Tuesday May 26

In the morning we went to Kinkaku-ji, a golden pavilion temple that was originally built in 1397 for a Shogun as his retirement home. When he died it was converted to a Zen temple by his son. It has been burned down three times in its history, the latest being in 1950. It was rebuilt in 1955. The temple is amazing because the top two floors are covered in gold leaf. It is set in front of a pond where you can see a clear reflection of the building on the water.
The next temple we visited was called Kiyomizu, a Buddhist temple, which means clear water. The temple is high above the city and its buildings are built on the hill. It was originally built in 798 and the current buildings date from 1633. There was an old tradition that if one jumped off the 13 m high stage an survived then their wish would be granted. There is also a stream that flows through the area where drinking from each of the three streams confers wisdom, health, and longevity. It is said to be bad to drink from all three because it shows that you are greedy and misfortune would happen to you. So I only drank from two. The area had great views of the city and really cool pagoda.
Finally the last temple we went to was called the Fushimi Inari Shrine. This shrine is based at the foot of a mountain and the paths are lined with Torii or large orange gates. Each of these gates are donated by businesses in hopes that their business will be prosperous. There are also many statue of foxes around the shrine because it was thought to be the messenger of the god. The place was amazing. We hiked about 30 minutes up the mountain on paths that were covered with orange gates, one after the other. It was very neat to see these bright orange gates run through the forest. At the top we took another path back down and ended up in a neighborhood where we had no idea where we were. We had a certain time to get back and the people we asked did not know English. Eventually we started running through the maze of streets trying to find a main street. We found the street and asked a shopkeeper where the shrine or train station was and we got in a cab which brought us all the way back to Kyoto.
It is amazing that these sites have been maintained for centuries and are still a place or worship after all these years.

Monday May 25

Today we visited the Nijo castle, a large complex that housed the Tokugawa Shogunate built in 1626. There were two sets of walls that were surrounded by moats to defend the castle from intruders. The outer wall was immense and was made using huge blocks of stone. The castle itself was made out of wood and was pretty large. It burnt down in 1788 by a city wide fire but was rebuilt in 1893. We were able to walk through the castle and see the wall paintings. The floors made squeaking noises every time you took a step and they called it the nightingale floor. This would alert guards if anyone was trying to sneak into the castle. There was also supposed to be many small hiding spots around the castle that they could stay in waiting for intruders but I did not find any of these hiding places. The grounds were incredible, with many different types of trees and beautifully landscaped ponds. The whole place was very impressive and peaceful.
For lunch we went to a place near the hotel that was one of the best meals I had through a ticket place. Some restaurants have these ticket machines that you put money in to choose what food you want to get and then you hand the ticket to the waiter. They are usually noodle and rice places. This was similar to the other places but a little more expensive but there were larger portions. My meal had some teriyaki, sesame beef, two beef patties, potato, green beans, salad, rice and miso soup. It was really good and was only about 860 yen.
That afternoon we had a lecture from a professor at Kyoto University. Kyoto University is one of the top ranking schools in Japan . When we arrived at the school there were just hundreds of bikes parked all over the school. Many people ride bikes in Kyoto and Tokyo, and most of the ride on the sidewalk so you always have to be on the lookout for them. The University had a very nice campus and our lecture was about immigrant communities in Japan. Japan has reformed their policy in the past 20 years to allow some foreigners with Japanese ancestry to work in Japan. These are mostly Brazilian Japanese and in total Japan has about 5% of their total population as immigrants. However, Japan needs to open up to more immigrants if they are to stabilize their declining population and loss of work force. They do not have the right to vote in national elections and some people are concerned that they will become the issue if they get the right to vote. The professor had some good stories about when he had studied in America when he was younger.

