We started our day with the hotel breakfast, which was an amazing assortment of individual strange items, none of them really recognizable.  We visited the (not-really) silver pavilion; apparently the guy ran out of money before getting to the silver part.  This visit was during school field trip season, meaning that the place was stuffed with class after class of schoolchildren of all ages.

We then went to the Craft Museum, where we saw an artisan making lacquer.  It is incredibly impressive how many arts the Japanese have taken to a gorgeous level, from paper making to watercolors, to lacquer, to bamboo fencing, to magnificent fabric and kimonos.  I was interested at how many of the styles looked contemporary, whether they were or not.  We then visited a small manufacturer of porcelain.

Our lunch was our first taste of real Japanese sushi – excellent!  We then visited a modern-style kimono shop, with some quite expensive but exquisite items that looked like a cross between a robe and a kimono.  We ended the day with an introduction to the Japanese tea ceremony with our host, Michael.  It wasn’t what we expected at all.  First, the tea was ground up green tea, not leaves, so it was a stronger, almost bitter, taste.  Second, it wasn’t a tasting of multiple types of tea … it was just one, and we learned how to make it ourselves.

I was determined to have yakitori (grilled chicken) for dinner tonight, for some reason that I can’t explain.  The first place we went, recommended by our guide, was full, so we went on a search.  We simply stopped and asked every Japanese person who looked like they worked in the neighborhood, “Yakitori?” until we found one (a guy with an impressive Mohawk hair style) who consulted with his friend, smiled, and signaled to follow him.  We trailed him down several alleys until suddenly there we were, at the neighborhood yakitori shop.  It was definitely the local place – no tourists here – and we had a good and quite inexpensive meal.

We found ourselves making lots of mistakes here, such as these:

• We keep opening and closing the taxi doors, which you are not supposed to do, because they are controlled by the driver with a remote opener, and he REALLY DOESN’T LIKE YOU opening it yourself. But apparently they are used to stupid Americans who simply can’t get out of the habit.
• We left our tickets on the bullet train when we arrived, but needed them for the turnstiles to exi. (Actually, Jenny had the tickets for her and Marina, so it was really me and Lenny who messed up on this one.) The kind lady let us go through without them, “just this once”
• Vending machines are ubiquitous. I bought beverages from one, on the train, thinking I was buying still water and sparkling water.  I actually was buying water, lemonade, and ice coffee. (The one in a bottle with a mountain pictured on it … wouldn’t that say “water” to you, rather than “coffee”?)

But making mistakes is part of the fun of being tourists.

We’re all a bit sad today because my mother has taken ill and is in the hospital.  We’re trying to assess the situation as to whether we will head home early or not.  Stay tuned for more info. 

 -- Donna