Touring Tokyo

Up at 5 a.m. I wrote in my journal and worked on my speech. The Welcome reception is tonight and I have not finished my speech.

I was off to breakfast by 7 only to spill my orange juice all over the front of me. I had my tray filled with plates of food and thought I could balance the juice glass too. A waiter came to my rescue and was apologetic as if it was his fault. He quickly took my tray, gave me a napkin to wipe off my shirt, and found me a seat. The poor man looked embarassed for me. I was embarassed enough, I didn't need him feeling embarassed too. There was so much more sincerity from the Japanese waiter then there would be from one in the United States. My first experience with the hospitality of the Japanese people.

Today we toured Tokyo by bus. We drove past the Imperial Palace grounds, the House of Councillors building, and the Japanese Congressional Library. The library has 4 floors above ground and 8 floors below ground. Very amazing. I don't know why so many floors below ground, the guide did not explain why.

We toured the Diet Building. This is like our Capital Building in Washington D.C. The government is set up much like that of ours and very much like Great Britain. They have a bicameral legislation. The House of Representatives is the lower house and selects the Prime Minister. The House of Councillors is the upper house and functions much like our Senate. The Prime Minister's office is the Executive Branch of government. This branch is like the Executive Branch in the U.S., but we have a President leading the branch. The Emporer is a traditional figurehead, much like Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain.

Next we went to the Asakusa for a traditional Japanese lunch. Then we were given free time to shop in the Asakusa shopping district and time to visit Asakusa Shrine. I purchased a utsukinshii (beautiful) kimono and a few others things. Then went to the shrine. This is my first visit to a shrine and I didn't know what to expect.

I stopped to allow smoke to blow on me to heal my pains, then I selected a fortune from of drawer for 200 yen. It was a good fortune so I didn't need to tie it on the line to rid myself of bad luck. Next I went into the shrine. It was very peaceful, even though it was very crowded.

At 2 p.m. we had to leave to return to the hotel. We had a presentation from 3 until 4 p.m. on Kyogen given by Don Kenny. Kyogan is a 600 year old traditional Japanese Theater with a plot centering on basic human situations. Kenny was very interesting and has translated over 200 classic plays into English.