Hokokuji: The Bamboo Temple

Bamboo grove at Hokokuji Temple

Today was a great little adventure to Hokokuji (ho-ko-koo-gee) Temple in Kamakura. This temple is also known as the "Bamboo Temple" as there is a beautiful bamboo grove behind the main temple with more than 2000 gorgeous stalks of bamboo reaching up to the sky. It was definitely one of the most serene temples I have been to here in Japan. This place was tucked in this tiny little neighborhood up a winding road (definitely not wide enough for passing cars) and I never would have found it on my own and probably couldn't find it again by myself. (VERY thankful for our "Let's Explore Japan" group for putting this together and getting us all there!) 

The bamboo grove was somewhat magical to walk through and the sun shining through in little spots was so pretty! After walking through the bamboo grove you come to a little teahouse tucked in the back of the temple grounds. There for 500 Yen (about $5) you get a bowl (not a cup) of green tea made fresh for you there with the green tea powder (called matcha) and a whisk like brush they use to mix it. Your tea comes with 2 candies (basically sugar cubes); one for before you drink the tea and one for after. The tea was ok- I'm sure you have to have a sophisticated Japanese palate to enjoy, but it was definitely not my favorite tea. I mostly did the tea part because it's all part of the experience which is what I love here... plus now I can tell you that one time I drank green tea in a tea house in the middle of a bamboo grove in Japan! Boom! Plus we sat on the benches and looked out on some beautiful scenery which made the tea go down a little smoother. 

Green Tea!!!!

So, someone mentioned something about a Japanese folk tale about bamboo so of course I looked into it further because who doesn't love a good Japanese folk tale???  The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter... also sometimes called Kaguya Hime (Princess Kaguya)- this is one of the oldest known folk tales in Japan dating back to the 10th century AND one of the first texts of any culture to discuss the moon as an inhabited world and traveling between the two! (I loved this folk tale already- I knew it was going to be a good one) It's sort of long so I am going to summarize the best I can without leaving anything important out! OK here goes: An old bamboo cutter was wandering through the bamboo forest and he noticed a stalk of bamboo that was shining. He cut it open and found a tiny beautiful baby girl; he took her home to his wife and they raised her as their own and called her Kaguya Hime. After finding her, every time the bamboo cutter cut down a stalk of bamboo he found a piece of gold inside and he became very rich. Kaguya hime grew up to be a very beautiful woman and the news of her beauty spread across the land! 5 princes came and wanted to marry the beautiful Kaguya hime and she devised impossible tasks for each one to complete and the one who managed to complete it would take her hand in marriage.... She asked for 5 different things (absolutely ridiculous things like a jewel from a dragons neck was one of the tasks) and all of the princes failed the tasks. After that, the Emperor of Japan came to her and fell madly in love, but she would not marry him either. 

Kaguya hime

When Kaguya hime saw the full moon her eyes filled with tears and eventually she told her adoptive parents she was not from the Earth and must return to her people on the Moon. ( I found a few different adaptations of why she was sent to Earth... one was that she was being punished and that the gold in the bamboo was to pay for her keep on the Earth). The day came for Kaguya hime to return to the moon and her people came to get her in a blinding light, but before she left she sent the Emperor a letter and attached to it the elixir of life (immortality). She returned to the moon to be at her true home. Her adoptive parents were heartbroken as was the Emperor. After receiving her letter, the Emperor asked, "which mountain is closest to the Moon" and he sent his army to the summit to burn the letter in hopes his message would reach the distant princess, they were also ordered to burn the elixir as he didn't want to live forever without being able to see her. (Here comes the BEST part of the story) The mountain was of course Mt. Fuji and the word fushi (or fuji) means immortality... AND the kanji (Japanese writing) for Mt. Fuji is:富士山 (literally meaning "Mountain Abounding with Warriors") which is thought to signify the Emperor's army climbing up the mountain to carry out his orders and the smoke from the burning still rises today (this tale was written in the days when Mt. Fuji was still an active volcano and continued to smoke)... Isn't that such a great little story. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did... I'll have to remember this one for our kids someday!!!

Japanese Word of the Day:

Take (ta-kay): Bamboo

Strawberry Picking in Japan

Finish this sentence: When I think strawberry picking I think of...                                       .

