University of Tokyo

My gf and I went apartment hunting over the weekend, and though we fancied a place, it seemed far from the train station. However, our real estate agent knew of a short-cut...it meant going through the University of Tokyo campus. Often called "Toudai" (shortened form of Tokyo Daigaku), this university is one of the most prestigious in all Japan... you could say it's the equivalent of Harvard. Here are some pics (click to enlarge):A shot of the campus from the stairs of the train station... you can see our real estate agent looking back on the bottom right.I loved this tree-lined lane. You can see rows of signboards encouraging new students to sign up for their various "circles" or clubs
On the left you can see my girlfriend... or at least her hair and gucci bag
Yaezakura tree
The main gate at Toudai
This signboard is to join the Anime study club.


These are closeups of cherry blossoms. The first is the normal kind, the type that the Japanese love. The next two are called "yaezakura" (8-petaled cherry blossoms), which look a lot fuller (kinda like mini carnations). I think they look beautiful from afar because the trees look fuller, but I guess close up, they don't look as delicate as the normal type.