Switzerland, Cyprus, Beirut, Amman, Israel, Paris & Tokyo

For Photos of Beirut, click here.

For Photos of other places on the tour, click here.

Friday 27 June -- Zurich/Murten -- Changed clothing in rest room before passport control. The swiss opened my passport; be sure to sign your passport before leaving the USA. There are ATM's to obtain money with Cirrus directly from checking account getting the best rate of exchange so no need to use VISA for cash advances and thus no need to pay cash advance fees or interest. There is a big shopping mall in the airport with supermarket, takeout, post office (to buy telephone cards) and railroad station. Remember the railroad station ticket counters permit you to change currency of any type without commission and this is worthwhile to do when leaving Switzerland. You might almost want to buy some currency for all countries from this booth. There is a speed train into the center of town which takes 10 minutes to and from the airport and costs about $4. It costs over $4 just to step into a taxi. Noticed more graffiti and use of English -- it seems the young Germans think English is cool and you hear it mixed in also on the radio. There are lockers at the train station to store bags. People who sell tickets at windows speak English. Trams throughout the city stop at the central train station and you can either buy tickets for the tram or just get on and hope you don't get caught; the fine at this time is 50 francs and the cost of a ticket to ride is about 4 francs (assume 1-1.5 francs to the dollar). I had some meetings concerning the purchase of watches through the swiss grey market (see separate memo on Watches / not for general distribution). Then returned to the central station to catch 3 trains in immediate succession to Berne, Kerzes and Murten. The ride was gorgeous and took almost 2 hours. Yes, the swiss rail system really works with beautiful trains and a speedy and quiet ride over beautiful territory. Swiss are good to tourists; you get on the train or a bus and do something they know but you don't know is "wrong" but they just go on and say nothing to you about it. By the way, I could have checked my luggage from New York all the way to Murten (and vice versa) using the fly/rail system as long as you fly Swissair. Murten is a small medieval town with walls still standing that is good for walking. Stayed in the Hotel Schiff (means boat) on the lake of Murten. Settled into my room overlooking the lake and quickly burned out my AC converter for my radio; be sure and reset the settings to 220 volts before leaving the US. Then walked into town for batteries (hint: there's a "Co-Op" supermarket just outside the walls) and to look around and enjoyed the parks and views of the walls and then a 9 pm dinner overlooking the still sunny lake at the hotel and the asparagus ravioli in cream sauce and chocolate mousse were delicious, abundant and reasonably priced against Manhattan prices. Then a walk along the lakeside promenade to a young-people soccer tournament on a lakeside field and off to bed for a 10 hour sleep. Got a few flies in my mouth but heck, this is Switzerland and even the flies are clean here. Felt better the next morning than before I left New York. 

Saturday -- Murten / Meyriez -- After hotel breakfast, did lots of walking around the surrounding areas of the city to see people's homes, various buildings, supermarkets, gorgeous lakeside swimming clubs, churches, stores, etc. Prices in Switzerland are about the same or less than USA in groceries for most staple items but exchange rates can change this and certain items are expensive such as batteries. There is a nice museum in Murten explaining the history and I had the hotel concierge telephone ahead to the museum to explain my Sabbath problem with carrying money and they arranged free entrance. The Swiss of the city fended off Burgundy invasion about 400 years ago and there is an important tapestry emanating from the event but you have to go to Berne to see it. Then it was time to get ready for the wedding in the neighboring village of Meyriez pronounced Merriay. I had seen the historic church on a hill overlooking the lake and nearby lakeside decorative hotel on my walkabout and said to myself "what a beautiful place to have a wedding" and sure enough I was right. Several people accompanied me as we walked to the church. Inside the wedding ceremony started exactly at 4 as advertised. I didn't notice as the priest switched from swiss dialect to pure German -- heck, I didn't understand a thing -- but there was a speech, some hymns, flute and organ accompaniment and a rather nervous groom. The groom and bride recited wedding vows to each other of their own writing, and, as we exited the church there were little swiss children in costume dancing folk dances. Then there were brothers from the groom's college fraternity famous for sword fighting with kilt-like costumes and real scars on their faces with swords raised for everyone exiting the church to pass under. We moved from the church courtyard to the hotel garden along the lake for a reception of hors d'orves and a cabaret performance by a group from Paris brought in for the occasion. The happy couple released white pigeons into the air (had I known I would've brought post cards for them to carry) followed by more kiddie dancing and lots of conversation among many interesting people from several countries, almost all of whom spoke English. (OK, so I am English-centric -- I'd otherwise have to know 7 languages to get through the next 2 weeks.) Then to the dinner which was a 7 hour affair inside the hotel's ballroom. We were a crowd of about 100 which was a nice amount if you wanted it to be friendly. The orchestra consisted of swiss conservatory musicians and a particularly good pianist who built a false wooden box to make his electric piano look like an antique baby grand; the music was all ballroom and the members of the wedding family are good dancers (they took lessons in high school). The father was a colonel in the swiss army and talked up the local wines of which several were served according to a list. The various gentry showed all necessary gentility toward the women-folk as is done in old-style Europe. One of the wines hailed from 1966 which was a wine bought by the bride's father in the year of her birth to be saved for the wedding; the padre died when the girl was 18 so we drank the wine and toasted the father in a rather poignant scene. All of the food was utterly gourmet and special vegetarian food was ordered for me and it was most impressive. As an example, I had a fruit soup with round pieces of cantaloupe at the top and molasses at the bottom. Those eating beef wellington had what's known as second service meaning the opportunity to have seconds. This idea that the Swiss eat little portions didn't exist all over my visit. After dinner there was a buffet just of cheeses and then a dessert table (what do you call a Viennese table at a Swiss affair?); at the end of the evening they turned down the lights, we stood in a circle with the happy couple dancing their last dance in the middle and then sang Old Lang Zine (I have no idea how you spell this). I particularly enjoyed the evening of conversation; you could just walk up to people and a few minutes later be talking about International Tax Policy. So much different than what I am used to here in the US; the drinking for the purpose of getting drunk and the noise both so as to prevent anyone from striking up a conversation. Speaking of drunkneness: the wives seem to be the designated drivers. I guess that's progressiveness for you. Either that or just plain good sense considering all the expensive cars that people drove off with at 2am. A note about the piano player: Turns out we were told next morning he's wanted by the police as a suspect in connection with embezzlement of a few hundred thousand dollars from the conservatory; he just was bandleader for the biggest gig in town and you'd think the police could find him in little Switzerland. Point around here is that like lots of grey matters in Switzerland, sometimes things are tolerated with a wink and sometimes they are not. This is an important concept to understand in context with various grey markets and a view toward history of the earlier part of this century in this country. 

