Seibu

It seems that all food in the stores is presented beautifully, wrapped in pretty packages. Here are some photos taken in the food section of Seibu, one of the largest highend stores in Otsu. On another floor there were many stores including a Western cowboy gear kind of place. Seemed really out of place in Japan, but many of the Japanese young men wear cowboy boots, so there you go. One interesting product was called Whitening Face Lotion. The women there take great pride in having very pale skin. Had to take a shot of the TV guide sheet in my room. Odd that I was only able to get local channels. No cable...in a five star hotel.

NICU Staff

Gorgeous evenings looking out from my hotel room balcony at the light shows.

Visiting Solomon and Sophia in the NIC unit the staff and Sarah's translator we so wonderful and kind. Sarah had fun giving Sophia her daily bath, while Solomon concentrated on gaining weight in his personal incubator space. Happy Sarah after a doctor check-up.

Saki and Bathtub Dinners

In the minibar in my hotel room I found a jar of saki, and a Minute Maid can called Juice Bar, sort of a fruit combo. Sometimes I found after a long day that mixing these two together created a nice cocktail. There were many evenings when I just wanted to read and soak in the great tub in my bathroom. I would line up my dinner along the edge...usually cucumber, strawberries, sometimes cantaloupe or other fruit, and always a rice cake with seaweed. Yum.

Kyoto Train Station

We took Roslyn to the Kyoto train station. The building was almost frightening it was so large. You can take escalators up something like ten stories. Scary!

Little Girls and Mask

Many schools in Japan require the children to wear uniforms. We saw these little girls at the train station. With their navy blue uniforms and matching hats, they all looked like they were straight out of the Madeline storybooks. Sarah said that the frequenty of Japanese people wearing masks is most likely due to allergies instead of fear of germs.

Japanese Poster Ads

Colorful and amusing poster ads seemed to be everywhere in Japan. I got a huge kick out of them, so here are but a few of the many photos I took. I particularly liked the one for ciggies called Black Impact.

Kyoto Tea House

Sarah, Roslyn and I went to a tea house in Kyoto, then on to the temple. Teacups and saucers line the wall behind the counter, and you can choose which one you want your tea or coffee served in. I fell in love with a seagreen teacup. The inside of the cup and the matching saucer had been hand-painted with a lovely bit of scenery. A copy of this set, along with one in red were available for $186 each. Ouch! I kind of still wish I had bought them, but was a bit taken back by the price, and the possibility of breakage en route home. Then we went to another amazing temple area. I took a shot of the ceiling inside one of the buildings. The entire ceiling was painted with a dragon. It was enormous. Ourside there were a few women weeding the moss. I mean, they were removing all traces of grass and leaving the moss. Quite the opposite of our behavior here in the States.