Ok, so when I think of strawberry picking I think of hot summer days in New England with the sun blazing down on you while you kneel down in the dirt and put mountains of strawberries into a basket and you take it home and make something yummy.... this is how I grew up strawberry picking!

So..... strawberry picking here in Japan is a little different... first of all the strawberries taste like a little slice of heaven! Strawberry season here is from December to May and they are all grown in greenhouses in raised beds. So yesterday I went strawberry picking with a great group of ladies who also love to explore and do new things here in Japan! We took the train a few stops down to an area with lots of farms! From the train station there was shuttle van to the strawberry farm. Once we got to the strawberry farm (which also has oranges, melons, and sweet potatoes throughout the year) we paid 1500 Yen (roughly $15) at the front and got a ticket. We then walked to one of the greenhouses and handed in our ticket... this began the 30 minutes of all you can EAT!!!!!

Please note the rules for strawberry picking....

Yes, you read that correctly ladies and gentlemen... all you can EAT! They give you a little plastic container where you can put the tops, and they also give you some condensed milk for you to dip the strawberries in. At first I was thinking that I like my strawberries straight up, but a little bit of the condensed milk was the perfect balance with the sweetness of the strawberries! All of the rows are raised so there is no bending down, no getting dirt on your knees... brilliant! There were 2 different kinds of strawberries in this greenhouse, one was sweet and so delicious and the other one was soft (sort of mushy almost) and not quite as sweet. I stuck around the sweet row since those were better! 30 minutes went by pretty quickly and I have no idea how many I ate, but I had quite a belly ache when I walked out of the greenhouse and was full for most of the afternoon! I forgot to mention all the bees flying around in the greenhouse... that was slightly unsettling so I tried to steer clear of them!

After leaving the strawberry farm we took the train further down to check out some gardens and to see if the cherry blossoms were in bloom yet... ALMOST!!! It was a nice walk through all of the garden and some of the cherry blossoms are just about ready to pop! It was a cool day, but the sun was shining down and had great company. At one point around the gardens there was a little pond with a bunch of Japanese men standing around this one corner with really fancy cameras (they looked like the paparazzi)... so we made our way down towards them and they were bird-watching... there was a bird called a Kingfisher that is really tiny and almost impossible to see in the bushes around the pond. They were all excited about it, I guess it is an almost endangered bird. One of the men there showed us a picture of it and up close it was beautiful with bright blue and orange colors!  On our walk back we came across fields and fields of daikon (Japanese radish) which is an extremely popular vegetable here... I'm not a huge fan but I need to learn different ways of cooking it!

Great day and hopefully I will be able to bring Damian strawberry picking (eating) before we leave Japan...

Japanese Word of the Day:

Inside the greenhouse!!!

Ichigo (ee-chee-go): Strawberry

64th Annual Sapporo Snow Festival

At the Sapporo Brewery!

Ok, before I get into the good stuff, I just want to say that when I started this blog as Damian and I were about to begin this adventure, I thought "Beth & Damian Take on Japan" was a great name for a blog! In hindsight maybe it should have been called "Beth Conquers Japan and Damian Visits Once in Awhile." As many of you already know, Damian unexpectedly deployed a few weeks ago and at this point we are not really sure for how long, and yes I am well aware that he just got back! Anyway, Damian and I had put the Sapporo Snow Festival on our Japan Bucket List before we even got here and booked it a few months ago...I was luckily able to change the ticket at the last minute and bring my friend Laura instead.

Before I tell you all about the Snow Festival in all it's awesomeness, a quick geography lesson for those of you who are not as familiar with Japan as I have become! I live in Yokosuka which is on the mainland island of Japan called Honshu (han-shoe). The northern island of Japan is called Hokkaido (ho-ki-do) and is where Sapporo is located. We flew out of Tokyo and it was a 90 minute flight! Not too bad! It was a little chilly in Yokosuka when we left, but when we touched down in Sapporo it was snow covered and much colder! We went with a tour organized by the travel company on the base and there were 3 buses full! There were some things planned for us and other time was free time to explore on our own. The trip was 3 days and 2 nights. The Sapporo Snow Festival is one of Japan's largest winter events and each year about 2 million people from all over the world come to see the snow and ice sculptures that line the main street in Sapporo City for 7 days. The first Snow Festival was in 1950 with just a few sculptures made by local high school students. Now some of the sculptures are so large it takes over a month to build them with teams of people. It is truly a winter wonderland! Sapporo was put on the map in 1972 when the Olympics were held there. Sapporo is famous for it's beer, ramen, and the Snow Festival!

