June 2 - Rotary Annual Seminar - Part 2

After a full day of presentations we were exhausted but thrilled to have successfully completed our two year Tokyo journey in peace studies and in our respective sub-fields of research. The Rotarians held a dinner gathering for us after the seminar and presented each of us with beautiful watches with the Rotary emblem in the center and a engraved with our period of study on the back side. An incredibly thoughtful and kind gesture.

Three of sempai (senior level. i.e. graduating fellow) Nai, Carys, and Melanie and one kohai (i.e. first year fellow) Pop-aliscious.
















Me and Ryan, I'll surely miss him!
















All the graduates from the 2007 Tokyo fellows (L-R) Mela, Cathy, Carys, Ryan, Nai, Cherine
















After the Rotary party the fun was just beginning. We had some out of towners from some of the other universities involved in this fellowship program and had a duty to make sure their short stay in Tokyo included Karaoke. Even Jackie, my thesis advisor, was talked in to joining us! We had about 20 people in a huge room and sang our hearts out for about two hours! Favorites covered the range of cheeziness from Bon Jovi to the B52s to the Eagles to U2. Around 11:30 we paid our bill and hopped on the last train to downtown Tokyo to go dancing at one of the biggest clubs in Asia, Ageha. None of us knew how to get to the club but we were determined to go as Paul Van Dyke there DJ'ing. By the time we arrived (a train, taxi, and bus ride later) it was past 2 a.m. - the club is open until 6:30 am - which is a good thing since trains in Tokyo shut down from between 12:30 and 5 am.

We danced beyond the break of dawn and saw the sunrise over Tokyo Bay whilst techno rhythems kept our energy up and our sprits high. By the time we trudged to the train around 7 am the sun was shining brightly. We were all inclined to crawl into bed after the 1.5 hour ride back to Musashisakai station but hunger took over and we went for a big American style breakfast at Royal Host where we met up with Brad-o (an out of town friend) who'd pulled an all nighter in another part of town. Two eggs, toast and orange juice later I lethargically biked home and slipped into a deep sleep. What a fantastic 24 hours!