The flight to San Francisco was short and sweet. The flight from San Francisco to Tokyo was ten hours and not so sweet. My seat was in economy which Jim called a cattle car. Need I say more? Luckily, Jim had an upgraded seat in economy plus and he, being the gentleman that he is, let me sit in it for half the ride (he offered more but I declined). Yeah! I could actually see the movie screen. I watched a couple of movies and read my book. Thank goodness it was an interesting one. Before I knew it, we were landing! We left Boise at 6 am on Monday and arrived in Tokyo (after about 20 hours) at 3 pm on Tuesday afternoon. We lost much of a day.
Our destination was Oiso. We took a couple of trains to get there. As we were waiting for our train at the Tokyo train station, I made some interesting observations. There were no other Caucasians. The men wore suits and the women seemed dressed in their best. I didn't see one single obese person and very few that were even overweight. There was no one begging for a handout. It was a very different scene than one would see in the USA!
Unfortunately, Jim hit his head on an open overhead compartment in the train. A very nice Japanese woman came from the front of our car and offered him a cooling gel bandage. Amazingly the big welt practically disappeared! We were very thankful for the bandage and the kind woman.
We passed lots of rice fields.
By the time we arrived in Oiso, it was dark and I couldn't see much of anything. We checked into our hotel and made our way down to the nearest restaurant for dinner where we met up with several other members of the business team. The food was delicious and the company very entertaining.
For the next two and a half days, Jim and I would start each day at 5 am with a phone call to Cami followed by a walk through town. Then he'd go to meetings and I'd take a nap, or read or explore some more. Ah, what a life! :)
For the next two and a half days, Jim and I would start each day at 5 am with a phone call to Cami followed by a walk through town. Then he'd go to meetings and I'd take a nap, or read or explore some more. Ah, what a life! :)
Here's the restaurant where we ate dinner the first night.
Our hotel--the Oiso Prince--is a Japanese resort.
Amenities included a beach, several large swimming pools, tennis courts, and beautifully landscaped grounds.
We enjoyed the hotel breakfast buffet every morning. Note the labels.:)
The beach near the hotel
The weather was warm but overcast during most of our stay.
It was the rainy season.
The city of Oiso.
Typical houses
Each house had a very small meticulously kept yard but were interspersed by fields and greenhouses filled with crops ready to harvest.
Onions drying in a sheltered area.
The typical cars were tiny. Everything was very well cared for.
Amazingly, my favorite lunch spot in Japan served real Japanese food!
Some other interesting sites encountered on our walks
A shrine
I've got to find out who this guy was. The explanation was in Japanese.
There are coi in the river that runs through town.
Stay tuned for the next installment. Coming up will be photos of the fascinating food we got to eat and our tour of Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, popular for its many ancient shrines and temples.
