Overview

Wow!  What an experience Japan and learning how to create a blog both were.  Thanks for following along on my adventures!  I hope you've enjoyed yourself and maybe learned a thing or two.  I've learned so much!

If you are new to the blog, my biggest suggestion is to start at the bottom (the oldest post) and work your way back chronologically, since I reference older posts as I write. At this point I have finished all my planned posts, but I may go back for revisions if needed.

Again, thanks for reading.  Please enjoy!

Newspaper article

When I returned another article was written about my journey in a different newspaper.

Here is the link :  http://www.pioneerlocal.com/hinsdale/news/1265385,hi-japanese-110608-s1.article

I was a bit misquoted, but this blog was mentioned.  I talked to the reporter for an hour and it was interesting to see the things she wrote about.  As for the last paragraph, I am glad I stayed so busy in Japan, when I return I will have more things to see.

Sayonara Japan, Hopefully Ja Mata (See you later)

This is my final day in Japan.  Views from upstairs breakfast restaurant. 

We all have  a  lot of luggage to hall home.  Our carts went out the airport door.  Though things are amazingly efficient so we were through in no time at all!

Mostly we flew through the dark, but I looked out and saw the sun rising.  Here's Alaska.

Sunrise from the plane.

Flying into the light.

Lynne and I posed for this one.  We actually didn't really sleep on the way back.  We were busy talking, working, and watching the movies.

Trouble behind us!  :) 

Sayonara Japan and new friends I'll miss you.  Ja mata.  See you later!

Random Images

Some images don't fit in categories, but they caught my attention.

A crossing guard in front of The Diet (legislative meeting building).

Hello Kitty Bus!  Hello Kitty is huge in Japan.

Work trucks are much smaller.

Garbage truck.

Delivery.

Denny's outside of the Sensojii Shrine.

Tokyo Tower from the bus tour.

Raven(?) in a tree.  I recorded it singing.  They are very loud and I found then all over the city.

Pokemon plane.

I saw these sumo wrestlers at the domestic airport when we were flying to Fukutsu.  They agreed to pose with me, but as you can see I warned them to give me plenty of space!  They didn't want to mess with em - I'm so intimidating!  (Just kidding!)

Gary and Lynne all worn out.  We had such busy days!

Lounging in our yukata (hotel issued outfits) in the lobby.

Here is some yen.  Coins can be worth quite a bit and larger bills are larger in size.  This is equivalent to about $67 U.S. dollars.  Cash is used more than in the U.S.  Many places do not accept credit cards.

The back of the yen.

This toy store was mostly Hello Kitty.  This homemade golden temple caught my attention.

An example of one of the many tables of Hello Kitty goods.

Funny name at our "pit stop" on the way to the airport.

This is the first ambulance I saw.

Japan is very clean but you never see trash cans.  We often commented on it because if you had something to throw away you would have to carry it around all day.  Lynne and I saw these cans on our last morning in Ueno Koen.  I had to get a shot to prove to all of our fellow JFMFers that their really was a public trash can in Tokyo.  I still don't know where all the trash was, maybe everyone is bringing it to the park!  ;)

Otani Garden

The hotel we stayed at in (Otani) Tokyo had a great garden.  I have views here from Lynne's room and from in the garden.

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These are other shots from around the hotel.

They perform weddings in this area.  This in where we were all waiting before we headed back home.

Food

Many people have asked me about food. Here it is. Japan is an island nation, so fish are in integral part of their diet. (Being a vegetarian, this sometimes caused me hiccups because bonita flakes were used as a base in many soups and seasonings.)

In general, meals have many different dishes. I loved the variety of food, but it must have been hard to prepare it all and wash all the dishes since everything is served on separate dishes!


Coke is everywhere!

Breakfast after the fish market.



Octopus balls being prepared at the baseball game. Would you be willing to give it a try?


These were snacks I saw at a convenience store. Dried fish anyone?


Pringles are everywhere too!


Frozen zucchinis on a stick sold as street food.

The windows of many restaurants are filled with plastic models of food to tempt passerbys to come inside.  This tradition started with wax medical models, moved to food models, then became plastic.  Sometimes you use them to order especially if their is a language barrier.

While we on the road we were served box lunches, known as bento boxes.  This is mine a special veggie version.  The small serving of spaghetti had a ketchup like sauce.  The top portion also has cold eggplant tempura and a tiny portion of a jello like dessert.  Also included five half tomato and cucumber crustless sandwiches and cold fries.

Everyone else had a mix of half sandwiches (including chicken patty, egg salad, potato salad), egg and some hot dog/sausage type item.

My next bento box had hard boiled egg & tomato and cucumber & lettuce sandwiches both with lots of mayonnaise and no crusts.  It seems most sandwiches are served crustless and on white bread in Japan.

As you can see most meals are several small dishes.  I just love the variety!

There is always sticky rice!

These were candy treats we were served at the Indigo House.

I'm not sure what these were some kind of home made steaming rice muffin also served at the Indigo House.

This is a school lunch.  Notice the variety.  Next to the kiwi is a strip of seaweed; they are very nutritious.  The schools teach about the nutritional value of each item.  It seems kids can have seconds on items.  The sweet potatoes were covered in a very sweet coating.  The soup was fish based so I didn't taste it.

At the the elementary and high schools my lunch was a but rough because everything was made with fish base.  At the elementary I ended up with just a bowl of rice with no seasoning, but at the high school I ended up with a few more choices bread, rice, noodles, and yogurt.

This is what was served at the high school.

Here is one of my host family meals.  Like I mentioned earlier the Grandma must have spent all day cooking, she made every meal for us and they were elaborate and delicious.  She made everything vegetarian so I ate everything, though I wouldn't be able to identify it all.  They were so pleased that I could sit on my knees in the traditional manner and use chopsticks!  In the paper packages are pickled plums which are a big delicacy for the Japanese.  For every dish you get an individual plate or bowl.  It was fun eating off all the beautiful dishes, but it is a lot to clean up!

I thought everything here was good except for the green item in the square bowl.  I'm not sure what it is but it was slimy and hard to eat with chopsticks.

We even got dessert, as the guest I was asked to choose first, it was a tough choice!  I settled on the fruit cup pastry.


This was a fun meal.  It was vegetable tempura (yummy!) and a fondue type soup cooking right on the table. 

I'm not sure what kind of vegetable I was eating here.

This is from the Genkai Ryokan.  An elaborate meal is part of the experience.  It has many courses and lasts all evening.  Here are photos of my meal (special to be fish free) and everyone else's.  Fish are a huge part of the diet in Japan.  My meal was great!

First course.

2nd course.

Seafood in a box.

We are all wearing the traditional clothing that is issued to every guest.  Mine was way too big!  We are all sitting (kneeling) on the floor in two lines separated facing each other.  

The rice was cooked right on our trays about half way through the meal.

The dessert was some sort of dairy product with fruit.  

This vending machine dispensed beverages into cups like some coffee vending machines in the U.S.