busy day

Not sure where to start as today has been a busy day. It began we I woke up at 4 am and couldn't go back to sleep, so I ironed my clothes among other things. We did a sightseeing tour of the Supreme Court building, The Diet building and the Imperial Palace. The Diet is the national parliament of Japan and we took a tour of the building and were able to see the House of Representatives chamber along with school children on field trips who were so excited to see us and practice their English. The kids are so cute!! We then had lunch at a place where we had to remove our shoes (yes I messed up again) and then rushed off to the Asakusa area to see the Senso-ji temple, Five storied Pagoda and the Asakusa shrine. Outside of these areas is a huge tourist trap of souvenirs and trinkets to buy and also fortunes. There are also large incense burners outside the Temple purify and cleans the body of any diseases. There are large fortune telling stands where you insert 100 yen ($1) into the slot and then shake a metal tube and turn it over to release a wooden stick with a character. You then match the stick to a slot in the stand that gives you a paper that reads your fortune. The first fortune I received was a "Bad Fortune" that said that I should not go on trips (too late, right?) and that I should refrain from building a new house as well, among other things. I was kind of troubled by it until 2 Japanese girls told me to tie the paper to the rack next to the stand and it will apparently blow away or reverse your bad luck. I got nervous so I then went to another fortune telling stand and paid my money to receive another fortune. Luckily this time it was the "Best Fortune" which basically said the opposite of my first fortune. I took this as a sign to get some Green Tea ice cream which was delicious! We arrived back at the hotel with just enough time to change and see a performance of traditional Japanese theatre, called kyogen. Kyogen is a short comedy sketch performed by 2 or 3 actors. Click here for more information. I had time to catch a quick nap before the Welcome Reception tonight and then Lori met me at the hotel and we did some sightseeing and I bought some things at the 100 yen store.