Shaler Area In Japan: June 17: Day 1

hello! I am Matthew Ollio, class of 2017. It's only the first day of our two week stay and it is already the most memorable trip I have ever been on. After breakfast we went to a place called Senso-ji, the most famous Buddhist temple in Tokyo. There, I learned about Buddhist culture in Japan. It was a complex of really interesting buildings, the likes of which I've never seen before. Leading to Senso-ji was a street called Nakamise, lined with shops that seemed to go on forever. Each shop was unique and sold things one could never find in the U.S.

Following Nakamise, we went to Akihabara Electric Town. This is a shopping district for the "geek" culture and for what seemed like miles, you could see tributes to anime and computer games. People walked the streets in costumes and there were on street events all over. We broke up into two groups, half going to a restaurant specializing in gyoza, and the other half going to a maid cafe. Gyoza are a Japanese dish similar to potstickers, and a maid cafe is a restaurant where the staff dress as maids and serve ice cream in the shape of adorable animals. To call a waiter over, customers had to make cat noises! I was a part of the gyoza group, but was told that the maid cafe was a combination of strange and cute.

We next went to Tokyo Skytree, the tallest building in Tokyo. At 350 meters up, it was the most astonishing view I ever saw. For dinner near the Skytree, we went to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Instead of ordering food out sit next to a conveyor belt that constantly brings sushi around, jand you take whatever you want. At 100 yen a plate, it was cheaper than any sushi in Americka, and so much better! I loved the sushi, but I must admit my favorite was the desserts that would sometimes go by. I liked them so much I had three! Our group had a total of 120 plates of sushi, and it cost less than $100!

We finally got home exhausted but still so excited for the next 13 days.