Time flies

I leave Japan tomorrow and I have had no time to write, so I figured that I should type my highlights about Kyoto and then hope that I will write about Tokyo when I get back to Washington. So here are my highlights:

1.     Seeing and spending time with family

2.     Eating excessively. When I got to Tokyo, I had to go to a work dinner and discovered that the dress that I wore a week ago that fit fine, was now very tight. So far, I was able to eat everything that I wanted except- ramen and apples. 

3.     Shopping- I visited my favorite stores in Kyoto- Inobun, English Breakfast and Alba that around Shijo and Kawaramachi. But, I think I did more shopping and spent more on Saturday in Tokyo, then over my vacation last week.

4.     Work did not take away my vacation time for the 4 days that I took off. But then again, I did sleep for only 6 hours every night and worked over email for 2-3 hours everyday. Probably not good to go on vacation before a big program, but then again, I did have jetlag.

5.     Played a tourist for a day. Time went by so quickly that I was only able to travel as a tourist to Gion. I have been there before, but not in recent years. 10 years to be exact, because I remember going there when my mom and sister were obsessed watching Memories of the Geisha. I didn’t carry a map, so walked around and got lost, but found myself finding more stuff than if I had intentionally had one. Plus, I knew I was on the right track when I saw foreign and Japanese tourists.

a.    Something noticeable that has affected the Kansai area after the Tohuku disaster is the decrease in tourism to Japan. It was really sad to see that the train stations and even tourist spots, like Gion, were not crowded. It was close to festival season in Gion and Buddist memorial service for Shinran .  I also assume that many people do not want to celebrate to be in solidarity with the Tohuku region. But, I worry about Japan’s lack of tourist, not because I want to follow them, but they need the revenue from tourism to rebuild.

6.     Great weather. As I said before, it is rainy season here, but I was very fortunate that I didn’t get caught in the rain.

7.     I will end here because they say seven is a lucky number, but the last thing was riding the shinkansen. I love Japanese transportation (everything really), but I was thinking that it would be nice if the US had pride over our infrastructure like our trains. Joe Bidden would be ecstatic. The shinkansen is so fast, efficient, clean and just nice.  I wish the US would have nice things, like this.