Saturday 4.1.00

I wanted to get new stamps at the post office in Hikone today but it was closed.  We had but one full day here and we planned to go to Chikubushima island as well as Hikone castle.  Hikone is sister city to Ann Arbor (University of Michigan) so being a grad of UM drew me here,  also the post code is 522.   My current workplace is located on route 522.

   Of course I was chagrined to see a local Japanese wearing OHIO STATE shirt, but like I said before this is first place in Japan I spotted disturbing signs of vandalism.  I guess the local Japanese were getting into the PUNK influence!  Lake Biwa is nothing at all like the Great Lakes of Michigan (mostly flat midwest).  Biwako was surrounded by snow capped mountains.  Maddy said it looked more like Salt Lake in Utah.

     At Hikone castle I found a keychain that bore the Nikaido mon (see bottom of this page).   We noticed a cherry tree had begun to bloom.  Very small blossoms but still the first to be seen by us this spring.

Sunday 4.2.00

      This travel day was hell.  No help at all boarding train to Maibara.  From Maibara bound for Tokyo was even worse--my worst nightmare.  We had ordinary JR pass and boarded unreserved car.  It was crowded, no seats were available.  We were standing in the space between cars.  I had to lift my bags and could not put them down because kodomo were sitting on the floor all around me.  The shoulder straps of my bags were digging into my arms.  The ride took 3 hours!

      It gets more unimaginable.   By my right arm where I placed one of Maddy's bags was a telephone that accepts cards.   According to a survey I read in Japan about Japanese people indicated that >80% own cellular phones.  Wouldn't you know all of a sudden left and right people are coming to use this phone.  Do I hear one Sumimasen? NO.  The pain in my arms builds and I close my eyelids trying to imagine a better place just hoping the pain would leave.

    For a moment, not knowing why,  I turned my head to the left and opened my eyes to look out the window.  Just then Mt. Fuji appears.  Well at least the base of Mt. Fuji, the top was cloud covered.  Perhaps I was getting delerious from the pain.  I asked Maddy if that was indeed Mt. Fuji.   She said it was and that she didn't get to see it the last time she visited.  I gave the kids seated at my feet some US State coins.

    Thinking the burden might be over once we got to Tokyo station.  No.  Maddy and I were set on buying or upgrading to the under utilized green cars.  We were directed to no less than three windows.  Each time I would ask Eigo de hanashimasen ka?  And each time they would say to Maddy I do not speak english.  You can almost see this coming.  We get to what looked to be the last window before the taxi stand.  The woman talks to Maddy in some english claiming yet again DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH.

      You might think in an International city as Tokyo is supposed to be that they would be able to speak a second language (other that Kyoto dialect).  Particularly at windows that may do business with foreigners visiting this country.   Finally I lost it.  I shoved the exchange orders in her face with my left hand while pulling an old expired JR PASS toward me with my right hand.  I left forms with her and Maddy, gathered up Jennifer and went to cool off.  Part of me felt sorry for her the other part of me wonders why the hell she got that job.

     Only after 3 pm check in at Hotel New Otani did I begin to feel a little better.  Mr. Goto and his mom arrived at a quarter to five.  Akio Goto has a rather pleasant voice over the phone.  His looks do not betray that kindness.  Of course his mom, Seki was also quite kind and patient in that she seemed to understand my choppy and broken Japanese.   We rode subway to Roppongi.  Akio-san  gave us a bilingual subway guide that proved very helpful.

Monday 4.3.00

     Mailed package home to lighten load again.  Then we rode subway Marounouchi line to Shinjuku.  We strolled around Isetan Department store and ate at French style restraunt.  I was considering a trip to NHK Studio Park in Shibuya.  Instead we spent a lot of time shopping for gifts.  An area near the train station is packed full of shops and places to eat we wound up eating at a Chinese restraunt and then playing at Club Sega.
Jennifer won a plush Kitty Chan and a Bruna Bunny.

Tuesday 4.4.00

     The weather was nice so we decided on outdoor activity.  Maddy wanted to go to Meiji Jingu (Shrine).  It was a long walk.  I guess I was getting tired of the temple/shrine things.  I was begining to view them as $1 shops--all the trinkets and charms you want for a buck.
Afterwards we visited Yoyogi Park where a few cherry trees were in bloom.  At the bridge over the pond Jennifer fed the wild ducks and the sizable koi some pieces of her fine pastry bread.   A Treasure Museum located on the grounds there was in fact closed.  With not much else to do there we took off for Ginza.
A tour book of mine mentioned a Godzilla Statue.  Somehow I pictured something much larger.  In a way this was therapeutic--- prior to our trip to Japan, Jennifer said she was afraid GOJIRA was going to get us.  Now she finds out GOJIRA in Ginza is smaller than Mickey Mouse in Orlando!

