OK - I'm a new grandmother -- I have to post a few more pictures!
Nana and Abigail
Brother Alan and Sue
3 generations 
Besides Abigail, we had wonderful experiences in Japan. From limited experience, here are some of my reflections:
I only remembered a few words from my 5-week Japanese Language Class ("thank you, excuse me, good morning, I don't understand") and definitely couldn't read the language, but we got along fairly well with lots of pantomiming and pointing. Many restaurants had pictures on the menu, which helped. Linda and I each had an experience of purchasing something in a food stall that wasn't cooked -- raw endamame doesn't taste very good, nor does an uncooked bun I got for lunch one day. Another time we bought a stir-fry that with vegetables and something that looked like pieces of chicken, but turned out to be something we couldn't identify--chewy, tough pork skins maybe? On one of the restaurant menus (in English) we could have ordered chicken tail skewers (or other parts of the chicken), but we were quite pleased with the grilled chicken breast skewers (known as yakitori). The plastic food outside the restaurants, or the help from waiters trying to speak English, meant we had mostly good dining experiences. The food in the two Ryokens (Japanese inns) where we stayed was phenomenal -- so many dishes which our hosts tried to explain to us, but mostly we just had to experience.
dinner at a ryokan (Japanese inn)
plastic food in front of restaurant
okonomiyaki
yakitori
Japanese-style breakfast
There must be more
vending machines in Japan than anywhere else in the world -- 6 million vending machines, if I remember correctly, where for 100-150 yen (comparable to $1-1.50) you could purchase beverages, some including beer, and a few where you could get hot coffee/latte in a can. The interesting thing, though, is that even though there were not many garbage cans, we didn't see trash on the streets anywhere. I had to carry an empty plastic bottle a long time one day before finding somewhere to throw it away, or we would have to carry paper wrappers back to our hotel. There were usually trash bins, including recycling bins, in the train stations, but hardly any as we walked around the cities. And we did a lot of walking -- averaging over 4 miles a day, if my pedometer measured it correctly.
The children were so much fun to watch. Many, many field trips for the Japanese children, all dressed in uniforms or matching hats. At a daily farmer's market in Takayama, we saw the children interviewing the stall owners. At another place they were sketching at a shrine. Older students were assigned to practice their English by interviewing tourists -- we were then asked to have our picture taken with them. The children were so well behaved, and loved posing for pictures with the "V" finger sign. It was fun to see families taking their children on family outings. We couldn't help just watching the cute small children.
Most of the population of Japan reside in large cities, with high density apartments and living areas. Tons of people would pour out of the train stations during certain times of the day. Many people on bicycles. Despite their close living quarters and crowded areas, people seemed polite, respectful and tolerant of each other. We didn't notice aggressive driving, for example. We saw only one homeless person and no one asking for money. People hung their clothes out to dry on their apartment balconies, or as in one alley, on an outdoor clothes dryer next to an old washing machine. The most disruptive view from the streets, though, were the tangle of electricity or phone wires.
Nodding with a slight bow and saying thank you "Arigato Gozaimas(u)" is the polite greeting or exchange when leaving a store/restaurant. Many, many places to shop in fancy stores or tiny stalls in covered open-air markets or eat in small restaurants. We looked more than we bought, but we did get a few treasures. Linda purchased a beautiful hand-painted fan. I bought a gold-leaf/platinum necklace at the gold-leaf demonstration store. Linda bought candied ginger at one stall, and got a larger bag than she had planned. Candied ginger, anyone?
We did buy sake a few times and went into two brewery tasting areas. The breweries had a round ball known as “sugidama” (cypress ball) that hung above the door to identify them as sake breweries. We also saw an old large vat that they used to cook the rice in before fermenting it into sake.
On our last day in Kyoto, our guide (from Inside Japan Tours) brought us a large probably high-quality sake either as an apology for the mix-up with an earlier guide who didn't show up, or just as a thank you for using their travel services. We decided Linda should put it in her luggage to take home, which was fine until she changed planes in Los Angeles. Rather than checking her luggage for the last leg of her flight to SFO, she decided to carry her suitcase on the plane. That was a mistake -- she forgot about the "liquid" in her carry-on. I'm sure the TSA employees must have great parties with the "liquids" people forget about in their luggage, which then gets confiscated.
We loved the gardens, and the way people would add plants to their window displays or front doors. And the gardens were the best. We were there after the cherry blossom season, and at the end of the azaleas, but there were still some in full bloom. The hydrangeas were beautiful.
We had a variety of overnight accommodations. The Toyoko-Inns (we stayed in that chain in two cities) were very reasonable, compact and efficient, with great Japanese-style breakfasts. We learned that to get the electricity on in the room, though, you had to put the stick that had the door key on it in a slot by the door. Another learning experience after wondering if we were going to be in the dark all night! The two older Japanese-style inns (ryokans) were unique experiences, although Linda could have done without getting up and down on the floor for sleeping, or drinking tea or eating breakfast and dinner--all from a low table with our knees stretched out underneath. The Japanese could just sit on their hauches, but didn't work for us The Japanese women who worked in the ryokans worked very hard, and bustled about to provide us with meals. We were surprised that even in these inns, they had air conditioning, TV and Wi-Fi. (All of our hotels had free Wi-Fi, a surprise we hadn't counted on.)
We stayed in a very nice business hotel with a great view from the 10th floor in one city; and an elegant entrance to the apartment-hotel in Kyoto.
View from Hotel Richmond in Matsumoto
Lobby entrance at Citadines hotel-apt
Tea in our Ryokan bedroom when we arrived
Explaining food at Ryokan in Nagano and Takayama
With guide outside Takayama Royokan
Part of our guided tour included a Tea Ceremony -- such delicate, poised maneuvers by our hostess. The tea we were served was from a powdered green tea, then whisked before being served.
The arts are very important in Japan. We went to a calligraphy exhibition sponsored by college students, and to a very interesting modern art museum in Kanazawa as well as a Suzuki Museum. We walked quite a few blocks in the rain, thinking we were going to a museum about the person who created the Suzuki method of learning music, but turned out, it was of the philosopher D.T. Suzuki who wrote many books about Zen Buddhism. It was a very simple yet elegant meditative place.
Musical instruments were an important part of the geisha culture, though, and we got to try our hand on the drums and see the shamisen, the three-string instrument the geishas used for entertainment. .
We were pleased we were able to go to Hiroshima for a day. An English-speaking woman met us as we entered the Peace Park to show us a binder of pictures and tell us about her mother who lived through the bombing, and is now 99 years old. She lost other members of her family, though, and this woman wanted to carry on her mother's story. The remnants of a large stadium was left standing, as a witness to a vibrant community that had occupied that space. The Museum was very well done. One of the displays in the Museum had thousands of protest letters written by mayors of Japanese cities to mayors of cities around the world where they are still doing nuclear testing. We signed our own protest letter and pledge for peace.
It was fitting that one of my last views before leaving, on the streets near Yokosuka was of a Peace Pole -- the same pole that is in the garden of our church in Santa Rosa -- Christ Church United Methodist.
Museum Memorial statue in honor of the Koreans who had been conscripted into forced labor
It was fitting that one of my last views before leaving, on the streets near Yokosuka was of a Peace Pole -- the same pole that is in the garden of our church in Santa Rosa -- Christ Church United Methodist.
May it be so.
