Tokyo

Day 2
We checked into our wonderful new hotel in downtown Tokyo, Akasaka neighbourhood. It is quite central and literally across the street from the subway, which we've been making good use of. Our room is 144 sq ft of clean, modern, efficient comfort! After so many hostels, I am in heaven. There is a short but deep tub which I have been using daily. So nice!

We spend Saturday checking out some nearby neighbourhoods. We had heard that Rappongi was full of foreigners and not really worth checking out, but we went anyway lured by a good sushi restaurant recommendation. The sushi place had closed down, but we found a few very interesting things there anyway. I stopped at a grocery store that was selling beautiful strawberries outside it's front door. They were good, small sweet ones. I was very happy with my $2.50 purchase. Paul and I love looking around foreign grocery stores so we perused the rest of the store after that. We could not believe what we saw. $8 per unblemished peach. A flat box of cherries, all lined up in their perfection for about $50 (maybe $1/cherry). A box of oranges for more than $200. Clearly, people go through fruit harvests, select the most perfect ones and box them carefully for astronomical prices. My strawberries seemed a better deal than ever!

We walked around the Imperial Gardens (surrounding the royal quarters) and had nice book reading session on the lawn while observing Japanese people at rest and play.

Day 3
We went knife shopping in the morning. Paul thought a knife would be a good souvenir and found just what he was looking for. Along the way we passed stores that make models of food that are often showcased in restaurant windows here. We passed lots of stores with really nice Japanese pottery - fun to look at, but not to transport.

In the afternoon we went to Harajuku. This is where the Japanese school girls hang out in their crazy makeup and clothes. If you are not familiar with these girls, let me try to explain. They like to dye their hair something other than dark brown, usually red or blond and then tease it or put it in braids or ponytails. Then they put on lots of make up to make their skin look pale and then they either add lots of black to look goth or more natural colours. Clothing wise, there are a lot of tall boots, black stockings to mid-thigh, sometimes geisha-ware, school girl dress or some other crazy combination of crinolines, bustiers, baby doll dresses, etc. They seem quite sweet in their outlandishness and appear to enjoy walking around being seen. There is also some fun shopping in this area. I bought a Hello Kitty t-shirt, because I am in Japan and she is everywhere!

We went to Ginza neighbourhood last night for dinner, and my $12 shoes from Hong Kong fell apart. I was feeling quite cute (see footnote) wearing my new fancy shoes I bought for tea at the Peninsula and my new white custom-made dress shirt, when my sole came away from my heel. I guess you really do get what you pay for! (I am pretty sure I can fix them with just a little crazy glue!)

Footnote - Paul and I both packed extremely light and have pretty much worn a variation of the same outfit the entire trip - from opera in Perm, Russia to goat-herding in Mongolia, not a lot has changed. My joke was to put on my evening outfit before going out at night, which only meant that I added lipstick to whatever I'd worn throughout the day. Only this last week or so, with home in sight and hot weather to deal with, have we purchased some additions to our meager wardrobes!

Day 4
Today we woke up early! We set the alarm for 5:30am, but Paul got anxious in the night and changed it to 5:10am. We wanted to catch all the action at the Tsukiji fish market! If you go too late, you miss the auctioning of the really big, fresh fish. This is not supposed to be a tourist attraction, and clearly the fishermen and vendors would rather not be bothered, but nevertheless, a few early rising tourists stand at the fringes and watch. The biggest tuna was saw was 580 lbs and went for about $20/pound. Japanese people are so polite. You could be blocking a man pulling a 500 lb fish on a cart, but they will not say anything. They just wait for you to realise what an idiot you are, and get out of the way! Then they pass by as if nothing happened. Very sweet.

This is where things get crazy! All around the market are fresh-fresh-fresh (obviously) sushi counters. They are open from 5am until 2pm. People go for breakfast. We went for breakfast. This seemed very odd, but was wonderful. The space is so small only 12 people fit along the counter and the waitress can hardly get past behind you (especially if you are huge Westerners like Paul & I). They actually serve you the sushi on the counter, not on a plate. They tell you if you should dip in soy sauce or not and you do not add wasabi yourself (insult to the chef). If you need it, it will be under the fish already. To say that this was the freshest and best sushi ever would probably seem obvious, but it was. My favourite was the baby snapper. Paul's was a piece of fatty tuna. The guy next to us had something that was still alive and literally fell of the rice it was sitting on, it was wiggling so much. We were treated to sake by a man a few seats away. Hey, why not drink sake at 6:30am? When in Tokyo....

A long nap later, I am here e-mailing and Paul is at WORK! He's making an appearance at the Tokyo office from Monday to Wednesday. I plan to do things that he would hate. For example, go to a nine story stationary store! In 6 weeks we've hardly spent any time apart. I daresay we'll miss each other until we meet at 5pm!