Haha, got lots to write about, so maybe I'll do it every day so I don't forget.

Yesterday we went to Ryogoku, not ryogaku. Ryo as in RYOshin (parents) and Goku as in country. I don't know what it means, but I thought it was interesting. We went to the Edo-Tokyo Museum as saw the history of Japan from 400 years about to post-WW2. We got a free tour in English, so we understood what was going on. It was really interesting to see how the people, common and upper-class, lived 400 years ago. Then we saw how Westernization started. Some buildings had Western-style walls and Japanese roofs. Weird. And they had a hotair balloon bomb thingy that floated over the Pacific Ocean to drop bombs on the West Coast of North America that weren't controlled by anyone. I was trying to figure out how they knew when to drop the bombs. The chick giving the tour was really nice and she showed us things that we wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

Then we decided to go have lunch and look about Shinzuku. It's one of the biggest spots in Tokyo I guess. The Tokyo government is there and a lot of businesses and people. We wandered in these little alleyways looking for somewhere to eat. After we ate, we looked at the guidebook for someplace to go and we realized that we were in the Red-light district. That made sense when I remembered all the guys standing at the entrances to bars and pictures of girls. No wonder it was so hard to find a decent place to eat! haha So we went to the other side of the tracks, literally, to the most wholesome side. We bought things and went to the biggest electronic store I've ever been in. The fridges are crazy and cool. They all have at least 4 doors and come in crazy colors. There were some that could be opened in either direction. Couldn't figure out how they did that... But it was fun and confusing and there were several things that I never figured what they did. Then we came back, but it was time 'cause my feet were hurting a lot. I even went to bed early. And I slept until 8:00, isn't it wonderful!

So that was my first day on the subway. I didn't even get lost. That's a good thing!! Today we're going to see Grace in Shinanomachi. Going to a study meeting in English. Should be interesting. I don't know if it is with English speakers or with Japanese people practicing their English. Either way...hmm. Subway will be more complicated because we have to go from one station and come back to another station. It's all an adventure.

Yup, gotta go!

Yeah, I know I was a little skimpy on the details earlier, but you can just go read Conny's new one to get the idea. We have been together since we met up at the Mizuno's house. New Topic.

Weirdest thing about Japan: Commercials. Insanely weird. Can't figure out what they are selling or they have too intimate a relationship with what they are selling.

Worst thing about Japan: When I'm asked a difficult question and I pause to think about it and the person thinks I didn't understand the question. I don't know what I'm doing after SUA. I need to think a little about why I chose SUA. I need some time!!

Most annoying that I'll have to live with: All the buttons on the internet are in Japanese and I keep canceling things because I can't read what it said.

Greatest enigma of Japan: Both mornings I have woken up before 7:00 am after having gone to bed around midnight. This is not normal for me. By my bodies choice, I am getting less than 7 hours of sleep.

Biggest spoiling in Japan: Hot meals 3 times a day. Yummy. Breakfast was eggs, toast, warm salad thing, ham, juice, and two kinds of tea (I guess I accidentally asked for it). Lunch was this yummy seafood thing over noodles. Dinner was lots of stuff: toast, french fries, breaded pork, fish/some sort of vegetable salad, rice ball, corn, juice and tea as I can remember.

Done with that I guess. Today we are trying out the subway system. Too bad we picked something on the other side of Tokyo to do it. Conny thought we were on the other side of the map when she decided she wanted to go there. That's okay though, we've got to figure it out some day. So we're going to Ryogaku I think, and to the Edo Museum. Our first big touristy spot. Should be fun once we get there.

The schdule has been being quickly filled up by SGI meetings. Doesn't bother me. One is a welcome party that will consist of mainly tempura and udon I think. Yesterday we went walking with Okaasan (Mrs. Mizuno) and in the process visited abot 4 SGI houses. We didn't really need to have introduced prepared because Okaasan did them for us. She's amazed and tells everyone that we know gongyo really well even though both of us messed up really badly because it was too slow. I can't figure out if Japanese people have a hard time learning it or if they don't expect people ouside Japan to be able to do it.

One thing about that walk is that Okaasan doesn't speak English, so they was a lot more Japanese than normal. Otousan (Mr. Mizuno) speaks almost exclusively English to us. I think he likes to practice his English. It's okay I guess, but he doesn't understand everything, I think it would be easier on some occasions for us to speak Japanese.

As you can see, I'm not all that big on detail by detail stuff, but I'll try to get better.

So much had happened since the last I thought about anything. Biggest change. Woke up in Japan. Don't know how I got here, but I did, so I might as well make the best of it.

Airport was boring, no need for description. Maju's parents and the Mizunos picked us up and drove us "home." Tolls are way expensive. The Mizunos have a lovely home. It's really big for Japanese. They have four bedrooms, because they have 3 sons. But they're all out the of the house, so Conny and I get our own rooms and everything. They are really great. Last night when we got here, Mrs. Mizuno feed us and we talked for a couple hours. They are insane. Maju's dad tried to get us to call him Nick. Go figure. Anyway, they are fun and I think it's the perfect way to get introduced to a foreign country.

Okay, more later. Must help Conny set up an outlet.