Feb 2006

Zweiter Tag in Tokio. Berufsverkehr mit der U-Bahn um 9.30Uhr. Geht hier wirklich sehr gesittet zu. Striche auf dem Boden der Station verhindern grosses Durcheinander. Alle stellen sich schoen an und fuer die aussteigenden ist genug Platz. Besser als Deutsche Ordnung. Strassen und alles sehr sauber in Japan. Ansonsten ,in der U-Bahn schlafen die Japaner oder schreiben SMS(auch wenn sie laufen,essen einfach ueberall).Keiner Quatscht in der Bahn,schoen ruhig.
Tokyo National Museum gab uns einen schnellen Eindruck ueber mehrere Jahrtausend japanischer Kunst. Wir machten uns dann auf den Weg ins Bonsai Museum. Ich hatte mich sehr drauf gefreut,doch war die Kuchenbude geschlossen. "Bonsai's need a rest" Seid wann muessen sich Baeume ausruhen? Dann ging auf den Kudamm Tokios. Die Strase war voll mit Menschen,jeder Designer hattte seinen Laden dort,neuste Architektur-abgefahren. Auch die Leute in dem Teil der Stadt alle jung und total gesteilt. Haben dort auch ein paar Andenken fuer uns gekauft. Dann gabs Sushi am Band. Restaurant,alle sitzen um den Tresen, im grosen nicht wirklichen Kreis.und vor uns lauft ein Band in Augenhoehe mit leckerem Sushi. Du ist was du willst und siehst es vorher. Sehr beeindruckend und guenstig. Bis morgen

Tokyo Day 2 began with a subway adventure at rush hour. Controlled choas is the best description for Tokyo. The subway is a perfect example. There are neat lines and arrows on the platform that everyone lines up behind. The train pulls up directly in front of the lines and people outside of the train wait for those inside to exit (following their own set of arrows on the platform) before entering the train. Everyone moves into the train and you're armpit to armpit with people. The majority of the people are either sleeping (both standing and sitting) or typing away on their cell phone keypads. Rarely are people talking.

Anyway, we went to the Tokyo National Museum for a quick tour through several centuries of Japanese art. We then took another train to the Bonsai museum. Unfortunately, we discovered that the museum had been closed since November because the Bonsai "needed a rest". Bernd was upset. We then went to the Harajuku neighborhood famous for its shopping, architecture, and people. We walked the entire afternoon and saw some amazing buildings. Basically every designer you've ever heard of has a store in Harajuku. THe streets were packed with people - more people on the streets, than in the stores. We stopped at the Oriental Bazzar and picked up a handful of items that we've been waiting to buy all trip. It was a great urban experience to pound the pavement and a great afternoon. We wrapped up the day at a conveyor belt sushi joint. Bernd was adventurous and the meal was good and cheap. More tomorrow....

Guten Morgen! Auf zum Tokio Fischmarkt. Tausende von Leuten mit Handwaagen,E-Karren meist auch mit Dieselmotor,Fahrraedern und Fisch. Lebend,tot,gefroren,gross,klein,bunt,noch nie gesehen. Es war ein Schauspiel wie noch nie gesehen. Allerdings wuerde die Hygeneinspetion total durchdrehen. Wir hattten riesen Spass.
Was kommt nach Fischmarkt? Toyota Town(Stadt). Mit einer fuehrerlosen Elektrobahn ueber Tokio hinweg auf eine Insel. Hier wird ich nur amuesiert in neuster Technik und bizarrer modernster Architektur. Toyota hat hier eine Austellung,nett zu sehen. Kein MB am Salzufer aber einige gute Similatoren die ich testete. Auf dem Rueckweg stopten wir am Sony Center und haben uns die neuste Elektronik angeschaut (8Etagen Ausstellung). Abendbrot essen gabs heute mal aus dem Automaten. Das war ein Nudelrestaurant und du mustest vorher Esenmarken am Automaten kaufen,die dem Koch geben und dann bekamst du dein Essen. War lecker. Aber mal wieder alles auf Japanesisch geschrieben.

This morning we got up early and headed out to the Tsukji fish market - the world's largest! Over $30 million worth of fish and seafood go through this market each day. We arrived at 8:30am which was basically the end of the day for the market (it starts at 3am). It was still pretty busy and there were plenty of fish. I was amazed. The quantity and diversity of seafood was incredible. Many things were still alive and twitching - either in water or on ice. There were many people doing their business and we had to be careful that we weren't mowed down by electric carts and bikes balancing their cargo. After that experience we took a monorail out to Odaiba island in Tokyo bay and visited Toyota town. The island is man-made and supposed to be a residential and office complex. The market apparently didn't bite and instead there are a few skyscrappers and some typical examples of Tokyo's bizzare entertainment complexes. Toyota town was OK. We took a mini-electric car ride and a Formula 1 racing car simulator ride. Overall it was a huge contrast to the organic experience from the morning. Later on we wandered through the Ginza district and stopped in to see the latest gadgets at the Sony building. The highlight of the day was ordering our dinner from a vending machine. We spotted this noodle shop on the corner near our hotel and decided to try it for dinner. We walked in and sat at the counter, but the server pointed us to the vending machine. Confused we went over and saw that all of our choices were in Japanese. Luckily the guy came over and after I pointed to various words for tofu and chicken in the dictionary we made our choice. It was totally yummy - udon with chicken, scallion, and mushrooms.

