A breakfast smoothie of mango, kiwi, banana, avocado, and a little granola plus coffee or tea. Nice way to start the day of Dec. 30, our day to celebrate Christmas!

Rob gave me a foot massage for my still misbehaving foot (picture in an earlier blog). It’s much better now.

Along with chitchat in the morning, Rob played Mine Sweep on his computer while Fred worked on his laptop. Rob made a Skype call to friends at a party in Austin, then we all enjoyed a lunch of tossed salad, potato salad, chick pea and kidney beans, chunks of fried chicken.

After lunch we ventured out in the light rain for a walk and shopping. The plan was to exchange Christmas gifts when Lin’s Mama came home from work. Kawasaki station is about 10-15 minutes from the apartment; and that’s where the guys and gals separated.

Rob and Fred took the train on some secret mission, Lin and I went to a bookstore to find a calendar for Fred and some groceries, I had an ice cream cone of green tea ice cream with a bit of sweet bean relish on the side and two shiratama on the side (unsweet, wheat-based, chewy texture). The ice cream itself is not very sweet. A nice treat!

In an unfamiliar country, similarities and differences pop out from every direction. The mall signs, of course, were in kanji with only occasional English words. Since I know about two words in Japanese, spoken  language swirled around my head like lovely, but unfamiliar music

After getting some mandarin oranges and bread, we walked back in the light rain. Hot tea, then naps! (It was about midnight Austin time.) After a snooze we watched “Oceans” with its beautiful photography of amazing creatures. I could ignore the Japanese descriptions!

We’ll have Christmas tonight but Lin’s mom is waiting to come home until the rain lets up a little. She stopped at  her sister’s and eat supper there before riding her bike home. The gift exchange was postponed for a while. However, we folded the kitchen table to make room for the Christmas tree, which had been in the entry. Quite a nice display of gifts!

These photos capture a little of our shopping day. First tourist attraction: the world’s shortest escalator–4 steps that lead down to actual steps. It’s in the Guinness Book of World Records!