Where shall we go next?

Location: Chiba prefecture, bus station
Date: October 2005

On the last day we stayed with the Takanashi family in Chiba in 2005, it was decided we would take the bus with Yuko, our student, into Tokyo to spend the day with her. Her father would drive our luggage from their home later that day up to Ibaraki prefecture, to meet us at the train station in Tsuchiura where we would be reunited with it and go on to spend the next leg of our Japan trip that year with our student Hitomi and her mother.

In this picture, Bill and Yuko are considering the bus schedule; Bill is trying to read the kanji to figure out what it says, and Yuko is helping him. Mr. Takanashi had gone into the bus station proper to get our tickets. He was always doing that sort of thing; he did the same thing when we went to Tokyo Disneyland--took care of our tickets for us. I was grateful because I wouldn't have had a clue how to ask about it, my Japanese being so limited. But being the science teacher that he was, he was very precise and methodical, so it was a good job for him, and he never seemed to mind. I got the impression that he enjoyed figuring out complicated stuff like bus and train schedules, and driving routes. We also got the impression that he loved to drive, period, as that was usually his preferred method of getting us around--by car. He probably would love driving around the U.S.

We had a fun day with Yuko. She took us into Kanda, the section of Tokyo that is famous for its bookstores. It was very near where her university was. There were some with very old tomes in them that I would have loved to explore, but I get shy at moments like this because I know so little of the language. How would I explain I wanted books with ukiyo-e but no naughty stuff?? We wound up going into a manga bookstore where I bought a couple of books that sadly never made it back to Japan--Masami, a further destination on our journey, tried to ship both those and several other books for us back to the U.S. and only a few made it there--the box either burst open or was "helped" open before it got to us in the U.S. We've had that happen twice from that particular post office; I keep wondering if it's a "local" problem. :-(

After the bookstores we had lunch with Yuko at a ramen restaurant. It was a favorite with her and her fellow university students. It was the first time we'd eaten at one, and I wish I'd had the good sense to take a picture of my first bowl of ramen and the restaurant--I have no idea why I didn't. It was very delicious, and true to the dramas, manga and anime, they are huge bowls of soup and noodles. We had to leave most of the broth as there was so much of it.

Upon leaving the restaurant we took the train from Kanda to Akihabara. And like the first time in Akihabara, we didn't have much time, so we just went into the new Yamada Denki. Yamada Denki has almost no parallels that I'm aware of in the U.S. I wish it did. It is found in almost every major city. It is a huge technological paradise for geeks and housewives. Most of the floors are given over to computers, cameras, I-pods, DVDs, cds, toys and games; at least one floor is devoted to appliances for the home. Basically it is a huge warehouse for anything technologically or electrically inclined for personal use. I love the place. The only annoying thing about it is the fact that it plays the same promotional songs over its intercom non-stop--"When The Saints Go Marching In", with some perky voiced girl in a voice-over hyping the latest and greatest Yamada Denki has to offer. It can get on your nerves the 44th time you hear it.

After we left Yamada Denki we hopped right on the train (the station is conveniently next door) and travelled to our next destination in Ibaraki, where Mr. Takanashi met us with our luggage, and Hitomi and her mother greeted us for our next stop. But that's for another day.

When I look at this picture of Bill and Yuko, I'm reminded not only of the wonderful day we had with her in Tokyo, but I also think to myself--where to next for Japan? Will we be able to return? And if so, where will we go? Will we visit old haunts, or carve out a new path?

Often I am surprised at how Japan has become so ingrained in Bill and I. I don't think either of us expected we'd learn to love and yearn for it as much as we do. If there ever is a chance to return, I know we'd both jump at it. For whatever reason, God has placed Japan and the Japanese in our hearts. I pray He gives us more opportunities in the future to experience this fascinating land.