Day 1: Tokyo

So day 1 is officially over. It began with pastries and a planning session. We decided to go to Asakusa, the old district, to see the Senso shrine. We were infinitely lucky, because not 30 mins after we saw the shrine and read about the Sanja festival (3rd largest festival in Tokyo), guess what began?! After further research, we have discovered that it's a weekend festival that begins the 3rd Saturday in May :) Today, we saw a parade-like procession of 100 or more small shrines, each carried by upwards of 40 men and women, all chanting and bouncing the shrines (apparently, bouncing makes the spirits that inhabit that shrine more potent?). There were even mini-shrines carried by kids. Adorable! The shrines were bounced up through the gate to the front of the Senso temple for a blessing. They then were bounced to the neighboring Asakusa shrine for a blessing, and the to whichever of the 44 neighborhoods in Asakusa they came from. After a while at the shrine and surrounding market watching people bounce things, we walked to the Tokyo Skytree where we didn't go up, but saw some pretty talented buskers. After that, we came back to the hotel to drop off purchases, and discovered that our feet hurt A Lot. According to Daniel's special health-tracker bracelet, we had walked over 8 miles thus far. We hung out at the hotel and watched a Yomiuri Giants game on tv (they're the Yankees of Japan), then walked around the lakes in Ueno park to find dinner. Tasty. In total, we walked 10.89 miles today. Tomorrow promises to be busier (on the agenda: Meji gate, an 8 story bookstore, the Harajuku district, and Imperial Gardens). Wish us luck!

Love,

Leah Murphy, foot-sore explorer

Finally in one place

It is 5:15 pm here in Tokyo. I am sitting in the hotel and am Very Happy to not be en route to anywhere for the first time in 24 consecutive hours. We're staying in a hotel across the street from Ueno park. It contains a zoo, several museums, and tons of azaleas. Have no fear, mom, I'll request flower pictures from Daniel. I love you all! Feel free to forward this. I'm still working on a way to mass-communicate my trip without doing Facebook notes or opening a tumblr account. Any suggestions?

Love,

Leah Murphy, intrepid explorer