Japan - -Day 7 - last day

I rolled out of bed Saturday morning with some urging from Joey and went to Lisa's Zumba class in my pajamas.  She is a phenomenal teacher and did a good job waking me up with her jammin tunes and jumping moves.   I really enjoyed it. 

At one point she had us all facing each other doing a fighty dance-off.  It was funny to use our mean, competitive faces against these sweet Japanese ladies.  But they held their own.   Good work out and fun to see Lisa in her element.  (and Mike can totally hang - you can tell he's a regular supporter of his wife)

We ran over to Rupungi Hills tower for our 4th and final fail at seeing Mt. Fuji, and then to Harajuku again for some last minute shopping.  We loved the shop we found and bought tons of stuff for our kids and their caretakers.  And then stopped off for some of their famous crepes.

 Then we were off to India... uh, I mean Yokohama... to celebrate Dewali at an Indian festival and watch Lisa dance with her bollywood troop.  It was a blast.  We ate yummy indian food from tents and then got to see Lisa dance.  Afterwards they did a ceremonial lighting dance and where they lit candles and carried lighted pots.  

IMG 4610 from katiehale on Vimeo.

Next we ate at Genki Sushi - the perfect ending to a perfect trip.

They didn't have 6 seats together so Mike and Joey sat together across the restaurant.  Our group was definitely less courageous.  Joey and Mike are so alike in their adventurous eating and ate the most exotic things they could find.

But the 4 of us sure had fun.  Lisa was a hoot this night.  What a fun sissy-in-law.  

sushi silliness...

genkisushi from katiehale on Vimeo.

So - that was the end of our trip!

Here are some things we noticed about Japan:

- No garbage cans
- If you ask for directions they put their life on hold and run down hallways to make sure you get what you need.
- Hot drink vending machines!
- Drink vending machines EVERYWHERE
- Toilets - sink on back of toilet, bidets, "music" buttons that sound like running water or other pleasant sounds to hide your unpleasant sounds. :)
- watching people at train stations give us our tickets.  Almost ceremonial.  So precise and serious.
- Lots of old people out hiking and playing disc golf
- Ofuro - the whole room is a shower chamber
-  You can be in a big crowd and have it be very quiet.  Unless they are drunk.
- Parenting  - they seem to really enjoy their children
Mike said they send their kids out on their own doing an errand when they are really small.  They come back with a feeling of accomplishment. 
-  Men work a lot later and more hours

 A couple of Mike's favorite drinks.  Because he was under the weather - he really liked the lemon honey hot drink.  

 And if we ever bought anything on accident that had tea or coffee in it - we'd give it Troy.  Eventually he started saying in a resigned voice, "Troy will drink it"  haha. 

And here are a few fun signs we enjoyed. 

And that's a wrap.  Good trip, good food, good company.   Turns out - we are glad we did it.