Mom visits Japan and takes over the blog…

We had a great time w/Rob in Tokyo. Sandy & I arrived on Fri about  1500 & took the airport limo/bus to our hotel. We were pretty wiped out & not feeling very experimental w/food, so we ate at hotel – spending quite a lot on quiche. Next day we walked in circles for a while before finding the department stores in Ginza. This was the high fashion district – multi story buildings w/a variety of items on each floor. The basement floors (at least 3) had food. Some prepared, some boxed like from gift baskets, & lots of candies & pastries. We were adventurous & got salads w/moz cheese , & ate in room while resting. Before we hit the high end stores, we stopped by the DonKi stores. (We were trying to find the department store, & a guy asked if he could help us – he pointed out the dept store but said we could follow him to this cheap unique store.) DonKi was 2 floors of stuff – could hardly walk thru aisles w/o knocking stuff over – but they also had their Halloween stuff out early. When we toured the expensive stores, we stopped by the kimono shop – custom made kimonos. The fabric was only about 23″ wide so I tried to find out how they made kimonos out of fabric that narrow. I couldn’t get the salesperson to explain it but I got a better idea after checking out the kimono we say on ladies we passed.
After our rest hour, we headed out in a different direction, aiming for the Imperial Palace. We walked thru Hibiya Park, where they were holding an Octoberfest for the whole month of September. Since neither of us are beer drinkers & Rob doesn’t think much of the beer, we kept to the outside of the festivities. We made it to the outskirts (moat) of the palace when it started raining. Of course the umbrellas were in the room but we toughed it out for a while & walked around some. The entrance to the palace was on the opposite side from us, so we walked another way back to the hotel. Rob arrived about 9 – we were waiting in the lobby for him & we headed out for dinner. He & his google map led the way to a tempura place but not w/o some adventures. There are shops everywhere – in alleys & up several flights. Waiters from the out of the way places stand on the main drag to escort you to their place, we went to 1 place but didn’t like their selection so we walked quite a lot that night as well.

Day 2 – Mt Fuji. The bus picked us up at the hotel & took us to the bus terminal where we boarded the tour bus. The bus took us to Station 5, which is the highest point vehicles can go. This is where Rob started his trek last week. Mt. Fuji was in the clouds when we were at Station 5, but as we started down the mountain, the sky cleared so we stopped for better pictures. Lunch was next – a traditional meal – not quite to our tastes but Cheez-it’s to the rescue. Lunch was on 1 lake & then we went to Lake Ashi to ride the  catamaran – not the pirate ship ):

– to the starting point for the gondola – that was rated to hold 101 people. We were packed in w/ a little more than 1 bus load (40 ppl). Anyway, at the top there was an observation deck & a shrine. The old ladies walked around the path while the young man hiked to the shrine so we could take pictures of each other.

We hurried to get back on the bus so we could make it to the bullet train (Shinkansen) in time. Train let us off at Tokyo Station where we found a place for Japanese curry (which is different than the Indian curry we’re having tonight).

Day 3 – Fish market for starters – not sure what everything was but lots of cool photos of natural items – not the vacuum packed stuff. Got pastries for breakfast instead of sushi, against Rob’s strong recommendation.

Next stop – computer shop in Akihabara – just 10 floors of electronics – computers, kitchen appliances, sewing machines (mainly Brother brand), ear phones but best – other than the $600 toaster ovens w/ $6.50 delivery fee- were the massage chairs which can’t be sold or exported outside of Japan. Sandy is having a hard time accepting this, so she’s started an internet search. At least once a hour a comment is made about how great the massage chair would feel right now – massaging the calves or rolling over your back or butt.

Next stop was Asakusa to see the shrine. We got cabbage pancakes (okonomiyaki) & ate on the steps of the shrine which may cause problems for us w/the Shinto gods. Sandy took a break to recharge her batteries & those on her e-reader. Rob & I walked to the suit stores & then walked around some more before heading out to see the lights & get some dinner.

City lights can be viewed from multiple locations around Tokyo – but we picked the free spot – the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office building. Usually night viewing is from the north tower only but on the 2nd & 4th Mondays you could go to the South Tower which is supposed to be the better view. We metro’d over & just like DC, there are lots of metro lines that feed a single station & there are underground walkways w/stores & restaurants. We got off at the station Sunday’s tour guide reccomended , which was not the closest one to the Gov’t building, that’s how I noticed the DC similarities. The view from the top was fantastic – but it should be 45 floors up on a clear night.

 

Dinner was rammen- an 8″ diameter bowl filled with broth, noodles longer than spagetti, & other goodies (but no raw fish) that you slurped w/ chopsticks & a flat spoon. Rob had wanted to go hear based on someone’s recommendation & it was mighty fine. Metro back to hotel was uneventful & we finally traveled the same path from the station to the hotel.

After getting back to the hotel we wanted to see the skyline from our hotel roof….So Rob & I had go to our hotel’s roof top lounge & spend $14 on A glass of wine before going to bed.

Day 4 started w/ an update of who was playing Monday night football – it was starting in less than 1 hour. Morg provided another update on Pitta , so Sandy was satisfied the folks at Union Memorial -her work and the Ravens hospital- were doing OK w/o her. Rob & I walked to find a bakery for breakfast goodies – we tried to follow our noses at 1 point & while we Knew we smelled buttery, flakey baked goods there was no way we could figure out where they came from, so we went to one of the shops we saw on our Monday afternoon exploration.

Treking to the station was a challenge – 1 of the suitcases was slightly injured at that time & mine had a broken wheel by the time we got to Nara, today’s stop. But we had Rob who has been working out when nothing else is going on so he’s bulkier than when he left. back on the bullet train – this time to Kyoto w/ a transfer to Nara & stop at Rob’s apartment. We grabbed lunch in the station but didn’t eat till we had started a load of laundry at Rob’s.

His apartment is just as he’s described – SMALL but it’s larger than his co-worker’s across the way. Sandy & I don’t believe he fits in the bed but he says he has a couple inches to spare. We hung out the laundry before we headed back to the train to go to our hotel (a ryokan, tradional Japanese hotel).

Rob’s school is 2 floors above his station but we aren’t ‘allowed’ there till Thursday, before 12. It’s either Show & Tell time or Bring your Mom & Aunt to Work day.

Rob got us settled in the Ryokan & we went for our Indian curry dinner. Sandy & I are sitting/laying on the floor, comosing this blog & checking on life in the states. I need to send to Rob so he can add to his weekly post that we all try to read before lunch on Tuesdays. More adventures next time.

Thanks for reading,

Ginger’s Mom (aka Suzanne)