Japanese crows sound different than American ones

(Katie)

So...We just finished our first day in Japan! We left LA at 1 AM on Saturday, crossed the international dateline in a plane trip that lasted 13 hours, and arrived at Tokyo at 5 AM (Japan time). 

Alright, I'm not gonna lie, we had a bit of a rough start. The plane trip was LONG, and sleeping in economy class was a bit uncomfortable (Katya got chopstick lessons from the man sitting next to her, though...And we got a Japanese-style breakfast). Then, and this is the worst part, I lost my BV tennis sweater in the airport! I left in the bathroom, went away for seriously about 4 minutes, came back, and it was gone! ....And then we had to try to convey that to the Japanese airport workers. Man, I'll really, really miss that sweater.

Well, so after that whole business, we exchanged currency, rode the monorail, and had some issues with the subway (we're pros now, don't worry!). The subway's pretty fun to ride, and very, very convenient. 

We then made our way over to the Imperial Palace; we got there just before it opened, and beat the crowds. The gardens were very lovely, but we were all pretty exhausted, and we spent a lot of time just sitting down on benches, admiring the view.

Interestingly, our hotel (the Marunouchi Metropolitan Hotel, for anyone interested) let us drop our bags off, but we had to wait until 3 PM to check into our rooms. So we made use of our time by checking out the view from the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building, and stopping by a nice, very reasonably priced Udon (thick buckwheat noodles) shop. I was impressed at the speed and the slurps of the man sitting across from me. Maybe one day I'll be able to eat udon like he can.

After that, we still had a few hours, so we rode to Harajuku, which was very crowded and full of people dressed in strange clothes. While that may be typical (I don't know), we thought there might be some sort of event going on. We visited the Meiji Shrine, dedicated to the Meiji Emporer and his wife, and the experience was like a pleasant historical lesson. It was pretty, as well- the shrine itself was made of wood, and was surrounded by large trees, creating a nice, shady environment.

After that, we rode all the way back to Tokyo (we've gotten pretty darn good with that subway, I'm telling ya'll), and got to our hotel, and took showers, and are feeling pretty good right now. 

Anyway, my big discovery of the day...Japanese people are really, really, really nice!!!! I'd heard it before, but I always thought it would be sort of an obligatory gesture built inescapably into the Japanese culture, but no, they are genuinely very, very kind! Whenever the three of us huddled around a map in confusion, someone would come up and offer (in English, of any level) help. One woman (who grew up in the US, and spoke amazing English- no accent!) even walked us to our destination herself. There was also this one middle-aged businessman who I waved at, and was so enthusiastic and cheerful in his wave back that he dropped his umbrella. The policemen are very helpful, and so are the office guards, etc. I even got a nice picture frame from our hotel because my birthday is coming up!

(Oh yeah, and it's true...Japanese crows sound distinctly different from American ones. Japanese crow calls are more nasally and drawn out, while American crows generally sound sharp and squawky.)