1:00pm Bus to Hanida Airport
Wednesday was an unusual day. We had class in the morning and a little discussion about how we were going to proceed with the trip. We were told that grieving and fear is a natural process, but to continue on as normally as possible. The terrorists want America to change. We were all very tired, but we sat through class. When it was over, G and I went to Roppongi and ate at the Pot Pot- creat curry, rice and fried cream dough. Then we checked email and wrote home to tell everyone that we were okay. It was hard to write a coherent letter with all that was going on.
Then we went to some almond cookie store to buy gifts for Yuko and Prof. Winship. We walked to International House to give Yuko her gift and she was very grateful. She asked how we were doing and was very concerned about our group. We left and tried to find an English newspaper to take home- kind of just as a record that this is where we were when it happened. There weren't any left in English so we picked up a Japanese paper. As we looked through it on the subway home we saw that it had naked women on all the inside pages.
The subway was an experience all its own. The people on the subway usually just stare straight down. They day, I saw people obviously staring at us. We were the only westerners around. People either hid their newspapers from us or deliberately held up the pictures. We didn't know how to react to that. We were trying to act normally but with all these people staring at us we felt like we should look sad on purpose. I'm sure we naturally looked kinda bad since we'd been awake all night.
When we got back we went out to dinner along the road towards Romi. It was a really homy restaurant. The 'mama-son' walked downstairs to the picture menu to help us order. There was a little confusion about what we wanted, and we walked back upstairs without really knowing what we just ordered. Inside it was very unusually decorated. There were Indonesian masks and pictures all around. Huge paper lanterns hung low on the ceiling. We were the only ones in there for a while but soon a group and some salary-men came in. Mama-son asked "where from?" and when she found out we were from the US she said "aw" and hugged me. Then she told everyone in the restaurant and said "aw" and looked sad.
It was a really nice place. Mama-son sat and talked to people, smoked, and drank beer with tea in it. The tables were large and wooden, and G and I sat on the same side of it watching everyone. I felt like I was sitting in Mama-son's kitchen.
From there we walked to Romi for drinks. The bartender was the only person in there and he was watching a little portable TV/VCR/video camera. When we came in he took the TV over to the bar and turned it to an English translation of the news. We were really sick of the whole situation, but it was nice to hear English words telling the story. There were also interviews with people in New York and that was also interesting. We watched for maybe 45 minutes and left. We were really too drained to do anything else.
I woke up yesterday morning scrunched at the bottom of my bed. I don't remember if I had any dreams accompanying that situation, but I was there anyway. We packed up our stuff to change rooms, took our sheets with us. Luggage went into storage for the day and G and I took off for the Embassy. We were again conscious of people staring at us- but it wasn't so bad. We left around 8:30am so rush hour was in full swing.
6pm Bus to Kyoto
We were so goal driven that we didn't notice if people were staring or not. We left our bags in class so they would have less to search when we got there. We passed a guard station where the guard was wrestling with a bullet-proof vest. On the street was a mixture of TV trucks and unmarked trucks and busses. Near the entrance were tons of tripods and cameramen. Luckily, no one was taping yet so we slid by to security. He checked our passports and let us through the gate. There was a pile of backpacks and purses by the gate so I assume people were not allowed to bring them in. Once inside the gate, things were the same as last time. It only took G a few minutes and we were done. We glanced down the main street and saw that the block was restricted to vehicles and that police and black sedans were parked on the curbs. As we walked back we followed a plainclothes American who was giving orders to Japanese security guards and telling a woman that "prescreening began at 8:45am". Whatever that meant. We bought a Japan Times on the was back and read in English more news from home.
We were back in time to see a music group in Culture class. The music was very beautiful. The classical piece was calm and flowing. Almost too soothing for us who were already sleepy. The other more modern pieces were more varied and emotional. Altogether, with three people, there was 1 shakuhachi (flute), 1 shamisen (guitar with plectra) and 2 kotos. When I go home I have to remember to buy a CD of classical Koto. The three people were one guy who was bigger and about 24, and two tiny little women about 29 years old. The women had studied with Dr. Prescott.
After a quick lunch, G headed off to check on his embarkation/disembarkation card and I followed the group to the geriatric center. It was a little hard to get us all there: two train rides on the JR line. Once we got there we walked through some really nice gardens and Koi ponds, past great little fountains. The walkway was very shady and cool. We had a brief introductory lecture and then a tour of the facilities. These included the training rooms, residences (trainees and folks who used their services), the activity hall for patients, the handicapped bathroom, the hospital, and the roof. The center has a very long history starting in the 1920's and is now one of the most advanced research facilities on Japan's aging population. We have them another picture of Old Main, and they gave us 1,000 paper cranes- twice. One we're going to bring to Hiroshima, and the other we might bring back to school.
After a confusing train ride home (in which both I hopped off a train at the wrong time and tried to get on the wrong train) G and I went to McDonalds. We also had to get new rooms for just one night. It was nice to taste American fast food and not have to deal with sympathetic Japanese. When we got back I had to borrow G's towel because he lost mine that morning. We were back in the baths-per-floor so I tried to run the bath water myself. I don't know if I was the only one to use it or not, but it was too darn hot for me to stay in there very long. After that I went to bed.
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