Hi Laurie,
"stick out like a sore thumb," "big blonde amazon" brought back memories of our trip to Japan in 1970. I don't know how tall you are, but I'm 5'10", DH, 6'4" and we became very self conscious of our height based on reactions. In several locales, school children, all of whom had cameras, took our pictures!
Enjoying reading about your trip so far!
