Japan (Continued) Yokohama and Mt. Fuji

Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji again, Emmet and me.

Saturday, 11th April

We left Yokohama and Japan last night and it is great to be connected to our email again; it was turned off in Yokohama.

We had had two wonderful days in this last city and were sad to leave, especially as we now have nine straight days at sea without sight of land until Hawaii! Japan has both enchanted and infuriated us. It's efficiency, physical beauty and the sweetness and helpfulness of the people is never in question. However it is regimented, obedient to a million religious and government rules and meticulously but laboriously slow in transactions of any kind (especially banking) and, in comparison to other places we have visited, very expensive.

On Thursday Beth, (the University of Virginia and ship librarian, a most delightful woman and great companion) and I went into Kamata on the subway to do some shopping for handicrafts she needed. The shuttle to the station was 'not available' we were told by the smiling tourist information officer at the port so we walked rapidly through the town following a map until we found it. We had thought there was only one train for quite a long period and it was at 10 am so we were practically sprinting as the station came into sight (mentally anyway!), only to discover that we would be travelling by subway and there was one every five minutes or so. The town we needed was between Tokyo and Yokohama and only five stations away. We found it and the shop she had been told about and Beth was in seventh heaven. As we entered and saw the myriad of possibilities for her creativity her eyes lit up and she wandered around entranced and also confused as to what her ultimate decisions should be. There were silks and wools and fabrics of brilliant and subtle colours and designs; there were pieces of material with typically Japanese motifs cut into small squares for quilts and hangings and larger squares for whatever you choose. Although as most of you appreciate I am not at all creative in these particular ways. I was fascinated by these little pieces of fabric and actually bought two (!) which I just like feeling and looking at but have no idea what to do with! Beth was very constrained in her purchases because I think she was totally overwhelmed by the number of options open to her.

Almost an hour and a half after entering the store I found a little step ladder and sat down gratefully....there wasn't a chair in sight. Beth kept saying in her sweet Southern accent 'I just can't make up my mind but I'll only be a minute' I enjoyed seeing her so happy but my feet felt hot and uncomfortable and it was a relief to park myself somewhere. I did receive a few suspicious looks. It is probably against the etiquette rules in Japan to sit on a step ladder in public just as Beth had informed me it is not done to blow your nose....well! I had allergies to something and both eyes and nose were streaming at times so combine that with the step ladder and I was in trouble.

We eventually left the shop and made our way out into the streets to look for a Japanese lunch. We found a little food bar and sat on stools eating soup and noodles with chopsticks; you can perhaps imagine the hilarity! Later, while strolling through one of the malls, we found ourselves back in the subway station so decided this was a sign that we should start going back to Yokohama. We were feeling by this time so confident moving from city to city without peering at maps....such a dead giveaway that you're struggling tourists. We boarded the next 'blue' train(we knew that was the colour of 'our' line) to come into the station and prayed we were going in the right direction....we were but didn't know for certain until we saw a station name that we remembered from going the other way!

I have decided that you can travel absolutely anywhere in the world with confidence if you have a compatible companion....or George. My sense of direction is very helpful....always go in the opposite direction to the one I suggest, you can't fail. However as I'm the only person who really has to experiment with my own compass it's just as well I have learned to ask the way and ask again if necessary to reach my destination. Not having a 'bump of location' is one of the great unrecognised disabilities of the world. ( I have a global perspective these days you notice!)

I am blethering (to use a good Scots word) so will shower no and go to breakfst.

I think the photos of Mount Fuji speak for themselves and I have taken a few of the Japanese I saw doing their own thing. Emmet, who doesn't have a camera of his own, loves borrowing mine and taking photos of George and me (in front of some thing or other to prove we were there....he says) so I thought he should be included.

More later.......