Update with pictures

Waiting for USDA approval

Last days in the U.S. at Seabrook

Fun at the Seabrook beach

Three had a great memory

Sayonara Best Friend

At SeaTac

At the terminal in Seattle, the dogs were shaking along with Erika and George in anticipation of the long flight ahead of them.

After 12 hour flight, 30 minute boat ride, 20 minute monorail, several bus rides, and one taxi ride, the dogs finally had a chance to rest in best seats at the hotel in Kobe

Next day, we took two hour bullet train ride. The dogs were more terrified and shook up from this segment of the trip than the flight from Seattle.

Finally in Tsukahara with our new Nissan Moco

Lucky with his new friend, Sakura

All’s Well That Ends Well

Today’s my last day at work. I wonder what will happen next. I can’t remember the last time I did not have a job. Giving up a career to go onto something else can be a terrifying experience. It can also be exhilarating. It’s terrifying to take that first step off the cliff, but it’s exhilarating to look at where you’re going. I’ve always tried to live by the rule: Don’t look back. I guess for me, I shouldn’t look up. Every time that I do, I see my past career…airplanes. I told Erika that I wanted to move somewhere that didn’t have airplanes flying overhead. Fortunately, Tsukahara is located where only contrails are visible. That’s close enough for me.

Saying goodbye to coworkers has been an interesting experience. Many of them say, “Good luck in Japan.” I know that they mean well, but I wonder who should be wishing whom good luck. I feel like I’m embarking on a new life’s journey. It’s taken a lot of hard work and careful planning over the course of the past ten or so years. This is in comparison to many people who are stuck at the same old job doing the same thing day after day. I wish for those people to have good luck in finding fulfillment before it’s too late. Life is short and I plan to make the most of it…good or bad.

Kiley and Lucky go to the veterinarian tomorrow to get their health certificates. Then it’s on to the USDA in Olympia to get the official stamps on the paperwork. All of our belongings have been shipped and the house is empty. Rather than sitting in an empty house, we’ll be heading for the coast for a couple of days of relaxation before we board the plane. It’s been a wild ride so far and I’m sure that we have only just begun. Stay tuned…

犬の魅力

ここ最近、カイリーがずっと入退院を繰り返した。原因は未だ不明だが、食事を受け付けず、吐いてばかりで、脱水症状まで陥ってしまった。緊急病院に入れて、少し快復したと思ったら、また悪化して入院。やっとで、ここ2日ほど落ち着いている。できるだけ自然食でドッグフードを作りたいと、ジョージが一日中ネットで調べ、オーガニックショップで材料を買って、必要なビタミンやボーンミルなどを加え、彼女の食事療法にも気を付けている。

ということで、最近は、ラッキーだけを散歩に連れて行くことが多かった。そうすると、あちこちからカイリーはどうしたのかと心配のお声が掛けられた。私は、会ったこともなければ、話をしたことのない人まで。ちょっと離れたご近所さんは、毎日のように電話を掛けきて、カイリーの様子を心配してくれる。ジョージや私たちが病気になっても、これだけの人から心配されたことなんて一度もない。

カイリーが病気になって初めて便が出たとき、喜んでジョージに電話して知らせた。電話の向こうで、彼がすごく喜んで大騒ぎしている様子がよくわかった。ジョージ曰く、あまりにも喜んでいたので、同僚から理由を聞かれ説明したら、周りにいた、今まで話すらしたことのない同僚まで、自分たちの経験を語り出した。無口で、無愛想な同僚たちまで、財布から写真を出して、自分たちの犬の話を熱心にしたらしい。奥さんや子供の写真は持ち歩かなくても、犬たちの写真は常に持ち歩いている人がほとんどだったという。一度、そういうことをニュースで聞いたことがあったけど、本当なんだと、改めて犬たちが人間に与える魅力を感じた。その日の午前中の仕事は、犬の話でおしまい。つまらないミーティングより、ずっといい情報交換ができたとか？はははっ、アメリカらしいな。

When It Rains, It Pours

The past few weeks have been very stressful for the entire family. Kiley has been very ill and in the Animal Hospital for three nights. She hadn’t eaten and she had been growing weaker.

