it's not life that matters but the journey...

Its been a few days since my last entry because I have been busy.  So, I apologize in advance because this log will be a long one.

Tuesday I met two of my Japanese friends, both of whom are named Naomi.  One of them (I’ll call her Sue, as her last name was Suzuki) just got married, and we were invited to eat lunch with her and her new husband at their apartment in Shimizu – a port town about 45 minutes away by car from Fuji, where I’m living.   Masahiko was nice enough to drive me all the way to the other Naomi’s house in Kambara, which is a good 20-minute drive from Fuji. Sue was my next door neighbor when I lived in Japan from 1998 to 2000.  The other girl, Naomi, is a good friend of Sue, and I had become friends with both of them when I was living here.  Naomi has an animal grooming shop, and she helped me when the stray cat I was feeding ended up having kittens on my back porch in 1999 (Leo is one of the results of that litter).  Also, Naomi actually came all the way to Port Angeles in 2001 for my own wedding, so I consider her to be a very good friend!  We had a great time eating lunch, and talking about lots of things in a strange mix of Japanese and English.  Luckily Sue’s new husband, who is a customs agent for the Port of Shimizu, is really smart and knew lots of English!  But somehow the three of us had always managed to communicate before, even when my Japanese was not as good as it is now. I am sure that I will be seeing Naomi quite a bit, since she is still single and living closer than Sue.  But they will both come to our house on May 29^th for my birthday!

Thursday, Masahiko and I had the pleasure of driving to Narita airport to pick up our cat, Leo, from the quarantine office.  Poor Masahiko did all of the driving, though, since I haven’t been brave enough to try driving here yet! We anticipated lots of traffic because this is Golden Week, one of the busiest holiday times for Japanese, with four public holidays in one week!  But luckily we didn’t encounter any problems at all on the roads.  So since we didn’t have to pick up Leo until 1 p.m., and we had left our home at 6 a.m., we had lots of time to kill.  We stopped at several rest places along the way, got snacks, and “rested,” which is what you do at rest stops.  The rest stops along Japanese highways, I have found, are much different than American ones.  In America, you go to a rest stop to use the toilet or stretch your legs; if you want something to eat, you generally find a gas station, or restaurant along the highway. In Japan, however, the rest stops have lots of food options including vending machines, hot food such as ramen or curry rice, and convenience stores, plus bathrooms, and gift shops.  And though we didn’t have traffic on the roads, we could see the effect of Golden Week in the masses of people, even at 7 a.m., at these road stops!  We got Leo and headed back home right away, getting home in less than four hours.  The traffic heading towards Tokyo and Narita in the afternoon was horrendous, so we seemed to have missed all of it by leaving early! 

One more note:  driving through Tokyo on the highway was so interesting, since I have only visited Tokyo by train.  We didn’t stop, of course, but we drove right by Shibuya (one of the busiest business areas in Japan, which you can see if you watch the movie “Lost in Translation”), Tokyo Tower, and Tokyo Disneyland (which is not in Tokyo, but past it), and the port.  The weather was beautiful and the views were great.  I will say that Tokyo is a crazy busy city that you need to experience once in your life.  The buildings, including apartments, are pushed right up next to the highway, giving you a real feeling of claustrophobia, and there is not one space in Tokyo that is open.  When you are there, whether you are in your car on the freeway, or in a train passing by, or right in the midst of it, you feel like you are on another planet – its so big and crowded and busy its like four cities in one!  Although it would be an easier place for a foreigner to live, and it is convenient and exciting, I would not wish to live in Tokyo.  I will be happy to see it occasionally and keep it in my memories!