Greetings from Ichikawa

Hello friends and family....

Helminth girl is back. I arrived at Narita Airport (Tokyo) yesterday after a delayed 14 hour flight from DC. The flight was supposed to be 13 hours, but the satellite navigation crapped out and we had to take a different route. The good news is I finally saw Baby Mama, Hancock and Then She Found Me.

Today, I went on a technical visit for health and wellness in Ichikawa (which is part of the Alliance for Healthy Cities). It included a visit to an elder rehabilitation clinic and a child development clinic.

After the tour, we were free. So, I joined several women from Tagaytay in the Philippines. In fact, one was a city councilor and one was the mayor's wife. They were all quite amused that I was 25% Filipino. So where did we go????

Tokyo Disneyland!





As my cousin Paula can attest, I am not a big fan of Disneyland. All the screaming kids drive me nuts. But I thought, "What the hell!"

We did the train through Adventureland, the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean. we also saw a Lilo and Stitch show. It was kinda cute...

But, the prices were outrageous. So if you were hoping for a gift... sorry Charlie. Sweatshirts were ¥5900 (~$59 USD) and pens were ¥800 (~$8USD). They are totally getting over. The recession hasn't hit the Magic Kingdom, let me tell you.

OK, that's it for now. No drama, I know. But I don't leave Japan until Sunday (11/26) and still have San Diego and Vancouver to go.

Sayonara people....