After weeks of waiting for this trip it finally came and on the last minute all the arrangements fell into place and we found ourselves sitting on a flight via Zurich to Tokyo. All 4 of us. I won't go into the fine details of the flight, as clearly it was sleepless and not as comfortable as one's own sofa...but we made it. Evie who blinks hard, fighting off any temptation of sleep, slept a cool 5 hours (broken up) in the first 36 hours from leaving home. Josephine was really good on the flight, but of course needed movement (much to the annoyance (?) of the stewards and other passengers, but was actually very good under the circumstances.
We got picked up from the airport by a VW employee who whisked us away in a Microbus. He spoke English very well and chatted freely and openly all the way to the hotel which was about an hour's drive. These were my first personal thoughts of Tokyo:
"Oh oh oh. A sea of buildings. Tall ones. On top of each other."
"Where are the trees? Those cherry blossom ones I read about!?!"
"Hot! Sticky!"
"What were we thinking? We're making a mistake..."
We stayed in the "Westin" Hotel which was like an oasis. Spacious, cool, very fancy! We took our things upstairs and immediately went about putting the girls to bed, despite it being 8am or so Tokyo time (5am our time). An hour later I was standing at the door, showered and getting picked up by our relocation agent for the first day of school and house-hunting. Michael stayed with the girls this time.
For the next few days we just did school and house-hunting. Lots of it. We saw 37 apartments and had about 10 school tours. From day 2, we took the girls with us. Josephine ran circles in the houses/apartments we saw and found little nooks and crannys to hide in. She was very cute, but in the same breath it was also difficult to really focus on the place, what it had to offer and the whims of a 3 year old. And she quickly got used to taking off her shoes at the front door on the specially tiled area; slipped into some large slippers and skidded around on wooden floors. On day 4, we found the flat we liked and immediately asked for a reservation. We continued to look at all the remaining flats just to be sure. Regarding schooling, we saw lots of very good and interesting kindergartens/nurseries. Virtually all of them were something we'd have felt comfortable with. The only 3 things which were deciding factors between our top 3 schools were: proximity to house (and work), teaching philosophy, language medium. Of course, we were looking at other criteria too, but actually the schools ticked all of the other boxes, mostly.
Many of the schools were giving proper school lessons to 3 year olds and older. They were actually sitting at the table learning how to write and read! The 4 year olds were already keeping journals. It was "normal" there! I was shocked! On the one hand - impressive! On the other hand I thought "Oh, I just want her to have fun and play and be a little girl!". The language issue lingered in our minds too...she needs to speak German fluently to integrate back into German schools when we get back here.
So finally: We opted for a German International School. And our flat is nice and spacious and modern and in the Setagaya-ku (suburb on the rim of Tokyo central) ie about 20min by car to Michael's work and 20min by car to Josephine's Kindergarten.
So our "leaving impressions" were quite different after having spent some excellent time there with a very professional relocation agent who went the extra mile showing us around:
* despite the 14m inhabitants in Tokyo (42m in Metropol), there is such a calmness about the city. No hooting, no loud music or drilling. A great respect for each other's space, quiet. Even the ambulances have a gentle tone (clear, but not so deafening. Actually far more tolerable to the ear!)
* there are some nice parks! Beautiful botanical gardens - we had a nice picnic in one on the Saturday. Lush vegetation, ponds with koi fish
* Dogs are hot! Plenty of tiny fluffy teddy-bear looking dogs with all kinds of accessories. At some apartments they even have a "paw-washing station" before they may enter. But all are very dog-friendly. Stacks of pet shops too with turtles, lizards, some other odd balls.
* the Japanese are very organised, very structured. But at the same time very open, very friendly
* Evie for president!! She was a big hit there with her red hair. So many many people stopped to say hello, ask how old she was, tickle her toes, stroke her. Very sweet.
* Josephine discovered MacDonalds. Evenings we sometimes crashed after a day out and got ourselves some fruit / pizza / MacD. Oh dear!
* Yep, bowing is the thing to do! Sometimes they take a while to come up again. But one learns this very quickly and it's quite easy to do actually.
* Seaweed is a delicacy. A whole aisle at the grocery store just for that stuff. Otherwise, lots of really good quality fruit, veg. Stacks of fresh fish - yummy!! All very clean.
* Japanese seem very health/cleanliness conscious! Anyone with a cold wears a mask so as not to spread their germs to the others. How thoughtful! Others wear it to reduce hayfever symptoms. Interesting that people don't wear it to avoid breathing in polluted air! I always thought that was the reason.
* Coughing is not cool.
* The city is very clean.
* Those fans and lacey umbrellas are not just decoration. People of all ages use it! And it is necessary. It's hot! Even 17 degrees is hot because of the very high humidity. And apparently in summer it gets up to around 40! Yikes!
* Space is rare commodity and comes at a premium.
* Japanese are very polite. Actually makes one feel more polite too...to fit in!
* Japanese are toilet fanatics. They have perfected the art of toilet-design. And *every* toilet is fitted with seat heating, a variety of spraying functions also with various temperatures (yikes!), gentle flushing immediately when you sit (!), seat coming up and going down automatically so you don't have to touch a thing. My first thought was "wierd! Even embarrassing!". But actually it's just another example of their level of cleanliness.
* taxi doors open automatically so the driver doesn't have to get out and open the door for you. And all their seats are covered in white lace.
* Relatively speaking fewer cars on the road than expected, even in Tokyo central! I was very surprised by this! I was imagining hugh queues, hooting, impatient drivers wanting to make their way through the chaos. But no, it was calm. Reason: little parking available. Excellent public transport.
* We felt an earthquake! Sitting in the botanical gardens, our bottoms took a wobble while sitting on the greeny lawns. Whoa!!! Not too hecitc, but enough to make my eyes huge! Michael thought it was a subway for a moment.
* Lots of children's parks and playgrounds
* Expensive
* Parking: at apartment blocks, the cars are in an automated park garage to save space (it's like those ramps you drive onto at a mechanic who wants to look under your car....)...so you drive on and it places your car on the right floor. Then for exiting the block they've got turn-tables. You drive your car off the ramp, onto the turntable and it turns so that your car is facing the right direction...there's no space to realign your car otherwise!!
*Bicycles on the pavements
* Lots of hills.
* very humid
All in all - we are now amped for our stay there!!
Gotta go! Jozie's horse-riding lesson now! Will update more.
Amidst all this, so thinking and praying for our friends who are going through a tough time with cancer (States and UK).
