Super Colossal Toast

Hi Everyone,

Now I have a few mintues to catch up...

Weather: Rainy and about 65 degrees.

Food: For breakfast I had a wonderful green salad with sesame dressing and thinly sliced raw ham. (Texture of sushi - not bad.) I also had a piece of Super Colossal Toast - YES it's true! The toast was at least half again as tall and thicker than two pieces of our regular sandwich bread. It was huge - I only took half a slice. I also had three different kids of cheese, one of which was sort of like a mix between cream cheese and brie. I chose to spread it on my Super Colossal Toast cause I didn't know what else to do with it.

For lunch I had a jumbo shrimp and sea scallop sandwich with pickled vegetables. Oddly enough, the sandwich bread was smaller and thinner than our bread. Hmmmm... Also, they cut the crusts off and made it perfectly square.

Language: I'm getting more comfortable at my attempts in Japanese. As I listen to others and try a few things it gets a bit easier, but I have made mistakes! I've said the words that mean "most politely" instead of "Good morning". I said "Good Morning" for "Thank you" one time. And last night, when I was really, really tired - I said "Gracias" for "Thank you". Good try - wrong language. I went to the shopping center under the hotel and bought a jacket today. (This was after realizing I'm definitely not prepared for Japanese business dress!) The lady that was helping me was so nice and we were both trying so hard. There was a lot of gesturing and laughing, but we got our points across. I brought a ton of Minnesota postcards with me and went back down at lunch to give her one as a thank you. She was SO nice and so appreciative of the card. It really is the little things that matter the most.

To answer the Japanese lesson questions for the day...

I have not left the hotel so I'll have to get back to you on the vending machines.

Public restrooms do NOT have paper, and many of them are the 'squat' style. No sitting down on the job! I have a more European/American toilet in my room though with a nice bidet. (Expalin that to the kids, Andy.)

All the other things are true, true, true. No rudeness at all - very soft, polite, quiet atmosphere. No pointing (guide your open hand in a flowing manner to the object you wish to make known).

Sit and enjoy your meal, no eating on the run.

No tipping for anything. (Food service, luggage assistance, cab, etc.)

No shoes - leave them at the door. But, I've chosen not to use the slippers in the hotel room because they just throw them away when you're done. I'll go in bare feet! (Not sure that's really acceptable, but who's going to catch me?)

A couple more pieces of info for your studies.

You cannot even purchase a car in Tokyo unless you have a permit showing proof that you own a legal place to park it.

Tokyo and it's suburbs have 28 million people. This is a BIG city.

Most people are either of the Buddhist or Shinto religion.

I am the tallest woman I've seen so far.

Here is a picture of the hotel I'm staying in - I'm in the Tower on the 23rd floor - and the amazing 16th century Japanese garden. The waterfall picture is the view I had from my breakfast table today.

That's it for now. I'll try to catch you guys when you wake up in the morning.

Love,

Mom