August 12, 2001-Tokyo Style Welcome
(photo-Kabuki Theater-Tokyo)
Breakfast was a buffet of Asian and Western food literally from soup to nuts including Caesar salad. We observed cross-cultural forces at work. An Asian man was eating a Japanese breakfast of miso soup, pickled veggies and rice with a fork holding the bowl up to his face Asian style while an Asian child ate her sausage and hard boiled eggs with chopsticks. We later learned that 40% of Japanese now suffer from high cholesterol or diabetes and that the health care system automatically takes 5% of their salary for medical coverage. They can buy additional catastrophic insurance.
By 8 A.M. we were off on our half-day city bus tour. On our tour were two Jewish couples from New York, one of whom is an Israeli. He and his wife had bought a piano on the Internet from a couple in Australia with whom they still have a long distance relationship. You’ll never guess where that couple lives in Australia. You’ve got it. We now have the name to look up in the Xanadu Apartments in Surfer’s Paradise. There was a family from New Zealand on the bus too and several English speaking Japanese from the states.
Old Blends With New
According to our guide, General Macarthur is a hero here. Thanks to him Japanese farmers own their land. They figure that if they had to lose the war and surrender to someone, the U.S. was the best of the lot and Macarthur was a real gentleman in how he handled the turnover. Who’d have guessed?
A Buddhist Temple we saw was surrounded by a Temple Market. Stalls of all kinds of goods fanned out from the temple for at least a block in each direction. It reminded me of the descriptions of The Temple in biblical Jerusalem. Our guide said that Japanese didn’t take religion seriously. There’d been no religious wars in Japan and they were happy blending Buddhism, Shinto, and Christianity. They like Christmas, go to Buddhist temples to ask for help with problems, and Shinto shrines in good times, like for weddings and births.
All tall office buildings and apartments have red triangles on selected windows that are made to open from the outside so people can be easily rescued without breaking the glass. In the newer buildings, all windows are framed in rubber to withstand earthquakes. Sets of two narrow columns at frequent intervals support newer freeways. The roadbed is separated from these supports by rubber.
After the tour we asked to be dropped of in the Ginza district and had a Chinese meal at a department store there. We paired up with a couple from California on our bus and walked around with them. We were trying to find a boat tour of the harbor area and a woman whom we asked for help not only directed us to where she thought the boat was, but also walked us there. Unfortunately, her memory was not as good as her manners, but the walk was pleasant. When we went our separate ways we stumbled upon a Buddhist Temple where a service was in progress. If our clergy had to do services on their knees our services would be as shorter. The Temple was beautiful, but my favorite sight was that of a monk in saffron robed regalia carrying a laptop computer through the temple.
On our way to the subway station we passed the Kabuki Theater. We’d heard that you could buy tickets for part of a show and that suited us. The shows are 4-6 hours long. We bought a ticket for one hour and it was more than enough. The ticket admitted us to standing room on the 4th level. A couple was there with a tiny baby and every time the crowd shouted out to the actors the baby cried. The father kept coming and going depending on the noise level of the audience and the baby. We spoke to them later. He was an Israeli and she was English.
We rode the subway back to our hotel. Station names were clearly marked in English. We asked directions to our hotel a couple of times, but eventually surfaced after a long walk through an underground tunnel/shopping area to find ourselves right outside the hotel lobby.
We’re off to find food again. Tomorrow we take the bullet rain to Kyoto.
Toby
Breakfast was a buffet of Asian and Western food literally from soup to nuts including Caesar salad. We observed cross-cultural forces at work. An Asian man was eating a Japanese breakfast of miso soup, pickled veggies and rice with a fork holding the bowl up to his face Asian style while an Asian child ate her sausage and hard boiled eggs with chopsticks. We later learned that 40% of Japanese now suffer from high cholesterol or diabetes and that the health care system automatically takes 5% of their salary for medical coverage. They can buy additional catastrophic insurance.
By 8 A.M. we were off on our half-day city bus tour. On our tour were two Jewish couples from New York, one of whom is an Israeli. He and his wife had bought a piano on the Internet from a couple in Australia with whom they still have a long distance relationship. You’ll never guess where that couple lives in Australia. You’ve got it. We now have the name to look up in the Xanadu Apartments in Surfer’s Paradise. There was a family from New Zealand on the bus too and several English speaking Japanese from the states.
Old Blends With New
According to our guide, General Macarthur is a hero here. Thanks to him Japanese farmers own their land. They figure that if they had to lose the war and surrender to someone, the U.S. was the best of the lot and Macarthur was a real gentleman in how he handled the turnover. Who’d have guessed?
A Buddhist Temple we saw was surrounded by a Temple Market. Stalls of all kinds of goods fanned out from the temple for at least a block in each direction. It reminded me of the descriptions of The Temple in biblical Jerusalem. Our guide said that Japanese didn’t take religion seriously. There’d been no religious wars in Japan and they were happy blending Buddhism, Shinto, and Christianity. They like Christmas, go to Buddhist temples to ask for help with problems, and Shinto shrines in good times, like for weddings and births.
All tall office buildings and apartments have red triangles on selected windows that are made to open from the outside so people can be easily rescued without breaking the glass. In the newer buildings, all windows are framed in rubber to withstand earthquakes. Sets of two narrow columns at frequent intervals support newer freeways. The roadbed is separated from these supports by rubber.
After the tour we asked to be dropped of in the Ginza district and had a Chinese meal at a department store there. We paired up with a couple from California on our bus and walked around with them. We were trying to find a boat tour of the harbor area and a woman whom we asked for help not only directed us to where she thought the boat was, but also walked us there. Unfortunately, her memory was not as good as her manners, but the walk was pleasant. When we went our separate ways we stumbled upon a Buddhist Temple where a service was in progress. If our clergy had to do services on their knees our services would be as shorter. The Temple was beautiful, but my favorite sight was that of a monk in saffron robed regalia carrying a laptop computer through the temple.
On our way to the subway station we passed the Kabuki Theater. We’d heard that you could buy tickets for part of a show and that suited us. The shows are 4-6 hours long. We bought a ticket for one hour and it was more than enough. The ticket admitted us to standing room on the 4th level. A couple was there with a tiny baby and every time the crowd shouted out to the actors the baby cried. The father kept coming and going depending on the noise level of the audience and the baby. We spoke to them later. He was an Israeli and she was English.
We rode the subway back to our hotel. Station names were clearly marked in English. We asked directions to our hotel a couple of times, but eventually surfaced after a long walk through an underground tunnel/shopping area to find ourselves right outside the hotel lobby.
We’re off to find food again. Tomorrow we take the bullet rain to Kyoto.
Toby
2 comments:
This is great!
This should be published
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