     It had gotten quite cool in Ginza and I was not dressed warm enough.  For dinner Maddy picked restraunt Takesushi.  Back at Hotel New Otani I talked a bit with Yamada-san in Kato's bar and later with Satoshi-san at Bar Capri.  I'm surprisized I remember anything.  I remember Yamada taking about his brothers and the bottle of Shochu from Kyushu.  And then there was the Blue Skyytini of the millenium martini collection.  I never got to the "The Bar" on the 40 Flr.  Maybe next time.

Wednesday 4.5.00

     Slightly hungover.  Needed to sleep in a little.  It was rainy.  Maddy was voicing something about sightseeing everyday wears you down.  We needed rest or perhaps a slower pace.  So out we go again.  Suntory Museum of Art was close and indoors so we opted for that.  Then I picked restraunt Zukuro, also in Akasaka.  It was at the TBS building.  They were looking forward to the Masters Tournament in Augusta.  I tried a couple of putts for a souvenir bag.  After a leisurely meal at Zukuro that we all enjoyed, I decided we should go to Tokyo bay area.
We took subway to Shimbashi station and transfered to a Yurikamome transit service over the rainbow bridge.  We rode to the end and on the way back stopped at Daiba.  We toured the new Fuji Terebi building.  Maddy said their mascot looked like a across between Snoopy and Blues Clues.  Across the street at the newly opened Aqua City we had tonkatsu.  On the way back to our hotel in the Akasaka underground passageway at 9pm the lights dimmed and rows of "black lights" switched on illuminating a giant mural of constellations and planets.  At times Japan can be very exciting to the senses.

Thursday 4.6.00

      Before leaving New Otani we took some time to view the sakura on the way to Yotsuya station (where the Marunouchi line goes above ground).  Just one block off the main street we found a good place to eat.  Returning to New Otani we passed the other side of the soccer field and saw some workers on the lower rungs of corporate ladders securing places for office parties under the cherry trees with ropes and blue tarps.  Today begins the Hiraganatimes stay one week program.  They booked us into the Sawanoya hotel near Ueno.
The room was somewhat smaller than previous accomodations.  But I liked the proximity to Ueno park.  I took Jennifer while Maddy stayed in the room.  The cherry trees were now in full bloom and Ueno Park was full of parties.  At the zoo Jennifer got to see Panda bear but she really just wanted to ride the kiddie rides at Kodomo Park.  We hurried back to gather Maddy so we could  make our 7:30 dinner with Nagabuchi-san in Shinjuku (My City).

Friday 4.7.00

     Today was first Japanese lesson at Hiraganatimes.  My Japanese is very poor.  The teacher from Okinawa kept asking me if I was tired.  I felt like saying no it is just that my head is made of out material suitable for building canoes but I didn't know how to translate that into Japanese.  There is only so much one can do in one session.  Hey,  I've been studying three years and I am still somewhere at the Kindergarten level.  After class and a quick lunch at a Korean Restraunt (Saison Palace), I returned to Sawanoya and I actually was tired.

      Goto-san was there waiting to take us to Atsugi.  Akio has friends all over, has travelled a great deal.  Akio, Fumie , and Seki prepared a big feast for us.  They have a 17 yr old dog, Jollie.  It was very well behaved.  Jennifer took a walk with Jollie after dinner.

Saturday 4.8.00

Akio drove us to Fukushima.  It took over four hours.  The Tohoku expressway was expensive it cost $60 in toll one-way.  The rest stops are called "Hello Station."  We got to see Zenzo Nikaido.  Akio bore the burden of translation.  But just seeing Zenzo you could sense he was quite happy and in good health.  His eldest son Yoshiyuki was still at work but Jennifer absolutely loved playing on the hill out back with his three boys, Nori-kun, Masa-kun, and Kazu-kun.  Actually I nicknamed them as such because their names all end with -yuki.

    When we talked we all gathered around a kotatsu in a main room.  It gave a  feeling of closeness, here we also enjoyed a large feast with very good drink and conversation.