Day 14: TOKYO!!!

We arrived last night via Shingansen Bullet Train to Tokyo Japan, next to the Shiagawa Station. 

Good morning Tokyo!! As we arrived I took a quick snap picture if our hotel... It came in handy for our taxi ride back later.

Breakfast at the Hotel Keikyu Ex Inn is typical for Western and Japanese style. Scrambled Farm Fresh Eggs still runny. Bread assortment (but beyond just one bun) there's 4-5. Yogurt, plain, with compotes you can add. Sausages , pasta, salad station (the Japanese eat Salads for breakfast). Coffee stations at every hotel restaurant. Soups including Miso and the toppings, seaweed and green onion. The fruit offered is canned cut fruit in juice (no HFCS here). In Kamaishi and Hiroshiima they had sliced oranges and pineapples at breakfast, those were very refreshing!  However after two weeks we miss fruit. An apple, a banana, some good fruit. We all agreed that the Hiroshima Hotel Gran Via had the best breakfast, quality, size and taste (service too).

We've been sharing some if the new found appreciation for things in the states.

Ah, Going Home

Even tho it may say informal dinner, the Japanese customs & rules apply, with a lot of formality. Speeches, presentations and for men wearing a suit jacket even when it's hot. So informal means business casual and best behavior!

Enjoying some things, like a performance in a club or dinner means sitting quietly listening. Not clapping, no singing along. It's silent appreciation.

Address Numbers system and city planning. Getting lost is easy even with mapquest or an address. Growing into an area like Tokyo meant adding new addresses and buildings on top of old. Versus building and planning a city like Chicago from scratch. 

After our informal fundraiser dinner for the Tsunami affected region. we grabbed a taxi back to the Hotel. A Taxi driver won't say he doesn't know something (save face). Instead he says yes if you say where your going, you get in, he starts driving and then he asks for the address. Luckily we had taken a picture of the hotel at Shinagawa station and we showed him!! Thank god!!

Happy travels!!

Day 5: Hiroshima Hotel Grand Via Breakfast, Bathrooms and Star Festival

The Hotel Grand Via has a great lobby attached right next to the Shinkansen Bullet Train station. It is NOT located in downtown Hiroshima.

They have two restaurants. A traditional Japanese Breakfast at the American Buffet. Can you guess which plate is husbands and which one is mine?

The morning newspaper in English from the Japan Times Los Angeles.

The buffet area options

As you know already Japan has western style bidet toilets everywhere. These photos are from the hotel lobby toilet. I hadn't talked to the kids in 18 hours and I was balling my eyes out in the hotel lobby when I hung up. So I hit the rest room. Twice. When Husband came down from the room I cried.again!! 

These are the controls on the walls when you walk in the stall. Immediately the sound of running water turns on. No shame making bathroom noises here! Running water is on for about 45 seconds with a restart button if needed. Feel free to pee.

To the right of the door is a foot rest, us Ganji don't need them unless you enjoy peeing with your chin resting on your knees? 

The Japanese Star Festival, popular in the Tsunami affected prefecture, is July 7. The festival celebrates when once a year the vega god meets another god on the Milky Way. So guests can sign a colorful tag, which is hung on a bamboo tree, so they can send there prayers up to the gods. No longer practiced for environmental reasons, bamboo branches used to be floated down one of Hiroshimas 6 rivers so they would float to the gods as well. 

The polite waiting in line still amazes me. We Americans stampede the door, rushing to the front to wait, in a half circle around the bus entrance. The Japanese wait single file in line - so proper!

Chinese Fruit - Yummy. Mikisan our guide said the coffee machine was labeled "weak coffee" in English, but it said "American Coffee" in Japanese Kanji. 

Husband Texting our kids with Ninjago and Red Eye Tree Frog.

Our bathroom toiletries. The hotel room was nearly exactly the same as the hotel in Shin Yokohama. It's a little Stepford Wives again!! Same toiletries, same bed sheets, pillows and duvet. The headboard and decor was different (phew). It was a nicer hotel, for a lesser price. We asked for a large bed (instead of twins) so the put us, after some fuss, on a non renovated floor. Husband said the hallway smelled like feet. It was yucky-ish. They don't really do a good job cleaning the rooms. It gets the basics, but I don't think they ever shook the rugs, or visible scuff marks from the walls. 

Hotel shiping shop and store.