March 8 and 9, 2012 - Tokyo Here and Now

The Women's Group at the Tokyo American Club twice a year presents a seminar called "Tokyo Here and Now."  You do not have to be a member of the Tokyo American Club to attend the seminar; you just have to pay a premium over what members need to pay.  Many companies pay for a TAC membership for their employees.  Many people join even if their company doesn't pay for a membership.  ExxonMobil doesn't pay for a membership; I'll let you google the cost of membership and you tell me if you think we'll join. :)

I had an informative two days of presentations on going to the doctor in Japan, earthquake preparedness, Japanese culture and beliefs, coping with culture shock, the current nuclear situation, and more.  I enjoyed each presentation and thought the presenters all did a great job.  I also enjoyed getting to meet other newcomers to Tokyo.  However, my absolute favorite part of Tokyo Here and Now was...... Diet Dr. Pepper!

I had not had a Diet Dr. Pepper since I left the United States at New Year's.  I had heard you could find it sometimes, but I figured this was a good time to break the soda habit.  Most of you probably know that I can drink a good bit of Diet Dr. Pepper every day.  But since I arrived in Tokyo, I have been substituting with iced tea and hot tea (including green tea, Julie :) ).  I have the occasional Coke Zero (which is a VERY poor substitute for my drink of choice).  I have found Diet Dr. Pepper at Nissin, the international grocery store I wrote about in January, and I've heard Costco sometimes has it, although they didn't have it the first time we went.  However, besides the health benefits of giving up soda, you might see another reason in the picture for why I haven't bought any.

The price is a little blurry, so in case you had a hard time reading it, it says the price is 121 yen.  That's about $1.50......for a single can.  They also sold a 24-pack (well, two 12-packs taped together), but the cost saving per can was fairly insignificant. 

Perhaps at some point I might be able to buy some to have in the house, and I could have the occasional Diet Dr. Pepper.  But I don't think I'm there yet.  I think if I bought some, it would be gone pretty quickly.  However, at Tokyo Here and Now, I figured I could enjoy the Diet Dr. Pepper guilt-free.  And I did.

Cooper attended Tokyo Here and Now with me on Thursday.  By some unfortunate timing, the two days of Tokyo Here and Now conflicted with the two days of elementary school conferences.  The students had the two days off from school, so the Tokyo Here and Now organizers quickly put together some activities for older children as part of the childcare.  Cooper was happy because he got to go the Tokyo American Club (he and his sister (more so his sister) have been pushing for a membership) and he got to have a hamburger, fries, and a shake for lunch.

When we arrived at the subway station on the way home, I handed Cooper the map and asked him how we should go home.  The way I go to that section of town involves three train rides, but Cooper saw a route that was only two.  It actually takes a little bit longer (because it goes out of the way to make the connection), but I still thought that was pretty good.  There are times you might prefer to take a little longer so that you have to make only one train change instead of two.  I think he's getting closer to being able to take the subway on his own!