“It all looks like soy sauce to me”

May become the next infamous quote by Jason. We were walking around
last night looking for dinner when I asked Jason what he thought of
how different the Japanese culture was from Hong Kong and Thailand. He
said, "I don't know, it all looks like soy sauce to me" referring to,
of course, the aisle in the grocery store where you get soy sauce and
other Japanese goodies. Yes, I know, my husband is culturally
insensitive. But don't blame me.

Pretty much nothing is written in English (or in letters we recognize)
and we have to search for blue and pink signs to find the toilets.
Even though Hong Kong isn't our favorite city, it's a lot easier to
navigate and they are much more tolerant of Westerners. When we go
into stores people just keep talking to us like we have a clue what
they're talking about. Even when we give them blank stares, they just
keep speaking in Japanese! They're probably cursing at us under their
breaths, like Americans do to people who visit that don't understand
English.

Last night we walked around Shinjuku, the neighborhood where our hotel
is located. We searched out a department store called Isetan because
of their well-known food hall and by the time we found something
recognizable to eat, the store was closing. It was a madhouse when we
arrived just a few minutes before, but all of a sudden there was a
mass exodus and we were left searching out an exit.

The same thing happened to me tonight when I went to the 13-story
department store located above the metro station. It was a mad shuffle
to get onto the elevator at 9:10pm but by 9:15pm everybody was gone
and I was asked to leave. I'm not sure how people get out so fast or
where they go but they really want you gone and to stop shopping too.
Tonight a guard overrode the elevator and sent me straight down and
out.

This afternoon we rode all the way across town to an area called
Asakusa. We went to the Drum Museum, a music store, and found Kannon Temple and market-type shopping. Then we rode all the way back across town to try and find a shop that sells Honda items. We didn't realize how trendy it would be. The t-shirts cost about $50US but it was fun to look at. We walked around a trendy (I think everything in Tokyo is
considered trendy) area called Shibuya before/after dinner and then
headed home for the night.

Tomorrow the plan is not much. Jason's going to stay here and do
nothing and I'm going to search out a store known for its chopsticks.
So if you get chopsticks as a present, accept them with a smile. A
quest was undertaken to get them for you. It is not easy to navigate
this city… just check out the subway map for a small sample.

We leave Tuesday afternoon (7pm Japan time) so we're thinking of
taking a train out to see Mt. Fuji on Monday. There's a lot to see in
Japan so I think it'll make the list of places to go back to. We'd
bypass Tokyo, but it'd definitely be a country worth a couple of weeks
and a rail pass. We get back into Kansas City at 10:30pm central time,
so don't call us until late Wednesday or Thursday. We're glad we have
time in Tokyo but we're really looking forward to snuggling up with
our kitties :-)