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| Tokyo DazeWell, it's been all Tokyo all the time for two weeks now, and I'm really enjoying the city. Tokyo has 23 city wards, so Scott and I have basically been taking a ward a day every Saturday and Sunday. Research takes up a good portion of the day Monday through Thursday, so we just explore the area around the observatory on those nights, but Friday nights we usually have time to go downtown and see something cool. A quick overview of where we've been so far: Shinjuku (The busiest area in Tokyo) and the Meiji Shrine our first weekend here and the Imperial Palace and Ginza (a busy shopping district with an ancient kabuki theater) last weekend. Last Friday we also found time to go see Tokyo Tower, which is 333 meters tall, a full 33 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower.
A picture under the Torii gate to a shrine in the crowder Shinjuku district.
A picture of the shrine itself.
The giant Tokyo Tocho government building. The whole skyscraper district was just phenomenal.
Scott and I at a Chinese style temple in Shinjuku.
No picture I took captures just how busy and absolutely huge this city is. Every floor of each building has its own business, and there is just no end to it.
Me in front of the massive Torii gate at the Meiji Shrine. The acres and acres of gardens and shrine buildings commemorate Emperor Meiji, the last great emperor.
Scott and I in a particularly scenic spot in the gardens.
The main shrine area. Through there is the courtyard.
Me at the cleansing fountain. You are supposed to rinse your left hand, then right, then your mouth, the left hand again, and then the cup, if memory serves.
A picture with Tokyo Tower.
The view of the city from the main observation deck.
We stopped at a ramen house close to Tokyo Tower. This is what ramen is supposed to be. It's a long way from the cup of soup we have in the states. There's an even better place about a three minute bike ride from the observatory that I'll have to take a picture of.
A picture of Tokyo Station, a very historic train station. It's too bad it's currently being renovated, because it's really a beautiful building.
A picture with the moat surrounding the Imperial Palace in the background. It's hard to imagine them digging that mote hundreds of years ago.
The Meganebashi (eyeglass) Bridge with some palace building in the background. Unfortunately the main palace grounds aren't open to the public because the imperial family actually lives there. We may try to book a tour before we leave though.
A picture with the Imperial Music Hall.
After walking around the imperial palace we went to Ginza. They close off the streets for pedestrians on weekend afternoons. It's a lot of fun to walk around, but we didn't get to spend much time because we were on our way too...
the Kabuka-za theatre! A very old, very traditional, and downright cool kabuki theater in Ginza. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures of the inside, which is just as incredible, and the play wasn't half bad either.
Tokyo is really an amazing place, and while I'm looking forward to heading to Kyoto and some more traditional Japanese places, one of the things that makes Tokyo so amazing is the blend of the traditional and modern (almost futuristic). It's very surreal to stand at a palace surrounded by a huge stone wall built by the Tokugawa Shogunate in the late 16th century and see skyscrapers on the horizon. Needless to say, it's a lot of fun.
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| Sushi TimeSo today we took the bus to Chofu station with some of the grad students to get Sushi for lunch. We went to some rotary sushi place here in Mitaka.
You take a seat at the bar and grab whatever sushi you want as it comes to you on the conveyor belt. You know how much something costs by the plate it's on. After you're done, they count your plates and give you the check. You don't order drinks. There are green tea bags available like ketchup packets are in the states and each seat has its own hot water spout.
The left are just bowls for soy and wasabi. The roll on the right is basically just seaweed stuff with squid, and I ate two of them. It tasted really good. If you chew it with your molars, the texture is easier to handle.
The long things on the bottom are eel fillets over rice topped with some kind of sauce. This is my new favorite. The eel isn't fishy or chewy at all. I hope I can find some place that has this in the states. The half eaten one on top is called natto. It's a roll of fermented soy beans that has no fish or meat of any kind. The stuff on top is actually okra.
So, out of the sqid, the eel, and the natto, which would you try? If you said natto, then good luck. It's the only thing I got that I didn't like. Dr. Seiji insists that foreigners try it since it's so disgusting. The taste is bitter, but the worst part is the smell. If you just hold it up to your nose, you won't notice anything, but for some reason, once it's in your mouth, it's like the whole room just filled with noxious fumes. So, in summary: eel = great, squid = not bad, natto beans = gross.
From right to left: Scott, Keiko, and another grad student (kind of soft spoken so I don't remember her name yet.)
Left to Right: Me, Shihori, and another soft spoken grad student.
This is a Pachinko station that was across the street from the sushi place. Apparently Pachinko is like a vertical pinball machine. In busier places in Tokyo, apparently there are lines of people outside waiting to get in and play.
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| Land of the Rising SunI am in Japan. It is 1:30 in the morning. The jet lag hasn't really bothered me yet, and it still hasn't completely set in that I am on the other side of the world. My flight in went well, especially considering it was 15 hours long, not including my first flight for N.O. to Atlanta. The observatory is beautiful, and I can't wait to explore it. I'm attaching a couple of pics. I have a lot more to say, but I'll probably be thinking more clearly tomorrow, so I'll wait. Right now the plan is to explore the NAOJ and Mitaka tomorrow and hit up downtown Tokyo this weekend, so there will definitely be more pictures coming.
This is the outside of the NAOJ campus where I'm staying.
This si the balcony out of my window. I think I'll be spending some time here.
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| Love is the MovementSwitchfoot was incredible. God blessed me. Apparently, they haven't played "Movement" live in the last seven years, but one of the "To Write Love on Her Arms" shirts (which I picked up as my souvenir) references the song, and it inspired them to play it again. I was grateful. The best song, though, was "American Dream." My research partner, who has also become one of best friends, would really have enjoyed that one. We've had some pretty good discussions about the deification of America that takes place in a lot of churches these days. It's okay to be thankful to be from a wealthy, developed nation, as long as we realize that things can change quickly, and that we as Americans are not some how entitled to more, by virtue of our birth, than someone from the developing world. We may not always be so lucky. It's okay to be glad that we live in a free country, as we recognize that are not THE free country, nor are we necessarily THE MOST FREE of all countries. And while I will shout "God Bless America" from on top of the purple mountains in all their majesty, I don't ever want to make this mistake of thinking that America is somehow God's new chosen people. So never let me turn that flag into an idol. Thank God for perspective.
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| I Hope I'm Not As Boring As ThoreauHave you ever read Thoreau? Specifically Walden? If so, I hope you find me and my blogging much less boring than that. I agree: nature is nourishing to the soul. Do you know what is not nurturing to the soul, Mr. Thoreau? Reading about how beautiful a leaf is for 23 stinkin' pages! Can't I just go outside and look at a leaf instead?
Okay, so I usually try to be more couth than to write something off like this, but Mr. Thoreau, you are a pompous, verbose, and very boring individual, and while perhaps there is some truth hidden in your writing, it is evil of you torture me with ridiculous tangents as I try to find it. You are a writer, and as such you should attempt to communicate your point more effectively and not waste my time with endless digressions on the most asinine of topics. I have more important things to do, like sleep before my physics presentation in New Orleans tomorrow. Perhaps you should take your own advice and "simplify, simplify, simplify."
Phew, now I feel better.
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