I find it amusing that opposite Jonathan Raban’s review of Sarah Palin’s memoir in the January 14, 2010 New York Review of Books (page 9) is an ad for the Loeb Classical Library of great Greek and Roman literature.

Biking in Tokyo

May 23, 2009
I took my first ride with the Tokyo Half-fast cyclists too. It’s a loosely organized group, mostly of expats, that meets for rides and beer, often together. Today’s trip was a beginner’s jaunt, only 30 kilometers from the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi to Haneda airport and back. Twelve of us met; I was the only person not on a road bike, a decision calculated on the basis that 30-k was not that long and a ride through the city would have sufficient stoplights to slow everyone down. I was correct (or the group was kindly cycling slowly), though I did receive much (justified) amusement at the big, bright air pump I carried in my basket instead of a compact pump.

I was encouraged by the attire of the riders – outfits ranged from full spandex to shorts and a white t-shirt. The group was friendly and knew Tokyo. The ride took us through parts of Tokyo that do not appear in tourist brochures – beneath the airport monorail (cement ages poorly), past truck loading zones, through large apartment complexes – as well as parks, riding paths, and major city streets.

Tokyo is the best cycling city I have been in. The cab drivers (and nearly all other drivers) are not aggressive even when cyclists are stupid (I saw two Japanese cyclists the other week going up a street on opposite sides as they chatted, blocking the growing line of cars from moving faster than a crawl. No one honked or did anything). The ability to shift from street to sidewalk, the narrow side streets to travel in, the willingness to go down one-way streets the wrong way (small streets – I’ve seen Japanese cyclists going against traffic on Yamate Dori, a sight that scares me), and a relaxed attitude towards traffic lights makes cycling relatively safe and fun.

The biggest danger is other cyclists, especially those speeding down one-way streets the wrong way. A number are mothers with children mounted fore and aft. The government tried to ban the two-child carriers on the reasonable ground (to this outsider) that the high center of gravity made them dangerous. Parents protested on the even more reasonable ground that a bike was the best way to move small children around the neighborhood. The appropriate ministry relented and decided instead to promote safer child-carrying bikes. A much more sensible response than banning a needed bike.


I also started cycling to campus. This is very different from casual cycling, involving pedaling down major streets (or the parallel sidewalk) or trying back routes and becoming very lost (while seeing fascinating parts of Tokyo). I’m kicking myself for not trying commuting earlier – I confess the distance on the map intimidated me. Add the justified worry about cycling at night and the fact that I sometimes am coming or going from other events and you have a recipe for inaction. The ride is not necessarily for the cautious (or the sane), but it is exhilarating, especially when I find I know where I am.

On a good time (lots of energy, catching the lights), the time to commute is the same as taking the train, not counting a shower. On a bad day, well, let’s not go there. Suffice it to say Tokyo is full of fascinating side streets and dead ends.



I also started cycling to campus.

Obstacles, coursing

One weekend we went to the obstacle course at Heiwazumi.park. As usual, we took the train, changing at Shinagawa and passing scores of apartment buildings on the Keikyu line. This vertical living was a reminder of how densely populated Tokyo can be and stood in marked contrast to the one-, two- and three-story buildings that spread over so much of the city.

A wonderful part of Japanese culture that partly compensates for the uninspiring neighborhood playgrounds, obstacles are sets of physical challenging courses. Heiwazumi had 45 separate parts and Alex and Caroline finished them in less than 90 minutes and, for Alex, one change of shoes. The obstacle course clearly had not been designed with American personal injury lawyers in mind. Bare dirt cushioned a fall. Large gaps between logs and between ropes provided the chance to fall, sometimes from 3-5 meter heights. In short, it was designed for kids to have fun, not by a group trying to minimize its insurance risk. And our kids did have fun, clambering up and down nets, running along logs, snaking through rope tunnels, paddling a tub, and otherwise testing themselves (and sometimes their parents) for nearly 45 courses. The obstacle course made up for the sparse playgrounds.

