Tuesday, November 16, 1999 --- Well, technical problems persist.  As of this writing, the first e-mail from Japan is yet to be received in Trinity County.  However, Mrs. Wheeler is currently in Tokyo and is trying to get on-line.

Mrs. Wheeler spent a couple of days visiting family in the Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area before the FMF Program started.  On Sunday, November 14, the Program formally began with the orientation at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel south of the San Francisco Airport.  All during the day groups of teachers were flying in from all over the United States and checking into the hotel.  Mrs. Wheeler was able to get more details on the planned trip, hear presentations by teachers who had gone on the trip previously and she was able to meet the 19 other teachers that would be traveling to the Ehime Prefecture with her during the second phase of the program in Japan.  On Monday the 200 teachers were flying out on two separate planes and Mrs. Wheeler had to wait a good deal that morning as she would be aboard the second flight that was scheduled to leave at 1:00 PM Monday.

She reports that the flight to Tokyo took longer than she had anticipated (11 hours) as they flew over the Aleutian Islands.  While she reports being tired from this long flight, she enjoyed her seat mates who were an art teacher and an English teacher.  (Can you imagine teacher talk for 11 hours??!!)  They arrived at their Tokyo hotel about 8:00 PM local Japan time.  She reports that the accommodations at the New Otani Hotel are quite luxurious.  The program there is just about ready to start.

[This report from Japan was received at 12:40 PM on Tuesday, November 16, thanks to international phone systems.  For Mrs. Wheeler in Japan it was 5:40 AM Wednesday, November 17.  On her flight she flew across the International Date Line and is now 17 hours ahead of California time.  If you are interested in finding out what time it is currently in Japan, check out the International Time Zone search provided by CLEAR, a communications company from New Zealand.  Click HERE, type in "Tokyo" in the box and click on "find time zone."  Want  to see what it looks like in Japan right now?  Check out web sites of online cameras in Japan by clicking HERE. signed: Mrs. Wheeler's mysterious web master]

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THE FOLLOWING ARE E-MAILS RECEIVED FROM JAPAN
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Wednesday, 17 Nov 1999 04:12:44 EST - Subject:  Arrival

Dear friends and family:
We have arrived travel worn but energized about being in Japan at last.
After an 11 hour flight which took us over the Aleutian Islands, we arrived
at Narita Airport about 5:30 pm on the 16th.  We left San Francisco at 1:30 pm
on the 15th. (Happy Birthday, Richard!)
It's a crisp and windy 55 degrees.  I had perfect seat mates.  I sat between a
high school English teacher from San Jose, CA. whose wife is a high school
drama teacher and a high school art teacher from Missouri who is getting
married two weeks after we get back.  We really clicked and have lots of
plans to do tours and activities together.
    It took 1 ? hours to get  us all through baggage claims and customs and
another 1 ? hrs to get to the hotel.  Along the way we saw miles of office
buildings with people still working in them.  It wasn't quite 8 pm  And, yes,
the salarymen do get drunk after work and loudly traipse down the street.
The hotel is AMAZING!  We had only a few minutes to drop off our things and
join a local volunteer who was to take us to a local place to eat.   Her name
was Olga and her husband worked for the United Nations here.  She was from
Russia, but had lived 16 years in the US.  Charming lady!  It was a number of
meats either barbecued or chilled in various sauces,  all of which were
tasty.
    I'm going to try to send this now just to see if it works.  I need to get
some sleep.  This is an incredible odyssey.

Thinking of you all
Love, Peggy
 

Wednesday, 17 Nov 1999 07:12:49 EST - Buddhist Temple
(Private letter to "web master" but too interesting not to share.)

I am extremely tired so I only hope this will come over clear and not muddled.
I saw the temple today.  You'd have loved it.  However, we were rushed
because some people got lost in the Diet building and kept the busses waiting
and behind schedule.
The shrine was the Asakusa-Sensoji Temple. It was Buddhist and the focus was
an image that has been kept secret for many centuries in a locked box.  You
can buy for 50 yen a stick you shake out of a can.  The stick has a number on
it which corresponds to a little wooden drawer wherein there are fortunes.  1
out of 3 are bad fortunes and you can leave them at the temple by tying them
around a fence wire and get another one till you get one you can live with.
There was also a huge cauldron that was filled with sand where people put
burning incense which makes a lot of holy smoke and you stand near and rub
smoke over body parts that need health.

