People say that at 3 months it gets easier. Then at 6 months even easier. All about acclimating and adjusting. We're nearly 5 months in and it's definitely true. We're in a good routine. I know where to shop for my favorite things and can find almost all of them.
Restaurants are still not simple. But we've got a system. Google translate, website investigation (sometimes they have English menues online!) And hopefully subtle observations of those near us. This is especially helpful figuring out how to pay! We just wait and watch and do our best to imitate the locals!
And we're getting so so so much better at trains. We figured out how to buy tickets from the machines (to avoid the long lines!) And can usually tap our Suicas cards to make the process even easier!
That being said, we still have our funny/we clearly are still learning moments.
When you get off the trains you insert your tickets into a machine to pass through the gate. If you'll use that same ticket again it spits it back out so you can pick it up to use again. Typically we go through 2 gates each time we exit a train. I set out on my first airport run of a ridiculously busy 6 weeks (8 airport runs over 6 weeks)
Things are going super smooth, I'm swiping tickets like a pro until... There's a 3rd gate leaving the train and I no longer have a ticket! Did I go the wrong way?!? Did the machine fail to spit my ticket back to me?!? Was I not paying attention and neglected to notice the awaiting ticket?!?! Like a newbie I had to go to the line for 'problem' folk. Since I'm American and carting luggage I decide to fully embrace the assumption that I'm a tourist and didn't even try to explain myself in Japanese. Luckily the lady was kind enough to wave me on through. Spoiler: during the 3rd airport run I only pass through 2 gates as usual, clearly I must have gotten lost the first time and didn't even know it.
We're getting much better at purchasing what we want at grocery stores instead of the 'surprise' items (ahem chicken skin).
Restaurants are still not simple. But we've got a system. Google translate, website investigation (sometimes they have English menues online!) And hopefully subtle observations of those near us. This is especially helpful figuring out how to pay! We just wait and watch and do our best to imitate the locals!
And we're getting so so so much better at trains. We figured out how to buy tickets from the machines (to avoid the long lines!) And can usually tap our Suicas cards to make the process even easier!
That being said, we still have our funny/we clearly are still learning moments.
When you get off the trains you insert your tickets into a machine to pass through the gate. If you'll use that same ticket again it spits it back out so you can pick it up to use again. Typically we go through 2 gates each time we exit a train. I set out on my first airport run of a ridiculously busy 6 weeks (8 airport runs over 6 weeks)
Things are going super smooth, I'm swiping tickets like a pro until... There's a 3rd gate leaving the train and I no longer have a ticket! Did I go the wrong way?!? Did the machine fail to spit my ticket back to me?!? Was I not paying attention and neglected to notice the awaiting ticket?!?! Like a newbie I had to go to the line for 'problem' folk. Since I'm American and carting luggage I decide to fully embrace the assumption that I'm a tourist and didn't even try to explain myself in Japanese. Luckily the lady was kind enough to wave me on through. Spoiler: during the 3rd airport run I only pass through 2 gates as usual, clearly I must have gotten lost the first time and didn't even know it.
We're getting much better at purchasing what we want at grocery stores instead of the 'surprise' items (ahem chicken skin).
Wednesday we had a date day: lunch at a sushi place where you choose your items from a conveyor belt of yummy goodness. We busted out all 3 strategies of our restaurant system and added a 4th technique: watching the restaurant's YouTube of how to partake. Slight problem with the video being outdated and not matching up to what we saw in the store but we figured it out (after watching the video twice and subtly staring at the neighboring tables)
After a fun lunch out we head to the fancy grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner. Fresh veggies, fish and a fun seasoning mix for the rice. Fast forward a few hours and Jesse concocts a spice rub for the fish. All our favorite flavors: wasabi, cumin, garlic. A quick sear in the pan and it's time to feast! 2 bites in we realize something's a bit off. The fish is salty, like really really salty. The spice rub shouldn't have done that. Also the texture is a little different than we're used to. A few more bites and our powers of deductive reasoning kick in, this was not ordinary fish. Turns out we bought ourselves a cured fish that then we proceeded to cook up. And do we know what part of the packaging said it was cured so we can avoid this problem in the future?!? Haha nope.
So our routines are definitely easier which leads us to loving Japan even more. But each day still brings surprises.
After a fun lunch out we head to the fancy grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner. Fresh veggies, fish and a fun seasoning mix for the rice. Fast forward a few hours and Jesse concocts a spice rub for the fish. All our favorite flavors: wasabi, cumin, garlic. A quick sear in the pan and it's time to feast! 2 bites in we realize something's a bit off. The fish is salty, like really really salty. The spice rub shouldn't have done that. Also the texture is a little different than we're used to. A few more bites and our powers of deductive reasoning kick in, this was not ordinary fish. Turns out we bought ourselves a cured fish that then we proceeded to cook up. And do we know what part of the packaging said it was cured so we can avoid this problem in the future?!? Haha nope.
So our routines are definitely easier which leads us to loving Japan even more. But each day still brings surprises.