Sunday May 24

Today we left for Kyoto. We took the subway to Tokyo station and while waiting for our train we saw many different kinds of trains that run out of Tokyo. They look a lot different from the trains that we have in America. The fronts of their trains are very sleek and aerodynamic. The trip took about three hours to reach Kyoto. When we reached Kyoto I was surprised by how the city looked. I thought that it was going to be like Shinjuku or Harajuku but just smaller. The city was nothing like that, it was more calm that these sections of Tokyo, even though there were still a lot of people. There weren’t any skyscrapers and most buildings were under 15 stories. We were staying on the main street that included many different restaurants, shops, and the district of Gion which is known for their Geishas.
Our hotel was very nice. It was called Hotel Mystays and it was located on a main street full of different businesses. It was pretty spacious and we each got our own double bed, tempurpedic pillows and flat screen tv. We actually have floor space to move around in our room. We were on the 11th floor and had a good view of the mountains in the distance.
We went to visit the Geisha District and learned how they were popular many years ago as entertainers and their largest numbers were around the beginning of the 20th century. Now there are fewer Geishas and it was very hard to find one. We did see one for a few seconds on one of the side streets before she went into a house. There are also many women who are dressed in traditional Japanese clothing but they are not Geishas, I am not sure why they dress that way. The traditional houses were very neat looking and the area was full of shops, many of them selling Japanese candy and treats. I like Kyoto, it has a very different feeling from Tokyo but still seems like it has a lot to offer.

Saturday May 24

This morning we went to the Tsujiki Fish Market. It is the largest fish market in Tokyo that has 200,000 pounds of seafood move through it each day. It was started in 1935 and had a large indoor area where vendors sell their seafood. We had a tour from one of the former students of one of the professors of Meiji University. We were all very tired from the club but we made it through the tour. There are a lot of small vehicles that go through the market that you have to watch out for. One of the guys almost got his foot run over. We saw the tuna that had been auctioned off that morning. It is about $30 per kilo for a tuna fish. After the tour we went to a sushi restaurant where they had prepared a platter of sushi for each of us. There was tuna, eel, fish roe, sea urchin, and other fish on the plate. It was not very appetizing to have sushi after a whole night out and especially for breakfast. It was probably the freshest sushi that I will ever have and the tuna was really good.
On the subway ride home every one was falling asleep but we made it back to the hotel. I slept from 8:30 to 4:30 and then got up and went to get some dumplings and vegetables and liver. It was really good and inexpensive. After this I went to Harajuku. I went to some stores and checked out the Japanese fashion which is really different from our clothes. I also went to a really good Mexican place that was probably some of the best Mexican food that I have ever tasted. They had a Mariachi band and a really cool ambiance.

Friday May 22

Our lecture today was on the public finance in an aging society of Japan. The professor spoke about the fiscal condition in Japan. They have the potential to face serious financial difficulties in the future. Currently the central government has $6 billion of debt and total Japan had $10 billion of debt. They also only have 127 million aging people and declining. They spent a lot of money in the 90's to try to stabilize their economy. They have increasing social security and health care costs. The government is going to have to raise taxes such as the consumption tax and income taxes to help make up for their fiscal deficit. However both parties are hesitant to raise taxes in this important election year. They issued 40 trillion yen of new bonds this year to make up for the deficit. In the 90's Japan used public works to try to boost the economy which did not do too much considering all the money they spent.
We went to the American Embassy after class. We met with the head of a group of people who read the news in Japan every day and make reports about current events and opinions in the news. He spoke about how there is less support for the U.S. in Japan than there used to be. However Japan needs the U.S. for trade and protection. After this session myself and a few of the other students went back to Ginza to go shopping.
That night we went to Shibuya to go out to eat. This is the location of the famous crosswalk where more people cross here every day than any other place in the world. We did not know where we were going, as it was a surprise. We ended up at a place called The Lockup. It was a restaurant in the basement of a building that was made into caves. Each dining room had a cell door and there were times when the lights would go out and people would go around trying to scare you. We sat on the floor to eat which is taking some time getting use to it because of my height. It was an all you can eat and drink place that about 30 of us went to including some Japanese students who will be going to Boston this summer.
We went to a club after dinner called Atom. It had three floors with a different theme on each floor. It was crazy that all of the guys and girls got really dressed up in their "fashionable" clothes and had their hair done. They looked a lot different than how people go out in the U.S. We wanted to go to the Tokyo Fish Market in the morning at 6 am so we stayed out until the club closed at 5 am and went to the market.

