Before I begin the day's adventures, I must tell you about my hotel. It is a five star hotel (that means very fancy) in the area of Tokyo that houses all the foreign embassies. Almost every time we enter or exit the hotel, there is a group of reporters and cameramen, as well as chauffeurs sitting around in limos, black Mercedes limos. No, they are not there for us, although we certainly all feel very important being here. The president of Peru, who is about to be thrown out, is staying at our hotel. The Prime Minister of Japan, who is also about to be thrown out, has an office in the building connected to our hotel. Many top political party members have been meeting at our hotel. To top that off, the Japan women's marathon is being held today, and runners from all over the world are staying at our hotel. Japan's gold medal winner is not running in this marathon, but she is a commentator. She was here also.

Ok, back to the not-so-famous Fulbright fivesome. Today's travels, as well as most of our dinners, have been spent with four wonderful teachers from Florida, Wyoming, Rhode Island, and New York. Today we laughed a lot and we will never look at lipstick or a handkerchief again in the same way. Read on to find out why.

Today's free day was a "walk through Old Tokyo". We had a book to guide us. Tokyo is not a very old city (it is about as old as Boston) and there are still some neighborhoods that have not been urbanized the way most of Tokyo has been. First directions: embark from the subway station, turn right on the main street, and immediately turn right again down a very narrow alley. At the end of the alley was a neighborhood park, tucked into the crowded homes and parking areas. It was a beautifully landscaped Japanese garden complete with red bridge, shrine, pond, and playground equipment.

Over the bridge and out the other side, we entered a shopping area of one-lane streets. The shops seemed to be the fronts of people's homes. Each one was unique. At the candy shop, the shopkeeper gave us free samples of something that tasted like a crunchy corn ball. We bought some candy and snacks for later. Next, a stop in the tea shop. We were offered green tea while we shopped.

At the shoe store, I bought "zori", kimono slippers, for you to try on. They will probably fit the first and second grade girls. The shopkeeper offered us green tea, but we turned her down. Too much green tea is not good when you will be walking all day!

A few more twists and turns led us to the first museum of the day. Asakura Choso Museum is the Japanese version of Doylestown's Fonthill. It is a concrete building that Asakura Choso, a famous sculptor and teacher, designed to be used as a studio and research center. It is attached to his Japanese style home, built mainly of logs and bamboo.

In the center is a Buddhist garden, a place to think quietly about yourself. Here is a picture of me standing in the entrance to one of the rooms. Remember I told you about the doors made of rice paper. This is it.

When Asakura first showed his architectural plans to the builders, they thought he was crazy. This is very similar to the reaction people had to Henry Mercer when he started building his home at Fonthill.

Okay, you might ask, when are you going to get to the lipstick and handkerchief? This is the place. While we were oohing and aahing at this museum, a Japanese woman in a blue coat approached Ila from Wyoming. In her broken English, she asked Ila to take her photo. The woman tried to engage us in conversation and someone suggested I give her my business card. I did and a minute later, she reached into her pocketbook and pulled out a tube of lipstick to give me as a present. "No, no," I tried to get her to take it back. "No, a present.." she says. Ila gives her a Wyoming pin and we try to leave the room.

Back out on the street again, we regained our composure and looked for a place to eat lunch. All of that laughing made us hungry. There were no English menus to be found, so we knew we had to find a restaurant with fake food outside so we could point to the meal that we wanted to order. We ended up eating at a tiny little luncheonette with 3 tables. I had an omelette type looking thing on top of a bowl of soup and ramen noodles. It was delicious!

We ended the afternoon with a visit to the Tokyo National Museum, where we saw some wonderful ancient Japanese art treasures, including kimono, laquerware, scrolls, screens, and armor.

Signing off for now!

Rosen San