Observations of an American Dropped Into Japan (Part 11)

After spending several weeks together, Adam had to return to work for a week, so Megan, Abigail and I were to spend some time on our own. Our time was spent visiting the BX where we shopped for various daily items, the Commissary where Megan purchased the food for their meals, and other small shops where I was able to pick up really cool stuff for souvenirs to ship home. For some reason I found it oddly amusing to turn over the Rice Bowls that I was looking at sending home and see them marked with "Made in Japan" on the bottom. I mean, what did I expect it to say, "Made in Cleveland"? Anyway our time was well spent and I picked up what seemed like "boat-loads" of stuff to package up and mail. Fortunately Adam and Megan are both experts at packing items for shipping as the Airforce has shipped them all over the world...or should I say "flew" them all over the world. I purchased more than enough to ship home, but found, even later, that I just "had" to have that large hand-painted Japanese fan that I saw in one shop, and that Woody Pride "Toy Story" doll from Pixar/Disney that spoke Japanese when you pulled his string. Adam shipped these to me at home after I had returned, Woody to be a Christmas gift for David because even at sixteen-years old, he still loves Woody. The sad part for me was that he was turning sixteen while I was in Japan on my trip and he was still in Washington State. Every day was a struggle for David as he had severe separation anxiety. A Down Syndrome teenager is a joy, but a Down Syndrome teenager with severe separation anxiety is a heart-rending thing. Some days he would wail from the time he awoke until he would fall asleep at night. Fortunately we each had our computers, so that we were able to teleconference daily, which helped to a degree, but it was still tough on all of us. Fortunately David was tasked with helping Mom while I was gone, as I figured that giving him the important responsibility of watching over Mom would give him a purpose that would distract him from missing me quite so much. He did so admirably. I told David that we would celebrate his birthday again when I got home, and that I would take him wherever he would like to go for dinner...He told me that he wanted Japanese food.

Finally the day arrived for three of us to attend the ballgame at the Tokyo Dome. Megan had just started evening college classes, so it was going to be Adam, Abigail and myself. It was an evening game during the workweek, so I eagerly anticipated Adam's arrival home from work as we had an hour and a half's train ride to Tokyo. The expected time for Adam to show up came and went. And went. And went. When he finally arrived he was none too happy, as a superior officer called them in to an unexpected meeting, and proceeded to talk in excess of their time to be leaving. Being the good Tech Sergeant that he is, he didn't complain, and just waited it out. Megan dropped the three of us off at the train station and we headed to Tokyo. It wasn't too crowded, perhaps because we were leaving just before the game was scheduled to begin.

The train finally stopped at the Tokyo Dome and I realized that this was a better station location than the last time we were at the Dome. I wouldn't have to cross the intersection where I had landed on my face dead center in the street! Going into the Dome was pretty easy since everyone else was already seated and the game was in play. We were going to watch the Yomiuri Giants (our team) versus the Chunichi Dragons.

It was an amazing sight. I was overwhelmed by the capacity crowd, and the volume of the singing and chanting that was going on. It felt like we had walked into the World Series! There was not an empty seat in the stadium (except for ours, fortunately), and the singing and chanting never ceased. I made the observation that the fans were divided up so that the one side of the stadium were fans rooting for the Giants, and the other half of the stadium was filled with the fans of the Dragons. People sang, chanted and played instruments when their team was at bat. The other half of the stadium would be respectfully quiet. There was no booing or jeers. When the other team was up, the situation reversed.

The venders that wandered the stadium were attractive young women with their drink dispensers mounted in backpacks on their backs. They didn't shout out to the fans to advertise what they were selling, they remained silent, and walked to the bottom of the stands where they stopped. Stood facing the crowd. Looked at everyone, smiling, and then bowed respectfully. Then they proceeded quietly up through the stands watching for someone to motion them over. When they reached the top of the stands, they walked to the bottom and started over.

Adam advised me that when one of the players would cross home plate, that they would be handed a stuffed animal. From where I was sitting and the large crowd, I was never able to observe this, but I know that Adam and Megan had seen this in the past, so I take their word for it.

There were many mascots running around on the field. I am not sure what they were supposed to be, but there appeared to be male and female mascots...I think. Also on the field were cheerleaders. Just like in professional football. Which begs the question: why doesn't American Baseball have cheerleaders? We have mascots, why not cheerleaders?

It was a fine game, and the Giants won. The star of the game was an American. An American whose birthday was that very day. He had just turned forty! Sadly I don't know his name, but it seemed to be quite a big deal with a televised show with the mascots and cheerleaders running around the field.

As we were making our way through the crowd to leave the Dome, Adam told me "watch out for the wind". "The wind?" That didn't make any sense to me, but he said that it was because of the difference in the air pressure between inside the Dome and outside the Dome. Yeah. Okay. At every exit there was a man with a bullhorn saying something in Japanese. I finally got to the revolving door and discovered what he was talking about. I was sucked out the door and was barely able to stand upright. I had been in sixty mile an hour winds before, but they were nothing like this. Adam had a good hold on Abigail, which is a very good thing as she probably would have been blown away!

It was a large crowd back to the train, and an even larger one on it. Imagine sardines in a can. That is what it felt like. Finally we got back to Fussa, and Megan picked us up. We were exhausted, but what fun!

Observations of an American Dropped Into Japan (Part 10)

After a few days of puttering around, we made a few trips into town. We made trips to Joyful Honda (which had nothing to do with cars or motorcycles), but is a large shopping center which is similar to a Super Wal*Mart, having groceries, hardware and the like. They also had a large food court upstairs where they served all types of Japanese Fastfood, including Taco Balls, which has absolutely nothing to do with mexican food, it resembles Hush Puppies, but is actually rounded balls of batter covered octopus. I stayed away from these...didn't sound very appetizing. Crepes were extremely popular and were very good. One restaurant specialized in many different types of crepes. I noticed that there was community water dispensers in many places.

Most shopping malls have an officer directing traffic through the parking lots, and charged for shoppers to park there, unless you get your ticket validated by spending a predetermined amount at the store. Probably because parking is at a premium, and people might tend to park there just so that they could go to work at nearby businesses.

About this time, Abigail got accepted into International school outside the Airbase. The Kunitachi International School was staffed with very polite folks who made sure to give a well rounded experience to the children attending there. From what I understand, school starts at four years old, and while Abigail was merely three, they accepted her for fall enrollment. The International school enables the Japanese children to be exposed to the American children and vice versa. A very smart idea, and a great experience.

We also buzzed over to the Toys R Us store in Fussa, Japan which was pretty interesting. They had Toy Story 3 toys of Buzz Lightyear and Woody Pride that would talk when you pulled their string, but of course the spoke in Japanese! On the floor below Toys R Us was the Sports Store, which had the typical things a sports store would have, but it caught my attention that they had hats and large posters of the Seattle Mariners, more spercifically Ichiro Suzuki who is a star player on the team.

