Wrapping up our trip to the States

I think I'm about done with all the stories and pictures of our trip to the States.  Just a few things to add.

There are always many differences between our lives in Japan and the lives we see our friends and family living in the States.  Part of it is cultural, part of it is we are just old timers, and this time we we saw differences in how governments respond to situations, specifically the response to Covid.

First our families.

It seemed like every time we turned around, at Leiya's house, at Takumi's, someone was saying "Hey Google!  ...  What time is it?" or "Hey Google!  How do you spell...?"  Tetsu and I are not up to this level of technology in our home and it was a surprise to have people just call out a question in the middle of a conversation.  We noticed this too while walking down streets.  People would just be chatting into the air and though we were aware that they probably had a bluetooth device in their ear and were telephoning someone, still, in the past we might have wondered about how connected to the real world the person was...

Speaking of voices out of nowhere, Takumi's house also had a voice security system and it would call out randomly that someone had opened the back door or the garage door or the front door when a door (and I suppose a window) was opened.  At least we knew where everyone was, though the dogs had a pet door to themselves that didn't get announced.

Takumi's house was also equipped with a motorized vacuum cleaner (which is becoming more popular even in Japan) and this was the first time for Tetsu and me to see it at work up close.  The first day I followed it around the house amazed that it could get out of corners and manuever under tables and avoid dogs.  It seemed to take longer to do the job than I would if I'd just pushed a vacuum cleaner along myself though...

One bit of technology that we are now thrilled with is a powered toothbrush.  Japan has them too but I've pooh-poohed them for the longest time.  While in California however, I'd hear this buzz in the evenings coming from the bathroom and I finally asked what the noise was.  Takumi and Julieta claimed that the powered toothbrush was amazing and the day before we left California, Takumi bought us a set that connects to our iPhones!  Wow!  I never would have thought but Tetsu and I are both enthralled with the fresh squeaky feel our teeth have now!  Thank you Takumi!!

A funny story, maybe illustrating a cultural difference, happened when we stayed at the lovely AirBnB in the mountains.  We couldn't work out how to use the fan/light above the beds and Leiya called the AirBnB manager and he offered to come over immediately.  A very friendly, chatty man arrived to look at the fan and he climbed up onto the double bed to look at the ceiling fixture.  But he left his shoes on!  Tetsu was horrified because in Japan we don't even allow shoes in the house let alone on a bed, let alone on a guest's bed!  Leiya and my eyes met too as we stifled a laugh...  The nice man figured out how to get the fan to work and as he left he gave us a double thumbs up and said "Now make sure you give our AirBnB a five star rating for great service!" which made us all laugh hilariously after he closed the front door.  Well, besides the shoes on the bed, we did rate the AirBnB pretty high!

The response to Covid these days is still very different between Japan and the States.  While we were in California, the mask mandate was removed on airlines and even before that we were surprised at how no one wore masks at all except in medical buildings.  In Japan masks are still mandatory in all buildings and we wear masks when visiting private homes and even when outside walking.  At my niece's wedding, guests were specifically asked to NOT wear masks as she wanted everyone's happy faces to be visible in her wedding pictures.  

The biggest difference in the response to Covid was the requirements for entry into the countries at the airports.  After getting our PCR tests done before leaving Japan, we were amazed to be waved through the Los Angeles International Airport with no one giving a glance at our documents.  Then, coming back to Japan, we were very nervous about meeting the Japanese government's requirements for Covid testing as they required certain tests and doctors' signatures.  The PCR test at the California pharmacy was very haphazard (handed our kits and told to go at it) and the original results did not meet the Japanese requirements so I had to contact the medical laboratory and ask for more specific test result data.

When we finally got back to Narita Airport in Japan, despite our documentation, Tetsu and I and EVERYONE ELSE on the flight were directed through a maze of corridors and rooms to an official Japanese Covid testing site and it took three hours to get through that puzzle of red tape and hundreds of medical staff!!!  Truly!  I think I counted 20 stations to get through of people checking our documents, asking questions, making sure we sat in designated waiting areas, directing us to tables, booths, lines, chairs, getting monitoring apps installed in our phones, waiting for Covid testing results, getting documents stamped etc.  It was a horrendous experience and even though I had heard that it was difficult to get through the Japanese airport, we were irritated and exhausted when we finally left the airport!  That experience alone (never knowing if your documents and results were going to be rejected or not!) has put me off traveling internationally again until this whole pandemic is past history.  And that's not even having to deal with the mandatory quarrantine that was still being issued a few months ago in Japan!  At least we didn't have to go through that!

We arrived back in Japan, tired but happy and finally at home.