We took her to the emergency clinic after she showed signs of being in pain. Her back was arched and she was trying to find a place to hide in the backyard. We had taken her to her regular veterinarian first and we were told that she might have something wrong with her pancreas. The vet prescribed anti-vomiting pills and had some blood drawn. Kiley was sent home. I don’t understand why she was not placed on an IV and given fluids. We explained that she kept vomiting, even water, and she stopped drinking. She should have had x-rays or at least an ultrasound ordered. Later that night, Kiley had difficulty vomiting and the pain must have been excruciating. The emergency room vet immediately put Kiley on an IV and ordered up a bunch of tests. When trying to narrow down a liver problem, it’s a process of elimination. They knew what the problem wasn’t. We were agonizing as friends and loved ones waited for news of Kiley’s prognosis.

Kiley returned home after the doctor was satisfied that she could keep food and water down. She wasn’t sure though because Kiley was a picky eater. She ordered Kiley to return home so that we could feed her in a familiar environment. We fed her anything she wanted. It was five days since she was able to keep food down. Kiley started vomiting again and had to return to the hospital. She received an ultrasound and biopsy of her liver and stomach. The ultrasound revealed that her stomach and liver were inflamed. She spent the night at the hospital. It was heart wrenching to leave her there. The following day, Kiley rushed to greet us in the waiting room. We were given 7 different medications to get her stomach and liver under control. We would have to wait for the biopsy results for at least 5 days. She is home and in good spirits. She ate dog food for the first time in a week! We’ve been careful not to feed her too much at one time. Lucky has been quiet and somewhat reserved recently. I think he is jealous of all the attention his sister is receiving. We took Lucky to Point Defiance Park on the same day that Kiley had her biopsy because we were in the same area as Kiley and we wanted to give some attention to Lucky.

On the same day that Kiley received her biopsy, Erika received hers. Erika’s doctor found a questionable spot in her breast during a mammogram. This was the kind of news that shook the foundation of our lives. We were sick with worry. I was beginning to think that we were being punished for leaving the country. After a very tense couple of sleepless nights, we received the news that Erika was cancer free! A group sigh of relief was expressed with the news.  It’s hard to be too enthusiastic right now until we receive the test results from Kiley’s biopsy. If Kiley is found to have a serious condition with her organs we will have to reconsider leaving in October. We want her to be 100% when we make the journey to Japan.

I have been having problems with my knee and left eye. I’ve had some kind of lump and redness in my lower eyelid. I’ve been on steroids to get the inflammation down and I will have to have the eyelid looked at by an ophthalmologist next week. I guess when it rains, it pours.

From my past experiences, bad news always comes in three’s. Kiley, Erika, and I make three. I think we’ve had enough bad news for awhile. It’s time to concentrate on getting our little girl healthy and the rest of us need to stay healthy. If you haven’t had a mammogram done in the past year, please do so. It could save your life. George

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Recently, I have been asked by several friends what the verdict is for my life. There has never been a black and white answer. It is the most difficult question for me to answer. When I was young, my goal was to escape from my hometown. Over the years, I had gradually moved further and further from my roots. My life is more complicated now. I’m older and have accumulated assets and responsibilities. My decisions involve others very close to me.

When I got a job offer in Australia, I was caught by surprise. I honestly did not think I would get it. I really didn’t want to leave my job in Tokyo. I never intended to find another job nor did I want to have the job in Australia. One of my coworkers told me to take a day off because I was becoming a workaholic. I was a country girl and I had nowhere to go in Tokyo. At the time, my coworker was reading a newspaper in front of me. He suggested, after reading the newspaper, that I interview for a position to work in Australia. Since this was a last minute decision, I wasn’t prepared.  I just wanted someplace to spend a paid vacation. Well, I passed the interview. I thought it was some kind of scam. My family and friends were skeptical also. I was invited to a second interview and passed that too. Okay, I achieved a short term goal…two days off with pay to travel to Australia. I received phone calls from the Queensland Education Department in Australia. Now, what could I say? I needed to figure out my next move, so I decided I wanted to challenge myself. I decided to leave my country and work overseas. “This was a one-time chance,” I thought. My aunt said, “Do whatever you want to do with your life. Your life is only one time…but you must be responsible for your life. When you fail and come back, are you willingly to work as a janitor? Will you respect a janitor’s life? If so, do it.” I often hear that advice in my head. Yes, I will, but I always have another question, “Can I provide food and medical treatment for my dogs?” “But, what if…” seems to follow every question.