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The following has been strongly requested -
This is not an official Department of State website,
and the views and information presented are ours and do not represent the Fulbright
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Hiroshima and Miyajima

In some ways, Tokyo indeed is too much like New York. The most we have ever had to wait for a taxi, regardless of time or place (including one foggy night in an isolated area near Zushi) was five minutes. If the day is cold and pouring rain, however, it will take fifteen minutes. Fortunately, we had enough slack in our schedule to catch the high-speed shinkansen to Hiroshima, a four-hour ride.

The shinkansen train was surprisingly bumpy, making writing difficult. The Super Nozomi had a few interesting touches, like the two women, clad in uniforms of light pink and grey complete with caps, walking down the aisle to pick up trash. One passenger in the first row had his stocking feet up on the bulkhead, a surprising lack of decorum.

Hiroshima

Japanese museums tend toward the presentation of objects as noteworthy in themselves and not part of a larger context. The Peace Memorial Museum was a bit of an exception.

The museum had many visitors, judging by the crowds when we went and by the number of urinals near the museum entrance. Oddly, the crowd flow was surprisingly poor considering the assumption of crowds. The dioramas showing before and after views of the city were quite effective in conveying the extent of the destruction.

The most moving exhibits were the remnants of clothes and the tragic story of their owners. Interestingly, most (if not all) of the clothes were from children, possibly a deliberate choice to highlight how the most innocent especially suffered.

The museum did describe how Hiroshima contributed to the war effort and had a little history of the war. Part of one display mentioned the rape of Nanking and stated that estimates ranged from the tens of thousands to 300,000 with 100,000 as the most accepted number.

The exhibits about the destruction and human agony were understated. One section had life-sized figures with skin melting from the heat. Overall, the displays were not too graphic so anyone above 11 or so could tour the museum and learn but without having nightmares. That was no small feat. The museum lacks an effective display that represents visually how many people were killed – a set of small objects (the size of a one-yen piece) might do nicely.

The American story was reasonably well told, though it would have benefitted by including American (and Japanese) estimates of the casualties an invasion would have incurred. Unmentioned were the damage and deaths caused by the American bombing of other cities, bombing which killed more people than Hiroshima. There was also no mention of the deaths caused by the fire bombings of other Japanese cities and the total casualties of the war, numbers that would displace Hiroshima from its pedestal of tragedy. Hiroshima was a horrific tragedy, but sadly only one of many during World War II.
The difference was that one bomb destroyed this city while conventional destruction demanded hundreds of bombers. According to David Edgerton in The Shock of the Old, the cost of building the atomic bomb equaled the cost of building the B-29 fleets that devastated Japan.

Also missing was any mention of Nagasaki – you never would have known that a second atomic bomb was dropped in Japan based on the displays and the museum’s slogan “Hiroshima never again”.

What was impressive is how quickly some city services were restored – electricity in parts within three days – and how many buildings did survive. One graph showed the distance at which different construction materials survived the blast. Modern steel-reinforced concrete buildings did the best.

As well as the destruction and reconstruction of the city, the museum devoted considerable space to the poor treatment of the bomb survivors and to the city's peace and nuclear disarmament efforts.

The souvenirs were fairly tasteful, but not inspiring. We would have liked an inspiring graphic of the Peace Dome with “Never again” beneath it, but that was not to be.

Several monuments and memorials dotted the peace park, including one to Norman Cousins, the American activist, and several to children – children inducted into the war effort, a girls' school whose monument could display “E=Mc2”but not “atomic bomb” due to American occupation censorship, and Sadako Sasaki, the ten-year-old who died of bomb-induced leukemia. She tried to make a thousand origami paper cranes but died before she could reach her goal. The children's memorials consequently have adopted the origami crane as their symbol.

I can understand why: the cranes are easy to make (well, for most of us), inexpensive, and are as colorful as the paper that makes them. The result is long strings with scores of brightly colored cranes. The effect is not at all somber or depressing.

