Last night, my host family took me to the Tokyo Opera City in Hatsudai for a concert! I snuck this picture of the main concert hall. It's so beautiful, and spacious. It was so big, that it didn"t feel like Tokyo at all, cause in Shinjuku, there is never so much space alloted for a building that isn't used to the last inch.

Yesterday, I went to the Tokyo University for Fine Arts and Music for my Arts Practicum class, and toured the different departments. It was so amazing, the work was so gorgeous, its hard to believe people my own age made them. I was really surprised that they have so many arts departments, from metal sculpture to weaving to traditional Japanese lacquerware. I forgot my cellphone, so i didn't get any pictures. I'm going there again next week, so I'll take some then. ^_^

I really want to go to a onsen soon...I think it's cause the weather is turning colder.

later
Jun

The 1st pic is of all the lanterns that were set up right in front of the Takada no Baba station for the festival last monday.
The 2nd pic is the "Big Parfait" at Shakeys last Sunday night. Its 1800ccs of ice cream, brownie, coffee jelly, cornflakes, peanuts, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream, topped off with a sparkle! It took 9 of us just to finish it off!
The 3 rd pic is my host mom at Don Quixote, this giant store, kinda like a mix between Fred Meyer and Costco, but noisier and fun. We saw this super sized bag of Umaibo(a tasty cheeto-like snack) and I had to take a picture!

I'm so lucky! My host mom is a sado(tea ceremony) instructor. I take lessons from her every Monday and Thursday. The 1st picture is the tatami tea room in my building, you can kinda see the heater that heats the water for tea. The 2nd picture is my host mother's collection of tea pots and bowls. the 3rd picture is a almost complete tea set...it's missing a ladle for the hot water...

On Saturday, It was a holiday in Tokyo, so entrance to the Ueno zoo was free!
1st Pic: The view of the lake in the middle of the zoo.
2nd pic: A photo of the okapi billboard, since i couldn't get a good shot of the real one...i guess it's a mix of a giraffe and a zebra? or a horse and a zebra? anyone know??
3rd pic:After the zoo we went to Asakasa, a traditional district with a famouse temple, Sensoji.
The road that takes you to the temple is a traditional market. This man is handmaking manju, a kind of cake with red bean paste in the middle.
4th pic: The huge lanterns that mark each gateway to the temple.
5th pic: Me, under the giant golden poo of Asakasa...>_<

Last Thursday, all of the OUS students went to Nikko, about 3 hours away from Tokyo. It was so cold there, and completly foggy.

1st pic: Lunch! Yakiniku, and milk...Niko is famous for cows, and dairy products.
2nd pic: At the Tokugawa shrine, you can pay 100yen and get a mikuji (fortune) If your fortune isn't that good, you tie to one of the strings, and let the wind blow your bad luck away! I got a pretty good luck mikuji, so it's staying with me ^_^
3rd pic: Don't these monkeys look familiar? Yup its the "Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil, See no Evil" monkeys!
4th pic: One of the entrances to the main temple...the buildings are all decorated, and cover in carvings or paintings. unfortunaly you can't take pictures in the interior of the buildings, which are just as gorgeous!
5th pic: we drove up this crazy road with 47 gut twisting curves, to catch this view of the mountain...

Last Tuesday we went to Tokyo Tower!
1st pic: A view from the glass bottomed observation deck, roughly 125meters up!
it is so scary to stand on it...
2nd Pic: The biggest AnPanMan I've ever seen !
3rd pic: A view of Tokyo Tower from the ground...i feel so small...