Asia 2001
"Perry, that's the third time you've fallen off the bookcase!" said Miss Cynthia, exasperated.
Only one day left until we leave on our big trip! All day, I had the oddest feeling in my tummy. Happy, and funny, and a little bit scared, all rolled into one. Would I like visiting Japan? Would I be able to talk to the people? What if I got lost, or stolen? Miss Cynthia and Doctor Steve were rushing and hurrying and scurrying, and nobody seemed to have time to talk to a little bear.
Dear Bear friends:
Everything is topsy-turvy in the house on the hill! Soon, we will leave for Japan and Hong Kong. Everyone is packing their bags for the trip.
Miss Cynthia is packing her bag. She has a coffee pot and a hairbrush, a dress and some trousers, and me, Perry Bear Ewer!
Dear bear friends:
Shh! I must write you very, very quietly. It is early morning in Tokyo, and Doctor Steve and Miss Cynthia are sleeping. It was a VERY long day, traveling to Tokyo, and they are very tired.
Tokyo is so large! It is one of the biggest cities in the world. Our hotel room is on the 24th floor--but there are many buildings which are even taller.
Dear bear friends
Our first day in Tokyo, and oh! so busy!
Miss Cynthia and I woke early. Even though the sun was not yet up, the streets of Tokyo were wide awake! Rivers of cars flowed through elevated freeways, snaked around tall buildings, backed up before stoplights at ground level.
Dear bear friends:
Perry Bear Ewer, your fashion trend reporter, here! After a day spent in the Harajuku district, I'm ready to share all the hottest Japanese fads and fashions.
Japanese schoolchildren work very hard at school. While American students go to school 180 to 190 days a year, the Japanese have a 220-day school year. That's six to eight more weeks of school, each year!
Dear bear friends:
Our week in Tokyo is up, and it's time to begin our travels again. You musn't worry if you don't hear from me quite so regularly! I will write to you, but may not always be able to connect to the Internet. We will be staying in four different places in the next four days!
Dear bear friends:
We've had such fun in Tokyo! It's a big, bustling, modern city. There are many things to do and see, and the people of Tokyo are hip and stylish.
There is another Japan. A Japan that moves more slowly. A Japan that honors the past, and lives more closely to the land. We have been visiting there, and I can't wait to tell you about it!
Dear bear friends:
Perry Bear is now a poet! I have learned to write haiku a form of Japanese poetry.
Haiku has very simple rules. A haiku has three lines. It should contain one "season word" a word that evokes a season in nature. A season word can be a color, like green, or a natural phenomenon, like wind.
Haiku doesn't rhyme.
Dear bear friends:
There's only one bad thing about a festival day: sore paws!
We woke to Nagoya, a mid-sized city in Japan. It was a holiday, and a festival day, and for the Symphony, it was a free day a day in which there is no travel and no concert. Time to enjoy Nagoya!
Dear bear friends:
We have arrived in Hong Kong!
More properly, Miss Cynthia, Doctor Steve and I have arrived in Kowloon the city on the mainland facing Hong Kong Island. We have the most exciting view! Our hotel is located on the very tip of Kowloon, facing the Island. Our room looks out over the waterway and the Island.
Dear bear friends:
Hong Kong is a city at the center of the world!
During our visit to Japan, we saw very few non-Japanese people. As Americans (and as a teddy bear) we stood out in Japan. This was nice, in a way, because so many Japanese smiled just to see me and often, became my friend.