As we drove around I saw a Denny's Restaurant (didn't stop there, just drove by), but I absolutely had to stop when I saw a Big Boy restaurant complete with the large statue of the Boy holding the plate. We sat down to order and luckily the menu had pictures that I could point at. I looked for quite a while at the pictures finally determining that I didn't recognize anything on the menu. So I pointed at something and we had our lunch. Not exactly what I expected when we pulled in, but good nonetheless, On the way out I looked at the Big Boy statue again and realized that he didn't have a hamburger on the plate he was holding...I wasn't sure what it was that was on his plate.

We stopped at the Moritown mall, which was a large multi-floored mall, very beautiful inside, with a shop specializing in tea of every kind, and even a Disney Store further into the mall. We spent some time in the Disney Store as Abigail was with us, and low a behold, Miley Cyrus was on the television there! I couldn't  evade Miley Cyrus even in Japan! We then headed further into the mall and discovered a children's play area. Padded floors, things they could climb on, and nearby hundreds of cardboard boxes connected to one another. It was a maze that the kids could crawl through, popping up occasionally to see where they were at, and then crawling some more. It was really cool!

On the way back to the apartment I asked what the tall multi-colored building was that I had been seeing since I arrived. "Oh. That's the Love Hotel". My eyebrows raised..."Oh really?" "Yes. It sounds really seedy, but from what I hear it is a nice place, and can be rented out for conferences and other get togethers". "Uh-huh" I said, not thoroughly convinced.

That night we went to Coco's Curry House for dinner. Wonderful little place with addictive meals of Curried pork, chicken and the like, and a cheese type bread called Naan. They allow you to order the "hotness" of your curry and it was all very good.

Tomorrow, we finally get to go to the Ball Game at the Tokyo Dome!

Observations of an American Dropped Into Japan (Part 9)

After arriving back at Adam & Megan's Apartment from the Hiroshima trip, we spent a few days relaxing, with just a few day trips seeing the local sites, and visiting the area restaurants and just generally "hanging out". There were a lot of things to see and do, but frankly, I just needed a rest, so small day trips worked just fine for me. Extremely hot temperatures and Multiple Sclerosis don't mix very well, creating extreme fatigue and potential exacerbations...You have to watch how you say that one in public! An MS exacerbation is a relapsing episode, which can cause various unpleasant things to happen, such as paralysis, confusion, blindness, or any other thing that you can think of that involves the human nervous system...yeah. You get the picture. Not fun, and maybe temporary, maybe not. Fortunately there was air conditioning most everywhere we went, unless we were outside, which of course we were at Hiroshima and Miyajima a great deal of the time. So we kind of layed low for a few days.

Let's talk about Cicadas. Often referred to as the seven year locust. Folks in the midwest are familiar with those rascals. They are an insect about the length of your thumb, and shaped like a large housefly. Growing up in Ohio, I had heard them for years. They make a loud chirping type of sound, remiscent of what you might expect to hear in a jungle environment, but I had never seen a living one. As a child, I always found the shells that they would leave attached to trees as they would moult when they had grown wings to fly, but only after I got to Japan, had I ever laid eyes on a living one. They are kind of ugly, shaped like a large cylindrical fly with bulging red eyes, Ugh, They were everywhere in Japan. One evening I was posting pictures from Adam and Megan's computer, and one started its call from their rear deck. Adam opened the door and it stopped. Closed the door. It started. Opened the door. It stopped. This went on for a few minutes, when finally he couldn't take it anymore. Out he went with a broom, and unable to see this annoying creature, he swung the broom around wildly. He turned to come in. It started. Argh! A second round of swinging the broom, then slamming the sliding glass door. The chirping became wildly erratic with the slamming of the door, like the Cicada was in the throes of death. I looked up, eyebrows raised..."you killed it!". Silence.  Adam looked at me. "I don't know". He opened the door, using a flashlight to look around, but saw nothing. I continued to post the pictures and turned in for the night.

Adam and Megan have a cute little black dog named Charlie. Charlie is a girl dog, which is only a little puzzling when you would say "come here boy" or "good boy...." and then feel foolish for calling her a boy. Anyway, Charlie always liked to go out on the rear deck, get some air and sometimes bark. We looked out the door the morning following the Cicada incident, and saw that darn Cicada from the night before, lying on it's back. Dead. I guess Adam did kill it. We watched as we let Charlie out to see if she would notice the dead bug. Yup. Bingo. Went right to it to sniff it to see what that big black thing was. It jumped up and scared Charlie to death! It was still alive! Charlie sped into the house as the Cicada collapsed on its back, finally dead. Charlie stared out the glass door at the Cicada for a good five minutes. "Want to go back outside, Charlie?" No dice. There was no way in heck she was going back out there. A few more minutes went by, and absolutely no movement from the bug. Okay, Charlie felt brave enough now to go back outside, but she stayed away from the dead Cicada... For a while... Then she slowly approached it again and nudged it with her nose.Yahhhhhh! It jumped up again, but finally flew away. That wouldn't be the last time that we would see a Cicada lying on the ground, occasionally on their backs. We just stayed away from them in case they would decide to jump up and startle us.

Food. Interesting thing about Japanese Cuisine that I didn't know (heck what about Japan did I know?) was that they love Curry. They have a chain of restaurants that is very popular called "Coco's Curry House". People who have lived there for any length of time love it so much, that when they come back to the States, they are trying to figure out how to duplicate Coco's Curry, leading some of them to wonder what they might put in their Curry that makes them crave it so. There is even a Facebook page dedicated to Coco's Curry House...and yes, I have become a "fan" of it since I returned as well. Also, I never realized how often the Japanese use eggs with their rice. I have started using the meat, eggs, rice, curry combination since returning myself. The only thing that I didn't care for is when they would include seaweed near the bottom of the menu item. Many people love it. I just am not one of those people, so I would eat until I would get to that, and eat around it.

I was fortunate enough to be blessed with a son who loves to cook. He is exceptional. He wins the Barbecue cookoffs, Chili Cookoffs, etc, at I believe every Airforce Base that he has been stationed at, and he has been in the service for eleven years. His apartment is home to many plaques and trophys as evidence of his culinary skills. I was getting really spoiled while staying at their apartment.

One day, we figured we would go to town and look around. I didn't really know exactly where we were, but  it turns out we were in Tachikawa. Right out of the Chuo Line train station, there was a large pedestrian bridge overlooking the town. On the face of one building in front of us was a large "Diamond Vision" type monitor, and to the right was a tall McDonald's restaurant and a Pachinko Hall across from it. On the left was an older looking part of the town with shops that you would expect to see in a more traditional, less modern part of Japan intermingled with the occasional 7-11, and Starbucks. We came down off the pedestrian bridge and wandered around the old section, it was somewhat crowded but filled with interesting shops containing really cool items that are probably typical in Japan, but unique for the States. Interesting lamps, and such. Then it began to rain. It figures. Out in the rain in the middle of town and no umbrella. I did notice that outside these shops, they had containers for their customers to leave their umbrellas in while they shopped. If someone was in the shop with their umbrella, they were respectfully escorted to the bucket outside the store to deposit it until they were done shopping. They couldn't bring them into the shop. I wondered how people didn't lose their umbrellas to stangers in this way, but apparently that just doesn't happen or else they aren't concerned if it does. 

