Plastic Food

Many restaurants in Japan advertise their wares with plastic food.  Replicas of all the dishes served are created in plastic and displayed outside the shop so one can get an idea of what the meal looks like.  In fact, there is a large factory just near my hotel that makes all this plastic food.  After the waiters put the plastic food out in front of the eating establishment, one or two come out onto the sidewalk to yell at people to come in and eat.  That's all there is to plastic food.  I took some pictures.

The Department Store

Japanese department stores are amazing.  They have everything including a floor devoted entirely to food.  The store opens at 10:30 a.m. and there is a polite sign in the foyer saying so and to please not enter until the appointed time.  It's in English so it is meant for tourists.  Five minutes before the crowd is allowed to enter the doors are opened but the shoppers must still stand in the entrance.  All the clerks gathered on the regal staircase right inside the entrance, dressed in their uniforms and started clapping all together--to rile us all up so we will buy more things.  As the time approaches, the clapping becomes faster until finally a buzzer sounds and the rythmic clapping turns into full blown applause as the crowd rushes through the doors, as much to get into the air conditioning as anything else.
  The clerks then start shouting at customers to come buy what (s)he is selling.  There were lots of sales.  There were 6 full floors and an annex.  I spent most of my time on the food floor looking for lunch.  I was finally persuaded by a little woman to buy some noodles with salad on top.  I also bought a bottle of water, but there was no place to sit down to eat.  The food section was full of everything from prepared meals such as I purchased to fruit stands, ice cream, an Enoteca (like the dt mall) for wine, many sweets and pastry vendors, fish, shrimp, fried things, fresh produce, smoothies--name it, it was there.  I couldn't find a place to sit so eventually I ended up in a fast food pasta shop and got a little bit of pasta with shrimp and a strange cheese on top, and OMG, real iced tea.  No Splenda here, just a little container of some kind of sweet syrup to put in it.  I brought my salad back to my room for later.
  I sat beside a grandmother, two girls and their mother.  The grandmother spoke the best English and we struck up a conversation of sorts.  I told them I had been a teacher and the grandmother reported the girls were 8 and 4, in 2nd grade and kindergarten.  I asked the 8 year old if she liked school, and when she finally understood what I was asking she said no.  All three adults just screeched and laughed in unison.  The little one however likes school.  I gave each of them a quarter and told them they had George Washington, the first president on one side and an eagle on the other.  Also gave the older one a penny with Lincoln and Memorial. It's always good to talk with local people.  No, I didn't start this particular conversation, the grandmother asked me where I am from. 
  I shopped for a bit, looking for some cooking things for Patti back in LA.  But this store was a bit rich for my taste and after a while I headed on back out.  Department stores are good for eating though.

The Third Day

Only thought of using this blog when Janelle suggested it yesterday (I think it was yesterday, depends on where you are.)
This third day began with sleep.  After a heavy morning of walking, 7,400 steps aka 3.4 miles, looking for an ATM which would take my travel card and give me cash, returned home to the Park Hotel and lay down to take a nap.  The nap began at 2 pm and I woke at about 1 a.m., awake and ready to go.  The jet lag I thought I had escaped had me in a firm grip. So I slept until I woke up, and then it was the middle of the night.  What else to do but...watch TV!
  Looking at Japanese TV to pass the time proved more interesting than I anticipated.  Although all the speech was Japanese alot can be understood by just looking at the visuals.  Japanese TV looks very much like American TV--drama, kids shows, cartoons, game shows and even a Japanese cooking show came on.  The Japanese nod and bow alot, so much so I wonder how they eventually part company or end a TV show.  So, I watched BBC World news, and MSNBC World News and the Discovery Channel--in Japanese until I discovered the little "dual languages" button and found I could listen in English.
  Passed the night away sleeping and listening until I arose and went to breakfast a little while ago.  Andi and Owen will not be here until later this afternoon so I am going to go out looking for a Department Store which all the guidebooks say is a must in Tokyo.  No riding the subway until Andi is here, though.  She has subway skill of a native New Yorker now and I think I shall be much less frustrated if I have someone to share the joy of being totally lost.
  I have never been in a country where I don't speak the language entirely by myself.  Even in earlier years in my travels across Asia I had other English speaking people with me.  Just having one other person around who speaks your language is comforting if nothing else.
  On to the day, and the search for the department store.  More about that later.