Next, I strolled over to the Manga section.  It’s always amazing to me how comics from Japan have taken off in English in America.

Next, the foreign language section. Barnes and Noble in Southlake only has Japanese textbooks which are for the very beginners. Very very very beginners. If you are anything past very beginner, don’t bother.

Names like “Japanese for Dummies” and “Japanese Demystified” crack me up. They want you to think Japanese is easy and you can learn it in a month, no problem.

Barnes and Noble does NOT have an intermediate section, so obviously nobody is completing these books  and moving up to the next level.  

Let me give you advice: If the title implies it’s easy, the textbook is no good. You want something that doesn’t make false promises.

This is the textbook you should be studying: “A Guide to Japanese. It’s not easy. I’m warning you. You’ll Have to Pick Up this Book on a Regular Basis and Study and Not Give up after Two Weeks, even if you’ve lost this book. If you lose it, look for it. If your Mom and Dad had lost you behind the Sofa and Not Bothered to look for you, you never would have learned the English language. Same Basic Thing.”

cartoon images from https://www.irasutoya.com/

After eating my slice of quiche, I headed up the escalator to the second floor. I wanted to see the kids’ section.

The sign should say “Welcome Kids and also Writers Doing Research on What is Currently Being Sold.”

Lots of great books here! Both old and new.

Great books here, too!

I know “The Giving Tree” is a  book people love or hate. I like it. We had a copy in our house and I was entranced by it. Why was the tree giving everything away? What’s going on here? One purpose of books (other than to entertain) is to get people to think deeply and come to their own conclusions. Because Silverstein never actually (to my knowledge) explains the relationship between the tree and the boy, there are many theories. And I think that’s good. The readers are thinking and seeing how the story applies to them personally.

I went to the “L’s” to see where my future books will go. Right next to A Dash of Dragon.

On one of our first days in America, my son went to the town of Southlake (close to my parents’ town of Keller) to watch the Incredibles 2. A plus is that the movie theater is next door to a Barnes and Noble. Yay! Japan has bookstores (Maruzen and Kinokuniya perhaps being the most famous) but it does not have Barnes and Noble. And even if it did, it would be stocked with Japanese books. Nothing wrong with that! This being Japan and all.) I like to see what’s out there in the American book world.

But first:

I was hungry. Jet lag hunger was gripping me! But I had not realized how extremely expensive the prices were at the cafe in  Barnes and Noble were:

Over five dollars for a grilled cheese sandwich! Wowee Zowee!

I ended up getting just a slice of quiche. Ironically, the quiche was cheaper than the grilled cheese sandwich.

The prices are certainly no cheaper than Japan. I’m often thinking that the U.S. is cheaper (and it is, for certain things like fruits and vegetables) but it really isn’t any cheaper.

I don’t consider my parents huge pet lovers. But they gave birth to pet lovers who gave birth to pet lovers. (Most of these pets are my niece’s. Plus, my sister has a huge soft spot for rescuing animals in need. Cuz she is a good and kind person.)

My niece’s dog–a Lab mix–and one of her two cats.

My father says he doesn’t like cats because they eat the birds. Thus, he was the inspiration in my manuscript for Mr. Piper.

• Graciela and Koral are looking for a cat that escaped. (Graciela was cat-sitting and was thus responsible for the cat’s well-being.)

A man was out in his yard, watering the flowers, and told them, “I hate cats, but I’ll let you know if I see her.”

“You don’t really hate cats, Mr. Piper.” Graciela wasn’t crying anymore, but her face was red.

“I’m a bird watcher, so yes. I actually do.” He pointed to one of his many bird feeders.

“I like birds, too, Mr. Piper. It’s a quandary, isn’t it?”

“You said it. Life is full of hard choices.”

“I’m just glad I don’t live in Australia. It would be even harder to like cats there since they are not an indigenous species.”

“You got that right. God bless America.”

Charlie is a GREAT dog. Very gentle, yet the sort of dog who would rescue my parents from a grizzle bear if grizzly bears lived in Texas.