Thursday May 21

The lecture today was about Japan's foreign policy. The professor spoke about how Japan became a pacifist country after WWII. It was written in their constitution that they are not allowed to have an army but they do have one of the largest military of any country but they call it a self defence force. They have tried to take on an international policy that will help them economically. During the oil crisis of the 70's they started to send aid to Arab countries and denounced the actions of Israel. They had a prime minister that was very favorable of the U.S. a few years ago but the more recent prime ministers do not want to rely on the U.S. as much. People's opinion have changed over the past five years and they think the relations between Japan and the U.S. have gotten worse.
In the afternoon we went to the Ueno park and Tokyo National History museum. The museum was filled with artifacts such as Buddha statues, samurai armor, pottery, paintings and writings. The museum compound was huge and had many buildings. Some people went to the zoo that was there but they were disappointed. We went to shop at a street near the museum that had many vendors and tourist type merchandise.
That night we went to visit Tokyo tower. It is 333 meters tall, looks like the Eiffel tower in France and is a communications tower. We went half way up to look at the city. The city was beautiful at night all lit up. It is going to obsolete soon as they are switching to digital signals and a new, taller tower is going to be built. After the tower some of us went exploring the city and found a cool little street that business people were at drinking after work. They are many small restaurants that cater to these people. It is weird to see people that are still in suits around midnight around the city and on the train.

Wednesday May 20

We had a lecture today about the education policy in Japan. It had gone through many changes over the century and used to have a centralized curriculum but now it has become a more choice based system. Students have the ability to choose some of their classes. There was a fear that students were getting burned out with studying and entrance exams. However, Japan has been falling in the rankings of math, science, reading and problem solving based upon international exams. They are trying to get students to study harder so that their standings will improve.
In the afternoon we went to visit a building that was kind of like a chamber of commerce. We had two speakers, one a writer for a news paper that is like the equivalent of the Wall Street Journal and the other was in one of the largest associations of business men in Japan. They spoke about the economy, government, and the relationship between business and government. We were able to ask them questions after their speech and they were impressed about the quality of the questions we asked. I believe that this was the first time they did this kind of program with college students. They usually have college professors attend this sort of meeting. One thing that I found very interesting from the talks was that there could be trouble in the Japanese government in August after the elections. Right now the opposition party controls the upper house. The lower house has elections this August and if the party called LDP which used to control the upper house wins the lower house but with a little less than 2/3 of the seats then the parliament will not have one controlling party which will make it hard to pass bills.
That night we went out to Shinjuku to a club. It was very quiet in there since it was a week night. That area at night is very busy and full of strange looking people. There are many people of the street that are trying to get you to go to their clubs or restaurants. We saw our first street fight that night with two people punching and slapping each other. No one tried to stop it but it lasted about 30 seconds. The train stops running around 12 am so it was not too late of a night.

