Leaving on a bullet train

Today I board the shinkansen for Kyoto.  Doing touristy stuff makes me feel perpetually jetlagged and off but I think it will be nice to ride the bullet train and see the countryside.  Japan is very green and beautiful.  

Yesterday, Joey took a couple of us to see the Meiji shrine and the Harajuku and Shibuya Districts.  We ate yummy sushi, gawked at the Harajuku girls (people really like to dress up here, and were absolutely enthralled with the store, Loft.  Loft is a 5 floor store with everything beautiful you can think of but the best is the 1st floor filled with stationery and notebooks and pens and art supplies and japanese papers.

After we came back, Joey and Ana took us to one of their favorite Japanese diners.  They have been going there for over 20 years.  It was this tiny hole in the wall place with only room for a bar and a small table at the back of the store.  We ate hot yakisoba and lots of pork and eggplant dishes.  Yum, homestyle Japanese cooking.

It's been interesting being here.  The thing I like the most is that everything is so clean and userfriendly.  The bathrooms never smell, there are bidets everywhere, and everything is my size.  The mechanical designs of everything from kitchens to trucks and subway stations are so intuitive that I just think, why has America not done this yet?  They even have textured tiles in the middle of sidewalks and walkways so that blind people can follow them and know where they are going.  And the 7-11s.  Oh man, filled to the brim with delectable snacks, drinks, breads, and curry pockets.  I'm getting hungry.  Time for breakfast!