Be careful what you ask for

Last night at dinner Ann tried to ask for a bowl of white rice.  The waiter listened to her, then blushed and left the table abruptly.  An English speaking waiter returned to the table chuckling and asked again what we would like.  He smiled, left the table, and came back with her order.  Upon checking the English-Japanese dictionary we determined that she had asked the first young man if he wanted to hang out in a bowl of hot rice.  I think I would have blushed, too.

Just to be fair, I must admit that earlier that day I walked into a small shop and in my best Japanese announced to the owner and all of his employees, "Good evening and welcome to our store!"  I kept on talking, and can only imagine what else I must have told them.  I am single-handedly undoing years of progress in English-Sino relation.  Many apologies Ambassador Kerry, and welcome to my store!

Day 1 so far has included two subway rides and lots of walking around.  Ann was determined to cover all of Tokyo in one day but we talked her out of it!  Will has already decided its fun to talk to locals, so he is the one who makes most of our purchases.  It really is amazing how much one can communicate with hand gestures and pointing.  I needed to buy an SD card adapter for the iPad, and somehow the guy at the shop where I bought it was able to tell me a) that item was located on the second floor, b) I needed to buy the genuine Apple version, and c) it cost 2900 yen.

The cherry blossoms are starting to come out so everything looks lovely!

It's like they knew we were coming

Cherry blossoms

Street vendor cooking us some squid for lunch

Arrival photos

Ann and the boys at Narita.  The trip begins!

We're here!

After 13 hours in the air, three airports, two trains and a subway, we are at our apartment in Tokyo.  Singapore airlines lived up to its reputation; friendly, well-organized, and on time.  It's very small but perfect!  The boys are doing great, and Will has already mastered "hi" and "arigato" when making purchases.  Day one started with a breakfast of tiny strawberries, eggs and rice.  Ann awoke early so she went to the market to get food.  The shop keeper spoke no English, so Ann handed him a wad of yen and he took it and then waved her off in characteristic gruff Japanese fashion.

We are off to a fantastic start!