Sunday -- Murten / Zurich -- Morning breakfast with the wedding party followed by a drive to the groom's house in Langenthal about 100 km from Zurich. Even here land is exceedingly expensive. My hosts lucked out by buying this cow pasture 25 years ago; now a piece of it is worth $1 million, meaning their garden has a value of several million. Now with drizzle we drove into Zurich in one of what must be about 8 cars the family holds; I checked into a 3 star hotel Poly for $60 (with shower but the toilet is right outside the room but no matter) near the University and I would recommend it. Met my friend for home-cooked dinner on his balcony and then we walked to nearby mountain for view of city, deep black forests and some "sound of music" pastoral photos and some interesting conversations with people on the street. The apartment buildings in the university area of Zurich are quite colorful and kept up nicely; it is a pleasure to just walk around. 

Monday -- Zurich / Nicosia -- Early morning walk around the Bahn-hoff Strasser which means street by the railroad station; if people knew that, I wonder if so much luxury would be associated with the street. Also walked around to see some of the old churches in the Old Town, customs house, lakeside, and did some window shopping; there are good sales at this time of year but I wasn't in a mood to buy and carry. Then to a travel agency to pick up an airline ticket (sometimes it pays to call overseas to buy tickets as the price for intra-continental travel might be lower than the discount brokers in the USA can obtain; in Zurich I used SSR Travel 41.1.261.9757). In the US, I used Air Brokers International in San Francisco 800.883.3273 or 415.397.1383. Speak to SAL, extension 225. By this time, I had a good idea of how to get around Zurich. Zurich is quite manageable with a map. Finally to airport to buy Ricola Tea for my mother at her request and to purchase takeout food to eat on the 3½ hour flight to Larnaca and have a bit of a swiss party with tuna and lox/salmon sandwiches, pistachio chocolates and cream and linzer tart pastries, all delicately prepared and designed. Of course, as I was leaving the sun came out. Cyprus Airlines flies nice big Airbuses to Cyprus and always carries some extra vege meals so even though I forgot to order it, I had it anyway. Flying in the northern hemisphere during the summer, you want to face North in the afternoon in order to get the nicest views of the ground. This might be counterintuitive so I am mentioning it. 

Arrived in Larnaca after viewing the semi-arid countryside by air. No problem with ATM's in this country. The 45 minute ride to Nicosia put us inside just at the exact moment Hong Kong was being turned over to China but Cyprus television chose to ignore the event. So I saw the turnover back in New York since I had programmed my VCR to tape it knowing I would be in transit. We did some Greek food (when in doubt there's always hummus and pita) at a local diner and walked along the main shopping street to see an abrupt halt followed by a Turkish border along a still very hostile split city with a no-man's land in the middle. I didn't see the Turkish side but am told by people who have been there that 400 meters away the Turkish side is just plain awfully underdeveloped and it's day and night. The Greek side is quite nicely developed and modern but not as naturally beautiful. Following discussions with a British ex-pat neighbor and a stroll through the neighborhood, it was nighty-night on Andreas's bedroom floor as there was no air conditioning in the living room and it was quite hot and humid. 

Tuesday -- Nicosia / Larnaca -- Started by visiting the drycleaner for same day service and went to post office to send the tea (the Swiss poste price was too high). Taxis are nice in Cyprus but you need to state immediately where you are going as the drivers sorta decide whether or not they want to take you -- like in Israel. Visited Lebanon embassy to get a visa; you cannot obtain it in Cyprus so don't waste the trip to the embassy; just get it on arrival at the airport. Nearby the embassy is the historic museum which is only worthwhile if you are into archeology. Continued my walk into town (summer time one should carry water bottle) and saw other nice buildings such as municipal theater, municipal building, home of greek archbishop, various mosques and churches, shopping streets, homes along the "green line" splitting the city in 2, and was utterly drenched considering it was 38 degrees centigrade and i was walking around for about 3 hours. Took a short lunch at their Burger King known I think as Big Burger -- whatever it is you can't miss it and it is quite good. Met Andreas for lunch at a Pizza Inn and we walked downtown Nicosia and returned home. After some errrands, we went to his parents' house and I continued by taxi to Larnaca for dinner, walk along the seashore and rest. I wouldn't recommend my hotel since the A/C didn't work and they said it did. Larnaca is a nice place to spend a day with a pretty seaside promenade, reasonable prices (ie: hotel is about $65 a night) and a 10 minute cab ride to the airport. I have stayed there before and preferred to be there in order to be well placed for my morning flight to Beirut. 

Wednesday -- Larnaca / Beirut / Amman -- Started the day watching Russian television and it has become more modern but tasteless during the past 5 years. Loudmouthed tuxedo-clad cha-cha host in a What's the Tune type show with all sorts of flashing lights, big orchestras, dancing showgirls, etc. At least commercials are very short and few -- the Russians have less patience for them than we Americans. The Cyprus airport on entry and exit is rather quick unless you come with a Phillipino passport. Saw some Iranians in the departure lounge going to Teheran; the women look like Darth Vaders with their black cloaks and face coverings leaving only their eyes exposed. The 30 minute flight on Middle Eastern Airlines was on a sparkling new Airbus and the landing in Beirut was spectacular; sit on left side. Passed along the coast, downtown, all that bombed out wreckage, a golf course and the Shiite neighborhoods near the airport and then touchdown. I made the mistake of leaving my radio on my airplane seat while going to the bathroom and someone had the nerve of taking it. The minute I exited the plane I raised a total scene and security held up everyone at passport control until I went down the line and picked out this Arab boy holding the radio in his hand. (At least he should have packed it away.) We exchanged looks and he gave back the radio and that was the end of that. Then I got my transit visa which is free if you stay less than 48 hours and then passed through; of course, American passport holders at this time get a red card on the side so that they do not enter using their passports and do not get them stamped on exit. [As of this writing, travel ban has just been lifted. Visa situation may change.] As I left customs, they give you free cups of coffee to welcome you and my friend met me on this rather hot and humid day and we were off exploring. 

