Here are my first impressions:

1. Everything is clean - airport, freeways, streets, etc. (even without trash bins along the streets you will not see any piece of trash lying on the road/street)
2. They overdo packaging - the sushi dinner we had last night was so pretty I didn't want to take a piece because it will ruin it, the shoyu that came with the sushi were in this small plastic fishes with red covers, the snacks are wrapped origami-style, the Coke we bought was in this aluminum bottle.
3. Recycling is not common - with the pretty styrofoam and plastic bento boxes, and assorted drink containers the Japanese do not recycle but everything and anything is incinerated. Really sad!
4. Japanese love their small cars - everywhere I looked I'd see these cute little compact cars by Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi. Daihatsu, Suzuki, Honda, and even Mercedes.
5. Vending machines everywhere, even in the narrow alleys and streets around the city.
6. Street names are common for the main roads but not for the smaller streets.
7. We have to get used to cars driving on the left side of the road.
8. Dryers are not common in every household. That's why we see more people hanging their laundry out in the porch.
9. The toilet flusher has two choices: pulled towards you and up is for larger capacity. pushed back is for smaller capacity.
10. Above the toilet tank a faucet is situated in the middle which turns on when you flush the toilet, the water can be used to wash your hands after using the toilet and it simply flows directly into the toilet tank. Pretty interesting thing! I'll post the picture later.

Peter will write his impressions of Japan later tonight. (Update 05-19-07: He's still compiling his information before writing a long commentary about the Japanese)

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This morning Dad Dan took us inside Doshisha University, to the oldest Protestant church in Japan (not being used for regular services only for weddings and conferences), to the cafeteria where we can get cheap and good food, to the Family Mart where we got Bus tickets, then to the Imperial Palace grounds where he left us on our own because he had a class to teach at 1 p.m.

We walked through the palace grounds (where we saw school kids eating their bento lunch) then out into the streets just meandering our way around the city. Along the way we found this hole in the wall place which sells bentos. They had a display case of the food on their menu. All we did was point to what we wanted and paid for our order. I chose the tempura bento while Peter got this assorted meat and fish bento.

The only place we can eat was at a park. So we walked along the main road and found a map near a bus stop and saw a park about two blocks from where we were. The park was small and clean. One guy was sleeping on the bench for his lunch break, a few young adults were having their lunch and some were just hanging out, an old man was practicing his bocci and Peter and I found a nice shaded bench to eat our lunch. It was a nice and quiet place to eat. The only thing missing at this park was the trash bin. Nada! We had to lug around our trash until we found one at a Temple we accidentally saw along the smaller streets of Kyoto.

Kyoto is a very old city and was once the Imperial capital of Japan. There are so many Temples and Shrines. From our walk this morning we passed by almost half a dozen of them. Some not even mentioned in the maps we had. We realize after our experience in Venice that simply "purposely" getting lost in the place can bring surprising and interesting discoveries.

After about 4+ hours of walking we went back home to get some rest before heading back out after Dad Dan returns from his class. We probably will go to the Gion corner to check out the geishas and the maikos (apprentice geisha) and walk along the river which I learned is a great place to stroll at night.