Asia 2001

Perry's language lesson

"Perry, that's the third time you've fallen off the bookcase!" said Miss Cynthia, exasperated.

Only one day left until we leave on our big trip! All day, I had the oddest feeling in my tummy. Happy, and funny, and a little bit scared, all rolled into one. Would I like visiting Japan? Would I be able to talk to the people? What if I got lost, or stolen? Miss Cynthia and Doctor Steve were rushing and hurrying and scurrying, and nobody seemed to have time to talk to a little bear.

So I jumped off my bookcase, right into Miss Cynthia's path.

Perry's Travels: 

Perry packs his bag

Dear Bear friends:

Everything is topsy-turvy in the house on the hill! Soon, we will leave for Japan and Hong Kong. Everyone is packing their bags for the trip.

Miss Cynthia is packing her bag. She has a coffee pot and a hairbrush, a dress and some trousers, and me, Perry Bear Ewer!

Perry's Travels: 

Perry takes a bow

Dear bear friends:

The big day is here at last! I am writing to you from an airplane over Idaho, on our way to San Francisco. There, we'll meet the members of the Symphony, and tomorrow will find us on our way to Japan!

Perry's Travels: 

Perry on the plane

Dear bear friends:

This is your friend, Perry, a bear in the air. I'm writing to you from somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. I can see land far off to the right of me: the coast of Washington State!

Perry's Travels: 

Perry wakes up in Tokyo

Dear bear friends:

Shh! I must write you very, very quietly. It is early morning in Tokyo, and Doctor Steve and Miss Cynthia are sleeping. It was a VERY long day, traveling to Tokyo, and they are very tired.

Tokyo is so large! It is one of the biggest cities in the world. Our hotel room is on the 24th floor--but there are many buildings which are even taller.

Perry's Travels: 

A visit to the Imperial Garden

Dear bear friends

Our first day in Tokyo, and oh! so busy!

Miss Cynthia and I woke early. Even though the sun was not yet up, the streets of Tokyo were wide awake! Rivers of cars flowed through elevated freeways, snaked around tall buildings, backed up before stoplights at ground level.

Perry's Travels: 

Perry rides the subway!

Dear bear friends:

The end of another day in Tokyo! I am one tired (but happy) little bear. We learned to use the Tokyo subway today!

Perry's Travels: 

Perry gets a letter

Dear bear friends:

Have I introduced my good friend, Miss Brighid? Miss Brighid is Miss Cynthia's little girl, onlys he's not little! She's all grown up and goes to college. Miss Brighid is studying anthropology and she is VERY smart.

Miss Brighid has many friends among the Japanese exchange students at her university, and some of them have asked to receive my letters! This is very exciting: an American bear in Japan is writing to Japanese students living in the U.S.

Welcome to Hiroko, Shunsuke, Nao and Kanako--I hope you will correct me when I make a mistake!

Perry's Travels: 

Perry goes to the symphony

Dear bear friends:

Life on a Symphony tour isn't all sightseeing! It's music, too and tonight, I went backstage at Suntory Hall, here in Tokyo.

Perry's Travels: 

Perry goes stylin'

Dear bear friends:

Perry Bear Ewer, your fashion trend reporter, here! After a day spent in the Harajuku district, I'm ready to share all the hottest Japanese fads and fashions.

Japanese schoolchildren work very hard at school. While American students go to school 180 to 190 days a year, the Japanese have a 220-day school year. That's six to eight more weeks of school, each year!

Perry's Travels: 

Perry checks in!

Dear bear friends:

Our week in Tokyo is up, and it's time to begin our travels again. You musn't worry if you don't hear from me quite so regularly! I will write to you, but may not always be able to connect to the Internet. We will be staying in four different places in the next four days!

Perry's Travels: 

Perry visits Northern Japan

Dear bear friends:

We've had such fun in Tokyo! It's a big, bustling, modern city. There are many things to do and see, and the people of Tokyo are hip and stylish.

There is another Japan. A Japan that moves more slowly. A Japan that honors the past, and lives more closely to the land. We have been visiting there, and I can't wait to tell you about it!

Perry's Travels: 

Perry rides the bullet train

Dear bear friends:

I am writing to you from the bullet train!

In Japan, train travel is very common, and the "bullet train" is the fastest, most comfortable way to travel. We have just left Tokyo station, on our way to Nagoya.

Perry's Travels: 

Perry writes haiku

Dear bear friends:

Perry Bear is now a poet! I have learned to write haiku a form of Japanese poetry.

Haiku has very simple rules. A haiku has three lines. It should contain one "season word" a word that evokes a season in nature. A season word can be a color, like green, or a natural phenomenon, like wind.

Haiku doesn't rhyme.

Perry's Travels: 

Perry goes to festival day!

Dear bear friends:

There's only one bad thing about a festival day: sore paws!

We woke to Nagoya, a mid-sized city in Japan. It was a holiday, and a festival day, and for the Symphony, it was a free day a day in which there is no travel and no concert. Time to enjoy Nagoya!

Perry's Travels: 

Perry chooses an instrument

Dear bear friends:

When I travel with the San Francisco Symphony, I hear beautiful music.

Perry's Travels: 

Perry arrives in Hong Kong

Dear bear friends:

We have arrived in Hong Kong!

More properly, Miss Cynthia, Doctor Steve and I have arrived in Kowloon the city on the mainland facing Hong Kong Island. We have the most exciting view! Our hotel is located on the very tip of Kowloon, facing the Island. Our room looks out over the waterway and the Island.

Perry's Travels: 

Perry goes to a Hong Kong tailor

Dear bear friends:

Hong Kong is a city at the center of the world!

During our visit to Japan, we saw very few non-Japanese people. As Americans (and as a teddy bear) we stood out in Japan. This was nice, in a way, because so many Japanese smiled just to see me and often, became my friend.

Perry's Travels: 

Perry makes an Australian friend

Dear bear friends:

If the bad part about traveling is having to have a bath in the washing machine, the good part is making friends! I have a new friend! His name is Bradley, and he lives in Brisbane, Australia!

Perry's Travels: 

Perry and the new viola

Dear bear friends:

Perry's Travels: 

Pages