Category: Japan 2009

See, I said I wasn’t going to blog much this time. Don’t think that the lack of activity here suggests that we’re not having a good time–we’re having a great time.

I just uploaded a bunch of photos. There is a set here of photos taken during our second day in Tokyo, mostly at Tokyo Tower and the nearby Zojoji Temple. The next day we went to Kamakura; photos from that day, including sevaral of the Big Bronze Guy, are here. The day after that (which was Tuesday the 7th) we went to Akihabara (mecca for computer/electronics/anime geeks) and did some shopping in Asakusa, stopping for lunch at the same Noodle Lady’s booth I wrote about two years ago. (She wasn’t here last year; apparently she’s only here during the cherry-blossom-viewing season. It makes me wonder what does does during the rest of the year.) Photos from that day are here. I’m not putting in many captions so if you have any questions about the photos leave a comment here or write to me. read more

If I decided to be a writer, I’d spend time in Tokyo for inspiration. There are so many things that seem like scenes from a novel; a book would almost write itself. Today we stopped at a coffee shop in the small mall underneath the Tokyo Tower. As I approached the counter I realized that the menu on the wall was in Japanese, except for a few headings in English. One of the proprietors observed my confusion and cheerfully presented a large photographic menu with added captions in English. Tracie ordered a hot cocoa and I ordered what I thought was a coffee latte sprinkled with matcha (ground green tea). At the table, while Sarah McLaughlin’s “Building a Mystery” played on cafe speakers, I discovered that I’d ordered a matcha latte. It was deep green and slightly bitter, and looked fairly odd as I stirred the whipped cream into it. I’m not entirely sure that I’d order another one. read more

Japan is a society in which it has not been forgotten that courtesy and simple pleasantries require almost no additional effort, and yet make everyone’s day a little more pleasant.

Japanese cuisine has no fear of chewy things. I had something in my soup at lunch today (visible in the center bowl) which I think was slices of mushroom. It was surprisingly chewy–not unpleasantly so, but more resistant to being chewed than anything commonly found in American food that I can think of off the top of my head. read more

We arrived at the hotel about an hour ago. We got up over 24 hours ago. We managed to grab an hour or so of sleep on the plane, not that it helps much. Here’s the view from the hotel:

I love this city.