Tuesday May 19

Today we had a lecture about environmental disaster in Japan and the policies that were created from them. They had many disasters in the 50's an 60's from contaminated water, air and mercury problems that were created from their factories. After many victims developed diseases or disorders the government stepped in to create anti pollution laws that would prevent these disasters in the future. This spawned a huge industry of pollution control companies that would make the products needed to control the pollution output of factories.
In the afternoon we went to the Edo museum (pictured). This museum told the history of the Tokyo area and how it developed into the capital of the country. They had many artifacts and mini city models on how the city looked hundreds of years ago. They showed the development of Tokyo throughout the 1900's with artifacts of things such as tv's, car's, kabuki models, etc.
After this I went to Ginza to explore the area (pictured). It is a massive shopping district that is like many NY times squares put together. They have really nice shops and some nice little stores that sell things from chopsticks to swords. I went to a bakery that sold mini bagels that were stuffed with sweet beans, melon, and cheese. I bought a white bean and black bean stuffed bagel, it was awesome. I also had Subway in Ginza and it was pretty good and very busy. They had some different items on the menu like shrimp subs and they don't put cheese on the subs unless you pay for it.
That night I went to karaoke with two of the people in my group and six of the Japanese students. It was a lot of fun but I had no idea what the Japanese students were singing since the words were all in their language.

Monday May 18

Today we had a lecture about the aging society and social security reform in Japan. Japan is facing a huge increase in people over the age of 65 over the next 50 years and a declining population which will be under 100 million in the same time period. In this time 1 out of ever 2.5 people will be over the age of 65 and their population under 18 will be about 7% of the total. These issues will put a strain on their social security system and labor supply.
In the afternoon we went to Roppongi Hills where the Tokyo tower is located and a major upscale shopping area. There was also a cool sculpture of a spider in the area. We met up with some of the Japanese students and they took us to a sandwich and cake store for lunch. I had a BLT with back that was probably close to a centimeter thick (pictured). It was amazing! They do not have the same type of bacon that we have it is much thicker but from the same type of cut. We went to a contemporary art museum called the Mori art museum
(building pictured). It was on the 52nd floor of the building. It was a pretty nice museum that had many different exhibits. One of my favorites was a large concrete wall that looked like a cannon ball went through it and all of the shards were suspended in the air behind the wall.
After the museum they had an observation area that went a full 360 degrees of the city that we walked around. The city has many interesting buildings and some great architecture (pictured) After this we went back to the hotel and we explored the neighborhood. There are many small restaurants in the area and bookstores.
That night we went to an Italian place near our hotel and I got a pizza with ham, spinach, mushroom, and an egg in the middle of it. I wanted to try it as I probably would never have pizza and egg again, it was surprisingly good.

Sunday May 17

Today was our last day in Lake Yamanaka. We had a anonymous question and answer session with the Meiji students so that we could ask them and they could ask us questions that might be uncomfortable asking. It was hard for some of them to answer our questions because some of them were very complex. We asked questions about if they feel too much pressure and sacrifice themselves for their parents wishes and what things they do not like about America. They were very diplomatic and since we were also their guests they did not say anything in particular about their thoughts on America. We took the bus to Mount Fuji from the house at lake Yamanaka.
It took about an hour to get to the mountain and we went about half way up (pictured, random woman). We stopped at a restaurant and gift shops. It was very cloudy that day and at the place on the mountain we were at it was raining and cloudy and probably 50 to 60 mph winds. Most people stayed inside the store but a few other people and myself made a mad dash outside to try to find some volcanic rock to take with us. the wind was so strong it almost knocked me over.
Along the way home we stopped at a rest stop off the highway. They have so much good food at these rest stops. I got a steamed pork bun and what I thought was going to be bread with cheese on it but when I opened it, it was filled with curry sauce.
I learned a lot from the Japanese students but when their professor asked for any one's opinion no one offered to talk. It seems that they are shy in a classroom type setting but out of the classroom they are very talkative and curious about what America is like.

