OK... I'm going to try again to update this blog. For some reason it keeps disappearing into cyber space.

We have arrived safely in Japan. Jet lagged and absolutely exhausted we stumbled down the long Kansai airport walkways towards Immigration. Thinking we were pretty smart only having carry on lugguage, we were surprised to find that it saved us no time at all. The lines at immigration were long and slow. When you enter Japan now you must have your fingerprints taken as well as your picture. No choice, it is the only way you can enter. This takes a little time... To top that off we need the exact address of where we are staying in Japan. We had both Asilah and Maymumi's cell phone numbers and the town they lived in but it wasn't enough. Eventually they let both of us in with a warning that... "Next time please would you have complete address in Japan!"

Finally we are in the country and have actually found the JR Rail office. Here we stand in another line waiting to exchange vouchers for our rail pass. After crossing all the t's, dotting the i's they must cross check everything then check with their supervisor. That's all OK but takes time. With another bow and a huge smile our passes are handed over and we head for the tracks. It takes 50 min. to Shin Osaka where we begin our quest for an ATM.

In Japan their cash cards have a narrow magnetic strip so it is hard to find a machine that will read our cards. No luck so we are off to the tracks again. Another 50 min. on the Shinkensen and we are in Nagoya. Here we find a post office where we can use their cash machine. However, the next trick is to switch lines and head off towards Toyota Shi.

The most effective way to figure out anything in Japan is to stand still and look stupid. It takes no time at all before someone comes to help. Turns out we have to take a subway to ToyotaShi so off we go down the stairs before we are stumped by the ticket machines. No English so we find a 'ticket person' and look stupid again (we're pretty good at that). He closes his office and comes around to show us how it works. Of course we should have known to push the 740 ... doesn't everyone?

By now we are tired and it is getting dark. The 740 is the cost of a subway ticket to ToyotaShi.   From Nagoya we took the Subway to Fushimi (one stop) and then another to Toyota Shi (27 stops) , At 10PM we had arrived tired and hungry.

The phone number I had worked and we were sure were happy to see Asilah, Nizam and little Umair when they came to get us.

Our time in ToyotaShi was short but sweet. We weren:t there to see the town just to visit friends.

Toyota is a huge city which is completely dominated by .... if you don:t figure this one I:m worried.... Toyota!!! Our friends live in a cute apartment complex owned by Toyota. Toyota has created this city for their workers and have done a pretty good job as only the Japanese can. Nizam is here for two years to learn the ropes before probably returning to his job in Malaysia. This is common practice with Toyota.... moving staff from one office to another. He`s learning a lot but the language is still a struggle.

It was good to see Asilah ‚‚‡‚‚‰‚Ž. She was an exchange student at our home in Canada many years ago. Now as a vetrinarian, wife and mother.... it is good to see her content.

We got a chance to go through Toyota`s interactive display showroom. Asilah and I came up with a great idea to improve one of their products..... (did you tell Nizam yet?!).
Really interesting display room which of course culminated in me falling in love with the Lexus hard top convertable. Wouldn:t fit in my lugguage so I`ll have to wait till I get back to Canada.

Shane and I left from the Toyota display lugguage in tow for our journey to ‚n‚“‚‚‹‚ to visit another former exchange student and her family. That`s for the next blog,