Tokyo- day five

Monday started with with a roundtable field trip to Waseda University to hear a lecture on Kyogen, traditional Japanese theatre. The above photo is me at Waseda, and the next five photos are the theatre museum at Waseda.























































































We had a quick lunch before heading over to the American Embassy. I had some Aloe Drink with my onigiri, some of my favorite quick Japanese foods.
















Watching a dvd of the theatre during the lecture time.
















Roundtable folks on the subway.















In the afternoon we attended a panel discussion and reception at the American Embassy, no cameras allowed inside. We heard about different branches of the foreign service and life at the embassy, and were able to meet with some of the folks that work there, as well as enjoy coffee and cookies. Mmmm....





















Casey and I outside the embassy. Go pop art RT!





















JASCers taking over the Tokyo subway.















In the early evening we had about an hour of free time near Tokyo Station before a presentation at Visa. Saori and I discussed Meiji history while overlooking the Meiji era building.















































We had a tour at Visa and a presentation by the chairman of Visa Japan. In the boardroom the cards were a flying...
































The view towards the Imperial Palace from the boardroom.














Ah Tokyo...































After the presentation we had dinner with our special topics groups, mine being academia in Japan and the U.S. A very long day, but highly stimulating and lots of fun.

Tokyo- day four

Day four consisted of many meetings of our roundtables- mine being Popular Art and Culture, a fun topic that is engaging our group of ten in highly academic discussion. In the afternoon we had free time, so a group of us headed over to Shinjuju and the Tokyo Government building, visible above. The plaza in front of it is visible below, and the next photo is the view from the 45th floor, where you can observe Tokyo for free.






























After the observation deck, we headed to a revolving sushi restaurant before heading home in the rain.

Tokyo- day three

Day three started with the presentation of gifts to our Japanese buddies, and the presentations of skits by both Japanese and American delegates. The top picture is the view from the Olympic Center, which is where we were staying and where all our meetings were held. In the afternoon we moved to Yoyogi Park, where we played a huge game of capture the flag, something I think I had not done since elementary school, but which was fun. In the evening I headed back to Harujuku for dinner at a Nagoya style restaurant, and some shopping.

Tokyo- day two

After the long flight and a brief orientation on our first night, we had a long first full day in Tokyo. We started out at the opening ceremony at the Prince Hotel, which is the above picture, showing the American delegation.
In the afternoon we moved to the World Bank to attend a forum on the environment with students from Ghana and France, as well as have small group discussions, and a talk from three men working in Japanese environmental policy. The following two photos show the view from the conference room, and the international teleconference.











After the forum, my roundtable group headed to Harujuku to have dinner at a Southeast Asian themed restaurant. The following photos document our first evening out together in Tokyo.

Tokyo update

Well, it's been a week of the Japan-America Student Conference, and I was all ready to blog about my experiences at American Orientation outside of Chicago, and the first few days here in Tokyo, but the internet connection here is running pretty slow tonight, and it's difficult to upload photos. A single image from the Harujuku area of Tokyo will have to suffice for now. We've done many fun things in the past week, including a reception at the Japanese Council General's home in Evanston, Illinois, listening to a panel discussion on Japanese history, having a forum on the environment at the World Bank, as well as a meeting with students from Ghana and France and a chance to hear from some people working on environmental policy here in Japan. We've also done some purely fun things, including shopping and dinner at Harujuku, skits from the Japanese and U.S. students, and a game of capture the flag in the park this afternoon. It's great to be back in Japan!! Hopefully the connection will cooperate more soon, so I can include some photos of all that I've been doing.

NYC weekend

On Friday afternoon we flew into New York for a whirlwind weekend of great music, tasty food, and good times.





















After a dinner of Japanese food and a little settling into our weekend home in Midtown, The Pod Hotel, we set out to see some music. We missed seeing the dj we had hoped to catch in Brooklyn, so instead we opted for martinis at Tao and some free music at the 5th Avenue Apple store.















On Saturday we started out the day with a quick breakfast, and sat and drank some coffee in the shadows of the Guggenheim. Although the exterior is undergoing restoration, it was nice to see the interior of Frank Lloyd Wright's building, as well as some great art.
























































Our next stop was the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. We really enjoyed Design Life Now, the National Design Triennial, which had some fantastic stuff. The museum is housed in the old Carnegie Mansion, and the grounds were a nice place to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon.





















After a little shopping, we had a great dinner at Angelo's Pizza.




















Saturday night was the highlight of the weekend, the String Cheese Incident show! This is the last summer the band will be touring, and the last show I could attend. It was a really great time, good crowd, fantastic music, and a nice venue. Excellent!































On Sunday we started the day by walking downtown near the Stock Exchange and Fraunces Tavern, founded in 1762, and where George Washington gave his farewell before retirement.




































We rode the free Staten Island Ferry to get some fresh air and a nice view of the city and the Statue of Liberty from the water.






























After the ferry ride, we made our way uptown, stopping for a falafel lunch, and ending up at the Met, where we roamed the sprawling Asian and Egyptian exhibitions, always a pleasure.































The remainder of the afternoon was spent walking in Central Park, people watching and relaxing on a nice summer day.






























We had Sunday dinner at Esca, which was a wonderful dining experience. Great service, excellent food, and good wine. On our way back to the subway we happend upon one of the 7-11 stores that has been temporarily changed into a Kwik-E-Mart to promote the upcoming Simpsons movie. Hilarious. It was a perfect weekend in a great city, the only negative part was that it had to end.