APA=Always Pleasant Amenity

Although I didn't take this photo, we visited here and climbed into the statue.  

I'm back and ready to check back in on my blog.  It was a whirlwind of a trip--10 days in Japan,   (8 really, with 2 days travel), plus 2 days of catching back up to PST.  The first night back I went to bed around 11 p.m., after traveling for 20 hours and being awake about 35.  I slept until 3:45 the next afternoon.  The next night I didn't go to sleep until after 2 a.m., woke to the alarm at 9:30, twelve hours later, I was wired.  It was 9:11 p.m. and my first alarm would wake me for work at 4:45 a.m. Good thing it was a light day scheduled for the Library.

I originally wrote that first paragraph a few days ago, but after getting frustrated with not being able to upload pics shot on my phone, then sent by an app to email, and then having little luck getting those photos to download so I could share them here, I gave up.  Time has passed, but tonight when I attempted the photo thing, I ran around in circles again.  I'll post some more . . . sometime . . . somehow.  :)

Japan was amazing, as I knew it would be.  Some things have changed in the 20 years since we visited last, like the amount of dogs on the street in parks, quite often in sweaters and some with accessories on their heads like barettes, etc. There were many more non-Japanese people out and about (way more).  But some things haven't changed, foremost the Japanese attention to detail and courtesy.

Businesses in Japan really focus on customer service and the appeal of the packaging.  It was rare that we didn't feel comfortable, unless we think back on some of the crowded subway or busses.  Personal space becomes a luxury.  My dad was also very focused on us having a great tourist experience.  We ate (a lot!) and saw the sights (many!) and the whole time he was our very gracious host.  This trip wouldn't have been possible without him and my step-mom, Miwako.  We will forever be indebted.  (They were quite the troopers, having visited Italy themselves right before our arrival!)

We stayed in a couple of hotels on our journey to Kyoto and Hiroshima, and one of them was the APA.  It's a chain.  I didn't know what the letters stood for until one evening when I was compulsively reading the wrapping on the toilet paper roll.  There I found out that APA stood for Always Pleasant Amenity.  To me, that summed up Japan.  Doing their best to be honorable to their guests and offer pleasant amenities.

The room was cozy tiny and, my dad said, not as fancy as the price would suggest, but I found it fantastic.  There were all sorts of freebies in the bathroom, including hair bands and brushes.  I think the price reflected the fact that it happened to be Cherry Blossom week and Kyoto, the former capital of Japan, was full of folks who had come for the viewing.  Cherry Blossom week is a huge deal and now that I've experienced it, I can understand why.  The trees are gorgeous with white or pink blossoms, which show themselves at their best for only a few days, before they fall off like raindrops.  It is customary in Japan for families and friends to meet under the blossoming trees and eat and drink and be merry.  We saw a lot of examples of this.  Cute to see men in business suits spreading out blue tarps and waiting for their guests. 

Since I can't currently post one of my MANY cherry blossom shots. I will borrow from google images, just so that you can enjoy the beauty.  

We visited temples and shrines, had coffee in a surfer coffeehouse, rode the bullet train (twice) and had fun with the amusingly translated English.  ("Dog Whiz" was a four-story dog supply store, with the name in huge yellow letters.  There was also a "Womb" store.  I think it sold fancy clothing.)

We ate Mochi (a Japanese sweet) until we felt ourselves turning into rice, although Erik never got sick of it.  Jakob obsessed over his favorite dish, cold Soba noodles.  He could eat them a few times a day if given the chance.  I gave him my portion on the plane ride home.  I was ready for some chicken with sauce.  He just wanted more buckwheat noodles in sauce.  

The 10-hour flights should have been for sleeping, but with so many movies to choose from, I admit I did barely more than doze.  (I need to rent and re-watch "Men, Women and Children".  A very trippy movie about family life in these days of virtual connections.  The airline staff collected the earphones ten minutes before the movie was over.  I was bummed.  I watched "Wild", by Sheryl Strayed, and found it very good.  I had loved the book.  I also watched "Girl Gone".  Yikes.  "If I Stay" got some tears out of me.  Oh, and I watched a Johnny Depp documentary.  Couldn't resist.  Yum.

I missed blogging, missed the connection I feel when I'm sharing my thoughts and the feedback I get from my community.  I'll post more soon.  I promise.   

Thanks for listening.  Missed you.