chanpuru.

Dunkin' Donuts

I lived in New Jersey for a year about 10 years ago. I worked with a venture software company in New Jersey on a joint development project. From this experience, New Jersey represented my impression of the U.S. In particular, my specific impressions of New Jersey were Dunkin’ Donuts and Bruce Springsteen. There were three Dunkin’ Donuts stores in the town where I lived in New Jersey. On the way to work, I often stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts and got some coffee and donuts for my breakfast. While I drove and ate them, I always listened to WPLJ New York airplay. At that time, Bruce Springsteen’s songs got played a lot, so my impression of the U.S was Dunkin’ Donuts and Bruce Springsteen.

After I came to California, the most surprising thing was that I couldn’t find a Dunkin’ Donuts store. There were as many Subway stores as Dunkin’ Donuts in New Jersey! I checked the official website and Google maps, but I couldn’t find any stores from the store locaters or maps. I just found their coffee beans at a supermarket. It seems that the stores used to be in California. I don’t know when they disappeared from California.

I’m not disappointed because there are some local donuts shops in Campbell. I especially love Manley's Donuts and Bascom Donuts. They are not only yummy but their staff members are very friendly. Now I enjoy donuts while I’m driving and listening to Katy Perry’s songs which are got played a lot. I’m sure I’ll miss these shops after I go back to Japan.

MSG

What do you imagine from the letters MSG? One day, my fiends were talking about MSG. When I heard the word “MSG”, it first reminded me of the Michael Schenker Group. Of course, I realized the correct meaning from the context of the conversation. I used to play bass guitar in a band, so MSG reminds me of Michael Schenker’s flying V guitar. Aside from that, MSG stands for monosodium glutamate. I sometimes taste of MSG when I have ramen in a Bay Area restaurant. In Japan, MSG tends to no longer be used in ramen restaurants nowadays. When we make tasty ramen soup with no MSG, it needs a long time to make a full flavor soup. So MSG was commonly used. However, recently consumers prefer the taste of real ingredients, in particular younger people and younger owners of ramen restaurants.

I’ve been here in California for 6 months. I don’t get homesick, but I miss Ramen with no MSG. I especially miss “Tonkotsu-Gyokai” soup ramen. Tonkotsu means “pork born” and the soup made from boiling pork bones. Gyokai means seafood and the soup made from a variety of ingredients such as kelp, skipjack fish flakes, dried baby sardines and so on. In Tokyo, the combination of pork stock and seafood stock has become popular because this new combination gives the soup a rich taste. I love it, but I can’t find this flavor in the Bay Area. Ramen has been evolving in Japan. What can I do? Maybe I should make ramen soup and noodles by myself and try to invest a new flavor from American ingredients.

Home Owner's Association and “Termites”

Recently, we participated in the Home Owner's Association (HOA) meeting for our townhouse. We are not owners. Our landlord invited us to the HOA annual meeting and introduced us to owners in our complex. We knew some of the neighbors, but not all of them. It was a good opportunity for us. We joined halfway through the meeting. The agenda was based on current problems and they discussed solutions in the meeting.

I heard some words which I didn’t know during the meeting. One of them was the word “termite”. The termite issue took a long time, but I didn’t know the word at the meeting. I could guess the meaning from some key words while they were discussing the problem. For example, I heard the words, inspection, floor space, big damage, and so on. After the meeting, I asked my landlord about the meaning of termite and he told me. The owners decided to do a termite inspection sometime in the near future. In Japan, a dishonest inspector is a more serious problem than the termites themselves. They rip of money from older people through dishonest inspections. What is the situation in the U.S?

I learned a lot in the meeting, especially new words. Also, it is great I now know all the neighbors. We met all the neighbors in our complex. Contract, I knew only a few neighbors in my condo when I lived in Japan.

A long time on the way to my first kayaking in the U.S

When I lived in Japan, I enjoyed river kayaking every week throughout the year. I lived in a suburb of Tokyo. It was a 30-minute drive from my house to a nice kayaking spot. I have been kayaking for more than 10 years. Kayaking has been part of the fabric of my life.

In May 2010, I was transferred to the U.S branch of my company in San Jose. In the beginning, I had a lot of things to do to get settled. This was no time for kayaking. After I got things sorted out, I realized I was frustrated, and I could not resist the feeling that I wanted to kayak. It was the first time that I had not gone kayaking for such a long time in over ten years. Now I enjoy river kayaking in the U.S, but getting to the first day of kayaking here was not easy.

