Tuesday, March 13, 1990
It snowed all night, harder and harder. We board the buses at 8:00 to return to Tokyo. Descending the mountain's hairpin curves in a blizzard is an experience you should definitely miss if you can. The bus brushed right up to the guard rail, and given our front seat view, I kept imagining the headlines "Bus plunges off snowy cliff: foreign teacher and son killed in school trip tragedy."
After we check into the hotel, we have the rest of the afternoon as a free day. At first, I was irritable because I was disoriented and my fellow teachers had their hands full dealing with students and couldn't be bothered with us (not that I blame them). So JQS and I strode toward the subway, map in hand, and headed downtown for the Ginza and the Imperial Palace. I was amazed at how easy it all is now. We can read the signs, buy our tickets, find the right platform, and get on the right train (going the right direction). The nice thing about Tokyo is that people stare less than in Oita-ken. We can wander around half lost without being the center of attention.
We find a couple of English language bookstores and I buy: Reading Japanese, Kanji Flash Cards, Japanese Signs 1, Japanese Signs 2, Basic Kanji 1, Basic Kanji 2, and Gift Wrapping. We eat at Kentucky Fried chicken. Mmm. Happiness.
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
March 13, 2002
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