After being rained on for a while (the shops were really small, so you didn't want to just hang out like you might at the Mall), we decided to stop at the McDonald's on the corner to sit for a while and dry off. It was a skinny little McDonald's with no tables, only a counter to order at. How weird. I noticed that they had a 100 Yen menu: the Japanese equivalent of the dollar menu, but in the exchange rates of that time it was like the buck and a quarter menu for us. Then I discovered that they had a stairwell to the side. Adam ordered our meal (I tried the Teriyaki McBurger), and Megan, Abigail and I proceeded up the narrow stairwell. Second floor, still no place to sit. Apparently the first floor is for ordering your food, if you want coffee you order that on the second floor. Mercifully there were tables on the third floor. Our meal was somewhat typical, but the buns seemed a bit softer than back home, and the Teriyaki McBurger was okay but messy. After lunch, we decided that it was time to head home and out of the rain.

Observations of an American Dropped Into Japan (Part 8)

After a good night's sleep Adam and I started out for our day at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum. We finished packing the backpack and small bag and checked out of our hotel. A nice older japanese lady got into the elevator and initially didn't see us as we prepared to enter the car. Adam's arm interrupted the door's closing, and they slid open. The woman looked slightly embarrassed that she hadn't noticed us, and gave us a respectful bow.

Downstairs we approached the desk and checked out. Our visit to Hiroshima was almost over. We were pleased that we travelled to Miyajima the day before, as we had plenty of time to take in the shrines, temples and five layered pagoda. We had a small breakfast and made our way to the trolley station a few blocks away. Adam bought our tickets, and we boarded the trolley headed for the Atom Bomb Dome. The Dome was originally called the Hiroshima Prefecture Industrial Promotion Hall, but is now referred to as the A-Bomb Dome. It was originally scheduled to be destroyed with the rest of the rubble of the city during reconstruction, but since the building was pretty much intact, the city rebuilt around it. It was named a  UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, and will be preserved as a memorial to those killed in the attack which was the first use of an atomic bomb in war. Over 70,000 people were killed and 70,000 injured.

The trolley reached the stop in front of the Dome. We exited the car, and approached the Dome. It is an eerie feeling to stand in front of this legendary image of conflict and destruction. We slowly began to take pictures of the Dome and its surroundings including the T Bridge which was the actual target of the bomb. As we stood there we were approached by an older Japanese lady that spoke a little english. She was carrying a large three ring binder and explained apologetically that she was just learning english and wanted to know if she could have about ten minutes of our time. At this point I assumed that she was going to try to sell us something, but we told her that she most certainly could share with us. We sat on a cement bench at the edge of the river, and she stood and opening her binder displayed black and white pictures that were taken before the bombing, and began to explain the history of Hiroshima and the Dome. The Dome originally had a roof covering made of copper, which liquified from the intense heat from the blast. The copper melted and came crashing down within the building blowing out all of the windows. The pictures became very graphic with the destruction and injuries of the citizens of Hiroshima. It was interesting to hear the Japanese side of the bombing. She said that prior to the attack, Japan was on the verge of capitulation, that the monitoring devices that came down with the bomb were from a Japanese design, and that the United States picked Hiroshima as the site for the first Nuclear Bomb attack as an experiment to see what it would do. Neither one of us fully agreed with these sincere assertions, but we merely nodded and thanked her for her time when she was finished with her talk. We noticed that since she began speaking with us, quite a large crowd had come to listen to her presentation. Curiously, Adam and I found that whenever we did anything a large crowd would appear to observe whatever we were looking at. The woman was asked how the Japanese felt about the Americans following the attack. She said that they were frightened of the Americans, but then they saw the soldiers giving water, gum and candy to the children, and they discovered that they weren't predatory monsters, but caring young men.

Adam and I toured the Peace Memorial Museum, and was greated by a young man with Down Syndrome that was the ticket taker for the Museum. We scanned the exhibits in the museum, which included a full sized replica of the A-Bomb Dome, and a section of wall that had a man's shadow burned into it by the blast. Near the exit on the second floor was the guest book, which Adam and I signed along with our impressions of the museum, and which country we were from. It was a very impressive experience.

Once outside, we toured the Peace Memorial Park, and took more pictures. A nice Japanese fellow took a picture of me with my son Adam with the A-Bomb Dome in the distance across the river. A beautiful park, and a wonderful time liesurely hanging out with my son. We sat for a while on a bench near the front of the Dome as we were preparing to catch the trolley back to the train station, and stopped to read a sign that spoke about the history of the area. No one was around or paying the slightest attention...until they saw us reading the sign. Then we had a large group of people around us doing the same thing.

The trolley arrived, and we road about thirty minutes back to the train station. Had dinner at a small restaurant inside the station, and caught the Shinkansen Bullet Train back to Tokyo. We transferred over to the regular JR train in Tokyo which returned us to Fussa Station. We were met by Megan and taken back to their home. It was an incredible three days. Thank you Megan for making the arrangements, we had a wonderful, meaningful time.

Observations of an American Dropped Into Japan (Part 7)

Adam and I had been perusing the literature that we recieved when Megan made arrangements for our trip to Hiroshima. Included was a day long pass to ride the Trolley Car in town to get around. We picked up a light breakfast at the 7-11 near the Hotel and walked down to the front of the train station to have our breakfast and coffee. We sat on the cement bench near a reflective dual fountain and discussed our plans for the day. The trolley station was down on the corner, so we decided to ride it to the Atom Bomb Dome and Peace Memorial Park. Different trolley cars would come and go, but with the help of an attendant at the outdoor station we determined which car could take us to the Dome. Entering the car, you would insert your ticket into a machine and it would spit it out the other side, but fortunately there was an attendant there in case there were any problems. We were able to get seats, due to my Multiple Sclerosis, and having my cane with me. The trolley was a bit of a rough ride, but sure beats walking when you have a rough time walking to begin with. We rode for quite a few blocks, with some stops put in to pick up other riders. An older Japanese woman sat across the aisle from me. Up above the door was a sign about the A-Bomb Dome. I looked over at the woman again, estimating that she must be in her eighties, and the thought occurred to me that since the atom bomb was unleashed against Hiroshima sixty five years ago, that undoubtedly she was a young woman when this occurred, and wondered what her thoughts and experiences were.

We rode the trolley for about a half hour when we arrived at a stop. Looking out the window, we found ourselves staring at the Atom Bomb Dome! It was only about 100 feet from us! It was a little surreal. I had seen many pictures of it before, but there it was, looking very stark and haunting. Since the Dome was only about a thirty minute ride on the trolley, we decided to continue riding the car until we reached the ferry terminal. We had a full day in Hiroshima that day, and only until late afternoon the next, so we reasoned that going to Miyajima to visit the island shrine would make more sense today, and catch the A-Bomb Dome tomorrow.

