Japan: October 15 - 21, 2009

What an amazing trip it has been! I landed in Tokyo last Thursday night after a few delays due to birds in Chicago. We are staying at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo which is wonderful!

(quick writer's note....there are probably lots of errors in this. I'm in a hurry to pack and get ready to head back to Nashville)

Friday I had breakfast with Leigh who is with JAST and one of the Imperial Hotel Sales people. It was a "Viking" breakfast, which is a buffet. Afterwards I went walking in the park across the street. They apparently have bands that play on Fridays. It was a beautiful day, so I sat on a bench and took it all in for a bit.

Friday afternoon several of us went to a little neighborhood in Tokyo. There were lots of temples and cemeteries. Very interesting. We ate at a little noodle restaurant which was pretty tasty...however just a bowl of noodles and a piece of fried shrimp was $15 Everything here is so expensive though with the weak dollar and strength of the yen.

Friday night Leigh and I were treated to dinner by Mr. Yamaguchi, Yumi his assistant and his beautiful wife. Mr. Yamaguchi is the state of Tennessee representative in Japan. We went to a restaurant in the Ginza which was good. It was fried pieces of vegetables, fish and shrimp on sticks that they brought out 2 at a time. We also enjoyed some really good sake!

The Ginza is the major shopping area of town. It looks similar to times square with all of the lights. Very upscale shopping. By the end of dinner I thought I was going to fall asleep at the table - Jet lag was really setting in!

Sunday a group of us went to Kamakura. Kamakura is on the coast and is the hometown of Consul General Sato who is the Consul General of Japan in Nashville. We are in the very beginning/exploring stages of possibly building a sister city relationship with Kamakura. Consul General Sato arranged an fabulous day in Kamakura! The city really rolled out the red carpet for our group of 9. It was quite special having Consul General Sato showing us his home town as a well.

It was an hour train ride from Tokyo. Two city government gentlemen met us at the train with cars for our group and stayed with us throughout the day. We started by going to see the Great Buddha We had a special tour through the back gardens which was beautiful. The Bronze Buddha was quite impressive! The private gardens were magnificent as well.

We left there to visit Tsurugaoka Hachimangu which is a beautiful temple. Quite impressive as well. There were several weddings taking place and lots of people there with their children to get them blessed. A very busy place! They arranged for our group to get a blessing as well, which is apparently $1000 to others. Ralph, the Chamber CEO was chosen by the group to get the actually blessing which was quite a site! They said it rid him of the bad spirits and whatnot – ha! He has LOVED telling everyone about it. It was quite an honor though. We even skipped the long line of people waiting! Consul General Sato said he had never even been that far into the temple! Afterwards they give you sake then they took us to another special house and garden to have tea. One of the leaders of the temple greeted us with a few words.

On to lunch for a traditional Japanese lunch (interesting cuisine!) I passed on the sea snail...which was still in the shell! A City Councilwoman joined us for lunch. The Mayor came by as well to say "hello". He mentioned that Kamakura has 19 million visitors a year – so tourism is something that we have in common. The other 2 city officials and our sister city folks discussed several grass roots initiatives to get the process moving between the two cities. We shopped a bit then headed by to Tokyo.

Sunday night was the opening ceremony for SEUS Japan conference. We had a Tennessee reception beforehand where Governor Bredesen, Consul General Sato, Jack Bovender and others spoke. We host SEUS Japan in Nashville next year, which is exciting!

After the seated formal dinner where they had entertainment of a calligrapher and men playing traditional Japanese drum music, several us of went to the hotel bar. I ended up seated next to Jack and across from Governor Bredesen. I was exhausted and hadn't planned to stay long, but ended up wedged in on a bench seat so I stayed...and how often will I do that anyway, right? The conversations were very interesting.... everything from the economy and government to Jana Davis (she works for Jack at HCA) telling us about how she introduced Nichole Kidman and Keith to each other at the Golden Globes! Crazy!

Monday was a full day of meetings. Some interesting, some not. We did hear the chairman of Cannon speak. He was good and obviously very important here since he had 2 security guards on stage with him...a bit like secret service or something! He is also some top person with their stock exchange or something where his decisions affect the markets.

Monday night was another dinner. It was a surprise to all. We arrived to a band playing and cocktails. When they opened the ballroom doors, the room was set up with sushi bars and lots of sushi chefs along with other stations of traditional Japanese cuisine. They had a sushi roll for each South Eastern represented state as well. Very cool! And the sushi was amazing!! The also had great entertainment...some latter acrobats and music. Then traditional the opening of the sake barrel. They passed out sake for us all in little wooden boxes which I guess is an old tradition. What a night! A group of us again went for cocktails...this time in the hotel lobby bar.

As for the hotel, there is a lot of tradition here as well. The lobby is apparently the "meeting place" and the place to be seen. Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio stayed here on their honeymoon. (We also went to the pearl shop where she bought pearls....needless to say, I couldn't afford any! The shop owner had a great story about how her mother started the shop after the war though.) The service at the hotel is unbelievable! They have ladies who get the elevator for you and ladies in kimonos on the floor to help with anything you many need. They are just quick and very happy to do anything for you.

Tuesday we had more meetings with speakers like the chairman of Sony and Toyota and the closing ceremony where Jack Bovender, the chair for SEUS Japan 2010, announced that the conference will be in Nashville. Hopefully the turnout will be great next year!

Tuesday afternoon we went to the Bridgestone museum. It was unbelievable! We just heard about it from a few delegates who had gone with the Governor the day before for a special tour. There were pieces from so many famous artists from Monet to Renoir to Van Gough. I think my favorite was seeing "the Thinker" bronze sculpture in person!

Tuesday night Kris Karbowiak with Bridgestone treated Leigh and I to dinner and drinks. We went to a great little Chinese restaurant. Afterwards we went to the Peninsula Hotel for drinks on the 24th floor - amazing views of the city!! It was a great night and great conversation!

I leave today. It really has been a wonderful trip. This is just a little of what all I've experienced in Japan! I can't say enough about the hospitality, service and kindness of the Japanese people. Very impressive!! Nashville has a lot to live up to next year...but I think we will be fine!