Not just another walk in the park?

Okay, totally just another walk in the park, and a walk in my favorite local park at that, Yoyogi Park... the best sunny time activity (so far). After a very rainy day yesterday (14 hours or so should qualify that depiction), it was time to spend the majority of today outside. Thankfully, the weather cooperated.

While walking through the many paths and gardens, I came across a drum circle (featured in video below), which became the most enticing aspect of Yoyogi today.

After a couple of hours of walking, running and watching, it was on to downtown Shibuya, home to my new language school, http://www.we-japan.com/. Shibuya is also home to too many people, too many subway entrances (and exits) and too many McDonalds. But, it's fun to be downtown for a bit... reminds me of the all too familiar bustle of the Chicago loop. This downtown also happens to be a great place to wander through various cafes, bookstores, even the Tower Records and/or Gap for more tastes of home, when in the mood.

I realized today as I passed the people, then more people, and then the people watching the people, that Tokyo has a lot of people. Total population as of 2005 = 35,327,000! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Tokyo_Area. What's even more interesting is that despite it's 35,327,000 residents I heard today that the average homicide rate in a US major city is 200 times more than that within Tokyo. That could have something to do with the fact that handguns are illegal here, and the hunting guns which exist have extremely stringent laws, permits and reevaluations of existing permits, http://www.davekopel.org/2A/LawRev/Japanese_Gun_Control.htm. For the record, the lack of guns, rifles or otherwise, has not deterred the amount of camouflage in Tokyo, which runs rampant (although not necessarily as we know it in the United States, http://yeinjee.com/asianpop/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/japan-vending-machine-cloth.jpg

I found a bike today. It's not the road bike I would've liked, but rather an Iraqi responding to my craigslist posting offering his bike, for rent, for three months. Perfection. He asked for 5,000 yen (about $50) for three months. I gave him 3500 and met him at Hachiko, a rather common (and apparently over-used) meeting point in Shibuya's downtown, http://www.fabuloustravel.com/globe/hachiko/hachiko.html. So tomorrow the extreme bike riding experience in Tokyo begins. There seem to be no laws to this land... only accidents, lots of swerving and a rockin' good time. A wise man once said, "no guts, no glory", right dad?