Recapping a Few Facts

• Japanese people really do enjoy looking at your photos.
  
• Japanese people really do enjoy gift giving, wrapping everything.  Care is taken in wrapping and unwrapping each item. 
• You really do need an empty bag to return home with all the treasures you've been given.  If you liked the family fortune and mentioned so, it would probably be given to you!
• Sleeping on tatami mats with a futon is not all it's cracked up to be.  Basically, you're still sleeping on the floor.  OUCH!
• I love the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka with its beds and heated,noise making toilets!!!
• Beanbag pillows...forget it!
• No reading groups.  You either get it or you don't.  Thanks goodness for Juku schools!!!  Basically, after school, private tutoring, which many kids go to.
• This particular group of teachers fills in a lecture room from front to back....Some strong personalities I'd say!  My group prefers the back....Go Tanabe Group!
• Bees are big here...picture a three inch yellow jacket.  Scary!!!  You never have the camera when you most need it!  Imagine getting stung by it?  
• Turtle racing has become part of the Japanese culture.  Thank you BK.
• Our cute Japanese guide informed us many times to "Buckle your seatbelt."  The law changed on June 6th.
• In addition to taking a good deal of money with you while hiking Mount Fuji, JFMF insurance doesn't cover many other things.
• Always wave out the bus to the left when leaving.  There's a line up of well wishers waving back upon leaving every where you visit.
• Stilts and unicycles are really cool to play with at recess.  Mary, can we get it in our budget?
• There are no Japanese that can use chopsticks the way I can, but they all try!
• Baseball fans are more fun to watch than the game.
• Total confusion as to what slippers to wear and when.  I did get it down by the end of two weeks!
• Skyping keeps you sane.
• Not all toilet seats are heated, but even the squat toilets make noise while you're using them.
• Packing and unpacking becomes an art when you do it five or six times a week.  I finally mastered it on the final day of our rather hectic week.  Figures!
• It's okay to make a fool of yourself at Karaoke in Japan!

Tomorrow's agenda...group presentations.