 

We will, again, put the house on the market, soon. A lot of worries, discussions, debates, and changes in our minds. We know if we wait for 5 more years, George will get a small pension for early retirement, the housing market should be better and we can more easily transfer our life to Japan. A huge disadvantage is that the dogs will be older and they will have tremendous difficulty flying for such a long period. Then, we will probably have to wait at least another 5 years until the dogs pass away. We cannot live our daily lives waiting for their lives to end. If we don't leave by next March, we will have to put the dogs in quarantine again and that process could take another 8 to 9 months. Whatever we choose, we will have to make a difficult choice.

So, if we cannot sell the house on this attempt, let’s lease the house and leave for a new life. I know so many people and almost all of my friends disagree with the decision to lease the house. “The house is completely remodeled and you are going to let a stranger tear it apart? Are you crazy?” I respond by saying, “Money is not as important as time,” but that is because we are economically comfortable right now. We may soon say, “Money is more important than time,” while we are crying and starving. I have a lot of wishes, but right now, I wish I could make a definite decision. I cannot predict my life and I am so scared of making mistakes. All I can say is,” I don’t want to regret for what I don’t do.” I much prefer regretting what I tried. George and I would often question ourselves and ask, “If we could redo our lives, then...?” Every time we would come up with the same response, “If we hadn’t done all of those stupid mistakes in our past, we wouldn’t have had our life together.” If George became a very rich brain surgeon, I would not have been married to him. Our only major regret is that we wished that we could have shared our lives together much sooner. I just hope that we can feel the same way in the future. So, now I will say, yes, we will move to Japan this year.

Erika

housewife

I have been a housewife for over three months. This has been the longest time that I have experienced being a housewife. I’ve discovered that this job is more difficult than I had ever imagined. I believe that housewives are overworked and underpaid. Watching Oprah on television, a few days ago, she mentioned that working around the house was rated as one of the unhappiest jobs. It’s no wonder!

To be a good housewife (househusband), you have to take on the roles of president, manager, accountant, cleaner, cook, teacher and so on. This job encompasses far more than acting as a sole proprietor without income. Generally speaking, at a workplace, the department head determines the mission / goal. So, the worker tries to achieve the goal by working hard for 8 hours and receiving pay for the effort. Later, the worker may go out drinking or socializing afterwards to release any stress.

On the other hand, housewives’ (husbands’) roles are not that simple. They have to make a goal and create their own mission statement. The spouse and kids tend to ignore any goals set forth by the housewife. Being the housewife, you cannot give up on your spouse or the kids. You have to strive to make your family as comfortable and happy as you possibly can. In the meantime, you have a million things that must be done in order to accomplish that goal. You can never say, “Let’s forget about everything”. When you go shopping, you have to closely look at the budget. There are so many varieties of frozen food in the supermarket for a reason…so that you can be as lazy as you want by giving frozen food to your children and spouse. Sure, it may be cheaper and faster to prepare food this way, but in the long run, you are slowly destroying their health over the years. Even for only my husband and myself, our favorite foods are so different. After I cook for my husband, I don’t feel like enjoying my food, but to be sociable and healthy, I join him at the table. If I hear any criticizing about my cooking, I feel like throwing the dishes at the wall. If you are working for a company and your boss complains about the job you are doing, you can turn any criticisms into something positive by saying, “Okay, I can do that, as long as I get paid”. What are the rewards for a housewife? I wish all spouses and kids would appreciate the daily struggles of a housewife.

