Day 22: Meeting the Emperor

I started out very excited for today because it was another one of our free days where we get to do anything we want, and we don't even have to look at any architecture if we don't want to. I had planned to go to Ueno which has a really nice park with about 15 different museums and a zoo. Of course as soon as we got there though I realized it was Monday and every single thing in that park was closed on a Monday. I was so upset, but we came up with a plan b and as we were leaving the park we got stopped by guards who told us we couldn't cross the street because the emperor was coming. So instead of going to museums we got to wave to the Emperor of Japan. No big deal or anything.

Since museum day was ruined we decided to do a spa day instead and go to a Japanese Onsen. This is something I thought that I would never ever do in my life because you are basically just bathing naked with a bunch of old people for hours. But it was actually really nice and relaxing and they had a group area too where you could wear a swimsuit and hangout in a natural jacuzzi where the water just looked like tea. This was my first time ever being at a spa actually, even though I just got a massage from one of those chairs. But I really enjoyed it and I think as soon as I get back home I have to do one in LA. I was too afraid to get an actual spa treatment from someone who didn't speak any English when I couldn't read any Japanese. Who knows what I would have gotten.

After spa day I was feeling a lot better and went back to one last architectural bookstore called Tetsuya to buy some stuff to ship home. I got a few more books and its incredible to me how cheap books are here! Unfortunately most of them are in Japanese, but I got a few architecture books that I have been wanting for a while.