Leaving Japan. Last thoughts and last photos. And toilets.

I was not eager to take this trip. I don't like the long flight over the pacific (even though it is faster than getting to Oslo) and I had no particular interest in joining in with the Japanese culture. Doreen was rather insistent on making this trip, and while we didn't spend the two weeks she wanted, neither did we spent the five days I wanted. We compromised on 10 days, of which I was working for three of them

I was a little surprised at how much park space we saw. Of course, that could have been a function of where we stayed (by the imperial palace). I was also surprised at how easy it was to get around. (That was partly because Doreen has scoped out the subway on the day she was in Tokyo alone. But I also include in this my flight from Tokyo to Nagasaki, and the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto)



Both of our Tokyo hotels were very nice. They had great cotton Kimono type robes that we really enjoyed.

and the service in each was impeccable.

Service everywhere we went was impeccable. The people were friendly, and even when we had no language in common (which was frequent) we were always treated with respect and, I suppose I should say, honor.

I was also surprised at the wonky architecture.


that you saw again and again. (We have even more photos of odd buildings)


I was not prepared for the fact that people lined up to get into a department store, and then rushed the doors as if it were Black Friday at Walmart. As far as we could tell, there was no exceptional sale or event. But you can see the guard standing inside the door of the store below.


Everything was expensive. It is hard to see in this photo, but one grade of meat below is on sale for ¥5250/100g - that equates to $242/lb. That is some expensive meat! No wonder most Japanese don't eat red meat. (the cheaper cuts here are ¥1260/100g or only $58/lb. A bargain!

But one of the most amazing things were the toilets.

The Japanese toilets are a wonder. There are regular stories about these toilets in the western press (the Wall Street Journal seems to have stories once a year about these toilets)

It is fantastic. First, you push a button and the toilet seat goes up (unless it goes up automatically when you walk into the bathroom, as this one did). Then when you sit down. the toilet seat is soft and warm.

When you are finished, you push a button and get a spray wash (gentle or firm. One said "powerwash"). You can increase or decrease the strength of the spray, as well as the direction of the spray.

Then when you are finished, you push the "dryer" button.

Fantastic.

I want one of these.

One last word. We had a great experience with United on the flight home.

We were originally scheduled to fly though San Francisco (upgrade coupon issues) but the flight from Tokyo to SF was cancelled! I was very shocked when I got the alert (from Flight Aware) that we had been cancelled. I immediately called United ("this call is not toll free from outside the US. DO you still want to make this call?" You bet!) and we were put on the non-stop flight! I was probably the only person happy that NRT-SFO flight was cancelled. Thank you Ester in Tampa!

So now we are home. I am glad we went, I am glad I can tell people we made this trip. I would even recommend a visit to my more adventurous traveling friends.

Bring a lo of money.

The Street of Plastic Food

There are some parts of Tokyo that feel like they are made for tourists (western or Asian). This little neighborhood is one of them.

This street was selling nothing but junk.


and it was right in front of this big temple. What is the difference between a temple and a shrine? I am not sure, and I am not going to look it up at the moment. Maybe later.


They had this useful sign:

warning you that birds may poop on your clothes here.

Oddly enough, we did not see many pigeons in Japan. Considering how many you see in other cities, they were remarkable by their absence.

We would sometimes take photos of maps, so we wouldn't have to carry the maps around.


and if you look closely on that map above, you see something called "Plastic Food"

It leads you to this street:


and it not only has plastic food, but tens of stores that sell kitchen supplies:


and the Dog Cafe.


and more and more kitchen supplies

but don't sleep in front of them.


and finally you get to the plastic food stores.

This is all plastic:


so is this:


and this:

It is not cheap, this plastic food. Some of the bigger pieces push $100. The smaller ones are in the $10 or $20 range.

I am not sure where we were, I think it was a department store, when we saw this emergency box in an elevator.


I think that it is there filled with food, water, and chemical toilets, in case you get stuck there during an earthquake.

Not all elevators had these, but many did.

A river cruise in Tokyo on the May Peace Prevail on Earth

After the Fish Market, we stopped by the Hamarikyu Detached Palace Garden. It is another garden from another Shogun. This one, as you can see, is about 300 years old:


And here is the 300 year Pine. If you can read the sign above, it is named the 300-year Pine because it was planted 300 years ago.


This is called the Detached Garden because it was not next to the palace. The palace is now gone, but the garden is still here. And still detached.


Back in the Shogun's time, they would hunt ducks (for fun. I think most of them were Buddhists and didn't eat meat). They felt so bad about killing the ducks that they made a memorial to their little duck souls:


and this is what a duck soul memorial looks like:


One of the reasons we went to this park was that it is a jumping off point for one of the ferries from which you can take a river cruise. It is not really a cruise, in the sense that you get on at one point and get off on another. It is really transportation.


It was a good trip.


Cormorants and gulls. Neither being used for fishing.


This is Fuji-Film headquarters.


I think that this was the name of the ferry. I can live with that.


a freighter.


This is the river side of the Fish Market. I can't stay away from that place!


A bridge


another bridge. There were a lot of bridges.


That is the Asahi beer HQ with that odd plume-like thing on top. It is supposed to represent the head on a beer. It does not do a very good job, and is know by a very vulgar term in Japan. You can imagine what the term is.

Tokyo, the second time. Another round with the fish market!

The hotel were we stayed the second time in Tokyo was only a couple of blocks from the first hotel. So it had more or less the same view:


It did have some interesting "Hidden Atrium Art" however. you could see this while waiting to grab an elevator from your floor, but nowhere else:


And we just couldn't stay away from the Fish Market!

The truth is that we wanted to get Doreen a "Hello Kitty in the Fish Market" T-shirt. But they didn't have her size in the style she wanted. So we ended up with no Hello Kitties at all.


The cut frozen tunas with a band saw. They had "no photo" signs everywhere around here. But I took pictures anyway.


Shellfish:


Needle fish:


Tuna eyes:


Yellowtail:


and, incongruously, bacon!


These little LP gas powered movers were everywhere. On the T-Shirt Doreen wanted, Hello Kitty was driving one of these things:


The have plenty of rules at the fish market:

No Pets. No Strollers. No Sandals. No Tour Guides.


No Big Luggage. No Smoking.


No Drunks.

I can understand all those restrictions. The fish market was a happening place. A dangerous, active, industrial, happening place.