The most difficult challenge about being a housewife, for me, is managing my time. I can easily become lazy. I could go out to lunch with friends and before I realize it, I find that the day has slipped away and I didn’t get anything done. All of my plans were thrown out the window. I have a few friends, who are housewives, and they have gained my utmost respect ever since I stepped into their shoes. They accomplish so much for very little recognition. If they can do this, they should be able to make a damn good worker at any company. I hope their spouses appreciate them.

Erika

Traveling with Dogs to Japan

It’s been almost a year since the dogs received their ISO approved microchips and the first of two rabies vaccines.  My goodness how time flies. I prepared the dogs for travel to Japan last year with the hope that we would move in October of 2010. The entire procedure took about 8 or 9 months. First, the USDA was contacted in order to find a local qualified veterinarian to do the work. Dr. Orlan at Sacajawea Animal Hospital was one of the choices. Her office was about 5 miles away. After making initial contact and confirming that she was qualified in exporting animals overseas, I made an appointment. I was relieved to hear that she had experience in exporting dogs to Japan. However, that relief was soon tarnished after I found that Lucky had a microchip implanted previously before he was adopted. Dr. Morlan was confident that the microchip was acceptable. I could not take any risks, so I insisted that the microchip be read by an approved ISO reader. My doubts proved to be correct. The microchip was not ISO approved. Dr. Morlan inserted the correct microchips in Lucky and Kiley. I witnessed that the ISO reader read the microchips properly. If you ever have this procedure done, be forwarned. The needle to inject the microchip was huge! Once the microchip was implanted, Dr. Morlan  administered the USDA approved rabies vaccination.

It was important that the microchip number, vaccination specs., date, address, names, even the color of the ink (blue), be correct. I must have checked the information a dozen times. Once the dogs are at the quarantine office in Japan, it would be too late to correct a mistake. Having the dogs spend 6 months locked up in quarantine because I did not pay enough attention to all the details, would be more than I could live with. Do your homework! Make sure you have the most updated information you can get. I emailed the quarantine office in Osaka to confirm my paperwork was up to date. I also kept in touch with the USDA in Olympia to make sure I was following procedures correctly. I learned my lesson about doing government paperwork myself when I was trying to bring Erika to America. I hired an immigration attorney and found that he missed many details when he filed the paperwork. Don’t rely on them! His mistakes delayed Erika’s arrival and cost me a lot of money.

After a minimum of 30 days had passed, the dogs were given a second USDA approved rabies vaccine. Again, I made sure all of the paperwork was in order. Ten days after the booster shot was given, blood samples were taken. This time, it was important that the samples were properly marked and matched with the correct microchip and to the correct dog. The samples were shipped to the only testing facility in North America, located at Kansas State University. Fortunately, Dr. Morlan had worked or attended school at the university and was familiar with their stringent protocols. After two or three weeks, the reports came back. The dogs were free of rabies to the standards required by the USDA and Japan.

"Crate! Come and get it!" 

The next step required that the dogs remained in the U.S. for a minimum of 6 months. During this period, I researched the best flights to get the dogs to Japan. It was out of the question to have Kiley and Lucky fly in the cargo hold for 10 hours. That fact eliminated ANA and Japan Airlines. Delta and United became our choices. During our last trip to Japan, we were able to fly on both airlines. Delta flew 767’s to Japan. I noticed that the room under the seats was cramped in economy class. I found that United’s 777 offered more room under the seats. If we flew Economy Plus, then I believed that the dogs would have enough room. We were considering purchasing an extra seat to allow for more room. There are many things to consider when flying internationally with your dog. Only a few dogs are allowed in the cabin per flight. Arrive early as the airlines have a first come, first served policy. Some types of dogs are not allowed to fly during certain times of the year. Some dogs can’t be sedated. It’s important to call reservations in advance to make sure the pet policies haven’t changed. I planned to take the most direct route to Tsukahara, which meant landing in Osaka. I had to consider how long the dogs would be required to stay cooped up in the crates. I figured a few hours before the flight, during the flight, and a couple of hours after the flight. That’s a total of 15 hours! I needed a crate that was airline approved, would fit under the seat, be large enough for the dogs to move around in, and could be carried by us. I researched all kinds of dog carriers and came up with one that a friend of ours had been using. The carrier was made by Sturdi Products. The carrier was soft, flexible, and light. It was just a matter of getting the dogs used to going inside of it. We had made it a habit of feeding the dogs in the crates for the past year. If I said, “Crate”, they immediately associated the crate with something good. Whether or not they can withstand being in the carrier for 15 hours is still undetermined. I asked Dr. Morlan if we could give Lucky and Kiley a sedative to get them through this ordeal. She prescribed an anti-anxiety pill, Alprazolam 2mg, that has proven to be effective for both dogs during recent fireworks and thunderstorms. The real test will be figuring out how much to give to calm them for such a long journey. Honestly, I think I’ll need the sedatives more than the dogs. I’ll be a nervous wreck!

