Day 1 Thoughts
Quick notes -
I had to include the Yankee fan because so many in South Orangetown are such avid fans. Of course I told him that I am a Red Sox fan. I was struck by the newness of the buildings we passed on our drive from Narita Airport in the Chiba prefecture (where Koichi Hamano, a 3rd grader in Mrs. Pantale's class lived)to our hotel in Tokyo. I know people have been living in Tokyo for many centuries, and I expected to see old buildings. Most of the buildings I saw along the major highway were low-lying, rectangular, white, cement buildings. I later learned that many buildings in and around Tokyo were destroyed during WWII. New buildings were constructed where the old ones had stood. Two other teachers and I were assigned to have dinner with a Japanese recipient of the Fulbright award. We ate at a traditional Japanese restaurant with Hatto, an 80 year old man with a passion for dragonflies. He demonstrated how he captures them by wrapping ball bearings in red material and attaching one of these to either end of a silk thread. He said the dragonflies are attracted by the red items and become entangled in the thread. He captures dragonflies in parks in Tokyo. Since his passion is for catching them and not keeping them, he releases them later. (sounds like something I do when I fish with my Uncle Neil)
Many signs in the airport, on the streets, and in the hotel are written in English and Japanese.
Name:
Anne O'Brien