Lake Shikotsu

After arriving and having some lunch (noodles of course), we got on the bus and headed towards Lake Shikotsu which is located on the south-west part of Hokkaido. It is the 2nd deepest lake in Japan and the 8th largest lake by area! At the deepest part it is almost 1200 feet deep! *Random fact alert: It is the #1 water quality coldest unfrozen lake! Wrap your head around that fact!!! We went to this lake to attend the Shikotsu Lake Ice Festival! The lake was beautiful and the sun was shining and the reflection of the mountains was absolutely gorgeous! The sun being out definitely helped to keep the chill off! I was still all bundled up, snow pants, boots, scarf, gloves, I was not messing around with cold weather on this trip!

Yennies!!!

One of the many ice slides

At the Shikotsu Lake Ice Festival they had a huge area with "buildings" made of ice- sort of like caves that you could walk through and climb on. One of the coolest ones was a giant cave that is also covered in evergreen and then more ice. Upon walking into the cave it smelled like Christmas! They also had random areas with fish frozen into giant blocks of ice. It was all really cool. The ice is all made with the water from the lake! They also had a little ice rink and slides made from ice for the kids (and fun adults too)... I couldn't resist a good ice slide and I couldn't believe how fast I went with my snow pants on! when you get to the bottom you sort of skid to a stop on the snow covered ground. One of the caves also had Yen coins that people had put into the ice, which was really neat and looked so pretty. At night they light up all the ice caves, but we only stayed a little while as we had lots more to see!

All you can eat...

...and drink!

After checking into the hotel and settling in for a few minutes we headed as a group to the Sapporo Beer Garden for 90 minutes of all you can eat and drink fun! It was BBQ style so of course I planned ahead and ate a little something before we got there. At our table was a huge plate of lamb, huge plate of beef, and large plate of seafood (Damian would have loved it)! Oh and a large plate of cabbage and bean sprouts and some rice. You cook everything right in front of you- the only thing was that is was a giant room full of people cooking meat so they give you plastic bags to put your jacket and purse into so it doesn't smell. My hair smelled like BBQ meat for 3 days after this night! Luckily, my friend Laura does eat meat so she was able to put a little dent into all this food at our table! Oh and on top of the all you can eat meat it was also all you can drink... and not just beer. They had chu-hi's, whiskey, beer, and other random beverages! We started with chu-hi's (plum and lemon) and then onto beer (since it was a beer garden). It was pretty fun... 90 minutes went pretty fast after the first few chu-hi's! That night we walked through some of the Snow Festival to see it all lit up, but planned to return the next day to see the rest!

The Clock Tower

Government Building in back

The next day we took off exploring. The first stop was the Clock Tower which is a National Important Cultural Property of Japan. Built in 1878, it was  originally constructed as a military drill hall for Sapporo Agricultural College. The Agricultural College was a major event in those days for Sapporo which only had a population of about 3000. William Smith Clark the President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, was hired by the Japanese government to help get this school up and running. The students were first sent to Tokyo to learn English since all the courses were taught in English by the faculty from Massachusetts. It was one of the first schools of higher education in Japan. The Agricultural College was the beginning of the growth of Sapporo and it's development as a center of modern Japanese culture! The Japanese volunteer spoke great English and gave us a personal tour and history of the building as he walked through with us... pretty awesome private tour! When we were first walking towards the tower I said to Laura that it looked like it belonged in New England- I had no idea about the history and how important Massachusetts played in the development of this area of Japan! Pretty cool! The tour guide from the Clock Tower suggested we stop by the old Government Building in Sapporo which was only a few blocks away... it was an old brick building and beautiful with all the snow all around. This building is also a National Important Cultural Property!

Snow Miku!!! 

