More catching up to do

Well I've basically been wasting time now that we've finished orientation, getting to know people and the area. I have made two exploratory expeditions into Akita city so far. It is quite a lot of hassle to get there from here because it means coordinating bus and train times for outbound and in-bound trips. The city seems nice, the first day it was rainy so I didn't venture very far. This is a picture from last night when we went into Akita to do karaoke, but ultimately wound up going home again.
This was an ashtray in a restaurant that we dined at that night. All of the dish ware was lovely, but I left that restaurant feeling cheated because of some extra charge that I didn't understand... maybe it was for our large party (seven people)?
And now for more Tokyo pictures- This was taken in Shinjuku Chou Koen- the park of fountains,
huge crows (this picture doesn't really do it justice but it's the best I have),
homeless people and their homes,
and a rather handsome shrine that was closed on Sunday.
It also had the most decorative spouts I have seen for the cleansing water thing, and they were high-tech, they turned on when we approach the fount.
And now for more buildings.
And the band, Minx Zone, that was playing outside a movie theater in Shinjuku.
This is the shot I took in the Isetan food department, I felt kinda weird about taking this picture. I guess because it would seem strange to see some do something similar.
I think I'll call it quits for tonight. Up next will be pictures from Kamakura. Many pictures from Kamakura. Tomorrow is the first day of classes but the only one I have doesn't start until 7pm. I don't know if I'm going to take a Japanese language class. The one they wanted to put me in is a really low level and would take up 6 credit hours, it wouldn't count for anything if I took it, and besides there are many other very interesting sounding classes that I could take. Right now I am signed up for Japanese Language and Diversity, Comparative Politics (US, UK, Japan), Social Problems in the US, a class about manga, tea ceremony, and calligraphy. That puts me at 18 hours. Next week will probably lead to some schedule changes as I figure out what will be worthwhile for me to do. As usual there is more that interests me than I have time for.

PS. Here is a link for a video of the sort of BMX riding I saw at that club in Tokyo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mKa4xRYUfU