Day 2

Today we met in the lobby at 8:30 to begin our day. We walked to the subway station, and took the subway to Ryogoku, Tokyo’s upscale shopping district. During our free time, we walked down the main street of this area, filled with popular fashion stores such as Armani and Louis Vutton. The trendy stores and high prices seem to be similar to scenes that one can see in New York or Milan. Jaguars and Porsches cruised up and down the street, and well dressed Japanese filtered in and out of the stores.

During our free time, my group walked up and down this main road. While gawking at the high prices and elaborate store fronts, we discovered a group of Japanese waiting in a line. We were curious to see what the line was for, so we followed it. It wound up being for a Western style restaurant called “Eggs N’ Things.” It was weird to think of people in different cultures going out to eat “American” style food in the same way that we may go out for Chinese at home.

Going down the side alley also allowed my group to discover the side shops that were off the main path. These shops were not at all like the designer shops on the main street. The goods they offered were less expensive and appeared to be aimed at tourists. While I did not buy anything at any of these stores, I still found them very interesting.

After leaving the shopping district, we took the subway to the MSU alumni reception ceremony. Besides our supply chain study abroad, the reception included former MSU alumni and a telecommunications study abroad. Upon arriving, our group was warmly greeted by our Japanese hosts. We began eating and mingling with both our hosts and the other guests. The mingling period reinforced my view of the Japanese being generally friendly. It did not seem as if anyone could stand by themselves for long without being approached by one of our kind hosts. The language barrier does not deter their efforts either, and they do not seem offended that we do not speak fluent Japanese as is the case in other cultures.

After several hours and closing with a traditional Japanese goodbye which involved both clapping and chanting, we headed back to the subway to travel to the Edo-Tokyo museum. There is currently a large Sumo wrestling tournament taking place in Tokyo right next to the museum, and several members in the group had hoped to purchase tickets. Unfortunately, we were told at the alumni reception that all the tickets would probably be sold out, and that instead we should try later this coming week with the assistance of a helpful alum. Hopefully we will be able to get tickets!

So, instead of going to the Sumo tournament, we went to the museum instead. The museum is built in the shape of a traditional Japanese grain silo. The silo is raised above the ground to prevent animals from getting in and eating the grain. The museum documented the history of Edo-Tokyo from modern times to the time when samurai helped govern the land. (It may be important to note here that Tokyo was once called Edo in older times.) It was one of the few places were any sign of World War II could be found. In fact, our hotel was built on top of the prison where Japanese war criminals were held while awaiting trial. It seems that many actions were taken to both forget and erase wartime past and move to the present.

After leaving the museum, we had free time in the area. A small group of us decided to remain instead of returning to Ikebukuro. The district where we were is known as Tokyo’s electronic district. The streets were lined with stores such as Bose, Sony, Dell, and Intel. In visiting these stores I was surprised to realize that while the technology is very advanced, the prices are not much lower than prices in the United States. It may have to do with the fact that Tokyo is a large city, and even in the United States things are more expensive in bigger cities.

For dinner we stopped at a Turkish stand and bought pitas stuffed with beef, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. They were so delicious that I decided to have a second one! This Turkish stand led me to realize that Tokyo has some international flair in the same way that many of the world’s largest cities do. It offered a refreshing change from rice and noodles, which I have had for my past few meals.