Temporary scaffolding covered the Peace Dome so engineers could test its integrity. The large building was constructed in 1915 and served as an exhibition hall. While damaged, it was still mostly intact, even though the blast occurred only 170 meters away.

The police were out in force around the peace park, a demonstration of force, closing two bridges to vehicles. We saw several troop buses and many riot police with protective helmets, protective gauntlets, and large plexiglass shields. There was no sense, however, of imminent action but more a sense of a routine display. Nonetheless, their presence seemed odd. As Alex remarked, “This is supposed to be a peace park, not a police park.”

The apparent cause was a caravan of sound trucks, decked out in patriotic slogans and flags, blaring loudly away. Was there a rally also? Whatever it was, the Japan Times did not mention it. Were we watching kabuki theatre by a nationalist group and the police whose only result was to cost the taxpayers some money (but justify the riot police) and inconvenience a few thousand motorists?

For lunch, we went to a highly recommended (and expensive) oyster restaurant anchored two minutes from the peace museum. While quite good and with the wonderful service we have come to expect as normal, the best dish was the raw oyster. Some foods are hard to improve upon. On the positive side, Alex was experimenting positively with tempura.

Later that day, Alex and I rode the train to Kure to see the Yamato museum. The museum had a 1/10 model of the gigantic battleship. The museum was really about the history of the naval shipyard at Kure, not the battleship. Kure was bombed multiple times during the war, reflecting its military importance.

The museum was quite correct in emphasizing the Yamato to attract people. How many visitors to Hiroshima would travel thirty minutes to Kure to see a museum of its naval shipyard? Judging by the gift shop, the Yamato was the big draw.

The Yamato played a minor role in World War II. In many ways, it was a T-rex, a dangerous but obsolete dinosaur. Aircraft carriers were the main ships of World War II, not battleships. On the other hand, the Yamato did die heroically, albeit uselessly.

The museum was rather good, showing a good display of documents and artifacts about the construction, life, and products of the shipyard. The museum was on the water and we could see a shipyard across the way with a massive tanker nearing completion. Basic information was in English, but we missed a great deal nonetheless. Overall, a surprisingly good museum.
Lisa and Caroline, in perfect juxtaposition, went to the Hiroshima Museum of Art to immerse themselves in European modern art and the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum to see a traveling exhibition of Bulgarian gold and walk through the Shukkeien garden. The plum trees were blooming and it was a sunny day.

For dinner, we walked to an Italian restaurant – Jyobanni in Katakana, which turned out to be Giovanni. Lisa had an in-room massage that rivaled anything in pummeling that we experienced in Thailand.

Sunday
We almost bought a 2-day pass because it included the ropeway, a cablecar on Miyajima to the top of Mt. Misen. Fortunately, the office selling them had a sign warning potential buyers that the ropeway was closed for maintenance while we would be there. Japan is full of such passes and other deals that need a knowing person to find and use them. Our trip was through a travel agent. The package price for train fare and two nights at a good hotel, the Granvia, cost little more than train tickets bought directly. The package was for only two nights. A third night would have been at the full rate, so we decided to go to a ryokan on Miyajima.

We walked in the morning to the castle (rebuilt like the garden after the war), which we decided not to enter because the kids wanted to return to the children's museum. They spent a good hour there having fun crawling through the climbing structure, which is big enough for an adult (I know, I clambered through, ably assisted by two children as guides), running the trains and playing with other exhibits. Lisa went to the Peace Museum, where we met her, took a mediocre Thai meal, then walked through a covered market street filled with familiar stores and shoppers to get a tram back to the station. During the morning, the sky was grey and chilly, but the rain only started after lunch. It quickly made up for lost time.

We picked up our luggage from the hotel, discovered an impressive shop at the train station that carried an amazing range of Western sweets and treats including Juicyfruit gum (the only place Alex has found it in Japan), European and American chocolates, and chips. Not at all what we expected to find.

