Thoughts from Tokyo

Before I begin the holiday break edition of this blog, I just want to acknowledge that Q2 finals are now over. And, while I could indulge in a little finals flashback (read: whine-fest), I've decided my type-time is better spent happily chattering away about my vacation from Darden. Because really, there is no way for me to adequately describe what it's like to endure five five-hour final exams in a row, except to say that it was quite a week. And that I survived.

So, moving on ...

With finals an almost distant memory, I arrived in Tokyo Sunday evening for a two-week family vacation. Thus far, it's been awesome. Armed with a guidebook and a subway map, I've spent the past couple days getting to know Tokyo the way I love getting to know any new country or city: aimless wandering. Today, for example, I braved chilly, rainy weather and headed to Ueno and the Tokyo National Museum. While I enjoyed the collection of Buddha statues, swords and paintings, half the adventure was figuring out the Tokyo subway system. I'll just add here that I am a big fan of easy-to-navigate public transportation.

In addition to wandering, I've also taken a lot of photos ... of plastic food. Yup, that's right: plastic food. In Japan, it's really popular for restaurants to advertise their offerings by displaying plastic versions of menu items. They're amazingly detailed and, if you ignore the sheen, pretty realistic. My boyfriend keeps telling me to photograph temples and skyscrapers, but for some reason I keep coming back to the plastic food. It's kitschy! And I love it.