This morning started with a trip to the Meiji Shrine -- a shrine dedicated to the first contemporary emperor of Japan. There was also a garden we wandered through, which would have been beautiful had it been spring or summer. Instead it was sort of drab and dead. However, they did have a pond and we noticed that the fish have the Japanese mustaches. I don't know if we just never noticed it before or its only on Japanese fish. (if you look at the picture, you might be able to see it). We also strolled through a nearby park, taking in the morning joggers and trees that were bandaged (we still have to figure out why there were bandaged!) By the park we also saw a lot of young girls dressed in outlandish fashion. To know anything about Tokyo teenage fashion, all you have to do is put the oddest combination of clothing together, including baby doll dresses, lots of stripes, shorts in the winter etc and add some dyed hair to match your clothing!

After that, we walked through the skyscraper area to see really interesting architecture. Japan has a lot of really modern and interesting architecture. One of the stores we passed is called Mandarake, a huge Anime/Manga/Transformer store. This was a really odd experience -- you descend down two sub levels into a basement with every collectors item you could want! Joey found a few hard to find transformers (and good deals too!). They also had a showcase full of transformers which wont be sold until a certain day (where we wont be in Tokyo!) so that was disappointing because that stuff is really rare. We also couldn't get to the main store so we will go on our last day in Tokyo.

Next we took the monorail to Odaiba, the futuristic part of town. There we encountered a Japanese Toys R Us (and some really good deals on toys Joey already owns!) and then we walked to Palette Town. There Toyota has a really cool showroom with all sorts of futuristic stuff, including a transforming one person wheel-chair (for lack of better word -- see picture). It changes heights and width. The showroom also showed many different types of chair options for people who use wheelchairs -- one of the cars had a ramp in the back, another had a chair that swung out so that a person could easily get on. It was really interesting to see. They also had an exhibit on why certain features in a car are designed a certain way (like the dashboard).
Another thing they had was a ride called E-com. Its a self-driving car. You get inside and watch the steering wheel move itself along a track. We think it uses a magnetic system (which one of our professors actually told us about when we were in college -- its quite possible she was working on this because this is very similar to a video she showed us). Anyway, you can see a small clip of us driving on youtube.com or below,



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After that, we went up on one of the tallest Ferris wheels in the world -- it takes about 16 minutes to circulate! The whole Ferris wheel was surrounded by people in Santa suits (it was very weird to experience Asian Christmas -- they all celebrate it culturally, but not religiously at all -- so Christmas is a regular day but everyone is wearing Santa hats and elf ears!) The views of the city were unbelievably beautiful and clear.

The last thing we did that day was head to Akihabara, the electronics capital of Japan. Things are ridiculously cheap (much cheaper than any where else!) It was really fun to stroll through all the neon and look at all the electronics. Joey also found some more transformers here :)

One last thing to discuss for the day: Japanese toilets. They are basically holes in the ground that flush. It is very odd to try to use one of these, because if you lose your balance, you fall in! This was the first type of toilet I was introduced to in the airport. Luckily, our hotels have "western style toilets" (you know, the regular ones we use -- except these all have bidets built in!).

Anyway, just be thankful for your toilet at home.