A drive through the center of town and lots of questions and answers along the way. We saw bombed out buildings, buildings under construction, brand new buildings, tons of construction along the seashore which is also naturally beautiful with grottos and various levels of elevation. All over you can see hotels being rebuilt such as the Hilton which was a day away from opening when the war started and which had to be gutted and rebuilt, the Intercontinental, Sheraton, Holiday Inn, etc. Some 200 year old buildings are being carefully restored brick by brick by Swiss and other companies; the whole world except for the USA is doing business here and for some reason the Americans say this area is scary even though there has been no incidents for over a decade. We say we want to punish terrorists but travel and business with Syria or Iran is still OK. Meanwhile, the second language of signage and talking here is French and not English but I suspect that will change. Internet is becoming a big fad here and you can even order pizza delivery through it. They have recently started taking credit cards here again and I saw some Cirrus machines. Several chains such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardees, Baskin Robbins, are here. Much of the new construction is being coordinated through a government-sponsored monopoly corporation and it is clear that the prime minister Harriri and the Syrian sponsors are the powers that be. For one thing, Assad's picture is all over the Beirut airport. A brand new airport is being built and I suppose I will see it on the next visit. Lebanese are free traders and taxes on everything except import duties are quite low but the market is distorted in that if Harriri or Syria is on the other side of a dispute, you will lose but otherwise the Bar is competent and clubby and the justice system is respected but clogged. My host is from one of the leading Christian families in the country and his uncle is a popular parliamentarian who speaks out openly against Syria. For this he is universally popular but the Syrians keep a checkpost at the entrance to his village just to let him know who is boss. This is significant since there are not that many Syrian checkposts in town. People seem happy here; you see people smiling on the streets and there is a carefree attitude. A Dutch businessman sitting next to me on the flight to Amman said the Lebanese have their feet on the ceiling; the Syrians have their feet on the ground. I guess the Lebanese are eternal optimists; it was said that stores opened up any day there was no bullets. The Jordanians are clearly more cautious and slow. 

Although they are building roads and redoing infrastructure, the weak point is traffic. There are just too many cars on the roads and you can't set schedules for car trips. They can only widen roads so much as there are buildings on the sides and they cannot build a subway due to the water table. So this is a weak link that won't go away. To get to the airport, we drove backward through busy streets, the wrong way down one way streets and through back dirt roads with rocks to get down mountains. Still got stuck in a few jams but at least I got to the airport with 45 minutes to spare after driving through the Shiite neighborhoods near the airport and seeing the pictures of the Hizbullah religious clerics all over. Lots of bullet holes, and clearly some wild west feeling but you know that whatever is now is 800% better than what was there a few years ago and in a few years a first class city will have arisen from the ashes. 

We did Italian lunch at a beautiful restaurant with my host's brother who is a Harvard educated lawyer; I saw Black's Law Dictionary in many law offices in many countries on this trip. Also enjoyed many lunches with people who believe in eating lunch; definitely a habit more Americans should take upon themselves. Also sat with many people with cellular phones wearing ear pieces in their cars; it was fun getting a call from Beirut sitting in a cafe in Nicosia. The cost of cellular service in all these countries is far less than in the USA and they pay only to make and not receive calls (except in Tokyo). The cost of long distance calls is also going down; the fact is that we in the USA are now paying some of the highest rates in the world for cellular and long distance service -- something is very wrong here. The Israelis only pay 20 cents a minute to call the USA and pay about 8 cents a minute for cellular; we pay about 60 cents to call them and about 30-40 for cellular and pay even when we receive calls. 

After lunch we drove along the shore to an area known as Junia which is a mountain overlooking the sea with a panorama just like Rio De Janeiro. Having been there I can say this. There is a magnificent casino at the cliff and they are building mansions there. I am told that with cash you can still buy at a good price and I am strongly recommending to buy. No matter what, this area will be profitable since it is beautiful. Unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned though I didn't know it at the time and I lost a good number of pictures in this area. I don't expect another civil war as 15 years of it utterly destroyed the country and the people are probably not stupid enough to fall for the propaganda again; for one thing, the city is less segregated now so people know each other and there is much more media and communication. In Nicosia however, the Greeks and Turks do not know each other, have different languages, still hate each other and the schools are giving the youngsters a lot of propaganda. 

Short visit to a friend who was watching MTV in his living room in his $75,000 1,500 foot apartment (makes me feel good in a global understanding sense to know we are all watching the same things) and then to my host's 200 year old house which is a bit of a community meeting house with all sorts of open rooms with couches and tables since they are community leaders. One of the brothers is a doctor, one is a lawyer and the other was director of the stock exchange. Anybody needs a doctor, they get treated for free if they can't afford it. My host was renovating another 200 year old house which he will move into after getting married in August 1997. I met him through an Israeli who is sort of blood brother to him but the Israeli can't come to the wedding so I sorta came as an advance man. Perhaps the Israelis can arrange another invasion so that Shmuel can come. 

This was a good time to use Business Class privileges and I lucked out with the opportunity to go upperclass without paying anything substantial. Here you get your own airport lounge, a nice car ride to the plane and there was dinner on the 1 hour flight to Amman (which because of the no-fly area over Southern Lebanon is not 15 minutes but rather a circuitous route over the sea, northern Lebanon, Syria and down to Jordan). Cyprus also lets you upgrade for like $100 at the airport but it wasn't necessary considering how comfortable the plane was to Cyprus amid lots of empty seats. Arrival to Amman was rather quiet as there are no lights in the area. If you can, get a visa to Jordan before arriving as the line for visas was awful with one person processing the entire flight. No matter what you will need a visa unless you are flying in and out in a short period of time. They grab you here; it was $30 to enter and exit the country. Then at passport control they take a year. Took a full hour to get out of the airport. No question the worst of the trip. I pulled over the police, gave them a bit of hell, they brought in some uniformed people who screamed at the visa people and got these donkeys to move a bit faster. The Jordanians may want tourists but they clearly have to get their act together at the airport if they want to make it tourist friendly. My friend Ayman was waiting for me at the exit and it's a good half hour drive into town. Did the late night falafel take out thing, went home and made some calls and headed to my hotel known as the Orchid for bed. Very good at about $60 a night with the 20% tax. One good thing here is I didn't get woken up at 4 am with any mosques as I usually do at most hotels. Finally a hotel with decent air conditioning and a good night's sleep. 2 flights in one day is a good stretch but not so bad considering the good handling and short flights at convenient times. All in all, I flew on 7 flights on 6 airlines in 16 days which is not bad as long as you fly at convenient times on good airlines on nonstop flights. Overseas flights should arrive in the evening so you can just sack out on arrival. The midnight flight to Zurich arriving 2 pm was better than arriving at 7 am. I also recommend carrying a comfortable pillow from home; helps on planes, hotel beds, couches and floors. 

