Introducing Kazuho

Here she is all the way from Tokyo, Japan. Her name is Kazuho Shinohara but she would like you to call her “Kaz” which rhymes with “Oz” as in the Wizard of Kaz.

Her flight in from Tokyo yesterday was delayed for three hours and then it took a long time for her to get through immigration and customs so Sue and Kaz were not able to come to my concert in the park. My concert went very well—thanks for asking. Instead, Sue and Kaz had a terrific first meal of corn on the cob and beef tacos. This morning Kaz and I went downtown to practice the bus route. Here we are in from of one of the uglier buildings in downtown St. Paul, the Securian Building.

 

Here is the front door to St. Paul Prep in the Cray Plaza building. Kaz was very excited about everything that we saw. We met several teachers including the legendary Miss Kate. Kate is coaching the soccer and track teams and maybe the basketball team, too. Kaz said she is a runner. Maybe basketball and soccer are in her future?

 

Here is Kaz in Mears Park next to her school.

And here is an action shot of what I look like drinking a hot Americano at Dunn Bros. We walked by several Starbucks and Caribou Coffees to get to the Dunn Brother.

 

And we returned home on the 68C bus to within less than a block of our house. The bus is so convenient for our students! Now we will go to Best Buy to look at laptops. . .

Bratwurst for dinner.

Chuggin’ with Dougin’ and Sue

I like the mix of old and new even when it is a new old-style thing in a new neighborhood of an old city. This is a Shinto shrine in the Ginza neighborhood of Tokyo. We walked out the back of a department store in a skyscraper building to find this quaint and brand new shrine.

The shrine also had the obligatory orange gate.

Here are some shots of our last dinner with Shukuko, Toshiji, and Takayuki.

 

 

We were sitting at a semi-outdoor table at a semi-Italian restaurant across from Shinagawa Station in western Tokyo. I did the old routine of having everyone take a photo of the two people to their left and then pass the camera to their right.

Takayuki must have learned his photo faces from his father.

See? Shukuko sent us an online album of all of the pictures they took. You’ll probably see some of them on this blog.

Kampai Kai Family!

 

In Shinagawa we stayed at the Tokyo Marriott in this tall building next to the rail-superhighway, the super railway if you will. There was a constant stream of trains passing by the hotel on the way to and from Shinagawa Station. From above you can appreciate just how long a 16 car bullet train is.

 

This was a swanky hotel with a great view from our 20th Floor window. Thank you Shukuko and Toshiji!

This view shows some skyscrapers in the direction of Shibuya.

 

The hotel had a nice garden and wedding chapel that we wandered through several times.

 

On Monday morning after a giant hotel breakfast we loaded up on the Narita airport bus. . .

. . .and headed for the western hemisphere!

Here’s our Boeing 777 bound for Dallas.

 

Here is Sue anticipating our business class upgrade!

Let There Be Light.

 

And there was light.  Our new lamps arrived today as did the replacement bookshelf.  

We couldn’t find a good place for the broken bookshelf and it didn’t fit in either of our cars to take it to Neighbors, Inc. or Goodwill.  We took it outside and put a “free” sign on it.  Less than 10 minutes later, a guy drove up and hopped out of his car to look at it.  I stuck my head out the door to tell him we could help him load it up if he wanted it.  He said he thought it would be a perfect bookshelf for young son.  We put it in his trunk and he drove a few blocks down 15th with it to his house.  Everyone wins!

I happened to see the UPS guy and the FedEx guy pull up and watched them unload our boxes.  It’s a miracle everything doesn’t get broken as they seemed to bounce the boxes like basketballs getting them out of the truck. 

Now what to do with a ton of carboard and styrofoam packing materials…

Bedroom Update Update

 

We got our fabric prints hung today.  It was no small feat to iron them, get them all the exact same length, hung, centered and leveled. 

We also purchased a new TV to replace the TV that I either bought in 1989 or 1994.  The same box to the side is the antenna.  We are saving ourselves $2.99 a month and endless annoyance with lengths and lengths of cords by going with this new set up.

 

We filled our shelves with some of the wonderful Japanese pottery and other items we have.

The lamps and the replacement bookshelf will arrive later this week.  The bedding and the interior designer arrive next week. 

Kickin’ It with the Kais in Kawagoe

Yes, more photos from Japan. This is the Kai house in the suburb of Tokyo called Fujimino which is about 40 minutes by train from Shibuya, one of the western Tokyo hubs. Makiko rode the train everyday for four years from here to Shibuya for college.

