Short work day!

Today we only had one lecture from the Planning and Technology Department. This one was on the buildings and train platforms, which was pretty amazing. To get an idea of how much money is invested in Japan's rail system, the station that we work in cost $4 Billion! Shinigawa is a major hub for the high speed trains, but is by no means the only major station, or even the largest. This kind of makes the amount of money the Obama Administration wants to dedicate to high speed rail seem kind of pathetic considering the size of the United States.

After the presentation, our employers informed us that they would like us to have cell phones in case they needed to get in contact with us for emergencies. To rent a cell phone it would have been about $80 up front, and calls still would have been about $1/minute. Since I have my US cell phone with me, I gave them that number to call. Even at $2.50/minute it would take a whole lot of emergency calls to make renting a phone worth it.

Since we had some free time this afternoon we decided to go up to the Tokyo Zoo and look around. We got there right as they were closing, but there were still a lot of cool traditional buildings and a large park for us to explore. Lots of nice trees, a small lake with koi, and a very peaceful environment. It was amazing to think that this was just 15 minutes from the downtown jungle that we are living in.

For dinner I finally caved and ate at McDonald's. It was nice to have a burger and fries but I am actually craving rice and curry again. Speaking of rice, I am pretty sure my rice cooker is broken because I was able to get Edson's to work this evening.

We also found a gym down the street where we can pay by the day. For $1 we were able to work out after dinner. We will probably be back.

Tomorrow we are visiting a Bento factory! It also looks like rain. Umbrella time.