The short tale is that it all was AWESOME! It was a great opportunity to experience a new culture, connect with friends and family and to spend some quality time with Tosha, Austen, and our cute grandson, NIKI. It was the perfect trip in every way. Thanks to Gary for making it possible, for Jena and Ben for helping out, and for Kathy and Jeff Siebach and Tosha, Austen and Niki for being just great hosts and tour guides and answering my millions of questions.
Now for those of you who want the rest of the story, read on................
The last day of the term was Tuesday night and Wednesday morning Gary and Jena dropped me off bright and early to catch my 8:35 am flight...which didn't leave until 10 which shorten my 2 1/2 hour layover to less than an hour before we even left and actually left me with 20 minutes --by the time we got to our gate-- to run (and I mean run) through the airport from the domestic to the international terminal in San Francisco. I didn't even have time to send a message off to Gary that I made it to the flight. I found the text I had written still on my phone waiting to be sent when I returned 12 days later to the US.
I was the last one to board---the most empty plane I have ever flown on in my entire life. In the back part of the cabin of the 747 where I was there was about 7 people total. We had rows of seats to spread over and to sleep. Meal service was fast. Drinks easy to get. It was amazing. Why did that never happen when I was traveling with four kids overseas? It was a great start to my trip.
Because of the way of overseas travel, I left Wednesday morning and about 14 hours later I landed in Tokyo on Thursday afternoon. My friend, Kathy, met me at the airport and asked if I wanted to head home for a shower and nap, or start sightseeing. As I only had a day and a half in Tokyo, I picked sightseeing and off we went.
We parked at Jeff's office, tried out their public restrooms (which were amazing. I felt like I needed an instruction manual because there were so many choices...and a heated toilet seat.)
We walked through the city streets to the near by Imperial Palace site. You can't actually see the palace itself because it is deep within the forested estate. This is the gate where the Emperor comes down on special occasions to greet the country. The emperor has no really powers, mostly ceremonial like the British royal family. They are followed very closely in the media like the royals in England are as well.
Things I noticed:
- Public bathrooms are amazing.
- It is much quieter than Hong Kong. No horns honking--it is considered rude. And no one talks on their cell phone in public. Hong Kong is the "king" of cell phone conversations everywhere.
- Politeness is an art of Japan that exceeds any where I have ever been. It took a bit to get use to but it is a very calm and nice way to engage with others.
- For a big city, the areas I was in were very clean.
- The parks had grass and some of it you can actually walk on and play.
- When the air flight attendant gives the instruction to wait until the pilot has turned off the seat belt light, everyone actually waits.
- Everywhere there were parking attendants managing traffic and pedestrians to allow people in and out of packing lots in an orderly fashion. Again it kept the pace calm and orderly.
For Gary and my dad, my train experts---
It turned out that it was a 20 minute walk from my friends' apartment through another beautiful park.We headed there Friday morning. It was peaceful and beautiful.
A story to illustrate Japanese rule abiding nature: One year some mosquitoes were found to be carrying some disease and a large park near the Siebach's home was closed while the government tried to kill the mosquitoes. They placed yellow cautionary tape all around the park to warm people to stay off the park. On one busy side of the street, the tape went down the center of the sidewalk. As a result all of the people were forced to walk in half the sidewalk causing a major jam of people. One day Jeff decided to walk on the other half of the sidewalk which was totally free of people. He got a lot of looks from the Japanese and chewed out by some older Japanese ladies who informed him it wasn't "safe" on that side of the tape because of the mosquitoes. Finally if I have the story correct a policeman asked him to get back on the other side. Apparently Japanese mosquitoes are orderly enough to know to stay on their side of the yellow tape keeping everyone safe on the other side!
Another place we went was to one of the tallest government buildings with a view area on the top. The Sky Tree is actually the tallest viewing area but it costs about $50.00 US to take the trip. This was a bit shorter but free. Even there there was a line of people waiting to go up--it was orderly, quiet, no people cutting in line, people patiently waiting to take the elevators up and down.
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| That tall spire is the Sky Tree. |
Another activity we did was make a stop at a famous "Food Court". We arrived there exactly when the large shopping store opened and all of the workers were dressed in their uniforms and spent the first 2 minutes bowing at each customers as they walked into their area. Again quiet, orderly and polite.
We headed downstairs to one of the most beautiful "food courts" you have ever seen. Food court totally gives you the wrong impression. There was acres of inside spaces with glass stalls and shops with amazing displays of all types of food. It was huge. Pictures were not encouraged so I didn't take any even though you could see this was a tourist place as you passed by tour groups of Chinese and Japanese tourists.
We bought some sushi, bread and desserts for lunch. You really have to buy something while you are there because then you can observe another Japanese feature--presentation.
As you select your item, the worker begins the packaging the product.