I didn’t have any clue about kayaking in the Bay Area or any acquaintances in the Bay Area kayaking community. I went to REI first. I could not find a river kayak, but I found a lot of brochures for rafting companies and free papers describing outdoor activities. From the brochures and papers, I found that there are a bunch of rafting companies around Lake Tahoe and that there is a whitewater park in Reno, Nevada.

I decided to go see them. First, I went to the whitewater park in Reno at the end of July, and the first thing I saw in the river was that a lot of people were swimming and enjoying body boarding. I was disappointed at that time because there were no kayakers and the water level was too low for kayaking. Besides, I felt that it would be out of place if a full-geared kayaker were there. The people who are equipped in kayaking gear look like they are overdoing it, with a helmet, a personal floatation device, spray skirt and so on. I stayed in Reno that day. I didn’t want to believe that there are no kayakers. I went to the whitewater park again the next day. I ran into some good luck because I found two guys who were talking in front of a truck loaded with kayaks. I had the courage to speak to them. They told me some information about kayaking, and I got a key word, “Chili Bar”, I didn’t understand this word at the time.

Next, I found out that there are a lot of kayakers in California and Nevada. It was time to get my kayak. I’d been to 3 local retail outdoor stores, but I didn’t get enough information about river kayaking. They were focusing on sea kayaking in their businesses. Then I got a kayak at California Canoe and Kayak in Rancho Cordova. Fortunately, I had a mutual friend with a staff member and he gave me a lot of information and direction to the river. At this time, I found out that “Chili Bar” is the name of a spot in the South Fork American River.

When the time had come, my wife and I got our kayaks. We had learned about a nice place for kayaking but didn’t have any information about the South Fork American River. Also, I had no idea how to drive back to the start spot from the finish point after my river run. So, I decided to ask a local river trip company, Current Adventures, to guide me at the river.

August 29, 2010. It was a great day. I finally kayaked in the U.S. Current Adventures introduced me to Taylor who is an extreme kayaker. He guided me to Chili Bar in the Coloma section and gave me tips about the South Fork American River. He also took me to a nice play spot called “Barking Dog”.

Finally, I’d returned to kayaking life. Now I mostly enjoy kayak “park and play” at Barking Dog in Lotus. I have much to be thankful for. All the kayakers I have met, especially Shane, whom I met in Nevada and who gave me a lot of information; Boomer, a staff member at California Canoe and Kayak who gave me information about the South Fork American River; Heather, a staff member at Current Adventures who kept talking to me with great patience on the phone; Dan, the owner of Current Adventures who arranged a guide for me; and Taylor, who is a great and awesome kayaker.

The problem is my English skills. I really want to talk more with awesome local kayakers. I need much more improvement in my English.

Things I might miss after I go back to Japan

I moved to California from Japan in April 2010. I’m enjoying and getting familiar with living in the U.S. Since I started living here, I have found some items which I can’t get in Japan. I really think that I’ll miss these things after I go back to Japan. I will introduce one of them today; half and half. Half and half is a light cream typically used in coffee. It’s called half and half because it is half milk and half heavy cream. Half and half is not sold in Japan.

I love coffee. Usually I prefer strong coffee and drink coffee black. After I came to the U.S, I began to enjoy the taste of the combination of coffee and half and half. In Japan, the cream for coffee is mostly made from plant derived oil. It’s not made from milk. I don’t like this because that kind of alternative cream has very little taste.

You might feel that I should use whole milk. In fact, whole milk is better for coffee than the artificial cream, but I don’t like the smell. Most whole milk is homogenized. I don’t like the flavor of the combination of coffee and whole milk because the smell of milk is strong.

I think that when homogenized milk becomes hot, the smell becomes bad. The coffee favor is masked by a strong flavor of milk.

When I visited the UK, I was amazed by the rich taste of milk in the UK. That milk is not homogenized. It tasted terrific and had an excellent flavor. Of course it was absolutely suitable for both tea and coffee. I’m hooked on the good taste of non-homogenized milk.

Since this experience in the U.K, I have been longing for good milk for coffee. Fortunately, I found out that the taste of half and half is pretty much the same as the non-homogenized milk that I had in the U.K. For coffee, I would say it is even better than British homogenized milk.

Unfortunately, half and half is not sold in Japan and it’s hard to find non-homogenized milk as well. I hope that half and half will become popular before I go back to Japan. If it’s not, I guess I’ll make half and half on my own using heavy cream and whole milk. I’ll start researching how to make homemade half and half from right away.