Japan Trip
THE FLIGHT FROM DFW TO TOKYO WAS 14 HOURS OF CRAMPED SEATING AND MANY MANY MEALS. I ATE EVERYTHING PUT BEFORE ME....FORGET ABOUT THE SOUTH BEACH DIET.
JAPAN IS COMPLETLY ORGANIZED. I KNOW THIS SOUNDS STEREOTYPICAL BUT MAN ARE THESE PEOPLE METICULOUS. EVERYTHING RUNS SMOOTHLY AND I CAN:T UNDERSTAND A WORD THEY ARE SAYING BUT WE ARE TREATED ROYALLY. AS PART OF THE SISTER CITY ORGANIZATION, WE WERE GIVEN A LETTER TO SHOW CUSTOMS AND I DID AS THE FIRST ONE OFF THE PLANE. ALL 33 OF US WERE PASSED THROUGH WITH SMILES.
DINNER TONIGHT AT OUR AIRPORT HOTEL AND THEN TOMORROW A FULL DAY OF SIGHTSEEING IN TOKYO INCLUDING AMERICAN EMBASSY VISIT.
TOMORROW NIGHT...KAREOKI BAR...I HEAR THE BEERS ARE GOOD HERE BUT HAVE NOW WAY OF ORDERING...HOPE THERE ARE PICTURES OF BEER ON MENUS.
HAVE TRAVELED WITH SOME OF THESE FOLKS BEFORE AND WE HAVE A FUN ADVENTURESOME GROUP. I HAVE PLENTY OF AMERICAN/JAPANESE FLAG LAPEL PINS TO GIVE AWAY AND HAVE MY SPEECHES WRITTEN AND GIVEN TO TRANSLATOR FOR THE TALKS AT THE SCHOOLS THAT I WILL GIVE IN A COUPLE OF DAYS. WISH ME LUCK ON THAT.
MORE LATER. ALL IS WELL IN JAPAN FOR NOW.
In the book, 1001 things to do before you die, Tokyo is listed twice. One is to stay in Park Hyatt--the place where Lost in Translation was filmed and the best views of night time Tokyo. The other is to see the Tokyo Fish Market. I am staying at a Hyatt, but it's not the famous one. But, I will get up at 3 a.m. to go to the fish market by subway and see the Big Tuna Auction (nothing to do with Bill Parcells).
There is a type of Starbucks here, but it is a Japanese version and the girls all dress like French Maids and call you "MASTER'. It is sort of like the Hooters of Japan.
Went to the Tokyo Tower, which is like the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas.
When Japanese people say 'you're welcome' it sounds like they are saying "don't touch my moustache."
The tour guide has trouble with her 'r's' and 'l's', so when she told me to have some 'crass', I thought I could handle that. I can do 'crass', it's 'class' that I have trouble with.
The land in the Ginzu area of Tokyo sells for $170,000 USD per square meter.
The subway system hires part time employees called 'pushers' and their job is, no lie, to push people onto the already crowded subways.
We met today with Ambassador Shieffer, whose brother is Bob Shieffer with CBS. He spent about an hour with us (we were told to expect about 5-10 minutes). He's from Texas and was in charge of building the Ballpark at Arlington. He stayed in the White House the night of Sept. 10th, 2001, which was interesting.
Japan has 126 million and 10% of the population lives in Tokyo (12.6 million in this place). There is no daylight savings time and the sun rises about 4 a.m.
Tomorrow, I will have lunch with the school superintendent and give him some presents. After the fish market, what will I smell like?
I asked to tour a school while on the trip and one was arranged. elementary school, grades one through six, toured every classroom, met over 1000 students, one of the best days of my life. ]
\e
In one of the classrooms for second grade, there was a little boy wearing an East Texas State University tee shirt. With two degrees and a lifetime spent in Commerce, it was amazing to see this little Japanese boy 10,000 miles from Hunt Coumty Texas wearing that shirt/ Photo to be sent soon.