The National Diet Building is like our national capitol and most of the tour centered
there.  It was beautifully built with wood, stained glass and marble floors.
There were hundreds of school groups on a field trip through it and they're the
reason a group of us got separated from the guide.  We paused to let them by
- we did NOT stop to take pictures in spite of what you hear.  Yes, we were
the ones who got lost in the labyrinth that is the Japanese Diet building.

Lunch was a nice tempura at a skinny 8 story building.  By the time you
walked up all those stories, you were definitely hungry.

Tomorrow we have scheduled an early visit to the fish market.  I want to go,
but I fear my camera isn't working well,  It says it needs a new battery, but
I put one in it and there is still a problem.  It shows the battery symbol but
at least the zoom and shutter work.  Of all the times to forget the manual!

A major goal I have for myself is to negotiate the subway system somewhat.
At least get to the national museum.

Word has it that there is between 17,000 and 20,000 US$ spent on each
participant here.  I believe it!  This is major luxury in an expensive city.
I ate the package of m and m's yesterday that were in my room and was billed
4$.  It was not a king size package.

I LIKE the bathrooms.  The tub is deeper and the toilet has way cool little
gadgets.

Well it is just after 9:00 pm and I've been up and going since 3:00 am so I'll
close.
Peg

Thursday, 18 Nov 1999 06:58:40 EST - Subject:  Fish market Thursday

    I fear you must be looking often for word from me.  I know I have written
to you often in my mind.  There is so much to see and do that there is little
time to write about it.  Today started early with my waking up at 2:30 and
unable to go back to sleep.  I got my things organized and sorted from the
day before and I was going to write but there wasn't time before I was
meeting 4 friends to go to the fish market at 4:00 am.  The fish market was a
wild and unbelievable experience.  Acres and acres of ALL kinds of fish
neatly stacked in Styrofoam boxes and being moved around at great and
determined speed.  I took two rolls of film.  There were octopi as big as
basketballs and frontloaders full of tuna frozen so hard they could be dumped
without denting them.  They were weighed, tagged, lined up in rows, sampled
and bid upon in the space of 2-3 hours.  Some 200 tons of fish are moved
through the Tsukiji (say "ski-gee") Fish Market a day!   It was cold, wet,
but not at all smelly.  The fish don't stay around long enough to get
smelly.  There are more than 1200 small vendors within the market.  We saw a
guy cutting the heads off live eels, men cleaning clams, and others preparing
beautiful sashimi. (Click here for"A Digital Walk Through Tsukiji Fish Market.")
Here is a photo of the fish market fresh in from Japan.  A fellow FMFer took
this shot on our tour.
    This fish market is the largest in the world and 11 times larger than the
next largest, Fulton Fish Market, in New York. We had taken a taxi with 4 of
us splitting the charge - about $5 each.  We made a half hearted attempt to
stay together, but soon got separated.  Having prearranged to meet at a
specified place and a specified time, my only concern became trying to keep
that place in mind, but I knew ultimately I might be on my own.  I chose my
forays carefully and enjoyed the dickens out of it.  Fortunately, I came
across 2 of my group in their wanderings.  It was time to return to the
prearranged spot and we all went together.  It was sure fortunate I found
them because it turned out I was some 180 degrees off in my mis-remembering.
    We were back at the hotel in time for an early breakfast and showers
before our meetings where we heard very interesting speakers discuss the
Japanese educational reform.  The speaker was highly qualified and quite
candid about the sociological issues that are causing great concern for
Japanese people.  Of course he mentioned the concern that Japanese students
know facts but do poorly in critical thinking and applications.  The suicide
rate is of great concern to them. They will be going to a 5 day school week in
2001.  There is a rising crime rate among juveniles of 15 per 1000.  They
have done many research projects and surveys to try to understand the
problem.  They observe students have delayed development of independence,
underdeveloped social skills and problems concerning health and physical
stamina.
    They have adopted a "motto phrase"  "Room to Grow and Zest for Living."
They want to encourage more independence, more freedom, and more emotional
compassion.  Noble goals to be sure.  They also want to see more fathers take
part in child raising.  They had stats and graphs to show how little time
parents spend with their kids relative to other countries.  Over it all, I
got the sense of a genuine concern and a belief that much needed to be done
and they were just beginning, but they were working on the problem.
    After the afternoon session, a friend and I went walking and came to
an art museum which we went in.  After that,  we found a little
craft place where I made a pressed flower card and forgot my camera.  The
polite little shop girl came running across the street and down the block to
return it to me.  Then we found a Chinese place for dinner.  Very reasonable.
We are allotted 2500 yen ($23.60) for dinners on our own and we spent about
1750 ($16.50).  We returned to the hotel and the print shop was finally open so I
was able to find a little Hiroshige reproduction on rice paper which I liked.  It
was the one where the travelers are having to walk their pilgrimage through
the ankle-deep snow.
    That's probably enough for now.  I read the web site last night and am
anxious to get on now and see if I have mail.