We took a JR train to Miyajima-guchi, then walked the five minutes to the ferry. The way was well-marked, with an underground passage to avoid crossing the main street. Elevators on both sides for the handicapped and luggage-laden, though the exit from the train station was only steps (as was getting to the platform at Hiroshima).

The JR and another firm operate the 10-minute, 170-yen ferries. As we discovered after buying tickets for the other fairy, the JR operates slightly more frequently. Most of the ferry passengers walked on and sat in the enclosed seating to watch a film about Miyajima. The adults and Caroline sat outside, shielded from the rain and enduring the cold to enjoy the view of an island misted with grey and clouds coming closer by the minute.

As we left the ferry, a sign announced that the aquarium was closed for renovation and would reopen in 2011. No indication of where the inhabitants go during that time? Aquaria elsewhere?

The minivan was waiting for us (I had called before we boarded the ferry) and took up on a long, winding mountainous road to reach the Iwaso ryokan. With each curve, my heart sank as we moved further away from the ferry. We would be so isolated and dependent on the van. We wanted to see the torii at high tides at night and in the morning. Taking the minivan or a cab would consume much time.

The driver was superb, especially at parking. At one point, he backed into a space with only a few inches between a tree on the right and another van on the left. We were impressed – awestruck might be more accurate.

Iwaso was clearly a large-scale operation with two separate cottages and five floors of rooms as well as banquet rooms. A large lobby and several staff greeted us. The corridor to the room was softly lit, as was the anteroom to our room. We had a big room with two tables, one for eating and another, covered with thick blankets, for sitting together to stay warm. Traditionally, this kotatsu had a stove in the middle and a family would spend large parts of winter there staying warm while the rest of their house was unheated. This modern version had an electric heater under the table and was quite warm.
The room, jarringly, was lit by fluorescent lights, which cast harsh white light on the green walls. A small alcove, separated by sliding doors that served as semi-insulators, housed a table and two chairs that looked out on a creek and hill. It was beautiful.

The kimonoed guide who showed us the room next showed us the hallway, elevator, and stairs to reach the onsen and breakfast room. While most of the family relaxed and played cards, I took an umbrella and walked around. Unpaved paths led to the closed ropeway and a path to Mt. Misen. At one open area with a few picnic tables, a loudspeaker blared out music to a bemused audience of one. Unsurprisingly considering the rain and encroaching dusk, I was the only person out.

I returned in time to join everyone in the trip to the onsen. We donned yukata, making sure we wrapped the left side over the right (right over left is only for funerals), put on slippers until we reached the public area, then switched to plastic geta (instead of the original straw for these thick sandals) to walk to the onsen. Once there, we separated by sexes and doffed our robes. Entering the pool room, we sat on stools and washed ourselves before entering the hot pool.

Concrete was the main material, though the actual pool was a smoother material. The small outside pool looked out on the stream and hillside. To create a greater sense of closeness to nature, the outside room had a row of rocks planted in the concrete and the walk separating us from the outside was made of wooden logs and bamboo shades. Not quite the hot springs set amid moss-covered rocks, the image of the ideal onsen, but quite a good attempt.

We emerged in time for dinner, served in the room next to ours (quite unusual, as was breakfast in a common room: normally the meals are served in your room). The inn had a non-seafood option for the kids, so they ate well, though not as exquisitely as the adults. We ate, of course, in our yukatas.

After dinner, we dressed in our street clothes and boarded the minivan to see the red torii at high tide. This is considered the third most scenic site in Japan (the first two are Fuji and Kyoto). I was expecting a long trip to the torii like our drive to the ryokan. To our shock, the van stopped in two minutes. There was the torii, spotlit and spectacular. We were embarrassed that it was so close. The driver told us not to worry but we did convince him to go back and not to wait for us.

