In Japan

Having taken forever to get back in to my blog, perhaps I can back track the past month using my photos...... but sitting here in Michele's apartment in Tokyo we are parallel blogging- she's working on her "60 Days of Celebration" blog I am inspired to begin to catch up on my own.
I flew here from NYC via Chicago arriving in Tokyo at 3:45pm. Michele had given me excellent directions and instructions on how to find my way to Shinagawa station where she was waiting for me. I was a tad spaced out when we caught up me trying to work out exactly which gate I needed to exit or did I need to go up to the "surface" and just as I was turning around to go over to the green JR sign I thought I should be standing near there she was!
I hadn't completely understood here directions as I hadn't bought the Suica train card at the airport but not to worry we got one from the station staff. It's like a metro card but much more substantial, like a credit card and refillable. You just need to slap your wallet on the big blue button and the gates to the subway open for you. You need to use it on exiting also. So we schlepped my stuff down the escalators to the subway and went about three stops changed trains went one stop and headed out onto the surface.
The apartment in down a narrow street not far from the subway and on the first floor (2nd floor in the US). I was a tad tired mainly from the flight 13 hours, and then the train trip from the airport ( sitting with my back towards the direction we are going makes me feel train sick every time).
We sat and had a refreshing cup of green tea and chatted. By this time it was late enough to go out for dinner. We went to a local "chain" restaurant and had a lovely set meal which included sashimi and fish and pickles. It marked the start of looking for the differences in culture, when I say looking I mean taking a quick picture of. The first thing that cuaght my eye was the small buzzer on the table. When we had perused the menu Michele hit the buzzer and the waiter came over and we order our dinner. (The buzzer is the round white ink pad looking thing beside the toothpicks in front of the napkins). Our meals arrived really quickly. I love the simplicity of the meal and the variety of little dishes you can have within the set meals. This one had (starting in the top left corner going clockwise) tiny eggplant in soy and miso, sashimi (raw fish) egg with seaweed, miso soup, grilled fish with sauce in a little pot and rice with tiny chunks of fish- all for $10.
Michele had a similar meal and enjoyed it as much as enjoyed mine. We walked slowly back to her apartment browsing some of the shop windows including the little bakery that had some beautiful little cakes all of which we resisted.
Back in the apartment we had another green tea and a little treat Michele had bought earlier in the day- an "umpan" a little cake filled with ungo- red bean- yum!