Lots of Buddha's and Tea

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I wanted to leave one more entry while I am here in Tokyo with unlimited internet access at the hostel. We are leaving for Korea on Saturday morning and I dont think we will have it there. Also, the weather has improved so we may be attempting the climb up to Fujisan tonight...I really don't want to, I don't think we are prepared.

Yesterday it poured all day so we thought it would be a good day for Tokyo National Museum. I never saw so many buddha's in my life. Golden, bronze, siver, limestone, marble, big, medium, small Budda statues. You name it they had it. Lots of interesting stuff in that museum.

Yesterday we experienced probably our most interesting display of Japanese tradition and culture. We attended a Tea Ceremony in one of the really nice hotels. I really didn't know what to expect having never even heard of the ceremony. We walked in and were greeted by the cutest little Japanese woman in a Kimono. She gave us some history of the ceremony and then we had to rinse our hands by this little waterfall before entering the tea room. SHe served us first some sweet treats in the form of a flower and leaf which change according to the season, then we ate a really sweet thing made of egg yolk and sugar (not sure what this was). After that she prepared the tea very slowly with such detail in her every move from the way she folded the napkin to the way she picked up the tea cup. She served Ben, or as she called him Mr. Ben ,and waited patiently for him to finish drinking the tea. I didn't get nearly the same treatment or attention but it was really interesting to observe this. The tea was powerded and bitter but good. After that we sat in a small replica of traditional Japanese room where you would eat and drink tea and drank some more tea.
After we learned that people actually go to school to learn how to hold these tea ceremonies and there are different levels like Tea Master. She attended school for 5 years for this.

After that we went to the Electronics District (Denki-Gai). There were lots of shops selling electronics and some arcades. Now this is what I expected of Tokyo....tons of people everywhere.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that we have good weather going up to Fuji and that we at least get to see the sunrise at the summit....

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Comments

[Christina1224]

That is so cool - about the Tea. DON'T climb the mountain... !!!

[Christina1224]

Mt. Fuji
Your father is going nuts over the climbing of Mount Fuji - He called me 3 times yesterday - Mommy told him that one of the Irish dudes got really sick and couldn't breathe up there ?????

[AnG]

Glad to hear you're having an overall good time! If you have doubts about the mountain climbing, then I suggest you stick with your gut feeling... it's there for a reason. Hope you find internet access when you get to Korea! Safe journey babe.

[Therese]

Fujisan!
Hey.. you better be climbing that mountain right now! I'm happy to hear you went to Kamakura like Nate suggested and its seems like you got a lot out of your visit in Tokyo. You sound just like an ex-pat now! Isn't it funny how they treat women so differently? Anyway... I'm loving your blog. Keep it up please!

[Kathy]

How exciting!
The tea ceremony sounds great! I am all for Fujisan... for pushing the envelope and having a once in a lifetime experience... but if you have a gut feeling that you don't want to -- don't. You should not go if you are frightened. Surf the net for some Fuji experiences and see what others say about how hard (or not) it is. Check this site - http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6901.html - they say that July and August are when inexperienced climbers should do it. My friend Vickie climbed Kilamanjaro last year. She said it was worth it.