Tokyo, a huge contrast to what I have been living

Today was my first full day in Tokyo, yesterday we arrived to the Peninsula Hotel and the old Japan that I remember slapped me in the face when the two valet attendants and taxi cab driver opened my husbands door and took the luggage out of the trunk and left me sitting there, and I had to open my own door! Welcome to Japan! I walked for over five hours today while Ken was a a meeting. Tokyo is a difficult place to navigate, all the signs are in Japanese and almost no one speaks English, so you get lost and then you find you way again. While walking through the park I watched hundreds of folk listen to an orchestra and then sing along with them. When it finished they all got up in an orderly fashion and walked out from the bandshell.  For a city that has 12 million people, you feel like there are 12, it is so quiet, no horns, no loud voices, and no trash anywhere!  Such a contrast to China, the Japanese are refined, they do not burp, the do not pick their nose in public, and they do not push and shove. They are so civil! I thought so much of Amber and Nicki today, I went to a wood block printing store and the inventory was incredible, full of old masters prints. I then went to dinner with Ken in this small traditional home style restaurant where the pottery was beautifully imperfect! Huge bowls and platters slightly off and ever so gorgeous. I am looking forward to another day of pounding the pavements tomorrow. In the first photograph the kids were cracking up that I was taking their picture.