Later that day we explored more of the main Snow Festival and also the Susukino Ice Festival which was a few blocks away! One of the coolest parts was the snowboard and ski area right in the middle of the festival. It was made using scaffolding and LOTS of snow! It was right in between the city streets and a few times a day they had people snowboarding down and doing tricks and competing! It was pretty amazing! The picture on the left is so dark because it was snowing so hard when I took it! They played music and had announcers for the snowboarders too! It was neat to stand there and watch them- some of them were really good! Snow Miku is this anime character that is all over the place in Sapporo. I liked her... in her regular non-snow form she has long crazy blue hair, big blue eyes, and she wears short skirts and high boots... quite an interesting character if you ask me! The biggest snow sculpture of the whole festival was this one with a Japanese character in Hawaii! This was a big deal because Hawaiin Airlines now has a direct flight from the airport up there to Hawaii so this sculpture was showing the new relationship! It was enormous as you can see in the picture below! It snowed so hard that day that a lot of the sculptures were getting snow on them and looking different and not as "polished" as they had just the night before! The festival also had lot of yummy snacks to get along the way... some of the things we had were chocolate covered bananas, hot chocolate, hot kahlua, ice cream, sweet potato fries, and some more hot chocolate!

At night the sculptures are all lit up and some of them do amazing light shows on the actual sculptures! I took videos but am having a hard time uploading them here... sorry! They also had stages on many of the larger sculptures and had live entertainment throughout the day and night. We saw some random Japanese pop bands, we were able to catch the Army band from Camp Zama (located close by to us in Japan) who were really great and entertaining, and also some Japanese game! Laura and I found ourselves watching some Japanese game where they say some words and then you hold up a flag in each hand and depending on what they say (colors and up/down) you move the flags up or down... well... neither Laura or myself are that great with our Japanese but somehow ended up sitting on the stage playing in this little game show! Needless to say we were eliminated in round 1 since we just couldn't keep up with what they were saying... it was hilarious!!!

USS George Washington

The sailors from the Misawa base here in northern Japan made a snow sculpture of the USS George Washington! Whoop whoop! The sailors were standing around guarding their beautiful work of art so I told them Damian was on the ship and they cleared off some of the snow for a picture! They did a really great job on it! There were a bunch of smaller snow sculptures from all over the world, Thailand, Iceland, Finland, and one from Sapporo's sister city, Portland, Oregon!!!! There were lots of Japanese anime and cartoon characters that we are not too familiar with... except for Hello Kitty! There was also owls, snakes, penguins, dolphins, elephants, and other designs! A lot of the historical buildings in Sapporo were sculpted and I can't even begin to imagine the planning that goes into building one of these with the very intricate detail.

Sapporo is famous for having amazing ramen and on our final day we went in search of "Ramen Alley" a tiny little alley with a bunch of little ramen restaurants that seat maybe 10 people. It was pretty awesome actually! We found it by some miracle- if we blinked we may have walked by this alley on the street! We went into a tiny little ramen shop and it was sooooo incredibly oishii! The noodles are just perfect and the veggies! The whole thing is like a masterpiece! Laura and I ate noodles every single day if not twice a day on our trip! Our flight got delayed on the way home due to the amount of snow we got while we were there, but we made it back to base around midnight. A very busy trip, but we saw a ton! Stay tuned for the next adventure...

Japanese Word of the Day:
Samui (sa-moo-ee): Cold

Tokyo Disney & Sea Paradise

The day after Damian's birthday we headed to Tokyo Disney for the day. It was a Friday and not crowded at all- except for all the Japanese school girls which we didn't really understand why they weren't at school, but I digress... We had a fantastic day riding all the rides and enjoying our time together! Disney really is the happiest place on earth! We had fun just being carefree and running around all day like we were kids! We got there right when the park opened and there was music playing which was really magical... when we came through from Main Street Disney there was a marching band playing the music... it was truly magical! This time we tried the Chocolate Popcorn which was pretty good but I think I still liked the Strawberry the best from when we went to Disney Sea last year!

We didn't make it in line to get pictures with Mickey & Minnie, too busy running to go for a second run on Space Mountain. Star Tours, Damian's FAVORITE Disney ride was closed for renovations and It's a Small World, my FAVORITE Disney ride was also closed... bummer! One of the funniest things was seeing Alice in Wonderland taking pictures with all the little kids- it cracks me up that these characters are from the U.S. and Australia so they really look the part, I mean what's wrong with an Japanese Alice???  We had fun taking pictures with the little green army men too! haha I love their feet!

