3-12

"Excuse me, hallo, what is your name?
My name is (insert adorable japanese kid name), nice to meet you [cute little palm is stretched toward us].
Where are you from? [we place little red dot on a map] Oh! I see!
Do you like Asakusa? Here is a present for you [little origami something thrust toward us.]
Thank you, have a nice day!"

This little script, in varying levels of involvement, was repeated at least 20 times. We were walking through the touristy part of Asakusa, a long promenade of shops leading to a huge temple. Little groups of school children were running around accosting tourists, their adorable faces impossible to turn down. As we sat down to lunch, the three of us pulled out our stash of accumulated origami and counted our treasure. As the morning had progressed, the origami presents became more shapeless and less identifiable, until finally one group of kids started giggling because even they didn't know what it was supposed to be.



After lunch we saw the last act of the matinee show at the kabuki theater. The play was loosely based on 72 ronin. The special effects were incredibly, but subtly, detailed. In one scene, the lighting on stage and in the audience faded slowly (over the course of a half hour) from late afternoonish sun to twilight. In a later scene, two characters were fighting in a garden under blooming cherry trees, and as they rushed passed one tree dropped a small scattering of blossoms on their heads.

After kabuki, we walked around the Sony building in downtown Ginza, and navigated the (in)famous crosswalk with streams of pedestrians colliding from all sides while all the cars waited.



For dinner we went to our first sushi bar, and I ordered the "creative" sushi combination. The presentation and flavor pairings were, as you could guess, creative and also delicious. I tried uni (urchin) and cuttlefish for the first time, and loved them both. Meridith ordered the "roasted meat and roasted shell" plate, specifically to try the horse meat nigiri. I tried a bite, just for bragging purposes. Definitely not my favorite. Nor Meridith's (see below.) In a word: ick.