TOKYO, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012, 4:30 p.m. — It’s Mom’s turn to blog since Will is preoccupied watching 16 excavators working to demolish a building across the street from our hotel. That, and there is a sumo tournament on TV. We had a huge day of sightseeing — I’m being accused of arranging another Thompson Torture Tour, but it’s not true. OK, so Helen has only slept 6 hours in the past three days, and Will’s pedometer logged 16,000 steps, but still. It’s our first day in Japan!

 We started the day at 4 a.m. (Helen at 3 a.m.) and waited until 6 a.m., shortly before sunrise, to set out. We walked around the jogging path that encircles the moat of the Imperial Palace, pausing at the famous Nijuubashi for a photo. Will raced across the empty gravel parking lots and worked off pent-up energy from yesterday’s plane ride. Mike was thrilled to pass by the Nippon budokan, a concert hall which apparently is famous for hosting a Cheap Trick concert album. We ended up at the infamous Yasukuni Jinja, a Shinto shrine known best for the controversial visits of former Prime Ministers to the shrine. The shrine, dedicated to those killed in war, includes among its enshrined convicted war criminals from World War II. I’d been before to watch my homestay mother dance in a performance, but I thought Helen and Rick, being news people, would be interested in seeing a place so often in the news. We ended up watching an 8 a.m. festival that included drums, and small children in traditional costumes being held aloft with small swords, Japanese flags tucked in their toes and hands, lion head masks on their small heads. One man supported another man, who stood on his shoulders, who in turn held up a child doing a Cirque de Soleil routine with the aforementioned swords. Mothers stood by proudly snapping pictures while I held my urge to shout “This isn’t safe — the ground is made of granite, people!” But seriously, it was a wonderful treat to see the performance.

 We were also charmed by streams of very small children in their neatly pressed school uniforms, carrying very heavy looking, adorable backpacks and purses. Their little hats completed the totally adorable look, as their parents trundled them off to school.

 By 8:30a.m. we were freezing so took refuge in a Starbucks to warm up before tackling Ginza, the famous, glitzy shopping district. Highlights included witnessing the opening of the venerable Mitsukoshi department store. It was a very Japanese scene. Employees opened the doors at opening, but the waiting crowd, rather than rushing in the open doors as they would back home, continued to quietly wait until they were formally invited inside. We were greeted with deep bows by literally dozens of employees as we walked through the store, as they welcomed the day’s first customers. 

 But perhaps the biggest highlight of the day was lunch at Tentei, our favorite tempura restaurant in Ginza. It’s a small place, and very welcoming, and we sat at the bar, watching the tempura being prepared by the same men who had first served us four years ago. The food was amazing — especially the matsutake mushrooms and an amazing dish of small shrimp cooked in a sort of tempura disc served over rice. However, dark clouds formed. Rick and Mike were mortified first by the large paper bibs the kimono-clad hostess tied behind our necks. None of the other customers were wearing bibs, and they suspected we were being subtly mocked. Of course, we weren’t, and they were very relieved when two Japanese customers also donned the bibs. But the crowning moment hilarity and humiliation was when the extremely nice man waiting on us took pity on MIke, Rick and Will, and gave them special chopsticks tied together with rubber bands so they could more easily eat. Like a child would use. Apparently their chopstick skills made the waiter fear that they wouldn’t be able to enjoy, much less eat the meal. Helen and I were much relieved that we were spared this particularly “emasculating” courtesy, to use Rick’s words. We will never let them live that one down.

 We then took a monorail ride around Odaiba to see the Tokyo skyline from Tokyo Bay, wound back through Ginza where Helen and I shopped at Uniqlo, then very tired, trudged back to the hotel. It’s now dark, and we will be venturing out later for dinner and perhaps the lights of Akihabara, the electronics district.