Land-wise (but not population-wise) Texas is larger than Japan. I refrain from telling Japanese people that because it seems like I’m putting down their country, but I’m not. There are definite benefits to living in a compact country.

Food is up high to keep away vermin. These cats enjoy being outdoors. (They have a choice of in or out and both of them rarely come in.)

The black cat is the older cat, and also the dominant one.

Yep. He’s got an attitude. Both are very sweet, though, and will purr if you pet them. They don’t bite or scratch.

Charlie LOVES chasing balls!!!! He loves it!

Not pictured are the two little dogs. (They were probably inside. Both little dogs were given to the family by people who could not keep them. Both are extremely sweet.)

Max

Ellie May

And still more shopping with my mom…

Just going to the grocery store is a treat!

When I was in college, we had a French exchange student at our house for one month. She said that in France they don’t have flags everywhere. Japan is the same–you don’t walk into a store and see a lot of Japanese flags.

America displays its flag more than other countries, I think.

As you know, I did not think Isle of Dogs was a good representation of Japan. You’re better off watching a Ghibli movie for a realistic representation. (Totoro is a good representation of Japan from maybe sixties years ago, countryside. Your Name–though not Ghibli–is a good representation of modern day Japan.)

I have no opinion about Super Troopers 2 and its representation of Canada. 😉 Never seen it.

Of course, I gotta look at the books.

You’ll probably think all I did in the U.S. was shop. And you would be right.

Department store…

I actually bought some Clinique thinking I’d get the free gift….but it wasn’t available yet!

Next stop, lunch.

At the Beacon Cafe

Mom got meatloaf.

I got tortilla soup and salad.

I’ve watched “The Big Bang Theory” and in the first season, Rajesh (who is from India) says that he doesn’t even like Indian food. He likes hamburgers. (????!!!???) I think this is supposed to be humorous, but obviously the writers don’t realize that no immigrant in the world has ever said this (that they don’t like their food from their own country.)

My parents are both from Texas and I was born in Texas. However, I consider myself from Kansas because that’s where I was mostly raised. After my dad retired, they moved back to a suburb of my mom’s hometown of Fort Worth. (Also a suburb of of Dallas.)

My boss asked me today, “Did you enjoy your stay in Canada?” I forget that some people have issues with geography! Okay, here’s a map of the Dallas/Fort Worth area:

FORTH WORTH  lots of little suburbs DALLAS

(Did you like my map?)

So even though my parents don’t live in the true Texas countryside, their home feels sort of rural.

Their house

This is NOT my parents’ horse. (My parents don’t own a horse.) Behind and next to their house is a horse boarding place.

Sweet horses

I’ve made a new friend!

And so has my son! This is my parents’ cat that was rescued (when he was a kitten) by my niece. (Actually it is my niece’s cat, but lives at my parents’ house. Neither of my parents are cat lovers. I know, right???!!!!??????)

He is a very sweet cat. He’s one of the purr-baby cats (purrs a lot.) He’s still VERY independent though. He stays outside the whole summer. I learned in a past summer not to take him inside because after I did that, he ran away from me every time I approached.

But you can see by his body language that he enjoys attention…on HIS terms!!!!!! LOL

Car illustration from https://www.irasutoya.com/ (free images available but you must give the image’s source)

My current MG manuscript is set in Texas, and I set it in a fictionalized suburb based on my parents’ town. One difference is that my protagonists live in a housing community, and obviously my parents do not. I wanted the houses to be relatively close together in my manuscript and this is a major reason why I did make it a housing community.

When I was in Texas last month, I paid attention to the housing communities—there are MANY of them. (Although also many free standing houses like my parents’.) I saw that each housing community has a fancy name written on the entrance, usually on the wall that surrounds the community.  OAK ESTATES, LAKELY FIELDS, CANYON MEADOWS, JUNIPER VILLAGE

So when I returned to Japan, I revised my manuscript and gave their community a name. RIVER VILLAGE

How did I choose “RIVER VILLAGE?” Well, I was thinking and thinking and thinking, trying to hit upon something good….couldn’t really come up with anything.