Hey all
We had a very busy and rainy three days in Tokyo. There was no handy free or cheap internet access there so we have been radio silent. Anyway, we`re back in Osaka and leave for DC tomorrow evening.

It has been a great trip and we`ll fill in the Tokyo details - conveyor belt sushi, crazy Tokyo commuters, fish market chaos...- and pictures too.

Another 15 hour slog home and then we`re back in DC.

More later.
G&B

Hallo
Na da war fuer nen paar Tage kein freies Internet,desshalb ne kleine Unterbrechung. Wird nachgeholt.

A quick entry here - pouring rain when we left Hiroshima this morning and it rained the entire trip to Tokyo. Our Shinkansen train ride was uneventful. Unfortunately it was too rainy, foggy and Bernd couldn`t see Mt. Fuji. We hope to catch a glimpse on the way back to Osaka on Friday. Anyway, we arrived in the city around 3 pm and navigated our way through the subway system to our hotel. A cute place in a residential neighborhood. Because of the weather and our lack of energy we decided to have a vacation day and chilled out in the hotel. We caught some final bobsled and biathalon events - Germany wons some races, so Bernd was happy. He`s fighting off a cold so taking it easy was a good choice. So we`re wraping up the day at Kinkos and will watch a few hours of crazy Japanese television. Tomorrow the Tsujik fish market and the Toyota Park are on the agenda.....

Lange Zugfahrt nach Tokio in unserem ICE. War nicht spektakulaer,da es geschifft hat wie sau. Morgen sind ein paar coole Sachen auf dem Programm,wie all die anderen Tage. Allerdings keine Tempel mehr. Toyota Park usw.

Our first trip on the bullet train ~ shinkansen ~　was easy and uneventful. The trains are similar to those in Germany and probably travel just as fast. Anyway we　arrived in Hiroshima around 10:30 this morning.　After dropping our bags at the hotel we set off for the Peace Park, memorials, and museum. The city is pretty grey and very modern ~ obviously since everything was built after 1945. The museum was very powerful, perhaps too powerful. There were some exhbits that I couldn`t bear to see. Overall the museum was very well done and made clear the city`s message for a nuclear free world.　One interesting thing to note was that they have a clock in the lobby that counts the days since the atack and the days since the last nuclear test ~ apparently somewhere in the world yesterday a government tested a nuke.

Both lunch and dinner were interesting experiences. Lunch was "point to something on the menu" and dinner was an organic "all you can eat" buffet that had all of the descriptions in Japanese. It worked out, but there were a few tense moments. Going back now to our 10 x10 room with bathroom! On to Tokyo tomorrow!

Heute　sind wir mit der Bahn von Kyoto nach Hiroshima gefahren. War wie im ICE. Die Sitze konnte man um 180Grad drehen. War schnell die Kuchenbude. Hiroshima ist wie alles hier sehr grau gehalten. Allet nicht aelter als 60 Jahre,versteht sich. Denkmaeler un Museum ueber den Atombombenabwurf haben wir alles gesehen. Ganz schoen schlimm so. Da blieb ja gar nichts mehr uebereinander stehen. dafuer haben die jetzt hier nen paar neue hohe Haeuser.Mittag gabs mal heute mit dem finger auf die Karte zeigen. war alles in Japanesisch. Na mir hats geschmeckt nur Geraldine hat ein langes Gesicht gemacht. Abendessen waren wir dan an einem "allet wat de essen kanst" Buffet Restaurnt. Da gabs dann schon mal Sachen auf dem Teller die da nicht haetten sein muessen. Egal,weg die Scheisse und naechste Runde. Morgen fahren wir nach Tokio. hab allerdings ne kleine Erkaeltung zugezogen,weil die Jappies nirgens richtig heizen. Ich　meine, die haben nichtmal ein Heizungssysthem in ihren Haeusern. Nur kleine Gasoefen,wie nach dem Krieg. Noch haben wir keine Schlitzaugen und hoffe das bleibt so. Allet jute

Places Visited:
1. Peace Park & Memorials
2. Hiroshima Castle - reconstructed tower houses a historical exhibit on Hiroshima's early history. The best part was the dress up section where we put on period costumes - kimono and warrior gear - and took pictures.
3. Shukkei-en Garden - a "strolling" garden with a beautiful pond and several bridges.