JAPAN

We are free of Japanese air space! Four days of satellite interference from the Japanese and one ship load of people tethered to the outside world via satellite does not make for good international relations. We are frustrated!!! Anyway, sorry for the delay and here is two days of my adventure. More to come...

Oct.5

Sendai, Japan

This is where Mr. Miyagi from the original Karate Kid must have been from because I looked out my window this morning and there on all the buses and the terminal signs are big letters proclaiming “Miyagi”. And I want to bow and start learning my karate –“wax on, wax off’ --the words a generation learned from Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid. But Miyagi is a Prefecture, a sort of state, with Sendai being the capitol city. We are in the northeast of Japan and all the fog we passed through last night brought us to a warm and sunny mid seventies today. We have broken free from the frozen hand of the the north Atlantic and are starting to bask in the balm of the Pacific. Alleluia. And standing on the dock are all the Japanese waiting for us dressed in identical black suits with white shirt s and the men in ties, just like we always see on TV. The Japanese do not value individuality in business clothing , but strive for harmony and I guess harmony is achieved through symmetry in clothing. Some of the guides and drivers even wear white gloves. Very proper. I had  to laugh when I came down the gangplank  as a Japanese man was standing holding a sign obviously waiting for his customer and the sign read “Mr Boss”.  It kind of reminded me of all the stereotypical cartoons of my childhood.

I knew Japan is an island nation. I even knew it was more than one island. I did not know it is 4 main island and hundreds of smaller ones. My geography stinks.  No surprise, it’s one of the reasons I take these trips. The waters around Japan are some of the busiest in the world – fishing, commerce, etc.  What I didn’t know , and this is critical to current world events , is that they drive on the left hand side of the road. Why? They weren’t a British colony, they make all the cars, for Pete’s sake they can make them any way they want!?!  So why backwards?  I’ll have to ask in Tokyo tomorrow. There wasn’t time for questions today because their immigration procedure made Russia’s look like the epitome of efficiency. Really! We waited in line on the boat for one and a half hours to be fingerprinted--both index fingers, photographed, passport checked, and finally allowed off the ship. The ship’s crew was fervently toting water, juice, coffee, cookies, life support, etc. the length of the ship to all the poor old people waiting in line. I just stood there quietly sweating out my latest fever and hoping the fish market was really going to be worth this effort.

I hate organized tours. But not knowing anyone on this ship and going to so many ports where I don’t speak the language and may get imprisoned for my political beliefs, I have signed up for the tours. Did I say I hate organized tours? They put little colored stickers on your shirt to tell you which bus to go on. Yes, that’s me, the people you feel sorry for when you’re on vacation and you see a bunch of elderly trotting after someone holding up a sign or a number or an umbrella. And because immigration took so long, we had to hurry, hurry, hurry, so I never got to ask why they drive on the left side of the road. This is why wars get started –lack of communication.

Anyway, I finally get aboard bus #4 and we are off to the fish market. As you can imagine, fish is big here. They didn’t start to eat meat until the late 1800’s and being an island fish is plentiful and has supported them through the ages. I didn’t know what to expect as the fish market in Russia was all salted fish and rather smelly. Here in Japan the emphasis is on fresh, really, really, fresh. Some markets will even cut open the live fish and leave it with the beating heart so the customer can see it’s freshness. The Japanese put a premium on freshness as, let’s face it, the ocean is pretty much in everyone’s back yard. We arrived at a huge warehouse after getting a 10 minute lecture on Japanese bathrooms. Yes, they have the traditional hole in the floor bathroom, which I still can’t figure out – what do you do with your pants and underwear? I need a demonstration. And the new ‘western’ style toilets, with many complicated buttons, the most interesting being the musical note button which simulates the sound of a toilet flushing without the waste of water. This is to cover any unseemly noises that may be coming from the toilet stall. But I really liked the heated seat feature.  I mean, you’d never get me out of there in January in Wisconsin; but back to the fish market.

Stall after stall after stall of every kind of fish in every stage of life ready to be taken home or eaten there. From tiny fish roe to the giant Big Eye Tuna which just came in season October 1, we saw it all. And we got to try samples. At first no one would try anything and I finally said why not and had a raw piece of some kind of tuna and it was so fresh and so delicious you would never know it was fish. And the people were so happy to have you try their samples. I even tried this little brown minnowy-thing the lady kept calling ‘sweet fish, sweet fish’ and it was a chewy, brown sugary small fish. Not good, but not bad either. And this huge warehouse full of fish did not smell fishy, only slightly briny. Everything was so clean and people took great pride in how they showcased each item from live crabs and oysters to octopus and squid. A wonderful experience topped off by warm toilet seats!

