Saitama

Saitama is the town where my brother lives. They live in a mansion, but here that means apartment building. Their apartment is designed diferently than those in Canada. Some floors in the living quarters are wood and some are made of tatami mats. I love the smell of these floors, they are straw mats. Their bathroom is split into two rooms, one with only a toilet (a sink is located above the toilet, see the picture). The second bathroom has a washing machine and a sink, and behind a glass door lies a stand up shower and a small bathtub. You are supposed to take a shower and then bathe, the water from the bath is cycled to the washing machine in order to save water! The landloard for this mansion lived in a house behind the mansion, their house is depicted below. The landloard had a great water feature in his backyard that provided a soothing sound to fall asleep to. The balconies in Japan have long poles to hang your wash out to dry and to air futons. By the way, sleeping on a floor on a futon is much more comfortable than it appears, except when there is an earthquake like 2 days ago. I awoke to the floor shaking, which is something considering all buildings are made of cement and concrete due to frequent earthquakes! I am really thankful for the great hospitality I received from my family, and definitly would like to return. There is still so much to see and experience.

Sports Day

There is a national holiday here in Japan called sports day. It is a day where an entire family and extended family will go to a childs school to watch them do races and perform. There is a lot of family participation, and every one cheers for one another. Yuma is 3, and attends kindergarden. Here it lasts for three years until elementry school. Sports day at this age is tailored to their physical abilities. They raced in small races, and did performances with their teachers. The crowd was huge, and it was my first day in Japan when it took place- what an introduction!

Biking in Japan

The nunber one way to commute locally in Japan? Bicycle!!!! Every where you go there are bikes. There are bike parking lots, multi-level parking lots, bike racks, and bike security. The two bottom pictures are of a bike parking lot which is run by an attendant, and you always have to pay to park. It was located in front of the train station. The pictures were taken on a holiday, so the lot is basically empty, but was normally filled to the brim. The ramp with stairway is how you get your bike to the second floor. You climb the stairs and push your bike up the ramp. You can not park your bike on the street, there are securily men to persuade you from illegally parking! Most people do not lock their bikes, it seems theft is very rare. But for those who would like to lock their bike, the lock is built into the back wheel! The bike I rode had a rubber chain, which I found very cool. Initially I was astonished that every bike has a basket on the front. A teen in Canada would probably never ride a bike with a basket, yet it is so practical, think about riding home with all your groceries. The above picture is Masayo and Yuma on thier bike, at the parking lot in front their apartment.

Landmark Tower - Yokohama

The Yukohama Landmark Tower is 296 meters high. I would have to say that I enjoyed it more than Tokyo Tower. This building is the tallest in Japan, standing at 70 floors. It has the second fastest elevator in the world, running at 750 meters per minute. It took only seconds to reach the top, and my ears popped! It gave a great view of the bay and the ocean. Looking down you can see the worlds largest ferris wheel and a small amusement park. There is also a stationary ship, which on this day was the host of some sort of concert. This was one of the highlights of trip. I just can not seem to get over how densely built this country is.

China Town

Today we spent most of the day in China Town. The dragon, which most of us associate with Japanese culture, actually belongs to the Chinese. Their temples are much more colorful and full of dragon depictions. Almost every building had a dragon on it. We ate at a chinese buffet that was so-so, especially after the long wait. There was lots of small store shopping available here.

Japanese Fashion

OK, before I make any comments I will say this: Canadians on a whole are not the most fashionable. Some poeple have fashion sense, and some do not. I, myself, would not be considered fashionable. But...... there are some trends in Japan that seem funny to me, so I had to comment on them. But, to be fair, the women in Japan tend to be very well dressed. First, especially at Harajuku station, there are a ton of teenagers who like to sport alternate styles, note top picture. Maybe they would not be my favorite styles, but I give them "props" for originality. The second comment would be to the large population of women who wear high heels that are way too big, and wear these ankle stockings along with them. As in the case of the lady with black heels, she tried to run and almost broke her neck. I heard that the women find heels on sale, and even though they do not fit, they buy them!?! There was apparently a flood close to when I arrived in Japan because everyone here wears knee highs with boots, but paired with shorts. One really bad example of this is the picture of the lady in the yellow moccasins!!!!!!!!!