Peg

Friday, 19 Nov. 1999 07:49:18 EST -  Subject:   Day 3.  Tokyo

I seem to wake up very early.  This is the third day it has been before 3:30
(yesterday 2:30).  I try for a minute to go back to sleep, but my mind reels
with all the experiences and sometimes with thoughts of the people in the
group.  I think the FMF people have taken great care to see that we have all
the information we need to make decisions about what we want to do.  As
inconvenient as it seems to be so wide awake at this time, I think it must be
so I can write and record my feelings with a clear head.  The tired can come
later.  As one FMFer said: you can sleep when you get home.

Right now I am thinking about last night's eggplant ma po at a Chinese place
near our hotel.  It was just the right spicy, sweet and hot.  I also had
steamed buns and rice.  It was perfect and under budget.  I went with the
other Peggy in our group.  She has spent 2 summers in China as a teacher of
English through a group in her state of Kentucky.  She has one grown son in
San Francisco.  She likes art things.  I guess I don't want to write too much
about my perceptions of the people.  First of all they seem to be changing
daily and they sometimes are not particularly flattering.  It is probably a waste
of good energy.  Better I should focus on the things Japanese while I can.

Near our hotel there is a district called Akasaka where there are many
restaurants and assorted businesses.  The pachinko parlors are wild places
where it is very noisy with loud machines and louder music.  You can see them
almost everywhere.  They are a vertical pin ball machine where the balls are
pea sized steel bb's. You can control the strength with which the ball is
released, but after that, it is on its own.  Players say it takes a skill.
There are rows of businessmen, housewives, and students who sit quietly and
intently in front of the machine.  You can win but the payoff is in more
steel balls.  You can trade the balls for food and I guess even money which
is supposed to be against the law, but no one enforces it.  The name
"pachinko" comes from the sound the balls make as they fall along their
route.  It is a bit like bingo, Las Vegas slot machines in that there is a
kind of intensity on the faces of the players and yet they seem content and
occupied.

The streets were jammed when rush hour happened just before 7:00 pm.  Large
crowds of salarymen and salarygirls came out of I'm not sure where, (it must
have been the big hotels and various office type businesses) and walked in
masse across the streets and into the subways.  The "uniform" is a dark suit
- usually black.  They are young, trim, and intense. Yet there is smiling.  I
especially like the faces of the elderly and middle aged Japanese men.

The men who spoke to our group happened to be former Fullbrighters and
handled English quite well.  Watching them, you could see their intelligence
and overriding concern that we understand what they were saying.  They were
very knowledgeable.  I liked what they said about education and Japanese
families.  They recognize that with the loss of the extended family in
Japanese society, the young mothers are having a very stressful time raising
families.  One interesting statistic is satisfaction with your child
comparing Japan to other countries.  Japanese start out at 60% satisfaction
at birth.  That's strange.

They said young people do not respect their parents any more, and they expect
that to become an increasing problem.  Interesting:  The Japanese want their
kids to be more independent and happy and not so stressed with the entrance
exam.  And America wants its kids to be more concerned with academics. We
each seem to want what the other one has.

The government worries that for all their efforts to provide more free time
for students to be happy and have fun, when given more time, the parents
choose to send the kids to cram school with that time.  Parents seem unable
to let go of the importance attached to which college they get into.  I guess
if you must work at one job your whole life, you would want your kid to get
the best opportunity since there is only one.  It seems even more important
than making the right marriage.  I am reminded of the American educators
who were interested once in doing away with grades so they can concentrate
on learning, but the parents having such a fit because they wanted to see the
grades.

Apparently the "one job for life" as a way of Japanese society is also
undergoing change.

I wish I could have been more interested in the economy speaker.  It seems
like the gist of what he was saying was "be patient - it may take 5 years to
fully recover"

The lady and her daughter in the garden at New Otani.

