In late July, I went on a four-day Japanese tour. Our first trip was one-day in Tokyo, and the highlight of my day was eating crepes at our last stop, Takeshita in Tokyo, which came as a surprise to me.

Unexpected encounters on a trip could easily surprise me. And when the surprise is connected to one of my favorite foods that was first tasted at a faraway place, the encounter becomes a story that I will tell repeatedly later. Food preserves beautiful memories which are rich and vivid.

I like crepes because it contains the Sichuan flavor that I am familiar with. Enjoying crepes is always a warm and sweet experience for me, because crepes cross my European, American, and Asian memories.

Our tour group visited Takeshita Street, our last stop of our one-day Tokyo tour, for a free activity. I strolled along the over 300-meter-long short street and looked around randomly without purpose. The small shops along with the crowds on the street reminded me of Chunxi Road in Chengdu in China in the 1980s. While strolling on Chunxi Road in Chengdu, I was a poor college student with a strong desire to buy things. Now strolling on Takeshita in Tokyo, I am a contented 60-year-old without worldly desires. I said to myself: “Time flies quickly and time has refined me nicely!”

Strolling freely amidst the bustling crowd, a small crepes shop caught my eye, because crepes awaken the happy moments I shared with my daughter vividly. I had my first taste of crepes which was bought for me by my daughter, in Wuerzburg, Germany. In 2017, at the Country Inn Cafe in San Jose California, I ordered a fruit crepes, chatted with my daughter while eating, and made a deep connection for crepes. In 2021, at my daughter’s friend’s house in Waltham, Massachusetts, I enjoyed Rachel’s home-made crepes with a variety of savory and sweet fillings alongside my son. I suddenly remembered that when I was studying in Chengdu, I went to Chunxi Road to eat egg-baked cakes, which I defined as Sichuan style crepes.

With these memories in mind, I happily went to the Tokyo shop, stood in line, and bought a basic crepes. I held the crepes as a souvenir to take photos on Takeshita Street joyfully.

(Two entrances of the Takeshita Street, the crepes I enjoyed on Takeshita Street.)

My daughter is always in my memory of crepes. Eating Japanese style crepes on Takeshita Street in Tokyo Japan also has my daughter’s present, as she planned this Japanese trip for me.

There are many stories about our one-day in Tokyo, but enjoying crepes is my favorite story today, which shows I am a high-end foodie.

After enjoying the crepes, I felt that the taste of crepes all over the world are similar: juicy, delicate, and soft. Crepes can be folded, rolled, and paired with various fillings, to easily present the charm of delicious food.

（The set of fruit crepes I ordered in the Country Inn Cafe in San Jose California in 2017.）

（The set of fruit crepes I made for myself in Rachel’s house in Waltham Massachusetts in 2021.）

One day tour in Tokyo

Our Japanese tour group consists of 14 people who are originally from California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Washington, all states from the United States. Our tour guide is an Indian with a Japanese green card. He is short, wears earrings, has a shaved head and a goatee beard. Because he wears pants in the sagging style of high school boys in the United States, I had difficulty guessing his real age.

Our one-day tour in Tokyo started at 10am. Under the scorching sun, the tour guide took us for a quick visit of the Imperial Palace East Garden, where the large stone walls were eye-catching. While bypassing the large stone wall, I saw that there were gaps and cracks between the stones, and I felt that the masonry process was very rough and could not be compared to the seamless masonry process of the giant stones in the Inca era Sun Temple in Cusco, Peru. The experience of previous traveling has been awakened during a journey, this is a truly satisfying pleasure for a traveler. I think the ancient people liked to show their strength by playing with giant stones, such as Stonehenge in Britain, Machu Picchu in Peru, Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area in China, and the stone wall of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

（Our tour group approaching the big stone wall while visiting the Imperial Palace East Garden in Tokyo.）

（The stone chamber in the Inca era Sun Temple in Cusco, Peru, 11-2023.）

Afterwards, we went to Asakusa Temple/Nakami Sei for free activities and individual lunch.

Asakusa Temple is small and crowded with people; Nakamise street is short with small shops along both sides. We went to the temple to pay money to shake bamboo tubes to seek fortune, and went to small shops filled with eye-catching goods for purchase on Nakamise street. The atmosphere here was very harmonious because visitors could easily obtain spiritual and material satisfaction in close proximity to one another.