Lots of dignitary speeches, many bows and more bows, loads of gift giving rituals, and the never ending glass of beer. every time I take a sip, someone from Japan refills my glass/
I asked my 27 year old gorgeous female hostess who graduated from arizona state to go to disneyland tokyo today and we had a great time. i was certainly the only english speaking person in the most crowded theme park in the world and yes I did stand out in the crowd, but we had a blast.
have been to tokyo starbucks, the shopping malls to buy the national soccer team shirt.
bobby valentine manages the pro baseball team here in yachiyo city. remember him from the rangers and what was it...the mets? and he is a sigma chi but there are no games here in town while we visit
the fish marking was listed in the 1001 things to do before you die but truth be told it should be in a book of things that will kill you. lots of fast moving propane forklifts, mountains of white stryofoam coolers and every sea creature dead in piles. the tuna auction is like the trading floor on wall street//yelling screaming bids all over the frozen carcasses of tunas the size of refrigerators...ate sushi at 6 a.m. and they just step outside and get the fish fresh ffom the sea market vendors.
i have studied caligripahy, cooking, and traditional japanese music but the japanese keyboard is a tough row to how
I am at my hostess parents home they own a private kindergarten and this traditional home of teakwood, sliding doors, and amazing garden proves to me that the kindergarten business is very very good.
anyway, all is good. have a party at a country club tonight. so sleep deprived. they want to entertain us all the time and i am exhausted with the niceties. will send more information when available.
Peaches are selling for $30 each over here. How can I make that work for mty benefit?
We completed the official delegation portion of the visit and traveled via bullet train to Kyoto and Nara to see shrines (Japanese Shinto religion) and temples (Buddist religion). Busy schedule with dark circles under my eyes like a visiting racoon.
Here are some of the thoughts:
^^There was no technology to speak of in any of the schools. Just chalk/chalkboards and manila paper and crayons...remember all those things. The school children were great and wanted to know what foods I ate and what was the tallest mountains.
^^Students are janitors for their schools and they sweep with these primitive brooms but they have such pride in their schools and keep them clean.
^^The teachers were young and tried to be creative in their lesson plans but it was like stepping back into the classrooms of the 1960s America.
^^We are lead to believe they are smarter and more disciplined than our students but not from what I observed.
^^Still getting gifts at every turn. I swear I give away one present and I get three. You can:t outdo these little people.
^^I was directed to the Tall and Big Man Shop for a shirt at the mall.
^^Got a lot of Bobby Valentine baseball shirts and it helped everywhere I went. Got the royal treatment from security guards at the train station and the kids at the temples all wanted to shake my hand and tell me, I think, that they are Bobby Valentine fans, too.
^^They made us tour a new hospital and with my germ a phobia in full alert, I tried, but when we were to tour the pediatric ICU, I refused to go in. That sent them in a tizzy and chattering and they made phone calls and went ballistic. They directed me down all kinds of hallways that I imagined were the airborne leprosy wards. I was sweating bullets and finally got back to the bus. I kept saying *not happy* over and over and they told the doctors I was about to faint.
^^At the history museum, they used me as the model and put a 150 year old samarui suit on me. It was heavy and dreadfully hot but, damn, I looked good.
^^We taught them the Chicken Dance, YMCA dance, and the Hokey Pokey and they think we invented all of them just for the farewell dance.
^^Every sip of beer I take, there is someone refilling it. So, they are complete enablers for anyone with a drinking problem. I have quit the beer and tried sake, which is rice wine but tastes the tea here, which tastes like stagnant water brewed with old cigarette butts.
^^At the train station, we arrived at 8 a.m. and there were throngs of Japs walking one way, out of the station and of course I had to go into the station. Sheer helplessness and grimaces.
^^Bullet train went 270 klm. or about 200 mph. Ate lunch (sandwicheys); I was at the urinal when the train accelerated and that was an odd sensation. And, I walked in a toilet marked :vacant;: but it was Harriet from Houston in full disarray.
^^The Christian population is only 1 per cent of the 270 million.
^^At the shrine, you can get any blessing you want but you have to pay money for it. Then you go inside and clap your hands to wake up God. I told them that if it was a 100 per cent guarantee, I would try it. But it truly is tough for me to go into these places of worship and be a onlooker. Don:t feel comfortable at all.
