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.

Japanuary #18

As you read this, I have boarded my plane and
I am off.....

Have been looking forward to this trip for months! Can hardly believe the time is here. By the time you read this, I will be well on my way to Japan!
I don't really like "tours," but this one promises to be different. There are about 15 of us going and the focus is quilting and textiles. A quilting buddy from my guild is going so we will each know at least one person in the group. Participants are coming from all over the US , Canada, and one from Australia. It should be fun!

PB and I are going a day early and staying on another 3 days. No definite plan yet, but we will surely see some interesting things on our own time. The tour begins by spending a day at the quilt show in Tokyo. It is said to be one of the largest shows in the world. Our Nipponese sisters have only focused on quilting in the last few years. but have made quite an impact in that short time. Hopefully, I will have a lot of photos.

After Tokyo, we are headed to Kyoto for about 10 days. We will be exploring various techniques with textiles, the Shibori Tie-dyeing Museum. I believe we will even have a class in sashiko. It sounds quite exciting.

This will be my 3rd trip to Japan (besides stopovers), and I lived in Okinawa, so the tourist scene is not so high on my list this time. I imagine there have been a lot of changes since we were there previously.
Hopefully, I will have Internet access and can post some of our activities. I am sooo glad we are flying to Tokyo from Dallas. I cringed to think of swimming in the frozen Hudson River.
Sayonara for now.....