Thursday -- Amman / Naura -- This was a whirl-wind day of business meetings. 8:30 with Hanna and then to look at real estate in the Abdun area of Amman which has gone up in value since I last visited and construction has continued but remains reasonably priced and is still a recommended investment. 10 am with Marwan who is General Manager of one of the country's top computer software companies. 11:30 with Khaled who is senior investment advisor to a top bank. Also present was Awni who heads a top investment company. 30 year olds like Khaled are, in the public and private sector, the country's best hope for change and they are supervising people twice their age. This is problematic in Arab culture when you have to say to someone, Look, on the train I'll give you my seat but we're in the office now and you just fucked up a million dollar trade. To pay these people as much as they must in order not to get them to emigrate, they hire them as consultants and this drives the more senior members of the civil service bonkers. Today a 30 year old is CEO of one of the hottest companies, Century, with $150 million turnover on investment this year; the company is doing several joint ventures with, inter alia, American and Israeli companies. 2:00 with Ayman and his new partner for a feast of a lunch at an al fresco establishment. 3:30 with Sameh at his beautiful house who is manager of a large investment company. 5:00 to Ayman's office to meet with other attorneys and get ready to go to the northern border crossing to Israel. Couldn't get a taxi directly to where I need to go, so I took a cab to the Allenby Bridge with a taxi who was then to take me to the other bridge and then the car broke so I transferred to another car who drove the 1 hour break-neck speed through the countryside to the northern bridge crossing point. The crossing was OK; the Israelis asked lots of questions and kept looking at my radio. My passport didn't say I was in Lebanon; didn't say how I entered Jordan or that I exited to Israel and the Israelis also kept my passport clean. Mohammed was waiting at the exit and all the border personnel knew he was waiting for me; I was an hour behind due to the foulup at the bridge. 

A word here about political discussions. My main message in Jordan and Lebanon (which I visited before Israel) was that the Israeli government is admittedly a disaster and this assessment is almost universal among Israelis. I predicted the government would be out by year's end which hardly any Israeli agreed with; they all predict at least 1-2 years or perhaps even re-election because the electorate is stacked by numbers against the Left. Clearly the Jordanian and Lebanese elite follow the subtleties of Israeli politics and know who is in a tiss with whom at all times. They hope for better times with Israel and more business but the present is intolerable and who can disagree? The King has been embarrassed too many times for comfort by the Israeli Prime Minister and no one -- especially the Israelis in his own party -- believes him. The Israelis are not as interested in Arab politics. In Switzerland, I got vibes that the country is in decline; in Cyprus I heard that things are good; in Lebanon the word is that things are good but would be better if the Syrians would clear out; in Jordan I got pessimism. Several spoke of going to Canada for a year to get a passport for increased mobility (easier to get visas to the USA, UK, etc.) and security in case the Beards take over after Crown Prince Hassan becomes King and fails. So far whatever Hassan has done has failed and people don't relate to him; he makes a speech and it sounds OK but 2 minutes later they aren't sure what he said. Like Netanyahu in Israel. The Jordanian political parties have united and will run as a common front for the Parliament; the Islamic parties will boycott. There is hope in this that at least the Parliament will be able to act in a concerted way; unlike the Israeli mish-mash of political parties leading to stalemate. It is understood that Jordan has been burned by the Iraq war, little business with Israel, not so much tourism and that development of a service industry is necessary but the government is not investing in the infrastructure needed to build this type of industry. Still lots of red tape for those in these businesses. Taxi drivers only communicate in Arabic. No ATM's to get cash. Easier to import spare parts than whole items of technology. As I said before, the airport is a nightmare and the best consolation offered up to me is that Saudi Arabia takes 2 hours to clear. If the Jordanians could combine the Lebanese free trade attitude with their honest system of government and justice, it would be very good. The Lebanese are pragmatic; they sell petrol in groups of 5 liters. Who would buy one liter of petrol anyway? Interestingly, the Arabs all pay more for petrol than we do; it's uniformly about $1.50 a gallon; we are paying about $1.10 in New Jersey. All in all, I've done Jordan 3 times now and I find it a bit familiar and the friendly reception makes it a must-stop for me in the region. Frankly, I find it safer there than in East Jerusalem where they throw stones at me every time I enter the city in a taxi. On the way to the border, an East Jerusalemite said to me he wants Israel to stay there; he fears for his human rights under Arafat. I expect that before long the Palestinians will get the eastern part of the city. The Jews don't live there; why should they want to administer it? I'm not sure I see the added security the Israelis get by not letting the PLO set up a Vatican-like capital at the Orient House in East Jerusalem. In Israel I visited Har Homa which I will discuss later; from these things I gather that Israeli policy today exists more in terms of bombast and ceremony than on real pragmatic and security considerations. 

All in all, I was happy to see that throughout the Levant (Israel, Jordan and Lebanon), Shmuel, Amin and Ayman are all working in their offices till 11 at night, they want to make deals that make money, and are essentially pragmatists. I have no doubt that if we stuck these 3 people in a room, they would solve everything in 3 hours because the alternative is wasting peoples' time and money. Arabs are learning more about Israelis in the past 3 years than the other way around. Even my native Israeli cousins who are in their 50's admit they don't know any Palestinian Arabs. I think there is some justification having visited the region twice in the past 3 years and essentially coming out with the same conclusions as then (having reviewed my notes) that it is unfair to say that we Americans don't understand the neighborhood; I think I understand it just fine; I think that as an outsider, we get a certain overview that the people inside the neighborhood don't get because they are ghettoized within the region from each other. 

Having crossed into Israel, even at night, in the first 5 minutes of driving around even in a rural area, you notice a polish and shine that you just don't see elsewhere in the region. Israel just keeps on modernizing, electronicallizing and color is employed liberally throughout public areas. I went with my friend Mohammed, an Israeli Moslem Arab, to his house near the border in an Arab village known as Na'ura. About 1,000 people live there on a hilltop overlooking the valley. They have good relations with the nearby kibbutzes. His whole family of 11 brothers and sisters and other relatives made a receiving line for me and we all sat down to communicate in the common language of Hebrew. Mother brought in a feast for dinner in the living room with various couches and tatami mats where someone was always napping and watching television. Dinner consisted of a big platter with lots of little plates with food on them and you take your pita and dip it in whatever you want to eat. No hot water and the place seemed a bit primitive, particularly the kitchen which was 75% empty floor (and I guess they sit on the floor to prepare food) but mom and daughters make their own pita and cheese and the food was great. That night we walked around the village and there were chickens cackling. Mohammed said his father has 25 chickens and keeps them all as he enjoys hearing them around. That night, I had 25 chickens making noise outside my window all night long plus some pesky mosquitos and I didn't sleep 2 hours. 

Friday -- Na'ura / Haifa / Jerusalem -- Next morning I asked Mohammed how he slept for 3 years while in law school in the UK -- he said he missed them chickens. Mom served us all sorts of goodies for breakfast such as french fries, toasted cheese, and yoghurt. Just like my grandmother -- she kept coming in with fruits and snacks -- Eat, Eat! Then Mohammed and I talked politics and other items on the drive to Haifa where I toured for 2 hours with the director of that city's main hospital. After lunch in the hospital cafeteria, he put me on the bus for the 2 hour ride to Jerusalem. There I jumped into a taxi, bought shekels at an ATM, and settled in at my relatives house to make lots of phone calls to set up appointments in Jerusalem and to eat dinner with the family. 