^^There were 1200 tame deer at the shrine and you feed them these cookies and they bow first, take the cookie. But of course, me on a travel....the deer with the antlers were goosing me from behind and one antler went into my pocket and got stuck....and so goes my life. You can imagine that scene.
^^One shrine is the largest wooden structure on Earth. Amazing photos.
^^At the end of the day, a trumpet is sounded and all the deer go into a huge barn for the night.
^^
Anyway, Japan is great, but not the beautiful place I had imagined. Just an industrialized endless city with crowded apartment buildings like you would see in third world countries. The technolgy is not prevalent. The school children are not these superhuman brainiacts that we are told to believe.
The Yachiyo City (one of Tyler:s sister cities) to Toyko is like Plano is to Dallas. We went to one city that is the home of Toyota and of course it is like Detroit. We are now in Historic Williamsburg....
We will tour the Kinkakuji Temple; eat French food at the Nikko Princess Hotel; tour the Museum of Nishijin Textile with a Kimino Show; tour the Kiyomizu Temple and a French, yes again, Dinner at the hotel.
There is a button that translates into Japanese when I email and sometimes I hit it by mistake.
I will tour tomorrow and Friday will return to the US. I leave at noon on Friday here and get back to Dallas at 9 a.m on Friday. Time travel (and the date line) are wonderous.
I will go to the movies tonight; tried to get a baseball game ticket but that is looking dim right now. The closest game is 1 hour train ride away. Went to a busy district last night and played Pachinko and won over 1000Y. It is like Chuck E. Cheese in that you can get small prizes for the bucket of marbles that I won. But, if you want cash, like I did, you go around the darkened corner outside and find an unmarked door, which I did. An old man gave me my cash and his face was hidden. Gambling is illlegal but these Pachinko places are everywhere. It is like pinball with tiny steel ball bearings. I don:t know exactly what I did to win, but got cheers from the crowd. There is a little doorknob contraption that you control how many of the ball bearings to release at the time.
More in the days to follow.
Since it is Independence Day, I declared myself independent from the bus tour...after a morning of castles and palaces (most are reproductions rebuilt recently), I took off by myself and went to the movies. I saw Live Free or Die Hard (4). Great movie set in Washington, DC on July 4th. Bruce Willis should win the Oscar every year...even if he is not in a movie.
Pouring down rain (so glad I am not tramping around temples and shrines in my socks today). Went to a great shopping mecca that would take literally months to see entirely. Ate at KFC...for some reason the chicken tastes and looks like pork....but that was the only American type of food I found today.
Starbucks across the street from KFC and a soccer shirt place. Heaven for my traveling tastes.
When you buy a movie ticket (they asked if I was over 60 and I said yes and was given a half price discount...economy over vanity), they ask you to look at a map of the theatre and pick the seat you will sit in....No Movement Mista....
Popcorn and Coca Cola. And an action Flick with car crashes and violence to the n-th degree.....Great American July 4th.....now about the fireworks....
Today, we will tour two Buddist temples in Kyoto. I get agitated since the tour guide wants to keep us all in a little covey of a group. Instead of giving us an overview, then releasing us to wander on our own, she is bent on training us on how to build a dang temple. We are told every detail, who built it, when they died, how old their children were at the time, and what kind of meal they ate each night. Inside are these huge Buddas made of gold or carved wood. Incense burning, candle lighting, blessed water splashing. It creeps me out to be the intruding visitor on someones religious rituals, but I guess the tour buses help the place make ends meet.
At the Shoguns castle, there was an alarm system built centuries ago. The boards have small metal plates at the joints and when you walk, a bird like noise is created. That alerted the ones in the castle that someone was sneaking in the place. It is hugely loud when you walk on them now.
I didn:t know this but the Samarai reported to a Shogun (sort of a regional manager) and the Shoguns reported to the Emporer. Kyoto was the capital of Japan for 1100 years until Toyko became the capital about 500 years ago.
The Japanese maple trees are interesting to me. Tiny delicate leaves. We have Japanese maples with large leaves that burn in the summers due to the Texas heat.
Had an inroom massage yesterday for 30 bucks. The gal looked a lot like Rose ODonnell and man she could hurt. Great deep tissue massage.
