This is Kyoto station.  There is a stage at the bottom where a show for children is happening. In Japan, trains are "the way" to get around. It was my first time to ride a train or subway and I liked it! Many people sleep in trains. They don't seem to worry about theft too much. In one case, I was in a subway car with 25 other people - I was the only one awake. It was a strange feeling!

Our first order of business was to visit Akiko's sister, Junko. I had a great time with her in America previously, so I was looking forward to it. She's crazy! Junko lives in downtown Okayama. The streets are very narrow and cozy; especially fun to walk around at night. The street in this picture is a one way street - but there are many streets this narrow that are two-way! This is one of the reasons why many people prefer to buy very compact cars; otherwise it's hell getting about. In fact, I saw one car that was SOOO small it was comical - it was like a go-cart with a roof.  I wish I had a picture of it!

Junko wouldn't be off work until later, but she had left a welcome note. She had carefully cut letters out of cardboard and crayoned them!  So sweet!

A pic of Junko and I - After Junko got home the three of us hit the town! I **LOVED** the restaurant she took us to. At this place, you ordered tons of small dishes by pointing at pictures on the giant colorful menus. Foreigners especially love this style. :) I was shocked at how someone could say "Suimasen" (kind of "excuse me" in Japanese) and no matter how far away the waitress was, she would be at your table in a second. Because of this great service we were constantly ordering dishes throughout the evening.

For dessert Junko took us to another place. We went through a few alleys, walked up 3 flights of stairs and opened a small wooden door.   My eyes widened as we walking into the coolest tavern in the world!  The walls were lined with anime comic books, puzzles and games. We ordered some ice-creams and sat down. Akiko and Junko took out a plastic barrel game - the goal was to take turns inserting plastic swords. When you hit the right spot, the top would shoot off. But in THEIR version, while doing your turn you had to lean over so your forehead was over the contraption.  I have to admit this added a lot of laughs to the game... and a goodly sized red welt to my forehead.

I was disappointed to not find everything high-tech like I was expecting. For instance, the computers I saw for sale were overpriced and under-powered Dell's imported from America. But there is one area where Japan is clearly the leader by a long shot. Cell phones. They have phones that let people browse the web and view full color .jpg's from e-mail attachments..and somehow still manage to be smaller than my clunky cell phone in the states.   Real-time video conferencing cell phones are due out soon in Japan I hear also, thanks to a special high speed cell-phone Internet network. Oddly, most Internet services for dialup computers still charge by the minute, not the best deal. High speed such as cable and DSL is only now becoming available.

I was lucky enough to experience a "Love Hotel" during our visit. Couple of things make Love Hotels different from regular hotels: You get locked in. You have to phone the desk to let you out, you are not permitted to leave and come back. (Of course some LH's are different) There was a very nice three person hot-tub bath. There was a condom machine in the room. ($3 for 2..you better hope you have change with you..) Also the toilet had a bidet.  At some nicer department stores and even a restaurant on the same scale as say, "Dennys" had one of these babies complete with seat warmer and a joystick to control the water spray. I got used to these things; now I want to install one here. !!

But don't think bidet toilets are the only game in town.  "Japanese" style toilets are also very popular, many bathrooms contain both "Japanese" and "Western" style toilets so you can choose. The Japanese style toilet is basically a hole in the ground - it's hard to see from this picture but the toilet is flush (ha-ha) with the tiles. Also known as a "squatty potty". I thought I might be successful in avoiding these completely but alas... I found myself in need with nary a "western" style in sight. To my suprise, the whole experience went off rather well. It's actually more sanitary as no contact with the seat occurs. Luckily I didn't have to use this one, which isn't the cleanest thing around.

I visited every arcade I got a chance to. I believe this one is the "Sega Joyopolis". A crowd gathered around this girl..I looked closer and saw the game used keyboards. "Only typing will save your live." it claimed.   It looks like House of the Dead 2 but you have to type the monsters name to kill it. Akiko and I played it later and did really well. Finally typing pays off! I can't wait to get the American version though, as the Japanese words were a little tricky for me. I also saw some people playing "Dance Dance Revolution". I didn't think much of it at the time but on my second trip to Japan I actually played it...and my life changed forever. :)

This is really sad. A few days after I arrived, Kiko's seemingly innocent sore-throat developed into something much worse, akin to strep. She was in a hard position because her parents and I couldn't communicate well and needed her to translate for us.  It grew so bad, every time she spoke soon after a tear would trickle down her face in silent testament to her pain. We frequented a nose and throat doctor twice. Here she received some treatment. Most of the time I sat in the waiting room with children.. they would grow more and more frightened as they listened to the horrific screams of the child currently being examined. They should really use candies and nurses who smile once in a while.. or sound proof the room.