Saturday -- Jerusalem -- After a 3 am battle with some mosquitos, I resumed a fairly good night's sleep; most of today was devoted to meeting various friends. No doubt that Jerusalem has a special feel on the sabbath. First it was Gilead who does business consulting, then Ronen and his partner who imports computer programmers from Romania [this Year 2000 computer problem is going to employ tons of people even past the year 2000; an Israeli office building just tested their Year 2000 program and the elevator system shut down; thinking it was 2000, it realized it hadn't been inspected for several years!] and invests in various entities such as a hotel in Turkish Cyprus, then a siesta followed by a visit with an old room mate, and then to meet a Swiss guy who I originally met on a city bus in Jerusalem a few years back, exchanged cards with, had over for a coffee and kept up a friendship. The kind of thing you could never do in the U.S.; if you talked to someone on a city bus, they'd get up and move away figuring you were mental. Then off to visit a relative and home-cooked dinner with a good friend who works in the foreign ministry, his wife and newborn son Tom and a Knesset liaison for the Russian immigrant party. Lots of political discussion all day in which was found much uncertainty over the direction of the economy and of course the political situation. Problem is that above all there is a feeling that the political system favors the incumbent, the numbers game yields a majority vote among religionists, sefardim and land-desirous types. So the feeling is that the country will be subjected to more of the same political disaster for some time to come with ministers who care more about personal honor than in actually accomplishing anything (ie: the foreign minister) and appointments made to push aside potential rivals (ie: Sharon against Yitzhak Mordechai in the defense ministry who currently polls popular). So far neither Barak (who is just not terribly likable), Mordechai, Beilin or Meridor appears a decent threat to the status quo. Just 2 weeks after I left, Sharon didn't get the appointment he hoped for and switched sides to lead the charge to pass a law making it easy to throw Bibi out; the sands shift so quickly. One main thing propping up Bibi when I visited is the lack of terror over the past year; as of this writing, the twin-bombing in Jerusalem knocked that to the side. (If I were advising Arafat, I would recommend another few of these in quick succession and this will probably knock Bibi out of office within 3-4 months.) Some politicos speculate he will fall if the Knesset can't pass a budget in November (failure to pass a budget brings the government down and in this case the parties can look good trying to bring home the bacon and blaming it on everyone else if they bring down the government). 

Sunday -- Jerusalem / Tel Aviv -- Morning meetings in Yossi's coffee shop with lots of pastries and drinks continue with political analyst Oded who generally says that the Israelis are not interested in anything changing and that's why nothing will ever change. Oded usually gives me the creeps in this sense but over a long period of time he's been right. Oded believes the Israelis will bomb Iran next summer with the F-22's the US is to deliver in Spring 1998. He says the Americans are giving the Israelis this plane to do just that, there is no other use for these planes, the Iranians know this is coming, are not making any attempt to hide their nuclear facilities which are to be bombed, and says they are just crazy. He feels that America and Europe (not to mention every Arab state) agree that they are all threatened if Israel doesn't come through for them on this. Then off to the Bar Association to make sure they keep my application file safe and sound "tov tov." Then a hard-hitting hour with Sharansky's pollster who says Sharansky is a bit to the left of Netanyahu, that Sharansky believes that nobody is guilty or should really be suspected until convicted, that respect must be shown toward the democratic system that elected the prime minister, that Sharansky is really a man of integrity, and so therefore there will be no change soon but that if Sharanksy had to deal with Barak instead of Bibi he would have no problem doing so. He said that Sharansky the chess player is backing the government (and the Orthodox) on the conversion bill (requiring conversion only according to Orthodox law) to the detriment of his voters because he believes that (1) the ultraorthodox will get their way eventually even though it may take 20-30 years till they become almost the majority; (2) it is better in the long run for the Soviet Jewish community not to be looked at as convert-bastards as they already are stereotyped as prostitutes and mafiosos and for them to join the Jewish community in a mainstream way so that the rest of the Jews will never question their Judaism, particularly should these Jews be "converted" and then their Judaism be questioned when the ultraorthodox get their way in a few decades. He fears that for the benefit of a few, the whole community of emigres will be tainted. Then a short meeting with a Swiss friend in Israel who deals in international commerce. 

Networking done for now, into a taxi to see the sound and light show at Har Homa which is a bare mountain on the edge of Jerusalem somewhat near Gilo and Bethlehem. The only thing going on there is a bulldozer clearing a road on the mountain. There is nothing going on for a few miles in any direction from that mountain. Why this is important is to compare the area to a tic-tac-toe board with the mountain in the middle. You have X's (Jews) going horizontally and O's (Arabs) going vertically. Whoever builds on that mountain is the tic-tac-toe in the middle. Seems obvious to me that what you do is build nothing on that mountain for now and deal with it at the end. Pretty clear that to make a big show of building on the mountain now is only going to inflame passions and make it impossible to cut a deal later on; why try to create facts on the ground and destroy any pretense of good faith when you are within a negotiation over a final settlement; at the least, it is squandering goodwill to make a big show here and not be actually doing anything. This seems rather obvious to me the minute you see this for yourself. Problem with all the commentary over this is that no one ever explains exactly where this mountain is and the geographic layout of the area. Then off to see the latest incarnation of center city Jerusalem which now has added McDonalds (not kosher though), Burger King, Pizza Hut, Bonkers Bagels, Dunkin Donuts -- what more could you want? A short visit to Israel Radio headquarters to update my telephone numbers and straighten out their frequencies which have been getting interference from Sweden and then off in a taxi to Tel Aviv since the bus station was temporarily closed due to a bomb scare. 

Met with Gil and Ayal at Ichilov Hospital. Gil is supervising construction so I now visited the bowels of the hospital and saw the rooftop airconditioning system, underground tunnels, internal wiring systems. On this trip I have been seeing lots of construction sites and hospitals. Shoes need a good cleaning. Then off to relatives and dinner with a leading next-generation attorney in the country who knew how to impress with dinner at the gourmet room in the Hilton and a friendly maitre 'd who knows him, gives a good discount and brought over little extras. Hard to enjoy prime rib roast at 10pm on the run though. The Hilton really is some of the best available for kosher gourmet though. Barak's apartment quite nice and all custom built European-wise, the wash was done while we ate, and another day finished. Nowadays people get Filipino maids and Scandinavian nannys for the kids and I've been noticing that the kiddie rooms these days have tons of stuffed animals and toys in them. 