They have Japanese baths here but I haven:t tried that. I heard the communual baths have the hottest temperture water and scald the dickens out of the bathers. I am not sure I want to be a burn scar victim as a souvenir.
We will go back to the area that I went to the movies at lunch today.
Then the bullet train back to Toyko. We should be able to see Mt. Fuji today, it was too clouded on the way here to see it.
Will stay at an airport hotel tonight and fly back tomorrow, Friday. Leave Toyko at noon on Friday and get to Dallas at 9 a.m. on Friday; Tyler at noon.
I have gained weight on this trip. The food was terrific. I brought instant oatmeal thinking I would have to feed myself in the room with hot tap water, but the food was abundant and delicious.
Great folks on the trip, too. We have about 20 of us who stayed after the Sister City delegation trip for this extended visit.
I have taken about 700 photos and have not uploaded them to the computer yet. Should do that next week. I will be getting the photos on the Tyler sister city website with the help of a volunteer, too.
So, hope to see you soon. You will notice my obvious weight gain.
Will leave Toyko today. Yesterday, visited a Zen Buddist temple and there is a huge difference from the orthodox buddist. The grounds around the temple were quiet pathways of landscaped gardens, tiny bridges for meditation, the lotus blossums on the lily pads were in full bloom. Many rock Zen gardens with 15 rocks but no matter where you sit, only 14 are visible...something to do with enlightenment never achieved fully.
Had a great meal in a dive diner called Mr. Young Men Lunch, which was this greasy spoon of a place but the greatest food. Huge George Forman type grill that lowers like a steam press. The cook loads it with noodles, cabbage, maybe eggs, and other veggies. Lowers the press and grills it until the smoke is thick in the diner, then serves it on a hot skillet with clear soup and rice.
Japan has been welcoming and full of kindness and good service. At one hotel I threw away lots of the clothes I brought but the management of the hotel found me in another and brought the bag of dirty clothes to me, just to make sure I was certain about throwing it away. If you don:t answer your wake up call, they send someone up immediately. Kind but very regimented.
I asked about Mt. Fuji on the bullet train and was told I could see it at 5.47 p.m. and sure enough that is exactly the time it was visible.
Great trip. Lots of photos. See you soon.
Larry Goddard
JAPAN IS COMPLETLY ORGANIZED. I KNOW THIS SOUNDS STEREOTYPICAL BUT MAN ARE THESE PEOPLE METICULOUS. EVERYTHING RUNS SMOOTHLY AND I CAN:T UNDERSTAND A WORD THEY ARE SAYING BUT WE ARE TREATED ROYALLY. AS PART OF THE SISTER CITY ORGANIZATION, WE WERE GIVEN A LETTER TO SHOW CUSTOMS AND I DID AS THE FIRST ONE OFF THE PLANE. ALL 33 OF US WERE PASSED THROUGH WITH SMILES.
DINNER TONIGHT AT OUR AIRPORT HOTEL AND THEN TOMORROW A FULL DAY OF SIGHTSEEING IN TOKYO INCLUDING AMERICAN EMBASSY VISIT.
TOMORROW NIGHT...KAREOKI BAR...I HEAR THE BEERS ARE GOOD HERE BUT HAVE NOW WAY OF ORDERING...HOPE THERE ARE PICTURES OF BEER ON MENUS.
HAVE TRAVELED WITH SOME OF THESE FOLKS BEFORE AND WE HAVE A FUN ADVENTURESOME GROUP. I HAVE PLENTY OF AMERICAN/JAPANESE FLAG LAPEL PINS TO GIVE AWAY AND HAVE MY SPEECHES WRITTEN AND GIVEN TO TRANSLATOR FOR THE TALKS AT THE SCHOOLS THAT I WILL GIVE IN A COUPLE OF DAYS. WISH ME LUCK ON THAT.
MORE LATER. ALL IS WELL IN JAPAN FOR NOW.
In the book, 1001 things to do before you die, Tokyo is listed twice. One is to stay in Park Hyatt--the place where Lost in Translation was filmed and the best views of night time Tokyo. The other is to see the Tokyo Fish Market. I am staying at a Hyatt, but it's not the famous one. But, I will get up at 3 a.m. to go to the fish market by subway and see the Big Tuna Auction (nothing to do with Bill Parcells).
