A bit strange posting a travel blog while back in the US, but we need to finish what we started.  And a perk of posting from home is fast WiFi so more pictures!  🙂

 Bow down not once but twice, don’t look into the eyes too much, take things with two hands and of course shoes off when walking into someone’s home.  Reading on Japan I envisioned an extremely polite and formal culture, and after a few days I can vouch for this perception as a reality.  It’s really nice not having anyone pushing or yelling or giving you “looks”.  Sit up straight with legs close together and feet touching with hands in the lap is the vision that helps understand how Tokyo feels.  Vibrant and busy with identical architecture and mazes of roads brings NYC to mind.  Trade worlds best pizza for worlds best sushi and we are set for a good stay.  A few days of touring museums and people watching gives us a clear understanding of the history and present state of Japan.  The samurai mentality sets the tone for present day loyalties and politeness.  See the samurai was a perfect mix of Buddhist philosophies with unyielding personal loyalty and sacrifice to the people of Japan.  Historically there was only victory or die trying.

Electric as Times Square is Ginza, the shopping district that has 20-30 story buildings filled with either clothes or restaurants.  I get the clothes stores being vertical but have never seen a building, looks like an office building, but it’s filled with restaurants.  Walk down into any basement bar and you never know what you will find: chic, posh, hipster and maybe even a little hole in the wall.  Taxis are spotless and cleaned every day plus the driver wears a suite, and some even wear white gloves…another example of formality and pride.  

The World famous fish market on the docks of Tokyo was our next destination.  At 3:30am the auction starts where 1,000-pound tunas and foot long mussels are sold, we showed up at 8:15am for the traditional sushi breakfast made from the fresh fish.  The worlds best sushi restaurant is Sushi Soi, the line even at 8am was over three hours.  We talked to a few guys who had been in line since 4am.  So we opted for the place next-door, still excellent and the company was even better than the sushi.  A few young Japanese from the north sat next to us so in broken languages we conversed, laughed and took pictures of each other. They didn’t know much English but of what they knew “yeah” was their favorite.  Of course, they knew much more English than we knew Japanese!   Then it was time to walk around the market, there were no less than 1,000 stalls with everything from mussels the size of two of my hands

to tuna being cut in band saw longer than my body.

As I smelled and saw more fish I grew hungrier and hungrier, while Linda, on the other end of the spectrum lost her appetite.  We ended splitting up, I walked the market and Linda went outside to people watch.

The bullet train took us to Kyoto, the traditional capital of Japan.  The former business center of the country is now relegated to the home of 1,600 temples and a population of 1.6M since Tokyo is now booming.  Kyoto is one of the last places in Japan where Geisha girls entertaining for $1,000 a night is still an art form.  Greg and I were very intrigued by the Geisha life style, so we went on a walking tour in the Gion (Geisha) district.  This art form is no joke.  To be a Geisha (called Geiko in Kyoto) you must be an apprentice (called a Maiko) for 5 years earning little money in order to learn the art…dancing, playing a musical instrument, games, how to properly pour tea, singing, etc.  They live in a boarding type house until they are full-fledged Geiko’s at which point they can move out and are more like a self-employed person. 

A walking tour and walking on our own around the temples solidifies our view that Japanese culture is not lost in the Japanese desire to be western.  Another 30-minute train ride and we are in Kobe, yep where the original Kobe beef started.  It really is that fabulous, we went to a Japanese steak house and treated ourselves and it was well worth the trip.  I never thought I would eat a piece of steak with just chopsticks, so tender that a knife is not needed.  The chef even sautéed pieces of the fat and had us eat those…also delicious, but not the best for the old arteries.

A trip to Japan is not complete without visiting Hiroshima; a place reborn after the atomic bomb was dropped August 6, 1945.  Only one month after the first American test of an atomic bomb, we were obviously in a hurry to use it.  Approximately 140,000 people died in the first year and the entire city for two square kilometers was leveled.   Another 13m sq. Km was burned; this is about 1,000 baseball stadiums.  

The above two pictures are from 1945 after the bomb and then today…you can see the same building in the background behind me, my new friend and the bird.   The building,  referred to as the Atomic Bomb Dome, was the only building left standing near the bomb’s hypocenter and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and part of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.  Being at the museum and peace memorial felt a little uncomfortable mainly because we were the only westerns in site.  We seriously didn’t see anyone except Japanese for at least 3 hours as we walked the site of the epicenter.  It felt like people were looking at us in disgust but that is not the case because Japanese today have no ill will towards America.  Even our guide’s parents who lived in Hiroshima about 3 miles from the epicenter don’t carry any ill will.  We were touched and felt the pain of the local people after seeing actual photographs and hearing from survivors via audiotapes.  It’s not fun to remember but important to not forget.  We made a donation upon leaving, point of the comment is how touched our guide was because it’s very important to increase awareness globally so this never happens again.  The guide said, “we thank you very much with heartfelt appreciation on behalf of Hiroshima”.

In leaving my heart felt heavy and I was briefly concerned with the future of humanity yet impressed with the strong, good-natured spirits these citizens have today after all that they have endured.

To change the topic drastically, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the fabulous toilets in Japan!  Yes, the toilets. 

Greg and I could not stop giggling when we would approach the toilet and it would sense that we were there and the lid would open automatically.  Also, if you are doing a quick nighttime potty break, there is a nightlight on the back of the toilet.  Genius!  And, you truly don’t need toilet paper as these toilets wash you off with you picking the oscillation speed, water temperature, etc. plus you are then promptly blown dry by and hairdryer force wind.  Clean as a baby’s bottom!   Fabulous.  The old style toilets where you stand on two foot prints

and squat still exist, but then next to them are typically these fabulous type toilets labeled “Western Toilets” – the brand is Toto and it is their Washlet series.  Check them out online!  There must have been some confusion when these new Western toilets were introduced as we often saw signs with a stick figure person standing in a squat position on top of a Western toilet.

Ok…perhaps enough potty talk!

Japan was the last leg of our trip…a great way to end our travel adventure!

Thank you for all reading our blogs and traveling with us.  It has meant so much to us knowing that a little piece of you has been along for the ride with us!  During our travels we have learned a tremendous amount about cultures, people, adventure, politics, animals, each-other, and about how much we love and care about all of our friends and family.  At the end of the day, it is relationships that make a person’s life meaningful and we know that we are fortunate to have you all in our lives!

MORE JAPAN PHOTOS: Japan – Tokyo, Kyoto, Kobe, Hiroshima