Saturday May 16

Today was a very busy day. We had to get up at 7:30 and went to breakfast at 8:00. The food was very different that what we are used to for breakfast. They had a variety of fish, seafood, salad, soup, onions with tomatoes, but they also had eggs and french toast. We went to our first session which was where we had to give our policy presentations in front of the Japanese students and the Northeastern students. Everyone did really well and after we were done we broke up into groups to discuss our topics individually with some Japanese students. My group only had one Japanese student to talk with and with our policy being taxation it was difficult for him to express all of his ideas in English. I did learn that they rely more heavily on corporate taxes in Japan. We gathered as a group again and talked about what we learned. The Japanese students were still hesitant to talk a lot about the policy areas. We had lunch and then went into another session, this time about a book that we had read about an outsiders opinion of Japan. This book is somewhat controversial because the writer is an American and we wanted to see what parts of the book are fact and what parts were overstated by discussing it with the Japanese students.
In groups of three we gave a presentation about the contents of each chapter. After our presentations we broke up into smaller groups and talked about our assigned chapter. We had three other Japanese students in my group and we talked about the education system, violence among youths, and dropouts. The author of the book said that violence was increasing and teachers did not want to upset their students for fear of being attacked. The writer tells of students chopping of the head of other students and killing their parents. He also said that the education system was reformed to not upset as many kids so that they would be less stressed and violent. The students said that violence is not as big of a problem as the writer makes it out to be. They said that violence is a problem in inner city schools but this is the same as America. I asked them what measures the schools took after the series of killings in the early 2000's and they said that they put up signs to ask people to report suspicious activities. I told them that our school practiced lock downs and installed many video cameras and they were surprised that our schools would do this. Also in the book the author talks about dropouts being a big problem and that they become isolated, never leaving their rooms to go outside. They said some students do drop out but most stay in school. Also the government cannot legally force kids to go to school and teachers cannot send disruptive students to the Principal's office. We met for one more time as a large group and went over what we learned. By this time it was about 4:00 and our session was nearing an end.
It was very cold by the lake, probably in the mid 40's. We wanted to jump in the lake and about 8 of us went jumping off a boat dock into the lake. It was about 40 degrees so it was pretty cold but it was very refreshing and fun. the Japanese students and professors could not understand why we wanted to jump in the lake we tried to explain that it was fun and a once in a lifetime opportunity. At dinner we had another amazing meal.
At night we had a Japanese drinking party. This means that we pay for the booze and everyone drinks it. Alcohol is expensive here, especially the beer and the beer is not that good. A can of Guinness at the corner store is $3. We had another party and taught the students how to play beruit a drinking game of trying to throw ping pong balls into cups from across a table. They had a lot of fun and I had a good time talking to the students and learning more about them. It is very interesting that during or lectures they do not say much and rarely raise their hand or contribute their opinions unlike us. When we are alone with them they seem to talk more and express themselves more. It was a long day of talking and a fun night of drinking! I am glad to have had the chance to talk with these students about their culture. They said that topics that they do not have conversations like we had with them.

Friday May 15

Today we left for Lake Yamanaka the largest of the lakes around Mount Fuji. We were staying in a building that Meiji University owns and operates on the lake. On our way to the lake we stopped at a rest stop and I got Taco Yaki. I had had it at the baseball game a week earlier but this was very fresh and cooking when I entered the rest stop. The picture shows the woman frying the dough in the griddle. This food is basically fried dough with some kind of spice and a chunk of octopus in the middle of the ball. On the bus ride we saw our first glimpse of Mount Fuji. It was incredible and looked very out of place. It is over 12,000 feet tall and has snow covering its upper half. At the lake we were able to see the mountain and took really good pictures (above).
The Yamanaka house we stayed at was built like a 1970's concrete building but we slept on tatami (bamboo) mats with a futon mat on the ground (pictured) and had to wear slippers in the building. The only problem was that the slippers only came in one size and they were way too small for most of the guys on the trip. About 20 Japanese students accompanied us to the house. I roomed with one guy from Northeastern and two Japanese students. We had an ice breaker session where the Japanese students had to tell us about one thing we should do while in Japan. This was to help them get more comfortable speaking with us. They can speak English very well but some are not confident in their abilities and do not like to contribute to discussions. The food at the house was amazing and they served us probably five different dishes at each meal because we were their special guest.
At night we finished our work for our two presentations that we had to give the next day and we had a party with the Japanese students. It was a good way to get them to be more talkative and outgoing. I met many cool students who were all very different even though they have a collectivist mentality. They wanted to learn about us and what we did for fun and I enjoyed meeting everyone. It was very different sleeping on the floor with mats and a pillow full of beans.

