Good Morning from Tokyo!

Hello Everyone!

Well, the six of us have made it safely to Tokyo (ok, ok, Narita, actually) and we are preparing for our departure to Jakarta in a few hours.

After everyone had their own mini-adventures prior to meeting up, we had our first group adventure last night (and we survived). We took the train into Tokyo which is approximately 40 miles from our hotel. We did well, especially when you consider the Tokyo transit map...

We never got lost, but we did have some challenges making sure we were taking the right trains on the way back...there's express, rapid, local, express-rapid, local-express, rapid-local-express (ok, I made some of those up, but you get the point. Although ticket agents and transit employees themselves seemed to have difficulty helping us, we did have two separate locals who assisted us once they saw we might be headed somewhere that was nowhere near our intended destination. They both assisted us while on the platform, and then they both found us in the train car to make sure we knew when to get off, etc. So, cheers to these two gentlemen, and next time you might be able to help a visitor understand a US transit system, take the time to do it. Not only will they be grateful, but the impression of your kindness will be priceless to them.

As for dinner, we found a little place that I could never get you back to if I tried, and we had some sushi and tempura. The staff was gracious, helpful and PATIENT! Here are the menus:

Okay, I gotta run...group meeting in the lobby in a short while to head to the airport. But I will leave you with this:

December 12, 2010 - Things of Note

• The Yen is stronger than the Dollar. Exchange rates are reporting 84 JPY to $1.00, but at the hotel we are getting about 73 JPY to the $1.00.
• The temperature is 13-14 degrees celcius (mid to high 50's).
• The weather is clear with white puffy cumulus present :)
• Fashion in Tokyo varies considerably from traditional to familiar American wear to what some websites refer to as the "Lady Gaga" look. Fashion ranges across the board, and is in no way boring! ;)

Cheers,

Kimberly
Washington State