My First 24 Hours in Japan

These first 24 hours in Japan have been so incredible! Where do I even begin? The photos here will be a great way to clue you in to my experience so far. Yet before that, I really want to tell you about the people here. From the moment we landed, every Japanese person I have encountered has been so kind and respectful. This is a society that has appreciation truly embedded in their culture. For example, whenever driving cars, people use their ‘flashers’ to say thank you. They bow to show their thanks when you buy something from their store or simply walk by in their hotel, and I am delighted by all of the smiles given as I go exploring through the streets of Tokyo.

Speaking of the city, look at that awesome nighttime view from my hotel room! I am now beginning to see up close how Tokyo is one of the largest cities in the world!

The life of the Japanese is similar to that of we Americans, yet there are very interesting differences as well. It appears they love Halloween here. I am noticing many shops that are adorned with black cats, spiders in webs, and our famed jack-o-lanterns. I wonder if they also have costume parties and devour candy like most of us in America do. I would be surprised about the latter since they serve such notably healthy meals here.

You can see from the next photo that cuisine in Japan is like art. Trays of rice and fish are colorfully balanced and interestingly arranged in attractive dishes. This morning, I had my first authentic Japanese breakfast. The brown carved wooden pot has sticky rice inside; the black pot has traditional miso soup. The orange bit is salmon and there is also tofu, seaweed, pickled veggies and some other things that I am not even sure about yet! There is still time to learn and I look forward to sharing more photos of my meals on this trip in the future.

Finally, these pictures below were taken inside the restaurant we lunched at yesterday. We have to remove our shoes before entering the tatami mat-covered dining room. It was quite comfortable to sit on the pillow and explore a tray of tempura (fried) seafood and vegetables!

These are other teachers in our group and they are from all over the US. We're really having fun yet we do miss our students! Sayonara (goodbye) for now!