The next day we headed to Sea Paradise which is probably the closest thing I can get to Sea World here as possible. It was pretty fun and Damian and I enjoyed walking around the aquarium and seeing all the animals! We even got to touch a walrus and get a cool picture and Damian pet a penguin. We tried to pet the dolphins and pilot whales but they just wouldn't get close enough! There was a giant fish tank that went up 3 stories and Damian and I planted ourselves in front of it for a good 30 minutes just relaxing and taking it all in! It was really cool.

I am a penguin

My new friend

In the middle of the park they had dumped a giant load of snow and built a little igloo and all the kids were lined up to play in the snow- too cute! There was a dolphin experience area where the dolphins swim in tanks all around you... at first it was really neat, but then looking around it was sad since the tanks were so small. I'm not sure what the laws are here with these kind of places. I do know that they rescue animals there and do research, but I just don't know why they have to keep them in such small spaces... Anyway, other than feeling badly for the animals we had a nice afternoon there and on our walk back to the train station right at dusk the beautiful Mt. Fuji was out in all her majestic glory.

Isn't she beautiful???

Japanese Word of the Day:
Seiuchi (say-ooh-chi): Walrus

More FUN in Tokyo

My Mom was in Tokyo for a few extra days for work after her vacation with us, so we went up to Tokyo and did some more exploring! We went to beautiful Shinjuku National Gardens and took in all the pretty colors of the trees! Some of us even got to play a little in the leaves... It was a nice day to walk around and there were a lot of people there! These gardens were originally meant for royalty but are now for everyone... or the "common folk." These gardens have been open to the public since 1949.

Yup... all these people are about to cross the street...

Next stop was to Shibuya Crossing... this is one of the biggest pedestrian crossing in the world. It is a scramble crossing so basically a free for all for everyone crossing in all directions. The intersection was made famous in the movie Lost In Translation. Shibuya train station is the 3rd busiest station in Tokyo and the crossing is right outside the station. Shibuya is a major shopping district for the young people in Japan- full of high rise department stores and fashion boutiques. There is a 2 story Starbucks on one side of the intersection and it is an amazing viewing spot to watch all the people cross the street. it is one of the busiest Starbucks in the world!

After this, Damian had to head back to the base to make curfew, but my Mom and I continued on. We headed over to Odaiba, which is a little island pretty much in the middle of Tokyo. You get their by train and by crossing the Rainbow Bridge which is awesome at night. We headed there to watch fireworks! It was really cool since the Rainbow Bridge and the Tokyo Tower were both in the background! It was a fun night with my Mom in Tokyo before I headed back to Yokosuka and she headed back to the U.S.

Japan Word of the Day:
Hanabi (ha-na-bee): Fireworks

Enoshima is for Lovers

First I want to say this is the 100th blog!!!! Whoop whoop! Thank you for all of my faithful readers who give me a reason to blog. Thank you for all your love and support as we continue on our journey here in Japan! xoxo

Ok, on to important things... Our last big sightseeing adventure with all the family was to Enoshima island- considered off the beaten path by many a guidebook, but also a hidden gem if I do say so myself! I had been there once before but this was everyone else's first time to the island! It is about a 30 minute drive from the base and worth every minute. For those of you who remember my earlier blog and my 8th lucky god stamp, this is where I came to get it! It was a somewhat rainy day so there weren't many people around which was nice- we sort of had the island to ourselves! There certainly weren't many tourists around which made it even more authentic!

"Ring the bell together and your love will continue forever"

  We hiked around the whole island and even went into the caves which were really cool! The best part was going back to lovers bell with my love and locking our love there forever!

The story goes: Once upon a time, a bad dragon with five heads settled in the bottomless swamp among the mountains of Fukasawa, Kamakura and tormented the people. They called the place “Koshigoe”, and feared the dragon, because he would steal their children. For many days, dense clouds enveloped on the sea in front of “Koshigoe”. For a short time, heaven and earth quaked violently. After that, a heavenly maiden appeared sudenly, the clouds cleared and an island appeared. This island is known today as Enoshima.  

Dragon???

Beth & Damian forever!

The dragon fell in love with her, and he proposed to her. But she refused him because of the bad things he did.  Afterwards, he mended his ways and then was able to get married to her. 

Today, the heavenly maiden is worshiped as Benzaiten in Enoshima. A bell has been placed here in memory of this legend by Fujisawa Tourist Association. To keep the legend alive, couples who wish to express their undying love for each other can have their names printed onto a plate which will be permanently attached to the bell’s structure. 