We were taking pictures in the half light of the evening on the 2nd day in
the very beautiful garden at the New Otani Hotel.  It is a semi public garden
and local people can walk through it even if they're not staying at the
hotel.  A woman and her young (maybe 10) daughter offered to take our picture
together.  She seemed to want to talk.  She then politely asked us where we
were from.  It turns out she spent some time in USA.  Her English was pretty
good but limited.  She asked where we would be going in Japan.  It seemed she
wanted to know what we were doing, so I told her we were 200 teachers.  The
minute I said that word, she stood up tall, eyes bright and said "o-o-o
sensei!"  making big eyes to her daughter about how special and important
that was.  I felt very honored.    I experienced what I have heard existed in
this country - a real respect for teachers.

Day 3 evening:
    I met Elsa for an early breakfast and we went walking.  She had seen a
shrine the night before but it was too dark to go inside.  It turned out to
be an oasis in the middle of the city.  Men were sweeping the sidewalks and
long long stairway lined with red paper lanterns and leading up to the
shrine.  I dug out my trusty Walking Tours of Tokyo which has become a valued
resource for many of us and learned that it is the Hie Shrine which was built
inside a shogun's castle in the 15th century.  The entrance has a female
monkey holding a baby.  It is the patron spirit for pregnant women to guard
against miscarriage and promote marital harmony.  This was good for Elsa
because she is to be married on Dec. 19.

I bought a fortune there.  It was a verry [sic] good fortune. (one out of 3
is bad) It said Autumn is better for you than spring.  Your wish will be
fulfilled at the end of the months in autumn.  Be religious and modest.
On our way back we met some other FMFers who had been to another shrine
nearer the hotel.  So we went there.  I bought another oracle/fortune, but it
turned out to not have an English translation so I put it in my pocket and we
took pictures.  When I got back to the hotel, I realized I had locked my room
key in my room, so I had to have the desk person arrange for another person
to open my room for me.  It was very hectic and I was late to my session:
Teaching World Peace.  It wasn't until after our session and I was buying
stamps that I thought I should find out if my fortune was good or bad because
if it was bad, you are supposed to leave it tied to a fence at the shrine and
"in good hands" if you don't want it.  So I asked the girl at the postal desk
if it was good or bad.  She read it and was shocked and gasped that it was
very bad!  I wanted to take it back right away, but there wasn't time before
we had to meet with our prefecture groups.  So I slipped it into my pocket
again.

We learned that this is the first time Ehime has ever participated in this
program.  This guy named Richard who is a great deal like Ted Rose (in
appearance as well as assertiveness [For those of you who don't know Ted,
he is our friend who lives in Mexico.]) was trying to get a group together to
see if we could get a tour of a prison school.  He teaches in Los Angeles at
a Juvenile Detention facility.  I figured why not, so I said yes.  There will
be 4 of us.  I guess it was a big deal for him to ask.

Then there was a lesson on the Kabuki theater where a girl demonstrated the
make-up procedure.  She then donned the costume and performed a scene.  It
was very beautiful.

THEN I attacked the subway with 4 other novices.  It was rush hour but it was
fun and not too confusing.  I feel I could do it myself if I had to.  We went
to the Ginza which is Tokyo's 5th Avenue.  One lady was looking at Mikimoto
pearls.  She bought a string at $3,300!  She said it was something she had
dreamed of all her life.  Mikimoto is famous for developing a special process
for culturing pearls.

We took the subway back $1.60 each way and found a nifty noodle shop for
dinner.  Then I said good bye to the others as I had to return my bad luck
fortune before I went to bed.  I got a little lost, but quickly found my way.
The shrine was closed, so I tied the bad fortune to a camellia bush outside
and said good riddance.

It's 9:30 PM here on the 19th. It was a clear day and Mt. Fuji was obscured
by haze and pink clouds at sunset.  It was a little too warm for my full
length coat, but I wore it anyway because it is so perfect in every other
way.  It was great on the subway.

I miss you all.  You will be glad to know I am figuring out the money situation.
I still have half my yen.  I will probably cash some of my travelers checks
before I go to Niihama.  Banks keep banker's hours and closed at 3 today
while I was watching kabuki.  The hotel will change TC's.  I'm having great
fun taking pictures.  Thanks for sending the info from the camera manual.  I
may need it yet.  Is this e-mail system working ok for you?

