We did lots of interesting things today but the coolest for me, hands down, was being about two feet away from Caroline Kennedy, now Ambassador Kennedy, during a visit to the U.S. Embassy. I have admired her for years. Maybe 10 years ago I wrote an essay about her for a newspaper, when her mother died. Or maybe it was when her brother died. Anyway, there she was right in front of me, standing at a lectern, welcoming over 100 visiting farmers who came to the embassy for an ag briefing. She looked smaller, thinner and more fragile than I expected. And older, her skin stretched tight across those sharp, almost bird-like, Kennedy features that reminded me most of her grandmother Rose. She was warm, funny, low-key. I was star struck.
Beyond that, we spent much of the morning on an air conditioned tour bus seeing some major sights with the help of a tour guide, going up in the Tokyo sky tree for an amazing aerial view of the city, visiting the old shrine at Akasuka (and the street leading up to it lined with good craft and souvenir shops), gazing out at the imperial palace.
We ate very well too, at Gonpachi, a place made famous in the movie “Kill Bill” and we had the good fortune to sit by people who didn’t like sushi so we ate their’s. More fabulous Japanese food tonight at an elegant resort in the city, Happoen, with a lovely Japanese garden lined with ancient bonsai trees.
TakeBetsywithyou 