The torii is 16 meters high, big enough for a tourist boat to go through, which one did as we watched. We admired the torii through the rain for a few more minutes and walked back.

Lisa and Caroline took another hot bath, Alex spent 100 yen to catch up on his e-mail, and Jonathan walked back to the torii and then to the ferry dock, which was only a 15-minute stroll. During the stroll, he noticed several deer and passed a hotel where a taiko drumming demonstration filled the air with vibrant sound to the delight of the audience inside.
`
Monday
The big question when we woke was whether we wore street clothes or yukata to the breakfast room. Nothing we had read in the guidebooks or experienced offered any precedent. We decided on yukata, only to glance in and find that the dress de jour was street dress. We hurried back and changed. The kids had a Western breakfast with cereal and scrambled eggs, while the adults maintained their daily consumption of fish and rice.

We checked out and walked to the torii, then strolled through the many buildings of the Itsukushima shrine, built on the water in 593 (and rebuilt in 1168). White-tailed deer wandered around too, looking cute and looking for food (which is why some shrubs had protective wires around them and signs warned visitors against feeding the deer). This shrine was the most picturesque we have visited so far, though some of the Kyoto shrines come close. We're unsure why, but possible reasons include:
*the shrine was a sprawling complex of buildings that did not feel cramped together
*the shrine was not jammed to capacity with thousands of visitors
*the shrine felt built on a more human scale without towering torii and gates or huge halls
*fewer souvenir stores surrounded the shrine (this option lost favor when we exited far from the entrance and found many opportunities to enrich the local economy)

As we walked through the shopping street, we realized how dependent Miyajima is on tourism. We also saw the world's largest rice scoop, a 2.5 ton behemoth that commemorated its creation on this island.

After walking around the shrine we took the kids on a nature walk along the side of a stream. We would have gone on the cable car but it was closed for maintenance. We saw several small waterfalls and went up the hill for over a kilometer from the first marker. The path was rather steep with many moss-covered boulders on the side. Since we had a train to catch and the kids were getting tired we decided to turn around before reaching the summit which was another kilometer ahead.

The kids stayed at the ryokan and read while we walked down to the pier, passing the torii one more time. Unlike our walk up the nature path, the shrine and streets were filling with tourists, presumably daytrippers from the mainland. The minivan brought the kids and luggage to the ferry precisely on schedule and we returned to Miyajima-guchi to ride back to Hiroshima

Orchid Show

I love flower shows so when I read about the Grand Prix Orchid show at the Tokyo Dome in the paper there was no doubt that I would make a visit. I also thought that Caroline would enjoy the experience; however, I have learned that advertising and experience can be quite different and the crowds can dull the thrill. Thus, I decided that two trips were in order. I went first to explore and see everything that I wanted and to take photos. Then I returned on a school holiday with kids in tow. This cost more as I had to pay for two entrances, but was a very smart move.

The Tokyo Dome is a baseball stadium; indeed the maps for the orchid show mentioned items as being near home plate or second base. However, I must say that the orchids were a wonderful addition to the venue. As I entered the dome along with many others, the entire area had the delightful aroma of a greenhouse. It was very welcoming. Walking down the stadium stairs I had a wonderful view of the entire arena – it was filled with flowers and people.

The entrance to the show was lined with trees made from attaching orchids in pots to white painted trunks with other orchids underneath to form a ring around the base. Each side was identical. This path lead to a pedestal holding the grand prize winners up high so that everyone could see them and take photos without having to wait for those in front to move. Fanning out from this were the various types of competitions with large displays taking up some of the other room.

There were many prizes and areas of competition, which included individual orchid growing, orchid arrangements, bridal arrangements, orchid displays, fragrance, and crafts. One section had table decorations done by different embassies. There was also an area devoted to lectures and demonstrations and about a quarter of the floor space was lined with stands selling orchid plants, cut flowers, vases, fertilizer, etc.