Next we hurry, hurry to Buddhist, Shinto shrine. Very confusing.  As one guide said 80% of the people are Buddhist, 80% are Shinto. They are what is convenient at certain times in life. And this shrine was a combination of both. To a westerner it looks like a lot of superstition as there is a big list of ages outside one of the temples and these are the unlucky years. I found myself anxiously checking for my age. How weird is that? You ring a bell, make a wish to a god, clap twice, put money in the slot and bow twice. Then we saw this precious little 3 year old girl all dressed in traditional kimono and hair and shoes and our guide tells us she is here for her third birthday blessing because traditionally in olden days, children died in their 3^rd year. Obviously there is more to these religions than our guide is conveying to us.

More hurry, hurry to Kirin Brewery. Yes!  Malt beverages.  This is a huge plant, with many, many buildings, stretching over several blocks and employing at least a half dozen workers. Really. Aside from the tour guides we only saw about six workers.  We’re not sure if production was just down at that plant or everything was mechanized. But they do give us tickets for free beer and snacks, but we have to hurry, hurry to finish them in a room that looks vaguely like a German beer hall. At this point in the day I realize that 1) contrary to what we hear in America everyone in Japan does not speak English, 2) there really is a culture gap between East and West and, 3) I really hate tours. And tomorrow I have a really long one in Tokyo. Oh well.

 We got back to the boat and everyone was so irate over the long immigration procedure this morning the Captain came over the intercom and offered free wine at dinner. I may be sick, but I’m from Milwaukee. I’m going to dinner in the dining room. Bottoms up.

Oct. 6

Another bright and sunny day and we are slowly sailing into Yokahama harbor. It is a terrific and modern looking city that is often overlooked because people are just trying to get to Tokyo, which is sort of what I am going to do and what makes being on a tour so frustrating. This looks and sounds like a fabulous place to visit with a population of 3.6 million it is second in size to Tokyo . I don’t think I’ve even given the place a second thought before, but the skyline is at least as impressive as Chicago with an extremely busy port. It was largely destroyed in 1923 by the Great Kanto earthquake and then was rebuilt only to be destroyed again in World War II. These are a strong and tenacious people.

Soon I go to get my colored sticker and be herded on my bus. I still feel pretty miserable and now everyone around me is afraid of me because I sniffle and sneeze and am stuffy. But my waiter, Madi, at dinner in the dining room last night was so happy to see me back after staying in my room for two nights he started jumping up and kicking his heels so high he got rounds of applause from nearby tables.

I’m back now from spending my day with almost 14 million people. Wow! First we left the breathtaking harbor of Yokohoma, went  through modern Yokohama with the beautiful downtown area that has been completely reclaimed from a Mitsubishi plant, through a tunnel under the harbor of Tokyo , across gorgeous bridges similar to the Golden Gate bridge and came out in this tremendously densely populated city of 12 million people. So many modern, high rise buildings! Many people, very little space to put them. The buildings have funny tubes or openings on the sides to deal with the heavy carbon dioxide emissions and all over the city they have incinerators to burn trash and then the heat from the burning is used to heat pools or greenhouses or some other useful purpose. Our first stop was  an ancient Shinto Buddhist shrine smack dab in the middle of the city. I can’t tell you how cosmopolitan I felt with my pink #12 sticker on my chest surrounded by white sneakered, overweight, Docker clad Amercians.  And all the Japanese who were not in their work uniforms were the picture of urban chicness. We are dowdy, dowdy, dowdy. But who cares? I have once again failed to find a friend to go on this tour with, although I found out the odd man from Canada who sometimes shows up at our dinner table  lives right next door to me and is on this tour, but he is keeping his distance. I tried to make friends but I think I scare him. And the little old lady Elise from New Joisey is by herself and having a little trouble getting around so I try to slow down and help her. People are really funny  -- some of them go out of their way to be nice to those of us who are obviously alone and others just ignore us. I have to bug people to take my picture sometimes, yet I find I’m always offering to take other people’spictures. Anyway, our excellent guide Yoko is terrified she will lose someone in the very, very crowded shrine area. Once again I am confused by Shinto/Buddhism, they put them both in the same place, but I know this: no one knows who or when Shinto started and it is a nature based religion, no scripture involved, sorta pagan. Buddhism came form India via Korea and China and of course you have  Buddha. Other than that, Yoko told us that many people inhale the incense for cures so I ran over to the incense pagoda and did the inhaling thing for my cold. Does this make me a pagan? Watching people go through the bowing, clapping, ringing bells, lighting incense, tying wishes on ropes,etc, it all looks like superstition to me. So I can’t help but wonder what our religions looks like to them. Although I am not worshiping a cow for it’s drool because that symbolizes long life. Really. You have to admit in this day and age rubbing a statute of a cow for long life because it has long drool is a bit weird. And I don’t mean that disrespectfully.  I also can’t help feeling  somewhat sacrilegious in that there is all this tremendous commercialism right at the temples and all these people running around yelling and taking photos.  But you are supposed to put in money as an offering every time you clap, bow, pray and ring the bell so maybe it’s not crass to them.  And the area falling away form the main temple is a street of vendors, of course. So after I sought the cure I walked alone down this very crowded street, and sought out  a bathroom. And  all I could find was the dreaded Japanese toilet. And instead of traditional square stalls these all had semi-circle stalls so my first hurdle was sliding the door closed and figuring out how to latch it while still appearing  cool. Managed that and then I was faced with a sort of urinal placed flat on the floor. And all instructions are in incompressible Japanese and Chinese characters so I sort of straddle this thing with my pants down, crouch like the guide had told us  and manage to do my business without messing up . But I can’t figure out how to flush. So when in doubt just hit all the buttons and eventually it flushes. I then can’t figure out the sinks either or the driers so I make do with a soapless wash and no dry and hope no one notices. Then I walk down the vendor street and have a wonderful time ignoring all the trinkets and mainly checking out all the food items. I finally give in and buy two soft cookie looking things because they were freshly baked and smelled good, then I bought a yummy bag of fried’ I – don’t- know-whats’ and finally I bought a green fried bun with apricot bean paste inside and walked along eating that and thinking I was the luckiest person in the world. A gorgeous, sunny day in Tokyo and I’m walking down this ancient avenue eating a fresh bean paste bun – it doesn’t get a whole lot better. So many people on the tour are afraid to venture out, try the food, try the toilets, see what it’s like out there. Thank God I have the chance to do it!

