Japan eats.. Just a display — don’t get excited. Korean BBQ with unfiltered sake. Mochi and bean paste snack in Korakuen Garden Amuse Bouche at Kurashiki Ryokan Dessert, I think… Breakfast Vending machines with hot drinks in cans.  How brilliant is that?  What can’t we do this? Gift box or Read More

Not sure what this is, but cuteness sells. This is a roadblock. Do not go any further. Stop now. I am not kidding. I am wearing a sweater, booties, and a raincoat. Shoot me now. Please keep me away from the owl. See below. Where is the bunny —  I Read More

Thursday, March 20.  Rain, cold, nasty.   I head off to Rappongi Hills  to find the Tokyo National Art Center, a stunning glass and concrete waving wall of a museum with vast open inner spaces clustered around upside down concrete cones.  (where are the galleries?)  I am too busy inspecting the gift Read More

Nikko: The original, “Monkey See no Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak no Evil.” March 18:  Tuesday is a lovely sunny day and I head off through Roppongi and Midtown where the cherry blossoms are just maybe starting to pop to wander through Akasaka.  I figure if I can keep walking Read More

Sunday March 16.   Land in Narito after a 14.5 hr flight sitting in a coach middle seat next to the only fat man on the plane, who also is missing the fingers on one hand.  Sasha picks me up in a borrowed car and we hit the road (drive left, look Read More

January 3-4.  Tokyo Max leaves for the airport, sadly, and Sash treats us to a quick tour of the Ambassador’s residence, a gorgeous mansion untouched in the war that became General MacArthur’s headquarters.   D and I then head to the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park.  By now I am tackling Read More

Observations:  (Warning: Contains gross generalizations bordering on stereotype) An excess of cuteness:  Furry animals, bunnies, cats and a general obsession with adorableness that extends to clothing. Grown women dress like little girls pretending to be hookers going to a tea party; crinolines, thigh-high stockings, short shorts, super-high platform shoes.  Dogs Read More

Wednesday Jan. 2, 2013:  Sunny and dry. Sash heads back to work and we spend the day with Max, finding our way on the subway to the Edo-Tokyo Museum – an enormous complex relating the history of Tokyo over the past 2,000 years with dioramas, recreations, artifacts, film clips, re-enactments.  Read More

Friday Dec 28 Tokyo. Overcast, but warmer. D and I explore midtown which, although an office area, does not seem to get going until 10 am, when a wave of young office workers (salarymen) in black suits and white shirts floods through the underground shopping center and people queue up Read More

Dec 27. Thursday Sunny and cold – about 40 F Detlev and I explore the compound – one of the only residential embassy compounds in the world (the other is in Saudi Arabia)  and Sash arrives back for an early lunch. We head to Raponggi Hills for an American lunch Read More