I have never seen anything so elaborate as the incredible orchid displays. There was a display of a peacock with the tail sculpted out of orchids, a wedding scene with the bride’s dress made from orchids, as well as many other artistic endeavors.

The orchids in the fragrance competition were at a height so you could smell each one and they were much more powerful than orchids that I had previously smelled.

There was almost too much to take in and I was glad to have two opportunities to enjoy the show. The crowds were not as bad as I expected, or perhaps I have become used to close contact with strangers. As I was leaving the show I ran into a Japanese friend who was impressed that I had attended and she complained about the crowds. Of course I must admit that since I am taller than the average Japanese I can see over folks to look at the displays. This does improve things quite a bit.

Caroline did enjoy the show and agreed that it was worth the effort to move through the crowds. Alex thought the best part was sitting in the outfield playing an electronic game (He had an option of going to the baseball museum instead but he preferred to save that for a trip with Jonathan.)

So what did I learn from this experience? First, there are many more types and colors of orchids than I ever imagined. Second, in Japan the most common orchids are grown so that the blooms cascade down in a very orderly manner. Nature is not allowed to take its own course. The more exotic ones seem to be under different orders. The less common ones are grown in a more realistic way although they may be just as artificially trained – or so it seems. Third, events during the middle of the week will be attended by more people then you might predict.

Sapporo Snow and Ice Festival

Since we are only spending one short year in Japan we are trying to find the parts that are truly one of a kind. Thus, I decided to take the kids to Sapporo for the 60th snow and ice festival. At first Jonathan was going to join us, but a previous commitment to speak in Sendai the same weekend prevented this.

I booked the trip through a Japanese travel agent since in Japan packages are usually cheaper and the bigger groups put blocks on the hotels. We were able to get a hotel just a few minutes walk from 2 of the 3 venues.

This was my first trip where I had to negotiate everything without Jonathan and I must admit that I was a bit concerned about my ability to get us where we wanted to be given the crowds that I was expecting.

We left Tokyo midday from Haneda airport, which is closer than Narita and handles domestic flights. This meant that we could take a regular metro train without having to make reservations on the airport express and that we could leave at any time. We had 2 small suitcases that were not heavy – just packed with winter boots and layers of clothing. We dragged them through Shibuya a bit after noon, not too crowded and up the stairs at the Hachiko entrance – no elevator or escalator at this JR entrance. After a few minutes on the JR, we transferred onto a monorail to Haneda. This delivered us to the terminal where we picked up our tickets. The security was wonderful, no lines and no removal of shoes.

After a bit of a scare due to heavy snow in Sapporo – would we be diverted?- we arrived at that city in Hokkaido. It was obvious that Sapporo was ready for crowds. They had volunteers at the airport to direct strangers to the proper place to get into the city. When we tried to wait in the very short line to purchase tickets for the airport link into town we were pulled aside taken to an English speaking clerk – no line at all, and given an explanation of the system and prices. Totally unexpected but very welcoming.

We got on the next train – totally packed with no seats available and stood the 40 minutes it took to get into town. We rode in standing next to a young Japanese who had studied in Colorado and had just graduated last year with a Finance degree. He was worried that we did not know how to get to negotiate the trains, which did not concern me. He was happy because he had decided not to go with a job from Lehman Brothers but instead was working for a non-finance firm.

We arrived at the main train terminal during rush hour, sat on a bench to change into winter boots, pull on gloves and hats, and managed to go one stop on another train to our hotel. Oddly enough we realized that the directions from the hotel had us walking further than necessary, as Alex pointed out, so we took our own route – only needing to ask directions once when we were a block away from the hotel. Every map we looked at had north in a different place making our attempts at interpretation more difficult than necessary. However, downtown Sapporo is laid out on a grid, which made navigation much easier than Tokyo.

Our hotel was a typical business hotel. Very tight fit, no place for storage of clothes, tiny bathroom. However it was clean, warm and had three beds and the location was great.

