Friday afternoon we went to the Tokyo Edo museum. First of all, this is one of the most uniquely designed museums I have ever seen. It looks from the outside like they have put a museum up on 4 pillars (I don't have any pictures that would do it justice so you will have to Google it). Inside they have a couple of full scale buildings they have rebuilt/recreated from the Edo period (when Japan was ruled by Shogun's). I learned a lo about life in the Shogun period including a lot about the system of commerce.
Following that, Paul, Tony, Ian, Jeremy, Jane, Joe and I went to the Asakasa district to see a famous temple. As has been the case in the rest of Tokyo, there was a unique market that exists in the mall leading to the temple where they sell any and every form of tourist knick-knack. We left then for Odaiba which is a relatively far away part of Tokyo across their rainbow bridge. We got there just in time for Tony (who was the only student with Paul and I at this point) to get a couple of great shots of the statue of liberty lit up. We had dinner there in a Hawaiian restaurant (which served distinctly non-Japanese portions) and headed back to the hotel.
My last activity for the night was to go off on my own and get my ears picked (think of it as a very thorough cleaning of your ears). A couple of months ago, I read a story in the New York Times about ear picking in Korea. The story said that many travelers to Seoul would go and get their ears picked first thing upon arriving. The story said that many people interviewed indicated that this experience was very pleasurable. My experience suggests that that is only half of the story. Some of it felt great, but some of it was quite uncomfortable/painful. I'm not sure I would every do that again. That said it was a very good experience and certainly worth doing once (and for the record she did get a lot of wax out of my ears). At that point it was midnight.
One thing I have noticed that is very surprising about Tokyo is how early it shuts down. While there were places open at midnight when I was leaving the ear picking, there were a lot of bars that had closed and there were relatively few people about. This wouldn't be surprising if we were staying in the financial district, but we are staying in a part of Tokyo with lots of bars, clubs, and restaurants. Very different from my experiences in Manhattan.
Saturday was a long day of riding a bus to see mount Fuji and an authentic tea farm followed by kareoke. First, we drove to get a good view of Fuji. Fuji is about 2 hours away from Tokyo...unless everyone in Tokyo is going there in which case it can take forever. To make up for the fact that getting to Fuji was not going to happen, we changed route and headed for park where you could get a good view of the mountain. Following a short break for lunch and pictures, we headed to a working tea farm and tea processing factory before heading back to Tokyo. Once back in Tokyo, the whole gang headed out for some kareoke. Everyone from the course sang and I believe all had a good time.
Sunday was a day off for students and faculty. Paul, Keiko and I got to see some more of Tokyo and do some shopping for loved ones while the students headed off to a baseball game. While the game was a pitchers duel, fun seems to have been had by all.
Given that it is late here now and I have to be up early for a train ride to Kyoto, I am signing off.
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