September 24th

Here is our group headed towards Mitsukoshi, a huge upscale department store - love the flags!

We arrived just before the doors opened - what a ceremony!

Two girls dressed in hats, suits, and gloves greet the crowd.

Here one of them welcomes us to Mitsukoshi. This is the flagship store located in Nihonbashi -much like the downtown Marshall Fields used to be in Chicago.

As we walked in, all of the clerks were standing near the main aisle and bowed as we passed! We felt like royalty.

We were the first ones in the store - here you can see the splendor and the clerks lined up.

This huge piece of art is in the center of the store - it had amazing detail. It is a statue of Magokoro who is the Goddess of Sincerity.

Looking up to a balcony where there was a huge pipe organ.

This man was waiting for people to come for a presentation regarding a show - Soup Opera!

Oh, here is one where the clerk is bowing to us. It was hard to get a good picture as we had to keep walking.

And the organist began to play!

This is a poster for the TV show - Soup Opera.

Then we went to the downstairs level where they had the most wonderful display of fruits, vegetables, baked goods, etc.

Here is someone forming the dough around a filling to make the wonderful gyozas.

Frying the gyozas ....

And packaging the fresh ones ready for sale.

Every display was like a work of art - doughnuts.....

Desserts ....

A tree of chestnuts ....

A branch of persimmons .....

Fish ......

Sister Watabe by some of the displays.

A raincoat to cover a kimono! It was a rainy day and I saw several women with these raincoats. You can see it has plenty of room in the back for the obi.

Many countries had little shops - this was Harrod's from England.

English china ....

Things from Paris ....

Look at this fruit - over $100!

It is fascinating to watch the workers - Here someone is cutting slices of the wonderful cake.

Rolls waiting to be cut ...

And up close ...

Sister Watabe and Elder Grames talking to a worker - always on the lookout for a way to make missionary contacts!

Chocolate made from the milk of camels ...

Posters ...

An artist sketching ideas for the dolls that he makes.

Here are the dolls that he designs.

Kimonos and accessories for sale here. Much more expensive than yukatas!

Sandals and bags ...

A weaver making cloth for men's kimonos (actually, kimono can be either singular or plural - like deer).

This was the reason we went down to Ginza - to see the display of dolls that were made by Arae Yuki, an artist who does incredible work. I am going to have to make a whole blog with some pictures of them! I loved it!