Sunday, July 6 - 2025 - Tokyo

 We had already purchased our breakfast food at the local Family Mart and had agreed to eat in our respective hotel rooms. Karin had a strawberry yogurt, peach juice, an apple pastry, and a small block of scrambled eggs.  I had a banana,  a hamburger with teriyaki sauce  to which I added a couple slices of tomato from an uneaten, undressed salad, and cafe au lait. We enjoyed our breakfasts sitting on our beds. 

We left time to look at the washing machines in the hotel and were unable to locate instructions in English.  From what I read there and see on the Metro trains it appears that stations are written in two of the three accepted Japanese scripts.   Nevertheless,  we decided to check out English translations later and headed by metro to St, Albans Anglican church, the only all English Anglican church in Tokyo. It is located on the campus of the cathedral,  St. Andrew. Both have interiors smaller than All Saints Pasadena. We arrived by metro, thanks to Karin's guidance using Google maps. (Kenji and Leo had left about the same time to visit an area if the city with historic vending machines.)

I met the recor in the unisex restroom. He is from Maryland.  The parish has a female deacon who appeared also to be an American.  A Japanese layperson also assisted. Three female acolytes appeared to be South Asian. Around a hundred worshipers were in attendance, most of whom appeared to have come from Africa. We read in the bulletin that the parish has a strong and active ministry to refugees. The service was familiar, and the language was from the 1928 prayer book. We learned that the liturgy is the English translation of the Japanese liturgy. We sang and chanted.  HURRAH We took communion one at a time, kneeling in front of the seated rector and deacon. We were given the host already dipped into the wine chalice.  That was a new experience for me. A baptism if a young adult also took place at the font at the back of the church.

After the service a woman greeted us and enquired about our experience of the January fires. (Karin had introduced us during the announcements and stated we were from the LA area. We also greeted the newly baptized young woman and had a happy conversation. 

We joined Kenji and Leo at the Tokyo train station which is also a metro station which is also a mall full of shops and cafes and restaurants and lots of hallways and signs. Karin and her Google guide eventually lead us to the agreed-upon location.  Yikes, this is a huge train station, a maze, and very crowded with rapidly-moving people and families. I wonder what the scene is like on a week day. We found a Japanese curry cafe among three others called a curry quartet. Rice, cutlet, curry sauce, fresh green salad, and lime soda. They were refreshing.

Karin and I returned to the hotel to cool down and relieve her tender ankle, and the guys returned to the antique vending machines which interested Leo. They also returned to the hotel so Kenji could put ice on his sore knee. We met later to take the metro to Shinjuku which we had visited earlier. We ate at a tiny tiny cafe for a bowl of rice with chicken and onions, and tofu for guydon. Karin had researched this particular menu. It was a happy place as we sat on stools and ate with chopsticks and drank cool green tea. Two young girls cooked and washed, and an older gentleman took orders and wiped counters, and greeted customers, and took their payments.  This happy threesome seemed to have a good routine together.

Karin stated she wanted shaved ice, so we returned to the cafe near our hotel in Akasaka for a large bowl of strawberry shaved ice with some ice cream.  Leo and I watched, well, I took a couple teaspoonsfull. As he ate Kenji told us about his family having a Japanese ice shaving machine which his grandmother often used and which he also used. Unfortunately he said he does not have it now.

It was dark, and we four stopped by the washing machines to look for instructions in English. We found some, and Karin later showed me a video of these particular machines with further information in English. Tomorrow we will put our clothes to wash as we leave for our neighborly Family Mart to purchase our breakfasts.  

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