A Little Bit of Japan

From Japan III

These little outfits had prayers written on the back and were left at the shrine.

From Japan III

Me and Lee at the entrance of the Fushimi Inari Shrine. There are THOUSANDS of torii (gates) that you walk through. You may recognize it from the movie, Memoirs of a Geisha.

From Japan III

So here is what we witnessed: a person places money in the receptable, pulls the rope to ring a bell three times, and then claps twice, bows, and the ceremony is complete.

From Japan III

Shelley

We felt like this a lot; the train stations had some English, but everwhere else was Japanese only!

From Japan III

The torii were HUGE!

From Japan III

Lee thought this sign meant to drink the water and drink it he did. The sign DOES NOT ask you to drink the water, but rather to wash your mouth and hands. I vomitted a little in my mouth when I realized he drank water that TONS of people have washed their hands in...gross. Poor Lee!

From Japan III

Demonstrating how to properly wash my hands.

Lee and I had a blast and are finally jet-lag free. I've been uploading pictures to Picasa like a crazy woman, but it keeps timing out so I'll have to figure things out when I get home (I'm in Chicago). We had such a blast in Japan. We saw all sorts of things and really enjoyed such a different culture. We agree that some of the best things about Japan are:

1. Heated toilet sets (everywhere)

2. Everything is clean

3. All food is displayed in plastic form outside the establishment in a glass case

4. The food - it was all delicious even though we had NO idea of what we were eating >50% of the time

5. The culture - everyone was exceptionally nice, didn't get frustrated at the fact that we could only say "thank you" in Japanese, and it was fun to learn about their customs and country

6. Most importantly, Shelley lives there and we got to see her (Adam was on a ship so we didn't get to see him)

I'll post more later....lots to share!