Journey to Japan - A Day on Our Own

We have intentionally arrived a day early. We want to relax a little and see some of the town on our own before the tour starts. Our first order of business is to find breakfast. Jonathan's coffee shop and grill is right across the street. Sounds friendly, though not very Japanese, but we head for it anyway. A friendly man welcomes us, shows us to our seats, and hands us a menu. He knows a few, heavily accented, English words. I have used my morning vocabulary saying "Ohio gozaimas."
We can't read the menu but it does have nice pictures. Unfortunately, some of the pictures are open to interpretation.























Before he walked away, our waiter explained everything to us (in Japanese of course) and pointed. with explanation, to the end of the table. We smiled at him. He walked away. We study the pictures on the menu.

Some 20 minutes later, we feel we have deciphered enough to order. There are two prices, one includs eshe "beverage bar." Our waiter seemed to have forgotten us, so I finally get up and peek around the corner. He sees me and hurries over. We order and he points us to the beverage bar. Sign language is to be a staple of our communication, although I begin to recall more and more of the words and phrases I used to use.

Em decides to try a green drink available at the beverage bar.

It is green Fanta. We have only seen orange in the U.S.

I start with a cup of coffee but there are several different possiblilities. Since I can't have milk, my choices are limited, but I can't tell what is what. I stand there for a while until a woman comes to fill her cup. Taking a chance she speaks some English, I ask which is the plain coffee. She shrugs and says "I don't know, I always get this one," as she fills her cup with a latte. I take a chance on a button, actually get it right, and head back to our table.

The silverware is available in a basket on the table, some condiments and tissue-paper thin napkins are at the end of the table where the waiter had indicated earlier. I do not see any sugar anywhere. I poke around at the end of the table and finally try to open a small, oval box. It doesn't seem to have a lid or any way to get into it, so I think perhaps it will pop open when I push down on the top. I push down, a bell rings, and the waiter comes running. Whoops!

Amid much laughter, we manag our meal without further incident and head out on our first full day in Tokyo, to explore the teen scene.