First up, this unflattering frame of me in the home of our hostess in Japan. We stayed in their traditional Japanese style family room, sleeping on mats on the floor. I was surprised at how comfortable they were.
I'm living in the dark ages . . . their car had a screen which doubled as a television. Incredible! And a little distracting.
On our first full day there we went to see the Skytree Tower in Tokyo. Here I am with my friend, mother of the exchange student we hosted in 2003. We ate lunch at a restaurant on the 32nd floor in the building at the left of the photo.
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| Pasta with tomatoes and cheese for PFCMom |
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| Pasta with olive oil and veggies for Noble |
Skytree Tower is about 640 meters tall; built to be taller than anything around it so it can broadcast the television signal clearly and without interference. There is a shopping mall near the base of it.
Here are Noble and I with the tower in looming over us.
And the view from the observation deck on the 450th "floor" was spectacular.
Here are some of the interior support beams:
And here we are standing on a glass viewing floor looking down at the ground below.
Finally, not for the faint of heart, my first experience with a "squatty potty". I encountered these in the airport, subway and bus stations. Good thing I'm not squeamish or a germophobe, as they are a bit smelly, but otherwise not a bad experience. When you've gotta go, it doesn't matter so much.
I did see squatty potties, but held out for the washlets. :-) I was, however, surprised that some of the Japanese women in the bathroom lines would also let other women ahead of them in line, in order to wait for a western-style toilet.
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