Today was spent going over our schedules for our time at the school, learning differences between American and Japanese schools, gaining an undeerstanding of the Future Cities project and just getting to know our partners better. Otsuka san speaks good English and is tolerant of my lack of Japanese. I had cold noodles for lunch (udon) and shabu shabu for dinner. Shabu shabu is a little like fondue in the states. A boiling pot of broth is in front of you, You dip beef and pork in the broth to cook it b and then dip it in sauces. You also have vegetables and noodles to cook in the broth. I am just so poor with chopsticks - especially eating noodles. The waiter felt sorry for me and made me a special set of chopsticks (picture will be posted later). I also tasted my first sake. . From dinner we went to a karaoke bar - they are very popular here. We hadn't been there long when one of our fellow teachers had a diabetic reaction. FMT has given us medical insurance for our stay over here so the ambulance was called. She was doing OK when they arrived but it reminded all of us that we need to take care of ourselves.
I leave at 6:30 in the morning for Kyoto. I will ride the shinkansen (bullet train) for four hours to get there. I am accompanying the 9th grade on their class trip for three days. A former student of Morinsato who guides other groups in the city will give me a private tour of Kyoto.

The early morning session included background theoretical information necessary to help us understand how to develop our projects. It is important to focus on the pocess of learning and encouraging student to question. Japanese schools have just in the last year gone to a five day week. Previously students and teachers attended Saturday school. It is interesting that most teachers do not like the change, however, the children do. In the afternoon we took a quick, and I mean quick taxicab ride (I was in the front seat) to the Meridien Hotel for a Kyogen play and a reception.. Kyogen is a kind of Japanese play that was developed during the sixteenth century. Kyogen emphasizes dialogue and is performed in ordinary dress of that era. They usually last about 25 minutes and enmphasize a humorous look at a conflict between boss and employee., husband and wife, friends, siblings etc. The actors seldom wear masks unless they are portraying an animal. Before the reception we met with the minister of education. He explained that 14 year old students outscore those in the U.S. in math and science by a high margin but by the time the Japanese are 30 to 35 they score very low compared to other countries - the US scores the highest. Through the teacher exchange they hope to build a relationship that teachers from both countries can learn from each other.
My partner teacher met us at the reception. Otsuka san teaches at Morinsato Junior High and we will be planning pprojects together in the next four weeks.

We woke up to rain this morning which made the walk in the Japanese garden quite serene. The Japanese garden is meant to be a true sensory experience with sounds of water rippling, stones crunching under your feet, beautiful green trees (very few flowers) and bushes.
The garden had a pond filled with giant coy and ducks. We spent time in the garden as we waited to participate in an informational tea ceremony. Green tea is served in special tea cups along with sweets as the frothed tea is quite bitter. The ceremony is quite meditative all the way through the process of washing the tea cups. I look forward to participating in more as I will watch for the elements that I learned about today.
Everyone in Japan carries an umbrella as it is the rainy season now. I even saw people riding their bikes while holding their umbrellas. The shops all have umbrella stands outside the doors with some of them offering a plastic bag to put your wet umbrella into. People place the umbrellas in the stands and don't seem to worry about them getting stolen. There are also bicycles parked all over with no bike locks. I did notice that some of the mopeds had locks.
In the afternoon we visited the United Nations University.- specifically the Global Envirnoment Information Center. UNU functions as a think tank to focus on issues that should be addressed by the UN. The University is specifically funded without UN funds in order to keep political influences out of the process. Dr. Jerry Velasquez presented a very interesting initiative being addressed by GEIC on Implementation for Sustainable Development. . The initiative really is looking at how to make institutions become more collaborative and efficient. He pointed out examples where the same people worked with two different issues - Ozone Depletion and Climate Change and gave contradictory advice that negated the effects of each policy. The website for this project is http://www.unu.edu. It was a fascinating presentation.
I spent the evening going to the duty-free electronics store where I picked up an electronic translator. Then a little sushi -- salmon, tuna and shrimp. Before going back to the hotel I went shopping to pick up some necessiities- a washcloth or handkerchief as restrooms don't have towels or driers for drying hands and tissues to carry as restrooms sometimes don't have toilet paper (At the garden today there was a Japanese toilet and a western toilet. The Japanese one looks like a urinal in the floor and is often the only kind you find.) It did make me really sad as I walked back to the hotel and saw all of the young girl protitutes lining the streets.

We took a taxi to orientation.The taxicab had lace material over the seats. I tried to get in the wrong side of the car as the passenger seat is on the left. The driver thought it was pretty funny that I was going to drive.There is no tipping in Japan. During orientation ‚we discussed some of the differences between Japanese and American teacher roles.We learned from others of their experiences as some have been here three and four times. We found an Irish Pub for dinner and the menu was in English. I am picking up some Japanese words to say but I certainly can't read anything yet.
I am going to post websites that are important for me to remember.
http://www.identiflyer.com
http://iscienceproject.com/
http://www.froguts.com/
http://fastplants.org
http://vernier.com

Today is Sunday and a great day to learn to navigate the subway as there are not as many people using it. The subway is very clean, bright and seems easy to use. People are also very eager to help if you look like you are lost.
This picture shows art on the walls of the subway.
Besides learning the subway system we went to the market, visited numerous temples, rode a waterbus, visited a garden, saw jellyfish in the water, watched fishermen fish with lines tied around cormorants, and returned to the festival.
This is a three hundred year old tree at the Hamarikyu Gardens.
Some of the entertainment at the festival.
This ikebana (flower arrangement) was part of a prize winning arrangement at the festival.
One one of the highlights of the day was seeing the jellyfish in the water. I had only seen them in aquariums before. Here's some pictures. I also uploaded a shot movie - I hope it works.

jellfish.mov