Thursday May 14

Today we had a lecture by a professor on Japan's economic institutions. He talked about lifetime employment and how it does not truly exist anymore. In the first ten years of working a Japanese worker will change their job, on average, about two times. In the same situation for an American worker we change our jobs an average of 5 times. Japan also used to have different systems for borrowers and lenders, suppliers and manufacturers that would be long term in nature and was more about keeping a relationship with the company than competing on price. This created some inefficiencies in Japan's markets because some companies were not operating at optimal levels.
In the afternoon we went to Shinkuku to see the Tokyo Metropolitan Office (pictured). We went up to the 45 floor to the observation deck and could see a full view of the city. This is the fifth tallest building in Tokyo and hoses offices of the government. It was an incredible site and what was the most amazing is that you could not really see an end to all of the buildings in Tokyo. The other photo here shows one of the views and Tokyo tower. It looked as if the city went on forever. Most of the buildings in the area were for government workers.
That night we went to karaoke. We had a private room with black lights and all you could drink. We had an amazing time and were there for about two hours. We did break a few glasses and black lights so i am not sure if we will be going back to the same place.

Wednesday May 13

The lecture we had today was about the developmental or protectionism form that the Japanese government has taken post WWII. We learned about how the government uses tariffs and other tools to prevent outside merchandise from entering the country and protecting their own companies. The government has a bigger role in their markets. It was interesting to learn about how protective they are of their companies.
After the lecture we went to Akiabara or "Electric town". There are a lot of electronic shops and comic/animae stores in this district. They didn't really have anything different in the way of technology and gadgets from what we have. We did go into a huge duty free shop that was full of all different types of merchandise mostly tourist things. They also have huge arcades that are five stories tall.
We took the train to an arena for Sumo. This event was amazing. We watched for three hours and saw many different rounds. They started the event with smaller more novice sumo wrestlers and towards the end the arena filled up and the crowd started to get more excited for the more famous players. They can take a few minutes to start a match as the wrestlers try to psych each other out by getting in the starting position and then getting up and walking out of the ring. They have to throw salt every time they enter the ring. Each match can last between one and twenty seconds. Some of them get hurt if they fall off the platform but that only happened to two of them. The event is broadcasted on TV like any other sporting event.
Last night I ate at a beef and rice fast food restaurant and we took it easy as we had to study for our quiz.

Tuesday May 12

This morning we had a lecture about the Japanese government and the political system. It was very interesting because Japan used to have a system where multiple representatives could be elected from the same district. So if there were six spots they could all be filled by candidates from the same party or a variety of parties. Japan has had the same ruling part from 1955 to 2009 in power called the Liberal Democratic Party. However this party is made up of about five factions which means they do not all have the same beliefs. This system was prone to corruption and was changed to create more districts so that each one would only select one representative. I also learned that students graduation from the university would rather go into government positions such as the ministry of finance than the private sector even though the pay is horrible. The reason behind this is that after 10 years of working they are responsible for drafting bills for the legislation. They like this power over the benefits of money.

For lunch went to a Hawaiian place. We ate in their loft which had four foot high ceilings and you had to sit on the floor. I had Mahi Mahi burger which was very good and the place also had Spam fried rice.

