My Japanese Favorites

Yes, I realize this has nothing to do with surviving suburbia. It falls under escaping suburbia. My recent, and really quite unexpected, travels to Japan over the past few years have yielded a few favorite encounters from a culture I never thought I’d explore and experience. Here is my short list of discoveries:

•  Zen gardens and Shinto shrines in the middle of Tokyo.
•  Old ladies in kimonos with their hair dyed pink, purple, or blue tottering around on their wedges.
•  The heated and musical Japanese toilets.
•  Little bows.
•  Eating the closest duplication of my Grandmother’s homemade raised sugar doughnuts at the New Otani Hotel. How did they get her recipe?
•  Japanese maples dripping leaves into ponds filled with Koi.
•  The beauty and serenity of Kyoto.
•  The crazy music and bells and whistles that play in the subways when the doors of a train are closing.
•  Vending machines selling cans of hot coffee and tea on all of the street corners.
•  Feeling like a blonde goddess in high heels and a bright pink coat as I towered over the masses of Japanese clad in neutral black and khaki.
•  Spotting Mt. Fuji from my hotel window on the morning of my departure from Japan.