Why write about my 11th trip to Japan? Well, it was a wonderful and fulfilling trip, but not without significant snafus at the intersection of age, health and international travel, perhaps a signpost?
Most still mask in public and on public transportation. Shinjuku subway station close to our hotel transports 2.4 million passengers/day. We swam through them at rush hour only to be packed like sardines. It remains one of the safest spots in the world anwhere, anytime day or night. The cultural ethos cherishes aesthetics down to each package wrapper. The buses, trains and shinkansen (bullet) arrive within the scheduled minute. 7-11 and department stores have great fast food and top restaurants, respectively. They cannot fathom that we cannot see the menu outside replete with colorful, realistic, plastic models. (How do you know what you are getting?) Well-tended temples and shrines offer peaceful respite in the busiest bustle of metropolises. Tiny family-run specialty shops (incense) survive from the 18th and 19th C. Japan is such a unique amalgam of treasured tradition, astounding aesthetics, yet contemporary convenience.
My pre-trip hurdle included my third prostate surgery one month before followed by an unexpected post-operative abscess smack in the middle of my back that required intervention and daily redress by my nephew Matt, still not quite closed upon departure. Then, on the 2nd day while chasing cherry blossoms around Mt. Fuji, my feet started swelling and wouldn’t fit in my sneakers. I woke repeatedly at 2 am itching terribly. Long story short … it was scabies. Where the … did I get scabies in Japan … slippers? And then blepharitis of the right eye. So yes, a humbling reminder of how vulnerable we elders can be in the most awkward … fortunately my pediatric friend/host came to the rescue near the end.
Friends helped make this trip special. Tony did the bulk of the planning and his Chinese literacy helped with place names but that didn’t keep us from getting on the wrong train or Google maps leading us astray. We met five of Tony and Martha’s friends including a retired octogenarian who has worked in 30 countries and her expat cousin who has taught university English for 25 years and will retire in Istanbul. My five included Akira, Naomi and their 1st year medical resident daughter and Shun and his girlfriend Alisa. Shun is about to complete his PhD at Tokyo U, inaugurated the first patient support group for the disorder that I study, and started up an NGO that connects patients with rare diseases with doctors who study them. Alisa has spent a year at NYU, worked in Russia, and works for a start-up that markets NFTs (digital originals?). Not only interesting people, but friendship, and 3-D insight into Japanese life and times.
Now the pictures (apologize for jumble): Legends:
Oldest teahouse in Japan with T&M, Mt. Fuji unshrouded in clouds, last cherry blossoms in central Japan (other days blossom-less)
Azaleas and wisteria, wet gardens Taizo-in (Kyoto) and Isui-en (Nara)
Yayoi Kumasa is everywhere - in moving robot, Naoshima Island and her latest installation
Tadao Ando Nariwa museum in Okayama Pref
Osaka Castle, G-7 meeting in Kurashiki, coi and tea competition (kimono clad) in Koraku-en, Okayama
Dry garden - Ryoanji (model for my backyard) Temple (Kyoto) and bamboo at Arashiyama
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