Japan is definitely the fastest moving place I've ever been to. People are always moving at top speeds in all directions. We definitely found it challenging to get around - street and direction signs in English are minimal, and the Tokyo Metro - YOW! There are actually at least 4 subway and train systems, and you often have to transfer from one to another TO ANOTHER! when you need to cross town with crowds everywhere. Dan Marlin comments that he has developed the senses of a bat since he has lived there. And restaurants - DOUBLE YOW! Menus are almost never in English. Most restaurants have models of meals on display - I'm not kidding. You look at a particular place's models of its sushi, tempura, soup, etc. etc. etc., with descriptions in Japanese. Asking if a place has anything veggie is a super challenge.
But we miss Japan!!! Contrary to their reputation, the people are friendly, helpful and willing to
struggle with the language barrier to help lost travelers. Many neighborhoods, mostly in Kyoto but also in Tokyo are beautifully constructed. The streets are narrow, and people tend to walk or bike. It is sometimes impossible to drive or park a car on one of these streets - a great relief, especially after the chaos of Kathmandu. We did find wonderful veggie meals - Dan and Toshiko helped, as did Kate's friend Kumio, but we did ok on our own as well. The food was great!
Kyoto and Nikko are wonderful walking towns - you never know if you will run into a temple, a castle, mountain views or a troupe of monkeys. The museums we mentioned were wonderful and yes, there was a strange fascination to the ultra- urban sections of Tokyo. Again, I am glad we had a small dose of these parts of town. We only scratched the surface of Japan and hope to return - especially if it is warm enough for trips to the mountains. There are big social problems, which Kate mentioned - economic bad times, layoffs, increasing numbers of homeless people - again, we have to keep an eye on it.
So where on earth are we? What is this Oakland place anyhow? We slept for at least 10 hours last night; I am personally not sleepy but very disoriented and slightly run down. I'll recover soon. It is pretty amazing to have our first morning in the U.S. be Obama's inauguration day. I wish him and all of us luck - the future is going to be very interesting. Did we mention that people in Japan and Nepal are excited about this administration and wanted to talk about it a lot? Travelers we met from Europe were also pleased... we'll see what the future holds.
We will post pictures on the blog after we go through them - between us I think we have at least 1500 digital shots. Also, I have drafts or plans for about 15 poems. All need to be revised and worked on - I am thinking I will set up a writer's blog for myself soon. I will place the poems there. We will send out messages when the pictures are posted, and I'll send one about my writer's blog. And yes, there will be more descriptions of our adventures on this blogspot.
For now, namaste and sayonara. Watch this space! PG
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