There is a type of Starbucks here, but it is a Japanese version and the girls all dress like French Maids and call you "MASTER'. It is sort of like the Hooters of Japan.
Went to the Tokyo Tower, which is like the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas.
When Japanese people say 'you're welcome' it sounds like they are saying "don't touch my moustache."
The tour guide has trouble with her 'r's' and 'l's', so when she told me to have some 'crass', I thought I could handle that. I can do 'crass', it's 'class' that I have trouble with.
The land in the Ginzu area of Tokyo sells for $170,000 USD per square meter.
The subway system hires part time employees called 'pushers' and their job is, no lie, to push people onto the already crowded subways.
We met today with Ambassador Shieffer, whose brother is Bob Shieffer with CBS. He spent about an hour with us (we were told to expect about 5-10 minutes). He's from Texas and was in charge of building the Ballpark at Arlington. He stayed in the White House the night of Sept. 10th, 2001, which was interesting.
Japan has 126 million and 10% of the population lives in Tokyo (12.6 million in this place). There is no daylight savings time and the sun rises about 4 a.m.
Tomorrow, I will have lunch with the school superintendent and give him some presents. After the fish market, what will I smell like?
I asked to tour a school while on the trip and one was arranged. elementary school, grades one through six, toured every classroom, met over 1000 students, one of the best days of my life. ]
\e
In one of the classrooms for second grade, there was a little boy wearing an East Texas State University tee shirt. With two degrees and a lifetime spent in Commerce, it was amazing to see this little Japanese boy 10,000 miles from Hunt Coumty Texas wearing that shirt/ Photo to be sent soon.
Lots of dignitary speeches, many bows and more bows, loads of gift giving rituals, and the never ending glass of beer. every time I take a sip, someone from Japan refills my glass/
I asked my 27 year old gorgeous female hostess who graduated from arizona state to go to disneyland tokyo today and we had a great time. i was certainly the only english speaking person in the most crowded theme park in the world and yes I did stand out in the crowd, but we had a blast.
have been to tokyo starbucks, the shopping malls to buy the national soccer team shirt.
bobby valentine manages the pro baseball team here in yachiyo city. remember him from the rangers and what was it...the mets? and he is a sigma chi but there are no games here in town while we visit
the fish marking was listed in the 1001 things to do before you die but truth be told it should be in a book of things that will kill you. lots of fast moving propane forklifts, mountains of white stryofoam coolers and every sea creature dead in piles. the tuna auction is like the trading floor on wall street//yelling screaming bids all over the frozen carcasses of tunas the size of refrigerators...ate sushi at 6 a.m. and they just step outside and get the fish fresh ffom the sea market vendors.
i have studied caligripahy, cooking, and traditional japanese music but the japanese keyboard is a tough row to how
I am at my hostess parents home they own a private kindergarten and this traditional home of teakwood, sliding doors, and amazing garden proves to me that the kindergarten business is very very good.
anyway, all is good. have a party at a country club tonight. so sleep deprived. they want to entertain us all the time and i am exhausted with the niceties. will send more information when available.
Peaches are selling for $30 each over here. How can I make that work for mty benefit?
We completed the official delegation portion of the visit and traveled via bullet train to Kyoto and Nara to see shrines (Japanese Shinto religion) and temples (Buddist religion). Busy schedule with dark circles under my eyes like a visiting racoon.
Here are some of the thoughts:
^^There was no technology to speak of in any of the schools. Just chalk/chalkboards and manila paper and crayons...remember all those things. The school children were great and wanted to know what foods I ate and what was the tallest mountains.
^^Students are janitors for their schools and they sweep with these primitive brooms but they have such pride in their schools and keep them clean.
^^The teachers were young and tried to be creative in their lesson plans but it was like stepping back into the classrooms of the 1960s America.
^^We are lead to believe they are smarter and more disciplined than our students but not from what I observed.
^^Still getting gifts at every turn. I swear I give away one present and I get three. You can:t outdo these little people.
^^I was directed to the Tall and Big Man Shop for a shirt at the mall.
