Highlights from this week with Bob and June

Tokyo Tower from the Mori Observatory

The gigantic Taiko drum at Meiji Shrine

Samples at the Sapporo Beer "Museum."

After our misadventure on Monday (that actually turned out rather nicely) Grandma and Papa accompanied me to the Tokyo American Club on Tuesday for lunch and Taiko. They sat and watched our class prepare for an upcoming performance. Bob did video a lot of our rehearsal, and at some point, I can probably direct you to watch it on Youtube, but until then, you'll have to wait.

On Wednesday, we returned to the Edo Tokyo Museum, had a lovely English Speaking guide. The Edo Museum contains the history of Tokyo, and is a fascinating place to visit. On Thursday, we met Robin for lunch and then I took Bob and June to the basement floor of the Mitsukoshi Department Store. The bottom floors of the department stores here are all food shopping areas. Not groceries, but ready made EVERYTHING. Oh, yeah and also some grocery items like fresh fish, meats and some fruits. The fruits are the presentation fruits, however and most non-Japanese people don't want to spend 80 dollars on a perfect melon to give to their boss, I suspect. June and Bob really enjoyed looking at the vast array of beautiful foods. It's like the Ithaca Bakery times 50, on steroids. They bought some chocolate, and some candy which while sitting in our refrigerator, mysteriously disappeared. (Matthew, do you know anything about this???)

On Friday, Bob and I headed over to Yoyogi Park and the Meiji Shrine. We totally lucked out. Friday was the anniversary of Empress Shokan's death. She was the "main consort" of Emperor Meiji, and is famous for her philanthropy involving the Red Cross. Anyway, there was a memorial ceremony going on involving the Shinto Monks in their finest robes, making offerings of food on the altar of the shrine. They ceremoniously passed the plates to each other and carried them up, out of sight, and placed them somewhere. It is believed that Shokan's spirit resides in the Meiji Shrine, and they have an annual remembrance for her. The beginning of the ceremony was very exciting, for a skinny little monk carrying a beater that was the better part of a tree branch beat the huge Taiko drum housed there. It was loud, and could probably have been heard miles away. I also heard some traditional instruments playing very traditional music (not something our western ears can understand at first hearing) and chanting. That evening, after dinner, we went up to the Mori Tower observatory and enjoyed the one clear night all week. The picture at the top of this post shows the Tokyo Tower all lit up, above the sparkling city below.

On Saturday, I had a FORUM rehearsal all day, and Matt had a school project to work on, so Bob, June, Nathan and Robin set out for Hakone to view Mt. Fuji. The weather all week had been rainy and cool, but the forecast for Saturday was good. Disappointed! They were socked in with fog and drizzle all day. They had a fun day, just didn't get to see the Fuj.

Yesterday was a quiet day. Bob and Robin went out to check out the photography museum and then went to the Sapporo beer museum. They came home with beer crackers, and smelled oddly like...BEER. They had a whale of a good time trying the different types.

They've just left. Bob, June and Robin are all going back to the States today. They went together to Narita Airport. It was great seeing Bob and June, and showing them a small part of Japan...I think they were happy just looking at our faces in the same room, and not over Skype! Even the rain didn't dampen their spirits. They were intrepid souls.

Things here are pretty quiet today, but I've just found out that Nadine Salib is arriving tomorrow night! I have cleared the decks and am eagerly awaiting her and her brother. Never a dull moment.