Monday -- Tel Aviv / Paris -- Looking forward to returning to 75 degree Central Europe; getting tired of the Middle East heat and humidity. Started the day by watching the running of the bulls live on Spanish TV; Israel's cable system gives you lots of countries' TV to watch. Much better than the US system which is so parochial. That night I was in Paris with a Spanish taxi driver talking about what I was watching that morning. Small world. Set up court at a Sheinkin (read Yuppy) Street cafe, met with David the computer programmer, Ari the attorney and then set out toward another attorney's office (Avi), returned to Gil at the hospital and went with him to see where Rabin was assassinated and you could get the feel for the prime minister walking down the stairs with the assassin waiting for him in the parking lot. The area has been martyred with graffitti, rosaries and a stone monument. Then off to a premier office address to Barak's office and then to the airport. At Tel Aviv rush hour it's best to have a taxi driver take you to the airport as they know how to avoid the Ayalon freeway; even Barak did not know best in this case. Ben Gurion Airport has been renovated and the arrival area is very impressive and plays well to Jews coming to the airport to greet people. Israel is also good at giving tourists and arriving immigrants a good first impression. Beware the commission-less banks at the departure; I held onto my foreign currency that was not in shekels. Time for a packed El Al flight to Paris -- 4 1/2 hours and crummy food. El Al is the only business class I've ever seen that has the same seats as in coach. Frankly, for what the average person paid in air fare, they could afford to give a bit more. It was a fun flight in the sense there were many kids aboard and when the flight took off you heard the whoosh of excitement from the kids. Arrival in Paris at midnight was fine; ATM's and telephone cards are available at the airport. The phone cards can be bought using a credit card from an automated machine. Expect to spend at least 5-10 dollars for phone cards across the board in these countries but it pays to have them with you. Taxi to my friend's house was about $50 but it was a far ride; so nice to see beautiful roads and signs. What's impressive about Paris is not just what is old but what is new and renovated. They keep things up nicely here. 

Tuesday -- Paris -- Late start and a taste of local media before starting off to tour the local St. Cloud village where my friend Laurent lives and then by metro to La Defense, a complex of shops, office buildings, parks and public art. Most impressive is that the cars are all underground so the whole city is virtually pedestrian. At the top of the Great Arch which is actually an office building about 30 stories tall but looks like an Arch is a museum and rooftop observatory. Took a tram tour of the area which is a nice 40 minute activity and beats walking. La Defense has so much neato architecture that the flight from Israel was worthwhile just to see it. And of course it's fun to see what the French are wearing. If I could fit into their shirts, I would buy a good number of them. 

When I arrived at the Champs de Elysees I noticed that I had left my telephone directory by a telephone at the museum atop the Grand Arch and had to stop everything to go back and get it; fortunately it is easy to get around with the metro which even offers plush velvet seats. Though the people at the museum said over the phone they had looked for it but also said there are no cleaning ladies, I decided to go back myself. By the grace of Allah I found the cleaning lady right near the phone, gesticulated wildly, and we found it in the garbage can. Resuming my schedule, I visited a friend Ouri, helped him and several other people abroad get their e-mail and Netscape browsers in order so that we could correspond, and then braved rush hour traffic (after a while, I had my taxi get me to a metro station which turned out to be faster) to meet Laurent and wife for dinner. [A word about computers -- in Zurich I helped Ezra install Windows 95 which was all in German but it doesn't matter since the look and feel is the same as the American version and so all over the world we all use the same computer programs. No wonder Bill Gates is the wealthiest man in the world. I remember a few years ago when computer "experts" would visit my house and they could never make anything work. I am certainly no expert but here I was abroad installing someone else's program in another language.] Anyway, we did dinner at a typical French restaurant and a twilight sightseeing tour of the river Seine and the important sites of Paris from the car. Even if for a short visit, Paris is so grand and it is an esthetic pleasure to visit. A good dish is chopped up codfish mixed with mashed potatoes. For dessert, of course it must be the Tartuffe (vanilla ice cream circles with hot chocolate sauce and chocolate shells). Finally a nerve-wracking ride to the airport since certain roads were closed and arrival about 40 minutes before the flight to Tokyo. Air France only requires a 30 minute check-in. Charles De Gaulle Airport is the best airport I have ever flown out of; you go from check-in to security to the plane in less than 100-200 feet and the whole thing takes 5 minutes. I managed to get a 3 seat row on the plane all to my self and snuggled in my flight suit (sweat pants, long sleeve T-shirt, pillow and slippers) for a good midnight flight and told them to serve all my food an hour before touchdown which is what I traditionally do on overseas flights. I don't know why a flight that leaves at midnight and arrives the next evening is programmed so that they feed you a big meal after you probably ate dinner in the city and want to go to sleep and then breakfast an hour before touchdown as if it was morning. My arrival in Tokyo was at 6:30 pm Japan time. 

Wednesday -- Tokyo -- Although my cousin had sent me a beautiful arrival package in Paris to guide my arrival in Tokyo with phone card, train schedule and directions of exactly what to do, he was not at his cellphone when I arrived or an hour and a half later when the airport express train pulled into the central station in Tokyo (make sure you get on the right train car if you are continuing to Shinjuku Station or some other place because the train splits at Tokyo station). The metro system in Tokyo is hard to navigate if you don't speak the language and are drenching from carrying your bags in 90 degree humid weather after an 11 hour flight from Paris. What is also difficult is that there are 2 metro systems within the downtown area and they are not owned by the same company so you have constantly buy tickets to transfer trains. A real pain in the butt for the tourist which many locals on commuter passes don't have to deal with. So finally I got into a taxi but the driver couldn't speak or read English (most people in Japan know nothing of English) and, though he wore jacket and tie, didn't seem too swift and finally went to a police station, left me locked in the cab for about 10 minutes and then came out and drove me to some place where I had no idea where I was though I was probably right in front of my cousin's apartment. Then I told him to go back to the police station. Found a telephone and called my cousin's roommate who answered and spoke with him in Japanese. People here talk a lot among themselves till THEY understand things but then tell you nothing. Then the cab driver told me to get off and I stood around waiting. Then I called again -- thank goodness so many people carry cellulars here. Turned out the cab driver said the police station and my cousin said the metro station. Finally it was about 10:30 pm and I arrived at my cousin's apartment in a very nondescript area -- so nondescript that I could never find it again even during the day even when I was standing right in front of it. 

