Harajuku and Shibuya

Ok, so for our first week we were scheduled for AOB/ICR (Area Orientation Brief/Inter-Cultural Relations) class. This was pretty much a class telling us where everything is and that no matter what we do, we will stand out as Americans. They did tell us what we need to know to survive during our time here, so that was very, very helpful. As part of this class, we had to take an "unguided field trip" (i.e. we take the train somewhere and explore). We decided to go to Harajuku and Shibuya in Tokyo. After a quick lunch at Italian Tomato Cafe Jr. (similar to a bistro-but a Japanese version), we went to the Meiji Shrine, which was right next to the station where we got off the train. This was an incredibly serene and peaceful place right across the street from a massively busy street.

This is the largest Torii Gate in all of Japan.


















Large barrels of Sake exchanges as gifts when Japan was Westernized.













A building at the Shrine.












The view of the Shrine as you enter


















The Shrine up close












A place where you can write a prayer and have it offered by the priests.



















Matt posing at the shrine














The Audi building in Harajuku


















After we visited the shrine, we walked down the streets of Harajuku and went into many, many shops. Harajuku is known for having and eccentric/cosplay style of fashion (Note: this is Matt writing, so I may be totally wrong in the description). I personally saw a woman walk by dressed as Little Bo Peep (complete with a bonnet). We managed to catch the train back right before rush hour. Luckily, an incredibly helpful Japanese woman (who spoke excellent english) was able to help us to find the right train to head back towards Atsugi. After a good Mexican dinner, we were ready to head to bed and get some sleep.