I was happy to find some good zabuton (cushions for sitting on) to go with my Japanese table & tatami mats at home. Getting them mailed was a bit of a circus, though. The good news was that Japan still has surface mail so the rates were not at all bad. The bad news is that there are, apparently, no large boxes in Japan. ?! The post office didn’t have any large ones. Did they think maybe we could break the four cushions into two shipments and fit them into the largest size box? Very doubtful. Did they have any idea where one might be able to acquire a larger box? Doubtful they exist. Did they have any suggestions with regard to our predicament? Much air sucked through teeth and head scratching. “Saaaaaah ne...” Finally, it was suggested we try the local grocery store. They received food shipments in boxes; perhaps they had some that were large enough. A map was drawn and we were dispatched into the oppressive heat, dragging our huge bags of pillows with us. There, outside the front of the grocery store, was a man breaking down boxes! Was our luck about to change? Turns out, he was a hot, sweaty, grouchy man. First grouchy person I encountered in Japan on this trip and we’re 19 days into it. I knew there had to be one, somewhere!
Meiko: Excuse me, we’re looking for large boxes and were wondering if you had any?
Grouchy Man: (Without looking up) No!
Meiko: (Staring at the medium-sized boxes he was breaking down, wondering if it wasn’t possible there were a couple of slightly larger ones around somewhere in all the chaos) Really?
Grouchy Man: Really! They’re all over there (gesturing vaguely, still not looking up), already broken down.
Meiko: Oh, I see. (Speaking to his sweaty back.) Excuse me...
Grouchy Man: What?! (Exasperation in his voice not even remotely masked.)
Meiko: Would you have any idea where we might be able to find large boxes?
Grouchy Man: None! (Turned his back again, clearly done with this crazy foreigner and her daughter and their box obsession.)
It was all I could do to keep from laughing at the unexpectedness of it, but the prospect of having these four large zabuton and no way to get them home sobered me up again. Finally, Julia said she thought we should go back to the post office and try to stuff two zabuton each into their largest boxes. They had said it wouldn’t work, but she was not convinced. We tried, and it worked just fine.
It’s not the first time on this trip Julia has been helpful! She helped navigate while I drove, interpreting the GPS and reminding me which lane to be in. She helped a lot with heavy bags. She has a much better sense of direction than I do and almost always had her bearings quickly in new places. She learned how to negotiate the Tokyo train system as well as I do. She keeps her eyes open for convenience stores, bakeries, or whatever we might be needing, and generally spots them before I do. She has been astoundingly helpful on this trip and had made a largely cheerful and wonderful traveling companion.
Later that day, on Joy’s recommendation, we went to the Shitamachi Museum. It depicts that area of Tokyo in the old days. It’s a hands-on place that’s like walking into the little corner of an old village. You can walk the little streets, go into homes and shops, poke through drawers and cupboards, and play with old fashioned toys and puzzles. A delightful place for kids young and old, we spent a lot of time there and really had fun.
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| Metal Worker's Home |
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| A Metal Worker's Shop |
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| Candy Shop with Living Quarters Behind |
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| Toys |
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| Ofuro (Public Bath) Entrance with Foreign Money-Taker |
The museum was located in Ueno Park, where Joy had taken us when we first arrived in Tokyo, so we went back to the pond to see if any of the lotuses were blooming, and they’d just begun! From there we explored Yanaka Ginza again, the quaint shopping streets around Nippori, which has to be one of my favorite areas of Tokyo.
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| Lotus Blossom on Pond at Ueno Park |
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| Carp in Pond at Ueno Park |
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| Yanaka Ginza Shopping Area near Nippori |
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