With apologies to the Dead....

What a long, strange trip it's been. Man, that quote is too easy, but apt.

To catch up on the last day or so...From the time I left the hotel in Tokyo, until the time I arrived home, I had been traveling for 24 hours. Just got a little under 6 hours of sleep, now I'm up for the day (hopefully). I should whip this jet lag in no time. However, for now I am a bit on the loopy side, so bear with me if this seems a little scattered.

Dana planned on my favorite, flank steak, tonight. We've got a two pound slab ready to grill. As much as I enjoyed the food in Japan, I find myself gorging on all kinds of food here. Dana said that she saved a fortune on food while I was away.

On the day before I left Tokyo, I went into a little convenience store (this is really cool). There were four other teachers in there as well. One of them says to me, "Do you have that blog, 'The Man in Japan?'" She said that her friends back home had asked if she had met "The Man" yet. I said something about being sorry to dissappoint her, but indeed, it was I. I got a real kick out of that one.

My last night in Tokyo, I wanted to get some final tastes of the culture. I went to the stand up sushi bar, where I became sort of a regular. There, I met a Japanese man who had spent some time in Westchester as an IT guy. We exchanged business cards. Then, I saw a sign for a Japanese whiskey bar on the second floor off the street. Calculating the odds of ever being able to go into such a place for the rest of my life at almost zero, I went up and in...to a place as small as my kitchen, populated by Japanese businessmen smoking. I sat at the only seat at the bar(looking rather American in my baseball cap and T shirt), checked out the menu, and enjoyed a very small shot of fine Japanese whiskey. While sitting and sipping, the bartender kept repositioning the bottle in front of me on the bar, for visual effect. A very cool place and experience. I then met up with some friends, and we went to another place for a half hour or so. Kind of a last night together type of thing.

I have come home to find my girls very excited to see me; to learn that my bathroom can actually be clean when I am not around to mess it up; and to find that camp is ready to go, thanks to the hard work of Mitch picking up my slack. The house is also a little emptier, as Sara (my dog) took a turn for the worse and is now gone. Haven't gotten used to that yet.

Tonight, I get to give some gifts to the girls and just hang out and be normal again. After over two weeks of meeting all sorts of new people, this is a welcome change. Very soon, I will need to submit my revised follow on plan, where I state to JFMF how I intend to use the knowledge that I gained.

A quick review of my trip to Japan "By the Numbers..."
6000- # of teachers who have gone to Japan on the JFMF scholarship, courtesy of the Japanese government.
900+- # of pics that I took.
400- Years Celebration of Hikone Castle the month I was there. Able to give official greeting to the Mayor of Hikone.
100- # of pics that I took that probably came out good.
24- Hours of travel to get home.
18- Days away
10- Pounds lost. Longer times between meals+less food at meals-weight facilities-time=Lots of work to do to get back in shape.
7- Different rooms where I slept (includes SF, Traditional Inn, Homestay, Kyoto, Hikone and Tokyo twice)
5- Truly enjoyable, extended encounters with local Japanese people whom I met in shops or in restaurants. These were only possible because of my seemingly odd behavior of telling the other teachers that I would meet up with them later as I wanted to wander around solo.
4- Nights that I participated in Karaoke.
1- # of times that I thought about Dana and the girls...but it lasted 432 hours. (Man, I should write poetry of something. Is that a good one, or what?)

I will continue to check in with information about either Japan or what I experienced. This is fun. For now, I need to go to the gym and drink a few shakes of something.

Penultimate Day

Our presentation went off without a hitch. They were all a lot of fun. We did ours Letterman style, describing our experiences in Hikone. Each description had a haiku at the end. One of the teachers played the Japanese anthem in the background, which really "made" the presentation. Other groups did skits, used a variety of pictures, jeopardy, that sort of thing. Finally, at the end of the last presentation, a woman told a story that touched even me. It was so interesting and moving that I'll give you all a summary...

She was visiting her host family. After talking with the man of the house, she learned that his father was in WWII. Her father was also in WWII. The next day, he drove her to Nagasaki, where they stood together, at ground zero, as friends, 62 years after each other's father were enemies. Let that sink in for a minute.

I have a few hours now to pack and chill a little. We have a goodbye buffet later on. Then, I'll see what I feel like doing. I'll try to check in.

By the way, my flight tomorrow is from Tokyo to Chicago, which is something like 14 hours! Then, a 4 hour layover before the short leg to Albany.

Quick catch up

With five minutes to spare here, wanted to get a quick update in.

Just had a very informative two hour Q and A about all aspects of Japan with Kyoko Jones, who is running this whole show. Immediately after, the 20 of us (Hikone group) met to discuss our presentation tomorrow. It seems the gist of things is that we are going to meet at our original scheduled time of 8pm instead. I want my 10 minutes back.

