New friends

Our isolation from the broader culture and family ties makes it relatively easy to meet new people here - other foreigners, usually Brits, Americans or Australians, at playgrounds, in coffee shops, or just waiting around.

Through my NYC friend Mary Lambert, I've met "Susan", who just moved here from NYC with her family; we'd been emailing and I ran into her randomly at the local supermarket. Waiting for Lucinda's Nishimachi screening, I hung out w/"Nancy", an official at the Australian embassy. And Gita, who came here last week from Malaysia, is similarly hanging out w/her kids until her childcare help arrives.

We are all trailing spouses, and it's new for each of us to be totally responsible for daily childcare - I really miss our fantastic nanny, Lisa Mackie, from Seattle, because she made it easy for me to work or do other things for 7 hours a day.

Blaine and I will find some childcare help here, but the schools will soak up most of it. Many of the nannies here are Filipino and have left their young children behind to earn more in Tokyo per hour than (someone told me) they could make as a bank employee in Manila.