We set out for dinner and then our first snow sculpture viewing. Dinner was a Chinese restaurant in a small place near the hotel with good Cantonese food. Warmed and fed, we set out to walk the remaining 3 blocks to the Odori park part of the festival. We explored the gigantic snow carvings first. They were totally different from anything we had ever seen. Quite elaborate and very well done. Some had lights internally, all had lights externally, and a couple still had workers adding the final touches. Despite our fears the crowds were very thin. We could always get where we wanted without any problem. I took many photos and never had to wait for people to get out of the way. One section had teams from different countries competing. Some of the countries were ones that you would expect at a snow festival – Norway, Sweden, Finland. Others, such as Thailand and Hong Kong, were not expected. There was also an entire section of sculptures made by local folks and children displayed in one section of the park.

As is typical with any Japanese festival, there were numerous food vendors with various types of possible consumables. The most interesting were the seasoned nuts, but when I saw the 2,000 yen price (over $21) for a rather modest serving I decided that we could have hot cocoa instead.

After a couple of hours of walking around we decided that we had seen most of the park and that we were ready to head back and get into a warm building.

The next morning after a very mediocre breakfast at the hotel (most hotels include breakfast in the price), we headed out to the Tsudome for what we expected would be a morning of tubing. A local train and 5-minute bus ride took us to the site which was jam-packed with people. The rides looked better on paper then in reality. Every ride had a wait of over an hour and Caroline and I became so frustrated that we left the line for the only interesting ride. Instead we had a snowball fight and then went to the only uncrowded area which was for kids to try to ski on one-foot-long bamboo skies tied together with a meter and a half long string. The trick was to pull hard on the string while standing on the skis and steering down the slope. Easier to say than do although both kids succeeded after many attempts. At least the weather was nice with sunshine so that being outside was enjoyable.

Lunch was inside the dome with long lines, horrible food and not enough tables so once you bought the food there was nowhere to sit. We gave up on this site and went back into town. On our way out we ran into a family from our ASIJ bus stop – small world.

We went back to the hotel, stopping for a sweet on the way, then went to Odori park and looked at the small area we had missed Friday evening. We found an ice rink and got coupons to return the next morning – to avoid a wait - and then went and played in the snow nearby. I’m certain we were not supposed to do this, but as we were off to the side and our snowballs could not land on others, no official came by to tell us to stop. The crowds at the park were thicker but as we had already seen most of the sculptures they did not bother us at all. To warm up we returned to the hotel and spent an hour or so reading. After our miserable lunch I decided the kids needed Italian for dinner so we went to the Parco building and had a fairly good meal – no lines - before heading out to the ice festival. When we got outside it was snowing rather intensely. Interestingly, the Japanese understand that umbrellas can be used for snow as well as rain. Since I had not thought of packing umbrellas we had to continually brush off the snow so as to not turn into snow people.

Once again we were able to get right next to the ice sculptures and we watched as one man used a chainsaw to make a splendid fish out of the ice. The sculptures ranged from commercial advertisements for beer to artistic renditions of a phoenix and Pegasus. We had an enjoyable evening and managed to see all the sculptures.

The next morning we awoke to a snowstorm so furious that we could barely see the buildings 2 blocks away and across the street. Luckily it had mostly stopped by the time we were done with breakfast. We checked our luggage with the hotel and found out about options for returning to the airport. We walked to Odori Park and reached the ice rink right on time. Wonderful experience – no line, we handed in the kids’ boots, put on the required slippers so that the socks would not touch the floor, received skates for 200 yen each, placed the slippers in the proper basket and were out the door in 5 minutes. I stayed off the ice to film the kids and talk to the occasional non-Japanese parent. It turns out that my French is better than I thought according to one person who works in Tokyo. An Indian couple told me about a great place to have lunch. After the skating was done we returned to our snow area to build a small snowman and make a small fort.