We arrived at the ferry terminal a short while later, and the ferry was sitting there ready to load. We bought our tickets and got on the medium sized ferry, finding a bench outside to sit on. It was another hot day, and the salt air felt good as we sailed the ten minute ride to the island. When we were almost there, I spotted the O torii gate apparently rising out of the water a short distance from the island. I snapped a few pictures, zooming in to hopefully get a better look at the tall red gate when I arrived back at the Hotel.

The ferry docked and we departed to the island. There were so many gates and shrines and things unfamiliar to me that I just stared in wonder, not having the slightest clue what I was looking at. I was really ill prepared to fully appreciate what I was experiencing. Deer were everywhere. Apparently on the island they have no natural predators, so they had no fear of all of the sightseers that wandered among them. Adam and I walked for a while entering through various gate and observing shrines, when I looked out and saw the O torii gate that I spotted from the ferry. It IS in the water...or should I say would be in the water except for the fact that the tide was out! Cool! Let's walk down to it! Many other people had the same idea, so it was quite an experience and an excellent photo opportunity. The tide appeared to be coming in, so we snapped some pictures and proceeded back to the island.

We walked up to the entrance of the Itsukushima shrine, which is painted the same bright orange/red as the O torii  gate, and paid several hundred yen to enter the shrine. At the time that I was in Japan, the dollar to yen exchange rate had nosedived to a fifteen year low of 82 cents equaling 100 yen. It was a bit easier to figure when it was close to one dollar equaling 100 yen. We wandered around the buidings and walkways where the monks lived and worked, when it dawned on me that not only does the O torii gate end up surrounded by water, but so did the buildings and walkways that we were touring. At one point we saw these large white containers with writing on them. "What are those?" I asked Adam. "That's Sake the monks have made." "Oh", the Sake is the rice wine that is common in Japan. We wandered some more among the many buildings that were on the shrine island, and encountered some with the monks in the middle of their worship. We didn't take any photos because that just seemed wrong and we didn't want to disturb their worshipping. It was really hard to get the concept that some of these structures were over 1,400 years old. They have been meticulously maintained by the monks and were in extraordinary condition.

We traversed some wide cement stairs and approached an entrance gate which had two life sized scary statues on either side. They were apparently the guardians of the temples further up the hill. The Guardians were carved, but had very realistic eyes. It was a bit creepy. Beyond the guardians was a large bell with a pole hung by a rope next to it. I took Adam's picture as he stood next to it, and then it was my turn. I took the pole and let it swing into the bell several times, making a beautiful gong sound.

We continued our trek and came to the foot of a long stone stairwell going up to lower Mount Misen. Adam looked over at me and asked if I was up to it, due to the extreme heat and my having MS. I looked at the stairs and was determined not to let them get the better of me, so I said "I'll be fine" and grabbed the stair rail and determinedly led the way to the top, only stopping to take a few pictures of the hundreds of little Buddha statues below the stairs on the left of us. The sun was so bright that I couldn't make out the large LCD viewfinder on the back of my camera, so I just guessed at where to aim and clicked the shutter. I have been asked why I didn't use the optical viewfinder, and here is the answer: Because there wasn't one. The camera only had the digital display on the back. I had considered bringing my large Nikon digital SLR on this trip, but opted not to due to the bulkiness of the camera body and lens, so I had decided to bring my smaller but still wonderful 10 megapixel Panasonic instead. I shrugged, took the picture and proceeded up the stairs. Reaching the top felt good and gave us a chance to look around at more little Buddha's with small red bibs tied to some of them. Also at the top was a "cave" filled with hanging lamps, and other stone markers. Of course in this darkened environment I stll couldn't see my viewfinder, and it wasn't until we entered the daylight again that I discovered the real reason I couldn't see my viewfinder. It no longer functioned. I had no idea if the camera itself was even functioning! With no other options I just decided to guess at what I was aiming at and how much to zoom. The extreme heat and direct sunlight must have been too much for the electronics. Hoping that the camera at least still functioned I blindly shot away and hoped for the best. I got pretty creative with camera angles as I figured that I had nothing to lose at this point. I finally determined that I had invented a new form of self-expression: Shooting pictures blindly having no idea what you would come up with.

We continued further up the hill to a temple where the Shinto monks were praying and chanting. We quietly passed by. Only later did I discover that the large bell that we stood at would call the monks to prayer when rung....OOPS. Hopefully nobody saw that.

I discovered later that there are monkeys on the mountain, but I never encountered any. I was getting pretty tired, so we decided to walk down another long set of stairs that had cylindrical wheels covered with writing that were suspended from a rail that was going down the length of the stairs. The spinning wheels of Sutra.
Finally we took a walk through a street lined with shops. It was a primitive, crowded street just like you would stereotypically see on a television program. We stopped and had dinner at a small restaurant and caught the ferry back to the mainland. After the trolley ride back towards the Hotel, we stopped at the McDonald's and then crashed for the night. The screen on the TV brought up the weather report, and while we didn't understand the speech, the screen distinctly displayed 40 C. That converts to 104 degrees fahrenheit. Tomorrow, The Atomic Bomb Dome.

For more information on Miyajima, take a look at this website:
http://www.miyajima-wch.jp/index_e.html

Observations of an American Dropped Into Japan (Part 6)

After a few days of rest, Adam and I packed a small bag and backpack in preparation of our scheduled three day visit to Hiroshima. It was less than a week since the sixty fifth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, so we hoped that the crowds would be diminished, that all of the leaders of countries and their representatives would have headed back to their home countries, expecially since this was the first anniverary that the United States had taken part in, so there was intense interest and media coverage.

The morning that we were leaving, Megan and Abigail dropped us off at the JR train station in Fussa, as this was going to be a time for Father and Son to hang out and have quality time, which we hadn't been able to do for many years, as Adam was thirty one years old, and he has been in the Airforce for eleven years. Adam was extremely helpful the entire trip, handling the luggage when he thought that I might have a tough time with it, as I was bringing my cane with me to decrease the chance of my falling over (which obviously wasn't very effective in Tokyo the other evening). We caught the train to Tokyo and settled in for the moderately long trip.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, we started searching for the correct area at the train station to catch the Shinkansen Bullet Train to Hiroshima. After we wandered around a little bit, Adam asked a few JR workers where we should go, and if we were in the correct area to catch the Shinkansen, and discovered that we were. Once we were allowed to enter the loading area we discovered an air conditioned structure where passengers could wait, and gladly took advantage of it.

