On Friday, I experienced a Japanese tea ceremony for the first time in my life. It was quite different than I expected it to be, before studying the subject. On Thursday, during our culture class, we studied tea ceremony (sado) as a class, to prepare for the ceremony. We also had a mini-lesson on a story known as Urashimatarou, which reminded me of Rip Van Winkle, in some ways. The story starts out with a fisherman, who comes across some kids being cruel to a small turtle. The man saves the turtle, takes it home and nurses it back to health, then sets it free back into the ocean the next day. Soon after, he is approached by a large turtle, with summons to the emperial palace under the ocean, Ryuuguujyou, because the turtle he saved
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