Matcha Tea Latte

I had a first world problem overnight. My beloved iPad got down to 3% of battery and wouldn't/couldn't recharge. I discovered this just before going to bed, already well past my bedtime. I left it to charge and hoped for the best. I made the mistake of waking up around 3:30 am and checking on its progress to find it had made none. I then sent messages to friends in the UK while they were still up and their good advice yielded no results. At about 5:30 am I went back to bed, resigned to the fact that I would have to put aside sight-seeing plans to fix the darn thing.

To cut a long story short, the hotel staff were marvellous, directed me to a 'Quick Garage' 15 minutes walk away where a very nervous and clever young man diagnosed the problem as being with my charger and adapter rather than the iPad itself. Phew! He even then told me where I could buy a new cable and connecter. For a modest sum of yen I now have a connection that charges a whole lot quicker than the old one. Problem solved in less than two hours with very little language and a huge amount of kindness by young Japanese people towards a slightly lost older foreign woman on her own. The kindness never ceases to amaze me.

I wandered around the Peace Park and was approached by a lovely older Japanese couple who turned out to be Jehovah Witnesses who seemed surprised to find that while they were studying the Bible, I was studying Buddhism. We had a discussion about why there wasn't peace in the world. I'm not sure we solved that puzzle... They had a very high opinion of Scotland and showed me rocks some school children had brought from Ben Nevis. I mentioned that there were nuclear weapons in the country where I live and they seemed surprised or perhaps a little shocked that some people still think nuclear weapons are worthwhile. I couldn't agree more.

At one point the lack of sleep got the better of me and I retreated to a well known coffee chain that I never go into at home. Since I am far from home, I tried a matcha tea latte - a green tea latte. Everything else flavoured with green tea has been delicious but this was...an experience. The unexamined life ain't worth living! The place was filled with beautiful people and none more so than the young woman I sat next to so I stole a cheeky shot. Ever have one of those days where you take lots of photos but aren't pleased with any of them? That's how I felt until this young woman came along. Thank you beautiful young woman.

Back to my very comfortable hotel and a lovely long night's sleep...

Too many more over at the usual spot.