Saturday, November 29th

The Assistant Governor picked me up at my host family’s home and we said our goodbyes ( } We stopped by his business and I got to see his Mercedes-Benz which he keeps stored most of the time. A few pictures with his family and employees and we are off to the railway station. There are a dozen Rotarians and one of our translators who are there to see us off. They wait about forty minutes at the station visiting with us and stay that long just to wave goodbye as the train departs, what patient people. The railway system is a great example of Japanese efficiency -- the trains run fast and on time. We arrived in Tokyo before noon and put our luggage in storage in our hotel, the Shinagawa Prince Hotel (annex). Tom Ikedo took use to a nice, small local restaurant for lunch. The meal was prepared at our table and was delicious but slow to prepare. Tom had called Tomomi Kitagawa and ask her and her brother Nobu to meet me in the lobby which was located on the seventh floor of the annex. We were a little late getting back to the hotel and it took me a few minutes to register at the hotel. Then we tried to find a table in a restaurant where we could sit down and visit (the third time is the charm). Tomomi has a Master’s degree in Fine Arts (dance) and is currently working in Physical Fitness at a University, and Tobu has completed his third year and is majoring in accounting. He is taking a year off and preparing to take the CPA exam in May and the final exam which is given on August 25, 2009. Nobu is very idealist and would like to do several different things. He is considering helping in the family business, he would also like to work in government and would like to eventually operate a school to help train workers. He and his sister are very well dressed and have lots of questions. I tell them the bad news as well good. Kansas is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter and there are very few Japanese people. They both seem very interested in the PSU intensive English program. Nobu seems to be a good fit for our MBA degree with an accounting emphasis and he would have an opportunity to take some classes in Wood Technology which is his family work. We went out for a last night on the town excellent dinner and went to the Top of the Tokyo Tower which is about 50 feet taller than the Effiel Tower in Paris. Great view! The number of people is amazingl There will be hundreds of people at an intersection waiting to cross the street when the light changes. It is a mad dash. I did have the advantage of being able to see over most of the Japanese. We stopped at a bar and I sat between the smokers and non-smokers and drank my first Zima of the trip. Here's to you, John Kreissler! Back to the hotel and I was up until 10:30 p.m. packing.