Tokyo
Hello from Japan! It's about 9 PM here and our last day in Tokyo before we head to Mt. Fuji/Hanoke, Kyoto/Nara, and Osaka.
The past couple of days have been really fun and full of sight seeing. We took a bus tour around Tokyo on Monday to visit the Meiji Shinto Shrine, the Emperor's house (it was on a hill..we saw it from afar), a Buddhist temple, and the Ginza, It was fun to see everything and not have to walk or take the train there, even though we did take the train back to Shinjuku where our hotel is from the Ginza. The only bad thing about Monday was that it was raining really hard..hopefully that won't happen again. We also saw the Kabuki theatre..from the outside...tickets are kind of pricey.
Tuesday, we went to a park to see the Cherry Blossoms and to see a couple of museums. There were exhibits from some Japanese modern art, an exhibit of costumes from a warrior Noh play, which was pretty amazing. The cherry blossoms were so beautiful and it was the perfect day, weather wise. We had lunch from a street vendor, then came back to rest up before we had dinner with my uncle (my dad's cousin). So, I was really nervous about this dinner because my dad had made such a huge deal out of it, but it was a lot of fun. We met his wife and my great-aunt. We went to this great restaurant in a part of Tokyo that sounds like Sumidagawa (which is a noh play, not a place..i can't remember the place though), had sushi, iced oolong tea for me..beer and sake for everyone else. amazing food, amazing company..it was great.
Today, we went around to the giant department store that's close to the hotel, had noodles from breakfast..weight watchers has gone out the window for me this week..i'm taking a break from it..but we're walking around a lot, so it might not be as bad as i think it is. Anyway, we went to another park in Shinjuku where there were more cherry blossoms and was prettier than the last park. We really came at the right time with the cherry blossoms..they're soo pretty (sorry, nick). gorgeous..I have tons of pictures, so those will come up when I get back.
Meanwhile, I'm still plugging away at the Beijing Opera paper for Joel..almost 7 pages. It's a little crappy, but it's almost done and i can look it over when i get back. This is the first time i've managed to connect my computer to the internet, so i did see a large lecture from Mohammed for the break...umm..yikes. I brought some other work to do, but i don't know if that's going to happen. Andy and my dad went to the bar for some sake tasting and some father/future son-in-law/male bonding time. I love the fact that Andy's here with me and that my parents like him so much..makes things a lot more pleasant.
anyway..i have a bus to catch at 730 tomorrow morning, so i might just get in bed and sew for a bit before i sleep and hopefully andy will come back at some point. time to put the computer away, i guess.
Hopefully I'll update again before we fly back home, if not though, have a great rest of the week, and I'll see you all soon!!
The past couple of days have been really fun and full of sight seeing. We took a bus tour around Tokyo on Monday to visit the Meiji Shinto Shrine, the Emperor's house (it was on a hill..we saw it from afar), a Buddhist temple, and the Ginza, It was fun to see everything and not have to walk or take the train there, even though we did take the train back to Shinjuku where our hotel is from the Ginza. The only bad thing about Monday was that it was raining really hard..hopefully that won't happen again. We also saw the Kabuki theatre..from the outside...tickets are kind of pricey.
Tuesday, we went to a park to see the Cherry Blossoms and to see a couple of museums. There were exhibits from some Japanese modern art, an exhibit of costumes from a warrior Noh play, which was pretty amazing. The cherry blossoms were so beautiful and it was the perfect day, weather wise. We had lunch from a street vendor, then came back to rest up before we had dinner with my uncle (my dad's cousin). So, I was really nervous about this dinner because my dad had made such a huge deal out of it, but it was a lot of fun. We met his wife and my great-aunt. We went to this great restaurant in a part of Tokyo that sounds like Sumidagawa (which is a noh play, not a place..i can't remember the place though), had sushi, iced oolong tea for me..beer and sake for everyone else. amazing food, amazing company..it was great.
Today, we went around to the giant department store that's close to the hotel, had noodles from breakfast..weight watchers has gone out the window for me this week..i'm taking a break from it..but we're walking around a lot, so it might not be as bad as i think it is. Anyway, we went to another park in Shinjuku where there were more cherry blossoms and was prettier than the last park. We really came at the right time with the cherry blossoms..they're soo pretty (sorry, nick). gorgeous..I have tons of pictures, so those will come up when I get back.
Meanwhile, I'm still plugging away at the Beijing Opera paper for Joel..almost 7 pages. It's a little crappy, but it's almost done and i can look it over when i get back. This is the first time i've managed to connect my computer to the internet, so i did see a large lecture from Mohammed for the break...umm..yikes. I brought some other work to do, but i don't know if that's going to happen. Andy and my dad went to the bar for some sake tasting and some father/future son-in-law/male bonding time. I love the fact that Andy's here with me and that my parents like him so much..makes things a lot more pleasant.
anyway..i have a bus to catch at 730 tomorrow morning, so i might just get in bed and sew for a bit before i sleep and hopefully andy will come back at some point. time to put the computer away, i guess.
Hopefully I'll update again before we fly back home, if not though, have a great rest of the week, and I'll see you all soon!!