The Shinkansen pulled in a while later, ever looking appropriately like an elongated bullet. It had clean attractive lines. We watched as the passengers disembarked, and then the doors closed. We stood for a while looking at the immobile train. It finally occurred to us that they were busy cleaning the interior of the train. We followed a small crowd of middle-eastern men to a different door of the train and waited there. Information about the train would flash on a small lighted display on the outside of the train written in Japanese, so I have no idea what it said. Finally the doors opened and we were permitted to enter the train. We had reserved seats, so we made our way down the aisle, and into the next car before finding our assigned seats. What struck me was how airplane-like the train was. Similar seats to a jumbo jet, and aircraft windows. When the train left the station I was impressed at the quiet smoothness of the ride. the "Bullet Train" didn't seem very fast...but then you could hear a slight whine as the engine gradually picked up speed. As I continued to look out the window at the sights, fence posts and the like gradually became a blur, even though scenery in the distance didn't seem to go that fast. I attempted to take a picture through the window of the blur that was going by as we sat there, but later when I was able to view the pictures I had taken, they were totally focused and still. The automatic setting on the camera made it appear that we had been sitting still. After we had been on the rail for a bit, a flight attendant...okay...not a flight attendant, but if we had been on a plane she would have been the flight attendant came by with a cart of packaged dinners and drinks, just like you would be served on a plane. Every time the attendants would enter or leave the car, they would smile and bow to everyone. I kind of liked that. It was very pleasant and polite. The train made a few stops before Hiroshima, finally arriving four hours after we had left. Keep in mind that this train goes nearly two hundred miles per hour. Before arriving in Japan, I would look at a map of the world andf figure that I could probably visit all of Japan in a weekend. Boy was I wrong! Japan is huge, and very diverse!

We arrived in Hiroshima in the late afternoon. We had been on trains approximately five and a half hours, so it was nice to finally be at Hiroshima Station. We walked around and found the exit, and emerged into the bright sunlight. Tall, modern buildings and a facinating reflective dual domed fountain were before us. We knew that our Hotel was supposed to be nearby, but we weren't quite sure as to where. Looking skyward, we finally saw it as we strolled around the city. The Hotel New Hiroden. It was a tall building fortunately with the name written on the outside. We went to check in, and Adam gave them our paperwork displaying our reservation. Apparently the man at the counter had a different type of reservation about the whole thing, as he stared at it. It seemed as if he was denying us our room, so Adam kept trying to explain to the man, that we indeed had reservations and the room paid for. The man didn't speak english. It didn't appear that anyone in Hiroshima spoke english. Even the European looking folks that we would see later didn't speak english. The man finally got the attention of a woman desk clerk that apparently could read the english well enough to give us a key to the room.

The room was the tiniest hotel room I believe that I have ever been in. Two single beds about two feet apart, a small TV on the counter as you come in, and a tiny bathroom with only half of a shower curtain. Fortunately it did have a toilet rather that the hole in the floor that is fairly typical for the country, it even was fitted with a bidet. They also had slippers for us to wear, as the japanese don't wear their shoes in their living spaces. All TV programming was in japanese, and the Hiroshima Carps were their baseball team. The Carps wore the uniforms and hats of the Cincinnati Reds, which is convenient since it has a large "C" on the front, which could be interpreted to be for their name. The television picture was extremely sharp, as Japan has had high definition television for many years. Watching the sports, weather and news, I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but was mildly tickled at the fact that the news personalities would bow to the camera before and after their newscasts.

Adam and I decided that we should stroll around town and try to find somewhere to eat as it had been many hours since we had been able to do so. We wandered aound never exactly finding whatever it was that we thought that we were looking for, when I followed Adam into a tall building that had a poster of some food inside the foyer. We got into the elevator and guessed at a floor to go to. After it travelled up inside the builing for a short while it stopped and the doors popped open. Hey! Looks like we might have guessed right! It appeared to be a decent restaurant. We entered, and the man at the front counter obviously questioned how many people we had. Adam communicated that there were two of us, and we were led to a booth with an obvious burner in the center if the table. The man went away and after a short while an attractive young server approached our booth. We were handed two text menus, which we stared at blankly, as we couldn't read the japanese writing. Adam requested any menus with perhaps english writing as some restaurants in Japan do. She realized that we were having some difficulties, so she went and got us menus with pictures. Adam asked me what I wanted, and I just shrugged as I didn't really know what we were looking at. He identified what appeared to be beef, pork, etc, so I said "how about the beef?" as I wasn't sure what we were actually going to get. We pointed out to the server what we thought we wanted, and she nodded and disappeared to give our request to the chef. The server returned with a divided metal bowl full of two different broths and placed it on the burner in the center of the table. Next she returned with a tray of vegetables and sprouts. We just stared at it. I was thinking "this doesn't look like beef...what did we order"? The server returned, this time with a large tray of thinly sliced raw meat. We stared some more. We looked at the server and tried to get her to understand that we had no idea what we were supposed to do. She just stared back, Finally she got it. She motioned that we were supposed to put everything into the broths and then when we felt that they were boiled to our liking to remove them and dip them into several small bowls of dressing that she had left. Okay. Got it. The server went away, and we snapped the wooden chopstick apart and fed the raw food into the broth with the metal tongs that were left at the table by our server. The meat cooked rapidly in the boiling broth, and we would remove each slice as it was done and dip it into the dressings. It was fabulous. I must say that this was one of my favorite meals the entire time I was in Japan. I discovered later that what we were eating was Sukiyaki.

There was an awful lot of meat on that tray. Finally we got near the end, which, as we were getting full was a good thing. We placed the last several slices into the broth, and the server took away the tray. We were finishing up, and she brought another full tray! Oh my goodness! "Perhaps we have to finish it in five minutes and it will be free" I said jokingly to Adam. After a couple of minutes of smelling something burning we realized that the wicker plate that our server had brought the vegetables out on was touching the edge of the burner and the edge was burned black. Oops! I quickly moved it away, hoping that noone would notice. We slowly made our way through the dinner and mercifully the only thing the server brought us was the bill. We thanked her, paid the man at the front counter and hit the street. Interesting factoid: you don't leave a tip for your servers in Japan.

We passed several coffee shops, so we decided to stop for a cup. Actually, I had a Kola which is Coke and Adam ordered a Kohi, which is Coffee...it seems that the coffee shops in Japan could never understand that he wanted hot coffee, because anytime he would order it, they would think that he wanted iced coffee...granted it was about a hundred degrees fahrenheight outside, but still...

We made it back to the hotel and turned in for the night...tomorrow probably a visit to the Industrial Promotion Hall which is now known as the Atom Bomb Dome and the Peace Memorial Museum.