Akiko's mother and father were very nice to me.  They took me to lots of great places to eat and insisted upon paying for everything. It wasn't until my second trip I could fandangle the bill away from them once or twice. This restaurant style is called "Korean BBQ". I **LOVED IT!!!** My two favorite things are meat and more meat. Here, they deliver raw meat to your table..most people use their chopsticks to move the raw meat to the gas grill in the middle of the table, then eat it with the same sticks when it is only half cooked. Everybody eats raw beef in Japan, not just fish. (Akiko tells me some special kinds of pork they eat raw also)

We took the ferry to Miyajima, a small island south of Hiroshima. It's a beautiful place.  From what I could gather this week was very special because the tide was out so far. (Usually this place in the picture is covered with water) Hundreds of families came to dig clams from the newly uncovered soil. The giant red shrine in the water is called Torii. It's big and famous.  That's all Akiko could tell me about it, what a terrible tour guide! ;)

This island has tons of tame "Japanese deer" that will follow you around.  I bought some cakes to feed them (it's only 100 yen, what the hell) and I instantly become a huge hit with them! The food drove one of the deer to a frenzy and he grabbed Akiko's purse between his teeth and wouldn't let go - the man who sold us the deer cakes ran over and beat him off. (This is somewhat poorly worded)

Hiroshima is a very large bustling town. Incredibly, skyscrapers and subways now adorn this town that was leveled only 55 years ago. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial contains a lot of pictures and displays.  Akiko told me that some of the more grisly items have been removed, such as a terribly burned horse carcass that was preserved. No matter the politics or the fact that the Tokyo fire bombings killed more people than both Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, understanding that this obscene unwholesome force will undoubtedly be used on a much larger scale in our (probably near) future is the hideous truth that makes the Memorial such a poignant symbol. This is a picture of me with the "Peace Dome".   "I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world." - Sadako Sasaki

A picture of me with Akiko's parents. Her father allowed me to use his kimono for some pictures. Here we are in the dressing room of the photographer's studio.

After the photos we rush to the circus - there is no time to change - we will need our kimonos later in the evening, so I'm stuck with walking in wooden shoes called "Geta". I stood in line with hundreds of people and was amazed that out of everyone there, only one person was overweight.  The first thing that struck me when I returned to Oregon was "Wow, everybody is so fat here." Must be the diet. Although, recently, you will see more pudgy Japanese children thanks in part to the introduction of western fast-food chains such as McDonalds and KFC. Akiko is happily waiting for the doors to open.

Ok, it's not enough to be gaijen (outsider/foreigner) but do I really have to also be the only guy in a kimono? I had this nagging feeling everyone was staring at me the entire time. Now I see it wasn't just my imagination.

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Later that night Akiko's high school chums threw us an engagement party. (note: on listing names, many are nicknames) Left to right: Maki chan , Meguppe (holding Miu), Mipo, Akiko, Seth, Mayuko-is

Akiko has the nicest friends on the planet!  They brought such nice gifts, I felt guilty accepting them, especially the rather large cash gifts. They were too generous. Left to right: Mayuko is, Meguppe(holding Miu), Mipo, Masae, Miyakon, Rumi (sorry she is cut in half!)

The party was fun - I believe Junko was trying to get me so drunk I would puke, she was always handing me a cup and saying "sess? you drink, taste good". Soon after Kiko would find me and take away my cup.  This pattern was repeated quite a bit but between the two I had fun and my stomach was (mostly) fine too. I invited each of them to visit us in America and I mean it! Left to right: Makiko, Junko, D, Nabechan, Dodo

Here, kiko demonstrates the most disgusting food I've ever had the (dis)pleasure of sampling.  It is called Natto - it is made of spoiled beans and vinegar I think. There is a slimy spider web like substance that covers it. It is so repulsive! On a side note, it's supposed to be healthy.

Yes, there are Japanese mimes. Akiko was really intent on trying to get this one to talk and was asking questions like "If I was about to get hit by a bus and the only way you could save my life was by yelling 'look out!'.. would you do it?" He shook his head no and then tied a pretty nifty balloon animal for us.

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Not all of Japan is crowded cities.  Akiko lives in Fukuyama which is about the size of my town, Salem, not so big. (100,000 people)   We drove a few hours and we were in a very wooded area with rolling hills and forests. Here is a picture of Akiko and her mother I took while we explored a cave. Also there was a town called "Yokoso" and Akiko's mother said "Yokoso, Yokoso!". It was a pun I could understand, you see, Yokoso means "Welcome to". Akiko on the other hand grimaced and said "bad joke, mom!". I had to laugh, it reminded me so much of my own mother and sister.

Akiko points out an odd spelling of "hamburger". If you look, there are many misspellings in prominent places. It's kind of a game to us to find them.

A feast at the Hirokawa house! Being afraid I couldn't stomach the Japanese food, Akiko's father also brought some KFC. So nice! I only had a problem with one thing - they give me the BIGGEST piece of raw fish I've ever seen... I chewed it for a while but eventually the texture overwhelmed me and I had to spit it out in the garbage. I really tried! All in all, it was a great trip.

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