Questions from Kids: Answers for Trip's Class

Welcome back to our weekly segment of answers to the questions posted
by Trip's class. They are getting harder. We had to interview some
people to get the answers. Here we go...

Madeline: I want to play with Trip!
Trip: I want to play with Madeline too because I never got to play
with her before I left!

Jaden: is there baseball in Japan?
Trip: yes
Trip's mom: yes, Japan loves baseball and has several professional
teams. Some Japanese players play in the American big leagues and some
American players play in Japan. Also, they show American baseball on
TV here, but the commentary is in Japanese.

Dylan: do they have basketball there?
Trip: yes, not professional

Erika: do they have football there?
Trip: also yes
Trip's mom: hmm, I'm detecting a theme here. We are told that both
basketball and football are played in clubs and universities, just not
professionally.

Bryan: do they celebrate Halloween there?
Erica: do they have parties for Halloween?
Trip: they just have a little decorations in the store.
Trip's mom: we will have to wait and see. Our first hotel had
Halloween decorations. Some bakeries have pumpkin cakes. The 100 yen
stores (yes, just like dollar stores) have some decorations. But there
are no pallets of candy or rows of costumes. I know that it is
generally not celebrated they way we do it. However we will be
visiting a school with American teachers where they do Halloween big
time. They will be having their party on October 19 so that we can be
there and report back to you. On the 31st we plan to be back in Tokyo
so we will go out in costume and hand out candy on the street, for a
change. Our costumes? Ellie and Trip have pajamas that are also
skeleton suits. That's packing light.

Sarah: do they have a zoo?
Trip: yes, and we went to a monkey park. One of the monkeys got mad at
me and chased me.

Sanaa: do they have wild flamingos?
Trip: nope.
Trip's mom: you get the prize for the most unusual questions. No
flamingos but wasn't that a great picture of a wheelbarrel?

Ms. Nancy: what is another favorite native food that the kids are
going to eat?
Trip: mochi is a chewy rice cake and I like it with ice cream in it.

Ms. Stephanie: what is a shitake mushroom farm?
Trip: I don't know. I haven't been there yet!
Trip's mom: stay tuned. Next week, we'll be staying with a family who
runs a shitake mushroom farm and you can bet there'll be pictures.