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Well, unfortunately, I never found additional time to post updates before we left, but most importantly, the SeibuLions won the game witha Grand Slam in the 11thinning! We spent the last few days partying down with our hosts, visited a couple more Temples and tea ceremonies, and Erin and I got a spectacular tour of Tokyo Bay and the Ginza shopping district!

We headed home yesterday and got in around 9:30 last night. Our luggage failed to arrive with us and is currently still in Seattle… Who knows when we”ll get that back…. Our team leader, Greg, is staying at Tokyo Disney until May 2nd. Hope he’s having a blast!!

Anyway, to sum up the trip, it was filled with many adventures, friendly faces, much love and appreciation of the Japanese culture, and an even greater appreciation for America and what we have here… I am forever thankful for the Red, White, and Blue!

Go Seibu Lions!

Yesterday we visited the RIKEN group which does R&D for biological and technological advancements! Was awesome! We were also given a 3-D presentation of the solar system by a senior reseacher in the astrological department on why scientists now believe Pluto may not be a planet after-all; another 3-D on the surface of Mars; another on the international space station and where Japan plans to dock… SWEEEETTT!!

We visited the Saitama Ken Police Station (over the whole prefecture) and got to see their street map board (which is an entire wall). Pretty cool!!

Today we are heading to Tokyo, visiting a museum and going to our first baseball game, the Seibu Lions!!! This is gonna be awesome!! Gotta go!!

Wako Shi

Moved to my last city today, Wako!

Using the computer at my new host family’s office so haven’t found out what the house situation is or whether I will have a computer yet. My guess is, no. So to complete our last week, I know we will be visiting an ichiban science research center, visitng a Saitama Ken police station, supposed to be hitting Tokyo again (but may not because of rain ???), then going to a Seibu Lions baseball game! Our farewell party is Saturday night, then we have two ‘free’ days. We should manage to finish the trip off with a bang!

Today we went to the Mauri Group big new department store in Niiza, OIOI… Huge in Japan! Ichiban I think! Bought a hot-t pair of shoes!

Will be here until the 28th, then we move closer to the airport for our flight out on the 29th! Been a blast! Can’t wait to see everyone and share!!!

Amanda-san it is…

My aunt wrote a comment to my last post asking if I should now be called Amanda-san. Actually, here, it is! …And darn well it should be since I’ve finally mastered the art of the Japanese computer keyboard!

Yesterday was our free day and Erin and I hit up Tokyo, the Asakusa area, which includes a shopping area and Buddhist Temple. The temple was huge and beautiful, but the area is a tourist haven so we were happy we were able to vistit Nikko and other Temples and Shrines in Saitama Ken to actually give us an understanding of what we were seeing and how we were to do things. For example with the Buddhist Temple, a large pot is outside. Inside the pot is a bunch of incense burning and you wave your hand through the smoke toward your head, heart, and stomach or anything else you hope to be well…. (Here, my stomach especially because whoever said I would lose weight in Japan was full of it!) Then you move over to a fountain of water and use a cup to wash your left hand first, then your right… So we did all that before moving into the Temple because we’re cool like dat!

Got to ride the Express train which was awesome because it was assigned seating! Slower and not as VIP Superboss as the Shinkansen, but definately the way to go!

My welcome party was at a Chinese restaurant last night and the Shin Tokorozawa club pulled out the best! We had Peking Duck… Yes, with the head still attached. Interestingly, the main delicacy of the duck is the skin… And I ate it. Not bad, especially with a lot of sauce, and bread! The oldest memeber of the club who is 84 was super-sweet and when we were leaving he told me he was very old and would never see me again, so farewell my friend… Yup, cried in the parking lot! My host dad told me we were going to Karaoke… still cried!

Had a blast with karaoke! Interesting place I went to this time…. Yet another story!

Today we visited another beautiful Buddist Temple. The daughter of the head Monk was with us all day and helped us with the English translations. She lives at the Temple and I will have to say it is fantabulous! Then visited the local fire department, Shobosho, (I think) which was cool! Got to try on one of their jackets! Actually pretty close to the right size! 