Lucky and Kiley - no hesitation to claim their own favorite toy that was sent as a X'mas present

If we had moved to Japan last October, I would have contacted the Osaka Quarantine office a minimum of 45 days in advance. They would have sent proof of confirmation that is required ahead of time in order for the dogs to be seen at the quarantine office. In other words, early notification prepares them for the arrival of our dogs. Next, I would have contacted the airlines, confirmed their pet travel policies, and reserved seats. Ten days before departure, I would have visited the Dr. Morlan to get a health certificate for the dogs. I would have also made an appointment with the USDA to bring the health certificates and have the paperwork certified. A day or two before traveling, I would have confirmed with the airlines that we would be traveling with two dogs in the cabin. I would also confirm that I had all the proper paperwork to get the dogs safely on board and to Japan.  

Buddhism



Good Girl!

Even with all this planning, there is no guarantee that the dogs won’t have to spend any time in quarantine in Japan. If everything goes well, the dogs would only have to be at the quarantine office for a couple of hours. The clock is ticking. I have two years from when the rabies vaccinations were given to get the dogs to Japan. The process so far has cost $1000 for both dogs. I don’t want to wait much longer for two reasons. Repeating this process would be a huge and expensive pain.  Kiley is almost 7 which means she’s reaching the point to where she’ll be too old to endure the stress of such a journey. This fact is weighing heavy on my conscience. The daunting task of getting the dogs to Japan and through customs overshadows what happens after we arrive. It’s just too much to think about.

George

My Dogs vs. My Husband

Kiley won three prizes at the recent Seabrook Dog Festival: Best Kisser, Top Licker, and Best Trick. I sometimes wonder if her former life was a human being. She has a unique ability to communicate with us. She is a better kisser than my husband. She cleans the dishes better than my husband and she won’t complain about my cooking. Well, my husband plays tricks on me better than she does…I ended up being involved in his hobbies and moving to Japan.

I will never be interested in astronomy. The first time I went to Alaska, it was by motorcycle. I slept in a tent and it rained for over a month. I promised myself that I would never go to Alaska again. I broke my promise and went on an Alaskan cruise with George. We were sick during most of the voyage because of the rough seas. Never again! Then my husband convinced (tricked) me into going to Alaska to see the Aurora Borealis in the middle of the winter. I was freezing as I sat in the snow, on the side of a mountaintop, in the dark, looking up at the black sky. Sure, the aurora was beautiful, but those things (including the stars) can be found in magazines, books, and the internet. Why do I have to freeze my behind to see them? This is the 21^st century. Please let me stay warm and dry.

As for an excuse, the only reason I allow him to trick me is because I envy him. Why? George has so many interests, fascinations, and curiosities. I’m often amazed and feel happy to look at him being enthusiastic about learning things as he ages. While I drink beer and kick back, his mind is busy with planning his next project. While I sunbathe and relax, he’s observing the beauty of nature. While I’m chatting with friends at a restaurant, he’s busy with reading books and acquiring knowledge.

Lucky acts like George. Lucky is always hungry for food, fun, and toys. He never gives up until his bowl gets filled, but he doesn’t try to trick me. He patiently waits until he gets what he wants. George patiently waited and never gave up until I said it was okay to move to Japan. George has learned so much from the dogs. That’s why when Kiley plays a trick on George, I enjoy the revenge. I am so proud of my dogs and husband.

Erika