Japan 2

The hotel is nice. Our space-saving room is only about 10 feet wide and has the bare essentials : bathroom with shower and "exceptional facilities", Internet, TV, phone, a narrow door I had trouble getting my suitcase through, robe and slippers provided, mini fridge, tea-making accessories. There is really no place for bags because the room is so narrow. When we used to go to San Antonio for TLA there was a hotel made like this one: the rooms were completely outfitted, then lifted into place and bolted together, then the exterior done. A couple of things are ingenious: you can't go up in the elevator unless you scan your card key first for security, you can't turn on the lights in the room unless you put your key card in a slot by the door.

Garrett said when he was here in the middle 50's with the Navy, Tokyo was a totally different city. Most of the buildings now are tall and modern; then there were only a few after the bombing. We saw one old one that must have survived. There are a huge number of apartments to accomodate the people who live and work here. The Japanese custom was not to name the streets, but the US army thought that was too confusing, so now there are some names. We saw a huge number, mostly of young men, but some older and some women, dressed in black suits and ties. There must be a lot of business here.

I'll write more later. Garrett has finished his shower, so it is my turn.

11/3/10

We must have slept at least 10 hours. The bed is comfortable, with a duvet. We did sleep with our heads at the bottom so Garrett's CPAP would plug in with enough room to reach an outlet. I can't read the clock here in this room; the time always looks the same.

We had breakfast at First Kitchen. The meal was very like McDonalds: an egg Mc, potato cake, drink. I asked for coffee, thinking it would be hot, but it was iced. Next time I'll know better. I have to specify HOT.

You get your food and climb up to a dining space, smoking or non. There were lots of young Japanese girls there, eating, talking, texting, putting on makeup. Most were dressed in black--tights, short skirts, sweaters, boots, coats. Some we saw on the street had on furry--I don't know what to call them--like the tops only of boots. A couple of people were sleeping in the eating room. I don't know if these people were going to work or school.

I'm not used to this keyboard yet. It is small, and I keep hitting something that makes the cursor skip back. It is a little frustrating.

11/3/10 LATER

We walked so much today we are pooped. Our destination was Shinguku Gardens, the former home of a feudal lord and then of the Imperial family. We walked a long way to the gate because the construction over the train station sent us the wrong way.

It's a beautiful place and full of people today. It was a national holiday: Culture Day. I guess that is why there were so many young people at breakfast; they didn't go to school. We saw the Japanese garden, the chrysanthemum beds, the Taiwan teahouse.Chrysanthemum bed
Mums as big as my head! 331 plants in one bed, each about 4' tall

The white one is all one plant

After the gardens we went to Takashimaya Department Store. We especially like the stationery, fabric (I guess Garrett wasn't to crazy about this one), traditional Japanese and food departments. There are restaurants on the top floor. We ate at one with schnitzel and shrimp (fried with breading, I can't remember the word), mizo soup, rice, veggies. It was wonderful food. At the end of the afternoon, we went down to the food department. It looked like a jewelry store instead of food. Things were displayed in cases and looked very nice. We had dessert and coffee/tea at one little shop. Garrett had a chocolate mousse and I had a strawberry cream. We were tired and didn't want dinner, so we went back to the hotel. Food area in Takashimaya store

11/4/10

It is hard to get around in this city. We decided to walk and stay near the hotel. One department store we went into had kimonos on the top floor, and they were gorgeous. One we saw cost over Y265,000 (about 1/3 of a million dollars at today's rate). We ate in a restaurant in the store as we did yesterday. The food was good; I had shrimp and Garrett had noodles with several kinds of mushrooms and shrimp. I love miso soup. w

We went to another bookstore with 7 or 8 stories of books. There was a young lady elevator operator who must have the most boring job in the world: announcing the floors up and down. We ended by going back to have dessert and coffee/tea in the basement of Takashimaya where we went yesterday. I had a "confection" with a chestnut in it. I didn't know what that thing was, but a man from Shanghai told me and said it was his wife's favorite. The man there in that pastry shop really knows how to make good coffee.

Now Garrett is washing clothes and I am freezing. I am going down to the lobby where I hope it will be warmer.

11/5/2010

We are in Taiwan tonight, staying with Mark, one of Garrett's students. He picked us up at the airport and brought us to his house.

Garrett got up at 4:30 this morning to get ready to catch the airport bus at 7 am. I got up about 5. We had no time for breakfast, thinking we would eat at the airport. We got routed right on through security and had to have nuked noodles that were nothing special at all.

However, lunch on Japan Airlines was very special. We each got a traditional Japanese-style lunchbox, divided into 8 sections, and a package of warm rice. The sections had a bean and noodle salad, potato salad, chicken, sushi, I don't remember what else, and a lemon dessert. It was fabulous. The trip took about 4 hours.