We had a nice time with Judy and Elaine! It was my first time to check into a Japanese hotel by myself (I stayed with them in Yamanashi while Akihiro was working at Tateyama). I was getting pretty proud of myself when I saw the room keys being withdrawn from a little box, but my pride was short-lived! She started talking about putting our shoes in our room or in the lockers in the lobby. I said in the room was fine. Hmm. that wasn't the answer she was looking for...so I tried the locker answer. Well, that didn't work either. So, I said that I would go get the other guests and our luggage and return. When I returned, the girl at the desk said very clearly (in Japanese), "Put your shoes in those lockers!" Then I figured it out--we took the shoe locker key back to her and then she gave me the long-awaited room key! As is many times the case, the hotel people were using very polite Japanese, which is much different than regular Japanese. Oh well! We enjoyed our stay there and the onsen--one that was wine scented and colored, and lots of other varieties--even a salt sauna!
Here's a picture of a watermelon we saw in Tokyo station for over $400! The large peaches are $20-40 a piece! Must be really good!
We went to a Japanese garden and thought this was a funny sign in the bathroom! This means that there is a toilet where you can sit versus squat!
Thursday we took Akihiro's two grandmas and his grandpa for a little trip to Hakone (the mountainous area about 2 hours from where we live). Akihiro's grandpa had been wanting to go to an onsen and since Akihiro had a half day work near Hakone, we decided to make a little trip out of it. It was quite an experience for me rooming with the two grandmas. I am about twice as tall as both of them, so I felt like a giant! We decided that it was better to do a lady's room and a men's room since we didn't think one of the grandmas who is really forgetful should be left alone. We had quite a few laughs--starting with one grandma looking for her glasses and finding them on the other grandma's face! Then it was the other one who was looking for an article of clothing all over, not realizing that she had flung it over her shoulder! One little grandma laid out her clothes for the next day at the bottom part of her bed and crawled under the covers. I was amazed to find out that in the morning the clothes were still lying perfectly--she wasn't tall enough to disrupt the bottom third of a bed! We did a bit of sightseeing with them and enjoyed the onsen and food very much!
We returned from Hakone on Friday evening and prepared for the next event--Sis. Haruko's funeral in Shioda on Saturday. I was a bit nervous as Akihiro asked me to play the electric piano to assist our singing for the funeral. There were about 70 people there! Yikes! Well, it went ok and Willis and Akihiro's service went well too. After the service, we ate a big dinner after listening to lots of speeches by family and local government officials. One interesting thing was that there was a glass of orange juice poured and placed in front of the picture of Sis. Haruko at one end of the dining room. Depsite the funeral being Christian style, the funeral home still practiced some of the Buddhist traditions of offering drink to the deceased person.
Currently I am in the Narita Airport Lounge waiting for our plane to Shanghai, China. It will be part business, part pleasure. We will be introducing Akihiro's businessman cousin to our Chinese friends as they may do some business together. Akihiro is really excited about eating Chinese food and the fact that we may get to ride the Maglev Train, a magnetic levitation train which is the fastest in the world from the airport to the city center! We return on Wednesday and leave Thursday morning for a long-ahead-planned trip to the north island with his parents and sister. We hope to catch lots of squid and other fish!