Observations of an American Dropped Into Japan (Part 5)

On the day that we spent resting up from the Ueno Zoo, we discussed what we might do next. I had travelled a long way from the United States and they wanted to make sure that I had the opportunty to see and do anything that might strike my fancy. Megan (the best daughter-in-law in the world...and remember I'm not biased) had arranged for Adam and I to take the Shinkansen Bullet Train to Hiroshima in a few days, but what should we do next? Baseball! How about seeing the Yomiuri Giants play in the Tokyo Dome? Great idea! Megan contacted the ticket agent on base and was told that it was no problem. Just show up at the Dome and purchase the tickets there...they always have tickets available. Super! So the next day we hopped the JR train at the Fussa Station and road an hour and a half to Tokyo. We got off of the train along with the rest of Tokyo it seemed, and walked several blocks towards the Tokyo Dome. We walked through a tunnel, and was greeted by a large poster of the "Power Rangers". I had forgotten all about them until I walked straight into this. I wasn't aware that they were still a big deal, but apparently they are in Japan. We passed large man-made ponds and fountains, shops and rides. Hmmm. I wonder if that Ferris Wheel over there was one of the lighted Ferris Wheels that we kept passing during my first evening in Tokyo? Finally we found the ticket area and waited in a fairly long line. Finally it was Adam's turn. Four tickets? No. No tickets. Sold out. Okay. time to huddle for a discussion. We travelled an hour and a half, and no ball game tickets. What to do...buy tickets for the next available game when we wouldn't be in Hiroshima and just sightsee. We still couldn't get four tickets! We could get three tickets several weeks down the road, and that was the best we could do. So that was what we did. Abigail would probably be with a sitter and it would just be Adam, Megan and I.

So we wandered around and looked at the Tokyo Dome Hotel, the rides at Tokyo Dome City and the pond. One of the rides at Tokyo Dome City, looked fairly old. You would get into a seat and it would slowly rotate clockwise around the pole. That was all well and good, but if you wanted to reach the top of the pole, you had to crank the wheel at the your seat to go up the cable to get to the top. Too much work for a 97 F degree day! There were roller coasters and the typical spinning rides, but I am not much for rides, so I just watched and took pictures. Adam rode some rides with Abigail, and then Megan and Abigail wandered over to an area with a spraying mist and fountains, which looked very inviting in the sweltering heat of Tokyo. Actually August is probably not the greatest time to go to Japan if you have an aversion to sweltering heat. I wasn't quite sure what sweltering heat was, or how to get any, but I am pretty sure we were in it. It didn't help that Japan broke all kinds of High Temperature records that month. After Megan and Abigail got drenched and cooled off, we wandered some more, and finally decided that we would stop at the Tokyo Dome Hotel Restaurant for dinner. The Hotel is very nice, and included a suspended loft, where a wedding was going to be performed, for all appearances floating above everyone down below. We found the restaurant on the ground floor, which turned out to be a high-end buffet. I sat with Abigail while Adam & Megan did the serving for us all. I did not recognize most of what came back, but I will say that the flavors of most of the meals that I had in Japan had a very subdued flavor, and were very good. The difference with cuisine in the states, is that everything is over seasoned, and tend to attack your taste buds. Even Asian food that is made in the states is like that for the most part. I only discovered this after I returned to the US after spending a month in Japan. I also noticed that in Japan you end up with so much food that it can be difficult to find room to finish it.

I worked with using chopsticks, as that is what is at your table for meals; the wooden variety that you must snap apart in order to use them. It actually was easier than I suspected. I learned that you need to hold them near the top, and it is not correct to jab at your food or leave them sticking out of your rice. I believe in some instances they are easier to use than a fork, as with a fork you poke or balance the food, with the chopsticks they are merely an extension of your fingers, and you just pick up the food as if you were eating with just your fingers as a young child might.

With the main course finished, it was time for dessert. They brought back a wide assortment of mildly flavored, delicious desserts. I was stuffed. I was tempted to spend an hour or two sitting at our table, but since the restaurant was fairly busy, thought better of that.

It was now Tokyo Dome City after dark, and the whole area was lit up with various colors of undulating, flashing lights. Absolutely beautiful. We also discovered a roller coaster that travels inside and outside of a shopping mall. It was fascinating, and I wished that I had spotted it earlier in the day so that I could get a better view of it.

We were beat, and decided that we should head to the train for the long ride back home. Many others appeared to have the same idea. We walked several blocks towards the Train Station, Adam and Abigail in the lead, followed by me, with Megan trailing behind me I presume to make sure that they didn't leave me behind. We crossed the darkened street, when Adam stopped abruptly. I looked in front of him and saw a young mother struggling with her baby carriage directly in front of him.  The next thing I saw was the pavement. I am now laying in the middle of the street pondering what in the world happened, and noticed a car to my left patiently waiting for us to get out of the street. I figured out that there was a curb in the middle of the street that I didn't see, and attempted to get up. I stress the word "attempted". For the life of me, I couldn't get up by myself. Once Adam and Megan figured out what had just happened, they reached down and helped me to my feet and off of the street. My knees stung like crazy, but I wasn't going to say anything, as I was embarrassed enough as it was. "You should have taken a picture of me face down in the middle of the street, and tell people that I couldn't hold my Sake!" I laughed, trying to mask my embarrassment. "Dad, they revere their parents, here in Japan, they would have thought what a terrible son if I was taking a picture of my Dad lying in the street!" The situation became really silly at that point...the embarrassment was gone.

As I sat on the train back to Fussa, I played over the events of the evening, in particular my visit with the asphalt. I rubbed my knees that still stung a bit and realized that I now had holes ripped in my jeans. Good thing I packed another pair...Hmmm...might require another trip to Mister Donut...

Observations of an American Dropped Into Japan (Part 4)

After we spent the next day recuperating from our long adventure of trying to find our way back from Narita (I mentioned to Adam that night, that things like being totally lost in Tokyo, were what made interesting memories), Megan asked me what I would like to do. I looked at my granddaughter Abigail and mentioned that maybe we could go to the Ueno Zoo. Abigail thought that was a fine idea. She had been looking forward to the Zoo, and this was a perfect opportunity for a beautiful, well behaved three year old to spend time with Mom, Dad and Ojiisan all together. Ojiisan is the japanese word for Grandpa, so I seemed to adopt it fairly well. Abigail would alternate between Grandpa and Ojiisan, which was fine by me, I was happy for the opportunity to spend time with them all. I was eating it up! As we were heading to the parking lot, Abigail grabbed my two smallest fingers and walked with me the rest of the way to the car.

The train staion was a few blocks from the base, and parking is pretty non-existant, so Adam dropped the three of us off and returned to the base. He would walk back to meet us. As Megan, Abigail & I approached the stairs to head to the Fussa Train Station, we met a polite japanese man...actually, all japanese citizens are extremely polite and soft spoken, and the man asked Megan if she would like a magazine for the train. I glanced at the magazine he was holding up, and mentally rolled my eyes. Megan wasn't sure whether to accept the magazine. "J.W." I said quietly to her. "What?" "J.W." the man smiled and happily said "Yes! Jehovah's Witness" in his japanese accent as he continued to hold up the magazine called "Awake". She politely turned down the magazine offer and we proceeded up the stairs. I wish now that I had asked the man if I could take his picture with his magazine. Who would've thought that on my way to the JR Station in Japan I would have encountered a Jehovah's Witness. I am sure that he would have happily obliged me, but it was extremely hot and humid outside, and I still wasn't thinking clearly.

