OUR MONTH IN JAPAN

If there is one country we have always, always, always wanted to visit, it would have to be Japan. For many years we have fostered a love of traditional Japanese art, architecture, gardens, design, and of course, food. Friends who visit our Bethel room in Australia have often asked, "when did you visit Japan?" because of our decore and bonsai collection, and the the odd teapot here and there. So we were very excited to receive a 3 week work assignment to visit the Bethel here in Ebina City.

Now, I'm under strict instructions from Alexandra, not to go rabbiting on with copious facts n figures that nobody needs to know and that require me to stay up late blogging, especially as I'm going to be rather busy working and will not have the time or energy do so anyway... But...

Here is a bit of information about Japan that I found amazing... If you, like me, tend to think of Japan as relatively small, think again.

"Japan is smaller than California, but because of the shape of the nation, it experiences almost as many climates as the United States. In fact, the northernmost part of Hokkaido is at the same latitude as Montreal, while the southernmost tip of Kyushu is parallel to Pensacola, Florida."

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong... You won't be the first.

We arrived on Friday evening and were whisked to Bethel which is in Ebina City on Honshu, the largest, and and most populated island of Japan's thousands of islands. Its about 2 hours drive from Narita International Airport and about one hour southwest of Tokyo give or take an hour for traffic.