Japan: Land Of The Rising Sun

We flew to Tokyo and experienced the worst Immigration Control (ever). A lot of people are visiting from many different countries.

Japan is about as big as California. The population is about 125 million. 30% of the citizens live in Tokyo. About 66% of the country is forest.

Our first day we taxied to The Kaminarimon Gate. This a a very important site and home to two protective Buddhist Gods: Fajin the wind God and Raijin the God of Thunder.

For $.66 I was able to select a fortune. WOW…I picked the “Best Fortune”! I have to keep this in my wallet for one year.

During our time in Tokyo we had meals of sushi, noodles, hot pot and curry—always with rice.

We learned from a retired Sumo Master about that “sport” and had a Taiko drumming lesson that we ended with a recital. I was impressed that a non English speaking musician could get all 16 of us playing drums.

Next visit was to a Bonsai garden. We learned about and viewed the intricacies of the cultivation techniques. There were hundreds of Bonsai plants. You can purchase a plant and then come to work on it at the garden.

You can take this next Black Pine Bonsai home for one million dollars..the pot is estimated at 200 K.

Our next adventure was a day trip to Mount Fugi. we were very worried that clouds would block the view (only 30% of visitors get a good day) but my “best fortune” came through and we got sun, blue sky and picturesque clouds. Mount Fugi is the tallest mountain in Japan at over 12,000 feet.

Mt Fugi is not very far from Tokyo…..BUT….the traffic going “out of” and “into” the city was a “congested nightmare”. It probably added 4 hours to the drive.

My Tokyo impressions:

• It is very clean
• It reminds me of NYC but streets have less cars-lots of apartments but they are much shorter than the apartments in Korea-most about 4 to 12 stories
• There are four large “green spaces” in the city
• It’s quiet-no horn honking, hardly any sirens
• There are a lot of trees, plants and bushes on the sidewalks and center lanes
• The subways are new and convenient
• The cost for food and transportation is about the same as in the US-the dollar is strong
• I had a personal washer/dryer in my room

I love the toilets! They have heated seats, auto flush and a warm water bidet. Even public toilets have a bidet.

We have spent four days in Tokyo and leave for our other destinations tomorrow.

This is another city I could love!