International Garden Narita

November 17, 2009<br><br><br><br>Good evening all!<br><br>Today was another rained out day. We sat in the break room reading, talking and laughing. Mel said on Saturday that he had emailed a friend that we were "three fat guys sitting around eating Japanese snakes!" (what he meant was Japanese snacks &#8211; we all got a kick out of that but I guess you had to be there) So ...

... Kids who are trying to be "different" but end up looking like every one else their age. All of them are interesting to me. And that is who I got to see yesterday.<br><br>My day started with a little boy, about 2, who was enthralled with Santa and Duffy. When he came up, I put my arms out and he ran to me and squeezed my neck for a very long time! His parents were so cute as they watched him. Then we took pictures and he hugged Duffy and they were on their way. I don&#8217;t ...

... Narita is home to Narita-san Shinshoji Temple which is a large complex complete with Peace pagoda, gardens and a calligraphy museum. The main building is famous for its Goma rite- a ceremony that prays to Fudomyo, the main deity of the temple, to fulfill our wishes, banish evil and chase away hindrances of passion and false knowledge (ooh er!). Most of the buildings had english explanations except for the calligraphy museum which was still beautiful none the ...

... br> The toilets, however, can only be described as decidedly non-Western. Google image "japanese toilets" and you might understand the confusion.<br> Also, I wanted to say that I have been unable to post pictures from the flight and hotel because I have been shooting in "raw ...

... opened his packet of Oreos ("Mama" tried to make us feel at home by buying random western foods for us :P) a deer and its kid came up to us... even though I had my leg out at a 90 degree angle to stop it coming near me and my food it persisted. In the end I jumped up on the park bench so I could eat my biscuits in (relative) peace while Angus laughed at me. After a while they got the point that we were going to eat all our food ourselves and went away. Angus and I kept walking to ...

... and waited for our bags. One of the staff was yelling something in Japanese and pointing to a sign that had pictures. We just smiled and waved boys - smiled and waved. Amba spotted my bag - then saw her bag. We heaved both off - mine with the bright orange HEAVY sticker on it - onto the floor. How did Asians fit all their clothes into those tiny little suit cases??? Its a mystery. We dragged our bags(!) to customs - we didnt need to declare anything really ...

... since the age of seven. I worked with Mark back in 1992-5 and we've kept loosely in touch. We had a good working rapport and bonded over Taco Bell and Frisbee at lunch. We had a good conversation and we marveled at how small a world it seems sometimes. It's not my most improbably small world story to date, but it's certainly up there now.

... In fact, most of the mile or so walk to my hotel was extremely quiet--dare I say zenlike. One thing about walking in Tokyo is that you evidently do not disregard a do not walk signal, even when crossing a little lane only about two steps wide. I did a couple of times, and immediately felt really bad about it. This calmness, however, breaks down in the area around my hotel which is in Akihabara--Electronic Town ...

... my bath, I went into the locker room area where I was expecting a dry towel. To my surprise there were no towels. But, I was not about to enter the lobby area naked. So, I grabbed the air dyer and began drying myself. Next thing I knew, there were three Japanese men staring at me (we were all naked). I said in English, "What, I have no towel." I was embarrassed, but I knew I would never see these men again. So, the ...

... and she read Japanese. They bring your food to the table and you follow the cooking instructions, which are located on the wall. All in all, the food was very tasty and filling. I had fried noodles with lots of pepper and veggies. Side note: I would have never tried a restaurant on the 4th floor. My first inclination is to try eye level stores. We normally don't have restaurants on the 4th level in the States. After lunch we went our separate ways and I ...