Answering your questions about Japan!

Hello Mrs. Simpson's class!

I just returned home to the MV Explorer after China! I thought I'd
answer your questions about Japan before I tell you about my adventures
in China.

The green tea in the picture I showed you was very thick and tangy. It
wasn't sweet or bitter like most normal teas people drink in Canada or
USA (those are normally called "black tea"), but strangely both. It was
very sweet when used in cakes or ice cream. I'm not quite sure how to
describe what it exactly tasted like! You might just have to travel to
Japan and try it for yourself someday.

The monkeys we saw were still wild animals, even if they were very used
to humans. You also weren't supposed to look them in the eye either,
because they might think that means you want to fight them!

In Japan many people speak a little bit of English, but even if they
don't, many people we met were very friendly and helpful! Sometimes we
communicated with gestures and sometimes with pointing to what we wanted
to ask. I was also very lucky because for most of the trip my friends
and I traveled with someone who spoke Japanese! His name is Micheal, and
he is an American student studying Japanese in Tokyo for a year.
Something really interesting he taught me is that it is a lot easier to
learn to speak Japanese than to read it. This is because you have to
memorize over 2000 symbols in three different types of writing!

We got to Tokyo on a train which took about half an hour, and then we
traveled on a bus overnight from Tokyo to Kyoto, then finally another
train to Kobe!

I'm not sure what picture you were looking at, but I wore jeans the
whole time in Japan. It was like Fall in Bancroft- a bit chilly but I
only needed a sweater and long pants.

Hello Mrs. Menard! It is so lovely to hear from you. I'm so glad you get
to follow my trip.

I'll tell you about China very soon!

Rebecca