Jean Lorrah's Blog, page 3

Japan, Post Eleven

Impressions of JapanI think what I carried away with me from Japan were the impressions of friendliness, cleanliness, honor, and beauty. Everywhere we went, people were friendly and helpful. For example, I ventured alone into a huge shopping mall in Yokohama. I had a map of the mall, but ran into a "you can't get there from here" situation in which I could not figure out which elevator or

Japan, Post Ten

Animals in JapanI love animals, especially dogs and cats. The Japanese have pets just as we do--but tourists rarely see them. Nowhere did I see stray dogs in the streets, such as most other countries have.Cats are good luck in Japan. The beckoning cat in the photo at the top of this post is seen everywhere in every size. He can be found in versions supposed to bring wealth, health, and a happy

Japan, Part Nine

Japanese Temples, Part TwoThe three major religions in Japan are Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism, although the latter is far more a philosophy than a religion. Other religions are also common, including Christianity--but the Japanese rarely belong to only one religion. In fact, most Japanese will claim that they are not religious at all, and a few minutes later stop to pray at an office

Japan, Part Eight

Japanese Temples, Part OneJapan is a land of many religions, although the three primary ones are Shinto, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Most Japanese participate in more than one.There are Shinto shrines everywhere, little shrines in homes and offices, and in the streets and countryside, where people stop to offer prayers about any problem in their lives. Torii, the gates of Shinto temples, are

Japan, Part Seven

Japanese CastlesJapan was first united under a single ruler almost two thousand years ago, and the first recorded ruler was a woman, Himiko. That information, however, comes from Chinese travelers to Japan in the second or third century. Japanese history traditionally begins with the first emperor, Jimmu, a descendant of the sun goddess, Amaterasu. Be that as it may, Japan has had the same royal

Japan, Part Six

HiroshimaHiroshima is the Japanese city where the first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945. We, the United States, dropped it, and a few days later we dropped another on Nagasaki, the only times in history that atomic weapons were ever used in warfare. Strange as it may seem, the bombing saved millions of Japanese lives by putting an end to World War II in the Pacific (it had already ended

Japan, Post Five

Japanese TechnologyJapan is known the world over for its cutting edge technology, yet the rice paddies of the country's premier crop are tended by hand. They have trains that travel 200 mph, and robots that handed out the Hugos at the World Science Fiction Convention. But then there are the toilets....Every culture in the world is a study in contradictions. This week I'm going to tell you about

Japan, Post Four

Japan Aug. 21-22 - More About FoodOne of the discoveries I make while traveling is food I've never heard of before--the dishes that don't get exported, that don't show up in ethnic restaurants in the U.S. One of the Japanese meals I enjoyed most was okonomiyaki, sometimes called Japanese pizza, although it's more like crepes or pancakes that are savory, not sweet. We had Osaka-style okonomiyaki (

Japan, Post Three

Japan, August 19-21, Part 2, Japanese FoodA handful of meals were included in the tour, but for most of them we were on our own. You know all those stories you hear about how hideously expensive restaurant meals are in Japan? We very quickly found out where they come from. We stayed at very nice western-style hotels, where all the staff spoke English. I imagine many tourists are simply afraid to

Japan, Post Two

Aug. 19-21, 2007--Part OneJapan blog posts begin here.In early June of 2007 I had major surgery, but I was determined to go to Japan in August, and I did. I bought a walking stick, expecting that medieval monuments in Japan would be like medieval monuments in Europe: not handicap friendly. I was right. But with my stick I was able to go anywhere I wanted.I didn't buy an orthopedic cane for the