Day 4 - July 9th

Hello family of the delegates! This is Lindsey Bouse, and I am the delegate from Oklahoma. Everyone here has been so great and I couldn't have asked for a better delegation to travel with.
Our day started off at the Imperial Palace, where we listened to our delegation manager Yoshimi talk about the history and the imperial family that lives there. It was amazing to see how big the palace was and also overwhelming to think of how much power and wealth the family has. After that, we shopped on a different street in Harajuku. Then we ate lunch at the Hard Rock where we were fed an American Cheeseburger and fries. It was yummy! After filling our tummies, we got on the bus and headed to Tokyo's Buddhist Shrine. There was some differences from the Shinto Shrine yesterday, like the incense burning. You would buy an incense stick for 100 yen, which is about a dollar, then heat the tip of it up. After that, you would put it into the big burning caldron. It is a Buddhist ritual, that you would put the incense smoke over your body to heal and protect your body parts from getting hurt or sore. Here is some of the local people worshipping




After visiting the Imperial Palace, we visited a different street in Harajuku with the top brands- Dior, Chanel, Lacoste, and unique shops. When we were dropped off by the bus, we saw a woman dressed in formal Komono being filmed where we were told not to take pictures and to stay away from the scene. Some of the delegates tried on hats in a trendy clothing shop.
The architecture of the shrine was magnificent and very different. The Shrine is one of the few that didn't get destroyed from the air raid in World War II. We so happened to visit the shrine during an annual festival. There was a lot of markets selling ornamental tomatoes, fish, and souvenirs. Everywhere we visited there was many people, shoulder to shoulder.

Overall the day was fun-filled with site seeing, great food, and lots of shopping.