We arrived last night, so officially, this is really Day 2 in Japan.  However, being the first full day, I'll call it Day 1.  As I showed you yesterday, we woke up to a gorgeous Mount Fuji.  Here is a video. Tokyo Westin is the first restaurant where I've had access to a fabulous buffet breakfast, for free.  That was more than 30 years ago.  Comes with my hotel status, which for Marriott is Platinum.  In Japan, virtually any hotel provides an adequate Japanese breakfast for free.  Same for various parts of the Orient.  But these fabulous international buffet breakfasts are only offered by the major hotels.  Nothing in Europe or the Americas comes close. First course. Second. Checked to see if the Chiba cherry blossoms were still blooming,  Yes, but just getting from Tokyo where we are located to Chiba is a journey, then there is a train change, which takes another hour to reach the flowering parks,  Asked Google AI; To reach Mobara ...

  First, can't help but start the week with another Lukovich cartoon: Also, too,  David Brooks of the  New York Times  this week had an op-ed about Donald Trump. The world is saved in tiny steps over time, and  Anthony Blinken did personally meet with President Xi Jinping . Then, of course, today is Juneteenth, celebrated as a public holiday by more than half of our states, but not Hawaii.  We have too many days off as it is, and June 19 is too close to June 11, King Kamehameha the First Day.  While there is no slavery today in the country, Blacks do earn far less than Whites.  From the  New York Times  this morning. And for Republicans who are worried about how hourly wages are increasing too rapidly, the reality is that, accounting for inflation, minimum wages are actually lower than in 1978.  For those who can't subtract, that was 45 years ago.  Also from  TNYT . I'm doing fine, too.  Returned from Las Vegas 9 days...

For those interested in the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, click on   THIS .  Huge waves, to get bigger, lots of fans, vertical rainbows and more. Yesterday caught The Bus into downtown Honolulu for a Chinese lunch. Of course, we should all respect and honor our elders, especially since I'm one of them. Was greeted by my Blue Bar Pigeon, went to the Chinese Cultural Plaza, bought some enhancements to our coming meal, then waited a while to enter Fook Lam.  Many others had the same idea. Ordered dim sums, including my favorite, Singapore Soup Dumplings, where I go through a process of adding things, like cognac, plus dried scallop soup, and dessert. We walked around, looked into a Feng Shui shop, saw a strange fish that was imported from Mars, and purchased some roast pork and almost a pound of o-toro, paying $73 for this piece of tuna. Today at 15 Craigside, we have a Chinese New Year lunch, and tomorrow, some dragons will visit. Happy Chinese New Year. -