Just finished taking a hot tub bath and I'm floating... Ahhhh, life~ Tonight is my last night in Tokyo before I'm off to Kyoto *sniff*
The meeting was better than expected! We were nervous and I was breathing in and out pretty much until we got to the House of Councillors. We did the security check and looked like POWER PEOPLE walking in. We sat in the conference room and waited and I looked over my lines over and over again! I know we had a translator, but I was nervous anyway about flubbing up my words.
Then finally the Ministry of Justice, Corrections Bureau, Ministry of International Affairs, and others walked in and took their seats. It was unreal! Then MP Mizuho Fukushima actually came, we weren't expecting her to, and made a speech about the importance of the issue we're discussing today. She gave us her card one by one too.
The only reason we had our meeting was because of her and we were told we were also treated very nicely because we were seen as her "guests from America." She's super behind this issue and actually stayed to listen to our proposals. She also read the report we wrote! My professor said this was big deal because usually organizations write these things and no one knows if they're being read.
View attachment 186 View attachment 192
^ us before the meeting started!
We went one by one and when I got the microphone I was concentrating so hard on keeping my voice and hand steady XD I did it without messing up so I'm happy!
The MoJ and others then gave their feedback on our proposals. You can tell they put a lot of thought into their answers, whether they agreed or disagreed, and read the report in detail. They referenced things in our report we didn't even bring up during the presentation. They also took notes and brought books to cite from. It was really cool to know they read it. They gave us some canned answers, but overall it was really informative as to their reasoning and what they're most open to.
We asked them questions about things and they asked us questions too, and they seemed genuinely curious about how these issues are handled in the U.S. I really appreciated that. It was a great meeting overall and I can't believe it's all over. Fukushima's secretary came to tell us that she will send our report around to other parliament members and groups as well, wow! Our report is also going to be published so I'll be a CO-AUTHOR of something, wow!
We'll also be on my law school's website eventually once we send photos!
Today was my last "free" day where I didn't have to socialize and I went to the Tokyo Photographic Museum in Ebisu. I saw early Japanese photography in their new exhibit and it was really enlightening. I took a roundabout way to getting there and wandered through little neighborhoods and streets which was fun.
I went back to Harajuku's Daiso to buy the ALPACA CHAIR LEG SOCKS because I just had to. I don't know how I didn't pick them up the first time!
My teammates and professor and I have eaten at Roppongi Hills and Kijijoji and Kagurazaka in traditional restaurants where we sit around on thin pillows. For our celebration dinner our professor made a toast and said she was so proud of us. The food has been amazing each time we go out somewhere! I also wandered around the Imperial Palace on my own and we had lunch there, sharing benches, and I had a nice conversation with my professor. We also stood on line for this tiny shop that had the best chicken broth we had ever tasted that we all felt high afterwards. It was absolutely amazing.
We also have eaten sweets at Mitsukoshi and they had the biggest BUNS I HAVE EVER SEEN.
View attachment 193 View attachment 194 View attachment 195
I saw them, really noisy and everyone was taking photos of them. Except me.
I took photos and I really want to do the go karts one day XD I WANT TO BE PRINCESS PEACH.
View attachment 191
too bad you're not COOL enough to take pictures of them! :B
Which butler café did you go to? Me an a friend has gone to a BL cafe in Ikebukuro and thought we should try a butler café at least once but never found one which looked really nice.
The one in Ikebukuro, Swallowtail! This one has a beautiful room, with private booths too. I'm not sure if you've ever seen the interior, but you can find pictures online. They also have massive chandeliers. The butlers were great with me from the start and were great throughout, as you can tell from my review.
I think there are only two in Tokyo so I'm not sure which one you went to, if I understand you correctly.
@flowersofnight: They had more than one retro game shop, but I don't know if they're worth anything as I wasn't looking for anything specific! I did see multiple Wizardry games though, which I remember you played a while ago!
Anyway, now I have to pack up all my stuff and get ready for Kyoto XD I already weep for my poor feet.