Tip 182: Delivering fruits thru Japan Post

I have always had no complaints with Japan Post, but only good experiences. Recently, received a nice fruit package from my mother in law in Ishigaki island. 2 Ishigaki pineapples and 3 Ishigaki mangoes. She has been sending fruits to us (only fruits so far), at least once a year. She insist that this year's pineapples and mangoes are the sweetest and we do not deny it. Did not get Okinawan papayas this year. Japan Post have been branding itself as a gift delivery company where each post office would promote different local gifts and souvenirs to encourage its residents to send gifts to friends and relatives in Japan especially during the summer season, a popular month for gift giving.












I am also particularly impressed by Japan Post' next day delivery service of any letters within Tokyo, free redirect mail service for 1 year if you move anywhere within Japan (they take the trouble to be precise when sorting mail and then stick a label of your new address free of charge), commitment to deliver new year cards even if you send them last minute within a few days prior, and its prompt package deliveries.












I sent a package to London from Tokyo last year by sea and was informed that it would reach in 1 month. Got it in 2.5 weeks. I sent a package from London to Hong Kong by sea and was told it would reach in 1-2 months. Got it after 3 months! Its interesting how different postal offices in the world respond to customers. In Japan, they do not like to overpromise, but instead work round the clock by hiring temp workers or clocking in high overtime so they never miss their KPIs. Other countries just accept things as they are, lost mail or not.












Other key contribution of Japan Post include its lowest transaction fee for remittances and its higher yield postal savings deposit rates. This has made the postal savings system the largest financial institution in the world, since it began accumulating small deposits from peasants into pools of capital that were aggresively invested in railroads and heavy industry development in the Meiji modernization. I do hope the privatization of Japan Post would not end its legacy of efficiency and its historical significance.












Back to the topic, Tomomi told me the fruit gift package that she saw at the Okinawan post office was around 5000 yen ($50). That is quite a lot for 5 fruits. True enough, local farm products in Japan can be expensive. How much does 2 pineapples and 3 mangoes cost in your home country? Do leave a comment for good comparison. By the way, I posted photos of my archive of different fruit trees I found around Tokyo and Kawasaki.

(Photos show Haruka's sweet tooth inspiring a smile for my camera finally. From top to bottom, the tree and yellow fruits of the grapefruit, Japanese persimmon or kaki, loquat or biwa, kiwifruit and kumquat or kinkan).

Tip 181: Festivities at Japan's night markets

There is actually no night market in Japan and according to Wikipedia, the most well known of it all is at Taiwan (yet to try it). In Malaysia's Petaling Street, Singapore's new Bugis Street or Hong Kong's Temple Street, they are a lively community of vendors or the public looking for an opportunity at flea markets or 'pasar malam' (as called in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia) to sell cheap merchandise and food items. These vendors do it as a part time job, some after their day jobs to earn an extra income.












In Japan, this happens only during the Japanese festivities as the Japanese vendors do it as a celebration and as an opportunity to share their food culture. Most of them are restaurant/food business owners who take a day off from their business to participate in the festivities. Some of the festivities include the local masturi, tanabata, summer fireworks viewing, different dance or season festivities. Most of them happen in summer or autumn. This weblink list a complete calendar of festivities all over Japan. They can be major crowd pullers and you need to head out early to book a nice space to enjoy the food.












I was looking forward to the Sumida river fireworks which is the greatest of all fireworks, having a display of 20,000 fireworks over 1.5 hour duration. This tradition dates back to the Edo period, though which much more grandeur currently. It attracts 1 million people annually and we realized that too late. Police and volunteers were already blocking the roads to the prime spots 1 hour in advanced and we could only settle for 2nd or 3rd class viewing spots.












Another lesson learnt was never bring a stroller to these places as the crowd moves on and on, with little patience for a daddy with a stroller needing to negotiate the different pavements. Interestingly, being a daddy changes how an outing will turn out. I used to be able to get all the good spots, by squeezing or talking my way through. I think this will be a challenge especially if I have more kids in the future. I guess having just 1 kid does not provide a good definition of what parenting is.












(Photos show the food vendors at the Bettara ichi (Japanese pickle fair selling bettarazuke) at Kodenmacho, and Haruka in her Okinawan jinbei posing with dancers at the Awa-odori dance festival at Kagurazaka street, Tokyo. Food shown are grilled fish/ajinoshioyaki, yakitori, takoyaki, candy apple/ringo ame, okonomiyaki, bettarazuke, oden and obanyaki).

