Edo Museum, fake food and real food, and awkward Akihabara times

Today my class went to the Edo Museum, about the Edo period in Tokyo's history. I loved it!! There are tons of pictures. :) Here is a very pretty thing near the entrance. 

We had a great tour guide who had delightful English skills and showed us all around. This is a taxi for a bride, who would be about 16 or 17 years old and generally 4ft 7in or so, so definitely could fit inside. It was heavy and carried by four people, two on the front and two on the back.

I fell in love with these room separators, although that's not their proper term. They were so beautiful and accurately told important info about the history of Edo, formerly Tokyo. I'm sure they are priceless, because not only are they historical and gorgeous, they are also made of gold. 

This is a painting/drawing of the Great Fire in Tokyo in the 1600s. It burned for three days and destroyed 60%  of Tokyo, killing 100,000 people. The houses were so close together and all made of wood. In an earthquake or a fight (Tokyo housed only samurai and merchants in the Edo period; lots of fights), it only took one candle falling over to set the whole city on fire. This incidence was probably arson, because three fires were set in three different parts of the city at suspicious times. 

The firefighters were so cool! They would wave banners on top of houses to get their friends to tear down the adjacent houses, to stop the fire from spreading. Water was precious and heavy, so not very useful. But this system was also not the most efficient...

These are the firefighters going to put out a fire. :)

The printing process was gorgeous and amazing. Click on this picture to see how intricate the steps were. Each layer was from a block of wood and had to be exact. My jaw dropped when I saw these prints and the wood blocks. 

Japanese books, made in a similar way but monochrome. Amazing!

After the Edo Museum, our teachers took us to lunch in Asakusa where we made monja (in the picture) and okonomiyaki on a grill right in front of us. YUMMMMMMMMM. This one was full of cheese, my favorite.

Then we went with Aratake-sensei to see the fake food stores in Asakusa. So cool yet so expensive. 

After that, my friends and I went to Akihabara for a short time. Akihabara, for those who don't know, is a district in Tokyo full of electronics, manga, and anime culture. After WWII, Akihabara became famous for all the smart Tokyo University guys who had to drop out because of the war; they would all go to Akihabara to buy spare parts to build their own radios (the latest technology). From there, it turned into the electronics district and somehow is now also the pervert district? Who knows. I have been there twice and it is like 80% men/20% women on the streets and 100% men in the arcades/porn stores/maid cafes. No wonder the birth rate here is so low!

The fourth floor of a store we went to was entirely card games, ahaha. There were all kinds of card games, from Magic: The Gathering to games I had never heard of that had only sexy manga women on the cards and who knows how that game is actually played. It was $90, hah. We saw some ultra-nerdy-looking guys playing Magic. Oh, speaking of ultra-nerds: they seem to be the only people in Tokyo who do not dress well or properly groom themselves. Seriously, all guys at the universities and elsewhere dress up every day in the most fashionable clothes and are always well-groomed (same with the women). But Japanese otaku nerds have holes in their plain, black, oversized t-shirts, don't brush or style their hair, and are often either really, really skinny or really, really fat. It's almost like there's not a mid-range! This is a generalization but in Akihabara, the stereotype fits. And there are big differences between Japanese casual anime watchers/manga readers, nerds, and ultra-nerds. Even my host dad reads manga, like dignified adventure/medical drama stories.

Akihabara was even weirder than the first time I went, so I don't think I'm going to go back. I don't think I like it there very much, too much freaky child porn in the form of manga. If you want to learn more about why that's legal here, look up "lolicon". 


Not sure why the font is messing up... oh well. :D

Dinner tonight was amazing!! I love fish so much. 

After dinner, we watched game shows and played games, and I did some homework. This game show had a gay team vs. what appeared to be a straight team. It was really funny. :) Both teams had to do the same difficult or ridiculous stunts. These are all men here. :)

I'm really sad that I had to rush my blog tonight. :( I took so many more pictures and had a lot more to say. But I have been sick lately and I need to try to get to bed "early" at midnight, which here is actually very late, since I must wake up at 6:40am and then stay awake school all morning. I almost always have to buy coffee to survive, because when I don't, my quiz grades are poor.

Tomorrow afternoon, my class and I are going to learn about the Japanese tea ceremony, which I'm sure will be amazing. There is an art to pouring and serving tea that I have no idea about, and I look forward to learning. The tea house is extremely fancy and the woman who puts on this lesson always buys a new kimono and very expensive food for the UNC students who come every year. We have to dress up. :) I think it will be a great time, especially if I become not-sick. My host mom bought me cough drops today. :D のどあめです。ありがとう！！