In the afternoon we went to the shrine of Yasukuni which is a war memorial shrine (pictured). This is a very controversial place because it is said to be the resting place of over two million souls of soldiers that have died in Japanese wars from the late 1800's through today but the names of war criminals from WWII and other wars are included in the dead. Some Japanese people do not feel comfortable with this and do not like the shrine. They cannot "take out" the souls because they believe that once it is "placed" in the shrine it is there forever. The shrine is not run by the government but by a private organization and there were many nationalists vans near the shrine. These people have loud speakers on their vans and go through the streets speaking about their nationalistic views. I felt very weird at the shrine. I believe that a lot of us were uncomfortable with the place. It was very quiet and many people would come through to say a prayer. One Japanese student felt uncomfortable there and another was somewhat emotional. If a Japanese Prime Minister goes to the shrine they are criticized by Korea and China because of the atrocities that some of the dead committed. There was also a war museum with the history of wars from the 1800's through WWII. I read about how the Japanese felt about the war and got a sense that they blamed us for the embargo that were placed on them. I never realized how spread out their army was and how much of Asia they were trying to take over when they attacked the U.S. There was also a kamikaze plane and submarine torpedo in the museum. It was a very memorable place and I felt it was beneficial going there.

At night we had sushi and went to Shabuya at night which was awesome. It was basically like New York Times Square but with more people. The train closes at 12:00 at night even though bars can be open until 5:00 am. I find it odd for a city of this size.

Monday May 11

Today was our first day of lectures. We had a brief lecture from Professor Wallin and then a professor from Japan, Professor Dairokuno gave us a lecture about Japanese culture and an overview of their government and taxes. He explained that a major difference of our culture is that they keep their differences in interest to themselves and try not to offend others. They will not say no to one another but try to make a compromise or suggestion. I can sense this from talking with the Japanese students. They always seem to do things together and do not try to show any differences in opinion.

After the lecture we went to the Diet which is the building of the House of Representatives (pictured) and House of Councillors. It was very large and very beautiful. We ate lunch in the dining room where they served us curry chicken over rice. The inside had very ornate wood paneling on the walls and was made of stone. Vladimer Putin was somewhere in the building meeting with the Prime Ministers but we did not see him. We saw the House of Representatives and the Emperor's room which was not too big but it was said to have cost 10% of the total cost of the building. The carpet was silk and every piece of metal in the room was pure gold. We saw the garden that was full of trees that each prefecture (state in Japan) donated to the Diet. Overall the building was very impressive and quite large. I found it interesting that there were no metal detectors and no one searched our bags when we entered the building. Also the police here do not carry guns but either taser guns or most of them have sticks. There were more police today because of Putin's visit.

We went to the museum of the Parliament after the tour and saw a video on the history of the Japanese Parliament. It was in Japanese but I could understand most of it from the pictures. The museum was small but was interesting to see. There was a large bronze head of Abraham Lincoln that was a gift from the U.S. when the museum was opened.

Today was humid and hot, luckily we have A/C in our rooms but most of the buildings we visit do not have it.

For dinner we went with some of the Japanese students to a Tempura restaurant. I had shrimp and eel over rice with miso soup for $8. It was very delicious. Tomorrow we have a quiz on one of the books we had to read and we will be going to another shrine after our lecture we will be going to sumo on Wednesday.

Sunday May 10

Today we visited the Meiji Jinku Shrine and the area of Harajuku. In the morning on our way to the train station there was a festival going on. There were hundreds of people in traditional clothes that were carrying a large shrine through the streets. They were chanting and switching off who carried the shrine. The shrine must have weighed a few hundred pounds and was carried by probably 50 people.

In Harajuku we started at the Meiji Junku Shrine. The shrine had huge gates that were spread through the trail to keep the human world and spiritual world separated. The shrine was pretty big and had an open square where we saw two Japanese wedding processions that day. There were pieces of wood that you could buy and write a prayer on and put near a tree. In the main area people threw money into a box and prayed. It was a very beautiful shrine.

After visiting the shrine we went into the area of Harajuku. We went down a street that was packed with people and many shops that catered to younger people. There were people dressed up as animae characters. In this area there is a park that is popular with younger people who play music and dress us like comic book and tv characters. We ate at a fast food restaurant called Lotteria which was like McDonalds. I had a teriyaki burger and a teriyaki burger with a fried egg on it. It was very good. The picture posted shows the different shops and how crowded it was on this street. It is interesting that most restaurants will have plastic replicas of the different kinds of food that they have to offer near the front door. This makes it easier for us to see what we are ordering. Also the Japanese students help us in reading menus.

