Jeff In Japan

the new look of my blog. The pictures are now bigger and I have a much better idea of what I’m doing. I still haven’t figured out how to upload video… hey – not even I am perfect, but we’re on the road to improvement. I’ve made a list of everything I need to post before tomorrow night (it’s extensive), so keep checking in – I do promise lots of stuff going up. School visits start on Tuesday with the University – then we work our way down to elementary school…

I saw a guy wearing this shirt. I had to take a picture!

I know my students are probably scik of hearing me talk about culture, but so much of this trip has had to do with understanding cultural differences and finding the similarities between America and Japan. There are many – but one that really stands out is shopping! This is definitely a uniting concept. Here you can see the “strip” at Asakusa – it just keeps going and going… To my girls in Advisory – I wish you could have been there (though I don’t think I ever would have found a way to get you out)… I plan to do most of my souvenier shopping in this area next week. Post comments for specific requests… otherwise you get whatever I feel like… hee hee

When you visit a Shinto Shrine, you have the opportunity to have your fortune told. The way this works is pretty simple – you place a 100 yen coin in a box, then you shake up a container filled with sticks with Japanese letters on them. There is a small hole on the bottom of the container and one of the sticks will fall out. You take the stick and match it to a drawer that contains fortunes. Unlike Chinese fortune cookies, however, you can either get a “best fortune” or a “bad fortune.” If you get a bad fortune, then you tie it up and get rid of it. I received “Best Fortune 13.” As you can see from the pictures, most people start out happy, but sadly… bad fortunes happen to good people.

Happy in the beginning…

But now not so happy…

This is a part of Tokyo that houses a number of Shinto temples and a HUGE shopping area. (Pictures of that to follow). It is very popular with locals and tourists alike. In the pictures you can see one of the temples from the outside and one from the inside. You’ll also notice that students in Japan don’t seem to have a problem with uniforms. Just an observation. Not trying to say anything to the students at DY Prep (wink, wink)…

No – this is not my polite way of saying I’m trying to lose weight while in Japan (which would be difficult since Diet Coke is not as prevalent as I would like… Miosoty can you please see what your mom can do about that? Or Adam – get your people on the lack of Pepsi in this country)… The Diet is the Japanese equivalent of the U.S. House of Representatives – except they have a seat for the Emperor (so Star Wars). We weren’t allowed to take pictures from the inside, but you can see that the outside is pretty impressive as well – and finally – a picture with me in it – proving that I am really in Japan and not just sending post card images while I hide out in Newark for three weeks! (JUST KIDDING!)