Love,
Peg

Saturday, 20 Nov 1999 02:04:29 EST -  Subject:  Konichiwa

It's 2:30 Saturday afternoon here.  The weather remains absolutely favorable.  I
have recently returned from a shopping trip to the Oriental Bazaar.  THE place
to souvenir shop.  It is probably a dependable place to buy prints.  One
vendor had a large variety.  I have been thinking about gifts for family members.
A 12x18 inch Mishijima and Hiroshige were 7500 yen (approx. $75.00).  Smaller
9x12 inch prints were 1000 yen or about $10.00 US. I got a beautiful Mishijima
of a small village at the base of some mountain ranges with snow falling.  It's
beautiful!!
    I hadn't planned to, but I found myself buying a vintage (used) silk
montsuki or half coat.  The black and brown ones are rather striking.  Actually, I am
getting most all of the Christmas stuff done.  Needless to say, they took VISA.
    I'm understanding the subway a little more each time.  I did it by myself
today. It was cool!  I studied the maps to the Traditional Japanese Craft
center and although my book only gave the subway access, I figured I could walk
it.  A guy had walked back from the Fish Market in 45 min.  So, since it was
too early to do anything else, I figured a nice long walk and I could always
come back if I got lost.  As it turned out, it was even shorter than I
expected.  It was still nearly 1 hour, but I stopped at a Starbucks and had a
coffee while I watched the rush hour begin.  It's a big city and I know I
don't know the half of it.  I got photos of window washers repelling down the
front of an office building, and construction workers standing on a corner.
There was a little shop of Norwegian trolls.  This is just an amazing, amazing
place.
    I'll keep this short for now.  Say hello to my kitty girls - they do like their
cats here in Japan.  We head out to our prefectures the day after tomorrow.
I'm going to catch a nap and then see if I can find someone to do dinner with.

With love from Tokyo,
Peg

Saturday, 20 Nov 1999 08:02:23 EST - Subject: Day 4 Shopping and resting in Tokyo

Ohyo goziamasu:      Good morning.  It's 10 PM here after another long day.

    I woke up at 5:00 am and was able to meet the Susanville FMFer for
breakfast.  The program gives us coupons to use for breakfasts at any of 3
restaurants on the premises.  At each place there is an interesting mix of
East and West.  I am enjoying the vegetables and miso over rice.  People
marvel at my use of chopsticks which surprises me as I rather thought most
Americans could (or would want to) use chopsticks.  I always cheat a little
and have a piece of bacon too.  The fresh pineapple is a real treat.

    I left for my personal solo shopping trip shortly after breakfast.  I got
back by 2:30 and spent the next hour or so sorting out the purchases and
making a list of what I need to get yet.  Then I packed for our prefecture
trip.  That took more thinking than I cared to do.  So I tried to nap, but
wasn't sleepy so I e-mailed.

    I watched the sunset and then realized there isn't so much to do after
dark.  Kabuki  is one possibility.  This is a nice time for reflection and
writing post cards.  Post cards seem to be 80 yen every place, so I'll
probably get a few more soon and get them mailed.  I walked by the Post
Office this morning.  It has been relatively easy to get around in Tokyo with
limited Japanese, but I think it will be much harder in the prefectures.  At
least that is what I have been told.

I don't do much TV at home so I haven't thought about using it here, but I
heard you can get sumo all day - and in English!   So I tried it and I have
it on as I write.  This stuff grows on you.  They are so cute!  Actually, the
referee is the real cutie.  Quite a sight at this moment.   Two tubbo guys
leaning on each other at the shoulders and pushing with their feet.  Visually
it is quite symmetrical making a solid equilateral triangle.  Interestingly
each has a hand grip on the waist band of the diaper of the opponent.
Sometimes one guy dodges and the other goes head-long over the side and into
the audience.  Then they replay it in slow motion.  The approach to the match
is quite choreographed and traditional.  Since I don't understand it fully, I
can only tell what I see.  They seem to squat and growl at each other and
then get up and walk away sometimes slapping his hands on the buttocks.
There is also the lifting of one leg high in the air at each other.  Then
there are the sticks that hang down from the diaper which they gather in each
hand and hold out of the way so they can squat and growl again.  Actually the
growl is not audible - just implied.  The little sticks remind me of cat
whiskers.