Although we have traveled to Colorado for skiing several times we had never had a chance to play in wet snow so this was wonderful for the kids and I think they would have gladly spent an entire day doing nothing else. We then tried to find the Indian restaurant, but after a short 10-minute walk with two frustrated hungry kids I wandered into a fancy hotel and asked for the address and phone number. It turns out we were just around the corner from the place.

We had a large lunch with plenty of spice for me and no spice for the kids so everyone was happy. However, we did notice that the snow once again was falling rather thickly. I started to think about the flight and the ability to leave Sapporo in just four hours but did not say anything to the kids. We walked back for one last look at the festival before heading to the hotel to pick up our luggage. Since it was still snowing rather thickly I opted to take the train to the airport instead of the bus. I did not want to drag the luggage through the snow so we had a cab take us to the main train terminal.

At the terminal we bought our airport train tickets from a vending machine after trying to do so from a person. Since we had plenty of time we went into a bakery to get a snack for the plane. In the bakery I saw two Europeans. When I used some basic French to excuse myself as I squeezed by in the small space, they started talking to me very quickly. After seeing my puzzled expression they asked if I spoke English. They wanted to know why in this small shop there were 4 clerks behind the counter. They wanted to know why everywhere they went there were more people employed then they would experience in Europe. I tried to explain this Japanese phenomenon as best I could in the 2-3 minutes I had to spare but they were clearly amazed.

We reached the correct platform only to find very long lines already formed to get onto the train that did not arrive for 10 minutes. I keep forgetting that the Japanese will queue up more than 15 minutes early to get a seat. There were long lines for each of the cars. This lining up is possible because the platform is marked with the exact location of each entrance to the train and the conductor makes sure that the train stops precisely in the correct spot. Nor do Japanese cut into lines. As expected the train to the airport was quite crowded although Alex managed to get a seat after someone got off – much to the dismay of his sister.

Although the kids got to ride in a car, I had to stay in the area between cars with the luggage – there was no place to put it even though this was a train dedicated to running between the airport and the main train terminal. Once again I had a conversation with a Japanese in English. This time I spoke with a woman in her 60s from Sapporo who was learning English and did not have a native speaker to practice with. I spoke very slowly and used common words. I tried a bit of my Japanese with her but my language skills were not nearly as good as hers. She got off after a few stops and thanked me for helping her in English.

Taking the train was the correct choice as even it was slightly delayed. It continued to snow hard as we traveled and we could only see outside when the doors opened at a stop as each window was misted over. When we arrived at the terminal I was surprised to see so much snow built up in the undercarriage of the train.

We were all tired and grumpy at the airport. We quickly got out of our layers of winter clothes – the bathrooms were larger than normal -- and dumped the excess in the luggage and changed out of boots into normal shoes. Alex remarked that the airport did not look like an airport but like a grocery store without any real food. The Japanese purchase gifts for their friends and co-workers when they travel. So you see most items packaged in sets of 6 or 10. The packaging is often more important than the item although you are supposed to get a food product that is unique to the region. Whether it is tasty seems to be less important although that may be my bias.

There was not much for us to purchase to eat on the plane. We went through security only to discover that we had left a water bottle in Alex’s backpack. Instead of making us throw it away they put it in a machine ,which analyzed it and declared that the beverage could be kept. Alex was thrilled and announced that the US should get these machines.

The plane was delayed due to snow but only for about 30 minutes. Surprisingly, queuing to get onto the plane was very unorderly. Unlike the US, the row numbers were not called. JAL did call first class and premier flyers, then people needing assistance, but when it was time for the general boarding, it was first come, first served and you may not have anywhere to put your coat unless you are in the front of the line. The storage space on the flight was non-existent. Even our small rollaboards could only fit sideways although they passed the cutout for being carry-on baggage. Another strange feature was that this 777 had no screens on the back of the seats. When we were served a beverage we were given no more than 4 ounces.

We arrived back in Tokyo caught the trains without any problem and arrived back at Shibuya on a uncrowded Sunday night. We were happy to be home.