Tokyo Day 3

First up on the agenda this morning was the Suginami Animation Museum.  Here the kiddos were able to try to their hand at making their own short animation film under the direction of Mr. Suzuki, the director of the museum and a prominent anime director in general. We had the opportunity to watch a couple of short animation films, one of which the students all said reminded them of Tom and Jerry. 

After learning all about anime, it was off to Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.  Here the students were able to enjoy lunch at the government cafeteria.  The delegates were each given $1000 yen to pick which meal they wanted from a selection of about 20 different meals.  The hardest part of this exercise was everything was written in Japanese, so most based the food selection on what "looked good."  Many ended up very surprised with their selections, but they all did a great job navigating the ordering process.

After lunch we made our way to the 46th floor which housed the Observation Deck.  This building used to be the tallest building in all Tokyo, but now others have surpassed it.  Up here, we all had a great view of the city. 

Now that we had seen Tokyo from above, we were off to the Meiji Shine, one of the most beautiful Shinto Shines in the world.  The grounds were amazingly lush with thousands of trees and many tori gates.  After performing the water purification ritual, the students learned how to pay their respect by bowing once, clapping their hands twice, and bowing again.  Many of the students left wishes on the wooden boards the hand around one of the trees for the Shinto priests to fulfill. 

Off to Shabu Shabu for dinner and an early night to bed as we get ready for Mt. Fuji tomorrow.