Happy Friday! [Even though it’s closer to Saturday in Tokyo!]
1) And, even though it’s Friday, I’m actually typing this up on Thursday. I love that you can schedule blog posts for any date/time in the future. I know this isn’t a new feature. I’m just always slow to catch on to things.
2) On Wednesday, we took the bullet train for the first time. My dad is basically a 10-year old boy when it comes to things like trains and planes. When we were waiting in the station for our train to come, another train came rushing by at 200mph. He got SO giddy and broke out into the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. And then he clapped his hands and said, “WHOA. Did you see that?!” He’s gotta be the cutest person ever.
3) People are significantly nicer here than anywhere else I’ve traveled. Despite being a busy city, there’s a level of respect and compassion people have for others. As people were exiting the train and seats opened up, people would wave to others to indicate that there were spots open next to them. Also, people will randomly pick up trash that they find on the ground. [Not that there’s much. This city is so clean!]
4) We didn’t end up having Take for our tour of Mount Fuji. We had a guide named Mokoto. Who, I thought, was 10x better. Because he had SO much information to share. But also kept us laughing the entire time. When we started noticing some chain restaurants in a town we were driving through, he told us stories of how the Japanese celebrated American holidays based off their limited exposure of them through Hollywood movies. Like, for example, Christmas.
Mokoto said that people would call KFC 7 days in advance to secure their fried chicken in time for Christmas. I don’t know of any Hollywood movies that have people eating KFC on Christmas. Maybe he was just trying to make us laugh. It worked.
5) Exactly two years ago, I flew to San Antonio for the CEC Convention and my visit with the Bajaj Jrs. I can’t believe how little Veer looks. It’s hard to imagine him so teeny.
The CEC Convention is next week in San Diego! I know I’ll be insanely jet lagged, but I’m excited to attend the conference this year. I’m really looking forward to it!
6) I’m all about all the different flavors of Kit-Kats that people bring home from their visits abroad. I don’t discriminate. HOWEVER, I can almost guarantee that I won’t be down with this flavor.
7) The trees in Japan are so DENSE. We were driving by fairly quickly so the picture is extremely blurry, but you get the basic idea. They’re just so close to each other. And stand straight up. Beautiful.
8) Sister loves her guidebook just as much as she did in Turkey. But since we were on guided tours for the first two days, she didn’t have much reason to use it. We’ll see what happens as our trip continues…
9) The toilets here have seat warmers and deodorizers. Get with the program, America.
Although earlier this week, while using a public bathroom, I couldn’t find the flush. And there were people waiting in line. And I didn’t want to be that girl that didn’t flush the toilet. So I desperately tried to push all the buttons that looked like they would work. Like a button that says “Flushing Sound.” Just in case you’re wondering, that just has a fake flushing sound that lasts 20 seconds. Luckily, I found the flush. But I also became that girl that doesn’t know how to use the toilet. Ugh.
Have a wonderful weekend! 🙂
Questions of the Day:
- If you had to choose: Green Tea Kit Kat, Edamame Soybean Kit Kat, OR Wasabi Kit Kat, which would you try?
- What is one thing you’re looking forward to this weekend?
The seat warmers in Japan are AMAZING… well, everything is pretty much amazing there! Have you had a chance to try a Yoshinoya yet? We had so many meals there… 🙂