I went to a small restaurant on the street near Asakusa Temple and asked for Wagyu beef, the waitress recommended the Black Haired Wagyu set meal, which cost over 5000 yen. She brought to me a serving tray with many dishes and bowls, and the Black Haired Beef was even placed with a piece of paper indicating “黑毛和牛” on the top. Each dining table is equipped with an open flame stone pan. The waitress lit up the pan on my table and told me, “If you’re not used to half cooked beef, please use the pan to fully cook it.” She also explained various beef dipping methods to me. At the table next to me sat an elegantly dressed elderly lady, and we studied each other silently using eye contact. I guessed she is a local.

After lunch, our tour group gathered at the Asakusa Temple, then took the subway to Shibuya to experience the Shibuya “Scramble Crossing”, when light is green, people flood the intersection from all directions. I felt this sightseeing is a bit boring, as I was grew up in crowded crowds in China and I don’t understand how a flood with people place became a tourist attraction. While crossing the road in a dense crowd, I saw a pretty lady asking four friends to take photos of her posture in the crowd from different directions. Imagining her “high” appearance from different angles in the photo, I smiled.

Then, we took the subway from Shibuya to Harajuku Takeshita for free activities, which brought me memories of and new stories of crepes, so I was overjoyed.

(Photo collections: Today’s weather in Tokyo, taking the subway, I’m at Asakusa Temple, my black haired Wagyu lunch, strolling around Nakami District, crossing Shibuya Cross Road, and at the entrance of Takeshita Road.)

Our Tour Guide

He has never been to the United States and speaks fluent American English because he attended a bilingual school in English and Japanese since childhood. After graduating from high school, he went to Canada to attend university for a year and missed home. He returned to Japan to attend Tmple University, where students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in four years, but he said it took him six years to graduate. After getting his bachelor degree, he became a tour guide, then the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. He had to switch to a job doing bilingual telephone services. Now, being a tour guide is his side job, and he is 31 years old single without a girlfriend. He has a younger sister who was studying remotely from home during the pandemic when she was in college. She is very good at studying and graduated in four years. She immediately started working in the government and recently switched jobs to a large energy company in Japan because corporate pays higher than the government does. They live with their father, who is an engineer, and their father cooks at home because their mother has passed away. His father has a car. he and his sister use public transportation as they don’t have cars.

Half July, Chinese New Year’s Eve, Qingming Festival and Double Ninth Festival are the four major Chinese traditional festivals for the worship of ancestors.

On August 15, 2019 which was also July 15 of the Lunar calendar, I was alone in Chengdu waiting for my high school reunion to be started on the next day. In the afternoon, while wandering around for street food near the hotel, I accidentally walked into Temple Wenshu, a famous Buddhist temple. I saw many people, old and young, burning paper money and incense sticks, kowtowing and bowing in the courtyard of Temple Wenshu, which was already piled with lots of ashes. An old man with incense sticks on his hands told me, “Today is the Zhongyuan Jie, a day to worship our ancestors.” What I heard and saw in the courtyard confirmed that Half July is really a trinity of festivals for Buddhism, Taoism and secular Chinese culture.

After witnessing the whole-hearted folk worship of ancestors in surprise, I also burned paper money and incense sticks, and knelt and kowtowed to pray for peace. In the land of my home province, after a long separation, I closed my eyes and thought of my ancestors. Under the rich ceremony atmosphere, I remember the remote full of love ceremony given to me by my mother and my nanny in the mid-1990s.

In the mid-1990s, while my parents and my nanny Yeyi were in my hometown Zigong, I did my PhD research at VSL in the department of physics at the Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C. In that time, e-mail did not exist and my parents and I exchanged greetings and family affairs through overseas letters every month. After my daughter was born, my mother wrote to me in a letter: “Today, your Yeyi (my nanny) visited us and asked for the childhood clothes of you and your bother. Your Yeyi was going to Mountain Emei soon. She planned to hang the clothes on the JinDing (the top of Mountain Emei) for the Buddha’s blessing for a peaceful life for you and your brother.” My mother’s detailed and emotional description of my Yeyi’s love ritual for us touched me very much and I will remember this love forever.

“There is no boundary between life and death in Half July”. My love reverberated between heaven and earth, spreading sweetness and eternity, and enriching my soul. I suddenly realized that one of the driving forces for the continuation and spread of ancient customs is love and family affection.

Little Episodes

1. August 15, 2019. I burned paper money and incense sticks, knelt and kowtowed in the courtyard of Temple Wenshu, worshipped my ancestors and prayed for peace.

2. My shared moment: While witnessing the rich and deep rooted folk ancestor worshipping ceremony, I also burnt paper money, worshiped my ancestors, knelt down and expressed my feelings of thankful and gratitude. Today is my mother’s second Zhongyuan Jie in heaven. May my late mother and ancestors bless us with safety and auspice（2019-08-15-2019).