Rainy Day in Tokyo

On Friday morning, November 23, we woke up to a rainy day in Tokyo. We were a little tired from all of the traveling the day before, so we decided to take it easy. Turns out there is a Tokyu Hands in Shinjuku close to the hotel, so we bought an umbrella from the underground mall, made a stop at Starbucks and headed to Tokyu Hands.

MJ insisted on holding the umbrella in the rain.

Maki and I love Tokyu Hands. I call it the Target of Japan but that's not quite right. At Tokyu Hands, you can get souvenirs, clothing, stationery and pens, electronics, small appliances, tools, toys, etc.

Tokyu Hands had a section for toys. MJ found some Thomas items and CJ got some Pokemon cards.

After a couple of hours of shopping, we decided to head for lunch. We found a Korean restaurant right in the building that looks great. It was called Garlic something and hoo boy, there was a lot of garlic in everything we ordered!

Here's MJ playing with one of his new toys.

We squeezed into a tiny booth.

Here's my hot pot bibimbap. It was delicious. Note the raw egg that gets mixed into the dish.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for a nap. MJ ended up napping right in his stroller but he wouldn't let go of the umbrella. Here he is clutching the umbrella while in the underground mall leading to our hotel.

Land of Individually Wrapped Things

For a country so strapped for natural resources, Japan sure wastes a lot of paper and plastic. I mean, really, this is the land of individually wrapped food and products!

In the depato, the finest fruits and vegetables are wrapped and sold individually. We're talking about apples, pears, Asian pears, persimmons. After a lunch of prepared food from the depato one day, we were shocked by the amount of paper and plastic we had to throw away.

Cookies and candies are wrapped individually, then encased in a large plastic bag; when purchased, they are put into a larger plastic bag. When I bought charms at a local drugstore, the saleslady put all the charms in a paper bag, then gave me individual paper bags to put the charms in, then put the whole thing in a plastic bag.

At the bookstore, we bought some paperbacks to read on the train (I bought a book of short stories by Haruki Murakami, great stuff, yes, in English), the clerk carefully put a paper cover on each book.

Speaking of wrapping, it's a treat to buy a present for someone at the depato. The saleslady will always ask if the items being purchased are presents. If yes, she will carefully wrap the items individually, ask you to label the items, then put all the items into a large bag. Oh yeah, when we bought cream puffs one day, the puffs were carefully arranged in a box with a mini-ice pack. Really, the care with which items are wrapped and packaged is amazing.

Old School, New School

Whenever we take CJ to the potty, he asks if the bathroom is old school or new school, referring to the squat toilet and Western toilets in the public bathrooms. The toilets are an example of how Japan seems to blend old and new seamlessly into everyday life.

We see it everywhere. In the depato (department stores), consumers can purchase the latest fashions, high end cosmetics and perfumes, the best Japanese, American and European brands. But each depato that I've ever visited also has a floor devoted to Japanese kimono and arts and crafts. And, the age old tradition of greeting customers at the beginning and end of the business day continues to this day. It works like this: when the depato open for the day, the employees line up at the entrance in two rows and bow to the first customers of the day. The same custom is honored at the end of the day, as the employees say good-bye to the customers. It's incredible to see.

On Tuesday night, we visited the Gion district of Kyoto. Gion is famous as the geisa district and known for its teahouses, theaters and shops. Gion could be another tourist area in any major city in the world, until you reach the geisha quarter, where old, wooden buildings house restaurants, small hotels, and shops. Some of the buildings do not have English signage and we were told that many of the establishments where the geisha perform are not open to the non-Japanese without a special introduction from a valued customer. In the midst of the crowds, we saw beautifully made up and dressed geisha hurrying about, trying to be gracious to the crowds gawking at them and popping flashes in their faces.

