Monday May 11, 2009

A lot happened in the past two days. On Sunday we visited Harajuku as well as the Meiji Shrine. The walk to the shrine was through the woods, and there was these structures that held barrels of Sake and Wine. The shrine itself was very beautiful. You had to cleanse your hands before you could enter the temple. Once inside, there was a traditional Japanese wedding going on. Afterwards we went to Harajuku. It is a shopping district that had anime/gothic clothing stores in the beginning, and a nicer shopping area as the road continued on. We ate Okonomiyaki, which is a type of Japanese pancake that you make at the table. All the ingredients came out in a bowl and you mixed them and cooked them on the grill that was in the middle of the table. After lunch we went and took photos with the Japanese students in a photo booth. This is apparenty very popular in Japan. It was a lot of fun. On Monday we had our first lecture by Professor Dairokunu. Afterwards we went to the Japanese Parliament (Diet) and had lunch in the dining room there. This is the equivalent to having lunch in the Senate Dining room. We took a tour of the Parliament building and afterwards we returned home. The night was spent preparing for the quiz the following day. All in all this month in Tokyo is turning out amazing, but it is flying by.