Expensive, Modern and Beautiful Tokyo:

5 Oct - Fri - arrived in Tokyo in the evening via Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train that moves in excess of 180mph).

Bullet Train - beautiful and sleek

Mt. Fuji from the train

Hokkaido Festival - slightly crowded!

Cosplay girl

Cosplay threesome forming Japanese letters

We arrived at our son’s very nice home and settled in for a Jeff  home cooked meal and a marathon laundry run.
Some of the highlights of our first full sightseeing day were: a sumptious breakfast buffet at New Sanno Hotel (military hotel) and then walking in Harajuku to see Tokyo's cosplay (costume play) culture- which was basically lots of young Japanese in crazy outfits trying to look ultra cool and then the Rockabillies in Yoyogi Park (Elvis dancers- which is another bizarre bit of Tokyo pop culture), Hokkaido Festival in Yoyogi Park (Food from the northern part of Japan- really yummy- kind of like their version of Marathon Seafood Festival), Yosakoi traditional street dance festival in Ikebukuro then dinner at Katsu restaurant. And that was just one day!!!

Getting around this huge metropolitan area:

Ladies in traditional garb enjoying a Sunday morning in the

 park

Due to the very high cost of taxis (neat, clean with lace head and seat covers and polite drivers wearing white gloves) we mostly used the trains and subways to get around.  The stations were crowded of course but not like China and in Japan everyone is very quiet on public transportation with most everyone (even the older Japanese) glued to their mobile phones (although speaking on a phone on the subway or train is not allowed).  The Japanese are so polite; there is a great deal of bowing and saying thank you but on the train/subway system no one gives up a seat for a little old lady unless they are forced to!!! This country is so efficient and the trains are almost always on time and they come every few minutes; definitely the way to travel here.

Good eats: We handled the Japanese cuisine better than the Chinese

Enjoying the Korean BBQ

Tuna Sashimi at Ninja

We enjoyed a wide variety of great food, notably a dinner at a Japanese/Korean BBQ restaurant near our son’s home; a cool lunch at a sushi go around (a conveyer belt of sushi that you just reach up and grab); an Texas brisket dinner at Bashamichi Taproom in Yokohama; beer and brats at the Odaiba Oktoberfest in Tokyo (very strange to see all the Japanese drinking to German music and barmaids in German outfits) and our favorite meal at a Ninja theme restaurant in Akasaka. You would not think that a “theme” restaurant would be so good, but the food was amazing and visually beautiful, the decor out of this world and the waiters/waitresses in full Ninja mode including a Ninja magician doing coin and card tricks tableside while you ate your desert. The four of us had a blast!!!!! The Japanese love theme stuff, karaoke, and animation.

Senso-Ji Temple at night

Buddhas, Temples, Shrines and more Buddhas:

Cave Shrine with little golden Buddhas

Senso-Ji Temple at night

Highlights: to Asakusa to see the Senso-Ji, a Buddhist temple built in the 7th century; train to Kamakura to see the Great Buddha (outside and so huge that we were able to go inside the Buddha); visit to the Hasedera Temple with views of Kamakura city and bay, and a cave shrine which was so awesome and unusual (thousands of little golden Buddhas inside all lined up like Japan’s version of the terra cotta warriors).

We could walk inside this Buddha

A monk at the Senso-Ji Temple

And when we were not seeing Buddhas we visited Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building Observatory in Shinjuku with an amazing 360 view and rode the giant ferris wheel in Tokyo (9th tallest in the world at 115 meters; we’ll hopefully do the world’s tallest when we visit Singapore). Walked through Ginza (Japan's version of 5th Ave in NYC) and we toured the Kirin Brewery in Yokohama- a personal favorite of mine. We also drove out to Mt. Fuji (you could see the mountain but just barely) and went to Fuji-Q Highland amusement park where the kids rode the world’s steepest rollercoaster. I enjoyed watching all the Japanese school groups posing for their group pictures in front of the amusement park.

View of Tokyo harbor from our Conrad room

No visit to the Kirin Brewery would be complete without a little taste

On one of the evenings we stayed at The Conrad Hotel in Tokyo in hopes of making the Tsukiji fish market’s giant tuna auction (largest and most famous in the world). We got up at 4:00 AM to hike to the market only to find that it had already sold out. They only allow in 120 people in two 20 min. sessions and we were told that if we got there by 5:00 we would get in. This was a rainy, cool Thursday morning and they were sold out at 4:00!!! People waited in the cold dark rain for 2 ½ hours for a 20 minute viewing- that is how popular this event is. However, we did get to see this crazy, humongous market area come alive  before the crack of dawn with all the hustle and bustle, sights and smells amidst the tiny breakfast bars open for the workers and buyers to slurp down their bowls of udon noodles and fish soup. Yum!!

Culture observations: Clothing

In the areas that we visited the men mostly wore white shirts, dark pants with tie and jacket optional. The young women were all in very short skirts with extremely high heels, black tights and usually lacey anklet socks. Another popular style for women and older teenage girls was to wear extremely short shorts or jean cut offs over black tights or stockings and then the anklets with high heels. The “baby doll” look was another popular style which was usually high heels, black socks that went up mid thigh and a very short skirt with a lacy top. Hair would be straight or in “pig” tails and most of the fashionable women also wore false eyelashes. Lots of eye makeup! Unlike Kyoto, you rarely saw traditional dress. And men and women alike seemed to have lots of charms hanging on their bags, phones, etc. and most of the men wear black shoulder bags too. Everyone has a phone and they all walk with their heads down texting. Designer brands are very numerous and popular so these folks must be getting well paid because Tokyo is a very expensive city.

Another observation: kids (all in uniforms) rode the trains and subways to and from school and even the 5 and 6 year olds rode alone, unaccompanied by an adult or older child. This is an extremely safe country where kids are taught responsibility (and how to navigate public transportation) at a very early age.  It is also a very honest country where theft, lying and cheating are almost unheard of. Everyone is so polite, the cities are clean; the air quality even in Tokyo was good.

I think the very best part of Japan was getting to spend time with both kids and hanging out at our son’s home enjoying a few home cooked Pinkus meals and lots of games of canasta and great conversations. . We were blessed with perfect weather and our son was the most gracious, patient and generous of tour guides. He helped us pack in a wide variety of sights and activities.

The 3 weeks we spent touring with our kids was the absolute best. We made so many great memories and proved once again to be pretty good travel companions.

Bye kids - hope to see you Marathon at Christmas

However, I would be remiss if I did not comment of the bathrooms of Japan (especially after coming from China, the land of bring your own toilet paper and no there is no soap).  The amazing Japanese have the Washlet, a combination toilet (often with comfortable heated seat) and bidet (of soothing warm water in just the right spots)!!!!  It is truly the 8^th wonder of the world and even the train stations, grocery stores, etc. have them. Got to love those Japanese engineers. And talk about clean bathrooms- the Japanese excel there too.

So next stop is Bangkok and more………………….Buddhas!!!!! So many Buddhas, so little time!!!!!