I was gambling in havana, I took a little risk

Hmm, I was actually worried I wouldn't have anything to talk about for the week. All that happened was a bunch of studying and working on my law school personal statement.

Oh, and my student loan finally came. I celebrated by going off my all ramen dinner diet and got a big mac. Now those who know me know I despise American McDonalds, but I heard they actually use meat over here in Asia. The result? Pretty much the same. On top of that the meal set cost me about 8 dollars. From now on I eat only Japanese food.

Secondly, I went to get groceries for future dinners, but could not find anything I really wanted. There are these things called kanji which make up the Japanese alphabet and there are about 2000 popular ones. I know about 500 and my food vocab has always been weak. So as I strolled the isles, I had no idea what most the products were unless they had a picture. This is a big problem for making anything with multiple ingredients. Also, the prices for fruit are extreme. I can by about 20 strawberries for 6 dollars.

So as I said, the week had been slow, then came Saturday. Saturday was my first cultural class, which was taught in English. Mostly we went over what I already knew (traditional art forms and a little history), but during lunch break some friends and I were having trouble figuring out where to eat. While we were standing on the street we were approached by a Japanese man who asked if we were Americans. After we replied to the affirmative, he started going off on his own experiences abroad. He apparently had study political theory in America and spoke English, French and German. Now he is speaking quickly, and in his native Japanese so I'm catching about every other sentence, while one of my friends is completely oblivious. Another is slightly more fluent than I, but is likewise mostly missing it. Our interjections amount to "yes" and "I guess that is so" and he is off again. I start to get a little worried when we broach the subject of the Japanese army and nuclear weapons. We are perfect strangers and to be talking about such a politically charged subject is strange, even in America. In Japan we are approaching the political dissident side of things. Luckily, we back away from the subject. My friends and I make motions to leave as we have a limited time for lunch. The man apologizes for taking up so much time and accompanies us to a cafe where he buys us lunch. Naturally, we try to refuse, but the man is very insistent, and we don't have enough language mastery to continue our refusal without seeming extraordinarily rude. We talk about baseball over lunch and then we leave for class. All and all the situation was extraordinarily surreal.

Next, the Edo museum. We went, we saw here are some pictures:

They carried important people around in this, took about 4 men.

Damn you lens flare. Anyhoo, pretty picture featuring Tokyo (known as Edo then)

A statue of the emperor who decided the city needed a name change

Kickass suit of armor mostly for show. All that shiny stuff is actual gold. It is held together by silk and weighs about 80 pounds (and the Japanese aren't known for their stature)

A bell.

Picture shop. All these pictures were printed with carved wooded blocks as opposed to the metal ones used in the west. These pictures used to cost cents on the dollar (inflation adjusted), but in the modern age they go for around five. Damn you cost inflating nostalgia!

This is suppose to house a god and its weight is unknown because they refuse to weigh a holy relic. I saw about 20 men carring it in a picture later so it can't be light.

Kabuki. Japanese theatre performed by all men. Ironic because it was first performed by all women until the emperor got upity

My personal favorite. Give you a hint why: larger than a breadbasket, capable of generating its own gravity well. Give up? My ego. Those of you who have access to facebook can see pictures of my last visit. I enjoy getting a picture with every statue I come across.

Well that's about it for the week. See you next time.