Thursday -- Today it rained as it did for the rest of my trip. At least the rain kept the heat down although it was always sticky. Morning walk-a-round the neighborhood to see the local 7-11 convenience stores, specialty rice stores, drycleaners, etc. Shopkeepers there really talk a lot about little things like rice. Well I guess if you spent your day only selling rice you might discuss it at length. Funny thing but Japanese overpay for rice so as to protect their farmer class. People say "HI" a lot on the phones and in customer-service situations. On the telephone it means, YES, I GET IT, and in the service context it means I HANG ON YOUR EVERY WORD. You are supposed to be very excited, deferential and chipper as in Disneyesque when you say HI..HI...HI. If you are an older guy you can grunt it. Another interesting service concept (either as a health and/or honor matter) is that people don't put coins of change in your hands in most situations but rather put the coins into a container into which you then insert your grubby paw. Grocery prices were roughly equivalent to the US as long as you don't buy certain items seen as very expensive even though they are not imported such as cantaloupes, watermelons, mangos, pineapples and white peaches. Now you know why a Japanese eating a fruit salad in New York is clapping his hands with glee because he just got $25 worth of cantaloupe for a few bucks. Items such as Haagen Daaz ice cream and Philadelphia Cream Cheese are outrageous but Tropicana juices are reasonable. It's hit and miss. There are certain supermarkets where you can get everything from anywhere and presentation is beautiful but you pay a bundle. Be fair though -- Zabars in New York will charge $15 for a sandwich too. You can get bananas and oranges cheap. The fruits I mentioned earlier are wrapped up like gifts and sell for gift-giving prices such as $25 for a cantaloupe and $10 for 2 mangos or peaches. I'm told the fruits are excellent though. Presentation in general of the supermarkets is not as nice as in Europe and the Japanese pallette is more toward salty things with rice and fish and the Europeans like more sweets. I prefer Europe's taste buds. 

Before I visited Japan, I expected to find myself scavenging the streets in search of familiar food to eat. I wasn't disappointed. Though many restaurants have pictures of the food they are serving, it is hard to know what's in the pictures and there are just no menus in English except in certain tourist areas. Even the shopping areas such as Ginza are not in English. I started in Akihabara which is the district of electronic stores and certain electronics are a good deal in Japan. Not being in the market for electronics, I moved swiftly on. Walked for a mile before I saw even one restaurant and then finally capitulated to a McDonalds where I was the only American and had to point to the picture to say what I wanted. Can you say Filet-O-Fish Meal? McDonalds is no longer America -- it simply is an eating alternative all over the world. Their food is crap all over but at least you know what you are getting. Price of the food was not bad. Continuing onto the Ginza shopping district and the famous department stores with their big food courts at basement level, lots of service and help that don't just tell you where to go but accompany you there, elevator ladies with costumes and white gloves that squeak in high-pitched tones and wave their hands in petite circles over the elevator doors as they announce the floors. I saw the bonsai trees on the rooftop gardens, gawked at the $500 pajamas at Wacko, and figured that any wife of mine should not be brought to Tokyo for at least 5 years so that I could afford it. Beautiful items at sky-high prices even with the sales; hard for me to know how much of this could have been bought in New York at what price. Funny thing is that the Japanese have grown bigger and it was hard to find my size. Italy is still the best bet for me. Custom made clothes are available at a fairly reasonable price but not cheap enough to make it worthwhile to buy without thinking. Had high tea at a department store where the lady wrapped the cake in a box with ice and cutlery and a gold seal and then put the package into another bag. All this for a $3 piece of cake with plastic wrapping. Very good French pastry and fresh orange juice. The Japanese women enjoy all this wrapping so I guess the waste will continue. Certain things will change; now the man spends $35 and 2 hours to get a haircut with head massage. There are no Supercuts with their 10 minute $10 haircuts yet but those Japanese I asked said they would go for it; one said that's 2 hours and $400 of billable time as a lawyer. While things are very service oriented, one thing that bothers me is the pettiness which one encounters from the Korean grocer in New York and can't stand; you buy something that costs $10.01 and have either a $10 or $20 bill, they will take the 20 and give you a pocket full of change. The American will just take the 10 and be done with it. 

After a short visit to the Sony Building to see the latest gadgetry and high definition television, it was off to find my friend Masashi at his office. This is not easy. Many streets have no real names and numbers are arranged according to when a building was built. This is all rather feudal based on things that happened a few hundred years ago. So there are little police stations everywhere so that Japanese can find out where they are going. But what is the poor foreigner supposed to do? The police man sent me to the right building but when I arrived I had no idea that this was the building as there were no signs or numbers. So I walked around the whole block looking in vain and then returned to the building, went into the coffee shop and saw a lady carrying coffee cups up to offices and then said the name of the person I wanted to see (who incidentally owns the building) and then she pushed the button of the floor I needed to go to. Although I am accustomed to having an open mind to things I don't understand (I can even see the virtues of Muslims and other people not using toilet paper), it is rather clear that the street numbering system in Japan is the stupidest thing I have ever seen in a modern society and it should be changed. From what I hear, they know this too but the politics involved are immense. The word in Japan seems to be that people want to see various changes but bureaucrats still run the show and there has not yet been a real groundswell forcing change. After a spate of several prime ministers, the one currently in charge is expected to last a good couple of years and is said to have his own power base instead of just being a figurehead. 

Masashi dined me at a Japanese restaurant in a very nice hotel (I think it was called Dawa or Daha) and they served all sorts of foods I could eat in beautiful dishes all carefully crafted. As long as you eat vege, the prices are not outrageous. Remember food presentation is labor intensive and you are not just paying for food but for service as well. Japan is like the US with 5% sales tax and no V.A.T. but you don't tip. Also 110 volts just like in the US; but look LEFT when crossing the street (as in Cyprus as well) as they drive on left side. 

Friday -- Continued exploring the shopping malls of Tokyo with a visit to Shinjuku district and the lunchtime search for food which finally led to margharita pizza at Donatello's at the 11^th floor of the shopping center that features a Tokyo Hands store (sorta like a Bed, Bath & Beyond), a department store I can't pronounce and a big book store. Many words in Japanese sound the same to me -- there are a zillion variations of Takashi-something. Even here there were many menus with pictures but no English. To be fair -- Tokyo is probably no worse than France with regard to public signage but at least the French you can guess at but with Japanese and Arabic numerals (in Arab countries) it is very disorienting. In places such as Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, and Switzerland, there is no problem getting around as there is English everywhere. Lots of English on products for sale, signs and brand names but hardly anyone can read it. It's there cuz it's cool. 

It was nice to see trees wrapped in bamboo for decoration or whatever other reason, the Times Square area with all sorts of commerce and big screen TV's and lights, pachinko parlors where people steal away from work and play pinball games and collect prizes which they bring to the mafia to cash in. There is a good deal of corruption tolerated in Japan and you find it in pachinko parlors; clearly the government tolerates this extensive network of gambling. Another craze these days is the nightly half hour coverage to the Japanese guy who just joined the New York Yankees. They even show the games live on TV (he has since been shunted back to the minor leagues) but for a time my cousin could get more Yankee news from Japan than from New York City. 