The roads here in one part of town that I hang out in are absolutely crazy. Full of people, with the occasional taxi plowing through and the people scamper out of the way. So, I thought I would have a little fun. I hailed a cab and instructed him to just plow though the busy streets for five minutes. He seemed to understand. That was a very well spent $6.60.

I forgot to mention something about my stay with my host family. Mom was telling me that she wanted to take her family to NY to visit, and to stay at my place. Naturally, I readily agreed. Then, she made me "pinky swear" that they could! I have no idea what the binding legality of a pinky swear is in Japan (Jay?) but I intend to honor it, given the chance.

I'm out to do a little shopping, then to rehearse our presentation. I should be able to check in later.

On Lake Biwa

Damn! I look good with my hat backwards.

Host father(Yukio) is wearing a Brunswick Soccer hat that I gave to him.

Daughter is Miyu.

Mother is Kazumi.

Son is Kyohei.

Back in Tokyo

After a couple of days shut out from the outside world, I'm back in Tokyo and able to fill you in on recent adventures.

To begin, I met up with my host family and spent a day and night with them. A very "normal" family which made me feel at home in no time. The girl (10) was being shuffled off to piano and ballet lessons. The boy (6) had soccer practice (Side note, "the Humpty Hump" is presently playing on the only English station in my room). We ate together, took a walk, lit some fireworks, which is apparently pretty common in Japan, did a little shopping, went to the library and just enjoyed each others company. The mother was trying her best to do all of the communicating with her English that she is practicing at home. She did a great job. A few miscommunications that got cleared up when they had some English speaking friends over in the evening. There were a few moments which are pretty funny, but are probably best told in person, as they may not translate well here. I have visited three public schools, a university, several shrines, museums and wandered around a lot. To have a visit with a family and feel like I can relax in a home ranks right up there with any of it. They even sang "Happy Birthday."

Yesterday afternoon, we went to a traditional Japanese Inn. The five men in our group shared a room, on thin mattresses laid side by side on the floor. We had a "bath" just outside. For this, the precedure is to wash outside the tub (shampoo, soap) with a hand held shower nozzle. Then, slip into the very hot water to soak. A little strange getting all lathered up outside with plenty of voices around, but a cool experience. There was also a public bath for hotel guests. This was much bigger and I took advantage a relaxing there as well. For dinner, we all sat around, on the floor, in a horseshoe shape. I am not exaggerating when I say that there had to be a minimum of 15 separate dishes, each in their own individual serving platter/plate/bowl. Several eyes staring back at me as well. After our fill of sashimi, beef, many vegetables a several unusual forms of sea life (jelly fish, anyone?) it was karaoke time. I am a little reluctant to print that this is my 4th time participating in this. The others were with smaller groups in our own separate room, sitting down. This was in front of all 20. It was fun, of course, although I felt a little out of my element with the lack of gangsta rap on the set list. I watched "Diehard" in Japanese, which was no problem, then went to sleep. Another 15 or so dishes for breakfast, more eyes staring back at me, at we were off to Tokyo.

Once we got here, there were a few hours to kill. I just went off myself, as I enjoy wandering around without a schedule. I have read that Tokyo can be difficult to navigate, but I kept the route simple at first, confident that I knew where the hotel was. Well, damned if I was completely confused after about 15 minutes. After asking directions and getting back on track, I did it again. Still, very cool to just seek out my own little experiences in Tokyo. No cool restaurant experiences, which is just as well, as the last bit of raw meat I had nearly killed me.

Our group of 20 is to do a presentation on Wed. We started planning it today while on the bullet train. Ever try to get 20 people to agree on anything? I think we're doing pretty good. Tomorrow night we are going to rehearse. So long as we all go with the flow and realize that this is not the end of the world and should be fun, we should be fine. Ken, if you're reading this, perhaps you can fill us in on how your group did?

Jay, you know, I can't print EVERYTHING on here. There are students looking in.

(To my students, I'm just acting cool for a friend and would never advocate anything other than reading, studying, getting to bed early, you know, that sort of thing)

Gift giving question

Pat, gift giving is expected when visiting someones home. I think that the eateries just get a kick out of practicing their English, and the oddity of a tall, bald American hanging out there. Also, tell Bobby I have not seen any unusual Pepsi, but have had cantelope flavored kit kats.

I am leaving shortly for my home stay, then a stay at an Inn, then finally back to Tokyo. As I mentioned, my access may be limited over the next few days.

Finally, a Happy Anniversary to Dana. We Celebrated 11 years of marriage on the 22nd.

Whoa!

This is the waiter in our hotel. Believe me when I tell you that this is the most caffeinated waiter anyone has ever experienced. If he hears someone leaving, he screams goodbye from the kitchen area. If you start pouring a coffee, he jumps over to you with huge excited smiles encouraging you to do so.