Substitute Shortage...take note Mary!

Kaiten-zushi is a sushi restaurant where the plates with the sushi are placed on a rotating conveyor belt that winds through the restaurant and moves past every table and counter seat. The conveyor belt is narrow, but long.  Customers may place special orders, but most simply pick their selections from a steady stream of fresh sushi moving along the conveyor belt.  The final bill is calculated based on the number and type of plates of the consumed sushi.  Plates are color coded for price.  At the end of the meal the waitress uses a scanning devise along the edge of your piled dishes.  It calculates your final cost, then she scans a card similar to a credit card, which is your bill and you bring it to the register.  It was fun guessing what everyone's bill would be.  I imagine they have them in the US, and although they're relatively inexpensive here, that would probably not be the case at home.  It was pretty cool though!  We're in a seaside village so the sushi can't get any fresher than what we had.  It was by far the best I've ever had...you name it, they had it.  Mmmm, Mmmm!

We finished our school visits today.  Yesterday was elementary school.  Our custodians would love it here.  Well maybe not, they would probably be out of a job.  The students do all the cleaning!  Seriously!  They even do toilets and windows.  First graders don't clean to well, so they only do their classrooms.  The funny part is, the teachers aren't present while they clean and they all actually clean!  Okay, so if that's not wild enough, today while at the high school we walked into a history class.  When asked where the teacher was they said he was out on business...for the whole day.  In other words he wasn't at school at all...and there was no substitute!!!.  Just 35 or so kids (some classes have just over forty) all quietly in seats reading, studying or doing homework.  A couple of kids were talking, but very quietly and no one was fooling around.  Needless to say we were totally amazed.  Our escort teacher thought nothing of it.  Strange, but clearly it was working.  

Tomorrow, Saturday, we leave the hotel for our home stay, each of us with a different family in Tanabe.  I do know the couple I'm staying with have no children at home and are both teachers.  We'll be with them for one night.  Sunday night we will be staying at a ryokan, which is a traditional Japanese inn.  Needless to say I'm looking forward to that....hot spa, massage, relaxing!  Monday we head back to Tokyo for the final leg of our stay.