Stuff That Matters In Life

More about our recent trip to Japan:

4. Every morning we had a buffet breakfast at the hotel where we stayed, and each night we stayed in a different hotel. So we experienced a different buffet every morning, but the food offered were very similar. The first impression of every hotel is the large hall where we eat. They all had a great view through large glass windows (with the exception of one that had no windows at all.) The breakfasts offered a choice of western style and Japanese style foods. There was everything from omelets, ham, bacon, cereal, a wide assortment of danishes, to tofu, salted fish, rice, congee, pickled vegetables, fermented soy beans (awful!). There was plenty of fruits, not apples and oranges, but cut up kiwi, pineapple, papaya, cantaloupe. Then there was usually salad too. Is that suppose to be Western or Japanese to have salad for breakfast??

I am hungry thinking about all that good food.

5. We spent a lot of time on the bus, which was not a bad thing. It allowed us time to rest after much walking at each tour site. The sights along the way was all so interesting that time went by quickly on the bus. We passed many rice patties, some of them just barely a patch between houses. I asked our tour guide if those small plots are meant to provide just for the owner’s family. She said 70% of all rice growers work other jobs. Growing rice is just a part-time job on the side.

We were delighted by all the cute little cars on the streets. They are all the size of the Yaris and mini cooper, most with a square shape design. I did see a couple of Suburban types, but very, very rare. Even their minivans are small and narrow.

We drove pass the Nintendo headquarters. It’s just a boring looking rectangular gray building.

We caught a glimpse of Disneyland from the freeway – I sighted the Innovation building with its distinctive roof top. The Disneyland hotel, designed to look like a castle, is right next to the freeway, so we got a good long look at it.

Our tour guide apologized several times about the traffic jam on the freeways (they were all toll roads). With only 2 lanes each way, it’s a wonder that traffic was not worst. Their idea of traffic jam is nothing to us who are used to LA commuter traffic. Of course Tokyo has a great subway system. The average car per family is one.

6. In Tokyo and Osaka shopping areas, the crowds packed the side walks. Where did all these people come from?? I love walking around safe, clean, crowded streets with lots of interesting shops to browse. It was like Main Street in Disneyland, except much bigger and practically no kids. If I had an unlimited budget, there was unlimited cute things I could’ve gotten. We were content to take pictures of them.

We had several hours of free time walking around shops, but just as we thought we have seen it all, we discover yet another area and another shop of cute things to OOOHH and AHHHH over. My daughter and I tried on some clothes that looked nice on the hanger. But somehow the sizes just don’t fit us well.

I think that will be all the highlights I will write about for now. If you are considering going to Japan, I recommend it. It’s safe, clean, friendly, and very few McDonalds and Starbucks. (We saw as many Wendy’s as we did McDonalds.)