^^Got a lot of Bobby Valentine baseball shirts and it helped everywhere I went. Got the royal treatment from security guards at the train station and the kids at the temples all wanted to shake my hand and tell me, I think, that they are Bobby Valentine fans, too.
^^They made us tour a new hospital and with my germ a phobia in full alert, I tried, but when we were to tour the pediatric ICU, I refused to go in. That sent them in a tizzy and chattering and they made phone calls and went ballistic. They directed me down all kinds of hallways that I imagined were the airborne leprosy wards. I was sweating bullets and finally got back to the bus. I kept saying *not happy* over and over and they told the doctors I was about to faint.
^^At the history museum, they used me as the model and put a 150 year old samarui suit on me. It was heavy and dreadfully hot but, damn, I looked good.
^^We taught them the Chicken Dance, YMCA dance, and the Hokey Pokey and they think we invented all of them just for the farewell dance.
^^Every sip of beer I take, there is someone refilling it. So, they are complete enablers for anyone with a drinking problem. I have quit the beer and tried sake, which is rice wine but tastes the tea here, which tastes like stagnant water brewed with old cigarette butts.
^^At the train station, we arrived at 8 a.m. and there were throngs of Japs walking one way, out of the station and of course I had to go into the station. Sheer helplessness and grimaces.
^^Bullet train went 270 klm. or about 200 mph. Ate lunch (sandwicheys); I was at the urinal when the train accelerated and that was an odd sensation. And, I walked in a toilet marked :vacant;: but it was Harriet from Houston in full disarray.
^^The Christian population is only 1 per cent of the 270 million.
^^At the shrine, you can get any blessing you want but you have to pay money for it. Then you go inside and clap your hands to wake up God. I told them that if it was a 100 per cent guarantee, I would try it. But it truly is tough for me to go into these places of worship and be a onlooker. Don:t feel comfortable at all.
^^There were 1200 tame deer at the shrine and you feed them these cookies and they bow first, take the cookie. But of course, me on a travel....the deer with the antlers were goosing me from behind and one antler went into my pocket and got stuck....and so goes my life. You can imagine that scene.
^^One shrine is the largest wooden structure on Earth. Amazing photos.
^^At the end of the day, a trumpet is sounded and all the deer go into a huge barn for the night.
^^
Anyway, Japan is great, but not the beautiful place I had imagined. Just an industrialized endless city with crowded apartment buildings like you would see in third world countries. The technolgy is not prevalent. The school children are not these superhuman brainiacts that we are told to believe.
The Yachiyo City (one of Tyler:s sister cities) to Toyko is like Plano is to Dallas. We went to one city that is the home of Toyota and of course it is like Detroit. We are now in Historic Williamsburg....
We will tour the Kinkakuji Temple; eat French food at the Nikko Princess Hotel; tour the Museum of Nishijin Textile with a Kimino Show; tour the Kiyomizu Temple and a French, yes again, Dinner at the hotel.
There is a button that translates into Japanese when I email and sometimes I hit it by mistake.
I will tour tomorrow and Friday will return to the US. I leave at noon on Friday here and get back to Dallas at 9 a.m on Friday. Time travel (and the date line) are wonderous.
I will go to the movies tonight; tried to get a baseball game ticket but that is looking dim right now. The closest game is 1 hour train ride away. Went to a busy district last night and played Pachinko and won over 1000Y. It is like Chuck E. Cheese in that you can get small prizes for the bucket of marbles that I won. But, if you want cash, like I did, you go around the darkened corner outside and find an unmarked door, which I did. An old man gave me my cash and his face was hidden. Gambling is illlegal but these Pachinko places are everywhere. It is like pinball with tiny steel ball bearings. I don:t know exactly what I did to win, but got cheers from the crowd. There is a little doorknob contraption that you control how many of the ball bearings to release at the time.
More in the days to follow.
Since it is Independence Day, I declared myself independent from the bus tour...after a morning of castles and palaces (most are reproductions rebuilt recently), I took off by myself and went to the movies. I saw Live Free or Die Hard (4). Great movie set in Washington, DC on July 4th. Bruce Willis should win the Oscar every year...even if he is not in a movie.