We bought a lock and wrote our little love notes on it, Damian wrote on one side and I wrote on the other. We locked it onto the fence and rang the bell together. We sealed it with a kiss (we added that part ourselves). Pretty cool, huh? I've been waiting over a year to bring him there so we could do this together! We hiked back to the other side of the island and got some quick snacks on the way out... For me it was green tea ice cream... and for Damian, an octopus on a stick!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Tako (like taco): Octopus

Kamakura with the Family

I know what you're thinking... how could we show our family Japan without Kamakura? Well, hold your horses because we spent a whole day there enjoying every last bit of it! First stop was of course Daibutsu( The Big Buddha)! It was a picture perfect day, although a little chilly. And as you can see I was showing Marge how to read the train maps and how I figure out how to get around... it's really not that hard! Daibutsu was nice as was the oishii green tea/sweet potato swirl ice cream we got on our walk there. The street to get to the big buddha has the most darling little shops where you can buy handmade things... we ended up buying the really neat handmade pottery flower vase that hangs on the wall. Hopefully we will have it for years to come and it will remind us of our time here in Japan!

We also went to to the main shrine in Kamakura and walked around until the sun went down. The leaves were really pretty and we came across this little bridge which was a great place for pictures! It was a chilly day and warm beverages were a must. Everyone had their first taste of Japanese vending machines in all their wonder! Gotta love getting a hot coffee out of a vending machine for 100 Yen! We had dinner at a little Australian restaurant tucked away in between all the sushi and ramen places and it was pretty good. We certainly packed a lot of sightseeing into just a few days and made sure everyone got to see as much of Japan as possible! 

Japanese Word of the Day:

Hashi (ha-she): Bridge

Tokyo Tour with the Family

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we did a MWR tour from the base that was a Tokyo Highlights tour. It was the BEST way to see all the sights we wanted to see in 1 day... probably why they call it a "highlights" tour! First stop was the Meiji Shrine in the Harajuku area of Tokyo. This is one of my favorite shrines so I didn't mind going again... I think this was my 5th time here! It's just as beautiful every time. I like the torii gates the best. These are made from Cypress and are truly magnificent! Marge and I were catching up on some long overdue quality time! We got to watch parts of 2 wedding processions at this shrine as we walked around and explored!

As you can see both were very different looking brides/grooms. It is all very serious too. It was silent as they walked through the shrine. On top of the wedding processions, there were lots of people dressed in kimono which is always so beautiful and the little kiddos in their brightly colored kimonos throwing up the peace signs for pictures is just too much! Now, back to wedding traditions in Japan... these are obviously traditional Shinto ceremonies at a shrine, but more weddings are becoming more popular in the Japanese culture as well. All brides wear all white to "declare their maiden status to the gods." Makes sense, right? The next thing you might notice in these 2 pictures is that the 2 brides have very different headgear on (Thanks Mom for the pictures). The one on the right is just the simple white hood, the one on the left (known as tsunokakushi) serves to hide the brides "horns of jealousy." This one also symbolizes that the brides intention to be a gentle and obedient wife... It's pretty but I'm not digging the "obedience" claus attached to it! There are a ton more wedding traditions here but that's for another day.

Our next stop was Tokyo Tower where we went to the top to see the views and then enjoyed lunch off the beaten path to a noodle place Damian and I had been one time before. It's one of the places where you order from a vending machine and put the money in. Then you bring the ticket to the chef and in about 5 minutes they call you (no idea what they say, but usually I just wait for them to look at me) and then you go pick up your tray! Easy! Marge and I got oishii udon noodles with tofu skins in a miso base! Perfect for a cool day in Tokyo.

The next stop was Asakusa which is a giant shrine in northern Tokyo and lots of little markets. As you can see in the background of this picture, the new Tokyo SkyTree which we have yet to go up in, but is now the tallest structure in Japan. It's pretty neat looking and you can see it from all over Tokyo now! Asakusa was extremely crowded, maybe because it was a Saturday, or maybe because it's Japan and it is always crowded everywhere. They were also promoting on this day that Tokyo is a "candidate city" for the 2020 Olympic Games. They were having all sorts of activities in this area which probably brought more people out! It was a long day and a lot of walking around, but it was a great "highlight" of Tokyo!

Japanese Word of the Day:
Gunshu (goon-shoe): Crowd