Day 5 in Tokyo: Samba time!

So I started this morning at a garden that was only so-so, and from there caught a river bus to Asakusa (I was there earlier this week as well). Apparently the main feature of the river is the 50-something bridges which span it. They were fine.

The highlight of my day focused around the (world-famous) Asakusa samba carnival. It was crowded, but the crowd did not feel like they were in the middle of a carnival. Besides quiet talking to each other, they could have been at Symphony hall they were so polite. Not even slight tapping of the feet to very energetic music. I ended up getting packed in between a few other people in a rather uncomfortable manner, and this old man next to me had face spasms. I swear he was about to faint from heat stroke, as it was ridiculously hot. I got bored after a while and went wandering around, eventually parking myself after the end of the parade, so I got to watch the people walk by in costume from a sitting position, and although I didn't get the music, most of the dancing wasn't anything special, so seeing them walk by was great.

Once I got bored of that I then wandered further, and decided that I needed one picture taken of me in Tokyo, to prove that I was actually here rather than downloading photos from the net. So I asked a nearby foreigner if he would do the honors, and got a photo with some of the be-feathered, almost-naked ladies for posterity. We then got to talking, and watched more exhausted parade dancers and musicians walk by. After about an hour we headed over to the Asakusa temple, where I give a big shout out to Amy, the Adams House tutor, who I ran into. Despite neither of us remembering the other's name at the time, it was quite exciting to see a familiar face and so surreal.

So the guy I met (I think his name was John) and I walked around the temple together, took photos, threw some money (literally threw, as in tossed over other's heads) into the collection box, and saw the last act in the parade, which was actually really good. They had actually rehearsed their act a lot and knew what they were doing, which put them pretty far ahead everyone else. But for this I will defnitely have to send you to the photos, which in this case speak much louder than words. You will be able to see the anti-smoking campaign, little unenthusiastic baton twirlers, and rows upon rows of feathers. Captions will, naturally, be included, and I hope you enjoy. Photos from all of Japan will begin to go up when I get home (tomorrow!). Best!