Visited the office of my cousin who teaches English there and we checked out the Conda area in which he works and I then continued to another area to walk around and meet Mitsuhiro for a more French style dinner at the rooftop gourmet room of the Grand Hotel of Tokyo. Salad, fruits, salmon, veges, chocolate cake -- a bit pricey but beautifully done and it really hit the spot. When I arrived back at the metro station for the walk home, I had a map but it didn't help. Sought out help from people in the area and no one could help find my cousin's apartment. Then, I was standing right in front of it but didn't know it. Finally, someone helped me find it. (I'm usually real good at this.) Considering a country that is so orderly that people line up to get in the subway and bums in the subway station hang their clothes on hangars in their little box houses, you would think they would get a street system that works. Meanwhile, this is a good place to train people in reconnaissance skills. The nice thing is that the places where people live are real quiet. No noise like we are used to in New York City. Although Japan is an orderly society there is no zoning and no rhyme or reason to what is built next to what. Everything is mixed with everything. 

Saturday -- After a late start, headed out to a Buddhist temple which is a big business and where lots of commerce is done. Much land in Tokyo is actually owned by these temples. Looked at fans, amulets, weird foods, and ate lunch at some noodle oriented shop and then some Italian gelato. Continued to a big shopping street for foreigners and yuppy Japanese where finally I saw familiar foods such as Sbarros, bagels and lox, supermarkets like Zabars, and tree-lined boulevards. To be fair, there are lots of American products all over the place and the streets are nice, wide and well delineated but this was a cut above. It pays to shop around as these products are less expensive in other neighborhoods. Intriguing to see American teas such as Bigelows being sold here as a gourmet item at $7 per package of 16 teabags. In a general sense, my impression is that more and more people around the world are paying the same amount of money for the same items and you are generally getting what you pay for even if the price is different in one country than another. A subway ride in most modern countries is generally a bit more than a buck; a quart of orange juice is about 2 dollars and a movie is 5-7 dollars. The Japanese chocolate bar may cost almost $2 but it is of the highest quality and worth it. Jordan stands out as pretty cheap but people there make a lot less money too. We looked at cute flower displays and went to the Oriental Bazaar which is the unquestioned king of chatchke stores in the country in which one can buy cheap gifts sure to please. Did all my gift shopping here; got kimonos for the baby nieces, pajamas for myself, tea set for the parents, ashtray for the roommates, and chop sticks for the office mates. After we headed home, we took dinner at a place where you sit in front of a griddle, they give you the batter and you fry the pancake (things like egg, cabbage, carrots, fish, etc). I suppose there are not restaurants in the US like this as there would be too many lawsuits but I am told that there are. Finished up the day with some phone calls -- good thing my cousin and his roommate, a Ph.D. candidate in Japanese studies, speaks good Japanese. 

Sunday -- My cousin lives better than most Japanese; he at least has space in a nice apartment with a garden. Lots of Japanese live in company dormitories where they pay nominal rent (ie: $100 a month -- their cars pay $300 to live in a normal garage) but they are expected to save the money as when they marry their salary only goes up 20%. People get paid a bit differently; they get salary but get paid bonuses a few times a year equal to like half their salary. Men give their wives all the money and they give back their husbands an allowance. It is basically understood there that men are irresponsible, drink a lot and would waste the money if they held it. Lots of women walk around in kimonos which have lots of layers and is real hot in 90 degree summer but they do it anyway. The Jordanians said to me that their women are getting a bit more demanding; in Japan many of them take flower arranging, calligraphy and poetry classes as these are skills the Japanese men want in women. My cousin teaches lots of lonely hearts paying $90 an hour to learn English they'll never use. 

So on this last day we took another look at the vending machines in the neighborhood, the convenience store selling -- would you believe this -- disgusting looking bugs as pets at the cashier's counter and then went to Citibank to get some ATM cash. ATM's are everywhere but it seems that only Citibank's are open on Sundays. Cirrus is available at some Japanese banks. Then we headed out to a Shinto Temple for the summer festival which was sort of a like a Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention except this was a highly nationalistic festival for former kamikazes who still glorify World War II "victories." The whole place was filled with martyr art, lanterns with people's names, a tent with various types of entertainment, lots of old people fanning themselves, a food court run by the mafia where you could get things such ostrich testicles and chocolate covered bananas, corn on the cob, fruit juices and of course, noodles or rice. We saw the Japanese gardens, little children clapping and bowing at the shinto shrines and looking up their parents for approval (the gods are asleep so you clap to wake them up and let them know you are there), sumo wrestlers in their underwear skivvies getting ready to carry the shinto godlike creatures around, and walked around the moat to the emperor's residence in the very heart of Tokyo. 

Finally it was time for me to get to the airport and by the time I arrived I really needed a shower. Good to know you can do this in Terminal 2 but alas I was in Terminal 1 and there were only bathrooms to spritz myself with water. There are various desks where you can check your luggage for a few hours and pay about $5. Found the eating at Narita airport somewhat difficult and finally went to a sandwich shop and paid about $12 for a tuna sandwich and french fries. I wasn't fooling around before my flight which it turned out was 2 hours delayed; this was a good thing since I arrived in New York after the Sunday rush hour. Lucked out again with a 3-across all to myself on United. Most of the plane was outfitted for business and first class; only about 140 economy seats on the whole 747. Flight attendants said most of the passengers were Chinese coming from Hong Kong to the USA and that most of the Americans on this flight are business travelers; there was a 5pm flight the same day from Tokyo and that was full; I recommend the later flight especially since to arrive at the rush hour is a waste. The 747-400 is a nice comfortable plane flown by Air France and United. It's a 12 hour flight to New York. One interesting thing about US carriers is the food is not nearly as nice and the flight attendants are much older; the highest seniority members like these long haul flights; in other countries they probably don't deal with this issue and the crews are much younger. Problem on Air France was that hardly any of them spoke English. So it's a trade; less fun in the air but more familiar. Missed the flight data info screens they had on Air France and Swissair that show you where you are, and all the in-flight data such as height, speed, estimated time of arrival, etc. So in 12 hours you have sunset, sunrise and then again sunset. Arrived in New York figuratively at the same exact time I left Tokyo except there was 13 time zones to jump. Needless to say, that night in New York I didn't sleep well. My body kept thinking it was afternoon and I am by no means a day napper. By Monday night, I slept well and continued catching up sleep the rest of the week. No after effects or health problems after arriving in the USA. 

All in all, I spent $3,100 on the planes, another $200 in trip cancellation insurance and another $1,100 on the ground in 16 days including gifts of $125 and 3 nights in hotel so all in all the money spent was on taxis and transfers and various items such as laundry, food, lockers to store bags, film, batteries, etc. Things I would take next trip I forgot to take were a second small toothpaste, extra camera and radio batteries, nail scissors (good for other things too), and a second camera in case the first one malfunctions or whatever.