Tip 180: Human figurines/dolls of family

At the beginning ages, either before 1 year old or just after, a baby is amused by playing with different cuddly cute animals. The baby is tickled by the different sounds of the animals and the different actions they make - whether they fly, wag their tails or jump from tree to tree. Mimicking these action and sounds stir their curiosity and interest. Baby could play by themselves after guidance from parents on how to role play these different animals.












As the baby's communication with adults and other children improves, they begin to love talking. They have a fondness towards friendly people and those that care for them. They understand the concept of family and love. This is the time when they are fond of human dolls and human character toys. Especially, those that form a whole family.












When playing nowadays, Haruka likes to associate old human toy characters she sees as her grandparents. After her visit to Ishigaki island followed by frequent phone calls, her fond memories stay. I would be making more trips to Malaysia soon so Haruka would also spend more time with her Malaysian grandparents.

Haruka would roleplay phone conversations with these human figurines. She would call them oba-chan (grandmother), ojisan (grandfather). Genki desuka? (Are you well in Japanese).

She would also try to speak some simple conversations that she overheard between daddy and mummy. Or common words we use such as itekimasu (leaving and coming back soon), tadaima (I am back), okaeri (welcome home), please eat, orikou ne (clever child). This is how she begins to learn to speak in full sentences and revise her speaking from memory. If daddy is free, daddy would introduce more creative situations in the play to have a variety of conversations. Though, Haruka is already learning to do that. Of course, she looks forward to be entertained by new ideas always or funny face expressions.

(Photos show Taketomi island, a small quiet neighbouring island of Ishigaki island (Tomomi's hometown), Okinawa. The island's main activity is the occasional tourism activity that includes a water buffalo cart ride around the sandy paths between the houses. A shisa is shown, carved out of stone and shells on a stone fence that surrounds Taketomi houses).

Tip 179: Giving your best time that the child yearns for

As the baby grows past 1 year old, he/she learns communication and enjoys learning. The baby watches the television, sees children playing and communicating happily and hopes to have such fun. When the baby plays with other children, he/she watches other children communicate confidently and if the other adult responds positively to the other children, the baby hopes the same attention and wants to emulate good communication. This is the best time to teach the baby. The baby is like a sponge, eager to absorb as much as possible. The baby may pester the parents to read. The baby listens intently to all conversations by her loved ones and repeat phrases he/she knows quickly without prompting by her parents. This is the most important moment that the parents can give to their baby - their full attention, enthusiasm and quality communication. Though, often times, daddy can be too tired and the reading becomes dull and the communication little. This is when babies with at least 1 full time parent who loves staying at home benefits the most.

I know that the best times that I contribute to Haruka is when we go out either together as a family or for short evening strolls in the neighbourhood. Since Haruka still prefers to be carried as she can not walk long distance, this is the best opportunity for daddy to speak with her. We engage in question and answers, or to observe the birds, dogs and butterflies around us and speak about them.

The worst time is when daddy is tired and does a poor job reading to Haruka. I think Haruka is beginning to sense when daddy or mummy is doing it with enthusiam or not. It is better to spend quality time than to look disinterested and unhappy. We could do just 1 story with zest and then excuse oneself to rest. This brings to the question of whether full time parenting can make a difference. The answer is of course yes. Yet, it is more important that the parent enjoys the task of staying at home full time than whether it should be done. It is all about quality time and doing it with a smile. If you do not give with a cheerful heart, than minimise your giving to spend only quality time when you are available and happy. I am thankful that Tomomi loves taking care of Haruka. It was she who wanted to be dedicating her time with Haruka. Of course, it's not an easy job and she does get frustrated. Seeing Haruka being so attached to Tomomi and growing intelligently means mummy has done a good job. Daddy too when he is putting his best efforts.

(Photos show Waseda University and the adjacent Okuma garden with chestnuts/kuri in Japanese lying on the floor.)

Tip 178: Tokyo most expensive but most livable?

