Turning 35 in Tokyo

Today is my 35th birthday (it is already the 24th here but this post is going up on the 23rd EST). I am a bit alarmed to be at the mid-point of my 30s, but that's the way it goes. I'm in Tokyo to do an art project with the students of an international elementary school. The classes are taught in English and the student body is composed of Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Indian children (ages range from 4 to 12). Today was my introduction to the students, I gave them a short, simplified Power Point presentation of my work and outlined the project I have in mind for them. I was not sure if they would have a frame of reference for the Stray Shopping Cart pictures but they howled with laughter at the first one and then continued to do so for each following image. Clearly they were enjoying making noise more than they were truly amused, but I was a better than expected reaction. During the question and answer period a tiny little Kindergartner in the front row had his hand raised and seemed desperate to ask me a question. His question turned out to be "Who is your friend?" The kids sang Happy Birthday, which was nice. It was also funny when the song got to my name which they had all forgotten.

The images above are from yesterday. Matt and I went to the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Ryogoku. We did a lot of walking and ended up in Akihabara, the center of Otaku culture. We spent a couple hours going though stores that sell a mind bending variety of anime related toys and models. I will have more to say about that later.

I am adding daily to my Tokyo Flickr set HERE.