 The audience is interesting to watch also and it makes me realize something
I have learned about myself.  Somehow in my own level of prejudices, I
expected most faces to be more similar than I am seeing.  The Japanese facial
features are in fact quite distinct.   Late on the first day of our lectures,
I was just a teeny bit bored so I began to sketch the face of one of the
panel members.  The next morning at breakfast with two other art teachers, we
were discussing the fact that we'd ALL THREE OF US had chosen to do the same
thing - sketch these prominent dignitaries.  Each of us had chosen to sketch
one particular man and one lady did both of them.  We thought that was quite
a strange coincidence.  I would like to poll the rest of the group and see if
anyone else resorted to the sketching.  It's not something I usually do.
This is truly an incredible group of professionals.

I suppose I should do some research on the sumo.  I sure didn't expect to be
this interested.

    There is a phenomenon I am noticing and it has to do with young mothers
and new babies and the extended family.  Don't let me forget to address this.
I am struck that in spite of what I have heard, the Japanese people do like
their daughters. They quite dote on them.  Of course it helps that they are
absolutely darling.  My friend who taught 2 summers in China says it's not
that way in China.   It will be interesting to see how that plays out at my
home stay where there are two young daughters.  Both parents are teachers.  I
look forward to trying to ask questions about Japanese schools.

I just had dinner with Barbara from Arkansas and Peggy from Kentucky.  Peggy
is in my Niihama group.

I missed two classic photo ops today.
1. The high style for young women of the monstrously high soled and spike
heeled shoes - there were three of them waiting in the lobby.
2. A young man who had had too much to drink and was being carried on each
side by his buddies into the elevator.  He looked twelve sheets to the wind.
I don't think his eyes were even open.
But I got one of two shop girls placing the paneled high curtains on a rod
over the shop with 10 ft poles.  This signifies that the shop is open.  I want
one for my classroom.  I also pictured getting those paper lanterns I see
every place and putting a whole row along those wonderful wooden beams, but
they're $20. Ea.  Oh well.

This hotel is something else.  It could easily rank as a complete city in
itself.  The first three floors are all shops, restaurants, meeting halls,
banquet rooms, even an art museum.  There are cloak rooms on each floor,
occasional information desks because people get lost a lot.  There is even a
little post office and a good sized bank.  It boasts 1800 rooms, more than 30
restaurants and bars and a shopping arcade of more than 100 stores.  Think
"mall."

A large group of around 60 went on a tour today around the base of Mt. Fuji.
I talked to one participant who said it was really nice and well worth the
$110 US.  My dinner partners had a hard time eating dinner because the
sandwich cost 17.00.  FMF gave us an allowance for meals and we gotta eat.  I
took the picture of one FMFer and her $17.00 sandwich.  She didn't have her
camera so I told her I'd e-mail it.

Everyone seems to be buying used kimonos.  It's kinda fun.  Maybe we'll have
a fashion show before we go home.

I think I'm rambling and I know I'm getting rummy so I'd best syonara.

I haven't figured out the time differential  yet, I know there is that web
link you put on my page, but it still seems like I have to calculate.  I'm
managing yen for now, let's not ask too much.    So I don't know if I'm
dropping this on top of the last message.  I wanted to dole it out and make
you anxious with anticipation.  Kinda wonder what it will be like in Niihama.

My best all purpose phrase is "sumimasen"  Sorry/excuse me.
Love,
Peg

Saturday 20 Nov 1999 16:49:16 EST - A PERSONAL LETTER

It's 6:30 am Sunday here.  Still no Mt. Fuji. Here is a copy of the note I sent Asako.
(Who is Asako? CLICK HERE)
Dear Asako
     Today is Sunday, November 21.  I am in Tokyo and we leave tomorrow for
Shikoku.  You have a wonderful city and country.  There are so many beautiful
places and people.  I have visited two temples and taken several walks.  I
also can use the subways which are very challenging and extremely efficient.
    I saw Mt. Fuji from my hotel room the first day, but it has not appeared
since then because of the city haze.
    This hotel is very fancy.  Every morning I get a newspaper under my door
and it is in English.  When I walk down the hall, I see that others have
received papers in Japanese or Chinese.  Such service!
    Today I hope to visit the Tokyo National Museum and the Imperial Palace
grounds.  We have visited the Diet building.**  Some of us got lost in it
because we let ourselves get separated from our guide by some school children.
     I am looking forward to visiting with you when I get back.  I may need
you to explain and comment on some of the photos I have taken.
    I hope your days at Weaverville Elementary School are going well.
    I am getting more comfortable with Japanese language, but I think it will
be harder in the prefectures.
Warmly,
Peggy Wheeler
**CLICK HERE for "A Tour of The National Diet Building" (pictures of the political center of the nation).
    CLICK HERE for "The National Diet of Japan" and details about Japanese political structure and history.

