University of San Diego EDUC 510i: Adventures in Tokyo : Saturday, July 13th: Day 5 (Last Full Day!)

Today was the VERY last full day in Tokyo and we were going to soak up as much of it as possible! It all began with our Polo t-shirt photo shoot in front of the hotel then off to explore Odaiba, or as Karen so creatively named it "Garbage Island" due to it formerly being a landfill. How did we get to Garbage Island? It wasn't by taxi. It wasn't by subway. It wasn't by train. It was by Monorail! (See what I did there with the reference to our tour guide's phrasing??)

The monorail station dumped (get it? "dumped") us in somesort of Japanese cartoon toyland with a chocolate-smelling tunnel and creepy kuwaii characters. We quickly made our way to the ginormous shopping mall where we spent our hard-earned cash on clothes and souvenirs. After lunch we split ways. Lexi and I headed to the Oedo-Onsen-Monogatari hot spring where we changed into colorful yukatas and walked in a shallow stone lined foot bath. Some stones were like daggers to our little feet and others were gentle and smooth. Because it was so hot and humid, sitting outside was like sitting in a sauna...with 40 of our closest Japanese-stranger-friends and a few foreigners. The main selling point of this onsen was the nibbling fish who eat dead skin cells. When in Rome, right? Er, rather Japan. It was quite ticklish as swarms of these little fishes suck on our feet and ankles. I think Lexi put a sweet-tasting lotion on her feet because they were going bananas for her! We saw Kathleen, Kristi, and Melissa in the changing room, said "hello!" then scooted off to revisit Asakusa for some last-minute souvenir shopping.

Wearing our lovely yukatas before heading out to the foot bath

Despite being lost and very late to the meeting spot at Cafe La Vie, our moods couldn't be dampened because we had the last night tradition of KARAOKE!! Nori-san and Masami-san WOWed the crowd with their talent and fun was had by all. What a perfect night to end our fun-filled week-long adventure in Tokyo!