We made our way to another area which was like 5th avenue in New York but with more people. We visited a toy store that was five stories tall and was kind of like FAO Schwartz but it had many Japanese toys and some toys that were from American movies. They had a whole floor dedicated to the Peanuts and giant Snoopy dolls.

At night we went to a sushi restaurant where my whole meal cost $4.5 and I got a tuna roll, squid sushi, and salmon sushi. It was very good and it was a cheaper kind of sushi restaurant. I had a long talk with two of the Japanese students about all different topics. I learned a lot about their culture and their daily lives.

Saturday May 9

Today we went to visit the imperial palace. This is where the current emperor lives with his family. He only makes public appearances two times per year. The palace covers a bout 280 acres and is surrounded by moats and very large walls. On our walk to the palace some guards of a construction site bowed to us and said hello to everyone. So far most people have been very nice here and do their best to try to understand us. We were not able to see the actual palace but we saw the gates and we able to walk through some of the gardens. The picture above shows the view from the street looking towards a part of the city. The palace area is on the left and the right is the city. We did get to see the princess which happened completely by accident.

After seeing the palace area we walked through the financial district of Tokyo which was very quiet because it was Saturday. We ended up at a mall that was probably five stories tall with many good restaurants. I ate at a Vietnamese place while other people in our group explored other restaurants. Food has been pretty cheap so far with most meals costing under $10 and some even under $5. The Japanese students who took us around were very nice and so helpful. They definitely go out of their way to make sure we are having a good time.

We took the subway for the first time and it was very confusing. They have many lines that go all over the city and you have to pay a certain fee based upon the stop you plan to use. The trains are nice and very clean. You are not supposed to talk a lot on the train and turn off your cell phone.

For dinner we went back to the place with all you can eat and drink for $21 and had a great night.

Food from last night

This is the fried chicken necks, craw fish, and some kind of chips.

First Day in Japan

So far the trip is off to an amazing start. After about 14 to 15 hours in the air and an hour and a half bus ride we arrived around 6:00 pm Thursday. We met a few of the Japanese students who were going to take us around during our stay here. They took us to a noodle house where you put money in a machine and a ticket comes out. You give the ticket to the chef and he makes your noodle dish. I had udon noodles with shrimp tempura with some kind of broth. It was really good and it was under $5. We were probably up for over 30 hours that day. It is amazing here, it has such a different feel than any other city that I have been too before.

On Friday we had a full day of events. We started off with a visit to Meiji University where we met some of the professors and the leaders of this program. They gave us a nice lunch and we toured the campus. We met about 15 or 20 students who are going to be our guides around here. They all spoke English very well and were modest about their English abilities. They were very enthusiastic to meet us and help us. The university has about 30,000 students! After the school visit we went to get tickets to the Tokyo Giants, a professional baseball team. We got tickets for only $15 and it was crazy. It was like a European soccer game, there were so many people cheering and into their team. The picture I am positing is the main fan section for the Giants. They would have certain chants and play drums so much that the stadium hardly used any music. I had taco yaki, which is octopus chunks in fried balls of dough. They were really tasty. They also had girls who would walk around the stands with quarter kegs on their back selling beer. We also saw Tom Hanks and Ron Howard which was kind of random. They were at the game also. The energy level in the stadium was intense and it was so much fun.

Last night we were with about 5 Japanese students who took us out to a restaurant that was all you can eat and drink for $21. It was a traditional Japanese restaurant where you had to take off your shoes and we sat on mats. The food was really good, we had endamame, salad, fried chicken necks, whole craw fish, pizza, and other foods. We were there a few hours and had a great time.

So far the trip had been full of events and I am excited to see what else Japan has in store for us.