According to the annual Mercer Human Resource survey, Tokyo is the most expensive city in 2009. This survey however focuses on what an expatriate employee would pay and most of them receive packages from their companies. This makes a lot of difference because the large companies would usually deal with reputable realtors who may charge premium services. Also, expats usually have larger families and expect larger housing space requirements with premium views, send their children to internation schools, use a car and other perks. These expats would usually not be entitled to receive government subsidized housing, healthcare or tax incentives, or even if they do, they would not bother going through the hassle of applying or is ignorant about them. More importantly, it does not take into account other factors such as convenience, crime rates and variety of shops with different price tags, since all this can affect cost of living. I think most expensive cities offer an opportunity to save if you know your way around and have at least a beginner level language fluency.













Even as Tokyo has one of the largest metropolitan area covering an area of 8014 square km, it has strategic and comprehensive rail lines to connect every residential area. The city is safe, clean and pollution free making it pleasant to walk or cycle and enjoy the greenery and colourful flowers on the way. So there is little need to drive or even be ferried on taxis. There are a variety of shopping outlets and restaurants catering for different prices, yet all offer only high quality. Most shop owners feel ashamed if they offer low quality items as there is pride in their reputation, plus Japan has strict food and safety policies in place. This was demonstrated by a survey by Monocle magazine of the top 25 liveable cities in the world and Tokyo was at third place. Editor Andrew Tuck explains, "I think what's interesting about Tokyo is: here's a massive metropolis that actually works. Whereas, we haven't put on London or New York, because they don't have that efficiency at their heart-they don't tick in quite the same way". The magazine praised Tokyo for its service culture, efficient public transportation, low crime and abundant greenery. According to them, if you come back from a trip on a Saturday, you ought to be able to do shopping on a Sunday. All these small things also make a city function.













In the Simpsons, Bart in his trip to a Tokyo restaurant complained,"These prices suck! 10,000 yen for coleslaw?" Obviously, you don't go to American restaurants in Tokyo for good deals.













(Photos show me in 2005 and Haruka in 2009 at Odaiba, Tokyo. Sights include Tokyo Big Sight, Fuji TV headquarters, Decks Tokyo Beach and Venus Fort shopping mall and Odaiba kaihin koen).

Tip 177: Baby diapers must be easy up pants?

I was grumbling about a strict shopping list earlier and here is another example. Wife says diapers have to be easy pull up pants. It is convenient as you need not open the diaper and it is easy to wear. Haruka has been wearing easy-up pants since a few months old. Can't remember if she started wearing them straight from birth but definitely since a long time ago. Nowadays, there are a few diaper companies that have pull-up pants even for young infants and not just for the toddlers. They are manufactured to precision such that it will not leak, eventhough it is a pants. These pants have none of the previous defects since they are absorbent enough to prevent leaks even during night time. In fact, they are too comfortable such that Haruka has no qualms about wearing them for a long time or needing to ask mummy to change them. So no need the hassle of using the potty, even if she has been potty trained. Argh, the evils of technology and convenience. Yet, when I am out of Japan, it is so hard to find similar type of diapers available.













When Haruka used to be younger, she would change 7-10 disposable diapers a day. Now, it has been reduced to 4-7 diapers since she has a better ability to withhold urine for larger intervals. Yet, since its absorbent, she does not feel anything. Since the beginning, I have tried to impress upon Tomomi to get good quality cloth diapers but to no avail. She feels its more hygienic to use disposable diapers if one checks on them regularly, which she does of course. Then, she complains that I never check Haruka's diapers or changes them. Its such a frequent routine that I feel its counter productive. Anyway, this cycle happens abroad too and we have to search a few different supermarkets to find the one that stocks the type of diapers approved by Tomomi. I think it is just that I have been used to seeing my mother in Malaysia washing and drying cloth diapers every day. Having so many specifications for a diaper seem irrelevant to me. I have recently felt Haruka is intelligent enough and ready to inform us if she wants to go to the potty. I suggested Haruka can now elevate to a training pants or just the usual pants without diapers during day time. However, Tomomi said we should wait till we get a bigger house or when Haruka is above 2 years old, so we need not create a mess in the house. So daddy listens. The other day, mummy complained that daddy should just stick to the usual brand diaper instead of trying a new one. Its just a diaper! It has no nutritional value whatsoever. One day, Haruka will grow out of it, and I hope that day comes soon.













(Photos show Haruka at the temples of Enoshima island. No praying, just photo taking).