Next went to a Shinto Shrine and met the head priest of the Koma family which has been presiding over this particular shrine for 65 years… Boys only… Was really cool though because he actually taught us about the Shinto religion, not just standing in front of the shrine, throwing money in, then bowing and clapping. The education was much needed and appreciated! Then for the end of the day, we hit another Sake distillery where Erin and I won the jackets for finishing the traditional sake shots first…. Somebody’s gotta do it!!

Moving to our last family tomorrow and I will be staying in Wako Shi! We’ll see what happens next! Hopefully I’ll have access to a computer! If not, see you all in a week!! 

Check out the Yennies

Wow! So far in our wake we’ve left Yenny Loafers, knucks, and Bless You… We’ve also added to our own AH SO, MMMM, Hai, and of course the ever useful Dai Jo Bui!

The District Conference Dinner was last night and we had a great time! On the way back, Barry played his mandolin on the train and we had it hoppin! A little boy about 2 yrs old was gettin’ it!! But yes, yes… We got him so excited, poor little guy got sick on the train… He didn’t want to give up though!

Today was the main District Conference where we gave our presentation. Actually, all we had to do was say our name and occupation. A translator did the rest! It went well! Glad it’s over! From the combination of both days we were able to see many of the friends we’ve met along the way again! Good to know you can find so many friendly faces in such a huge population! Rotary makes that happen!

After the presentation, we were with a Tokorozawa club and we made traditional Japanese flutes out of clay with a really sweet older couple! We had fun making them, and then he showed us how to play the notes! Good story to go along with that one too!!

My family’s second son came in from Tokyo for dinner, then we all went to a Pachinko parlor (for my first time), tonight… It was wild (like loud and smokey), but had a great time losing money!!

Tomorrow is our ‘free day’ and Erin and I will go to Tokyo with her host dad and another Rotarian. Should be gooooooodd times!! Too bad we don’t get to check out some stuff on our own, although one of us who shall remain nameless, but let’s just say it was not me, has already been ‘maigo’………….. 

Living in Tokorozawa

Gradually moving south toward Tokyo, we are now in Tokorozawa. This is the site of the first Japanese airplane flight, and formerly a US Air Force Base. Been here for only one day now so we haven’t seen much yet! We have already met the Mayor who is the first female Mayor I have seen here. She’s a big sports fan and knew Ali was from Kentucky! Pretty impressive!

To fill you in on the last few days and Sakado… We were able to spend our days there with two new friends, Hiro and Ai, who had come to pick us up at the airport for our first arrival. They are some cool cats, let me tell ya!! Met two other high school exchange students, a girl from Brazil and a boy from Sweden.We took a few car loads up to Ogawa and made traditional paper with flowers… Awesome! Then went to the Space Observation Center and saw their satellite observation of Japan which they monitor for natural catastrophes… Pretty darn neat! Went to the Hitachi Plant where we saw the 3rd largest microscope in the world which has holographic capability; cell development and transport section where they actually grow cells and have transplanted them into animals (an eye for a rabbit for example); Nano technology development, and their brain activity scan section… Didn’t get to try that out, but I wanted to…

Road the train with Erin and Greg, their first time!! I’ve ridden 5 times now… Gettin’ the hang of it!

Went to see a Judo demonstration at the gym of a blind Judo ParaOlympic Gold and Bronze medalist! Awesome yet again!! Another blind Judo champion was there training for the next ParaOlympics! Very inspiring to see!

Visited the city of Kawagoe’s Police Facility! It is amazing how low-crime this society is. The officers do not carry unless they are going out on a warrant and there is no metal detector in the facility! Apparently most crimes here are committed with ‘swords’ which we learned could be a pocket knife, or big-ass blade! Guns are used so rarely, their firing range looked more like an indoor driving range with no dividers… Hard to imagine! The police motorcycles are Suzuki’s… Took pictures!!

My host family in Sakado had a ‘Welcome Party’ on my last night at a Chinese restaurant! Interesting conversations. Thankfully I had Ai and Hiro to help me communicate! They rock! I want to pack them up and bring them home!!

