Today was a slow starter that turned out to be a great day. First, I got an e-mail warning in my mailbox saying that there's a typhoon in the area (probably won't make landfall) which made it rain all day. I took off from home a few minutes early as to get a bagel from a really good place in Shinjuku station. They seem to make them fresh daily and in the traditional style (long and short, they taste great.) In class this morning we started on the second book today. Class "A" uses book 1, class "B" (my class) reviews in book one and goes onto book 2. Because these aren't the same books I used in the states, the review had some new material and the new book covers some old stuff. The biggest difference between books one and two is that book two teaches more colloquial Japanese, which is all the more useful when living here.

At lunch I went to the Office Max across the street from the school to get a new mechanical pencil as I somehow broke my old one. While browsing I found that this Office Max sell the similar hip-bags to the ones Sparks and I bought in Harajuku. I actually asked a Japanese student sitting in on yesterdays JLSP class (who had one) what it was and what it was called. He told me that they're based on the "tool" bags that hairdressers use. He told me that name, something having to do with cutting hair, but it was in Japanese, went over my head, and I forgot it.

Next I bought a quick lunch from the conveince store on the corner and went to the room where we have JLPS classes (and where you can eat lunch if you please.) I was surprised that there was no one there. A fellow student stopped in after a few minutes and informed me that afternoon classes were canceled and we were going to a museum instead. This was super news as I am (and many fellow students are) not a fan of the tuesday lecture and it got me out of my Kanji class too.

At 1:00 we all got on the train and headed down the line to the Tokyo-Edo Museum. This is a really cool place I was actually planning to visit this weekend. It is devoted to Tokyo throughout it's history (starting as the fishing village called Edo.) The exhibits were well done and all had English language signs describing them. There were many detailed, large, scale dioramas of what Edo used to look like. There were even a few full sized recreations of period buildings. The modern era section covered from the Meiji era through the great Kanto earthquake and up to the beginning of WWII. Then there's a convenient gap and a section on post war Japan.

This gets it's own paragraph because it moved me so. Located in a back corner in the section about immediate post war Japan was (it HAS to be a recreation of) the "Instrument of Surrender". The document signed aboard the Missouri that signaled the end of World War II. As I stood and read it it occurred to me that I hadn't read it before. For those interested you can read the text here. I can't explain why, but it gave me chills thinking what this document represents.

At 4:00 our group met up in the lobby and parted ways. I stopped on the way home in Suidobashi, where I heard I could find some martial art supply stores. At first I went the wrong way out the station and had a nice walk AROUND the Tokyo Dome. After asking at a police box I found the district I was looking for. After a bit of shopping around I found a decent store and bought my first Shinai. Want strange looks in Japan? Be 6'4" tall. Want stranger looks? Carry a Shinai around (in the traditional bag of course.)

KFC for dinner before coming home. Gonna cut it short for now as my favorite Anime is about to come on. For those who like Anime and have the means, I highly recommend "Bleach".

Ja Mata Ne.