konnichiwa

Once again, I am surprised and impressed by how well the kids travel. They did great on the airplane and Andrew has dealt with jet lag the best of all! We are in Tokyo having a great time. The plane was very long and we got here in the evening (Thanks to Jon's great planning) and were able to go right to bed. Andrew especially was excited about his little japanese pajamas and slippers they provided. Our hotel is right on the bay and has a beautiful view of rainbow bridge.

Monday morning, we got up early and went to the Tsukiji fish market - the largest fish market in the world! This place was incredible. There are over 2800 fish vendors selling their fresh catch of the day. Although many tourists visit the market, they have done nothing to make it easy for them. It is a working market and people are moving fish on little carts and trucks all around. You really have to be careful not to get hit! We saw many different kinds of fish - many still alive and most whole with eyes staring back. All around the fish market there are vegetable and fruit stands. We had some fruit and tomago egg skewers for breakfast. Here is a map of the market.

These are the carts that zip all around carrying boxes of fish.

Looking at piles of tuna.

Endless rows of fish vendors.

I thought these were some of the more attractive fish looking back at me.

All different shapes and sizes.

This man was very kind to the kids and kept showing them live fish from his tank.

These are actually thousands of little tiny fish. Now that's a party in a box!

After the market, we came back to the hotel and rested for a minute. Our next stop was the Miraikan museum - the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (also known as the Future Museum). There they have many displays and shows about key innovations that are happening now and have happened in the past. We saw a show where the robot "Asimo" responded to the verbal commands and interacted with him. It kicked a soccer ball to someone from the audience and then danced. It was cool - I think. I realized it is really hard to go to a foreign museum where you do not understand the language. We could go around and read the signs in English, but the interactive displays were lost on us. I wonder how many people feel like that in the United States? Here is Asimo dancing.

This was actually kind of creepy to me. This is an example of robots that they think would be useful in a classroom setting. They listen for breaks in conversation and then nod approvingly. The benefit in the classroom is that the students will be more interested as they see the robots nodding, and the teacher will feel encouraged by the interaction. Maybe this is the answer for our problems in education?

This robot is used in therapy situations. It is a little stuffed animal seal, and it has very real emotional responses. The result would be benefits similar to having a pet for those who otherwise could not. The boys loved holding it.

In the center of the museum is a huge globe made out of thousands of computer screens. They have a show where the earth changes displays depending on what the guide is talking about (wish I knew what that was). The coolest thing, though, is under the huge globe - where there are all these lounges where you could lay down and gaze at the world. That was a perfect break from all the walking and standing. We enjoyed that moment. The boys started kind of wrestling on the foam lounges and I was calming them when I glanced over to another grouping of lounges and found that two Japanese boys were doing the exact same thing. I remembered we are much more alike than different!

The kids are doing a great job trying to speak the language and experiencing Japanese culture. Jon made a great incentive program where they have three categories of things to try - trying certain foods, speaking certain phrases, and trying new experiences in Japan. Next to each item is a number of Yen - when they do those things, they get souvenir money. They have been speaking to people, trying different food, and even used a squatter toilet! Andrew, trying to immerse himself in the culture asked Jon, "How do you laugh in Japanese?" Our last activity before dinner was to visit the Toyota Showroom. This is more than just a car showroom, although it does have every kind of car they make. They also have a little car course where the kids can drive a little car while following street signs, simulated race cars and a go kart track. I loved seeing all the new cars they are coming out with this year. Here is Matthew driving the Toyota track.

Ali in the safety simulator.

Andrew and I in the race car simulator.

Here are some of the cars we liked. This one is called the Aqua. It came in really cute colors that the girls and I loved.

She found her dream car.

This van looked more my style.

We got a little more presentable, and went to dinner at our hotel with some employees from Jon's work. It was a teppanyaki restaurant where they cook steak in front of you. Delicious! They said it was "like our Benihana restaurant, but without the entertainment." At one point in the meal, they took some shrimp that were still kicking and flipping and placed them on the grill. Eventually, they no longer kicked. The kids had big eyes and gaping mouths as the chefs removed the eyeballs and carefully grilled the heads as well as the rest of the bodies. When the final product resembled the shrimp we were used to seeing, we enjoyed the best shrimp of our lives. We happily passed the heads on to our Japanese friends to enjoy. The steak was amazing and as Jon tried to take Andrew's last bite, we saw a brief moment of violence. We all loved the dinner. Here is our chef and the shrimp while they were still kicking and flipping.

The boys and our friends watching the shrimp action.

The girls. Lauren was feeling a little camera shy. I think her emotions in regard to the too short lives of the shrimp got the best of her.