Yes, my parents have come to visit me. Lured more by Tokyo Disneyland than the Edo Tokyo Museum, the Bishop's boarded and plane on December 21st for their first trip overseas. After a layover and L.A. and a twelve hour flight from the west coast, they arrived at Tokyo's Narita Airport on the 22nd. What followed has been over a week of fun and not so fun times, and I will only touch on the highlights.
I must say that I was not terribly homesick before seeing my parents. It seems with the internet and relatively cheap international phone calls, I am not so far from home. Besides, even when I am at school in Illinois, I don't see my parents too often. My mother said that they were coming because they wanted to see me, but I can't believe that that was the case either. So, I assumed that they had some sort of interest in things Japanese or at least wanted to learn a bit about the world.
It turns out they really didn't. Personally I have thoroughly enjoyed every place on Earth that I have ever visited, but I guess I just have different interests than my parents. They seemed to have little desire to try any Japanese food, learn Japanese language, or see Japanese things.
As the reader may know, I enjoy all things Disney and admire the things that Walt Disney did in his lifetime. My parents have also had a life-long interest in Disney which has turned into a more recent desire to own anything with Mickey Mouse's face on it. With this in mind, it is not hard to figure where the folks wanted to go first: Disneyland.
The first few nights they stayed at a beautiful ryokan in traditional downtown atmosphere of Asakusa and took the trains to the not so Japanese Disneyland. Disney is about as American as America gets. Along with the invasion of American music, culture, Coke, business, et al, Disney has been happily exported overseas for many years. In 1984 a Japanese company achieved their goal of importing Disney into Japan. And that is what Tokyo Disneyland is: a direct import with very little changed from the original Disneyland in Anaheim. Even the castle is an exact replica of the one in Florida (while Disneyland Paris has its own unique Castle of Sleeping Beautiful). The only difference is that everyone speaks Japanese and there is one Japanese restaurant somewhere if you hunt for it. Anyway, I enjoyed spending two days at the park and getting a little practice translating things for my parents. I was surprised to know that even the Jungle Cruise jokes don't differ much in Japanese (you still get to see the back of the waterfall and Sam the salesmen still has a special on human heads).
On Christmas Day we left for a beautiful park near Mt. Fuji known as Hakone. The highlight of the day was all of the transportation we took. I had never thought about it, but my parents had never ridden a public bus, subway, boat, or cable car, let alone a bullet train. Americans are used to the freedom of jumping into the family wagon and going anywhere they like. That is also possible in Japan, but the parking problems as well as insurance and tollways make it not worthwhile in many cases.
So we took the subway to Tokyo station. Then a bullet train to Odawara. Then a cable car that switched back and forth up the hills to Gora. Then an incline rail to the top of a mountain. Then a ropeway (gondola) across to the next mountain where I got my first view of Mt. Fuji. Like many foreign tourists, I was beginning to wonder if it really existed, because it had been cloudy on other visits. Finally we took a bus to our Japanese style ryokan hidden in a quiet village. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and was happy with all that I had seen that day, but it seemed the parents were already showing signs of fatigue from their overweight backpacks and lack of proper nutrients.
We had eaten very little Japanese food up to this point. I was thoroughly enjoying the treat to all the junk food restaurants (not to mention the pounds of cookies that my mom brought me-thanks mom), but honestly I am pretty accustomed to a good bowl of miso soup or a bowl of soba noodles. My parents were having a little trouble with chopsticks and being more picky eaters than I ever remember even myself being.
After only one night of sleeping on futon, we checked into one of the most luxurious hotels in Japan, the Miyako in Kyoto. A friend of my host family got us a high class room for only middle class prices. However, if I were traveling alone, I think I would have been staying at the youth hostel down the street. Anyway, the heated mirror and 24hour CNN International on the TV seemed to remind my parents that Japan is not such a backward place after all.
We took a number of walks from the hotel to see such great sights as Maruyama Park, Kiyomizu Temple, Sanjuusangendou, the Path of Philosophy and the Silver Pavilion (Ginkakuji). Like anyone, we all tired of seeing the temples and shrines that all look the same after a while.
I made my first pilgrimage to Nara to see the Great Buddha (the largest bronze statue of Buddha in the world) inside Todai Temple (the largest wooden building in the world). Some people might say that it is just another building, but I guess after traveling some I have taken an interest in architecture. One has to appreciate the work that went into building such a monument. I guess my parents did appreciate it, but at some times I got the feeling I was forcing them to see what many of my friends would love to see.
Moving on, we spent a few hours in Hiroshima for the simple fact that it was the world's first victim of an atomic bomb. I have seen the Peace Park in pictures, but to actually go there and see the monuments can make for a rather contemplative day. Unfortunately the museum was closed, so I have an excuse to go back some day (you always have to leave at least one thing unseen, so there is a reason to go back).
After a meal of the world famous Hiroshima Okonomiyaki (a Japanese pancake filled with cabbage and about any other meat or vegetable imaginable; the folks found it to be rather harmless and even a little tasty) we continued on the tramway out to Miyajima. Actually we had to take a boat across to the sacred island that used to be open only to priests/monks. We spent the night at a beautiful ryokan. The owners seemed to be a little biased against non-Japanese (they refused to take my reservation until my host mom called and reserved a room for me), but generally we had a nice stay. We had a huge dinner in our room for US30 plus drinks which is about average for a nice meal in Japan, but a little more than the US4 bowl of noodles I had for lunch today. Mom and I enjoyed the public bath and lounged around until we got tired.
Today we saw some more of the troublesome deer that almost ate my train ticket and wandered around the carefully manicured island. Then we boarded the bullet train for Tokyo. Despite the folks apparent dislike of public transportation, the bullet trains are a fabulous way to get around. My parents had a Japan Rail Pass that entitled them to a week of travel on any JR train. Through the wonder of these efficient and clean trains we made it 800km back to Tokyo in only five hours.
This evening we had a Sukiyaki New Years Party with my host family (although we are technically not supposed to celebrate New Years due to the death this year) and I wore myself out translating conversation between my two families. My parents seem to be enjoying themselves more lately, but it has not been the best trip.
In terms of the weather and the places we have seen, it was a perfect trip. If anyone is planning two weeks in Japan, you should definitely contact me for more details. I have shown my parents everything there is to see and we still have a few days left. There is time for karaoke, shopping, and sightseeing in Tokyo before they head home on Saturday.
However, I have to warm anyone. Before you take a trip overseas (or before you do anything in life) ask yourself why. I like to see how other people live. I enjoy finding quiet little places that I pretend mean something about the daily life of a country. I like to look at boring buildings and eat strange food. I like to see what kinds of products people sell and buy in other places. Obviously, my parents enjoy some of these things too. I just think that they would have had more fun spending two weeks at Walt Disney World.