     **  AN EXCERPT FROM AN EARLIER LETTER **
 My early experiences with Japanese bathrooms.
     First, the toilets. There is an arm on the right about like the arm of a chair,
only lower.  There are several buttons on it.  One is a bidet.  It shows a
picture of a woman's head.  Another just shows a bottom and shows water
squirting on it.  The third says "stop."  Some of the Japanese toilets are even
more high-tech.  [CLICK HERE to learn more.]  I found a little cubby hole of a
lavatory on one of the floors and there was a squat toilet in addition to one
stall with an "American Standard.".
    The tub is considerably deeper - one can soak.  Another thing, and I don't
know how they do it, but when the bathroom is fogged up from a tub, the
mirror is all fogged except for a little rectangle where you would look if
you were standing at the sink.  There must be some kind of heating element in
it.  The little swing out mirror is a terrific idea.  I want one of those.
There is a built-in clothes line which I have used every night and have yet
to have any dirty clothes.

Sunday, 21 Nov 1999 14:43:17 EST - Subject: Ohiyo goziamasu & Good Morning

For those who asked, I'm holding up ok.  Yesterday was particularly tiring, so much
so, I was sore.  I think I was asleep by 9:00.  No wild night life for me, even in Tokyo.

Dear Family and friends,

 It's Monday morning, November 22.  (3:30 again.) I'm actually becoming
grateful for this jet lag waking up as it gives me time to write.  This may
be the last journal entry at least for awhile.  We leave in a few hours for
our prefecture visits.  My group is to fly out of Haneda Airport to
Matsuyama Airport.  It will take just under one and a half hours.  We are all a
little nervous because we have become comfortable in this wonderful hotel and
city where you can almost always find someone who speaks a little English.
It is clear the FMF program has been structured in such a way as to give us
increasingly non-English experiences and challenges.

I had a most interesting and exhausting day yesterday --  our last free day.
We call it "independent research" now.  It began with me taking 3 people back
to the one gift shop everyone likes because I knew how to get there.  Imagine
- Me as guide  . . .
    I was able to find several more things I wanted to purchase as well.
Then we split in two groups of two because I wanted to go to the Tokyo
National Museum.  I was fortunate when one of the other 3 wanted to come with
me.  The others wanted to go to Ginza and shop.  Shopping IS good and prices
aren't as terrible as I was expecting, but I didn't want to miss the museum
and I had formulated a possible trip to a shrine and kite shop (for my son's
one request - a BIG BIG green fish kite)  by way of a recommended part and
commuter boat which affords a different view of Tokyo.  This was in my
guidebook and it all seemed quite reasonable.   The lady who went with me
turned out to be a godsend as she is from New Jersey (pronounced Joisey) and
understood subway and transit systems better than I.

We found Ueno Park and navigated the access thru a maze of spacious grounds
of water fountains, and avenues of beautiful trees in their autumn colors.  A
few street vendors and musicians added color.  The pigeons are great!  Very
tame - or rather hungry - whichever, they almost accost you Hitchcock style.
The museum itself was the center of three vastly different architectural
styles which I will show you in pictures.  I got to see amazing textiles,
incredible samurai warrior armor and most of all the wood block prints.  THE
REAL ONES !  So beautiful!   What cultural treasures!  Still no display of
the hardware necessary for the process.  I may not get to see that.  I will
have to rely on books.  That's ok.  I feel so privileged to  have seen what I
did.