I think it is a three bedroom house with a second floor balcony off of the master suite.

 

On our first morning with the Kais we drove to Kawagoe, an Edo period town that has been preserved as it was before Edo changed to Tokyo a couple hundred years ago. When you think of old Japan, you are probably picturing kimono and wood block prints and fancy fans—this is Edo-period Japan. We strolled around town and also visited this museum which highlighted the town’s history and its annual festival.

 

The Kais are always willing to pose for good pictures!

Again, it was a sweltering day. Toshiji said the last time he was in Kawagoe was when his father was in town and wanted to see some history. Both of Makiko’s parents are originally from the Fukushima area—the site of the 2011 Tsunami and nuclear disaster. They originally moved to Fujimino for Toshiji’s job. He still works for that company.

We had a nice lunch at a restaurant that was celebrating its anniversary with 50% of sale! Sugoi to yasui! (great and cheap!) We had udon noodle dishes.

I could eat Japanese food anytime, anywhere.

 

This is what the streets of Kawagoe look like. The buildings were all wooden warehouses that are now mostly shops selling everything you can imagine.

 

One of the cool things about this town is how they have preserved (or recreated) the historical center of town and they buried the power lines. You can see where they are above ground again down the road. I’m not sure I would have noticed the lack of power lines. Maybe I would have wondered what what was different but then not been able to put my finger on it.

While strolling the hot streets we stopped at a vending machine for some cold tea and iced coffee. . .

. . . and we shared a sweet potato? It was hot and potato-like whatever it was.

 

This rail station in Fujimino is a private rail line described by the travel books as “cheaper than the Japan National Rail”. By this time our rail pass had run out and they were not good on non-JR trains anyway so we were happy to pay about $4 to ride all the way in to Shinagawa station for our weekend in Tokyo with the Kais.

Lazy Cat

Somebody is lazy tonight!

Like a Japanese Bridge Over Troubled Fish Water

In the Ginza downtown area of Tokyo on Sunday afternoon of our last weekend in Japan, the Kai family led us around on some city sight seeing. I happened to mention the Nihombashi ––Japan Bridge, a historic bridge from 1603 from which Japan’s five major highways originated. It is the mile zero or kilometer zero marker from which all distances in Japan are measured. Toshiji, Shukuko, and brother Takayuki said “ikimashou!” – let’s go. The characters on the overpass read Nihon Bashi – Japan Bridge but the overpass is not the bridge. Right before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the city built many subways, highways, and the monorail to help move people around the city.This highway was built right over the top of the Japan Bridge.

Here I am posing with the Japan Bridge. All distances in Japan at that moment were measured from me.

After we looked at it for a bit, Shukuko asked us if we wanted to take the boat tour. We said “sure” and the next thing we knew, mother and father of Makiko were in a convenience store buying some cold drinks for our river cruise.

Do we look like a family? How about a bunch of tourists?

So there it is: an elevated highway (toll way) built directly above the river and crossing over one of the country’s most historic bridges. There are probably a few subway lines underneath it all.

Where there are highways there are also interchanges.

Soon we entered the main river where we caught another glimpse of the Tokyo Sky Tree Tower, the tallest structure in Japan at 2000+ feet. It is the tallest tower (not a building) in the world and the second tallest structure after the Burj Khalifa building in Dubai which is 2722 feet.

I like this photo and wonder if the development was planned to mirror the curve of the bridge.

This is the boat trip where they handed out hats to wear. My melon is too big for Japanese hats. Sorry. Plus, I was rocking my Detroit lid.

They have these flood control gates on all of the small canal or river spurs off the main river. Gotta keep out those storm surges.

Buildings and bridges are relatively young in the US compared with Japan’s old stuff. Imagine trying to get permission here to build a superhighway above a river that crosses over a landmark bridge.

 

And then we stoked up with some fish broth. I’ve been talking about this fish broth with people and no one quite understands the concept. It is simple: broth made from fish is clear, slightly fishy tasting, and delicious. It is used in many Japanese dishes but most notable in Miso Soup, something we had at almost every single meal. This place, The Nihombashi Dashi Bar is located in a department store. You walk up and order your fish liquid, season with seaweed, salt, or soy sauce, and then stand around drinking like it’s happy hour.

 

The middle line says, ”Odashi Drinku Menyuu” – Honorable Fish Broth Drink Menu. Awesome.

Yeah, we were boiling hot from walking around outside before having a refreshing glass of hot fish soup. We all liked it and Sue even had a small sip.

This trend will be coming to the US soon. New York or maybe San Francisco. . . wait for it. . .