Tokyo is a huge city and after being there I would say it could be anywhere in the world...just with a lot more Japanese people than, say, Chicago. Once in Tokyo, I took three trains to get to the hotel....see map below, not . Luckily there are a lot of English signs in Tokyo.
At the orientation, I met 29 other JSPS fellows from all over the world and we had a great three days. It was very informative and at times entertaining. We learned how to read and speak some Japanese, about the JSPS program, and about some of the cultural differences between Japan and other countries. My favorite part was when the Japanese professor, Dr. Suto, who studies dark matter and dark energy, gave a presentation. He mentioned the "great American philosopher", Donald Rumsfeld! The best part, was that he understood the irony of his statement! He quoted Rumsfeld's speech, which accurately describes the study of dark matter and energy:
"There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns; there are things we do not know we don’t know." It was really awkward to be the only person from the U.S.A. at that moment!
Half of the second day and all of the third day were spent on a Japanese tour bus with our "Professional English speaking Japanese tour guide," as she introduced herself! She is the one with the flag below...too make sure we could find her. We did lose someone for a few minutes along the way, despite our tour guides explicit instructions that the bus will drop us off on the 1st floor and we will go to the 2nd floor and we will meet at the bus on the 2nd floor at 2:10 pm. The man in the snakeskin pants is someone that I just thought deserved to be photographed!
Below is a picture of Tokyo from the observation deck of the Tokyo Tower, seen on the right as we left. It is modeled after the Eiffel Tower in France. The observation deck is 150 meters above ground level. It was pretty neat to see, but made me want to get back to Okinawa!
Many times on this tour we crammed so many people into the elevators that told us "Sorry the elevator is crowded," and so I thought it was worth a picture. One time three people had to get off before the doors would close. When they set the limit to 17 people, I think they meant 17 Japanese people, not Europeans and North Americans. At the Tokyo Tower, there was a man with a dustbuster cleaning out the elevator before each trip to pick up more people.
One of our stops was The National Safety Center, where we learned what to do in case of a fire or earthquake. It was informative, but also entertaining. We had to go into a room, six at a time, and escape a "fire" with smoke and all. If anyone wasn't low enough to the ground an alarm went off and the instructor would yell over the loudspeaker "You're dead!" (But in Japanese). Then we got to experience a 6.0 magnitude earthquake under a kitchen table. The best part was that the rest of the group got to watch as we experienced these situations.
For those who might come visit...please read the instructions below as found in the womens restroom at the Safety Center. The t-shirt is just a great English word t-shirt that I saw.
Then we went to a Shinto shrine...the traditional religion in Japan, worshipping gods of nature, nd a Buddhist temple. The pictures below are of a typical schoolboy that was near the shrine and of the outside of the Buddhist temple.
At the Shinto Shrine, you toss a 5 yen coin into a box, bow once, clap twice, bow twice, say your prayer, and bow again. This will ensure that your prayer is answered. At the Buddhist temple; however, you toss in your 5 yen coin and bow, but don't clap! You can purchase a fortune for 100 yen. If you get a good fortune you keep it. If you get a bad fortune, you fold it and leave it at the temple as seen below. Then you have to go cover your body with the incense smoke to make you more healthy. It was really interesting in a very touristy sort of way. For a significantly higher amount of money you can meet with a Buddhist priest who will listen to your prayers.
Glad to back on Okinawa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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