Day 17 in Japan

This is Tokyo Ramen. Ken-chan said this was the best ramen in the state of Chiba. I believe he is correct.

Doesn't this look yummy?

Jessica getting ready to eat her miso ramen. Cheryl is obviously trying to get a different angle for this photo.

This Jusco had a security officer directing traffic in and out of the parking garage. Inside the garage, there was another officer showing us where to park. The funny thing about Japanese parking garages at these big malls is that you get a ticket when you enter the garage, but you don't have to pay to get out. Didn't make any sense to me.

I bet we spent an hour in this little tea shop, tasting various teas and picking out tea pots and buying out their supply of tea canisters. This shop was inside Jusco. The older clerk asked my mother if we were part of a tour. My mother just laughed. She explained that we live in America and came to visit relatives. But I bet we did look like a tour. There were 11 of us speaking English, with my mother translating.

Yes, that's me in the kitchen. And yes, I'm cooking.

Sitting around before dinner.

My mother with Patty and Fred. Something someone said made her laugh.

Yuichi, who is a budding anime artist, is drawing a figure for my nephew's Scott's birthday card. At the time, Scott, who is in the Air Force, was still stationed in England. Miho watches her big brother.

FRIDAY, JUNE 6

Before I left for Japan, I had e-mailed Laura Kane at Aflac, asking her to set up an interview for me with the president of Aflac Japan. I also wanted a tour of the Aflac building.

She e-mailed me back with some good news. Dan Amos was going to be in Japan and he could meet me on Friday, June 6.

I told her that she could e-mail me the details and I'd meet him in Tokyo.

Well, I couldn't get online.

So we had a free day.

We slept in and Ken-chan and Mariko-san came to get us around lunch time. So did Miho and Yuichi.

They took us to this little, tiny restaurant in the middle of a field called Tokyo Ramen. It was the best!

After lunch, we went to a new mall called Across Mall. I don't know what it was across. But right across the street was a familiar grocery store — Jusco. We liked that grocery store. We bought stuff for dinner.

We got home, ate dinner and just relaxed.

Actually, we did have to start thinking about packing. You should have seen all the stuff we had to pack.

We decided to leave that for Sunday.