Journals Day 3

I am writing this journal tonight and wish to tell you how amazing this one day has been. It started with a 7am wake up call and a shower. The shower was western along with the bed and everything else. The toilet had toilet paper and a spray/bidet function. Needless to say, I did not feel the urge for a wet behind, so paper is the route.

After a continental breakfast of rice balls, scrambled eggs, toast, and grapefruit juice, we packed our day bags and went to the Imperial palace. The palace was amazing. Our guide (Kyo) told us that when the palace was built in the 16th century and, when built, was the largest palace in the world. For defense, the palace surrounded by a 3 motes, and gravel courtyards around the palace and in between the motes. The motes made since but the gravel was different. She explained that the gravel made noise when stepped on so if the palace was surrounded by gravel, no one could sneak up on the palace. Also I learned that we could only go in on two days of the year, New Years Day and the emperor's birthday. And it just so happens to be on December the 23rd.

From there, we went to Asakusa Kounan Temple. This Temple was amazing but more amazing than the temple was the amount of shops from the gate to the Temple itself. These shops were great, I was able to buy a few gifts for begging friends and a nice sword for me plus a few kimonos for myself and Jen. There was a couple of other things I could have bought but I thought that the Hard Rock Cafe would have better gifts. I bought a 'Shrine book' and got it stamped with my name and the shrine's mark (More later)

From the temple, we ventured to the Hard Rock Cafe and Restaurant. Nice place but it only served us burgers and fries. Got more shopping in and learned that Japan likes (and definitely knows how to rock)

We then traveled to a shrine. On the bus, Kyo explained the difference between a Buddhist Temple and Shinto Shrine. It goes down to religion. Anyway, as we arrived at the shrine, we were told to step aside to let a wedding procession go through. The procession was nice as they walked into shrine area and then into a private area. While I took time to reflect at the shrine, I overheard a conversion that said this was the third wedding today!! After I finished reflecting, I rejoined the group at a tree surrounded by tablets. These tablets each had a prayer from a different person. The Tree is holy and all of the prayers are removed everyday. The priests then pray for the person's wish. Well I got my book 'shrined' and picked up a few tablets.

By then, we wanted to shop some more so we were given a few hours to shop. While others shopped, my group and I took pictures of Harajuku girls. Since the culture is so formal, the girls rebel and have fun by dressing up in crazy outfits! Their friends were dressed up too, so entire groups had their own themes. When we were done with the girls, we shopped and saw a few funny stores and poorly translated English. We hurried back and waited to go to dinner.

Dinner consisted of vegetables and beef. Also, did I forget to mention the scalding water we cooked them in?! We threw the vegetables into the water to soften then up and then took the thin strips of beef and cooked them in the boiling water until they turned a delicious brown. We poured sesame dressing over the meat and devoured it all. (Words can not describe a taste like this.)

Feeling pretty tired, we left from the restaurant to the platform at the subway station and took a train to the Hotel where I am now. As I reflect on the day, I think about how much I saw and learned today. Asian culture is strikingly different from Western but the amount of culture I saw today consisted of a blend of the two with Western being the most predominant. Even in the hotel room, CNN is available. Though in Japanese, it reflects Tokyo very well. A city blending traditional culture with its own and losing itself in the process.