Tokyo Adventures

On Saturday, Inga and I decided to try to tackle the Ueno Zoo and Tokyo National Museum. Being the ambitious, SMART planners we are, we decided to hit the zoo around noon on the hottest day of the week. But it's okay because we saw a billion animals... including PANDAS!

What, you've never seen a black and white before?

And I know it looks like the panda enclosure is TERRIBLE from the picture, but I promise that that's just the inside part and also only a REALLY small bit of the inside. It was a terribly hot day so they were (understandably) keeping the pandas in the air conditioned spaces -- regardless, they seemed really happy and active!



We also saw other animals, like this badger that was sleeping in this here tube.

Look at that sleepy badger.

And a tiger!

Bro seemed TIRED.

Anyway, after the zoo, we ventured to the oh-so-very-air conditioned Tokyo National Museum, where we saw all sorts of awesome art and historical artifacts and even a few national treasures! We spent a good four hours there and we didn't even go to any of the special exhibits -- we'll definitely be keeping an eye out for the special exhibitions in the future now that we've done the usual collections, I think.

This week has been full of orientation stuff -- we had our placement test on Tuesday, and we had the day off today so Inga, Aspasea, and I ventured into downtown to do a bit of shopping. I came home with a new phone case, a pair of socks, a gift for Caroline, and a laundry basket, which I totally found by accident, but I'm happy I located nonetheless. Tomorrow we find out our class placements (oh goddddddd) and we also register for our Japanese classes. We're also given a bunch of options for Japanese studies classes that we can take that won't count towards our program completion, but we don't register for those until school starts and we participate in a "shopping period" where we can go to the classes we're interested in and hopefully that will help us further narrow down our choices. Right now I'm considering four courses: Japanese Perception of the Atomic Bombing, A Social History of Post-War Japan (which would be a good follow-up to my Post-War Japan class from last quarter -- this class would be much heavier on the social aspect and lighter on the war crimes stuff), Christianity in Japanese History, and finally, Japanese Diplomacy in the Meiji Era. I'm really looking forward to finalizing my decision!

Also, last night I attended a reception at the residence of the US ambassador to Japan, John Roos, with representatives of Oregon businesses, Business Oregon, and the office of the governor. It was quite fun to meet all sorts of people, and I had a really wonderful time. I'm really glad I was given the opportunity! I met the group in the lobby of the Imperial Hotel, which is seriously the fanciest place I have ever stepped foot in, and I have a picture of the area I was sitting in but it's on my phone. I figured a phone picture would probably be a bit less tacky than busting out my camera in front of a bunch of rich Japanese people staying at one of the nicest hotels in the world.

Seriously one of the most gorgeous places I have ever SEEN.

Another one of my discoveries for the day is that our American football team is called the Keio Unicorns. BEST TEAM NAME EVER. I'm probably going to buy a shirt or a sweatshirt and wear it to one of their games. They're a club team, and I think it's important to support the club teams... I've been thinking on and off about joining the crew team here, but it's over $600 for the year in club fees, so I think I'll pass on this year. I might join the women's choir though -- the fee is still around $300, but it would be nice to sing with a group, and if I set the money aside ahead of time, I should be able to manage it... we'll see how my schedule is once classes start though!

It's already 11:30, so I should probably be getting to bed. I'm looking forward to this weekend though; Inga, myself, and a few of our dorm friends have decided a beach trip is in order since we live right on a bay! I'm very excited, especially since we seem to still be having July weather despite the fact that it's September!!