Pouring down rain (so glad I am not tramping around temples and shrines in my socks today). Went to a great shopping mecca that would take literally months to see entirely. Ate at KFC...for some reason the chicken tastes and looks like pork....but that was the only American type of food I found today.
Starbucks across the street from KFC and a soccer shirt place. Heaven for my traveling tastes.
When you buy a movie ticket (they asked if I was over 60 and I said yes and was given a half price discount...economy over vanity), they ask you to look at a map of the theatre and pick the seat you will sit in....No Movement Mista....
Popcorn and Coca Cola. And an action Flick with car crashes and violence to the n-th degree.....Great American July 4th.....now about the fireworks....
Today, we will tour two Buddist temples in Kyoto. I get agitated since the tour guide wants to keep us all in a little covey of a group. Instead of giving us an overview, then releasing us to wander on our own, she is bent on training us on how to build a dang temple. We are told every detail, who built it, when they died, how old their children were at the time, and what kind of meal they ate each night. Inside are these huge Buddas made of gold or carved wood. Incense burning, candle lighting, blessed water splashing. It creeps me out to be the intruding visitor on someones religious rituals, but I guess the tour buses help the place make ends meet.
At the Shoguns castle, there was an alarm system built centuries ago. The boards have small metal plates at the joints and when you walk, a bird like noise is created. That alerted the ones in the castle that someone was sneaking in the place. It is hugely loud when you walk on them now.
I didn:t know this but the Samarai reported to a Shogun (sort of a regional manager) and the Shoguns reported to the Emporer. Kyoto was the capital of Japan for 1100 years until Toyko became the capital about 500 years ago.
The Japanese maple trees are interesting to me. Tiny delicate leaves. We have Japanese maples with large leaves that burn in the summers due to the Texas heat.
Had an inroom massage yesterday for 30 bucks. The gal looked a lot like Rose ODonnell and man she could hurt. Great deep tissue massage.
They have Japanese baths here but I haven:t tried that. I heard the communual baths have the hottest temperture water and scald the dickens out of the bathers. I am not sure I want to be a burn scar victim as a souvenir.
We will go back to the area that I went to the movies at lunch today.
Then the bullet train back to Toyko. We should be able to see Mt. Fuji today, it was too clouded on the way here to see it.
Will stay at an airport hotel tonight and fly back tomorrow, Friday. Leave Toyko at noon on Friday and get to Dallas at 9 a.m. on Friday; Tyler at noon.
I have gained weight on this trip. The food was terrific. I brought instant oatmeal thinking I would have to feed myself in the room with hot tap water, but the food was abundant and delicious.
Great folks on the trip, too. We have about 20 of us who stayed after the Sister City delegation trip for this extended visit.
I have taken about 700 photos and have not uploaded them to the computer yet. Should do that next week. I will be getting the photos on the Tyler sister city website with the help of a volunteer, too.
So, hope to see you soon. You will notice my obvious weight gain.
Will leave Toyko today. Yesterday, visited a Zen Buddist temple and there is a huge difference from the orthodox buddist. The grounds around the temple were quiet pathways of landscaped gardens, tiny bridges for meditation, the lotus blossums on the lily pads were in full bloom. Many rock Zen gardens with 15 rocks but no matter where you sit, only 14 are visible...something to do with enlightenment never achieved fully.
Had a great meal in a dive diner called Mr. Young Men Lunch, which was this greasy spoon of a place but the greatest food. Huge George Forman type grill that lowers like a steam press. The cook loads it with noodles, cabbage, maybe eggs, and other veggies. Lowers the press and grills it until the smoke is thick in the diner, then serves it on a hot skillet with clear soup and rice.
Japan has been welcoming and full of kindness and good service. At one hotel I threw away lots of the clothes I brought but the management of the hotel found me in another and brought the bag of dirty clothes to me, just to make sure I was certain about throwing it away. If you don:t answer your wake up call, they send someone up immediately. Kind but very regimented.
I asked about Mt. Fuji on the bullet train and was told I could see it at 5.47 p.m. and sure enough that is exactly the time it was visible.
Great trip. Lots of photos. See you soon.
Larry Goddard
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