Megan reloaded her Suica card with more money so that she can ride the trains without having to buy a ticket every time, and she bought me a ticket. She later decided that purchasing a Suica card for me made sense and was faster than feeding the tickets into the machine at the turnstile, which then spits it out the other end, so you can use it at the next leg of your trip. The Suica card also is a pretty cool souvenir! Adam met up with us and we passed through the turnstiles, and waited outside for the train. We didn't have to wait long as they come by every few minutes. Music that sounded like a music box would play from the speakers right before the train would arrive, and then play again after the train stopped, and would continue until the doors closed, and the train would depart. It was a very efficient and heavily used system. Just about everyone stands, holding onto the handles hanging from the ceiling of the train or holding onto a grab bar. Everyone is quiet, busily fingering away at their cell phones, or other handheld devices. There are bench seats on the train along the windows, and they are reserved for the elderly, handicapped, mothers with babies or small children and the like. Others could sit there, but if they spotted anyone that fit that description, they would pop up and motion them to take their seat. I brought my cane with me because of the amount of walking that I knew this trip would entail, so I almost always was given someone's seat. They were very insistant. They wouldn't take "no" for an answer! I learned to really appreciate this later on, when I would have really bad mobility issues due to the heat and excessive walking that I would eventually do.

We exited the train a few blocks from Ueno Zoo, home to Ling Ling, the Giant Panda. Well, former home to Ling Ling, as Ling Ling had died, but they still had all of the signs and large stuffed animals to pose with. On the way to the entrance we passe street performers in makeup and costume. I don't know what they were performing, but one young girl was using a long bullwhip, and shredding paper with it between the hands of a poor soul who's job was to hold the paper while she lashed at it. I have no doubt that she nailed him a few times with that whip, and personally, I think I would be looking for a different job.

The Zoo was a fine place with many cool exibits, a park, a shrine, a Pagoda and cool signs that incorrectly still said that Ling Ling was there. There was a round fountain with faucets, so that the public could wash their hands, and unfortunately, restrooms without doors that are basically open for viewing by passersby. The restrooms in Japan were also interesting in that often, there were no true commodes. Just porcelin around a hole in the floor. Fortunately, the nicer Hotels and shopping malls had regular western facilities, occasionally with a Bidet.

At one end of the zoo was an area with large water plants as far as you could see, with massive flowers blooming from these massive leaves. The body of water I discovered later was called "Lotus Pond", so I would assume that these plants were the Lotus Flowers. Beyond this was a monorail to get to the other side of the Zoo. Thank goodness! I was ready for a rest. We got on the monorail (which hung below the rail instead of above like Seattle's does) and it took off. For about thirty seconds. The door opened. We were there. I imagine there was a look of shock and disappointment on my face, but I kept going and didn't complain. We found a luncheonette and ordered what would be our dinner. I'm afraid I don't rermember what all the meals I had were called, and often I didn't know what I was eating to begin with, but it was all a fairly subdued flavor, but good. They always gave you so much food that I would have a tough time eating it all. Occasionally I didn't.

We then made our way back to the train station, and on our arrival back in Fussa, Adam walked back to get the car while Megan, Abigail and I walked around the adjacent grocery store which had a "Mister Donut" shop on the first floor. Megan bought us some donuts, and while Megan speaks a little japanese, the clerk was rattling on a mile a minute. It was obviously a question she was asking, and in a speaking tone that I had heard often in the states. "She is asking if you have a club card so that you can earn free DVD's" I said half joking, not really understanding a word that she had said, but I actually think I was right. I saw a little sign in the display case that was written in Kanji, but did have DVD written in bold text. We went outside as Adam pulled up and went back home. "I think it's time for another rest day" I told them.

Observations of an American Dropped Into Japan (Part 3)

I don't know how long I had slept, sitting on that bench at Narita International Airport in Tokyo, but I was startled awake by the synthesized sounds of Gary Wright's "Intro to the Dreamweaver". What startled me is that Wright's Intro to his song was the ringtone of my phone, and I had no cell service in Japan. Confused and still dazed, I pulled my phone from my breast pocket, and swiped my finger across the screen to answer the call. It was my wife back in the states. "Uh, hello" I said fairly cautiously as I still was unsure why my phone would ring when there was no compatible cell service in Japan. "Have you found Adam, yet?" she asked me, and then I heard my name called over the loudspeaker to go to the information booth. At least it kind of sounded like my name. I advised my wife that I was being paged, and that I would get ahold of her sometime later. I struggled with my large bag, my medium sized carry-on, and my cane to get across the room and over to the nice gal at the Information Desk. I finally got there and told her that I had been paged..."Dad!" Adam was there at the Information Desk and was standing right next to me. I was so out of sorts that I was unaware that he had been standing there when I walked up. We embraced, thanked the gal at the Information Desk and headed towards the other end of the airport where he had been able to park the car. Adam told me all about his adventures that day. From his house on the Airforce Base, it should have taken about an hour and a half or so to get to the airport. Having never driven to the Narita airport before, he relied on his trusty GPS. He had purchased and installed the maps for Japan, and the GPS was right on target. Until he got near Tokyo. Near Tokyo, things went horribly wrong, the directions kept telling him that he was fifty minutes away from Narita irregardless of how much time had passed or how many miles he had driven. He discovered that he was several hundred miles North of Tokyo when he started seeing fields of Rice, and unfamiliar names that he located on a paper map that he had acquired. He had left home four hours early, and showed up at least that late. Now we were attempting to get back to his home in Fussa, Japan. I sat in the passenger seat on the left side of the car and observed what Adam was talking about as the GPS could not make up its' mind about which way we should travel (it turns out that I heard from a few other service people that they had the same experience). As we were trying to make our way back to Fussa, where the Airforce Base was located, I admired all of the beautifully lit buildings, and even a few large Ferris Wheels that were all lit up. Really cool. Lots of Toll Booths though. More Ferris wheels. More Toll Booths. Even more Ferris Wheels. Wait a minute. I think that these have been the same Ferris Wheeels that we have been passing, and probably the same Toll Booths. Over, and over. Hey, look there's the Rainbow Bridge. Hey. There it is again, and again...we have been blindly driving in circles around Tokyo. Hey!  There is Narita! We started there two hours ago! Okay. There is a 7-11. Let's stop there and ask directions. It was pretty much like most 7-11's in the states...no one spoke english...yup. No different. We asked Toll Booth attendants, flaggers, Police Officers for the direction to go. They all just shrugged and vaguely pointed out into space. We finally got a call on Adam's Japanese cell phone from another serviceman who was very familiar with the drive, Adam's wife Megan had called around, realizing that we must be having difficulties finding our way back and asked him to call us. It turns out we had been missing our turn many times. It was small and really easy to miss he said. That was an understatement. Once we made that turn, it was about an hour and a half to get the the Base. Then I had to acquire my day pass until Pass and ID was open the next day, when I could get my month long pass. Not surprisingly, the Guards at the gates were all Japanese as well, since they are local contactors. We finally were at Adam's apartment on Base. I was definately ready to call it a night.

