The lady with me is Jo Ann Sellers, a math teacher from Tucson, AZ. We're holding glasses of cold green tea which is served as water is served in the USA. The picture was taken by some girls visiting from Hong Kong. They were very anxious to try out their English (which was better than my English) with Americans. Jo Ann had Soba which is cold wheat noodles that you dip in a thin sauce and then slurp into your mouth just the way your kids do at home and then get in trounle for it. Slurping is not only acceptable here, it is expected. I had Miso soup which has thin slices of beef, wheat noodles, bochow, and onions. I ate it with chopsticks and then slurped the soup. Chopsticks are the only eating utensils you will find at little restaurants like this. My meal was 680 yen or about $6.80. You do not tip here. If you leave a tip, they will come running after you to return it.

This figure is made entirely form Leggos. He is advertising bakery goods at a chain store traditionally called "Anderson's." :}) 

Inside the mall. 

This is a big shopping mall in Hiroshima. It is really several streets closed off like in old downtown Las Vegas. Notice the big LCD sign. 

This is a unique shop display. The antique radio is playing traditional Japanese music. The car in the window is an old European antique car. The beer bottles below the radio are also antiques. What do they sell? Clothes for the young hip Japanese.  

I am not thumbing a ride. I am pointing to all the bicycles. My car is parked around the corner in a parking lot. This a typical downtown street. 

This is me about to get in and drive off base. My navigator, Brett, is taking the picture. 

Here is the car I rented. It is a small Toyota. Operative word being small. 

This is one of the outside walking areas at the restaurant. 

This one of the dining rooms and the statue at the end of the room. Notice the low tables. 

This is inside the room where we ate. The ceilings are about 20 feet high. This is about midway up the wall of the dining room. All rooms have sliding doors made of paper. 

This is a restuarant known to local Gagins as the Chicken Shack. It has a much nicer Japanese name, but I can't spell it. 

This is the entrance to my school, M C Perry HS. 

This a typical Japanese stove. Brett is pulling out the oven area which is really for broiling much like old gas ranges. It has only 2 burners. If you get a really fancy one, your can get 3 burners. The stoves use propane gas. If you live off base, this is what you will cook with. 

This is a Japanese refrigerator. Brett is 5' 10" so you can see it is shorter than him. And it costs about $6000. It is very functional though. 

This is a Japanese washing machine. It is like a front loading machine, but it loads from the top. It is small. 

I wish you could see these beautiful computers and displays. Most are made by NEC and Fujitsu. 

These are very nice laptops at Deo Deo and go for about 350,000 yen or $3500. I really want one badly, but there is a major problem. The BIOS is written in Japnaese and does not read English applications so the laptops cannot be used in our English speaking school. 

This is Jane Curtis and her father, Brett (my meeter-greeter) checking the daily specials at Deo Deo. They are actually reading the Kanji symbols.

This is Deo Deo an major electronics store in Japan. Thsi is like Radio Shack. Deo Deo sells the electronics today that you will see in the USA next year. 

This is a lotus field located in the center of downtown. There is no wasted space in Japan. 

This is the help desk at Nafco. 

Japanese furniture at Nafco. If you want kitchen cabinets, you just buy them here, take them home, and set them where you want them. 

This is the check out lanes at Nafco. The clerks are extremely helpful. They never say no. Actually they may be saying no if you don't understand Japanese. I understand thre ways of saying no in Japnaese. The problem is that there are at least 50 other ways of saying no that I don't know. 

This is a display at Nafco. Nafco is the Japanese equivalent of Home Depot.