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(note: this is one of my pre-scheduled posts set to appear at 5:00am EST each morning I am in a port city. I will post follow-up information about each trip once I am able to get back on the computer.)
- I will be taking a train to Tokyo early this morning with Lesley (one of the resident directors). Once we are there we will meet up with Matt (another resident director) who went to Tokyo yesterday to see a friend of his. Matt, Lesley and I will stay in a hotel overnight tonight (Kayabacho Pearl Hotel) and leave Tokyo tomorrow to head directly to Hiroshima where we will meet up with some other resident directors and stay in a ryokan (Kasuga Ryokan) overnight in Hiroshima.
Update:
Lesley had left me a note last night to say she thought we should go to breakfast quickly on the ship this morning and then get right on the train to go to the main train station. Lesley had made reservations for our train travel the first day (reservations are free, but if you get a ticket telling you what seat to sit in in the reserved cars). According to this plan, I went to breakfast, ate quickly, but didn't see Lesley there. At 7:10 am, I went to Lesley's room and knocked. I could then hear her mumbling to herself and she had obviously not woken up yet. She answered the door and apologized that her alarm didn't go off, but that she just needed a minute to get dressed and that she had everything packed already. We needed to catch our train at around 8:00 am at the main train station so since it would take less than 15 minutes to get to the main train station on the elevated train near where the ship was docked, we were still in good shape.
We got to the main train station and had plenty of time to find where our train was. First we had to take a train to Osaka (because that was a station servicing the bullet train to Tokyo). We did that and then got on the train to go to Tokyo (about 3 hours on that train). The main thing that is amusing on the train is that the conductor and the person who carts snacks through the train all bow before entering the car and then upon leaving the car. The train was nice though and there was plenty of leg room in the trains.
resident director Lesley and me heading to Tokyo
When Lesley and I got to Tokyo, we went to find our hotel and Matt would be meeting up with us there at 1:00 pm. Upon getting to the hotel, there was a message from my Japanese friend Mari (I hadn't seen her in 10 years - click here for blog entry regarding this). I had sent her an email the day prior to getting to Japan to tell her that I was planning on being in Tokyo for two days (Mari lives outside of Tokyo) so that if she was around on Friday or Saturday at all that we should try to meet up. I left her my cell phone number, but as I soon found out once in Japan it didn't work there. Luckily Mari was resourceful and found the hotel fax number from the hotel name I gave her in the message.
Mari's note said that she took off work on Friday and that I should call her on her cell phone when I got the message and that she would come into Tokyo to meet up with me because it was only an hour train ride from her home. I got through to her on her cell phone and we decided to meet up at 3:00 pm at the hotel. Meanwhile, Matt showed up with his Japanese friend Saori and we decided that Matt and Lesley would go off with Saori while I just waited for Mari to show up (because I wouldn't have enough time to go with them to the place they were planning on going). We made sure that Saori had Mari's cell phone number and I wrote down Saori's cell number so that we could coordinate meeting up later for dinner.
Mari showed up at the hotel a few minutes after 3:00 pm and we caught up as we walked around. It was as if 10 years hadn't gone by so it was nice to see her again.
We took the subway to Asakusa and ran into Matt, Lesley and Saori there.
my friend Mari in the Asakusa area of Tokyo, Japan talking to Saori trying to figure out where she, Matt and Lesley are exactly
me in Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo, Japan
After that Mari and I went to another location where you could go up 45 stories to get a view of Tokyo.
We had trouble getting a hold of Saori on her cell phone though and when we eventually did meet back up with them, they had already gone somewhere to eat dinner. Since Saori had to leave, Matt and Lesley came with Mari and me to a department store that Mari had heard had good sushi (which I thought would be good since we were, after all, in Japan). The place apparently was good - there was a big wait to get in. Since we didn't have a ton of time, Mari suggested another restaurant in the department store that had tempura and other stuff so we went there while Matt and Lesley walked around the store. Mari did all the ordering and we got tempura and some sashimi for me to try (though I remember trying a bite somewhere a long time ago). At any rate, I ate it and it was okay. Not bad, but not my favorite either. When in Japan though, you have to eat Japanese food!
my friend Mari at a restaurant in Tokyo, Japan
me at a restaurant in Tokyo, Japan
After we ate, we were waiting for Matt and Lesley to meet back up with us and while we were waiting Mari told me she was going to call her father and put him on the line with me. Apparently she had given him her cell phone last night when she was away in the event that I called and she said that he was excited "that an American girl would be calling him" - unfortunately though, I never called last night because I didn't get Mari's message until I got to the hotel today. Mari put her father on the phone and I spoke as slowly and as clearly as I could. His English was quite good and he sounded like an endearing old guy. I told him that he could come visit the U.S. whenever he wanted and I would show him around and he told me that he was already 77 years old. When I asked him if he had been to the U.S. before, he said he had from 1962 - 1964 and he mentioned he was there when Kennedy was assassinated. (In talking to Mari afterwards, her father was apparently in Kansas during that time.) Mari's father said he hoped I could come visit their home soon and I told him I would have to make another trip back to Japan to do that. He was cute in general and at the end of our brief chat, he thanked me for speaking so clearly and slowly so he could understand me. I can't imagine how hard it would be to be trying to converse in another language (that you hardly ever use) and having to do so on the phone must be exponentially harder!
After this, we found Matt and Lesley and then made our way back to the subway where Mari helped us navigate how to get back to our hotel. At the hotel, we took some more photos and Mari left to head home since it was already 10:00 pm.
Sidenote: One of the best things I saw today was a middle-aged Japanese guy walking in the department store wearing a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and, best of all...a sheriff star. That star told me he was committed to that look. He just walked along and went up the escalator to the next floor. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera ready at the time.
some longer video I took in Tokyo, Japan
