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

        Dec 26.   Up very early and follow Sash to the US Embassy where we can’t walk on the same side of the street (reminds me of the Lefortovo prison in Moscow in 1974 and this is not a good comparison). We have coffee nearby and Read More

        December 25, Tuesday.   We land in an almost empty Narita airport on Christmas midafternoon where Sash greets us with his uniquely impish smile and we venture into Tokyo by Skyliner and subway arriving at rush hour (no holiday here) at Akasaka station and in just Read More

        December 24, 2012.   Flying northwest on Japan Air from sunny snowless Boston, it takes just a few minutes until snow dots the Vermont hills. Then more snow and suddenly it’s all white somewhere beyond Ottawa where civilization slips away and the great north begins – Read More