Something to Declare

Stan and Stef in Japan, May 6-19, 2026

Again, an hommage (and the usual apologies), this time to Eddie Cantor. Also to Joseph Meyer (music) and Buddy DeSylva (lyrics), who wrote “If You Knew Susie Like I Know Susie” in 1925. (Apologies also to blog readers under the age of 60, who have no idea what I am even talking about vis-à-vis this song.)

こんにちわ (konichiwa!) to you all! We now prepare for our trip to Japan. FYI, none of the photos below are mine.

This will be a small group tour, run by Esprit Travel, entitled “Cuisine and Culture of Japan.” We’re told that we’re going to experience several varieties and subcultures of Japanese food, and we’re going to learn to make our own sushi and udon noodles!

After 4+ days in Tokyo, we will take the “bullet train” (shinkansen) to Kanazawa. That’s a major Edo-period (17th – 19th centuries) cultural and economic area that survived World War II, with preserved samurai and geisha districts, and the famous Kenrokuen Garden.

After Kanazawa, we will get back on the train and proceed to Kyoto, which was, for a thousand years, the Japanese imperial capital. Finally we will visit Osaka, which has been nicknamed the nation’s “kitchen” (this is a tour stressing cuisine, after all).

My sketchy knowledge and familiarity with Japanese history and culture comes from movies and TV shows, like the films of Akira Kurosawa (see pix from the film “Yojimbo,” with Toshiro Mifune).

And the book and series “Shogun,” with Richard Chamberlain alongside (who else?) Toshiro Mifune.

More recently, we’ve enjoyed the Netflix series “Midnight Diner” (about a small Tokyo late-night diner run by a mysterious chef, known as “Master”), and where we got our first glimpse of the famous pedestrian intersection, the “Shibuya Scramble Crossing.”

There were also the movies, “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” (on Amazon Prime) a documentary about a legendary 85-year-old sushi master:

And “Perfect Days” (a sweet, touching film on Hulu about a public toilet cleaner).

For me, the big experience (beside the food) will be the architecture and the spectacularly subtle and serene gardens.

Stef says that her earliest connection to Japan was through an elementary school “pen pal,” Itako Yamazaki, from Nagoya, Japan. Stef’s Dad delighted in sending Itako miniature versions of the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Washington Monument, and other symbols of the American Way.

Oh, I almost forgot the most important cinema reference!

乞うご期待!

(Oh, that’s pronounced “kugogitai,” which is Japanese for “stay tuned.”)