Finally, you see old and new in the ryokan hotel where we stayed our first two nights in Kyoto. Ryokan are traditional Japanese guesthouses. During our visit to Edomura, we learned that the first ryokan were established during the early Tokugawa period for travelers; prior to the ryokan, travelers slept in open fields or barns. Ryokan hotels are modern structures, but they have traditional rooms with tatami mats, futon and low tables for enjoying a cup of tea. Traditional ryokans tend to be outside the city limits and are housed in older, traditional structures. Ryokan are famous for the public bath areas where men and women (separated) can enjoy a soak in a large, heated bath. Both mornings at the ryokan, I got up early to shower and soak in the women's bath. I had the place to myself and the steam, hot water and sound of water were a great way to start the day.

Big Feet

On Saturday morning, Maki, CJ, mom, dad and I headed to Tsukuba to attend Maki's elementary school reunion. Jonathan, Tree, Kevin, Dave and Sue headed out to Ginza and then the Imperial Palace for the day.

We had a few hours to kill before our train to Tsukuba, so mom, dad and CJ went to a jidokan, or Children's playground in the neighborhood. Maki and I headed to Tokyu depato, since I was desperate for a new pair of walking shoes. It seems that my choice of loafers wasn't up to the job of walkin around Tokyo, with its miles of subways and stairs.

Good thing Maki decided to hang with me for a few minutes. I found a couple pairs of Ecco shoes that looked cute but practical. The saleslady asked me for my shoe size, but of course, I didn't know, since Japanese sizes are different from US sizes. Another saleslady arrived to measure my feet. After measuring my feet, the saleslady conferred with another saleslady, and then another. There was a lot of bowing and explaining to Maki, who then explained to me that the store did not carry my shoe size. Whoa. I wear a US women's 8 1/2 medium. I'm hardly a bigfoot, but I guess in Japan, I'm enormous. Come to think of it, I'm taller than most Japanese women and certainly a lot bigger.

Anyway, to make a short story long, we decided to try several pairs of the largest sizes they did have -- 24. I hit the jackpot with a cute pair that actually fit really well. Even though I now feel like a sasquatch, I'm happy with my new Eccos and my feet thank me for the new purchase.

The Food Courts at Japanese Depato

We love Japanese department stores, or depato, as they are called in Japanese. Over the past couple of days, we visited the fancy Tokyu depato in Shibuya, and Keio and Halc in Shinjuku. Tree and I marveled at the enormous display of cosmetics and perfumes. But, most importantly, the basements of Japanese depato usually have grocery stores and vast food courts.

After visiting the observation deck on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office (the most impressive city hall I have ever seen), we went to Keio depato for lunch. The food courts in depato are not ordinary food courts. Imagine the basement of Macy's in New York full of the prepared foods, fruit, vegetables, pastries and chocolate.

We wandered around the basement of Keio for 45 minutes looking at bento boxes filled with sushi, sashimi, Japanese vegetables and tofu pockets; meat and vegetable gyoza (Japanese dumplings); rice balls filled with eel, salmon, spicy roe, shiso, pickles, and pickled plum; futomaki (giant rolls of rice filled with vegetables and wrapped in seaweed); prepared chicken, beef and pork; green, meat and vegetable salads; individually wrapped pastries; cakes, custards and tarts; whole and cut up pineapple, persimmon, Asian pears, apples, grapes, and plums; all kinds of milk and dark chocolate; and more. We were in heaven and bought way too much to eat, but buying food at a depato is pretty inexpensive and the variety cannot be beat. The food was excellent, in case you are wondering about the quality.

After making our purchases at Keio, we wandered over to Halc depato to check out their selection and find seating. For drinks, Maki bought his favorite ion drink, Pocari Sweat (don't ask me what an ion drink is, that's what the label says and yes, that's the name), I got water and an iced chocolate, Jonathan got hard lemonade, Tree got hard mango juice (hard, as in having a little bit of liquor), and Kevin got a beer. CJ, by the way, spent the morning and part of the morning with Maki's parents, visiting great grandma Kato and having lunch.

When we take the train to Kyoto tomorrow, we plan to visit the basement of Tokyu and load up on bento boxes for the ride. Yum!