Observations of an American Dropped Into Japan (Part 2)

I was able to catch my breath and get my mind in order on the hour Shuttle Bus ride to the airport to begin my month long adventure in Japan. The trip at this point was routine enough, and the driver let me off at the proper place to enter and check my bag. I checked my bag, got my boarding pass, went through routine inspection by the TSA and located my gate.I expected that I would get on the Jumbo Jet, it would fly to Canada for a quick stop, and then off we would head for Narita. When the boarding agent called for us to load the plane, I wondered why I didn't see a large jet out the window. Then I wondered why we were going down some stairs to the tarmac..."Really? Seriously?" we were going to get on a prop plane to make a 35 minute flight to Canada. Then, we would change planes to get on the Boeing 777 Jumbo Jet. I had only flown a handful of times before, and had never been on a plane with outward propellers before. The plane was fairly small, and the flight attendant was a personable blonde, so I buckled in for the short flight. When we arrived, I knew that I was in a foreign land because there were mainly Japanese folks, and barely any English spoken. I was right. We were in Canada. Undoubtedly this was the area where the Japanese gathered to catch a flight home.
I had a nice flight on the 777. It seems that they must have booked every other seat, because it seemed that everyone had an empty seat next to them The plane was very quiet. Hardly any conversations going on. Folks just keeping to themselves, watching the touchscreen monitors on the seatbacks in front of them, where they had a selection of movies, TV, music, or maps and GPS of the flight for the 9 hours and 20 minutes we would be in th air. I tried to nap during the four or five movies that I put on, but that was only slightly effective. The flight attendants were constantly busy plying us with coffee (Kohi), tea or Coke (Kola as the Japanese called it) and two full meals. It was a wonderfully smooth and uneventful flight, quite unlike the one I took to Vermont the year before, where the plane shook, shuddered and dipped so bad you spent all night wondering if you were really going to make it.
I filled out my customs forms, and asked the flight attendant where I should go after I get off of the plane. She said "Just follow the crowd"...But the crowd moved so fast! I worked hard to keep up for fear of getting lost. There was a beautiful mural just inside the airport after you get off the plane that said "welcome to Japan", that I would have loved to have gotten a picture of, but I didn't dare get seperated from the crowd, so I kept going. Then we were in a large room with a large crowd of people, and a long counter. Everything was written in Kanji, the traditional writing of Japan of course, so I had no idea where to go or what to do. I was the only non japanese person in sight, so I stood there and looked around dumbly, not quite sure what to do. Finally a Japanese guard saw me looking quite lost, and took me by the arm (I was hoping that was a good thing, and not that I looked like a criminal), and removed the barracade tape that kept the crowd in an orderly line, and personally led me in front of the crowd to a line of one other person that was labeled VIP. I am not sure why I got taken to that line, but I got waited on right away. The took my paperwork for customs and had me fill out an immigration form. They had me look through a hole in a board at the counter, which I am assuming was a retinal scan, and okayed me to go beyond the counter and try to find my luggage. I felt very fortunate. The Rolling Stones tried for years to enter Japan. Paul McCartney was refused entrance to Japan. Paris Hilton was just recently refused entrance to Japan. Yet here I was, escorted ahead of everyone else to the front of a VIP line and allowed entrance.

My son was going to meet me at baggage claim. He was nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere. Well...I guess I will just get my bag and see if he shows up. Nope, and once I had my bag, they wanted me to get checked by customs. No problem, but then I had to leave the baggage area. Hmmm. Now I was in the main terminal, like I am about to leave the airport. I wandered from one end to the other. No Adam. I stopped at some of the counters to see if I could use a phone. They were very polite, spoke a little english and told me that they didn't have a phone that I could use. I went to the Information Desk and asked a very fine young lady there the same question. She said "no", but she could page him for me. No Adam. She asked if she should page him again. "Sure, thanks". Nothing. She pointed out the payphones to me as US cell phones don't work in Japan. This was fine, but I didn't have any Japanese currency. I located the money exchange counter, filled out the appropriate forms as best I guessed they should be filled out, handed the gentleman ten US Dollars and recieved some coins. I finally figured out how the japanese coin phones worked and was able to place a call to Adam's japanese cell phone. He was trying to get to the airport, but was still at least an hour and a half away. He advised that I could take the bus or wait for him. This brought images of me being lost somewhere in Tokyo, not knowing where to go, not being able to read the signs or talk to the people to find a resolution for my situation. "I will wait for you" I told him, "you're already out headed this way". The phone then abruptly went dead. Apparently my 100 yen of time was up. I sat on the bench, envisioning spending the night there in a strange place with a strange language and strange writing. At least it was quiet. Not like America, where everything is noisy and all hustle and bustle. I fell asleep sitting on the bench, waiting to see what happens next. "From the Taxi ride till now, what an interesting experience" I was thinking as I was passing out from lack of sleep and exhaustion.

Observations of an American Dropped Into Japan (Part 1)

I had the pleasure recently of spending a full month visiting relatives in Japan. My son is in the US Airforce, and had recently been stationed at Yokota AFB in Fussa, Japan with his wonderful wife and adorable daughter...not that I'm biased or anything...well, maybe I am, but it's true. Adam (that's my son) proffered an invitation to me that if I ever wanted to come visit him that I was welcome. Not being much for travelling, I thought "that's an interesting thought", and that was pretty much where it stopped. Obviously my wife thought that it was a splendid idea, and encouraged me to go. After a week or so of her prodding, I decided that it was an intriguing idea after all. When I spoke to Adam on the phone again, I brought up his invitation to me, and he emphatically said that I was welcome any time. I had given this quite a bit of thought by this time, so I asked him "how long could you put up with me for?" He replied, "as long as you want". "How about a month?" I asked. He never hesitated. "Absolutely".

After all the arrangements were made, flights scheduled, vacation time allotted, clothes packed, I called the cab company the evening before I needed to catch the Shuttle Bus for the airport. They assured me that it would be no problem, just call in the morning. The next morning I called an hour before I needed to catch the bus and was told that it was no problem, he would be there to pick me up in a few minutes. Thirty minutes later I was on the phone again, and was assured he was right around the corner. Ten minutes later I called and they said that the driver was right here. No dice. I waited outside with my luggage. The phone rang. It was the driver of the Shuttle Bus wondering where I was at, as he had to leave in two minutes. Another call to the cab company, and they again said that he was a block away. I told them that if I missed the shuttle bus, maybe the cab driver could take me to the next stop. They said that he could and that he would do it for free. The next thing I see is the cab flying up the street at well over the speed limit. The driver tossed my bags into the trunk and we went speeding off for the shuttle. I have never travelled these small roads so fast in my life. It felt like we were in "Starsky & Hutch" as would would slide around corners. "I don't normally drive like this" he said. "I imagine not". "There was a State Trooper sitting up here earlier". Great. That is all I needed, to be delayed while this driver is issued a ticket for speeding and reckless operation. Mercifully, the Shuttle Bus was still there. He had waited a few extra minutes knowing that I was on the way. They loaded my luggage into the bus, I thanked both the cab driver for getting me there (alive), and the Shuttle driver for being kind enough to wait a few extra minutes. What an exciting way to start this trip, I was thinking as I caught my breath on the way to the airport.