Great Comments!

Wow! Thank you for all of the great questions. I just woke up (around 6:00 am) and I will try and answer as many of your questions as I can.

Food
The food is extremely expensive here in Japan in some cases, but in others it is very cheap. Sushi, for example, is fairly expensive depending on where you get it. At the fish market, you can get a sushi breakfast which will cost you about $25. We were also told that in some restaurants, if there are not prices on the menus that means it could cost you around $30,000 Yen ($300). The other side is soba (noodles) you can get noodles for very cheap and they are also very good. Just like in America, it depends on what you want to eat.

I had sushi at the Consul General's house for the first time. I thought it was the best Japanese dish I have had thus far. There I also had unagi (eel), which was also extremely good. I would order that again too. On the flip side, when we were out with Habe-san, I ate what would be similar to a sardine that was grilled. I did not like that at all, but Habe-san finished the remainder for me!

It is defintely a different feeling eating the sashimi, which is the raw fish. Some of the fish was better than others. I liked the tuna, but I didn't care for the salmon. There was another type of fish called hamachi that was the best, in my opinion.

One thing that is misleading about the prices of food, and anything else in Japan, is that there is no tipping. Taxes and tipping are both built into the cost of the food/item that you are purchasing. I like that a lot. It is much easier.

Temperature
The temperature has been pretty muggy since we have been here. When the sun is out it gets fairly warm. I will be traveling to Minamisoma in the Fukushima prefecture in a few days. That is north of Tokyo and thus will be a little cooler. They say in Fukushima it will be between 52 and 62 degrees the entire stay, unless it rains.

Politics
While we were doing of briefing in San Francisco, Dr. Satterwhite, the head of the program told us that in a poll conducted the Japanese have actually rated as more interested in our political election than Americans.

The Japanese are going through some political turmoil right now also, but I will touch on that more in a future post.

Variety of Food
You can get everything from a hamburger to sushi here. On our way back from our sessions yesterday, we saw a Subway and McDonalds. I want to eat at one of them just to compare.

English
Many Japanese speak English, at least in Tokyo. Tokyo is the leader of education in Japan. They are currently moving to mandate that English is taught at the elementary level. It is currently taught at Junior High and High School. I have not met a Japanese person thus far that doesn't speak English. This will likely change when I get to Minamisoma, though.

Picture of the Room
I was actually going to post many pictures of my room. There are many things that are common in the US, but things that are different too. I will make sure to remember to post pictures later.

Rules and Regulations in Schools
The majority of schools have dress codes, but (Surprise!) the kids hate it. There are a few schools, very high performing as I was told yesterday, that no longer have dress codes. I will post pictures of an example of the uniforms when I get one.

The hours of going to school are shorter in Japan, but as I listed in a previous post, the school year is longer. If you make an apple-to-apple comparison the Japanese go to school a week or two longer than we do.

Garden
There is a beautiful Japanese garden in the courtyard of the hotel. I will also try and take pictures and post them as soon as I can.

Plane Ride
The plane ride was difficult because we were sitting for so long. It was a big plan, although I can't remember the type off the top of my head. The seats, however, were not made for tall people. It was uncomfortable after a couple of hours. Once we reached a cruising altitude (38,000 feet) I was able to walk and stand around. We watched four movies, although I didn't care for three of them and tried to sleep or read.

I need to get down to breakfast, so I had better go. Thanks again for the questions and I will try and sneak back up during a break to post some pictures.