Gardens, Noodles, Fish, Cleanliness and Advanced Planning

Here we are in Japan, hard to believe South America is over and that we are actually here!

Here’s a picture of the kids in Japanese attire from our Ryokan last evening.

Wow, we knew that Japan would be different, but we didn’t really appreciate how different. Perhaps it is the fact that Tokyo is the largest city in the world, or that they use a language with characters we don’t recognize, or that the trains and streets are spotless. Whatever the reason, our first two days have been fascinating.

Advanced Planning

I’ll tackle the Advanced Planning part first. All throughout South America we shot from the hip, enjoying the freedom and flexibility that comes with that approach. From a practical perspective it also allows us to focus on the present experience rather than focusing on planning future days and weeks. The success of that came to a grinding halt in Japan. We had the first two nights booked, but weren’t aware (dumb us!) that the following days were part of a three-day holiday weekend during which it seems the entire Japanese population heads out to enjoy the fall leaves. (No mention of this being a difficult time for reservations in our trusty guidebook, which only suggested calling ahead for reservations.) So, we spent the better part of our first day shuttling between the Tourist Information Center and a travel agency in search of accommodations, any accommodations. The very helpful and polite ladies in the tourist center finally found us somewhere to stay and were probably laughing inside at the stupidity of the American family standing in front of them. The end result is that we are spending more days in Tokyo than planned. Things could have been worse (Ainsley was angling for a stay in one of Japan’s infamous “Capsule Hotels”).

Gardens

On our way back from finding a place to stay we visited Rikugien Gardens. The sun was getting low and the leaves are turning now, which made for a great time to visit. The kids have gained an appreciation for gardens from Duke Gardens in Durham, and for Japanese culture in general from Kelli’s good friend and nipponophile Nancy (thanks Nance!!!) and the many great culturally oriented programs at Club Boulevard Elementary School. They really enjoyed the visit and here are some pictures.

Noodles

Jack in particular has been eagerly awaiting Japanese noodles and was really excited after Kelli reported finding a noodle shop nearby on one of her walks after she heard the tell-tale sound of slurping resonating from inside. So, yesterday we set out to find it again. Kelli said that she probably wouldn’t be able to recognize it unless it had the same line of people waiting outside. Sure enough, the line was there and we took up our spot in the queue. You might ask why the line? The simple answer of course is that the food is really good, which it was. The other answer is that it is a one-man show. One cook, that’s all. No one else. That means that there are only 8 seats and 8 diners at one time. The wait in the end wasn’t too long as Japanese diners eat their noodles with some urgency, slurping all the way. (The acceptance of slurping also made Jack happy!)

As we waited in the line we began to wonder how to order, so we sidled up to the window to check things out. To our surprise, we found everyone first stopping at a vending machine by the front door. (We shouldn’t have been surprised because vending machines really are everywhere in Japan.) The machine was stocked with various colored and priced rectangular plastic chips. The chips were accompanied by the all too unfamiliar and unintelligible (at least to us) Japanese script. We were at the mercy of either following those in front of us or finding someone to translate. In the end, we used both techniques and learned that everyone was ordering only the navy blue chip, which meant ramen noodles with pork. A few people added some of the other less expensive chips, but we honestly couldn’t see what difference that made. We also learned how to ask for extra vegetables for free.

When our turn came we purchased our 4 navy blue chips and one by one began to take our seats (after filling our own water glasses). The show was then on and everyone watched the noodle chef follow his consistent method for assembling each bowl. From there we enjoyed each and every slurp.

Fish

Yesterday we took advantage of our early awakening hour, as we continue to adjust to the time change, and headed out to the famous Tokyo Fish Market. This is the largest fish market in the world and was a place of orchestrated chaos, with a few tourists thrown in for good measure. Fish, people and vehicles were moving in all directions at all times. We held on to little hands and did our best to avoid being run over. The whole scene was so fascinating and foreign. Here’s a brief peek at what it was like.

Jack in particular was a bit overcome and saddened by the experience. This was probably driven by the connection he made to the world-wide over-fishing documentary we saw in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Eliot couldn’t wait to go and get away from that “fish smell.” Ainsley was ready as always to move on to the next thing.

Cleanliness

This last part is simply a story, but one that we found to be an excellent example of the Japanese culture of cleanliness. (This is certainly a country that GG would like!)

This story took place on one of the many train rides that we have already taken during our short stay. We boarded a train and found a number of open seats, which upon closer examination were open only because of a spill of a thick orange liquid (orange juice perhaps?) on the floor in front of them. We, like most others, backed away. Then one young gentleman (maybe 25 years old) approached the seat, saw the spill and proceeded to pull out his travel package of facial tissues. He then dropped them one by one on to the spill and carefully mopped it up, being sure not to touch the liquid with his fingers. When the spill was fully absorbed he placed the tissues in a plastic bag and carried it off the train. The seats were now fine for others to use. The mess was obviously not his problem, but he felt compelled to make the train a cleaner place for everyone. Wow! Jack was very impressed and moved toward the man to say arigato with a bow. I can’t think of anywhere else in the world where this would have happened. Welcome to Japan!