About 25 grantees attended. The group was a mix of people ranging from those who were currently on an extension of their grant to those just arriving in Japan. The meeting allowed everyone to exchange research methods. After listening to the comments I felt less isolated. I even made some contacts with two Fulbrighters who are architects. One gave me the contact information of an individual who used to represent public artist. Overall the even helped my plans.

After the meeting a group went out to a pizza place to continue the discussion. Some of the other grantees had previous language study experience in Japan. Some even went to high school here. Again the majority came from rather well known Universities and filled in the part. No slackers here.

On the way home I snapped a couple pictures of train stations in Tokyo. Ever wonder what Tommy Lee Jones is up to? Well, he has bags under his eyes and is advertising Boss Coffee. He is the boss you know. Everybody has to make a buck.

We eventually headed towards Shinjuku to transfer to the subway on our way to Roppongi Hills and the Mori Tower. The Mori Tower is a grand piece of contemporary architecture. It leaves a large footprint of earthly bound shops and other money making locals, but the high reaches of its glass spires leave one struck. At the top of the tower is an art museum and a sky view of the whole city. The elevator ride up to the 52nd floor only takes a few seconds popping the ears of all the occupants along the way.

The Mori Art Museum had an exhibition on Le Corbusier, an modern architect who had major influence all over the world. Not only did he practice architecture but he also kept up his practice as a painter and sculptor throughout his life. Le Corbusier sought to make modern architecture human and designed with he goal of constructing human-orientated environments in densely populated urban cities. He feared the metric system because he thought that it would make measurements unrelated to the human body. His early principles of architecture included the use of pilots, rooftop terraces, free floor plans, horizontal strip windows and free facades. All of these were made possible because of modern construction materials and techniques. Towards the end of his life he moved away from large urban planning and built a small hut house for him and his wife, Yvonne. he lived out his life there swimming out to sea at age 77 never to return.

After the art exhibit we walked around the sky view. Buildings in Japan are not excessively tall because of the threat of earthquakes but ate still tall nonetheless. The contemporary glass construction of the Mori Tower allows one to feel almost suspended over Tokyo and the rest of the world. As I sat on a bench I wondered if the glass would hold if I ran into it full barrel. I assumed it would but the thought “What if it didn’t?” sent shivers throughout my body.

Tokyo Station is under construction, so it was difficult to find the subway. We eventually did and made our way for the Roppongi Hills where a lot of international embassies are located. To keep our dress clothes clean we didn’t fully dress until arriving in Tokyo and changed in a department store restroom. Then we walked about 10 minutes to the reception. At the same time we arrived many of the Fulbright Fellows arrived together by taxi. The house holding the reception may not look magnificent in pictures but one has to remember that it is in the middle of Tokyo and is sizable for the neighborhood.

The reception itself overwhelmed me a bit. I am confident in my field, but at the reception I seemed to be surrounded by ivy league graduates and established professionals. I felt a little intimidated at first but then fell into the rhythm just like the many art gallery receptions I attended in the past.

As in all great receptions much attention must be paid to the buffet table. This time I kept myself occupied so I did not have a chance to sample all the wares, but those I did were quite delicious. Among the people I met were an architect from Tokyo, a representative from Toyota, a fellow studying the effects of Denny’s in Japan, a gentleman studying Japanese Cinema, a woman studying moder Japanese manga and a nice man from Yale.

To wrap up the third day of crazy shopping I took Mimi out to a local home furnishing store to check the prices of things. We then rode to two different second hand stores to check the prices of used goods. The second store that we went to had a nice dinning table and a smaller table that I plan to use a a desk. Since this furniture came fully assembled we opted to have it delivered on Tuesday. On the way back to the apartment we stopped at Karhma, a hardware store, to pick up a cabinet for the kitchen and some shelves to go over the washing machine.

By the time we arrived home both of us were exhausted. In order to attempt to finish all my big shopping I decided to go one more time to pick up two bookshelves, a set of drawers for clothes, and a rolling microwave stand. All of this I carried on my bike. Check out the picture of me arriving back home.

Mimi and I spent the next couple of hours assembling prefab furniture. Stupidly I decided to spread all the parts from various projects in order to take a picture. That might be the reason that I am missing four screws. We did get the furniture assembled and moved around the apartment.

After that we were so tired that only sleep was on our minds. We rode down the street to a ramen shop. This place was spectacular because for under 1000 yen you could get a whole ramen set complete with dessert and a rice dish. We then struggled home and collapsed on our new futons.