I must have had the famous jet lag because even though I hadn’t slept for a day or two I slept for only three hours last night and then was wide awake for the rest of the night and now for the whole day. I’m hoping that tonight I can get some sleep.
This morning my brain was extremely foggy so met a few others in the hotel lobby at 5:00 AM and we went for about a two mile run through downtown Tokyo. The early morning air was cool and humid and it did help to clear my head. Even though Tokyo has 12 million people, the parts that I have seen have been incredibly clean. You do not see garbage anywhere and you frequently see people whose job is to sweep and clean the streets and sidewalks. The city was very quiet with little traffic at this early hour, so it was fun to be out and about.
Today we had orientation meetings in the morning and then we went to The National Diet of Japan which is the House of Representatives of Japan. We had a tour through the enormous building where they meet. There were several large groups of school children on field trips to the Diet Building at the same time. The younger children all had on yellow caps and were so excited to see us. The older students, probably middle school, wore blue school uniforms. It was really fun to see them.
After that we had a wonderful tempura lunch at a local restaurant. We sat on pillows on the floor because the tables are only about a foot tall. It was very comfortable and the food was fantastic! I’m getting really good with chopsticks!
We then walked through a very crowded street market called Asakusa. There were hundreds of small open air shops with people swarming in from all angles. It was very fun to mingle and see the huge variety of people. I loved smelling the incense burning at the end of the market. People would go up to a huge incense burner and gather up smoke in their hands and spread it all over their bodies as an act of cleansing. I did it too! We also visited a Buddhist shrine or temple.
When we got back to the hotel we went to a performance of kyogen which is a traditional Japanese theatre which is performed with usually only two people and uses no props except maybe a fan and sometimes a mask – the actors (very few actresses perform kyogen) don’t even wear makeup. Kyogen is comedy (no one has ever died in a kyogen play) and pays close attention to body movement and voice delivery. It was fun to watch this old art being staged.
In the evening there was a reception for all of us American educators which was attended by many Japanese dignitaries. It was inspiring to hear their speeches about the importance of being immersed in other cultures in order to better understand and appreciate our similarities and differences. Japanese chefs cooked and served some of the most beautiful and delicious food I have ever seen or eaten.
It has been a very busy time, but exciting. Nonetheless, I miss you and will be very happy and glad to see you.
This morning my brain was extremely foggy so met a few others in the hotel lobby at 5:00 AM and we went for about a two mile run through downtown Tokyo. The early morning air was cool and humid and it did help to clear my head. Even though Tokyo has 12 million people, the parts that I have seen have been incredibly clean. You do not see garbage anywhere and you frequently see people whose job is to sweep and clean the streets and sidewalks. The city was very quiet with little traffic at this early hour, so it was fun to be out and about.
Today we had orientation meetings in the morning and then we went to The National Diet of Japan which is the House of Representatives of Japan. We had a tour through the enormous building where they meet. There were several large groups of school children on field trips to the Diet Building at the same time. The younger children all had on yellow caps and were so excited to see us. The older students, probably middle school, wore blue school uniforms. It was really fun to see them.
After that we had a wonderful tempura lunch at a local restaurant. We sat on pillows on the floor because the tables are only about a foot tall. It was very comfortable and the food was fantastic! I’m getting really good with chopsticks!
We then walked through a very crowded street market called Asakusa. There were hundreds of small open air shops with people swarming in from all angles. It was very fun to mingle and see the huge variety of people. I loved smelling the incense burning at the end of the market. People would go up to a huge incense burner and gather up smoke in their hands and spread it all over their bodies as an act of cleansing. I did it too! We also visited a Buddhist shrine or temple.
When we got back to the hotel we went to a performance of kyogen which is a traditional Japanese theatre which is performed with usually only two people and uses no props except maybe a fan and sometimes a mask – the actors (very few actresses perform kyogen) don’t even wear makeup. Kyogen is comedy (no one has ever died in a kyogen play) and pays close attention to body movement and voice delivery. It was fun to watch this old art being staged.
In the evening there was a reception for all of us American educators which was attended by many Japanese dignitaries. It was inspiring to hear their speeches about the importance of being immersed in other cultures in order to better understand and appreciate our similarities and differences. Japanese chefs cooked and served some of the most beautiful and delicious food I have ever seen or eaten.
It has been a very busy time, but exciting. Nonetheless, I miss you and will be very happy and glad to see you.
5 comments:
Thanks for sharing your pics and experiences every day! I am sharing it with my class! Sounds very exciting. I am jealous! Enjoy! Heather
Jan
Thanks for the wonderful pictures and enjoyable comments. It was wonderful to be able to share with you. Have a great time.
Great to hear from you guys! I'm still not sleeping much - only about 3 hours a night. That seems to be typical for most people. I'm up early today (4:30) there is group going to the fish market. I miss everybody! Tell them I'll be asking what books they have been reading! Hugs to all!
The kids were really excited about your pictures and posts. They want me to make posts for them, so I have set up a box for them to write notes to you that I will post on here. Although, that won't be until Monday now that we have Thursday and Friday off from school. Keep posting and try to get some sleep!
Mrs. Minster, It will be wonderful to hear from your class! I'll look forward to Monday!
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