So I used my husband’s family name, Kawamura which literally means “River Village.”

After Sam’s, we went to Walmart. (Again, my mom needed to pick something up. Walmart and Sam’s don’t sell the same things.)

My own son has never, ever liked stickers, much to my dismay. It’s weird because I had assumed everybody liked stickers. But no, he didn’t like them at age three or eight or twelve or now at fifteen. (He doesn’t hate them. He just has no interest.)

So that means nowadays I buy stickers for my little English students. (And yes, the boys are WAY less interested in them than the girls. I have one boy student who even refuses to take one, shrugging them off.)

Japanese stickers are super duper cute. But they have a different vibe than American stickers, so I wanted American stickers for my classroom.

What I purchased. ↑  It ended up costing way more than I expected. (And no, I didn’t just put them in my mom’s cart and let her buy them! After I saw how much they cost, I was glad I didn’t do that.)

Harry Potter. LOVE

These sorts of stickers with pictures of everyday objects are incredibly useful for my class. For example, I can give the students paper and tell them to create a meal on it, using the stickers. Then they have to come to me and say, “I’d like the cookie, please.” “I’d like the apple, please.”

In real life, children will say, “Mama, can I have a cookie?” “I want an apple. Please?” But our class is an artificial environment and I like to use props to get the student to be forced to say the same sorts of things they would say in a natural environment.

Nice. It has words like “April Showers.” Japanese goods OFTEN have English words on them. But Japanese goods rarely have natural sounding English. When I buy something in the U.S., I automatically know the English will be correct and natural, whereas in Japan I examine the merchandise for spelling errors, odd English and so on to decide if it is worth purchasing.

The first thing my mom and I did in America was head to Sam’s. She had to pick some things up, so I tagged along.

Costco exists in Japan, and my parents are also members of Costco.

Sam’s is the Walmart version of Costco.

I’m always interested in the books there. I actually considered buying the “Good Night Dallas/Fort Worth” and “Good Night Texas” but I didn’t because my son is fifteen. See, I am not a true book addict. I can stop any time.

I checked out their bestseller books. Did not buy anything. See, I’ve got it under

control. Can stop any time. Yep.

Omigosh!!!! Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cereal, soda and a couple of Dog Mans.

!!!!!!!!!!

It’s a lazy Sunday here in Fukushima City in mid-August 2018. I just stepped out to our corner grocery store and came across two of my neighbors. They were both: “Oh, the weather has sure cooled down, hasn’t it!” When I left for America in July, Japan was having a horrible heatwave that continued until just before I arrived back in Japan. Oddly, the weather in Texas (which is normally blazing hot during the summer peak) was slightly cooler than usual (meaning it was hot rather than blazing hot.) So I’ve lucked out this summer weather-wise.

Anyway, I wanted to draw attention to this article (and other articles like it. All reputable news sources will have this sort of article.)

http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180817/p2g/00m/0dm/032000c

A while back, some Vietnamese workers complained about unknowingly being sent to dangerous conditions with high radiation. (Near the Exclusion Zone, or in the Exclusion Zone, I presume.) Futhermore, according to what I have read, their pay was a pittance and there were language issues. I don’t really know myself the exact facts. But anyway, perhaps in response, the United Nations has looked into the conditions of the workers in general. According to the article, three U.N. experts have criticized Japan for exploiting workers and putting them at risk.

Let me say, the workers who are doing tasks near or in the exclusion zone are both Japanese people and foreigners (from less economically advanced countries.)  The Japanese workers are mostly those who could not find work elsewhere, and thus they can easily taken be advantage of because they are probably desperate for an income.

I have not been keeping up adequately with these continuing stories about the workers, not due to lack of interest or due to unconcern for their well-being, but more because there is only so much I can keep up with. Even though I have not blogged about these stories, they’ve been written up in newspaper and so forth and I’ve been aware of them, although not as well as I would have liked.