Then it’s on to the grounds of the Imperial Palace where all the emperors have lived since the capitol was moved form Kyoto. This was pretty much of a letdown as all you can do is walk near the moat and see the bridges that are at the very edge of the property. You don’t even see the palace from a distance. We had to walk a long way to get a bad photo I deleted. I looked really fat. And poor Elise was worn out just crossing the park to get to the moat.

Next we went to a beautiful modern hotel for a buffet lunch which I was dreading , but it turned out to be wonderful. I had several Japanese delicacies and topped it off with dark grey sesame ice cream which everyone was afraid to try. It was delicious. But best of all was the Japanese toilets. I mean forget their cars, their electronics, their toilets are the single greatest contribution to the world. I go into one of those stalls and I could stay all day. I kept trying to get the men to try them. First of all I already told you about the heated seat and musical note feature, but their car wash feature is what is spectacular. Every toilet is different so your never sure what you’re going to get, but it’s basically and under body flush and air dry. Each button will direct the water flow differently, the water being heated to just the right temperature, and when your finished another  button turns on the air dryer. The hardest part was figuring out I had to turn off the water flow myself before I filled the toilet. And I didn’t know about the air dryer at first. But it’s luxurious. And I actually looked forward to pit stops.

After pulling me out of the bathroom we were off to Ginza the famous shopping district comparable to shopping in New York, Paris, London, Milan. We were given free time and all I want to buy are some crackers like the ones we had in the brewery yesterday. Well, Elise and I looking like schlumpy Amercians  trod down this fashionable avenue and go into a very fancy department store and descend to the basement food level. This is the experience of a lifetime. It is brimming with Japanese buying every kind of food from raw fish to highly expensive prepared delicacies in an area that dwarfs Harrods in London.  Let me back up and explain that because of the small space all these millions of people have to live on in Tokyo, the average family of 4 lives in about 900 square feet. This means they literally can reach from the dining table to the kitchen to the bedroom  while sitting down; very little room for preparation of food or storage space. So, food is bought every day, fresh and often prepared. Loafs of bread are often square for convenient storage, the bottles are square as are watermelons. It is fascinating. And we were witnessing where the more well off Japanese went to get their dinners, and their specialities. I can’t tell what most of the food is, but  I buy some very expensive strawberry cream pastry type cookies which she wraps up with a little ice pack and tells me “2 hour”, so I guess I have to eat them in 2 hours. No problem.

We drive home to the ship in Yokohoma and see the beautiful lights of the city and the great care the Japanese use to light the buildings and structures for night effect. I go to sleep with the lights of Tokoyo fading in the distance.