Japan recap

It's a bit ironic that I'm posting this right after yesterday's devastating earthquake.  I don't know anyone in the Sendai area, but my coworkers do; Sendai's sister city is Riverside, so there are lots of local connections.  It's been a crazybusy day at work.  But we're hanging in there, and I'm happy to post these images of a country that is so dear to me, with hopes that its people and land recover from this disaster as soon as humanly possible.

This past trip to Japan was a treat because it was the first time I stayed in Tokyo proper (discounting the very first time, because I didn't know any one or any thing at that time).  Here's a view from my hotel room:

[tokyo tower]

It was especially cool because my good friends live just five minutes from the hotel.  They came to welcome me the night I arrived, and I saw them again during the week.  It was nice to get to know not just Tokyo, but their neighborhood in particular.

Another new-to-me venture was going to see the Imperial Palace.  Well, we mostly saw the gardens around it (it's open to the public only twice a year).  We got as close as about a football field away from the main gate, gaurded against random entries by menacing police bikes.  It trips me out that in a developed country and one that is known for its technology, that law enforcement (and postal service) still ride bikes!

[police bikes]

Japanese food -- 'nuff said.  I was lucky to go out with different friends every night, which was super fun (but also a little exhausting, to be honest).  It was nice to have long catch-up chats and feel a lot of love and support from seemingly far-off friends.

[chicken katsu]

[daikon]

[ramen]

 Lastly, a few random shots: ume blossoms just starting out; Japanese handkerchiefs, tenugui, and furoshiki; and a crazy (to me) pedestrian crossing -- on a Saturday afternoon!

[ume]

[textiles]

[pedestrians]

The offshore earthquake caused a huge rumbling throughout all of Japan: some reports say that the ground shook for five minutes; and here on the west coast of the U.S. we're getting tsunami warnings, too!  I got an email from a friend in the Tokyo area who said that there was significant shaking there, too, and I have yet to call my Japanese parents in the Western part of the country.  Let us continue to pray for safety and recovery for Japan.

Odd start

Disappointingly, my phone was only of use to me as a camera and note-taker whilst in Japan.  WiFi is harder to come by than one would think in the Land of Technology.  I wrote many blog posts, but am rethinking whether I should really post them all.  We'll start with the ones I'm okay with sharing.  Like the following, written on the plane:

[Saturday, February 2o, 2011]

So far I've managed to

• lose my Flyaway shuttle ticket, ransacking my bag and pockets before going back to the ticket window and finding I had simply left it there (the guy looked at me like I was an idiot);


• somehow drop my sunglasses in the flight terminal, before boarding, and have to retrieve them from cabin crew; and


• get entangled in and break my ear buds in my haste to move so that my neighbor could use the restroom.

I feel totally scatterbrained, perhaps the result of getting less than three hours' sleep ... along with some nerves, I suppose, thinking about the last time I was in all these places, with whom, what I came back to, etc. etc.  It's more sobering than exciting, but I think I will have a good trip.  Hope this is the end of breaking and losing things, though.

Leaving!

I'm leaving for Japan! For work! A day sooner than I had in my head! Now I feel very unprepared and rushed. And foiled are my plans to hit up garage and estate sales in Saturday.