My family in Tokorozawa does not speak any English, but it’s great because we laugh hard over our crazy attempts to communicate! They have 2 sons, one brought his wife and 2.5 yr old daughter over for dinner last night! She is beautiful and can pronounce English perfectly!! Too cute!!

This weekend is the big conference so we’ll be super busy, but it’s all worth it! At a computer now running Vista so I’ll be able to post more soon!!

News from Sakado

Finally to a computer! Too much to fill in for every day, so I’ll try to keep it short!!

I’ve been to a zero emission recycling plant, a glass recycling plant which recycles the glass from flourescent lights into pieces of art work, an aluminum company which makes parts for Bentleys, served a traditional Japanese Green Tea ceremony, viewed a private collection of samurai swords (which by the way you cannot buy here), a river museum, the prefecture’s fire-fighting school, hit the disaster prevention center, visited the Sakitama Burial Mounds, Monozukuri College, met many mayors, and of course attended many Rotary meetings.

Our biggest adventure of the trip so far has been our trip to Nikko National Forest…. Awesome!! This is the site of many Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines and the burial place of shogunates. The structures are indescribably beautiful so I will have to explain them as best I can in photos when I return. This is also the site of the famous monkies or monkeys… Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil… Pretty awesome!! We hit a hot spring resort after that and were subject to the public bath… That’s another story….

Since the Yokohama post, I switched families and spent five days with the Okawa family in Kumagaya. Okawa means Big River…. They are my true family away from family! They are members of a Big Band, he plays alto sax, she plays piano. They have 2 children, 14 and 16, who are soooooo talented in music and art! We went to Tokyo on the Shinkansen, the bullet train, on Sunday and attended the jazz festival which featured 5 bands. The first had a 9 yr old boy, Tiger, who is in the Guiness Book, whaling on drums! Another band had 2 American trombone players! After the concert, we went to a club at the top of a building in downtown Tokyo and ate Italian food…. Ammmmaaaaaazzzzzziinnnnnggg!!!!

Just moved families again. We, I and my host mom Midori Okawa, did really good today until our last minute together and we both burst into tears! Still having a little bit of a hard time getting over that one!!

My new family in Sakado is great! My mom and dad here own a uniform company which produces uniforms for all schools and sports programs. They have a 24 yr old daughter who works in film in Tokyo, and a son who is 27 living in the south of Japan.

Our first day of activity was really cool… We traveled to Kawagoe city, went to a Buddhist Goma, a sacred fire ritual, another temple with 540 stone carved figures of the disciples of Buddha, a festival hall with traditional floats, Confectionary Alley, and a Doll shop. May 5th is Boys Day here. Familes with boys hand the koi nobori, koi flags from their homes and set up shrines with traditional helmets and armor and they were on display.

So many gifts, I’ve had to ship a box home already!! Things are going great!! Can’t wait to share it all with everyone!!!

Yokohama

OH MY!!!  So, I am staying with my host family in Honjo, the northern portion of Saitama Ken. Yesterday, April 6th, was our free day and I went with my host mom, her daugher Akiko and sons Naoya (4) and Shunya (8) to Yokohama, the second largest city in Japan following Tokyo, via a 2 1/2 hour train ride. The boys were great with their Nintindo DS and Pokemon book with Kanji/English… The English I got…. “Nihongoa zen zen,” as I have learned to say…

We were met at the Yokohama station by the son who lives in Tokyo and we visited a cemetary where my host mom’s mother and father are buried. They are a Buddhist family and have a very unique ritual of burial site visitation.. I was quite honored to see it! They placed incense at the front of the site, and flowers in vases on either side. They then washed the stone with a bucket of water and large dipper and the view from the hillside cemetary was unbelievable!!

From there, we went to Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Japan. The elevator is the fastest in the world and ascends 2,500 ft per second and we were at the 69th floor in under 30! From the top, you can see to Tokyo! The whole area is so populated, all that can be seen are buildings! Basically, the Japanese population is in-describable. We met my host mom’s son’s girlfriend, Mickey who lives in Yokohama! Man was I glad to meet her! She lived in Canada as an exchange student for 1 year and speaks perfect English!! Thanks for those miracles!!

