On Sunday, 28 June, Joe and I met Mike for breakfast at the hotel.
The hotel that we stayed at - The Asia Center of Japan, located in
Akasaka - is the same hotel that Mike is living at for his study
abroad program. The breakfast buffet was complimentary for hotel
guests, so Joe and I met Mike there every morning. Jenn, not being a
morning person or a breakfast person, usually took the opportunity to
sleep.
After breakfast on Sunday morning, Mike showed us how he
walks to a grocery store that he goes to often to buy lunch - the
store has a good selection of prepared salads, meats, etc. and a
bakery. We walked through the Akasaka Cemetery - first picture (the
high-rise in the distance is the Mori Tower, the building where Mike
is doing his internship) - and picked up a little lunch to have with
Jenn. Then we all headed out to Harajuku just as the rain was
starting up.
Our vacation in Tokyo was during Japan's rainy season, and a couple
of days it rained most of the time. Sunday was one of them. First
we went to see the Meiji Shrine, the most important shinto shrine in
Tokyo. During the New Year holidays it is the most heavily visited
place in Japan, with over three million people worshipping and buying
good-luck charms for the year ahead. We didn't get many pictures
because of the heavy rain, but the second picture shows ema boards
that you buy and write prayers or wishes on to hang at the shrine.
Then we went to the Harajuku District, which is a center for
fashion. In the Takeshita-dori, a narrow alley, you can find what's
hot in teen fashion and culture. Usually on Sundays there are a
crowd of young people dressed up in costumes; however, because of all
the rain, we didn't see that many. The alley-way was a mass of
people and a sea of umbrellas. We stopped at Kiddy Land, a 6-story
toy store, with one floor devoted to Hello Kitty collectibles (third
picture).
After that we went to a small place to eat that Mike found
- Chao Bamboo - that was just a bunch of tables tucked away in an
alley with plastic sheeting hung around to demarcate the restaurant
and keep out the rain - it was the best meal I had in Tokyo. After
that, we headed back - wet and tired, but having fun.
Everything here is going well. Andrew went back to Long Island on
Friday. Jenn spent the weekend with some friends at Cornell - she's
back to work at Target tomorrow. She's been working some eight hour
days, and has several weeks with almost 40 hours coming up. Mike is
doing fine - he's down to his last two weeks, and then it's back to
Santa Clara. Work for Joe and me is about the same, although GM is
no longer in bankruptcy, and Kodak's stock is just over $3! The
weather has been coolish and rather rainy, so we are spending a lot
of time doing yard work - mostly weeding and trimming - and trying to
avoid the mosquito bites.
Hope everyone is well,
Kind regards,
Terry
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