Harajuku

This week has been very busy, everyone is really tired at school and we have a lot of weeks to get through yet. Two kids actually fell asleep in one of the physics lessons this week. James, the teacher, tried to get the class to leave without waking them so they would be all confused, but they woke up. Monday was mini-day, when the parents come in for an afternoon and have a mini lesson with each of their kids teachers. Very scary. We also had something called Spirit Day on friday, which is a bit of an American thing. Different year groups have a different theme and the kids all dress up in the theme (we had Disney characters, past fashion, future careers, jungle fever etc) and then at the end of the day everyone goes to the gym and all the sports teams do little performances and there's lots of cheering and shouting and they get people to do silly things. Apparently they do it a lot in the US and call it a pep rally. It's supposed to raise school spirit, and the kids did seem to enjoy it, especially the bit where the PE teacher had red full body paint and a feather boa to strut about as tickle-me-elmo. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of that.

Last weekend I went for sushi for the first time here (it smelled too fishy for Will - he had a subway). I really enjoyed it, and it was cheap too. I did keep getting wasabi though by accident, which is really foul stuff. I must be more careful in future.

The food here is really good and if you know where to go you can eat reasonably cheaply. The supermarkets are expensive anyway so it's sometimes cheaper to eat out than stay in, especially Japanese food. Today we had ramen for the first time, which is basically noodles with different meat and veg in a sort of broth. Very tasty, I shall be having it again.

On sundays just outside the main Meiji Shrine in an area called Harajuku there are lots of girls (and the occasional boy) who dress up in various silly outfits which they seem to think are cool, and hang around on a bridge. It is a truly bizarre sight. Apparently a few years ago they loved to have photos taken and would pose for tourists, but now they only want to see the professional photographers (of which we saw none) and turn away from everyone else. It sort of makes you wonder why they even turn up, but I suppose its a culture thing. Anyway, they are entertaining to see. Just around the corner from the Harajuku girls there is a group called the Rockabillies. These are mostly middle aged to old men who wear leather and have huge black quiffs and dance around in the street to (as far as we could tell) bad covers of the Supremes and grease songs. Very odd, but again very cool to see. This was the 2 youngest ones with our friends Wendy and Diny.

When we thought we had gawped at strange things enough, we went and gawped at the Shrine. The building itself is very plain but interesting, and set in a huge green area which was a lovely break from the noise of the city. There were traditional Japanese weddings going on, which were quite prestigious, as the Meiji shrine is the biggest in Tokyo, so it's sort of like getting married at Westminster Abbey. We felt a bit bad taking photos of these people we didn't know, but apparently people get married there to be seen, and they didn't seem to mind. The kimonos and bridal outfits were so detailed, they must have taken hours to put on. We were kept amused by the make-up artists running around the groom before the main photo - he didn't look very happy with all the powder.

After the wedding we went shopping. We wandered around the Shibuya district, a huge, extremely busy shopping area, and stumbled on a street festival. These little festivals are everywhere here, there are a fwe dotted around most weekends, but even then we were surprised to find one smack in the middle of the city.

Today we went to Ikea and spent a fortune. I won't post photos, it is just as painful as Ikea anywhere else. I won't be going back for a good long while. In the meantime, we will soon have a new bed and sofa (yay) so I am happy.