Observations, looking back

Here are some things I noticed during my visit.

• I had probably known this at one time but had forgotten that they drive on the left side of the road in Japan.  They also walk on the left side of the sidewalk, which I picked up pretty quickly.
• The streets of Tokyo are kept very clean.  I saw one shop-keeper using a lint roller on the pavement in front of his store!
• They take recycling very seriously.  Almost every street corner has one or more vending machines with dozens of plastic bottles of many different flavors of tea, so it's needed!
• I kept seeing mesh bags by the edge of the sidewalk.  Alan told me that's to put bags of garbage in, and the mesh is to keep the huge crows from pecking them open. There is regular garbage pickup in the city by smallish garbage trucks.
• The Japanese like chicken cartilage!  I had a meal at an expensive restaurant that included chicken kabobs, and thought that someone had not cut the chicken properly!  I had to try and discretely dispose of the cartilage chunks!
• Another Japanese favorite (that I did not try) is fermented soybeans!
• I have already mentioned the amazing, multifunctional toilets that are now commonplace.  But, Alan says the clothes washers and dryers leave much to be desired.  Many bathrooms have the shower in a separate cubicle with a "dryer" setting.  You hang you clothes in there and wait all day, and hope they get mostly dry.  Seems very inefficient!  Many residents hang clothes on their balconies, but the newer highrise apartments often prohibit doing that.
• I did not realize how hilly Tokyo is!  Alan tells me it's good to live in a hilly area, since that means you are living on "real" ground, rather than "fill"!
• Kent is considered a "half", since he is half Japanese and half American.  This makes him "special" in Japan, but Alan and Yuka don't want him to be treated differently.  I noticed a number of people who seemed to look at him with admiration.

Goodbye to Tokyo!

I'll just write a little bit about my day so far, since I can't count on the WiFi working on the airplane. Right now, I'm in the Admiral's Club at Narita Airport, waiting to board the flight to Chicago.  I have a 3-hour layover there which is good since I have to get my bag and go through customs and immigration.  I'm supposed to get home just before 10:00 pm tonight.  The flight to Chicago leaves at 5:55pm and arrives at 3:55 pm...sounds fast!

I had an extra ticket for the hotel breakfast, so I bought one more, and Alan, Yuka, and Kent came to eat with me!  Kent LOVED my hotel room, so we stayed there for over an hour!  He had fun with the water bottles I had collected, rolling around on the big bed, the floor-length mirror, and the mini-fridge.

They were going to turn off the electricity at 11:00 for an inspection, so we went back to their apartment and played until time to leave for the airport.  Then, they all rode to the train station to see me off.  Kent thinks he should be going to America and we thought he would be really upset, but he did a lot better with the goodbye's than Yuka and I did!  We think he was trying to be strong for his mother!

I managed to get off the train at the right terminal, but then the challenge was to find the American counter.  There were big letters on the signs, but small Airline names, so I was trying to figure it out by the information board when a nice airport lady came and told me where to find it.  I checked in at the Business Class counter, but the other line wasn't long.  I managed to get through security and immigration quickly and found the Admiral's Club.

Don't know if I will have time to add pictures now, so check back later!

Two days later....over some jet lag and finally adding pictures!

Everybody on the bed in my room!

Last full day...walking Tokyo

We decided just to walk around this area of the city and take Kent to a park.  We also stopped in come grocery stores so I could see what is offered.  These stores are in the more affluent part of the city, so the prices are really high.  Yuka tells me that for those residents who cook with mostly fish, rice and traditional Japanese vegetables, the food prices are very reasonable....but not in these stores!

Kent got to play in the little fountain things.

Healthy pigeons!

Park next to Midtown

They had a huge wind sock to walk through.

The Hawaiian festival was still going on.

Lots of dogs in strollers

More water to play in!

Double decker double garage.
They can rotate up

They have huge crows.
He's high up, so you can't tell how big he is!

The dogs here are really spoiled!

This car does up and down the ramp to show how powerful it is!

Lambourghini at the gas station

Tokyo Midtown: one of Japan's largest mixed-use developments:
home to the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo,the Suntory Museum of Art, and the tallest building in Tokyo.

I took lots of pictures of food I am not used to seeing!

Huge variety of mushrooms!

Look at the tiny mushrooms

I think this is a radish.
I put my hand in the picture for size reference.

The fruit on the top costs about $27

Apples for abut $1.75 each

Huge pea pods!

Corn on the cob for over $3 each

Eggplant as long as Yuka's arm.

More tiny mushroom for only $1.00

Red meat is very expensive and is often sold with a lot of fat in it.

Octopus tentacles

Sushi fixings

Pringles for about $4 per can

They have huge amounts of bottled tea.

Grabbed a photo of a small hardware store.

A Boston terrier for $4,600.
They had cages of little tiny dogs.
We didn't go in, so couldn't see the Boston...probably a good thing!

Long climb up this hill.

Residential street in this nice neighborhood

Someone has a Rolls Royce.

Really big house!  Rich resident!

Luxury condos

This group of small, older homes somehow survived in this wealthy neighborhood.

Unusual house

Another wealthy resident

Look at this wall construction....no mortar evident

More expensive condos

Kent loved the slide!
And wanted each of us to do down with him.

They have a LONG roller slide! 
I was surprised he would go down it!

Alan's office building

Spider statue covered in knitting.
It's usually just black metal.

This is the escalator Alan takes on his way home every day.
See the next one below going into the tunnel.

Busses are very small.

Got a picture of a dog dressed up.
That's probably his stroller.

Apples for over $8 each!
But, they are huge!

TINY fish!

Another fru-fru dog dressed up.