Outside the Tower, street performers filled this circle, some lined up for their turn. At another end was a live band, and an amusement park was just across the street!! It was awesome!

The trip back was crazy! Everybody and then some were on their way back home after the weekend and at one point I was literally folded in half of the train!! Naoya got sleepy and threw a 40 minute temper-tantrum… but we made it! There was apparently another earthquake about that time, but once again, I never felt it!! Dinner with my host father and mother was at a traditional Japanese restaurant which meant I sat on my knees… UUUHHHH!

Today we met a high school exchange student, Paul, from Oklahoma who will be spending almost a year here through Rotary and speaks Japanese. (Another miracle I’m thankful for!) We spent time in the Honjo area and visited Oki Denki which manufactures money machines (ATMs, Cash registers), Waseda University which houses a research park and super-fly film school with crazy cool audio/visual equipment, a pharmaceudical (sp) company which actually makes the pills/injection stuff, luch with Bento Boxes at a traditional Japanese restaurant which meant knees again (UUUHHH! though we were allowed to sit crossed!! YYeeessss!!), a meeting with the Mayor of Honjo, and a visit to the Hokiichi Hanawa memorial, a blind man from the 18th century who was extremely intelligent.. Helen Keller came 3 times for some reason; I’m not totally sure I understood…. 

Does anyone know what 26 degrees C is, ’cause that’s what it is in my house (warehouse) right now!!! Will post more after I thaw!

 

All I can say is…..

Whoa!! I am typing on a keyboard that is totally throwing me off right now!!! To catch up, our flight left Chicago two and a half hours late on Wednesday afternoon, leaving at 2:30 pm. This got us to Narita Airport at 5:45 pm on Thursday, the 3rd. I slept 1 hour on the plane in hopes of beating the jet-lag… We were out of the airport by 6:45 and on the bus with about 5 members of Rotary International from Saitama Ken (Prefecture) and headed for a 3 hour drive to Fukaya Shi (City) in Saitama. We unloaded our luggage, and met about 6 additional members for a traditional Japanese dinner at 10pm, with much O Sake and biru (beer)… The first night was in a hotel, with the heated seat toilets… nice!!

The next morning, the 4th, we were back on the road by 9:30am and visited the Toshiba Plant where they make LCD TVs. For lunch the five Rotary Clubs in the District (Saitama) gave us a Welcome Party with more biru. Business cards are big here, and I have already received a ton! Later, we visited the home of Eiichi Shibusawa, father of Japanese modern banking, then the Fukaya Police Dept. where we were informed that out of the entire Saitama Ken, 7 million people, there were only 55 murders last year… Something is working here, I am just saying!

We returned to the hotel and met our 1st host families. Mine is Seiichi Totani. My host mom is 51, has 2 sons, 1 daughter, and 2 grandsons, all grown (except for the grandsons). We are living in a converted warehouse.  While I was getting settled, I sat down on my bed, and thought I heard the garage door open, and someone moving through the house. I thought the husband was home, walking heavy, and shaking things. When I went to the kitchen for dinner, my host mom asked me if I felt the jishin. I had to get my dictionary… We had an earthquake.. The team leader, Greg filled me in this morning… It was about a 5! My first quake!!!

Today, the 5th, we went to Chichibu Shi and tasted O Sake after a tour of the distillery, visited with the Chichibu Police, and saw a traditional Kimono dance. Erin and I were persuaded to try on the kimonos, and we all learned the dance!!

Don`t worry, there are pictures!!  We are only in the first few days.. Still, much more to come!!

Counting down the hours…

In a little under 15 hours, Rotary International will be sending my team: Myself, Barry, Todd, Erin, and our fearless leader Greg, to Saitama, Japan for a 27 day adventure. We are part of a cultural exchange program, experiencing lifestyles, cusines, and commodities we have never before seen.  We’ll try to share as much and as often as we can so check back soon!!

Barry has set up his blog if you want to check out his cool stuff too… saitamaorbust.wordpress.com

Stay tuned… Much more to follow….