By then it was 2:30 or so and we hadn't eaten, so we found a little "crepe
and gellato" shop near the kiddies play ground.  There was no line and there
were plastic samples with prices.  You bought a little ticket from a machine
for the amount.  (I guess the girls did not want to handle coins while
working on food)  Then we pointed to this lovely fruit and whipped cream
concoction and which color crepe we wanted.  I chose a pink (maybe berry) and
she (I think) asked what kind of ice cream - the only choice I recognized was
"green tea"  so I said "green tea."  The crepe cooking surface was maybe 2
feet wide circle.  She then artfully arranged the strawberries, bananas, kiwi
and guava around two kinds of whipped or butter cream, wrapped it all up in a
cone and placed it in a paper cone for support.  Then she put the ice cream on
top.  I saw another customer choose a more savory version with lettuce, fish
and pickled vegetables.  My friend Ann Mary chose what I did but with
chocolate ice cream.  My green tea ice cream did not exactly taste like Bon
Bonnaire's.  There may have been a small amount of sea weed in it for color.

There were such large crowds of people on the streets - it was Sunday.  We
saw some protesters and were glad Richard (our group rabble rouser and
political extremist) wasn't with us.  Actually it would have been great if he
were because he would find out what they were protesting about.  Richard says
there is revolution afoot in Japan and he thinks the Japanese government
should hire him to work to prevent it.  He is 75% serious.

Then Ann Marie and I were looking at the guidebook and trying to figure how
we could do the temple/commuter boat trip in reverse since it was getting a
little late.  It seemed possible.  When we got to the subway and were trying
to figure out which direction we wanted on the Ginza Line.  A nice gentleman
who had been to America "Many years ago"  took us to a set of turnstiles, but
I was sure they were the wrong ones.  It turned out I was right.  He thought
I had said "Ginza" and I had said "Ginza Line" as we wanted to go the other
direction.  It was great fun.

So we got to Asakusa and the temple. This was where the kite store was. In
Tokyo, there are little police stations peppered around to help you.  We
asked for the kite shop and it turned out to be just next door.  Great luck.
I went there but it was not the right kind of kite.  They were beautiful -
but not fish kites.  Bad luck. (CLICK HERE for another interesting link that
shows a postcard picture of the Asakusa Kaminarimon Gate with its famous
huge lantern.)

It was getting on in the afternoon.  We went back to the police and asked for
the Commuter boat.  It was also in plain view once we walked a block or two.
Boy, you sure look for English subtitles on the signs, but when they're not
there you follow the crowds and watch what they do.

We got on the 4:00 boat going south down the Sumida River which did indeed
afford a different view of Tokyo.  Many, many high rises.  The boat had some
narrative in English.  There were some 8 bridges we went under - all marvels
of architectural design.  I got a few pictures but it was getting dusk and
the contrast was not too good.  We'll see.

Then the fun began.  This is where we got lost.  Our packages from the
morning's shopping were sure getting heavy.  Our maps were insufficient and
the park the guidebook said we should walk through had disappeared.  We followed
the majority of the people, but this time it didn't work.  We eventually
ended up at a train station.  Not the Metro which we knew.  Fortunately Ann
Marie knew we could take the train to some subway because they "always go
together"  Now, I did not know that, but she said "Think about it.  They have
to."   I was falling into early stages of panic.  Anyway, she just said
"Shimbashi Station" to the train information person which was the subway
station we needed to get back on track (no pun intended - believe me). It
turned out to be just one stop away, but it was a significant ride so we were
wise to have spent the 130 yen.  Once back on the Ginza Line we knew where we
were.  Which, if you have ever been lost in a big city, is a very comforting
and relieving feeling.

Near the subway exit to the street in the Akasaka business and hotel district was
a sushi shop.  Our parcels were getting heavier by the hour and it was early 5:30,
so we found seats there.  This was the kind of sushi place that has the little rolling
tracks with plates of various kinds rolling by in front of you.  I asked for
wasabi and right away marked myself as not too "gringo"  (I wonder what the
Japanese word for "gringo" is?)  There were hot water dispensers at every two
seats with tea bags.  Absently, I started to tear off the end of the tea bag
to dump the contents in for instant tea. - That's how tired I was.  A nice
man next to me said "no-no-no and demonstrated just put bag and all in the
cup.  I KNEW that! - gringo status again.  Oh, well.  We laughed.  We had 10
little plates between us and got some killer photos.  My mouth was so happy
with sushi.  It was a bit different.  More simpler, more fish on top of rice
balls.  About half had no nori.  I kept thinking this fish was mere minutes
away from Tsukji fish market - how fresh can you get!
Back to the hotel and collapse.  Fun Day!  I was blessed with a person who
had no agenda and my only one was the kite and the museum.  We made a great
team.  Thanks Ann Mary from New Jersey!

A tired Peg in Tokyo