The trees in Japan are so lush, a deep green, growing intertwined together in clusters between rice fields. I find myself assessing the foliage first, no matter where I go. When I first visited California, in 2007, I determined I was in a Dr. Suess book, between perfectly circular rolling hills and the vastly different colorful trees and brush, I fell in love. Italy was a bit different, it’s dry pointy trees and curly olive gardens alongside grape vines growing. The foliage gives me a sense of a place, almost a grounding. So far, Japan’s lush trees look bouncy, they look like I can bounce from one cluster to the other between the rice fields. As we took the train from the airport into Tokyo, I imagined myself bouncing from each tree cluster.
We had a really easy trip to Tokyo. We boarded a plane in Boston for our 14 hour flight, the longest flight either of us have been on. We flew over Canada, Alaska, alongside of Russia near the Arctic. And then, voila, we stepped off the plane into Tokyo.
So far things have been moving so smoothly. Tokyo train station was the most confusing, layers and layers of floors, so many different train lines and colors, and so many people zig-zagging throughout the station, and we could not figure out how to get out. Right away, a Japanese man wearing a colorful blue printed shirt came up to us to ask us if we were lost. We asked how to get to taxis, and he said to go to the right. That was somewhat helpful, but all it did was bring us up an escalator to another confusing floor (presumably closer to the ground floor).
We are staying in Asakusa neighborhood and we deliriously explored last night. We stumbled upon a street filled with small tables and loud conversations and knew we had to grab dinner. I can get really intimidated and shy, being clearly an outsider, trying to find a place to sit down and eat, especially not comfortable yet with Japanese greetings or ordering (thank you Demo for my cheat sheet) but we managed to find something delicious, tuna sashimi and fried octopus. Oishii!
Foliage, then food.
