The first presentation was about the Japanese Government and had three people on the panel.

Yuji Tsushima Diet Member (House of Representatives)	Moderator Hiroya Ichikawa Economics Professor, Sophia University	Kuniko Inoguchi Minister of State in Gender Equity and Social Affairs

Kuniko Inoguchi described the following concerns with Gender Equity in Japan.

Upon completion of the first session, Takahiro Miyao, a professor at the International University of Japan, began to talk about Japan's economy. The major economic issues in Japan are: The Economy: "Grow Again" - Emphasizing Innovation to acceleration innovation and spur venture business. Individual: "Try Again" - Emphasizing Education/Training because there is a widening of the rich/poor gap. Much of the population is living on short-term, temporary jobs. This is creating a lack of skilled work force and will be a burden to the government to support when they become elderly.

At 5:30, we were released for the evening. Time to enter "Game Show" mode with Mr. Tyler. Let's see...I can A) go back to the room and write journals and read emails OR B) go out and experience more of Tokyo. I'll take a survey of your responses right now. Go ahead and think of what you think I will choose...I'll give you a second....

Wow! A resounding 96.2% of the votes on the Internet correctly selected "B) go out and experience more of Tokyo"! Congratulations!! Tell them what they've won, Bob!

(Insert your own Bob voice here) "You win a life-time supply of oxygen courtesy of Planet Earth!" (Applause) By the way, Bob would probably look like Takahiro Miyao shown above.

And, as an additional reward, you get all of the great details of the night. I'll sum up in two words - "Sushi" and "Karaoke"!

For those of you who don't know, I'm not a big fan of sushi. As a matter of fact, I really don't like cooked fish so that should tell you what I think about raw fish. You'll never see me on Fear Factor either. But, I am here to experience it all so I have to go and try it!

Can't you see the excitement on my face on the subway?

Me, Beth, Jennifer, Jeff, Judy and Carson get our picture taken from a waitress who knows no English.

Now, this isn't any regular sushi bar...it's one of those that has a conveyor belt running around the restaurant. It's pretty simple....if you see something you like pass your table, grab it and it's yours.

Click here to see the sushi bar video

The prices are determined by the color of the plate. The down side of this is that I didn't know what any of the stuff coming around was. I basically had to trust those around me....

I actually didn't mind this...I do like shrimp.	I'm trying some seaweed stuff...yuck!
Even tried the eel - at least it was slightly seared.	See the damage at the table? Notice all of the plate at the other end. I basically watched everyone eat.
This wall hanging showed the cost of each plate.	Our waitress tries to tell us how much we owe.

Now that we have completed phase 1 of the night, it's off to Karoake!! I love to listen to Karaoke but I have never had the nerve to do it by myself. Unfortunately, we had a difficult time finding it...plus, it was raining pretty good outside...and I didn't have an umbrella....or a jacket....

Good news though! Jennifer let me borrow her pink umbrella. Time to make a mental image...me using a travel-sized pink umbrella in pouring rain and strong wind gusts. That's some funny stuff...I don't care who you are! So my next question is "Should I delete the bad fortune from the web site and computer and rid myself of this luck"? Buddha is really beginning to get on my nerves...

On our search for a Karaoke bar, we stop for some liquid heat. Gotta love Starbucks and Wendy's. We actually didn't stop in Wendy's but I thought the sign was cool...

Finally, we ask multiple people for directions and manage to stumble across the karaoke. Part of the problem was probably due to our question. We were asking for a karoake BAR. You see, in the states, karaoke is done in a bar...I believe that the Japanese people we asked were sending us to bars and not karaoke. They are two different things in this culture.

Lights in downtown Harajuku on our travels...

You see, karaoke is done in individual rooms. We go into a large 6 floor building with games, bowling, movies, karaoke, etc. and go up to the desk. We rent some space and head to the room and start warming up our vocal chords. Inside each room is a TV, stereo system, tambourine, song books, and benches for 6 people. The idea is that you can select every song you want to hear, sing it along with your other friends, and then go to the next song. No longer do you have to make fun of somebody who you do not know. Now, it's somebody in your group. It only adds to the pressure.

Lots of games	Lots of songs
The remote	The stereo
Beth is fired up!	We prepare for karaoke....
Shake it Jeff!	A little shy? Notice I'm not in the pics!

Click here to see Carson's karoake video!

I ended the night with a good old fashion round of Guns N Roses hit Sweet Child O' Mine! Nothing like that song to get your blood pumping. I didn't have time to sing any Eminem but hopefully that will happen later in this trip. Needless to say, it was a good night despite the difficulties. We headed home but I had to take some more shots of the lights and activities.