Thanksgiving Mouse

Thanksgiving was a little different for the Laverman family this year. While our Stateside friends enjoyed Thanksgiving turkey, we enjoyed a mouse...Mickey Mouse, that is. Kaori's folks were down from Yamagata for a week and eager to experience Tokyo Disneyland with family here. So, Kaori's brother's family and ourselves took a day off to challenge the likes of Splash Mountain and Monsters, Inc. Yes, it turns out that it truly is a small world after all.

A couple of things that caught my attention from the day:

1) It seems that Anglo features still fit best with Japanese' perceptions of modern fairy tales. I found it interesting that so many western foreigners were part of the Disney Parade. I suppose it would have been usual to see a Japanese Prince Charming...or would it? And does Mickey have to speak only English. Didn't he get any language training?

2) Japanese are known for their service-orientedness. There were many things that Kaori's father, as a blind man, could not experience in the theme park. But the way that Disney workers fast-tracked us through rides, and bent over backward to accommodate his needs was truly impressive.