Noritake Nagoya...!

After an early 5:45am start with Professor Mehring yesterday, I retired early to bed last night and got to sleep in with no schedule today. Since Jeff's wife Tamiyo had the day off, we got to enjoy the day together. We headed out to Nagoya city and planned to have the well known "morning set" from Nagoya. This is a coffee or tea drink with a piece of toast and egg on top. Now it sounds simple and all (and it is!) but its the thing to do before 12 noon and lunchtime. Coffee shops are so competitive now that they have a little flashing siren (no sound) in front of their shop that they turn on and light up to indicate that they are open. Also, I should note that the bread loaves in Japan and pretty much all white bread...and they are super super thick sliced. We are talking 5 slices in one loaf! Thick and fluffy and the perfect type of slice to make french bread.

After our morning set we walked to the NORITAKE MUSEUM which is the well known famous brand of china porcelain. Tamiyo said the outlet prices there were fantastic compared to the department store prices. We then headed back on the train to meet Sho (8th grade) at the Nagoya International School. He had an early release today and I got to quickly tour the campus before he got out. The school is very small with only about 15 kids in his 8th grade class. The school is kind of in the country but the facilities were terrific and the school is set on a bit of a hill so has a fantastic view. It was really fun picking out the many "hapa" kids at school including him!

We got the public bus back home and this was a really cool experience because at a point on the journey, the bus driver lets everyone know that the bus is about to go on "autopilot". Basically, two arms come out of the bus that are rollers and get on the track. The driver does not need to steer and only has to control the speed...It's genius....this track is on its own lane and causeway. Jeff said that Honolulu was looking at this or getting the train and they chose the train.

By the time we walked home, it started pelting down with rain. We ate at the local Taiwanese restaurant around the corner which was delicious and then had fun running back home in the rain. I will head out of the house with Sho tomorrow morning at 7:30am for the train to get on the shinkansen bullet train to Yokohama. I am excited to visit the biggest Chinatown in Japan and all of Asia!!!!! I hope the rain stops!!!

PS. Japanese tv is thoroughly amusing me. Right now, I am watching a show that is following a 2 year 9 month old going to a supermarket who has to try and remember certain things to buy....seriously I am cracking up and I wish you all could see this!!! :)