Tokyo - Land of the Green Donuts
Trip Start
Unknown
1
6
37
Trip End
Ongoing
Kawaguchi - Mount Fuji, Kanto, Japan
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Toyko is the land of donuts that are green. Not the donut itself, but the icing is green - which makes for colorful donut displays - if not enticing ones. We have decided that this is green tea flavour - not necessary what I'm looking for in a donut, but apparently quite popular here. There's also green tea ice cream (Nadeige despite her longing for ice cream, does not deign to try this Japanese variety). Food, in any form, is always a bit of a surprise. Most places have pictures that we can point to. Not many people in the restaurants speak much English, if any. Mostly, what we have eaten has been tasty. I did end up with a bowl of cold soba noodles, with beans in a glutinous paste, an unidentifiable white foam, and a big pile of wasabi, just for extra bite. It was good - just not quite what I had expected. Nadeige got a piece of bread this morning thinking it was cheese bread, only to discover that it was stuffed with cold potato. JF purchased a cold drink that was fermented soya bean flavour (personally, I think the beans on the label might have been a clue).
Japan is a very orderly and neat country. There is no garbage to be seen anywhere - even in a big city like Tokyo. There are signs to tell you what side of the street or subway to walk on. There are signs to tell you not to smoke while walking. ( I'm assuming this is not out of concern for the overall health of smokers.) There's no shouting (except for JF at Nadeige). No cars honking. It all just runs smoothly and calmly. The people have been helpful and polite. There is a very different understanding of service, with people going out of their way to make sure you have everything you need - even in fast food places!
It difficult to sum it all up in a few paragraphs here and there. Traveling is both exhausting and invigorating (according to Torin, it makes his feet feel like they are on fire). Travel with a pre-adolescent is a bit like dancing with a puffer fish (I leave you to decipher the metaphor). Currently, our beloved puffer fish has gone to bed at eight with a headache - which, quite frankly, I thought was my role. The other child challenge is getting Torin to stop putting his hands in his mouth. Apparently our concern that he does not continually inoculate himself with germs is moot if 1.) there is chocolate on his hand, 2.) there is food in his teeth or 3.) he forgets.
Tomorrow, we hope that Mount Fuji will decide to show itself and give up its shroud of clouds. It's a bit like going to Roche Perce last summer - we know it's there, we just can't see it.
Comments
Looks amazing! Keep up the fantastic writing and posting of pictures. Stay safe and healthy and have fun.
- Hilary
How wonderful to have some photos ..It makes us feel close,
despite an ocean and many millions of people away. We hope Mt. Fuji revealed
itself.Did you travel by train? Try the ice cream Nadeige,as Grampa wants to know if its as good as maple walnut ?Sask. has had floods, hail and some
tornadoes;your home and garden are unscathed!! Looking forward to your next
edition.Love to all.
In an attempt to console you should mt. fuji not appear- my one skill at origami is titled 'mt. fuji and the sea'. (I could mail it to you- as origami involves paper). beans and green tea are some of the most healthy foods you can eat- very rich in antioxidants - and heck, if you put it on a donut- then the donutty part provides the glue which can hold it all together well into your 100's. Of course who really cares about living that long without facebook?
okay you guys are making me want to go to tokyo now that I know it is so polite. the fact that it was not linearly organised on a grid pattern used to scare me- perhaps you can dispell the mystery- fun or foe?
Great discriptions. The thing that really hit me about Japan was that We Do have a culture. Growing up in Canada, visiting Mexico, Hawaii, Cuba, Australia Fiji, and the U.S. places are all a bit different, people are all a bit different, but you can relate to most things, and eventually understand what is going on. Turn on Japanese T.V. sometime,...NOT SO. Everything in Japan is so foreign, and so different, that it made me realize that our culture is not the norm, and that we do have a culture; the way we do things isn't just the way it is, but the way these things have developed. I doubt that a foreigner could ever really crack Japan, and be fully assimilated, or really ever "get it"
Have fun trying!