So the first weekend in Chiba we decided to go to a matsuri (japanese festival) in Tokyo, in the fashion district, Harajuku. When we first got off the train we were in Shibuya, a shopping and entertainment district. The first building I saw coming out from the subway station was Shibuya 109 and the Forever 21 building. Shibuya 109 is a large mall that is rather expensive but also has one of the best salons here in Tokyo. I plan on going for a new style with Emily Askey and Nana Maeda within the next few weeks! I was overwhelmed by how much there was to take in once stepping into the city. So many different signs, colors, buildings, people, all blurring together and busily bustling throughout a vibrant and highly industrialized town. I remember the initial shock was that it was SO quiet! In the busiest parts of the city you would be at an intersection and could carry on a conversation as if in your own bedroom at ease. Cars rarely honk their horns as traffic guards or light posts control the steady flow of cars and pedestrians. Even at Shibuya crossing, the largest intersection in Tokyo, the noise level was lower than walking around Nashville! People are highly considerate of one another in Tokyo. While walking through Shibuya I continued to notice how clean everything was. This was actually the first time I even SAW litter since being in Japan. Even then, it was sparse. You will rarely see trash cans in Japan in comparison to America. Citizens carry bags with them to keep their trash in then dispose of them when possible. It's ironic that in America we have plenty of trash cans, yet tons of litter. We have litter NEXT TO our trash cans. Go figure. As we crossed a bridge and walked down some steps we had now entered Harajuku. Harajuku was nice, lots of interesting fashion to behold. The kawaii girls, the goth garb, the hip hop style (so hot), lolita ,and fashionable yet relaxed attire were highly popular here. There were many places with English signs, a few Italian restaurants, a few cafes and bars, and lots of sweets shops. Many of the bars and restaurants were underground with openings that led to stairs leading downward. We stopped at a crepe vendor and got a super delicious brownie cheesecake strawberry crepe! Oiishi! They were playing American music at the crepe shop such as the beach boys and oddly enough, Pocahontas. The girl serving the crepes was beautiful and I creeped on her with my buddy. o.o After this we went to koi-taco (a takoyaki shop) and had the best takoyaki of my life. My friend and I finished the eight piece in less than a minute. Then we went into a few stores in the area. The clothes were adorable but way too expensive in my cheapo opinion. It is also no misconception that the sizes here are SMALL, like tiny child small, and in most cases you will have a hard time finding your size. I have noticed that your best bet is shopping in Americanized stores such as GU or H&M. After shopping around and seeing some funny things along the way, such as a barbie store, we decided to head to the matsuri. The style of dress was colorful, bright, and decorative. Each 'team' of performers had their own theme of clothing all in the traditional dress. There was a great energy about everyone at the festival, the announcer was shouting cadence to keep everyone in time as they danced and the performers were all gracious by saying, "Arigatou gozaimashita!" (thank you very humbly), at the end of each song. We walked around the festival and explored a gift shop with lots of Edo period trinkets. The matsuri was at a park in Harajuku so it was the perfect balance of city and nature. We ate at a ramen shop for lunch and I got some vegetarian ramen with a Suntory malt beer. Once we got back to the matsuri we explored the back of the park. We passed a large display of wine barrels from the west and traditional rice barrels from japan. As we continued into the park we came to a large cypress gate that had been reconstructed in the place it once stood over two hundred years ago. This was when I realized that we were at the park that held Meiji Shrine. Meiji Shrine is Japan's most popular shrine with over three million visitors per year. I was about to die from excitement at this point and the massive overload of sensory input. As we neared the entrance to Meiji Josh and I stopped at the water purification hut and did the traditional cleansing of the hands and mouth before entering. Meiji was prestine, calm, majestic, and truly beautiful. As I walked up the steps to the shrine and passed through the threshold of the entrance, a sense of calmness I have only gained from deep meditation immediately washed over me. I felt at peace and my skin had highly heightened sensitivity to touch. I noticed that the people within the shrine even took slower strides, even those unaware of the energy within this shrine were subconsciously effected by its' power. As we came up to the inside of Meiji we dropped in a coin, clapped twice and bowed twice. Then, a wedding procession passed through on the inside at this very moment and they bowed and spoke blessings onto the couple. After exploring Meiji we came upon a traditional long bow school totally on accident. Josh and I creeped from the windows with our video cameras. The level of skill within their archery was amazing. They were hitting targets from thirty feet away dead on. Josh explained that they kneeled on the ground after each shot to reflect on how well they had performed and to mentally meditate and prepare for their next shot. They were wearing traditional priestess outfits and it was so freaking awesome. So after all of this excitement we explored another side of the park and saw some gorgeous graffiti as well as a man feeding crows (which you see many of here in tokyo!). Josh got some yakisoba from a street booth which I had some of, then we went back to the main stage and watched the end of the matsuri. When we got back to Inzai that night we discovered there was another matsuri happening at the park in Inzai. So we scurried down there after dinner on our bikes. This was a lot of fun. I got to dance with some traditional japanese dancers. These older women were dressed in Yukatas and were teaching us the 'story' of the dance as each movement is a certain action such as 'dig' or 'grab'. I was being goofy and not catching on to the progression well. Soon after, a man with a camera began recording us and I decided to start doing it even more sillily. He was dead on me for a solid minute. I later found out that this was going on local japanese television, to my dismay. -_- At least I am an entertaining gaijin. So we had some sake and played the local games. I tried to catch a fish from a pool of water with this filmy net that breaks if you move it too fast. I broke mine within the first minute of my attempt! Woot woot. I also got to try the popular chocolate covered bananas with sprinkles. They are served chilled, and you can't go wrong with sugar chocolate and fruit, so reviewing this food is simply unnecessary. Here we talked to a couple of the locals and I had a great conversation about my interest in visiting some of the main attractions in Kyoto and Nara such as Todaiji temple and the Daibutsu, or giant buddha, in Nara. There were some small hanabi (fireworks) at the end of the night that I enjoyed. The community was inviting, kind, and enthusiastic. I had a great night with my new EAI friends and slept well. Japan is a highly environmentally conscious country with top priority on thoughtfulness and respect toward others. When we view Japan's history and see it's emphasis on preserving the integrity of its culture, in addition to its small land mass, limited resources, and dense human population, we can begin to understand why they hold such values near and dear. You can't help but admire such a crowd after truly examining their perseverance and success.