Even More Answers to Questions, October 12

I am having fun talking on line with students from Ms. Abigail's Class and Ms Mallo's class. It makes me feel at home even though I am so far away. I love answering your questions just as much as love eating green tea and soymilk ice cream cones.

Diego asked: What is your favorite Japanese meal? What is the tallest building? Do they have the same vegetables as us? What is the most common pet there?

Hi Diego.
All of the Japanese food is very good. I am a little bit afraid of sushi, but I still like most of it. It is raw fish, rice and seafood. It sounds kind of icky, but it tastes delicious.

I especially love tempura. It is mostly shrimp, fish and vegetables that have been breaded and fried nice and crispy. It is served in a pretty little box with some vegetables and Japanese pickles. It is almost too pretty to eat. We eat tempura in special restaurants where you have to take off your shoes and kneel on mats on the floor. All of the Americans have trouble sitting this way for a whole meal, but it is easy for the Japanese.

They don't have many really tall buildings in Japan, because there are too many earthquakes here. It used to be the law that no building could be more than 6 stories high. That is not true now. You can see from this view from my hotel window that there are many tall buildings in Tokyo.

I have also seen very tall Ferris wheels here. I think these are some of the tallest in the world. You might be able to find out about this on the Internet. I saw Ferris wheels in Tokyo and Yokohama cities. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go for a ride on one.

They have some of the same vegetables as we do, but also some vegetables that I don't recognize. It is pretty common to see pumpkins as a vegetable and in soup. I was surprised to see that the children carve pumpkins for Halloween here! We got a chance to carve pumpkins with the students.

I am not sure which pet is the most common, but we have seen many people out walking their dogs. There are a lot of different kinds of dogs here, but most are very small.

Jenny asked: Do they have the same classes as us?

Hi Jenny, The Japanese schools that we have visited have the same classes as we do, except that they have Japanese and English class. We do not learn Japanese in most American schools.

Jackie asked: Is the city very clean? Do they have French fries there? Do a lot of people in Japan have goldfish?

Hi Jackie,
Japan is very, very clean. People do not throw garbage on the ground, and they clean up their own messes. It is a good thing that people in Japan are so clean, because there are so many people in such a small space.

I don't know if a lot of people have gold fish, but I do know that many people have giant goldfish called Koi in ponds in their gardens.

Angela asked: Is the food good? How long is the school day? What is the biggest fish that you saw there?

Hi Angela. The food is wonderful here. I have eaten a lot of delicious food, including Chinese food. The Japanese love Chinese food and it is not too expensive here.

They have a school day like ours, but after school they have extra classes that they call “club activities”. A lot of students stay after school for sports, art activities and music lessons.

I saw so many giant fish at the fish market in Tokyo, I don't know how much they weighed, but I do know that even without their heads they are a lot bigger and heavier than I am.

Jacob asked: Do they have the same plants as us?

Hi Jacob. That's a good question. A long time ago their plants were very different from ours. Then people came and collected plants in North America and brought them to Japan. Also, people from Japan imported plants from North America. Now we have many of the same plants. The Japanese like to change plants to make them prettier. For example, they often trim trees and bushes into interesting shapes so that they are like sculptures.

That's all for now. I just want to finish by saying hello to the boys' and girls' reading clubs. Keep reading!