Getting Legal

This morning we went to get registered as aliens at the court house. Momoko (Little Peach Blossom) Yamashita took us. Here she is in the taxi (note the lace covered headrests). Everything here is so clean - even the taxi drivers wear business suits. No one litters and streets are swept daily. The cement trucks were even shining! Anyway, back to our adventure. Momoko works for the Church in the office and is assigned to help the senior missionaries like us get registered. We now are able to reenter Japan after traveling to Korea and other places. It was quite a process. We went for about an hour on a chi bus. It only held about 10 people and it zigzagged all across town and took about twice as long as if we had taken the subway. But it cost half as much and it was fun to see how huge this city is. As I mentioned, the driver is on the right side and drives on the left side of the road. Traffic moves along well. You have to pass a rigorous test and pay a huge sum to be able to get a license. Plus, you have to prove that you have a place to park a car before you can get a license. So most people walk everywhere or ride the bus or subway or bullet train. Or they have bikes or motor bikes.
We were so glad that we had Momoko to help us fill out the forms. We couldn't have done it without her. She was so pleasant and made it fun. She graduated from BYU and is now back here and has worked for the Church for about five years.
After we finished registering, we went in a taxi to get our national insurance. Since we will be in the country for over a year, we have to pay about $60 a month into this fund. If we get sick or need to go to the doctor, dentist or hospital, we will only need to pay about 30%. (Plus, we have Blue Cross/Blue Shield so we will be set.) After doing all that, we again took a taxi back to the PBO (Presiding Bishop's Office - really just Church headquarters).
Then, I was invited to a Relief Society luncheon at a member's apartment - wow! It was very spacious and now I know how the corporate families live. There were about 10 women there. They had attended a temple session in the morning. They were just as down-to-earth as they could be. They were so nice to me. I met one sweet lady who has lived here for 14 years and knew Tori Hunter Gabrielson when she was here. Also, there was a lady named Tanner. It is really a small world.
Dad went with Elder Brown to a huge store called Tokyo Hands - it is supposed to be a combination of a Target and hardware store. He said it was huge and he came home very tired. They took the subway to get there.
Now tonight we are invited to the Robertson's for dinner. They are Public Affairs missionaries and live in the apartment below us.
We are getting used to the time change and the jet lag is easing. This is a wonderful adventure!