In reverse, here was the process for our dessert:
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| The outside bag |
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| The box with the two desserts Tapped shut with a sticker of the shop |
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| The box was assembled in front of us Carefully to make sure it was perfect |
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| The inside view of the box There was extra room in the box so she carefully rolled up and taped a circle of cardboard to take the extra room and keep the two pieces secure. She added napkins and offered small forks for us which we declined since we were going to eat at home. |
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| She asked us how long until we were going to eat them. We said an hour so she included 2 ice bags to keep things fresh. This is common for many places and stores in the area to add ice in this way. |
It took about 3 minutes and it was fun to watch her deliberate motions to package things just right.
And the cake was delicious!
Our sushi was also great.
In the afternoon we drove over to the Tokyo Temple. It was closed as it was a holiday and the beginning of what is called the Golden Week in Japan. There are four holidays which fall somewhat in a row which creates a Golden Week where you can take just a couple of work days off and have a long vacation of 8-10 days depending on how it falls.
Below is the statue of Hachiko. I have copied the Wikipedia story about him here so that I will remember the details.
"In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo, took Hachikō, a golden brown Akita, as a pet. During his owner's life, Hachikō greeted him at the end of each day at the nearby Shibuya Station. The pair continued their daily routine until May 1925, when Professor Ueno did not return. The professor had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died, never returning to the train station where Hachikō was waiting. Each day for the next nine years, nine months and fifteen days, Hachikō awaited Ueno's return, appearing precisely when the train was due at the station.
Hachikō attracted the attention of other commuters. Many of the people who frequented the Shibuya train station had seen Hachikō and Professor Ueno together each day. Initial reactions from the people, especially from those working at the station, were not necessarily friendly. However, after the first appearance of the article about him on October 4, 1932 in Asahi Shimbun, people started to bring Hachikō treats and food to nourish him during his wait.[4]"
At this same location by the train station is the famous Shibuya Crossing. It looks like Time Square in New York with tall buildings and lots of lights at night. This spot has two roads that intersect but not at 90 degrees. Instead of the typical pattern of crossing, traffic is stopped in all directions and pedestrians than can cross in all directions at once. There are crosswalks in all directions as well. So you can cross one street to the left or right like we normally cross in the US OR you can take the crosswalk that goes diagonally from one major corner to the next one. On a Friday night there is a huge amount of people in the area so it was an impressive site. Kathy said that you can look on YouTube and find many videos about the Shibuya Crossing.
KAthy and Jeff had a couple of bamboos which were growing outside their living room and kitchen windows. Bamboos grow up to 14 inches in a day so you can almost watch them grow. It is crazy.
Jeff said one time they posted a note on a bamboo starting to grow saying hi to their fourth floor neighbor (they live on the ground floor.) About 10 days later, he called, laughing, saying that he had gotten their note that morning. So I took this picture to remind me about the bamboo. Even in the few days I was there, it had grown.
Kathy hadn't seen me take the picture and sent me this one on Saturday night because she knew that I had wanted a picture of the bamboo. Her angle was a bit different and further back than mine, but you can tell that this bamboo is even taller than the morning. Look at the light fixture on the fence.
As exciting as the sightseeing in Tokyo was, spending time with Kathy and Jeff was the highlight of that part of my trip. One of the great treasures of life is friends who you can not see for years and walk into a room and start the conversation like time as not passed at all. We have known the Siebachs since they moved to Hong Kong in the fall of 1987. Their son Jacob was the same age as Scott and they became fast friends. She served in the Relief Society presidency with me during the first years of our time in Hong Kong. We went on trips with them to the Philippines and to Thailand. Gary and I actually learned to scuba dive with them while on a trip to El Nito in the Philippines. Our topics of conversation were vast--Japanese culture and history, World War II, kids and families, memories from our trips and living in Hong Kong, and the gospel--serving, revelations, general conference to name a few.
It was sad to leave them on Saturday morning--there was so much left to talk about and memories to share and it is uncertain the next time I may see them again. The great thing is knowing that our friendship remains until we meet again. And as an extra bonus, Kathy sent me the bamboo picture, a talk she had given and shared some other things by email later on that day--it kept our visit going a bit longer. How I love them and my many other family and friends around the world! Those are my most treasured blessings along with my testimony of the gospel. People are amazing!
I got the bus to the airport at Narita to catch the plane to OKINAWA!!! The plane couldn't go fast enough to take me to the "Hawaii of Japan" and Tosha, Austen, and Niki.
(FYI: Check out the weight limits on ALL of your flights. I had two free bags for my international flights but knew that I had to pay for my bags from Tokyo to Okinawa as it was a domestic flight. I took just one large checked bag which I had paid for when I booked my tickets. Friday night when I was packing my bag I realized that my bag weight limit was 33 lbs on this flight instead of 50. I repacked and cleaned out as much as I could and put things into my carry-on. Unfortunately on those flights they also weigh your carry ons--7 kilos total. So I had to re-add things to my checked bag and pay $40 US dollars for get it to Okinawa. Ugg! Lesson learned.)
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