Kizuna 2 - Day 1 pt 1 Kizuna start!

Today's reporters are Four and Raymond. 

^{Tokyo Government Center. Lots of tall buildings}

After landing on Japan, We stayed at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo. The hotel is soooooo nice!! So elite looking :)  

This is the view from our hotel room, day and night. The building is Tokyo Government center!

The hotel has chandeliers and a lot of escalators, cool shops etc... The rooms were really nice too! The toilet is heated and really...different haha.

Interesting toilet. The seat is warm!

They also had many things supplied for you, like slippers.

Also there a display (HIna-matsuri Dolls) at the lobby in the Hotel:

Hinamatsuri, also called Doll's Day or Girls' Day, is a special day in Japan. Hinamatsuri is celebrated each year on March 3. Platforms covered with a red carpet are used to display a set of ornamental dolls (雛人形 hina-ningyō) representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of Heian period. ^[1]

"Hinamatsuri" displayed in our hotel lobby.

Elizabeth (roommate) and I watched Japanese TV. It was a joyous thing, hahaha. There was a Japanese sesame street type TV show and then there was a kid's cooking show. Totally different from even kids TV shows in the states!!

At the moment, it is around 8 am. We just ate breakfast, which included a lot of American food like fries, spaghetti, rice, hard boiled eggs, peas and green beans, fruit, coffee and chai tea. Even though it wasn't what we think of as breakfast food, it was very yummy :)

Driving though Tokyo! It is very busy even at 8 in the morning! Lots of people walking :) 

We are headed to the Kizuna Orientation meeting. We are halfway through the lectures for today and we have learned so much about the earthquake! 

I am excited for our journey! I know we all will get a lot from this trip. I hope we will give comfort and hope to victims and families affected by the earthquake. This clearly means a lot to the Japanese people :) One of the biggest things I got from the rest of the lecture was one line: "innovative technology saved lives, human error caused crisis." 

Lunch was very yummy. We were all rushed because we only had 15 minutes to eat, but ramen was great! Raymond said that "Japanese fishes are yummy!" We are going to Sendai city now.

Next, a bus ride to Tokyo station to catch the Shinkansen. The ride to the station was very fun. We saw a lot of cool things. Yay! We are on the Shinkansen! The Shinkansen ride was very smooth. 

Now, we are in the "Ark Hotel" in Sendai. The hotel seems very nice. There even is a public bath at the first floor. I don't have the guts to go to it, but I know some of the boys wanted to :) Everyone has their own room in the fifth floor. The rooms are nice and cozy. 

I am now in my hotel room watching enka on TV and writing down my thoughts for today. Just before this I went to the convenience store with a few other people! It was very cute, like a mini gas station ;). There were a lot of candy, manga (comic books), and food. 

Over all today was a good, interesting day. I learned, laughed, did and ate a lot. Now i am extremely exhausted, but it is okay because that means I did enough for today. 

みなさん、明日もがんばりましょう！

(everyone, Let's make the best day tomorrow, too!)