Since no one can sleep past 4:30 A.M., we get up and go somewhere before our program activities begin.  On Friday morning, we were out the door at 6:30 on our way to a major shrine - the Meiji Shrine, dedicated to an emperor of the 19th century.  We walked about 1/2 mile through a pathway with a canopy of cedar trees, protecting us from the rain.  When we arrived, we did the cleansing ceremony.  The shrine is much larger than the one we found by accident earlier this wee,  We were the only ones there, but the priests' day had begun.  We were able to watch them perform the morning worship service, which starts by banging a huge drum about the size of the counter in the school office.  The priests wear very elaborate robes and headdresses.  We tried to get our prayer book stamped, but that priest wasn't at the spot yet.  The prayer book looks like a diary or journal.  When you visit a temple or shrine, you go to a special smaller building on the temple grounds where a priest will put a rubber stamp mark for that temple or shrine on one of the pages.  This act keeps your prayers in the minds of the gods.
       We go on the subway going the opposite direction from our hotel.  Oops!  When we got off and switched sides, we were now in the middle of rush hour.  No one talks on the subway or makes eye contact, even when the worker wearing a green jacket and hat with white gloves on gives the people who are sort of hanging outside the subway door several pushes on their backs or behinds.  This is just the way it's done.  Several pushes later, all 6 of us got to the correct subway station.