2010-06-14 Sheraton Miyako, Tokyo

Monday was raining, but we decided to take the hotel shuttle to Meguro station. We had an excellent Tempura lunch at the department store next to the station, then decided to shop for a light snack for tonight. We got a salad and Yebisu Premium Malt beer, and also pastries for tomorrow's breakfast. We got a little exercise walking up and down the stairs at the department store. The area around the station has numerous interesting shops; for example, we had a Starbuck coffee, there's a Macdonald's and a Baskin-Robins across the street, and numerous restaurants, in addition to the ones on the 6th floor of the department store.

We're packed for tomorrow, and ready to go on the 1 pm bus to the airport for our flight to China.

I've uploaded the photos so far on our trip, and one movie (#31) of the octopuses (octopi?) still squirming at Akashi. I don't know how the movie will turn out, it played for me. They are in the Japan-China Travel gallery at http://hutchings.smugmug.com/Travel/2010-Japan-China/12550061_NtU6m#900556436_FMyFx

2010-06-13 Kobe to Tokyo

Sunday we left Kobe on the Shinkansen after a delicious Soba lunch with Kiyomi's brother's family. This was Kiyomi's last chance for her favorite Kansai style Udon noodles that she so loves. We returned to the Sheraton Miyako in the late afternoon. We took a walk around the neighborhood for exercise, stopping by several pastry shops for tomorrow's breakfast, then had a very nice Chinese dinner at the hotel.

2010-06-12 Visit Akashi and family reunion in Kobe, Japan

Saturday we went to a neighboring town, Akashi, the town where Kiyomi was born. It's famous for fresh, dried, cooked and preserved fish and octopus dishes of all kinds. We had the most well-known dish for lunch, Akashi tako yaki, 24 custard-like dumplings with a piece of octopus inside. They are really quite good. After we returned home, our niece Shinobu-chan, and her 4-year old son Akiko-kun, came to visit. He is all boy, full of energy, running around playing with is ball and bat (made of soft foam rubber!) and collection of little "hot wheel" cars. For dinner we all feasted on some of the fish dishes we brought home from Akashi.

2010-06-11 Visit with Yamasaki family, Kobe, Japan

On Friday night, Kiyomi's brother took us to his home in Kobe. It's in a nice quiet residential neighborhood, and is a single family dwelling. We had a nice reunion with his wife Kazu-chan and son Kaoru-kun.

2010-06-09 Tokyo to Kobe, Japan

After our pastry snack and the delicious coffee, we packed our luggage for the trip to Kobe. We left the two big suitcases at the hotel, since we will return here the day before we leave for China.

We left by Bullet Train for Kobe in the afternoon. We saw Fiji-san on the way, it is still capped with snow. Today is quite warm in the Kyoto/Kobe/Osaka area, in the low eighties. We met with Keiko Nakauye, Kiyomi's school-days friend. Her husband is currently in Samoa teaching technology to the native residents. He'll be there for another year-and-a-half. She will visit him later this year. We talked with him by Skype, and it sounds like he is enjoying himself. He had tried scuba diving, and seemed to like it. There is not such a variety of food there, mostly it's imported. I think he misses vegetables and fruit especially.

Keiko is a very accomplished cook, and we enjoyed several meals she prepared for us. She also has very elegant taste in dishes, just like Kiyomi. Everything was beautifully presented. She had even created etchings on the glassware, as an art project. She created the designs and did the etching with a sand blaster.

Japan - 2010-06-07/08

We departed SFO at about noon 7 June on ANA flight 7 bound for Narita airport Japan. We had reserved Premium Coach seats, which are just like business class seats, but not the upscale food selections. The seats have lots of room and recline fully, so you can sleep if you want. Since it was normal awake time, I watched 2 movies, "From Paris with Love" and "Eli's Book". Usint my new QuietComfort 15 noise-canceling headphones, I could enjoy the movies without any background noise. They worked like a charm. After that, I read an interesting science fiction novel, "Spook Country" by William Gibson. He developed several concepts that are just beginning to be possible, geo-hacking as an art form (like enhanced reality available on iPhones) and espionage using very high-tech equipment. It was a good read.
We were upgraded to full Business Class, so had two excellent Japanese meals. Since ANA is a real Japanese airline, the food was authentic and delicious, and served quite elegantly.
We arrived about 4 pm 8 June at Narita (midnight Pacific), and took the Airport Limousine to the Tokyo Sheraton Miyako Hotel (in Minato-ku). It's a luxury hotel, very nice rooms and service, several restaurants and Internet. I just had a warm relaxing bath and crawled into bed and went to sleep in the king-size bed.

Japan - 2010-06-09

Due to jet lag, we awoke at about 4 am local (noon Pacific) Wednesday 9 June. Kiyomi enjoyed the traditional Japanese breakfast menu, while I had a Continental OJ, coffee and toast. The Japanese coffee is delicious, strong and full-flavored. A few cups and we were ready to go.

We had a very nice meeting with Mrs. Kunishima and her granddaughter Hitomi for lunch. We decided to meet at our hotel and eat in the very elegant Japanese restaurant, the Yamatoya-Sangen. We each had the very traditional Japanese meal, served in lovely lacquered boxes by a waitress dressed in kimono. There were some delicacies I did not recognize, but many I did, such as the fish, the tsukemono (pickles), miso soup, tofu, and dessert (mochi balls in sweet bean sauce). It was all quite delicious, I enjoyed everything, even the things I didn't recognize.

Mrs Kunishimi is about 89, but is still spry and very alert. She still has a very nice complexion, almost no wrinkles, and a cheerful friendly disposition. I guess her personality is what attracted Mother to her, as Daddy worked with her husband Adm. Kunishima. Anyway, we thanked her for her efforts 36 years ago as our go-between when she facilitated our marriage. I think their status impressed Kiyomi's parents, and made them more favorably disposed to me as a prospective son-in-law.

After bidding them sayonara, we took a walk to a nearby garden, the Happoen. It is a lovely old garden, has been there several hundred years. We were impressed by the azeleas, the 13-story pagoda made of stone, and the huge koi swimming in the lake. We also saw some turtles and a large bird like a heron. After the garden we walked around the Minato City area, impressed by all the green: trees and shrubs everywhere. It was very refreshing to see so much nature left. There were still old-looking Japanese buildings, perhaps restaurants unchanged over the years, and many small shops. Of course there are also high-rise office and apartment buildings, high school, University, shrines and temples. Our walk became longer than planned as we wandered fairly far from the hotel, due to the winding nature of the Japanese streets. Interestingly, we saw almost no Toyota Priuses; but many boxy mini-van-type vehicles.

We bought some of the local pastries at a department store, I had the sweet fruit variety and Kiyomi had the spicy curries. After such a big lunch we didn't need much dinner, so splitting a Suntory Premium Malt beer, we just snacked on the pastries. Kiyomi met with her longtime friend Kyoko, and they chatted for several hours in the hotel lobby while I went to bed early. It seems Kiyomi adjusts to the time change much faster than I do.